SOME THINGS JUST PILE UP

Click the header. Go on. I'll wait.

I wonder how Neil feels?

WAPAKONETA, Ohio - Officials at an Ohio museum dedicated to Neil Armstrong said a cheddar cheese sculpture of the astronaut softened and fell from its base.

Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum officials in Wapakoneta said the facility's air conditioning unit turned off automatically overnight and the resulting heat caused the sculpture to soften, resulting in the nearly one ton of cheese falling from its base, WHIO-TV, Dayton, Ohio, reported Tuesday.

The statue was carved during the course of 59 hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday by artist Sarah Kaufmann as part of festivities marking the 40th anniversary of Armstrong's walk on the moon.

"Quick, call the wine and cracker vendors!"

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I can't stop laughing

From The Daily Telegraph in a piece headed "Brussels Pays 200,000 Pounds to Save Prostitutes":

"... the money will not be going directly into the prostitutes' pocket, but will be used to encourage them to lead a better life. We will be training them for new positions in hotels."

And I thought they knew the positions.

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Not a rarity at all

"A young girl, who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth, was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast-guard spokesman commented, 'This sort of thing is all too common these days."

You don't want to hear about uncommon things, then.

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Sotomayor squashed journalist's rights

http://www.cashill.com/twa800/sotomayor.htm

You still don't want to hear about uncommon things.

********************************************************************************* Economics Class

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea.

It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted.

It is tough times, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.

He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms and leaves town.

No one earned anything.

However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is economic recovery stimulus.

Obama economics 101

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Today's govermental efficiency

There is an old saying that goes...the most frightening thing a person can hear is, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

The government is famous for world class screw ups, and while this one may not be world class, I think we could all see this one coming a mile away. It came out last week.

An 83-year-old Maryland man said he was shocked to receive a federal stimulus check addressed to his mother, who's been dead since 1967. Social Security Administration officials said the mid-June deadline for mailing out the checks does not leave enough time for thorough examinations of the program's records. They said an estimated 10,000 of the 52 million checks that have been mailed out were addressed to deceased people. And just today I saw a story on myfoxny.com that pretty much said the same thing. In their story, Antoniette Santopadre of Valley Stream was expecting a $250 stimulus check, but when her son finally opened it, they saw that the check was made out to her father, Romolo Romonini, who died in Italy 34 years ago. He'd been a U.S. citizen when he left for Italy in 1933, but only returned to the United States for a seven-month visit in 1969.The feds blame a rushed schedule, because all the checks have to be cut by June. The strange thing is, some of the checks were made out to people -- like Romonini -- who were never even part of the Social Security system.

So apparently there are so many holes in the system that dead people from Italy are drifting in. That should make you feel confident!

I have nothing but confidence in the Obama administration. (Crossing fingers behind back.)

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This'll get your attention

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-to-propose-125b-for-black-farmers/437055?icid=sphere_newsaol_inpage

Whadda ya mean racist?

BASSACKWARD?

Don't forget to click the header. If it's true, you are living in a savage, secretive society.

************************************************************************************ 10 Principles for Immigration Reform

1. The purpose of U.S. immigration policy is to benefit the citizens of the United States.

2. Since immigration policy can profoundly shape a country, it should be set by deliberate actions, not by accident or acquiescence, with careful consideration to ensure that it does not adversely affect the quality of life of American citizens and their communities.

3. Immigration policy should be based on and adhere to the rule of law. Immigration laws must be enforced consistently and uniformly throughout the United States.

4. Non-citizens enter the United States as guests and must obey the rules governing their entry. The U.S. government must track the entry, stay, and departure of all visa-holders to ensure that they comply fully with the terms of their visas, or to remove them if they fail to comply.

5. The borders of the United States must be physically secured at the earliest possible time. An effective barrier to the illegal entry of both aliens and contraband is vital to U.S. security.

6. Those responsible for facilitating illegal immigration shall be sought, arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and shall forfeit any profits from such activity. This applies to smugglers and traffickers of people, as well as to those involved in the production, procurement, distribution, or use of fraudulent or counterfeit documents.

