Wednesday, September 29, 2010

There is Hope with God

I received the following story and wanted to share it with everyone. It is very appropriate especially in these times of stress on our beloved country. Please accept this as the gift it is intended to be...

The fern and the bamboo
One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

 
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

 
His answer surprised me; "Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

 
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the Earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed...But I did not quit on the bamboo.

 
In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

 
In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit and the same in year four. Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.


Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

 
It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

 
Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.

 
Don't compare yourself to others. The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come…You will rise high"

 
"How high should I rise?" I asked.

 
"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

 
"As high as it can?" I questioned

 
"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

 
I left the forest, realizing that God will never give up on me. And He will never give up on you.
Never regret a day in your life.

 
Good days give you happiness; bad days give you experiences; both are essential to life.
Author ~ Unknown


Monday, September 27, 2010

Monday Attitude Adjustment Story








Trip to the Orthopedic Surgeon
I don’t think I have related the ordeal to you that I fondly refer to as “Our trek to the doctor’s office” or “Driving Mr. Crazy”…and by that I mean the missus was driving the mister nuts! Here are all the gory details, with the exception of the actual date of our journey. That’s because I will be using real names (no innocents to protect in this story) and I don’t want to tip off the property owners, who may have felt their “right to privacy” was violated, to our location on the fateful date…that may punch holes in our alibis. Anyway, I admit that this was the first time we were going to Dr. Bear’s office and neither of us had any idea where it was located…except of course that we had the actual address. So I availed myself of the use of Mapquest.com and it mapped the route in its usual, indomitable fashion clearly marking each directional twist and turn. One thing we forgot, having been away from Akron for so long, was that after Portage Path turned into Portage trail, the street numbers do not reset until you travel a few more blocks and cross State Road in the Falls, so we were looking for the number on Portage Trail in the wrong place. As we were cruising nicely along, with me announcing each turn at each street when I directed her to, “turn left here dear” and then, as we were approaching the end of a cul-de-sac, I corrected myself and told my chauffeur, “I’m sorry, darling I meant your other left…you know in the direction of the hand you write with.” At this point my wife did the sensible thing; pulled into a driveway and turned the car around. She explained that she only became confused because she was talking, so I planned to ease the burden she endured of providing me with transportation by looking for the turns as well as announcing them so she would not again become overwhelmed with an inordinate amount of tasks to perform, like unnecessarily conversing with me.

At this point I must pause to digress from my narration in order to explain, in advance, that the cul-de-sac we erroneously entered was entirely paved, driveways included. Why does this matter? Well let’s just say that the next two boo boos that occurred, through no fault of the driver nor the navigator, caused us to drive into two more dead ends…the last of which was not paved. When I reach that part of this epic you will understand the significance of this bit of data. I will now proceed with my story telling. After we transitioned from Portage Path to Portage Trail, I was looking for the address number of Doctor Bear’s Portage Trail office by viewing the address numbers on the left side of the road. We passed what was a hidden drive that had no address posted we could see and a place that looked like it was another hidden drive but was actually a dead-end street with its sign hidden from view. The next address we could see was higher than the address we were looking for so we agreed that one of the two areas we had passed must be the address we were seeking. Sylvia pulled the car into a playground parking lot so we could reverse our direction and turned right at the street with the hidden sign (which was also paved like the cul-de-sac had been). Again my wife very sensibly reversed our direction, by steering the car into a driveway, and then turned right again to explore the street address of the hidden drive. Now comes the fun part and the reason I will try real hard to obtain a drivers’ license again. This driveway was not paved and it branched two ways; one dead-ended into the homeowner’s barn (could have been a garage but I swear it looked more like a barn). The other branch circled in front of the house and then back to the driveway for exiting but there was a large truck parked right on the loop, close to the front door.

