Tom Faranda's Folly

Neat article - "Why are Catholic Schools so Good at Sports?"

It is certainly true in the NY area.

published in OSV, a Catholic publication.

Tradition, dedicated coaches and stable environments — not an uneven playing field — propel Catholic high schools’ teams, experts say

The national rankings of the country’s top high school athletic teams possess a distinct Catholicity.

Mater Dei. De La Salle. St. Anthony. St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Pius X.

These aren’t the names of parish churches. Catholic high schools are heavily represented on ESPN’s national Top 25 lists in several sports, especially football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

There are competing theories to explain Catholic schools’ athletic successes and the perception that they disproportionately outperform their public school counterparts on the playing fields.

Go Stepinac!

The President now has negative approval ratings in NY State

The latest news: a Quinnipiac University poll showing that 49 percent of New York State voters disapprove of his job performance, compared to 45 percent who approve.

FOX asks Bachmann: Would you be submissive to your husband if you became president?

In the Republican debate last night.

Stupid question, given an elegant answer.

 

Batting practice: looks very cool but must be a trick

Must be some photo-shop type thing ...

 

New! London 2012 Olympic Logo

 Sent to me by Brigid's neice June, in Australia, with the comment "Doesn't take long."

 

Friday AM humor: Why some men have dogs and not wives

From humor consultant Ellen -

 

Dogs vs. wives

Why Some Men Have Dogs And Not Wives:

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4. A dog's parents never visit.
5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day.
7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.
8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, "If I died, would you get another dog?"
10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.
11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert.
12. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think it's interesting.
13. If a dog leaves, it won't take half of your stuff.

 

To test this theory:

Lock your wife and your dog in the garage for an hour. Then open it and see who's happy to see you.

Great feature on the now-recovered Civil War ironclad, the Monitor.

Of Monitor vs. Merrimac fame - the first battle in history between to iron warships.

The Monitor was raised in the 1990's from where it sank off Cape Hatteras months after it's famous battle.

Here's what they're doing now to restore it, as well as a history of the ship and it's genius inventor, John Ericcson. 

“What makes the Monitor so remarkable is that she’s almost a stealth vessel because all the systems except the ordnance are below the waterline,” said Anna Holloway, the curator at the Monitor Center. “Keeping the engine safe from attack was a big breakthrough. Not only did Ericsson create this radically new type of vessel, but his designs were so nearly flawless that foundries and contractors from around the Northeast could fabricate the parts, and they all fit together when the ship was assembled in Greenpoint. It boggles the mind.”

Sue Konig's wicked expose' of Westchester County politician percs

My friend Sue is running for the County Legislature.

Government perks like meals aren’t unheard of in other counties but no one rivals the spending in Westchester. Rockland spent $107 on meals last year. Putnam spent zero. Westchester legislators spent $12, 636.

The county legislature ran up $40,000 in perks last year. Over half was for travel. Travel? Where to?

If I am elected to represent Cortlandt, Croton, Ossining, parts of Briarcliff and Peekskill, I plan to travel between Cortlandt, Croton, Ossining, parts of Briarcliff and Peekskill and the county offices in White Plains. And I will pay for my own gas.  Just like you do, just like I do now.

County Legislators make about 50K (before expenses!) for a part-time job.

My friend Judy gives a early morning radio interview

This morning.

You can go here and have a listen.

 Judith Anderson interviewed on WVOX about tomorrow's Women's Equality Day (Reformed)

 

Rugby: Tri-Nations, New Zealand vs. Australia

Played in New Zealand. Previously NZ and Australia both crushed South Africa; matches weren't worth posting.

 

Philadelphia Mayor speaks out: "Pull your pants up and buy a belt ... they won't hire you because you look like you're crazy ..."

This has been widely publicized. Calls out parents while speaking at his own Church.

Great -

Al Sharpton teleprompter issues ...

The Reverend Sharpton, new intellectual powerhouse of MSNBC -

 

This op ed on the economy being widely commented on

Of course, this is the answer. But for many members of the political class, it's not in their interest to promote these long term solutions.

So, what should be the economic grand strategy? In a word: growth.  

The grand strategy is sector-neutral. It doesn't have favored industries or political parties. It does not seek to curry favor with special interests. The grand strategy fights statism everywhere.

