Media Overbears - Education In Progress

In his remarkable piece discussing how the Media may have framed Joe Paterno, John Ziegler does the excruciating work of sorting the nuances gleaned from the coverage of the Sandusky matter.

 

John Ziegler Editorial

 

"It was very clear that the students were mostly angry over the lack of due process and simple respect shown for a man who was the reason many of them had applied to the school in the first place. It was also obvious that the focus of their outrage was on the news media for their disgraceful coverage of the story and the board of trustees for caving into the media pressure."

Ziegler methodically corrects the misguidance of each spun detail.  His extensive discourse reflects professionalism.  I found this material while reading a blog comment on a piece about Ed Rendell questioning the reaction of Tom Corbett, his successor as governor of Pennsylvania, to the implications of the Freeh report.  Rendell distinguished himself as a prosecutor, 2-term District Attorney then 2 terms as Mayor of Philadelphia before two terms as Governor.  Progressives and Republicans alike bashed "Fast Eddie" but he served the People of Pennsylvania tirelessly. 

 

While promoting his new book, "A Nation of Wusses:  How America's Leaders Lost The Guts To Make Us Great," Ed has expressed a number of views affecting the egos of sitting office holders.  Hey, that's his theme!  What the rest of the Country may not know is that the prosecutorial zeal of their legal system have the support of Pennsylvanians.  Arlen Specter, a Democrat, was written in as the Republican nominee and later elected DA in Philly, a town whose DA can make or break it.

 

I guess it follows that Ziegler's detractors would be the same obats who reject any notion that the election of Obama was a Media bamboozle. 

Bloomberg

Mayor Bloomberg, for all his New York savvy, is crest-coasting and missing a key ingredient in his assertions that the Presidential candidates should both address the issue of control of assault weapons.  His liberal, almost San Fransisco views are skewed toward the way the cash flush live.  He is unschooled in the understrength and current of substance ingrained in most of Middle America. 

Space premiums in his constituency drive a far different valuation of security than he would find beyond his city limits.  In central Pennsylvania, Western Tennessee, Colorado and Arizona, the numbers of humans per square foot is vastly lower.  The dumpiest piece of NYC real estate is of value due to the location and its demand.  There is, nonetheless, some avoidable real estate in New York City.  Here, for certain, serious crime flourishes, the turf unworthy of even basic surveillance equipment except to record its lowlife traffic. 

For the Mayor, the sad truth is this:  There is far greater incentive among 2nd Amendment proponents outside Gotham to own such guns for protection and preservation than there is agreement with his assertions.  These people remain sensitive to things New Yorkers no longer notice.  The trade-off in terms of what they value in life is such that to reside in that city is a choice they would never make.  Nothing could lure them to that environment. 

Most of us out here have a perspective on politicians, police and media that serves a survival instinct of even greater importance than avoiding a gun nut on a murder spree.  In our politicians, bankers, police departments and news media, we discern a collusion intended to hide their misdeeds and protect themselves with force sprung on us with the same advantage of surprise as the heavily armored "scientist" deployed at the premier of the Dark Knight Rises. 

The only thing, in the view of most of these 2nd Amendment defenders, that seperates the gunman from the colluding, big city collective of self-preserving thugs is singularity.  The ungodly scheme that actualized on Friday night was conducted by a solitary misanthrope.  City Government, Police, Media and Financiers, in fact, share that shooter's contempt for people and equip themselves, moreover arm themselves and as a way of life, scheme to outwit by all means available to themselves, to preserve what they consider theirs.  In a crisis, the coalition of Haves would be every bit as ruthless in their choices, and Middle America, scorned as bitterly clinging to their guns, knows that.  The Bail-Out of 2008 proved it. 

We risk OURS and lose, WE lose.  The "Club" risks OURS and loses, WE endemnify THEM but we LOSE what we paid them to protect, invest and police in our interest.  Do we suppose for an instant that they wouldn't move to exploit an unarmed population?  It matters less what they say and do behind closed doors and more that We the People are neither surprised nor proven wrong about our low opinion of them, Hope notwithstanding.

I believe now, more than ever, that it must be legal for American Citizens to own and be prepared to use assault weapons.  The behavior of the political class, obviously NOT concerned with the will, best interests or prosperity of the People, has made it clear that we must have the same means of defending ourselves as those who cut deals in back rooms while telling us they are a NEW kind of politician. 