I have never seen Sylvia so shaken in all my life…not even when she laid in the hospital with a shattered femur…not even during Ryan’s childbirth when the staff forget to turn on the vacuum cleaner hose they use to suck the crap out of the kid’s lungs (they don’t slap the babies anymore…too many kids are extremely large and started slapping back…hard!) She was actually shaking so badly she could hardly put the car in reverse and with tears welling up in her eyes she stammered, “Oh no…I have to back up!” I was thinking that I was going to have to turn the car around for her and, reflecting back now, maybe I should have for both our stomach’s sake. You must understand, our car has a proximity sensor in the rear and Sylvia was terrified of backing into one of the three tees that stood about ¼ of a mile away from the driveway. She was trying to back up using just the mirrors and was freaking out about “…hitting one of the trees!” Me, well, I was concerned more about her running into the ditch that ran along the driveway because she was weaving all over the place...the reason I will not give the date or we might be sued for ruining the farmer’s lawn. Anyway, she didn’t get back onto the gravel until I told her that I was only worried about her hitting the mailbox. There wasn’t any but I thought that it would get her back on track…and it did. I was laughing so hard by the time we got back on the road that Sylvia was ready to kill me and if looks could do it I would not be telling you this story now. The rest of the trip was boring and uneventful with only the occasional glaring dagger shooting my way and the small ice age forming only in our car, so I’ll stop this story now while I have enough time to make a clean getaway.

Oh, by the way, Sylvia took me to the dentist Friday, September 24, and I mapped out the route (a lot of good it did me on the Orthopedic trek) but this time I told her to mark an “L” on her left hand and an “R” on her right. Maybe I should have supervised her in that but I did remind her that the “L” went on her writing hand as she is left-handed. I sure hope I didn’t make a mistake by letting her mark her hands unsupervised. Oh well, if it was a mistake I’ll just have more fodder for the MAAS mill.

Next week's 10-04-2010 (#161) title: TBD







Wednesday, September 22, 2010

How's that Obamacare working for you?

Now that Obamacare is the “Law of the Land”, I need to ask all of you who supported this boondoggle, how’s it working out for you? Have you benefited from the reduced premium payments from your current insurance carrier…No? Well at least none of you have seen any increase in your premiums have you? After all, under Obamacare the insurance industry cannot raise premiums due to increased costs because they will recoup any of those costs with their increase of customers, right? What do you mean your insurance premiums went up, they can’t…oh wait…I forgot; that benefit does not kick in for another three years yet.

Okay, but don’t you feel so much better knowing that your child will be medically covered until age 26? What do you mean your offspring is still not covered? I see…Didn’t you know about the loop hole in that benefit which denies coverage to anyone not already on the policy? Well, that’s just too bad for you; you should keep current about information such as this. Well, that’s okay, at least you can start new policies for your younger dependents and they will be covered for any conditions, pre-existing or otherwise until they are 26 years old! Oh, that’s not right either…why not? I see, your insurance company is so afraid of raising costs, since they only have a 4% profit margin, that they stopped issuing any children only policies…period. You can’t blame them for that quite gripping.


The best part about Obamacare is if the insurance companies incur any more costs, you know the “hidden” kind [since there might be some in the bill because as Nancy Pelosi said “we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it”], those companies will just go out of business as they should [no bailouts here]. But not to worry, you will have Medicare/Medicaid to fall back upon and take my word as a user of these two, fine programs, they well, sort of SUCK!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Monday Attitude Adjustment Story







Road trip to Jacksonville Part II
I left this story at the point in my narrative where Benny and I had just figured out that his car keys were missing and we didn’t have a clue where the Motel room we occupied was located and that Freddy was missing. Even before we ran outside to see if his car was parked in the lot we both knew we would not find it. “Where the Hell is that Mother- F**ker Freddy and what the F**k is he doing with my F**king car?” [Author’s note: Sorry to employ such foul language but we kind of talked that way all the time in college, especially those of us in ROTC. In fact I got so used to it that at my first sit down dinner back home with my family on spring break I blurted out, “Could someone please pass me the F**king potatoes?” By some miracle of God, I am still alive to relate this saga to you, so I will, without further adieu, get back on message.] Anyway, we walked to the diner next door to eat brunch noticing on the menu that we were in Jacksonville, Florida. I did not know anyone (at that time) who lived in Jacksonville and neither did Benny. We wracked our brains over the reason for being in Jacksonville but for the life of us, we came up empty. After we finished eating, Benny remembered we had enough booze for one small drink apiece left, so we returned to our motel room, stopping to buy a newspaper on the way. We poured our meager beverages (this time with some ice) and slowly sipped them while checking the paper for something we could do that night in Jacksonville since we did not, as Benny so eloquently put it, “We don’t have enough F**king time to get the F**k to Tampa and still return to F**king Tallahassee in time not to miss more F**king classes than usual.” Hell, without Benny’s car or any information concerning Freddy’s whereabouts or schedule or anything, we had no idea when we could even leave “F**king” Jacksonville.