7. U.S. employers shall be given a simple and streamlined process to determine whether employees are legally eligible to work. Employers who obey the law shall be protected both from liability and from unfair competition by those who violate immigration law. The violators shall be subject to fines and taxes in excess of what they would have paid to employ U.S. citizens and legal residents for the same work.

8. Those who enter or remain in the United States in violation of the law shall be detained and removed expeditiously. Illegal aliens shall not accrue any benefit, including U.S. citizenship, as a result of their illegal entry or presence in the United States.

9. No federal, state or local entity shall reward individuals for violating immigration laws by granting public benefits or services, or by issuing or accepting any form of identification, or by providing any other assistance that facilitates unlawful presence or employment in this country. All federal and law enforcement agencies shall cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities, and shall report to such authorities any information they receive indicating that an individual may have violated immigration laws.

10. Illegal aliens currently in the United States may be afforded a one-time opportunity to leave the United States without penalty and seek permission to reenter legally if they qualify under existing law. Those who do not take advantage of this opportunity will be removed and permanently barred from returning.

Click here to view endorsers of the 10 Principles for Immigration Reform

This is not mine, but it arrived in an email a while ago.

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If you haven't seen this yet, I thought it was funny. Join in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yiQXPOO1Yo&NR=1

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This is really, really true...

CLARE, Mich. - Members of a Michigan police department, apparently unafraid of jokes at their expense, banded together to purchase their favorite doughnut shop.

The Clare Police Department, which has nine full-time officers, purchased the Clare City Bakery and changed the name to Cops & Doughnuts after discovering the previous owners were planning to close down the 113-year-old shop, WNEM-TV, Saginaw, Mich., reported Tuesday. The officers said they are volunteering their time with the bakery and will not be paid for their services.

They said the shop will be staffed by high school and college students. Cops & Doughnuts apparel, including a T-shirt stating, "You Have The Right To Remain Glazed," are now available. http://www.copsdoughnuts.com/

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When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.

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Flash from Our White House:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/24/obama-struggling-to-quit-smoking/?icid=mainhtmlws-maindl1link6http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F06%2F24%2Fobama-struggling-to-quit-smoking%2F

It occurs to me I might be better suited for the Presidency than some others. I can, and did, quite smoking cold turkey.

Seems some of us haven't the will power. (I wonder if Hillary would cry?)

I better quit before I really rile some people.

MICHAEL JACKSON, BILLY MAYS AND OTHER PEEVES

Don't forget to click the header.

I think that pic was taken at a dedication to a new High School here.

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Michael Jackson was an entertainer par excellence. He was also a child molester. I would've thought the family and his "fans" might have wanted to get the whole thing over in a hurry.

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Billy Mays was a loud mouth, offensive person. He was not an entertainer. OTOH, he was not a child molester. But what appeal he had, seemed to lie with those whose IQ was somewhere below 90 percentile points. People I know inform me that they, too, have no desire to be shouted at when someone wants them to do something. Especially by a guy hiding behind a beard.

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I suppose I shouldn't admit it, but I have friends who have wild senses of humor:

To honour Michael Jackson after his death, Macdonalds is introducing a Mr Jacko burger.

It’s a piece of 50 year old meat stuck between two 8 year old buns.

I don't know why I put this in here. (And no, I will not mention my friend's name. I'm saving it to blackmail the person.)

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TV Commercials

It is not just the horribly loud commercials, but now cable TV (Comcast, in my experience) allows the volume to vary wildly from channel to channel. Case in point: watching one channel at comfortable sound volume for an hour (muting the too loud commercials) and then switching to another channel, can cause severe pain in one's ears (to say nothing about causing neighbors to consider a call to 911 to report a violence problem in your home).

The failure of the volume control works the other way also, causing some stations to come in so softly they cannot be heard without increasing the volume level. It's a game called sound ping pong. And it's not pleasant. When one complains to Comcast about this problem, one is met with a smarmy, albeit sincere, female voice commiserating with the problem. But she unfailingly denies that Comcast can, in any way, control these volume changes.

