Crying For Our Children

I went to these sites and they were very mind-effecting and felt I needed to spread the word. So please don't pass on reading the links that go with this post... Thank-You!

RealVoices;"Click on "A Mothers Tears;"to view our TV spot. If you had a minute to say anything you wanted to George W. Bush in front of thousands of American voters, what would you say? Chastise him for his foolish military adventure in Iraq? Scold him for domestic policies that hurt average Americans while enriching the few? Or just urge him to be honest with the American people for a change? We think about that question a lot, We regard the war in Iraq to be George Bush's greatest betrayal of the American people. It has greatly increased the risk of terrorism, damaged our international prestige, and caused the greatest losses to individual families. American democracy: a chance to be the real citizens of America... The ones George Bush prays you won't hear... A platform to talk back to the President, in front of thousands of American voters. Democracy doesn't get any simpler or more direct than that. And all we need to make it work is you. Ask: George W. Bush? What? 50,000 voters want to know! "

Just Like To Thank Mr. Bush

"Thanks a lot, you've been successful in making politics a dirty word, there has been an endless stream of lying, hate-spewing right-wing messengers. There was Mr. Gingrich. It takes a real man to cheat on a wife fighting cancer. I'm really not pro-abortion, I'm pro-choice. Let the woman explain it to God. She may have a good reason. How about old Rush? Isn't he a great example for all young kids that happen to see or read the news? What do these kids think when they hear their parents glorifying him? Let's hope that none of them have memories or actually think that what he does or says can be considered as the right thing to do, or the right way to think or be. All you that vote that way because of the tax breaks that Bush has given you, well, you have given that back many times with the 75 cents per gallon more for gas that you have been paying at the pump. I personally don't think that making the fat cats fatter will ever trickle down to a single one of you. I think that good-paying jobs, workplace safety and health benefits should be more of a priority. Unions have given us higher paying jobs, better benefits and safer workplaces. This is not an area that the Bush supports. If you want to keep your good paying job or ever hope to get one, then you better start supporting the party that supports unionizing."

Military Families Need Your Help

I posted this because, I feel something needs to be done to stop this war!! And if it takes something like this to do it then so be it!

Read on.........

SpeakOut; "Military Families who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military. We were formed in November of 2002 and have contacts with military families throughout the United States, and in other countries around the world. As people with family members and loved ones in the military, we have both a special need and a unique role to play in speaking out against war in Iraq. It is our loved ones who are, or have been, or will be on the battlefront. It is our loved ones who are risking injury and death. It is our loved ones who are returning scarred from their experiences. It is our loved ones who will have to live with the injuries and deaths among innocent Iraqi civilians. If you have family members or loved ones in the military and you are opposed to this war, join us. Send us an e-mail at: mfso@mfso.org Please, if you know someone who is obligated to join the war, at home or as a soldier, do not offer your pride. Instead, express your sorrow at their personal situation, ask if you can help, and work to ensure that needless wars are never again started by our country. Click Speakout-Link: for information about the legal challenge to President Bush's right to take the country to war without a Congressional Declaration of War.

Prisoners break out of jail using towel rope

Rio De Janeiro; "50 prisoners have escaped from jail using a rope made of sheets and towels in the city's second mass breakout in four days. Prisoners of the jail made a hole in the ceiling of the cellblock and used a rope to climb the wall of the jail before dawn on Sunday. Officials at the penitentiary suspected guards had been paid to turn a blind eye as the wall was not staffed during the escape. Corruption is widespread in Brazilian prisons as guards are poorly paid, while powerful drug gangs often use money and intimidation to free their comrades."

Well aren't we glad that our President spends so much of our tax-payers money, to build so many prisons.. Hell the way our country is heading now... Soon...We'll all be working at a prison, some where...Or living in one, as their won't be much hope in anything else...But...Crime or cheaply paid-Guard Duty!!

Killer Denied Makeup In Jail

sfgate;" Australia- Prison officials Thursday rejected a mass murderer's application to be allowed to wear makeup while serving his 30-year sentence. The ruling came after secret negotiations between Paul Denyer and prison officials. Denyer-31, was convicted of stabbing and strangling three young women during a three-week killing spree in Melbourne in 1993. Since being imprisoned 11 years ago, he has made headlines by asking for a sex change and demanding the right to wear makeup. His request for a sex change was also rejected."

