Well the weather has finally broken here. Our high today is forecast to be only 56. Fighting the cats and Molly for my blankets has once again become an all to frequent nightly occurrence. All this makes me look forward to our thanks giving trip to South Padre Island where to paraphrase Zac Brown I will have one final chance this year for having

“my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a fishing pole in my hand
Life will be good that day. Life will be good that day.”

OK, we got a full issue and this busted dying Lap Top which I miraculously got to start 10 days ago and have not turned off since is starting to give me grief about finish the issue so lets get going before it dies and I lose a weeks worth of laughs on you guys.

One of our cats likes to sniff the spilled grounds when I am blending Brown Gold (I think she does a wee bit more than just sniffs them meself) and finally just HAS to get a tongue full of them before I can clean them up and she looks just like that about 2 minutes later.

Yes it’s a little late the actual birthday being last Sunday. We’ll get into exactly who was asleep at the blog post a little later on in the issue.

Dale Beatty: Making life easier for disabled veterans
After Dale Beatty lost his legs in the Iraq war, his community thanked him for his service by helping him build a home. To pay it forward, Beatty co-founded Purple Heart Homes, which

has helped build or modify homes for dozens of disabled U.S. veterans. “We wouldn’t leave someone behind on the battlefield,” Beatty said. “Why would we do it at home?”
Read Beatty’s story

Goodwill disturbing sale: Box of personal information sold by bulk for $27.69

http://www.examiner.com/article/goodwill-disturbing-sale-box-of-personal-information-sold-by-bulk-for-27-69

November 6, 2013

A Goodwill find turns out to be very disturbing and could have put some people in hot water by ruining their finances and credit. Emily Watson, a Goodwill Outlet shopper picked up a box of someone’s personal documents at one of Indiana’s Goodwill locations for $27.69, according to Yahoo News on Nov. 5.

In this box was one family’s tax returns, legal documents, pictures, divorce papers, pay stubs and checking and savings account information. When items aren’t sold at Goodwill they are placed in a bin and sold in bulk by the pound. This is why Watson paid the odd price of $27.69 for the box that weighed 39 pounds, which was a lot of personal information on this one family.

When Watson found this box, she brought this to the attention of the manager of the Goodwill store and after quickly looking it over he said he didn’t think it was harmful and said it would stay on the floor for sale. Watson purchased it to save this family any undue identity or financial problems if it should fall in the wrong hands.

[truncated by Lethal- follow link above to read entire article]

Indianapolis Metro Police. Sergeant Eric Eads, an ID theft expert with the force said that “this could be a police nightmare if someone had gotten ahold of this stuff.”

Goodwill should not have put these papers on the floor for sale and Goodwill’s Marketing Vice President Cindy Graham admitted their mistake and they are working to put better safeguards through policy changes to stop this from happening.

This is also a reminder to folks to make sure they know what are in the boxes they are donating to Goodwill. The information rounded up in this investigation has either been returned to the rightful owner or destroyed.

When I first read this I was of a mind to really have a go at Goodwill for the lack of a Corporate policy as well as the epic stupidity of the Store Manager. However it occurs to me they are not solely at fault here. Properly securing and destroying you personal financial and health information is not Goodwill’s responsibility, it is yours. From where I’m sitting if after all the things that have been said in all forms of media about not allowing this type of thing to happen you carelessly discard boxes full of that sort of information to a place that you know is going to resell them you fully deserve what happens next.

Terrible Misunderstanding

An Alabama pastor said to his congregation, “Someone in this congregation has spread a rumor that I belong to the Ku Klux Klan.”

“This is a horrible lie and one which a Christian community cannot tolerate.”

“I am embarrassed and do not intend to accept this. Now, I want the party who said this to stand and ask forgiveness from God and this Christian family.”

No one moved.

The preacher continued, “Do you have the nerve to face me and admit this is a falsehood? Remember, you will be forgiven and in your heart you will feel glory. Now stand and confess your transgression.”

Again, all was quiet.

Then, slowly, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with a body that would stop a runaway train rose from the third pew.

Her head was bowed and her voice quivered as she spoke, “Reverend there has been a terrible misunderstanding.”

“I never said you were a member of the Ku Klux Klan. I simply told a couple of my friends that you were a wizard under the sheets.”

The preacher fell to his knees, his wife fainted, and the congregation roared.

Seems like Impish once more has screwed the pooch and insulted not only me but every Marine reader by forgetting the Marine Corps Birthday which was last Sunday.

It’s November and the mall is packed with shoppers and a Impish can’t find Mrs. Dragon. He goes up to a very attractive woman and says ‘Excuse me, can you help me? I can’t see my wife, and I know that she is here in the shopping mall somewhere. Can you just talk to me for a couple of minutes?”

The attractive woman says, “Why?”

Impish replies “Because every time I talk to a beautiful woman, my wife materializes out of thin air.”

Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie

BROWN BUTTER PUMPKIN PIE

Serves 8-10

1 prebaked single crust pie shell
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 2/3 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch ground cloves
1 teaspoon molasses
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup carrot juice

In a heavy-bottomed skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Continue to cook, whisking occasionally, as the butter foams, then turns golden, then nut brown. When the butter is nut brown, immediately whisk in brown sugar, then the water.

Bring mixture to a boil; simmer until a candy thermometer reads 225 degrees. (Or until mixture smells caramelized and starts to darken.) Off heat, slowly add cream (the mixture will bubble rapidly) and whisk until smooth. Let cool at least 10 minutes. Stir in vanilla.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the prebaked pie shell on a rimmed baking sheet.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and yolks together with the salt.

Using a food processor, blend pumpkin with the spices, molasses, and lemon juice until smooth. Stream the brown-butter butterscotch through the food processor’s feed tube and process until combined. Stream in egg mixture, then milk and carrot juice; stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides.

Strain filling through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing through with a rubber scraper. Pour into the prebaked shell.

Bake on center rack 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees when the edges start to set, about 30 to 35 minutes through the baking time. The pie is finished when the edges are set and puffed slightly and the center is no longer liquid but still quite wobbly. Do not over bake or the custard can separate; the filling will continue to cook and set as the pie slowly cools.

Cool completely on a wire rack, 2 to 3 hours. Serve slightly warm, at room temperature or cool. Keeps refrigerated for 2 days or at room temperature for 1 day.

Plank Smoked Orange Rosemary Chicken

Prep Time: 1 hour | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 cedar grilling planks

2 Tbsp. Your favorite Chicken Rub

1/2 c. Basting Oil

4 chicken leg quarters or bone-in breasts

8 sprigs fresh Rosemary

1 small orange, very thinly sliced

• green onions, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Soak wood planks in water 1 hour.

Heat grill to medium. Mix chicken rub into basting oil to create a paste. Gently rub paste on chicken.

Place chicken directly on grill, skin side down, and grill 10-15 minutes or until skin is nicely browned, but chicken is not cooked all the way through.

  Lay 2 rosemary sprigs on each soaked plank. Add chicken, skin side up, and arrange orange slices on top. Place planks with chicken on grill and finish cooking/smoking until internal temperature is 165ºF, about 20-25 minutes.

Garnish with chopped green onion if desired. Serve warm.

Basting Oil is simply a flavor infused oil which makes food taste better than basting it with plain oil. I make my own by heating EVOO in a sauce pan with a crushed head of garlic,a Table spoon of cracked black pepper corns and a sprig of rosemary until I see tiny bubble coming off the herbs and spices. Cover it turn off the heat allow it to steep and cool. Then using cheese cloth in a funnel I filter it into the bottle I’m going to store it in.

With a little kosher salt it makes a great seasoning for oven roasted potatoes.

Don’t have a favorite chicken rub? Try McCormick’s Backyard BBQ seasoning blend.

Yup dat’s right, no genre of song is sacred or safe from by purloining and perversion! Today it’s that old camp chestnut “On Top of Spaghetti” or as I call it On Top of a Dragon

Police Cite “Clenched Buttocks” As Probable Cause to Conduct 14 Hour Cavity Search On Man

Yup I know, this sounds like the sort of thing I feature in one of my ‘I Call Bullshit!’ features. I even started out under that assumption and was forced to redo a large section of the issue because my research proved differently. While what happen to this guy is total bullshit the story is apparently true. Links are provided at then end of the article.

New Mexico man says he was anally probed 8 times after routine traffic stop

David Eckert was stopped by Deming police after rolling through stop sign, according to lawsuit. He claims he was then subjected to digital searches for drugs, then enemas and a colonoscopy.

November 5, 2013

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Police_Cite_%E2%80%9CClenched_Buttocks%E2%80%9D_As_Probable_Cause_to_Conduct_14_Hour_Cavity_Search_On_Man/30118/0/38/38/Y/M.html

A New Mexico man was pulling out of a parking lot when he failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign. When he saw police lights behind him he probably thought, like most people, that this would end in a warning or perhaps a minor citation. He didn’t expect it would spiral into a nearly day long ordeal where he would be subjected to increasingly intrusive cavity searches over accusations that he was hiding drugs in his anus.

It all started when upon pulling David Eckert over, New Mexico police asked the man to step out of the car. That’s when they claim “[Eckert] appeared to be clenching his buttocks.” From that they said they had probable cause for searching for drugs on – and in – the man.

Eckert says he was then taken to a nearby emergency room to have the invasive search completed. When a doctor at that facility refused, police took Eckert to another medical center willing to conduct the procedure.

The New Mexico police are nothing if not persistent. After driving Eckert to another medical center the police and medical staff subjected him to the following humiliating – and ultimately fruitless – procedures.  From KOB-4:

1. Eckert’s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

4. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

5. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a second time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

6. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a third time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert’s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines.  No narcotics were found.

