Republican Budget Proposal

This looks fair to me. How about you? (Click here to enlarge)

What Global Warming? Who needs science?

All winter long as the snow fell harder than ever and meteorological records were shattered we could hear our republican friends and their fan clubs, conservative pundits, rant about the fraud of 'global warming'.

They used this unusually difficult winter as evidence that science and its own fan clubs, liberals and democratic politicians, was a bunch of bull.

With their comments dripping with disdain and contempt for the scientific community, the newly elected republican Congress decided that one of the things that should be cut from the budget is government grants to all things scientific.

What a pack of idiots! They give the concept of ignorance new meaning.

Either they haven't bothered to research the issue enough or they simply don't care but if they did, they would discover that one of the most well established causes of dramatic climatic changes is exactly the thing they dismiss--global warming.

The key is 'global'. That's exactly how you have to think. It requires people to adopt a world view but they don't understand this. They continue to live in their little, narrow minded, myopic worlds.

This nation will pay big time for the mistakes made in the last election!

Celebrating Read Across America Week

In honor of Read Across America Week I herewith present my choices for the best children and adult books I've ever read.

It was more difficult than I thought coming up with this list. There are so many great books out there.

On top of that consider the many genres available: historical fiction, science fiction, mystery/thriller, adventure, fantasy, romance, etc.

Picking the children's books was difficult too. After all books for a four-year-old would certainly not be appropriate for a ten-year-old.

Nevertheless--and for what it's worth--here's the list.

How many have you read?

Children’s Books (Adults would enjoy these too)

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Winnie the pooh by A.A. Milne

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Adult Books

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twan

Killer Angles by Michael Shaara

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Roots by Alex Haley

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Stop the Madness

Message to all networks and tabloids: STOP, STOP, STOP.
Don't you realize every time you put a microphone in front of Charlie Sheen, he gets worse? You're not helping him. You're making money off his lunacy thereby making yourselves as bad as him.

Why do I watch? I'm trying not to but every time I turn on the TV or even the radio at pretty much any given time, there he is (along with his two goddesses!)

Every time I look at a newspaper or scan the cover of those sick magazines stacked up as I'm waiting to check out at the grocery store, there it is.

Enough already.

Who's Responsible?

I've been hearing from a variety of sources that President Obama is the one actually responsible for the criminal increases in gas prices.

The rationale is that because he's doing so little to stabilize the situation in Libya, world oil markets are worried about major disruptions in supply so they're jacking up the prices.

I've heard this on radio & television programs and I've read it in places as diverse as Facebook and comments to Newtown & Monroe Patch pieces.

The idea is of course ridiculous. Obama has no more control of events there then he does over the weather.

Furthermore the fact is the supply of oil is plentiful. This latest round of price increases is nothing more than a bunch of greedy oil companies taking advantage of a fictitious situation to pad their profits. They're thieves--plain and simple.

Lessons I've Learned

I was born 68 years ago today. I normally don't make a big deal of my birthday. I look at it as just another day and hope there're many more to come. Other than that, life goes on.

Nevertheless, I can't help but take a moment or two to reflect on the preceding years.

So what have I learned in almost 7 decades? What's important and what isn't?

Well without question the two most important things are health and family. If a reasonably intelligent person has his/her health, then they can do pretty much whatever they want providing of course they've made good choices for themselves.

Family is very simply what makes the effort worthwhile.

A third thing I've learned that just makes it easier to get through the days sometimes is don't sweat the small stuff. There are lots of petty details in life--especially in the area of interpersonal relationships--that simply aren't worth blowing all out of proportion.

That's it for reflections. Time to move on.

A Morning at the Museum

Yesterday morning Becky and I brought Brooke and Courtney to the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport.

The theme on the main level was the guitar where there were dozens of different kinds of guitars on display including some very interesting early instruments.

Other themes in the museum were space, energy, light and sound. Also, there was a fair amount of 'hands on' stuff for kids including a small basketball court that was part of a larger display honoring the founder of basketball, James Naismith.

But of all of those things the biggest hit was a mock up of a school bus. The outside looked like a bus with flashing lights and it was painted yellow. Inside there was a steering wheel, blank dashboard and a bench seat for a couple of passengers.

