Sunday

TV-Worst Cook In America,The Bachelor,Harry's Law; Movies-Yogi Bear, Gulliver's Travels, Political, Books, Miscellany to smile.



TV-Worst Cook In America,The Bachelor,Harry's Law; Movies-Yogi Bear, Gulliver's Travels, Political, Books, Miscellany to smile.


TV-Reviews-"Worst Cook in America"-worst cooking show in America, "The Bachelor"-loser Brad Womack returns,"Harry's Law"-what happens when liberals write TV shows.

Book Reviews: "Chicken Soup for the Soul-Shaping the New You"-my own contribution inside and lovely email from a fan. "Changing the Conversation"-Gary Klaben teaches how to separate emotion from your pocketbook.

Political-Boehner's Tears and Obama's Birth Certificate.

Movie Reviews-"Yogi Bear the movie"-cute, finally, a REAL villain. "Gulliver's Travel's"-disgusting with the worst movie scene...ever.

Misc.-Smiles and more smiles. Western Electric, remember it? Pics to smile, jokes to smile, my red-breasted nuthatch friend.


Pic of the Day


"Gulliver's Travels"-Possibly Worst Movie of Year

Web site for this movie

Well there wasn't much of anything playing around the Baltimore area when I paid my daughter and granddaughter a visit this past mid-January. Daughter had reviewed the offerings at a mega-cinema near her and it was she who suggested we see "Gulliver's Travels". I am so glad that this was not my idea although daughter did express reservations.

"Jack Black, he's a bit odd, the comedy might be over Kaitlyn's head, may be a bit gross," daughter said, but noted it only had a PG rating and that "Yogi Bear" the movie too had a PG rating. Kaitlyn, my granddaughter, and I had recently seen the Yogi movie and I figured if "Gulliver's Travels" was on par with Yogi Bear, what could go wrong?

Stars of the movie included:

Jack Black
Jason Segal
Emily Blunt
Amanda Peet
Billy Connolly



Silly me, I thought the movie was animated. All I remembered as daughter and I discussed the film was that a bunch of little people somehow binding down a great big guy and this concept seemed, er, cartoonish.

Both daughter and granddaughter were surprised that "Gulliver's Travels" was, indeed, a real book, a splendid satire in fact. Jonathan Swift was a sort of medieval hippie of his era, and this story was a kind of smack at the constant fights amongst peoples over the silliest things. It was a day of kings, queens, knaves and peasants and a tale about a land full of tiny people who all had to suddenly stop their stupid fights to deal with this big giant suddenly living with them and had a tongue-in-cheek kind of moral.



In fact, "Gulliver's Travels" the movie had a big scene that included a rousing rendition of the song "War, What Is It Good For". In case we needed to be hit over the head with the point.

As a common sense Conservative type of guy, I tend to pooh-pooh such Pollyanna songs that would what good is war, or in the case of John Lennon's "Imagine", ask why we all just can't get along.

There will always be nasty Hitlers and Kim-Jong-Il's about and the only way to stop them is to KILL THEM! Nobody likes it, but the alternative is slavery or a life without basic freedoms, or even our own execution. THAT's what good WAR is for, it's not pleasant, but while you boobs sing the naïve songs I'm going to fight to not be controlled by any other human. I report, thank you very much, to my Lord and God .

In Swift's little allegorical tale of life as a giant in a land of little people, he did live in an era when they people fought about right silly stuff, how to address the Lord, who is a serf, hardly the stuff of horrific Holocausts. Still, singing songs about war's uselessness is not going to stop an Adolf Hitler from annihilating an entire people.

This story of Gulliver's Travels did capture the essence of Swift's story, via a giant Gulliver played by Jack Black.

Some of it, folks, was quite disgusting.

At one point, Gulliver was called to help put out a fire that had broken out in a ministry building and was threatening to kill the King, the Princess, or some nobleman or other.

Think of every joke that had a sudden but smallish fire erupting in the presence of a human male and insert the smirky common method of how such a conflagration could be extinguished. So okay, big Gulliver saved the day of the desperate Lilliputians by peeing upon their fire. Had that been the scene, with time for a quick giggle, and the movie moved on, it would have been okay.

Oh no. In front of my 7 year old granddaughter Gulliver not only pees on the castle fire, he pees on all the Lilliputian people with clothes on fire. This peeing scene seemed to be interminable. Sorry folks, sights of people being wetted down by what is supposed to be urine are a bit sickening. I don't much like bathroom humor anyway, considering it something for teenaged boys. But long, drawn-out bathroom humor like this scene was simply excruciating.

