Friday 3-19

♣ 19 March 2010~~Week 11 of 2010: 78 days this year…287 remain ♣

♣ Two Quotes to think about…Today ♣

"I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen."

~Martin Luther: reformer

"We know that change is rarely a smooth process. It can be intimidating and chaotic. In fact, transition has the potential to either launch an organization to the next level, or dump it into the deepest pit. That’s why wise leaders look out for change, then manage it, and lead their people through it."

~ John Maxwell: Evangelical author

♣ Free Ramblings ♣

Our Congressional Rep finally came out yesterday morning stating that she would be voting FOR the Health Care Reform Bill. It took her way to long to join the team. I think she is way too interested in getting re-elected than supporting the views of those who elected her. A sad scenario indeed. I understand we had many conservatives here in AZ. I understand there are a whole bunch of conservatives living in her district. Doesn’t matter, she ran on a platform of change and has been stepping back from that position since her plane first landed in DC. Just as I was grateful of her announced vote, she also came out for a bill that will allow gun ownership of just about any kind of gun one wants, including an assault rifle. Arizona recently became an open carry state, meaning that you can walk around with a visible gun attached for all to see. You can even take the gun with you into a restaurant or the Grand Canyon. Now Annie wants it to be OK to do this with an assault rifle? Yep! I had to fly about two weeks after 911 from Phoenix to San Diego. I must say, seeing the armed National Guard walking through both airports did not necessarily make me feel any safer. I support the military, I just don’t feel safer when I see them ‘protecting me’ in my own backyard. I did wonder what I would do, in those airports, if there was suddenly assault weapon fire there. Would I drop to the floor?, try to run to get behind something?, stop and raise my hands?, or just get shot? Luckily for me and the thousands of other travelers throughout the entire country, we never had to find out what we would do. I was also uncomfortable in Egypt when I saw so many ‘tourist police’ walking around with guns to protect the tourists. After talking to those police who stayed with us during the day, I found out they were basically just young men who had good shooting skills but had never used their gun anywhere except on a shooting range. I still didn’t feel safe, but maybe a tiny bit relieved, knowing they had never used the guns in a real life situation.

The other day I heard an interesting interview regarding the use of the term conservative. Not too long ago it was seen as word that came from ‘to conserve’. That meant not to waste, to save, to manage natural resources. No longer, it seems, at least in politics. Now to declare one a conservative means more about saying no to change and returning to better times some decades ago. The problem of course is that most people have selective memory about previous times. It seems the only way to explain change to many conservatives is do some homework to show that while one may think that the days of decades ago were better than today is to use some history. Like when liberal Clinton left office, we had a huge surplus of money in the bank ($120 billion). It was the Bush II who spent all we had and so much more leaving us with a deficit of about $420 billion. Hmmm.

We had another great spring day here in our tiny mountain community. Yes, we still have some piles of dirty snow around town, but it is slowly disappearing. My pile is down to about three feet. Today we made it to 63° and it only dropped to 28° last night. It is so nice to be able to open windows for part of the day without having the furnace turn on.

♣Random Fact: ♣

In the movie Pulp Fiction, in every scene where there is a clock the time is 4:20 which is a code for drugs in America.

♣Side Show Stories—♣

MVUTJINI, Swaziland - A Swaziland woman said she followed through with a court order allowing her to remove all of her possessions from her ex-husband's house, including the roof. Busisiwe Ginindza of Mvutjini said she and local police officers went to the house Thursday and executed the order from Manzini Magistrate's Court to remove everything she owned from the home she used to share with his husband, The Swazi Observer reported. Ginindza, whose repossessed belongings include the roof of the house, said her husband kicked her out in July and would not allow her to take any of her belongings, despite the fact that most of the items in the house were purchased with her money. "I left my 14-year old son with him, but lately he has not been able to go to school because his father locked him out of the house," Ginindza said of her estranged husband, Sikelela Dlamini.

♣ A quick smile ♣

When my wife and I went up to New England a couple of years ago we decided to stay in one of those quaint little inns. The clerk at the inn asked me if we wanted a room with a shower or a tub.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Well, sir, in a tub, you can sit down."

♣ Puzzle ♣

Each of these phrases is the anagram of a recent celebrity. Rearrange the letters to identify the celeb.

