SoCalDem
SoCalDem's JournalFirst there was "Harry & Louise"..Now we have "Harriet & Lou"
You know them.. They are the elders whining about taxes going up on their dividends..and they NEED those dividends to live on..
Just curious here.. How many of you GET dividends?
We do, and let me tell you.. I will not cry over taxes going up on the whopping $18.36 a year we get from Metropolitan...OR the $9.09 we get from State Farm..
Geez Louise.. Susan succumbed to a private meeting with the Three Stooges?
Why on earth did she do that? or why on earth did ANYONE think there would be anything positive from it all? No matter what she said, they would have scurried out of the meeting to trash what she said.
Republicans may have taken a beating a few weeks ago, but they have NOT forgotten how to drive a careening, burning bus into a crowd...
they are experts at Briar Patch politics and dems seem all-too willing to play along with them.
McCain is all but irrelevant now, and he knows it, so WHY give that weasely little scumbag ANY opportunity to blather on.?
He and his little pal, Lindsay, have glombed onto their new "gal-pal" protege, Kelly for some "cover", but their game is the same as it's ever been.. Discredit Obama at ANY opportunity...and discredit anyone he presents as the public face of the administration..
Now, apparently, we have JOE LIEBERMAN weighing in as a lovely parting gift..
Lindsay Graham's "Norquist" pledge
"Ahh will make y'all a lovely ice cream sundae..but it will have shit sprinkles on it"..
nevermind Lindsay...bless yer heart
Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57505149/modern-wheat-a-perfect-chronic-poison-doctor-says/Play CBS News Video
(CBS News) Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.
Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."
Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight. "If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."
To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables. "
It's) the stuff that is least likely to have been changed by agribusiness," he said. "Certainly not grains. When I say grains, of course, over 90 percent of all grains we eat will be wheat, it's not barley... or flax. It's going to be wheat. "It's really a wheat issue."
snip
A reporter weighed in about customers (this AM) from a mall with 520 stores
FIVE HUNDRED & TWENTY STORES???
and this is ONE mall...and probably within not too many miles there are OTHER malls, not quite as big, but sheez....
THIS is what's "wrong" with our economy.
Let's say you are from xxxxxx,XX and it has 50K people, and there is a mall near you...and/or a Walmart/KMart...Malls are often achored by or located near other BIG BOX stores like Staples/BestBuy/Sportmart/Lowes?Home Depot, etc.... 520 stores is a LOT of stores, and the needs were probably met by many fewer stores before the Big Boxes/malls came along.
The money spent in those places does NOT stay in the community (except for the low wages paid to local workers, and often a pittance paid in sales taxes). What people often miss in the fine print of the reports that pre-date the arrival of said malls/companies, is that fact that these companies are often demanding (and getting) tax-holidays for a very long time, because they are promising jobs jobs jobs.
In times-past, stores were locally owned & run, and yet everyone managed to have shoes, dresses, pants, office supplies, car repairs, books, food..you name it.
The money was divvied up at the LOCAL banks as merchants deposited checks & cash from their sales and paid out the wages necessary to cash those checks.. It was a CIRCLE..a closed circle.
It's now a funnel..with locals tossing money into the top as they buy stuff made elsewhere, and the money goes OUTSIDE the community..
The locals get cheaper stuff (maybe), but they also get higher taxes (someone's gotta pay for the running of the community), and they may get wages from working at those places, but they probably also see lots of closed up businesses that used to provide the things they needed. Every empty business/building is a LOSS in taxes paid to the community, in addition to the blighted look that could drive down interest in people who might think about relocating there.
And when the tax holiday ends, the BIG BOXES often just pull up stakes and move to the next town, leaving another big empty spot... Why do they do it? Because they know that their customers will follow them..They almost have to follow them because the local places that kept money within the community have been put out of business, and will not be returning.
If you are tired of the "holiday programming", here's a suggestion
You'll have to watch online, but this is a fantastic series.
http://video.pbs.org/program/craft-in-america/
http://www.pbs.org/craftinamerica/
I am thankful for a lazy Thanksgiving Day
No drama
No irritating guests
No panic
It's 11:35 AM...I have just finished watching a documentary about pottery-making & weaving...have perused DU off & on all morning.
I may start cooking the turkey soon....or I may just take a nap first.
