Dean and Harry...

Harry Johnson and Dean Schlosser, two old friends, were out rabbit hunting one Saturday morning in November.

Suddenly, as Harry was stepping over a small bush, he grabbed his chest and fell to the ground, dead,

Dean took his cell phone out of his pocket and called 911.

"My friend Harry just dropped over dead, what should I do?"

"Are you sure he's dead?"

(Loud blast from a shotgun was heard on the phone)

"Now what do I do?"

Where are Jim, Tim, and Franklin now?

   Just in case you might have wondered how their ineptitude affected their lives after they ruined so many dreams and lives....let me refresh your memory:
   Where are Jim, Tim and Franklin now? Here's a quick look into the three former Fannie Mae executives who brought down Wall Street.
    
   Franklin Raines - was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear.
 
   Tim Howard - was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors
   Since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004. Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!
     
   Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million." Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae. Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.
 
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?    
 
   FRANKLIN RAINES? 
   Raines works for the Obama Campaign as his Chief Economic Advisor.
 
   TIM HOWARD? 
   Howard is a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama under Franklin Raines.

   JIM JOHNSON?
   Johnson was hired as a Senior Obama Finance Adviser and was selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee.

If WE are suckers, should we be silent ones?

Newt will end his campaign

Newt Gingrich will officially end his 2012 presidential campaign on Wednesday in Washington, a Gingrich spokesman told Yahoo News.

The former House Speaker, who was once considered Romney's chief rival in the 2012 race, had been expected to end his bid on Tuesday. It's unclear why he is extending his run by a day, though it could merely be due to scheduling. Late last week, Gingrich met with supporters at official campaign events in North Carolina.

At the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday, President Obama joked that Gingrich would be his "likely opponent" in November: "Newt, there's still time man!"

Quick Cures/Quack Cures: When to Clean the Sheets

By Beth DeCarbo

No matter your relationship status, you never go to bed alone. Nestled within your sheets are countless intruders. For an explanation, we turned to Philip M. Tierno Jr., director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Center.

How often do most Americans change their sheets?

It varies. Most people have a standard of once a week. But many people go three weeks, a month or more. "Younger people seem to leave their sheets on the bed longer," Dr. Tierno says.

How often should they change their sheets?

Wash sheets and pillowcases once a week, and you'll eliminate that debris that has accumulated in the bed for that week. You'll be safer from breathing in that material.

Debris? How can sheets possibly get that dirty?

Human skin cells become food for dust mites. That is one of the biggest problems associated with bedding. Mites accumulate, along with their feces. But there is also animal hair, dander, fungal mold, fungal spores, bodily secretions and bacteria. Also: dust, lint, fibers, particulates, insect parts, pollen, soil, sand and cosmetics. "One person can perspire as much as a liter in a night—even more if you have a lot of covers," he says. And, of course, people eat in bed as they watch TV.

Master Chef Reveals Secret Recipes

If you have just ONE cookbook in your library, this should be it. You will refer to it often, duplicate some of your favorite restaurant foods, and use it as a basis to create some of your own dishes. YOU will use it often, I do.


Master Chef reveals these unique recipes

Be the first to have the recipes that everyone loves but nobody knows how to make including:

* KFC Original Recipe Chicken

* Boston Market Meatloaf

* Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce

* Olive Garden Lasagna

* Junior's NY Cheesecake

* And over 200 more famous secret recipes!

Discover the ingredient combinations and spices that make these foods taste so good.

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The figures say it ALL ......

Debt Added By The Previous

43 

U.S. PRESIDENTS

COMBINED

1789 through 2008

$6.3 

TRILLION DOLLARS

Debt Added By

PRESIDENT 

OBAMA

One Term

$6.5 

TRILLION DOLLARS

Former State Sen. Carl Kruger Gets 7 Years in Bribery Scheme

Former New York state Sen. Carl Kruger has been sentenced to seven years in prison in an influence peddling case.

