San (Saint) ROCCO

This is the church of Saint Rocco in Venice Italy. This Catholic saint is known by several names including Roc, Roch, Rok, and in English...Rock, all dependent upon what country you are in. You are probably wondering why I am writing about this man who lived 1400 years ago. I was born Catholic and was baptized and confirmed. Confirmation is a rip-off of the Jewish ceremony called the Bar Mitzvah which occurs at age 13. When I was confirmed, I had to pick a confirmation name to add to my other names (First-Middle-Confirmation-Last) and let the nun who was leading the ceremony know of my choice. She was aghast at my choice of Rock(y) and I was reprimanded to chose something else or she would do it for me. The Bishop who was officiating stepped in at this time and said something like "Sister, you have to spend some more time studying Church history, if you did you would know that this young man has selected one of my favorite Saints." I was confirmed as Rocco and its variations.

Neither the Kitty nor I like the idea of being called Grandma, Grandpa, pop-pop, Papi (Spanish) or anything similar. So when the grand-babies were born we kind of liked Rocky and Kitty. Kitty was easy for them to say and it still is. Rocky was not so easy and became Yockey. So even now, when the twins are 4 and speak English fluently, I am still Yockey. Too bad I can't go back to 13 years old and ask the Bishop if there is a Saint Yock.

HOLY iPHONE?

Whoever has an iPhone as I do, when you use it, the first screen you see has the time and date boldly displayed. The numbers (time) can be "interesting." Sometimes it's 9:11, or 11:11 or something numerologically significant. This one caught my eye and I copied the screen (easy to do on this smart phone) to post on this blog. For those of you who are NOT familiar with the Bible, this is a verse, one of the most important, from the Gospel according to John. Chapter 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You also see it on bumper stickers of the faithful. Seldom on Prius hybrid cars. Their stickers usually say Obama 2012, because HE is their God.

GRASSHOPPER WISDOM

Master Po and Kwai Chang Kaine together in the Shaolin Temple where Kaine got his nickname "Grasshopper."

Master Po: [after easily defeating the boy in combat] Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Young Caine: No.
Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

LICENSE PLATE VANITY

I saw this license plate on a car in the doctor's parking lot. Presumably he is a plastic surgeon specializing in breast augmentation.

DAFFY and DAISY, retired

They are a bit far away for the iPhone photo but here they are, back again without the kids.

DEPARTMENT of NO ENERGY

Started in 1977 and now with an operating budget of $26 BILLION per year, we still have NO energy policy to liberate our dependence on foreign oil. When the folks out there pay almost $6 per gallon for gas they will have no money to spend on other things and in stead of gas it will be the economy that will go into the tank.

AS YE SOW....

After a man (or woman) reaches Medicare age and has plowed the field and sowed the seed of economic success for decades, is it not time to reap the benefits of this labor and leave the pulling of the cart to others? Sometimes the dominant inclination is to move the finish line and try to hold on to youth by more of those things that defined that age...building a business, generating earned income, competing with others in the marketplace. As if there were nothing else.

It may be among the most socially responsible things we do to transfer work to those in the next generation so that they can experience the joys of achievement and the benefits of success. Our social structure of Social Security, and Medicare supports that concept. We could take a lesson from biology. Every animal reaches a point in his/her life when procreation and survival of the species is no longer the prime directive. Menopause comes to mind. Even the ducks sitting at the side of my pool, who had litters of 10 ducklings in years past, now sit side by side in the sun, jumping into the water from time to time to preen and get a drink of fresh water. There are no more duckings, yet these adults come back every year.

Now is the time to play with grandchildren, take long walks, sit in the sun at the side of the pool, and share a little wisdom when asked.

Don't You Know Who I Am?

Lord, save us from another political Dynasty. Just because one member of the family was a good Senator does not mean that his son or grandson and so on for all Eternity is FIT to be elected "my" Senator. I am not picking on this gentleman specifically, as we all get in bar fights and don't pay our bills or checks to our ex-wives and trash-talk cops when they come to arrest us. Life is one big Jerry Springer show, isn't it?