The summary would be comical if it weren’t so awful. According to a lawsuit filed against the police department by Eckert, not once did he give consent for any of these procedures. No illegal drugs were ever found on Eckert who, if you recall, had broken the law only insofar as having rolled through a parking lot’s stop sign. We aren’t talking about Pablo Escobar here.

There are also concerns over how the warrant for the search was authorized and carried out. As Eckert’s lawyer, Shannon Kennedy, points out:

The search warrant was overly broad and lacked probable cause.  But beyond that, the warrant was only valid in Luna County, where Deming is located.  The Gila Regional Medical Center is in Grant County.  That means all of the medical procedures were performed illegally and the doctors who performed the procedures did so with no legal basis and no consent from the patient.

In addition, even if the search warrant was executed in the correct New Mexico county, the warrant expired at 10 p.m.  Medical records show the prepping for the colonoscopy started at 1 a.m. the following day, three hours after the warrant expired.

“This is like something out of a science fiction film, anal probing by government officials and public employees,” Kennedy said.

So far no disciplinary action has taken place against the individual officers, the police department as a whole, nor the doctors who illegally performed the medical procedures. Police Chief Brandon Gigante has declined to comment specifically about this incident but said more vaguely that he and his officers  “follow the law in every aspect and we follow policies and protocols that we have in place.”

Somehow that does little to ease fears that this New Mexico town has decided that how you walk or stand makes you a drug smuggling suspect requiring intrusive searches.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/new-mexico-man-sues-authorities-anally-probed-8-times-article-1.1507651

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3209305.shtml?cat=500

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/david-eckert-enema-colonoscopy-drugs-traffic-stop_n_4218320.html

Since this article first posted Deming New Mexico has practically overnight become the  destination for honeymooning male same sex marriage couples who are hoping for a honeymoon experience they will never forget.

Additionally, The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons is seeking not only to book their next convention there but to get the officers involved and the Chief of Police to appear as celebrity speakers and receive their highest award The Brown Fingered Glove.

Finally I  am informed that those involved on the law enforcement side have received job offers from the TSA, DHS and the DOJ all citing their apparent experience with wanton disregard of a person’s civil rights and  their right to privacy.

And in late breaking developments (lest you think this an isolated incident I scoured the web to find and rave/rage about) Its seems a few more suits have been filed and a wee more information on the situation has come out:

Second NM lawsuit filed over body cavity searches

By JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press | November 8, 2013 | Updated: November 8, 2013 6:37pm

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A second lawsuit was filed Friday against southern New Mexico authorities accused of illegally subjecting drug suspects to invasive body cavity searches. And the attorney who filed the cases says she has been getting calls from others saying they were detained after the uncertified drug-sniffing dog at the heart of both cases raised suspicions.

Albuquerque civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy filed the new lawsuit against the Hidalgo County sheriff’s office on behalf of Timothy Young, who says he was strip-searched in a gas station parking lot, then taken to the hospital for a cavity search. The lawsuit claims the searches were unreasonable, and that the body cavity search was in violation of the search warrant issued. Kennedy says the warrant was issued to search his body but not body cavities.

Both men were initially pulled over for traffic violations, and the searches ensued after the county’s drug-sniffing dog, Leo, indicated he detected drugs and search warrants were issued. No drugs were found in either case, but both men are being billed by the hospitals, Kennedy said.

“The dog is alerting on the driver’s seat, and they are detaining people for hours,” Kennedy said.

The lawsuit says Leo is neither adequately trained nor properly certified for narcotics searches. It says there are no state records showing he’s properly certified under New Mexico law.

The man in the first lawsuit, David Eckert, pleaded guilty to using methamphetamine in 2008. According to the lawsuit, Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies told Deming police officers that Eckert was known in the area for carrying drugs inside his body. Young, who filed the new lawsuit, has no drug record, according to Kennedy.

The lawsuits have raised questions about drug searches along the border. In addition to the two cases filed by Kennedy, the American Civil Liberties Union says it is preparing to sue the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on behalf of a woman who was crossing into El Paso in December and subjected to invasive searches after a drug dog alerted agents.

Attorney Laura Schauer Ives says the woman was strip-searched at the crossing, then taken to the hospital for vaginal and anal probes, a forced bowel movement, X-rays and scans. No drugs were found, the ACLU said, and the hospital is charging her thousands of dollars. Schauer Ives said the woman’s medical records refer to her being brought in both by Border Patrol and customs agents. The group has had a Freedom of Information Request pending since April to identify the officers and which departments of CBP were involved.

A spokesman for the agency, Doug Mosier, said he was unaware of the case and unable to verify such a search occurred at one of the El Paso crossings, which screen thousands of people every day.

Mosier also declined to discuss agency practices and policies on strip searches, citing the pending litigation.

Notice the key lines I have highlighted, but let me first comment on one that I did not highlight which I found most shocking which is the ACLU actually doing the job it was originally conceived and founded to do which was defend our civil liberties and rights against the abuse of government & law enforcement! Could we be finally seeing a renascence of reason over at the ACLU? Could the liberals & their Big Brother style of governing have pushed the even decidedly liberal ACLU finally too far? One can only hope so because if they have and the ACLU has woken up and smelled Big Brother’s breath breathing down out necks it’s a great day for all Americans.

Regardless of what Eckert had or had not done in the past, we are a nation who’s laws are based on the presumption of innocence. The fact the dog hit on his seat (let’s not concern ourselves with the fact the dog isn’t even certified at the moment) given Eckert’s apparent past association with an illegal substance is hardly surprising and if the cops want to go by his previous criminal history then IMO it’s hardly (given the dog’s lack of certification) probable cause for much of anything.

It through the course of writing this has also occurred to me that while many in many state police respond hostilely to your refusal to allow them to search your car just because they stopped you for some traffic violation (which while they can ask is not  legally allowed w/o your consent because they have no probable cause) by detaining you and requesting a dog to check the outside of your car. They cannot use the dog to check the inside unless it hits on an area of the vehicle. Since the article makes no mention of the dog hitting anyplace but on the driver’s seat where was the probable cause for an interior search of the vehicle?!

This is important because the warrant for the body search was based on the fact the dog hit on the driver’s seat. If that ‘evidence’ was obtained illegally, then the warrant should never have been issued in the first place and any judge worth his robes would have known that. This leads me to believe that the warrant was carefully crafted to avoid mention of this apparently illegal search and therefore the police are guilty of falsifying a warrant.

Obviously I don’t have to point out that Mr. Young’s additional similar experience with New Mexico’s ‘Finest’ raises the egregiousness level of these blatant violations of our Fourth Amendment rights to levels incalculable in their callous disregard not only for our rights but for the laws they are allegedly sworn to uphold.

As for the yet unnamed woman who’s rights were trampled at the hands of ICE I didn’t find the fact that it occurred particularly surprising. They already have had a court uphold their right to confiscate w/o warrant or reasonable cause your electronic devices (Cellphone, Lap Top, Tablet) and subject them and their digital contents to rigorous forensic scrutiny so violation of your person on a whim was only IMO a matter of time. What did surprise me is the unmitigated gall of the hospital to bill the victim for the procedures which she was involuntarily forced to endure, likely (if we go by MR’. Eckert’s experience) instead of ICE!

As if the violations of her person and rights were not enough lets really add insult to injury after we turn out to be full of shit and on shaky ground by having the hospital bill her for our arrogance! My personal money is this on a clause buried in Obamacare that makes it perfectly legal for any federal agency to force you to submit to and pay for medical procedures related to law enforcement against your will!

Good Morning Campers!
Pull up your benches, or logs, or camping chairs or whatever.  Everyone has a fresh cup of java, right?
Good.
We’ve got some important stuff to talk about this morning.
Monday we celebrate Veterans Day.
In 1918 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the cease fire took effect which signified the end of the war to end all wars.  (How many times have we heard THAT term used?)  That wasn’t the “official” end of the war, which was the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June of the following year…but you can read all the history of Veterans Day below.
What I want to talk about is that there has been a never-ending line of young men and women who have been willing to write out a check for “up to and including my life” .  They did it in the beginning and they are still doing it now, and that, to me is the true nature and meaning of this day.
Throughout this issue, there are 4 pictures, submitted to me by Lethal Leprechaun, that are perfect for computer wallpapers.  I used one of them as the header to today’s issue.  Please feel free to right click and save them and use them, at least over the weekend and Monday, to remind you of the sacrifice, and willingness of these people to protect our families, our country, our freedoms and our American way of life.
I offer the prayer that these men and women who are currently serving, are  not chosen to divide our country in a second Civil War.  I see the thunder clouds gathering on the horizon and beg God to let cooler, more honorable and integrity filled voices prevail.
But I, Impish Dragon, sees this as a real possibility in our future.  Our children’s future.  Things must change.
Now, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, …

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities.  This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first “Veterans Day Proclamation” which stated: “In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible.”

President Eisenhower signing HR7786, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day. From left: Alvin J. King, Wayne Richards, Arthur J. Connell, John T. Nation, Edward Rees, Richard L. Trombla, Howard W. Watts 

On that same day, President Eisenhower sent a letter to the Honorable Harvey V. Higley, Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), designating him as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee.

In 1958, the White House advised VA’s General Counsel that the 1954 designation of the VA Administrator as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee applied to all subsequent VA Administrators. Since March 1989 when VA was elevated to a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as the committee’s chairman.

The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates.

The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Let’s get on with the rest of the issue…with some Veterans Day stuff sprinkled throughout.

Too much?  Not enough?  What’s your opinion of this Saturday Night Live skit?

Let’s start off with some really rare celebrity photos.  Celebrities you wouldn’t think even knew each other…

Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney take time out to get a little housework done

Michael Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas show their patriotism…except George Lucus.