1 Perky, Arty

2 I Warm Billions

3 Big Melons

4 Old West Action

♣ Calendar Information ♣

• March’s Month Long Observances •

BIRTHSTONE: aquamarine and bloodstone (courage) FLOWER: Narcissus [daffodil, jonquil] (vanity)

National Cheerleading Safety Month • National Clean Up Your IRS Act Month • National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month • National Craft Month • National Ethics Awareness Month •National Eye Donor Month • National Frozen Food Month • National Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month •National Kidney Month• National Nutrition Month • National Social Work Month • National Umbrella Month • National Women's History Month • Optimism Month • Play The Recorder Month • Poison Prevention Awareness Month • Red Cross Month • Save Your Vision Month • Sing With Your Child Month • Small Press Month •Spiritual Wellness Month • Women's History Month • Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month • Youth Art Month

• Observance Weeks in March•

6-21

   •Iditarod Race

14-20

   •Campfire USA Birthday Week •National Poison Prevention Week •Nat’l Agriculture Week •Nat’l Animal Poison Prevention Week

14-21

   •National Toad Hollow Week

15-19

   •Wildlife Week

15-21

   •Act Happy Week •American Chocolate Week •International Brain Awareness Week •Wellderly Week: To recognize Senior Citizens who don’t act their age

16-22

   •National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week

19-27

   National Bubble (blowers) Week

• 19 March Observances—US/UN/World •

Poultry Day

National Chocolate Caramel Day

Operation Iraqi Freedom Day

Swallows Return to San Juan Capistrano Day

•19 March Observances—by country •

Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy: Father's Day

Australia : Canberra Day

• "meeting place" in the old Ngunnawal language, named the Australian capital in 1908

Italy, Spain, Canary Island : St Joseph Day (Virgin Mary’s husband)

♣ Number One Songs in…

1950►Chatanoogie Shoe Shine Boy - Red Foley

1958►Don’t/I Beg of You - Elvis Presley

1966►The Ballad of the Green Berets - SSgt Barry Sadler

1974►Sunshine on My Shoulders - John Denver

1982►I Love Rock ’N Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1831►1st US bank robbery (City Bank, New York/$245,000)
• Born on this day •

     …The Arts

Authors, Artists and Composers

Philip Roth, 77, author (The Great American Novel, Portnoy’s Complaint)

Tobias Smollett, 1721, Scottish writer, baptized

Entertainers in Cinema, Music, Theater, and TV

Ursula Andress, 74, actress (Dr. No, What’s New Pussycat?), (Bern, Switzerland)

Glenn Close, 63, actress (“Damages,” The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction; stage: Sunset Boulevard)

Jackie "Moms" Mabley, 1894, comedienne

Patrick McGoohan, 1928, actor: Secret Agent

Bruce Willis, 55, actor (Sin City, The Sixth Sense, Die Hard), (Idar-Oberstein, West Germany)

     …Athletes

Richie (Don Richard) ‘Whitey’ Ashburn, 1927, Baseball Hall of Famer: Phillies
J Jay Berwanger, 1914, 1st Heisman Trophy winner (1935)

     …Business, Education

Lord Vestey, 69, British food magnate/billionaire (Union International)

     …Politics

William Jennings Bryan, 1860, "The Great Commoner" orator/statesman

Wyatt Earp, 1848, frontiersman, lawman, gunfighter: gunfight at O.K. Corral

Adolf Eichmann, 1906, (Ruhr, Germany), Nazi Gestapo officer

Earl Warren, 1891, Governor-CA/14th supreme court chief justice

     …Science/Religion

Sir Richard Burton, 1821, explorer/translator (Arabian Nights)

David Livingstone, 1813, Scotish explorer (found by Stanley in Africa)

•Today’s Obits •

Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1950, sci-fi author (Tarzan of the Apes), @ 74

Anne Klien, 1974, fashion designer, breast cancer @ 51

Rene-Robert Cavelier La Salle, 1687, French explorer (Louisiana), murdered in what is now Texas @ 43

•What Happened on this Day •

     …The Arts

1928►"Amos & Andy" debuts on radio

1951►Herman Wouk's "Caine Mutiny" is published

1953►The Academy Awards was televised for the first time with Bob Hope host.

     …Athletics

1997►Major League Baseball announces 5 year/$50M deal with Pepsi

…Business, Education.

1985►IBM announced that it was planning to stop making the PCjr consumer-oriented computer.

     …Politics

1644►200 members of Peking imperial family/court commit suicide

1918►Congress authorizes time zones & approves daylight saving time

1979►House of Representatives begins live TV broadcasts via C-SPAN

1996►Winnie Mandela divorces Nelson after 38 years of marrage

2001►California officials order the first of a further two days of rolling blackouts.

2003►President George W. Bush addresses the nation via live television and announces that Operation Iraqi Freedom has begun

     …Science/Religion

1915►Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)

♣ANSWERS to puzzle ♣

1. Katy Perry: Perky, Arty (singer)

2. Robin Williams: I Warm Billions

3. Mel Gibson: Big Melons

4 Clint Eastwood: Old West Action

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