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Amanda
11/30/11
Grandma, don't you take lipitor?
Opening the email is not dangerous -- the virus is installed only when you click on the link or open the attachment. If you get such an email, just trash it. UPS is aware of these bogus emails and is looking into it; but you may still get one, so be careful! Track your packages on the official UPS site.
Uh-huh. Check the pictures here and here.
Some of you reading this can remember the rioting outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. It was a peaceful anti-war demonstration -- until the police got involved. The Mayor sent in the police like an invading army, and suddenly the news was nothing but images of violence from Chicago, with the blame falling on the demonstrators. Much later, a committee investigated the riots and pointed to the police as the actual cause. They even invented a new term to describe the phenomenon: A "police riot."
Awesome, right? Well, actually he made that comment ten months ago on the protests in Egypt. (Substitute "Egyptian" and "of Egypt" for the ... above.) So what did Obama say about the demonstrations here in America yesterday? Through his spokesman Jay Carney he said that "it is up to New York and other municipalities to decide how much force to use in dealing with Occupy Wall Street demonstrations." Let me point out he said not whether to use force, but how much.
Obama could so easily have gotten in front of this movement (or at least aligned himself with it) and used all this energy to do something good. But he's standing on the sidelines again, hoping he can make both sides happy. What a shame.
He was on the scene this morning and caught a strange sight: A police captain from Philadelphia, in uniform, came down to Zucotti Park to support the Occupiers, and was himself arrested. Here's a photo of the cop in custody. And if you have eight free minutes, here's a great video from last night's Olbermann show. His guest was an 84-year-old woman who was pepper-sprayed at the Occupy demonstration in Seattle yesterday. She's amazing. See it here.
Congratulations to all! --Gary
Are you drinking lots of water and drinking tea? Sorry to hear you're still so sick, I didn't lose my voice and my sore throat only lasted a day.
Teghan, you look beautiful in both dresses! Why don't you take them both to school and change at lunch? Just kidding.
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The Bells of 11/11 Time: Early 1930s Place: Illinois River valley in western Illinois A low, moisture-laden fog completely blankets the entire river valley. An eerie silence wrapped around all things living, the silence broken only by an occasional bleating of a lamb or the whinny of a pastured horse. Visibility is only a few yards. The farmer and his preteen son are repairing a damaged section of fence. A fence post must be replaced because the neighbor's bull had polished his horns on that post while trying to impress the milk cows in the other pasture. Bulls have a reputation for creating problems with fences. What time is it, Dad? I am really getting hungry. Seems like we have been out here all day. Oh son, it is not quite 11 o clock. We will head for the house about 11:30. They continue with the task of replacing the damaged fence post. In fact they inserted a metal post to make it bull proof. The son sure wishes that the clock moved a little faster towards that going home time. Growing boys get hungry, you know. Suddenly the entire valley is filled with the pealing of dozens of town church and country school bells. The sounds are echoing from all directions, bouncing off the fog crystals. Dad, what's happening? Why are all those bells ringing? Has something bad happened? The father pulls out his trusty pocket watch from the bib of his overalls and responds, no son, this is 11 o clock on November 11th observing Armistice Day. This marks the end of the Great War. You know that I was in that War. Yes, Dad, I remember now. Mr. Ritter came to our school assembly yesterday wearing his soldier's uniform. He told about the War but I forgot what he said about the Armistice. The father continues by relating the sequence of events leading to the end of the War. He points out that the surrender of Germany took place on November 11th, 1918 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month at a school house in France. A short time later, Congress designated this day as Armistice Day. He further states that the churches and country schools all up and down the valley had a message to ring their bells at 11 o clock on this day. They certainly got that message from the sounds that were breaking through that foggy morning. Tell me again, Dad, just what you did in the War. I drove a truck in an outfit that sent up a balloon very near the front lines. Two soldiers were in the gondola of that balloon with binoculars to look over and see what the enemy was doing. After looking over the situation, we would pull down the balloon really fast before a German plane could shoot at it. We were very lucky that we did not lose any balloons. My truck pulled a winch that had the cables attached to the balloon. We could get that balloon up and down in just a few minutes. Dad, do you think that we will ever have another war? Son, I hate to say it, but I am afraid that our country will be back in a war in Europe before too long. When Germany surrendered, they had to pay reparations of millions of dollars. Reparations, what's that? It is like a penalty for starting the War. It is to pay for the pain and suffering and all the damages caused by Germany. Also they could have only a very small military force. In the history books you will see that it is called the Versailles Treaty. The payment of this huge debt caused huge inflation of the German money called marks. It took thousands of marks to equal an American dollar. I saw German house wives taking wheelbarrows full of marks to the store to buy food. I bet the German people hated to pay that reparation money. I don t see how they lived. You are right and that is just what might cause another war. I have been reading about some German ex-soldiers that are trying to take over the government of Germany. If that happens, we likely will be in a war again and very possibly in your time. Wow! I guess that these bells we are hearing mean a lot to you. Yes, and they should mean a lot to every person in this country. I just hope that that I am wrong about another war. And the bells fell silent a few minutes later. The fog droplets closed around the father and his son.
