CIT files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Money

Lender CIT Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday Nov. 1, 2009, a potential blow to the thousands of small and mid-sized businesses that rely on the company for loans to keep their operations afloat.

The Chapter 11 filing is one of the biggest in U.S. corporate history, following Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, WorldCom and General Motors. CIT’s bankruptcy filing shows $71 billion in finance and leasing assets against total debt of $64.9 billion. A prepackaged bankruptcy, which has the support of major bondholders, speeds up the process of restructuring debt and could allow CIT  to exit court protection by the end of the year. In addition to reducing its debt, CIT said the plan cuts cash needs over the next three years, which should help it return to profitability more quickly.

Americans say Bullshit!

Instead of government protections in the form of Chapter  11 and government bailouts while the executives of these companies continue to receive huge bonuses- I say the Obama administration and the FBI need to arrest these “white-collar” crooks and throw their ass in jail to sit alongside with other CEO crooks like Bernard Maddoff, Koslowski, and Enron’s CFO Jeff Skilling.

Government (particularly he Obama administration) is in bed with these guys. Americans knew it the minute Obama appointed Geithner as Treasury-Secretary. Timothy Geithner was the one who bankrupted Lehman Brothers and Obama puts him in charge of the administration’s economic recovery?

Americans are tired of being lied to, tired of watching the majority of good paying jobs being shipped over to China. Sooner or later, Mr. President- AMERICANS WILL NOT SIT STILL FOR YOUR LIES, they will stop listening to your empty words and great speeches and they will revolt. When Americans are pushed to the wall- which they are now by watching their jobs going over-sea’s and their quality of life disappear, watching millions of illegal Mexicans move into American and living better lifestyles than Americans- the revolution will come in one form or other. either they will throw Obama’s ass out of office in 2012 or there will be riots in the streets as in the 1960’s.

Note to Obama- the revolution is coming! (one way or other)

Obama, smart politician he is- will most likely duck out the side-door before the proverbial shit hits the fan. Rather than be humiliated in a overwhelming defeat in 2012- Obama will announce he will not be running for re-election. It is clear to many of the Obama faithful that Obama was more interested in “winning” the presidency than actually “being” president. Obama is demonstrating  an,  abundancy of late,  to being the most “do nothing” president in modern history, even more so than “do nothing” Jimmy Carter.

Already well into a four-year term, Americans are at the breaking point. They hear that the economy is recovering but continue to see jobs disappear. Americans have always equated a healthy economy with lots of jobs everywhere, a plethora of jobs, particularly at Christmas.

Here in the Chicagoland area- Rockford, IL. has been rated one of the top-ten cities in America where there are no jobs. Rockford includes Chicago’s Far-West suburbs. Most of the business like Caribou Coffee, Starbucks,  and other’s  you may walk into around the Chicago suburbs- have only teenagers behind the counter. Where are the older workers? The retired workers? The housewives who used to work part time? Where are the alpha-males over age 50? All retired?

Most businesses in America hire young kids to work a register who have never worked a cash register before and they’re paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 hour. And business wonders why customer service sucks?

Slashing CEO bonuses, Bankruptcy and government bailouts will not protect millions of Americans from massive job loss. Government is responsible for forcing big business to move to China through over=-regulation, (Osha, pollution controls, providing health insurance to all employees) and then after business pay all that- the government turns around and hits them with huge taxes. And Americans wonder why jobs are moving to CHina where there are no such controls, where there are not taxes and where China enjoys a 30-percent tariff on all goods the US sells to CHina while we hit CHina with a mere 3-percent tariff.

Bears fans never happy

Chicago sports-critics are particularly brutal on the hometeam. They always find fault with local teams. Bears beat Browns 30-6 and headlines claim, “ugly win,” or “not too memorable.” Not too memorable? They beat the Browns frickin 30-6. For the Bears that’s memorable. This finding fault with every little thing has become a Chicago habit. Chicagoans it seems are not happy unless they’re finding fault with something.

Bet the Bronco’s won’t be taking a week off again this year

The Denver Bronco’s had a week off. Young coach (Josh McDaniel’s) insisted they not practice. Special teams on the Ravens destroyed them 30-7. The Bronco’s have their work cut out now – they don’t appear to be built to put up points quickly on teams. Quarterback Kyle Orton is going to have to look downfield a lot more now…..16 pass attempts for 44 yards is pretty disgraceful.

I bet the Bronco’s won’t be taking another week off anytime soon.

Unclassic Halloween

Scared Stiff

For those of you older than 40- remember when TV used to schedule the classic Halloween movies on Halloween night? Bela Lagosi as Dracula, Lon Chaney as Wolfman,  and Boris Karloff as the Mummy. I even looked for Mel Brook’s classic, Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder and could not find it. In my Chicago suburb, Comcast, the local cable provider with over 200 channels to choose from, did not have one decent Halloween movie on. What happened to all those Halloween comedy’s they used to show like Arsenic and Old Lace, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in Scared Stiff or Abbot and Costello in Meet Frankenstein?  I did watch The Canterville Ghost but it was not the classic 1945 version with Charles Laughton  and Margaret O’Brien BUT the Alyssa Milano/Patrick Stewart version.

What has happened to the state of TV programming in America? Have TV stations just caved in to Blockbuster and the Internet? TV doesn;t seem to even try to schedule quality programing anymore. Only Rich Koz (Svengoolie) ay Chanel 26 “The U” here in CHicago had a first-rate Halloween movie on, Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Kudo’s to Rich Koz.

Eight weeks to Xmas

Clay Aiken – Merry Christmas

some years there are 10 weeks from Halloween to Xmas. This year. the way the dates fall on the calendar- there are only 8. We will be inundated now with 8 weeks of Xmas commercials. Here’s one way to screw with corporations who have taken a very blase approach to Xmas. Next time you’re in the WalMart- wish the cashier a “Merry Christmas.” They’re not allowed to wish you one- they;re only allowed to take you’re money but my feeling is that if you have just dropped a bundle of cash in a WalMart- you should be able to wish anyone a Merry Christmas. That;s the power of capitalism.

Pizza Parlour Explosion

Shaddap You Face – Joe Dolce

The last time I tried to find a pizza parlour in my area there were only one or two. Today, I noticed while driving the major highway a plethora of new pizza parlours. There’s White ____ Pizzeria, Nicks & Willy;s Pizza, Danny’s Pizza, Little Caesar’s, Pizza Hut, Jake’s PIzza, Domino’s, Papa John’s, etc etc. When did the “pizza-wars” heat up? Even visiting my local grocery chain there seems to be a pizza-war” going on in the frozen foods. Remember when DiGiorno’s was the only “self-rising” pizza? Looking in my frozen pizza section, there are now at least a dozen “self-rising” pizza’s. The pizza wars have intensified recently in the battle for the multi-billion dollar delivery and restaurant industry.

Pizza Wars

In the midst of an intense pizza war, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s are spending millions in marketing to outdo the other. The rivals are even mentioning each other by name – once against basic marketing rules – in an attempt to dominate the $25 billion pizza industry. “When you have lots of competition, as there is with pizza, you attack your opponent,” said James Lowry, a marketing professor. “The old rule of not naming your competition in advertising has fallen by the wayside. Now, you just attack.”

Dallas-based Pizza Hut bills itself as the world’s largest pizza restaurant company with more than 7,100 restaurants and delivery units in the U.S. and 3,000 international outlets in 86 countries.

Papa John’s chief executive officer is John Schnatter, a 1983 Ball State graduate. The Louisville-based firm has 466 company-owned outlets and 1,314 franchised stores in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Papa John’s plans to add 400 more restaurants in each of the next two years. “You can say you have the best tasting pizza or even have the lowest prices every day,” Schnatter says, “but it is the consumer who ultimately will make the decision of who is better.”

Corruption in the desert

Over the weekend it was announced that Hami Karzai’s political-opponent, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah,  had dropped out and that there would be no “presidential runoff“  in Afghanistan at the same time it was reported that Karzis brother was not only being propped up by the CIA but was being paid by the Taliban drug-lords as well. As President Obama tried to make the tough decision whether or not to send an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, the revelation of corruption in the desert left many Americans asking the question, “Just what the hell are we doing in Afghanistan?”

Hamid Karzai was declared winner of the presidential vote in Afghanistan on Monday after his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the runoff. But questions concerning the Karzai government’s legitimacy and corruption remain as unresolved as before.

The case of Ahmed Wali Karzai, President Karzai’s brother, shows how difficult it is to deal with the government now in place. The Times reported last week that Ahmed Karzai is paid by the C.I.A. to help recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the agency’s direction. He has been linked to Afghanistan’s narcotics trade and is the most powerful figure in the swath of southern Afghanistan where the Taliban’s insurgency is strongest. The report that the Central Intelligence Agency has been secretly paying Ahmed Wali Karzai — the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and allegedly one of Afghanistan’s biggest drug barons — demonstrates the complexity of the war we are fighting there. Ahmed Wali Karzai is the face of corruption in Afghanistan, and given that President Hamid Karzai has lost much of his former legitimacy over his own reputed corruption, for the C.I.A. to be seen helping to support his far more corrupt brother seriously undermines the reputation of our entire military and diplomatic effort in Afghanistan.

President Bush committed the US and our troops to a prolonged mess with no “exit strategy.” Clearly now is the time to just bring the troops home and leave Iraq and Afghanistan to stand or fall on its own merit. America cannot hope to win being caught in the middle of a “drug war.” Just as we supplied the Taliban weapons to use against the Russians, the Russians who are now laughing at us, have been supplying the Taliban with weapons against us. It’s time to get the hell out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

What the heck is going on with our weather?

The Singing Weatherman

Last week as Denver received its second “snow=storm” in October, and up to three-feet of snow, and the ski resorts in the mountains received only an inch or two- many people are now asking the question, “What the heck is going on with our weather?” By now, the majority of Americans no longer believe in “Global Warming.” So, is the wierd weather just “cyclical?”

Global Warming? Chicago – 2009 Coolest July 8th in 118 Years

For the 12th time this meteorological summer (since June 1), daytime highs failed to reach 70 degrees Wednesday. Only one other year in the past half century has hosted so many sub-70-degree days up to this point in a summer season — 1969, when 14 such days occurred.  July closed with eye-catching temperature deficits over a wide swath of the northern U.S. overnight. Chicago’s 69.4-degree average July temperature at O’Hare International Airport was the coolest of the past 17 years. But at Midway Airport, the month’s 71.0-degree average temperature was the site’s coolest in 42 years. Estimates based on the month’s temperatures suggest the need for air conditioning was 30 percent below the long-term average.
Cool as it’s been in Chicago, in a number of Midwest cities July has never been cooler. Records were established in Rockford; Madison, Wis.; South Bend and Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and Benton Harbor, Saginaw and Flint, Mich. The month’s temperature in those cities finished 4.5 to more than 7 degrees below normal.

“Scientists Debunk UN “Global Warming

El Nino Is Back

The United Nations exaggerated warming 6-fold: the scare is over. SPPI’s authoritative Monthly CO2 Report for July 2009 announces the publication of a major paper by Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, demonstrating by direct measurement that outgoing long-wave radiation is escaping to space far faster than the UN predicts, showing that the UN has exaggerated global warming 6-fold. Lindzen’s paper on outgoing long-wave radiation shows the “global warming” scare is over.

H1 N1 flu shots- making kids sick?

My brother, a retired paramedic of 30-years believes that our public schools are making thousands of kids sick by giving them the H1 N1 flu shot.

Months back, when a swine flu vaccine was still just a glimmer in scientists’ eyes, US health officials were driving home the message that children, and especially those with underlying health conditions like asthma, and pregnant women were at greater risk of dying from H1N1 influenza and should be first in line for inoculation. But after rolling out the vaccine early last month, the authorities ran into a problem: there was not enough to go around.

“The National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have done a very good job of emphasising the importance of getting vaccinated. But then there’s no vaccine,” said Steven Salzberg, director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Maryland.

So why are they being so heavily pushed onto the general public? Why is there so much enthusiasm for flu shots in general, and especially the new H1N1 flu shot or nasal spray, when there’s basically no proof whatsoever that getting it is any more effective than saying a prayer that you won’t get it?

Why did New York try to force unwilling health care workers to get the H1N1 vaccine, when it’s already known that flu vaccines are not very effective?

There has been an American Medical Association study that concluded that for every 100 people who get a flu shot, it will prevent 1 person from getting the flu. So, even in the most rosy, best case scenario possible, the flu shot still seems fairly ineffective. That you might be that lucky 1 in a 100 for whom the flu shot actually works, doesn’t seem worth the risk that you will be one of the many unlucky ones who develops unwanted side effects.

So, should you get the regular flu vaccine or the H1N1 flu shot this year? That’s your call. Why not if it makes you feel better, or if you think getting shots is pleasurable? But if you decide not to, then from a scientific perspective—no one who believes that scientific based evidence is worth something will blame you. For the last three winters my job has offered flu shots at work, for the special discount price of something like $18 to &20 (USA) I want to say. For the first two winters I got the flu shot I remember being congested and tired, all the way into spring. Every time anyone got sick around the office I seemed to pick it up and it would linger and not go away. Last winter I decided not to get the flu shot and I hardly got sick at all. I did get a pretty bad cold at the end of the winter but it did not lurk into springtime like when I had gotten the flu shot. Personally I’m choosing not to get one this year either.

