For your 4th of July pleasure, I've left this Crossword Puzzle to keep you busy until Namaste' resumes regular programming July 5th! Enjoy!! And have a safe, fun holiday weekend!!
Across
2. The first president of the United States
4. The kind of melon that many people eat on the Fourth.
7. The national bird
9. Who made the first flag. Betsy ______
11. The number of stripes on the flags that stands for the number of original colonies
12. This game is played at picnics. You throw something that is taken off the feet of horses
14. One if by land and two if by ____
15. The number of stars on the United States Flag
Down
1. Fourth of July is also called ________ Day
3. Many people set these off on the Fourth of July
5. Paul Revere road through the streets saying "The _____ _____ are coming!"
6. Many people have one of these on the Fourth of July. It is where you eat outside.
7. Fourth of July is the United States _______
8. Red, white and _____
10. These are grilled and put on a bun. hot ____
13. Many people do this during the summer. You can do this in a lake, pool or ocean.
btw, if you think you need the answers {grin} you can click here, but no peekin' til ya finish!
Another Raise For Congress
The Republican-controlled Congress is preventing anincrease in the minimum wage. They had no problem,however, voting themselves another pay raise.
Kudos to 'jc's designs'
It's MONDAY MEME!...
please email suggestions for next week's!
okay, here we go from 'Newsweek'!!
"When I tell people that my wife and I each have separate apartments yet are happily married, I usually get a strange look. I used to rush to explain that ours wasn’t some weird marriage of convenience cobbled together for appearances, like certain
celebrity couples are rumored to have done to advance their careers. Now I don’t bother. Our apartments are both in the same Brooklyn building, on the same floor, two doors down from one another, and we probably spend more time together than most spouses"...
btw, I have a friend who lives apart from her husband even though they are married only on a more extreme level than above story. She lives in Florida and hubby in Michigan!
WEIGH IN! What do you think of this idea!?!
Logo provided by 'jc's designs'
FRIDAY FUN!
DUMBLAWS IN MICHIGAN...
Clawson...There is a law that makes it legal for a farmer to sleep with his pigs, cows, horses, goats, and chickens.
Detroit... Putt-putt golf courses must close by 1:00 AM.
Security guards at Joe Louis Arena will confiscate any item they feel might be thrown onto the ice.
Couples are banned from making love in an automobile unless the act takes place while the vehicle is parked on the couple's own property.
Willfully destroying your old radio is prohibited.
It is illegal for a man to scowl at his wife on Sunday.
It is illegal to let your pig run free in Detroit unless it has a ring in its nose.
Grand Haven... No person shall throw an abandoned hoop skirt into any street or on any sidewalk, under penalty of a five-dollar fine for each offense.
Harper Woods... It is illegal to paint sparrows to sell them as parakeets.
Kalamazoo... It is against the law to serenade your girlfriend.
Rochester... All bathing suits must have been inspected by the head of police.
Soo... Smoking while in bed is illegal.
Wayland... Anyone can keep their cow on Main Street downtown at a cost of 3 cents per day.
Go to 'Dumb Laws' to find the ones in your state... how dumb is that!?! LOL!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
LAW ENFORCEMENT
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.
MILITARY
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.
COLLEGE
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry, including Enron CEO Ken Lay, I was elected governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America. I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money. I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history. With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record. I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week. I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury. I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period. I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period. I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President. I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations. My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision. I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history. I changed the U.S.policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history. I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history. I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission. I withdrew the U.S.from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention. I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election). I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television. I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history. I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community. I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families-in-wartime. In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends. I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security. I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD. I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden [sic] to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view. All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
I am a member of the Republican Party.
PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN THE 2006 MIDTERM ELECTIONS.
It's MONDAY MEME!...
please email suggestions for next week's!
This happened right here in my neck of the woods...
CLIO - High School Principal Keith Smith says he doesn't mind being the butt of a good-natured joke, but he wants two graduating seniors to know his backside is off limits.
Smith filed a 'sexual assault complaint' with police after Sunday's commencement ceremony at the Clio Amphitheater, claiming the male students reached around him and grabbed his backside when he tried to congratulate them for their graduation.
"These two chose to touch me on the butt and rub it," Smith said Monday. "They are 18. They are adults. It's not OK."
Still, some thought Smith was going too far over what might have been graduation high jinks.
On Wednesday, Smith 'dropped a criminal complaint' he filed against two male high school seniors who he claimed rubbed his buttocks when he congratulated them on stage at Sunday's commencement ceremony.
WEIGH IN... Do you think the Clio High School principal went too far in filing a police complaint over the butt-grabbing incident!?! Or did the students deserve a lesson!?! (be sure to read why he dropped the complaint before making your decision)
Logo provided by 'jc's designs'
FRIDAY FUN!
EVERYTHING HAS A GENDER
You may not know this but many nonliving things have a gender...
Ziploc Bags are Male because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.
Copiers are Female because once turned off it takes a while to warm them up again. It's an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can wreak havoc if the wrong buttons are pushed.
A Tire is Male because it goes bald and it's often over-inflated.
A Hot Air Balloon is Male because to get it to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under it, and of course, there's the hot air part.
Sponges are Female because they're soft, squeezable and retain water.
A Web Page is Female because it's always getting hit on.
A Subway is Male because it uses the same old lines to pick people up.
An Hourglass is Female because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom.
A Hammer is Male because it hasn't changed much over the last 5,000 years, but it's handy to have around.
A Remote Control is Female. Ha! You thought it'd be male, didn't you? But consider this - it gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
THIS IS FROM 'Live: From San Diego, CA.' ,aka, Mike! IT HAD ME ROTFLMAO...enjoy!...
