June 28, 2005
What I Learned Last Week
To catch up on my thoughts while I was away and to share them....
Shark Attacks: We were at the Gulf at the same time as the tragic shark attacks, with a young girl dying and a young man in critical condition. From what I learned, last year Hurricane Ivan destroyed some of the sandbar which acted as a natural barrier between the sharks going after their normal prey versus people in shallow waters. Fortunately for me, I only taste good to mosquitoes.
Democrats Can Save Social Security: Early last week I learned that the Democratic Party in Florida had its bank account levied by the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes, which includes the monies withheld from employees' checks and the matching social security funds. In total, the Florida Democrats owe over $200,000 to the IRS and cannot account for another $900,000 in contributions that are "missing." These are the same people who want to be in charge of social security and tell the nation how to run its finances!? If they want to save social security, they can start by paying their taxes.
Drivers Wanted: Should people who learned to drive in 1935 learn not to drive in 2005? Last week I wasted ten minutes watching a Florida retiree get out of a parking space at a shopping center. Amazing.
Supreme Court Needs Me: Yes, I am making myself available for the next opening on the Supreme Court. If appointed (and surely confirmed), I will commit to attending law school to get up to speed quickly. I will have another advantage over the majority of judges. I will have read the Constitution and know its intent. On the eminent domain issue, the justices perverted the Fifth Amendment allowing corrupt politicians and real estate developers to seize private property from individuals for a really twisted "public use"--the bigger guy promises to pay more taxes than the smaller guy (or, should I say "working families"?). Then the justices ended, once-and-for-all, any confusion about the posting of the Ten Commandments on government property. They said that you can and that you cannot. Each side claims victory. I think it would have been easier just to pick out the top five they liked and to allow those anywhere.
Terri Schiavo--Last insult by husband: I drove right by the cemetery with Terri Schiavo's grave and thought about her and the marker that her husband chose--saying "I kept my promise. It's enough to make you sick and makes one want to pull the plug on him. However, if you want to be touched and know what real love is when it comes to taking care of someone, then read Tom McMahon's "Love Acts the Part." Then, for the sick like me, you can go to another picture of the grave marker on his site.
I love parades!: ...but, no one invited me to this one. I prefer to take my kids to parades for Veterans Day and the like, where men look like men rather than the Village People. May I have the word "gay" back to use as originally intended? (I must admit that some of the costumes were festive and had many gay colors.)
The new Democratic voting bloc--Felons!: Yeah, like you are surprised. Now, that the Democrats have exhausted getting as many voters as they can from graveyards, universities, and across the borders: they reach to the next group which might be their biggest bloc--felons. Now, these guys can fill voting blocs and cell blocks at the same time. Gotta love the shamelessness of Democrats.
Watch something important on television: Tonight the President addresses the nation to give an update on the Iraq situation and present a side that the media might have overlooked--there is a lot of good news. If you're open minded, then listen to President Bush at 8:00 PM EDT. If you're not, then you can join Ted Kennedy and his like in continuing to believe and spread all the false and negative claims about our mission in Iraq. The Democrats view patriotism is very strange ways.
I learned more last week, but that's all I have time to relate at the moment, and you wouldn't want to hear about my great tennis shot here--would you? Have a good evening and be sure to watch the President. There might be a pop quiz in the morning.
Posted by GM Roper at June 28, 2005 05:10 PM | TrackBackWhoo-whee. A temporary reprieve from moving. Still got the internet!
Welcome back, Woody. Funny, I was going to suggest that DEET made for an effective shark repellant even before I read your post...
________________
Thanks, Jim. I think Florida is glad that I got back home, too.
Are you moving your residence?
W
Posted by jim hitchcock at June 28, 2005 05:23 PM
LAX has bought up the whole neighborhood for expansion. They're in the process of razing homes one by one (the house next door and across the street for example), which is pretty interesting...the neighborhood is starting to look like a mouthful of missing teeth.
Dummy me, I applied for and got a guarantee for a mortgage loan 1 month before 9/11...didn't act on it right away, and have watch property values more than double since then. My only defense is, well, I've lived here 45 years. It's all about inertia, I guess.