It was some time after 1:00 PM when we noticed that the message light was on the phone…it had been Freddy. He said he would meet us at the Motel around 3:00 PM. That was it…no phone number…no explanation…no F**king nothing. Benny was furious and frantically started leafing through the phone book looking for bars in our area but could find nothing within walking distance. Oh, we could have taken a bus but not being familiar with the schedules or routes we didn’t want to take the chance of returning late and missing Freddy, although I would not have minded…at least I would have been spared the sight of Freddy’s blood spattering everywhere. Taking a cab was out of the question; we didn’t have a lot of money and Benny insisted that, since he owned a car, he’d be [expletive deleted; I am tired of writing various derivatives of that stupid word F**k] if we would spend a dime on cab fare. I did not want to state the obvious, such as “Are you sure that you still have a car Benny?” but there’s no need to smack the hornet’s nest after it’s been knocked to the ground, so I didn’t. We passed the time watching TV because although Jacksonville is a fairly large city, it seems that if you are not familiar with the good, secret spots, about all there was to do even on a Saturday (unless you owned a boat), was to go out to eat, visit a Redneck bar or watch the Submarine races down by the St John’s river which at that time made Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River (remember the one that caught fire?) seem like a clear mountain stream of pure running water. Neither of us were really in the mood for a hillbilly bar and since we were not the right kind of couple to be viewing submarine races (besides who knew what lurked beneath the brown, muddy river, awaiting its chance to arise to life from the water like some horrible Roger Corman monster B-movie “Attack of the [fill in the blank] Monster!!”. We had found and noted the seemingly best Italian restaurant that was on the road back to the relative raucous life of our rowdy Campus. We figured we could stop there on the way home, providing of course that we could clean Freddy’s blood out of Benny’s car in time to make it there before closing time; 10:00 PM, so we settled into the Motel room and watched TV (Gator City Tractor Pull on all three stations); killing time until 3:00 PM.

At 10 minutes past 3:00 (Benny was fit to be tied and stalking the parking lot like some large, demented Grizzly bear) we spotted his car driving along the road and then into the motel parking lot. As it pulled into the parking space in front of our room, Benny ran to it like the father greeting his prodigal son and started running his fingers over the entire car checking for any new dings or dents. Finding none (…and boy was I glad) he finally turned his attention to Freddy and the rather attractive, buxom blond in the skimpy, shape revealing attire who had driven a cute, red Ford Mustang convertible into the slot beside Benny’s car. Freddy smiled; Benny Scowled; the Blond froze like a deer transfixed in a set of headlights and I cringed awaiting the explosion I knew would erupt in the very near future. And then Freddy put his arm around the Blond, pulling her stiffening torso close as he announced, “Benny, Paul this is my girlfriend [you pick the name I honestly don’t remember] and Blondie [why not?] these are my friends Benny and Paul”. Benny’s visage softened a tad; almost smiling at the terrified sex object as he gruffly hissed, “Pleased to meet ya” and then, ignoring my own, meek “hi”, turned to confront Freddy only to be stopped in his tracks by the words, “Sorry guys, but I can’t go back to FSU with you. I promised Blondie that I would transfer to Jacksonville University since she is going to pay for it, so here’s your keys Benny; drop in and see us if you ever come back to Jacksonville again” after flipping the car keys to Benny the two of them jumped into the Mustang and burned rubber out of the parking lot. I’ll never forget the sight of that squealing car with the smoking tires rapidly disappearing into the horizon as Benny growled, “Mustang my ass; that lucky SOB gets the use of a Ford Cobra GT!”

