IT'S ALL BULLS**T!

Observation of the Day!

Anyone who has spent time in management has been subjected to or perhaps even initiated the latest business fad. The programs and seminars are usually the same basics of business, packaged differently with new buzzwords. Many of these programs are developed by academicians who actually haven't spent much time on the firing line of a business. They talk a good game i.e. BS.

I received a newsletter from the Eli Broad College of Business at my Alma Mater Michigan State. The following is a statement from John Miller, Executive MBA Program Director about the latest buzz i.e. Bulls**t.

"Organic growth is about harnessing the core competencies of the business - those competencies that are rare. difficult for competitors to duplicate and can be leveraged in multiple markets."

HUH???? Is that all there is too it!

Execute that!

The business of business is actually quite simple. It is only complicated by those in it, taught by those who aren't.

My man George Carlin still says it best, "It's all Bulls**t

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

COMING OF AGE IN INDIANA!

On September 30, 1955 James Dean was killed in an automobile crash in Central California. I wrote the following piece in 1996. It is my most widely circulated writing and is also my personal favorite. I tried to capture the transition, the coming of age of my generation. I have also included some notes of the times. I hope you enjoy this little piece of history.

Custer’s Last Stand

A neon drive-in casts long shadows across a vast parking lot as the sun drops behind a distant hill. A large neon sign buzzes in the foreground. . . Mel’s Drive-In, while in the background, “Rock Around The Clock” blares from the radio of a beautiful decked and channeled, white with red trim, tuck-and rolled ‘58 Chevy Impala that glides into the drive-in.

The opening scene in American Graffiti from the original script.

We lived American Graffiti in Marion, Indiana -- my home town. Custer’s Last Stand was the Mel’s Drive-In of “Marion Graffiti”. I imagine every teenager of the fifties and early sixties had a Mel’s Drive-In or a Custer’s Last Stand in their town that evokes the same wonderful memories of those by-gone innocent days of a high school summer. Custer’s Last Stand was a classic 1950’s drive-in restaurant on the by-pass. It was Bob Custer’s place. It was our place. It was the gathering place on those warm Indiana nights

A driver’s license and a car were the only passports needed to participate in the rituals of youth at Custer’s Last Stand. Transportation came in a variety of shapes, sizes and ownership. It might be a friend’s car, your family car, or if you were lucky, your own car. I was one of the lucky ones.

My car looked like it might belong to a grandma -- actually it was a car formerly owned by a grandma -- mine. It was a 1949 four-door Ford sedan, battleship gray in color, with a straight stick. The closest thing to customizing it was a quick-turn knob I attached to the steering wheel. My car was hardly a symbol of cool, but it was all mine.

Some kids borrowed their family’s car to cruise Custer’s. Borrowing the family car was the low end of cool, but it did represent a degree of independence and freedom. Girls were often the prime borrowers of their families’ cars, since the boys often provided their transportation. Girls didn’t have to be cool. They were the object of cool.

Some cars circled round and round -- some parked. Circling Custer’s Last Stand was a little like the Indians circling General Custer and his troops at Little Bighorn. Cars were backed into parking places on the back row in order to have a prime view of the parade of teenage freedom. The stars of the parade were the half-finished customized ‘49 Mercs with gray primer, lowered rear-ends, chopped tops, de-chromed and leaded in, dual exhausts, smooth custom mufflers rumbling, radios blaring out the sounds of the fifties and drivers’ left arms cocked in open windows. Customized cars were cool. Cruisin’ Custer’s was cool.

If we had any money, we’d punch the call button on the speaker and wait to hear the familiar, “May I take your order please?” “I’ll have an order of fries, double ketchup and a Coke”. A car-hop, an auto waitress, would bring the order to the car and carefully (most of the time) attach the tray to the door. It was the haute cuisine of the times. Fries and a Coke were cool.