Granddaughter said she really liked the movie but I think she speaks of the joyful camaraderie of mother, grandmother, of popcorn, cokes and candy, and a visit to Friendly's afterward, for a shared ice cream sundae. Although she did watch the movie quietly and laughed when appropriate.

I can only say, Mama don't let your children under age 10 watch this movie. I'll go one step further, buy them the book and HAVE THEM READ THE STORY!



"Yogi Bear" the Movie...Cute.

There's one new thing in the Yogi Bear movie, and that's it's the politicians are finally the bad guys.

Beyond that, my granddaughter and I quite enjoyed this film featuring the lovable Yogi, his cute buddy Boo-Boo, Ranger Smith and his love interest, Rachel.

Web site for this movie.

Character voices are provided by :Dan Akyroyd, Justin Timberlake, Anna Faris, Tom Cavanagh. Not that I rush to see a film based on who's providing the voices, I suppose there is some fame for speaking for an animated character.

So often when we see movies of all stripes, be they cartoons, science fiction, dramas, the bad guys are often some nameless but evil big business or our own country's military. Either some big business ran by ruthless CEO's who never struggle with meeting a payroll or delivering a timely product is all involved with taking over/stealing or outright killing the competition. And our poor military really takes a beating, dear Lord, you'd never believe that these folks are busy taking orders from civilian bosses or sleeping in a tent in some desert area wrestling fleas from camels. Oh No...the big bad military wants to take over other planets, rule the earth, turn us all into robots.

It was refreshing to have a movie finally making the bad guys, the REAL bad guys.

But of course not all politicians want to turn our national parks into trash dumps for re-election, or do they want to kill all endangered species.

Still I'd think a politician would be more likely to sell his or her soul and principles for another chance to remain in the Blue Blood Ruling Class than some military Loot trying to incorporate political correctness into what's supposed to be a fighting force while commanding a regiment charged with protecting some godawful city in the middle of a sandy hell.



Which is not to say that Yogi Bear was not a very good, quite amusing movie for adults, even grandmothers taking visiting granddaughters , and children. Although I do question the wisdom of a lovable bear character when bears are very dangerous animals.

But Yogi Bear's been around for quite a while, in fact, I watched many a Yogi Bear cartoon as a child.

Bears do like to raid camper's food supplies so the stereotype of a bear gorging on human food is not far off the mark.



The movie has a good storyline, a chaste love interest, action to keep young minds interested in the movie right when their attention might wane. Add some popcorn, a soda, and you can't go much wrong with an afternoon of watching Yogi Bear, Ranger Smith, and Boo-Boo.

Just for laughs, click in to the movie below. Here's a real bear, curious fellow, who runs into a human that scares….the bear?

Curious Bear Meets Hunter



Boehner's Tears
So the new Speaker of the House tends to tear up quite easily and he also, God condemn him, SMOKES.

So this past Sunday Boehner is interviewed by Fox’s Chris Wallace and one rather rude question was “Why do you cry so much?”

Well I playfully poke fun at Boehner much as the next guy. One thing I’d point out right here, that Boehner does NOT do, is use a military jet for his own private transport, like, well like Nancy Pelosi, who also had the military prepare her chocolate-covered strawberries for her birthday flight. Boehner flies commercial jets.

And yet Chris Wallace has NEVER asked Pelosi about this in-your-face Blue Blood Ruling Class use of our military’s aircraft. But he asks Boehner why he cries and dear Lord, why do you smoke?

Lookit, Boehner’s tears seem to come up whenever the subject turns to his rise from a poor boy who swept floors in the garage to become Speaker of America’s House, third in line for the presidency. Well it is a bit awe-inspiring. And while most of us might not well up with tears every time the story is told, we all have things that make us tear up, could be a movie, could be a memory. In Boehner’s case it’s the emotional depth of his gratitude to live in a country where a kid who swept floors could become Speaker of the House.



Which is not to say we do not joke about it from time to time, particularly Republican types, who loudly proclaim not to be ruled by our emotions. Heh. Meryl Streep once testified before congress, with all her credentials as an agricultural specialist. She cried the Hollywood sobs over the presence of alar in the apples and hey, Republicans do NOT normally consider ACTORS as experts on much of anything, except maybe acting. To have them testify before congress, that’s a liberal thing. Liberals, God Bless, think such as movies and TV are REAL. But ole Meryl did a great job cause what’s more American than apples for God’s sake?

Whatever happened to the alar in the apples, by the way?

But a timeless story like a poor boy’s rise to greatness in American politics, it is a bit moving. Still, we have not lost our sense of humor and I’ve seen Boehner poked about it on conservative web sites from FreeRepublic to HotAir.