The girls loved pretending they were driving us to school and yelling at us to be quiet. They returned to it over and over again. Go figure.

As Wisconsin goes, so goes the nation?

What's all the hubbub about in Wisconsin? Why have demonstrating public employees pretty much shut down the state?

The surface reason is because of the huge budget cuts the republican governor and the republican controlled legislature have made.

So you might reasonably ask, if the state is in such dire straits, what are they supposed to do? Don't the public employees realize they need to make concessions in wages and benefits and be happy they have jobs?

No, because the budget cuts in and of themselves are not the real issue. The real issue is the state's move to make illegal collective bargaining for all except for the police and fire fighters.

Collective bargaining is huge. It amounts to a person's right to organize and have a negotiating team bargain for them.

The state's effort amounts to union busting. No matter where you stand on unions, people have the right to organize. No government entity has the right to deny that right.

How this plays out in Wisconsin is going to have enormous, far-reaching consequences. If they succeed, every other state in the country will attempt the same thing.

If that happens, a big chunk of our democracy will have withered away and died.

Not a good situation. Bares watching.

Hide and Seek with Toddlers

I spend every Wednesday and Friday with 22 month old Nicholas and 3 year old Cole--my two grand sons.

Among the many things we do is play hide and seek. They love that game but it's a real challenge--especially with the younger one.

When it's Nicholas's turn to 'find' Cole and me, he stands in the middle of the room we happen to be in, closes his eyes and yells TWO, THREE. Then he opens his eyes and runs around, laughing hysterically, looking for us, even though we didn't really have time to hide.

The act of just running around looking for something is apparently all he needs to have a good time.

Cole, on the other hand, wants me to actually hide--which I do.

But when it's my turn to count and find the boys, they reveal their location if it's taking me too long to find them. They love getting 'caught'.

More fun adventures of a grand parent.

Super celebrity--maybe. Troubled person--definitely.

While sitting here working on a Newtown Patch column, I've also been following the saga of Lindsay Lohan on the Today show.

Over the past months as Lindsay weaves her way in and out of courts and rehab centers, I've heard many people speak of her with great derision.

Phrases like "spoiled little rich girl", "pampered celebrity", "attention-loving prima donna" and more frequently come up in the conversation.

But I see something different. I see a very troubled young lady who has looks, money and talent destroying her life.

What rational explanation can there be for rich people who steal or exhibit addictive behaviors? In fact this applies to anyone, not just the rich, although I suppose a case could be made for a person who steals out of desperate need.

Lohan needs intensive treatment, not jail. More jail time will only satisfy those people who call for a punitive approach to changing behavior. It does not help the 'victim' who in this case also happens to be the person charged.

People who commit Lohan's kinds of offenses hurt no one but themselves. Obviously, in the case of the stolen necklace, restitution needs to be made but that would be financial restitution--not prison time.

Our system of Crime and Punishment and the penal system in general needs a thorough overhaul. But it won't happen.

Law and Order are hot button issues that politicians would be nuts to touch. So on and on it goes, our prisons fill up only to return the same unchanged criminals to the streets.

It's crazy.

It's been a tough winter but....

I am officially sick of this winter. Yet I have no complaints.

We've had too much snow, too much ice and too much bitter cold but I keep getting these pictures of far off places like North Dakota from my email friends and I realize we're not in such bad shape after all.

Normally I don't mind winter too much. I have a good snow blower, a wood burning stove and an ample supply of firewood so I can handle pretty much anything Mother Nature throws at us.

There's no doubt about it, this year has been the worst ever in this area at least. Enormous amounts of snow, ice dams causing leaks in the house and extensive ceiling damage (a chunk of ceiling fell at 4 A.M. waking me up).

It's been a constant battle removing ice from the driveway and the forecasts call for more tomorrow and next week. There doesn't seem to be an end to it.

Yet, having said all that, I feel fortunate in that I am healthy enough to use the snow blower, load the wood boxes, chop ice and climb a ladder to the roof.

There are those who are burdened with the same things but because of poor health they can't do anything about it except impose on others or hire someone--which can be financially prohibitive.

