We all learned recently of the death of the actor Larry Hagman. Well, all actors and we all will die but the death of this guy touched us because we kind of grew up with this actor. He was like that weird uncle that you saw occasionally. As a child we saw him daily on the hit show I Dream of Jeannie and then as we got older he was the mean rich guy on another hit show Dallas. We probably saw him more than our real relatives.

The beautiful actress, still beautiful Barbara Eden played the sexy but vulnerable Jeannie literally in a bottle that when you rub she appears. It was every man’s sexual fantasy although it was a very G rated sitcom in a very comic way. Why does she still look great and through out his life, he looked progressively worse? Could part of it be because she took care of herself and he decided that a life of booze was a better idea for him?

He had a great life as do most children who choose to be an actor especially because they have famous parents in acting. His mother was the famous Mary Martin mostly known for her role as Peter Pan. Other famous children are Goldie Hawn’s daughter Kate Hudson or Kurt Douglas’s son Michael Douglas or even Gweneth Paltrow the daughter of Blythe Danner. Could all that acting talent really be in the genes? I doubt it. Nepotism and connections in the business must have a lot to do with this generational same occupations.

The point is that guys like Larry Hagman had a good life . Almost too good. He abused his body from his drinking habit and I believe through his fame and fortune was able to get a risky liver transplant just like another famous guy who had a life of too much partying. David Crosby the guitarist, singer and songwriter from the band Crosby, Stills & Nash was also the recipient of a highly publicized liver transplant in 1995. News of his transplant created some controversy because of his celebrity status and his past issues with drugs and alcohol addiction.

Both guys partied too much and were in their middle years and in poor health at the time of their transplants. I believe their celebrity status had a lot to do with them being at the top of the waiting list for transplants meanwhile some poor kid is still dying waiting for their very much needed new liver. Both Larry and David continued drinking and abusing their new precious body parts.

Yet both men also went on and continued having more success in their careers. David Crosby in addition to his solo career was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash ( who are sometimes joined by Neil Young), and CPR. Crosby has been inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame twice: once for his work in The Byrds and once for his work with CSN.

In a long TV and movie career, Larry Hagman is best remembered for his roles on the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie and the primetime soap Dallas—his signature role and one that he recently reprised in the reboot of the series. After undergoing a life-saving transplant following his diagnosis of liver disease his transplant also created some controversy because of his celebrity status and his past issues with drug and alcohol addiction.

Later Hagman became an advocate of organ donation and hosted the National Kidney Foundation's U.S. Transplant Games. The adamant former smoker also chaired the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout. In 2008, during his appearance on shows, he had fun with his trademark Stetson, described how he made the J.R. Ewing character so memorable and talked about his focus on health and well-being. Recently, Hagman lost his battle with cancer. He was 81 years old.

So what that soon we will be in December. I am still trying to get over all the big deal they make over Columbus Day. Many states in the country don’t even celebrate it any more and each year they say that Columbus didn’t even discover America. Was it a good thing even coming to this land? Ask an American Indian if you can even find one. All I know is that there still is Columbus Circle near Broadway in Manhattan, N.Y.C.

In fact in Columbus Circle, tourists and city dwellers are rediscovering the statue that stands above it that ironically is a statue of Christopher Columbus which is 13 feet tall. Visitors must climb six flights of stairs to a 800 square foot deluxe apartment in the sky where he stands in the middle of an apartment room where there is a flat screen TV there and a great view of Central Park. Hey, when you take that holiday visit to Manhattan this year, why not go check him out? I know no Santa suit around but that might be refreshing too.

During the official holiday for Christopher, chances are that if you are a Federal employee or a school kid you will get a day off in honor of the guy. There are states like Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming yes almost half of the country are leaving celebrating a day off their calendar. No parade no days off to celebrate Columbus Day. Is it because there aren’t enough Italians there?

Does Columbus deserve his own holiday? With all the religions being worshiped in America should we be making such a big deal about Christmas? We know that Christopher Columbus didn’t even discover North America. He never even knew it existed and didn’t set foot here. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and thought he was in China. Thank God we have navigation apps on our phones now.

He wasn’t even the first person to discover the American continent from Europe. Leif Erickson made land fall in North America centuries earlier and historians from the Hispanic Society say there were plenty of explorers sailing the seas in the same time Columbus was sailing around. What about Americus Vespucci? Nobody can even say his name.

Columbus kept detailed diaries and we know that he was actually looking for china when he set sail. Even after 4 voyages, the sailors knew they were no where near China. Even though he did not want to admit he was very wrong, he was still a great navigator who was able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 5 weeks. That is fast even by today’s standards and with almost no loss of life on board.

He introduced Europe to the potato, pineapple, the tomato and to the habit he learned from the American Indian of smoking tobacco. None of that is why he got a United States holiday. We got a holiday because a President discovered the Italian-American Vote. Columbus Day started in 1937 by President Roosevelt as a political move for a Federal holiday. He wanted to include the Italian vote into the Democratic Party.

Controversy over Columbus goes way back because of the bad stories of the way he treated Indians were horrific. Ferdinand and Queen Isabella back in Spain weren’t particularly known for their kindness to people either but they were appalled by what they heard. The American Indian men were even committing mass suicides because they felt helpless as to how much of their way of life was being destroyed.

