HALOWEEN

Every year at this time I am reminded of the trip I took to Mexico City in 1975.

We arrived October 31st in the evening and nothing was open.  This was the eve of the Day of the Dead or in Spanish, Dia de los Muertos.

I was in a group of nurses taking part of a Continuing Education program on the Mexican Health Care System.  The tour & educational guide was at onetime married to one of the doctors still practicing in the largest hospital in the city; therefore we had access to many areas not normally open to foreigners.

Where nothing was open that evening, including restaurants the coordinator arranged for us to travel around town in a bus, visiting several cemeteries.

We were quite surprised to see so many scull and bone like decorations and food.  Not the fun looking type scull & bones but gruesome looking ones.

The next thing we were aware of was the City was alive with music. Everywhere we went there were bands playing Mexican music. Not sad songs you might expect in the cemetery but lively happy dance type music.

Everywhere in the cemeteries there were lights or candles by the hundreds that lit up the graves.  And the graves were highly decorated with flowers, linen placed over the flat of the grave and laid, as if it was a table, with all kinds of foods placed on top. They were picnicking on the graves of their dead relatives. How odd it seemed.

We were quite baffled by the whole affair until it was explained that this is a celebration for them… they believe that on the day of the dead, their relatives come back to visit with them.  Every household makes their relatives their most liked foods and have the food ready for when they return… the music is also the favorite music of the deceased.

When one looks at it the Mexican way it does seem that our US custom is lacking in significance. I think it would be a nice thing to have the celebration of Halloween expanded to incorporate our love and respect for our relatives too

US ON TRACK FOR A 'FISCAL TRAIN WRECK'

According to the Huffington Post, “The U.S. economy is a "fiscal train wreck" waiting to happen that risks ushering in a period of stagnation featuring by minimal growth, high unemployment and deflationary pressure, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini wrote on Friday.

The Financial Times, “Roubini -- one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States and known as 'Dr Doom' for his pessimistic forecasts -- said fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.”

First Posted: 10-29-10 09:52 AM   |   Updated: 10-29-10 09:54 AM 

For more information check out the full article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/29/nouriel-roubini-fiscal-train-wreck_n_775870.html?fbwall

How Millions of Shady Corporate Political Dollars Are Hijacking This Election

This article is based purely on Joshua Holland’s article. All quotes are attributed to the article he wrote. On October 30, 2010 for Alternet.

““It’s pretty clear that corporations now have the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to take on people like my boss.'”

Conservative opponents have “made the race(s) closer than it might … (be) with the help of a bundle of campaign cash from a shady corporate front group called the American Future Fund (AFF).”” 

“According to the New York Times.” “The American Future Fund’s (seed money,) put up by Bruce Rastetter, exec and reliable conservative donor of an ethanol company.”; “was founded by Nick Ryan, … in 2007,”  

“The New York Times estimated that AFF has spent at least $574,000 on ads attacking the Democrat this cycle, … communications director Caitlin Legacki told AlterNet the figure was closer to $1.8 million, including spending that isn’t strictly counted as “electioneering.” The conservative opponents “also enjoyed another quarter-million worth of attack ads from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, neither group is required to disclose its donors.” (my italics & bold)

“”The Des Moines Register reported that AFF has spent $8.9 million so far…on behalf of conservative candidates. …”the ‘office’ (of the AFF)….Is a mailbox at a private shipping service store…””

“According to a complaint filed by Public Citizen and several other watchdog groups, AFF “is registered as a 501(c)(4) organization, …under IRS tax code cannot have a primary purpose of influencing elections.” The complaint alleges … ““appears to be violating campaign finance law,” “

“The Register noted… the anonymous nature of AFF’s donors has “raised controversy about who's seeking to influence the political process.” “It’s clear that the group is pulling in tax dollars from corporate interest groups.”

““It’s … clear that corporations now have the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to take on people” said Caitlin Legacki”

“According to the Iowa Independent, the group’s leaders include “two media consultants who played key roles in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads in 2004 and the Willie Horton ad in 1988, both of which helped defeat Democratic presidential candidates.”” And are know to be the sleaze attacks par none.

AFF’s ads have been especially nasty.

According to the New York Times. "Caitlin Legacki told AlterNet that “anytime somebody is not required to stand by their ads, as candidates are, they have a lot more room to be especially vitriolic and especially misleading.” … 

““Because there’s no instrument in place for these people to be held accountable, they have free rein.” The ad-checker Political Correction review …found they (the attack ads) were “not based in fact.””

