Random thoughts from a Baby Boomer

Good-bye Tai Shan

 I was so sorry to hear that my favorite panda bear is headed to China. Tai Shan was the first baby panda  born into captivity to survive infancy (I guess that makes him First Panda).  I followed his story and wanted so much to see the little bear in person.  When I finally visited our nation’s capitol, the National Zoo was on my list of places to see.   Tai Shan had just turned two years old when I met him one hot July afternoon and he looked so chubby and cuddly in his little fur suit but my heart went out to him.  If I was overheated in a sun dress, I can’t imagine how uncomfortable he was.  Pandas love the winter, and the snow storm that traveled through Washington this week, dumping snow on our capitol, was a fitting send off from mother nature.  Good bye and good luck little American bear, may the people in China care and love you as much as the people of these united states do.

Terrorism Stops with You and Me

The other day, I received this email titled Advice from an Israeli Agent.  When I read it, I thought this was good common sense and we, as individuals, should take more responsibility for our own personal safety.  Little did I know that the next day these words would trigger me to take action.  The day after reading this email, I was in our little post office and a man walked in with three packages, stood in line for a minute and then set his packages down on the table where I was addressing an envelop.  He asked me if I would watch his packages while he ran back to his car. 

I said, “No, I would rather not.”  He said, “You’re kidding?”  I said, “No, I am very uncomfortable watching your packages and I would appreciate it if you would take them with you.”  He said, “You’re crazy!” left the packages and walked out.  I felt myself start to panic as he left.  I picked up the packages and threw them toward the door.  I figured if I was going to die I was going to take him out too!  The people around me looked at me like I had lost my mind.  The man came back in, saw his packages on the ground and proceeded to call me some very lovely names and wish me dead at the hands of a run-away car. 

He picked up his packages and went storming out before the person in charge at the post office came out to see if she could help.  By this time, I was seriously shaking and I told her what had happened.  She got it.  Of all the people in the post office at that time, she was the only one who understood the impact of a person leaving a package unattended.  I know that everyone who witnessed that scene probably thought that I was over-reacting, but I can’t help wonder “What if?”  There was no bomb (this time) but I was proud of myself for reacting. We think things like that can’t happen in our small towns but no place is really safe anymore.  I am not ashamed of what I did and I would do it again. 

We have to acknowledge the fact that terrorism is a possible threatto all Americans. I am attaching that email in hopes that others read it and if put in a similar situation, have what it takes to react.  We need to show the terrorists that we are not lambs to the slaughter who leave our safety and security up to other people.  We need to show them that every citizen in this country is prepared to take them on.

 

Advice from an Israeli Agent

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ !! 

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie ’Munich’ was based. He was Golda Meir’s bodyguard, and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games. 
In a lecture in New York City he shared information that EVERY American needs to know — but that our government has not yet shared with us.
He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O’Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O’Reilly laughed, and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. Unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.
  Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11, a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.
  Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months.
 

Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke — that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective. 
For example: 
1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic. 
2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can’t bring liquids on board. He says he’s waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked!

Every strategy we have is reactionary
3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates. 
Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel, security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.
 

Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (i.e., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as, rural America this time. The interlands (Wyoming, Montana, etc.). 
The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas. 
Aviv says terrorists won’t need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.
 

Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. Government does not want to ‘alarm American citizens’ with the facts. The world is quickly going to become ‘a different place’, and issues like ‘global warming’ and political correctness will become totally irrelevant. 
On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don’t have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to ‘meet their destiny’. 
 

He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America  should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad.  But will be, instead, ‘homegrown’, having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.S. He says to look for ’students’ who frequently travel back and forth to the  Middle East. These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won’t know/understand a thing about them. 
Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will inevitably face.  America still has only a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.
 

So, what can America do to protect itself? From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel’s, Ireland’s and England’s hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to pay attention to, and trust ‘aware’ citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, ‘like babies’. Our government thinks we ‘can’t handle the truth’ and are concerned that we’ll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake. 
Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!
  In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well ’trained’ that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, ’Unattended Bag!’ The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves.
  Unfortunately, America  hasn’t been yet ‘hurt enough’ by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it’s their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.
  Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were ‘lost’ without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City, this was days, in some cases!)
 