So...let it snow. It will melt--some day. In the meantime I'll just continue to take things as they come thankful that I can.

What you've just read is an inkling of how most cancer survivors think.

Another Day to Remember

January 28, 1986
I was standing in front of my 5th grade class at Sandy Hook School.

One of the office clerks showed up at my classroom door and beckoned me over.

When I got there, she took me out in the hall and told me the awful news.

Word spread quickly among the faculty but we didn't say anything to the kids. And since this was way before the day of the cell phone and texting, they weren't going to find out until they got home.

I couldn't wait to get home myself. I went right to the TV, turned it on and followed the developments.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In the end the great physicist Richard Feynman explained how the 'O' rings had failed thus leaking highly combustible fuel.

So January 28 becomes one of those days when you will always remember where you were and what you were doing.

Aside from personal milestones, the other days I remember were when John Kennedy was assassinated, the 2nd space shuttle disaster (I confess I did not remember the date of the 2nd space shuttle disaster until I looked it up-February 1, 2003. I do remember where I was and then watching TV broadcasts of the aircraft as it broke apart and made its way to earth).

The third was of course the 9/11 terrorist attack which I wrote about before.

Unfortunately, these kinds of events always seem to be tragedies. On the other hand, there are plenty of good things to remember throughout the course of ones life--be they private or public.

Let's hope we have more of those kind.

The Day With Courtney

As you may have noted from previous posts, one of the games Courtney likes to play is 'doctor'.

This usually involves giving me an exam for a variety of ailments and then I inevitably get a series of shots to treat the illness.

There was a new twist to the game today. When she put her stethoscope in her ear, she had me put my hand on a play heart beat monitor.

According to Dr. Courtney, by doing that she was able to drain all the bad stuff from me into a special garbage can she had upstairs.

I told her it was amazing how much better I felt after the procedure!

Then, in addition to treating me, she offered to give me a haircut which apparently has now become part of her medical practice.

So the next time you go to your doctor, tell him/her that you think he/she should give you a haircut or perm because if he/she doesn't, you know where you can have it done!

It's always something new with Courtney.

Morning Viewing

Yesterday it was Dick Cheney. This morning it was Glen Beck. Not so long ago it was George W. Bush.

All these guys appeared on the Today show peddling their books.

The only reason I watch Today even though I whine about it so much is because the local station I watch for news and weather is on the same channel. Both are hosted by NBC.

Matt Lauer is very tough to take but I like Meredith Vieira so I guess I'll stick with it.

I could switch to ABC but I can't take Good Morning America and the local station got rid of weatherman Geoff Fox so they're out.

CBS has sleazy Al Terzi so they're out.

Fox News has Imus which I do watch from time to time but he's got a lot of obnoxious people on too so all in all the choices are pretty slim.

Yes, I know. There are worse things to worry about. Actually I'm not worrying about this at all. It's just another one of my pet peeves.

There will be more. Stay tuned.

Good bye and good riddance

Soooo...Joe Lieberman isn't seeking another term in the U.S. Senate.

Good bye and good riddance, Joe. You're a traitor to the Democratic Party and you're not even trusted by republicans either.

It was a wise decision since you didn't stand a snow ball's chance in hell of getting reelected. Now there's an opportunity for someone electable to get in.

See ya' and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

Dirty jobs revisited

Ever see that show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe? It's a good show because it gives you a good idea of how nasty things get done without the viewer actually having to do it.

Well, I had two nasty jobs to do this morning. They're the kind of thing home owners have to do from time to time unless they want to spend a fortune hiring people to do them.

The winter weather and unusual amount of snow has created ice dams on the roof of our house. The problem has gotten to the point that there are some water leaks in the house as a result of the ice melting.

The partial solution is to shovel the snow off the roof so that it won't melt and then refreeze causing the ice dam.

So that's what I did-carefully because you don't want to damage the shingles. I didn't do this on the upper roof-just the lower one you see in this picture. That was bad enough.

The second job was to go for a long term solution. That is, make sure the attic is properly insulated and vented.

