Southern hospitality is alive and well

Southern hospitality is alive and well

MICHAEL FITZPATRICK

Issue date: 9/8/09

FITZPATRICK [Click to enlarge]

Perhaps Georgia fans can learn a thing or two about "Southern Hospitality" from the fine people of Stillwater, Okla.

Heading into the then No. 13 Georgia football team's highly anticipated matchup with then No. 9 Oklahoma State on Sept. 5, I had no idea what to expect as an opposing fan.

I had been to road games before and had generally bad experiences with the opposing fans. But Oklahoma was new.

I had never been to Oklahoma, never planned to visit Oklahoma and honestly did not care. And now, I'm not sure I want to leave.

From the moment I arrived, the graciousness of the entire city has been something to behold.

Friday night, while decompressing after a 14-hour drive in a popular downtown bar named Eskimo Joe's, patrons decked in orange and white approached me - an obvious Georgia supporter - to wish the team luck, welcome me to Stillwater and to buy me a drink or two.

"This is the biggest non-conference game in our history," OSU fans would say. "And we are just so excited that [a team like Georgia] would even come to play us."

I couldn't believe the congeniality of Cowboy fans was sincere, and decided Saturday would show their true colors.

And show their true colors they did, by showering us with warm-wishes, mouth-watering barbecue and alcohol. Every OSU fan who walked by our Georgia tailgate section wished us "good morning. Welcome to Stillwater, hope you enjoy your day."

Can you imagine any SEC foe doing that?

I felt more welcomed at OSU tailgates as the opponent than I did in Athens amongst fellow Bulldog fans. OSU fans who traveled to Athens two years ago, said they were treated well - before the game, not so well after - and just wanted to return the favor.

"There's no reason to be an ass," one tailgater said. "We are all here for the same thing, granted we want a different result, but we have the same basic goal. We want [Georgia fans] to enjoy our town, and this is just a game after all."

It was a sentiment echoed by nearly every Cowboy fan I talked to. They wanted Georgia fans to enjoy Stillwater and have a good time. They said they had played second-fiddle to the University of Oklahoma for too long and they wanted to be different.

"It's good and bad, that we are so pleasant," said another tailgater, who also teaches Spanish at OSU. "The people here are so friendly, but they are also content with being a town of 30,000. They don't want to expand to become like Tulsa or Oklahoma City, something the school would love.

"But in a town with 72 different churches and a law that prohibits the sale of liquor within 1,000-feet of a church, it makes growing pretty difficult."

After the game, with the 'Pokes having won arguably the biggest football game in their history, their fans continued to walk the high road. Within 10 minutes of leaving Boone Pickens Stadium I had four different OSU tailgates - some alums, some students - giving me beer and saying Georgia played a great game. There was even a high-five line, just like in Little League baseball.

That night while on The Strip - where OSU students party - students bought me shots, some asked if I had been treated well, and a group of OSU kids even asked me to join them so I wouldn't be wandering the strip alone.

That doesn't happen in Athens.

Back outside Eskimo Joe's, the door guys mentioned how pleasant Georgia fans made the weekend for the folks of Stillwater and how every opponent will be measured against us.

But I think we should measure ourselves against them. For the 10,000 plus Georgia faithful who flew or drove to Stillwater, remember how they treated us.

And students, if you see an opposing fan on Broad after a Georgia win, show some kindness, buy him a shot or two, because you'll never know how much that gesture means.

- Michael Fitzpatrick is the opinions editor of The Red & Black.

Oklahoma State jumps to No. 5 in AP poll

Oklahoma State jumps to No. 5 in AP poll

Oklahoma State's victory over Georgia Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium apparently sent a message to the Associated Press voters.

The Cowboys (1-0) jumped from a tie for ninth to No. 5 in the AP poll released Tuesday.

For the Cowboys, it's the third highest ranking for the program in its football history. The Pokes were ranked No. 3 in the Nov. 19, 1984 poll before falling to Nebraska. The next week OSU was fell one spot to No. 4. Oklahoma State has also been ranked No. 5 on one other occasion, in the Oct. 7, 1985 poll.