BTW, how was the food at the Iraqi exhibit at Epcot Center :)
Posted by jim hitchcock at June 28, 2005 05:57 PM
I went back to Bridgeton Missouri in 2002 to see my old boyhood home before it got torn down for airport expansion of St Louis' Lambert Field. The pity was that all the trees had finally gotten to a decent size, and now they were cutting them all down. But the same as what you described, Jim: a vacant lot here, a vacant lot there, all over the place. Twilight-zone-ish
Posted by Tom McMahon at June 28, 2005 06:18 PM
Jim, 45 years in a home? That is both awesome and scary. As an Army Brat I was used to moving every year or three. 9 years is the longest in a single home. I cannot fathom 45 years.
Posted by GM Roper at June 28, 2005 06:25 PM
What's REALLY scary is how much STUFF I've accumulated. I really do have a fear of moving.
The real loss of living in a place like L.A. is that, no matter how friendly you are, you wind up being surrounded by a bunch of strangers. A real lack of sense of community. I can only imagine the trauma of being an Army brat being forced to make new friends every year...all the working to fit in and all, but I've no doubt that in the long run, it had a positive effect on you.
Posted by jim hitchcock at June 28, 2005 06:33 PM
Jim,
At the Iraq pavilion, they make you stand in a long line packed with people you don't know, people in uniforms yell orders to hurry (and you better), they cram you into a small boat with no life jackets, they send you on a scary ride through a warehouse flooded with water, they torture you by making you listen to "It's a Small World" over-and-over-and over, and then you have to eat overpriced and bad food provided in the overbearing heat. Amnesty International and President Carter are making demands for its closing.
On the bright side, it gave me the idea that we could make warfare fun and, maybe, unnecessary if we placed loudspeakers on tanks entering battle blaring "It's a Small World" to the enemies and terrorists.
Play and sing along! We can turn war into a lovefest!
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/smworld.htm
It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all
There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world
(I think I'm going to cry from the emotion.)
Woody
Posted by Woody at June 28, 2005 06:34 PM
Know what you mean about the trees, Tom. Seems kinda unfair. (Whoops, here come the treehugger barbs ;)
Funny that my two favorite airports when I was was young (and my mom worked for TWA) were Lambert and Hartsfield. I loved them because they had the best game rooms for kids.
Too funny, Woody. Small World is the one ride I have never been on at Disneyland OR Disney World. That song makes me want to bite somebody.
Posted by jim hitchcock at June 28, 2005 06:52 PM
In the area around Boston's Logan Airport the town of Winthrop is burdened by being on the flight path of one of the two runways available for departing and arriving aircraft (one every couple of minutes, 5am to 1am, ish). For years now MassPort (the government agency that controls the harbor and airport) has been pressing for a third runway, but the neighborhood over which aircraft leaving and arriving would fly has objected, with the help of sympathetic State and Local politicians. With this ruling on eminent domain, the State can now simply declare the third runway a "public good" and trump the neighborhood and their supporters. Winthropians will be delighted. What a country!
My paternal grandfather, Granpa Walsh, was born in Ireland in 1889, which means he retired at age 65 (mandatory then) in 1954, before I was born. He was a big man, for his time, at 6' 1" with a big barrel chest and powerful arms. He spent many of his years as a phone company line foreman (running a line crew) by literally fighting to keep his position as foreman. When he retired it is remembered that he tore up his driver's license and said, "If I am too old to work then I am too old to drive.". I plan to do the same.
I hate parades, the clowns frighten me.
The President gave a fine speech tonight, but he has one tough row to hoe.
The Small World ride is good but I vastly prefer Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
Posted by too many steves at June 28, 2005 08:22 PM
Coulrophobia?
Posted by GM Roper at June 28, 2005 08:41 PM
why should one feel sick about someone who allowed doctors to pull the plug on a brain dead person? I mean, imagine if we enacted legislation to prevent such a thing? boy, now that would require a whole lotta government expenditure to enforce!
_________________
Steve, we're past that point. I felt sick at the way he continued to flaunt his feigned righteousness and stick his thumb in the eyes of the family who really cared for her with one last and permanent insult.
Woody
Posted by steve at June 28, 2005 09:20 PM
