Captain Kangaroo, Lee Marvin, Mr Rogers

I loved watching the Captain, Mr Green Jeans and the bunny rabbit.

Captain Kangaroo passed away on January 23, 2004 at age 76.

Some people have been a bit offended that the actor, Lee Marvin, is buried in a grave alongside 3- and 4-star generals at Arlington National Cemetery . His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here's a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time why the heck does he rate burial with these guys? Well, following is the amazing answer:

In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces often in rear echelon posts where they were carefully protected. Only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions. Lee Marvin was a genuine hero.. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima There is only one higher Naval award... the Medal Of Honor!

If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialog from 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson': His guest was Lee Marvin Johnny said, 'Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima ...and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded.'

'Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the bottom and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi. Bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting' shot hauling you down. But, Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever knew.... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. That dumb guy actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. Bullets flying by , with mortar rounds landing everywhere and he stood there as the main target of gunfire so that he could get his men to safety. He did this on more than one occasion because his men's safety was more important than his own life.

That Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends When they brought me off Suribachi we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me, lying on my belly on the litter and said, 'Where'd they get you Lee?' 'Well Bob... if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse!'

Johnny, I'm not lying, he was the bravest man I ever knew.
The Sergeant's name is Bob Keeshan You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo.'

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth.. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat-proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long-sleeved sweater on TV, to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.

After the war Mr. Rogers became an ordained Presbyterian minister and therefore a pacifist. Vowing to never harm another human and also dedicating the rest of his life to trying to help lead children on the right path in life. He hid away the tattoos and his past life and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm.


America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did; they quietly go about their day-to-day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedoms that we all enjoy.

Look around and see if you can find one of those heroes in your midst.
Often, they are the ones you'd least suspect, but would most like to have on your side if anything ever happened.

Take the time to thank anyone that has fought for our freedom. With encouragement they could be the next Captain Kangaroo or Mr. Rogers.

Square Knitting Needles

http://www.kollageyarns.com/needles.html

At one of my LYS they had square knitting circular needles. I decided to try a pair as I had heard they were for people who had carpal tunnel, arthritis, etc. While I don't have any of those knitting all day can make one's hands and wrists hurt. I got a size 4, came home and cast on a little lace scarf pattern. I knit about 4" and noticed how much I did not hurt. While the connection catches on the yarn, it may be that I only have 52 stitches of sock yarn I am not happy with that. I am going to finish my scarf and try something with more stitches and see how that goes. I have to say I will buy these again in different sizes.

Movies

I saw the Night at the Musuem movie a couple weeks ago. I liked the first one and I think this one is better. I am not a Ben Stiller fan but the movie is good despite him being in it. Amy Adams plays a very quirky Amelia Earheart, a part she is good at in many of her movies, I think she is a little off plumb, but she is good nevertheless. Not much of Robin Williams in it. The story actually reminds us all we should do what makes us happy, no matter what it is.

The new Sandra Bullock movie is hilarious but take a kleenex for the end. How can not you not like her? Of course nothing will ever compare to Miss Congeniality but... the movie starts out a little like Devil Wore Prada and they trick you into thinking you are looking at Alaska when you are looking at a modified Massachusetts. The scenery is very pretty and Betty White is a scream even though I have never cared for her. The scene of Sandra and Betty in the woods chanting and dancing is hilarious. That is all I am saying. If you need an escape for a couple of hours go see both of these.

Preview for a movie coming out at Thanksgiving. The producers of Wild Hog bring John Travolta and Robin Williams in a movie together. I hope the previews are not the best of the movie cos the preview had me laughing so hard I almost pee'd my pants.

President Pantywaste

This article is from Gerald Warner of the Telegraph in the UK. How is it the rest of the world realizes numnuts hates America but our own liberal citizens don't get it. Stop the worshipping and get your head out of your arse and look at how he is destroying this country.



If al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the rest of the Looney Tunes brigade want to kick America to death, they had better move in quickly and grab a piece of the action before Barack Obama finishes the job himself. Never in the history of the United States has a president worked so actively against the interests of his own people - not even Jimmy Carter.