KH

THE KING OF NOTHING

If I could rule, I’d dance my cares away, find romance everyday.
I wouldn’t have to listen to these poor fools say,
“I’m the King, I’m the King, I’m the King of Nothing.”

~Seals and Croft

Barack Obama is becoming the biggest “do nothing” president since Jimmy Carter and like Carter, when the approval ratings are down, Obama gives a great speech.  But it’s all talk – and no action. Or failed action. Once his biggest supporter during the presidential primary with Obama making several appearances on SNL, even Saturday Night Live has of late, begun lambasting Obama as a “do nothing” president with this clip from the show opener two weeks ago:

Obama – do nothing skit

In 2008, Obama was elected by overwhelming mandate to bring America change they could believe in. Many of the Obama faithful are angry and dis appointed that it has been a year and Obama has nothing to show for it. He has done nothing. The ring-wing “Nazi” talk show hosts like Glenn Beck, Rush  Limbaugh, Hannity and others have been quick to point out Obama’s dismal record and shortcomings. In fact, Obama’s lack of a “Mission Statement” is proving to be fodder for the talk-show Nazi’s and Obama’s political enemies. His first day in office, Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay detention facilities. He has backpedaled. Instead of tackling jobs and the economy right away, Obama backed himself into an impossible corner like Hillary Clinton trying to “re-invent” health care. he will lo se. Already Obama has backpedaled on his own “Public Option” plan . Whatever health-care plan COngress comes up with is not going to be what Americans want or need. Have you seen how the federal government runs the food-stamp program, unemployment, Medicare or public transit in America? Miss an appointment and they cut you off for food stamps. Are Americans going to get a letter in the mail stating that due to a missed appointment, we are cutting off your health insurance? And anyone in America who has ridden government subsidized bus service like Pace, CTA, RTD, who build crappy plastic bus shelters, whose buses run every hour when they run at all and are never … on time, whose drivers are from some African nation, do not speak English and do not know where any landmarks are on their own bus route, government subsidized bus companies that now charge $3 per ride with no transfers and yet, who always beg for more government money- do we really want health insurance like the government-run food-stamps, unemployment or public transit? Do we really want government panels deciding who lives, who dies, who has pre-existing co nditions and are not eligible for health care. Do we really want government putting caps on medical procedures like they do with Medicare?

Underweight toddler denied health insurance

As President, Obama had a moral and ethical responsibility not to re-invent health-care but to regulate insurance companies who have been gouging for years and cherry-picking pre-existing conditions.

Here is Obama’s record  on the Obama-meter the first year in office and the overly ambitious campaign promises he has failed to deliver to the Obama faithful:

No. 24: End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000

No. 517: Negotiate health care reform in public sessions televised on C-SPAN

To achieve health care reform, “I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they’ll get a seat at the table, they just won’t be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.”

No. 000: Here are other overly ambitious campaign pormises Obama has failed to keep.

Ending the Irag/Afgani war and bringing the troop’s home, closing Guantanamo Bay, providing those who could not afford health-insurance with a “public-option” plan.

As SNL lampooned, it took Obama four-months to choose a dog for the White House. To add insult to injury. the Nobel committee decided to hand out prizes this year for ambition – not performance by awarding Obama with a Nobel Peace Prize- for doing nothing. Many joked that the Nobel committee awarded the prize to Obama because he was not George Bush. (see previous blog: How to win a Nobel Peace Prize without really trying). Perhaps “doing nothing” is …. keeping the peace. Particularly when America has a long-established pattern of butting our noses into the affairs of other nations, having the CIA topple regimes considered “unfriendly” to us. If the Republican party hadn’t derailed itself by letting the wackos and nitwits  like Glenn Beck,  Rush Limbaugh  and Sarah Palin hijack the party, Michael Steele  would now be capitalizing on Obama’s failure to keep his promises to the millions who elected him. They would be strategizing to win back Congressional seats in 2010 and picking a strong candidate to soundly defeat Obama in 2012. A candidate Americans could get behind. But alas, the Republican Party is being seen as the party of “Nazi’s.” If Obama hopes to win re-election in 2012 he had better turn around his dismal administration and start becoming the mover and shaker he promised Americans he would be. Obama’s first move should be to scrap the health-care plan. Tell Congress that they can come back to it later in his presidency (if he has one) and in the meantime Obama should concentrate on jobs and the economy.

Obama is a “professional student,” he has no “street-smarts.” Perhaps it was naive of Obama to make so many overly ambitious campaign promises. Promises which he could never keep. But perhaps it was even more naive of millions of Americans to out an overly naive “professional student” in the White House to begin with. The wacko Republican Party with its nitwit candidates of John McCain and Sarah Palin did not leave many Americans much choice. Election time always seems to come down to the lesser of two evils these days. Obama promised to change the way politics is conducted in America:

POTHEAD COUNTY

Is it a good idea to decriminalize Marijuana in the ghetto? I think not. It’s not the Marijuana itself, it when they combine Marijuana with alcohol, harder drugs and other criminal activities pertaining to Marijuana.

The dispensary has a TV lounge, a pool table and snacks and acupuncture are free for customers who drop up to $130 an ounce for 16 varieties of Marijuana.  Welcome to Pothead County, Colorado (Summit County) the latest Colorado county where Medical Marijuana dispensaries are exploding. Despite the Deadhead and Grateful Dead Posters on the wall or the Mexican blanket tablecloths, business is booming as the number of dispensaries are exploding. This is not the “ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH” that John Denver had in mind. Medical Marijuana users can also look at dozens of websites on the complimentary Internet rating sites such as Yelp or Citysearch to find their Marijuana of choice. The dispensary has five I-phone applications to assist “weed fans” find the closest place to buy bud in 14 states that allow medical marijuana.

Here in Slumming County- former country sheriff is pitted against current country sheriff in the debate. Gary Lindstrom, retired country sheriff and pot-head is in favor of Nov 3, vote to decriminalize pot. Current pain-in-the-ass sheriff John Minor is busting pot-smokers for smoking a joint in their car in the parking lots of the local ski resorts because he knows there’s much money in “fines” to be had.

In my previous blog I wrote about the ghetto conditions of Summit County. (THE GHETTO MENTALITY)

Drugs and alcohol in this high mountain ghetto is about escapism, from low wages, exorbitant rents, conditions of abject poverty, incest, domestic violence. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office logs some 3,000 DUI arrests every month. Add to this the fact that local city-councils have curtailed the number of liquor stores but are allowing Marijuana dispensaries to pop up everywhere simply for the tax revenue,  and you have one big accident waiting to happen. Voters in other wealthy resort towns like Vail and Aspen recently voted down the idea of “Medical Marijuana” dispensaries in their resort towns with the voters clearly stating in exit polls, “ the children in Vail already struggle with identifying appropriate adult conduct because they see guests “acting out” while on vacation. Approving the sale of ‘legal’ marijuana in Vail may further cloud their view of suitable behavior as they approach adulthood.”

Councilman Andy Daly said the Vail community has always been family-oriented and medical marijuana dispensaries aren’t consistent with that. Gee, and here I thought that Summit County (Silverthorne, Dillon, Breckenridge) were family-oriented communities with family-oriented ski resorts like Keystone. Guess I was mistaken. The greed of local city councils in allowing Medical Marijuana Dispensaries to open and operate in a ghetto environment is just one more reason to prohibit them or at least prohibit them prohibit them until the state legislature votes to correct some of the flaws in Amendment 20, the statewide voter-passed amendment that legalized medical marijuana in 2000. But greed and poverty run rampant in Summit County, Colorado and no doubt Summit County will sink into further poverty with rising drug use, crime rates, domestic violence and incest and a lowering of local wages and morality.

HAS TV GOTTEN TOO KINKY, TOO SATANIC? (WELCOME TO COUGARTOWN)

Reminiscent of Michelle Pfeffer’s sexy performance as a lounge singer in The Fabulous Baker Boys, the television trailer  for the new TV series Eastwick shows
a redhead wallowing  atop a grand-piano as she sings the song “Spooky” for the local powerful warlock sitting at the bar. Then the trailers pans to a couple caught by  a local policeman in an alley having just copulated. The trailer for Courtney Cox’s new TV series, Cougar show her throwing herself at a good-looking man walking down the street before she realizes she has already seduced him.  Since ABC-TV is now owned by “Disney” a family-oriented company, the question on many American TV viewers minds is this: HAS TV GOTTEN TOO KINKY, TOO SATANIC? (WELCOME TO EASTWICK AND COUGARTOWN)

Eastwick is an American television drama series created by Maggie Friedman. The series is a television adaptation of the John Updike novel, The Witches of Eastwick, and its 1987 film adaptation. The show currently airs on ABC and is currently being produced by ABC Studios. The show premiered on September 23, 2009 at 10:00 PM ET. The show follows the lives of three strangers, Roxanne, Joanna and Kat, who meet at a wishing fountain and soon become friends. A mysterious man named Darryl Van Horne has moved to Eastwick and has sinister plans for the women, but befriends them. Even more dangerous, he unleashes their supernatural powers. By igniting their hearts’ desires, he might just be opening Pandora’s box. Eastwick opened with initially mixed reviews. Metacritic has given the series 49 out of 100 based on the pilot episode, based upon 20 critical reviews, and a user score of 7.6 out of 10 based on 33 votes. Entertainment Weekly gave the pilot episode a B, stating the show “plays like Desperate Housewives if the Wisteria Lane ladies liked prestidigitation instead of poker.” Variety was also favorable by saying “the pilot represents a polished product that neatly introduces an array of characters and establishes Eastwick as a project with no small measure of potential.” Boston Globe gave the show a more positive review, even though he still compared it to Desperate Housewives, but said, “Desperate Housewives is frustrating because it can’t seem to decide what it is: murder mystery, silly farce, or realistic look at domestic woes. Eastwick is allegory and knows it, so it can be plausibly silly and over-the-top, and hint at real issues – women in the workplace, gender politics at home – without trying too hard … I’ll take witch hazel over wisteria any day.

Cougar Town is an American television sitcom, which premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009. The Urban Dictionary defines “Cougar” as a derogatory term for an older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from an overly surgically altered wind tunnel victim, to an absolute sad and bloated old horn-meister, to a real hottie or milf. Cougars are gaining in popularity — particularly the true hotties — as young men find not only a sexual high, but many times a chick with her shit together. “That cougar I met last night, showed me shit I didn’t know existed, I’m goin back for more.”

The series focuses on a recently divorced woman who re-enters a dating scene filled with younger men while living with her 17-year old son and embarks on a journey to self-discovery while surrounded by fellow divorcees.The pilot episode of the show was broadcast after Modern Family on September 23, 2009, with the broadcast of the pilot episode achieved 11.28 million viewers. Critical response was mixed, with Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times stating that the show’s “plot description alone could drive away male viewers”while the Los Angeles Times‘ Mary McNamara opined that it “is fun and exciting for women over forty. Where Sex and the Single portrayed women over 40 as being desperate and lonely, Cougar Town portrays 40 something women as unabashed sluts willing to do anything to get laid by a young hard body.

Critics are having their say today and they’re pretty mixed about the new ABC comedy “Cougar Town” The New York Times said the show is “funny even when its heroine is not.” The Times said “the dialogue, timing and jokes have the madcap pace and anarchic spirit of ‘Scrubs’ and it takes a while for Cox to recalibrate her Monica persona from ‘Friends.’ To her credit, Cox is game for anything, and the humor is raunchy and Seth Rogenish.”TV Guide critic Matt Roush writes, “The show’s a little frantic and more than a little crude, but the jokes keep coming and many of them score.” He added, “Watching Cox accentuate her body-image flaws may seem preposterous to most of us, but her goofy self-deprecation is quite endearing.”USA Today’s Robert Bianco says that Cox makes a “sparkling return to television” as Jules Cobb, and that she is “not only convincing but touching – and unfailingly funny.” The Los Angeles Times, while acknolwedging “some funny lines and good acting all around,” said it is a “crude show, built on jokes about oral sex and droopy breasts, a show in which words like “coochie” are used with regrettable abandon.”The Boston Globe rates the show as a C+, saying it “has the potential to be more than a one-joke affair, although Cox hitting on high schoolers is not exactly ha-ha funny. Let’s see how it develops.”

Fortunately for most TV viewers, Eastwick is sinking fast and soon to be cancelled while Cougar Town may or may not be re-newed for 2010-2011 season. Depends on how disgustingly perverted Courtney Cox is willing to get with her character and will parent company of ABC (Disney) let Cox get disgustingly perverted with high-school boys or is it easier for Disney to pull the plug and replace Cougar Town with a Teen show like Dadnapped?

BRONCO FEVER

WARNING!

Bronco Fever is a highly contagious non curable condition that creates severe dependencies in certain individuals. Loss of balance in life is known to occur. An elevated view of the role of college athletics can lead to chronic lack of concentration during more meaningful activities. The typical course of action for sufferers is to enter an “off season” recovery program beginning in the first week of January and continuing through Early August. Symptoms tend to flare up in March and April with the occurrence of spring football camp, but then subside until the beginning of August when unstable individuals can experience a complete recurrence of all symptoms and the condition can worsen. Total break down can occur in some cases after several years of repeated remission / recurrence cycles.