The grand strategy goes out of its way to ensure that big companies are not advantaged at the expense of smaller, entrepreneurial competitors. If banks are "too big to fail," they are too big. They must be allowed to succeed or fail on their own merit, without any hint of government support. The failed behemoths at the core of housing finance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, should be wound down. Robust, dynamic competition is a far better way to allocate credit.

******

An effective growth strategy confronts tough challenges before they become intractable. The strategy is a threat to those who take refuge in our burdensome tax code, and it is a great source of encouragement to those who seek higher rates of return on physical and human capital. Hence, fundamental tax reform—dramatically lowering tax rates for individuals and companies while eliminating loopholes, deductions and credits—is critical to economic growth.

******

The growth strategy also demands an abiding respect for the rule of law, and stable, cost-effective rules of the road from regulators. A constantly changing regulatory regime kills investment and limits economic growth. The strategy also demands investing in our own natural resources, such as shale gas and the commensurate infrastructure to re-industrialize our country, creating jobs here in the U.S. rather than shipping hundreds of billions of dollars abroad.

Hit the link for the whole article. It's the answer, but until there's blood in the streets, it won't begin to be implemented.

4 laughing babies: Laugh and the whole world laughs with you

HA! From Judy -

 

A persuasive case made about the President's non-smarts

by Bret Stephens a WSJ column. It's great; funny and devastating. Hit the link for the whole thing.

Of course, it's tempting to be immodest when your admirers are so immodest about you. How many times have we heard it said that Mr. Obama is the smartest president ever? Even when he's criticized, his failures are usually chalked up to his supposed brilliance. Liberals say he's too cerebral for the Beltway rough-and-tumble; conservatives often seem to think his blunders, foreign and domestic, are all part of a cunning scheme to turn the U.S. into a combination of Finland, Cuba and Saudi Arabia.

I don't buy it. I just think the president isn't very bright.

Then there's his habit of never trimming his sails, much less tacking to the prevailing wind. When Bill Clinton got hammered on health care, he reverted to centrist course and passed welfare reform. When it looked like the Iraq war was going to be lost, George Bush fired Don Rumsfeld and ordered the surge.

Mr. Obama, by contrast, appears to consider himself immune from error. Perhaps this explains why he has now doubled down on Heckuva Job Geithner. It also explains his insulting and politically inept habit of suggesting—whether the issue is health care, or Arab-Israeli peace, or change we can believe in at some point in God's good time—that the fault always lies in the failure of his audiences to listen attentively. It doesn't. In politics, a failure of communication is always the fault of the communicator.

Much of the media has spent the past decade obsessing about the malapropisms of George W. Bush, the ignorance of Sarah Palin, and perhaps soon the stupidity of Rick Perry. Nothing is so typical of middling minds than to harp on the intellectual deficiencies of the slightly less smart and considerably more successful.

Diana Nyad ends her Cuba to Florida swim after 30 hours

I'd posted about this effort  61 year old endurance swimmer Diana Nyad aiming to swim from Florida to Cuba .

Shoulder injury and asthma ...

"I'm deeply disappointed"

 

The S & P downgrades U.S. bonds, but yesterday they rose in value

I gave my opinion here a couple of days ago  S & P downgrade of USA debt from AAA to AA+ just not that big a deal and stand by it.

U.S.A. treasury bonds ROSE in price yesterday (along with gold) because people are looking for a safe haven from falling stock prices. The stock crash was not primarily because of the downgrade - rather it's the dawning understanding that the economy is going to be weak for the foreseeable future, even if we don't have, technically, a recession.

And then there's the lack of leadership from the President ... that midday speech was awful. You can see the four minute speech here -Obama Addresses S&P Downgrade

Gold is rising because the only way out of the fiscal mess is the slow-motion default of inflation.

Something to put things in perspective

Sent to me by Ed Mechmann, in the Family Life office of the NY Archdiocese.

"This Was Grace" 

This was grace - short film from Andrew Laparra on Vimeo.

Family and friends remember the fallen troops

Family, friends remember fallen soldiers as heroes

And more -

Photos of the Fallen: Americans shot down in Afghanistan

Michele Bachmann makes the Newsweek cover - and it's predictable

  

Mark Hatfield

Ahhh, the former Republican Senator from Oregon. One of my all-time favorite politicians. He was 89.

As a young Navy officer during World War II, Mr. Hatfield saw the devastation wrought by atomic warfare in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. That experience, coupled with his Baptist faith, were defining forces in shaping Mr. Hatfield’s political views during nearly half a century in elected office.