It is just like back in the old days before digital recording when you made copies of VHS videos, or songs on magnetic tape, with each copy the sound and video quality got worse and worse. Eventually all you get is noise and static and a fuzzy picture of "who's that?" I think that's what's going on here. My prediction is that somehow, another BUSH is going to get on the Republican ticket this fall, a Mack will be our senate candidate, and surprise-surprise some Kennedy will run somewhere for something. President Chelsea Clinton is waiting in the wings. Amen.

ARTSY FARTSY in the GROVE

Once a year, for three days, thousands (it seems like millions) of people gather to attend the Coconut Grove event. Artists from all over the country show their stuff and sell paintings and other works of art for outlandish prices. Some of it is very well done but I can't bring myself to pay $7,500 for an acrylic by Raul Garcia (who?)

The show occupies the waterfront and Bayshore Drive in the Grove and is about 1000 times larger than the one in Nantucket at the Athenaeum. It is about 100 times larger than the average Sarasota show. By the way, Coconut Grove is located East of Coral Gables and South of the city of Miami in Florida. We have a "place" there so we can visit often. My son and daughter-in-law and grand-dog live nearby, and I have three sisters-in-law and their families there too. And of course, as Jimmy Buffett sings "Everybody has a Cousin in Miami."

The CIRCLE of LAUGH

I have watched Jay LENO for years on the Tonight Show which airs at 11:35 everywhere I am. I used to enjoy it, particularly "Headlines" and "Jay Walking" where he asks average Americans simple questions like "How many members of the Supreme Court are there?" and the answer is "There's Diana Ross, and two other black chicks." Lately, and I mean progressively over the last several years he has become UNfunny. Once in a while he tells a good one but during the political season, his monolog material is only a string of vitriolic bias against all things Republican while he tells a light funny about the President or Joe Biden. It is not even close to balance. Last night's show was no exception.

When he spouts his hate-speech against the Republican candidates (when there were lots of funny things that could have been said about them) his audience erupts with laughter. With the token Obama joke (feigning balance), there is near silence. Clearly he has a self-selected audience of Liberal Weenies. Thus the Circle of Laugh is created. Pick on the Right, tell jokes that are moronic and puerile, get a laugh from the morons in the audience, they tell other morons how "funny" Jay is, and more come to the show or watch on TV. Then Jay has to pander to his selected audience and the jokes all swing one way. It wouldn't do to have no laughter following a joke about the President... the folks at home would tune out.

Talking about tuning out, at first I just went to bed earlier and used the DVR to record and later watch the show. Now I do not even do that. Despite the fact that Jay Leno has a nice motorcycle and car collection and spends most of his day in jeans and a chambray shirt, it is clear that he is a "laugh whore" who has painted himself into the LEFT corner. Some day soon, he can stay home, play with his cars and kitty cats, and spend more time with his wife, Mavis "Gloria Steinem" Leno. I no longer include The Tonight Show in my daily routine.

UN DOCUMENTED STUDENTS

Florida newspapers who are liberal (almost all of them) recently published this article about how unfortunate it is that illegal aliens living in America (Florida is mostly part of America, I'm not sure about Miami) can't get in-state tuition to attend college.

Calling illegal aliens who sneak across the border under cover of darkness and live here without paying taxes, registering for social security, etc., but who do expect the benefits of citizenship like school, medical care, police protection, is like calling drug dealers undocumented pharmacists. My ancestors were immigrants. So were yours. They came here LEGALLY through Ellis Island, learned English, worked, paid taxes and sent their kids to school. Today, we are supposed to give preferential status and prices to people whose first official act on coming to this country is to violate immigration laws. Every day they are here they break another law. Repeat offenders if you will. So as a reward we are supposed to give them tuition breaks? Pulleeez, or to put it another way....Por Favor.