Kruger had admitted in December that he accepted nearly a half-million dollars in bribes from a variety of business people.

"I am broken, I am destroyed, I am disgraced," Kruger said in court Thursday.

Kruger, 62, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery.

He resigned from the state Senate seat he has held since 1994.

Kruger, a Democrat, was the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman from 2008 to 2010, when Democrats controlled the Senate.

Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln

The Bliss copy, once owned by the family of Colonel Alexander Bliss, Bancroft's stepson and publisher of "Autograph Leaves", is the only manuscript to which Lincoln affixed his signature.

Address delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg.

Don't just look at the words, think about the thought behind them.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Have we changed?

   The NFL Draft. How, when and why, did an event such as this, become so big in our culture. I guess the same way they have almost made the Super Bowl a national holiday. Sports shows and even the news are all talking about the upcoming DRAFT.

   Probably the same bunch of marketing people who have pushed the idea of a "green lawn," and billowing flowers being a must in your yard, every Summer. Check out the parking lot at Walmart or any such store. Tons of mulch and other outdoor "necessities" to make your yard more attractive, and the great thing, it only lasts a year and you have to do it all over again, how great is that?

    Marketers have trained the public to spend money, seasonally. Fall stuff, Summer stuff, Spring stuff, Winter stuff and assorted holidays. Easter, halloween, Christmas, all the holidays that require annual purchasing.

   TV, the master, our lives are dictated by them.

    I remember, years ago, a marketing lecture I attended, telling how great the Barbie Doll program was. The point of it was, sell a product, reasonably, with a "never ending" after market. The seasons come around every year, as do the holidays.

   Just think of all that "TV" actually controls in your daily life, scary isn't it?

   They used to sell gladiators and slaves to the highest bidder, same as we do today. I guess things really haven't changed that much.

Take a bullet, hell .......................

Regardless of your politics, YOU should listen to this ....

This may be taken off of public viewing ...

Watch it while you can. Listen and pay attention, evaluate

pass the link for this blog on to those on your list.

Everyone should hear this and make up their own mind.

LISTEN NOW

Cartagena

I haven't seen anything brought up about it, but I have to wonder, WHO was paying for all this FUN in Cartagena?  Expense accounts can be a great thing. My guess is that the American Taxpayers were footing some of the bill. Obama seems to be aware of everything else that is going on around him, why not this incident. It had to have been going on for quite some time. Look at all the traveling Obama was doing around the world, almost daily. How many "advance" teams were there? "Dig a little deeper in the well."

American taxpayer dollars at work

Terms from a Redneck Medical Dictionary

Benign - What you be after you be 8.
Artery - The study of paintings.
Bacteria - Back door to cafeteria.
Barium - What family do when kin folk die.
Cesarean Section - A neighborhood in Rome.
Catscan - Searching for a kitty.
Cauterize - Made eye contact with her.
Coma - A punctuation mark.
D and C - Where Washington is.
Dilate - To live long.
Enema - Not a friend.
Fibula - A small lie.
Hangnail - What you hang your coat on.
Impotent - Distinguished, well known.
Labor Pain - Getting hurt at work.
Morbid - A higher offer than what I bid.
Nitrates - Cheaper than day rates.
Pap Smear - A fatherhood test.
Rectum - Darn near killed him.
Secretion - Hiding something.
Seizure - Roman Emperor.
Tablet - A small table.
Terminal Illness - Getting sick at the airport.
Tumor - More than one.
Urine - Opposite of you're out.
Varicose - Near by/close by.

Looking back a bit ............

No one could figure out how they did this .... amazing, for the time ............

HOW DID THEY DO THIS?    WAY BACK WHEN...

Feminist Group Declares War On LEGOs

A feminist group has identified the enemy, and it is … LEGOs?

The Danish company behind the interlocking plastic building blocks loved by children since 1949 has a meeting set for Friday with a Brooklyn group ticked off with LEGOs product line designed to appeal to girls.