This is a nasty job because we don't have floors in our attic and it's not very big. There's exposed fiber glass insulation and A/C equipment all over so there was a lot of crawling in close, unpleasant quarters.

I salvaged a bunch of old shelving boards to lay down so I wouldn't step on insulation and wallboard. Then I ventured toward the eaves to make sure the vents were 'free'.

Problem was, when we had the house vinyl sided, the installers covered the soffit vents! That, I'm sure, is a big part of the problem.

Now I have to hope getting rid of the snow is going to be good enough and then wait until spring to see about the vents.

Ah, home ownership. It has its downside.

In the meantime, there's snow forecast for Tuesday. Where's that January thaw?

Another Great Day

I started the week with my little pal, Courtney.

Then, I had an unexpected surprise yesterday. Grand daughter Brooke who will be 7 on the 17th came over to spend the day with me.

Thursdays are my day to run the errands I wasn't able to get to during the rest of the week but having a grand child or two doesn't prevent that because they're getting old enough to come along.

And that's exactly what Brooke and I did. First we picked up my chain saw chain from Newtown Power Equipment where Brooke took some time to admire the various tractors.

We left there to go to the mall to get some information about Sandi's iPad and shop for Brooke's birthday present. As we were driving along, I asked Brooke if she wanted some music. She said no, she'd rather I tell her stories about when I was a kid.

So I did--all sorts of stories about what my sister and I did on snow days, what we played with, what TV we watched (she was surprised we didn't have TV when I was her age) and what games we liked.

After our chores at the mall we had lunch at McDonald's.

We never did find what she was looking for so when we got home she asked me to get Google on the computer and she'd search for it. I confess this made me a little nervous. Google searches can be very effective but as we all know they can also be quite dangerous for young people.

I went to my settings folder on Google and set the filters to maximum. This is not foolproof but it goes a long way toward blocking unwanted images and content. I recommend the procedure to anyone who has children in their household.

Brooke and I spent the rest of the afternoon playing school. Then her parents picked her up.

It was the end of an altogether great day.

And today I get to be with my two little buddies!

It's great to be back from Naples--snow or no snow.

A system out of control.

After the tragic shootings in Tucson, AZ, that killed several including a nine-year-old girl and the critical wounding of a US Congresswoman, how can anyone still doubt the fact that it's too easy to get a handgun in this country? Period.

Yeah, yeah. I know the NRA mantra. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

Bull crap. While there are millions of harmless people who enjoy hunting and sport shooting (I'm one of them, by the way), the simple fact is any lunatic can get his hands on a gun.

Sure, there are gun control laws-here and there. But they are extremely inconsistent from one state to the next.

No politician in his right mind will take on the powerful National Rifle Association and its lobbies because there are too many misguided people out there who continue to ignore reality and insist it's everyone's right to own a gun.

They claim to have the Supreme Court and the Constitution of the United States behind them.

The Supreme Court's position is in regard to the interpretation of the Second Amendment. Neither the Supreme Court nor the Second Amendment ever said it was OK for deranged lunatics to own firearms and go around shooting people.

Wake up, America. Deal with this problem or things like this will not go away.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

This week flew by. The weather was beautiful with temperatures in the 70s nearly every day and only one day of rain.

Now it's back home to temps in the 20s and more snow and more snow coming Wednesday.

Yet, in spite of lousy, wintry weather, it will be great to get back home to our family.

So good bye until May Naples. Or if someone wants to come down in February or March, well, we'll see.

Snow? What's snow?

Here we are at our condo in Naples, FL with some friends of ours. The temperatures have been ranging from lows of 60 or so to highs of around 75.

When we left CT, there was snow on the ground and there's more expected soon. In fact I should return to about 6 inches in our driveway which I'll have to clear right away.

But it's nice to get down here once in a while and as it happens this will be our last trip until May--unless someone in the family wants to come down sooner in which case maybe I'll go with them.

Golf tomorrow morning and then it's back home--and back to winter--Sunday.

But you know what they say--there's no place like home!

A fond farewell to the first decade of the 21st Century

It seems almost unbelievable, doesn't it?

Here we are at the end of the first decade of the 21st century! Where did the time go?