Now, On Columbus Day, South Dakota celebrates native American Day. Some people even want to change it to Exploration Day. Well, I hope you enjoyed the day anyway if you even had it off. Most of you probably worked even harder because there were all kinds of Columbus Day sales. Imagine what can happen to Christmas Day if all the Jewish and Muslim people could ever band together to have that day destroyed too. Quiet ! Don’t give then any ideas. Besides, they hate each other so much they could never band together on any issue. Sigh! Happy Holidays Again.

　

There are things in life known as timeless treasures. You can see it in a woman’s face as she ages gracefully with lines from smiles and not from frowns. Or from old Jewelry in their ornate settings of common gem stones. Even old songs that can still sound fresh and pleasing to hear. We see timeless treasures all around us and if we are smart we will not throw it away simply because it has been around for awhile.

One of this generation’s timeless treasures is John Lennon from the band the Beatles. His lyrics of songs are timeless we can relate to the subject every day. Songs like Yesterday or Imagine are timeless. Now we get to learn that he was a sketch artist too. His wife Yoko has kindly released some of his personal art to be on exhibit for all to see.

This month would have been John Lennon’s 72^nd birthday. To honor the occasion, his widow Yoko Ono has opened an exhibit in New York City of the art work of John Lennon. While he was famous for his composing of easy to play and sing to music and who was a musician too, he was an art student when he met Paul McCartney. He then went on to form The Beatles.

Lennon never stopped drawing. He filled sketchbooks from 1964 to 1980. That was the year he was fatally shot outside his city apartment building. Yes, he was drawing till his death. Imagine how much more art we could have seen if he lived till today another 32 years. One hundred pieces are on display that represents the largest collection ever of Lennon’s art.

There are limited edition prints for sale if you feel you need his simple sketches in your home or office. The greatest appeal is that any of the pieces would be a great conversation opener since most people don’t know he even doodled no less had full sketch books full of drawings that are now creating a whole new bunch of bucks for his legacy.

There are even poems and song lyrics in his handwriting on display. You can see how he numbers the verses and always goes back to a repeated chorus. Yes organized pop music. Not like the crap you hear on the radio today. Now if you turn on any station on the radio you will hear a song that consists of one or two lines repeated to a great beat but still only a few lines of content going on for a 5 minute dance mix.

The Lyrics to Day Tripper is on display as well. The exhibit opened a few weeks ago to raise funds for charity. It will not last long because they have plans to move the precious documents to Connecticut, Michigan and other locations throughout the United States. It is all proof that while john Lennon may be gone, his art like our memory of him lives on.

Yes, John is one of our timeless treasures so it is nice to see something new about the man 32 years later. It also is a tribute to the creative spirit in people. There are other stars that have art collections meanwhile they were well known for a different form of artistic abilities like music or acting. The late disco diva Donna Summers had a vast art collection that she also sold as prints outside her concerts. Tony Bennett and Sylvester Stallone are well known artists meanwhile they make their living as a singer and as a actor.

Can you or I become a timeless treasure? Can you write a poem or sketch something or even hum a new tune? Do we dare try to form a collection of something we are not known to do? Probably not, because most of us spend all our time in survival mode simply trying to get to work, feed the kids, walk the dog, clean the bathroom. Yeah, most of us spend our time doing stuff we would rather forget we ever had to do.

You know that you are old when you realize that things that we use all the time now weren’t even invented when you were a child. It doesn’t help your depression over things like that while we are living through a technological revolution where new devices are being invented every day. We can’t even keep up with the new and more useful phones being offered to us every three months.

I remember as a child that even someone that was 10 years old did not know what a television was. Only in the late 1940’s were there a TV available in every home. When I was a child, computers were a monster found only in large corporations. If I had a research project to do, we had to use our encyclopedias and find pictures by cutting them out of magazines. No Google search for us. We really had to find information in a sea of books.

Now I get to find out that in 1956, the year I was born, that frozen foods was celebrated. Really? I’m so old that something as easy as throwing some corn in the freezer was a major uncharted event? Yes, that was the year that Clarence Birdseye who pioneered frozen food into a household word died. He was born in Brooklyn , NY and was a naturalist working in Northern Canada. He noticed that the fish he caught froze almost instantly in the frigid air.

He noticed that when cooked even weeks later that it still tasted pretty fresh. The secret he realized was to freeze food fast. Luckily Birdseye already had the patent filed in September 1931 of a refrigeration apparatus. It was a double belted freezer that froze packaged foods at temperatures reaching 50 degrees below zero. Never the less Birdseye still struggled to get his business off the ground.

So, in 1929 he began to sell his patents. He sold most of them to what would become the General Foods Corporation for $22 Million dollars. Yes, there are many people that become millionaires by simply buying and selling patents. That equates to about $300 Million 2012 dollars if they were to be sold today. He remained with the company though and the following year he managed to convince General Foods Corporation to invest in the distribution of his Birds Eye line of frozen foods to hit the market.