The new “LEGO Friends” rolled out in December featuring LadyFigs, curvier takeoffs on the traditional boxy LEGO men. Construction sets include a hot tub, a splash pool, a beauty parlor, an outdoor bakery and a “cool convertible,” as well as an inventor’s workshop.

But the SPARK Movement objects to the “LadyFigs,” the female version of the little figures who man the spaceships, trucks and forts children create. “Ladyfigs” are somewhat anatomically correct, which hypersexualizes girls, according to the group.

Arizona Gov. Signs Law Permitting Bible Classes in Public Schools

Public high schools in Arizona will soon be able to offer an elective course on the Bible and its role in Western culture.

Gov. Jan Brewer has signed legislation requiring the state Board of Education to design a curriculum for schools to teach if they choose. Rep. Terri Proud, a Tucson Republican who sponsored the legislation, says a class like this is needed because references to the Bible are found everywhere.

Public schools across the country have generally avoided Bible courses, but hundreds now offer such classes as electives. At least five other states have passed legislation similar to the Arizona proposal.

It's in Print ............

Clever, how is that done?

DEFINITELY WORTH A "WATCH"

Enjoy your day.

Pat Summitt steps down

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pat Summitt was relaxed, smiling and even cracking jokes — looking and sounding totally at peace knowing she will never coach her beloved Tennessee Lady Vols again.

The Hall of Fame coach who just eight months ago revealed she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, has turned the program over to longtime assistant Holly Warlick.

"It was really a great ride for me," Summitt said Thursday, speaking on the Tennessee basketball court named after her before a crowd of about 200 fans, faculty and friends.

"I just felt like it was time for me to step down knowing that Holly was going to be in great hands," Summitt said. "She's a great coach and you know I'm going to continue to support her. You know It's never a good time, but you have to find the time that you think is the right time and that is now."

I have been an admirer and fan of Pat Summitt for many years, I wish all "coaches" possessed the same qualities as Pat. She was loyal to her University, a dedicated coach, and a friend and adviser to those athletes who played for her. She totally supported all the programs at Tennessee, and I think that her enthusiasm and support for all the sports, persuaded many to consider attending there. She is in a class all her own, and there are very few, if any, who can compare with Pat. She will put up a courageous fight. 

Small Illinois town’s comptroller accused of stealing millions

By Jeff Stacklin

  The chief financial officer of Dixon, Ill., has been put on unpaid leave after she was arrested by FBI agents and charged with defrauding the city of $3.2 million and misappropriating another $30 million in city funds.

  The arrest of Rita Crundwell, who was charged with a single count of wire fraud, has shaken the northwest Illinois town, which has a population of just under 16,000, according to the Chicago Tribune. Authorities say Crundwell stole the funds over six years to support her luxurious lifestyle.

  Crundwell, an award-winning quarter horse breeder, spent the money on jewelry, a motor home, and her horse farms in Wisconsin, reports the Tribune.

  Federal agents seized the contents of two bank accounts, seven trucks and trailers, three pickups, a $2.1 million motor home, and a Ford Thunderbird convertible -- all of which were purchased with illegal proceeds, according to federal authorities.

  Dixon Mayor James Burke today told an audience of reporters and citizens that independent auditors had not noticed any issues of non-compliance and the city's bank had not noticed anything out of the ordinary, according to the Tribune.

  The city will hire an investigator to determine how the alleged theft occurred.

  The mayor initially reported Crundwell, 58, to federal authorities last fall, after another employee had assumed the comptroller's job while she was on an extended unpaid vacation, authorities said. After reviewing bank statements for September 2011 through March 2012, the FBI expanded the investigation and began reviewing the city's finances dating back to 2006.