“The New York Times … many candidates (are) being pummeled this year by secret money and shamefully false advertising.” In the … Third District, incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell, advocates reining in agricultural subsidies that help pad ethanol producers’ bottom lines, is facing a similar onslaught.” 

“The river of third-party cash, made legal last year by the Supreme Court, is in part a result of right-wing donors looking to capitalize on an enthusiastic conservative base, and in part by Republicans’ distrust of the National Republican Committee under the leadership of Michael Steele.”

“The result has been … a “super-pac,.” The  Washington Post described (it) as ““a new political weapon” that allows ”independent groups to both raise and spend money at a pace that threatens to eclipse the efforts of political parties.””

“Stuart Rothenberg writes this week that the Dems ““face the potential of a political bloodbath the size of which we haven’t seen since the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.””

"If that should prove true, it’ll be a result of the GOP successfully expanding the field of seats in play, largely because of the efforts of these third-party groups.

“$500,000 or a million in attack ads has far more impact on a Congressional race than it would a fight for statewide office… “

 " The Washington Post reports that a late fund-raising by the Dem-aligned groups has allowed (the) Dem groups to spend (only) two-thirds of what their opponents have over the past week – Before that the Conservative groups were “outspending their Dem counterparts seven to one.” 

“Voters will never know who’s behind the onslaught of advertising the corporate-funded super-pacs are buying. …"

"But be assured that the big corporations and donors will make their identities known to the winners they push into office. The price for their support will be high.””

For the complete article go to: 'AlterNet / By Joshua Holland

http://www.alternet.org/story/148680/a_ground%27s_eye_view_of_how_millions_of_shady_corporate_political_dollars_are_hijacking_this_election?page=entire

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.

He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy (and Everything else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America). Drop him an email or follow him on Twitter.

MASS DOCTORS SNUB STATE'S HEALTH REFORM as MODEL for COUNTRY, PICK SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM INSTEAD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 22, 2010 
BOSTON – For the first time the Massachusetts Medical Society has asked doctors what they think about health reform in its annual “Physician Workforce Survey” of 1,000 practicing physicians in the state, and the results may strike some as surprising. 
 
A plurality of the physician respondents, 34 percent, picked single-payer health reform as their preferred model of reform, followed by 32 percent who favored a private-public insurance mix with a public option buy-in. Seventeen percent voted for the pre-reform status quo, including the permissibility of insurers offering low-premium, high-deductible health plans. 

Remarkably, only 14 percent of Massachusetts doctors would recommend their own state’s model as a model for the nation. A small number of respondents, 3 percent, chose an unspecified “other.” 

In other words, the doctors with the most on-the-ground experience with the Massachusetts plan, after which the Obama administration’s new health law is patterned, regard it as one of the least desirable alternatives for financing care. 

The findings contrast with an earlier survey of Massachusetts physicians’ opinions on health reform funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

That survey, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in October 2009, found that three-fourths of doctors in the state support the Massachusetts reform law. However, the survey did not allow respondents to express their preference for alternative models of health reform. 

Dr. Rachel Nardin, chair of neurology at Cambridge Hospital and president of the Massachusetts chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, said: "Massachusetts physicians realize that the state's health reform has failed to make health care affordable and accessible, and won't work for the nation. These findings show the high support for single-payer Medicare for all by physicians on the front lines of reform."

While many in the country look to Massachusetts as a role model for the country, Dr. Patricia Downs Berger, co-chair of Mass-Care, the single-payer advocacy coalition in Massachusetts, and a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, notes, “Physicians in Massachusetts, particularly after health reform, know from experience that the current health care system is not sustainable and is not addressing the deep inequalities and high costs faced by patients, and they are calling for a more fundamental change.” 
 
A survey published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in April 2008 showed that 59 percent of U.S. physicians support government action to establish national health insurance, an increase of 10 percentage points over similar findings five years before.