The advertising slogan was, “Some freeze food, Birds Eye freezes flavor.” His line of frozen foods included 18 cuts of meat, spinach, peas and fruits also fish fillets and even blue point oysters. Skeptical of the new technology, the public did not immediately warm up to the idea of frozen foods. Caned carrots were just fine. People did not even trust their freezers in the house to do the job properly.

During World War II the industry got more interest when they were War Rationing foods. Canned goods became scarce, people were hoarding canned goods saving large amounts in their basements not knowing what the War would bring to their households. That opened the door to frozen foods wrapped in card board and covered in cellophane. Throughout the 50’s and 60’s frozen foods took off especially when TV Dinners were being sold and people actually ate the stuff on little TV fold out tables sitting in front of a TV.

Today frozen food is a multi billion dollar industry. I bet Mr. Birdseye would be proud to see the frozen food aisles in every supermarket. Pretty much anything you may desire is being sold down those aisles. Now with the invention of the microwave oven that I never had growing up, eating frozen foods are even easier. So, thanks Mr. Birdseye for making generations having more options with their food.

So, you thought your vote counts? Hell No. You can claim no ownership to the candidate of your choice because they are just robots that belong to the highest paid lobbyist in Washington. All that crap they spewed about what the American people want was rubbish. The reality is that they now represent not the majority of people who voted for them. They now represent corporate issues. Have you ever heard a child say they want to be a lobbyist when they grow up? No, because you don’t even know who those creatures are that circle around Washington politics everyday.

Lobbying is a notorious secretive business. How do you even get that job? Is there a college degree in that stuff? NO. Yet few industries have more impact on our daily lives. The Boy Scouts have lobbyists, the AFLCIO have lobbyists even Apple have lobbyists. Everyone has a lobbyist. The influence business in Washington DC is the third largest business after government and tourism.

In Washington K street is where you will find those blood sucking influential leeches that suck the life out of our candidates till they promise to do what they want them to do in power. Yes, K street North West is the street where the city’s most influential lobbyists have their headquarters. We need to be able to see what goes on behind their closed doors to the public.

The Catholic Church has lobbyists. In January 2011 the business of Washington lobbying was reported to the American Bar Association seeking reform. It was called, Lobbying Law in the Spotlight: Challenges and Proposed Improvements. It was a report of the Task Force on Federal Lobbying Laws Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.

There is a school for aspiring lobbyist at The American University. The definition of a lobbyist is someone who advocates for someone else and is getting paid for it. The fingerprints of lobbyists are all over daily life. Some of their influential successes on our law makers is that the succeeded in defeating to cap credit card interest rates. So, the credit card companies screwed all Americans in raising credit card rates and fees till none of us can even get a card now. It ruined many American’s credit ratings.

The lobbyists made pizza count as a vegetable on school lunches. That means your kids won’t even have a green vegetable each day unless you provide it to them at dinnertime. The lobbyists wrote a lot of the health care reform law so they can make profits combining hospitals into large powerful groups.

It is estimated that $9,000,000,000 yes that is 9 Billion dollars a year is spent on lobbying and related advocacy. If you are a top lobbyist, you can make millions of dollars per year. What is worse is that there are an estimated 100,000 people working in the industry supporting all that in Washington.

These people are there and get paid so well because the expectations of their influence on the politicos can make corporations even richer. Lets look on a small scale. Say you own a construction company and you want to build on land in your town that is currently zoned for open space area. You can hire a professional lobbyist to work on the local government and urge them to put the land up for sale and even get the local government to sell the land directly to the construction company. It does happen.

The good of lobbying is that if it is a cause you believe in, you can go to members of Congress and be passionate and truthful and be the opposite of what people think lobbyists are. The bad is that most people think lobbyist are sleazy and are doing something against the public interest and just making corporations richer by tainting the laws to go their way.

The business of lobbying is shrouded in secrecy. Only a few are invited to even be close enough to have a conversation with an elected official like a Congressman. Most lobbyists are good friends with the politico’s anyway. Any time Congress is in session the lobbyists are there. Otherwise they are pimping themselves at meetings describing what areas they specialize in promoting.

The philosophy of one hand washes the other or I’ll help you if you help me is no different than organized crime. In Washington the lobbyists give large amounts of money to the politicians in the form of campaign contributions then the candidate does something with the laws to help the client. I say clean up Washington and throw all the bums out and just do what the voters want.

Just like Frank Serpico dared to be the David that took on the Goliath , the monster of corruption that was the New York City Police department at that time, here we have another David taking on the Goliath that is Goldman Sachs the financial giant that has strong ties to our political government. Yes, this guy wrote a book too but is considered an idiot for even trying to scratch the surface of the giant of corruption Goldman Sachs has become and no one even cares.

We admire guys like these because at one or more points in our lives we dreamed of telling our bosses off and quitting our jobs. Most of us don’t have the courage to do that or we just put our anger aside and remain miserable for the sake of still having that steady paycheck coming in. Seven months ago a Vice-President at the bank Goldman Sachs resigned by writing an article in the New York Times.

The article drew a lot of attention because hardly anything is ever revealed about the inner workings of that bank. The banks stellar reputation took a major hit after the 2008 financial crisis but it is still considered the smartest, most profitable, and politically connected firm on Wall Street and the toughest place to even get a job. The David there is Greg Smith who is talking for the first time as he is publishing his book.