He stresses the importance of having a plan, that’s agreed upon within your family, of how to respond in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children’s schools and demand that the schools too, develop plans of actions, just as they do in Israel. 
Does your family know what to do if you can’t contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow. 
Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan, that in the event of another terrorist

attack, EVERYONE’s ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., will immediately be cut-off, as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated. 
How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak to each other? You need to have a plan.
  If you understand, and believe what you have just read, then you must feel compelled to send this to every concerned parent, guardian, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whomever. Don’t stop there. In addition to sharing this via e-mail, contact and discuss this information with whomever it makes sense to. Make contingency plans with those you care about. Better that you have plans in place, and never have to use them, then to have no plans in place, and find you needed them.
  If you choose not to share this, or not to have a plan in place, and nothing ever occurs – good for you! However, in the event  something does happen, and even moreso, if it directly affects your loved ones, then this e-mail will haunt you forever.
 
 
 

 

Christmas Songs from Past

 

 
A friend emailed this to me and I thought that I would share it with you.  I hope as you listen, you remember the joys of  Christmases past and commit to carrying that joyous feeling through the upcoming year. 
Here’s your own personal Holiday juke box…just click on the song you want to hear….
 

         Christmas Songs to Remember

Away In A Manger
Loretta Lynn
Christmas Alphabet
The McGuire Sisters
Christmas Country Christmas
The Statler Brothers
Christmas Song
Alvin & The Chipmunks
Christmas Times A Coming
Bill Monroe
And The Bluegrass Boys
Christmas Waltz
Frank Sinatra
Christmas Without You
Kenny Rogers
Dolly Parton
Its Beginning To Look
A Lot Like Christmas

Bing Crosby &
The Andrew Sisters
Jingle Bell Rock
Bobby Helms
Jingle Bells
Roy Rogers
Most Interesting Middle!
Jingle Bells
Perry Como
Jingle Bells
The Jingle Bell Piggie
Joy To The World
Nat King Cole
Let It Snow
Andy Williams
Little Drummer Boy
Neil Diamond
O Christmas Tree
Nat King Cole
Please Come Home
The Platters
Pretty Paper
Roy Orbison
Santa Baby
Cynthia Basinet
Silver Bells
Bing Crosby/Peggy Lee
Silent Night
Dean Martin
Sleigh Ride
Johnny Mathis
The First Noel
Andy Williams
White Christmas
Bing Crosby
White Christmas
The Drifters (1954)
 

Health Care Reform

Obama and the Democratic-controlled congress have good intentions, but it seems that this administration is no different from the past administration.  In the worst economic crisis in decades, the people in charge of running our country are penny-wise and dollar-dumb.  Despite all the current changes to medicare and the ongoing debate over more cuts to medicare in the proposed health care issue, they are overlooking one critical fact: $30 billion dollars or more of medicare money is lost each year to fraud.  I don’t understand why they are not addressing this issue.  Have we elected leaders that have no concept of the value of our money?   Congress has managed to address all sorts of issues in the 1,000+ pages of the health reform bill; why have they not addressed the issue of fraud to the system? 

We know the excuses:  There’s the time constraint and the lack of people available to trace the fraud. In fact, past-President Clinton recognized the impact fraud had on our national budget and tried to get the then Republican-controlled congress to address this issue.  And yet, over a decade later, nothing has been done.  It insults my American blood to know that con-men are probably laughing at the ignorace of my country all the way to the bank.  Not only does this show the world that our government is wasteful and financially uncaring, but I wonder just how much of this fraudulent money is used to help fund terrorism around the world.  

