1st Day of School!

My grandson was dropped off today for his 1st day of (pre)school.   What did he say?   “Goodbye Mama!   I love you!”   This kid is over the top.   Yeah...I know he’s my grandson...but he’s over the top!

Paul Ryan…our rights are from God!

Paul Ryan's Congressional Deficit Contribution!

He voted for all of this stuff!

• $1.7 trillion = Bush tax cuts in 2001 & 2003
• $180 billion = Medicare Part D
• $224 billion = TARP bailout (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac)
• $806 billion = IRAQ war "supplementals?

...and he just recently voted for another $630 billion for the extension of the Bush tax cuts!   And he's bitchin' about the deficit!   This really bothers me...because the folks that support or believe in Mr. Ryan...are either ignorant or won't accept these facts!

John McCain & Military Intervention!

I just heard John McCain's speech at the RNC...and I'm scared.   Why?   Because so many Americans believe what he espouses!   Let's go to war with everyone!   Will wait for the clip to be posted on the web and then will update this post.   Now waiting to hear from Paul Ryan.   Now they're (MSNBC) interviewing Newt!   Wait...let me take the gun out of my mouth!

WWII American Bomb Detonated in Munich!

My daughter lives in Munich.   She actually felt this explosion!

Isaac! You missed Tampa!

I wouldn’t wish harm on anyone or anyplace...but had Isaac ripped through Tampa, I wonder how those on the extreme right would have responded?   I’m sure Pat Robertson would have blamed it on the gays or the Muslims or the sinners or???

But here we are in Tampa sans Isaac.   I’m watching the 1st day of the RNC as I’m typing this.   Where is George Bush?   No mention of him!   Nowhere to be found?   An uninvited guest???   Question marks unnecessary!   A message from the current Republican regime...Dear George...stay as far away from Tampa as humanly possible...and however far that is...it ain’t far enough!

But wait a minute.   Isaac even pushed “The Donald” off the agenda.   Supposedly, “The Donald’s”” surprise skit of firing President Obama (ala the Apprentice) was supposed to happen on Monday night...but, as you know Isaac squashed that!

Aside from George and “The Donald”...who else is missing from the Tampa festivities?   Are you folks trying to avoid the teabaggers that got you there...but you don’t want them there?

Hello Herman, Michelle and Sarah.   Where are you?   I thought you would be there to emphasize the fact that the President is a Muslim, a nigger, born in Kenya.   I’ve also noticed that my favorites...McConnell, Cantor and Boehner have been hiding for the last several weeks.   Is this just a coincidence...or is this just me?   Yeah…I know Boehner kicked off tonight’s festivities, but where has he been for the last several weeks?

Okay...now back to your nominees.   Question...Mitt...will I ever see your tax returns?   My family is from Bermuda.   I’ve had the pleasure of vacationing in the Cayman Islands, one of the most beautiful islands on earth.   Hell...I’ve even had the good fortune to visit Zermatt, Switzerland!   However, I ain’t got no money hidden in any of these places!

One more question for Mr. Ryan.   Will you or your running mate or someone please explain the difference between you and Mr. Aiken?

Again…I’m just askin’

A Cape Cod weekend!

Finally got the feet in the ocean (first time this summer).   Notice I said feet…not body!

Dove into Aunt Angela’s awesome Ackee & salt fish...

We enjoyed a drink or two or three or...
Notice a preference for rum!

Goyte: Somebody That I Used To Know!

This is my grandson’s favorite song!   When he hears it, he breaks into an arm-waving dance and goes around in circles.   Not sure he’s ever seen this video...but I gotta capture a video of him doing his dancing "thing" to this video and post it here!

Posting this today because it’s his birthday!   Happy Birthday Romellito!   He’s my big 3 year old grandson!   And for all you grandfathers out there...you know how each day is even more awesome than the day before!

Malt Lymphoma…Good news! Bad news!

OK...so I do the required quarterly check-up with my oncologist.   I didn’t even know what an oncologist was a while back (when the kidney was removed 9 years ago...and way before the 23 staples).   Just about the same time the kidney was being removed, I was informed that I also had stomach cancer (thus the oncologist)!   But I digress!