Forensic Pathologist - Facial Recognition

I'm listening to Dr. Michael Baden speaking with Alisyn Camerota on Fox & Friends reveal that Medical Schools profile their candidates for psychopathic anomalies.  Baden opines that some quirk was uncovered via this screening suggesting James Eagan Holmes's "withdrawl" and calculated murderous actions are contained in data thus gleaned.  I gather that the "power" invested in Doctors by their training institutions is tempered with a responsibility on the part of the investor to calibrate obstacles calculated to winnow the field of prospective trustees.

Photographs of the "PhD Candidate" have a "look."  This guy reeks of it. 

My six year old nephew was SOOOO ecstatic about a new Batman movie, portions of which were filming here in Pittsburgh at this time last summer.  He asked me for spelling help several times as he googled the various points of interest to him.

His most revealing comment was, "FINALLY!  A REAL VILLAIN!"  ... "A Scientist!"  He was so done with the run-of-the-mill facist dictator.  His fantasies longed for a truly scary, KNOWLEDGABLE misanthrope.  This little boy, whose father has spent more time in jail for doing stupid things than he has around his son, had a decided preference for the nuts and bolts of a truly competitive wit with which to challenge the defender of Gotham.  That same weekend, he made me watch Kung Fu Panda with him to further convey to me that the minds of our youngest Americans are stimulated by skillful counterparts tinged with humor and artistic flair.

EEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS

have it!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/259579/facebooks_facial_recognition_draws_us_senate_scrutiny.html

   

"I think Facebook could still do more to explain to its users how it uses facial recognition," Franken said.

Facebook Recognizes You

Facebook's tag suggestions feature uses facial-recognition technology to automatically suggest the names of people pictured in new photos that users upload to the site. Tag suggestions has been offline for several weeks as Facebook has been conducting maintenance, a move that was necessitated by the widespread usage of the feature, according to Rob Sherman, Facebook's manager of privacy and public policy. Sherman said that the tag suggestions feature is set to come back online "soon," though he did not specify a timeframe.

Forget profiling, and understand that Israel feels the baseline motivator that triggers the "Survive!" response.  I applaud the wise, experienced Senator Lieberman's insistence on identifying Islamist Extremism as the Fort Hood catalyst.  Jerrod Loughner, and I advance the notion that when I meet and am approached by psychos, I see it in their eyes.  It is a vibration, a side-to-side motion of the iris.  Sometimes the symptom presents itself in a piercing intense gaze meeting my own eyes.  Sometimes it is clustered with averted eyes, fluttering and inability to make eye contact.  But the "Vibe" is definitely something I have seen often enough to be aware.  The other thing I sense is a "Mirage-Like" warping of the air around certain people, typically men, whom I encounter.  I have learned to identify this as a "group psyche" connection.  I used to associate the beady-eyed vibe with sexual pervs, but I wouldn't dismiss the symptom as a possible flag of psychosis of a more villainous nature. 

What connects these two parts to this post?  Suppressed Intuition.  Some of us act on our impulses, called "Promptings" by my "Send Out Cards" presenters.  Most of us learn, through loss, to take these seriously.  Along the path to yesterday's tragedy, many of those who dealt with Jimmy Holmes were thus touched.  We can't go about over-reacting, to be sure.  But when two or more such impulses make themselves significant, we must teach ourselves to take another look. 

I couldn't do anything to prevent what happened in Aurora.  I could only lodge the factors that "touched" me yesterday in the aftermath of the news, and to sort them properly for insertion into my own "data files."  Although I face frustrating financial circumstances and deal with what seem like unrelenting obstacles to my success, I give thanks for the time I had yesterday to process all of this.  I didn't have to suppress it in order to meet the demands of a grinding career or employer.  I was not pulled in other directions by toddlers needing fed and supervised.  I was allowed to think.  I was permitted to sit in my back yard and observe a family of wrens teaching their little ones to harass my cat in emulation of the pair who defended their nest each time Valentine was out.  They loudly announced his emergence and bobbed along within feet of him to foster a cyclone of disturbance around him in the work of keeping him clear of their babies.  The parents peeked at me and my "familiar" from the eaves of my house, from the branches of the trees surrounding my gazebo, even from the hanging planters suspended from the shade structure where we sat.  Monitoring AND warning him that he was being watched.  It was part of the "Promptings Cluster" that was imparted to me.  As I read my cards, the first two, then 7 were followed by 9,9,9.  I had to recognize 4 successive 9's just as I had to read the 4 Aces that came up in a reading on April 4, the anniversary of the assasination of Martin Luther King.  A reading full of ominous cards of violence and death foretold of the news I was about to receive of a colleague who had shot herself.  I got the Chariot and numerous 3's along with the Death card the day Dale Earnhardt was killed in a NASCAR race.  The word the cards conveyed was the Intimidator.  As I looked at the cat, I saw passivity.  His eyes showed me both awareness and detachment.  He was "hangin' with me," and I have no doubt that he presents a threat to these birdies.

