Is he clairvoyant? Or Something Else?

This video is amazing with its caution. Take a look. Then be careful -- and tell your kids to be careful too.

They Must Think the Average IQ is About 3

I participated in what I think was a push poll last week, and it was fun but ultimately pointless. A push poll phrases questions in such a fashion that they are meant to skew opinion. For example, the chestnut goes, "When did Tom stop beating his wife?" Just asking this question would lead to doubts about Tom's character.

So, the pollster told me they were interested in developing new state health laws, asked if I would take a poll, and then asked me if I thought women should be guaranteed the *same* coverage as men for insurance. I asked if women now had less coverage than men, or if there was a problem with this. Guy said he didn't know, so I declined to answer. Then he asked me if I thought more clinics should be available in neighborhoods to deliver safer health care. I mentioned that I thought this was a leading question; he protested. I asked what services would be covered in the clinic? He said there was no more info. I then said Planned Parenthood called itself a full service health clinic, but if a woman needed a mammogram she was turfed out; PP only did abortions. So the definition is important.

He didn't know what a *clinic* was, so I declined to answer. It went on like this for a few more questions, with lots of code words and skewed phrasing that would support legal coercion for certain products and services. I'm just waiting for the poll results to be released in a few weeks, saying that so-and-so high percentage of people are SCREAMING for better health care for women, especially for reproductive rights. I'm not getting a certain party's emphasis on reproductive rights anyway. Cannot any woman go to multiple doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals, or wherever, and receive a prescription for birth control pills? Cannot any woman simply walk into any corner drugstore to purchase condoms? Are these items not perfectly legal, safe, effective,widely available, and cheap? Did I miss the embargo? Oh wait, I forgot, we want OTHER people to pay for what WE want, even if the "other people" don't particularly care to support what you want. Whatever happened to freedom of religion, and freedom of conscience?

The bottom line is that I don't believe the government should regulate private industry, and especially health care. Call me old-fashioned, but it seems that whenever the government gets involved in things beyond building roads (if you can overlook those "shovel-ready jobs") or dealing with infrastructural governance, it gets into trouble.

The pollster and I had a pleasant conversation, but I don't think I made him too happy.

I just CANNOT WAIT to vote on November 6th. I cannot wait. I am counting the hours.

*

Quick note: on a somewhat related note, take a look at this email (above) that I got last week. I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm an idiot.

Fun Pix

These are fun, and kind of amazing! (I'm wondering if any were photo-shopped?) Which one is your favorite?

Epitaphs

Perhaps a bit morbid, but I had to smile to read some of these epitaphs. Hope they're worth a smile for you too!

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Harry Edsel Smith of Albany , New York :

Born 1903--Died 1942.
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.

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In a Thurmont, Maryland , cemetery:

Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.

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On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:

Here lies Ezekial Aikle , Age 102. Only The Good Die Young.

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In a London , England cemetery:

Here lies Ann Mann , Who lived an old maid but died an old Mann
Dec. 8, 1767
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In a Ribbesford, England , cemetery:

Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread, And the Lord sent them manna.
Clark Wallace wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna

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In a Ruidoso, New Mexico , cemetery:

Here lies Johnny Yeast ... Pardon me for not rising.

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In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania , cemetery:

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake .
Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.

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In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:

Here lays The Kid.
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.

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A lawyer's epitaph in England :

Sir John Strange.
Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange.

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John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery:

Reader, if cash thou art in want of any,
Dig 6 feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny

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In a cemetery in Hartscombe , England :

On the 22nd of June, Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune

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Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls , Vermont :

Here lies the body of our Anna ,
Done to death by a banana.
It wasn't the fruit that laid her low,
But the skin of the thing that made her go.

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On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket , Massachusetts :

Under the sod and under the trees,
Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.
He is not here, there's only the pod.
Pease shelled out and went to God.

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In a cemetery in England :

Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so shall you be.
Remember this and follow me.

*

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I'll not consent.
Until I know which way you went.

