Its 11:00 am
Spanning the globe....
While Newt Gingrich run for President has faded into the wind...his legacy of words are still be tossed about by the American public. Like calling President Obama the "food stamp president". Telling blacks they should demanding a paycheck instead of food stamps.
Our society is goofy...we encourage people to donate food to the poor and needy,run PSAs about 1 in 7 children go hungry at night because of a lack of food.
The media covers the very poor at Thanksgiving and Christmas time at a food kitchen eating a hot meal delivered by churches,volunteers or even the station that is covering the story. Its a "feel good"kind of story designed to tug on your hearts. And for the most part,it does.
But when those same folks are standing in line at the grocery store and they pull out a Bridge (what we call food stamps in Michigan) you get a very different reaction...people aren't so tolerant and you see the stares and hear the nasty comments. Having a Bridge card is a symbol of shame in America,a sign of poverty.
I worked at a grocery store for 7 years as a cashier and later as a store trainer and I saw Bridge cards every day in my job. Saw the customer often trying to hide the card if anyone was behind them.
I never understood this,if you have a family and you're not making it,why should you be ashamed if you need help? I did my very best to help each customer no matter how they paid. Now I'm not going to sit here and not say every case was pure and innocent. I know far better then that..fraud does happen in the Food Stamp program,the USDA,which runs the program nationally kicked over 44,000 people off the program for fraud.
Stores also abuse the program...offering cash for the cards. I saw this often in the neighborhood I grew up in..you get 500.00 in food stamps but sell the card for 300 cash. A lot of folks robbing Peter to pay Paul (or their dealers). In Pennsylvania,over 175 stores were caught paying cash for cards.
States are now tightening up the rules,fingerprinting in New York,drug testing in Florida,set limits for individuals to get off the dole. Food stamp fraud costs the US taxpayer 375 million dollars a year...(but compare that to the 60 Billion that doctors rip off Medicare,including one doctor just busted for 375 million alone!!)
What exactly are food stamps? Its federal aid designed to help people affected by poverty buy food. The program started back in the 60s and actually used to come in paper booklets with dollar amounts attached to them. This was phased out in 2004 in favor of plastic debt cards. This made it easier to stop massive postal thefts which happened quite a bit and gave the person both protection and tried to hide the stigma that using food stamps brings.
Newt Gingrich has said that more people have been on food stamps then any other president in history.
Good ol' Newt says he is a historian,well if he is,I guess he must consider yesterday to be ancient because if he had done a little research he would have discovered that food stamp use has gone up under each President since Reagan back in 1980...
While we can't argue that more folks since 2008 have added to the food stamp program is larger then any president's term,lets look at the numbers a bit more.
Last year,45 million Americans used food stamps,that equals to roughly 15% of all Americans. In 2008,28 million folks were on the program when Obama took office. But the number of folks added has risen sharply the past 10 years and actually GREW BY A HIGHER PERCENTAGE under the 8 years of George W. Bush's presidency then Obama's. I hear the teapublicans start to stammer and sputter when reading this but it was under Bush's watch then this recession hit,not Obama's.
But was the recession totally at fault for the rise? Not all the way...millions of Americans lost their jobs and went from being middle class to sliding under the poverty line,thus making them eligible for food stamps.
15% of all Americans now live under that line,1 in 7 of everyone you may meet is officially poor. An average family of 3 living under 19,090.00 per year is the poverty line now.
The average family of 2.2 members now receives around 290.00 a month,or 73.00 a week to eat on. It isn't much to feed 2 people on but food stamp spending does add up quite a bit. It has risen to 80.5 billion during the past 10 years.
Critics blame this upsurge in spending on different factors..Bush relaxed eligibility standards and an boost to benefits that Obama had to put in his stimulus bill after those millions of folks started to lose their jobs.
Obama also increased the time limits that folks could stay on the program as well as people just weren't rebounding in finding a job as quickly as they had in the past.
"No program in our government has surged more out of control more dramatically then food stamps" Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama has said. He goes on,"Do you think there are 4 times as many people who need food stamps today as in 2001?"
That is a fair question....until you realize that Alabama ranks as the 3rd poorest state in the country with over 750,000 living under the poverty line. How exactly did Sessions get elected again??
And Newt made it a point to signal out blacks as the leading food stamp users. But the percentage is this...of all food stamp users,34% are whites,22% are black,16% are Hispanic and the rest (Native Americans,Asians,etc) are the other 28%.
40% of families that on food stamps do have at least one member who WORKS a job. Again...not only did folks lose their jobs but by the time they found another one,either they had used up all of their savings and or found a another job at much lower wages thus keeping them under the poverty line.
Is there abuse? Sure there is....in New York City,they found 2,000 people using two names to draw extra benefits costing tax payers 5 million. In Michigan we had a man win a 2 million dollar lottery jackpot and still be able to use his Bridge card.
And as I said...over 44,000 people have been kicked off food stamps for abuses....which equals one tenth of one percent of program participants.
There should be no shame tied to using this program....only shame if you are abusing it.
Thanks for reading and comments are most welcome.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Your daily Boo
Its 4:59 pm
Its a partly sunny day here....but very chilly. The wind is pushing past the window and I can see a couple of folks bundled up and walking their dogs. Derek is asleep on my Oregon State sweater,yesterday he was snoozing on my BYU one. Sure does look warm lying there...
Not feeling the best today but since I like to post something new almost everyday,I'll leave this as my post.
The video below is of actor Craig Bierko who has starred both on the stage,the small screen and in the movies. His performance as boxer Max Baer in Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man" steals the film and made me a instant fan.
Craig is a very warmhearted man as well off camera,he works with many charities and is helping to raise money for the Loma Linda Children's hospital. He also rescued a sweet dog named Boo which he is turning into a star via some very funny clips on YouTube called "Your Daily Boo". In each little video,Craig is interacting with Boo on some level..and I thought this episode was outstanding since I can totally relate to taking my cat,Derek Jeter,to the vet.
If you think Craig is talking to Boo just for the camera,he isn't...we pet owners DO talk to our wingman. Derek loves to talk to me both coming and going to the vet. He and I have had some great debates about world peace,beer,baseball and Anna Faris. Lot of the time,it has to do with "Are we there yet?".
So kick back,relax and be prepared to be charmed by the very talented Boo and the very cool and witty Craig Bierko. If you have a YouTube/Twitter account,you can subscribe/Follow both Craig and Boo.
And to find more about the Loma Linda Children's Hospital,just click on the link.
And to see what Craig is doing next on both the small and silver screen,you can find out here.
Its a partly sunny day here....but very chilly. The wind is pushing past the window and I can see a couple of folks bundled up and walking their dogs. Derek is asleep on my Oregon State sweater,yesterday he was snoozing on my BYU one. Sure does look warm lying there...
Not feeling the best today but since I like to post something new almost everyday,I'll leave this as my post.
The video below is of actor Craig Bierko who has starred both on the stage,the small screen and in the movies. His performance as boxer Max Baer in Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man" steals the film and made me a instant fan.
Craig is a very warmhearted man as well off camera,he works with many charities and is helping to raise money for the Loma Linda Children's hospital. He also rescued a sweet dog named Boo which he is turning into a star via some very funny clips on YouTube called "Your Daily Boo". In each little video,Craig is interacting with Boo on some level..and I thought this episode was outstanding since I can totally relate to taking my cat,Derek Jeter,to the vet.
If you think Craig is talking to Boo just for the camera,he isn't...we pet owners DO talk to our wingman. Derek loves to talk to me both coming and going to the vet. He and I have had some great debates about world peace,beer,baseball and Anna Faris. Lot of the time,it has to do with "Are we there yet?".