It's all Clinton's fault! (or why I stopped worrying and learned to embrace Usenet)
There are some funny damn people on there for sure.
Usenet, as in newsgroups, are basically like text-based boards for arguing about everything from tortilla chips, to porn and politics.
Well, you know how all the right-wingers STILL love to blame Clinton for everything?
Here is a post that I found today on alt.politics.bush in answer to other people (those prefaced by the >> things) about Clinton:
>>> Hey, dumbass, you forgot to name the iceberg "Clinton".
>>> You loons are starting to slip.
>>Man o' Man...That Clinton is one powerful guy....out of office for nearly
>>six years and he's still responsible for all off bush,jr's fuckups!
>Yep. Every chance they get, it's Clinton's fault.
I sure hope Billy gets a mold of his erect penis then have a life like model made with newskin and then donate it to the Smithsonian Museum so that all the right wingers can go look at it in awe. For ten bucks extra maybe they can take turns squeezing it and see what it feels like to be a real man.
I'm afraid they would tremble and faint, according to them it is so powerful, it changed history and still six years later, many miles away from the capital it still is working wonders.
I swear to God, that is one of the funniest posts I have read in years. Had to pass that on..
FISCAL CONSERVATIVISM
Cut Taxes,
Spend
More,
and go
into
Today's Meme provided by one of my fav bloggers... 'puppytoes'! Here's what she had to say in Friday's 'backacha' section... "read the rolling stone article by RFK, jr. this month... here's a 'link' to that, as well. it will SO piss you off--could be a good topic for your next round?) : D"... yes, a verrrrrrry good topic, indeed!
Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.
BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
Like many Americans, I spent the evening of the 2004 election watching the returns on television and wondering how the exit polls, which predicted an overwhelming victory for John Kerry, had gotten it so wrong. By midnight, the official tallies showed a decisive lead for George Bush -- and the next day, lacking enough legal evidence to contest the results,Kerry conceded. Republicans derided anyone who expressed doubts about Bush's victory as nut cases in ''tinfoil hats,'' while the national media,with few exceptions, did little to question the validity of the election. The Washington Post immediately dismissed allegations of fraud as ''conspiracy theories,''(1) and The New York Times declared that ''there is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale.''(2)...
READ ALL THE FACTS FROM THE 'LINK' THEN 'WEIGH IN' AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!!
Logo provided by 'jc's designs'
FRIDAY FUN!!
Well, now ...... here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to pass it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know something about it?
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").
Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew!" Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative 'F,' and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."
IT'S STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every pluckin' thing!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Vindication
'This is part of an Editorial by Andrew Heller of The Flint Journal'...
I'm a new fan because of the reaction to them from conservatives, particularly radio and TV babblers.
"How dare they question our commander in chief again!" I heard one female radio babbler hiss the other day.
My reaction: Isn't that their right as Americans? Isn't it almost their duty as Americans? And aren't the troops supposedly fighting to preserve our right to disagree with our leaders?
"Furthermore," the babbler continued, "the Dixie Chicks should shut up about politics and just sing."
As a person with a lot of opinions who is neither elected nor a national media babbler, I don't happen to agree with that sentiment.
Therefore, I've decided to go buy a copy of whatever the Dixie Chicks are calling their new album.
I may not be bright, but I know how spite works.
Received this from one of my activist friends who doesn't have a blog. It was dated May 8 so the link to the story she provided no longer exists but here is the 'paper' it came from...
"Not fault of UAW, it's the buyers of foreign cars"
~CLIFF JOHNSON COMMUNITY PRESS GUEST COLUMNIST~
There is a true cost to our economy when Americans purchase foreign cars. From a decrease in wages, which directly leads to a decrease in local purchasing power. With the impending loss of jobs at Batavia Transmissions and the blame shifted to the union (United Auto Workers), here are some facts the media tend to leave out.
The legacy costs (pension and health care) to past and present UAW workers is about $5.8 billion per year. This may seem like a staggering figure until you compare it to the costs of the white collar (chief executive officers and management) legacy. At General Motors last year, it was $7 billion. Easier to blame the union.
CEOs' salaries in the United States since 1980 have grown at an alarming rate. If minimum wage had grown at the same rate it would be more than $22 an hour. Easier to blame the union.
In 2004, General Motors lost more than $1 billion in its manufacturing division but management's executive bonus still kicked in. Easier to blame the union.
J.D. Power states there is a double false perception that current foreign cars are better and American cars are inferior. The facts are American cars are equal to or better than their foreign equivalent. J.D. Power ranks General Motors as No. 1 in multi-car manufacturing in sales satisfaction, Toyota was No. 5. Also J.D. Power states General Motors has the most dependable vehicles in eight of 19 categories. Toyota was first in only four categories.
In 2005, Chevrolet outsold Toyota in the United States. The Buick Regal and Lacoss are rated of the highest quality by Consumer Reports and other car magazines. The Michigan Grand River Cadillac was the highest rated in North America. Our United States government reports Toyota's new American plants are 10 years behind in plant safety as compared to General Motors plants. Toyota devotes a good portion of its budget to promoting that it makes an American car.
Here are the facts: 75 percent of all cars made in the United States are Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and their domestic content averages 82 percent, Toyota 40 percent, Lexus only 3 percent.
Because of our choices, I wonder where our children will work. They all can't get white collar jobs, can they? Well it looks like the new Wal-Mart is hiring. For the record I am not a UAW member.
WEIGH IN... WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON AMERICANS PURCHASING FOREIGN CARS!?! Logo provided by 'jc's designs'
Friday Fun!
Are you tired of hearing your spouse say: "We never do anything together."
Well, the Kohler Company has a solution:
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