Isn't it strange that less than two years ago these problems did not exist? It would seem that Comcast has either destroyed or turned off its control over the volume of broadcast signals. But it has also failed to tell the viewing public or its employees about managements actions.

Comcast, for a number of years controlled the volume of all stations they sold to us. They did not vary in volume. To suggest that Comcast can't control the volume seems a form of idiocy. Philosophically, it seems to be a case of the public be damned.

Realistically, it seems to be a case of ignore the protesters, they'll go away. Our government needs to give the FCC laws with sharp, long teeth and the manpower to act and convict on proof of the failure of control by the Cable and Satellite suppliers. And fines for the networks themselves. As is said: "ignorance of the law is no excuse". (It would be good if we could apply that rule to the illegal invasion of our country, too.)

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Oh Geeze, look what I found:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31373407/ns/politics-white_house//

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA?

Click the header.

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Cats can be melodramatic, too. Let's hope it doesn't come to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VawHPKt2rIs

I'm out waving the flag. See y'all.

THE SCARY SIDE OF THE U. S.

Have a yummy time when you click the header.

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I get emails from many sites (have to have a program to keep track of my passwords) nad one I get is from a basically humor news letter. But here's an introduction to one of his latest emails:

I am in the neighborhood of 50-years-old (ahem), I have a 401k that I have been contributing to for 13 or 14 years, my wife has an IRA that she has been contributing to for about the same amount of time. We also have a savings account which provides us with a fund for if the engine in one of our cars blows up for an uninsured reason or if we need a few extra thousand for a vacation, etc.

We are currently in our second house since getting married but thanks to an increase in property values we have about 35 percent equity in the house. We also started college savings accounts for each of our boys when they were born, which isn't going to cover four years at university but will give us a nice head start for each of them. To listen to it you'd think we were in pretty good shape, but apparently our toes are hanging over the edge of disaster.

Until recently David Walker was comptroller general of the United States, meaning he was head auditor for the most important and powerful government in the world. In an interview last year Walker warned that there is a $43 trillion hole in America's public finances that's getting worse every day, and it is eventually going to lead to a financial collapse that will make my (and your) retirement plans disappear in a wave of recession, inflation and unemployment. It's becoming increasingly obvious that, within the next 10 years, the U.S. government will simply not be able to borrow money fast enough to keep up with its exploding expenses.

The Economic Policy Institute recently projected that under the current tax regime, by 2014 all government revenue would be consumed by four areas of spending: health care for the elderly and the poor, Social Security for retirees, national defense and interest on the debt.

Interest on the national debt would be about half of all government tax revenues by 2031. And ten years later, the cost of servicing the debt will exceed all government revenues.

History provides some harrowing examples of what happens when an economy collapses under the weight of unsustainable debt. One of the most chilling is Argentina in 2001. When the International Monetary Fund cut off its support for the country's escalating debt, the effect was catastrophic: the value of the national currency plunged, decimating the savings of millions. The resulting surge in inflation and sudden slowdown in consumer spending put thousands of businesses into bankruptcy within weeks.

That, in turn, put further millions out of work and pushed one of South America's biggest economies into a punishing recession.

As unfathomable as it may seem, most economists think something like that could happen in the United States. Doesn't sound very cheery, does it?

Imagine if the company you work for suddenly went bankrupt and the market was so bad that you couldn't find a job for more than half of what you were making (if you could find work at all). You decide to cash in all of your savings and retirement funds to make ends meet to discover that what used to be worth 30, 40 or maybe 50 thousand dollars is now worth about 15 or 20. How long do you think you would keep your house or even your car? It makes you want to start writing letters to congressmen, doesn't it?

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Now, the author is normally a cheerful, lets have a laugh, kind of guy. But I didn't find anything to laugh at in this part of his email. Like so many other Americans he is definitely worried about his and his family's future. Maybe we should be writing BO?

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I also got this in my email:

A Message from the Boss

Fellow Business Executives:

As the CEO of this business that employes 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama is our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees of about 8%, but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead.

This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.

So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off.

