Cambridge9's Comments (240)

“HA! My dad was also a prankster - or had a weird sense of humor. Call it what you will. As a youngster he had a horse which trusted him implicitly. A lump of sugar, a carrot or oats held out in his hand was a treat until, one day, my dad held out a piece of lemon. He used to tell the story of the horses upper lip going up and the lower going down while the horse backed up and shook his head. Poor beast!!! The horse still trusted my Dad - but I don't know why>

We had a couple of ducks which we would feed off tin plates. One day Dad ran a mild (just a couple of volts) electric wire under the plate and when the ducks approached he hit the switch and watched as the ducks took flight. He did something similar to me when I'd been out in the rain and Mother had me sit with my feet in a (metal) bowl of warm water. Dad suggested that I practice playing the 'spoons' (clackety, clackety) and then hit the switch. It seems Mother was in on this one and we all laughed. The lesson learned was to 'trust but verify'. Where have we heard that line before?? Oh yeah - St. Ronnie!

Hope your day was good my friend. How was the sunrise?”

“Hi Dan, I couldn't find the post about your Dad, but it appeared on my personal page.

Thank you for your wonderful story. It's great that we remember our parents with love, and I know you will always miss him - but time helps.

My Dad only had one year of regular schooling in his life, but Thomas Alva Edison was his hero and, at 16, he built his first radio. During the 1939-45 conflict we lived under the N@zi J@ckboot and were not allowed radios, telephones, cameras or anything like. But my dad knew who could be trusted and who shouldn't be trusted. He made tiny radios (with crystals or cat's whiskers - poor cat lost quite a few), fitted them into flashlights or fountain pens - and gave them to his friends. So the islanders always knew what was going out outside. He became 'a landmark'. He and my mother planted veggies on every inch of ground and we shared them with towns folks who had none. I went back to the island to be his care-giver for the last four years of his life and he died at 99 (in 1997) - and I kept him at home until 36 hours before he died. I LOVED THAT MAN!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS my friend!!”

“And by his ex-running mate!”

“I was in the kitchen this morning listening to Morning Joe and didn't recognize the voice but ----

The argument about the Health Care debate became heated and it was noted that McCain has taken his upcoming campaign to the Senate floor.

While I watched the colloquy yesterday I noticed yesterday that he is a very angry man. He seems to be moving to the far right. and his bad attitude is because he is having so much trouble in the AZ primary.

Among other things, he disparaged VT, NE, LA and FL and even the little town in MT (which has dangerous levels of asbestos from a mine that WH Grace Co walked away from) for their deals; and he demanded that they ALL either be rescinded or applied equally to all states. I could hear the anger and imagined his his blood pressure at a dangerous level.”

“It has also been proven that dinosaurs lived in this earth long before man appeared. I don't find any reference to them in you book. And of course great catastrophes were predicted in that book - and they happened - whether it was Vesuvius blowing it's top and burying Pompeii with lava, or maybe the comet which hit Siberia and devastated hundreds of square miles, or the atom bomb (of course, man made), the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami which hit Indonesia a few years ago. I can go on if you would like.

When, what you call 'the rapture' occurs, I really don't think anyone will care too much because we will all be gone by then. The human animal is doing it's damnedest to kill this planet - and create our own rapture”

“The 'unrelated questions' are the CORRECT answers!”

“Bingo!”

“Good morning. The project I was working on yesterday is done and now (since my shop is supposed to be closed on Tuesday and wednesday) I'm going to town (about 15 miles) for a 3 rind binder.

I can't tell you how unhappy I am that Byron Dorgan's amendment didn't pass. For the last few years I've admired him for standing on the Senate floor discussing the ridiculous drug prices - and the lack of care for the indigenous Indians - and yestersa, you could hear the ANGER in his voice when he realized that he was fighting a losing battle. I hope he doesn't give up.

I'm truly disgusted with most of the House and Senate over this whole bill and, while we all suggest that they should be replaced - or have term limits - sometimes its a case of voting for the 'least objectionable' individual.

