Monday, February 09, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
Hummmmm.......... .darn.. thought I could just coast thru life.. haha...
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: was a German writer and polymath
Willing is not enough; we must do."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: was a German writer and polymath
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Secondhand Children
Secondhand Children
by Ann Coulter
Posted 02/04/2009 ET
It's been weeks since the last one, so on Sunday, The New York Times Magazine featured yet another cheery, upbeat article on single mothers. As with all its other promotional pieces on single motherhood over the years, the Times followed a specific formula to make this social disaster sound normal, blameless and harmless -- even brave.
These single motherhood advertisements include lots of conclusory statements to the effect that this is simply the way things are -- so get used to it, bourgeois America! "(A)n increasing number of unmarried mothers," the article explained, "look a lot more like Fran McElhill and Nancy Clark -- they are college-educated, and they are in their 30s, 40s and 50s."
Why isn't the number of smokers treated as a fait accompli that the rest of us just have to accept? Smoking causes a lot less damage and the harm befalls the person who chooses to smoke, not innocent children.
The Times' single motherhood endorsements always describe single mothers as the very picture of middle-class normality: "She grew up in blue-collar Chester County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, and talks like a local girl (long O's). Her father was a World War II vet who worked for a union and took his kids to Mass most Sundays." Even as a girl she dreamed of raising a baby with a 50 percent greater chance of growing up in poverty.
How about some articles on all the nice middle-class smokers whose fathers served in World War II and took them to Mass? Only when describing aberrant social behavior do Times writers even recognize what normality is, much less speak of it admiringly.
According to hysterical anti-smoking zealots at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking costs the nation $92 billion a year in "lost productivity." (Obviously these conclusions were produced by people who not only have never smoked, but also don't know any smokers, who could have told them smoking makes us 10 times more productive.)
Meanwhile, single motherhood costs taxpayers about $112 billion every year, according to a 2008 study by Georgia State University economist Benjamin Scafidi.
Smoking has no causal relationship to crime, has little effect on others and -- let's be honest -- looks cool. Controlling for income, education and occupation, it causes about 200,000 deaths per year, mostly of people in their 70s.
Single motherhood, by contrast, directly harms children, occurs at a rate of about 1.5 million a year and has a causal relationship to criminal behavior, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, sexual victimization and almost every other social disorder.
If a pregnant woman smokes or drinks, we blame her. But if a woman decides to have a fatherless child, we praise her as brave -- even though the outcome for the child is much worse.
Thus, the Times writes warmly of single mothers, always including an innocent explanation: "Many of these women followed a similar and familiar pattern in having their first child: They planned to marry, found they hadn't by their 30s, looked some more and then decided to have a child without a husband." At which point, a stork showed up with their babies.
So apparently, single motherhood could happen to anyone!
How about: These smokers followed a similar and familiar pattern, they planned never to start smoking, found themselves working long nights at the law firm and then decided to have a cigarette to stay alert.
Then there is the Times' reversal of cause and effect, which manages to exonerate the single mother while turning her into a victim: "The biggest reason that children born to unmarried mothers tend to have problems -- they're more likely to drop out of school and commit crimes -- is that they tend to grow up poor."
First, the reason the children "tend to grow up poor" is that their mothers considered it unnecessary to have a primary bread-earner in the family.
Second, the Times simply made up the fact that poverty, rather than single motherhood, causes anti-social behavior in children. Poverty doesn't cause crime -- single mothers do. If poverty caused crime, how did we get Bernie Madoff?
Studies -- including one by the liberal Progressive Policy Institute -- have shown that controlling for factors such as poverty and socioeconomic status, single motherhood accounts for the entire difference in black and white crime rates.
The Times' claim that poverty is the "biggest reason" for the problems of illegitimate children is on the order of claiming that the biggest reason that smokers develop heart disease and lung cancer is not because they smoke, but because they tend to work so hard. It's a half-baked, wishful-thinking theory contradicted by all known evidence. Other than that, it holds up pretty well.
Finally, the Times produced an imaginary statistic that is valid only in the sense that no study has specifically disproved it yet. "No one has shown," the Times triumphantly announced, "that there are similar risks for the children of college-educated single mothers by choice."
No one has shown that there are similar risks for smokers who run marathons, either. There are probably about as many college graduate single mothers by choice (7 percent) as there are smokers who run marathons. And, unlike single mothers, smokers who run marathons look really cool.
If the establishment media wrote about smoking the way they write about unwed motherhood, I think people would notice that they seem oddly hellbent on destroying as many lives as possible.
by Ann Coulter
Posted 02/04/2009 ET
It's been weeks since the last one, so on Sunday, The New York Times Magazine featured yet another cheery, upbeat article on single mothers. As with all its other promotional pieces on single motherhood over the years, the Times followed a specific formula to make this social disaster sound normal, blameless and harmless -- even brave.
