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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Some of the in's and outs of Facebook are mystifying to me, for example; if i write a comment to someone without being their friend, do they get the comment? Then ; Status? Wall? Gifts? Poke? Like?I have no Clue. Opening Facebook and reading some entries is also confusing, i'm not a friend of a writer, yet their comment is on my home page, what's up with that?

Nevertheless reading some comments can be disappointing rather than casual fun and interest. I read some, apparently aimed at anyone who is not like them, or who has a different approach to general ills.

one that i read is from a woman i worked with, and was (still) very fond of, who repeats a cynical prayer that sadly says several prominent, favorite people of her's have died, praying that since the president is her favorite will he be included in the list? Thus actually hoping our president will die by taking a reverse angle. This prayer is repeated by a fellow who was connected to my former firm in a service manner, wishing the same thing. he is currently doing good deeds for charities and surely feels blessed that he lives in a free country, as opposed to the one i'm pretty sure he came from some time ago, and probably would be de-balled, or learn to write with his left hand, or with his teeth, for publishing a prayer naming those leaders.

these two represent a bafflement to me as I watch what is happening on the political stage. mostly when I see the signs and anger at rallies that the government keep their hands off their health care. (especially the "gentleman" who spit at a congressman, right smack in the face), I look carefully at the sign carriers or the shouters and see ages that surely either are recipients of, or have family members on medicare, or medicaid or social security and prescription drug coverage, the latter created by the previous administration and it's majority in the house and senate. Are they removing their names from these benefits?

Are they willing to give those protections up, to write to the government and demand that their name be removed from any of these benefits? What would you do?

Where was the anger when the former administration and it's former majority in the house and senate went on a historic spending spree with no veto's or matching cost cutting. Where was the angry signs and shouting when we entered two wars and coupled it for the first time in war time history with a tax cut. Not only no pay for the wars but a deeper hole with the tax cut. It was a clever move, we're at war, so we most naturally, as always, supported our soldiers. Ignore the tax cut. thank Rove for that.

The former administration and the it's majority in the house and senate passed the bank and wall street bailout. where were the signs and howls in the early fall of 08?

Put aside the slippery method we went to war in Iraq, we could do nothing more than give our entire support to our troops laying their lives on the line for us. I must add however, that our gravest error was leaving Afghanistan before reaching our goals, only then the move to Iraq. Rumsfeld knew what was best, right?

Now we have the current administration struggling to right the the American ship. Do you let the US auto industry go down the drain along with 9 million related jobs? What would you do? Do you let millions of homes foreclose and rot, destroy neighborhoods and communities? have people live in their cars? What would you do?

Something like 47 million fellow Americans have no health insurance. Their insurance is the hospital emergency room, a place that is required by law to care for anyone entering their unit. the cost either goes to the government or a higher charge is made to those holding healthcare insurance. (Then the insurance company shortchanges the hospital or the patient or both, either way their left holding the bag.) The patient in the emergency room has no choice, they need help. The hospital remains in permanent red ink. Some forced to close. What would you do?

Insurance companies claiming "pre-existing" conditions and selective coverage and open ended premiums, and deductibles, have the greatest advantage over a "customer" in the history of commerce in the world, in addition to being exempt from the anti-trust laws. You can fight it, you can also bang your head on a brick wall. The company refuses, ignores, falls back, rejects, loses paperwork and suggest reconsideration until the "customer" is dead. What would you do?

When new advantages are explained, point by point, regarding the new healthcare law, it is acceptable to any open minded person rather than the phony leaders, supported by the healthcare insurance companies. Understand that during the years the former administration and it's majority in the house and senate, did nothing to lessen the burden of millions of people like you and me, many bankrupt by medical costs. Nothing was done to disturb the social shelters created by a different party, decades ago, because they knew it is what the people want, and was untouchable, like those benefits, the new ones will find their way into American life, permanently, and even further, become untouchable. Repeal? Go for it!

My former fellow colleague , a lady, is, i'm sure a serious Catholic, bless her for that, she is also a wonderful mother and wife. I ask my friend, with all due respect, what would Jesus do? expecially given his message: "Caring for the least of us". What would you do?

For the fellow mentioned at the beginning of this blog, have you no understanding of the awful difficulties millions are experiencing? Are you on social security? Are you on medicare? If not, you will be, (God willing), will you refuse it, and fight for killing it? What would you do?

We had an election, this one every four years, how about that? terrific one for one of the parties, and one of the worst i have ever watched for the other party, certainly since Dole in '94 or Gore in '99. One party had projected possible answers for problems like any good campaign, the other had no focus or it seemed, no offering of solutions that had impact with the people. They seemed to pump up and allow anger and calls for the head of the other party. Only one time did McCain stand up for the ability and honesty of the other parties leader. I've often wondered if McCain had been elected if the anger at this level would be there, or Romney, or Huckabee. if you look at all of the major candidates of both parties, is there one major difference you can identify in their appearance? If any of the three Republicans had been elected would their faces be painted white with a mustache on signs by protesters and compared to Hitler, or would it be painted black, and be compared to Mandela? Any real honest answers to that? Any honest answers?