So kick back,relax and be prepared to be charmed by the very talented Boo and the very cool and witty Craig Bierko. If you have a YouTube/Twitter account,you can subscribe/Follow both Craig and Boo.
And to find more about the Loma Linda Children's Hospital,just click on the link.
And to see what Craig is doing next on both the small and silver screen,you can find out here.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Two Days in the Valley (and a medical update)
12:29 pm
Hmm....I guess writing about my day working the Michigan Primary was about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall....
Its a grey gloomy day here in SE Michigan. The weather is rapidly moving from winter to spring and not just here. Yesterday saw a massive outbreak of over 30 tornadoes including one F4 which resulted in 12 dead.
I'm sure we'll be hearing about this tonight at our first CERT class. Now while I have seen wild land fires and been through a earthquake,I have yet to see an tornado here in Michigan,my first year here was the closest I have come,we had a storm touch down at the airport,fly over us and touch down in a junk yard in Detroit.
I have always wanted to see one up close but Lori has said "no" to my request to go storm chasing in Kansas or Oklahoma.
Davy Jones of The Monkees died yesterday at age 66 of an heart attack. The Monkees were America's answer to the crazy ride that was The Beatles in the late 60s. While the Monkees were a cookie-cutter band put together in Los Angeles and despite having a cartoon like show,still managed to have several international hits and selling over 65 million albums and singles.
Davy was definitely the heart throb of the group and became a huge teen idol. That led to a now famous guest spot on The Brady Bunch where Marcia Brady had a huge crush on him. While the group went their different ways,Davy Jones remained in the spotlight the most while the others faded quietly into doing music,small parts in TV and other interests.
R.I.P. Davy and thanks for the good times...
Got a bit of a shock yesterday....local Channel 7 sports director Don Shane called it quits after 23 years on the air. I like Don...a lot. He has always been a steady professional and his reporting was firm and straight to the point. Sports reporters are blessed to have so many teams to cover here,it makes the job a lot of fun. But Don grew tired and found it less and less enjoyable as time went on and he also missed spending time with his family. So yesterday,while on the air,he announced he was retiring.
But I'm also very excited because this will mean my favorite sports guru,Tom Leyden,will be stepping into the spot and I couldn't be more happy. Tom is the man behind the Sunday Sports Final show on Channel 7 and that show,besides the Let It Rip show on Channel 2,is must see TV. Tom's style is loose and relaxed and keeping area sports in perspective,unlike ESPN/MLB Network,etc...Tom makes it fun without mocking it or just showing up and going through the motions (right,Bernie??).
The only downside of Tom moving into the main newscast is this might mean the end of his run on the Sports Final. And instead of 30 minutes of fun with Nate and Stoney,he'll get his 3-5 minutes a hour to drop a score or a highlight. And most importantly,it means he most likely won't be able to wear his Yankees cap on the air again...
But to honor my buddy and his new job,I'm once again going to fly my Met's logo on my FB wall as my way of saying "congratulations"! Lori will be happy however,I'll be going to bed a little earlier on Sunday nights now.
Saturday morning....8:50 am
Back in the saddle,with a twist.
Its a cold and very windy day outside.Its been blustery all night in SE Michigan but after seeing what has been happening to Illinois and Indiana,we have been rather blessed. Tornado season has decided to show up and in major force with over 100 twisters already touching down and killing 28 people so far.
Just hope its not an omen as I started my 9 week CERT class in my town. While the first session was a bit stiff and not very exciting to say the least,our instructor showed us a training video on how a CERT team works and if that is how it does,every city should try and create one.
I thought my city already had one in place but found out that we are the first group to get this training. Of course a vast majority of the 35 folks have a fire/medical/armed forces background so there will a great core to start with. The class is being taught by our city's Emergency Management Director,she has been trying for four years to get this program funded so it could be established. She said that she was lucky to get funding for maybe 3 classes but feels the funding will dry up soon. That is a shame because after seeing these towns get the catpoo kicked out of them by these storms,they sure could use the help that a CERT program could offer.
Went to Ann Arbor yesterday for a medical appointment for Lori. Things are looking very positive for us right now,the PA told Lori was her appointment schedule would look like for the next 5 years. Why 5 years you may be asking....because if you are cancer free after 5 years,you are considered healed. So to mention that timetable is very encouraging indeed. This is what we are striving for...SO KEEP THOSE PRAYERS coming,they really are working!
Pinched a nerve in my back...not a fun thing I have to admit. Did it on Thursday and despite heat,motrin and a long soak,there is little improvement. Just what we didn't need right now....but we'll deal with this and I will hopefully be back and feeling better in a few days.
Lori and I spent some time in our den last night,I was reading Tom Delay's book "No Retreat,No Surrender" and she was watching Davy Jones videos on YouTube. Soon we talking about childhood crushes and I said it seemed like Davy Jones was like a LOT of women's first crushes. Lori asked me who my first crush was and that was a pretty easy answer. My first crush was on Tina Louise of the old Gilligan's Island series.
Tina was a sultry redhead who played Ginger the movie star. She was forever using her charms on Gilligan to try and find out secrets or offering up ideas she has gotten from roles she played to help the castaways get rescued.
Now I didn't know for a long time that the show was much older then I was when I first watched it with my brothers. But even after I learned that,I still followed Tina's career even though she didn't do very much.
As crushes go,soon it went away but years later I found a CD of her music that had been put out by her daughter Caprice. Once again I got to rediscover my first crush...so it fun watching Lori talk about Davy Jones and then Bobby Sherman.
So it got me to thinking....who was your first celebrity crush? Just a drop here or on the FB group wall...it will be a bit fun to see who liked who...
Hmm....I guess writing about my day working the Michigan Primary was about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall....
Its a grey gloomy day here in SE Michigan. The weather is rapidly moving from winter to spring and not just here. Yesterday saw a massive outbreak of over 30 tornadoes including one F4 which resulted in 12 dead.
I'm sure we'll be hearing about this tonight at our first CERT class. Now while I have seen wild land fires and been through a earthquake,I have yet to see an tornado here in Michigan,my first year here was the closest I have come,we had a storm touch down at the airport,fly over us and touch down in a junk yard in Detroit.
I have always wanted to see one up close but Lori has said "no" to my request to go storm chasing in Kansas or Oklahoma.
Davy Jones of The Monkees died yesterday at age 66 of an heart attack. The Monkees were America's answer to the crazy ride that was The Beatles in the late 60s. While the Monkees were a cookie-cutter band put together in Los Angeles and despite having a cartoon like show,still managed to have several international hits and selling over 65 million albums and singles.
Davy was definitely the heart throb of the group and became a huge teen idol. That led to a now famous guest spot on The Brady Bunch where Marcia Brady had a huge crush on him. While the group went their different ways,Davy Jones remained in the spotlight the most while the others faded quietly into doing music,small parts in TV and other interests.
R.I.P. Davy and thanks for the good times...
Got a bit of a shock yesterday....local Channel 7 sports director Don Shane called it quits after 23 years on the air. I like Don...a lot. He has always been a steady professional and his reporting was firm and straight to the point. Sports reporters are blessed to have so many teams to cover here,it makes the job a lot of fun. But Don grew tired and found it less and less enjoyable as time went on and he also missed spending time with his family. So yesterday,while on the air,he announced he was retiring.
But I'm also very excited because this will mean my favorite sports guru,Tom Leyden,will be stepping into the spot and I couldn't be more happy. Tom is the man behind the Sunday Sports Final show on Channel 7 and that show,besides the Let It Rip show on Channel 2,is must see TV. Tom's style is loose and relaxed and keeping area sports in perspective,unlike ESPN/MLB Network,etc...Tom makes it fun without mocking it or just showing up and going through the motions (right,Bernie??).