I'm listening to Rep Mike Rogers, R-AL discuss the level of "denial" Janet Napolitano demonstrates in her position as Secretary of Homeland Security failing to deal with foreign nationals taking flying lessons without concern for their demonstrated lack of interest in getting a license or certification.  They are only interested in learning how to take off and fly. 

Reason your way through PROMPTINGS.  Look at their EYES.  Process, don't suppress.  Act on your intuited insight.  For me, personally, I am acquiring the "integrity" of a business person no longer to waste myself in effort that will be hijacked by the unethical.  I am flattened down, against the dirt, but facing up.  EVIL pressures me to despair, to submit, yet the Temperence Card exhorts me to "dance" with the upward lifting pressures helping me onto a plane where I may release the imbalancing forces.  I am called by the tuning forks to penetrate the illusion of obstacles and see my way through.  Ave Maria.

Good One:!

Of the two candidates, one is used to signing the back of a paycheck, and one is more accustomed to signing the front.

Chicagozz Real

Jackson’s representatives did not disclose what specific psychiatric problem the congressman has. A mood disorder can mean many things. According to Mental Health America, formerly known as the National Mental Health Association, there are four basic forms of mood disorders, including "major depression, cyclothymia (a mild form of bipolar disorder), SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and mania (euphoric, hyperactive, overinflated ego, unrealistic optimism)."

I can extend compassionate concern for Mrs. Jackie Jackson's son as she implored Jackson's mom appeals for privacy and space ... a moment for him to heal, as she described it in her remarks to the PUSH Coalition Conference in Chicago.

Did Mama Jackson not teach her son that Pushing invites Pushing Back?  Did not the Obama Campaign thrive on "Pushback" even when civil discourse was branded (improperly) push on the part of Americans expecting their institutions to observe reasonable standards of decency during the 2008 campaign?  Aside from the Clinton-Haters and Misogynist Opportunists, the big damage done by the Chicago/Howard Dean DNC was the astonishing hubris of this entire collective of thugs who inexpertly endeavored to impose their own cultural arrogance on the entire country.  The "ink-blooded" 4th Estate was "objective enough" during this reign of abuse, commenting that they stood willing to observe how this Chicago Style would play nationwide.  The bare knuckles show of force got "The One" elected, and it should be revised to the "Only" One.  The Democratic Majority for which I worked tirelessly throughout the Bush years and prior was wiped out in 2010 followed by the loss of State Houses (not to mention Court Houses) in every state. 

Jesse Jackson jr.'s mother stated that her son was dealing with "enormous" political disappointments.  He had been expecting to become Senator (Candidate #5 who escaped prosecution while the duly elected Governor was roused from his bed at 6:00 a.m. by Patrick Fitzgerald's office, and now sits in a penitentiary,) he had expected to have the opportunity to run for mayor of Chicago,  ... such "Illusions and Trinkets dangled in the face of young people..." sprinkled in her remarks about how she, who "plays" politics, doesn't LIVE politics, but rather, lives in the house with God, and is thereby made resilient in her faith.  I feel for Mrs. Jackson.  Her husband, Jesse, was seated next to her at the podium, applauding her worth as a founder of the PUSH Coalition and a faithful spouse.

I cannot recant my wish in an earlier posting, that he suffer.  Nor can I take back calling him an asshole.  He is and he should, moreover, he must.  In his confinement, Jackson must confront all that he did, all the times he faced a choice between doing the decent thing and doing the bidding of the Obama Campaign.  Raum Emmamuel self-righteously opines that Jr. should heal and not concern himself with returning to work in a Congress that "doesn't work."  EXCUSE ME?!!!  Emmanuel, are you honestly calling out the very Congress who's Campaign and Fundraising Committee you chaired prior to ascending to Chief of Staff in the Obama White House?