So I’m scheduled to see the oncologist at 2:30PM on Monday afternoon.   This dude is awesome...the best.   You have to schedule an appointment with him at least 2 months in advance!   I arrive at the appointed time.

Upon my arrival, the receptionist informs me that the doctor is running 30 minutes late.   I reply..."what else is new...he’s always 30 minutes late”.   However, I then realize that this is the 1st time that the receptionist has ever announced a delay in his schedule!

An hour later...I’m still in the reception area...knowing full well that once they call my name, I’ll then be escorted to the examination room, have my temperature & blood pressure taken (130 over 90...not good and not bad...given all the pills I’m taking).   Then he/she will extract the blood...the worst part of the entire visit!   I’m a wimp...get over it!   I will then wait another 30 to 45 minutes for my famous doctor to show up!

Knowing this...I approached the receptionist's desk and asked if I could re-schedule the appointment.   I’ve been sitting here for just over an hour.

Trust me, he’s definitely worth the wait.   After all, he kept me alive for the last seven years, but today, I just wasn’t ready for it.   As expected...the receptionist said that my favorite doctor’s next available appointment was several weeks away!   However, she told me that the doctor’s colleague could see me in 2 days!   Hey...this was just supposed to be a follow-up exam, so I opted to go with the colleague!

I returned home and noticed there was a message on our answering machine.   It was from the famous doctor’s office.   They wanted to know if I could come back to the office later that evening or even the next afternoon?   (I thought...wait a minute...he was booked thru mid November...but now he wants to see me tonight or tomorrow afternoon?)   For some reason...it sunk in that this wasn’t going to be good news!

Already a long story short...I see my famous doctor the next day and he informs me that after my initial lymphoma treatment, seven years ago, the stomach cancer, (malt lymphoma), has returned.   He’s optimistic…as always.   I’m depressed!   Why?   Mainly because I have to go through the 16 weeks of rituxan treatment that I did 7 years ago and that’s a bitch.   Ain’t as bad as chemo...but still a bitch!   But as some have already told me...it could be worse.   I’m alive and tomorrow is my grandson’s 3rd birthday!   Overall…I have a lot to be thankful for!

"Legitimate Rape!"

UPDATE:   AMAZING...this video has been taken down!

Todd Akin is a Republican Congressman from the state of Missouri now running for the U.S. Senate seat from that state.   Yes…watch my lips…he’s already an ELECTED Congressman!   Perhaps it’s time to add Missouri to my list?

Mr. Akin shares the exact same opinion regarding rape as Mr. Ryan, the expected Vice Presidential nominee although Mr. Ryan does not classify types of rape as "legitimate" or otherwise.   What is this country coming to?   All of this scares the hell out of me!

Ryan: "Obama Closed the GM plant!"

The GOP Vice Presidential nominee took Federal $$$$ to help with the Bush-era 2008 plant closure that he blames on President Obama.

"And as it became clear in early-fall 2008 that GM wouldn't relent, Ryan publicly touted the federal tax money he secured to help displaced workers -- a use of funds that would seem at odds with his limited-government, fiscal conservative image."

Full story at the Huffington Post.

I need to check my facts...but I think Mr. Ryan was on the House Budget Committee when Mr. Bush decided to invade Afghanistan and go after "Weapons of Mass Destruction"...neither of which were in the budget.   But now he's a deficit hawk!   Unbelievable...but given the intelligence of the American electorate...still electable!

DJs for Obama!

On a lighter note...

6 27 46 51 56 Powerball = 21

Those are the winning Powerball numbers.   Those numbers had a cash value of $241 MILLION DOLLARS!   As you can see from my $20 worth of tickets below...I had ONE number, yes ONE...the number SIX!   My tickets were worth nothing!   Nada!   Someone in Lapeer, Michigan (population 9,000) walked away with it all!

Had I won, I would have chartered a cruise ship…the entire ship.   I would have invited all my family and friends.   Would fly all of them, first class, to our port of departure.   Would give each of them $100 GRAND!   And that’s just for starters!   Did I mention a few million to each of my, and my wife’s, siblings and really close friends...really close?

But I didn’t win anything.   Like I said...NADA!   So nobody ain’t getting’ nothin’ (I know…triple negative)!