I know…all you younger people are wondering who those strange people are sitting with Eddie Murphy, but in reality it’s the Beatles with Little Richard…why everyone is holding hands, I have no idea, but that is indeed, who it is.

Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine and Elvis Presley celebrating the 875th birthday of golf.

Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana discuss the benefits of a more whitening toothpaste.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barrack Obama rush to the camera for a photo-op at the annual democratic strategy session and bar-b-que. 

An Israeli doctor says: “in Israel, medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man’s testicles, put them on another man and in 6 weeks, he is looking for work.
“The German doctor says: “that’s nothing, in Germany we take part of a brain, put it in another man, and in 4 weeks he is looking for work.
“The Russian doctor says: “gentlemen, we take half a heart from a man, put it in another’s chest and in 2 weeks he is looking for work.
“The United States doctor laughs: “You all are behind us. five years ago, we took a man with no brains, no heart and no balls and made him President. Now, the whole country is looking for work!”

Obviously written by someone who’s never wondered how he was going to pay the rent due tomorrow, or put food on the table or had to decide between buying food or medicine.  Obviously not one who was ever furloughed by the government.  Bitter?  Me?  Yeah, maybe a little.

Let’s do another photo-montage, shall we?









Remember when Nancy Pelosi said:

And another video from youtube that you have to ask….is it too much?  Nah!

Morris Schwartz is on his deathbed, knows the end is near
He is with his nurse, wife and daughter and two sons. 
  He says to them:
  “Bernie, I want you to take the Beverly Hills houses.”
  “Sybil, take the apartments over in Los Angeles Plaza.”
  “Hymie, I want you to take the offices over in City Center.”
  “Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings downtown.” 
  The nurse is just blown away by all this, and as Morris slips away,
  She says,”Mrs. Schwartz, your husband must have been such a hard
  working man to have accumulated all this property”.  
  Sarah replies, “Property? … The schmuck has a paper route!” 

One of my favorite websites of all time is makeuseof and is available here: www.makeuseof.com
You can subscribe to their website, just like you can ours, and get an email showing you a preview of their issue, just like you can ours, and read some pretty good stuff by a great team.  Not sure if this is from their latest issue or  not, but it is funny.
What if super heroes had part-time jobs?




Did you catch this on the CMA Awards the other night?

How about this strange one?
A car rear-ended a taxi in Chicago. It was just a very minor fender-bender, but instead of doing the decent thing and swapping insurance info, the driver tried to flee. But what happens next will utterly shock you! Warning: this video contains language not suitable for everyone.

According to Snopes, this is correctly attributed.
According to Impish Dragon, you need to pay close attention!

America WAKE UP!
That’s what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 and maybe it was, but I think it should have been “Get Out of Bed!” In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world’s most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign US embassy set the stage for the events to follow for the next 23 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Viet Nam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America’s inability to deal with terrorism. America’s military had been decimated and downsized / right sized since the end of the Viet Nam war. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.
In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more. Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut. 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more. Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber. The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gates of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.
Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid. Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the Snooze Alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US soil is continually attacked. Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed. The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259. America wants to treat these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war … the Wake Up alarm is louder and louder.
The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women. A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500.
The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively. They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision, they kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn’t know. But if you’ve read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don’t have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979. The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough.
America has to “Get out of Bed” and act decisively now. America has changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to hit the Snooze Button again and roll over and go back to sleep. We have to make the terrorists know that in the words of Admiral Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor “that all they have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.”
Thank you very much.
Dan Ouimette

So….is it time to wake up, yet?  As for Lethal and I, we say, HELL YES!!

OK sit down and zip it please I have to make this quick as I don’t know how much time I actually have.

My personal lap top is failing. The one I use to write this blog and keep in contact with many of you. It has had a flakey video board for a while now (for the second time). When I attempted to start it Saturday morning I got no response just some lit indicators and a clinking Caps light. I tried a bunch of standard troubleshooting tricks and cures to no avail. I didn’t realize I had left it on all day and  came in Sunday morning to do something at my desk and discovered it on. I shut it off and turned it back on and magically it started abet somewhat strangely for me. I’m backing up everything I can and getting this issue out while I can.

If anyone has a Lap Top or ALL in One of at least a 15 inch screen ( I can see on the smaller screens well enough w/o enlarging things excessively) and operating on Windows 7 they would care to donate to the cause of keeping Leprechaun Laughs coming I would be deeply appreciative. I know that’s a long shot but right now that is what I’m down to.

Medical bills, both of us needing glasses (plus contacts for Molly) Molly’s phone suddenly crapping out a year before she is due for a new one and having just bought Molly a new Lap Top for school because she needed to be running at least Win 7 for some of her next classes has us flat tapped out. Repairing this one is not an option as the model had a problematic badly designed Motherboard as its 2 previous returns while under warrantee for motherboard replacements clearly demonstrate.

OK enough of that let’s get this rolling before the bloody thing goes tits up again.

 Did Anyone See My Face?

A hooded robber burst into a Texas Bank and forced the tellers to load a  sack full of cash. On his way out the door a brave Texas customer grabbed the hood and  pulled it off revealing the robber’s face. The robber shot the customer without a moment’s hesitation. He then looked around the bank and noticed one of the tellers looking  straight at him. The robber instantly shot him also. Everyone else, by now very scared, looked intently down at the floor in silence. The Robber yelled, “Well, did anyone else see my face?” There are a few moments of utter silence, in which everyone was plainly afraid to speak. Then one old man tentatively raised his hand and  said, “My wife got a good look at you.”

Sea lion snatches trophy fish

If you’ve ever caught a monster fish from the deep sea, you know what it’s like to proudly display your trophy for the camera. That’s why this ludicrous larceny was luckily captured on video!

As is no doubt obvious by now College Football is a big thing here at Keebler Towers. If Molly were to ever get tired of Production Management or Writing she could undoubtedly get a job as a Football analyst or Odds Handicapper for College Football.

I asked her once time why it was College ball and not Pro or even not both. She said because when they turn Pro something happens to them over night. They stop playing for their love of the game and begin playing for their love of the Greenback. Pretty smart girl my Molly.

Here is one sure sign that she is dead bang on with her belief. You will never see this on the sidelines of any Pro Team. This is all about love of a sport, something that gets lost totally in the translation to Pro sports.

Speaking of football Saturday one of my favorite games was played, the ND-Navy rivalry a tradition dating back some unbroken 86 years.

  The Navy–Notre Dame series has been played annually since 1927, making it the longest uninterrupted intersectional series in college football. Notre Dame holds a 71–12–1 series edge. Before Navy won a 46-44 triple-overtime thriller in 2007, Notre Dame had a 43-game winning streak that was the longest series win streak between two annual opponents in the history of Division I FBS football. Navy’s previous win came in 1963, 35–14 with future Heisman Trophy winner and NFL QB Roger Staubach at the helm. Navy had come close to winning on numerous occasions before 2007. They subsequently won again in 2009 and 2010.

The best part of this game? No down side for me. Who ever wins I’m happy!

Let’s see now, Air Force mauled badly…check.

Navy beaten..again…check

Unfortunately Army is not on the schedule this year but we do have an open p[lay date on Nov 16th so there is still hope!

Students in an advanced Biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was,  ‘Name seven advantages of Mother’s Milk.’ The question was worth 70 points or none at all.

One student, in  particular, was hard put to think of seven advantages However, he wrote:

1) It is perfect formula for the child.

2) It provides immunity against several diseases.

3) It is always the right temperature.

4) It is inexpensive.

5) It bonds the child to mother, and vice versa.

6) It is always available as needed.

And then the student was stuck. Finally, in desperation, just before the bell rang indicating the end of the test, he wrote:

7) It comes in two attractive containers and it’s high enough off the ground where the cat can’t get it.

He got an A.

Shortcut Alfredo Lasagna Recipe

In the mood for lasagna? Try this creative skillet version featuring cooked chicken, frozen cheese ravioli, fresh broccoli, cream of mushroom soup, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. It’s an easy and delicious way to enjoy all the wonderful flavors of lasagna without all of the work.

At a glance:

Prep 20 min. |  Total 1 hr. 20 min. | Serves 6

What You’ll Need

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1 cup milk
1 package (about 24 ounces) frozen square-shaped cheese ravioli (about 48 pieces)
3 cups coarsely chopped fresh broccoli florets
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

How to Make It

• 1 Heat the oven to 350°F.  Stir the soup and milk in a small bowl. 
• 2 Spread about 1/4 cup soup mixture in the bottom of an 8x8x2-inch baking dish.  Layer 16 ravioli, 1 1/2 cups broccoli, 1 1/2 cups chicken, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 3/4 cup soup mixture in the baking dish.  Repeat the layers.  Top with the remaining ravioli.  Spoon the remaining soup mixture over the ravioli.  Cover the baking dish.
• 3 Bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover the baking dish.  Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
• 4 Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned.  Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
1 packet Taco seasoning
1 cup frozen corn or 1 can corn, drained
5 cups water

sour cream
cheese
Fritos

Cook and drain ground beef.  Drain and rinse pinto and black beans.  Mix beef, beans, tomatoes, corn, Ranch mix, taco seasoning and water in crock pot.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Serve with Fritos, cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

*If you prefer to make this on the stove, dump everything in a large pot. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve.*  [Since seasonings are based for crock pot cooking which makes them stronger over such a long period of time you’ll probably need to adjust it. Also I recommend adding the cooked ground beef at the end other wise the flavor washes out of it and it breaks down.]

1.) I’ll often use part of the water from this recipe to ‘rinse out’ an almost empty salsa jar sometimes going as far as to use the salsa jar as my measuring device for the water.