Link to the 2010 Physician Workforce Survey (relevant pages: 86-90): http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Research_Reports_and_Studies2&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=36167
 
Link to 2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield survey of Massachusetts physicians:
http://healthpolicyandreform.nejm.org/?p=2133&query=home
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/three-fourths-of-mass-physicians-health-reform-law.html

Link to April 2008 survey in the Annals of Internal Medicine:
http://www.pnhp.org/docsurvey/annals_physician_support.pdf

Contact:
Rachel Nardin, M.D., chair of neurology, Cambridge Hospital; president, 
Massachusetts Physicians for a National Health Program
Patricia Downs Berger, M.D., retired internist; co-chair, 

Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care

Benjamin Day, executive director, Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care

Which Health Care Reform Proposal is Good for Business?

From Healthcare-NOW!

May 7, 2010 by Healthcare-NOW!

A new health care system could improve the bottom line for most businesses, reduce the impact of government related regulation, and free employers from managing employee health care. A redesigned health care system using single payer financing offers these major advantages, yet it has been overlooked by most of the business community. Why? How much does single payer financing really benefit business? What role should employers play in shaping the future of health care?

Important points include:
• Historical precedent is the only logical reason that employers should be responsible for employee health care.
• Single payer improves the bottom line for most employers.
• Single payer means less regulation and more freedom.
• Single payer encourages entrepreneurs and saves the family farm.
• The multi-payer, temporary insurance market is unable to meet America’s health care needs.
• Single payer does more to preserve choice.
• Single payer does more to protect from rationing and “death panels.”
• Some single payer proposals restore normal market forces to health care.
• Single payer can bend the cost curve of escalating health care costs.
• Single payer is the “buy American” health care proposal.
• Single payer is good for global competition and the entrepreneur.
• Transition to single payer is affordable for small business and benefits unions.

WHY THE U.S. HAS LAUNCHED A NEW FINANCIAL WORLD WAR -- and How the Rest of the World Will Fight Back

AlterNet.org CounterPunch 



By Michael Hudson
October 12, 2010

Finance is the new form of warfare -- without the expense of a military overhead and an occupation against unwilling hosts.

What is to stop U.S. banks and their customers from creating $1 trillion, $10 trillion or even $50 trillion on their computer keyboards to buy up all the bonds and stocks in the world, along with all the land and other assets for sale in the hope of making capital gains and pocketing the arbitrage spreads by debt leveraging at less than 1 per cent interest cost? This is the game that is being played today.

Finance is the new form of warfare - without the expense of a military overhead and an occupation against unwilling hosts. It is a competition in credit creation to buy foreign resources, real estate, public and privatized infrastructure, bonds and corporate stock ownership. Who needs an army when you can obtain the usual objective (monetary wealth and asset appropriation) simply by financial means? All that is required is for central banks to accept dollar credit of depreciating international value in payment for local assets. Victory promises to go to whatever economy's banking system can create the most credit, using an army of computer keyboards to appropriate the world's resources. The key is to persuade foreign central banks to accept this electronic credit.

U.S. officials demonize foreign countries as aggressive "currency manipulators" keeping their currencies weak. But they simply are trying to protect their currencies from being pushed up against the dollar by arbitrageurs and speculators flooding their financial markets with dollars. Foreign central banks find them obliged to choose between passively letting dollar inflows push up their exchange rates - thereby pricing their exports out of global markets - or recycling these dollar inflows into U.S. Treasury bills yielding only 1% and whose exchange value is declining. (Longer-term bonds risk a domestic dollar-price decline if U.S interest rates should rise.)
For more go to: http://www.alternet.org/story/148481/why_the_u.s._has_launched_a_new_financial_world_war_--_and_how_the_rest_of_the_world_will_fight_back_?page=entire

WHY GERMANY HAS IT SO GOOD -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain

 AlterNet / By  Terrence McNally


Germans have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, and nursing care. Why the US pales in comparison.
October 14, 2010|

While the bad news of the Euro crisis makes headlines in the US, we hear next to nothing about a quiet revolution in Europe. The European Union, 27 member nations with a half billion people, has become the largest, wealthiest trading bloc in the world, producing nearly a third of the world's economy -- nearly as large as the US and China combined. Europe has more Fortune 500 companies than either the US, China or Japan.

European nations spend far less than the United States for universal healthcare rated by the World Health Organization as the best in the world, even as U.S. health care is ranked 37th. Europe leads in confronting global climate change with renewable energy technologies, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the process. Europe is twice as energy efficient as the US and their ecological "footprint" (the amount of the earth's capacity that a population consumes) is about half that of the United States for the same standard of living.