Lord, grant me the serenity to

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

 It leaves me wondering what is going through Jr.'s head right now, but I can extend him my very best wishes for a complete and joyous recovery.  I wish him the comfort of his family, the vindication of his mother and most of all, I wish him the evenness and legitimacy in leadership that will result from his encounter with the Divinity Within.  We ambitious Catholics are cited the story of St. Paul, the Apostle, a powerful politician temporarily blinded by the light of the Risen Christ.  His subsequent writings initiated the Gentile's New Testament principles: the gentling of behavior and the relaxation of the laws of Moses mandating dietary and judicial harshness.   Perhaps these two kings of cruel; JJJ and Raum, will find the mercy and kindness from the people that they were too callous and driven to perceive while they are in a position to actually make a difference.  In forgiving them, I acccept my own many political disappointments and embrace my periods of unemployment, despair and financial hardship as badges of blessings of the God who will make it right. 

This is one of those things for which I can only pray I be granted the serenity to accept that this is one of those things I cannot change.

Candidate #5 Off His Horse

It appears that Jesse Jackson, Jr. is the victim of the push-back he personally set in motion four years ago.  I recall that this fraud was the arm-twister behind so many Clinton Super-Delegates flipping for her opponent.  I'm still not over the rumping of my Party's convention in 2008 and with Jackson so full of himself as to drive the delegates into the blind canyon of June when our votes were dismissed without further consideration.

I'd like to see JJJ continue to suffer the throes of conscience, the insecurity, the anguish, the humiliation that this prick and his hood fostered in my life.  Suffer, Asshole!

GodParticalistan

 http://youtu.be/Cl1uHSgxrgQ 

Because I taped "Cavuto" last evening at the same time I was "d-v-ring" the Pirates v. the Astros, my tv was on Fox Business this morning when checked in with my first cup of coffee.  He had interviewed Ralph Nader (should spell it Nadir, because he really fostered the low point of our history by 3rd Partying ?W? into office.)  Cavuto was graciously entertaining the book recently offered to explain that the Feds are ill-equipped to police the current corporate crime wave. 

He suggests getting "steamed" to overcome corporatism.  Cavuto, as a good friend, slaps the cuffs on his frequent guest with a caveat to avoid the broad brush smear approach to calling Corporaters Criminals.  Always a Gentleman, Cavuto. 

As the result, instead of Fox & Friends, I morn'd with Imus, another gentleman wannabe, who asked Brian Wilson to stop hating on his daughter, Carnie, but only AFTER airing a few laughs for the guy's cheaply-shotting the obesity issue that has plagued Ms. Wilson.

So he was being a guy.   Dagen McDowell hangs in there with those guys, and probably because she makes them, they treat her with deference.  Her fellow correspondants carry the day with notes about the Regie Remarks to the effect that legitimate HOFers will boycott if A-Rod, Bonds, Maguire, and such "tainted" MLBoys of Summer are elected.

Recalling the "Unsafe At Any Speed" manifesto pantsing the US Auto Design Community, A "Spyder" Corvair owner and driver wasn't looking for safety, Ralph.  Any more than I was, on my skates for 10 hours a day.  There's a mindset that accepts "risk" as a factor to diminish in the pursuit of excellence.  A "safe" path that is applauded by your mother isn't a path they'll advocate or enjoy... it carries, (wait for it .....) RISK!   There's risk in change, I guess, which should make me love the progressives, but after countless bruises acquired in skate falls, and loss of my favorite tights and crete burns, I came to balance risk against probabilities. 

I learned to incorporate likely successes into my risk taking.  When I had so mastered a maneuver that I could make it my "GOTO" for eluding danger, it became clear to me that risk needn't be massive.  A minimal risk, taken regularly, had the same cumulative effect of advancing my skill level as a leap of faith taken rashly.

Ralph is a Leaper.  He ain't finance.  He ain't design.  He ain't administering the resources of 300 million people paying taxes in the country.  He ain't PR.  He is a scavenger who lives off the decomposition of once living organisms he destroyed with such broad-brush paint jobs as he's peddling in "Steamed." 

Greenies like steamed foods, and should love this latest Nader pea.  I don't need to be listening to live TV to "get" in touch with the likes of Charles Payne, http://hotair.com/archives/2011/10/18/charles-paynes-charged-argument-with-an-ows-protester-i-took-my-opportunity/ who articulates, beautifully, on a regular basis, my sentiments regarding the Whiner In Chief.  The Prompting from the airwave says it like we mean it:  ATTRACT business and create jobs.  What the Obats attract are cop-out, craven quitters.  What manner of "business" wishes to locate itself in a steaming exchange of excuses for failure? 