I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them. If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,

The Boss

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LETTER TO THE BANK

Dear Sirs, One of my checks was returned marked "insufficient funds."

In view of current developments in the banking industry, does that refer to me or to you? Sincerely,

Your customer

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It's also time for the kind of joke I never tell. I've got too much couth for this.

It has just been reported that the head gardener at The White House has been dismissed after 28 years of loyal service to the many US presidents.

When interviewed the gardener protested his innocence and said "All I know is I was walking past the Oval Office and I asked, "Has anyone seen the spade and the hoe." The next thing I knew I was fired."

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EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!

If you are interested in Justice Sotomeyer and her jailing and denying civil rights to a couple of Americans, click the header. **************************************** Goin' to have a smorgasbord here, now. Pay close attention as I will not be repeating any of them again. (I hope.) ***************************************** There's finally a semi serious movement afoot to totally ban texting throught the U.S. Imagine. We have to point out that you're five or six times more likely to have an accident than in any other automotive violation (except speeding, of course). How sad it is to have to create a law against this sort of thing (especially knowing how badly our lawmakers write laws). But wait. There may be still other ways, like: Perhaps a vow to cede your first born to the State if you ever violate this common sense approach would be appropriate? Perhaps a robotic control in all vehicles that, should the driver be texting, will shut down the engine, prevent restart and call the police to hand out a ticket in the range of, say $25,000 for the first offense, with geometric fines as the number of one's violations grow. For one thing, that might end the short fall some states consistently have due to their pork barreling. Or we could, for various degrees of violations, remove a lung, kidney, or other anatomical parts to be used to repair those victims who need these parts due to a texting driver causing a smashup? Just sayin'. ********************************************************************************* Social Security Hoo Haw This will come as a shock to those who don't know the history of Social Security, but it was devised by Franklin Roosevelt (a President, the only one to be elected four times) who, although from an extremely wealthy family, saw that the average man did not have the wherewithal when the time came for him to retire. And the guy might get a gold plated watch from the business where he had worked for fifty years. But no money to help him survive. He had earned enough money to raise his family in a reasonable manner, but often could not put money aside for retirement. Which meant his kids had to support him and his wife in their old age. And if the kids wouldn't, or couldn't, do that, then he and his wife would go to an "old folks home" where the remainder of their years would be dictated by rare gifts and hoping they got enough to eat while receiving virtually no medical care. Well, this ticked Franklin off and he created and got the Social Security Act passed. He thought he had written it so the greedy politicians in the Senate and House couldn't get their hands on it for pork barrel projects. And he had. He designed the bill to get money to the retirees. Their employers had no retirement or pension plans for them. The attitude among the greedy CEO's was sort of "to hell with you, I've got mine". (If that sounds familiar, so be it.) The money was to be used for no one else than retirees, for nothing else. Retirees and those injured on the job. Period. But the greedy ones figured out ways to add the needy children of fathers who couldn't care less about them and to add people who claimed to be handicapped and to add money to pay for some very phony mental problems that people claimed they had. They called that "Social Security", too. So we were screwed by the Democrats once again. And just in case you think I'm a hotheaded Republican here's a couple of facts for you: 1. I am a registered Democrat. Have been for years. 2. In my opinion, FDR and HST (this president really had no middle name. He smilingly made a word play on the phrase Harry S (Hairy Ass) and although some reporters told the whole story, it seems people weren't bright enough to understand. Truman had guts. These two are high up on my list of Presidents I feel have done most for their country. Which brings us to what needs to be done for SS. Simple. Take the phony "handicapped" off the rolls. Do not pay SS money to children. After all, they never had a job to pay into it. Social Security was not designed for them. Make funds available only for retirees. The other part is: Inaugurate new monetary bases for the handicapped (real or faked) and new bases for the children of "breeders." Leave Social Security to do its own work. Maybe if those who don't deserve to receive anything from it were removed, the seniors wouldn't have to be in the poorest grouping of Americans. Just sayin'. *********************************************************************************** Obama