The only downside of Tom moving into the main newscast is this might mean the end of his run on the Sports Final. And instead of 30 minutes of fun with Nate and Stoney,he'll get his 3-5 minutes a hour to drop a score or a highlight. And most importantly,it means he most likely won't be able to wear his Yankees cap on the air again...
But to honor my buddy and his new job,I'm once again going to fly my Met's logo on my FB wall as my way of saying "congratulations"! Lori will be happy however,I'll be going to bed a little earlier on Sunday nights now.
Saturday morning....8:50 am
Back in the saddle,with a twist.
Its a cold and very windy day outside.Its been blustery all night in SE Michigan but after seeing what has been happening to Illinois and Indiana,we have been rather blessed. Tornado season has decided to show up and in major force with over 100 twisters already touching down and killing 28 people so far.
Just hope its not an omen as I started my 9 week CERT class in my town. While the first session was a bit stiff and not very exciting to say the least,our instructor showed us a training video on how a CERT team works and if that is how it does,every city should try and create one.
I thought my city already had one in place but found out that we are the first group to get this training. Of course a vast majority of the 35 folks have a fire/medical/armed forces background so there will a great core to start with. The class is being taught by our city's Emergency Management Director,she has been trying for four years to get this program funded so it could be established. She said that she was lucky to get funding for maybe 3 classes but feels the funding will dry up soon. That is a shame because after seeing these towns get the catpoo kicked out of them by these storms,they sure could use the help that a CERT program could offer.
Went to Ann Arbor yesterday for a medical appointment for Lori. Things are looking very positive for us right now,the PA told Lori was her appointment schedule would look like for the next 5 years. Why 5 years you may be asking....because if you are cancer free after 5 years,you are considered healed. So to mention that timetable is very encouraging indeed. This is what we are striving for...SO KEEP THOSE PRAYERS coming,they really are working!
Pinched a nerve in my back...not a fun thing I have to admit. Did it on Thursday and despite heat,motrin and a long soak,there is little improvement. Just what we didn't need right now....but we'll deal with this and I will hopefully be back and feeling better in a few days.
Lori and I spent some time in our den last night,I was reading Tom Delay's book "No Retreat,No Surrender" and she was watching Davy Jones videos on YouTube. Soon we talking about childhood crushes and I said it seemed like Davy Jones was like a LOT of women's first crushes. Lori asked me who my first crush was and that was a pretty easy answer. My first crush was on Tina Louise of the old Gilligan's Island series.
Tina was a sultry redhead who played Ginger the movie star. She was forever using her charms on Gilligan to try and find out secrets or offering up ideas she has gotten from roles she played to help the castaways get rescued.
Now I didn't know for a long time that the show was much older then I was when I first watched it with my brothers. But even after I learned that,I still followed Tina's career even though she didn't do very much.
As crushes go,soon it went away but years later I found a CD of her music that had been put out by her daughter Caprice. Once again I got to rediscover my first crush...so it fun watching Lori talk about Davy Jones and then Bobby Sherman.
So it got me to thinking....who was your first celebrity crush? Just a drop here or on the FB group wall...it will be a bit fun to see who liked who...
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Working the Primary
Its 9:38 am
Its a cold grey morning ...still recovering from last night when Lori woke up with a terrible leg cramps. Leg cramps can be a real nasty and a really painful ordeal and you have to know how to react to them in order to end them quickly as possible. I went from a dead sleep to working those cramps out in 2 seconds flat. The cause could have been lack of liquids or a reaction to a dream,who knows...but it hurt like hell. Was able to work the cramps out and have her back to sleep in 20 minutes.
Pretty jazzed up again as I have picked up another reader and someone is starting to repost some of my entries via Google+. I noticed that with my Falkland Islands entry and now my newest entry also has been liked that way. Slowly making progress....and pleased as punch to see so many of Paul's friends are still coming over to read my entry and sign his petition over at Change.org. Thank you so much for supporting a true pioneer who is just trying to hang on to his home.
Still working on my first two "8 Questions with...."stories. Joan Lemon is currently in a middle of a move and I'm still awaiting for social activist John Cromer to send back the interview. John is an amazing story. He has overcome a nasty crack addiction and a 13 year stretch in jail to become of one Detroit's bright spots in help the young men in Detroit get jobs,training and encouragement to overcome impossible odds and make real difference in the world. I'm excited to share with his voice and as soon as I get the interview ready,I'll post it here.
As I posted on Monday,I worked the Michigan Primary yesterday. It basically turned from a 4 man race to just Mittens and Insantorum. The Lizard and Ron Paul quit running in Michigan a while despite making a few in-state appearances,they didn't run any TV ads and we nary got a single robocall from them either.
I drove to my post at 5:45 which was based at our main fire station. From 6 am to 7 am,we set up the precinct and got it ready for action. We had a crew of 5 which turned out perfect. Our chair was a delightful charming Virginia transplant named Bettie,our vice chair was a lady named Ginger who could pass herself off as a Molly Shannon double,a very wise man named Bernie and a plucky woman named Becky.
Now when you are going to be working together for almost 14 hours straight,its really helpful that you have a nice crew to work with and I have to say we had a blast. We had our station up and ready at 6:40 for a 7 am start. Bettie and Ginger were old hands at this while us other three were rookies so that helped in getting us ready so quickly.
Now our precinct has 1,272 registered voters and before the day started,we took a guess at how many voters would actually show.
Bernie said 75
Bettie said 110
Ginger said 183
Becky said 251
and my guess,based on the calls and media coverage,was 597.
I know,goofy,but I really did expect a very heavy turnout based on all the teapublicans who say they can't stand President Obama. Our city clerk has predicted a 30-32% turn out so could say for sure.
Now there are certain rules for working a ballot station and the first rule is ,NO TALKING POLITICS while voters are around. We are not allowed to comment or even say the name of the parties because of the possible influence of altering someone's vote.Even among ourselves we had to use tact....so of course we came up with code words....I threw out "Mittens" and Bernie offered "Sanitation" . Turns out we barely talked about the primary,we talked more about families,jobs,kids,cats and our city.
We listened to the fire station calls which a included a 3 year old who managed to get a bead stuck in her nose. Voters started straggling in....one at a time,sometimes 2 or 3 at a time. By 9 am,Becky,Ginger and myself knew we weren't going to win.
We all turned out to have a love of reading and had brought books..Ginger read hers on a Kindle while the rest of us read via the old fashioned way.
We each took an 40 minute lunch break while the voter still trickled in. The city clerk came by and we when asked how everyone was doing at 1 pm,she shrugged her shoulders. While we had in 49 ballots cast,another station only had 16! Less then three voters per hour....
When folks asked us how many had turned and we told them,many of them were angry to see such a low turn out,the teapublicans felt they needed a large vote to prove that their candidate,no matter who it is,should feel they have a real shot at carrying Michigan and a low turn out would show apathy.
The afternoon was pretty quiet,I finished the book I brought got ready for the last two hours. From 5 to 7 pm ,we saw the heaviest rush as people coming from work dropped by and voted. The last two voters can in at 7:55 pm and at 8 pm,the polls were closed.
We shut the doors and proceeded to break down our equipment,we had actually started that at 7:30 pm so we could leave as soon as we could.
Our final tally over 13 hours was 105 voters (out of a possible 1,272) We don't know how many were absentee voters but we didn't think it was that many. The breakdown of who got the votes:
Mittens 42
Insantorum 36
Ron Paul 17
Obama 5
The Lizard 4
Undecided 1
We said goodbye to Bernie and Becky as I went with Bettie and Ginger,wheeling the heavy gear back to city hall and the counting station. Then off I headed to home.