These single motherhood advertisements include lots of conclusory statements to the effect that this is simply the way things are -- so get used to it, bourgeois America! "(A)n increasing number of unmarried mothers," the article explained, "look a lot more like Fran McElhill and Nancy Clark -- they are college-educated, and they are in their 30s, 40s and 50s."
Why isn't the number of smokers treated as a fait accompli that the rest of us just have to accept? Smoking causes a lot less damage and the harm befalls the person who chooses to smoke, not innocent children.
The Times' single motherhood endorsements always describe single mothers as the very picture of middle-class normality: "She grew up in blue-collar Chester County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, and talks like a local girl (long O's). Her father was a World War II vet who worked for a union and took his kids to Mass most Sundays." Even as a girl she dreamed of raising a baby with a 50 percent greater chance of growing up in poverty.
How about some articles on all the nice middle-class smokers whose fathers served in World War II and took them to Mass? Only when describing aberrant social behavior do Times writers even recognize what normality is, much less speak of it admiringly.
According to hysterical anti-smoking zealots at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking costs the nation $92 billion a year in "lost productivity." (Obviously these conclusions were produced by people who not only have never smoked, but also don't know any smokers, who could have told them smoking makes us 10 times more productive.)
Meanwhile, single motherhood costs taxpayers about $112 billion every year, according to a 2008 study by Georgia State University economist Benjamin Scafidi.
Smoking has no causal relationship to crime, has little effect on others and -- let's be honest -- looks cool. Controlling for income, education and occupation, it causes about 200,000 deaths per year, mostly of people in their 70s.
Single motherhood, by contrast, directly harms children, occurs at a rate of about 1.5 million a year and has a causal relationship to criminal behavior, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, sexual victimization and almost every other social disorder.
If a pregnant woman smokes or drinks, we blame her. But if a woman decides to have a fatherless child, we praise her as brave -- even though the outcome for the child is much worse.
Thus, the Times writes warmly of single mothers, always including an innocent explanation: "Many of these women followed a similar and familiar pattern in having their first child: They planned to marry, found they hadn't by their 30s, looked some more and then decided to have a child without a husband." At which point, a stork showed up with their babies.
So apparently, single motherhood could happen to anyone!
How about: These smokers followed a similar and familiar pattern, they planned never to start smoking, found themselves working long nights at the law firm and then decided to have a cigarette to stay alert.
Then there is the Times' reversal of cause and effect, which manages to exonerate the single mother while turning her into a victim: "The biggest reason that children born to unmarried mothers tend to have problems -- they're more likely to drop out of school and commit crimes -- is that they tend to grow up poor."
First, the reason the children "tend to grow up poor" is that their mothers considered it unnecessary to have a primary bread-earner in the family.
Second, the Times simply made up the fact that poverty, rather than single motherhood, causes anti-social behavior in children. Poverty doesn't cause crime -- single mothers do. If poverty caused crime, how did we get Bernie Madoff?
Studies -- including one by the liberal Progressive Policy Institute -- have shown that controlling for factors such as poverty and socioeconomic status, single motherhood accounts for the entire difference in black and white crime rates.
The Times' claim that poverty is the "biggest reason" for the problems of illegitimate children is on the order of claiming that the biggest reason that smokers develop heart disease and lung cancer is not because they smoke, but because they tend to work so hard. It's a half-baked, wishful-thinking theory contradicted by all known evidence. Other than that, it holds up pretty well.
Finally, the Times produced an imaginary statistic that is valid only in the sense that no study has specifically disproved it yet. "No one has shown," the Times triumphantly announced, "that there are similar risks for the children of college-educated single mothers by choice."
No one has shown that there are similar risks for smokers who run marathons, either. There are probably about as many college graduate single mothers by choice (7 percent) as there are smokers who run marathons. And, unlike single mothers, smokers who run marathons look really cool.
If the establishment media wrote about smoking the way they write about unwed motherhood, I think people would notice that they seem oddly hellbent on destroying as many lives as possible.
lookie what is headed to MOFFAT PARK
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heard that Missy is getting you some of these little bubbles... so stay tuned.... might need to up your blood pressure I hear... hahaha...
yeah right!
Happy Birthday!
Concert review: Movie star Kevin Costner brings country-rock to Wormy Dog Saloon
By Brandy McDonnell - Entertainment Writer
Published: February 4, 2009
Buzz up!
Kevin Costner received a fervent greeting worthy of a movie star Tuesday night from the capacity crowd at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Bricktown.
