number 2 on my christmas list…

When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn’t pushing himself up.

He’s pushing the earth down.

California Legislators at work…

Just got this today and had the need to share it…

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      Below is a photograph taken by an Associated Press news reporter.  The picture was taken during one of the three-day work weeks in the California legislature.  These are the folks who couldn’t pass a state budget.  The reason?  One has to see it for one’s self, and every California taxpayer MUST definitely see it! Nothing else needs to be said.  The picture is indeed worth a thousand words!

     Standing in the far right and speaking is House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero J r. (R-Norwalk), while his colleagues - Rep. Barbara Lambert, (D-Milford) and Rep. J ack F. Hennessy, (D-Bridgeport) – played solitaire  as the House convened to vote on a new budget.  The guy sitting in the row in front of Lambert and Hennessy was on Facebook, and the guy behind Hennessy was checking the baseball scores. 

 

     They did not have the time to read the bills which they voted on, but they surely had the time to play Solitaire and check the baseball scores while supposedly serving the people and being paid by the people’s taxes. One has to wonder whether the same is happening in other state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress!

over 3 million and counting…?

Did we really save and create jobs with the stimulus package passed by our government months ago?  Well, tomorrow the White House will be releasing some stats on jobs in America.  But while you’re waiting for the results, here’s a short clip on what happened in the month of June alone.  Stimulating, isn’t it?

Nobel Peace Prize for a price?

     There recently was the death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ‘ulterior motive’ .. She KNEW what the Nazi’s plans were for the Jews, (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she had trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi’s broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate parents that may have survived the Holocaust to reunite the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize … She was not selected.  Instead, Al Gore won for a slide show on Global Warming.  This year, Barak Obama won for speculations on what he will do to bridge future foreign relations. 

 

In  MEMORIAM  - 63 YEARS LATER

 

 

Irena Sendler

 

It is now more  than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. There were 20 million Russians, 10  million Christians, 6 million Jews and 1,900 Catholic priests  who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned,  starved and humiliated.

Now, more than ever, with Iraq , Iran , and others, claiming the  Holocaust to  be a myth, it’s imperative to make sure the  world never forgets because there are others who would like to do it again.

 

Doctor this…

     The healthcare debate continues, but the President is determined as ever to get the bill passed.  Last week Obama  spoke on health care reform with a handful of doctors present in white coats.  He praised the doctors for supporting his bill, saying that they ”wouldn’t support a reform agenda if they believed it would lead to government interference in the doctor-patient relationship” and that the “medical professionals backing reform are among those who know the system the best”.  Sounds convincing?  I thought so too, except for the fact that 45 percent of doctors would consider quitting if Congress passes the Health Care Overhaul according to a recent poll.  In fact “72 percent of the doctors polled disagree with the administration’s claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost”. 

     So compare the handful of doctors who supports Obama during his White House speech last week against the 72 percent of doctors who does not support the bill.  Is this just spin politics by the White House using real doctors? Do the math and decide for yourself.  So much for transparency, although this actually gives new meaning to the term “spin doctor”…

is the honeymoon over?

     CNN has been very supportive of the President before and during his campaign, even during his Presidency… well, up until this new skit from Saturday Night Live, which poked fun at the President.  So is the honeymoon over? Maybe, maybe not, but the short skit is still very funny whether or not you support Obama.  See for yourself…

a can of worms…

     As I mentioned a few blogs ago, I saw my doctor earlier this week to document any medical issues before I retire from the Navy.  On today’s follow-up appointment with medical, the doctor ordered more labwork because my cholesterol and triglicerides were high.  I also got some X-rays for plantar fasciitis on my left foot, so I have to see the podiatrist tomorrow.  I’m also having a sleep study for possible sleeping disorders, more labwork, and a proctology exam next week.  Somehow I don’t like the direction this is heading…

need a place to hide?

You are my hiding place, You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.  Psalm 32:7

 

“One Joyful Mystery” by Charie Casayuran

This is a FaceBook article written by a relative from the Philippines after typhoon Ondoy flooded Manila.  Her outlook in life is inspiring, evident in her last Facebook comment “There’s always a rainbow after the rain”.  When all is lost, everything else becomes trivial. May we all be thankful for what we have, and may we all be ready and willing to lend a helping hand to those in need.

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     September 26, 2009, one rainy Saturday morning, while I am busy preparing pancit canton for lunch, heavy rains kept on pounding our roof. There was a storm so I heard. Occasional flooding is quite normal in our place, rising not higher than knee high, and eventually subsiding after a couple of hours. We weren’t bothered as rainwater starts to build up on the streets thinking this one is just like the ordinary thing.