Custer’s Last Stand was more than fries and a Coke. Custer’s was a place to see and be seen. If you weren’t seen, you were missed. It was a place for cruisin’ and buzzin’ and parkin’, squealin’ tires a little, dates and sittin’ close, hangin’ with the guys and checkin’ out the chicks. It was a gathering place, and a place for making plans. It was a place to be together and ask the “whys” of the deaths of our friends, Larry and Jim. They peeled out of Custer’s one warm summer night and got themselves killed. Our plans didn’t include tragedies, but for the first time we caught a glimpse of our mortality, but it didn’t last long. Custer’s was the center of our universe, and we were immortal. Custer’s was the coolest.

We leaned on the fenders wearing the styles of the times, ducktails, pegged pants, senior cords, saddle shoes, white bucks and penny loafers; smokin’ cigarettes, eatin’ fries, drinkin’ Cokes and talkin’ ‘bout “stuff”. It was a James Dean thing. He was our icon of cool, wearing his red jacket with the collar turned up and his teenage frustrations out front. He was our Rebel without a Cause. James Dean had been born in Marion, just like us, and we felt he was our kindred spirit, expressing our inner most thoughts and feelings as the teenagers of the times. James Dean was cool.

James Dean was killed in a high-speed car crash, September 30, 1955. It was the day our music died. I was just starting college and sitting in my dorm room when I learned the tragic news. I felt the deep shock you feel when a famous person you like and can relate to meets a too soon death. His death served as a symbol of a coming of age, the carefree days of Custer’s were gone forever, and the rest of my life was beginning. It was my personal Custer’s Last Stand.

Custer’s Last Stand was eventually torn down and replaced by a McDonald’s.


*******

Footnotes:

1. Although Colonel Robert (Bob) Custer was the director of the Indiana Selective Service Commission, he is remembered by generations of Marion teenagers as the man who built and owned Custer’s Last Stand., the “ultimate drive-in on the by-pass” From its opening day in 1947 until it was torn down in the 70s to make room for the North Park Mall, and a McDonalds, it was the spot to see and be seen as a teenager in Marion. “C’mon, let’s buzz Custer’s.

2. American Graffiti was probably the best movie ever made depicting life of a teenager in the fifties and early sixties -- my era. Rebel Without a Cause was James Dean’s second of three pictures he made in his short lifetime, and I think his best.. His first picture was East Of Eden. When it was announced that East of Eden was coming to the Indiana Theater in Marion, they passed out buttons saying, “Dean Must Be Seen”. His third and last picture was Giant. Just after completing his work on the picture, he was killed in an automobile accident near Paso Robles, California on September 30, 1955, driving his Porsche to a sport’s car race, one of his many passions.

3. James Dean was indeed born in Marion, Indiana in an apartment on Fourth Street and raised in Fairmount, a little town ten miles South of Marion. He is buried in Fairmount next to his mother. There is a museum in his honor in Fairmount, as well as a James Dean Festival held every year, where his legions of fans (est. 30,000 annually) still pay homage to this icon of the fifties. To the younger generation of Fairmount, it is an old person’s get-together and rather thought by them to be a little silly. I wonder when their generation will make pilgrimages to the grave sight of one of their teenage idols. It’s a thing all generations do. From Dean to Elvis to Kurt Cobain.

4. I believe I saw James Dean in Marion one evening in Nick’s Chili Bowl restaurant in Marion. My Dad, brother and I were seated at a booth at Nick’s one evening in the late fall. A small group of three young men came in. My Dad thought it was James Dean, and I thought there was certainly a resemblance. He was wearing an overcoat, which was something he wore in some of his publicity photos. If James Dean was visiting home, Nick’s would be a place he might have come (not much to do in Marion). There is a note in his biography that he was at home about that time with a photographer friend. I have no way of knowing for sure, but for now I’ll just say, “Dean Was Seen.”

5. Larry Ellis and Jim Bonge were killed in an automobile accident. It was the first time we experienced the deaths of friends. I think of that tragedy every time I read of a similar accident involving teenagers such as Larry and Jim. It is a recurring event in every generation. Through their mortality they attain immortality in the memories of their classmates.

6. The character, Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti was a real disc jockey. I used to hear him broadcast from XTRA, a powerful mega-watt radio station located across the boarder in Tijuana, Mexico. He was a mystery man for many years. Before American Graffiti, because of his voice and style, some people thought he was black. He died in 1995.