MAMA MIA

As many of you know, the Chrysler Corporation was bought by the Italian company, FIAT (Fix It Again Tony). They are importing, this year, a small econocar to the US. It is called the Cinquecento (500) and is a little smaller than the Mini Cooper, bigger than Smart car. For those of us who could tolerate an econobox but want it to perform like a Testosteroni, they make a model called the ABARTH with more power and better handling. On our way back from Miami this weekend, we saw three of these being tested on Alligator Alley. Here they are fueling up at the Miccosukee Indian Plaza, halfway across the state.

TASTELESS comment of the day

Ahhhhhhh CHOO!!!

Every year around this time, Oak trees bloom and there is yellow pollen everywhere in Florida. There are other pollens and molds too but it seems that the Oaks are the ones that make my life miserable. Watery eyes, itchy running nose, cough, and urticaria (skin rashes), post nasal drip and bronchitis. The list of nasty symptoms goes on. And I am not ALONE in this, millions of us suffer. Last year I finally got control of the situation with the help of Ear Nose and Throat and Pulmonary specialists. I was given prescription medicines and over the counter recommendations. Eventually, and not just because the pollen went away, I got a lot of relief.

Let me share with you the things that I learned. First of all, mechanical irrigation of my nose and sinuses with stuff I could buy at my local Walgreen's was best. I got some OCEAN nasal spray. It is just salt water in a spray bottle and it helps to wash away the pollen and keeps things from getting all clogged up and dry. There is also a little tea-pot thing, but I did not buy that. Over the counter non-drowsy antihistamines helped but they had a dark side... drying out my nose and throat. So I took some other stuff with them, Mucinex, which liquifies mucus, hence the name. It is non- prescription. I was told to take 1200 mg size. Another recommendation for Zyrtec could replace Claritin... my choice. I preferred the Claritin and never felt drowsy, but it could be different for you so be careful when operating heavy machinery signing contracts or whatever. These products were pretty cheap and readily available.

Now comes the heavy artillery. Since a bad case of sinusitis feels like someone is pumping up your sinuses with an air pump and your head is about to explode, you have to allow that pressure to be relieved. If you stayed ahead of the symptoms with the Ocean and the antihistamine etc, you may not get this far but if you do, a doctor can prescribe some anti-inflammatory steroid for you to shrink the membranes and allow drainage. I took Fluticasone spray and it worked like a charm. Other sprays like Afrin are helpful for a day or two but after that they cause rebound and actually make things worse. Unfortunately the steroid spray can't be bought here without an Rx and going to Mexico to get it over the counter might lead to other problems like getting shot. Anyhow, this is a mainstay of ENT doctors and it works. Antibiotics seem like the thing to do as this feels like an "infection" but probably is not. In my case they were tried and were useless.

In summary.... get out IN FRONT of sinusitis and allergy. Once it gets too well established it is a female dog to get over. STAY INDOORS as much as you can, use your Air Conditioner. Leave the open JEEP in the garage and start moisturizing and washing out your nose early with Ocean or the generic versions found in CVS and Walgreens. You can make your own if you look online. Gezuntheit in advance.

HIGH PRICED CURVES

Even the parking garage at the Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove has its share of expensive curvaceous bodies. Over the long haul, the Lamborghini will be far less expensive than the curvys in the previous blog post at poolside, even factoring in depreciation, upkeep, and fuel.

COCONUT GROVE ART SHOW

One of the great art shows in America is in Coconut Grove (Miami) Florida. We also plan to spend a little time at poolside at the Ritz, which is a block away from the show.

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

The (island) Oracle lives on two islands, Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida, most of the year, and much of the summer in Nantucket, Massachusetts. This statue by J. Seward Johnson (a descendent of the Johnson and Johnson Johnsons) stands on Sarasota's bayfront. the artist spends much of his time in Nantucket and made major contributions to the Art Association there. This is quite a coincidence. FROM WIKIPEDIA....