He became an opponent of abortion, the death penalty and war — a “consistently pro-life” politician, said Oregon political scientist Bill Lunch, “who took the religious injunction not to do harm to others seriously.”

He became an opponent of abortion, the death penalty and war — a “consistently pro-life” politician, said Oregon political scientist Bill Lunch, “who took the religious injunction not to do harm to others seriously.”

Noonan: "The Power of Bad Ideas"

Another fine Peggy Noonan essay. from the weekend.

What we've got here is far worse than a failure to communicate.

But the president is supposed to be great at speeches. Why isn't it working anymore? One answer is that it never "worked." The power of the president's oratory was always exaggerated. It is true that a good speech put him on the map in 2004 and made his rise possible, and true he gave some good speeches in 2008. But people didn't really vote for him because he said things like: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." They voted for him in spite of that. They voted for him for other reasons.

The president has been obsessing on Ronald Reagan the past few months, referring to him in private and attempting to use him to buttress his position in public. They say Republicans can't get over Reagan, but really it's Democrats who aren't over him, and who draw the wrong lessons from his success. Reagan himself never bragged about his ability to convince the American people. He'd never point a finger and say: "I'll go to the people and grind you to dust." He thought speaking was a big part of leadership, but only part, and in his farewell address he went out of his way to say he never thought of himself as a great communicator. He thought he simply communicated great things—essentially, the vision of the Founders as applied to current circumstances.

Democrats were sure Reagan was wrong, so they explained his success to themselves by believing that it all came down to some kind of magical formula involving his inexplicably powerful speeches. They misdefined his powers and saddled themselves with an unrealistic faith in the power of speaking.

But speeches aren't magic. A speech is only as good as the ideas it advances. Reagan had good ideas. Obama does not.

Dowd and Friedman Sunday NYT op eds

Dowd is not bad, semi-amusing -

The Downgrade Blues

While Friedman is banal, but the excerpt below the link is interesting -

Win Together or Lose Together

“In a conventional recession,” Rogoff noted, “the resumption of growth implies a reasonably brisk return to normalcy. The economy not only regains its lost ground, but, within a year, it typically catches up to its rising long-run trend. The aftermath of a typical deep financial crisis is something completely different. ... It typically takes an economy more than four years just to reach the same per capita income level that it had attained at its pre-crisis peak. ... Many commentators have argued that fiscal stimulus has largely failed not because it was misguided, but because it was not large enough to fight a ‘Great Recession.’ But, in a ‘Great Contraction,’ problem No. 1 is too much debt.” Until we find ways to restructure and forgive some of these debts from consumers, firms, banks and governments, spending to drive growth is not going to come back at the scale we need.

We don't need fiscal stimulus? Of course he's right - how did this get past the NY Times censors?

Having done a disasterous job, Geithner informs the President that he will stay on as Treasury Secretary

Figures. With his lousy performance he could only get a private sector job as a lobbyist.

Timothy Geithner Informs Obama He Will Stay As Treasury Secretary

Here he is in April - just a few months ago - on the chance of a credit downgrade.

 

The SEAL loss on Friday

SEAL team six lost 7% of it's members in the helicopter crash.

ABC -

Seal Team Six Mourn Loss of Service Members

A first! NY Times op ed writer apologizes for his inflammatory, ill-considered attack

Joe Nocera, for calling the Tea Party Republicans terrorists. He's only been writing for the Times four months, so he evidently hasn't been corrupted yet by other Times op ed elitists like Dowd, Krugman, Friedman, etc.

The Tea Party, Take Two 

That anger reached its apex on Tuesday, when I wrote a column comparing the Tea Party Republicans to terrorists. The words I chose were intemperate and offensive to many, and I’ve been roundly criticized. I was a hypocrite, the critics said, for using such language when on other occasions I’ve called for a more civil politics. In the cool light of day, I agree with them. I apologize.

Good for you Joe! I'll put you on the NYT op ed good guy list, along with Kristof and Douthat.

Today was the 66th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima

Last year I wrote, "Sorry you can never justify incinerating 140,000 civilians."

The commonly given reason to justify the bombing was that it ended the war and ultimately saved many other Japanese and American lives.

Well, we don't know that do we?