Florida overwhelmingly retained the top spot in this week's poll with 56 of the 60 first-place votes.

Texas got two first-place votes and is second with USC third and Alabama fourth. The Cowboys are 154 points behind the Trojans and 130 points behind the Crimson Tide, who received the other two first-place votes,

Oklahoma, ranked third in the preseason poll, fell to No. 13 after losing to Brigham Young Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

Three other Big 12 team are ranked this week. Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 22, Kansas jumped one spot to No. 24 and Missouri entered the poll for the first time at No. 25.

Texas Tech and Baylor received votes.



The AP Top 25

By The Associated Press

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 7, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record Pts Pvs

1. Florida (56) 1-0 1,493 1

2. Texas (2) 1-0 1,424 2

3. Southern Cal 1-0 1,355 4

4. Alabama (2) 1-0 1,331 5

5. Oklahoma St. 1-0 1,201 9

6. Mississippi 1-0 1,095 8

7. Penn St. 1-0 1,082 9

8. Ohio St. 1-0 985 6

9. BYU 1-0 984 20

10. California 1-0 971 12

11. LSU 1-0 890 11

12. Boise St. 1-0 882 14

13. Oklahoma 0-1 782 3

14. Virginia Tech 0-1 652 7

15. Georgia Tech 1-0 630 15

16. TCU 0-0 523 17

17. Utah 1-0 404 19

18. Notre Dame 1-0 383 23

19. North Carolina 1-0 338 21

20. Miami 1-0 315 —

21. Georgia 0-1 294 13

22. Nebraska 1-0 266 24

23. Cincinnati 1-0 248 —

24. Kansas 1-0 196 25

25. Missouri 1-0 126 —

Others receiving votes: Oregon St. 113, Michigan St. 83, Pittsburgh 82, Texas Tech 53, Oregon 47, Clemson 40, Florida St. 39, West Virginia 32, Tennessee 30, Iowa 24, Michigan 18, UCLA 18, Baylor 17, Boston College 14, Arizona 12, East Carolina 6, Air Force 4, Auburn 4, Colorado St. 4, Arkansas 3, South Carolina 3, Houston 1, South Florida 1, Southern Miss. 1, Tulsa 1.

My friend Craig sent this note and I am sorry I did not pass it on...

If you are interested in the Internaional Space Station/Space Shuttle, it will pass over OK tonight around 9:25 WNW to N. If the clouds cooperate. The complete schedule can be found here: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/

It was awesome ...
I thought there would be clouds and instead there was a clear sky... And one could see it as easy as if it was the 9:45 pm flight into OKC this evening that cane over after the shuttle flew over. I have never seen it before and it was magnificient thie evening, putting off a very bright light, more so than anything else in the heavens...
Thank you Craig for sharing the flyby with me.

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

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Isabella Ann and her bear

Way Back When: Today in history
09.06

President William B. McKinley

By GENE CURTIS
Published: 9/6/2009 4:53 AM
Last Modified: 9/6/2009 4:53 AM

1901

President William B. McKinley was shot twice in the chest by anarchist Leon Czolgosz while shaking hands with visitors to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. Bodyguards grabbed Czolgosz as he tried to fire a third shot. McKinley died of gangrene Sept. 14, and Czolgosz was electrocuted Oct. 29.

An Okie rebellion forecast Labor Day

An Okie rebellion forecast Labor Day
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 9/7/2009 2:29 AM
Last Modified: 9/7/2009 3:56 AM

Ninety-two years ago this summer, one of the most wretchedly poignant episodes in Oklahoma history played out in the tangled hills and bottom land between Ada and Seminole.

Some sharecroppers and tenant farmers got together and decided it was up to them to put the government of the United States in its place. Their chief complaints were against the bankers and landlords who kept them barefoot and broke, and a president who wanted to send their sons to far-off battlefields.

Their plan was simple: Blow up some bridges, cut some telephone and telegraph lines, and march on Washington.