His frustration with the apathy and outward stealing that even the Board of Directors were tolerating at the bank caused him to resign. Most people feel as he did that the only way to force change is to speak publicly. Greg Smith is 33 years old and was making half a million dollars a year as a Vice-President in the division of Goldman Sachs that trades securities for hedge funds, pension funds and other big investors.

So, you go to work every day and your company takes out money each week to go towards your pension. A service that is to take money from you and put into a fund so that they will continue to give you money even after you retire from your job. When you are old, Social Security will never be enough money to live on. These guys made money from your investment and took most of the profits for their greedy selves.

He wrote in the New York Times article ”Integrity? It is eroding.” It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.” No one at the firm knew that Greg Smith was going to be leaving and he was shocked that the big shots at the firm weren’t concerned about the integrity eroding; they all had political ties in Washington making them feel safe from prosecution.

Greg loved his job and worked there for 12 years but could not stand by and see this theft going on and not respond in some way. Greg was born and raised in South Africa and was an Economics Major when Goldman recruited him as a summer intern in 2000 and hired him in the fall. He rose through the ranks at a time when the firm’s revenues from trading multiplied 5 fold in five years. Yes, immense profits.

It was the result from a boom in financial products and a loosening of financial regulations that allowed Goldman Sachs and other banks to vastly increase profits by doing transactions for their clients while trading with their own money as well. So, what Wall Street will do is approach an endowment or a teacher’s retirement pension fund and say to them that we have a great product that is going to make your fund increase. What they don’t know is that the bank will take their money and put it in complicated groups so they don’t even know where the money is anymore.

The FCC Commission finally caught Goldman in one of these plots in March of 2007 as they played with people’s monies in a $2Billion Synthetic Portfolio. Sacks paid a record $550 Million fine to settle the charges placed against them. If $550 Million is just a fine the slap on the wrist then how many Billions of Americans monies were they playing with in other funds as well?

Goldman Sachs can be compared to the Mafia. If you work for them you don’t dare talk about them. In 2011 the company said they were going to change their high profit taking tendencies but Greg Smith hasn’t seen much change. So, here he is out of a job, speaking up for the people who have been ripped off and no one even knows he exists. So, much for trying to be the hero. No, in these times it seems to just go along with the flow is the way to go even if you are swimming in polluted tainted awful waters.

It is legal to smoke pot and not even be sick. Well at least in just a few states. Yes, we have another legal addiction we can add to the possible miss use of . Add it to booze, cigarettes and prescription drugs. Isn’t that what elections are for? Sometimes when you go to vote it is not just for a candidate of your choice; many times you vote on social issues and this election was no different.

In Oregon, Washington and the Rocky Mountains State of Colorado, the social issue is the legalization of Marijuana and now after the vote it is legal. Part of this has to do with cash starved governments looking for any way to create revenue for their state. After all we are taxed on everything practically except the air we breathe. Shhhhh!

Mostly I think making the use of Marijuana legal is just a sign of the times. Most people have a tolerance for it. Older people grew up with it in the 70’s and 80’s and now young people can’t seem to get enough of it either. 17 states have legalized it whether it is used for medical purposes or for recreational use. The medical uses are for the treatment of Glaucoma, the effects of Chemo-therapy and chronic pain.

There still exist laws that consider Marijuana more dangerous than even Cocaine and Methamphetamine. If you need to get into a new business or to find where you can get legal Pot, the place to go is Colorado. It has already become a new big thriving business there. There you can find the most developed medical marijuana industry in America. Since when does the Federal government chose to ignore what states are approving?

You need to know the risks and the law before you pack up and start selling pot in Colorado. There is a Federal law still in existence called The Federal Control Substance Act which still lists Marijuana as a scheduled 1 drug. They consider it every much as dangerous as heroine without any medical benefit. In Colorado now you can grow it and sell it if you are licensed to people who have a card to buy it. All those people are violating Federal law.

The really strange thing is that there are already hundreds of dispensaries servicing as many as 100,000 people and every transaction that occurs is a Federal crime and everyone involved in from the growing the product to selling the product are involved in serious federal crimes. Even though the state of Colorado has passed a Constitutional Amendment allowing it, the Federal government has not changed it’s rule on the subject.

The Federal government sees it as a serious crime, they know that 16 other states and California, the District of Columbia all think pot is medicine but it is not. The Feds realize you want to legalize it but you really can’t. The Feds can’t make you states undo your statutes but they can come in and prosecute your citizens for violating Federal law; but they haven’t.

Since when does the Federal government look the other way from any crime? This is a crime that the states seem to welcome with open arms. Right now the Federal government doesn’t have the number of manpower to shut down the medical marijuana business in Colorado or prosecute all the sellers and patients. The voters have just proved that they don’t want to be prosecuted either. The Boulder Colorado District Attorney Stan Garnet says it is virtually impossible to get a jury that is impartial let alone to get a conviction.

They then deal with what prosecutors call jury nullification where the jury says they know what the law is but they are not going to follow it. The community in Colorado has made it very clear now that criminal enforcement of mara juiana is not something they want the Attorney General to spend any time on and it really is not an issue in that state.