Well if you ask me..Why would I or anyone else want to give him anything after what he did? Also He killed 3-women! Why would he want to become one, let alone wear make-up. This man is sick in my view I'm sorry!

Cemetery Puts in Artificial Turf

Calif;" Sunset Hills Memorial Park cemetery is giving up grass in favor of artificial turf. It's a move owners believe will save as much as $180,000 in water and maintenance costs over the next three years. The cemetery is the final resting place for cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. "I actually believe it will revolutionize the cemetery industry eventually," said Sunset Hills co-owner. He knows of no other cemetery that uses artificial turf. Artificial grass has several benefits besides saving money on water and maintenance costs. The most important thing for a cemetery is to look good at all times, to look beautiful inside."

Tell me, What is beautiful about... Plastic Grass ? I don't know if I like the ideal of going to a cemetery and everything is fake! So what if it cost money to water, mow and make the grass look nice! That why they charge us so much in the first place isn't it? So I wonder how much $money$, they will slap on the cost to the poor families, of the people they lay to rest in their -Plastic grounds....Huh?

Memories

"The democrats will never get over losing the 2000 election. The election was stolen by George W. Bush with the aid of his brother, Jeb. Never before in the history of the United States has a president been appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court. You evidently believe George W. Went to Florida three times in three weeks to see the damage done by the hurricanes. I believe he went to Florida three times to check on brother Jeb to see if he has successfully arranged to have all voting machines programmed to vote Republican and just happened to look out the window of Air Force One and saw the damage. But if you truly believe that he went to see the damage done by the hurricane, and you think I'm wrong. Then, would you be interested in buying some leftover... Bull-Dung?..Well!

Woman Wandering Wearing Only Bra & Knickers

New Zealand's;" Searchers were out at first light looking for a woman who disappeared after being taken in by good samaritans The woman was last seen wearing only a bra and knickers, when she was found walking down a road by a local couple. They took the 25-year-old woman in and gave her a bed but police said within 20 minutes she had disappeared, raising fears for her safety because she was so lightly dressed. Police said the woman appeared to have been drinking or on drugs although her family had told police that would be totally out of character. "The people who took her in were not too sure what one it was (drink or drugs). "That was their observation that she wasn't 100 per cent and it was one of the two, that she must have been on something."

Okay... If you ask me this sounds fishy? From what I have read, the only people that knew for sure that this women was wearing only under/clothing is the couple! And they claim they toke her home and put her to bed....Okay, are they sure that was all? Just don't make any sense to me that someone would walk-out into the night with nothing on but under-wear, let alone pick-up a stranger walking around without any clothes on and not take her to the police, or hospital..What do you think?

Baby Boomer Era

Here's something for everyone to chew on...If you like Bush then you'll be doing the Happy-Dance, here in a few short weeks! If you want Kerry.. Then you better get your butt-out their and your not-dead yet...Gramma. And for vote for Kerry or you have no one to blame but yourself...

Walker;" It must be tough being a baby boomer president, or presidential candidate. From Bill Clinton through George W. Bush and on to the next few elections, the candidates will have been raised in an atmosphere of radical social change. Flower children, recreational drugs, sexual permissiveness and changing attitudes on everything from race relations and gender definitions to America's military role. They've experienced it all. Now those times are coming back to haunt the candidates. Vietnam, pop drugs, service to country. Forests disappear as authors crank out exposes on candidates' pasts, and television is abuzz with political soap opera. It's ironic that their forebears who lived in presumably more circumspect times. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, did not get the personal scrutiny today's candidates endure, even though each had skeletons rattling in his closet. Of course, media wasn't as pervasive then and there was a gentleman's agreement that what a man did in his private life or younger days was his business. That agreement reached dangerous extremes when the press failed to expose how gravely ill Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were during their terms. Barring any extraordinary events or huge gaffes, both of which could happen. George W. Bush will be re-elected. The popular vote will be close, but not as close as 2000. Bush will win by at least several hundred thousand votes. The Electoral College won't be that close. Most of the important toss-up states will go to Bush. John Kerry has failed to ignite the enthusiasm of undecided voters, who will opt for the familiarity of the incumbent rather than the uncertainties of the challenger, even if they're not 100 percent sold on the man in office. 2008? Let's repeal the 22nd Amendment so Bill Clinton can run against George Bush........Whoa, doggie! Pop the corn and ice down the beer! Wouldn't that be a humdinger?"