The trouble is that if the Senate tried reconciliation they would lose the opportunity to stop the HMOs and Health Ins. cos. from refusing to insure anyone with a 'pre-existing' or pull the plug on anyone who needs expensive care. I guess something is better than nothing and we'll have to see how long it takes for the bill - if passed - will be amended for the better.

My good wishes are with you - and the thousands of other who have been let down.”

“Good evening mon ami. I agree. While I have no doubt that Jesus was a very good man and a great teacher, his message has been lost over time.

When I think of the original missionaries who decided that other cultures had to be 'enlightened' but, instead bred distrust and hatred between people who had never known civil unrest. It's pitiful.

I haven't been on here much today because I'm busy with a printing project (about 230 pages) on a printer that isn't attached to this computer machine, because I want to mail it out ASAP So I've been watching the Senate while working. Byron Dorgan doesn't think it will pass but he has been doing his darndest on his 'Reimportation of Drugs amendment. They are voting on it right now.

Be well, and I'll catch you later.”

“St. James, I know you are going to laugh at me but I think if I was a lot younger I just might learn - and enjoy - doing research on a computer, but I think I was born 40 years too early for these 'new fangled' IT instruments. I do use use Google on occasion, but I find the number of pages it throws at me quite intimidating. I guess I'm an old fashioned 'library' kind of senior citizen.

Believe it or not it took me about three years to pluck up the courage to even sign in to HP to correspond with you really nice - and some not so nice - guys. I'm still trying to figure out how to lift a web-site address to insert in my correspondence. I should get a twelve year old to help me, I think. However, I'm great at writing e-mails to my family and friends - and thats a plus.”

“Good afternoon St. James. Hope you are well.

I'm probably the most non-religious person you could ever hope to meet. If there was a religion which preached caring for ALL of our fellow citizens while allowing each their individuality - and the proponents LIVED it - I guess I could change. But that isn't going to happen - at least not in our lifetimes.

Your correction is rather a large one and I appreciate that you are always able to quote real data. I'm not. However, it's only my opinion - but I believe that there are a multitude of the so-called Christians who don't deserve the title. .

However, I heartily agree with your last sentence!”

“Very apropos! Thank you.”

“If Evangelicals believe that Israel is the center of God's universe they must be very upset that all Islamists bow to Mecca. Islamic religion has double, triple or even quadruple the number of Christian believers. Just how are they going to deal with these people?? Or do they expect that only the 'true believers' (the evangelicals) will be taken up to 'sit with god'; - and all others will just disappear into thin air. This is a very small minded idea and all I can say is that of all the folks who call themselves Christians - these are the LEAST worthy!”

“Grass Roots??? Bull crap! Some of the wealthiest and most politically savvy folks are promoting, running and supporting the 'Tea Parties'. When groups of folks, who can't even answer the simple question "Why are you here?" appear at a given venue - with horrific signs - of our President as a 'witch doctor', H!t.ler, in N@.zi uniform, Bury Health care with Ken.ed.y; no one, NO ONE can tell me that you guys are protesting spending. You are protesting this President. And don't be fooled - that's exactly what you are doing.”

“MrBad - That is my point exactly.

I have absolutely zero problem with citizens petitioning their government by protesting. I don't know what organization you were with but if you had a specific goal - my hat is off to you.

I might not even mind this movement if it had a single focus - but it doesn't - it's rag-tag and I've likened it to an octopus with tentacles going in various directions and only a very tiny core body.”

“OK, so like the Reps. in the Senate and House who railed against the introduction of SS and Medicare when the Dems fought for the these programs years ago - for you and me, are now so supportive of those programs that they do not want the waste and fraud in both programs to be weeded out.

So providing dental work (worth $84) would have been considered 'pork' for that poor 12 year old who ended up costing the taxpayer $280,000 for time spent in the in ICU - before he died.