This blog is reaching out to all those with possibly more humble-like beginnings, coming from families that had heart and knew economic pain, whose religious life and teachings reached out to the unfortunate even while they had little, because those they helped had less, the youngsters from those families now grown, now comfortably working have deluded themselves to believe they are special successes, and looking down on others. Shame on you.

AVATAR: MY TAKE ON THE FILM

first of all please let me confess my respect for the creators of this film, it's amazing graphics and of course the financial blockbuster it is. The Terminator series, Titanic and now Avatar, incredible run of financial and artistic dominance for James Cameron.

Now that's out of the way and plainly in public, let me say that this movie is a joke, covered in a protective tent of computer magic,and a director's reputation, nothing more.

For a regular film goer of many years, this movie was so predictable that I began to recognize every character, every move, almost all dialogue unfolding. I can name many actors who played the same roles in different films. Older folks will remember Lex Barker as the Indian Chief, Chuck Connor as the warrior angry at Jimmy Stewart for entering the sacred village, the villagers pushing and striking him for entering, as was done in Avatar, and in most westerns when a white man entered their village, including Dances with Wolves and the Last of the Mohican's. Chuck Connor, 6 feet 6 inches tall, a former pro baseball player, with that Irish face smeared with war paint. They were back again, as blue pixels.

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Yes, every major character has been copied and pasted into this film, (forget for the sake of the moment we are on another planet, in the year 2154), from the nerdy General Manager, who of course is a know-it-all, and would be proven wrong on ever issue he's sure of, to the scar faced colonel controlling security, who can only vein-popping bellow, threaten, address his "blackwater mercenaries" and later walk about a small flight deck, unseated, unbuckled, tapping the pilots on the shoulder, issuing screaming commands during fierce, and wild maneuverings of a huge fighter-bomber during intense action, while holding and drinking a mug of coffee. He of course will come close to death at least two times, mostly as the new "RoboCop", and finally will die an awful death at the hand of either the number 1 or number 2 major character. Sound familiar?

The hero, an ex-marine with (the only departure to his part), withered legs, steps into a "beam me up Scottie" machine and becomes a 7 or 8 foot blue pixel indian, who not only speaks this exotic language, but is slowly accepted into the tribe after meeting and connecting with a beautiful 7 or 8 foot blue pixel indian maiden. She takes him into her world, at first angrily, then suddenly her eyelashes begin to flutter. we know what that means in Hollywood. don't we?

then surprise of all surprises, she introduces him to her parents, her father, dressed in beautiful feathers, holding a sharp spear royally, just happens to be the supreme chief of their nation, and her mother is the witch doctor in chief who can taste our hero's saliva to determine his worthiness and honesty. Hey, you couldn't find better in-laws under the circumstances.

Moving forward a bit, here comes the hundreds of helicopters, fighter bombers strafing away at all the "Bambi's" in the forest, blowing up everything and everyone in sight, only to be met by a huge attack by the combined nations of this planet, all 7 or 8 foot blue pixels, on their version of horses and riding the large dragon-like birds, attacking, dying, attacking until the main huge, massive tree, the center of their lives, crashes, (in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n), rallying the natives to attack again and gain the advantage. We knew they would, right? Our hero comes very close to death, but is saved by our tall beauty. How?It's really meaningless, because it has happened far to often to surprise us. Just ask Captain Kirk.

Mr Cameron you've put one over on us. good for you, go count your money.

you've got to begin somewhere.

After reading a really professional blog created by my bright and beautiful granddaughter Emily, I decided to give it a try myself. why not?

I became computer friendly early on, I actually began with a "Commodore 64", no one reading this blog has ever heard of the 64. This computer, sold in KMart, had a hard drive that handled 64K of data, hard to believe, even though today it seems each tech product is outmoded by tomorrow's entry into the market.

64K, imagine, there's more capacity in the menu button on my tv remote control. today I'm surrounded by cyber in all shapes and sizes, but mostly by the cell world. I'd find it difficult to describe my first cell, which cost a fortune in the early 80's. It was a workout to lift it and hold to one's ear, it was a little larger than a brick but weighed more. There were virtually no cell towers, a call was more often than not handled by a LIVE OPERATOR.

During my traveling days, (by air), waiting for my outgoing flight to arrive at the gate , watching the passengers coming off the plane, I'd count how many cell phones I saw being used. the count was usually 6 or 7. Today every passenger has it to their ear as soon as the plane lands.

With today's cell world just about taking over the computer, believe me, it's happening and happened, communication has become weird...i no longer talk to family, I text with them, or at least I respond to their texts. A parent will soon update the old scolding of their child, ("how come you don't call anymore"), by saying; "how come you don't text me anymore?"