School Mistakes Shirt Slogan For Drugs

This happen about 2-years ago, with my son his first year in- Jr. High. School administrator called saying, they needed me to come into school and to bring an extra shirt for my son.. Wouldn't say why? So I went to the school thinking he did something to the one he had on, only to be confronted with the comment of asking.. Why I let my child wear a shirt with That on it!! And I said what? What they were referring to was on the front of my son's shirt he had a screen-printing of a Alien taken a nap under a red colored mushroom which I bought a J.C. Pennys. I knew when they pointed it out... Where they were going with this? I wanted them to say it, and they wouldn't..LOL So I pretended to play dumb! Well least to say my son wore the shirt the rest of the day, but I made sure he never wore it to school again because of how they felt about it!!

sfgate; "The town of Hempstead, N.Y., has a message for administrators: Before you target a student wearing a Hempstead shirt, look at a map. A student in Grayson High School, was weeded out of a classroom by a school administrator because he wore a shirt that read: "Hempstead, NY 516," a reference to the Long Island town and its telephone area code. According to the family, which moved from Hempstead to the Atlanta suburb, the school thought the shirt referred to marijuana. Student wasn't allowed to return to class until he persuaded school officials to search the Internet for the town's name. Hempstead is the nation's largest township, with 759,000 residents spread across 22 villages and more than 142 square miles. The hemp plant is related to the marijuana plant, and its fiber has been used for centuries to make rope and other products. But it contains small amounts of THC, the substance that gets people high, and U.S. farmers are barred by federal law from growing hemp."

Storm over free tea

London;" Britain's much-loved cup of tea has been deemed too costly to give out free to military staff. The Ministry of Defence sent a memo asking employees to log every cup of tea or coffee they drink so their department can be charged for the beverages. One staff member, speaking anonymously, that workers initially wondered if the plan was a joke. But the government defended its decision. "The days of a tea trolley coming round giving out free tea are long over."

Geez..Money must really be getting tight if even the English, are being petty over a cup of Tea..LOL

We Count The Dead And Dying - Why?

I think the words to this great songwriters, song says it better, then I could....

READ ON >>>>

vote-for-change;" DEJA VU (ALL OVER AGAIN) Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio, did you try to read the writing on the wall. Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before, It's like Deja Vu all over again.
Day by day I hear the voices rising, started with a whisper like it did before. Day by day we count the dead and dying, ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score.
Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio, could your eyes believe the writing on the wall. Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before, It's like Deja Vu all over again.
One by one I see the old ghosts rising, stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy where the light gets dim. Day after day, another Momma's crying, she's lost her precious child to a war that has no end.
Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio, did you stop to read the writing at The Wall! Did that voice inside you say, I've seen this all before.It's like Deja Vu all over again .......It's like Deja Vu all over again
By: John Fogerty-(singer & writer)

Judge Has Party, Sentences Fugitive

Come-on I thought this was funny...At least she showed him she cared and missed him, most people don't get half that much for their Birthdays. Mines coming up here real soon wonder if those that know me will remember?...LOL