All in all,I enjoyed the process...now will I work the general election in November? I don't know yet,hopefully I'll be working but even if I am,I might just ask for that day off because I really liked the folks I worked with.
And starting tomorrow night is my CERT class. This will be a 2 month course where the city will train us to help our First Responders in case of a major emergency,much like what Elizabethtown,Kentucky is going through after being hit with a tornado today.
Friday will see us in Ann Arbor for an appointment so no entry about CERT til Saturday.
Tomorrow I'll share what happened after I got home last night....its one for the books.
That is all I got for now.....thanks for reading!
Again,thank you all so much for dropping by and reading this. It means a lot.
Congrats to Wendy for winning a Shorty Award and happy birthday as well!
Happy birthday to Mocha's mom,the wonderful Camille!
And bittersweet to see of our best journalists to retire,Bill Gallagher,we salute you!
Zorro,don't bite the hand that feeds you...
Its a cold grey morning ...still recovering from last night when Lori woke up with a terrible leg cramps. Leg cramps can be a real nasty and a really painful ordeal and you have to know how to react to them in order to end them quickly as possible. I went from a dead sleep to working those cramps out in 2 seconds flat. The cause could have been lack of liquids or a reaction to a dream,who knows...but it hurt like hell. Was able to work the cramps out and have her back to sleep in 20 minutes.
Pretty jazzed up again as I have picked up another reader and someone is starting to repost some of my entries via Google+. I noticed that with my Falkland Islands entry and now my newest entry also has been liked that way. Slowly making progress....and pleased as punch to see so many of Paul's friends are still coming over to read my entry and sign his petition over at Change.org. Thank you so much for supporting a true pioneer who is just trying to hang on to his home.
Still working on my first two "8 Questions with...."stories. Joan Lemon is currently in a middle of a move and I'm still awaiting for social activist John Cromer to send back the interview. John is an amazing story. He has overcome a nasty crack addiction and a 13 year stretch in jail to become of one Detroit's bright spots in help the young men in Detroit get jobs,training and encouragement to overcome impossible odds and make real difference in the world. I'm excited to share with his voice and as soon as I get the interview ready,I'll post it here.
As I posted on Monday,I worked the Michigan Primary yesterday. It basically turned from a 4 man race to just Mittens and Insantorum. The Lizard and Ron Paul quit running in Michigan a while despite making a few in-state appearances,they didn't run any TV ads and we nary got a single robocall from them either.
I drove to my post at 5:45 which was based at our main fire station. From 6 am to 7 am,we set up the precinct and got it ready for action. We had a crew of 5 which turned out perfect. Our chair was a delightful charming Virginia transplant named Bettie,our vice chair was a lady named Ginger who could pass herself off as a Molly Shannon double,a very wise man named Bernie and a plucky woman named Becky.
Now when you are going to be working together for almost 14 hours straight,its really helpful that you have a nice crew to work with and I have to say we had a blast. We had our station up and ready at 6:40 for a 7 am start. Bettie and Ginger were old hands at this while us other three were rookies so that helped in getting us ready so quickly.
Now our precinct has 1,272 registered voters and before the day started,we took a guess at how many voters would actually show.
Bernie said 75
Bettie said 110
Ginger said 183
Becky said 251
and my guess,based on the calls and media coverage,was 597.
I know,goofy,but I really did expect a very heavy turnout based on all the teapublicans who say they can't stand President Obama. Our city clerk has predicted a 30-32% turn out so could say for sure.
Now there are certain rules for working a ballot station and the first rule is ,NO TALKING POLITICS while voters are around. We are not allowed to comment or even say the name of the parties because of the possible influence of altering someone's vote.Even among ourselves we had to use tact....so of course we came up with code words....I threw out "Mittens" and Bernie offered "Sanitation" . Turns out we barely talked about the primary,we talked more about families,jobs,kids,cats and our city.
We listened to the fire station calls which a included a 3 year old who managed to get a bead stuck in her nose. Voters started straggling in....one at a time,sometimes 2 or 3 at a time. By 9 am,Becky,Ginger and myself knew we weren't going to win.
We all turned out to have a love of reading and had brought books..Ginger read hers on a Kindle while the rest of us read via the old fashioned way.
We each took an 40 minute lunch break while the voter still trickled in. The city clerk came by and we when asked how everyone was doing at 1 pm,she shrugged her shoulders. While we had in 49 ballots cast,another station only had 16! Less then three voters per hour....
When folks asked us how many had turned and we told them,many of them were angry to see such a low turn out,the teapublicans felt they needed a large vote to prove that their candidate,no matter who it is,should feel they have a real shot at carrying Michigan and a low turn out would show apathy.
The afternoon was pretty quiet,I finished the book I brought got ready for the last two hours. From 5 to 7 pm ,we saw the heaviest rush as people coming from work dropped by and voted. The last two voters can in at 7:55 pm and at 8 pm,the polls were closed.
We shut the doors and proceeded to break down our equipment,we had actually started that at 7:30 pm so we could leave as soon as we could.
Our final tally over 13 hours was 105 voters (out of a possible 1,272) We don't know how many were absentee voters but we didn't think it was that many. The breakdown of who got the votes:
Mittens 42
Insantorum 36
Ron Paul 17
Obama 5
The Lizard 4
Undecided 1
We said goodbye to Bernie and Becky as I went with Bettie and Ginger,wheeling the heavy gear back to city hall and the counting station. Then off I headed to home.
All in all,I enjoyed the process...now will I work the general election in November? I don't know yet,hopefully I'll be working but even if I am,I might just ask for that day off because I really liked the folks I worked with.
And starting tomorrow night is my CERT class. This will be a 2 month course where the city will train us to help our First Responders in case of a major emergency,much like what Elizabethtown,Kentucky is going through after being hit with a tornado today.
Friday will see us in Ann Arbor for an appointment so no entry about CERT til Saturday.
Tomorrow I'll share what happened after I got home last night....its one for the books.
That is all I got for now.....thanks for reading!
Again,thank you all so much for dropping by and reading this. It means a lot.
Congrats to Wendy for winning a Shorty Award and happy birthday as well!
Happy birthday to Mocha's mom,the wonderful Camille!
And bittersweet to see of our best journalists to retire,Bill Gallagher,we salute you!
Zorro,don't bite the hand that feeds you...
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday Musings
Its 8:18 am
Its another beautiful chilly morning here in Michigan. I saw my buddy Aaron has posted a new blog entry and that my friend Max has joined my blog. I'm pretty excited for this because I know for sure there will be at one person tossing comments on my politics entries here. And when you are trying to re-establish your blog and readers,every comment is welcomed...so welcome aboard Max!
Lori and I watched the Oscars last night. We did a repeat of our Grammy night and had a home cooked dinner while they were showing the red carpet. Had a nice roast,mashed potatoes and tried a new twist on the green bean casserole that we saw on Ree Drummond's show on the Food Network. While I will say I enjoyed it very much,sadly the dish really made Lori ill,a small reminder that we still have a unwelcome friend in the house.
Eating certain foods after gall bladder surgery and then chemo/radiation is like walking a mine field,you really have to watch your diet else you are in for a world of problems. Changing a diet is a slow process to be sure.
One of the things we have really missed is the Maurice salad over at Macy's. Before dinner last night,Lori mentioned she would love to have a salad from there but after yesterday,we have pushed it back a few weeks.
The normal time frame for a radiation patient to get their full range of appetite back is on a average of 3-4 months,we have just crossed the one month mark. The fact that Lori is enjoying a lot of her favorites is pretty remarkable and Dr. Johnston has commented on that is good sign. And speaking of the doctors...we will be back in Ann Arbor on Friday for a follow-up visit with our pals in Radiation. Fun and adventure to be had for sure...