Thousands of similarly dissatisfied citizens, the conspirators figured, would swell their ranks along the way, until by the time they reached the capital President Wilson — "Big Slick," they called him — would have no choice but to resign.

They got as far as Sasakwa.

You may not know where Sasakwa is, but you can be pretty darn sure it is nowhere near Washington, D.C. Most of the revolutionaries took to the blackjack thickets at first sight of armed opposition. The rest surrendered without incident. More than 100 went to jail, some for quite a while.

The whole thing would have been funny had it not been so tragic.

It was called the Green Corn Rebellion because that's what the army of insurrection expected to live off of. About the only thing it accomplished was to wipe out something called the Working Class Union. The leaders of the rebellion belonged to the Working Class Union, which gave authorities an excuse to put it out of business.

The Working Class Union was an offshoot of the Industrial Workers of the World, which didn't take farmers because it couldn't figure out whether they were capitalists or laborers. WCU claimed 20,000 members in Oklahoma but it melted away like an April snow after the dragnet and bad publicity of August 1917.

And good riddance, the better sort of Oklahoman said. The WCU blew up cattle dipping vats — don't ask — and went around scaring the bejabbers out of bankers and county commissioners it didn't like.

It was a radical socialist organization with dangerous ideas, all agreed.

What kind of dangerous socialist ideas, you might ask.

It advocated an eight-hour work day, for one. And child labor laws. A workers compensation system. Old-age pensions.

It wanted relief from a banking system with lending practices just this side of loan-sharking.

It wanted schools that operated more than 90 days out of the year and free textbooks for children who couldn't afford to buy them.

Those were the Working Class Union's radical ideas.

Even people who thought the leaders of this little disaster ought to be shot or hanged admitted the farmers weren't entirely wrong. Living conditions in rural Oklahoma were terrible — worse, it was said, than the slums of New York's Lower East Side.

"These men realize that they are in no better condition than the peons of Mexico and the peasants of Russia," wrote the Tulsa Democrat. "They revolted in the only way they knew."

So this Labor Day, remember a band of half-starved farmers who, in their own misguided way, helped us get a paid holiday to eat hot dogs and drink beer every first Monday of September.
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer

Stillwater will feel the pain...

StwNewsPress: Mercury Marine union says yes, company says closing Stillwater plant
http://bit.ly/x4FNF

Want to write your Congressmen or Senators?

http://capwiz.com/friendsoftheuschamber/issues/alert/?alertid=13531261

This is a neat dealy set up by the US Chamber of Commerce to let them hear from you regarding Health Care.... you can edit it any way you see fit...

Wonder if my good friend ... CPA C.... would think this was creative math... or "stan's" math.. haha...

Easy Math - The funniest bloopers are right here

lest we forget....

When you have some extra time, you need to go to this link and look at the before and after photos from Normandy... 'lest we forget....

OklaFilm & OklaMusic
Friday, September 4, 2009

Soul of A People: Writing America’s Story

Soul of A People is a documentary about the creation of one of the most interesting and controversial public assistance programs, the Federal Writers Project. In America’s first self-portrait, premiering September 6 on the Smithsonian channel, the program will also highlight Anadarko native Jim Thompson.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s many Americans found themselves out of work and financially crippled. All eyes were on the newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pull the country out of recession. His controversial Federal Writers Project employed thousands of out of work writers to make state by state travel guides. The government instructed the authors “to hold up a mirror to America” and writers across the country submitted stories and interviews, forever defining the word “Americana.”

The film includes works and interviews with prominent writers of the era, such as Louis L’Amour, Studs Terkel, Stetson Kennedy, and Oklahoma’s own pulp-fiction writer Jim Thompson. Thompson is the acclaimed writer of the novel The Killer Inside Me, which iscurrently being made into a feature film directed by Michael Winterbottom and was filmed on location in Oklahoma.

For more information on the film, please visit www.smithsonianchannel.com

do you have poor phone service, reception... this is from Payne County Bank this am... please do this, please...