2.) I have made this with several different sausages successfully. Remove the casings and drain the sausage on paper toweling after removing from the pan with a slotted spoon. Left over pot roast, steak, fajita meat boneless Chicken thighs or cubed Pork also works well

3.) I limit the amount of sodium in the recipe by using Mrs. Dash’s Taco Seasoning which has none. I also will use a small portion of the taco seasoning or a little additional taco seasoning on the Ground Beef when cooking it just like I was making tacos.

4.) You can add flavor by using Borracho beans or Chili beans which are essentially pinto beans cooked and canned in a sauce to serve as a side dish. Unlike the straight pintos in a can do not drain and rinse these.

5.) Rotel is a brand name of diced tomatoes & green chilies and used to refer to this product much the same way Xerox is used to refer to making a document copy. It comes in several levels of heat and I recommend  that until you have experience with them that you open the can and after draining and washing your beans drain the can Rotel right into the calendar with the beans. A substantial amount of the heat in the Rotel comes in the liquid in the can. BY not using it or learning how much of it at any given heat level to use you can tailor the spice level to your exact tastes. Remember to err on the side of caution as slow cooking with cause these flavors to intensify over what the same amount done stove top would be.

{Slow Cooker} Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

I am a big fan of slow cooker soups. They are such a life-saver during the week.  I usually dump all the ingredients in the slow cooker insert the night before and keep it in the fridge overnight. I put the insert in the slow cooker first thing in the morning and dinner is done! It’s like magic!

This soup is super delicious. It is a hearty soup with lots of cheese, beef and bacon. This is a thick soup. Feel free to add more chicken broth before serving to get it to your desired consistency.

Molly & I both LOVED this soup. It is definitely going to be a staple at our house this Fall and Winter.

Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

• 32oz bag frozen shredded hash browns- I use the ones with onions & peppers
• 1 lb. hamburger, cooked & well drained
• 1/2 lb. bacon,  cooked and chopped & well drained
• 2 lb. Velveeta cheese cubed medium size
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. dried minced onion flakes
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in 6-quart slow cooker.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Serve with cheddar cheese and bacon, if desired.

1.) Spray inside crock pot with cooking spray, you’ll thank yourself later at clean up stage.

2.) I find that for crock pot cooking when called for thick cut bacon cut into match sticks (called lardons) worked best as they seem to retain their textural integrity the best and the lardons owing to their small size cook swiftly and are easy to crisp up

2.) It’s easiest to cube Velveeta if you set it in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap for 20 to 30 min and wipe knife with paper towel with cooking spray on it occasionally. If you have one of those old fashion wire cheese cutters cutting an entire loaf of Velveeta would be a great time to dig it out

3.) I often garnish with a little diced tomato or some Pico de Gallo. I have seen some variations which include shredded lettuce in the garnishing. Croutons would go well.

4.) Bread bowls or hot crusty bread make a great accompaniment. I like sourdough or pretzel rolls with it the best.

5.) Once you get the hang of making this you can cut back slightly on the Velveeta and work a like amount of another cheese in. Also you can add in other things at the end. I have stirred in caramelized red onions and sautéed mushrooms to mine and found this quite good. Molly choose to place Hot waffle cut fries atop hers with a bit of blue cheese. We are speculating that the French Fried onions in the can would also be a good topping.

Movie Magic

This really works and will only take you about ten seconds!!!

Do the math and the final number will exactly match your favorite movie.

I am very good at math, so I did it in my head, then on paper, and finally on a calculator just to confirm my numerical capabilities.  I was simply amazed at the result.

Each time I got the same answer, and sure enough it IS my very favorite movie EVER!

DO NOT cheat. DO YOUR math, THEN compare the results to the list of movies at the bottom.

You will be AMAZED at how scary true and accurate this test is

1. Pick a number from 1-9.

2. Multiply that number by 3.

3. Add 3.

4. Multiply by 3 again.

5. Your total will be a two digit number. Add the first and second digits
together to find your favorite movie (of all time) in the list of 17
movies below:

 Movie List:

1. Gone With the Wind
2. E.T.
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Obama Farewell Speech
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire

Now, isn’t that something?

Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes

Bet you thought you had this little life skill nailed cold didn’t you? I’ll admit I was pretty confident that at my age and after years in the Corps and trekking about outdoors that I had learned about all there was to shoe/boot tying techniques. I was definitely wrong.

Watch and learn something!

Quickly see how sites use your personal information

Alright, it’s time for some honesty. Do you actually read every website’s Terms of Service and the Privacy Policies? Have you read them on any website?

When you’re using online services, you need to make sure you know the ins and outs of the fine print. It tells you if a site stores your information and how it uses it.

Terms of Service; Didn’t Read (TOS;DR) is a site that rates and labels popular websites according to their Terms of Service and Privacy Policies. It keeps you informed so that you can make the best decisions about what sites you want to use.

See who keeps your search info, if you give away any copyright licenses or if there are any sneaky loopholes that services and social sites are taking advantage of.

TOS;DR also gives an overall rating from very good (Class A) to very bad (Class E). It will display the grade in the address bar at the top of the screen when you visit a particular site.

To get TOS; DR ratings in your browser, click the green download button on the home page. You will be navigated to the Download page where you can add the program to your browser.

The program is broken up by browser, and includes Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari.  Select your current browser and install the add-on.

There is not currently an add-on for Internet Explorer, but keep checking back.

tosdr.org

Short Walk at the White House

BE  SURE TO WATCH THIS TODAY. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID.

With a nod of respect to Kermit from whom I shamelessly won this playing liars poker. He wisely quit belly aching about it when I pointed out I had provided him with another important lesson. The fact that not only was it not easy being green, but it was not easy to lie to a Leprechaun much one backed by a drooling Dragon!

A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue!

The devices would track every mile you drive —possibly including your location — and the government would use the data to draw up a tax bill.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-roads-black-boxes-20131027,0,6090226.story#axzz2ix2RncVc

I’m not going to repost the article here in the interest of saving myself some time. You can use the link to go read it while I refill my coffee cup. Go ahead I’ll wait.

You’re back? Ok good This article has brought two things to mind.

1.) When is enough tax enough? We pay taxes on the vehicles just about any replacement part, the consumables the vehicle requires to run, and the fuel to run it. Then there are the other taxes we pay related to it, in the form of Driver’s license & registration, Emissions testing fees, parking fees, road tolls and (possibly depending on where you live) property tax on the vehicle itself.

In short owning and operating a motor vehicle is about the most heavily taxed personal choice you have and that’s just personal use vehicles we’re not even beginning to scratch the commercial vehicle side of things.

The problem is not that there are insufficient funds being generated to repair the infrastructure. IT that that have been misappropriated for other uses and let’s face it once the government gets ahold of a tax dollar they are loathe to give it up much less return it to where the hell it properly belongs. They’d much rather just hit you with an additional tax to make up for their misappropriation of funding.

Also I hasten to point out that every time there is a budget battle at the state or federal level capital improvements are the first thing to be cut instead of the pork and the perks. Both Federal and State governments have been shorting the funding of the maintenance highway infrastructure for pretty much all of my adult life. Why are we the taxpayer now responsible for their folly? I say take all the aid that is going to these 3rd World shit hole nations who use it to fund state sponsored terrorism &/or pad the accounts of their corrupt politicians and put it to work here at home. They don’t want our presence help or interference? No problem we’ll just keep our dollars too it ain’t like we don’t have pressing social needs here that it couldn’t be better spent on!

2.) WHY is it necessary for Big Brother to track every mile we drive including its exact location? This smacks of more domestic spying to me! You need total mileage driven in a year to determine this tax? OK what’s wrong with the mileage figures that they take from you and supposedly enter into their data base (ANOTHER damned data base on citizens) when you have to go through Emissions Testing annually? Why do they need to track your every movement while in a vehicle?

I think its time to take a nail spiked baseball bat to the twin camel’s noses of Taxation and Domestic Spying/Privacy Invasion the Federal Government insist we accept into our homes and now our garages. Unfortunately I also fear we’ve woken up to this too late to ever get those noses completely out of your homes & garages.

Good Morning Campers!
How was everyone’s Halloween?
Better than ours, I hope.  Not that ours was that bad, but our trick or treat took place last night (Friday, November 1st) because of overwhelming rain on the 31st.  But, overall, it went really well.  I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, my little dragonette walked me all over creation, but it was worth every second of pain to spend that kind of time with her and to see the smile on her face.

 You’ll fined all kinds of fun stuff in today’s issue.  Stuff to get pissed off over and stuff to laugh at.  So, why don’t we get right to it!

Hey, how about a quick public servant announcement…

Tonight is Daylight Savings Time!  Remember, Spring Ahead and Fall Behind.  This is the good one, the one we gain an hour of additional sleep for!
Nice!
Ever wonder what’s behind the whole Daylight Savings Time?  Well, check it out!
http://www.click2houston.com/news/-/1735978/4459010/-/1091e40z/-/index.html

There are classics and then there are CLASSICS!!!!

Okay, this is so awesome and so timely…

VIDEO: Grim Reaper Drone Terrorizes Town

A 44-year-old Louisville father and notorious prankster, Tom Mabe, has garnered almost 3 million views for a YouTube video that captured his remote controlled flying grim reaper terrorizing folks at a local park. Mabe created what he calls the Flying Reaper in anticipation of Halloween and his viral video shows the winged angel of death descending upon terrified joggers, soccer players and children, all of whom can be seen running for safety.

Mabe told the Daily Mail, “We have had a lot of fun making this. It’s taken some work to make it happen, but it’s great fun. It flies with the help of a remote control helicopter but you rig it up in a really brilliant way. It has to be quiet so people don’t hear it. Wherever there are people, we will go. The best bit is when you sneak up on people. We fly it about 200 feet in the air and then drop it down so it’s right behind them.