Don't Adopt Children From Foreign Countries!

More bat-sh*t from wacko Pat Robertson!   You just can't make this stuff up!

Awesome & Inspirational Olympic Moments

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar "Blade Runner" Pistorius competed in the 2004 and 2008 Paralympics.   For the first time in the Olympic Games, he was able to compete against his able-bodied rivals.

Below Pistorius and Kirani James exchange bibs at the end of the men's 4 by 100 semi-finals.   Truly inspirational!

David Boudia

David Boudia won the gold medal in the 10-meter platform beating the favorite - reigning world champ Qiu Bo.   Boudia became the first American man to win the gold since Greg Louganis in the 1988 Seoul Games.

Manteo Mitchell
Running 400 meters in 45.6 seconds is an incredible effort. Running it with a broken left fibula was simply incredible!

Lui Xiang

Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, his Olympics ruined by injury for the second time in a row, hopping down the track on his one good leg and kissing the final hurdle.

Gabby Douglas
Gabby made Olympic history in London by becoming the first African-American to clinch gold in women's all-around gymnastics and the only woman to do so the same year as winning a team gold.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps, leaves the Olympic stage as the greatest athlete in history.   His stunning 22 medals, including 18 gold, will surely stand as the highest tally in history.

Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt became the first man to ever win the 200 at consecutive Olympics, and is the only athlete to sweep the 100 and 200 events at back-to-back Games.   He and his team set a new world record in the men’s 4 by 100 relay.

Kim Rhode
Who?   Rhode went where no American has ever gone before.   The Californian won a medal in an individual sport in a fifth straight Olympics in skeet shooting!

Maryland Pastor & Televangelist Going to Jail!

"Robert J. Freeman, a.k.a Dr. Shine, is going to jail for 27 months and was ordered to pay $630,000 to four church members.   The Washington Post reported that the ‘Gods Top Gun of deliverance’ pastor lied to bankruptcy courts and hid the church’s assets in order to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts.   Freeman, 56, also convinced church members to take out loans for his multiple cars and $1.75 million waterfront home with five fireplaces, a jet-ski lift and two four-car garages.   When the church could not cover the bills, church members were on the hook for the debt, and in some cases lost their homes and jobs."

"Freeman served as pastor and leader of Save the Seed Ministry, Inc., Save the Seed International Church, and Seed Faith International Church, with his then-wife, Dee Dee.   These entities were incorporated in 1991, 2001 and 2003, respectively.   Shortly after February 2001, Freeman used funds from church members to accumulate substantial assets, including 11 luxury cars valued at over $1,073,000 and a $1.75 million residence in Indian Head, Maryland, which he concealed from the bankruptcy court when he sought a discharge of his debts from the court in 2005."
Source: The Church Report

Ryan brings the Tea Party to the G.O.P.

“The ascendency of Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin to vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket is a signal event for the Tea Party movement, which firmly counts him as one of their own.”
Source: New York Times

In addition to the Tea Party’s Party on the White House Lawn…

• He believes in the same top-down economic policies that crashed our economy
• His plan would raise taxes on the middle class to pay for tax cuts for millionaires
• He’d cut Pell grants, clean energy and innovation funding
• He would end Medicare as we know it
• He already co-sponsored a bill that would ban many forms of birth control
• According to the ACLU, he holds almost uniformly harmful views on five key civil liberties issues including a humane immigration policy, LGBT equality, reproductive rights, torture and indefinite detention and fair voting access.

Leviticus, Gay Activists and their Asses!

Words of wisdom from televangelist, Pat Robertson, once a contender for the Republican Party's 1988 nominee for Presidency of the United States.

Well Mr. Robertson, there certainly are assholes that make babies!

A Big Thank You to the Passenger in seat # 15D!!!

As tweeted by my daughter on her return trip to Munich after spending a weekend at the London Olympics!   Like my daughter said...thank you passenger 15D!

Awesome portrait by Tim Clary

Go F*ck Yourself??? Yankees are German Pigs!

For the few of you that occasionally take a peak at this blog, you know I get very few comments...much less page views.   A while back, I posted an entry entitled "I can't relocate/retire there!"