The Justice Department in Washington, Deputy Attorney General, James Cole has told U.S. Attorney’s not to waste their time and resources prosecuting patients or care givers that are in clear compliance with state medical marijuana laws. The Federal focus is on keeping it away from children, out of the hands of organized crime and making sure that people aren’t using medical dispensary's as a pretext to do large scale inter-state drug dealing.

It sure sounds like the Federal government is tolerating the sale of pot. This shaky ground cannot last for long. Either people will start to be prosecuted or the salesmen of pot will just give up since banks will not give them accounts because they are in fear of being involved in money laundering. As usual, the states do what they want as the feds stand their ground just waiting to pounce.

It is Thanksgiving Day and they tell us to be thankful of something or of someone or just eat some food that you don’t usually eat everyday; in other words, make the day special to you. Think of it as a day of reflection even if it is just some time to look in the mirror and if you aren’t ready to look at that, just take a brief look at your life so far. Now I’m not trying to get you all depressed but yes life can be very depressing if you let it get to your core.

When depression hits you, simple pleasures can hurt. Things like a bright sunrise can be so annoying when once you loved to be able to see the wonder of the giant sphere seemingly rise out of the earth. Even if you are lucky enough to receive a Birthday cake from the few that really love you. That can be annoying too because you are not seeking any attention from anyone. However, we need to reflect and still be thankful of life’s simple pleasures.

Sunrises shouldn’t hurt and simple pleasures shouldn’t hurt. The sadness, the anxiety and the loss of interest shouldn’t be there that even hello can hurt. When someone comes before you and says, Hi, How are you? Should you really tell them? No, that can take too long. Besides, how are you is more of an expression than a serious question. Do they really want to know how I am or is it just an extended greeting? Who knows, but we should be glad that someone took the time to ask and be thankful.

There can even be the loss of interest in celebrating holidays even as we are deluged with gift giving ideas in all media. Much of everyone’s depression can center around never having enough money in our pockets to buy stuff. Places in the North East just got hit with a major storm that took their lives away meanwhile they are alive. All their possessions were washed out to sea as nature burst holes in their homes and in their hearts watching their favorite chair get ruined and loosing all their photographs. But we need to be thankful that we are alive to help someone else and help ourselves to get a new chair and take new pictures.

You still have to deal with the aches and pains and fatigue when depression hurts. Cymbalta can help so says the commercial on TV with the soft soothing piano music. Hell No! I will not take that stuff or any other stuff. I will pull up my boot straps, whatever that means and pick myself up and look at the brighter things that life throws at us knowing that it is my life and I simply have to get through it somehow by myself. Stuff like depression drugs can only lead to addictions to prescription drugs.

Yes the brighter stuff like looking at that sunrise with awe instead of with annoyance that I have to face another day needs to be promoted. If the sun can rise every day despite all the awful stuff all the people of earth throw at each other and at the environmental pollutants trying to ruin things, I can rise each day and try to be happy and thankful of something.

The commercial for Cymbalta goes on to tell me the side effects of taking the drug. I am to tell my doctor if the depression worsens or if I am pregnant or nursing. Well, sure a woman should always be proud of the ability to give life and to be able to fortify life and drugs like Cymbalta should never enter your hands. Be thankful of your new physical condition and enjoy the joys of Motherhood.

If you experience unusual changes in behavior or thoughts of suicide do not take Cymbalta. Really? That stuff can possibly make me feel more depressed, act differently and possibly make me want to take my own life? Are you sure this Cymbalta stuff was supposed to help me alleviate my depression? Now I have to be thankful that I never asked for this stuff from my doctor.

They go on to say with the soft piano music continuing, that anti-depressants can increase these negative things in children, teens and young adults. So, all that tells me is to keep Cymbalta and anti-depression drugs away from my kids too. Cymbalta is not approved to be used for children under the age of 18. They are not done yet. People taking MAOI’s or tyrosine or uncontrolled glaucoma should not take Cymbalta.

There’s more. Taking it with pain relievers or aspirin or other blood thinners could increase a bleeding risk. Severe liver problems some fatal have been reported. REALLY! And they want me to ask me to get this stuff? They still aren’t done.

Signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eye problems. Look, I’m done. I don’t want any of these things happening at all. Today force yourself to have a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy life and be happy you simply must for survival and thank you for visiting me here and reading my rants. I am thankful for the thousands of people that have been here with me.

Where are all the big mouth women these days? Throughout my life especially in the 70’s I know most of you weren’t even born yet. But in the 70’s we had Gloria Steinman saying to women to get out of the house and work for your own money. We had the Mary Tyler Moore Show that showed an independent woman making it out on her own we even had Helen Redy singing to us everyday her hit song something about watch me roar in numbers too many to ignore or something like that. The point is that women very vocally used to be fighting for their rights especially on the abortion issue. They should have the right to do whatever they want to do with their reproductive organs.

In this election we heard the Republican candidate and other men from that party putting out there very strange views and for the most part getting away with it. Ryan the vice-presidential candidate said that women shouldn’t make equal pay for an equal job. Really? Mitt Romney wanted to change the women’s right to choose law to that abortions are illegal without even thinking about who is going to raise these unwanted children. In all the discussions no one even mentions the role a father or should I say the sperm donors should be forced to do in raising all these unwanted kids.