I think for a political interviewer to ask such a rude question to Boehner as to why he cries so much….come on….that was a bit much.

As for smoking, hey…OBAMA SMOKES!

How the hell come HE’s never questioned about his smoking? Boehner wisely cut off that tangent in the interview with Chris Wallace…he said he enjoys smoking so leave him alone.

Smoking, yon ladies and gems, is still legal. Smokers pay big taxes for their “crimes”, they are banned outside that they do not bother others with their smoke. Damn, LEAVE THEM ALONE ALREADY! If you got problems with smoking, BAN IT OR SHUT UP!

Personally I think that the median strips from Maine to Florida in I-95 should be lined with crosses. Smokers should be hung on those crosses that Americans driving that route will see how much we hate and despise smokers.

Sure, the liberals might eschew such a thing now but give them time, the liberals will start building the crosses.

In due course, we have crosses for fat people, perhaps along an east to west route, that they too are held up for the rancor the liberals have for them.

With more time, hey, how about a median strip filled with folks who don’t recycle?

The possibilities are endless.



Obama and the Birth Certificate


Sheesh.

What the hell is the big deal about this man showing his birth certificate to verify both his place of birth and his age? You’d think we were asking the man to strip down naked so we may take the measure of his private parts.

Don’t we all have to show our birth certificate at various points in our lives, I point out when we seek a license to drive and when we are to receive social security? Few of us hire private lawyers and spend millions to keep eyes from seeing it and further, we wouldn’t get away with it.

So why the hell is the president of the United States, the most powerful job on earth, not required to do as us mere peons must?

Which now begs the question of, indeed, did Barack Obama show his birth certificate because per our constitution one must be a certain age to be Senator and a certain age to be President.? In the case of president, there’s that pesky matter of being born here damn, you don’t think California’s Aaahnold wouldn’t like a chance to run for president but can’t for his foreign birth? Isn’t it, like, a requirement that in order to run for an office one must present all proof that one has met all qualifications? I don’t get a property tax exemption unless I prove to the bureaucrats every year that I live in Delaware and for sure to get Social Security they wanted my birth certificate. And that stupid thing saying all in legalese that there is, indeed, a birth certificate on file for me somewhere, take my word for it, would NOT have been sufficient in my case and it shouldn’t have for Obamer.

Yet we are all silly fools for wanting some kind of proof that this man has met all the requirements to be president….just why? Hey, I’ll settle for somebody somewhere, affirming that they did, indeed, see Obama’s ORIGINAL birth certificate when he filed to run for Senator/President yet we can’t even get this.

Idiots…all of us, for wanting our president to have to fork up the same kind of proof we all must provide just to drive a damn car!

It’s how those media communists work, it’s part of Alinsky’s methodology: mock them, slam them into silence.

I sure don’t know what the recent flap involving the Governor of Florida who one day, out of the blue, cavalierly announce he would find Obama’s birth certificate and show it proudly to all of us deranged fools. Couple of weeks pass by and the guy, Abernathy I think is his name, comes out and says….well no, I could NOT, in fact, find Obamer’s birth certificate here in the halls of Hawaii.

So just because I’m already considered a nut by my government for thinking it fair and just that my country’s leaders should have to provide that which I had to provide so many times in my life per the bureaucrat’s rules, I’ll offer a theory as to Obama’s reason for wanting to “hide” his birth certificate. Make no mistake, folks, it’s what he’s doing, hiding the thing.

I think that Obama was adopted by his stepfather Lolo Sotero….I think is how it’s spelled. Sotero married Obama’s mother and they lived in Indonesia, where Obama attended a Muslim school, I add. Obama’s mother, what a basket case that ersatz hippie was, Ann Dunham. She married and/or mated with just the weirdest of men, moving where the wind blew, leaving her young son with her crazy Communist parents….folks, this President had one of the strangest childhoods imaginable. Not that there aren’t thousands of fine young people, millions even, that the Democrats could have nominated, ones who didn’t live overseas for a good portion of their childhood, ones who don’t hide their vital certificates, hey, ones that didn’t receive daily lessons from Communist/Pervert Frank Davis. Just throwing this concept out there when the Democrats go to nominate the next guy.

I don’t think Barack Obama Sr, who died in a drunk driving accident, who was a professional nothing burger student traveling around the world on his family’s wealth stolen from the people of Kenya, was even married to Obama’s mother. Ignore all that nonsense written by Bill Ayers in Obama’s book “Dreams of My Father”…hey, I write fiction too. How the hell could he be married to Obama’s mother WHEN HE WAS ALREADY MARRIED?