7. In June, 1996 the U.S. Postal Service issued a James Dean stamp. Forty-six years after his death, he is still remembered on a large scale -- a true American icon. As with most human icons, he could also be a real immature jerk. But he was a true artist -- a very complicated individual. It must be remembered that he was only twenty-four when he was killed.

March, 1996

Have a nice day!

Sam

HELP!

Can somebody help me with this?

I am sure most, if not all, are sick of negative political campaign ads. You can't get away from them. They are everywhere. You can't even switch channels without seeing the same crap. Negative ads are half truths, out of context statements or outright lies.

Why do campaigns insist on going negative? They tell us, "because they work". Do they? If both parties run negative ads then how do they know negative "works"? How can they tell? There is a winner and a loser. Does that mean the candidate whose ads are most negative or least negative gather more votes? Depending on your point of few, the other guy is negative and my guy is telling the truth.

I think both parties underestimate the intelligence of the American people. Well, maybe not. Of course we are not all the best and brightest. These ads can only appeal to the dumbest people, who probably don't vote anyway.

As George Carlin said in his final performance, "It's all bulls**t!

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

THIS JUST IN!

News You Need to Know, or Not!

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- As if getting a DUI wasn’t enough, a man arrested for driving under the influence got in a lot more trouble at the police station.

Police stopped Jose Cruz on Route 60 in South Charleston Monday night for driving with his headlights off.

Then, he failed sobriety tests and was arrested.

When police were trying to get fingerprints, police say Cruz moved closer to the officer and passed gas on him. The investigating officer remarked in the criminal complaint that the odor was very strong.

Cruz is now charged with battery on a police officer, as well as DUI and obstruction.

OMG! Can wives now press charges? Men won't be able to because we all know woman don't fart.

*****

Swiss restaurant to serve meals cooked with human breast milk
Women will receive just over £3 (US$5.4) for 14 ounces of their milk.

The owner of the Storchen restaurant in the exclusive Winterthur resort will improve his menu with local specialities such as meat stew and various soups and sauces containing at least 75 per cent of mother's milk.

"We have all been raised on it. Why should we not include it into our diet?" Hans Locher, who has become Switzerland most controversial restaurant owner, said.

Mr Locher attracted the attention of the leading media of the German-speaking world this week after he posted ads looking for women donors, who will receive just over three pounds for 14 ounces of their milk.

He said: "I first experimented with breast milk when my daughter was born.

"One can cook really delicious things with it. However, it always needs to be mixed with a bit of whipped cream, in order to keep the consistency."

"They are not on the list of approved species such as cows and sheep, but they are also not on the list of the banned species such as apes and primates," Rolf Etter of the Zurich food control laboratory said.
I just don't know yet how I feel about this. I'll get back to you!

*****

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.
PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' Oh Yah! so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."

Aren't people animals too? Now I know how I feel. I want to manage the barn. Bad Rotten joke. How does a breast pump sound? MMMMMMM!

*****

I get this," Clinton said. "My view is ... why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don't we like them and celebrate them and be happy for her elevation to the ticket? Especially if they are hot. And just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?" Our Bill. Always the gentleman!

*****

'Topless Midget Oil Wrestling' Costs Bar
Owner Plans To Appeal Ruling

City officials yanked the liquor license of a bar in Canton, Ill., for what they call "topless midget oil wrestling."

The Outskirts Bar and Grill hosted the event last month, authorities said.

At one point during the event, one of the performers took off her top. Kim Scott, the bar's owner, said she didn't know about it and quickly stopped everything once she found out.

The bar will lose its license for two months because city officials say the event violated an ordinance.

I am glad I don't have pictures.

*****

Farmers can find dates, or mates, on a matching website designed just for them.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Stephanie Olson's father was leery when she told him she wanted to drive two hours to meet a man she'd met online. So she eased his concern by showing him a photo not of the suitor, but of his most prized possession -- an apple-red tractor that sparkled from meticulous care.

"The first thing my dad said was, 'It has nice rubber on it,"said Olson, 26, of Fosston, Minn. I am sure Dad was also thinking, "I hope he does too!" And from there, it was OK. I knew it was a nice tractor and well taken care of, so that would make a good impression on my dad."