Here's what I posted on four years ago - sorry for the slightly self-righteous tone

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima 

There is no way to morally justify a deliberate attack on non-combatants. The argument that it was done to shorten the war and save lives is specious. First, who knows if it shortened the war? But more importantly, if you can justify a mass attack on civilians, then anything can be justified, including terror attacks. We never have the right to target innocent people, and that's just what we did.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary, I was arrested along with two dozen other people in Manhattan for protesting the bombing. Probably about 125 people took part in the protest, including Fr. Dan Berrigan who was also arrested. It doesn't require someone being a pacifist to recognize the gross immorality of using weapons of mass destruction.

The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that with the exception of slavery, the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the worse acts in U.S. history.

Here's an excerpt from a good editorial of a couple of years ago in the National Catholic Register, with a famous quote by Sheen -

ZNet |Japan | Was Hiroshima and Nagasaki a Sin?

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in his series of talks titled "What Now America?" said that, by our tacit refusal to recognize the evil of the atomic bomb, Americans became susceptible to a new notion of freedom -- one divorced from morality.

"When, I wonder, did we in America ever get into this idea that freedom means having no boundaries and no limits?" he asked. "I think it began on the 6th of August 1945 at 8:15 am when we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. ... Somehow or other, from that day on in our American life, we say we want no limits and no boundaries."

Shortly before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said much the same thing.

"There no longer exists a knowing how to do separated from a being able to do, because it would be against freedom, which is the absolute supreme value," he said in his talks about the crisis facing Europe.

He put this misunderstanding of freedom at the heart of the use of the atomic bomb, and of many contemporary problems.

"Man knows how to clone men, and so he does it," he said. "Man knows how to use men as a store of organs for other men, and so he does it; he does it because this seems to be a requirement of his freedom. Man knows how to build atomic bombs and so he makes them, being, as a matter of principle, also disposed to use them. In the end, terrorism is also based on this modality of man's self-authorization, and not on the teachings of the Koran."

Why did I take part in a "useless" protest on August 6th, 2005? After all, a small group getting four paragraphs of coverage buried deep in the NY newspapers - not very influential right?

Probably true. My main reason for taking part in that sort of demonstration - and in other similar demonstrations I've participated in - has been to remind myself that things are not the way they ought to be in our world. It's part of a process of self-criticism, conversion, and my own renewal. It's not enough to say, "it's wrong" and then go about my business. That's how evil spreads! At least by doing something, I remind myself that I have to be on guard against quiet compliance with other evils going on right now, in our day, our society, our world.

S & P downgrade of USA debt from AAA to AA+ just not that big a deal

A blow to national pride, probably hurts the current administration politically, but doesn't mean much more then that in the real world.

Other countries, pension plans, individuals, mutual funds, etc are not going to dump USA bonds - are they going to buy Denmark bonds instead? It will be fun to watch various pundits and some politicians try to blame it on the Tea Party. (UPDATE: It didn't take long S&P Goes Tea Party.)

There will be a kind of cascade effect, pushing up the cost of borrowing in the US by a quarter point, or a little bit more.

Economically, this is not a game-changer.

Lowering the nation’s rating to one notch below AAA, the credit rating company said “political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.” It said the bipartisan agreement reached this week to find at least $2.1 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future. 

“It’s always possible the rating will come back, but we don’t think it’s coming back anytime soon,” said David Beers, head of S&P’s sovereign debt rating unit.

The decision came after a day of furious back-and-forth debate between the Obama administration and S&P. Government officials fought back hard, arguing that S&P’s analysis of the potential for political agreement was flawed and that its initial report, which was flagged by the Treasury earlier in the day, contained mathematical errors. The company had overstated the U.S. deficit over 10 years by $2 trillion.

“A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself,” a Treasury spokesman said Friday.

Remember, S & P and the other ratings agencies missed the boat on all those real estate mortgages just a few years ago.

Friday evening and Ginger the golden retriever has Chinese take-out

See here also - Ginger the golden retriever having a casual morning breakfast

 

NY Times editorial: "End the Debt Limit"

Proving, once again, that the Times editorial page is run by the ghost of Rod Serling.

The 14th Amendment, adopted during Reconstruction, says the validity of the public debt of the United States cannot be questioned. Threatening the economy with calamity to achieve partisan goals does just that. President Obama should use every power at his disposal to fend off Republicans’ irresponsible threats and invite them to meet him in court if they want to resist.

WSJ: "The Keynesians have fired all their ammo and here we are"

In an editorial this morning titled "The Global Rout", the Wall Street Journal confirms exactly my own musings The Market Collapse of last night.