You received this message
Category:	Broadcast Message
Subject:	Do you have problems with AT&T cell phone coverage in the Perkins area?
Sent:	09/03/2009
Message:	If you are like me, your AT&T cell phone has poor service in and around the downtown Perkins area and between Perkins and Stillwater. This has not always been the case, but since the time that AT&T traded or sold its local tower on the school property to Alltel/Verizon, service levels have decreased dramatically. If you want to help this situation without having to leave AT&T, here's what to do: Call 1-888-892-9760, select Option 2.  This will connect you directly to the AT&T Technial Support team in Austin, Texas.  Just tell them you would like to report lack of service issues in the Perkins, OK area. I have had very good experience talking with these people about my problem.  They do seem to care about the lack of service here, but they told me that I was the only one who had actually reported any trouble.  If they receive multiple reports of trouble, we have a better chance of getting a new tower in our area.

There is a new "song?" at OSU this fall and most do not like the lyrics or arrangement, or both... here is a parady regarding Cowboys 4ever!

Austyn Moffat at Payne County's Got Talent Contest.. where he won 4th place out of 20

Video by Phillip
Shane Moffat, Stillwater

Austyn is in .....

A new blues band formed of high school students... he being the youngest... and they will play at the Blues Festival in Stillwater in a couple of weeks..


Austyn... I am so proud of you, keep it up!! The world is your oyster!

My friend Jay Red Eagle shares this interesting note.. I think all cultures have this problem to some extent.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Fire at Stomp Dance only understands Cherokee Language For more years than anyone can remember, Cherokees have told the legends of their origin, of how various parts of the human and animal world developed. Today these ancient tales may be overwhelmed by technology, by the vast amounts of information available almost anywhere, around the clock. But its vital to preserve them, Hastings Shade told members of the Tahlequah Archaeological Society Thursday at the Tahlequah Public Library. Shade, former Cherokee Nation deputy principal chief and expert on Cherokee culture, dedicates himself to passing on the knowledge he learned from his grandparents and from tribal elders. He conducted his presentation speaking first in Cherokee, in many instances, then translating the phrases to English. Its natural for him, as Cherokee was his first language. He told listeners his presentation would be a little bit about this and that mostly that. For more than an hour, he talked of such traditions as clans, colors, directions. He also talked of daily life and practices that Cherokees, as well as the rest of society, have largely lost. How many remember when we used to sit out in the yard and visit? Why dont we do that any more? he asked. He spoke of traditional Cherokee practices, asking for audience input. How many have ever gone to water when the frost was about that thick [indicating about an inch with his fingers] and youd leave footprints? How many have washed your face in that water? Theyd make us jump into the water. Grandpa had us go under four times. That was part of our healing, part of our medicine. I dont remember ever getting a bad cold. Other forms of medicine may not have been pleasant, but they worked. Shade asked if anyone had heard of using skunk oil as a cure for whooping cough, a malady also largely forgotten in todays vaccinated society. One dose was enough, he recalled, smiling. Shade said Cherokees refer to the creator as the one that made it possible. He spoke of his ancestor Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee syllabary, and the importance of preserving Cherokee language in its spoken and written forms. Sequoyahs invention made it easy for Cherokees to learn to read; however, it was more difficult to learn to write and many people could read, but not write. They always say if you want to learn to read Cherokee, read a Cherokee Bible, Shade advised. He took that step at age 13, beginning to read the language in which he spoke his first words. A lot of people who speak fluent Cherokee cannot read because they have never sat down and tried, he said. Shade has taught Cherokee language for about four decades. Were losing that part of us that, when it goes, were gone. We as Cherokee people will no longer exist when we lose our language, he said. He said anybody can make or carry a card, but the traditions must be carried on in Cherokee. The fire at the stomp dance only understands the Cherokee language, he said. Shade told of the Cherokees journey from an island surrounded by undrinkable water, which he believes is the ocean. Fire came from a mountain on the island (a volcano) and the island disappeared. The people journeyed across the water for four days, then went north, east and south before arriving in the Cherokee homeland in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. The Trail of Tears took them west. We have completed that four-direction journey. Were here to stay until the end, whatever happens, he said.

hummmmm....