The women should be revolting. Maybe they are just too tired from a full time job, still taking care of the kids and having to pay all the bills cause the bum left her anyway. Recently, a politician from Missouri, Tod Akin made a ridiculous statement about “legitimate rape” What the hell is that? He is not alone and not the only Republican to make outrageous statements belittling women. It is actually happening across the country and has been happening for a long time.

There is a Republican who was running for office in Wisconsin named Roger Revere was quoting his father and said,” some girls rape easy’ Really? Some how the Republican vote was neck to neck in the race for the presidency among women voters. Where was the public outrage from anyone no less from women in this election?

Could we blame the media in all this passiveness? The news chatter does spend time talking about the economy being the primary issue facing Americans. Then the social agenda is last on the list of things concerning Americans. Things like women’s issues like their health, access to contraception, freedom of choice issues that used to be so very important.

Yet women are 51% of the population and hold 57% of all higher educational degrees. Now 40% of women earn more money than their husbands and women still are the primary consumer source. Yes, women still do most of the shopping and should be an important player in discussing economic issues. They feed the economy with their buying choices.

So, why are women referred to as a separate issue? The number of children a woman chooses to have is an important issue too. Obviously, the more children a woman has the more money she needs in order to raise the child. Shouldn’t politicians take into account the economic issues when deciding to close places like Planned Parenthood and Abortion clinics? Should we have more women and children on welfare and food stamps? \

The major study by the CDC the Center for Disease Control concluded that women’s access to and the creation of contraception and the ability of a woman to control their lives was the greatest single health achievement of the 20^th Century. It has contributed strongly to an economic plus. So. The idea of threatening the ability to control the reproductive lives of women is probably the greatest single factor threatening our economy.

Society doesn’t even hold men accountable of where men decide to leave their seamen. In fact if there is a child wandering around in the middle of the night in the street, law enforcement will put the mother in jail; rarely the father for child neglect. Places like Planned Parenthood does not use Federal funds for Abortions . In fact 93% of the money they receive goes into health care for the women and men. There are cancer screenings, giving mammograms, giving pap smears, for contraception, for basic health care. Only 7% goes for Abortion services . All of which is being funded privately.

There is not any federal or State funds going into these places so why was it an issue in the election at all? Meanwhile we are the only and the highest standard of health care available to women without resources in this country. In Texas in the last few months, Governor Perry turned down Federal money for family planning clinics and services. Since then it has forced already at least 180 thousand women to be without health care. Now, these women are going to Mexico to buy contraception and to get health care.

It is shameful that an American citizen has to go across the border to Mexico to get health care. Take care of our women after all they decided to have you and raised you.

　

　

　

As usual big lobbying corporate powers are taking over this country and now our health all in the interest of making more money for them. In this election California had a proposition simply asking that our foods should be labeled with what is in that product. You would think something like labeling stuff is a given. Not knowing what is even in our foods is a sure reason why Cancer and Allergies are a big problem in this country and why Americans are so fat and sick.

A big supporter of having our food labeled is Gary Hirshberg who is the Chairman & Co-Founder of Stonyfield Farms. He is also a co-author of “Label It Now” that is a book  about what you need to know about Genetically Engineered Foods. In California this past election a big issue was to Pass Proposition 37 which was about a law to be passed requiring food companies to label what went into making that product.

If you have ever shopped in Whole Foods you will see a lot of products to eat with the Stonyfield Label on it. Gary claims to have started his business with 7 cows and now it is a $4 billion dollar business. He is happy to be associated with the organic food industry that years ago did not even have that label associated with it. We all naturally assumed that all foods were organic and naturally grown .

Now that growing stuff naturally is practically gourmet food, the organic industry has grown 6 times faster than other industries to $30 Billion dollars a year. After all,  no consumer says give me the Yogurt that was made with more pesticides in it.  The proposition 37 rule isn’t even suggesting banning the use of pesticides when growing our foods, it is just asking to label our foods so the consumer knows what went into the soil and sprayed on the food plant during the growing process. Let Us Know What The Hell Is On My Food law.

What is wrong in letting the consumer know what is in the food? It should be an easy and expected thing. But no, the large companies that are genetically engineering your foods with pesticides and chemicals to get the perfect miracle grow experience has millions of dollars spent on lobbyist in Washington convincing the lawmakers that we don’t need disclosure so guess what? No the law did not pass this election. They decided you don’t need to know what is in your food.

The food companies spent a million dollars a day, about $41 million dollars throughout the election out spending the organic industry on campaign advertising before the election by about 4 to 1. California is just the start to this issue that effects all Americans across the country. The organic industry is also working on the FDA to get labeling on foods. I think it should have been a requirement of the Federal Drug Administration to enforce rules long ago.

These are rights that are in force in 50 countries around the world. Even Russia and China requires mandatory labeling on their food. You can read more about this issue at YesOn37.Org which was set up to spread the word before the election. Half the problem is that Americans are totally uninformed about what is important to them. All the advertising we saw before the election were about personal attacks against each other and few ads were about issues. My kids just went around the house saying yeah that guy is not good for the country and no one really knew why.