Unemployment in the US is widespread and becoming chronic, but when Americans have jobs, we work much longer hours than our peers in Europe. Before the recession, Americans were working 1,804 hours per year versus 1,436 hours for Germans -- the equivalent of nine extra 40-hour weeks per year.

In his new book, Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?, Thomas Geoghegan makes a strong case that European social democracies -- particularly Germany -- have some lessons and models that might make life a lot more livable.

For more information & the interview go to:http://www.alternet.org/story/148501/why_germany_has_it_so_good_--_and_why_america_is_going_down_the_drain?page=entire

Vitamin D Deficiency is a worldwide epidemic

(NaturalNews) A clinical review paper published in the British Medical Journal is warning the public that widespread vitamin D deficiency is resurrecting the once-obsolete disease called rickets. According to Professor Simon Pearce and Dr. Time Cheetham, authors of the paper, people are getting far too little sunlight exposure which is necessary for the body to produce adequate levels of vitamin D.

Nowadays, children spend most of their time indoors staring at computer and television screens rather than playing outside in the sunlight. On the rare occasion that they venture outside, zealous parents are quick to apply UV-blocking sunscreen that prevents the sun's useful UVB rays from penetrating their skin and producing vitamin D. The result is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency that is leading to all sorts of illness and disease.

Rickets, a disease in which a person's bones do not properly develop and harden, results when a person is getting too little vitamin D and most likely not enough calcium. The U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is a mere 400 IU, an amount that is said to be adequate for preventing rickets.

To put this amount into perspective, however, exposure to the summer sun for about 20 minutes is enough to produce up to 20,000 IU of vitamin D in the body. At this level, far more optimal health can be achieved.


For more information go to:

http://www.naturalnews.com/028329_vitamin_D_rickets.html

ADD YOUR VOICE.. HELP DEFEAT PROP 8 in CALIF

Justice Delayed in California

Tonight, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay on Judge Walker's historic decision ruling Prop 8 unconstitutional. This means the freedom to marry for same-sex couples will not be restored this week, as so many hoped.
While the lawyers make the case for the freedom to marry in the courts of law, we must affirmatively make the case in the court of public opinion. Add your voice and tell the nation "I'm helping to defeat Prop 8, and I’m going to work to win the freedom to marry in the 45 states that still exclude loving and committed same-sex couples from marriage."

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freedomtomarry.org%2Fcontent%2Fadd-your-voice-now&h=cf5ce

VOTE for YOUR FAVORITE VILLAINS of FOOD

by Grist  Oct 14, 2010 12:07 PM

Oh, America, have we got troubles with our tummies -- and with the industrial system that pumps junk into them. One in six kids is obese. Half a billion potentially tainted eggs were recalled after sickening thousands with salmonella this year. (On the bright side, it's a pleasant change from summer's usual E. coli alerts.) Giant hog factories make life unbearable not just for the pigs, but for their neighbors in Iowa and North Carolina (although some fight back).

Basically, if you're someone who tries to eat like you give a damn, you can quickly feel like it's all going to hell.

Sure, there are many ways to cheer yourself up. You can devour a pint of protest ice cream (one delicious gut reaction). You can seek out happy stories about New Activists and "game changers."

Or, you can get even. While we at Grist like to focus on the positive as much as possible, all the community gardens and organic farmers in the world can't stop the tsunami of 99-cent feedlot burgers and head-scratching political appointments. This is our attempt to root out who's currently keeping America sick, fat, and poisoned: a preliminary list of a Dirty Dozen rotten eggs spoiling our food system. Cast your vote, or write in your candidate in the comments below, and let's see who's food's Public Enemy No. 1 -- and plot what we can do to stop them.

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-10-14-vote-for-your-favorite-villains-of-food/

Ten immediate benefits of HCR

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/what-you-get-when-hcr-passes

By karoli  March 21, 2010 05:45 PM

Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 26th birthday

2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions

3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage

4. Free preventative care for all

5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.

6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.

7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.

8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.

9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.

10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

 

In our community - half-rural and half-suburb -- 50 community health centers will receive funding to provide health and preventive services to people with no access right now. And that's just one benefit. They're all valuable.

cross-posted at USHealthCrisis.com

BULLYING FROM ONE WHO KNOWS... So heart wrenching... you've got to watch it.

Video Clip

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/10/you_cant_be_unmoved_by_this_vi.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28Pharyngula%29

REMEMBERING

Remembering:

Just the other day I was reminded of what a community is and how one remembers it. 