"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today." — E. Joseph Cossman

Phillip ...

Phil has new photo of Austyn on his blog.. check it out, link on the right side of this box... from Payne County's Got Talent. Plus there are many other 'cool' photos there as well.. new ones...

Great job Phil...

Learned this from the news this am..

"It's cheaper to smoke 3 packs of cigs a day, drink a fifth of booze, and die at 50, then to live a healthy life and die at 85." 

hummmmm

Lucille's Restaurant Fire reported this am... many local artists played there.....

Published: September 02, 2009 08:20 am     from Stillwater NewsPress

NEW: Fire destroys Lucille's Restaurant

Mulhall's historic Lucille's Restaurant was destroyed this morning in a fire that might have been caused an overnight storm.

"We think lightning hit it. That's what we're thinking right at the moment," Mulhall Fire Chief Roland Taylor said. "It's heavily damaged. It's basically gutted."

While the structure was still standing this morning, everything inside was destroyed, he said. The building, at Main Street and U.S. Highway 77, was built in 1894, according to the restaurant's Web site. The restaurant helped mark the resurrection of the town after Mulhall was all but wiped out by a tornado a decade ago.

The fire started about 3:40 a.m., Taylor said. Fire departments from Orlando, Guthrie, Crescent and Marshall also responded. Firefighters had contained the fire by 5 a.m., but were still on scene at 7:30 a.m. working on some hot spots. Taylor guessed they'd be there most of the morning.

The Anarchist's Cookbook

The Anarchist's Cookbook

I believe there is a super idea within this article and if you know about this deal, it will make you feel wonderful. the man, the company and the idea...

makes me proud to be an American....

Serena Williams' Success Strategies

Serena Williams is this year’s Wimbledon Ladies Singles Champion, but she’s also a savvy businesswoman. Discover her principles for success on and off the court.

Commit to doing your very best. Whether it’s tennis, fashion design or her other interests, Serena Williams holds nothing back in her pursuit of excellence.

Be a good sport. Serena worked at being gracious in defeat. The losses still sting, she says, but she tries not to show it, refocusing her emotions instead on working harder for future wins.

Follow your heart. The legacy you create is yours—not to be dictated by others.

Promote your work. “Every tournament I play gives me a great opportunity to market whatever I am working on or wearing.”

Don’t listen to naysayers. Serena keeps some articles about her and one day she just might read them. For now, “I don’t want their opinions impacting me.”

Ragan and Matt are doing the video for this...

New anthem recorded for OSU Cowboys

John Martin is the writer and singer for OSU's new introduction song, "Cowboys Forever." Preston Bezant/For the Tulsa World

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
Published: 8/23/2009 3:26 AM
Last Modified: 8/26/2009 10:30 AM

---

Listen to John Martin’s “Cowboys Forever.”

---

STILLWATER — A former Baylor Bear has composed and recorded an Oklahoma State anthem to be featured during the Cowboys' pregame video for home football games.

John Martin, son of OSU associate athletic director Dave Martin and a Baylor wide receiver in 2000-04, is a 27-year-old singer-songwriter. When he was approached by OSU athletic director Mike Holder about the possibility of producing the 2009 Cowboy pregame video, he and a friend, Taylor Bolding, accepted the assignment.

Martin decided also to write a song that would accompany the video. He attended Bruce Springsteen's April 7 show at Tulsa's BOK Center. About a week later, influenced by the sing-along quality of Springsteen's anthems, Martin began to write "Cowboys Forever."

The three-minute, 20-second song would best be described as a pop-rock hybrid. A sample of the lyrics: "In bedlam we will rise and stand ... with strength and honor to defend our land."

"A couple of people have told me that it reminds them a little of Springsteen," Martin said. "It's a big-sounding song. That's what I wanted. When coach Holder heard it, he was singing along with it by the second listen. That's powerful. That's the effect you want the song to have on the fans."

Said Holder: "I look forward to seeing the reaction of the fans out here in our stadium.

I think we can do some chants off of it. You can use it at various times during the game. You can listen to it when you're driving to the game."