Now there’s nothing wrong with being the child of unmarried parents, plenty of us were. It a bit disingenuous to lie about it in a tome praising one’s stupid fornicating father as if a godhead his fine self. Still, literary license, we’ll allow. But do not mock us for figuring it out, us boobs out here in la-la land where we carry this country on our backs.

And frankly, there’s no problem with Barry being adopted by his stepfather. For whatever reason, I think Barack Obama wanted to reclaim his real father’s name when he ran for President. Obama’s birth certificate, I suspect, reflects his name as Barry Sotero and Obama, once he decided to run for president, figured the name Obama sounded exotic and time was upon for Americans to show the world how liberal and accepting they are.

Barry Sotero, I suspect, adopted by his stepfather and then technically a citizen of Indonesia, came to America and attended schools on special tuition rates granted to foreigners. There’s also the matter of a trip he took to Pakistan some 25 years ago and how he obtained a valid visa. Travel to Pakistan was prohibited there for American citizens, as I understand it, so how did Obama get permission to go there? I’m vague about the details here, let me admit, but there’s something odd about that trip.

Hey, lots of strange things with this president. I DO think he was born in the U.S. and raised mostly here. Obama, if nothing else, has very good diction and no kind of accent.

So while he may have been born here, I think Barry’s hiding something in that birth certificate.

To the Communist media who would call me nuts and ask why it matters…well silly me, I think a man who has lied and cheated about everything in his life, even his proper name!….I just don’t think this is the sort we want electing to be our leader.

 Posted by Hello


"Worst Cook In America"-Possibly the Dumbest Cooking Show...EVER!

Food Network Link for this Show

First of all, Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine are the worst cooks on Food Network. Which is my opinion, of course, and let's remember that personality is part of the equation when rating TV cooks we invite into our homes. Anne Burrell strikes me as someone who would snap off your head should she be having a bad day.


Robert Irvine comes off as a big galoot of a fellow and I'm not convinced he's any great cook worthy of my TV concentration.

Neither is an Emeril Lagasse is what I'm saying here.

But hey, this sort of thing is purely a subjective type of thing so it's hardly any reason for me to be prejudiced against Food Network's silly offering of "The Worst Cook in America".

First, I don't believe it.

Seriously...you think the genuinely WORST cooks in America would even apply for such a title? The truly WORST cooks are those who have never lifted a spatula and who likely never heard of Food Network and even if they had, not likely to tune in to learn that which they don't much care to learn.

It seems to me to be a faulty premise, disingenuous if yon reader would allow. The concept of a poor or untrained cook striving somehow to rise to a more experienced, even semi-professional level, strikes me as more believable. In short, I think the candidates who apply for a slot on this show are much like me, a mostly average, sometimes above-average, type of home cook, who would like to become a bit more upscale in terms of food preparation, who might enjoy some training by a professional.

And I'd hardly count myself among that pitiful cadre considered the worst cooks in America.

Still and so, the title does draw attention and that's the intent I suspect.

Second, I really can't stand Chef Anne's hair. Heh. By me, she wants to look a much more personable former Food Network Star, Guy Fieri.







As of this writing I've watched four or five episodes of this show. The format is the sort usually followed by these cooking contest type of shows. There's often a quick, down and dirty cooking chore, something as simple as frying an egg perhaps. The winner of that challenge might get some special advantage at a later, bigger and grander challenge. At the end of the episode, the worst contender is sent home.

I chuckle as just who do you send home in a series known as the WORST cook in America, and who, exactly is the winner? Is the WORST contender the winner of the challenge in keeping with the name? Or is the BEST of the WORST the episode's winner?

The ultimate result in this contest is that one of the alleged worst cooks will be presenting a meal to a panel of famed Chefs. The meal will be presented under the name of the "winning" worst cook's tutor, ie either Anne Burrell or Robert Irvine.

It gets complicated.

There hasn't been a single episode of this show to hold my attention in any fashion. One would think that the lessons these bad cooks are learning would be right at my learning level. However, Anne and Robert have these poor apprentices learning how to stuff squid and prepare home made sausage. I daresay bad cooks probably never stuffed a squid or a sausage and will probably never again in the future.

It's hardly the sort of food preparation given to really bad cooks, another reason this show is so boring.

I'm a fan of cooking show contests, watching Bravo's "Top Chef" with intrigue. And, in fact, the Food Network has the best of the best cooking shows, it's "The Next Food Network Star".

Link to my Blog on "Next Food Network Star"

The contenders on this reality show are scripted to show their "woe is me" side as best as possible to the viewing audience but it simply does not ring true.