Much has now been said about Josh McDaniels, 33-year-old coach of the Bronco’s and the Bronco’s new Quarterback Kyle Orton, which the Bronco’s received on a trade deal with the Chicago Bears after unloading hissy-fit quarterback Jay Cutler. Poor Bears. Heading into a “bye” week, the 2009 Bronco’s are 6-0. As Bronco fever builds to all time high’s, I thought now would be a good time to present:

TOP TEN SYMPTOMS OF BRONCO FEVER

10. Your idea of Monday Night “Family Home Evening” is gathering the whole family together and curling up to listen to the weekly Chris Peterson interview streamed over the Internet into your living room.

9. When talking to your friends, you tend to ramble about Jeron Johnson’s latest bone-crunching hit. You know you’ve gone too far when you look up and notice their blank looks.

8. When fall rolls around and some one remarks about the beautiful “fall colors” your mind turns not to the reds, browns and yellows of autumn, but to the BLUE AND ORANGE!!

7. When discussing favorite superheroes, Kellen Moore’s name keeps coming to mind.

6. You actually know how to pronounce, Yriarte, Iannacchione, and Bozikovich.

5. You don’t make a single social arrangement from August to December  without first consulting the “Schedule.” (which of course everyone should know and understand to be the Bronco Football Schedule).

4. You truly believe that the BCS should be renamed “Bronco Championship Series” and BSU should be participating in the National Championship Game yearly.

3. While the rest of your family would like Bronco Game Days to be a social event involving friends and family, you discourage the practice to shield the innocents from your excessive game day “intensity.”

2. You secretly wonder if your local auto body shop actually has the “right” Bronco blue and orange for that special 1980’s auto you treasure and wonder if the new paint will clash with its red interior.

And the number one symptom you might have Bronco fever is…………

1. Three Words……..Bronco Toilet Seat!

If you have a symptom we haven’t covered here, please comment! It is vitally important that people become aware of this condition, before it takes them unknowingly. Already thousands have been affected! We’ll update this at a later time. Spread the word about Bronco Fever!

FLU VACCINE SHORTAGE (IS THIS YEAR’S “FLU SEASON” CONTRIVED?)

The novel H1N1 virus first appeared in April. According to the Center for Disease Control, a pandemic – global disease outbreak – of H1N1 flu is under way. Because H1N1 is a new influenza virus there is little public immunity, so the number of those infected is projected to be high. The prediction is that 40 percent of the U.S. population will be infected with the virus over the next two years. One of the biggest differences from seasonal flu is that adults older than 64 years do not seem to be at an increased risk of H1N1 complications. In seasonal flu about 90 percent of deaths are in the older population, with H1N1 the majority of deaths up to this point have occurred in individuals under the age of 50.

Mass TV, radio and newspaper ads are encouraging people to go to their local City Market, Safeway, etc for flu shots only when you arrive you see a piece of paper written in black or blue marker stating: OUT OF FLU VACCINE.

So is the 2009 flu season real or contrived?

Dr. Joel Lehman of the Union Hospital Emergency Department says, “Although there is the possibility of having complications from the H1N1 virus, serious illness from flu is not a new thing. Every year we see many patients in the ER with problems from seasonal flu. In fact last year there were 36,000 deaths in the United States from influenza. A lot of those could be avoided by getting vaccinated. I recommend that people take advantage of the vaccine,” said Lehman.  He continued sayin g that although the H1N1 vaccine is not yet available it is projected to be ready for disbursement by October.”

“People need to be aware that the seasonal flu vaccine is different from the H1N1 vaccine. You will need two separate vaccines in order t o be protected from both viruses.”

Pam Dummermuth from Community Health and Wellness at Union Hospital says that their mantra for flu prevention is hand washing. “I cannot stress enough the importance of good quality hand washing and common sense. Wash hands often and thoroughly,” she said. “Avoid contact with those who are sick. If you personally are sick, stay home.”

The flu is very serious.  Every year, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized because of flu complications.  About 36,000 people die annually from the flu.

Symptoms of the flu include:

• fever (usually high)
• headache
• extreme tiredness
• dry cough
• sore throat
• muscle aches
• runny or stuffy nose
• stomach symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea)

More serious complications of the flu are more common in certain groups of people.  These serious complications include:

• bacterial pneumonia
• ear infections
• sinus infections
• dehydration

Persons who are more likely to develop these serious complications include:

• children aged 6 months to 5 years
• people 50 years of age and older
• people with chronic medical conditions, such as
• heart disease
• lung disease (including asthma)
• diabetes
• weak immune systems

The single best way to fight the flu is to get a flu shot every year.  The flu shot is a vaccine that contains dead influenza viruses.  The flu shot cannot cause the flu because the flu viruses in the vaccine are dead.  Rather, the vaccine causes our immune systems to make antibodies against the flu virus. After receiving a flu shot, a person’s immune system is better prepared to fight off the virus, and thus reduce the chance of becoming ill.

October or November is usually the best time to get a flu shot.

For more information from the CDC visit www.cdc.gov

Medical professionals and the CDC recommend that in addition to getting a vaccine, individuals take the following everyday actions in order to prevent the spread of seasonal flu and the novel H1N1 virus.
• Cover your nose or mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Dispose of the tissue after use.
• Wash hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you are sick with flu-like symptoms, keep away from others. You can spread the virus up to seven days after being symptom free.
• Clean frequently touched surfaces. Studies show that the influenza virus can survive for 2 to 8 hours after being deposited on a surface such as a desk or a door- knob.

THE AMAZING APPLE KEEPS COMING UP WITH MORE MYSTIFYING PRODUCTS TO BLOW YOUR MIND. (Or how I learned to swallow the worm and love the Apple)

The amazing new I-Mac

Watching the new video from Apple on its new I-Mac by Jony Ive, Senior Vice-President of Design you quickly realize how much thought and care Apple puts into all its products. This is what makes Apple superior over all non-Apple or PC hardware like Toshiba, Sony, Dell and HP. What makes Apple a superior company to the Windows-based competition is Apple’s overall operating philosophy which seems to be that they work out all the bugs before …. they sell you an Apple product. Windows based computers sell you a product before working out all the bugs which they then have to give customers a “patch” down the road or a series of patches.

Another thing Apple has done in the past two-years to attract even more customers is:

1. lower prices

2. provide a variety of laptops/computers at a variety of prices instead of just two models like when I bought my Macbook Pro in 2006. It just came in white. A year later they added black and now have a one-piece aluminum shell for its Airbook.

Windows launched its new operating system last week, Windows 7- reviews are so/so. Most loyal Windows customers are still using XP Pro with the majority of Windows customers disgusted with the Vista operating system, a Windows 95 jazzed up to seem user-friendly but ended up causing more crashes and technical problems for Windows customers.

Apple, on the other hand, keeps getting better and better with its new operating systems. The new “Snow Leopard” is a “smart” computer which learns from the user which are the most visited sites, the most listened to I-Tunes songs, etc.

For the price I paid for my Macbook Pro in 2006- today I could buy Apple’s top-of-the-line 17-inch Macbook Pro with three-times the features.

Way to go Apple!

YOU’RE NOT GETTING OLDER YOU’RE DEFINITELY GETTING BETTER BABY

Back when I was a kid, I remember a TV commercial for hair color that told women, “You‘re not getting older. You‘re getting better.” Of course, as the ad suggested, women needed a little help in the form of hair color, plastic surgery, tummy tucks, or the truckload of excercise equipment sold on late night TV. Recent photo’s of some of Hollywood’s sex-kittens show that they didn’t need hair color, tummy tucks, plastic surgery or the ton of excercise equipment which finds its way to the annual garage sales. Andie McDowell, Courtney Cox and Cindy Crawford are back and they’re hotter than ever. All of them seem to balance children, husbands, sex lives and a fulfilling career which seems to say to women that you can have it all.

Cindy Crawford, famous for the trademark mole on her face, hails from Dekalb, Illinois and home of Northern Illinois University, recently launched a new line of furniture under the “Cindy Crawford Home Collection” name. This collection is manufactured by HM Richards Inc., and is sold through many retailers including Art Van Furniture and Rooms To Go. She assisted in the creation of the line by directing the designers to include certain features, colors, or styles that fit the needs of families or reflected her own tastes. She also has a furniture line with Raymour & Flanigan and will launch another home goods line with J. C. Penney in late 2009.

Courtney Cox best known for her role as Monica Geller on the sitcom, Friends. Courteney has also starred in Dirt and the Scream series, and has guest-starred in Scrubs. is currently starring in Cougar Town.

Andie McDowell achieved stardom due to the box office success of the 1993 comedy by Harold Ramis, Groundhog Day, and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), opposite Hugh Grant (who admitted afterwards to being intimidated by both MacDowell and her then-husband). Groundhog Day and FWAAF remain MacDowell’s biggest box office hits. MacDowell appears in print and television advertisements for the cosmetic and haircare company L’Oréal.

HALLOWEEN 2009

THE MONSTER MASH BY BOBBY “BORIS” PICKETT

In night when colors all to black are cast,
Distinction lost, or gone down with the light;
The eye a watch to inward senses placed,
Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight,
Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,
Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny,
Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense,
Doth forge and raise impossibility:
Such as in thick depriving darknesses,
Proper reflections of the error be,
And images of self-confusednesses,
Which hurt imaginations only see;
And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,
Which but expressions be of inward evils.

~Sonnet 100
Lord Brooke Fulke Greville (1633)

HottestCostumes.com has published the results of it’s survey of the top costumes for Halloween 2009. Each year the website contacts retailers of costumes to get a pulse of what are the hottest costumes for that year.

The 2009 results displayed a trend toward traditional costumes. While this was not totally unexpected due to the typically lower cost versus costumes that are licensed from recent movie blockbusters. There were still several movie character costumes that made the top ten. This was especially true in the mens and boys costume categories.

Kristen Grace, Affiliate Marketing Manager of BuyCostumes.com stated “Given the fact that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year means adult ‘party-going’ customers will likely buy one or even two costumes! We expect our adult customers to spend just as much on Halloween as last year.” when queried about expected sales due to the current down economy. “Responses similar to Kristens’ lead us to believe that even with consumers feeling a financial pinch, they are looking forward to the inexpensive escapism that Halloween provides” stated Steven Stackman owner of Specialty Marketing Service, the operator of www.HottestCostumes.com and www.BestCostumeContest.com a site for consumers to upload their favorite costume pictures and compete to win prizes.

The complete list of the 10 hottest costumes for girls, women, boys and men has been published at www.HottestCostumes.com along with prices and online retailer availability.

batgirl costume batman costume boy costumes clone trooper costume dorothy costume gi joe costume girl costumes hannah montana jack sparrow costume little mermaid costume Mens Costume nun costumepirate costume pirate wench costume pretty witch costume princess costume snake eyes costume snow white costume supergirl costume super mario costume witch costume wolverine costumeWomens Costume wonder woman costume

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

KH

HOW TO WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

The “do nothing” president incapable of making decisions has won the Nobel Peace Prize as announced today by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The committee said it honored Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

“Saturday Night Live” formed in the crucible of the mid-1970s, when Watergate brought respect for politicians to all-time lows, had Fred Armisen portraying Barack Obama last weekend in a talked-about sketch Saturday night on “Saturday Night Live.” It was a powerful combination — after 34 years, “SNL” and politics can still strike sparks among political observers. Armisen, as President Obama, chided “those on the right” for saying that he was “turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. “Not true, said Armisen as Obama. “When you look at my record,” he said, “it’s very clear what I’ve done so far — and that is nothing.”

Obama Address

And now, it appears that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee awards the Nobel Peace prize for doing, “nothing,” nada! for almost a year. Perhaps doing nothing brings about “peace.” It took Obama 4-months to pick out a dog.

“His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population,” the committee said of Obama.

Obama’s diplomacy is founded in doing ‘nothing” except making a great speech. Let’s hope that doing “nothing” has not become the pre-requisite to winning the worlds most prestigious award.

THE EXTORTIONIST’S AMONG US

When I was in college, extortionist or blackmailers were arrested by the FBI and thrown in jail. This being the by- product of the Lindberg kidnapping. Today, extortionists are running around free trying to extort money out of everyone from late-night talk-show host David Letterman, John Travolta and others. A stolen “passionate embrace” between David Letterman and former assistant Stephanie Birkitt fueled a jealous rage within alleged extortionist Robert “Joe” Halderman, according to a friend and former co-worker. Halderman had attempted to extort Letterman for $2 million, saying they have tape recorded conversations to prove it.

For his part, Letterman has addressed the scandal with his typical brand of seriousness and self-deprecating wit. He has used his talk show to apologize to his wife and to his staffers and to poke fun at his situation.

“I would give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail,” he joked, in a reference to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose dramatic extramarital affair had been a previous prime target for Letterman.