Legitimate analysis - as experience has taught me - is performed in the wake of extreme loss.  Do we set idle without resources or self-respect, self-medicating and languishing?  Or do we find another way to process our excellence? 

From Payne's interviews, I glean a "too legit to quit" American, self-made and successful in the face of the "Brother's" bogus explanation of the Obama World.  I just heard him ranting that Obama's Class Warfare game pisses him off, "There are Rich people who aren't responsible and they don't care for others" meme.  

The Italian Spider Visit

The Progressives are now understood to be low hanging fruit, soon to be lumped together with the launchers of the movement to make the word "Illegals" illegal. They are actually calling it the "I" Word to link it to the "N" Word as an unacceptable, racist slur. A young woman, who represented herself as a refugee from a banana republic tribal conflict

“You haven’t even thought this out, Miss Novoa,” O’Reilly said coldly. “You have not even thought this out. And with all due respect, because I appreciate you coming in here, you come in here with a very hot campaign, alright? Run by a far-Left website, demonizing people like me who are accurately telling the people what’s happening. And you don’t even know what you want. You don’t even know what you want.”

The appeal to suffering people has always worked on Americans who are known = worldwide - as a soft touch. Maybe "Drop The I Word" campaign should note, first and foremost, that her cited source, Fox News Latino, is a SPIN-OFF of Fox News! Now, having been "created" by a Fatherly Fox and an American Media Marketing Mother, Fox Latino makes its first move to take-over the parent news organization, the one who earned the ratings and fostered the journey back from the Cleaners to - in fact - serve as the 4th Estate. I think that the Progressives have made a bad marriage in hopping into bed with Obama without being properly introduced and insisting on a history of Family exchange, such as a dowry or a political appointment. Face it. Obama has no American Leverage

He was reared in a country that eats dog, rules militarily and requires Muslim inculcation of all citizens! He has no history of Red, White and Blue patriotic development and his associates are deliberately anti-american. How can these misfits expect to ever truly be inducted into the American Way? They come from other countries to sleaze into a country that endeavors to support individual independence. They are generations behind those brought here to work mines, mills, railroads and farms. They wish to deal drugs, invade schools and abuse hospital services.

Upon his return to the United States, Obama lived in Hawaii, the 50th State, a former Monarchy, disconnected from the Main Land by two time zones and marooned from us in too many ways to enumerate. There, at the age of about 14, the young Obama began smoking dope. It was at that time that he ceased to develop that area of his ethical intelligence, and the progressives are forever wed to a thus-addled, immature, slick, cynical manipulator who went onto Columbia (Harlem) and Harvard (Boston Commons) to master schmoozing, manipulation and Affirmative Pandering. On a legacy as porous as that of George W Bush. NOT on Merit, Gary. I know you despised the Yale grad and your own "Peers"
who - frankly - would sneer
to be so smeared
by a classmate
attempting to equate himself in any way
to those born to privilege.

Monica Novoa attempted to shame Bill O'Reilley into submission and
to reinforce her derision of users of the "I Word"
as Racist. Obama's Black Bandwagon has hitched a cattle car to its engine which is steamed by malicious exploitation of suffering human beings.

I remember Bobby Kennedy going into ghettos and actually sitting among the poorest black children and holding them on his lap, comforting them. Encouraging and smiling with them. Princess Diana, likewise, went into hospitals and touched victims of Aids, went to Africa and sat with and held victims of land mines, toxic water and poverty. Obama EXCLUSIVELY associates with the most obnoxious of the rich, cruel, selfish and full-of-shit academics. He married his boss, and his only job before entering politics was spending the money given by the Annenburg Challenge to fundamentally change the Chicago School System. What were the results?

Here in Pittsburgh, The Gates Foundation gave millions to the City Schools to reinforce the Pittsburgh Promise, a program started by the young mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, to reward families who chose to live inside the city limits and send their kids to the city schools with the tuition to attend college. To administer this Fund, Melinda and Bill Gates did not hire a pompous race-hustler; they placed the funds under the joint management of themselves and the Teachers Union, which, in the City, under the Presidency of John Tarka, had not struck the city schools for a raise or a contract in more than ten years. Proven initiatives supported. Not a gesture of grandiosity by people with money on their hands to interfere and impose on a system, but - rather - recognition of initiative and responsible management endowed with enough material support to reinforce the "divine" charge with which the Promise was conceived and the commitment with which it was launched.