Sorry Anne and Robert….give it another try. This show is just so fake as to bore me silly.

Brad Womack Returns to the Bachelor

ABC's Link for this show

Link to Clicker's Bachelor series to watch online.

Let's get this out of the way. ABC's "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" series is probably one of the shallowest, most vapid reality shows on TV.

For reasons that defy my logic, I do quite like to watch this show and even had, once upon a time, an entire Blog devoted to this series.

My bachelor blog below
My "The Bachelor" Blog

While I might not be as devoted as I once was, I still tune in whenever there is a new series.

My enjoyment of the show has several levels. First, shows like this, along the lines of, say, "Big Brother", are reality shows, true, but they are very scripted. Perhaps it's the fiction writer in me, but I am amused by the dialogue of the script, by the lengths the producers must go to keep the show somehow believable, to somehow work in some advertising, to fool us viewers into thinking that this fellow about to pick his dream woman from over 25 beauties never looks at a breast and he loves them all, considers them all "amazing" women.

We are also to be fooled into thinking that these women all living together in the same house all are dear friends and have no problems with sharing the dream guy on group dates.

Finally, we are to believe that the humiliation of being publicly rejected is worth this chance to be on TV, this chance to be a star.

Well hey, maybe it is worth it. IT's part of why I watch it. I want to see how they script the lines to have us somehow believe that this very abnormal dating relationship is somehow, eh, normal...somehow it's okay.

Wait, some might say. Those girls all vying for the Bachelor-du-jour's attention are NOT friends. In fact, there are often many cat fights.

Well, yes. But whatever REAL feud's there may be behind the scenes, the ones that become part of the weekly drama are very scripted affairs. The viewers MUST have a contender villain to root against. It's usually someone all the other contenders are on to while the Bachelor/Bachelorette does not have a clue. One year it was some country-western fellow who revealed to his house mates that he didn't care about the Bachelorette, that he only wanted exposure for his own career.

The viewers then become entranced by the ongoing story, as week after week the naïve Bachelorette keeps giving the bad guy a rose, to our collective exasperation.

It's a little reality soap opera is what I'm saying here.

Further, this is a show I can watch while reading a book, crocheting, even talking on the phone! It doesn't require a lot of concentration is what I'm saying here. As a multi-tasking type of person, I prefer TV shows that don't require that I hurt my brain concentrating on the action. Besides, with the miracle of DVR, if I miss something during my multi-task, I can always rewind, God Bless America.



So this year ABC brings back the notorious Brad Womack.

I must suppose there are not enough good-looking, buff-bodied eligible Bachelors in America that ABC had to bring back a Bachelor who went through the entire process of finding his dream lady, only to walk off in the end, rejecting ALL of the proffered ladies, none of them, evidently, good enough for Brad.

Hey, it was a unique story line. Half of America was furious with Brad Womack the morning after he turned down both Deanna and Jennie, slinking off, alone and unengaged. The other half of America lead normal lives and don't watch such tripe.



This Winter 2011 season of "The Bachelor", we have Brad Womack back. THIS time, he swears, he's "cured", he got psychological help, he really means it this time. After this season's "The Bachelor", he will have found his wife.

Well damn, I'm game. It's as good a story line as any.

Coincidentally, in my own Bachelor Blog, I covered the first Brad Womack season extensively. I'll reveal now that Brad has an identical twin brother, who helped him narrow down his female choices during the last Brad season. In addition, I think had Brad's REAL problem figured out after the last Brad season.

The links are below.

Hint, I think Brad Womack's psychotherapist, featured prominently as part of this season's script (what legitimate psychotherapist would endorse, much less participate, in such a bastardization of the love evolution as is depicted on "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" series?)….I think this "psychotherapist fellow might be a co-member of that organization that has members calling on each other when the urgent need for help requires.

Below, Brad's identical twin brother
From my Bachelor Blog, Brad Womack's identical twin brother.

Below-Brad's drinking problem
My guess as to Brad Womack's REAL problem based on his last Bachelor appearance.

“Harry’s Law”-What Happens When a Liberal Writes a TV Series!

NBC Site for this Series

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The very first casualty of NBC’s new offering starring Kathy Bates is, as is in all cases liberal, THE TRUTH!

Don’t believe me? Below, NBC’s own web site got the storyline all wrong.

At the top of her game and bored to tears, lawyer Harry Korn quits her cushy job to find a whole new way of life.

Below, a synopsis of the series from the same site:.