I have decidedly mixed feelings about these past 10 years.

On one level, the national and international scene, it has been a terrible decade. It began with the election of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney--not a good way to start off a decade!

Then, of course, September 11, 2001 brought the terrorist attacks and we've been fighting them ever since.

Toward the end of the decade the United States experienced a crippling recession that continues to linger.

Finally, and in spite of the success of democratic policies, voters turned the House of Representatives back to the very party that brought us the first eight years of grief. Go figure.

So let's leave all of that. There's no use dwelling on the negative.

Is there anything positive to say about the first decade of the century? You bet there is--a lot.

Nearly midway through the decade I bid farewell to a successful and generally enjoyable career in education.

That was followed by the next several years of the best of all things--grand children!

All of this great stuff was interrupted briefly by some health issues but that too turned out to be OK.

And now to cap it off, the whole family has a second home to enjoy in Florida.

So all in all the reviews of these past 10 years are definitely mixed. But that's life. Thankfully life goes on. And more important the positive outweighs the negative.

So to one and all, Happy New Year and Happy New Decade. May it be a great one for you.

It's a winter wonderland

Mother Nature is up to her old tricks again.

Rather than tease us with a storm resulting in a few inches of snow, she decides to send a nor'easter our way.

Two to three feet of snow later and with the wind still howling, I'm finally dug out.

Cleared the driveway, shoveled the walk to the front steps, shoveled a path to the bird feeder, and, finally, shoveled a path to the wood pile.

To do the latter two paths, I suppose I could use the blower but if I get to close, it tends to chew up the grass so I might as well shovel.

The snow blower is cleaned up and put away--until the next one. Then it's right back at it.

Winter in New England.

Merry Christmas to One and All

Christmas morning 2010. It is now 7 A.M. and I'm watching my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story.

I remember the year I got my own Red Ryder BB gun like it was yesterday--but then again I can't remember the actual yesterday!

Soon grand children will be here to rip into the pile under our tree. Better get the camera ready.

Have a great Christmas.

A New Phase

Well, it's official. Three-year-old grandson, Cole, has entered a new phase in his rapidly growing life.

He has discovered stickers.

I went through this with Brooke and Courtney and it was always an adventure when I went out.

I would usually forget I have all sorts of stickers plastered over the front of my shirt so when ever I went somewhere, the people I encountered would either make some sort of sarcastic comment or give me a very peculiar look.

Given the condition of my memory these days, there's no reason to believe anything will change.

This will last only a year or two--but then there's his little brother right on his heels.

Live with grand children. Always an adventure.

More Courtneyisms

My day yesterday with Courtney was the usual round of adventures.

Story hour was over so that gave us a little more time to visit grammy at her office.

Courtney loves to go there because she uses all of their stamps to cover several sheets of paper.

She then uses the copy machine to put together several papers all of which are covered with stamps saying things like "customer copy", "return attached", "need signature", "file copy", "delinquent notice", etc.

She calls these her 'business papers' and regards them as being very important.

When making copies, she gives her grand mother very strict instructions that she doesn't need help using the copy machine. Grandma's only role is to make sure Courtney doesn't fall off the chair she's standing on to press the various buttons.

After we're done with this, on the way home she asks me if I would like a band aid. I of course have to reply that I do so she gives me various choices of pictures that are on the band aids.

The choices yesterday were a taxi, a mail box, Mickey Mouse and a big building. I haven't a clue how she came up with these things but there they are.

Once home, we have lunch and play downstairs for a while before naps.

It's always an adventure with the grand children. They are all unique in many ways and they each have their own little rituals.

Santa will be here soon. Look for pictures on my website over the weekend http://georgeswebpage.com

A New Game

Nicholas and Cole have established a nice little routine when I baby sit them every Wednesday and Friday. The activities they've dreamed up will probably continue as long as it's too cold to go outside.

So as soon as their mother leaves for work, they want to go upstairs to their rooms.

After jumping on Cole's bed for a while we go into Nicholas's room where there's a little more floor space.

Once there Grandpa becomes a donkey (some may say that's not a stretch) and I get ridden around for a while.