• Unconditional Surrender (a series with several versions begun in 2005), a spokesperson for Johnson has stated that this series is based on a photograph that is in the public-domain, Kissing the War Goodbye, by Victor Jorgensen, however, the Jorgensen photographic image does not extend low enough to include the lower legs and shoes of the subjects, revealed in Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph, V–J day in Times Square, that are represented identically in the statue. A spokesperson for Life has called it a copyright infringement of the latter image. Nonetheless, the first version, a bronze statue of life-size, was placed on temporary exhibition during the 2005 anniversary of V-J Day at the Times Square Information Center near where the original photographs were taken in Manhattan.

Several slightly differing twenty-five-foot-versions have been constructed in styrofoam and aluminum with little detail, painted, and put on display by Johnson in San Diego, California, Key West, Florida, Snug Harbor in New York, and Sarasota, Florida. Their immensity has drawn crowds of viewers at each site although the view of them from nearby is severely limited, essentially allowing a vista of the legs and up the skirt. The statues are described as kitsch by an art critic.

YOU KNOW IT AIN'T EASY

We went out to dinner last night with good friends. I spent a while listening to my (male) friend's opinion of my writing. He was very complimentary on my style and the information shared. He was not as happy with the general pessimistic tone and negativity. I have heard this before, even from myself. I would prefer to NOT be a Debbie Downer when writing. Most of the TV news shows from the right and left are polarized and critical of the other side. Then there are the conclusions I have reached from my own research which are reflected in the cartoon to the left.

Now that I got that out, I would like to concentrate on other things in this blog, things that may be more uplifting (insert Victoria's Secret joke here). So from this point forward, through the summer and past the election cycle, I will leave the vitriol to MSNBC and FOX News, and specialize in funny, and helpful, and the "i" skills of insight, intuition, and imagination. I may have to begin by shooting my TV, my final act of political catharsis. Keep me honest.

IT HAS TO BE SOMEBODY ELSE'S FAULT

Talk about killing two birds with one stone. The paid advertising on buses, taxis, bus-stops, and now Ambulances makes it impossible to NOT see the smiling faces of some attorney willing to represent you for...whatever. Interestingly, the lawyers in this firm are all nice people who I believe mean well, but they are completely in sync with modern day America, a country in which Whitney Houston is a VICTIM, nobody falls on his own ass unless somehow someone else is to blame, and forget about life saving drugs, every side effect is a potential lawsuit. I want to know if I see a lawyer commercial on TV and become irate and my blood pressure goes up...can I sue?

It's All GREEK to Me

Nothing of value has come out of Greece, with the exception of the guy that runs Demetrio's Restaurant in Sarasota, for 3000 years. Sure, this was one of the cradles of civilization, with philosophy, the arts, and a little thing called Democracy emanating from Ancient Greece.

Today, this little piss-ant of a country is populated by lazy whiney people who work 30 hours a week, retire young, and want to live on full salary for the rest of their lives. Surprisingly, their country is bankrupt and the "entitled" are rioting on the streets. The rest of Europe, especially Germany is somehow responsible for Greece's economic well being despite the fact that Greece has done absolutely nothing for itself. Keep an eye on this folks, because if we stay the present course of class warfare, wealth redistribution, and entitlement to everything FREE, we will have the same riots in the streets of America in a few years that we are seeing on TV of the streets of Greece. The same entitlement mentality is fostered by those in charge HERE since a vote from some loser-taker is just as good for electoral purposes as one from a successful contributor to society.

Try to think of ANYTHING that has come out of Greece since the time of HOMER (not Simpson) other than riots and the "turd in the punchbowl effect" it has on the European economy in general. On top of that, the DOW futures were UP about 100 this morning until somebody noticed that Greece is imploding, again, still, endlessly, and now the DOW is DOWN 100 points. What a lot of SKATA. ( look it up)

VALENTINE GIFT for WOMEN

Where NOT to find a date at C V S

While wandering through CVS Pharmacy the other day looking for some toothpaste, I noticed that they had prominent round green signs that directed you to the products you were seeking. If I were a single man looking to cruise chicks in a pharmacy, I suppose i would be grateful for the warning.