Harriet "Harry" Korn (Kathy Bates, "Misery," "About Schmidt") doesn't believe things happen for a reason, but she discovers that they sometimes do. A curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer, Harry is abruptly fired from her blue chip law firm, forcing her to search for a fresh start. She finds it when her world unexpectedly collides, literally, with Malcolm Davies (Aml Ameen, "Kidulthood"), a kind-hearted college student who desperately needs Harry's help with his pending court case, and he subsequently goes to work for her.


So which is it? Was she fired or did she quit?

Now normally this sort of thing would not be worth my time except at a little past the half way mark I finally had to turn this show OFF because it got to be nuts. Yes even before Bates’ character, Harry, launched into her lies about Rush Limbaugh I was giving the whole thing the shrugging hand because it was so damn unbelievable.

Harry is a former patent lawyer who, according to the show, was FIRED from her former job but see above, the NBC web site seems confused. Get this. She’s walking down the street and all of a sudden a body falls out of the sky on top of her. It was a young man trying to commit suicide but Harry happened to be, heh, at the right place at the right time, so that the young man’s jump from six stories above was for naught.

Later, Harry is walking down the street, steps off of a curb, and is hit head on by another fellow. Harry lives through this, with a little help from a nurse in the hospital ER who can’t believe Harry’s good luck.

All three of these characters somehow get together to form a business, the guy driving the car took a leave of absence from his job to help out the woman he injured (Harry), the nurse at the hospital is so impressed by Harry’s longevity she comes along as an Assistant, and the guy who fell from the skies on top of Harry, after the court course, too becomes part of the legal team.

At sometime during the show, as these oddly congregated types set up desks and the office, a nasty fellow shows up in the ghetto where Harry is setting up her law office. This guy demands “protection” money from Harry. Harry shows him a gun (odd, for a liberal) but agrees to legally represent him in the future in return for some of his proffered “protection”.



Ok, so far it’s kind of an innocent, if not far-fetched, TV series. I quite enjoy law shows and hospital shows and so do lots of other Americans, witness the plethora of them on the TV screens.

But the stories of Harry’s protector and the would-be suicide victim are so stupid as to boggle even the dumbest of us out here in TV land.

The suicide guy, as it would turn out, was trying to end his life as he was facing jail time for his third….read that again…THIRD possession of cocaine. Not the first, not the second, the THIRD. He knew he would get jail time and he wanted to end it all.

Since he’s already fallen on Harry, he begged her to be his lawyer, unbelievable plot line one. With what was this guy going to pay Harry, not that the fee was ever mentioned because liberals don’t worry about stuff like money.? Of course the fee was never mentioned. The young man pleaded with Harry that he was really a good guy, pay no attention to those three cocaine possession, and if he could only get another chance he’d go straight.

The NEXT DAY Harry’s in court representing this guy, not that court cases take time or anything, but Harry’s got a big job and she’s got to do some serious legal trickery to get her guy off.

Meanwhile, the guy driving the car who hit Harry now works for her. He gets a call from the “protector” to come quick, he needs some of that legal help. Harry’s co-lawyer runs down the street and the protector is standing over a body, a guy bleeding all over a Chinese restaurant. The car character runs in to help stem the bleeding of this guy as the protector frantically calls 911 for help.

Later we find out that this ghetto guy with the protection racket was really only saving lots of lives cause the guy he shot was trying to rob the Chinese restaurant. The protector gets all soft for a gun-toting and shooting ghetto thug and tells Harry’s young legal assistant that he’s really a good guy, God knows how many lives he saved cause that robber might have killed lots of people.

I had to rub my eyeballs for from time to time I write fiction and I’d laugh myself off my chair if I ever penned something so damn dumb.

So Harry and her assistant have to save the suicide guy and the ghetto protector who would save the world and this is when Harry launched into her spiel about Rush Limbaugh that finally had me turn the channel because how many lies and ridiculous assertions do these writers think us boobs are going to buy?

I’m not sure why Harry decided to use Rush Limbaugh in a soliloquy in defense of the suicide guy, but it went something like “We all know Rush Limbaugh was addicted to oxycotin but he got help for his addiction. He also managed to stay out of jail, unlike (insert suicide guy’s name) here”.

Say what?

Now Rush Limbaugh was once addicted to Oxytocin but he put himself into a rehab clinic. And there was NEVER any attempt to put Rush in jail, not that the truth matters to a liberal or anything.

There was just NO connection of this fictional suicide guy and his third conviction for cocaine possession to Rush Limbaugh and his brief addiction to Oxytocin…none whatsoever.

But liberal Harry, played by Kathy Bates, somehow got her suicide guy off because hey, why should Rush Limbaugh go free when her fine, fine young man here, who’s already had TWO chances let’s us remind, will be punished for his crime?