The Killer? Obama Kills Fly During Interview AP (June 16) Talk about flying at your own risk. President Barack Obama, nettled by a fly during a TV interview at the White House, took matters into his own hands Tuesday. Said Obama to the persistent fly: "Get out of here." But it didn't. So Obama waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then smacked the fly dead in one try. Without missing a beat, the president said to CNBC correspondent John Harwood: "Now, where were we." Well, maybe one more second to gloat. Said Obama: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker." The camera crew was still rolling in the East Room. Obama didn't mind. He pointed to the vanquished insect on the ground and said, "You want to film that?" CNBC did. That fly is history. My goodness, will the physical prowess and intellectual capacity of our President never cease to amaze the average man(woman)? Imagine. He actually swatted and killed a fly with assault on its petty mind. Wow. WTG, Mr President. When you're good, you're good, probably went through Harwood's mind. Oh, and by the way, we've been treated to photo ops of Michelle Obama showing off some dresses she bought and seeing her kids off to school. Why, we've even got pictures of the Presidential dog on parade. Known for his photogenic qualities (as well as needing Cesar Millan to rehabilitate him) Bo the pooch made headline news: BO OBAMA HAS OFFICIAL PORTRAIT TAKEN on Paw Nation. There's even a comic book with this pooch starring in it. Ain't it a wonder? *********************************************************************************** Here's a heart warmer and a tale of a wonderfully smart lady: http://growingbolder.com/media/technology/vehicles/romancing-the-road-259598.html%C2%A0 Enjoy. *********************************************************************************** I GET NEWSLETTERS One, in particular, usually has humor running through it constantly. However, the latest email carries this: I am in the neighborhood of 50-years-old (ahem), I have a 401k that I have been contributing to for 13 or 14 years, my wife has an IRA that she has been contributing to for about the same amount of time. We also have a savings account which provides us with a fund for if the engine in one of our cars blows up for an uninsured reason or if we need a few extra thousand for a vacation, etc. We are currently in our second house since getting married but thanks to an increase in property values we have about 35 percent equity in the house. We also started college savings accounts for each of our boys when they were born, which isn't going to cover four years at university but will give us a nice head start for each of them. To listen to it you'd think we were in pretty good shape, but apparently our toes are hanging over the edge of disaster. Until recently David Walker was comptroller general of the United States, meaning he was head auditor for the most important and powerful government in the world. In an interview last year Walker warned that there is a $43-trillion hole in America's public finances that's getting worse every day, and it is eventually going to lead to a financial collapse that will make my (and your) retirement plans disappear in a wave of recession, inflation and unemployment. It's becoming increasingly obvious that, within the next 10 years, the U.S. government will simply not be able to borrow money fast enough to keep up with its exploding expenses. The Economic Policy Institute recently projected that under the current tax regime, by 2014 all government revenue would be consumed by four areas of spending: health care for the elderly and the poor, Social Security for retirees, national defense and interest on the debt. Interest on the national debt would be about half of all gov-ernment tax revenues by 2031. And ten years later, the cost of servicing the debt will exceed all government revenues. History provides some harrowing examples of what happens when an economy collapses under the weight of unsustainable debt. One of the most chilling is Argentina in 2001. When the International Monetary Fund cut off its support for the country's escalating debt, the effect was catastrophic: the value of the national currency plunged, decimating the savings of millions. The resulting surge in inflation and sudden slowdown in consumer spending put thousands of businesses into bankruptcy within weeks. That, in turn, put further millions out of work and pushed one of South America's biggest economies into a punishing recession. As unfathomable as it may seem, most economists think something like that could happen in the United States. Doesn't sound very cheery, does it? Imagine if the company you work for suddenly went bankrupt and the market was so bad that you couldn't find a job for more than half of what you were making (if you could find work at all). You decide to cash in all of your savings and retirement funds to make ends meet to discover that what used to be worth 30, 40 or maybe 50 thousand dollars is now worth about 15 or 20. How long do you think you would keep your house or even your car? It makes you want to start writing letters to congressmen, doesn't it? The only fault I find with this is that Social Security is NOT for retirees only. (See Social Security Hoo Haw above). **********************************************************************************