When Nike's promotional specialists learned of Martin's song and video (which features Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter), the Nike machine got involved.

Nike personnel did the editing on the video, and Nike is about to launch a line of "Cowboys 4Ever" apparel. During the recent Fan Appreciation Day autograph event, OSU players were clad in black "Cowboys 4Ever" T-shirts.

"Cowboys 4Ever" gear soon will be available at the Boone Pickens Stadium merchandise store, Dave Martin said, and also in various Stillwater, Tulsa and Oklahoma City shops.

Within a few days, the "Cowboys Forever" song will be available for purchase attulsaworld.com/osusports.

"If you listen to that song more than once or twice, you'll be humming the song," Dave Martin said. "It gets into your head. That was John's intent. He wanted a catchy song, and I think he wrote one.

"When John sings about Bullet (OSU's mascot horse) riding across the plains, that might mean nothing to some people, but it certainly means something for Oklahoma State people."

Nike's production team put the finishing touches on the video last week.

"All I can say is that it's really cool," John Martin said.

OSU officials are being extremely guarded, not wanting copies of the video to be leaked before the Sept. 5 opener against Georgia.

Martin's three-day song-writing process was completed on April 17. Five days later, he was in the Tulsa-area home of country-music superstar Garth Brooks, a former OSU track athlete. The first time that Martin performed the song for anyone, he performed it on an acoustic guitar for Brooks.

"It was a huge deal for me to take the song to Garth, to get his opinion and see what he thought about it," Martin said. "I gave him the lyrics first. He loved the title 'Cowboys Forever.' He kneels down on one knee, up against the coffee table, and says, 'Let's hear it.' He was tapping along with the song, and when I finished, he sang the chorus melody back to me. It was a chance of a lifetime to go to his house and play it for him. I'll never forget it."

A self-taught guitarist and vocalist who fronts a band known as August Rose, Martin resides in Stillwater, only a couple of blocks from the OSU campus.

His songs can be sampled at tulsaworld.com/cowboysforever and iTunes.

Last year, the Big 12 Conference hired Martin to write a theme for the league. Martin wrote and recorded "Live Your Dreams," a song that was featured prominently during the bowl season and during Fox's BCS championship telecast.

In December, Martin sang the national anthem before the Oklahoma-Missouri Big 12 championship game at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium.

"That was a great experience. Awesome," said Martin, a 1999 All-State football player at Stillwater High School. His Baylor career was tarnished by injuries (a broken collarbone and concussions).

Backed by an A-list collection of studio musicians (including Alanis Morissette's drummer, Sheryl Crow's bass player and Shakira's guitarist), Martin recorded "Cowboys Forever" in May.

The recording took place in Hollywood, Calif., in the same Sunset Sound studio where the Rolling Stones recorded "Exile On Main Street," and in which such artists as Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Doors and Tom Petty recorded classic albums.

"It was a mind-blowing thing," Martin says.

Cowboys Forever lyrics

The prairie wind touches our skin
Another maverick morning begins
Wild west eyes rise before the sun
We are young guns on the run
Hang ‘em high, pistols to the sky
We ride, we ride, ‘cross the line

It’s in our veins
The feel of the reins
.45’s, chaps, bandannas and spurs
We are cowboys forever

Stay here today, gone tomorrow
The open range is our home
All that we own lives inside our soul
We are cowboy to the bone
Hang ‘em high, pistols to the sky
We ride, we ride, ‘cross the line

It is in our veins
The feel of the reins
.45’s, chaps, bandannas and spurs
We are cowboys forever

Riding Bullet across the plains
To avenge our kin’s blood and name
In bedlam we will rise and stand
With strength and honor to defend our land
Hang ‘em high, pistols to the sky
We ride, we ride, ‘cross the line

It’s in our veins
The feel of the reins
.45’s, chaps, bandannas and spurs
We are cowboys forever

We are, we are
Cowboys forever

Car Dealers Still Waiting On 'Clunkers' Cash - "Gosh, Mom, I can't wait for Government to take over health care..."