It was one strategy Olson, a grain and alfalfa farmer, learned to employ in overcoming the unique challenges farmers face in the quest for love. Her first step was joining the dating website www.farmersonly.com, that unites singles with mates who can bend their game of romance around the annual cycle of planting and harvesting.

Olson met the man with the red tractor about three years ago. She had dad's blessing to trek to Fargo solo, but had one more card up her sleeve for her Romeo, Dan Klapprodt, a 28-year-old corn and soybean farmer from Toronto, S.D. (Fargo was a convenient, albeit unfamiliar, halfway point.)

"I told him I was bringing my dad with me," Olson recalled with a chuckle. "He said, 'OK, that's fine.' I had no intention of doing that; I just wanted to see what he would say."

Farmers need love too!

*****

The Baggy Pants Posse
Florida crackdown CRACK DOWN? nets 11 more perps for exposing their boxer shorts

SEPTEMBER 11--Last week we brought word of the arrest of Kenneth Smith, a Florida man busted for wearing baggy pants that exposed his boxer shorts. Well, it turns out that the Riviera Beach cops have been rather diligent in enforcing a new city ordinance targeting droopy shorts and trousers, according to police reports. Since officers began their crackdown last month, they have arrested at least 11 other baggy pants perps (of that group, two are juveniles). Below you'll find mug shots of eight of the other nine arrestees, aged between 18 and 36. As seen in a series of Riviera Beach Police Department probable cause affidavits, each of the males was nabbed after officers determined that low-slung pants or shorts had resulted in the exposure of between two and five inches of the individual offender's boxer shorts. While most of the busts occurred without incident, a few of the arrestees appeared bewildered that they were being arrested for a trouser-related offense. One of the juveniles, in fact, cursed out Officer J. Thornton and said, according to one affidavit, "Your a cracker and ain't got shit better to do." First-time violators of ordinance 12-3043 face a fine of up to $150.

It's about time?

*****

Based on the same time-honored, complex calculations it uses to predict weather, the Almanac hits the newsstands on Tuesday saying a study of solar activity and corresponding records on ocean temperatures and climate point to a cooler, not warmer, climate, for perhaps the next half century. Oh gosh an Inconvenient Truth, Al.

*****

Clay Aiken is gay, Lindsay Lohan is dating Samantha Ronson and Ellen DeGeneres is for gay marriage. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Have a nice day!

Sammy C.

THIS IS BEST I CAN DO!

Not Much Here!

My favorite type of writing is humor and satire, but it has been hard to do lately with everything going on around us. There is nothing funny about politics and meltdowns. I did find a couple of items worth mentioning. I guess I will call it, dumbness.

1. David Blaine attempting to hang upside down for 60 hours and without eating. What on earth does that do to enhance the human experience. My bet is that he doesn't make it.

2. The man who shut down Terminal 6 at JFK because TSA found replica WWll hand grenaides in his bag.

3. George Michael being arrested again in a public restroom with marijuana and crack cocaine. Doesn't he have a better place to do his drugs? I believe this is the third time.

Have a nice day!

Sam

NO MATTER WHAT YOUR POLITICS!

Observation of the Day!

No matter what your politics, this story from the WCBS-TV New York is unbelievable. What a "class" act. Charlie Rangel is PATHETIC and a disgrace to the office he holds.

Reporting
Marcia Kramer

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Already under fire for his tax troubles, Manhattan Congressman Charles Rangel really put his foot in his mouth on Friday.

In a CBS 2 HD exclusive interview, Rep. Rangel called Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "disabled."

The question was simple: Why are the Democrats so afraid of Palin and her popularity?

The answer was astonishing.

"You got to be kind to the disabled," Rangel said.

That's right. The chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee called Palin disabled -- even when CBS 2 HD called him on it.

CBS 2 HD: "You got to be kind to the disabled?"

Rangel: "Yes."

CBS 2 HD: "She's disabled?"

Rangel: "There's no question about it politically. It's a nightmare to think that a person's foreign policy is based on their ability to look at Russia from where they live.

Republicans think Rangel's comments are insulting as well as shocking.