If we had to single out one story in yesterday's events as suggestive of the depth of the desperation it was Bank of New York Mellon's announcement that it would start charging very large corporate and institutional depositors for the privilege of simply holding their cash. When even corporate treasurers are taking their money out of short-term securities and parking it in no-interest cash, you know the big boys are discovering the same anxieties Mom and Pop have known for a year as they ran out of safe havens for their assets.

Got that? The banks are charging their big customers to hold their cash while paying them no interest.

... the underlying problem remains unchanged: The economies of Europe and the United States have arrived at the moment when they no longer have any conceivable hope of being able to pay for the huge public commitments they've amassed the past 40 years.

******

Here in the U.S. we have just gone through three weeks of arduous negotiations between the President and Congressional leadership over spending, taxes and a U.S. debt ceiling above $14 trillion. The deal they struck hardly qualifies as comprehensive reform. President Obama's primary contribution, after he joined the talks, was to insist that the deal include tax increases, of all things, amid high unemployment and weak growth. A relatively more sensible deal with spending cuts alone was achieved only after House Speaker John Boehner announced he could no longer do business with the White House. Congressional Democrats and Republicans then cut a compromise.

In the wake of the debt deal, liberal economists are now complaining that the downward pressure on spending violates the Keynesian commandment to flood a faltering economy with government outlays.

We've done that. From the first months of the Obama Presidency, billions of stimulus have been injected into the economy, budgeted federal spending has grown toward 25% of GDP and the Federal Reserve has poured oceans of cash into the markets.

The Keynesians have fired all their ammo, and here we are, going south. Maybe now President Obama should consider everything he's done to revive the American economy—and do the opposite.

The market collapse

Seems to have been due (1) to the problems Italy is having (how do you bail out the world's 8th largest economy?) & (2) the economic malaise more and more possible double dip recession in the U.S.

So what can be done about it?

I generally think Henry Blodget is a dope not so clever (hit his link for part of why), but I believe he pretty accurately sums it up here -

Here's The Problem With This Market Crash...

... the government's ability to do anything about this market crash is severely limited.

Yes, we'll almost certainly have a "QE3." And maybe that will prop things up a bit. But it won't fix the fundamental problems clogging the economy, just as QE1 and QE2 didn't permanently fix anything. (The only thing that will fix our economy is debt-reduction, discipline, and time.)

The problem HAS been, the government has tried to do too much - and now - out of bullets.

It's raining in Yorkshire; & the unique Yorkie accent

Picked up on this vid from the Telegraph UK. Very short, but wanted to show how a Yorkshireman sounds - Brigid is from York, but has a "BBC" accent.

 

Russia issuing stamp honoring our President on his 50th birthday

Rush Limbaugh just said "We already issue stamps commemorating our President. They're called food stamps."

Recent Read: Third Degree

"Recent" unfortunately being several months ago. As much as I like to do book reviews, I have really fallen off on doing them; just too busy.

 

This is the fifth installment of my friend Maggie Barbieri's murder mystery/romance/comedy series 
about the adventures of college English Professor Alison Bergeron. Here's the review of the first in the series Latest Read: "Murder 101" .

I think the first work in any series is very often the most interesting one, but I'd say that Third Degree, the latest in the series is the best after the initial book.

Alison Bergeron continues as a kind of Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Zena the Warrior Princess, all rolled into one person.  Very amusing. And she still has her romance going with Detective Bobby Crawford. There's a few new people introduced into the series with, perhaps, roles in future books.  

The story starts with Alison stopping into her local coffee shop - she lives in the real-life Hudson River town of Dobbs Ferry - and a fist fight breaks out. The result: a local dies.

And the story goes on from there - lots of unexpected twists and turns with a clever ending.

I am looking forward to #6 in the Alison Bergeron series, coming out this November! 

If you believe in technical analysis, then the stock market is likely in for a rough ride

I am agnostic on the value of "technical analysis", the study of market patterns by charting past prices in order to predict future market prices. Some people swear by technical analysis (especially in the area of commodities) and others completely dismiss it as fantasy.  

Well, the S & P 500 is showing a classic "head and shoulders" pattern, and if you believe in such things, it's bad news for stock prices.

This is off CNBC:

Wonkiness Alert! 

"If it's a valid head and shoulders then you begin a countdown to where it occurred. I think it counts down to 1120," Cashin said. The market feels oversold and ready for a bounce, but the fact that the S&P is now negative for the year could weigh on sentiment, he added.