Here's the figure: $2.878 billion. That's how much money the government owes car dealers for the "Cash for Clunkers" program

More than $200 million of that is owed to dealers in Illinois and Indiana, so CBS 2's Mai Martinez checked with some of  them to see how much money they've collected from Uncle Sam. 

Now that the popular program has ended, many dealerships are asking the federal government to "show me the money." 

"Out of 142 deals they owe us for, we've gotten paid on seven," Lou Tornabeni of Ettleson Hyundai said. 

"We had 102 cash for clunkers," Carm Scarpace of Westfield Ford said. "We've been paid for one." 

With each Cash for Clunkers deal worth between $3,500 and $4,500, many dealerships are anxiously awaiting their government payday. 

Some, like Advantage Chevrolet, which sold cars up until the last minute, have more than half a million dollars on the line. 

"It was chaotic towards the end," Jason Roberts said. 

Roberts says his dealership sold 142 cars under the program -- for a total of about $568,000 in government rebates. So far, the dealership has only been paid about $68,000 for about 17 of the deals, which means Uncle Sam still owes them roughly $500,000. 

"It's not crippling, but it definitely affects the cash flow on a regular basis," Roberts said. 

Roberts says his dealership can handle the cash crunch, but others may not be as lucky, especially if they didn't follow the government's strict guidelines for the program. 

"We know of one dealer that sold 40 cars under the Cash for Clunkers programs, and out of those 40 cars, he's expecting to get paid on eight," Roberts said. 

But even those who did follow the guidelines say they won't rest easy until they have the cash in hand. For Westfield Ford, that's about $400,000. 

"You're always nervous when the money's out there, but you've got to believe in the government," Scarpace said. "It should come back to us." 

The million-dollar – or should we say, billion-dollar -- question now is when? Dealers say they don't know, but it can't come soon enough. 

One of the dealers told us, originally, the government was supposed to pay them within 10 days of receiving their paperwork. But with more than 690,000 cars sold under the program, that dealer says he's not expecting payment for another 30 to 45 days. 

Your tax money at work... overseas.... sigh....

GM to form China venture, invest $293 million

from another article in same publication..

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks slid worldwide, trimming a sixth straight monthly gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as lower metal and oil prices dragged down commodity shares and banks fell on concern their rally outpaced their profit outlook.

China led the global slump as the Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 6.7 percent, the most since June 2008, and entered a bear market. (Oh my gm... you burned us once, now you are trying it again.. hummmmm)

Alcoa Inc., Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. dropped as copper plunged the most in two months and crude fell below $70 a barrel. Morgan Stanley retreated 2.6 percent after Bank of America Corp. said the shares are expensive.

His track record, youngest Senator, most liberal, and tied to folks who make bad decisions... and absolutely NO wisdom from any experience whatsoever

Slowly... those who were smitten by his charming words, his race, his youth, his looks... are learning there is nothing there... no substance, nothing... and they are now beginning to wonder... Who is this man? Where are the promises? Where is the change? Where is "The President?"

I wonder often about the scene shown round the world on TV when he was running for office... one of many... I wonder whether the young black crying mother in front of the projects in Chicago with kids on her arms and very es tactic regarding this man's election and overwhelmed with his charisma and saying over and over "Now I have someone in office who understands me and my needs, HE will help me with my mortgage, he will help me with my car payment, he will help me with me groceries, I will not be alone" is now crying.. "What the &^*%! Bro!"

Happy Birthday Trisha...

after the big blow.. .whew....

almost....

Wonder what was said.. haha....

Success!!

Tisha's Birthday Celebration Sunday...

We got together to celebrate Trisha's Birthday Sunday... Phillip's, Heather's, and Jake and Isabella and Ann and I enjoyed a taco bar, and cake and ice cream... enjoyed visiting... and celebrating... Madison Ann and Aunt Trisha getting ready to put the big blow on the huge fire.... haha...

the winner... did an irish dance...

Halie Hooten...

the judges ... and a packed house.. around 400 + not counting in and outs...