Thought the Oscars was so-so..holy crow,who knew Hugo was so good? The only thing I knew about the film was that Guy Pearce was in it. And then it started cleaning up on all the technical awards,I thought "Harry Potter"would get a couple of those as a way of saying "thank-you"after a great run of movies but nope,that didn't happen.
And what the hell is a "Rango" and how did it beat out "Puss In Boots" for best animated film?
Was happy to see "The Artist" clean up on all the big awards,everyone I know who has seen this movie has been enchanted by it and its star Jean Dujardain,has been so humble in all of his interviews,its refreshing to see new unknown talent rise into the spotlight to be sure.
Now while I enjoy watching Meryl Streep,I thought it was a big mistake that she won for "The Iron Lady" a film that was roundly panned by both critics and moviegoers alike. Her performance was excellent but when the movie is trash...how does that equal Oscar? "The Help"'s Viola Davis should have won hands down last night for her moving performance as a maid in the deep south during the '60s. Maybe it a back handed way of rewarding Meryl for her role in "Julie/Julia" which was very charming.
It was a so-so show overall,one that won't really stick after its all said and done.
Tomorrow is our state's primary and I'll be working a very long day...I'm scheduled to work from 6 am to at least 9 pm and I am so damned happy to be doing it. A chance to actually a few bucks is most welcome. Our polling station is at a active fire station,its going to be a little strange hearing engines going out on calls while helping folks complete the ballot process.
The best thing about this primary season being over is the ending of those damn robocalls. We get about 10 a day from Mittens and Insantorum who spending 30 seconds talking shit about each other. Its the one thing that I agree about both men...they're both full of shit. Mittens is a outta touch multi-millionaire who instead of coming together with Obama and tweaking his healthcare reform that he started and Obama advanced,he is now spouting ads that he would overturn the reforms!!
And Santorum looks and sounds more and more like an American Osama bin Laden,a foaming at the mouth mad dog who is promising everything to anyone at everyone's expense. Politics as usual....I'll blog about I experience tomorrow on Wednesday.
Actress Sean Young was arrested last night at a party in Santa Monica. That is sad to hear,because of her drinking issues,it seems like Hollywood has turned their backs on her and she really can't seem to find any roles these days. Which is a shame because she really is a good actress. The good thing the report didn't mention was that she was drinking and that it was a "citizen's arrest" which probably means she was trying to crash a party. Of course we'll all know the scoop once the stalkerazzi shows come on tonight...just hope it was a just a misunderstanding cause I'm still a fan of hers and I would like to see her work again soon.
Okay,that is all I got for today....enjoy your day and I'll be on Wednesday.
Its another beautiful chilly morning here in Michigan. I saw my buddy Aaron has posted a new blog entry and that my friend Max has joined my blog. I'm pretty excited for this because I know for sure there will be at one person tossing comments on my politics entries here. And when you are trying to re-establish your blog and readers,every comment is welcomed...so welcome aboard Max!
Lori and I watched the Oscars last night. We did a repeat of our Grammy night and had a home cooked dinner while they were showing the red carpet. Had a nice roast,mashed potatoes and tried a new twist on the green bean casserole that we saw on Ree Drummond's show on the Food Network. While I will say I enjoyed it very much,sadly the dish really made Lori ill,a small reminder that we still have a unwelcome friend in the house.
Eating certain foods after gall bladder surgery and then chemo/radiation is like walking a mine field,you really have to watch your diet else you are in for a world of problems. Changing a diet is a slow process to be sure.
One of the things we have really missed is the Maurice salad over at Macy's. Before dinner last night,Lori mentioned she would love to have a salad from there but after yesterday,we have pushed it back a few weeks.
The normal time frame for a radiation patient to get their full range of appetite back is on a average of 3-4 months,we have just crossed the one month mark. The fact that Lori is enjoying a lot of her favorites is pretty remarkable and Dr. Johnston has commented on that is good sign. And speaking of the doctors...we will be back in Ann Arbor on Friday for a follow-up visit with our pals in Radiation. Fun and adventure to be had for sure...
Thought the Oscars was so-so..holy crow,who knew Hugo was so good? The only thing I knew about the film was that Guy Pearce was in it. And then it started cleaning up on all the technical awards,I thought "Harry Potter"would get a couple of those as a way of saying "thank-you"after a great run of movies but nope,that didn't happen.
And what the hell is a "Rango" and how did it beat out "Puss In Boots" for best animated film?
Was happy to see "The Artist" clean up on all the big awards,everyone I know who has seen this movie has been enchanted by it and its star Jean Dujardain,has been so humble in all of his interviews,its refreshing to see new unknown talent rise into the spotlight to be sure.
Now while I enjoy watching Meryl Streep,I thought it was a big mistake that she won for "The Iron Lady" a film that was roundly panned by both critics and moviegoers alike. Her performance was excellent but when the movie is trash...how does that equal Oscar? "The Help"'s Viola Davis should have won hands down last night for her moving performance as a maid in the deep south during the '60s. Maybe it a back handed way of rewarding Meryl for her role in "Julie/Julia" which was very charming.
It was a so-so show overall,one that won't really stick after its all said and done.
Tomorrow is our state's primary and I'll be working a very long day...I'm scheduled to work from 6 am to at least 9 pm and I am so damned happy to be doing it. A chance to actually a few bucks is most welcome. Our polling station is at a active fire station,its going to be a little strange hearing engines going out on calls while helping folks complete the ballot process.
The best thing about this primary season being over is the ending of those damn robocalls. We get about 10 a day from Mittens and Insantorum who spending 30 seconds talking shit about each other. Its the one thing that I agree about both men...they're both full of shit. Mittens is a outta touch multi-millionaire who instead of coming together with Obama and tweaking his healthcare reform that he started and Obama advanced,he is now spouting ads that he would overturn the reforms!!
And Santorum looks and sounds more and more like an American Osama bin Laden,a foaming at the mouth mad dog who is promising everything to anyone at everyone's expense. Politics as usual....I'll blog about I experience tomorrow on Wednesday.
Actress Sean Young was arrested last night at a party in Santa Monica. That is sad to hear,because of her drinking issues,it seems like Hollywood has turned their backs on her and she really can't seem to find any roles these days. Which is a shame because she really is a good actress. The good thing the report didn't mention was that she was drinking and that it was a "citizen's arrest" which probably means she was trying to crash a party. Of course we'll all know the scoop once the stalkerazzi shows come on tonight...just hope it was a just a misunderstanding cause I'm still a fan of hers and I would like to see her work again soon.
Okay,that is all I got for today....enjoy your day and I'll be on Wednesday.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
21st Century Battlefield: Detroit
Its 11:45 am
Greetings everyone....at the time of this entry,I thought I would be writing about our big snowfall of the season. Instead,I can say that we didn't even get a inch of snow,the storm bypassed us and dumped its snow further north of us. Which was a bummer of sorts because we were looking forward to being snowed in for a day.
With those plans out the door,we ended up doing our usual running around. We decided to take a run over to the little Eastern Market meat store that had recently been bought by a family who has a few other stores. The new manager,a guy named Marvin,had really welcomed us the last time we visited,it was a very pleasant experience and we had decided to do all of our big meat purchases there.
As many of you know,meat prices are skyrocketing up as of late,basic ground beef prices are really high and even the steroid chicken is inching up as well. So you know we were pleased to find Eastern Market's prices were actually a lot cheaper then our usual supermarket we go to.
But as we pulled in,we were greeted by a boarded up store. At first we thought they had already folded but since the doors were covered by boards,I said "They had a fire". I got out of the car and went inside the Papa's Pizza and asked the counter girl what had happened,sure enough,she said it had been a fire.