My father built the house I was born in. It was located in  in Newtonville, a section of Newton and it is close to several other cities namely, Watertown and Waltham. And, as a teen and young adult I lived in Weston located just on the outskirts of Waltham.

So what was so wonderful about Newton you may think. It isn’t like it's a city. But, it is a city, the "City of Newton." But, you of course mean the City of Boston and all its little cities around it.  

Some of the cities around Boston, East Boston, Haverhill, Leominster, Lowell, Cambridge, Newton, and Waltham are all immigrant cities.  These cities housed mills where French Canadians came to work long before the Irish or the Italian influx.  The French Canadians came down to work in these mills mostly in the winter after their crops had been harvested. 

How do I know this you wonder? I have done my homework.  I belong to a genealogy society where we have traced our ancestors back to the 1740 and earlier to the Acadians of Annapolis Valley, NS and the original Quebec settlers. We have many documents of these travels and travelers. And, in the genealogy group I met many people from Newton, Waltham, Weston, and we, of course, shared stories about growing up in these towns.

When I grew up in the 40s, 50s and 60s it wasn’t much different than the description given by a classmate.  We had our church festivals, Italian-Irish Catholic, parades three or four times a year, Greek and Armenian Tavernas in Watertown, and holiday parades, Easter, Forth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas, in Waltham.  We had two movie houses close buy, one in Watertown and one in Newton Corner where we went to see the latest films on rainy days. (Continued)

SUMMER DAYS

Summer Days

You ask, what about the summer ?  When we were younger there was the Carr School on Nevada Street.  This had a large playground with tall swings, ball fields and a recessed tennis court. If we weren’t on the swings, playing baseball, or playing tennis we were learning how to embroider, make trays out of wood for our mothers or make countless lariats and potholders.  We were busy, very busy.  

And, if that was not enough we could walk down California Street to Watertown Square and take the trolley in to Boston, Jamaica Plane, Hyde Park, Cambridge, Revere, or any other place the trolley could go. 

Some of the best trips are the ones my mother took us on, to the theater for children in Boston.  At the Shubert Theater we saw such plays as Rumplestilskin,  Snow White, Cinderella and more that I can’t remember right now.  We went in each month to see a different play.  I believe I got my love of theater at that time.

I often visited my Godmother and her sister in such cities as Cambridge, Hyde Park, or Jamaica Plane, where they lived at different times.  Those towns were more sedate than they are now.  When visiting we would go to the Franklin Park Zoo or the Arboretum or to the doll museum at the end of her street, not to mention all the other museums in the area, weddings, funerals and many trips to her friend and relative's houses.  And, my Godmother is the person who introduced me to Chinese, Hungarian, Jewish, Russian and German foods. I love all ethnic foods to this day.

Other activities we enjoyed were ballet and piano lessons in Newton Center, Tap and gymnastic lessons in Waltham.  When I became old enough to go by myself,  I walked to Weston where there was horse back riding or took the buss to Wall-x Roller-skating Rink in Waltham. I never felt deprived, or without something to do. Life seemed to go fast. 

From the time I was seven we spent the summers in Humarock, a little seaside village overlapping sections of Marshfield and Scituate.  Here is where we had lazy summer days, swimming, laying on the beach for hours, boating and where I made live long friends. Humarock is 50 miles form Newton and a little more from Weston. My father built the cottage in 1947.  And, I now live in the much altered cottage.

Most of us went to one of the Catholic schools in the neighborhood.  There was the French Church, St John the Evangelist and their school and the Irish Church, Our Lady’s Help of Christians, now known only as Our lady’s and their school.  I went to Our Lady’s because my mother’s best friend was a sister there. 

I always wanted to go to the French school but that was not to be. I loved going to the French Church with my father on Sundays. But, he was the better cook in the family and we had to decide if Dad was going to cook and have a wonderful meal or go to High Mass with him, it was a hard decision to make.

Thou the French community was first to live in the Nonantum area but during WWI  & WWII there was a large influx of Italian immigrants.  They settled in the section of Nonantum known as the “LAKE.” Many of my friends were Italians and we all went to Our Lady’s elementary school. 