He and his band Modern West made music that sometimes warranted the loud and avid cheers, especially when he was growling along to country-rockers powered by a scorching fiddle, soulful harmonica and grinding guitars.
The sold-out crowd numbering abou t 750 – people were trying to buy tickets right up until the moment the show started — jammed the ground level of the Bricktown venue and howled with excitement when Costner quietly took the stage with a boyish grin and laid-back wave. The unexpectedly diverse audience — the crowd ranged from the expected throng of middle-aged men and women to folks who looked barely old enough to meet the Wormy Dog’s 21-and-older requirement — was clearly thrilled to see the Oscar winner up close.
Dressed casually in a dark ball cap and black button-down shirt, Costner, 54, quickly acknowledged the reason for the enthusiastic welcome.
“Before I go any further here I want to thank you for going to the movies all these years,” he said before launching into the first song.
The band opened with a rumbling rendition of “R ed River,” from ‘90s Midwestern roots rockers The BoDeans, and Costner revealed a gravelly singing voice startlingly different from the modulated tones so familiar from his films. He kept rasping and his talented six-man band kept rocking through the first few songs, including “5 Minutes from America,” about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and “Long Hot Night,” about losing a love and living with mistakes.
The actor-turned-musician shared stories about his family’s Oklahoma roots, telling about ancestors who traveled from the East to the state Panhandle on the Trail of Tears and his grandfather’s Dust Bowl pilgrimage from Oklahoma to California.
“You don’t get more Midwestern than mid-Oklahoma ... and sometimes it’s easy to think about this place in other terms, but some of the most resourceful, toughest people in the world come from here,” he said.
In between crooning and strumming his acoustic guitar, Costner often launched in rambling stories about his family or the roots of the band’s original songs. But his tales could barely be heard over the clinking of beer bottles, the chattering of patrons and the shuffling of boots at the Wormy Dog.
“I know that last story was as long as my movies but tough s- - -,” Costner joked with a grin after weaving a long Dust Bowl yarn. “I’ve a got a few more but I probably won’t tell ‘em.”
By the fourth song, the road anthem “90 Miles an Hour,” Costner’s voice had settled into a markedly mellower and less distinctive tone as the band shifted into a series of middle-of-the-road introspective country-rockers. The midtempo, ‘80s-tinged heartland rock songs all seemed to blend together, and the crowd’s biggest cheer came when Costner referenced his beloved film “Field of Dreams” on the track “Every Intention.”
“Who would have thought a little movie like that would have gone this far, but that’s what movies can do when they’re at their best,” Costner said, dedicating the song “for anyone who’s ever waited too long.”
The band redeemed its set with the old-fashioned country ballad “Down in Nogales,” which had Costner channeling Marty Robbins, along with the testosterone-fueled NASCAR tribute “Backyard” and the raucous drinking song sing-along “Saturday Night.” One of the highlights was the debut of a new song, a seductive country-rocker called “Maria May.”
Costner had only to spread his arms and grin winningly at the crowd to earn avid shouts, but violinist Bobby Yang proved the scene-stealer, amazing the audience with his fleet and furious fiddle work. The crowd demanded an encore the=2 0moment the band left the stage, and Costner and Co. quickly returned for four more songs.
The band finished on a strong note with a rollicking country-fried cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” which got the crowd crooning along.
“It was a privilege to be here and see you at the movies,” Costner said as he bid the crowd farewell.
Costner & Modern West received able assistance from opening act the Paula Nelson Band. The Austin, Texas, band, led by smoky-voiced singer-songwriter Paula Nelson, set a rocking tone with its electric Southern rockers “Baby You’re Mean,” “Standing Tall” and “Fire Below.” Again, it was a Dylan cover that got the crowd singing along, as Nelson and George Devore produced terrific harmony on20a country-fied version “It Ain’t Me Babe.”
The band’s diminutive front woman, daughter of country legend Willie Nelson, easily showed off powerfully bluesy pipes that bore no small resemblance to her famous father’s singular voice.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
My good (?) friend has a new toy... sigh, before I do... hehe....
but I am really happy for him. This phone rocks!!!
congrats Craig.... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO!!!
“Put That Coffee Down! Coffee’s for Closers Only.”*
Feb.03
*From Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992.
Nothing happens until someone sells something. I mean, nothing. I’m not referring solely to the selling of products and services; I’m talking about selling yourself—your ideas, opinions, values, desires and objectives. There is nothing you can obtain in the human experience without the skills of selling or influence.