  Crundwell moved city funds into multiple city accounts, including a joint account for the city of Dixon and herself, according to federal authorities. She then withdrew $3.3 million from the account, using only $74,274 for city operations. The FBI expanded its investigation, and discovered from July 2006 to March 2012 she allegedly deposited more than $30 million into the joint account. She allegedly then paid out more than $30 million for her own personal and business expenses.

She had earned an annual salary of $80,000.

Say THANKS to a Veteran

I was in the Navy for four years in the 50's, discharged in 1956, and really never gave much thought to my having served. It was nearing the end of the Korean "Conflict," so there was no parade when I got out. I really never gave much thought to the fact that I had "served." I primarily joined the Navy to avoid getting drafted, and I really don't know why I did that. My brother had been in the Navy so it seemed like a good thing to do, at the time.
  Later on in my life, my son, Brad joined the Navy during "Desert Storm" and, one memory that has never been forgotten, and never will, was the morning they "took him away" in that Navy vehicle. In that instant, I realized what it was like, giving up a son to the service.
  Anyway, he had given me a cap with a gold BMU2 Stingers on it, and his name, DOOLEY embroidered on the back of the cap.
  Craig Young and I were going to an Ohio State football game, against Navy, and do to a variety of situations, it was a very  patriotic game.
  I wore his cap. Shortly after we parked, a man walked over to me, shook my hand, and said "Thanks for your service." First time that had ever happened, and I think it was perhaps the first time I realized that, in fact, I had SERVED my country.
  I had a number of people come up to me that day and say "Thanks." I even had a Navy Captain, sort of wave and give me a salute and say Thank You.
  So, I know what a "Thank You" means to someone who has served. If you see a veteran, or someone in the service, today, tell them "Thanks," it does mean a lot to them.

Hind Sight

Hind sight is a wonderful thing. AT THE TIME, I thought this sign was perhaps the cleverest thing I had ever come up with ..... let me go back a little.
  There was a small restaurant available, not to far from where we lived, so, I rented it. First thing I did was to find a large grill for the kitchen, had a very hard time getting that installed, and we were up and running.
  Dennis worked the grill, had a couple of waitresses, Billie Clifton and another one whose name escapes me right now.
  We did a good breakfast, many local people, oil field workers, pumpers, laborers, and nice variety. Lunch was busy, had a nice business going in Marne, Ohio.
   Then, I felt we needed an outdoor sigh. I called a sign painter from Granville, Ohio, he came out, told him what I wanted, I remember he said, "Are you SURE that is want you want?" Without thinking, I told him that was what I wanted. He did the sign and we put it over the door.
  Marne was a small community, a lot of elderly folks, not much in Marne but a plumber, Dick Houston, Collins Gas Station, the Marne Methodist Church, and that was about it.
  My clever mind came up with this fantastic idea, "Eat under the golden arch."
  In retrospect, a foot is perhaps the worst symbol you could use for a restaurant. SO many jokes about it, and it has NOTHING to do with a restaurant.
  But NO ONE ever told me how stupid it was, probably very few, if any, understood it, and no one asked why we had a foot over the door. One lady, eating at the counter, oddly enough a French teacher in high school, understood, I think she called it, "The Arch de Oro," or something like that.
  If only someone had told me, but  they didn't.

Money, money, money .............

By BLAIRE BRIODY

When it comes to government employees, there’s plenty of news about laid off social workers in Florida, furloughed forest rangers in Minnesota,  and underpaid teachers everywhere else. Yet even during these hard times, there are thousands of government employees who still earn great, big salaries – many of them hundreds of thousands more than the $400,000 Obama pulls down each year. In 2009, 347 Texas state employees earned more than the president; 53 of them made more than $600,000. In New York, 35 employees were paid over $400k last year. Since 2005, the number of Federal employees earning $150,000 plus has jumped tenfold: going from 12,399 to 171,689. Much of the increase has been in medicine. Doctors at veterans hospitals and prisons averaged $179,500 in 2010, up from $111,000 in 2005.

Mother Love can cure a nightmare

This is precious, a must watch.