Two well-known Bahamian citizens and a paramedic are being quizzed by the police in a 20-million-dollar extortion plot targeting John Travolta following the death of his 16-year-old son. Lightbourne was one of the paramedics who tried to revive Jett and is said to have taken a picture of the 16-year-old with his cell phone. The devastated father was said to have become a victim of the extortion attempt over the death of his son Jett, who died from a seizure during a family holiday in the Bahamas on January 2. The actor and his wife Kelly Preston had alleged that two blackmailers threatened to publish a photo of the teenager as he lay struggling for his life unless they were paid “millions of dollars.” John Travolta’s two blackmailers are said to have been caught on tape making an extortion deal with the star’s lawyer over documents connected to the death of his son Jett. According to new evidence obtained by People magazine, paramedic Tarino Lightbourn and his lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater, who have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, could end up behind bars. Videotape recorded secretly by the Royal Bahamas Police show Lightbourn and Bridgewater attempting to secure a multi-million payment from Travolta for the return of a form the star signed just before his son was pronounced dead. A month after the alleged negotiation, Travolta met with Bahamas police officials to file a complaint that led to the current Nassau trial, which began earlier this week. John Travolta flew to the Bahamas yesterday as he prepared to be the first witness in an extortion case linked to the death of his 16-year-old son Jett. It is rumoured to be the star’s first visit to the island since his son’s death in January, and he is set to give evidence against a paramedic and his attorney, who tried to extort $25m from him for a document about the incident.

THE GHETTO MENTALITY

$300,000 Off!- Elk River Ranch

NOW GREATLY REDUCED!

the photo ad taped to the window of the downtown real-estate office announced. The last few years, realtors have been trying to seduce the “uber-rich” to buy property up here in Colorado’s ski country with little success.

The reason for their failure? Colorado’s ski-country has become a “ghetto” with city, county and resort managers all displaying a “ghetto mentality.” Summit County, located just due west of Loveland Pass,  on Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Divide, some 70 miles west of Denver includes the ski areas of Loveland Pass, A-Basin, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain. Summit County used to be a great place to live: with a phenomenal view,  quaint ski resorts, and outdoor opportunities galore. But there was a  downside. As more and more people were  drawn to Summit County for its amenities, housing prices skyrocketed, and jobs and wages failed to keep pace. The result is one of the largest gaps between income and housing costs in the mountain west. That means real poverty for some, and severe economic challenges for many others.

In the 1980’s, the “ski experience” was the area’s number #1 priority. In the 90’s as Canadian companies bought out Colorado’s ailing ski companies, “real-estate” and “development” became the number #1 priority with the “ski experience” becoming a dismal number #2. A ghetto mentality overtook all of the city, county and resort managers. The lazy city managers have been content to live off the fat “tax” revenue of the factory-outlet stores instead of creating something truly special here. There was so much potential here before the lazy, greedy, inept city councils decided to let strip-malls, fast foods and factory outlet stores who pay nearly slave wages take over the entire county. Three-years ago the town of Silverthorne announced they were creating a “downtown” with Town Hall etc. locals were so excited until the project was completed and it turned out to be all hype- the new downtown turned out to be just another strip mall with a mattress store. The newly built Silverthorne Rec Center with indoor water-park,  charges such high admission, the working poor cannot afford membership and at last printing, the Rec Center does not provide scholarships.

POVERTY WITH A VIEW

The property managers, too lazy to even check on their own properties, have been content to live off the fat “rent” dollars of the Mexicans who are living two families to a tw0-bedroom condo and allowing an entire subdivision to be taken over by Mexicans, Africans or poor whites and become a “ghetto.” When the property becomes too run down, the lazy property managers simply sell the property which becomes someone else problem but still a ghetto. One block away from the million-dollar Mc’Mansions which dot the Raven Gold Course, there lies a run-down trailer park. The “uber-rich” drive by the trailer park and say, “there’s no way in hell I am going to spend this kind of money with a ghetto just a block away. Last week, the inept Silverthorne City Council bought Smiths Ranch, adjacent to the Raven Golf Course for 3.5-million-dollars to be turned into “affordable housing.” I.e- ten years down the road, another ghetto. The uber-rich see the ghetto communities in Silverth0rne, Dillon Valley East, Wildernest,  Farmers Corner’s (which has a trailer park at the entrance to  the new Summit County High School) and French Creek in Breckenridge, they see the “free” bus system packed with Mexicans and realize that the entire county is just a ghetto. The uber-rich, those with money to bu into really nice areas would rather spend their money up north in Steamboat Springs, Vail, Aspen, Telluride. Ski resorts that do not have a “ghetto-metality.”

The lazy resort managers have become so content with hiring “rich Brazilians” who show up for six-weeks in January to work basically for free or a “free ski pass” started cutting wages 2 years ago. Since 2007, local ski resorts have cut hourly wages $2.50 an hour. Down from $11 hour to $8.50/$9.50 with little or no employee housing. Local area employees refuse to work for such low wages with or without housing when average rents for a one-bedroom is $1000 month and roommate situations start at $750 month. Last month, President Obama changed the law concerning issuance of H2 Visas basically saying that if resorts hire foreign workers, (from anywhere) they have to reimburse workers round-trip air transportation. Chinese workers here this summer, paid $2000 RT air from China. Vail Resorts, which is a cheap employer, is not going to pay this kind of money up front. 10 Chinese workers would cost them $20,000 up front. And the resorts, counting on being able to hire a number of locals willing to work cheap are going to be caught short this season, finding themselves unable to hire enough workers to open all their facilities, restaurants, bars, ski hills, etc. Resorts have cut their own throats. Intrawest, which owns Copper Mountain just sold the property to CNI Investments have been tight-lipped.about details of the transfer.

The past decade,city managers have allowed  downtown Dillon to become a ghetto. As businesses pulled out, they were replaced by thrift stores, run down second hand furniture stores. Recently city officials hired a top-notch architect who came up with beautifully detailed renderings of a new downtown with coffee shops, art galleries, outdoor patio seating etc. The problem is, the only way city officials are going to get rid of the Mexicans, the thrift store and the myriad of social-service agencies frequenting the downtown is by exercising “EMINENT DOMAIN” and an ugly and lengthy court battle.

So the uber-rich are rediscovering Telluride, Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte and other “Uber” ski areas that have not become a ghetto.

FRUGALISTA’S

Arbiters of good usage resigned to being called “word police are again being assaulted by Target’s over-use of a new word  in its TV ads aimed toward women.

Frugalista, defined as “a person who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc.”

This could become the nom de guerre of the “recession warrior.”
The adjective frugal is rooted in the Latin for “fruits,” which in the 16th century some found relatively cheap. The word was at first applied to the careful apportionment of food, but Shakespeare in his 1598 “Merry Wives of Windsor” used it as a metaphor to mean “sparingly supplied; thrifty” of anything, as, “I was then Frugall of my mirth.”

The term “frugalista” is apparently quite popular, such that the word has even been defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. There are a bunch of bloggers who write about “frugal living” who refer to themselves as “frugalistas.”

According to Target’s new TV ad: “Frugalistas know how to out-dress, not out-spend.”

Too bad they don’t know how to speak or use the English language properly.

The “word-police” or wordinistas  beg all those who murder the English Language for cutsey corporate marketing purposes to please stop now!

Obama: We can reverse climate change

Obama always gives a great speech but more and more, as with climate change and health-care-plan, his speeches are mostly lip service.

Science and technology have morphed at such an exponential rate for so long that it may be beyond our ability to regulate or control.

Climate change, according to which expert you listen to, which study, is either “irreversible” or the opposite, that we have had minimal impact on climate change over the last century even with all our gas guzzling automobiles, coal burning plants, etc. The dilemma comes down to the glass is half full/half empty syndrome. The scientific community itself is divided over whether the earth is in the midst of “global warming” or entering the cycle of a new “ice age.”

One thing is for sure, Al Gore belongs to the Liars Club along with Rush Limbaugh and other’s. He promoted a “fear agenda” in promoting “global warming” to line his pockets with millions of “green” dollars. In fact, I suspect this whole “green movement” is just a scam to line the pockets of those who own “green businesses” or promoting “green technologies.”

Now it’s common knowledge that the majority of American citizens have joined world citizens in having their ecological consciousness raised since the 1960’s. Most people in the world know what “recycling” is. Most Americans celebrate Earth Day and Plant A Tree Day. A great many separate their trash into paper or plastic. Government regulation have forced Americans to buy water-saving toilets and now the Obama administration has mandated that the fleet wide Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard will rise to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, accelerating the timetable for federal standards set in a 2007 energy law (PL 110-140), which would have required that standard to be met by 2020. The current standard is 27.5 miles per gallon. The regulations cover model years 2012 to 2016, meaning auto manufacturers will have to immediately reconfigure their product lines in order to comply with the federal requirements.

Many Americans are doing what they can to contribute to a “greener” America by recycling, planting trees, monitoring electric and water consumption but do we face a crisis as Obama claims? I think not. In an excerpt from Obama’s speech to the United nations Obama claims:

The threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it — boldly, swiftly, and together — we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe. No nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change. Rising sea levels threaten every coastline. More powerful storms and floods threaten every continent. More frequent drought and crop failures breed hunger and conflict in places where hunger and conflict already thrive. On shrinking islands, families are already being forced to flee their homes as climate refugees. The security and stability of each nation and all peoples — our prosperity, our health, our safety — are in jeopardy. And the time we have to reverse this tide is running out.

Sounds like a great speech right? That;s what Obama does. He is a great orator. Probably the best since Bill Clinton or Abe Lincoln. But great orators can be full of shit. According to the majority of world experts on climate change, climate change is cyclical. Up to this point, climate change can be explained as natural phenomenon. Experts know that every 100-years, the climate patterns shift.

A major new scientific study concludes the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on worldwide temperatures is largely irrelevant, prompting one veteran meteorologist to quip, “You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.”

Meteorologist Reid Bryson

That comment comes from Reid Bryson, founding chairman of the Department of Meteorology at the University of Wisconsin, who said the temperature of the earth is increasing, but that it’s got nothing to do with what man is doing.

“Of course it’s going up. It has gone up since the early 1800s, before the Industrial Revolution, because we’re coming out of the Little Ice Age, not because we’re putting more carbon dioxide into the air.”

The project, called “Heat Capacity, Time Constant, and Sensitivity of Earth’s Climate System,” was authored by Brookhaven National lab scientist Stephen Schwartz.

“Effectively, this (new study) means that the global economy will spend trillions of dollars trying to avoid a warming of (about) 1.0 K by 2100 A.D.,” Wilson wrote in a note to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Sunday. He was referring to the massive expenditures that would be required under such treaties as the Kyoto Protocol.

And who benefits by promoting world-wide fears about global warming or climate change? Lying phonies like Al Gore and owners, promoters of “Green technologies” who are beginning to not only stuff their pockets with billions of dollars but lobbying governments around the world to pass legislation designed to enrich lying phonies like Al Gore and owners of green technologies. Of course, we all want to live healthy, use products that do minimal damage to our planet earth. But di we want to be lied to, manipulated and forced into having to “live green” by lying pills like Al Gore? Do we really want the “green police” who will arrest people for not recycling, or using “green products?” Do we want to begin arresting people who choose to not mow their lawns? Do we want to pass laws telling us we can only drive or water our lawns on alternate days and be arrested or fined for violating these “Eco Laws?”

I am not a big supporter of past president George W. Bush but Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol because he knew it was a “Big lie” and that America would end up spending millions/trillions  avoid a warming of (about) 1.0 K by 2100 A.D.”

Gore made – and stars in – a film about purported global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” that won an Oscar. It has become mandatory for students in many high schools and colleges.

However, the studies assembled by Inhofe’s team said that’s not necessarily so, according to the scientists. Al Gore not only told an “inconvenient lie” but forced his “lie” upon millions of high-school students and college students who now believe the lie. Inconveniently, Gore forgot to mention the millions he pocketed off his inconvenient lie. The inconvenient truth is this folks:

“If we were to stop manufacturing CO2 tomorrow, we wouldn’t see the effects of that for generations.”

Generations. Former Harvard physicist Lubos Motl added that those promoting the fear of man-made climate changes are “playing the children’s game to scare each other.” Joel Schwartz, of the American Enterprise Institute, said, “there’s hardly any additional warming ‘in the pipeline’ from previous greenhouse gas emissions.” The environmentalists’ climate hysteria, and the political pretext for the energy-restriction policies that have become so popular with the world’s environmental regulators, elected officials, and corporations is just a “BIG LIE!”

United Nations scientist, Jim Renwick, recently conceded that climate models,  “do not account for the variability in nature, and so are not reliable.” And Conklin noted the U.S. National Climate Data Center has compiled data that shouldn’t be used, because its reporting points are located on hot black asphalt, next to trash burn barrels and even attached to hot chimneys, a methodology that is “seriously flawed.”

Al Gore won the “best documentary” Oscar for his disaster film “An Inconvenient Truth.” The news media beat the drum of “climate catastrophe” daily, all but ignoring scientists who say the threat is overblown or nonexistent. And across America, school children are frightened to death with tales of rising oceans, monster tornadoes, droughts and millions dying – all because of man-made global warming. However, hidden just beneath the surface of the world’s latest environmental craze is a stunningly different reality, Al Gore is a liar who manipulated not only Americans but citizens worldwide to line his pockets with CASH.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe has pointed out, that “for more than 100 years, journalists have quoted scientists predicting the destruction of civilization by, in alternation, either runaway heat or a new Ice Age.”

Today, to cover all their bases, much of the press is changing its terminology from “global warming” to “climate change” or “climate catastrophe.” That way they’re covered either way: If the world gets colder, global warming is still at fault.

IT’S A LIE!

Barring some meteorological catastrophe, more than likely the world will blow itself up long before the damaging effects of climate change are ever felt. With insane leaders in N. Korea, Iran and China developing nuclear weapons and shooting off missiles, Believe me, Obama needs to spend his energies focusing on “dismantlement” by either peaceful or non-peaceful means than he does making agreat speech to the UN. We all know Obama is a great speech maker and we all know Obama is full of “hot air” most of the time.