Or fixing the bridge in St. Paul where dozens fell into the river when it collapsed. Would that have been 'pork'?

How about a bicycle track where workers can travel safely to work without having to use the car or bicycle in dangerous traffic. Is that pork'?

Can you pay bills and balance your budget if there is no money coming in? So maybe you buy a new suit (on your credit card) so you can present a good image to apply for that job that is available. That, my friend, is spending money in order to make money, Extend that theory to spending spending money to put people back to work so that they can pay taxes back into the treasury - then we will balance the budget, It will take a while but if we put the brakes on all spending we will have more catastrophes and deaths due to poor conditions. Is that what you”

“Who will accept money from the promoters to travel by bus to a rally. I guess they figure it's as good as a vacation. As for being white. If it was really 'grass roots' don't you think there would be some people of color in attendance - black, brown, yellow??”

“Are you living in a closet, pegster? These various groups resemble an octopus with tentacles waving in every direction with only a tiny core body. Interviews any one - at random - what their protests are and the answers will be everything from birth certificates to socialism to taxes to prayer to naziism to the fundamentalist church to second amendment rights to Michelle's arms and the White House veggie garden to world apologies to the price of gas. Shall I go on?

These groups can't even agree among themselves. Example - one group just split from it's mother group because of a 'plastic Jesus'.

We know that they display home made signs, but they also display commercial signs - some really obnoxious, but they repeat whatever they are being told to repeat. Much of what they rail against has NOTHING to do with taxes. Oh, by the way they can be easily infiltrated and scammed. Where is their core principle?”

“To create this dialog between tea-party supporters and the rest of us.”

“If the only thing that these 'tea'partiers' protested was for the government to stop spending money i, for one would have no problem with any of these groups.

However, I object to the signs depicting out President with a mustache, as a witch doctor, in a 'nazi' uniform, or signs showing awful photos from the Holocaust and linking them to our President, or signs calling our President all kinds of names which try to link him to various 'social/antisocial' groups which should have no part in this debate.

Please explain what any of these depictions have to do with our taxes.”

“That's true, Alex. But we are commenting on what has been so obvious about these groups - since their beginnings.”

“It should be required that these Tea Party bussed would be routed through the worst of the worst 'inner city' areas v.e.e.e.r.r.r.r.r.y s.l.o.w.l.y before going to their rallying point. They might just learn something about poverty and the need for help. Although, on second thought, they would argue that it was all a set up - and protest that too.”

“As a matter of fact I'm somewhat surprised that, so far, there has been little harm done - on both sides of the law.”

“The one thing that all these 'Grass Roots' Tea Party organizations has in common is that they are all disjointed.

2010 should be interesting with this disjointed, uneducated crowd, all vying for their own prominence. This guy David Coch (of Koch Industries) seems to be the only person involved (and financing) more than one of these 'grass roots orgs.'. I predict they will eat each other alive before 2012.”

“Good evening, my friend! How are you tonight?

I agree, all the gunslingers have been out in force today. Venom unleashed towards the 'un-brainwashed'. Don't take it to heart, Cowboys will be cowBOYS - and they need to show their might.

I was just watching our Commander in Chief's explanation of his Afghanistan policy - at West Point (in a beautiful part of New York State). He said something that I thought fit the discussion on this particular thread. I have to paraphrase because the text of the speech hasn't been posted yet.

He expressed the idea that -
"this country's peace and security will not come only from the use of force - but from those who work to AVOID using that force."

I have always believed that you get much more accomplished by offering a spoonful of honey rather than a spoonful of vinegar.

Have a good night and wake up refreshed. I'm going now to take a nice long soak in my jacuzzi tub. It was a 'luxury' I gave myself when I moved to Maine eleven years ago. My favorite time to soak is when we are in the middle of a winter blizzard. I take my book and a mug of tea. One of my cats still comes to sit on the side of the tub and play with the bubbles - even though he fell in a few years ago. That was interesting!”