Congressman Saves 2 Year Old While His Opponent Engages in Voter Fraud

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-harris-helps-boy-20120904,0,725543.storyhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-harris-helps-boy-20120904,0,725543.story

On August 26th 2012 a couple with two little boys was driving on Route 50 in Maryland when the mother looked back and saw her two year old turning blue. The father, a volunteer fireman, immediately stopped the car and pulled his two year old out. He searched the boy's airway but didn't find anything.  Meanwhile, the boy remained not breathing. The father said, "It felt like he was already dead in my arms."

Enter ANDY HARRIS, an anesthesiologist and the Republican Congressional Representative from the 1st District of Maryland. Driving home with his family, Andy went past three stopped cars on the other side of the road, then noticed the child on a blanket behind one of the cars. He turned the car and stopped, ran over, and intervened to open the boy's airway and get him breathing again. It was after all this that the ambulance arrived.

Apparently a viral infection caused the boy to seize and stop breathing. The boy is perfectly normal now, since he was not deprived of oxygen long enough to cause permanent damage.

Wow, airway management is such a routine part of the job for anesthesiologists and other medical personnel, but what an amazing miracle it delivers. After hearing that story I went home and hugged my kids.

*

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-wendy-rosen-withdraws-20120910,0,3764352.story

Contrast that story with that of Wendy Rosen, Andy's challenger for the First Congressional District in this year's election.

On September 10 2012 Rosen (a Democratic small business owner) withdrew from the November Congressional race for MD 1st District, citing personal reasons.

"Personal Reasons" may not be quite right, though. It turns out Rosen is double-registered to vote in Florida and Maryland, and in fact according to states' records did vote in both states for 2006 midterm elections, and in the 2008 presidential primary.

Why did she register to vote in Florida in the first place? Several years ago a "very close friend" was running for the St. Petersburg City Council, and she wanted to support her. Since Rosen owned property in Florida, she was able to register there even though she was a Maryland resident.

When asked if she had voted in both states in the same elections, Rosen said she did not remember how she voted, then wouldn't answer further questions "due to possible litigation."

*

Andy Harris: Child Savior
Wendy Rosen: Perpetrator of Voter Fraud

Is this a no-brainer, or what?


NOTE: actually I recognize that Andy's skills as a doctor don't necessarily mean he's a good representative, but I happen to agree with his policies and have supported him since he first entered political life.

This situation is a no-brainer because ANYONE who is willing to double-vote cannot be trusted. She cheats, and yet she's running for Congress? I don't think so.

September 11th

Let us never forget.

Kitchen of the Future

This first video is from the film 1967, a short sponsored by the Philco-Ford Corporation. I sure wish cooking for a busy family were this easy! The clip describing an internet-type shopping experience  from the same film seems closer to what actually happened.

And along these lines, here's a current video suggesting a possible kitchn-derived use for a powermat delivering electricityhttp://www.duracellpowermat.us/en-US/ directly to appliances. Again, fun stuff.

Star Spangled Banner

 Today, September 3rd, is the 198th anniversary of journey's start for Francis Scott Key to negotiate with the British for exchange of prisoners. The War of 1812 was ongoing, and Key and another gentleman set sail from Baltimore, under a flag of negotiation and by the direction of President James Madison. Key and his compatriot reached the British flagship and spoke with British officers while the officers also discussed detailed plans for a siege on Baltimore.

Since they overheard these plans, they were held captive until after the battle. During the night the battle raged, and Key could not tell who had dominance over the harbor and city until the "dawn's early light" when he saw the giant 15-starred, 15-striped flag flying over the fortress. Key wrote a poem describing his reflections on the back of an envelope. His poem was quickly set to the tune of a popular contemporary song. After performances for more than a century, Herbert Hoover in 1931 finally adopted "The Star Spangled Banner" as our nation's national anthem.

As a Baltimorean myself, I have been to this fortress several times. Go if you can. It is inspiring. This video is perhaps the best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner I have ever heard. Take a listen. You will be amazed and inspired.

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!