PeoplePC;"A judge welcomed a former fugitive back to her courtroom with balloons, streamers and a cake before sentencing him to life in prison. "You just made my day when I heard you had finally come home," Judge Faith Johnson told Billy Wayne Williams, who had been convicted in absentia of aggravated assault after he disappeared a year ago. "We're so excited to see you, we're throwing a party for you." Williams, 53, who has a criminal record dating to the 1970s, was accused of choking his girlfriend until she passed out. He failed to appear for his trial last November and was finally captured Thursday at a gas station in suburban Arlington. Before he was brought into the courtroom on Monday, the judge directed staff members as they placed balloons and streamers around the courtroom. A colorful cake was decorated with his name and one candle to signify the year he spent on the lam. "It seems like everyone wants to have a party, and it's fun for you people, but not for me," Williams told reporters as he was led away in handcuffs. Seana Willing, executive director of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, said she found the incident troubling. "It's the kind of thing I look at and scratch my head and wonder, `What was she thinking?'" Willing said. She questioned whether the party violated standards of decorum and impartiality. "The whole purpose of it was to mock him, to make him feel bad. I guess she could have put him in the stockade, in the pillory, in front of the town square and let people mock him," Willing said. Willing said the commission will investigate if a complaint is filed, or can decide on its own to look into the matter. Judges found guilty of misconduct face a range of discipline, from private admonition to removal from the bench. She said Johnson had never been disciplined by the regulatory agency. Calls to the judge's office were not immediately returned Tuesday. Trent Touchstone, a supervisory deputy U.S. marshal, said Johnson took a special interest in Williams' case after he jumped bail that she had set following the 2002 assault. "Put yourself in her position," Touchstone said. "She's going through a trial with a jury, with defense attorneys, with prosecutors and rolling along and one day the defendant decides not to show up, and everything comes to a screeching halt."

Wanna Date A P-Star ?

FYI.com;" Have you ever wanted to [escort] a hot looking porn star? Sure, we all have. But unless you are a fellow porn star or a suitcase pimp, the chances of actually fulfilling your dream is as slim as Ted Kennedy being invited to Mary Jo Kopechne's family reunion. However, while traversing the Internet came across, this... Montana is one of the hottest women in the industry today, and like a few other stars, she also works as an escort on the side. That's right guys, for a small "donation" you can have porn superstar Montana Gunn be your "escort" for a few hours or even an entire weekend! The location of your "escort" is up to you. she'll travel any place in the world! Having a chance to be "escorted" by a porn star, why, it's a dream come true! Did we mention the "donation?" Have you won the lottery? For the meager "donation" of $2000 she will "escort" you for 2 HOURS! Hold it, we know what you are thinking, "Hey, that's a little high." She is a smart businessperson. She knows that the higher the "donation" is she must give her "benefactor" an incentive. If she "escorts" you for four hours, the "donation" is only $3900, AND the fifth hour is FREE! For you really big "benefactors" out there, try having, her "escort" you for $9000 for twenty-four hours. If you can afford a 9K "donation," for an insignificant "donation" of just $13,600 she will "escort" you for a whole weekend! Now that's a lot of "escorting."

One bit of information I didn't find her anywhere on the web site when I wandered thru it, but this is what the name of the charity is that your donation" goes to....Okay Guys!! Get out your check-books. Borrow against your car, at the Pawn shop...Hurry!! So you can say you finally had a date with a Porn-Star...lol

PROTECTING INEEL'S POWER SYSTEMS

NBC-6;"Computer experts at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are using homeland security grants to help protect critical power control systems from hackers. Power systems used to be separated from the outside. But as they link to the Internet, they're more vulnerable to attack. INEEL's new Control Systems Security & Test Center tests power systems codes for weaknesses, and makes recommendations for changes. Robert Hoffman is the manager of the INEEL's cyber security research department. He says the agency's own network gets as many as 7,000 attacks every day. That's how they became experienced in cyber security. Now they're using the expertise they built to help other critical utilities bolster their own network."

I know people who work at INEEL, from where I live it is like maybe a hours drive at the most! It a scary thought in my mind after post the article I found about all the things that are happening over the Inter-net and how easy it is for someone to do something if they just slip in with the right code or password. I have gotten to the point even with my E-mail box, if I am in question? I delete it or mark-spam it, to just be safe!

