I Love Summer !

Solar Power Baby !

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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.

Quote of the Day...

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

-Rene Descartes



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 ?

I have a riddle...

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

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...

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...

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."