ANOTHER GENIUS HEARD FROM

By his or her own admission, this person is one of the 99% of Americans who are not among the 1% of our wealthiest and most successful citizens. I wish the bumper sticker were a little more specific.... as in... where in that 99% are you? The bottom 50%? At 99% just below the cutoff? The bottom 1%? Inquiring minds want to know. If the driver is at least in the top 50%, which means he actually pays taxes at all, then that's one thing, perhaps the pontifications expressed might have some value. Regardless, why would someone trust the bumper sticker on a TOYOTA that expresses these sentiments proudly? Isn't it a bit like "My child is NOT an honor student at Ashton Elementary School?" I am ordinary and common and a part of the herd? Simon and Garfunkle sang about 50 years ago that "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls" Today I guess they are written on bumpers of Hybrid cars. Sure, the PRIUS is driven by some folks (Spielberg I hear) who are IN the 1%, the Limo Liberals of Hollywood who wear Vintage Valentino gowns and Harry Winston diamonds to the Oscars, and have one of these in their Bel Air driveway. But mostly they are the car of choice of the Whole Foods crowd. I hear that Toyota is coming out with one next year that runs on TOFU.

LINK OF THE DAY

http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html

TED talks can be very entertaining and informative. Anyone with a computer can go online and instead of randomly surfing the NET in general you can randomly surf TED and see some of the greatest minds lecture and engage audiences of other imaginative humans. Once you click on this link you can watch this 20 minute event and then look among hundreds of others. It is a graduate school education for free.

Je Acuse'

There are many examples in nature of "opportunities" that seem tantalizing but are not in ones best interest. The Venus Fly Trap is one. I recently wrote of an "unwilling" sexual encounter between a female attorney and the son of the New York City Police Commissioner who had a boyfriend yet took the accused man back to her office after a date and cleared some paperwork off her desk.

BE STILL MY HEART

WOW...one percent yield on my money. And they are advertising it. They get to hold onto your money for a year, with 2% inflation, and they give you 1% interest before taxes.

Many older people have tried to live on fixed investments, mostly CDs in banks for years. And, there was a time when 5% on your money could get a person through life without touching principle. Today, your portfolio is "melting like an ice cube in the sun." This could explain why the stock market is performing as well as it is. There are few places to put your money to get enough to live on if you are retired and living on yields and returns. It is not unreasonable to expect that a solid portfolio filled with high quality dividend paying stocks would return 5%. Though it is not expected to continue at this pace, the markets have returned more than that in the first 6 weeks of this year.

Anyhow, there seems to be a need to invest in something other than a bank CD at 1% UNLESS YOU HAVE SO MUCH MONEY that you can live on the principle alone even if it doesn't yield a dime. On the other hand, avoid LIKE THE PLAGUE, anyone offering you amazing returns, guaranteed. The world is filled with Nadels, Stanfords, and Madoffs.

CHURCH and STATE

We may not be a "Catholic country" but our founding fathers thought that freedom of religion was so important that they put it in the FIRST amendment to the constitution. Here is an article written by a close friend from South America, in Spanish, that warns us that when we give up freedom of religion in the name of "women's health" we are on the way to giving up ALL our freedom. Seen from the other side, the "right to choose" is the "right to kill." Secular humanist governments migrate towards Godlessness. Paradoxically, many of those who promote abortion are members of PETA or some other animal rights organization, and are against capital punishment for murderers (my words).