Messages of Terror

I know this is a really long post but, felt it was worth reading as it is some pretty heavy stuff to think about. As we all know who spend a lot of time on the inter-net also receiving mail, thru the E-mail systems today on-line. Abit scary to me when I think about what this article says and ,Yes how easy it is to do things over the inter-net and thru chat-rooms today...

washingtonpost;"He calls himself Abu Maysara al Iraqi, or father of Maysara the Iraqi, and he's a master at being everywhere and nowhere in the virtual world, constantly switching his online accounts and taking advantage of new technologies to issue his communiqués to the world. American Internet sleuths know next to nothing about him, whether Abu Maysara is his real name, whether he's an Iraqi or even whether he's in Iraq. What is clear is that he is one of the most important sources of information from the country's insurgency, getting his message out through the Internet, and U.S. authorities are trying to silence him. His updates, terse and businesslike, are released several times a week on radical Islamic Web sites. Acting as a spokesman for Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most wanted guerrilla leader in Iraq, he variously reports attacks on U.S. soldiers and killings of hostages. His words and images reach millions of people when they open their newspapers, turn on their TV's or go online in search of news. There's no way of stopping it anymore, "It's extremely frustrating. They can send out quality videos to millions of people uncensored." As the 2004 presidential election approaches, the Bush administration finds itself in a propaganda war, trying to promote a picture of security and progress in Iraq. Half a dozen federal agencies have assigned teams to monitor sites that carry postings from Abu Maysara and other radicals. The Justice Department has tried, with limited success, to use the authority of the Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to shut down Internet sites that carry such postings, on grounds that they incite violence. Another problem is that U.S. legal authority stops at the borders. Many of the sites with the target postings are located in other countries, so U.S. officials must depend on the good will of foreign governments to shut down the sites. Radical groups have also used the Internet to research potential targets, communicate with each other, plan attacks and raise money. After the 2001 attacks in the United States, federal agents found a lengthy electronic trail. They believe that the hijackers coordinated their movements via e-mail, booked their tickets online and used the network to research such subjects as how to spread pesticides by air, has allowed terrorists to wage psychological warfare as never before, because they have direct control over shaping their own image and that of their foes. The beheading videos, for instance, are set up like a stage. Many of the sites are as slick as those of Fortune 500 corporations. One radical Islamic site displays pictures of President Bush and his main ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, with stitches covering their bodies and promises that this scene will be "coming soon." It also urges boycotts of Coca-Cola Co., Nike Inc. And other U.S. corporations with an extensive presence overseas. With more than 1 billion linked computers, the Internet is an ideal hiding place for underground groups. The technology allows users to mask their identities and change them on a whim by throwing away old e-mail accounts and creating new ones. Location can be hidden by hopping virtually from computer to computer. A message that appears to come from Australia, for instance, may actually come from someone who has accessed the Australian computer by going through the Netherlands via South Korea after originating in Jordan. Secrecy is helped by the proliferation of free e-mail and Web hosting services that require users to give a minimal amount of information, which is rarely verified. Terrorism investigators first began to see the name Abu Maysara in January in the Muntada Al-Ansar and Islah chat rooms, which are password-protected and only available to users who pass a background screening interview with a battery of questions including such things as whether they have ever attacked U.S. citizens and whether they have been imprisoned. Abu Maysara confirmed Zarqawi's presence in Iraq and took credit for several attacks on U.S. and other coalition troops. Investigators believe it was the Ansar site that, in May, carried the first video depicting the beheading of Nicholas Berg, the young Pennsylvania businessman who was in the country looking to make money repairing radio towers. For months, U.S. agents had been chasing the site, which