With regards to his Halloween plans for the Flying Reaper, Mabe said, “We’re going to take it to a street where there are always lots of trick-or-treaters and are going to set a camera up from inside the Reaper’s face to capture the children’s reactions. I have always wanted to do this, it’s such a laugh.”

British  papers show no mercy  The British papers are quite different from ours.
   They  know what is going on and are not afraid to say  it………………….. 

I’ve shown you guys the Piano Guys before….well, here they are BEFORE they were the Piano Guys…

Are you ready to be pissed off?  I mean REALLY pissed off?

Soldiers attending a pre-deployment briefing at Fort Hood say they were told that evangelical Christians and members of the Tea Party were a threat to the nation and that any soldier donating to those groups would be subjected to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Bullshit!

A soldier who attended the Oct. 17th briefing told me the counter-intelligence agent in charge of the meeting spent nearly a half hour discussing how evangelical Christians and groups like the American Family Association were “tearing the country apart.”  Bullshit!

Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, is advising the soldier and has launched an investigation into the incident.

“The American public should be outraged that the U.S. Army is teaching our troops that evangelical Christians and Tea Party members are enemies of America, and that they can be punished for supporting or participating in those groups,” said Berry, a former Marine Corps JAG officer.   I have heard these same allegations over and over and over again.  I can’t believe that this is true in any sense of the word.  But, I’ve heard it from more and more sources and now I’m not sure.  I’m really not sure.  Is there anyone out there in Dragon Laffs Land who has first hand knowledge of this?  If so, please write to me.

“These statements about evangelicals being domestic enemies are a serious charge.”

The soldier told me he fears reprisals and asked not to be identified. He said there was a blanket statement that donating to any groups that were considered a threat to the military and government was punishable under military regulations.  This is true, in and of itself.  But, to say that Tea Party Members and evangelicals are part of this group?  I’m flabbergasted!

“My first concern was if I was going to be in trouble going to church,” the evangelical Christian soldier told me. “Can I tithe? Can I donate to Christian charities? What if I donate to a politician who is a part of the Tea Party movement?”

Another soldier who attended the briefing alerted the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. That individual’s recollections of the briefing matched the soldier who reached out to me.

“I was very shocked and couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” the soldier said. “I felt like my religious liberties, that I risk my life and sacrifice time away from family to fight for, were being taken away.”

And while a large portion of the briefing dealt with the threat evangelicals and the Tea Party pose to the nation, barely a word was said about Islamic extremism, the soldier said.  Now this I believe.  (No, my eyes are not covered by blinders) The Islamists seem to be the new favorable group in America…at least, according to our president!

“Our community is still healing from the act of terrorism brought on by Nidal Hasan – who really is a terrorist,” the soldier said. “This is a slap in the face. “The military is supposed to defend freedom and to classify the vast majority of the military that claim to be Christian as terrorists is sick.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, tells me the Pentagon is pushing anti-Christian propaganda.

“On the very base that was the site of mass murder carried out by a radicalized Muslim soldier, it is astonishing that it is evangelical groups that are being identified as a ‘threat,’” he said. “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel must immediately intervene to stop this march against the rights and freedom of our soldiers.”

The soldier said they were also told that the pro-life movement is another example of “radicalization.”  WHAT!!!

“They said that evangelical Christians protesting abortions are the mobilization stage and that leads to the bombing of abortion clinics,” he said, recalling the discussion.   Yeah, and handgun owners are the mobilization stage for government take over!  Okay, so maybe that one’s true, but STILL!!!

An Army spokesman at the Pentagon tells me they do not maintain or publish a list of organizations considered extremist.

“None of these slides [shown at the briefing] were produced by the Army, but by soldiers who included information found during an Internet search,” the spokesman said.

He said commanders and other leaders were cautioned that they should not use “lists of extremists, hate groups, radical factions or the like compiled by any outside non-governmental groups or organizations for briefings, command presentations, or as a short cut to determining if a group or activity is considered to be extremist.”

Meanwhile, the public affairs office at Fort Hood is denying the soldiers’ allegations.

“The allegations you are asking about were brought to the attention of the Fort Hood leadership immediately and a (sic) inquiry is occurring,” read a statement from Tom Rheinlander, the public affairs director at Fort Hood. “At this time, initial information gathered about the training and what you claim occurred is not substantiated by unit leadership and soldiers present at this training venue.”

I sent the public affairs officer additional questions about the specific content of the briefing but he declined to respond.

But this is not the first time an Army briefing has labeled evangelicals as extremists. Last April an Army Reserve briefing classified Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as “religious extremism.”  Holy cow! The Holy See is a terrorist!

In a letter to Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Secretary of the Army John McHugh said the briefing in April was an isolated incident and the material used was not sanctioned by the Army.
McHugh said it was a “misguided attempt to explain that extremism is not limited to a single religion.”

Two weeks ago, several dozen active duty troops at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, were told the American Family Association, a well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate group because it advocates for traditional family values.

Again, the military called it an isolated incident with a trainer using material that was not sanctioned by the military.

That explanation is wearing thin with American Christians.

“How much longer can the Army claim no knowledge or responsibility for these things?” Berry asked.

“These repeated incidents show either that this training was directed from Army leadership at the Pentagon, or else the Army has a real discipline and leadership problem on its hands because a bunch of rogue soldiers are teaching this nonsense.”

The most recent allegations at Fort Hood have drawn sharp rebuke from religious liberty groups around the nation.

“Why is the Army engaged in these anti-Christian training propaganda briefings?” asked Perkins, himself a veteran of the Marine Corps. “The only explanation is that this is a deliberate effort of the Obama administration to intimidate and separate soldiers from Christian groups that they support and that support them.”

Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance, called the military’s behavior dishonorable.

“Far from mere ‘isolated incidents,’ as the Army has dismissed previous occurrences, this latest incident demonstrates a pattern and practice of Army briefings identifying mainstream religions, such as Evangelical Christianity, Judaism, and Catholicism, as examples of ‘religious extremism’ similar to Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Ku Klux Klan,” he told me.

Perkins said it’s time for the Pentagon to “ensure that instructors carry out their role to train our troops to defend our freedom, and not push anti-Christian propaganda.”

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter.

Like I said…anyone who may have first-hand knowledge of this, PLEASE get in contact with me.

How about some catch up Halloween cartoons?  It was just a couple of days ago and for us, Trick or Treat was just a couple of hours ago last night!  So here’s a few more to wish Halloween a fond farewell for another year…

Obama Care is going to be even more exciting…read below!
John McAfee on Obamacare: ‘This is a hacker’s wet dream’ 

On Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto” on Wednesday, computer 
programmer and founder of McAfee, Inc. John McAfee said the online
component of Obamacare “is a hacker’s wet dream” that will cause 
“the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to 
lose their identities.

For starters, McAfee said the way it is set up makes it possible for 
fake websites be set up to fool people to think they’re signing up 
for Obamacare.

“It’s seriously bad,” McAfee said. “Somebody made a grave error, not 
in designing the program but in simply implementing the web aspect of 
it. I mean, for example, anybody can put up a web page and claim to be 
a broker for this system. There is no central place where I can go and 
say, ‘OK, here are all the legitimate brokers, the examiners for all 
of the states and pick and choose one.’”

“Instead, any hacker can put a website up, make it look extremely 
competitive, and because of the nature of the system — and this is health 
care, after all — they can ask you the most intimate questions, and 
you’re freely going to answer them,” he continued. “What’s my Social 
Security number? My birth date? What are my health issues?”

According to McAfee, there’s not a quick fix — and as long as it set up 
this way, it could be a playground for computer hackers.

“Here’s the problem: It’s not something software can solve,” McAfee 
continued. “I mean, what idiot put this system out there and did not 
create a central depository? There should be one website, run by the 
government, you go to that website and then you can click on all of the 
agencies. This is insane. So, I will predict that the loss of income 
for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities — I 
mean, you can imagine some retired lady in Utah, who has $75,000 in the 
bank, saving her whole life, having it wiped out in one day because 
she signed up for Obamacare. And believe me, this is going to happen 
millions of times. This is a hacker’s wet dream. I mean I cannot 
believe that they did this.”

What a great statement on life!

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on his tombstone
From the beginning…to the end.
He noted that first came the date of his birth
And spoke of the following date with tears
But said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that he spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved him
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matter not how much we own
the cars…the house…the cash
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
You could be at “dash mid range”.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real,
and try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile…
Remember this special dash
Might only last awhile.

So when your eulogy’s being read
with your life’s actions to rehash…..
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

I have no idea of the validity of this next one, but have no reason to disbelieve it
So much for “Affordable Care”!
How Ya Doin’? I thought you would like this. My fishing buddy is 72 years old and went on the website to apply for ObamaCare. Each question was on it’s own page and when he got to age he put 72. The computer should of automatically informed him he should be on Medicare and refereed him to the proper location. It said he qualified and brought up plans from insurers. One was 1200 dollars a month and the other was 1600! With a 12,000 dollar deductible! Yup, that’s affordable health care! He said the question that got him was “Do you own your home?”..Rick

And a super special one from my friend Wheats.  He found this one himself and created the picture to go with it.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me…

Our good buddy Karl…also known as K²…sent us this little tidbit.  This is what Lethal and I have been hollering about for years!!!

It is NOT!

Message to the GOP:

This isn’t a game. This isn’t tiddly-winks. This is a serious, purposeful attempt to highjack America and destroy capitalism.

This is a brilliant, cynical, and purposeful attempt to damage the U.S. economy, kill jobs, and bring down capitalism.