We need to stop this fiscal leaking before we address spending more money.  Can’t someone come up with a solution?  Wait a minute, I have a solution! The National unemployment rate is over 10% and the the President recently held a summit on creating jobs in America with the focus on not spending more taxpayer money to do it.  Why not hire some of those unemployed people to investigate the medicare fraud.  One very simple solution would be to set up call centers where newly-hired medicare employees could call and verify that medicare recipients actually received the services that were billed to them. If the service was valid, those bills would be paid.  If the services were not valid, then they would not get paid.  This would be a self-funded program; money saved would cover the cost of the centers and the hiring of new workers.  Wahla! no new expense to taxpayers and the respect of this administration and congress would increase a notch or two. In fact, maybe we should look at other areas where there is a huge waste of taxpayer’s money and see how we can put people back to work by recovering these funds. 

I am not opposed to paying more taxes if that is what is needed to make this country healthy, but I am opposed to sitting back and watching my tax dollars be stolen.  Our administration needs to lead by example and show us the meaning of fiscal responsibility.

Who Should I Trust?

 Over the past year, I have watched my investments plummet then make a feeble attempt at recovery, only to nosedive again this past week. The economic news mirrors my concern.  We might be in an economic bubble or we might be on the road to recovery.  Who knows?  Apparently no one can say for sure, despite their educational background or their position of power.  I question whether my IRA will ever be healthy enough for me to retire on.  Then, I tell myself not to worry, retirement is highly over-rated and what would I do with all that time on my hands anyway, especially if I can’t afford the lifestyle I want to become accustomed to.  See?  Even my sense of humor is suffering from this financial burden.

I am not sure who is to be trusted anymore.  I was struck dumb, when I heard that the bank executives who put us in this economic tsunami must be given their million-dollar bonuses or they will go some place else to work. I say, “Let them go!”  These people have proven to the world that they are the epitome of incompetency.  I don’t understand why they kept their jobs in the first place, and I really don’t understand, knowing their history, who would hire them now.  We have finally reached that point where the world has turned upside down, common sense has been abandoned and logic is non-existent.  Hey folks, Nero is back, and Rome is burning.

I’m not one for idly standing by and yet, where my finaces are concerned, I must confess, I have taken the passive road.  I have trusted strangers to turn my hard earned money into a comfortable nest egg.  I hypnotized myself into believing that since the investmenet firm had an old,  established name, it was a safe place to invest.  Silly me.  Over the years I have learned that the only  one who can take care of me the way I want to be taken care of, is me.  And if I want to see a safe, secure financial future, than it is up to me to take the necessary action to make it happen.  I have made a commitment to handle my own financial future.  I have enrolled in investment classes and when I am done, I will have the knowledge I need to chart my own path. 

Wish me luck and follow my progress here.