I’ll close this tome by mentioning the fact that we did stop at the map-marked Italian Restaurant and the meal was excellent. We had wanted to order Chianti to go with dinner but didn’t think we’d pass the acid test here…you know about being 21, but we did order Spumoni with wine sauce for desert and it was delicious…so we ordered a second round. We discovered our waitress had a sister who also worked there and they lived together...alone. Both were getting off work about the time we ran out of money and asked if we wanted to…uh…um visit with them. Good timing because we had ordered another five helpings of the Spumoni with wine sauce except “forget the Spumoni” and were in need of a place to rest for the night. Needless to say, we still did not get back to FSU in time for Monday classes…or Tuesday’s… or…

Next week's 09-27-2010 (#160) title: TBD

 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

American flag desecration in Phoenix

I first heard about this from my son Paul. I tried checking it at snopes.com but found nothing...could not prove it one way or another at that site, however, Googling it gave me a lot of hits. You can verify the truth of the following information by going to the CBS affiliate KOLD Channel 13 [I don't think CBS would allow a lie like this do you?] There are many more websites reporting this activity and the video below can be found on YouTube where you can watch it or just view the same clip below:

 

It bothers me that Snopes has no information on this because it is such a polarizing news segment and the truth should be posted. For example: some articles claim those performing the desecration are Mexican Illegals while others say they are California liberals who had been bussed in etc. I don't know which claim is correct; if neither is right or if a combination of the two is the truth. Frankly I really don't care. Why?  Because no matter who the perpetrators are they support "Illegal Aliens" being given a free pass; in fact they want Illegals to be instantly treated like US Citizens and they don't give a damn about  The Republic of America as demonstrated by their vile and disgusting actions. How many Red-Blooded Americans have spilt their blood to preserve this Republic? That's what our flag stands for. These jerks (whoever they may be) might as well urinate over all the graves at Arlington Cemetery. It is disgusting that only the Federal government can enforce the law against this type of activity...especially given the penchant our current US Attorney General has displayed for not enforcing any laws pertaining to "Illegal Aliens". I continue to use this term because this is what the Illegals are; they are not "Undocumented Immigrants" nor are they "Illegal Immigrants" as both are merely euphemisms employed by Progressives, Far-Left wingers; Marxist revolutionaries, Constitution scorners and just plain generally whacked out weirdos who want to "fundamentally transform America".


In case you are not totally incensed from the video, here are a few pictures that are sure to tug at your gut unless you are one of the troglodytes performing these heinous acts. If you are as enraged, disturbed and disgusted as I am then maybe we should get together and demand that our local and state officers of the law be ordered to detain these individuals to turn over to the feds for breaking the law, just like they are allowed to do even without Arizona's SB 1070. Of course, we would then have to rely on our Justice Department to prosecute the a**holes.
 
  

Monday, September 13, 2010

Monday Attitude Adjustment Story

Road trip to Jacksonville
One of the guys I used to hang out with at Florida State was Benny Hamovitz. He, like Steve Pla, was from Tampa, Florida. One weekend he asked me if I wanted to drive to Tampa with him and a friend of his (whose name completely slips my mind and I do apologize to this man on behalf of my senior style recollections). Anyway, Benny was a year older and one of a handful of sophomores who had a car on campus. He said we needed to gas up before heading out on the road, so we stopped at a Gas Station just off campus. Since it was Benny’s car, I was going to pay for the gas going and the other kid was going to pay for the gas on the way back. All I had on me was the $20 bill I had been paid with for 5 hours of catering on Campus…easiest job I ever had. Gasoline was a lot cheaper in those days, something like 25¢ a gallon so it didn’t take a lot of money to fill up Benny’s 20 gallon tank…it was something like $3.75 as I recall because he wasn’t totally empty. Before I continue this saga, I should mention that the attendant was a student in one of my large lecture classes. Anyway, when this future Businessman told Benny the cost, I passed my $20 to him and he in turn placed it in the grimy, outstretched hand. It seemed to me that the guy was taking a little too much time making change and when Benny gave me the rolled up wad of bills and a quarter, I started to count it to make sure that I had not been cheated. Just as we ran through a red light (Benny wasn’t a very good driver), I started laughing hysterically. Benny’s friend (I will call him Fred…why well because I can’t keep referring to him as the dude or guy or whatever for the entire length of this story), Fred asked me what was so f***ing funny, he was known as Foul-mouthed Freddy for good reason. I told them that I had counted the change because I was afraid of being short-changed, but I wasn’t. I announced that I knew the major of this genius with numbers; he had to be math major because he gave me $21.25 change. After the belly laughs died down Benny announced, “No…he didn’t make a mistake in math Paul, he just gave you change for a $25 bill”.