And here's another view of the same thing, from Business Insider

CHART OF THE DAY: Here's The Broken Neck Bone That Everyone Is Talking About

 

Senator Coburn (R-OK) on why he voted against the debt deal

Well, I would have voted for it.

In the Washington Post today, Coburn gives the rationale for voting against it -

I voted against this agreement because it does nothing to address the real drivers of our debt. It eliminates no program, consolidates no duplicative programs, cuts no tax earmarks and reforms no entitlement program. The specter of default or a credit downgrade will still hang over our economy after this deal becomes law.

The whole op ed is excellent; here's how it ends -

I understand that Congress is not ready to accept $9 trillion in deficit reduction even though changes of that magnitude are necessary to heal our economy. Congressional leaders are probably correct that this is the best deal they could have gotten. The only recourse the people have, then, is to elect lawmakers who will produce better results.

I was among the first members of Congress to call for using the debt-limit debate as leverage to force spending cuts. I’m glad I did. Even though the cuts didn’t materialize, the debate informed the American people of the scope and magnitude of the problem.

The real debt crisis is not a debate that has been imposed on Washington by Tea Party activists. It is a crisis Washington has imposed on the American people through laziness, incompetence, dishonesty and political expediency. Politicians can talk all they want about how they did something to address the problem. But when the flaws of this plan become apparent, another change election will be coming.

Woman speed hiker sets new record for Appalachian Trail hike-through

Jennifer Pharr Davis, 27 year old woman, averaged 47 miles a day. Unlike 90% of through-hikers, she started in Maine and finished in Georgia.

A 27-year-old woman set a new all-time speed record on the Appalachian Trail on Sunday, covering 2,180 miles in 46 days 11 hours and 20 minutes. Jennifer Pharr Davis, from North Carolina, beat Andrew Thompson's 2005 record of 47 days 13 hours 31 minutes by more than a day. Davis, no Appalachian Trail novice, had set the women's speed record of 57 days, 8 hours, 13 minutes in 2008.

This was a supported hike, which means she had a team giving her some help - supplies, etc. If you are interested in the equipment she used - and her picture - go here -

the gear Davis used to make her long days and short nights doable.

 

A couple go for counseling after 35 years of marriage

From humor consultant Ellen, who lately is on a roll - oldie gut goodie

After 35 years of marriage, a husband and wife came in for counseling.

When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionate,
painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married.
On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and
unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up,
walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, embraced and kissed
her passionately as her husband watched with a raised eyebrow.

The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze.

The therapist turned to the husband and said..

'This is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?'

'Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays. . . but on Fridays, I golf ! '

 

More information on the last moments of bin Laden

CNN reporting - they don't allow embedding of their videos.

Fascinating about what the first SEAL into bin Laden's room did ...

The last seconds of bin Laden

 

Cable news race

Is that Al Sharpton on the list? 

MON., AUG 1

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,178,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,196,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,127,000
FOXNEWS SMITH 2,085,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,817,000
MNSBC O'DONNELL 1,138,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 1,026,000
CNN MORGAN 859,000
CNN COOPER 851,000
MSNBC MADDOW 832,000
MSNBC SHARPTON 699,000
CNNHN GRACE 663,000

Now that I've graduated from my 50's, here's an important "Senior Discount" list

Sent to me by a friend of mine - it had been emailed to him  -

FYI. Passed on to me by a friend but not verified.  Some may be Florida only.  Hope it is reasonably accurate.