Humor in Aging

WRONG CAR

An elderly Floridian called 911 on her cell phone to report that her car has been broken into. She is hysterical as she explains her situation to the dispatcher: ‘They’ve stolen the stereo, the steering wheel, the brake pedal and even the accelerator!’ she cried. The dispatcher said, ‘Stay calm.. An officer is on the way.’ A few minutes later, the officer radios in. ‘Disregard.’ He says. She got in the back-seat by mistake..’
_____________________________________
FAMILY
Three sisters ages 92, 94 and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses. She yells to the other sisters, ‘Was I getting in or out of the bath?’ The 94 year old yells back, ‘I don’t know. I’ll come up and see.’ She starts up the stairs and pauses ‘Was I going up the stairs or down?’ The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says, ‘I sure hope I never get that forgetful, knock on wood.’ She then yells, ‘I’ll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who’s at the door.’
_____________________________________
I CAN HEAR JUST FINE!
Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf one fine March day. One remarked to the other, ‘Windy, isn’t it?’ ‘No,’ the second man replied, ‘it’s Thursday.’ And the third man chimed in, ‘So am I. Let’s have a beer.’
_____________________________________
SUPERSEX
A little old lady was running up and down the halls in a nursing home. As she walked, she would flip up the hem of her nightgown and say ‘Supersex..’ She walked up to an elderly man in a wheelchair Flipping her gown at him, she said, ‘Supersex.’
He sat silently for a moment or two and finally answered, ‘I’ll take the soup.’
_____________________________________
ROMANCE
An older couple were lying in bed one night. The husband was falling asleep but the wife was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk. She said: ‘You used to hold my hand when we were courting.’ Wearily he reached across, held her hand for a second and tried to get back to sleep. A few moments later she said: ‘Then you used to kiss me.’ Mildly irritated, he reached across, gave her a peck on the cheek and settled down to sleep.
Thirty seconds later she said: ‘Then you used to bite my Neck.’ Angrily, he threw back the bed clothes and got out of bed.. ‘Where are you going?’ she asked.
‘To get my teeth!’
_____________________________________
DOWN AT THE RETIREMENT CENTER
80-year old Bessie bursts into the rec room at the retirement home. She holds her clenched fist in the air and announces,’Anyone who can guess what’s in my hand can have sex with me tonight!!’ An elderly gentleman in the rear shouts out, ‘An elephant?’ Bessie thinks a minute and says, ‘Close enough.’
_____________________________________
OLD FRIENDS
Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to playcards.
One day, they were playing cards when one Looked at the other and said, ‘Now don’t get mad at me . I know we’ve been friends for a long time but I just can’t think of your name! I’ve thought and thought, but I can’t remember it. Please tell me what your name is.’ Her friend glared at her.. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her.
Finally she said, ‘How soon do you need to Know?’
_____________________________________
SENIOR DRIVING
As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife’s voice urgently warning him, ‘Herman, I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!’ ‘Hell,’ said Herman, ‘It’s not just one car. It’s hundreds of them!’
_____________________________________
DRIVING
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection.. The stoplight was red, but they just went on through.
The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself ‘I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through a red light.’ After a few more minutes, they came to another intersection and the light was red again.
Again, they went right through. The woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red and they went on through. So, she turned to the other woman and said, ‘Mildred, did you know that we just ran through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us both!’
Mildred turned to her and said, ‘Oh! Am I driving?’

Please !!!!
TELL ME THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO ME

Romancing the Road

This is a great story about the relationship of a woman and her car. The two have been together for decades and have logged over 540,000 miles traveling across this county. Rachel is a testiment to those of us who hear the call of the open road and grab it..

44 Presidents

If you feel like you are in need of a little entertainment, check this video out.  I think it is so cool!  It never ceases to amaze me what can be found on the Internet. It also delights me when I think of the creativity that people want to share.  Enjoy.

Eliminate Winter Stiffness

Every year, as I get older, this cold winter weather seems to settle deeper and deeper into my bones.  My muscles tense up and my joints sometimes ache when I want them to flex.  I’m used to stiffness setting in once in a while and can usually eliminate it with a few stretches or a hot shower.  But for some reason, winter stiffness stays with me until the snow melts and the tulips break the ground.  I feel it deep in my bones, it goes with me to work and it’s even with me when I crawl into bed at night. The perpetual soreness made me crabby and the stiffness made me want to be sedentary but sitting around only aggravated the soreness so I decided to find a solution short of moving south during the winter months.  Turning to the Internet, I soon realized that the problem was not in the fact that I wasn’t putting forth enough effort to improve the problem, but the fact was that most stretching techniques simply don’t work to cure stiffness. Read more »

No Wonder I Sometimes Feel Insignificant

A friend sent me this clock in an email and as I watched it, I was mesmerized by the numbers.  With each tick of the clock, a child is born in China, a traffic accident happens, someone fills their car with gas, someone learns they have cancer, someone is sent to prison and many other life-movements continue to play out across the screen.  As the numbers  click off and daily activities continue to be tallied up, we can see mother earth in her beauty as it ever turns in its perpetual diurnal roll. Watching our planet spin from a distance it looks like humankind has made very little impact on it and yet watching the numbers ticking away tells us something different.  Read more »

Top of page / Subscribe to new Entries (RSS)

This blog contributes to the web with Nofollow Reciprocity.