"Charlie Rangel's comments are clearly disgraceful," Rep. Peter King, R-Long Island, said. "This is just another liberal Democrat who can't accept an independent woman running for president."

King, who is co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in New York, watched Rangel's comments with CBS 2 HD. He was particularly upset because Palin's 4-month-old son, Trig, is disabled. He has Down's syndrome.

"We should be sensitive to her or any woman who has a child or family member who has any affliction at all," King said. "And so to use the word disabled in the context of a female candidate for vice president who has a child who is disabled really is wrong. Charlie owes her and the entire disabled community and apology."

Advocates for the disabled are also upset.

"It makes me feel as if he's trying to put her down, trying to say she's not good for the presidency or the vice presidency," said Michael Imperiale of Disabled In Action Of Metropolitan N.Y.

"A disabled president ran this country. He was disabled. His name was Roosevelt."

A spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign also piled on, saying that this kind of rhetoric has no place in politics.

Screw Charlie Rangel!

Samuel C. Arnold

A PERFECT EVENING!

Observation of the Day!

Back in the forties and early fifties when many of us were children, we had a 4/60 air conditioner in the family car. Four open windows and sixty miles an hour. The windows had wings that diverted the breeze into the car. Of course it's different now. We are buttoned up behind closed windows, hermetically sealed away from the world.

Last evening I was driving home. It was a beautiful evening. The autumn sun was starting to ease into my eyes, the temperature was about 79, no wind and very comfortable humidity. It was the perfect storm of a beautiful autumn evening.

I turned off the air, opened the sun roof, and put the window down. I let my hand roll with the wind. I even used my hand as a foil as we all did when we were kids. I was missing a dog with his head out of the window, and I was missing a front porch to sit on watching the summer traffic pass by when I got home. When I was a little kid that porch was often our neighbor's porch. Uncle Jake, Auntie Campbell and Aunt Mary were our neighbors. Of course they weren't actually our uncles and aunts, but that relationship was very real. I spent many wonderful summer evenings, just watching the cars go by. Uncle Jake would spit his tobacco juice over the rail and Aunt Mary would often sing to me. The memory has never left me.

Aunt Mary was about thirty and loved her little Sammy Carl. That is where the Sammy Carl comes from as one of my Blog signatures. Even at seventy, she still called me Sammy Carl. Two days ago Aunt Mary passed away in Indiana. She would have been ninety-four on the September 28. Whenever I went to Indiana for a visit, I would carve out a few hours to visit with her. She still loved me as much now as she did then. I was her favorite. She liked my brothers, but I was her pride and joy and she loved me best. I was glad I had been able to reconnect with her. She had lost her husband in 1990 and often said to me that she didn't know why God didn't take her. She was a Christian lady and she was ready to go. Her mind was still sharp.

I had planned to see her on my trip to Indiana last summer. However, if you remember that was the weekend I didn't make it to Indiana because of the Wisconsin flood. I felt bad about that because she always looked forward for days in anticipation of my visit. Fortunately, I didn't tell her I was coming. She would have been too disappointed.

So in 2008 the 4/60 is gone, the porch is gone and now Aunt Mary is gone. For a few moments I relived a wonderful time of my life, but life moves forward at a blinding clip.

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

LINDSAY HAIL, CD OF THE WEEK!

\


My California friend, Lindsay Hail, just released her first CD Into My Soul. The title reflects her soulful and haunting style. The songs are all written by Lindsay.

My favorites are Still, The True Story, Skyfallen, Into You. I am sure you ill find her style is uniquely hers.

You can listen and buy on Itunes (type name in search) and CD Baby. She also has a page on Myspace.

Give her a listen. You may discover her, as I did.

I took the pictures shown above. I was fortunate to sit in on an over-dubbing session with Lindsay. It was a fun and interesting experience, now that I can hear what I saw actually recorded. Lindsay had a goal to accomplish making the CD. She made it.

Have a nice day!

Sam

SMALL OBSERVATIONS!

Small Observations of the Day!