On my way to and from school there was a wonderful Italian bakery that we had to walk by.  Oh! Such a delicious aroma of bread came wafting to our nostrils tempting us to linger.  And, there was a lovely little library on the corner of Adams and Watertown Streets that I often frequented. The librarian was a nice lady who would find books, she knew I would like, on geology or science and put them away for me. There was a park but much too small to have a dinner or a picnic in. I would say it was more of a memorial park.  That is where we had our pictures taken on special occasions as First Communion, Confirmation, Easter or Thanksgiving.  The park was next to the Fire Station still in operation today. 

Then there was always my Grandma’s house just down the road on Capitol Street.  It’s a wonder I ever got home on time for supper.  But, supper was always ready at 5 o’clock as my Mom, a housewife, prided herself on making a good home for her family had supper waiting for us. In those days it was common for women to stay home to look after the home and family. To work outside the home was frowned upon. (continued)

A MOVE TO WESTON

A Move to Weston

When I was almost fourteen years old we moved to Weston.  Being a teen is a difficult time in one’s life and I was no different. It was also difficult fitting into a new school system but I soon found friends in my neighborhood that I was compatible with and we shared homework or babysitting jobs.

I got my first real job working at Foot’s General store just around the block from our house.  I served ice cream. Guess you could have called me a “Soda Jerk.” What it taught me was responsibility and the art of making sundaes. Another job was being a Mother’s Helper for a Jewish couple. They had three boys and I became part of their Jewish family.  I have many happy memories of them. 

As for activities there was tennis, horse back riding, going to Howard Johnson’s after the monthly dances, art lessons, apple picking, football games and going to Moody Street to shop for clothes. Of course we always had access to Boston for the train stopped down the road from our house. We could hear the freight trains at 4 o’clock every morning as they blew their melancholy whistle echoing in our valley before crossing the roads.

In high school I found a group of friends who loved Jazz as much as I did.  How many people can say that every Wednesday afternoon they went to Boston’s Copley Square Hotel’s Storyville and listened to the jazz artists who were traveling through the area. 

Some of the artists we were fortunate to see were, Johnny Mathis, when he was nineteen, big bands like, Louie Armstrong, Bobby Hackett, Dizzy Gillespie, Glenn Miller Memorial band, Benny Goodman Memorial Band, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horn, Jean Krupa,, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Stan Kenton, Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vaughn, Stan Kenton, Chet Baker, Louie Belton, Bert Barrack. And so many more I can’t remember them all.

Now when I look back on it all, I don’t think I would have wanted to live anywhere else, for I had the best of both worlds… Newton was close to the trolleys and the buses went everywhere and Weston is only 12 miles from Boston and had a train that went directly to North Station. We had city activities and country living.

Ah! Ya can’t beat that…

Night, night, you all out there, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite,

Sleepy Sally Sandman

BULLYING A CAPTURED AUDENCE

Follow-up article: Bulling has many forms.  The following are examples of bulling not often associated as bulling but it is non-the-less.
News articles that deal with bulling or outing gays & forced religion & rules on captured audiences.

His son picketed by zealot Baptist group wasn’t gay but military: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/father-of-dead-marine-ord_n_517614.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Lieutenant Choi discharged from Army: http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/07/22/exclusive-dadt-protestor-lt-choi-is-officially-discharged-from-army.html  

House passed the DATA but held up until survey is report is out: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/27/senate-armed-services-com_n_592782.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=980502,b=facebook

Ending DADT will undermine religious liberty: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Freligion.blogs.cnn.com%2F2010%2F06%2F01%2Fmy-take-ending-dont-ask-dont-tell-would-undermine-religious-liberty%2F&h=3fab6

Glenn Beck against DATA repeal:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/ken-buck-homogeneous-military-dadt_n_721804.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Elderly gay couple separated and everything they owned auctioned off: http://www.bilerico.com/2010/04/sonoma_county_ca_separates_elderly_gay_couple_and.php  

Huckabee likens gay marriage to incest: http://search.yahoo.com/404handler?src=news&fr=404_news&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Fs%252Fap%252F20100413%252Fap_on_el_pr%252Fus_huckabee_gay_marriage%26amp%3Bh%3D3fab6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20100413%2Fap_on_el_pr%2Fus_huckabee_gay_marriage

DADT SURVEY a Gay Questioner: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/07/a_pentagon_survey_sent_this.html

NYC: Gang members torture Gay police recruit:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003698-503544.html

Gay couple found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in prison: http://www.ksby.com/news/malawi-gay-couple-found-guilty/

___

Bulling and captured audiences.