     In less than an hour, water started to creep inside our ground floor. We started to elevate our furnitures and appliances while the water inside was just ankle high. However, as we were busy doing such, flood water gets higher and higher, and in less than 2 hours (around 1pm), electricity shut off, water on the ground floor were already chest deep. Panic stricken and already desperate to save all the stuff we have, we have no choice but to stop with the “mission” as the entire ground floor now submerged in water. To make things worse, there was only one guy around the house while these things are happening, and that was my husband, Jay. This was the first time he didn’t go to work on a Saturday!! Think that was meant to be. My father and 2 brothers were all out and were obviously got stranded already.

     Around 5:00pm, flood water in the streets almost reached roofs of bungalow houses. This is crazy, no matter how hard the rain could be, this will not happen. Not unless some dams started to release water. 6:00pm and its starting to get dark, even the rainfall has mellowed a bit, the water continued to rise… and now, it already reached our 2nd floor terrace. With barely half inch before the water gets in our 2nd floor, we started to panic again and move stuff now to the 3rd floor. Crazy things started to race in my mind, are we going to be rescued on top of our houses? Are we going to be rescued by some boats or helicopters? Carrying Joachi around, he had grabbed something and started to play with the thing around. When he accidentally dropped it, I realized that the thing he was holding is the Holy Rosary, the one I carried inside my purse on our wedding day. Without hesitation, I started to pray the rosary while everyone was busy moving things up. Saturdays are supposed to be for Glorious mysteries, but for some reason, I couldn’t recall what the Glorious mysteries are! So, I ended up praying the Joyful Mysteries instead.

     I’m starting to feel anxiety attacks, I have to pray.. I have to pray for our safety.. I have to pray for the safety of my father and brothers outside whom we don’t have any idea where they were at that moment. I have to pray for the rain to stop and for the water to stop rising. There was no network coverage, cellphone batteries starting to run low. I made sure to send SMS to some friends informing them of our situation, that whatever happens, at least someone knows that we need help. After about an hour after I started praying the rosary, the rain stopped. There was darkness… Deafening silence… Water… Water… We can only see our neighbors’ roofs from our 3rd floor window. Since Joachi wasn’t comfortable sleeping in another room, we decided to go back to our room in the 2nd floor. And since the rain had stopped, we hoped that the water will no longer get in.  That was probably the longest night I had ever, I barely slept. I became Joachi’s manual airconditioner. I always check the water level every now and then. Think that was around 4am when I started to doze off.

     Thank God, when we woke up the following morning, the water has started to subside. Though it’s still around 15ft deep, the hope that it will continue to subside made me feel safer. The sun started to shine and people were already out on their roofs, all worried but somehow looked relieved. I started texting my brother and some of my friends that we are in need of formula milk, wilkins and diapers for Joachi. Since we do our grocery shopping on weekends, supplies were already running out when the flooding happened. Helicopters were moving around, people from their rooftops were screaming, asking for relief goods, hoping something will be dropped to them. I cannot imagine this was happening in real life. I only see these scenes on TV.

     Monday, September 28. My father made it home by midnight, my youngest brother who got stranded for 2 days sleeping on different malls arrived home early Monday, my other brother came a little later with Joachi’s milk, diapers and wilkins. All have different stories to tell. They’ve braved the raging water just to get home.

     The support, concern and love of our family and friends were so overwhelming. When the water totally subsided nearly an hour before lunch, we received Joachi’s milk and wilkins from my sister’s friend whom she also texted for help the day before. We were surprised by my boss’ visit to check on our condition. We were visited by my sister’s church mates to bring some groceries and clothes. Later that night we were moved to a safer and more comfortable place c/o coca cola company (special thanks to john and chava)… We are so blessed!

     I don’t know how many people prayed the rosary that Saturday night, but all I know is that, we were saved by ONE JOYFUL MYSTERY. I am not religious but I am a believer.

Saturday 11:45 am

Saturday 12:15 pm

Saturday 2:45 pm

Saturday 4:30 pm

Saturday 4:50 pm

Sunday 6:30 am

Sunday 1:00 pm

Monday 6:30 am

wat u tink?

A little long but very interesting.  It’s not what you think so don’t judge the title, see it for yourself.  If the clip is too long for you, fast forward to time 1:23 on the video.  You may miss a lot of information from the beginning, but you’ll get the quick lowdown there.  Then you be the judge, is it real or propaganda?