RELIGION Y LIBERTAD

Nadie discute o cuestiona la separacion de la Iglesia y el Estado, pues se trata de instituciones que cumplen roles muy diferentes en una sociedad y que no deben mezclarse. Este ultimo debe ser el garante de la libertad de cultos y el derecho inalienable de los ciudadanos de afiliarse y practicar la creencia que escojan. En este contexto, la reciente disposicion del gobierno que obliga a los empleadores, incluyendo por cierto a los catolicos, a proveer a sus empleados un seguro de salud que incluya, sin costo para ellos, la esterilizacion, el aborto y el control artificial de la natalidad, es inaceptable. Por su parte, las companias aseguradoras estan obligadas a incorporarr estos servicios en las polizas correspondientes, como si se tratara de enfermedades, examenes o procedimientos, que afectan la salud de un individuo. Asi como los seguros de vida no cubren el suicidio pues es un acto voluntario, del mismo modo dichos “servicios” no debieran ser mandatorios. Este atropello a la libertad de culto, constituye un atentado contra el derecho de los catolicos -y seguramente tambien en contra del de fieles de otras denominaciones- que garantiza la Primera Enmienda de la Constitucion. De esta forma, se coloca a los catolicos en la disyuntiva de escoger entre violar los principios y valores de su Fe o dejar de cumplir con la referida disposicion, debiendo en este caso enfrentar las penalidades con que se les ha amenazado. Aquellos que propugnan el mal llamado “derecho a escoger”, que debiera mas bien rotularse de derecho a matar, a pesar de la enorme presion que han ejercido no han logrado doblegar a una mayoria importante de la poblacion, que aboga por la defensa del mas sagrado de los derechos humanos, cual es el derecho a la vida. Cada vez mas se cuestiona el supuesto “derecho” a destruir una vida humana, personificada en la indefencion del ser que vive y se desarrolla en el vientre materno. Es increible que en este pais, profundamente respetuoso de los derechos humanos y que ha sido el paladin de su defensa en todos los rincones del mundo, haya quienes sostengan, apoyados por la ley, que ese ser que se mueve y cuyo corazon late, al que se le pueden distinguir sus rasgos y que solo aguarda el momento propicio para nacer, no es una persona humana. Por eso, repugna que haya politicos que se dicen catolicos y que por unos cuantos votos abjuran de sus principios y creencias, al “vender su primogenitura por un plato de lentejas” como dice la Biblia, ayudando asi a segar vidas inocentes. Las sociedades deben sustentarse en valores morales y normas de comportamiento que emanan del derecho natural, que antecede y va mas alla de la ley temporal que es el fruto de compropisos y mayorias politicas. ?Con que autoridad la ley penal sanciona el asesinato de un bebe en su cuna, pero deja impune y hasta promueve el del ser que esta por nacer? Pareciera que el destino de uno y otro solo depende de un mero certificado. No es posible que una simple ley o la sentencia de una corte le conceda a la mujer el derecho de matar al ser que lleva en sus entranas, ya sea por un deseo personal, para reparar su irresponsabilidad o por ser incapaz de controlar sus instintos elementales. La degradacion de las costumbres a la que conduce el desenfreno que existe en esta materia, en aras de una mal entendida modernidad, debiera preocupar a quienes la fomentan bajo eufemismos como la “salud reproductiva” o el manido “derecho a escoger”. Directa o indirectamente, aquellos estan contribuyendo tambien a devaluar los demas valores en que se afirma la fortaleza moral de esta nacion, que ha sido ejemplo a seguir y modelo a imitar en el mundo. Es de esperar que el gobierno recapacite en su decision, pero lo que es aun mas importante y trascendente, que esa mayoria que defiende la vida contra viento y marea, aun sufriendo el escarnio de los que se le oponen, logre que se la respete en su integridad. Hay que tener confianza y perseverar, pues para Dios no hay imposibles y puede mover montanas cuando se lucha en su nombre. (The author is Ambassador Juan Larrain of Chile)

_____________________

DILBERT

One of my favorite comic strips is Dilbert. It is especially germane to those in the corporate world. The sentiments expressed in this panel from a recent strip echo my own. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Why not use your education, training, and life experiences to advantage? Your opinion is valuable. More valuable I believe than the opinion of someone who can't make it in life, whines all the time about fairness, and is entitled to free things that you have to pay for not only for yourself but for them. Don't be drowned out by the din of the rag-proletariat and their cheerleader in chief, BHO. Forgiveness of mortgages, student loans, and all sorts of debt. Get those votes however you can, Mr. O, even if will eventually turn America into Greece.