It’s not a failure, it’s Obama’s grand success.

It’s not a “train wreck,” Obama Care is a planed suicide attack. He wants to hurt us, to bring us to our knees, to capitulate- so we agree under duress to accept big government.

Obama’s hero and mentor was Saul Alinsky — a radical Marxist intent on destroying capitalism. Alinksky’s stated advice was to call the other guy “a terrorist” to hide your own intentions.

To scream that the other guy is “ruining America,” while you are the one actually plotting the destruction of America. To claim again and again…in every sentence of every speech…that you are “saving the middle class,” while you are busy wiping out the middle class.

The GOP is so stupid they can’t see it. There are no mistakes here.    

This is a planned purposeful attack.

The tell-tale sign isn’t the disastrous start to ObamaCare. Or the devastating effect the new taxes are having on the economy. Or the death of full-time jobs. Or the overwhelming debt. Or the dramatic increases in health insurance rates. Or the 70% of doctors now thinking of retiring- bringing on a healthcare crisis of unimaginable proportions.

Forget all that.

The real sign that this is a purposeful attack upon capitalism is how many Obama administration members and Democratic Congressmen are openly calling Tea Party Republicans and anyone who wants to stop Obama Care “terrorists.”

Stop calling it a failure. Here is what it was created to do. It is succeeding on all counts:

1. Obama Care was intended to bring about the Marxist dream — redistribution of wealth.
Rich people, small business owners, and the middle class are being robbed, so that the money can be redistributed to poor people (who vote for Democrats).

Think about it. If you’re rich or middle class, you now have to pay for your own health care costs (at much higher rates) AND 40 million other people’s costs too (through massive tax increases).

So you’re stuck paying for both bills. You are left broke. Brilliant.

2. Obama Care was intended to wipe out the middle class and make them dependent on government.
Think about it. Even Obama’s IRS predicts that health insurance for a typical American family by 2016 will be $20,000 per year. But how would middle class Americans pay that bill and have anything left for food or housing or living?

People that make $40K, or $50K, or $60K can’t possibly hope to spend $20K on health insurance without becoming homeless.

Bingo.   That’s how you make middle class people dependent on government. That’s how you make everyone addicted to government checks. Brilliant.

3. As a bonus, Obama Care is intended to kill every decent paying job in the economy, creating only crummy, crappy part-time jobs.
Why? Just to make sure the middle class is trapped, with no way out. Just to make sure no one has the $20,000 per year to pay for health insurance, thereby guaranteeing they become wards of the state. Brilliant.

4. Obama Care is intended to bankrupt small business, and therefore starve donations to the GOP.
Think about it. Do you know a small business owner? I know hundreds of them. Their rates are being doubled, tripled and quadrupled by Obama Care.

Guess who writes 75% of the checks to Republican candidates and conservative causes? Small Business.

Even if a small business owner manages to survive, he or she certainly can’t write a big check to the GOP anymore. Money is the “mother’s milk” of politics. Without donations, a political party ceases to exist. Bingo.

That’s the point of Obama Care. Obama is bankrupting his political opposition and drying up donations to the GOP. Brilliant.

5. Obama Care is intended to make the IRS all-powerful.
It adds thousands of new IRS agents. It puts the IRS in charge of overseeing 15% of the U.S. economy. The IRS has the right because of Obama Care to snoop into every aspect of your life, to go into your bank accounts, to fine you, to frighten you, to intimidate you. And Obama and his socialist cabal have access to your deepest medical secrets.

By law your doctor has to ask your sexual history. That information is now in the hands of Obama and the IRS to blackmail GOP candidates into either not running, or supporting bigger government, or leaking the info and ruining your campaign.

Or have you forgotten the IRS harassed, intimidated and persecuted critics of Obama and conservative groups?

Now Obama hands the IRS even more power. Big Brother rules our lives. Brilliant.

6. Obama Care is intended to unionize 15 million healthcare workers.
That produces $15 billion in new union dues. That money goes to fund Democratic candidates and socialist causes — thereby guaranteeing Obama’s friends never lose another election, and Obama’s policies keep ruining capitalism and bankrupting business owners long after he’s out of office.

Message to the GOP: This isn’t a game.    This isn’t tiddly-winks.    This is a serious, purposeful attempt to highjack America and destroy capitalism.

This isn’t a train wreck. It’s purposeful suicide.

It’s not failing, it’s working exactly according to plan. Obama knows what he’s doing. Stop apologizing and start fighting.

Oh and one more thing…Conservatives aren’t “terrorists.” We are patriots and saviors. We represent the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. We are the heroes and good guys. Unless you get all this through your thick skulls, America is lost…forever.

Thanks to Ginny for sending us these wonderful…

This is crazy weird.  Watch and see what I mean:

Here’s another great one from K². 

Looking back thru the past 4 years, many “Whens“ have popped up. Read them all to better understand where we are going as a country….

WHEN – he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Muramar Kaddafi and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -his voting record in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he refused to wear a flag lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he surrounded himself in the White House with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco- a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home – people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist /Communists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to “fundamentally transform this Nation” into something else, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed cabinet members and several advisers who were tax cheats and socialists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in “Explicit Consent,” harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual and organizer of a group called Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Mark Lloyd as Diversity Czar who believes in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth, who supports Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -Valerie Jarrett, an avowed Socialist, was selected as Obama’s Senior White House Advisor, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Carol Browner, a well-known socialist as Global Warming Czar working on Cap and Trade as the nation’s largest tax, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN- Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary could not be confirmed because he was a tax cheat, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his actions concerning the Middle East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel , our longtime ally, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States , people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he upset the Europeans by removing plans for missile defense system against the Russians, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and ‘stating’ that he was raised a Muslim, was educated as a Muslim, and is still a Muslim, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN -he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN-he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State , people woke up— but it was too late.

Add these up one by one and you get a  score that points to the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society. All of the items in the preceding paragraphs have been put into place. All can be documented very easily. Before you disavow this do an Internet search. The last paragraph alone is not yet cast in stone. You and I will write that paragraph. Will it read as above or will it be a happier ending for most of America ?

Don’t just belittle the opposition. Search for the truth. We all need to pull together or watch the demise of a free democratic society. we need to seek the truth and take action for it will keep us FREE. Our biggest enemy is not China , Russia , North Korea or Iran . Our biggest enemy is our complacent selves. The government will not help, so we need to do it ourselves.

Question…..will you delete this, or pass it on to others who don’t know about Obama’s actions and plans for the USA , so that they may know how to vote in November, 2014 and the ensuing years?

It’s your decision. I believe it does matter.  GOD bless AMERICA.

Do we need to be hit over the head?
For goodness sake we practically HAVE hit you over the head.  Is there anyone out there who still believes that Obama is the god and savior that the democrats and the entitlement crowd believe him to be?  Wake up people!

It’s Molly’s favorite time of the year is upon us once again. Christmas actually takes a backseat to Halloween for her.

Being one o’ the Fae creatures and Samhain being one of the uld ways, I have to admit a certain fondness for it meself.  I mean now, what other night of the year can a Leprechaun mount a dragon and fly around in public making mischief without raising more than the odd eyebrow of appreciation or two?

Impish looks forward to the all he can eat Candy Corn often devouring entire bags of it bag and all. This of course leads to some interesting times as you’ve not lived until you’ve witnessed a Dragon belching multi colors gobs of molten flaming sugar due to indigestion!

It will suffice to say that flame retardant pyro suits, CO² Fire Extinguishers and burn kits are all prize possessions around DL/LL Enterprises HQ right now.

A lot of treats for you little urchins as well as some really great and inspired costumes  so we’d best get to it. Ready? Ok, set your mask in place and everyone make sure you have your Trick or Treating buddies hand. We’re off!

Thought we’d scared the Bejesus out of you right off with a photo of the Wicked Witch of Washington and her Chief Flying Monkey. Hmm- she appears to be melting!

Broccoli salad kits recalled for possible listeria contamination

Posted: 10/25/13, 7:32 PM EDT

Taylor Farms in Maryland is recalling approximately 5,084 pounds of broccoli salad kit products containing packeted salad dressing that are the subject of a Food and Drug Administration recall due to concerns about possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

According to a release from FSIS, the salad kits were shipped to distributors and retail locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. The following products are subject to recall:

• Taylor Farms Broccoli Crunch With Bacon And Dressing, 6.06-lb. boxes with the case code 310151, produced on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22.

• Taylor Farms Broccoli Crunch With Bacon And Dressing, 12.13-lb. boxes with the case code 310153, produced Oct. 21 through Oct. 23,.

Case labels bear the establishment number “EST. 34522” inside the USDA mark of inspection. Retail consumers and the general public will not typically see the boxes and labels, because the product is typically unboxed by retailers (such as deli counters and restaurants) and the kit used to make salads for retail sale. The boxes and labels would be more likely to be seen by distributors and retailers.

FSIS, FDA and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Consumers with questions regarding the recall can contact Taylor Farms Customer Service at 866-508-7048.

Here’s another little scare for the likes o ya wee mortals! After Halloween there are only 54 shopping days till Christmas! <giggling> Oh Begorrah! I never get tired of the panicked screams that come after that announcement!

The Polls are In, and the Pols are Out: During the politically motivated government “shutdown,” the left-leaning Public Policy Polling surveyed Americans to see what they thought of Congress in general. The legislators didn’t fare very well, with only an 8 percent favorable rating. Voters reported they felt significantly more “support” for hemorrhoids than Congress. Other things they preferred over Congress included jury duty, the Department of Motor Vehicles, witches, toenail fungus, cockroaches, and dog poop. But lawmakers can take heart: they scored higher than Russian President Vladimir Putin, New York Mayoral candidate (and unstoppable sexter) Anthony Weiner, and, of course, “twerking.” (RC/USA Today) …I’m hard pressed to see much difference between the last two.