I flipped the channel because this week I’m a bit sick of these liberals and their silly finger-pointing at everyone else for crimes they and theirs commit. I don’t know what happened to that saint ghetto protector guy who saved so many lives by shooting someone and I don’t care.

It’s what happens when dumb liberals (and there is no other kind) write TV shows.
 Posted by Hello



"Chicken Soup for the Soul-Shaping the New You"-A Review from a Contributor

Subject: Hello
Hello Ms. Patricia,

I guess you are the one who wrote the wonderful story "Right in my backyard own," from the Chicken Soup for th Soul series, right? My heart was so touched and deeply moved for the most beautiful heart touching article I have ever read in my life. The story had a very positive impact on my life. It greatly warmed my heart and gently touched my soul. The author's writing style is very rich.

Best regards,
Hamza Balol
Saudi Arabia
I received the above via email and, frankly, I was flabbergasted.

I'd submitted my story of my morning backyard exercises to the famous "Chicken Soup for the Soul" anthology as a result of a request for our stories of personal unique methodologies to achieve, or maintain, a fit body.

Perfectly timed, the anthology hit the stores in late December. Wisely, the book's compilers did not try to make the Christmas gift rush. Gifts given with a theme of getting fit are hardly fun type of things to receive on a festive holiday that is probably the last time of year folks want to be thinking about such as exercise and diets.

However, aha, AFTER Christmas, such a book would be pulled off the shelves in droves by shoppers resolved to get fit for the New Year.

I received the above email a week after New Year's 2011, from Saudi Arabia, no less.

Well my story is a good one, my exercise method is quite original. I daresay the book's producers would not have accepted my contribution had not the shine of truth and simplicity been evident from the story and the words.

Well no, I would never suggest that my story would be anybody's most heartfelt story read in their lives. That thought boggles my mind.

There are over a hundred other stories of very non-professional folks like myself contained in this book and they've all got good stories. Somewhere in the book there is contained the perfect method to achieve fitness, whether for the handicapped, for the very busy, for those with no resolve...if it's YOUR problem, the solution is somewhere between the covers of this book.

Also, well my own story is in there and read the above, the writing is very rich.




"Changing the Conversation-Transformational Steps to Financial and Family Well Being"-Gary Klaben"-Better Read When Young.

Gary Klaben is a financial guru who advises people on how to handle their wealth. He is very conservative, a graduate of West Point, he is very conservative.

There is nothing in this book that is new to me. But then I am 60 years old.

Thus throughout my reading I kept exclaiming, in my innermost mind, that it would be great if: a)my 34 year old daughter were to read this or, barring that, b)that my granddaughter begin the read when she becomes a young adolescent.

Which is not to say, I must caution, that the lessons, examples, experiences as given by the author would be for naught for a person struggling with life's journey even if well in to their 40's or 50's. As we age, not to state the obvious, we are always going through ages we haven't experienced before.

Loss of a spouse, changing a job, becoming a grandparent, retiring...these are all things we go through as we grow older. Since it is new to us, Gary Klaben effectively covers it in this well-written, conservative and exemplary piece of non-fiction.



The bigger caution would be for any potential reader to think that this book is all about money. How we handle our finances is a major force in the book, for sure. What author Klaben does well is tie in our emotional reactions to how we handle our money. Which all, as is illustrated in many chapters, come together is some fashion, possibly good, possibly bad, depending on whether our mind rules or our heart rules.

I sure would love for this book to be required reading for young people, perhaps around Middle School, High school, even a college freshmen.

It's a lesson for a happy life and if don't get this sort of teaching as we go through life's educational journey, I must ask, why not?

 Posted by Hello


My redbreasted nuthatch friend

I think she’s female, husband refers to her as male. She’s about the size of a golf ball, she’s got a black and white eye stripe over her eyeballs, she has the cutest little “yak-yak” sound as she flitters around the bird feeders.

I am very familiar with nuthatches, though not so much here in the swamps of Delaware. Back in Merryland I lived on a lot filled with tall oak trees. White breasted nuthatches were quite common and they amused me endlessly.

Nuthatches are special because they hop around on a vertical tree trunk as if it were their living room floor. Where other birds land on the limbs of trees that jut out from the trunk torso, nuthatches travel up and down the trunk, digging bugs out from under bark where they may have hid for the winter. The white breasted nuthatches are a bit bigger than my red bellied friend and I always likened their sound to that of Curly of the Three Stooges famous “nyuk, nyuk,nyuk”.

Until these past few weeks, I’d never seen a red breasted nuthatch and assumed they were all in California.