We will eat when the meal is ready.
It may be 5-ish...or it may be 7-ish..
There will be no shopping
and I may even wait to do the dishes until tomorrow..
The only "special request" from my husband is "black olives".. He's always been an easy-to-please sort of husband ..
I am thankful for that too
He hates turkey, so I will also cook a small ham
He will be thankful for that
The Birthday Wish: Meeting fireman who rescued him
10-year-old Texas boy abandoned as infant gets birthday wish: Meeting fireman who rescued him
http://www.capitalbay.com/headline/267900-abandoned-infant-now-10-years-old-meets-texas-firefighter-who-saved-him.html
Published November 16, 2012
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas – When fourth-grader Koregan Quintanilla was talking with his classmates about where they wanted to go more than anyplace else in the world, his answer wasn't an amusement park, sporting event or kids restaurant. It was "his" fire station. Koregan was abandoned in 2002 at an Arlington fire station when he was just a few hours old. Texas' Baby Moses law allows a parent to leave an unharmed infant up to 60 days old at a fire station or hospital with no questions asked. Child Protective Services then takes custody of the babies.
On Thursday evening, Koregan got his wish for his 10th birthday. He met the Arlington firefighter who saved him, rode on a fire truck and toured the station. He hugged Arlington firefighter Wesley Keck and said he was "very nice."
Keck said he was excited about seeing the boy for the first time since finding a baby carrier outside the station on a cold November morning. He said he did a double take before rushing outside. He moved the blanket aside and saw a sleeping baby, then gently picked up the carrier and walked inside to tell his colleagues the shocking news, he said. "I announced that somebody had left us a gift," Keck said Thursday. "I checked him out, and he seemed fine. I don't remember him crying. I held him, and he slept a lot. I have four kids, and some of the other firefighters are fathers, so taking care of babies wasn't new to us."
snip
He served less than a thousand days.. a lifetime ago..and yet ( How I choose to remember JFK)
SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts)Thu Nov-22-07 09:21 PM
Original message
He served less than a thousand days.. a lifetime ago..and yet
People who never met him, and only learned of him by seeing a picture in Grandma's house, or in a book at school, and people all over the world, knew what he stood for, and admired him then, and still do.
He was young, by the standards of the day, and yes he may have been a "player", but he never embarrassed his country. He served 4 years in wartime, and acquitted himself admirably.
He was rich and could have partied his way through life, but he did not. The life he might have lost in wartime, he still lost in service to his country.
He met with "bad people".. He stared down our enemies, and they blinked. He erred with The Bay of Pigs fiasco, and like a man, he admitted it. He had courage and grace.
He was not petulant and secretive. No doubt he kept secrets, but he was not one to embarrass or belittle people .
He focused our hopes and aspirations, and looked to the future with fearless ambition...ambition to help the world and foster Peace..not to dominate and change regimes.
Millions of young people were inspired to put their lives on hold and venture to the four corners of the earth in the Peace Corps.
He "invented" the space program and within the 10-year goal he set, we had men on the moon..sent with computers with less power than your phone.
The world liked us then. We were the hope of the world. Foreign dignitaries came to the US and were treated with respect and decorum..not hotdogs on the grill at Mom & Dad's house.
Every president since him, has served longer, and yet his legacy is the strongest.
The sad thing is that when he died, hope died with him. His brother tried to regain it for us, but was killed for his efforts.
It's almost as if we are afraid to care too much again for a candidate..any candidate, lest we get our hearts broken again.
People of my age remember when hope was limitless.. we could do anything... and then we couldn't.
We've had presidents who were in office longer, but none of them have retained the interest or admiration of JFK. You can go to any country on earth and mention JFK, and they will nod, in silent understanding ..even if they do not speak English.
Presidents after him have come and gone, and most of the time, it's with a kick in the pants and a "Good Riddance". People can name every building in DC after Reagan, and JFK's administration will still shine brighter than any of those "Thousand points of Light" that Reagan/Bush loved to talk about..
Maybe those Thousand points of light were the days we had Kennedy..and the lights have long since gone out.
Maybe someday we will get another president who can inspire us.. I had one in my lifetime, and I wish the same for my children.
It could be that we just have not yet been introduced to that president.
edited to add.. Maybe we have had our "introduction"..only time will tell
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