Well, we could not drive directly to Tampa as we had to stop at Freddy’s house someplace close by like Quincy, Florida, but before going I made a stop at the liquor store where I was a regular customer (did I ever tell you about the batty woman who worked there or the field promotion I received for using the place? If not…I have a good idea for a future MAAS) and I purchased a fifth of Jack Daniels Black Label Tennessee Sipping Whisky…no time for any further elaborate description of this sour mash liquid refreshment. Anyway, when we got to Freddy’s house, no one was home so as all red blooded male students attending FSU at the time would do, we cracked open the bottle and asked our host if he would care for a wee dram. Elated at his response (he did not drink) we ignored his activities (he was supposedly cleaning his room and doing his laundry) and procured the use of rather large water glasses for our first drink and after finishing those “over the rocks” drinks, the trip became a hazy, fog filled adventure. Before I knew it the night had passed and I woke up, feeling fairly…make that very hung-over, possessing light sensitive throbbing eyeballs and in a bed that was obviously in a motel room.

On the other side of a night table, upon which was perched a large bottle of Old Granddad 100 proof whisky along with wallets change and another empty bottle of something alcoholic (black label Jack Daniels I think but my eyes were not focusing so well), was Benny laying in his own bed thank God (Benny, if you ever read this story there is neither innuendo nor demeaning accusation being hurled here it’s just that you are definitely not my type.) About the time my eyes focused on his torso, he allayed my fears by opening, although ever so slowly his own, obviously hurting eyes and muttered “Oh, it’s you. Where the hell are we and did you get the license of that Bus?” Sitting up at the same time I forced my body to respond to the same impulses, I replied that I had no idea but thought that  “The Hair of the dog” would be a good idea so we poured the remainder of the Old Granddad into two conveniently placed Motel room cups, drained them, almost choking and in unison inquired, “Were is Freddy?” Leaping from his bed; throwing open the door and searching around the parking lot, , Benny suddenly became extremely sober, alert and agitatedly boomed “…And just where the F**K are my F**KING keys?”
Next week's 09-20-2010 (#159) title: Part II of Road trip to Jacksonville

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Why bother with Primaries?

While most American states are frantically seeking ways to reduce spending and our massive debt, some states are throwing good money away after bad by running costly primary elections, ostensibly for determining a political party's candidate in a general election. In the past I had questioned the wisdom of running elections when there is only one, unopposed candidate...that is until I realized that there could always be "write-in candidates". Therefore, if a state allows a write-in candidate, then the general election must be held, but there is no reason for running primaries to accommodate write-in candidates  since these can be offered in the General election. If your state allows a write-in candidate in a primary election you should demand election law changes in that state to prohibit this waste of time and money...no matter whose money it is. You should also make sure that if a candidate is running without opposition in a primary, there is no need to hold the primary unless additional issues need to be resolved.


I have issues with ever growing problems with primary elections. We witnessed my first concern when
in 2009, after Arlen Specter (R-NJ) voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in the Senate on February 10, 2009 enraging Republicans and Conservatives by being only one of three members of the GOP to break ranks and vote for this massive spending bill, it became apparent to him his future in the GOP was over. So after serving 44 years as a Republican Senator  he switched parties becoming a Democrat to increase his chances of being re-elected. However, he lost to Joe Sestak in New Jersey's Democratic Primary May 18, 2010.




Next we heard that in May of 2009, Florida Governor Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist Jr (I-FL) declared he would run for the vacated senate seat of Mel Martinez. He campaigned as a Republican until it became obvious (after falling 20 points behind in the polls) that he could not beat his GOP opponent, Marco Rubio, so he announced his intent to run as a non-affiliated candidate but retain his membership in the Republican party.

 

 However, he formally switched to the Independent party on May 13, 2010. His election campaign announced they would not refund donations that were made to his election fund while Crist was running as a Republican.


