Monday, July 25, 2011

The New York Jets: Class Act


During the lockout, the Jets (along with a number of other teams) came under a lot of scrutiny for their decision to cut salaries, furlough employees and generally pinch pennies.


So it's fantastic to hear that Jets owner Woody Johnson has already told his employees that all the money they lost during the lockout will be immediately repaid.

Per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, all team employees who had their wages cut -- including coaches -- will be fully reimbursed for the amount of money docked.

In a sign of just how serious Johnson is with repairing goodwill, the employees were apparently paid before they left the meeting.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Quote of the Day...

“To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.”
-Rene Descartes



Monday, July 18, 2011

We Survived...

TO ALL THE
KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!

First, we survived
Being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank
While they were
Pregnant.

They took aspirin,
Ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then, after that
Trauma, we were
Put to sleep
On our tummies
In baby cribs
Covered
With bright colored
Lead-based paints.

We had no
Childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,
And, when we
Rode our bikes,
We had baseball
Caps,
Not helmets, on
Our heads.

As infants and
Children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts,
No air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..

Riding in the
Back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water
From the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one
Soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes,
White bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And we weren't overweight.
WHY?
Because we were
Always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave
Home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights
Came on.
No one was
Able to reach us all day.
--And, we were
OKAY.

We would spend
Hours building
Our go-carts out
Of scraps
And then ride
Them down the hill,
Only to find
Out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned
To solve the problem..

We did not
Have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were
No video games,
No 150 channels on cable,
No video movies
Or DVDs,
No surround-sound or
CDs,
No cell phones,
No personal computers,
No Internet and
No chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS
And we went
Outside and found them!

We fell out
Of trees, got cut,
Broke bones and
Teeth,
And there were
No lawsuits
From those accidents.

We would get
Spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand,
And no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms,
And mud pies
Made from dirt,
And
The worms did
Not live in us forever.

We were given
BB guns for our 10th birthdays, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses,made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and
-although we were
Told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes
Or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just
Walked in and talked to them.

Little League had
Tryouts
And not everyone
Made the team.
Those who didn't
Had to learn
To deal with
Disappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing
Us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have
Produced some of the best risk-takers,
Problem solvers, and
Inventors ever.

The past 50
To 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..

We had freedom,
Failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.


If YOU are
One of those born
Between 1925-1971, CONGRATULATIONS!


You might want
To share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers
and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.


While you are
at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents
were.

Kind of makes
you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

Friday, July 15, 2011

I have a riddle...

There are only three words in the English language which end in "dous".  Can you name them?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Are you Serious????



I came across the original lyrics to the Pirates of the Caribbean song for the Disneyland ride...UNBELIEVABLE !  Stop Reading if you are feint of heart...

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we burp, and fart,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We'll kill your old pappy and pull out 'is heart,
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We rape, we murder, we murder, and rape,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We rape, and we rape, oh we really like rape,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We vivisect, torture, wedgie, and bite,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We run with no pants on, we're really a fright,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
Set fire to a pet store, cut off your legs,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We tell our own grandma to go suck eggs,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We're liars, white slavers, perverts, and cads,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho


By the way, Disney changed the lyrics in 1997.  They also have a version that aires on Spring break.  The original version sung by the pirates as guests sailed by, was a ribald, brutally frank tune about the lives of real, historical pirates.  Yes, even Disney has a past...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Got Your Ticket?

Perhaps this makes it simple enough for our government to understand citizen’s feelings today, as I don't think they get it.

This was written by a Mexican who is now a naturalized US Citizen, and I think it's a great explanation of the illegal immigration issue.

Here is the quote:

"If you had tickets to a sports event, concert, Disneyland, or for an airline flight, and when you got to your assigned seat you found someone else was in that seat, what would you do? You would call for a person in charge of ticket checking and have the person in your seat removed. You would properly be asked to show your ticket, and you would gladly and proudly do so, for you have bought and paid for that seat. The person in your seat would also be asked for a ticket, which they would not be able to produce. They would be called "gate crashers" and they would properly be removed.

Now in this huge stadium called the USA we have had millions of gate crashers. We have been asking security to check for tickets and remove the gate crashers. We have been asking security to have better controls in checking at the door. We have asked security to lock the back doors. Security has failed us. They are still looking the other way. They are afraid to ask to see the tickets. Many people say there is unlimited seating, and whether there is or not, no one should be allowed in for free while the rest of us pay full price!

In "section AZ", of "Stadium USA", we have had enough of the failures of Security. We have decided to do our own ticket checking, and properly remove those who do not have tickets. Now it seems very strange to me that so many people in the other 49 "sections", and even many in our own "section" do not want tickets checked, or even to be asked to show their ticket! Even the head of Security is chastising us, while not doing his own job which he has sworn to do.

My own ticket has been bought and paid for, so I am proudly going to show it when asked to do so. I have a right to my seat, and I want the gate crashers to be asked to show their tickets too. The only reason that I can imagine anyone objecting to being asked for their ticket is that they are in favor of gate crashing, and all of the illegal activities that go with it, such as drug smuggling, gang wars, murder, human smuggling for profit, and many more illegal and inhumane acts that we are trying to prevent with our new legislation. Is that what I am hearing from all of the protestors such as Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, US Rep. Raul Grijalva, even President Obama? If you are not in favor of showing tickets, (proof of citizenship, passport, green card, or other legal document) when asked, as I would do proudly, then you must be condoning those illegal activities."
 
Let me know what you think...

Monday, July 4, 2011

10 Things You May or May Not Know about the $th of July...


The Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776, was meant to justify a revolt against the British, with a list of charges against the British king


The Fourth of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It was initially adopted by Congress on July 2, 1776, but then it was revised and the final version was adopted two days later.

Several countries used the Declaration of Independence as a beacon in their own struggles for freedom. Among them, France. Then later, Greece, Poland, Russia and many countries in South America.

The "Star Spangled Banner" wasn't written until Francis Scott Key wrote a poem stemming from observations in 1814, when the British relentlessly attacked Baltimore's Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. It was later put to music, though not decreed the official national anthem of the United States until 1931.

Three U.S. presidents actually died on July 4. Two of them passed away within hours of each other on July 4, 1826: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The two had been political rivals and then friends later in life. The other to share the distinction was James Monroe, who died July 4, 1831

Oh how we’ve grown: In 1776, about 2.5 million people lived in the newly independent United States, according to the U.S. Censure Bureau. In 2011, 311.7 million Americans will celebrate Independence Day.

On July 6, 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to print the now-historic Declaration of Independence.

"Yankee Doodle," one of many patriotic songs in the United States, was originally sung prior to the Revolution by British military officers who mocked the unorganized and buckskin-wearing “Yankees” with whom they fought during the French and Indian War.

The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men representing the 13 colonies. The moment marked the beginning of all-out war against the British. The American Revolutionary War is said to have started in 1775, however. The Declaration was signed more than two years after Boston officials refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, fueling colonists to dump the tea into the harbor in what became the infamous Boston Tea Party.

As Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration, Britain's army was on its way toward to New York Harbor. It began:

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."