So back we went to our side of town and thinking we'll have to make a trip to the Piggly Wiggly in Detroit before too much longer.
I'm watching Fox 2 News at 10 as we always do when a story by journalist Alexis Wiley catches my eye.
It seems that a pizza chain has recently come under attack by a very dedicated arsonist. Since the Super Bowl,3 of this small chain's stores have been hit,2 stores suffered major damage and one store was saved before any serious damage was done.
The owner says that maybe someone who is jealous of his chain's little growth in business now has a vendetta and is trying to burn him out one store at a time. The chain's name? Papa's Pizza...the same one who has a store right next to the Eastern Market store we were going to shop it. The report didn't mention this store in Canton in the story most likely since it wasn't affected but after hearing this story,maybe the arsonist just hit the wrong target in the dark and Eastern Market suffered for it.
Who knew being a pizza store owner would be such a pain in the ass? We have heard many stories of different pizza joints going to war with each other....arson,vandalizing and even going so far as to put mice in a rival's store in hopes of the health department closing it down. Just makes you shake your head...its hard enough competing with the major chains but then to try and take out any guy who is just trying to make a living...
The shooting death of little Delrick Miller has been the talk of the week. I touched on this story in my Free Speech entry that you can scroll down the page and read.
Delrick was a 9 month baby who was murdered by 2-3 men who opened up on the house and put 40 AK-47 bullets into it in the middle of the night. At first,it seemed that it may have been gang-related but upon further investigation by the Detroit Police department,the shooting may have tied to a baby shower at a local meeting place. Seems like there were 3 baby showers scheduled and a beef broke out over seating. This being Detroit,you know how this problem was going to get solved....with violence and a fight. And sure enough,that is what happened. A fight broke out among two sets of people who were supposed to be celebrating a pending birth.
But someone must have followed Delrick's family back to their house and decided a little ghetto payback was called for. You just gotta love Detroit....a van creeped up,2-3 fellas jumped,cocked,rocked and shot 40 rounds into the house.
Now of course (and this is the part that always me laugh) you get the local media all pumped and asking "What can be done to stop the shootings"? Its almost like a bad grade Z SyFy movie....watching everyone running around with their hands up in the air....
And sure enough on the local Let It Rip program,they featured one of the city's few bright spots,Raphael Johnson and Angelo Henderson of the Detroit 300. The Detroit 300 is a volunteer community group that works hard to make this city safe. They are able to go where no cops can and glean information from folks who are afraid or don't care enough to tell the cops what they know. The 300 has helped catch at least 10 very dangerous felons so far.
The Let It Rip panel talked about the shooting in depth and what can be done. Now while I have never met Raphael Johnson,I think of him as a real hero. He once killed a man and served time for his crime. But he has working very hard,every day,to make amends for his awful crime by forming the 300 and trying to change the black man's mentality for pure violence. His impassioned plea for his fellow men of Detroit to take back the street is from the heart,he really wants to make a difference.
But on Thursday night,he completely (excuse my pun) misfired. He was addressing the shooters of little Delrick and said "We know you didn't MEAN to kill the baby. Turn yourself in,we know that you are not the person the world thinks you are".
Uh,Raphael.....I hate to disagree with you here but you are so wrong. You don't grab a AK-47,drive down with some homiies,get out and pump 40 shells into a house unless you are aiming to kill anyone you can. This was a premeditated act of cold blooded murder and the real miracle is no one else got blasted as well.
You are feeding into the no accountability that seems to have gripped our society,there is no excuse for this action...none. Yes,these killers DID mean to shoot Delrick,they meant it every time they squeezed off a round.
But back to the hand wringing....why is it that no one ever mentions banning the fucking weapons that are awash in our streets. Lets break it down....poverty has eroded our self worth. Think about it,what does a person with no real prospect in life have to lose in turning to crime and the gun? Broken schools,the broken homes...no one to show a child that their live means something other then a chance to get a bigger food stamp check,to become another pawn in a gang,,no real chance to gain a real skill.
When you have nothing to aim for,then grabbing a gun as problem solver becomes a no brainer. When you have a goal,a dream,someone to love...life become precious,doesn't it? Somewhere in Detroit,this vital connection has been lost.
They showed a clip of Let It Rip's legal gadfly,Charlie Langton,asking about what could be done to stem the violence and he talked to 3 young black males who tried to claim their block,warning people not to come to Detroit...but instead of coming off as tough and OG,it sounded more like a plea. That you take your own life in your hands if you venture anywhere but downtown.
We know what must be done but until we as a nation,rise up and say enough,kids like Delrick are just merely target practice.
One more Made In Detroit story....yesterday morning,while Mitten Romney was getting ready to speak at Ford Field (I noticed how the teapublican candidates didn't venture into the 'hoods) a 86 year man went to get gas at a BP gas station at 10:30 in the morning. As Aaron Brantley,a World War II vet started filling his tank,a young thug jumps him from behind and throws him down on the ground and carjacks Aaron's car.
The gas station's camera shows Aaron crawling on his hands and knees towards to store and people walking by him and offering no help to him at all...after what might have seemed an eternity,Aaron manages to reach the store where the cashier calls 911.
But this being Detroit,no cops or EMS roll out and Aaron is now feeling a lot of pain and he asks someone to drive him home. Shockingly,someone agrees and drive Aaron home. Somehow he ends up in the ER where it was found that Aaron had suffered a broken leg.
But wait...it gets better. Turns out that Aaron had just gotten his car back four days before this befell him. See,someone had stolen Aaron's car and stolen his radio and tires. He had just gotten it back from the shop when it taken from him again.
Made In Detroit......
Aaron Brantley's story
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/86-year-old-vet-injured-during-carjacking-at-detroit-gas-station-20120224-ms
Let It Rip: How Do We Stop the Violence?
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/let_it_rip/let-it-rip-20120222-ms
Thanks for reading
Greetings everyone....at the time of this entry,I thought I would be writing about our big snowfall of the season. Instead,I can say that we didn't even get a inch of snow,the storm bypassed us and dumped its snow further north of us. Which was a bummer of sorts because we were looking forward to being snowed in for a day.
With those plans out the door,we ended up doing our usual running around. We decided to take a run over to the little Eastern Market meat store that had recently been bought by a family who has a few other stores. The new manager,a guy named Marvin,had really welcomed us the last time we visited,it was a very pleasant experience and we had decided to do all of our big meat purchases there.
As many of you know,meat prices are skyrocketing up as of late,basic ground beef prices are really high and even the steroid chicken is inching up as well. So you know we were pleased to find Eastern Market's prices were actually a lot cheaper then our usual supermarket we go to.
But as we pulled in,we were greeted by a boarded up store. At first we thought they had already folded but since the doors were covered by boards,I said "They had a fire". I got out of the car and went inside the Papa's Pizza and asked the counter girl what had happened,sure enough,she said it had been a fire.
So back we went to our side of town and thinking we'll have to make a trip to the Piggly Wiggly in Detroit before too much longer.
I'm watching Fox 2 News at 10 as we always do when a story by journalist Alexis Wiley catches my eye.
It seems that a pizza chain has recently come under attack by a very dedicated arsonist. Since the Super Bowl,3 of this small chain's stores have been hit,2 stores suffered major damage and one store was saved before any serious damage was done.
The owner says that maybe someone who is jealous of his chain's little growth in business now has a vendetta and is trying to burn him out one store at a time. The chain's name? Papa's Pizza...the same one who has a store right next to the Eastern Market store we were going to shop it. The report didn't mention this store in Canton in the story most likely since it wasn't affected but after hearing this story,maybe the arsonist just hit the wrong target in the dark and Eastern Market suffered for it.