PROBIOTICS

There are GOOD bacteria that live in your intestines and help you digest food. Sometimes we even take pills called Phillip's Colon Health, Align, or other brands of Pro-biotics to encourage bacterial growth. Then there are other bacteria which are BAD for us, including but not limited to Cholera, Staph, and Strep.

I suppose the same thing could be said about the LEGAL profession, and like in bacteria, the good/bad line is not distinct. Of course, if we had no lawyers, we would probably be up to our buttocks in lead paint and Benzene would fill the air, so like bacteria that clean our environment, they serve a useful purpose. Then there are the GOOD ones whose work always seems to be less ICKY that the heavily advertising personal injury folks. Then there's that guy with Mesothelioma on TV. So next time you see an ambulance racing to an accident, look for the second car in the parade, from 1-800-ASKsomebody, or the representatives from the law firm of Dewey, Cheetem, and Howe. Ask yourself if society could find an antibiotic to stamp out this "dis-ease." Either that, or just take more frequent showers and be grateful that the Yellow Pages would no longer make a good booster seat for your toddler if they removed all the Lawyer ads.

WOMEN and CHILDREN FIRST

FEMI-NAZIS (radical feminists) are up in arms over candidate Santorum's latest utterance about women in combat and the emotional possibility that men, who have been trained to be chivalrous and let WOMEN get into the lifeboats first, will now have to just let G I JANE grab her M-16 and take the machine gun nest. MAle soldiers are expected to forget that if they were at home and Jane got up from the dinner table and the man did not stand, MOM would give him a dirty look.

So here we are, gentlemen, holding doors, standing up and criticizing the Italian captain of the Costa of not allowing women and children first, and at the same time, demanding equal pay for equal work, and the latest..."Women's health issues (abortion, morning after pill, contraception, and sterilization)" trump the First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion, and NOW women on the front lines... makes life complicated. We are just guys, and we aim to please. I personally will feel that women have become truly equal in America when we don't get "judged as being ungentlemanly if we fail (or decide not)to rise from the dinner table or from our seats when a woman enters the room. Until then...Jane...accept that there is an inequality in BOTH directions, and you can't have your cake and Edith too.

MARCO........POLO

The great beige hope of the Republican party. Latino extraordinaire, Marco Rubio (rubio means blonde in spanish) is one of Florida's 2 U S Senators. He is very entertaining and bright and articulates the Conservative message very well. Other than a slight exaggeration about his parents escaping Cuba to run from Castro...they really came to Florida a few years before Castro took over, seeing the handwriting on the wall they made a logical and considered decision, not fleeing in the middle of the night as was first implied.

When Rubio is selected to become the first Latino VP nominee, the Cuba story is all you will hear on the MAINSTREAM media. Rubio seems to be the real deal and would be an attractive candidate. THE DARK SIDE is already lining up to demean him as NOT being a real latino, just like they stripped away the African-Americanism from Herman Cain and Clarence Thomas and felt justified using the Uncle Tom appellation. Anyone who has even been to Miami, the most Latino city I have even been in, and I have been in Mexico City, Madrid, and many others, knows that LATINOS are not of one stripe, unlike Chilean Sea Bass for example where one is pretty much like the other. There are rich Cubans who own everything in Miami, car dealerships, South Beach, etc, and there are poor latinos who come from Central America and the Caribbean, many of whom put tiles on our roofs, bricks on our driveways, or blow leaves onto the roads. They are hard working and do jobs Americans are unwilling to do especially if they are on welfare or unemployment for 99 weeks.