In 1996 when the first genetically engineered crops were planted, they were planted in corn and soy which is in 80% of any of your boxed processed foods. They are basically chemical companies that own these crops. They become new patented products. The main genes they have put into your corn and soy is a tolerance to herbicide tolerance and pesticide tolerance. So these added chemicals in your corn goes into your body and you got unwanted , unneeded chemicals doing harm in your body.

Companies like Dow and DuPont say they need Round Up sprayed on your food to increase the crop yields. They create seeds that are unaffected by the pesticides but hello we are affected and we have cancer and allergies now from our food now after 20 years of playing around with God’s soil and seeds. Like any drug the more you use the more you need so each year our food supply is laced with more of these harmful additives.

Ok, so we have given Obama another 4 years to fix this country. All we are sure of is the fact he bailed out and recovered many of the large companies that contributed to many Americans to loose their homes to foreclosure. No bail out money was given for each homeowner. I believe that there has been a sinister plot by choice people in our government aligned with a few large corporations to bankrupt our country legally.

There is institutional corruption still going on from international bankers, to the super rich from Washington to Rome. There is a club lining their pockets with your money. Right now the companies involved own our government unless laws are changed quickly. That wont happen anytime soon because the law makers are in on the financial scheme too.

Lets look back to 2008 Mr. Obama when you inherited this mess. Our country was brought to their knees and even today most of us don’t understand how they did it. The relationship between the Federal Government , the Treasury Department and the big Wall Street banks are causing serious problems in America. The same people are just papering over things and the antics are still going on and the little guy is still paying for it.

Remember this financial crisis began with the little guy and their Mortgage Applications. Lenders gave mortgages to anyone even if they knew they couldn’t afford to pay the bills. Big companies like Goldman Sacks then put all these bad mortgages together and figured out a way to sell it like it was a brand new thing. They played both sides and made billions of dollars whether people paid their loans or lost their homes.

Goldman Sacks was everywhere when it came to the manipulation of the stock market. There is a group called The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee that saw early on what was happening but no one listened. They took advertisements in The Wall Street Journal and also testified in Washington in front of the Commodes Futures Trading Commission where testimony should have made big news. Amazingly the television coverage of the testimony ironically went out precisely while he was reading his findings and then came on again. Could they have deliberately prevented the testimony from letting the public hear his point?

He did say that the big banks were manipulating the markets. He is Andrew McGuire who was a former Goldman Sacks trader in London and was a major tell all. The next day he and his family was hit by a car and killed. He knew first hand that J.P. Morgan was manipulating the Precious Metals Markets and bragged how they were making money by doing so.

The United States government would rather give away nuclear secrets out than leak out what they are doing with Wall Street. It is interesting that Obama spent all that money to bail out Goldman Sacks and AIG. William Black wrote a book called “The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One” it is about how corporate executives and politicians looted the savings and loan industry.

He says that through his research he found that there was enormous criminal activity during that crisis. They even called their activity a “Liar Loan” which was the name for mortgages given to people that the banks knew wouldn’t be able to make the payments. So, why did they want to do that? Well it was a ponzy scheme; the dollars kept rolling in as long as they kept selling those bad loans.

Look for yourself. There have been more higher level officials that have come to Washington and left Goldman Sachs than from any other firm. Call it Government Sacks. Lets list some guys that made that lateral move. Robert Rubin, Gerald Corrigan, and Stephen Friedman to name a few. Whether there is a Democratic or a Republican Administration, other Goldman Sacks guys are there. Others like Paulson, Steel, Kashkari, Dudley and Levitt. They seem to act in a way that is very good for Goldman Sacks and not very good for the country.

The former CEO of Goldman Sacks Paulson became the Treasury Secretary under George Bush. Hundreds of CEO’s should be convicted and that hasn’t happened. Why? Well because the only way to prosecute elite white collar criminals is to have the regulators push forward the idea and none of that happens anymore they are all part of the club.

　

It was Veterans Day and most neighborhoods cancelled the day off from school because of all the days off they already had due to the storms in the north east. So, weather trumps people who ruined their lives representing our country. We really should respect those people one day a year.

Then we are told that General Outrageous I mean General Petraeus resigned because he had an extramarital affair. Sure, the high ranking General should embarrass the country and should be on display to our children as not being a very good example of a man and soldier on Veterans Day with the help of all media everywhere. Couldn’t they come up with a warm and fuzzy advertisement of the handsome and brave soldier coming home to his beautiful wife and adorable kids?

Where is that handsome, brave well adjusted patriotic soldier anyway? Well they are all coming home but we need to know the truth about our newest Veterans, after all there really wasn’t much media on the poor guys. Two and a half million soldiers served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them more than once.

The Veterans Administration tells us that more than 20% have come home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder known as PTSD so that comes to about 500,000 patients. For some, returning is more than they imagined. The suicide rate for the Army is up 15% over last year, for the Marines, it is above 28%. A few of our troops returned to become something they thought they could never be; criminals for the first time in their lives.