As “Deep Throat” famously told Washington Post “Watergate” reporter Bob Woodward, “Follow the money.”

Whistleblower shows how all the main players – from politicians and scientists to big corporations and the United Nations – benefit from instilling fear into billions of human beings over the unproven theory of man-made global warming. Indeed, just three weeks after the U.N. ratcheted up international fears over global warming, a panel of 18 scientists from 11 countries has now reported to the U.N. that the only thing that can stop catastrophic climate change is a global tax – on greenhouse gas emissions.

That’s right. Global problems, real or conjured up, require global governmental solutions. As Whistleblower explains, environmentalism is nothing less than the global elitists’ replacement ideology for communism/socialism and we all know that Obama has a “socialist” agenda, not only with “Climate Change” but health-care, and Wall Street.” Is Obama just turning out to be a grey-shade of Al Gore?

Global warming will be one of the most powerfully coercive weapons in the globalists’ arsenal for the foreseeable future,” said David Kupelian, WND managing editor and author of “The Marketing of Evil.” “It’s important that everyone understands the game being played.

KH

Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)

Remember that old childhood ditty that went:

“Liar, liar, pants on fire/ Hangin’ on a telephone wire!”

The health care debate has been hijacked by angry people who have health insurance, don’t want their apple-cart upset, and thusly have resorted to spreading out-and-out lies about the current attempt at reform. And the health-care debate has been hijacked by United Health Care of Minnesota and other insurance companies who have been “price=gouging” for years and posting 155-percent profits in the last second quarter.

But the debate is more than just a debate over necessary, often vital insurance benefits- the debate is about the debate and control- and the winners will define how such political debate is conducted in this country the next eight-years.

The class-less republicans have fired the first volley when bulbous loudmouthed windbag Rush Limbaugh announced publicly that he would do everything in his power to see that young whippersnapper candidate Obama would fail. Last night during the Presidents speech to Congress, and during a nationally televised event with millions of Americans watching, Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, yelled “You lie!” when Obama said no illegal immigrants would receive benefits under his plan.

“These guys don’t care about you,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said of the town hall protesters. “They care about YouTube.”

“We can spot a ringer,” Durbin said.

Reid acknowledged that Democrats faced questions about their health care reform push, but he said the party was gradually working through and making progress in what he described as a difficult legislative process.

“People have concerns about it. Rightfully so. They should have concerns about it. We all have concerns about it,” he said. “But even if people have concerns about it, they shouldn’t stand in the way of a process that is one that is deliberative and trying to arrive at a product that we can all be proud of.”

The war of words or the war over the framework of future debate is on and both sides have taken the gloves off. It’s a bare knuckles, knock down drag out fight now with the winners controlling how public debate is conducted in America.

IN other words, if the liars win with their practice of fear-mogering- that’s how public debate will conducted the next 8 years and both sides will be doing it- fearmongering, scaring the bejeebers out of Sr, Citizens and average working Americans.

Name calling, finger pointing, fear mongering, outright lying  will not stop the same sorts of people who dreamt up “death panels” for insisting otherwise as they try to fire-bomb health-care reform, Nitwits like Alaskan;s former governor Sarah Palin whose daughter had a baby out-of-wedlock, whose husband was having adulterous affairs on her and who herself was involved in shady, questionable financial dealings involving state contracts before she resigned as Alaska’s nitwit talking, moose-shooting governor.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right is a satirical book on American politics by comedian, political commentator and now Senator Al Franken, published in 2003 by Dutton. The book’s subtitle is a parody of Fox News’ tagline “Fair and Balanced.” Fox sued Franken over the use of the phrase in a short-lived lawsuit, Lies is one of several books published in 2003 written by American liberals challenging the viewpoints of conservatives such as Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter. These books by Franken and fellow authors such as Joe Conason, Michael Moore and Jim Hightower were described by columnist Molly Ivins as the “great liberal backlash of 2003.”

In Lies, Franken divides American media into two groups: the mainstream media, which attempts to be objective, and the right-wing media, which does not. “The mainstream media”, Franken wrote, “does not have a liberal bias, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, and the rest at least try to be fair.” Franken notes that, while the mainstream media do have biases toward sensationalism, the easy story, and soft news, the right wing media, including Fox News, The Washington Times, and the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, “are not interested in conveying the truth.” He argues that they exist to further the cause of American conservatism by advancing stories and themes that work to the benefit of conservatives and to the detriment of liberals.[3]

Franken seeks to debunk the claim that the mainstream American media are liberally biased. Franken believes that the claim of media “liberal bias” is a myth used by conservative politicians. Propagating this myth, Franken asserts, serves three functions. First, it creates reluctance among mainstream media outlets to cover issues that conservatives don’t want them to, for fear that they will be accused of having a liberal bias. Second, it allows conservatives to deny or dismiss reports in the mainstream media, regardless of whether they are true, because they have discredited the source already. Third, attacking the media can be effective at increasing conservative voter turnout.
Franken on book tour

The book criticizes several conservative authors and pundits by pointing out factual inaccuracies and deceptive statements he says they have made. Franken criticizes Ann Coulter on a number of points related to what Franken alleges as abuses or violations of journalistic ethics in her book Slander. In addition to accusing her of lying, Franken accuses Coulter of deliberately misusing citations in order to further a misleading political agenda. Franken also criticizes former CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg for what he claims is selective decontextualized quoting and other dishonest material in his book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Franken recounts an incident on Phil Donahue’s talk show on MSNBC when he confronted Goldberg about a misleading quote attributed to NBC anchor and commentator John Chancellor.

The book also criticizes Bill O’Reilly, with whom Al Franken has a public feud. Franken accuses O’Reilly of being a serial and pathological liar, recounting multiple controversies relating to O’Reilly, including O’Reilly’s inaccurate statements regarding Peabody awards, his heated interview with Jeremy Glick, and his boycott of Pepsi for hiring rap artist Ludacris. Franken pokes fun at O’Reilly for moralizing about the sexually explicit and violent themes of Ludacris’ songs despite having himself written a book, Those Who Trespass, which contains violent and sexual imagery and profanity. Franken also recounts his heated confrontation with O’Reilly at BookExpo America 2003, seen on C-SPAN.

THE LIARS CLUB

So lets take a look at the lying liars and the lies they tell starting with Rep. Joe Wilson: “Rep. Wilson’s words were an insult to the president of the United States and an embarrassment to the U.S. House of Representatives,” McCollum said in a statement. “He crossed a line of protocol and decency that may be acceptable for angry ‘teabaggers’ at a rally, but is completely unacceptable for a member of Congress in the House chambers. Rep. Joe Wilson is a manipulative liar and one cannot nor should not believe his insincere apology to the president. Come on! Wilson knows that the prez’s speech to Congress is a nationally televised event. He knew his outburst would cause controversy. With the controversy Wilson hopes to control the flow of the debate on Health Care. His refusal to apologize to his fellow members of Congress, whom he severely embarrassed, goes to show his insincerity. Later, in a soundbite excusing his poor behavior, he said he believed he had “civility.” Another lie.  Rep. Joe Wilson is a manipulative liar who should be censured if not taken out back by the few remaining members of Congress who still believe in America and used as a punching bag. Arrogant  Liars like Wilson know there are no consequences for their lying, their traitorous speech,  or their rude, arrogant behavior. Years ago, when J. Edgar Hoover ruled America with an iron-fist- Wilson would have had a fatal accident. Today. liars like Wilson hide behind the 1st amendment and the law.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched his harshest attack on the Republican Party in months, claiming the GOP is “being run by a talk show host.” They’re taking their cues from talk show hosts, Internet rumor mongers, and insurance rackets.”

“I just think, as I’ve said before, it’s not often that you try to blow yourself up, but that’s obviously what they’re trying to do with all this vexatious stuff they’re doing with these meetings, the birthers. It’s a party being run by a talk show host,” Reid said.

Glenn Beck’s tough week

The commentator was mocked like a nerd, accused of frog cooking, and made fun of on “SNL.”

Angry Republican liars like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly Are Killing Republicans and the Republican Party.

Rush Limbaugh had this to say about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, one of the greatest politicians of our lifetime: Rush Limbaugh of WABC, who began by noting Kennedy’s reputation as “the lion of the Senate” and added, “We were his prey.”

Recovering alcoholic, staunch libertarian and—according to detractors—occasional wacko, Glenn Beck has become a bright star at Fox News since he launched his show two months ago and quickly doubled the ratings in the “Fair and Balanced” cable network’s sluggish 5 p.m. slot. Part raging populist, part “rodeo clown” (his own description), Beck regularly scorches President Barack Obama (whom he has accused of trying to remake America into a totalitarian state), has wondered if the government is plotting to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to operate concentration camps for the politically incorrect, and is already the third most-watched cable-news personality, after Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. This is a guy who one year ago was in a suicidal state with his out of control alcoholism and drug addiction and he has the audacity to berate the president of the United States? A fricking drug addict? Said Beck:

“I got to the point where you said that if someone had brought me a handgun into the hospital room, I would’ve blown my brains out. “

Rush Limbaugh is another drug addict. He was indicted by the Feds when his housekeeper, whom he has since fired, was apprehended trying to buy Oxy-contin for Rush without a prescription. A deal Limbaugh  struck with Tampa Bay authorities over a prescription drug charge allowed Limbaugh to walk away largely unscathed. Many claim this drug addicted lunatic is the unofficial head of the Republican Party. The party, that lying Rep. Joe Wilson belongs to. Is the Republican Party becoming the party of liars and drug addicts? It would seem so.

If the lying and the hatred doesn’t stop- people will take up guns again and assassinations of politicians and notables will start all over again in this country like in the 1960’s with the Kennedy brother’s. Martin Luther King, Malcom X and racial killings by the KKK in America’s deepest south.

Mr “Sensitivity, Sean Hannity’s weekly show on KCSB was canceled after less than a year by station managers upset with his remarks about gays and lesbians. This was after two shows featuring the book The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts about AIDS by Gene Antonio; among other remarks, Hannity told a lesbian caller:

“I feel sorry for your child.”

Most people first heard of Sean Hannity when he made frequent appearances as a guest host for Rush Limbaugh. More militant, more religious, and without any “baggage” that has dogged Limbaugh (like drug use, questions about military service, and multiple marriages). Hannity is one of the most militant war-mongerer in the public spotlight. Not only was he overwhelmingly in favor of the war in Afghanistan, not only is he supportive of the current war in Iraq, not only does he encourage an endless war against terrorism – he  espouses in a virtual declaration,  going to war against China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Hannity is a master apologist for the Republican Party. He continually rails against “left wing elites”"liberals”, “Democrats” , the “Democratic Party” , the “liberal elite” , the “liberal establishment” , the “left-wing establishment” , the “left” , “liberal opposition” , “liberal detractors”, and “liberal government leaders.”

Dave Heckel: I Came Out Of Rehad Because Sean Hannity’s A Big Fat Liar

There are many other members of the media “Liars Club,” but because of the number of liars and the power they wield, the power of the talk-show hosts, the blogs, in recent polls, Americans Distrust the Media. Several new polls reveal widening gap between what the media reports and what people actually believe. 86 percent of Americans agree (strongly or somewhat) that the news media attempts to influence public policies. Over half of all survey respondents, 59.8 percent, agreed (strongly or somewhat) that negative media coverage damages prospects for success in Iraq because it encourages terrorists, and about half, 49.1 percent, agreed (strongly or somewhat) that things are likely going better for the U.S. than the U.S. media portrays.” The same could be said of the economy from a year ago when the majority of Americans believed September 2008 that the “sky was falling.” In a poll conducted by Pew Research center: just 29 percent of Americans surveyed believe the media gets the facts right, and a scant 18 percent think news organizations are truly objective. A Pew Research Center study indicates that Americans’ trust of the media is the lowest it’s been since at least 1985. After years of conservatives and Republicans leading the press attack pack in terms of accuracy and bias, now the other side of the political aisle is joining that chorus. Pew results show 59 percent of Democrats now think that press reports are often inaccurate, and 67 percent say the media chooses sides on issues more often than not. Television remains the dominant source for national and international news for those surveyed, but the Internet now places second above newspapers and radio.

“Liars begin by imposing upon others, but end deceiving themselves.”

KH

GROCERY STORE WARS

Remember your last trip to the grocery store?

There you were looking around and the price tags reading 4 for $5.00, buy 3 get 3 free, etc which left you so confused you thought you needed a calculator to figure out how much the price of an item was? The greedy grocery store corporations like KROGER, SAFEWAY, JEWEL and others don’t want you to know how much an item costs. They want you to be confused so you will spend more money in their stores than you intended to and so that you will be so confused you don;t realize that the greedy-green grocers are “price-gouging.”

They get away with price-gouging by a technigue I have come to call, “creative pricing.”

Last week Safeway had on special Cocal Cola 2-litre bottles. Buy three-get three free. Can’t they just say “Buy one- get one free?” If a grocery is listed as 5 for $10 can;t the price sticker just say the item is $2 each with your Safeway card? In the past 3 months I have seen just about every variation of the “buy one get one free:”

buy three-get three free

buy two get one free

you get the picture. Seems greedy grocers like KROGER and SAFEWAY have gone out and hired crafty bean counters to come up with slick, clever pricing to keep the average customer confused.