Now we hear that Senator Lisa Ann Murkowski (R-AK) lost  the Alaskan Republican Primary and is seeking to either affiliate with any party that will have her or run as a write-in candidate. Since she has campaign funds left over she figures she might as well spend them to continue to represent Alaska in any way she can. If you do not believe this story, you can check it yourself in that venerable, conservative rag, the New York Times.

What is wrong with politicians today? Do they not know the meaning of "Defeat"? I know that they are very handsomely paid, a lot more than their private business counter parts in this day and age, but are they so inept that the very thought of having to obtain a real job drives them to such desperate measures to retain their cushy government jobs as these three fine examples? What is wrong with the three states these people represent? Granted governor Crist 's situation is a little different but I feel that once a candidate files his/her/its required election papers, that should be it. They should not be able to change the party they indicated on those filed papers as all of these Cretans (two Cretans and one Cretaness?) have done.

Why is it not "False Advertising" to obtain money by misrepresenting yourself? No one should be able to keep running and running as these might do? If Specter ever decided to follow Ms. Murkowski's  example, he could run in the General election as a write-in candidate. When will it end?  Only two items are required to squash insidious activities such as these. Install term limits and alter the election process to only allow a candidate to campaign as they represented themselves when they filled their election papers. Both can be accomplished without requiring amendments to the US Constitution...they would only require changes to the state's election laws. This may require amendments to the state's constitution but that is a lot easier than attempting to amend the US Constitution. The best part about this kind of problem solving is that most states would probably have these changes made, because it would be the will of the majority of their citizens and there is nothing that the current, Constitutional hating administration can do about it.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Proposed Mosque near Ground Zero Part III

Finishing my discussion on this subject, we need to cover the Money man behind the Imam: Sharif El-Gamal:
1. He has a history of run-ins with the law, money problems in 2008 and yet he bought the ground zero mosque building in 2009: Read Here

2. Some Muslims, like Asra Nomani, share non-Muslim concerns.
 
3. The co-signer of Burlington Coat factory property (ground zero mosque building) is Hisham Elzanaty whose dealings need to be scrutinized.
 
4. Sharif El-Gamal also has very questionable past and present dealings.
 
5. Will failure to pay taxes violate his terms his lease on the property?
 
Overall Wrap-up:
Although this video is from 2008, it shows the frightening connection between the UN and Islam and as I pointed out in the first part of this blog, , Kofi Anan, a former UN Secretary, was quoted as though he were a saint; now I understand why.
 
A few questionable words from the Imam’s own mouth should make you sick.
 
If you are not sufficiently frightened by now, you should read this…and remember it is from 2003!
 
Here’s an article in a Canadian Newspaper that contains some items you should ponder.
 
In closing, listen to the words of a Muslim leader from Great Britain…Which contradicts the portrait of Islam as a “peaceful” religion and in my translated copy of the Koran, this “Jerk’s” claims seem to be substantiated by Surah 3. Al-‘Imran Verse 116 through 118 which can be found on page 22.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Monday Attitude Adjustment Story #157


Traveling from California to Ohio

When we moved from California to Ohio in January 2000, we took the longer, southern route (Route 66) because there were four of us traveling in a Ford Escort LX (at least it was a four door); Me, Sylvia, Ryan and our Grandson Stephen whose fourth birthday would not be until May. Why do I though this fact in, well because it was really uncomfortable for him being strapped in the required car seat, so I would not travel any more than ten hours a day with frequent breaks (net 8 hours of driving). If we made him sit too long at one time the poor kid would suffer from terrible leg cramps but all in all he was really pretty good for such a long, boring trip.

Sylvia was still drinking at that time, so when I stopped at a gas station in Oklahoma, I noticed they were selling cold beer, so I asked both Sylvia and Ryan if they wanted beer for the night at the Motel we would be staying at. I indicated that I was not going to drink anything…just get whatever sleep I could and Ryan said he didn’t care, so Sylvia said we could get it later. I think she was actually trying to figure out some way she could get more than beer because she never turned down alcohol in the past (being an alcoholic and not into recovery for another two years yet). When We settled into a motel in Northern Texas, she managed to drive off without Ryan after I went to bed. Finding out about it the next morning I was a little upset and told Ryan he would have to go with her the next time so she couldn’t buy anything stronger than beer. I chuckled out loud as Sylvia vehemently groused about how this county was a “Dry County”. “I never heard of ‘Dry Counties’ in Texas before!” I asked her why she just didn’t drive to a “wet” county and her reply was “It was so foggy I didn’t want to try to find the damn thing on side roads with the instructions that woman gave me. I could hardly understand her anyway!” When I found out the woman had given her directions by North, South,East & West, I knew why Sylvia could hardly understand her…it wasn’t her southern accent as my wife had complained.

