Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday, the 31st day of August, 2012


T.S. Isaac, as of this writing, seems to be another dandy… Hit Haiti (like kicking a downed man), Cuba, the FL Keys, the South end of the FL Mainland and now will threaten LA, AL, and MS. Then, once a hurricane Cat 1, it was ironic that Isaac hit New Orleans and the SE end of Louisiana precisely seven years to the day from when Katrina did it. Here is hoping the damage is not comparable, but it sounds like déjà vu…

The Fall Creek Falls State Park Mountaineer Festival is coming up on September 7, 8 and 9. The Leadership Van Buren Class of 2012 is having a booth where we are serving a one of a kind culinary experience: BBQ in a Jar! This is a multi-leveled savory journey delivered to you in a mason jar that you get to keep… The Class of 2012 is sponsoring this offering (and working it!) along with LVB Alumni, as a fund raiser for our 2012 class project which is the creation of a scholarship, LVB Scholarship, to benefit Van Buren County High School Seniors who are qualified to attend dual enrollment college classes but not able to afford the costs on their own… So, if you go to the festival and get a little hungry or curious (or both) come by for a treat! 100% of the revenues go to the fund, which is a non-profit organization. Supply is limited and we are there only on Saturday until closing or until we run out of food, whichever comes first!…

RNC: a couple of summary points, from where I sit:
(a)   Ann Romney made a good account of herself on her quest to become a first lady.
(b)   Paul Ryan is a very smart, creative and now imaginative guy; Fox News agrees.
(c)    Clint Eastwood still can make a lot of people’s day.
(d)   We all have gotten the message already – loud and clear, seriously – that it is all Obama’s fault; got it! So, now I need to hear from somebody, anybody, preferably Mitt, how – precisely; no more generalities – he will solve the problems, as identified ad nauseam at the RNC:
a.      Sputtering Economy
b.      High unemployment
c.       Toxic tax codes
d.      Insurmountable public debt & deficits
e.      Crumbling infrastructures
f.        Inadequate/underfunded Armed Forces
g.      Broken health care system
h.      Inadequate education system
i.        Unaffordable Social Welfare systems (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security);

By the way, all that is to be accomplished with, as promised and pledged during the Primaries, lower taxes and higher quality of life for all Americans (not just a segment of the 300+ millions).

I need to hear SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound) propositions!

I hope that my next topic does not stir up a semantics storm; it is only a small difference in colloquialism depending on the origins of your English roots… It has to do with the difference between the use of the prefixes “this” and “next” in date sequences. Some people use ‘this’ instead of ‘next’ to identify the next occurrence of a day; when they say ‘this Monday’ they mean the one coming up next. Some other folks, do not necessarily process this semantics variation, and they protest. These other folks believe that the only time you may say ‘this’ Monday is if today were Monday; otherwise you are expected to say ‘this past’ Monday for the one just past, or ‘this next’ Monday for the upcoming one. Furthermore, when you say ‘next’ Monday, you are referring to the upcoming one and not two over as the other side think… At any rate, as long as they are talking in the same terms and meaning the same thing with the same terms, there should be no problems, right? Yeah, right…

And now food for thoughts:
“I wish you health, love and wealth, and enough time to enjoy them!”
 - Old Spanish toast

So, be generous with your wishes, my friends.





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