Here’s my question: Why do you need a Safeway card to get these discounts? If they’re going to put something on sale- why can;t they just put an item on sale? Why do you have to have the grocers card? It’s ridlous because every grocer accepts the competitors grocery card for the discount. My safeway card works at Kroger  (City Market, King Soopers) and my Kroger card works at Safeway. The grocery card to get the discount is a ridiciulous game the greedy grocer plays to make the consumer think he is getting a deal when in fact, the grocer like Kroger and Safeway have just jacked the price of an item up before putting it on sale, or the sale item is an error on the part of the grocery management. Somebody ordered too many hot dogs and not the store faces either putting them on a buy one get one free sale or throwing out the entire extra allotment.

sticker shock at the grocery store is going to be with us for some time. Food prices predicted to rise 4-5 percent this year

On a recent trip to the store I left with four small bags of basic groceries for nearly $100! One pack of Oscar Meyer hot dogs was $5 last winter at the Jewel in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. The same package of dogs here at my Colorado mountain grocer is around $279. How can some grocery chains justify selling hot dogs for $5 a pack when others sell them for half that price? It’s price gouging.

The Department of Agriculture is predicting a 4 to 5 percent rise in food prices this year. Now consumers are searching out bargains at the grocery store – certainly an about-face from the previous norm of relying on convenience foods. The search for a bargain may seem to force shoppers to look less at healthier choices and more at the bottom line in search of bargains.

Benefit your health and your pocketbook- start shopping for groceries at the “Super Walmarts.” The Super-Walmarts deal in quantity- they buy a shitload of product whcih is why they keep their prices to a bare minimum. If they buy a cargo ship of hiotdogs and don;t sell them for a dollar a package- they’re not going to make much money on the product and they;re going to be throwing out an awful lot ofmproduct. As it is- even with Walmart’s low grocery prices and continuous sales- Walkart still throws out a  ton of product. In addition to shopping at the Super Walmarts, think about joing a coop club like Sams Club and other’s. A recent trip to Sams Club- a stack of  ten tombstone pizzas sold for $10. That’s a dollar apiece folks. Beats having to order a pizze and paying Pizza Hut $17-27-dollars for a large pizza lus delivery.  Other low priced shopping chains nationwide are ALDI, and the various dollar stores like DEALS. DEALS has frozen pizzas like Tombstone, fresh gallon of milk at half the price of your local grocery store.

When faced with similar nasty pricing, New York State passed an anti-milk-price-gouging law in 1991.

Free market advocates have long opposed price gouging laws on the grounds that such laws interfere with market forces and ultimately lead to shortages.  But I’m now rethinking this position. It is getting increasingly difficult to ignore the facts: Prices have increased by almost 42.6% over the past year.  Most Americans have little choice but to pay the higher prices due to the lack of practical substitute products.  and the greedy grocers like KROGER (City Market, King Soopers) SAFEWAY, ALBERTSONS and tothers know that they have a captive audience.

From April 2006 to April 2009, grocery prices have risen 3.9%. Over the last 5 years, food prices have increased 12.2% nationwide. Among the items whose prices have risen the fastest are eggs, milk, bread and breakfast cereal. This morning, I went to my local grocery store with the intention of buying and trying new Chocolate Chex breakfast cereal. I stood in the cereal isle with my head hung in disgust. The price for a box was over $5.00. I left the store with nothing… nothing but sadness and a renewed vigor to fight this injustice. Every time I stand in my grocery store with a feeling of disgust, millions of mothers stand in similar stores with feelings of despair. Grocery prices outpaced the national inflation rate by 1.3% last year and there is no foreseeable end to this trend. When breakfast is in danger, America is in danger.

When I was a boy growing up on the North Side of Chicago (Andersonville),in the neighborhoods  there were still little stores where the family lived behind the store or above the store. My favorite little grocery store was where you could see the family eating lunch in the back….someone would come to the front to wait on you. They baked fresh jelly donuts every day and sold them to the schoolkids who had to pass by the store. Mmmmm! All the stores were individually owned and unique–if you wanted a chain store you’d go downtown Chicago, to State Street,  for the department stores like Marshall Fields, Woolworths, Sears etc. Today’s youth, with the explosion of “strip-malls,” don’t notice it now that they see Starbucks, Corner Bakery, BK, Taco Bell everywhere. Why is it that every new strip mall they build today has a Noodle Bowl, a dry cleaners, 7-11 and a Starbucks? I feel lucky to have grown up when all the store owners and my parents were on a first-name basis with the butcher or the baker and there was a good ‘fit’ between what the community wanted and what the stores sold.

Unlike today……..

Check this list of tips for ideas to benefit your health and your pocketbook in your trips down the grocery store aisles:

* Make a list and stick to it. With a list, you are less likely to buy on impulse. You’ll also save by avoiding extra gas-guzzling trips back to the store when you’ve forgotten something you need. I keep a running list of what I need. I go over the weekly grocery ads when they come out, and with my running list, it’s quick and easy to finalize what I need.

* Shop the specials. Canned goods have a long shelf life.

* Buy on sale and stock up. If you have room in your freezer to store extra food, over-wrap items to keep air out and extend the life and protect the quality of things you get at a deal.

* Buy seasonal vegetables and fruits. Buy only what you’ll use – fresh produce has a short shelf life. Be creative with your produce if it’s nearing the end of its shelf life. If the bananas get too ripe, for example, make banana bread. We lose money when we have to toss food because it was left too long and ends up in the garbage.

* Avoid shopping when you’re hungry. You’ll likely wind up putting “extras” in your grocery cart and eventually on your waist line if you get a snack attack. If you aren’t sure you spend much on snacks, try keeping a tally of all the snack foods you buy in one week. It may surprise you how much you are spending.

* Shop alone. Leave the kids and other family members at home. Too many “gotta haves” can drive up the total grocery bill in a hurry.* Use coupons for items you typically buy. You can find coupons in newspaper ads and on-line, too. I keep my list on the back of an envelope and tuck the coupons inside where they’re easy to retrieve at check out. If the grocery store you frequent has double or triple coupon days, take advantage of it.* If you don’t already have a store discount card, sign up.* Plan meals ahead and try planning your meals around sale items. Not only does this help with making the grocery list, but it also helps you plan leftovers for lunches, which saves money over going out to lunch. Leftovers also can be used for a quick dinner when your time is limited and you may want to grab fast food instead. Knowing in advance you can count on leftovers also keeps you from overbuying foods which have a limited shelf life. Remember to check expiration dates.* Choose less processed food and cook from scratch more often. Cooking from scratch is better from both your health and budget. Processed food is often high in sodium, fat and calories. A recent study showed that more than half of consumers are buying fewer prepared meals and cooking more often from scratch.

* Buy food in bulk when it’s cost effective. You can do some simple math to determine the unit pricing, and some stores list unit prices on the shelf tag along with the overall item price. It’s cheaper to buy larger quantities of some foods. If you want smaller packages of food for convenience, repackage them at home in smaller bags. But check your prices carefully; sometimes the bigger size isn’t a bargain and the cost of several smaller bags or boxes may actually be less.

* Consider store brands. Name brands are found at eye-level-prime real estate in the grocery aisle. Look high and low for store brands – on the lower and higher shelves – often for less money.

Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of the Darth Vadar’s  and Snidley Whiplash’s at the corporate grocery chains and their “creative pricing” or “price gouging.”

KH

THE END OF SUMMER

Another One Rides The Bus

One sure sign that summer is over here in the high Rockies is the day the kids start school. The kids started school this week to choruses from locals of, “Thank God!” The Summit County High School Principal is urging his teachers to ease into the homework after last years catastrophe. Faced with his first algebra test, Tim’s brain spontaneously combusted. The local high school has made great strides the past two years hiring outstanding teachers from around the country and can at laong last and proudly call themselves “Summit High” not “High Summit.” Kids used to go to school “high” than go to “high school.” We still have our share of “stoners” up here but now that we have an alternative school whose hours are 3-5 pm, the same hours that the “stoners used to get into trouble with the cops, there are less problems in this Rocky Mountain High.

Another sure sign of fall/winter is when the coyotes and black bears come down low and dumpster dive at the local fast foods (KFC, Taco Bell, Subway etc). Yesterday in Vail, Colorado a black bear broke into a brand new Subaru Forrester, ate the steering wheel, defecated on the passenger seat, deployed the air bags. Boy was he pissed when the Eagle County Sheriff’s showed up to let him out. Seems the black bears up here have learned how to open unlocked car doors and break into locked condos in Vail. Many a homeowner has come home recently to find Papa Bear has raided the refrigerator and has made himself at home on the sofa watching TV. Seems that’s another trick they have learned. The latest condo owner returning home engaged in a heavy cell-phone conversation was home 15-minutes before he noticed the intruder and ran out of the home screaming. I bet the bear had a big grin on his face.

These last few days, as the Seniors (Gapers) pour into the “High-Rockies,” to see the fall colors, the foliage has turned red and gold and the Aspens are just beginning to show their “true colors.” So, this month the “High Rockies” are hosting grumpy seniors all over the place. October- we host obnoxious hunters in camouflage all over the place. At least it’s quiet here now and todays weather was the most beautiful day we’ve had all summer, 72-degree’s, sunny with clear blue skies and a few puffy white clouds and a slight breeze.

Indian Summer is always my favorite time of year in the “High Rockies.” Soon the mountains will be alive with leaderhosen instead of spandex wearing bikers, German beer overflowing at the beer kegs and the sounds of Om-pa-pa music as every resort celebrates Octoberfest. Not in October (snows too much) but in September. Why not just change the name to Septemberfest? Go figure. At last years Copper Mountain Octoberfest- they sold 600-pounds of barbecued Ox-meat. The black bears roaming freely though the subdivisions should beware lest the resorts start serving up BBQ bear-meat on a stick.

THE END OF A POLITICAL DYNASTY

The Impossible Dream – from Man of La Mancha (Ted Kennedy’s favorite song)

TED KENNEDY: Historic Speech @ Denver Convention

Edward M. Kennedy was the third longest-serving member of the United States Senate in American history. Despite the many scandals that plagues Hhim throughout his life (his role in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, allegations that he watched his nephew (William Kennedy Smith) rape a girl on the front lawn of the Kennedy family mansion) and his continued alcoholism, Ted Kennedy held his Senate seat for more than four decades. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors. His other successes include reducing the voting age from 21 to 18, and Title IX, which gave women’s athletics much better funding. Widely held as the “standard-bearer for liberalism”, his legacy is that his era has been dominated by conservatives (Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush) and moderates (Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton).

With the death of the last Kennedy brother- it would seem that his death means the end of the Kennedy political dynasty. John Kennedy Jr is gone, most of the nephews have had numerous brushes with the law, convictions that prevent them from running for public office. The dream may not be dead,  the Kennedy family ancestors will always enjoy  a unique place in American public life, but the time for someone else to carry the flame has arrived. Someone who doesn’t have the name: KENNEDY.

“For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our        concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”~Edward M. Kennedy

THE END OF THE CASH FOR CLUNKERS PROGRAM

Click and Clack’s (The Tappett Brother’s) As The Wrench Turns

The dust stirred up by Cash for Clunkers has finally settled: the $3 billion government program closed up shop weeks, if not months, ahead of schedule due to its extraordinary popularity. In its wake, it spawned another rebate program, Obama called it a “success beyond anyone’s imagination” and it gave the auto companies their best sales months in recent memory. But there are still serious doubts about its merits. There’s still a big mess of auto parts to clean up, emissions have not been significantly lowered, and the economy may not have benefited much at all. ‘Clunkers’ was touted as being good for the economy, and good for the environment. But was it actually good for anything? Other than middle class consumers, of course–that’s the one group the program seemed to undoubtedly benefit. People who already owned cars, and were likely in the market for another certainly enjoyed the $3,500-4,500 rebate, and the incentive surely got people to buy cars sooner rather than later. But the success of just about every other aspect of the program remains up for debate.Some 500,000 new cars were sold, and 500,000 polluting ‘clunkers’ were taken off the streets. The environmental benefits, as has been noted , are dubious at best.

THE END OF OBAMA-CARE

Old and Fat People Song (Obama-care song)

Obama’s Health Care Plan is dead. The Congressional recess saw to that. When Congress re-convenes in the fall, and the health-care plan voted down, Obama is looking at being  a “Lame-Duck” / one-term president. Obama’s enemies (Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Hugh Downs and others) who from the start have wished nothing but failure for this president, are patting each other on the back and congratulating themselves on their loud-mouthed flatulence. For the past month, Obama has been back-pedaling away from “The Public Option.”

As I blogged on July 26, 2009 (The Health Care Stall):

Last week as Obama was trying to keep the “Blue-dogs” on task to get his health-care bill put together, United Health Care of Minnesota announced they had record profits of 155-percent in the second quarter alone while raising premiums on United customers. Can you say, “Greedy corporate pigs?” It’s price gouging. Instead of Obama and the blue-dogs wasting taxpayers time on a health-care bill that is never going to be passed, the Democrats would be better off going after insurance companies like United Health care and Aetna Insurance for price gouging and other fraud. United former CEO Bill McGuire is sitting atop stock options valued at $1.6 billion.

Cigna HealthCare, Aetna,  WellPoint  and United Health all posted obscene profits at a time when America’s economy is supposedly in free-fall, recession teetering on depression.