She checked the map and made it clear to me that we were not stopping over night in Texas again and I indicated that would not be a problem as I had to catch US 75 North in Arkansas anyway so I would be happy to stop just short of a large metropolis in Arkansas. When night came, Stephen and I laid down to sleep while Ryan and a grumbling Sylvia drove off to hunt down a place where beer could be purchased. This time I stayed awake because as soon as Ryan left, Stephen woke up and started crying and would not stop until he returned so it was hard for me to sleep through the racket. When they did return Sylvia was in the darkest mood I had ever seen before but Ryan was laughing so hard he fell down to his knees as soon as he entered the room. I asked what the problem was and Sylvia just glared at us while Ryan made chocking sounds and gestures which I finally got and asked, “Don’t tell me another ‘dry county’?” Ryan almost choked while gurgling his answer, “YESSSSS!” Poor Sylvia I did feel sorry for her but at least it made a good story to tell…now.


Next week's 09-13-2010 (#158) title: TBD

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Shameless Self-Promotion - New book available now

For all fans of my Monday Attitude Adjustment Stories (MAAS) book who yearned for a sequel, the wait is finally over! I have just released my book MAAS II; available in print only at the moment and only available on LuLu.com (as far as I know).

You may not be aware of the fact (as my meager books sales my indicate; I hope that's the reason)  that all my previous books that are available Amazon as eBooks are also available in their printed format as well.

So, here for your reading enjoyment is MAAS II; I simplified both the book name and design so no one would be intimidated or scared away from long titles and "too much information"in my book as our President is so fond of complaining.

Oh, in case many of you are unaware of this I'd like to inform you that all Kindle eBooks on Amazon.com can be purchased without have to buy a Kindle...they provide other for reading books to accommodate Blackberries, other cell phones etc. including computer reading software. Also, if you purchase books on Mobipocket.com, they will provide you with free software for reading the book on multiple reading devices as well.

REMEMBER: My new book is currently available only in printed form on LuLu so get your copy now before it is too late (Grandma needs a new pair of shoes).

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Proposed Mosque near Ground Zero Part II

Continuing my discussion on this subject, we need to cover these points:

  • Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
    • Hamas (Part I Blog)
    • Sharia Law
    • Muslim Brotherhood
    • CAIR
  • The Imam’s wife, Daisy Khan.
1. First we scrutinize Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as he declares that Sharia Law and American law are almost the same:


As previously stated in Part I, this Imam wants to install Shariah (Islamic holy law) in the United States…no make that globally. However, contrary to his claims, Sharia Law is NOT a peaceful, caring law when you look at it in practice: 




…Forty lashes for wearing trousers? Is it just a coincidence that installing Sharia Law globally is also a goal of the Muslim Brotherhood? The Muslim Brotherhood that took root in Egypt that now even Egypt has outlawed? The group that spawned Hamas can also be tied, although indirectly, to Hezbollah and all these groups can arguably be tied to , Abdullah Yusuf Azzam  founded it to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.

This Imam is the same man who would not denounce Hamas or other extreme Islamic organizations as “Terrorists”. How can he justify his assertions about that organization when the Hamas Charter contains the following statement:

"Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors” (read the entire charter online)"
2. Next on the list of the Imam’s associated organization to study is the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR):

• This article ties the Imam Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan to CAIR
• CAIR is now considered a Foreign Agent:



• In A 2009 CBN News report on CAIR:



  • Daisy Khan
Her soft side pandering video



But here’s a current speech where she claims America Hates Islam



In a 2007 Newsweek video she has a totally different view of America’s treatment of Muslims...I wonder what changed?

Read her Interview with Sally Quinn

She doesn’t seem to think much of Catholics as this article about her tenants seems to imply.

Since the money man, Sharif El-Gamal, seems to have new revelations popping up every day, I will leave my discussion on him for Part III