was once based in Alexandria. By the time Berg was killed, the site had been moved to Malaysia. Authorities managed to get it shut down again, but only temporarily. Ansar recently reappeared on a server in West Lafayette, Ind. In June, the government's legal assaults suffered a setback when a computer programmer in Idaho was acquitted of a criminal charge that he had run a Web site that included edicts calling for violence. Feeling the pressure, Abu Maysara has been experimenting with new ways to get his message out effectively, investigators said. The problem with the Berg posting was that it was relatively easy for authorities to stop its distribution because it was only placed on one or two Web sites. E-mailing the video was out of the question because the file was too large. Abu Maysara could not use the free Web hosting services from Yahoo or other companies because those services limited the number of people who can view a file. But some time last month, Abu Maysara found a silver bullet, a technology called YouSendIt. Developed by three Canadian programmers in Silicon Valley in California, it allows senders to create multiple links to a large file so it can be viewed by an unlimited number of people. Users type in their e-mail addresses, upload the file and YouSendIt creates a free, anonymous Web page for them. To distribute videos of the contractors who were kidnapped this month, Abu Maysara created dozens of links using YouSendIt and sent them to chat rooms all over the Internet. He compressed the files, or made them as small as possible, investigators said, so that they could be copied more quickly. By the time U.S. officials got word of the videos, they had been anonymously copied from computer to computer as fast as a Top 10 music hit would have been during the peak of the music service Napster's operations -- making it impossible to locate, much less destroy, all the copies of the video. Khalid Shaikh, president of YouSendIt Inc., based in Campbell, Calif., said he created the program to help families trade pictures and videos and to help colleagues at work share files such as multimedia presentations. He said he was surprised and saddened to hear that the technology was being used to spread violent messages. Shaikh said he had not been contacted by any law enforcement authority regarding the use of his service by terrorists but that he would be eager to help U.S. officials. But, he said, since there are more than 1 million file transfers a day on YouSendIt, it would be impossible for the company to monitor them all. "It's almost like policing a society," he said. He also said the company's philosophy is to let users monitor each other. The company recently added technology to allow viewers to have a link deleted if they deem it offensive. The messages from Abu Maysara follow a rigid format. They are always in Arabic and open with a standard greeting such as, "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." Then comes the heart of the message, written in flowery language, recounting an attack. Abu Maysara favors ellipses, writes in half-sentences and mixes the details of an incident with religious invocations. In some chat rooms, Abu Maysara and his collaborators are hailed as heroes. On Sept. 22, after he announced the beheading of Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, a native of Hillsdale, Mich., dozens of people on one Web site thanked him and Zarqawi. "I love you, I love you, O slaughtering Sheikh!" one person wrote, according to a translation by the SITE Institute. Another said that he would "pray to Allah that He protect you, O Mujahideen of Iraq." On occasion, chat room participants act like fans and pummel Abu Maysara with questions about his background and how and why he joined the group, said Kohlmann, the terrorism expert. All they get from Abu Maysara is silence. "He doesn't respond to requests for information. He's never replied to any message. He's almost like a robot," Kohlmann said. "He never gets involved in the discussion. He never explains himself." Still, many of the people who read Abu Maysara's postings follow up with advice about new attack strategies. In the past, Katz said, Abu Maysara seemed to ignore them, but in recent days Katz noticed something that was either a remarkable coincidence or a change in Abu Maysara's habits. In a posting on Sept. 22 at 3:46 a.m., time zone unspecified, a person calling himself Nimr suggested that the group make Kenneth Bigley, the 62-year-old British citizen who had been kidnapped with Armstrong and another American, Jack Hensley, 48, of Marietta, Ga., beg for his life to the "tyrant." A few days later, a clip appeared on the Web site with a distraught Bigley pleading to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save him."