References to New Testament passages imbedded in US rifle scopes: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-01-19-Military-weapons_N.htm

Military forces soldiers to go to Christian worship: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/us-soldiers-punished-for-_b_687051.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Jail prohibits any reading material except the Bible: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100604933.html?hpid=sec-religion

WHICH ONE IS GAY?

Please go to this URL and see his cartoon... it is profoundly poignant... http://blogs.trb.com/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog/2009/04/military_gays_gay.html

About the author

CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.

BULLYING HAS MANY FORMS

Bulling Follow-up:
The following are examples of bulling not often associated as bulling but it is non-the-less.

News articles that deal with bulling or outing gays & forced religion & rules on captured audiences.

His son picketed by zealot Baptist group. His son wasn’t gay but military: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/father-of-dead-marine-ord_n_517614.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Lieutenant Choi discharged from Army: http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/07/22/exclusive-dadt-protestor-lt-choi-is-officially-discharged-from-army.html  

House passed the DATA but held up until survey is report is out: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/27/senate-armed-services-com_n_592782.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=980502,b=facebook

Ending DADT will undermine religious liberty: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Freligion.blogs.cnn.com%2F2010%2F06%2F01%2Fmy-take-ending-dont-ask-dont-tell-would-undermine-religious-liberty%2F&h=3fab6

Glenn Beck against DATA repeal:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/ken-buck-homogeneous-military-dadt_n_721804.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Elderly gay couple separated and everything they owned auctioned off: http://www.bilerico.com/2010/04/sonoma_county_ca_separates_elderly_gay_couple_and.php  

Huckabee likens gay marriage to incest: http://search.yahoo.com/404handler?src=news&fr=404_news&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Fs%252Fap%252F20100413%252Fap_on_el_pr%252Fus_huckabee_gay_marriage%26amp%3Bh%3D3fab6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20100413%2Fap_on_el_pr%2Fus_huckabee_gay_marriage

DADT SURVEY a Gay Questionier: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/07/a_pentagon_survey_sent_this.html

NYC: Gang members torture Gay police recruit:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003698-503544.html 

 Gay couple found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in prison: http://www.ksby.com/news/malawi-gay-couple-found-guilty/

 ____

News articles that deal with bulling, forced religion & rules, on captured audiences.

References to New Testament passages imbedded in US rifle scopes: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-01-19-Military-weapons_N.htm

Military forces soldiers to go to Christian worship: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/us-soldiers-punished-for-_b_687051.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Jail prohibits any reading material except the Bible: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100604933.html?hpid=sec-religion

BULLYING A GROWING CONCERN

This topic is in the news a lot lately and such a tragic subject to. Something has to be done about it and soon... the Blogger's article is about what happened to him and what can be done to stop this atrocious behavior. The other articles are what I have compiled over the year.  There will be following blogs on other types of bulling that may not seem to be relevant but are none the less bulling. There is a lot to cover so I'll sign off and let you get to it.  Sleepy Sally Sandman

News articles that deal with bulling or outing gays & forced religion & rules on captured audiences. 

 

Yesterday a 13 year old boy in Texas shot himself in the head because he was bullied and tormented at school for being gay. This is the second teenage boy this week who has committed suicide because of this type of bullying.  I received this last night… (2 articles)

http://perezhilton.com/2010-09-28-Texas_teen_kills_himself_after_years_of_bullying

http://blogs.chron.com/momhouston/2010/04/texas_teen_commits_suicide_aft_1.html

One town in Ohio and 4 children’s suicides from bulling: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bullying_one_town

Blogger: I was a bullied kid: http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/memoirs-of-bullied-kid.html

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­1. Mississippi schools sued for canceling prom over lesbian student: http://us.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/11/mississippi.prom.suit/index.html

2. I was sent to a fake Prom: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/04/05/ACLU_Investigating_Fake_Prom/

3. Follow up on above: http://www.americanhumanist.org/news/details/2010-03-humanists-prepare-to-hold-lgbt-inclusive-prom-in-miss

4. Follow up: Bleckley school officials allowing gay prom date: http://www.macon.com/2010/03/23/1069261/bleckley-school-officials-allowing.html?storylink=addthis

Gay Jesus Play stopped because of receipt of vile messages: http://wbztv.com/watercooler/gay.jesus.Play.2.1596827.html