Who knew being a pizza store owner would be such a pain in the ass? We have heard many stories of different pizza joints going to war with each other....arson,vandalizing and even going so far as to put mice in a rival's store in hopes of the health department closing it down. Just makes you shake your head...its hard enough competing with the major chains but then to try and take out any guy who is just trying to make a living...
The shooting death of little Delrick Miller has been the talk of the week. I touched on this story in my Free Speech entry that you can scroll down the page and read.
Delrick was a 9 month baby who was murdered by 2-3 men who opened up on the house and put 40 AK-47 bullets into it in the middle of the night. At first,it seemed that it may have been gang-related but upon further investigation by the Detroit Police department,the shooting may have tied to a baby shower at a local meeting place. Seems like there were 3 baby showers scheduled and a beef broke out over seating. This being Detroit,you know how this problem was going to get solved....with violence and a fight. And sure enough,that is what happened. A fight broke out among two sets of people who were supposed to be celebrating a pending birth.
But someone must have followed Delrick's family back to their house and decided a little ghetto payback was called for. You just gotta love Detroit....a van creeped up,2-3 fellas jumped,cocked,rocked and shot 40 rounds into the house.
Now of course (and this is the part that always me laugh) you get the local media all pumped and asking "What can be done to stop the shootings"? Its almost like a bad grade Z SyFy movie....watching everyone running around with their hands up in the air....
And sure enough on the local Let It Rip program,they featured one of the city's few bright spots,Raphael Johnson and Angelo Henderson of the Detroit 300. The Detroit 300 is a volunteer community group that works hard to make this city safe. They are able to go where no cops can and glean information from folks who are afraid or don't care enough to tell the cops what they know. The 300 has helped catch at least 10 very dangerous felons so far.
The Let It Rip panel talked about the shooting in depth and what can be done. Now while I have never met Raphael Johnson,I think of him as a real hero. He once killed a man and served time for his crime. But he has working very hard,every day,to make amends for his awful crime by forming the 300 and trying to change the black man's mentality for pure violence. His impassioned plea for his fellow men of Detroit to take back the street is from the heart,he really wants to make a difference.
But on Thursday night,he completely (excuse my pun) misfired. He was addressing the shooters of little Delrick and said "We know you didn't MEAN to kill the baby. Turn yourself in,we know that you are not the person the world thinks you are".
Uh,Raphael.....I hate to disagree with you here but you are so wrong. You don't grab a AK-47,drive down with some homiies,get out and pump 40 shells into a house unless you are aiming to kill anyone you can. This was a premeditated act of cold blooded murder and the real miracle is no one else got blasted as well.
You are feeding into the no accountability that seems to have gripped our society,there is no excuse for this action...none. Yes,these killers DID mean to shoot Delrick,they meant it every time they squeezed off a round.
But back to the hand wringing....why is it that no one ever mentions banning the fucking weapons that are awash in our streets. Lets break it down....poverty has eroded our self worth. Think about it,what does a person with no real prospect in life have to lose in turning to crime and the gun? Broken schools,the broken homes...no one to show a child that their live means something other then a chance to get a bigger food stamp check,to become another pawn in a gang,,no real chance to gain a real skill.
When you have nothing to aim for,then grabbing a gun as problem solver becomes a no brainer. When you have a goal,a dream,someone to love...life become precious,doesn't it? Somewhere in Detroit,this vital connection has been lost.
They showed a clip of Let It Rip's legal gadfly,Charlie Langton,asking about what could be done to stem the violence and he talked to 3 young black males who tried to claim their block,warning people not to come to Detroit...but instead of coming off as tough and OG,it sounded more like a plea. That you take your own life in your hands if you venture anywhere but downtown.
We know what must be done but until we as a nation,rise up and say enough,kids like Delrick are just merely target practice.
One more Made In Detroit story....yesterday morning,while Mitten Romney was getting ready to speak at Ford Field (I noticed how the teapublican candidates didn't venture into the 'hoods) a 86 year man went to get gas at a BP gas station at 10:30 in the morning. As Aaron Brantley,a World War II vet started filling his tank,a young thug jumps him from behind and throws him down on the ground and carjacks Aaron's car.
The gas station's camera shows Aaron crawling on his hands and knees towards to store and people walking by him and offering no help to him at all...after what might have seemed an eternity,Aaron manages to reach the store where the cashier calls 911.
But this being Detroit,no cops or EMS roll out and Aaron is now feeling a lot of pain and he asks someone to drive him home. Shockingly,someone agrees and drive Aaron home. Somehow he ends up in the ER where it was found that Aaron had suffered a broken leg.
But wait...it gets better. Turns out that Aaron had just gotten his car back four days before this befell him. See,someone had stolen Aaron's car and stolen his radio and tires. He had just gotten it back from the shop when it taken from him again.
Made In Detroit......
Aaron Brantley's story
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/86-year-old-vet-injured-during-carjacking-at-detroit-gas-station-20120224-ms
Let It Rip: How Do We Stop the Violence?
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/let_it_rip/let-it-rip-20120222-ms
Thanks for reading
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Falkland Islands,revisited.
Its 9:10 am...
Good morning everyone....hope everyone is doing well today. I see so many of Paul's friends came over to support my entry on his situation,some of you signed his petition over at Change.org and my dear friend Marselle even reposted it on few Occupy groups. Like I told Paul,I wish I had the 10,000 voices/readers to carry his story forward but I am very grateful for the people who came by and supported him. I'll be posting updates on what is going on as well...
Looks like our streak without a major snowfall is going to end. The weather folks are saying we going to get hit with a 4-8 inch snowstorm tonight going into Friday. So this means I'll be saddling up the iPod and going to walk to our local gas station to get some fuel for our little snowblower. Of course,I'll have to shovel first before Rusty can be anywhere effective.
Lori and I enjoyed a nice day off yesterday...we ended up in Ann Arbor because she had forgotten a package in a store where she was training a new store manager. So we had to venture out to get it and decided to chill at the huge Barnes and Noble for a couple of hours of lounging and enjoying a coffee.
This store is so beautiful,maybe a shade behind the store in Royal Oak but its still very impressive. I read that sales have really improved for BN...all those people who liked Borders had to go somewhere to get their book fix,right?
I was happy to see the store had both Combat Aircraft and Military Combat magazines in stock,it has been a while since I have been able to check them out. And so glad I did...been sort of keeping a eye at the rising tensions once again between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. These two fought a war back in 1982 after Argentina thought Britain was too weak to retake the Falklands after they invaded.
The Brits proved them as they pretty much destroyed most of the front-line fighter aircraft of the Argentine Air Force and sunk the navy's flag ship,the light cruiser,General Belgrano. The Brits paid a steep price with heavy naval losses including the destroyer the HMS Sheffield.
After the war,Argentina was pretty much cut off from the world and their economy went into a major tailspin. But they worked hard to regain their international status and repairing relationships,helping out with support during the Iraq war and several natural disasters. The U.S. helped rebuild their air force by selling them the AR-4 Fightinghawk. The relations between the countries also have improved.
But flash forward to today and a dull drumbeat can be heard as Argentina once again is pressing claims that the Falklands is theirs. They are once again thinking the UK is too weak and spread out to perhaps defend the islands.
This is a mistake on Argentina's part. While it is true that Britain is in an even worse military position then in '82 in regards to defending the Falklands,I think while the US and NATO stood aside while these two fought,it won't be the case this time. The UK has been at the US's side in both Iraq,Afghanistan and Libya and that will put the US in Britain's debt. And they'll need the help as the Royal Navy no longer has any active aircraft carriers and they sold their 72 Harrier jets to the Marine Corps. While the Brits are building two carriers,they won't be ready til 2020 and the jets they are going to use on them,the F-35,is still years away from being ready.