MUST WATCH

Worth a second look

You probably will watch this more than once.

WATCH THIS

I guess I am not too smart ......

There is an add that was just on TV, it indicates approved by Obama, and then they go into some double talk that I must admit I do not understand.

I am at a loss, I don't know who the ad is for, or against, or what?

I am finding out that some negative advertising is actually positive, and vice versa.

Maybe it is just my age......I think it has something to do with high gas prices, I think..............

Where is the outcry?

This was a Facebook post by Frank Beckman of WJR Detroit. Where is the outcry on this? 

Ex councilwoman Sheila Cockrell made a comment on the show this morning that Detroit has had more homicides than the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

I did a little research and, sadly, she's more than correct.

Detroit has had about double the number....3,216 homicides between 2002 and 2011 (not counting final months of '01 or first 3 months of this year when war has been ongoing).

Latest US casualty count in Afghanistan is 1,827! Shocking!!

Bad,bad ..............

A friend of mine recently admitted to being addicted to brake fluid.
When I quizzed him on it, he said he could stop any time.

Mitt and his jeans ....

An open letter to Mrs. Romney. She sent me an email, but that address will not receive replies, so I am posting it on my blog. Odd that she can comment but will take no responses, I'll bet she takes donations.

Why don't you buy him a nice suit, white shirt and appropriate necktie, and talk to him about "perception." Ask him how people "perceive" him in his torn jeans and open neck dress shirt. Does his Doctor dress that way? Does his Minister dress that way? Who told him the American people want a candidate in blue jeans and a shirt. Two things that are very important to me in a candidate, PERCEPTION and CHARISMA. If you remember, Obama got elected on his charisma, and he is not in a suit at appropriate times. I, for one, will not vote for a candidate who has so little respect for me that he cannot appear in appropriate attire. Would he sit in the Oval Office in jeans, would he take the oath of office in jeans. I'll bet he doesn't go to The Temple in jeans. NO, so why campaign in them. I personally think that it is almost an insult to his audience. If anyone, you should have some influence over him. 

Earl Scruggs

Earl Scruggs, the bluegrass great, died on Wednesday at the age of 88. A pioneering banjo player who helped create modern country music, his sound is instantly recognizable and as intrinsically wrapped in the tapestry of the genre as Johnny Cash’s baritone or Hank Williams’ heartbreak. His string-bending, mind-blowing way of picking helped transform a regional sound into a national passion.

Scruggs was born in Shelby, North Carolina, in 1924. He was a self-taught musician who shot to prominence after he joined the Blue Grass Boys in late 1945, quickly popularizing his syncopated, three-finger picking style. In 1948 he and guitarist Lester Flatt left the Blue Grass Boys and formed the Foggy Mountain Boys, later known simply as Flatt and Scruggs. They won a Grammy Award in 1969 for Scruggs’ instrumental “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985. He would go on to win three more Grammys: for “Same Old Train” (1998), a new version of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (2001) — featuring artists such as Steve Martin, Vince Gill and Albert Lee — and for “Earl’s Breakdown” (2004).

Obama: Government ‘Made This Country Great’

Who's on First .... If anyone understands the below two statements, please reply to joedooley@yahoo.com and explain them to me. I was having a pleasant Sunday morning, the sun came out, then I read this, and my head is spinning, round and round .......... made me think of Abbot and Costello, or a Bob Newhart telephone conversation. I must admit, my mind cannot comprehend to content  of the statement.

President Obama attacked Republicans for their desire to cut the government spending that “made this country great,” while also faulting them for failing to “balance the budget.”

Obama said that Republicans have “one message and that is, we’re going to make sure that we cut people’s taxes even more — so that by every objective measure our deficit is worse and we will slash government investments that have made this country great,” he argued, “not because it’s going to balance the budget, but because it’s driven by our ideological vision about how government should be. That’s their agenda, pure and simple.”