1. I am a San Diego Charger fan. I hate the Vikings. Yesterday's referee call in the final minutes of the Bronco/ Charger game cost the Chargers a clear victory. Well s**t happens. Bronco's quarterback, Jake Cutler, went back to pass and the ball clearly slipped out of hands before his forward motion to pass. It was a fumble, but the referee blew his whistle a little too quickly. He thought it was an incomplete pass. The Chargers recovered the fumble. They reviewed the play. The referee came back and said it was a fumble, but it was still the Bronco's ball because he blew his whistle a little prematurely and the ball was dead at the whistle.

So he made the right call, but he also made the wrong call at the same time. Chargers lose. Pathetic. Shouldn't common sense come into play?

2. In Minnesota, as in a few other places. the Public Utilities Commission says that because of consumer conservation and the fact that utility company's will lose revenue due to reduced consumption put in place that the companies can bill at a stable higher rate than consumption. This is one of those catch 22s I wrote about earlier. What a great business. Guaranteed revenue.

3. With all the turmoil in the financial market one might wonder why no one seems to be getting fired or going to jail. The problem of course was created by risky loans to people whose emphasis is on getting something bigger and better than they can afford. I have no sympathy to the foreclosees, but of course we will still get the bill.

4. If you are not a Minnesotan, the humor of the following may escape you. Minnesota has a lot of Norwegians. Norwegians are known for their sour, low key, conservative approach to life. A friend's son got married over the weekend to a native Norwegian. She had friends and family from Norway in attendance. The wedding was held on a Lake Minnetonka criuse boat. The food , toasts and booze flowed freely. My friend said, "Boy those Norwegians sure know how to
party." Party and Norwegians in the same sentence. WOW! If that isn't an oxymoron I don't know what is.

5, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin? The Best.

6. Residents of Galveston TX who decided to ignore the evacuation order and stay in the storm say that the government has been too slow in their response. Victimhood in full force. That is what we have become and why democrats appeal to this type.

Have a nice day!

Sam

DISNEY????????????????

Observation of the Day!

Does anybody really care about a celebrities opinion is about politics? Most have a left view and can only be classified as hypocrites when contrasted with how they live their luxurious lives. There are smart celebrities, but there are also really stupid ones as well. Does anyone really care what Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, Alec Baldwin etc. think? There are others on the right who are as bad. I actually, however, try to separate their talent from their political opinion. Alec Baldwin is a great actor and a jerk at the same time. I like his performances on 30 Rock. I won't watch Whoopi, because she is not all that talented or funny. Pam Anderson is as dumb as a rock come, but I like her assets. Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears? Spare me, please.

Matt Damon said of Sarah Palin the other day that the Sarah Palin story was like a bad Disney movie. At first I passed it off as another celeb giving a stupid extreme bias opinion. However, the more I thought about it the more I saw his point.

As a creative non-fiction writer myself I have often find true stories better than many fiction stories.

Think about the plot. Ordinary house wife/working mom, hockey mom, five children, owned a ATV/snowmobile business for a while, an outdoor enthusiast, husband a union pipeline worker and snowmobile champion, decides to take on local politics and politicians, wins mayorship of town and springboards in to the governorship. And the final part is she is chosen as the vice presidential candidate. If this isn’t a Mr. Smith Goes To Washington story, what is? It’s the stuff feel good Disney movies are made of. Matt is right. It is a Disney movie, but I am not sure it is a bad one. .

I admire her most because she stands behind her beliefs and character, just like John McCain has. I know I will get boos for this from some of my readers, but I did see Damon’s point. He may have meant it to be small and derogatory, but it is a Disney movie. So What? It is a good one.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

PS. I loved the new Coen brothers movie, Burn After Reading. Great dialogue, great quirky plot, great characters played by a great cast. If you like the Coens, you will love it.

WHERE WERE YOU?

Never Forget

The date, September 11-9/11, is permanently embedded in the lexicon of American history, along with D-Day the sixth of June and December 7, the Day of Infamy. There are dates that are permanently stamped in our minds and remember where we were when we heard the news. I have a other events that I remember, but the specifics are faded.

There are three specific events that I will always remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. Assassination of JFK, assassination of Bobby Kennedy and September 11.

On November 22, 1963 I was working in a restaurant in West LA. I had just crossed the bar to open the doors for lunch. A cook came out to the dining room from the kitchen and said Kennedy had just been shot. A short time afterward it was announced that he had died. The rest of the day was almost surreal. People came to the restaurant and just sat in hushed conversations.