Conservative Media Making Up Details Of Health Reform Bill

Here’s the plain truth folks. Few politicians in Washington give a damn about America or Americans. What they care about are their high-powered job in Congress and the many perks it brings, invitations to dinner at the White House, their South American trollop, mistress and playing politics or ruining people for sport, who’s in- who’s out, Red state vs. Blue State, Liberals vs. Neo-Conservatives. Who’s got the power- who has not. It’s all a game to them. The interests the politicians truly represent are the high-priced lobbyists, insurance companies like United Health Care. Representing the wealthy special-interests who throw them a large bone, golfing junkets, mingling with the “Blue-blood” crowd and their many charity balls and other events.

This is why people run for Congress- not to represent the working poor who are losing their jobs, losing their health-care. The game plan is always the same. Harry Reid trots out to announce they cannot possibly meet Obama’s timetable that they need more time, until after the annual Congressional recess, by then they have had time to consult with their GOP party members to come up with the long list of excuses why they cannot possibly come up with a health-care bill. GOP and Dems argue back and forth for 6 months, we hear all the sound-bites and talking points on every talk-show in America and then the bill dies. No health-care. No relief for already desperate overwhelmed Americans. But the “Great-Game” continues. The lies continue for another 8-years.

The GOP who complain OBama is trying to rush this thing and that they need to take the time to do it right- fail to mention that government and every President since Nixon has been trying to come up with a health-care plan since the 1970’s. It’s been 39-years. Like how much time do they need?

NOTE TO OBAMA: Forget trying to force through a health care plan that in the end will die. Direct the FBI to arrest health-care CEO’s like McGuire and others who are “price gouging. Go after the health-care companies with the ferociousness that the FBI went after Kenneth Lay and Enron.

The FBI put so much pressure on Lay the man died of a heart attack before he could ever be brought to trial. And if the gov;t is going to come up with an alternative health-care. I notice the conservatives in Europe love their “socialized health-care. national health plan- model it on the one being used in Europe- the one of a single-payee. They take it out of your paycheck. If you lose your job- you don;t lose your insurance.

But as of right now- with the Congressional recess in August- the health-care bill is dead. Maybe just as well. There are those in the GOP who just cannot stand that America has a “Black” president. Jim DeMint for one is using the failure to come up with a health-care plan as Obama’s Waterloo. I say exile DeMint to Elba and provide him a South American trollop like Gov Sanford but don’t ever let him step foot in Congress again.

THE END OF ANALOG TV/RADIO

I Lost On Jeopardy- Wierd Al Yankovich

Let me tell you what you didn’t win: you don’t get to come back tomorrow , you don’t get a lousy copy of our home game, you made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people- you’re a complete “Loser.“

Lawmakers gave broadcasters until June 15, 2009, to end their traditional analog transmissions. The so-called “hard date” was included in a sweeping budget bill.The bill also would provide $3 billion to help millions of Americans buy digital-to-analog converter boxes for their older television sets — so those consumers will continue to receive a signal once the switch is made permanent. Somewhere around 70 million television sets now connected to rabbit ears or roof-top antennas will suddenly and forever go blank, unless their owners purchase a special converter box.

It all started back in the Eighties, when the Japanese shocked American consumer electronics companies with trade-show displays of high definition television sets that delivered razor-sharp images and stunning audio.  Everyone from Congress to the Wall Street Journal raised outcries: America’s favorite technology was being taken over by the then-fearsome Japan Inc.  As a result, a group of American companies formed the “Grand Alliance” that leapfrogged the Japanese technology by inventing digital HDTV. Thus, early on, HDTV invoked not just pretty pictures, but national pride and economic development. (Ironically, Zenith, the most all-American commercial participant in the Grand Alliance, is now South Korean-owned.) One drawback to the U.S. version of HDTV was that to make it work, all broadcast television (not just high-definition) would have to convert to digital, meaning that every American television set manufactured since 1946 would be rendered obsolete. To ease the transition, Congress generously gave all television broadcasters additional channel space so that they could keep broadcasting their analog signals while they installed and launched their digital channels. The deal was that they would give up their old channels when the transition was done. That part worked: Over 1400 broadcasters now transmit in digital as well as analog, reaching 99 percent of the U.S. television market.

The really big question: What will happen to all those old-fashioned television sets we’re still buying when the analog transmitters go off the air? To continue to receive free broadcast television via antenna, you’ll have to buy a digital converter box; cost estimates range from $100 or so in 2006 down to $50 by 2008. (Those converters won’t turn older sets into fancy high-definition sets; they will only restore conventional TV service, in digital format. The picture quality will be fairly comparable to today’s analog version, although there will be some improvements for people who use antennas — no “snow” or “ghosting.” On the other hand, when digital signals are weak, there is often no picture at all.)

In addition,  your local police force, fire-department, public safety workers  are lobbying for an early analog cut-off.  The reason is simple: when the cut-off happens, TV channels 52 – 69 will no longer be needed, freeing up broadcasting spectrum for other purposes.  Public safety workers have been promised four of these channels — a commitment even more pressing in the wake of the 9/11 Commission’s finding that the nation’s first responder communications systems need a major upgrade.

Now, that most new TV’s are not only  (HDTV) high-def as well as Internet ready which do not work with analog antenna’s, why would anyone want to keep their old analog sets anyway? Therein lies the rub. The poor cannot afford the price of these new $5000 digital TV sets nor can they afford to shell out the $100 bucks a month for Comcast Cable service. And where will the millions of old analog TV sets go? To the local dump? Seems to me the government- before they started promising rebates to help people buy the new converter boxes, should have set up a national recycle service for people wanting to dump their old TV sets. As Bullwinkle J, Moose always used to say: Eenie meenie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak.

FINALLY, THE END TO A REALLY DISMAL SUMMER MOVIE SEASON (2009)

500 Days Of Summer

What the $&%# has happened to our blockbuster summer movie season? Can anybody explain to me why we no longer have the “big” movie over the 4th of July weekend? Really … is there any difference if Harry Potter is released July 19th or over 4th July weekend when we’re all looking for something to do with the kids who are driving us CRAZY!!!! Remember when Indepence Day (the movie) actually debuted over Independence day weekend? Most blockbuster movies are released way too early, middle of May and by 4th of July, there isn;t a blockbuster movie in the theaters. The movie distributors need to fix this. There needs to be a major blockbuster movie every 4th of July weekend.

Has anyone seen anything more idiotic than the plot of the new Time Traveler’s Wife movie? Do they sit around smoking crack at the screenplay writing sessions? I think the wriers of Time Traveler’s Wife had just watched Somewhere in Time while being stoned out of their minds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKue_MEnkk. Somewhere In Time was a medicore movie with a lame time-travel plot but it had a great cast (Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour) and an outstanding musical score by John Barry (Dances With Wolves). Here’s a few quick thoughts on the dismal summer movie season of 2009. Thank-god it’s over. Now, maybe; we can start looking forward to some Oscar-calibre movies again.

1. The Room
A movie so bad it’s good and quickly developing a cult following:

2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Ice Age 3)
Haven’t we exhausted the dinosaur theme by now? Enough dinosaurs already. Michael Crichton is dead and gone and no one can top Jurassic Park.

3.  Public Enemies
Another “walk-through” by Johnny Depp. If he could make Jack Sparrow larger than life- then why couldn’t he make larger than life Dillinger come to life? Think I’ll re-rent “From Hell.”

4. Up
The first 5 minutes of this movie are so depressing like why would I want to watch the rest of it and leave the theater wanting to blow my brains out? Up was really a “downer.”

5. Inglorious Bastards
So bad it should have been titled. Inglorious Ripoff. I have never seen a worse Brad Pitt/Quentin Taratino movie.

6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
I agree with the film critics like Roger Ebert who called this movie, “Loud, obnoxious and loud.”

7. The Ugly Truth
Haven’t we seen this plot over and over and over and over and ……? Done to death. The ugly truth here is that there is Nnthing new here in the overuse of one-liners.

8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Excellent adolescent tale of loss of innocence but I felt HP6 was 1/2 hour too short. Lots of book details left out which I feel will not be made up in HP7 (Deathly Hallows) Considering it was Dumbledore’s last adventure, the screenplay could have been more flushed out.

9. G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
All these plots are starting to blur together. At one point I was confused with League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And wasn’t GI Joe a one man ope

ration with little emphasis on “teamwork?” That was Joe’s machismo. Dismal at best. What a waste of Dennis Quaid’s talent.

10. The Time Traveler’s Wife
The whole Time Traveler thing has been exhausted and a love affair with a sic-year-old girl borders on child molestation, particulary with the Jaycee Lee Dugand kidnapping re-emerging in the press the last week. It creeped me out.

11. Star Trek

Though they beefed up the trailers from the very first one’s suggesting a “Gay Agenda” between Spock and Kirk- this movie continues to boldly go nowhere. From the first inter-racial kiss to another time-travel paradox- everything here has been copied from earlier Star Trek TV episodes. Nothing new here except for decent central casting of characters

When summer gathers up her robes of glory,
And, like a dream, glides away.

~ Sarah Helen Whitman

KH

NFL Shame Song

NFL HYPOCRISY

Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL condemned Cleveland Browns Donte Stallworth who struck and killed a man while he was driving under the influence but overlooking the fact that the Eagles have signed quarterback Michael Vick to a one-year deal with a one-year option. Vick spent 18 months in prison after being convicted for running a dogfighting operation in Newport News, Va. In a letter to Stallworth, Goodell wrote: “In my view, the essential facts are that you had alcohol in your system well above the legal limit, made a conscious decision to drive, and struck and killed a man. As you recognize, this conduct and the loss of life has caused serious damage to the NFL and NFL players generally. Legal arguments that focus on criminal liability under Florida law do not diminish that damage or your responsibility for your conduct.”

You see this is why I no longer watch nor follow professional sports. It’s not about the sportsmanship anymore, not about the love of the game, the purity of competition -  it’s all about the money. No different than the philosophy local crack dealers have operating shamelessly out in the open in your local neighborhoods. For the last 35-years, professional sports, (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) have shamelessly been about nothing more than making money as barely competent players demand outrageous multi-million-dollar contracts despite their blatant use of steroids, drunk driving, drug-usage, dog fighting, wife-beating arrests and convictions. For the past 35-years, the gamblers have controlled professional sports with their use of new computer software that accurately computes not only the winner but the point-spread to the exact number. Those who frequent the sports books in Vegas and elsewhere can tell you it’s becoming almost impossible to beat the new computer software. Now with Stallworth and Vick- the NFL is choosing the lesser of two evils? Killing someone while driving drunk is just wrong but hey … a little dog-fighting conviction now and then ain’t so bad according to the Philadelphia Eagles who signed Vick to a one-year deal. The hypocrisy of those who oversee professional sports is not only shocking it is insulting. The huge gate admissions and concession prices are also blatantly insulting. Last time I attended a Rockies game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, a warm Coors “lite beer“  in a plastic cup was $6.

As long as millions of fans willing to be duped by professional sports, (the concessions who run them, the owners who overlook the major crimes and loose morality of their players for the sake of winning, )  and  continue to shell out  inflated prices for admission and concession and memorabilia, you are just continuing to support scumbags like Michael Vick, Mike Tyson, Pete Rose and other who have thoroughly disgraced the name of professional sports. Julio Castillo could have been sentenced to as long eight years in prison for threw a baseball that went into the stands and injured a fan during an on-field melee in Ohio got preferential treatment for being a  professional baseball player. Facing the prospect of spending at least 3 1/2 years behind bars, one-time Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress(notes) on Thursday accepted a plea bargain with a two-year prison sentence for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub. The former New York Giants wide receiver pleaded guilty to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he had faced. Again- preferential treatment for being a professional athlete. The ex-football star was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years.

Here’s another reason I refuse to participate, it’s become all so predictable. Every year we hear the hype about the Chicago Cubs, the Denver Bronco’s etc and every year they preform the same, the Cubs lose the first round in the playoffs, the Bronco’s end up going nowhere, the same teams win the Superbowl, World Series or NBA Championship, year after year after year. Talk about a steady paycheck for the owners.

Here’s a question for those of you who continue to be duped by professional sports. If Denver Bronco coach Mike Shanahan did what Bronco’s owner Pat Bowen hired him to do, (he won two Superbowl rings back to back with Bronco quarterback John Elway) and got to the playoffs almost every year consecutively- then why did Bronco’s owner Bowen fire Shanahan only to replace him with a young coach who has zippo experience? (Josh McDaniels). The 2008 NFL season was the third consecutive year in which Denver didn’t make the playoffs and the Broncos had spent most of the season well ahead of their division, only to lose the last three games (winning any of which would have guaranteed a playoff spot) and finishing with an 8-8 record.

So you fire the guy who gave you two Superbowl wins and back to back? There are some NFL teams who haven’t had a Superbowl win in the last twenty-years.

The hypocrisy. It’s all about the money. No Superbowl win- no million-dollar advertising deals for the team owner. Never mind that Invesco Field in Denver is jam-packed every fall with loyal Bronco fans.

Pat Tillman graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University in 1998 and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He became the team’s starting safety and, in his third year as a pro, broke the franchise record for tackles in a single season. One day after 9/11, Tillman told an interviewer, “At times like this, you stop and think about just how good we have it, what kind of system we live in and the freedoms we’re allowed. A lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven’t done a damn thing.”