Imagine my surprise today when I checked my blog statistics and saw that YankeesAreGermanPigs posted a comment back on August 5th!   The aforementioned commentator is hiding out somewhere in here and this is the comment he/she posted on that blog entry:

"So you just love bashing the south?   We do not agree with your ways?   Well there is a VERY AMERICAN saying here in Carolina.   GO FUCK YOURSELF and I want you to come here bashing people in those states to their faces because I'd go to your house and do it to your face and in front of your whole ignorant family.   Seems anyone willing to go out bashing states like that has to be more ignorant than people from the states you went after.   We raise hell in Carolina you know how it goes win or lose we ain't scared of NO FUCKING BODY."

I'm fascinated by his/her comment.   (Gotta be a dude...no?)  Not sure if the mention of "Carolina" refers to North or South Carolina.   Hell...some of my best friends live in North Carolina.   My godson and his Mom and several close friends live there.   We even spent a few summer vacations there in the Outer Banks!   I've got a fraternity brother and several other friends living on Pawley's Island, South Carolina...but I just can't relocate or retire to either of these two states.   Sorry YankeesAreGermanPigs...but your comments just add to my reasoning.

Guns in America…Enough Already!

I’ve said it before...and I’ll say it again!   2nd Amendment...go f*ck yourself!   NRA...go f*ck yourself!   America,  the greatest?   Folks…we really need to rethink this!   30,000 murders a year?

As New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg quoted regarding the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the need for a national discussion on gun control:  "When's the last time you saw a deer with a flak jacket on?"   And on an equally sad and pitiful note...the killings and random shootings of innocent victims continue to mount in New York City!

And now we have the news from Wisconsin...with 7 dead!

As reported by the Associated Press...
"An unidentified gunman killed six people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Sunday in a rampage that left terrified congregants hiding in closets and others texting friends outside for help. The suspect was killed outside the temple in a shootout with police officers."   More details here.

And then there was a recent report from NBC's Jeff Rosen about the availability of guns in America!   Some of those guns can shoot down a helicopter!

As quoted by Rosen...
“But the scariest transaction came after dark in a pharmacy parking lot. The online ad was for a 50-caliber sniper rifle, the most powerful gun legally sold in the U.S.: bullet range 5 miles. It can pierce armored vehicles, even bring down a helicopter.”

Still haven't had enough?   Do you remember her?

On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen other people were shot during a public meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, near Tucson, Arizona.   Six of those shot died, including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll; one of Rep. Giffords' staffers; and a nine-year-old child, Christina-Taylor Green.

OLYMPICS…Mexico beats Senegal!

Mexico beats Senegal 4-2, in extra time thriller and advances to semifinal to play Japan

My daughter tweeted this image from London.   She was sharing a weekend with her husband who is on assignment in London.   Not sure…but this looks like the match between Mexico and Senegal.

I didn’t get to see this match back here in the US of A!   I was too busy watching the men’s volleyball (Russia versus USA) and the Williams sisters.   Both events were awesome but unfortunately…after winning the 1st two matches…USA was slaughtered by the Russians who swept the final three volleyball matches.   But the Williams sisters prevailed, and beat their Russian competition in the semi-finals to move on to the pairs final with the Czechs!

Chick-fil-A...it ain't about the chicken...it's about the hate!

The Almost Vice President!
Chicken Sh*t Trash!

Fast Feud Nation!
(four minutes of laughs from Jon Stewart)!

We love "Obamacare!"

Eight new ‘Obamacare’ health programs for women begin today.

Under the Affordable Care Act, which President Obama signed into law on March 23, 2010, and was recently upheld by the Supreme Court this past June, eight new preventive services for women will begin today, August 1, 2012.

• Well-woman visits
• Gestational diabetes screening
• High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing
• Sexually Transmitted Infections
• HIV screening and counseling
• Contraception and contraceptive counseling (except religious institutions…for the time being)
• Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling
• Interpersonal and domestic violence screening and counseling

More details here. Meanwhile, head Rethuglican, Mitch McConnell,   is still calling for a repeal vote!

Several states will consider seceding?

According to wingnut Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, several states will secede if President Obama is re-elected.   I have no problem letting them go.   As a matter of fact…I have a few more that I suggest join the secession!

Show me the money!