When they (and I) tire of that, we go into the hallway which is a nice long run, and they run up and down into each other's arms.

We do that for over an hour. Then it's downstairs for a little snack & some TV.

Then it's time to get out the paints and crayons for play in the play room with any number of things in there.

Soon it's lunch time. When lunch is over we play a little while longer until it's time for Nicholas's nap at which time Cole goes to his room for little quiet time.

Cole comes down well before Nicholas gets up because he likes alone time with grandpa so we play until their mother gets home.

A routine like this makes the day go by pretty fast. And as soon as it begins to warm up, we'll have more time outside.

The only downside to the whole thing is Cole feels bad when I leave but I assure him I'll be back.

Boo Hoo. Poor John!

Moving, isn't it? Watching future Speaker of the House John Boehner crying on 60 Minutes.

One would almost get the idea that he cared about the country he's in the process of screwing.

And did you get his reaction to Obama's accusation that he's is holding the middle class hostage? What a joke.

Come on, John. You're as phony as the rest of your Congressional colleagues. Man up and admit it.

You're on one gigantic power trip and loving it.

Oh, and Mr. President, let's not be quite so compliant with these bums. Let them do what they're going to do and then let them answer for it in 2012.

Don't you just love politics?

The Calm After the Storm

Brooke, Courtney, Cole & Nicholas relax in front of a Backyardigans episode after dancing to crazy music and jumping on pillows.

That was followed by a general free-for-all wrestling match.

It's never dull when the four grand children gather at our house.

You can always count on a considerable amount of mayhem--along with the occasional injury.

But no one is ever hurt badly enough to prevent more fun.

The real challenge is getting them calmed down enough to get ready for bed.

Life with grand children. It's great!

A Day to Remember

There comes a time in everyone's life when it's possible to recall exactly where you were and what you were doing on a given day of extraordinary events.

Other than personal stuff like births and deaths, the two that come to mind for me are the day John Kennedy was assassinated and Sept. 11, 2001.

But for older folks--even older than me--like those I visit at an assisted living facility, one of those days is most certainly the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

I remember my parents telling me about it numerous times to the point where even though it was a little over a year before my birth I remember what they were doing.

It was a Sunday morning and they were sitting around the kitchen table. In our family the kitchen was a common gathering place.

They were listening to the radio and reading the Sunday morning paper when the announcement came over announcing the attack.

There of course was no TV so news was spread via radio and newspaper.

The rest, as they say, is history.

What are some important days you remember?

A Day With the Boys

Since the launching of my son's new business venture, I am now spending two days a week with my two grand sons--Wednesdays and Fridays.

Yesterday, we went to my daughter's house for lunch and for Cole & Nicholas to see the large earth moving machine--or as Cole correctly observes, an excavator.

It was a very cold day so we didn't spend a lot of time outside but we were there long enough to get some pictures one of which is shown here.

On the way home they both fell asleep which of course threw a wrench in their nap schedule. They both woke up as soon as we pulled in the driveway.

Cole got out of the truck, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, and wondered where the 'excavator' went.

I had to explain to him that he was home now.

I tried to get them to continue their naps but that wasn't going to work so Nicholas played in his crib for a while & Cole had some quiet time in his room where he decided to change his pants.

He's learning to dress himself so I guess he thought he needed practice.

They weren't in their rooms long. Just enough time for them to get their second wind so it was downstairs for a snack. Then they spread pillows on the floor and jumped on them from the coffee table--an activity taught to them by me at our house but for very good reasons strictly forbidden at their house!

I don't by any means make it a habit of breaking the rules my grand children's parents lay down but this one is difficult to enforce because they do it so fast.

I'll be cleaning up dishes or something and the next thing you know the two of them have laid out the pillows and they're jumping. I'm made aware of it as soon as I'm done doing what ever I'm doing or when I hear them laughing hysterically.

When ever that happens, I know they're up to no good.

Three-year-old Cole is the ring leader. One-and-a-half year old Nicholas is the follower--and follow he does. Everything.

I can see they're going to be a challenge for many years to come. Good thing I'm still young enough to deal with it!

Monday is my day with Courtney. Let's see what she has in store for me.