The left has defined the LATINO political issues in their own way...if you are against illegal immigration and for protection the border, you are racist. If you don't want to give free education, medical care, or college in-state tuition to people who sneak over the border to get here, you are racist. If you want English as the official language, you are racist. In other words, Liberals once again presume to know what is best for minorities, immigrants, and anyone whose last name ends in a vowel. RUBIO offends them because he is a successful latino, first generation American, who is intelligent, articulate, and photogenic. He believes in the Rule of Law. He must therefore also be a racist, and NOT a real latino. You decide.

SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR BETRAYAL

The Catholic Church ran headlong into supporting OBAMACARE for social justice reasons. The "Law of Unintended Consequences" which is as strong as the Law of Gravity came back and bit the Church in its Derriere. All those Bishops who promoted the concept that everyone in America deserves health care are now the same one who were BLINDSIDED by the Obama administration and their hatchet-woman, Kathleen Sebelius, no friend to the unborn.

So now, as a reward for their loyal support, Catholic hospitals and other institutions will be required by federal law to provide "women's health services" which is code for abortion, contraception, and sterilization etc. I don't know which side of this issue my readers come down on as far as Choice vs Life and similar issues BUT I do have a fairly good understanding of the U S Constitution and the First Amendment. It seems to me that the government is stepping on religious freedom. On the other hand, every adult knows or should know, that when you get in bed with the government and take a dollar of their money, they take 100% control of your organization. I Suppose this will play out between now and election time. You don't have to be a staunch Catholic or an Evangelical to know that if the government gets away with this, the rest of the Bill of Rights is doomed as well...sooner or later. Chip Chip Chip away

LIBERAL FANTASY

One of the great LIBERAL fantasies, among many, is that "schools will be better if we just throw more money at them." We have been doing that for eons and our kids are dumber than ever and the graduation rate is abysmal... below 50% in many places. Yet this morning, the Sarasota Herald Fishwrapper proudly proclaims on page one "state set to boost education funding" by more than ONE BILLION dollars next year. What a relief. Our kids will no longer be the uninformed little idiots they were this year. Thank you, legislature.

This universal solution is long overdue. It is clearly a "fact of life" that results are just a function of how much money you spend on something. All one has to do is look at how much we have already spent on the FEDERAL Department of Education, and the Sarasota School Board to see the PROOF in this pudding. IF that were the solution, surely with EACH increase in spending, the educational level would have improved. Yet, like all well intentioned stupid plans, it NEVER works. So we do it again and again with more money and expect a different result. After this snowstorm of funding once again FAILS to make a dent in IDIOOCRACY, we will do the same thing again next year.

WISDOM

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit...wisdom is knowing NOT to put it in a fruit salad. Other examples of wisdom include NOT opening a 10,000 sq ft restaurant with a Key West-Bulgarian fusion theme and expecting to need 2 reservation lines. Another might be writing a BLOG and expecting that more than 2 people will let you know they like to read it. Or that ANYONE would post a comment ON the Blog.

Our Air Conditioning service company sent someone to our home to repair our A/C which is heating the house when it should be cooling it. He seems like a very nice man and an experienced A/C technician but by his own admission he has NEVER worked on a wireless thermostat which is integral to our system. I had to buy these because when we had new units installed a couple of years ago they could not replace the wires that ran from our old thermostats to the air handlers and the old wires did not have enough individual smaller wires to do the 9 things needed to operate modern equipment. So $500 dollars later, we have a working system until it doesn't then we have to find the one guy on the planet who can fix this setup and I don't think it is the guy presently in my garage.

Anyway, I still would like to hear from my readers sometime somehow by phone, email, text, or by commenting ON the blog. So PLEASE let me know if you are enjoying these and if they are in need or new subject matter. I would appreciate your supporting this work of art as I would yours.