Nobody Warned Me About My Panties

Humor:"Somebody get Homeland Security on the horn. I have been terrorized. Who knew that karaoke was more deadly than second-hand smoke? It could be classified as a Weapon of Mass Destruction. If I had been holding a ball-point, I would have plunged it directly into my own brain. (The lobotomy is very under-rated.) My last lucid words would have been, "Honey, get me a lap-robe and a drool cup." It started out innocently enough. Tony the Boyfriend and I met at an "undisclosed location." (Dick Cheney was eerily absent.) We were still in the parking lot, when I heard this ... sound. I would describe this ... sound, but, I can't. It was indescribable. It made Fingernails on a Chalkboard my new favorite song. Why we continued on and went in, I will never know. I guess it was the allure of the cocktail. Inside, that ... sound was louder. The bartender took our order and asked, with great concern, if I was alright. I said, "Excuse me, I'm just passing a kidney stone. I think the sound waves broke it up." Now, don't get me wrong. There are some fine karaoke performers out there, so before the Karaoke Enthusiasts of Pocatello (K.E.P.) "Hit Me With Their Best Shot," I say right now, "I salute you. I enjoy you. You're hunky-freakin'-dory." But, Good Lord, why would you encourage the totally tone-deaf with enthusiastic applause? (Sorry. I meant the Melodically Challenged.) Aren't we supposed to tell friends when they have a hunk of green stuff in their teeth? What about an open fly? What about a goober? Ohhh ... it happens and you know it. Only the Melodically Challenged are left behind. Sally Struthers could do an infomercial. (She probably needs the work.) "...You can help the Melodically Challenged for only 60 cents a day. Less than a cup of coffee ..." If only Sally had been in my corner that one day. That one terrible day. I was running late. I grabbed my pink fleece jacket out of the dryer, slammed it on and I was off like a shot. I went to the Common Cents for gas, Waremart for limes. I went to four or five other places before I got to the bank. Oh, yeah. I was talking to people and carrying on (but I kept thinking, 'What is going on with my back??! What is that on my back??!') and was in a huge rush. I was standing in line at the bank when I felt something fall off my back. Instinctively, I looked down. There ... on the floo ... lay my date-night panties. They had been plastered to my back the whole time due to static cling. Take a moment now, break into individual study groups and try to imagine the level my mortification. My Lord, how many people had seen my date-night panties??!!! And they have video surveillance at the bank!!! It all was very, very terrible. I became a big fan of dryer sheets that afternoon, but the most disturbing part was that nobody told me I had panties on my back. Not one person was my friend that day. A real friend is supposed to tell you. Which brings us back to: Friends don't let Melodically Challenged Friends Sing Karaoke. I want to see bumper stickers. Take it, Sally! "Thank you, Pammy. And, thanks to everyone for joining me today on this special edition of 'Shut Up!' (Going to camera two.) Every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world, someone plunges a ball-point pen directly into their own brain. (Let's go to camera three.) Please ... Help the Non-Tone-Deaf .. .before it's too late. Back to you, Pam." Thanks, Sal. And if I ever see you with panties on your back, I'll tell you, because I want to be a good friend. That Is All."

Pamela Petty is the former owner of the Backstage Bar in Pocatello, and she writes a letter to the Pocatello News-paper about twice a month and they are always funny and worth the time it takes to read them, they make you laugh I feel. Hope you enjoy her stuff as much as I do..

Turn on the Radio

Deja va; " I know a lot of you may be wondering why I posted something in bad view against Kerry? Well because I would like to see him get off his butt and start telling me more of what his plans are, sure he is promising me all kinds of things. And even saying he'll stop the war...But I want more details from this man before I give him my vote!

It's taken John Kerry far too long to be clear that George Bush's invasion of Iraq was wrong, and he can't waste any more time getting to the point that the continued occupation of Iraq will also be a disaster, no matter who the president is. Unless Kerry gets a jolt from somewhere, he's going to blow the opportunity he's been in training for all of his political life. So maybe someone ought to turn on the radio for him so he can hear John Fogerty's new song, Deja vu (all over again). Kerry might even recognize Fogerty's voice from Creedence Clearwater Revival, the group whose hits were all over the radio during the Vietnam War. More importantly, he might also recognize Fogerty's "voices rising ... (as) we count the dead and dying ... All over again," and maybe even find his own antiwar voice, all over again. Just as they say that generals always fight the last war, there have been stretches of this presidential campaign when you might have thought it was Vietnam that was the issue and not Iraq. But the privates always know what war they're fighting, and hopefully the voters will too. And, actually, much as Kerry's political prominence stems from being a veteran opposed to the Vietnam War, given the way it's been contorted in this campaign, with Kerry's supporters insisting that their man really was a hero in a battlefield where he, and most of them, argued Americans shouldn't have been in the first place, while George Bush and Dick Cheney are the ones attacked for not going to the war they said they supported, it may be just as well for Kerry that Vietnam will not decide this election. The American soldiers Bush has placed in harm's way in order to destroy Iraq's nonexistent "weapons of mass destruction" are quite another matter, however, as are the hugely lucrative contracts this doomed foreign excursion has brought to Cheney's last civilian employer, Haliburton. They could, and should decide the 2004 race, but only if someone makes an issue of then. And "someone" is John Kerry, whether he likes it or not. What could Kerry say to cut to the chase? Well, how about "I not only promise never to lead the American people into war under false pretenses, but every American George Bush sent to this war will come home within the first thirty days of my administration." That may be a bit too blunt for his style, but whatever words he uses, they need to get him better headlines than "Kerry says he'll have American troops home in four years." We know that the Kerry campaign is cautious and calculates that the antiwar vote has no place else to go, while fearing the unknown consequences of a serious antiwar stance, but "American troops home in four years"? They start checking you for a pulse with political reflexes like that. Can they really think that offering four more years of Americans under attack in a military occupation is an electively stance? This is going to make voters rush to the ballot box to turn the current rascals out? And does Kerry think blaming the prior administration will satisfy the young antiwar veteran who asks him "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a lie?" John Fogerty has written a great antiwar song, but most of us would just as soon not listen to great antiwar songs for the next four years and whether or not we will have to has a lot to do with Kerry's answer to the song's question, "Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before?" With prewar notions, "that we will simply be greeted with open arms" as "nonsense," and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calling the war "illegal," it shouldn't be all that hard for Kerry to hear that voice. Someone play him the song, it's worth a shot.