Had trouble getting the toilet paper dispenser to drop another roll again did we Impish?

Marcia Wallace dies at 70; Emmy Award-winning actress

The voice of Edna Krabappel on “The Simpsons,” Marcia Wallace also endeared herself to TV fans as Carol the receptionist on “The Bob Newhart Show.”

Emmy Award-winning actress Marcia Wallace, who voiced the “Simpsons” role of Edna Krabappel and played wisecracking receptionist Carol Kester on the classic sitcom “The Bob Newhart Show,” has died at the age of 70.

Wallace died at home in Los Angeles Friday night, surrounded by friends and family, said her son, Michael Hawley.

She had been in failing health for the last several months and died of complications due to pneumonia, Hawley said. Wallace, who had spoken widely about her battles with breast cancer, had surgery for it in March, after which she was considered clear of the disease, her son said.

The executive producer of “The Simpsons,” Al Jean, said Saturday that the part of Mrs. Krabappel, the chain-smoking Springfield Elementary School teacher who was often driven to frustration by Bart Simpson, will be retired.

“I don’t intend to have anyone else play Mrs. Krabappel,” Jean said. “I think Bart will get a new teacher.”

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-marcia-wallace-20131027,0,7751665.story

Venom never looked that good enveloping Spiderman!

Man Picks Up Restaurant Tab After Overhearing Strangers Getting Diagnosis (PHOTO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Rachel Tepper Posted: 10/16/2013 2:08 pm EDT  |  Updated: 10/17/2013 11:30 am EDT

A waiter at a Boston-area restaurant witnessed an act of kindness on Tuesday night that’s warmed hearts across the internet.

“While waiting tables tonight, a mother and daughter started crying mid-meal. I had no idea what happened until a single guy at the table next to them handed me this note [seen below] with his bill,” wrote the waiter in a Reddit post. “Faith in humanity, restored.”

HuffPost reached out to the waiter, who clarified that he couldn’t confirm the relationship between the two women, but he was fairly certain they were mother and daughter. After they’d ordered, the woman whom the waiter believes was the daughter took a phone call. Both women then started crying.

What happened next was truly heartwarming:

The single guy who had been sitting next to them had been friendly to me all evening, making jokes and such. When he was finished I gave him his check, and inside the billfold was his credit card and the note that I took a picture of. I combined the 2 checks, and he paid for both. I waited until after he had left to tell them their check had been taken care of. The mother was overwhelmed with gratitude, as was I. It was a great evening.

We’re glad people like this man exist in the world.

Especially if I die on Halloween!

<Lethal muttering as he works over a large pot>

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver’d in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

What?! That’s the recipe for Witches’ Brew Ale!

At least, it is according to Impish who allegedly charmed one of the brew mistresses into revealing it to him. Still, you’re right it, does seem a bit off now that you mention it and yet somehow hauntingly familiar.

Oh well not a problem here are some Halloween themed recipe ideas sure to thrill the little spook in you all.

http://www.campbellskitchen.com/Entertaining/Halloween%20Fun?CID=NL-G2-MM_OCT13_003

Because the American Indian Counsel and President Obama have requested that the NFL disassociate itself from the politically incorrect use of Indian names, the Washington Redskins have announced that they will change their name to the Washington Foreskins, in honor of all the Dickheads in Washington DC , effective immediately.

Speaking of football…

Last Saturday a hotly contested College Football game was played. Well ok- so it’s actually more like a game contested mostly here at DL/LL Enterprises, what with me being a loyal Notre Dame fan and Impish being Air Force. The only other time we get it on over College Football is when Navy Plays Air Force (AF lost that one too 28/10). Fortunately for Impish I forgot to rib him over that one this year as I had weekend guests and missed the game.

Here is a copy of our discussion about yesterday’s game:

Lethal: How about that AF team huh? NOT! ND24/AF10 3rdQtr. Second year in a row as I recall too.

Impish: Yup. They are fly boys. Not great footballers.

Lethal: Apparently can’t throw a bomb for shit either or do long hauls either! I hear the Coasties want to make a team so they can beat AF too.

Impish: They are used to dropping bombs. You can see as how that would be detrimental in a football game.

Lethal: They only thing they are bombing is their score!

Impish: Yeah. Figures

Lethal: What’s the matter? Have to do everything w/ drones?

Impish: Well, it is the NEW Air Force-

Lethal: So what all their games have to be Madden Football on an X box? Wait! Wadda ya mean NEW Air Force? They haven’t been around long enough to even be the OLD Air Force yet!

Impish: Well. Not the xbox per se, but the are doing interesting things with the drone technology and throwing passes. As you could probably tell, the technology still needs some work. But I understand they were fairly pleased with the beta testing.

Lethal: Dude they manage to hit the broad side of a hanger from inside the hanger 10% of the time. Another 20% someone walks the ball over to someplace close to the hanger wall & the rest of the time is incomplete, fumbles or abort on take offs!

Impish: Bugs in the system. The scientific method in working out problems. Some times it takes a while.

Lethal: Beta test expectations must be the same as for expectation of avoiding collateral damage w/ Drone strikes- not very high!

Impish: Well………  It’s not fantastic.

Lethal: “Takes a while?” You mean like since 1947?

Impish: Not THAT long ……. <sighs> Yeah. Ok. Since 1947.

Lethal: <snicker…giggle>

Impish: <smoke pouring from nose and ears. Grumbling heard.>

How did the game turn out? I had other things going on and Molly was not about to allow me to wrest the remote away from her on College Football Saturday so I had to ask Siri, so let me give it to you straight from Siri-

“Siri! How did Norte Dame do against Air Force?”

No, that’s not someone grinding a pound of gears off a manual transmission you hear. That’s just Impish grinding his teeth while plotting revenge.

I don’t know about you, but I’d swear that’s Neil Patrick Harris peering out of the costume at us!

OK so remember last week in my opening where I talked about the Wooly Bear Caterpillars and how their lack of a stripe foretold a bad winter with colder than normal temps and early onset? Well a few of you (probably all liberals) laughed and scoffed at me and my ancient weather lore. Well scoff no more!

Season’s first snow falls in western Maryland

Dana Hedgpeth, The Washington Post 10/23/2013 9:00 Am

Light snow hit parts of western Maryland’s Garrett County Wednesday morning.

With fog and snow falling, temperatures in the area were reported at 32 degrees during the morning commute, according to the National Weather Service.

The snow comes as a cold front is moving across the eastern United States. It is expected to bring the coolest weather of the fall season so far to the Washington metropolitan area. Overnight lows in the D.C. region are expected to be in the upper 20s to upper 30s this week.

Forecasters said the weather will be “unseasonably cool” for the eastern half of the United States.Normally, temperatures in the D.C. region for this time of year range from the upper 60s to lower 50s, according to weather experts.

Some of you might want to give thought to locating one of these:

Jerky treat mystery: Nearly 600 pets dead; still no source, FDA says

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/pet-jerky-treat-mystery-nearly-600-animals-dead-still-no-8C11436330

Nearly 600 pets have died and more than 3,600 have been sickened in an ongoing, mysterious outbreak of illnesses tied to jerky treats made in China, federal animal health officials said Tuesday. 

Most of the cases have been in dogs of all breeds, ages and sizes — although 10 cats have been sickened, too — after eating chicken, duck and sweet potato jerky treats. The pace of the reported illnesses appears to have slowed, but federal Food and Drug Administration officials are now seeking extra help from veterinarians and pet owners in solving the ongoing puzzle.

“To date, testing for contaminants in jerky treats has not revealed a cause for the illnesses,” Martine Hartogensis, a deputy director for the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in the new report. “Despite these warnings, we have continued to receive reports of illnesses in both cats and dogs.”

The new numbers are up from some 500 deaths and 3,200 illnesses tallied in January, but the rate of reports has fallen sharply since then, mostly because two of the largest sellers of pet jerky treats announced recalls tied to the presence of unapproved antibiotic residue detected in the products.

Now I know I promised you all this week would see a version of Kermit’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’, but that was before I realized it was Halloween tomorrow.  I had originally started this project just about last Halloween when I redid the ‘Ghostbuster’s Theme’ for Impish’s job. Since given the holiday, that is way more appropriate, Kermit is going back in the file cabinet until next week.

Besides after the ND-AF ribbing above I need a few brownie points w/ our resident Dragon. You guys read on while I go roll a few Brownies for their points. While your at it can one of you find the switch for the exhaust fan please? With all this brimstone breath from a fuming Dragon in her its getting pretty foggy!

East Haven parent who videotaped security gaps at school charged

Arnold Gold — New Haven Register Posted: 10/22/13, 6:38 PM EDT

EAST HAVEN >> Angelo Appi Jr., the man who twice in the past month found and filmed gaps in security at Joseph Melillo Middle School, turned himself in to police Tuesday at 7 p.m. and was arrested on second-degree breach of peace charges.

Appi said police told him that parents who read some of his Facebook comments “became alarmed” and kept their children out of school due to concern.

The post in question was not specified, Appi said, nor was the day during which students stayed at home. Appi said police told him dozens of children stayed home from school.

Before the arrest, Police Chief Brent Larrabee said, “I can confirm there is an ongoing investigation. I wouldn’t comment, and I couldn’t comment.”

Superintendent of Schools Portia Bonner also was unavailable for comment.

Appi is a security expert who works at Integrated Security Services in Norwalk, a “full service private investigation and executive security firm, serving the corporate and private sector.” Appi said his duties include training and bodyguard work for VIPs, among other services.