We learned how to sell before we even learned how to speak. We learned quickly that we can influence the attention and actions of our parents with the right facial expressions or the appropriate cry. They are methods we used to sell or make someone do what we wanted. Children are some of the most effective salespeople there are. A child who wants ice cream or a toy in a grocery store aisle will apply every selling skill in the book, with relentless persistence, until he or she closes the sale. Children know how to overcome objections, push through stall tactics, handle rejection, seek the higher authority, not take no for an answer and continue to ask for the order until the deal is sealed.
Here is what’s most important to understand: We all sell, all day, every day. It always tickles me when someone says, “Oh, I’m not a salesperson.” Then they launch into a detailed “sales” presentation with all the reasons and supporting points to back up their assertion. We all make several dozen sales presentations every day, whether it is selling a friend to go see a movie we are excited about or to try a new restaurant. Maybe you are selling your boss on why you were late, why you need a day off or why you need a raise. And maybe the most important sale you will make is why the person of your dreams and desires needs to pick YOU to spend the rest of their life with. You’d better know how to sell.
Even parents, most especially parents, need to refine and master their selling skills. Parents need to sell their children on their principles and values… before the drug dealer on the street corner sells them his.
George knows!!
George Foreman's philosophies for success in your life:
- Belief: "You have to have something you believe in. It could be someone you believe in, too. But at least have something you believe in and you cannot be talked out of by dollars and cents."
- Integrity: "You must preserve the quality of your name, your integrity. You don't want to lie about anything. And it's something that people will be happy about once they get to know you. Because people count on you."
- Sales: "Learn to sell and you'll never starve."
- Resilience: "You're going to fail if you do enough business. But you can always come back because you've got some integrity, and people need that."
- Persistence: "It may take a year, it may take three or four years, but you're going to hit something so you have something to put on the table for your family."
- Legacy: "You want to leave something, you really do. I mean, in the end, statues and all those things, they don't mean anything. Leave something that we're all going to benefit from."
ZING ZING ZING.....
"You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure."
— Zig Ziglar
— Zig Ziglar
Monday, February 02, 2009
From Jonathan this am... how cool... Dylan will be wanting that Corvette soon Dad!
"Kaitlyn is really loving her new bedroon suite.
And we put Kaitlyn's toddler bed in Dylan's room and he took a nap on it yesterday and slept the whole night on it last night!! It was a pretty big deal for him to be able to wake up this morning and walk himself into mommy and daddy's bedroom! Haha..
Later"
And we put Kaitlyn's toddler bed in Dylan's room and he took a nap on it yesterday and slept the whole night on it last night!! It was a pretty big deal for him to be able to wake up this morning and walk himself into mommy and daddy's bedroom! Haha..
Later"
My goodness how fast they grow... Love to all... We are proud of you Dylan... Kaitlyn, what is it like to have your own bedroom suite...???
smiling as I go... now this is the fuel that fires up Grandpa and Grandma's engines...
Not sure who is the most amazed... Isabella because I took her pic or Mom because Isabella is so awesome!
Some super bowl game huh? Regardless of the outcome, one truly feels the millionaire's playing the game truly were working for a change on both sides.... but I remember the first one and I was amazed that grown men played that hard, and now looking back I really am amazed by that first game - very little padding and protection - no points for style - and very little pay compared to today, and I swear, they played every bit as hard and with a great degree of determination because they loved the game.
Jake, Trisha and Isabella dropped in and watched most of the game with us. And for those of you who know Jake, he actually watched some of it.. haha...
On another subject, I am not sure if our new President realizes he is indeed the newly elected PRESIDENT OF THE USA. I know it's cool to dress down, but I am here to tell you one thing. I expect those I seek guidance from, or leadership from, or whom hold offices I respect, to show respect for the office. I am NOT ready to see Barack Hussein dress like he has NO respect for the office of the President or this land. Perhaps he is not on the same page as his wife who only upon his running for President realized she was finally proud to be an American... wow, these folks never cease to amaze me... I absolutely believe my President should dress and act like MY PRESIDENT... Show some respect for the office... and for those of us you govern, please stop dumbing down my country I love! Grow up! The world is full of prepy dudes and dudettes who show no respect and use no manners!
ok off my soapbox...
What a wonderful time we are having with this SPRING weather, huh? Get ready because with this warm weather comes big time storms, when and if we get some moisture in this area! Getting closer to garden time too... this fat man needs some work outside.. need to saw down some trees and work near the spring some. Joe, one of the welders at Jake's work place, is making a good looking holder for the awesome sign to hang in our "park" thanks to Missy and Craig... Moffat Park has a name and sign, and Joe is fixing the hanging piece to hold it. I have grandiose ideas for art in our park, but not sure I can pull it off, will just have to see.
OK.. 'nough about me, how bout you??
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
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