June 5, 1968 I watched the California primaries. I watched Bobby Kennedy give his victory speech then turned in. A few minutes after I got into bed the phone rang. It was my neighbor telling me that Kennedy had been shot. I turned on the TV and watched the rest of the night.

September 11, 2001. This was the most unforgettable day in my life. As I often, do I turned on the television at 7:50 CDT. Fox had just reported a plane crashing into the Twin Towers. They were still reporting that the thought it was a small plane. The rest of the day was at the TV, as I am sure you did as well. The dramatic pictures told the story. When the Towers collapsed it was horrifying and unbelievable if your were not seeing it as it happened. What a terrible moment in our history.

We must never forget this day in history. and I know those who were alive that day will never forget.

Remember this day!

Samuel

DILEMMA OF CHOICE! (revised)

I'm Thinking; I'm Thinking!

I've been thinking about whether I am pro-life or pro-choice. Frankly, it is a tough question for all of us. Can we be both?

I believe life begins at conception. That microscopic fetus has every potential to come to term and grow old like us. Therefore, if it has potential to be a human being,it is alive and growing. A living potential person's life is being snuffed out with no voice to be heard.

I believe that an abortion is a moral issue between the person and God, and therefore, is not a political issue. I will never red line a candidate because he or she is pro-choice I believe true choice is choosing to have protected or unprotected sex in this modern world, where there is an abundance of readily available alternatives. A choice of unprotected sex with a pregnancy following, and then choosing to have an abortion is the fault of the parents, not the life they conceived . The child is often aborted as an inconvenient truth of irresponsible actions.

If I believe that abortion is between the person and God, then that means that the alternatives to have an abortion or not should in fact be a choice, protected by law. In actuality having an abortion might lead to a lifetime of hurt, which could be viewed as a source of punishment.

There is another choice, adoption. I have a a special feeling about adoption because my father was adopted. I have friends who have adopted from other countries. One is a little girl from Paraquay. One was adopted from an orphanage in Russia. One was adopted from a Chinese orphaage. Think of what these precious ones would be if God's plan did not rescue them to loving parents. Biology is baggage good or bad carried from the birth parents, but the person is developed from nurture by the adoptive parents. I wish there were more babies allowed to be born and adopted.

What am I?

I recently was confronted with this question, when a friend of mine got unexpectedly pregnant. It was truly an accident. She had vomited up her birth control pill. She is married, and has other children. There is no question this unplanned pregnancy created problems for her family. She considered an abortion. She even went to a clinic. They counseled her, and then gave her twenty-four hours to make her decision. I told her to look at her beautiful children. There is room for one more, no matter how untimely the whole thing was. I told her I was personally against an abortion, but I would support her whatever her decision. She decided to go forward with her pregnancy. I look forward to the new baby.

The thing admire about Sarah Palin is not whether she is pro-life or pro-choice, but the fact that when confronted with the alternative she had the strength of her beliefs and chose to have little Trig, Downs Syndrome and all.

I guess I am a pro-choicer, who is for life-always. It is truly a dilemma for us all.

Samuel

THIS JUST IN!

News You Need to Know or Not!

N.Y. woman grows 6-foot zucchini in her backyard

A woman says she grew a 6-foot zucchini behind her Queens, N.Y., home.

"I've had my vegetable garden for 26 years, but I never saw anything so spectacular," Apollonia Castitlione tells the N.Y. Daily News. "I didn't put Miracle Grow on it, nothing, just a little bit of 5-10-5 fertilizer, water and my time."Oh come on now. We know you mixed some ground up Viagra with that fertilizer.

*****

Democrats have suddenly developed a keen sense of morality.

John Edwards has been banned from making a speech at the Democratic Convention for having an affair and lying about it.

In his place Bill Clinton will be speaking. Makes sense to me.

*****

MIAMI -- The Drug Enforcement Administration discovered something unexpected in the Mall of the Americas.

DEA agents found a hydroponics lab with more than 200 marijuana plants, standing 3 to 6 feet tall in the air and worth millions of dollars, in a storage area on the second floor of the mall.