Restaurants:
Applebee's: 15% off with Golden Apple Card (60+)
Arby's: 10% off (55+)
Ben & Jerry's: 10% off (60+)
Bennigan's: discount varies by location
Bob's Big Boy: discount varies by location (60+)
Boston Market: 10% off (65+)
Burger King: 10% off (60+)
Captain D's Seafood: discount varies on location (62+)
Chick-Fil-A: 10% off or free small drink or coffee (55+)
Chili's: 10% off (55+)
CiCi's Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Culver's: 10% off (60+)
Denny's: 10% off, 20% off for AARP members (55+)
Dunkin' Donuts: 10% off or free coffee (55+)
Einstein's Bagels: 10% off baker's dozen of bagels (60+)
Fuddrucker's: 10% off any senior platter (55+)
Gatti's Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Golden Corral: 10% off (60+)
Hardee's: $0.33 beverages everyday (65+)
IHOP: 10% off (55+)
Jack in the Box: up to 20% off (55+)
KFC: free small drink with any meal (55+)
Krispy Kreme: 10% off (50+)
Long John Silver's: various discounts at participating locations (55+)
McDonald's: discounts on coffee everyday (55+)
Mrs. Fields: 10% off at participating locations (60+)
Shoney's: 10% off
Sonic: 10% off or free beverage (60+)
Steak 'n Shake: 10% off every Monday & Tuesday (50+)
Subway: 10% off (60+)
Sweet Tomatoes 10% off (62+)
Taco Bell: 5% off; free beverages for seniors (65+)
TCBY: 10% off (55+)
Tea Room Cafe: 10% off (50+)
Village Inn: 10% off (60+)
Waffle House: 10% off every Monday (60+)
Wendy's: 10% off (55+)
White Castle: 10% off (62+)

Retail and Apparel:
Banana Republic: 10% off (50+)
Bealls: 20% off first Tuesday of each month (50+)
Belk's: 15% off first Tuesday of every month (55+)
Big Lots: 10% off
Bon-Ton Department Stores: 15% off on senior discount days (55+)
C.J. Banks: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
Clarks: 10% off (62+)
Dress Barn: 10% off (55+)
Goodwill: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Hallmark: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kmart: 20% off (50+)
Kohl's: 15% off (60+)
Modell's Sporting Goods: 10% off
Rite Aid: 10% off on Tuesdays & 10% off prescriptions
Ross Stores: 10% off every Tuesday (55+)
The Salvation Army Thrift Stores: up to 50% off (55+)
Stein Mart: 20% off red dot/clearance items first Monday of every month(55+)

Grocery:
Albertson's: 10% off first Wednesday of each month (55+)
American Discount Stores: 10% off every Monday (50+)
Compare Foods Supermarket: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
DeCicco Family Markets: 5% off every Wednesday (60+)
Food Lion: 6% off every Monday (60+)
Fry's Supermarket: free Fry's VIP Club Membership & 10% off every Monday (55+)
Great Valu Food Store: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Gristedes Supermarket: 10% off every Tuesday (60+)
Harris Teeter: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Hy-Vee: 5% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kroger: 10% off (date varies by location)
Morton Williams Supermarket: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
The Plant Shed: 10% off every Tuesday (50+)
Publix: 5% off every Wednesday (55+)
Rogers Marketplace: 5% off every Thursday (60+)
Uncle Guiseppe's Marketplace: 5% off (62+)

Travel:
Alaska Airlines: 10% off (65+)
Alamo: up to 25% off for AARP members
American Airlines: various discounts for 65 and up (call before booking for
discount)
Amtrak: 15% off (62+)
Avis: up to 25% off for AARP members
Best Western: 10% off (55+)
Budget Rental Cars: 10% off; up to 20% off for AARP members (50+)
Cambria Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Clarion: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Continental Airlines: no initiation fee for Continental Presidents Club &
special fares for select destinations
Dollar Rent-A-Car: 10% off (50+)
Econo Lodge: 20%-30% off (60+)
Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 5% off for AARP members
Greyhound: 5% off (62+)
Hampton Inns & Suites: 10% off when booked 72 hours in advance
Hertz: up t0 25% off for AARP members
Holiday Inn: 10%-30% off depending on location (62+)

Tuesday AM humor: former Gov. Pataki thinks he's the only person who can defeat Obama

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Yahoo! News - George Pataki thinks only George Pataki can beat Obama in 2012

The Big 3 Newspapers morning editorials on the debt deal

The Washington Post - 

"This may be the only feasible solution at this late hour. It is not a solution of which anyone involved in this heart-stopping performance ought to be proud."

The NY Times -

"... A Terrible Debt Deal"

And the Wall Street Journal

"The debt deal is a rare bipartisan victory for the forces of smaller government."

 

 

Bill Gross, leading bond manager with PIMCO on a downgrade of U.S. debt

Regardless of a debt ceiling deal, Gross says a downgrade is in the offing.

Unfortunately CNN doesn't allow embedding their videos. The video is only worth watching if you're interested in your money ...

 "Eventualy their's a downgrade coming"

"A debt man walking. ... Liabilities total 60 Trillion dollars ..."

Monday AM humor - What is this commercial all about?

Sent to me by humor consultant Karen

Try and figure out what this commercial is for -