The Brits do have much improved defenses after the war. They now have a patrol ship that is permanently stationed there,the HMS Clyde along with a Type 45 guided missile destroyer,the HMS Dauntless which will take up station this month. And despite signing a treaty that states no nuclear submarines will allowed in the area,the Brits do indeed have a submarine in place as well. It was a nuclear submarine,the HMS Conqueror,that sank the AFA General Belgrano during the war.
The RAF now has Flight 1435 on a new airbase they built after the war...4 Eurofighter Typhoons are there along with 4 support aircraft. But if a shooting war started,the RAF would need help in sending reinforcements because its a very,long flight from the UK to the Falklands and with no carriers other then a helicopter carrier,the HMS Ocean,the Royal Air Force would have to conduct several inflight refueling missions. This would add additional stress to the pilots who would be stuck for those hours and then be asked to perform a potential combat mission...a tough job.
While I think what the Brits have in place will be enough to keep the peace,its just another hot spot that bears watching.
After we left the bookstore,we had a nice lunch at Olga's and then headed back home and made a stop at the Dollar Tree where I got my book fix by picking up two new reads.
At home,just had a relaxed evening.....Lori was played Slingo and I continued to load the iPod with a lot old favorites. So far I've been uploading whole albums but I think I'm done,I'm going back and deleting the songs that don't really grab my ear. But I really do enjoy is listening to iTunes while I job search or write a blog entry. I hit shuffle and off we go....I find music really helps with the flow of my writing,well that and seeing Derek curled on the couch watching me.
Unless I'm trying to read.....once he sees me reading,then its all about jumping on my lap and wanting to bury his face in my arms. He'll warm up for about 20 minutes then jump back down...until he sees the book open again.
Speaking of animals,I was going to write about a different topic today but I have decided to wait til either Saturday or next week to talk about the Zanesville Zoo incident. Lori had signed me up to get Esquire magazine and my first issue came yesterday. Included was perhaps one of the saddest stories I have ever read. Its extremely haunting and a lot worse then most folks know about. Two men at odds sparked such a senseless tragedy.....and knowing me,I have some thoughts that I'll share on this.
Like to extend a warm welcome to my new follower Stella and her grumpy iguana,Zorro. If you take a peek at the blogs I follow,I have added Stella's to the list. Its a very fun read and I hope you take a minute to go check her out.
Okay,that is all I got time for,I have to go do some errands and get ready for the snow storm. I will return here on Saturday,hope you will also.
Thanks for reading.
Good morning everyone....hope everyone is doing well today. I see so many of Paul's friends came over to support my entry on his situation,some of you signed his petition over at Change.org and my dear friend Marselle even reposted it on few Occupy groups. Like I told Paul,I wish I had the 10,000 voices/readers to carry his story forward but I am very grateful for the people who came by and supported him. I'll be posting updates on what is going on as well...
Looks like our streak without a major snowfall is going to end. The weather folks are saying we going to get hit with a 4-8 inch snowstorm tonight going into Friday. So this means I'll be saddling up the iPod and going to walk to our local gas station to get some fuel for our little snowblower. Of course,I'll have to shovel first before Rusty can be anywhere effective.
Lori and I enjoyed a nice day off yesterday...we ended up in Ann Arbor because she had forgotten a package in a store where she was training a new store manager. So we had to venture out to get it and decided to chill at the huge Barnes and Noble for a couple of hours of lounging and enjoying a coffee.
This store is so beautiful,maybe a shade behind the store in Royal Oak but its still very impressive. I read that sales have really improved for BN...all those people who liked Borders had to go somewhere to get their book fix,right?
I was happy to see the store had both Combat Aircraft and Military Combat magazines in stock,it has been a while since I have been able to check them out. And so glad I did...been sort of keeping a eye at the rising tensions once again between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. These two fought a war back in 1982 after Argentina thought Britain was too weak to retake the Falklands after they invaded.
The Brits proved them as they pretty much destroyed most of the front-line fighter aircraft of the Argentine Air Force and sunk the navy's flag ship,the light cruiser,General Belgrano. The Brits paid a steep price with heavy naval losses including the destroyer the HMS Sheffield.
After the war,Argentina was pretty much cut off from the world and their economy went into a major tailspin. But they worked hard to regain their international status and repairing relationships,helping out with support during the Iraq war and several natural disasters. The U.S. helped rebuild their air force by selling them the AR-4 Fightinghawk. The relations between the countries also have improved.
But flash forward to today and a dull drumbeat can be heard as Argentina once again is pressing claims that the Falklands is theirs. They are once again thinking the UK is too weak and spread out to perhaps defend the islands.
This is a mistake on Argentina's part. While it is true that Britain is in an even worse military position then in '82 in regards to defending the Falklands,I think while the US and NATO stood aside while these two fought,it won't be the case this time. The UK has been at the US's side in both Iraq,Afghanistan and Libya and that will put the US in Britain's debt. And they'll need the help as the Royal Navy no longer has any active aircraft carriers and they sold their 72 Harrier jets to the Marine Corps. While the Brits are building two carriers,they won't be ready til 2020 and the jets they are going to use on them,the F-35,is still years away from being ready.
The Brits do have much improved defenses after the war. They now have a patrol ship that is permanently stationed there,the HMS Clyde along with a Type 45 guided missile destroyer,the HMS Dauntless which will take up station this month. And despite signing a treaty that states no nuclear submarines will allowed in the area,the Brits do indeed have a submarine in place as well. It was a nuclear submarine,the HMS Conqueror,that sank the AFA General Belgrano during the war.
The RAF now has Flight 1435 on a new airbase they built after the war...4 Eurofighter Typhoons are there along with 4 support aircraft. But if a shooting war started,the RAF would need help in sending reinforcements because its a very,long flight from the UK to the Falklands and with no carriers other then a helicopter carrier,the HMS Ocean,the Royal Air Force would have to conduct several inflight refueling missions. This would add additional stress to the pilots who would be stuck for those hours and then be asked to perform a potential combat mission...a tough job.
While I think what the Brits have in place will be enough to keep the peace,its just another hot spot that bears watching.
After we left the bookstore,we had a nice lunch at Olga's and then headed back home and made a stop at the Dollar Tree where I got my book fix by picking up two new reads.
At home,just had a relaxed evening.....Lori was played Slingo and I continued to load the iPod with a lot old favorites. So far I've been uploading whole albums but I think I'm done,I'm going back and deleting the songs that don't really grab my ear. But I really do enjoy is listening to iTunes while I job search or write a blog entry. I hit shuffle and off we go....I find music really helps with the flow of my writing,well that and seeing Derek curled on the couch watching me.
Unless I'm trying to read.....once he sees me reading,then its all about jumping on my lap and wanting to bury his face in my arms. He'll warm up for about 20 minutes then jump back down...until he sees the book open again.
Speaking of animals,I was going to write about a different topic today but I have decided to wait til either Saturday or next week to talk about the Zanesville Zoo incident. Lori had signed me up to get Esquire magazine and my first issue came yesterday. Included was perhaps one of the saddest stories I have ever read. Its extremely haunting and a lot worse then most folks know about. Two men at odds sparked such a senseless tragedy.....and knowing me,I have some thoughts that I'll share on this.
Like to extend a warm welcome to my new follower Stella and her grumpy iguana,Zorro. If you take a peek at the blogs I follow,I have added Stella's to the list. Its a very fun read and I hope you take a minute to go check her out.
Okay,that is all I got time for,I have to go do some errands and get ready for the snow storm. I will return here on Saturday,hope you will also.
Thanks for reading.
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