DEJA VU (ALL OVER AGAIN)

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio. Did you try to read the writing on the wall. Did that voice inside you say. I've heard it all before. It's like Deja Vu all over again.

Day by day I hear the voices rising Started with a whisper like it did before. Day by day we count the dead and dying. Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score.

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio. Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall. Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before. It's like Deja Vu all over again.

One by one I see the old ghosts rising. Stumbling' 'cross Big Muddy. Where the light gets dim. Day after day another Momma's crying. She's lost her precious child . To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio. Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall. Did that voice inside you say. I've seen this all before. It's like Deja Vu all over again. It's like Deja Vu all over again.

COMBAT DUTY AND MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

scienceweek; "Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have involved the first sustained ground combat undertaken by the US since the war in Vietnam, raise important questions about the effect on the mental health of members of the military services who have been deployed there. Conflicts has shown that deployment stressors and exposure to combat result in considerable risks of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression, substance abuse, impairment in social functioning and in the ability to work, and the increased use of health care services. Given the ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, many gaps exist in the understanding of the full psychosocial effect of combat. The all-volunteer force deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and the type of warfare conducted in these regions are very different from those involved in past wars. Army and the Marine Corps who were involved in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our findings indicate that among the study groups there was a significant risk of mental health problems and that the subjects reported important barriers to receiving mental health services, particularly the perception of stigma among those most in need of such care."

This is the sad part of any war, I don't understand how the government can come out and say...Oh I think our soldiers will have some problems when they come home! Crap!! I don't know why? Hell being shot at every second you breath or killing someone is no big deal according to them. Or they would of, just went over their themselves and dealt with it right!....Sure, that would a cold day in hell before you see one of them fighting next to our soldiers in war!!...Remember when, George Washington fought in the war next to his men! I think any person who want to be President, who wants the job of leading our counrty. Should be told they have to go to any war we have during their term, and fight right on the front-line!! Along with the people they send into war. Don't you? Bet we would have less.... WARS!! Or a lot less people fighting over who should get our vote for the position of President of the United States!........

Man keeps change in Tummy

sfgate;"Thailand - It was almost like breaking open a piggy bank. Doctors performing emergency surgery on a man who was rushed to hospital writhing in pain were stunned when more than 4.2 pounds of loose change spilled out of his stomach. 37year old male, who has a history of mental disorders, lives with his mother, has been swallowing the coins for a long time without her knowledge. "He is in safe condition. But he has to be in the hospital for some time in case of side effects because the metal coins had been in his body for a long time. The coins had turned black from stomach acid. He was in excruciating pain and was taken to a hospital, where an X-ray showed hard objects in his stomach. They weren't identified until the surgery."

Well I laughed my butt off on this one, think we all have swallowed a coin or two when we were little. Remember, when your mother always told you to take those penny's out of your mouth because you might sallow them, LOL. Well guess this guy's mother should of told him this too! Don't you think?