Then Tillman did something extraordinary. He turned down a $3,600,000 contract extension from the Cardinals, put his football career on hold, and enlisted for a three-year term in the U.S. Army. He served in Iraq and then in Afghanistan. On April 22, 2004, he was killed in action- by his own men. Friendly fire they called it. The military lied, covered up the investigation and to thsi day Tillman’s family still do not have a good explanation of how or why their son was killed.  Pat Tillman was the kind of hero and example the NFL needs. Do you think they played up Tillmans heropism after his death? No- the NFL downplayed his sacrifice while playing up scumbags like Michael Vick, while professional sports play up scumbags like Mike Tyson, Pete Rose, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz now join a list that also includes Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Grimsley, and David Segui.

If you’re an NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB team owner know this- your hypocrisy disgusts me and you will not get one dime of my money. Not that you care. But at least I have my dignity and will not bet good money on professional sporting events where the referee’s, umpires and players are all on the take. If a sucker is born every minute- find some other sucker willing to finance your hypocrisy, illegal gambling,  and lack of moral conscience. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and others the ones who played not for money, not for the long-term contracts, not on steroids but played for the love of the game, are rolling over in their graves.

HEALTH-CARE LIARS

The “death panel” allegation was first leveled by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Numerous fact-check organizations have labeled the terminology false and misleading. This from the same “twit” who ran for Vice-President and didn’t even know what George W.’s foreign policy strategy was.  On a conference call President Obama conducted with leaders and members of the progressive religious left, he said some Americans are “bearing false witness” in the debate over health care reform. Using the strongest words of his presidency, Obama labeled the allegation that Democrats were seeking to create so-called deaths panels “an extraordinary lie.”

Here’s the full quote.

“I don’t want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care but I don’t want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care, either. And that’s what health insurance reform is all about. We are closer to achieving that reform than we have ever been and that’s why we’re seeing some of the divisive and deceptive attacks. You’ve heard some of them. Ludicrous ideas. Let me give you just one example, this notion that somehow we are setting up death panels that would decide whether elderly people would live or die. That is just an extraordinary lie. This is based on a provision in the House legislation that would allow Medicare to reimburse you if you wanted counseling on how to set up a living will or other end-of-life decisions. Entirely voluntary. It gives you an option that people who can afford fancy lawyers can already exercise.”

The “Fat-Cat” Republican Congressmen (men and women) represent the interests and lobby for the wealthy insurance companies like United Health care Of Minnesota who posted a 155-percent profit for the second-quarter of this year. The Republican Party is not the party iof the working people. They do not represent the working poor of America they represent the upper third of the country- the idle rich. Obama, a minority President from Chicago does represent the working poor of America as does the Democratic Party. But Obama “clouded”  the health-care issue.

NOTE TO OBAMA: America does not need a government-run health-care program known as the “PUBLIC OPTION,” America needs you to do your frickin job- regulate the insurance companies who have been gouging for years. Throw the detestable scumbags who would profit off the misfortunes of working poor American families in jail where they belong. To sit right besides Leo Dennis Kozlowski (born November 16, 1946, Newark, New Jersey) – former CEO of Tyco International, convicted in 2005 of crimes related to his receipt of $81 million in purportedly unauthorized bonuses, the purchase of art for $14.725 million and the payment by TYCO of a $20 million investment banking fee to Frank Walsh, a former TYCO director. He is currently serving 8.25 to 24 years at the Mid State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York.

But Obama has clouded the issue and has given voice to the outright liars like Sarah Palin,  con-artists, crooks who founded the insurance business to begin with – by proposing a government-run health-care plan that has no chance in hell of ever being passed into law. Now that Obama is backing away from the PUBLIC OPTION, his subsidized insurance plan has little chance of passing. One thing Americans can be sure of is this- anything the working poor of America sees signed into law and calling itself an affordable health-care plan, will only benefit the “Fat Cat” insurance companies like United Health Of Minnesota, Aetna, and others.

Obama has backed himself into a corner on the healthcare issue, which will only benefit insurance companies further and turn Obama into a “Lame Duck” Presdient. When Obama’s health-care fails and it will- Obama will find it impossible to get Congress, expecially the rich Republican,  “Red State” party to approve anything he proposes. Based on the failure of his health-care plan- Obama is a one-term president. And political wacko’s like Sarah Palin will seem all the more attractive to Americans who naively believe that America still has a political system that works.

JOURNALIST HEAVEN WELCOMES TWO MORE MEMBERS

60 MINUTES THEME SONG

Television pioneer and longtime CBS executive Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes,” has died, the network said Wednesday. He was 86.  A Sunday evening fixture, “60 Minutes” was television’s top-rated show four times, most recently in 1992-93. While no longer a regular in the top 10 in Hewitt’s later years, it was still TV’s most popular news-magazine. Hewitt died of pancreatic cancer at his Bridgehampton home, CBS said. His death came a month after that of fellow CBS legend Walter Cronkite.

Robert David Sanders “Bob” Novak (February 26, 1931 – August 18, 2009) was a syndicated columnist, journalist and conservative political commentator^. Over his career, Novak became well-known as a columnist (writing Inside Report since 1963) and as a television personality (appearing on many shows for CNN, most notably on three former programs, The Capital Gang, Crossfire, and Evans, Novak, Hunt, & Shields). On August 4, 2008, Novak announced that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and that his prognosis was “dire”, and that he was retiring.

“I don’t watch my words very closely. I’m 76 years old, and I don’t have that much time on this earth. There’s very little people can do to hurt me, and so I say what I want to say.

Political columnist Robert Novak, a conservative, pugilistic debater and proud owner of the “Prince of Darkness” moniker, died Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer that was diagnosed in July 2008. He was 78.

KH

MAMA DON’T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS

There was a saying in Flagstaff, Arizona years ago that is becoming true in the high mountain communities of Colorado these days. “If you put a pebble in your hand, close your eyes and spin around three times and throw the pebble in any direction- chances are you’ll hit a Subaru Outback.”

Twenty-years-ago, visitors to the high mountains of Colorado were greeted by trailer-courts, gravel-roads, pickup trucks and dogs. Someone would leave the screen door of the restaurant open and a dog would walk in. “Whose dog is this?” the proprietor would ask. It didn’t matter- the dog would get fed before wandering out. The high mountain towns were littered with herds of red and white Herefords or horses grazing on BLM land as real “cowboys” wrangled the stock. The local restaurants were all log cabins with names like Claim Jumper, Prospector. Mt. Lion Cafe. I miss the trailer-courts- they gave the place character. A visitor knew he was in the mountains.

Visitors to Colorado’s high-country today are greeted by factory-outlet shopping malls, Subaru outbacks, bumper-to-bumper mountain-bikers wearing spandex that makes them look like an exploding geranium, condominiums everywhere and restaurants with Californicated names like Mi Zuppa, Baglia’s. Visitors today might confuse the former “cowboy” towns of Colorado’s high country with being another suburb of Denver.

Walk down Main Street Breckenridge or Frisco and every second business is a realty office. It’s all about the real-estate here and Summit County has more Realtors than the old west ever had Buffalo. Most are married soccer mom’s that might sell 1-3 houses a year. if you want to see a real “cowboy” these days you have to travel north to “cowboy” country like Craig, Colorado.

So what killed the old west and “cowboy” country from Whitefish, Montana down to Tucson, Arizona?

CALIFORNICATORS:

1. Brown-nosers from California who move to every other state but California,take away jobs from locals, inflate the real-estate market, drive trendy California cars like a Subaru Outback  and destroy everything in their path, including companies, the enviroment, and the lives of the inocent natives. An on going problem since 1989.

2.

The thing that irks me is this. Most of the Californicators are not even from California. They weren’t born there nor did they grow up there. Most of the Californicators are “transplants” and usually from the East Coast. Places like New Jersey or New York. When Eastman Kodak moved their film studios from New York to California in the 1930’s, there was this mas migration of Easterner’s to California. They descended upon the little towns at that time with nothing more than Orange Groves and ocean views and proceeded over the next 70-years to turn California into the toilet it is today with its endless freeways, strip malls, crime, drugs, and loose morality. All this was before the illegals starting flooding into California after President Reagan’s amnesty in the 1980’s.  Even well into the 1970’s, a young couple could move to California, buy a small ranch house for under a $100-grand and raise a family. As the filth and crime started to degrade major parts of California, certain Californians who did not want to wake up one day to find their house located in a ghetto and market value worth zilch, started to inflate the price of properties so that their house, their community would be a upper income white-collar neighborhood as opposed to a filthy, crime ridden Mexican barrio neighborhood. When local governments started to see that the price of homes in their community were above the median, they decided to charge more property taxes to pay for expensive recreation centers, performing arts centers  etc.

The 1992 Big Bear earthquake was an earthquake that occurred on 28 June 1992 in Big Bear Lake, California, with a magnitude of 6.4. This earthquake occurred three hours after the 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake, and the 1995 Ridgecrest Earthquake, the largest earthquake to hit southern California scared a lot of Californians.into a mass exodus from California as thousands of “CALIFORNICATORS” poured into neighboring westerns states, mountain communities like Flagstaff, Sedona and Prescott, Az were over-run within one year. Sante Fe, New Mexico, Tuscon, Az, Denver, Colorado would see its populations triple within the next 5-years. Colorado had a population of one-million in 1986. By 1996, Colorado’s population would jump to 7-million with the majority of Californians settling in what is called, THE FRONT RANGE, an area just east of the foothills that runs north to south from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs. With them, these new Californicators brought inflated real-estate prices, strip malls, spandex bikers and all the crime, filth and degradation they left behind in California. Denver, Colorado, once a working-mans town, has now become just another Los Angeles, with crime, gangs, filth. cop- shootings on a daily basis. Ask a native Coloradoan, Denver used to be a great place to raise a family. Colorado used to be such a great place that late great songwriter John Denver made a million-dollars on his #1 hot, Rocky Mountain High in which he posed the question,

The impact of CALIFORNICATORS has also had a dramatic impact on Colorado’s environment. When John Denver sang about The Eagle and The Hawk, in the 1970’s, Colorado actually had a healthy population of these predator birds that kept the scavenger birds away. Today, populations of Eagle and Hawk are on the endangered-species list and tons of really, big fat, black crows are everywhere. One tourist remarked that one crow he had seen was as big as a turkey. Another impact of the millions of automobiles the Californicator’s brought with them had been an increase in temperatures in Colorado. At 9500 feet here in Summit County, 80-degree’s feels more like 90-100 degree’s. The ten-year drought, no doubt caused by millions of Californians moving into the state contributed to the rise of the Pine-Beetle which has now killed 90-percent of Colorado’s lodge-pole pines. The Pine Beetle hates two things, excessive rain and cold, both of which Colorado had until millions of Californians started pouring into our Rocky Mountain High. Now, Summit County is left with a dead forest, hundreds of these big, black, obnoxious crows, asshole Californicators in their layers of exploding spandex, traffic conjestion, the “brown cloud” is coming back, drugs and crime are on the rise in the mountain towns as I-70 has become a major drug pipeline like I-40 to the south. John Denver must be rolling-over in his grave.

Recently, Vail Resorts, which owns the najority of ski areas in Colorado’s high country are pissing and moaning that the ski hills have been overbuilt with condo’s and that there is no place for the skiers to ski. A modest two-bedroom in Copper Mountain sells for a million plus. The Californicators have turned Colorado into another version of California which is scary because this summer as I vacationed in California, I saw dozens of moving trucks and vans pouring out of the “Big Orange” no doubt headed for Colorado.

Twisting and Shouting with director John Hughes

Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while,

you could miss it. ~ Ferris Bueller

Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood’s youth impresario of the 1980s and ’90s who captured the teen and preteen market with such favorites as “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Home Alone, died Thursday of a heart-attack  a spokeswoman said. He was 59.

John Hughes gave us a philosophy for uptight, scared teenagers like Cameron Fry in Ferris Bueller whose Dad loved his car more than he loved Cameron. Cameron: [while kicking his father's car] Who do you love? Who do you love? You love a car! The movie; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, considered to be Hughes best, is chock full of the Hughes philosophy:

Ferris Bueller: Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.

John Hughes understood teenage “angst” as in this scene from The Breakfast Club:

Brian Johnson: Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…
Andrew Clark: …and an athlete…
Allison Reynolds: …and a basket case…
Claire Standish: …a princess…
John Bender: …and a criminal…
Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question?… Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan.  He was in New York to visit family. Hughes’ ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, John Cusack (“Sixteen Candles”), Judd Nelson (“The Breakfast Club”), Steve Carell (“Curly Sue”) and Lili Taylor (“She’s Having a Baby”)  and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular “Home Alone,” which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” and “Uncle Buck.”

Buck Russell: I don’t think I want to know a six-year-old who isn’t a dreamer, or a sillyheart. And I sure don’t want to know one who takes their student career seriously. I don’t have a college degree. I don’t even have a job. But I know a good kid when I see one. Because they’re ALL good kids, until dried-out, brain-dead skags like you drag them down and convince them they’re no good. You so much as scowl at my niece, or any other kid in this school, and I hear about it, and I’m coming looking for you!

As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
Or will you walk away?

From the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club: (Simple Minds) we won’t forget about you John. Through your movies- you left the teenagers of tomorrow a guide or roadmap if you will to walk them through the “angst” and rebellious years dealing with parents, school, dried-up teachers who have let their dreams die, authority figures, peers and siblings.

KH