The series of events that led to Appi’s arrest began when he released a video revealing that the front door of the Joseph Melillo Middle School was wide open when he arrived to pick up his daughter after school hours.

He said he observed the open door for about 15 minutes before deciding to take out his cellphone and film the perceived security breach.

He filmed himself entering the school and moving around inside unchallenged. The video enraged many parents of students at the middle school, while some reserved judgment.

A week later, Appi said, another parent informed him of an unlocked door at the school, on a Sunday. This past Sunday, Appi said, he was at the school for a football game with his daughter, who is a cheerleader, when he noticed the fire alarm going off inside the school.

Once again, he took out his cellphone and decided to film, and once again a door was unlocked and he was able to enter the school freely.

Throughout this time, Appi had used Facebook to spread the word about the perceived security lapses. Among other statements, he asked what would have happened were he a person with criminal intent, saying anyone could have gone into the school to cause harm.

Appi said he believes comments like those may have been what brought the breach of peace charge, but said he can’t be sure until his court date. He was not told what comment in particular led to his arrest.

Appi’s comments on Facebook make clear he is adamant about the need for security improvements at the middle school and that he is concerned for the welfare of the students, including his daughter. Appi said he made no threats.

He also said he is not worried about the breach of peace charge, and that he did the right thing. When he saw open doors and windows at the middle school, he became alarmed, and said he is only concerned with the safety of his daughter and her classmates.

Appi said he wonders why the town is expending resources investigating and arresting him when they should be paying attention to school security. That said, he harbors no ill will toward the Police Department.

“All I can say is, the East Haven Police Department, they’re very accommodating. I have no problem with the East Haven Police Department, I think they’re doing their job,” Appi said.

“As far as my standpoint, I think I’m trying to prove something to the public that there’s a problem at the school, that somebody besides myself can come in there and cause harm to their children.”

Appi said he hoped parents will “jump on the bandwagon” and ask administrators and the superintendent just what’s going on.

“I’m hoping this enlightens a lot of people and they’ll get on the phones and start going to meetings and start voicing their opinions and start asking these questions I’m asking,” Appi said.

“Maybe we can eliminate these types of tragedies in the future.”

Appi said it was disturbing that a person can be arrested for comments made on Facebook.

“We do have our First Amendment right. I can see if I was threatening anybody and made actual threats, but I didn’t make no threats. I’m just making legitimate comments,” Appi said.

“I’m giving examples of what could possibly happen — ‘what if’ scenarios. And we don’t want that to happen. I’m sorry if somebody got offended by that, but I would never cause any harm to the children.”

Here we go again folks! The East Haven School Board is using bully tactics to attempt to punish and silence a concerned parent for speaking out on their blatant repeated lapse in security at his daughters school.  If you read between the lines they are saying he is a dangerous troublemaker (for them) who doesn’t know what he’s talking about (because being in the security field) he could not possibly know more about what  represents a severe breach in security than a board of elected liberal children’s brain washers!

Let me have one of the Legal Eagles we keep on retainer here on Impish’s behalf explain a bit about Breach of Peace and Disturbing the Peace (something Impish’s antics causes them to be well versed in):

Breach of the Peace

A comprehensive term encompassing acts or conduct that seriously endanger or disturb public peace and order.

Disturbing the peace, also known as breach of the peace, is a criminal offense that occurs when a person engages in some form of disorderly conduct, such as fighting or threatening to fight in public, causing excessively loud noise, by shouting, playing loud music, or even allowing a dog to bark for prolonged periods of time. When a person’s words or conduct jeopardizes others right to peace and tranquility, he or she may be charged with disturbing the peace.

Disturbing the peace laws are covered by state or local ordinances. While disturbing the peace is not considered a serious criminal offense, it is an offense punishable by jail time, monetary fine, or both.

What Constitutes Disturbing the Peace?

Disturbing the peace laws vary from state to state. Generally, disturbing the peace refers to words or conduct that compromises the safety, health, morals or overall peace and quiet of the public.

Disturbing the peace charges cover a variety of conduct and often falls under the broader “catch-all” category of disorderly conduct.

Some examples of disorderly conduct include:

• Fighting or challenging someone to fight in a public place
• Using offensive words in a public place likely to incite violence
• Shouting in a public place intending to incite violence or unlawful activity
• Bullying a student on or near school grounds
• Knocking loudly on hotel doors of sleeping guests with the purpose of annoying them
• Holding an unlawful public assembly
• Shouting profanities out of a car window in front of a person’s home over an extended period of time
• Allowing excessive dog barking in a residential area, and
• Intentionally playing loud music during the night that continues, even after a fair warning.

In most states, the person’s conduct must have been on purpose (willful) or with bad intent (malicious). It is not enough that a person engaged in conduct that merely annoyed, harassed, or embarrassed another person. If fighting was involved, it must have been unlawful, and not in self-defense or to protect someone.

To determine guilt, a court will look at the particular circumstances of each case. Some of the factors a judge may consider include the location, time, place, words, actions, and the person spoken to or touched (for example, a police officer, teacher, student, relative or passerby).

Common actions that do not constitute disturbing the peace may include:

• Engaging in horseplay;
• Simply embarrassing someone;
• Merely annoying someone;
• Accidentally bumping into someone;
• Giving someone a gesture such as the middle finger, (sometimes even against a police officer).

However, if a person’s non-violent actions are likely to incite violence or public disorder, criminal liability may apply.

Purpose of the Law

Disturbing the peace is a law against public disorder and chaos. Laws against disorderly conduct, such as disturbing the peace, exist to prevent people from disturbing the peace of others while they are tending to their daily business and personal affairs.

Disturbing the peace may be charged as part of the broader catch-all crime of disorderly conduct, which includes many other types of public disturbances, or it may be charged separately, based on the factors listed above and the laws of the particular state.

Penalties and Punishment

Disturbing the peace is a misdemeanor criminal offense. A person charged with disturbing the peace may face jail time of up to 90 days, fines up to $400, or both. In many instances, disturbing the peace is a first criminal offense and, if so, a person may avoid jail time altogether if convicted.

Standards for whether to charge someone with disturbance of the peace are highly subjective, and in many jurisdictions courts are highly deferential to the opinion of the arresting/charging officer as to whether the accused’s actions violated the law (even though in theory the officer’s testimony addresses only questions of fact, whereas questions of the law’s applicability to those facts are left to the trying court alone).^[1] Many local ordinances prohibiting disturbance of the peace exhibit a problematic degree of vagueness, occasionally to the point that courts deem them unconstitutional (in United States law) or violative of due process (in both United States and Commonwealth jurisdictions).

Explanation assembled from the following sources:
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/disturbing-the-peace.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disturbing_the_peace
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/breach+of+the+peace

I fail to see where being a Whistle Blower and exposing a serious potentially dangerous repeated breech in a school’s security less than one year after Sandy Hook and less than one hour’s drive time from the scene of that tragedy

by (presumably) a security expert rises to met the conditions for either Breech of Peace or Disturbing the Peace, unless you interpret ‘the public’ to mean the school’s administration and the East Haven School Board who’s peace calm and mellow I’m positive were harshed by their inability to cover this up and block all attempts at an investigation into it because he chose to make it public rather than take it to them.

Were parents upset by the revelation and the videos? Unquestionably. Did I think they were upset with Mr. Appi Jr.? While admittedly I think most liberals are incapable of independent thought, prone to circular logic and a bunch of Sheeple, even I have a hard time believing they sink to that level of moronic stupidity to be outraged and upset with Mr. Appi JR.. Indeed they’re action suggest otherwise. Nobody has attacked him, nobody has threatened or condemned him but rather they chose to hold their children out of school and evidently raise (un)holy hell over what Mr. Appi Jr. discovered.

In jackbooted autocratic retaliation for his finding fault with their fiefdom the School Board has had  baseless retaliatory charges filed against Mr. Appi. I find the most likely reason for this to be the fact that Mr. Appi Sr. has been harping on the same note in East Haven since 2004. See here: http://foxct.com/2013/10/25/grandfather-makes-plea-for-armed-guards-in-north-haven-schools/

The Shoreline Times has reported:

The nature of Appi’s comments on Facebook are similar to those of any self proclaimed activist. His comments make clear he is adamant about the need for security improvements and he is concerned for the welfare of the students, including his daughter, at the middle school. Appi said he made no threats.

To be fair, the Americanownews has a slightly different take on the Facebook comments and slightly more details as well since the Facebook page is now down:

However, his comments on Facebook got him in hot water.

“Maybe I’ll have to walk in with toy guns just to prove a point. Then again, maybe someone might beat me to it with the real thing,” Appi said on his Facebook page.

Police said they received more than 50 calls after the Facebook comment was posted and more than double that number were received at Joseph Melillo Middle School.

“I guess some parents got alarmed,” Appi said. “They thought maybe I would do some harm to students, but I’m very active with the school.”

Best choice of phraseology to drive home his point? I’m not even going to pretend that it is. Then again one has to remember, this isn’t a man who makes his living as a writer, this is a man who drags his knuckles in the protection of others. What I see here is a man who obviously was deeply concerned for the safety of his daughter [trust me I know from first hand experience both growing up with a sister and from dating many a ‘Daddy’s little girl that the Father/Daughter dynamic is every bit as serious tangible and potentially dangerous as the Momma Bear/Cubs scenario. You think Mom’s are bad about the whole maternal instinct protecting their kids thing? Send a daughter home in tears and just you see what happens next time you try to come around] and also likely frustrated that he had (again presumably) made official issue of this and saw it was still on going.

Connecticut papers are still full of calls for better school security and for schools to be proactive for parents and passersby to report anything out of the ordinary or suspicious. Well this guy did it, abet doing it Julian Assange/Edward Snowden style and look at his reward!