Editor's Note: The United States remained neutral until the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. On December 8th, the U.S. entered World War 2 as a partner with the Allies consisting of the U.S, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, and several occupied western European nations. Germany, Japan, Italy and a few smaller nations became known as the Axis Powers. Dad was right. Son entered military service in February, 1943 approximately 10 years after the above Armistice Day scene and was sent to Europe in November, 1944. He was soon involved in several campaigns including The Battle of the Bulge. Dad's prophecy was further fulfilled as son traveled some of the same highways in Europe that Dad had traveled. Both had a similar military classification of truck driver. (Dad's military marker states "chauffeur.")
Final note:
Son: Frank Chambers |
I saw on the news this morning that Tom Osborne is telling fans going to the game to not wear red. I wish they would have cancelled the game too.
Some of you may know or remember that Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day and it commemorated World War I specifically; the peace treaty was signed on November 11 (at eleven minutes past 11 o'clock), and thereafter people would pause for a moment of silence at 11:11 on November 11. On that day people would also wear little red poppies made out of paper, in remembrance of the field of red poppies that sprouted up on one of WWI's most horrible battlefields. Sometime in the 1950s Armistice Day morphed into "Veterans Day," but I can still remember everybody wearing poppies on that day in later years.
Still not looking forward to tomorrow's game. I wish they had cancelled it. I understand that McQueary will now not be on the field at all, after he and others at the University had received death threats. A repeat of the disgusting street violence of a few nights ago is also something many people are apprehensive about. Even hearing the stadium crowd cheer, in this context, will be uncomfortable. The game should have been cancelled -- and if it was a picnic, or a play, or a concert, it would have been. But this is football, and there's a lot of money on the line....
There's also the disturbing detail that a district attorney who was investigating this case mysteriously disappeared back in 2005. His body was never found, though they did find his parked car and later his laptop -- with the hard drive removed....
I really wish we didn't have to play these guys on Saturday. It will be a very weird game, if for no other reason than for the first time in 46 years Penn State will be playing without Paterno on the field. Their team can't help but be affected by that (and everything else), so however the game turns out, win or lose, it's all going to be about them. Also weird is the fact that assistant coach Mike McQueary -- one of the main witnesses and who may well soon be fired too (justifiably) -- will be on the field, at last report. It's going to be an odd uncomfortable game that I already wish was over.
The Koch Brothers union-stripping law in Ohio was repealed by a wide margin, the most invasive abortion law ever written was soundly defeated in Mississippi, Maine overturned their Republican-inspired voter suppression laws, and several Tea-Party Republicans were actually recalled from office -- including the guy who sponsored Arizona's "papers please" law of last year. And the list goes on. Voter turnout was huge, and this in an off-year election. All in all, it was a good night for sanity, and hopefully a preview of next year's elections.
And speaking of sanity... wait, I meant the opposite of sanity, there was Herman Cain's press conference yesterday. There are few things in life more gratifying than watching arrogance and ego self-destruct. And Herman Cain is giving us the full treatment.
And the sick Joe Paterno story. If you haven't kept up with the story you can get a good recap here. Not to dwell on it, but I bring it up because it has a significance to Nebraska in that the Cornhuskers play Penn State three days from now in "Happy Valley," and there's a real question whether Paterno will still be on the coaching staff or not. Many people are calling for his immediate resignation -- or be fired, as Keith Olbermann did on his show last night in no uncertain terms. There will be lots of eyes on Saturday's game, and not only in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
Couple of news items for you. One, tomorrow afternoon (1 pm central) there's going to be the first-ever nationwide test of the FEMA alert system. It's just going to be one of those "this is a test" interruptions on TV so you may not even notice it. But if you do notice it, that's what it is, and it's a first.
And two, you may have heard about the woman back east somewhere who last month got so fed up with her bank raising fees and limiting services that she took her money out of the bank and put in into a local credit union. And then she posted that on Facebook (or whatever social media she uses, not sure). Like "Occupy Wall Street" which started with just a handful of people, she started something of a movement. In the few weeks since, somewhere between 600,000 and one million people have pulled their assets from banks and put them into credit unions. Credit unions nationwide have seen more new members in the past month than they usually get in a year. And there's now a website -- Banxodus -- (get it? "bank exodus"? ha ha?) that will direct you to a local credit union or independent community bank. (It shows Step 1 as "Take the pledge" but that's optional. You can just click on Step 2, "Find a better bank," and get right to it.)
Be careful on the (potential) ice, Lincolnites!
On the ground it was more slush than snow, and it's already all gone. But it was snow while it was falling! --Gary
After filming the LOTR movies ten years ago, the Hobbiton sets were dismantled and the location was allowed to revert back to pastureland. (Though Directer Peter Jackson did have Bag End -- Bilbo and Frodo's house -- disassembled and rebuilt on his own property. Nice souvenir!) But word just came out that this time, after rebuilding the Hobbiton set on the same New Zealand pasture, it will not be torn down but instead left intact as a permanent tourist attraction. This will include 44 Hobbit homes plus the Bywater Bridge and the Green Dragon tavern. So if you've ever wanted to knock on the green door in real life and maybe even step inside, you can -- if you can wait a few years and then get yourself to New Zealand.