Obama's problem is that he does not know who the enemy is. To him, the enemy does not squat in caves in Waziristan, clutching automatic weapons and reciting the more militant verses from the Koran: instead, it sits around at tea parties in Kentucky quoting from the US Constitution. Obama is not at war with terrorists, but with his Republican fellow citizens. He has never abandoned the campaign trail.

That is why he opened Pandora's Box by publishing the Justice Department's legal opinions on waterboarding and other hardline interrogation techniques. He cynically subordinated the national interest to his partisan desire to embarrass the Republicans. Then he had to rush to Langley, Virginia to try to reassure a demoralised CIA that had just discovered the President of the United States was an even more formidable foe than al-Qaeda.

"Don't be discouraged by what's happened the last few weeks," he told intelligence officers. Is he kidding? Thanks to him, al-Qaeda knows the private interrogation techniques available to the US intelligence agencies and can train its operatives to withstand them - or would do so, if they had not already been outlawed.

So, next time a senior al-Qaeda hood is captured, all the CIA can do is ask him nicely if he would care to reveal when a major population centre is due to be hit by a terror spectacular, or which American city is about to be irradiated by a dirty bomb. Your view of this situation will be dictated by one simple criterion: whether or not you watched the people jumping from the twin towers . . .

President Pantywaist's recent world tour, cosying up to all the bad guys, excited the ambitions of America's enemies. Here, they realised, is a sucker they can really take to the cleaners. His only enemies are fellow Americans. Which prompts the question: why does President Pantywaist hate America so badly?

Nerdbots

There is a local business Nerdbots. They take all kinds of things from coffee cans, to volt meters to old cameras to just about anything, old Singer sewing machines and make nerdbots out of them. They also name them and write a little description about them. They are quite fun to look at see how creative this young couple is. Check them out at nerdbots.net.

Also check out robotaday.com, Monday through Fridat they show a new robot they have created. I have the giraffe and crab. They are so cute and would take some time to make.

If Looks Could Kill

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/197847.php

Interesting picture of the angry one and the First Lady of France. Just how hateful and angry can the angry one of the US get? Wonder what the First Lady of France did to get that look? Perhaps she just existed. Hey Angry One, knock it off, no wonder people think you are hateful, look at yourself.

Texas Woman Told to remove Offensive American Flag from Office

A Supervisor at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Tx had displayed a 3x5' flag in the office she shares with the hospital's three other supervisors. Her husband, two sons and daughter have all served in the military. When she arrived at work she found the flag she had hung before Memorial Day had been removed and was found offensive. One of her colleagues, a woman who imigrated from Africa 14 years ago complained about the flag to upper management, and the hospital decided to take the flag down.

The hospital decided the flag flying outside was enough. When it all came down to it apparently it was the size that was the problem. (I don't beleive that-if you don't like our flag and what it stands for go back home).

The flag has since been placed back where it had previously been hung.

Mandatory Gay Day for K-5

A California school district has approved a mandatory homosexual curriculum for children as young as 5 and parents will NOT be allowed to remove their children from the lessons. The program is titled LGBT Lesson #9. Students will learn about tolerance for the homosexual lifestyle beginning next year. Parents will NOT be given an opportunity to opt-out of lessons that go against their religious beliefs. Some parents are threatening to sue the school board and mount a recall.

Children in Kindergarten need to be learning their ABC's, how to spell and write their name, basic math, not lessons about LGBT.

What's next, for more information go to wnd.com page 99442.

The new Obamamobile

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/fuel/electric.do

So the imposter wants us all to belly up and purchase the Volt. First of all I don't drive cars, I drive SUV's. I also don't have $40K to purchase this car, that is right $40,000 for this car. Who has that kind of money, can you imagine the car payments, the taxes, the insurance.

The Volt will go 40 miles on one charge. What happens on vacation, do you stop every 40 miles and recharge your car? How about driving to work or errands, what happens if I lose my charge while mid traffic?