After World War II our soldiers were offered tax breaks, affordable housing like the Town of Levittown in New York. Businesses had jobs reserved just for returning veterans. There used to be something to come home to that was just for them. Now, around Houston , in Harris County Texas, 400 Veterans are locked up every month. There is a guy who spent almost 22 years in the Marine Corp , had 4 combat deployments and made it to First Sergeant in the Marines. That is a pretty impressive military record..

There are two pictures that exist of soldier Arthur Davis. One standing along side President Bush when he was in charge of the Embassy Security in Afghanistan in 2006 and one that is a mug shot that was taken in the Harris County Jail. This guy did not let our Embassy get burned down and in the toughest country on the globe that hates us. One year from retiring from the Corp, he was in jail.

He was facing up to 20 years for assault with a deadly weapon. He was drunk and in a rage and took a knife to a fight with a neighbor. When faced with a altercation he took matters into his hands the only way he knew. He said the demons in his mind made him do it. He has reoccurring dreams of anger wanting to get back at the people who killed some of the 200 Marines he was in charge of in Iraq. The guys who died that he told their families he was going to send them home safely.

Symptoms of PTSD followed him home with feelings of anger and anxiety. He thought the world was dangerous and crowds were menacing. Noises were startling and he was self-medicating himself with booze. We used to have mental wards now we have prisons and medication. These guys need help when they still have images of their buddies being blown up in the middle of a sentence. Years ago you went for one tour of duty now they let guys sign um for tour after tour and by then they have lost touch with civilian life.

They end up loosing their job if they can even find one. They loose the trust of their family. They loose the little they have acquired. Back in Iraq he lived with hidden threats all around. Always on guard and if you killed someone you thought was the enemy who cares, aggression was just on your trigger finger. In America you are isolated and still angry and can not act out in a violent way to anyone.

Americans really don’t appreciate the freedoms they have. Free to go anywhere they want. Do whatever they want. The choices we have here are incredible that are not found in other parts of the world. The freedom of our women to wear whatever clothing they want. Have as many kids as the want. The freedom to decide not to have children if they want. The freedom to work at any occupation you want.

So forget Veterans Day this year the storms were more important. But never ever forget a Veteran. If they are in uniform, go up to them say thanks give them the largest denomination of money you got on you and put that cash in their hand. Thank them directly and quickly any day of the year because they went far away to keep the terrorists and any enemy far away from your shores.

　

　

She is one of the most beautiful character actresses you have ever seen lately and has helped to create some of the most memorable things on film lately. She had a large role in the movie Sea Biscuit. Her reoccurring guest appearances on TV’s 30 Rock got her an Emmy Nomination twice. She also played a 30 something vixen in the film The 40 Year Old Virgin.

In more than 50 roles on TV and the movies, Elizabeth Banks has made a career of taking smaller parts and stealing the show. Her problem is that she is a fun character actress stuck in a beautiful leading ladies body. She says that it is a lot of fun playing the character roles and gives her more options in life.

You would never know it but she is F.E. Trinket in the over the top film “The Hunger Games.” it was a role she had to fight for. She believes that patient and persistence is the way to go in the movie business. You hardly know it is her hidden under all that makeup. Born to a factory worker and a bank clerk

Elizabeth Marisol Mitchell grew up in the working class part of Pittsfield, Massachusetts She only had dreams of not living in her home town forever. Young Liz walked through woods and trails just like her father did when he was a child. She loved her childhood but felt that she had to move on and get out of that town.

Her first job was working as a chambermaid at the White Horse Inn in her home town. She at one time hoped to be a professional athlete until she broke her leg in a softball game. After college she hit the auditions but to avoid confusion with another actress known as Elizabeth Mitchell, she changed her name to Banks. She cried when she had to give up Mitchell simply because of family pride.

She feels bad that her parents have to say “No, really! That is our daughter in the movies.” But then she rationalizes her guilt by reminding us that most women change their last name for marriage anyway. In 2003 Banks married the man she met on her first day of college. Yes , sometimes you know who is the one you will love within the first few hours of meeting someone.

He is sports writer and producer Max Handelman. She kept her name Banks. Now she and her husband are partners in more than life. They co-produced the movie Pitch Perfect. It is a comedy about the world of Competitive Capella Singers. Producer Elizabeth Banks gave herself a small part which true to form she did a memorable performance.

In this years, “What To Expect When You Are Expecting,” she plays a fed up Mom to be. In real life she and her husband struggle to conceive. It didn’t help that most of her closest friends all started their families. She felt that they were trying but were yet being left behind. Their son Felix was born last year through a surrogate mother. She has been married for 9 years and her son is 19 months old.

She says she meant to have a child 9 years ago. It didn’t happen but she says it was a happy struggle because at the end there was going to be a way somewhere somehow a little person for them. Even though she has done some risqué scenes in movies like The 40 Year Old Virgin, she feels that massacres like 911 are more to be wary of than him seeing his Mom in a bathtub scene in a movie’

She loved playing with people that have grown in their careers. When she played a role with Ryan Reynolds in the film Definitely, Maybe in 2008 she looks back and was glad to have worked with him. Even with a career that many would envy she says she is still hungry for that big moment on film that is yet to happen.