What?  Like State government is not government?  It’s no more ridiculous than insisting government stay out of Medicare.  We are merely arguing about a degree of size (State vs Federal - why not county or town?).  So it’s necessary to re-invent the wheel 50 times over (talk about waste!) because a few people are paranoid about government involvement?  If there is any level of government that is out to get you so badly, you’d be much better off leaving the country and perhaps having that paranoia checked out by a foreign doctor while you are at it.

All health care is government backed.  Every Dr practices medicine because they are licensed by the government to do so.  Practicing medicine without a license will get them arrested.  So the only way to keep the government out of your health issues is to never see any licensed doctor for any reason.

You get care in the US if you have the money.  If you don’t have money, you get no care.  The more money you have, the faster and better care you get.  A house 2 doors down from mine is for sale after a foreclosure because my neighbor had to choose between paying the mortgage vs paying for cancer treatments for his wife.  I’m not hearing stories like this from Canada or from the UK.  Some people are fighting tooth and claw to keep our barbaric system in the US just the way it is.  It’s time to change it.

There was a time in my mid 20’s I knew every store in my nearest mall.  I would window shop for hours and know who had better prices for the same items.  It was a phase I went through.  I grew out of it and now I hardly set foot in any mall. 

But my best shopping memories were from growing up and going with my Mom to the Broadway Market in Buffalo NY a few times a year.  It was the kids job to carry the packages and if we were good we might be rewarded with some chrusciki from Kaufman’s bakery.  Redlinski’s had the best kielbasa (we’d get smoked, fresh and their special sage blend they had for Easter) and their long display counter had pretty much all the various cow and pig parts for sale (tongue, brains, tripe and lots of other parts I didn’t know what they were at the time).  You could still get a few pints of ducks blood for making czarnina (duck blood soup).  You can’t get blood from the butcher anymore unless you order a duck specially and have it slaughtered for you.  There was a little stall near Redlinski’s that had the best farmer’s cheese pierogis, fresh butter and eggs.  You could get the little butter lambs there for Easter.  The whole place always smelled so wonderful and the packages always seemed so heavy by the time we were finished shopping. You just can’t get the same shopping experience or memories on the internet.

If we pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan while Obama is in office, people will be grateful and conclude he has successfully cleaned up the mess left for him.  The economy has no where to go but up in the next three years and as it does people will find work again, and voting for Obama will be like voting for prosperity.  If most Americans finally have some kind of health care, that’s a lot of voters who will vote for someone who won’t take it away from them.  You are hoping that saying Obama is a one term president will make it so.  A lot can happen in 3 years and there is no guarentee he will not make a 2nd term.  Anything can happen.  And it won’t happen as you or I think it will.

Capital punishment is not murder.  The Bible firmly supports capital punishment.  The Old Testament law commanded the death penalty for various acts: murder (Exodus 21:12), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), bestiality (Exodus 22:19), adultery (Leviticus 20:10), homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), being a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:5), prostitution and rape (Deuteronomy 22:4), and several other crimes.  “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed" (Genesis 9:6)

I saw Titanic.  It was ok, but I never understood what all the fuss was about.  (I was the same way about E.T.).  By the time they narrowly escaped being caught in the bowels of the ship for the THIRD TIME, I was pretty much feeling "sink the bleeping ship already" and get it over with.  The actual wreck almost sank faster that the whole 3 hr movie.

Weakly disguised, organized pseudo warfare which loosely equates to bread and circuses.  As long as people have their beer and entertainment, it makes sure their passions are engaged in socially acceptable nonsense which makes no real difference in their lives and keeps them from participating in more violent ways of changing society.  If you could get a major sport established in the Middle  East, and get the people out of the mosques/churches/temples/etc and into stadiums, peace might have a chance.

I don’t agree at all.  For me "Stay the course" is finally making sense.  Thanks for the slogan!

My 401k is finally back to where it was before it took a nose dive last year! It bombed while Bush was in office and it recovered when Obama was in office.   So far, so good.

#1 - Dementia - maybe.  Viagra abuse - probably.  Take a look at his medications and talk to his Dr’s who are prescribing them.  Or check his email and see if he’s buying it online.  It might be time to flush his little blue pills.  Would Edie be horrified at his suggestion?  Maybe she needs to tell him off, too.  It sounds like he’s developed some kind of a sex addiction.  At what point does he start going to prostitutes and bring home various diseases to share with you?

Kermit, Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar, The Count - all great friends of mine!  Sesame Street was something we watched even when we were too old for it, but no one cared - it was still so entertaining.  I’m also a big fan of The Muppet Show, and I buy the seasons as they are released on DVD.  Thanks to the DVDs, my son is as in love with Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Rolph, Bunsen Honeydo, Beeker, Kermit and all the muppets and monsters as much as I am.  We’ll never forget ‘Pigs In Space’! and the Argyle Gargoyle who gargles Gershwin.

Yes.  Early 60’s.  I was about 5 yrs old.  We had a little metal box that sat on the front door step.  Milk, eggs and butter would be delivered.  You rinsed out the used bottles and left them in the box to be picked up at the next delivery time.  If you needed something extra or different from your usual order, you left a note sticking up out of an empty bottle.  My Mom’s cousins house had been built in the 1930’s and they had a little space in the wall by their side door.  It had a door on the outside so the milkman could leave deliveries, and a door on the inside so you could take the milk inside without going outside.  Some sort of box or cubby hole was usually used as it kept neighborhood cats from peeling off the bottle seals so they could lap up the cream.

What, like the first time was an innoculation and now we don’t catch the grief so easily?  I don’t think immune is the right word.  If you jab at a nerve long enough it goes numb.  Numb is a better word.  The first time you hear of an attack like that you listen in horror to all the detail and wonder what they must be thinking.  After the 10th or 20th or 100th attack you think "oh, there they go again" and wonder where they keep coming from to keep killing themselves.  After awhile you wonder if they all want death so much maybe dropping a huge bomb on them will finally give them what they want.  It’s like some kind of huge contagious group mental illness for which there is no cure.  Shooting a rabid dog is the only way to keep rabies from spreading.

I thought it was kind of pretty.  I love that shade of blue.