Authorities said the electricity that powered the lab was diverted from the mall's main power supply.

No arrests have been made. Authorities said officials with the Mall of the Americas (not Mall of America in Minnesota) are cooperating with the investigation. Funny! Mall officials thought it was a plant store. Since they get a piece of the action for rent, it was a very profitable use of mall space.

*****

Priest organizes beauty contest for nuns--'Miss Sister 2008'

ROME - An Italian priest and theologian said Sunday he is organizing an online beauty pageant for nuns to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and to fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.

The "Miss Sister 2008" contest will start in September on a blog run by the Rev. Antonio Rungi and will give nuns from around the world a chance to showcase their work and their image.

"Nuns are a bit excluded, they are a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life," Rungi told The Associated Press after Italian media carried reports of the idea. "This will be an occasion to make their contribution more visible."Really??? Too Whom???

Rungi, a theologian and schoolteacher from the Naples area, said that visitors to his site will have a month to "vote for the nun they consider a model."

Nuns will fill out a profile including information about their life and vocation as well as a photograph. It will be up to them to choose whether to pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered. Doesn't matter. They will always look like nuns.

"We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits," Thank You God! "But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn't hide it."You dirty old man.

Rungi said the idea was first suggested to him by nuns with whom he regularly prays and works. He hopes there will be dozens of submissions????? once the Web site is started. Daily prayers and work???? Mmmm!

The contest drew criticism from the association of Catholic teachers. Really???

*****

When organizers for a party to be held during the Republican National Convention decided they wanted to serve quesadillas, they did what many convention-party menu planners are doing these days: They called their lawyer.

The legal advice: Quesadillas would be permissible -- if they were filled only with cheese. So says Ryan Kelly, who works for Take08Events, which is helping to set up the party for what he describes as an "advocacy organization."

So why is cheese OK but chicken or beef problematic? If there was meat on the quesadillas, they might constitute a meal, said Kelly, and under Senate and House ethics rules, members of Congress are forbidden from accepting free meals at many events.

As the Twin Cities gears up for four days of nonstop partying during the Sept. 1-4 convention, lawyers are working overtime to make sure that politicians will be able to sidle up to a multitude of bars without being put behind them.

While the legal complexities of finger food for federal lawmakers have been around for years, new ethics rules for party conventions were passed by the House and Senate in 2007 as part of a much larger ethics reforms package. The convention rules have created a kerfuffle HUH ????? for lobbyists.

Special memos on the conventions have been issued recently by the House and Senate ethics committees.

This is about all the Congressional Ethics Committee did. War, energy, healthcare, social security, immigration were left on the backburner by our wonderful lawmakers, but god help us if we want a quesadilla with meat. GEEZ! What a bunch of crap.

*****

On Friday, DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken demonstrated how true that saying can be, when a roundtable on veterans issues at Brigitte’s Cafe his campaign scheduled drew only one participant. His campaign is gaining momentum.

*****

FORT PIERCE — Two teenage girls told police they were attacked by a group of 30 girls outside a nightclub early today and that three suspects - whom they identified as "The Rock Star Girls" - beat them with high-heel shoes, including a pair of 8-inch stilettos.

They said the three initial attackers took off their high-heeled shoes to hit them in the face, the report states.

One victim said she was struck three times in the head with a brown, 8-inch stiletto. OUCH! The other victim said she was struck two times in the head with a silver, 6-inch heel.OUCH! OUCH! She reported that her attacker said: "I fight to kill," while hitting her with the shoe.

Nothing good happens after midnight. There is a reason they called a thin pointed knife a stiletto, I just didn't know it was named after a woman's shoe.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

WHAT I LEARNED AT THE CONVENTIONS!

Observation of the Day!

I have been in and out of the the conventions. I listened to Guiliani and Palin tonight. I give no opinion on the speeches.

However, I have learned something. What I did watch of the conventions, I watched on C-Span. It was refrshing to get the raw feed with no commentators to pontificate, telling us what we should think about what we have witnessed for ourselves. National network self-important windbags and talking heads are not needed to draw our own view of the world.

God Bless America!

Samuel