Great oh stupid one, force cars on people they can not afford so the car companies go further into bankruptcy but keep the unions in their luxurious life.

The Imposter and His Spending

President Obama’s troubling mantra: In debt, we trust
President Obama’s troubling mantra: In debt, we trust

By Richard Henry Lee

Saturday, May 2nd 2009

It is no surprise that President Obama supports unprecedented spending and borrowing in the federal budget since he has never suffered any consequences from the excessive spending and borrowing in his private life.

And I’m not just talking about the First Lady’s $540 sneakers.

A close examination of their finances shows that the Obamas were living off lines of credit along with other income for several years until 2005, when Obama’s book royalties came through and Michelle received her 260% pay raise at the University of Chicago. This was also the year Obama started serving in the U.S. Senate.

During the presidential primary campaign, Michelle Obama complained how tough it was to make ends meet. During a stop in Ohio, she said, "I know we’re spending - I added it up for the first time - we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth."

Let’s examine how tough things were for this couple using various public records.

In April 1999, they purchased a Chicago condo and obtained a mortgage for $159,250. In May 1999, they took out a line of credit for $20,750. Then, in 2002, they refinanced the condo with a $210,000 mortgage, which means they took out about $50,000 in equity. Finally, in 2004, they took out another line of credit for $100,000 on top of the mortgage.

Tax returns for 2004 reveal $14,395 in mortgage deductions. If we assume an effective interest rate of 6%, then they owed about $240,000 on a home they purchased for about $159,250.

This means they spent perhaps $80,000 beyond their income from 1999 to 2004.

The Obamas’ adjusted gross income averaged $257,000 from 2000 to 2004. This is above the threshold of $250,000 which Obama initially used as the definition of being "rich" for taxation purposes during last year’s election campaign.

The Obama family apparently had little or no savings during this period since there was virtually no taxable interest shown on their tax returns.

In 2003, they reported almost $24,000 in child care expenses and, in 2004, about $23,000. They also paid about $3,400 in household employment taxes each year. And as Michelle stated, they spent $10,000 a year on "extracurriculars" for the children.

These numbers clearly show the Obamas were living beyond their means and they might have suffered financially during the decline in housing prices had they relied on taking ever larger amounts of equity from their home to pay the bills.

But in 2005, Obama’s book sales soared and the royalties poured in. Michelle explained, "It was like Jack and his magic beans."

Without those magic beans, the Obama family would have eventually suffered the consequences of too much debt.

Obama’s penchant for borrowing in his private life carries over to his public life.

He gave the Congress virtually free rein in writing the huge stimulus bill. He had no reservations whatsoever about the country assuming so much debt. Other Presidents have tried to work out compromises on spending measures since it is ultimately the President who takes responsibility for the consequences.

Obama did make a feeble attempt to control spending when he announced that his cabinet had found ways to reduce federal spending by $100 million. But this is laughable. Compared to an estimated $3.6 trillion federal budget, it is a minuscule 0.0028%.

To put this into the context of the Obamas’ income for 2004 of $207,647, this savings works out to $5.77, or about the price of an arugula salad.

President Obama has never faced consequences in his private life when it comes to managing money. He always had enough money simply by borrowing more and more. And just when things got tight, those magic beans came along to save the day.

But as a nation, we cannot base our future on the hope that some day Jack and those magic beans will also save the rest of us.

Need I Say More

My favorite words are about to come true. It is 6 miles from my house and I drive by twice a day, I was so excited a couple of weeks ago I almost pee'd my pants.

Grocery Bags

Ok so I am not all into this green garbage but I did make grocery bags for Christmas presents mostly because they say the plastic bags will no longer be available soon. So here are some of my bags, someday when I have time I will post the pattern. I found the pattern on Joann's.com but I modified it to make it much easier to sew.

Is it Spring Yet?

The calendar says it is mid Spring but 45 at night and the heater still on say differently. Anyhoo here are pics from my yard. The bird is a rose breasted grosbeak and I have a pair, aren't they beautiful.