I do feed my bird friends in the winters when seed is scarce and days are short. My four cats have all become fine, fine birdwatchers, each will sit for hours by the sliding glass door and watch the birds munch the seed, all strictly interested in only a scientific pursuit, please note.

The red breasted nuthatch first made her appearance a few weeks ago, flying down to fetch a seed at any time she so desired and with absolutely no fear of either human or dog.



Before doing my morning exercises I’d stand on the deck, by the rail and under the feeders, breaking up the dog treats I’d be about to bestow on canine exercise mate. Before the warm up I always open my hands to God and say my morning prayers. I was right in the middle of the “Our Father” when she flew down, within six inches of me, and gave a little “yuk, yuk”.

She paused and looked up at me with one eye. I held my breath, not believing this bird that was so close to me. She then went into the caged feeder meant to stave off squirrels as if to say “Don’t mind me, I’ll just grab a seed and be on my way.”

Husband joins me later in the morn for HIS exercises. I couldn’t wait for him to come out so I could tell him about that sweet little bird.

Which was not necessary as just as soon as husband came out the door down swoops the little nuthatch lady and this time husband held his breath in amazement as he could feel the flutter from her wings in his hair. Again she hopped into the feeder, grabbed a seed, regarded husband with one eyeball and cocked head, and flew off…”Don’t mind me, I’ll just grab a seed and be on my way.”

“Did you see that?” husband asked, “That bird almost hit me in the head!”

Every morning since she swoops down whenever it suits her, whether I am right by the feeder or jogging in my exercise path, whether husband is on the deck discussing day’s plans with me or if the dog is all about sniffing that this bird nonsense doesn’t somehow include food that should be for her own fine dog self.

The other birds do flit about as we exercise but none of them even dares to come down to the feeders when humans or dog is about.

Except my sweet red breasted nuthatch friend.

I was suspicious that she was a nuthatch because I often look up at the tree she likes to frequent. I often see her sitting, plop, I’m not making this up, VERTICAL, right in the middle of the tree trunk. There she’d be, sitting down and snug in a piece of tree bark and I knew that this was the behavior of a nut hatch. Only I knew she wasn’t a white breasted nuthatch, although they too are very friendly birds. I’d always thought red breasted nuthatches were from the west.
I now know she’s a nuthatch because I keyed in the words “red breasted nuthatch picture” and, boom, God Bless America, her picture popped right up! Turns out that this area does have red breasted nuthatches although husband and I both don’t see but perhaps only the slightest shade of red on her breast, unlike the picture.

But those eyestripes are unmistakeable. The behavior as described on the web page matches hers exactly. She will take those seeds she swipes and bang them under pieces of bark on the tree trunk for later retrieval.

It’s gotten so we think nothing of her visits as we all, human and canine, mill about. The dog is not so impressed and thinks birds should stay in the air where they belong. But we’ve come to be quite fond of her and every day we smile as she swoops down, looks at us with a sideways glance and…”don’t mind me, I’ll just grab a seed and be on my way.”


Animal manger scene-pic
One of the Best Pics from this Past Christmas Season



Does Anybody Remember Western Electric?

My own fine self worked there for fifteen years.



Western Electric was the manufacturing arm of Bell Telephone. Bell Telephone was the American subsidiary of mighty AT&T.

I worked at the Baltimore plant, on Broening Hiway, next to the General Motors plant. At the time this plant employed about 7000 employees.

We put the curl in the cord at this plant. We also manufactured ocean cable and the wires on the telephone poles that line our highways and byways.

I started out as a keypunch operator, we put holes in IBM cards. Did that for about four years, then moved in to the payroll department. I did payroll for about six years. My final "career" at Western Electric was as a Quality Appraiser.

Western Electric is no more. The mighty AT&T monopoly was broke up during the Reagan years. President Jimmy Carter almost bankrupted us all.

Now we get cords for $.98 from Radio Shack. Hell, now, everyone has a cell phone. Back when I was inspecting telephone cords I never imagine a day when telephones would fit in the palm of your hand, portable in your pocketbook, they would take pictures and movies and calculate your lunch check.

Yes, in my generation I've seen the entire transformation of mass telephonic communication.

It's breath-taking.


Ending With a Smile

BREAKING NEWS!!! Playboy reportedly offered Sarah Palin $4 Million to pose nude in their Oct issue! Michelle Obama was offered 50 bucks from National Geographic. And in other news..... We all remember the KFC "Hillary Meal"--- two small breasts and two big thighs. Now, KFC has announced an... addition to their chicken dinners. It's called the Obama Cabinet Bucket. It consists of nothing but left wings!

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