When the Fox Latinos sent Monica Navoa to "school" O'Reilley, they obviously didn't do their homework nor familiarize themselves with the qualities that have made the O'Reilley Factor the #1 Cable News Opinion program in the United States for more than a decade. I recommend they give "Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity" a listen and grasp the respect O'Reilley shows for his Catholic / Parochial School education and the nuns who molded him into a great teacher-turned-commentator. I have yet to hear Obama allude to his grade school teachers and any influential educators prior to his pan-handled admission to Harvard on the legacy of his rabid father's exchange school affirmative opportunity.

Most of them are not radicals, but they do have the skills that come from political organizing in Central America."
California State University, Northridge, Gregory Velazco y Trianosky, associate dean for humanities and the Central American student association's advisor.

Ms Navoa doesn't understand that, as an El Salvador emigrant, regardless of circumstances, she and her family fled oppression and threats to their way of life. Because her father was a leftist educator, he was targeted by dictators. Likewise, today, because Bill O'Reilley is an influential counter-balance to the Leftist demands, she considers herself superior to him ethically.

I, too, came out of the dirt with "radical" notions fostered by my exposure to academia, but like O'Reilley, I recall the influence of Sister Generossa, Sister Claudia, Sister Aquina and lay teacher, Joe Francis. I grew up with daily mass, fundraising to enhance the quality of my school experience and no access to transportation to and from school except as my mill-working, carpenter father provided us each day. My mother kvetched endlessly about the trouble my ideas would bring me. But called from the darkness, I stepped - foolishly, my Angels would say - into the world of White, Anglo Saxon Protestants who were those among whom Obama gained his Ivy League Credentials. Likewise, Ms Navoa enjoyed the will of the people of California to nurture and reward her and her family for choosing, like Mary Magdalen, the Better Way.

Dr. Betty Siegel, first Woman President of Kennesaw State University, in an address to the Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Professional Saleswomen, taught me the single most critical cross-over lesson of my life: She came from a Jewish New York family to the South where she melded the best of the Culture of her Religious Background and Kin with the fierce determination to spread the wealth of cultural strength to the poorest young people of Georgia. The Legacy of Jimmy Carter's Presidency nourished and supported the rise of the Owls under this pioneer, but her own closing line, hand outstretched as she delivered, "Whattya Say?" made even the most reluctant, traditionalists trust her and buy into HER version of spreading the wealth. Not via taxation and celebrity, but via respectful, PLEASANT exchange

Above all, she was respectfully entertaining, not a smart ass critic of her opponents. Betty SOLD her stuff, she didn't strut it. She was accomplished and solid, but, above all, she was aware of her Odyssey and alluded to it always as she recounted the set-backs that made her such a great saleswoman and closer. Would that the modern activists get themselves a telemarketing job or two to learn these skills lacking in the low-hanging-fruits' approach.

"You've never lived until you've almost died; as for our freedom, for those of us who have fought for it, life has a flavour the protected will never know." - Anonymous

 

Convention Calamaty Jones

In the run-up to the 2008 North Carolina Primary, I frequented the sites of the State's Daily Newspapers to gain insight into how the Democrats would view the Obama/Clinton race. The article that stands out isn't the one about the poll that quoted North Carolinians as saying they'd vote for Change, Obama, etc...Given NC's proximity to Virginia and South Carolina, this seemed consistent with the area.
It was the one about Dems taking the cardboard cut-out of Hillary to the sidewalks and people were buying "photo ops" with it.

Obama was having his crooked ass pampered up one side and down the other, being lauded for his vaunted judgement and superior management, strategic planning and ground 'game' as affirmation that he was, despite what everybody with a brain could see, qualified to be President.

Once. He was good enough once. To read "Game Change" and "Audacity to Win," one would think the entire Obama Team was something other than a cash flush, rolling beer fest promising to "Party the Party" to any half-wit that glanced their way. Their self-evaluation consisted of a string of superlatives and bragadoccio about their man. The one thing Hillary Clinton shared was the audacity to expect to be taken seriously. The message: Any Male, even an unqualified one, is more fit to serve than even the most accomplished Woman. He never won a contested election in his career, served less than 2 years in the Senate yet his colleagues were tripping over themselves to advance his career without mentoring him in the courtesies of political battle.

The DNC celebrated their Rules & By Laws coup by moving the headquarters to Chicago reflecting Obama's ownership of the Party. They had great difficulty funding their Roman Orgy in Denver and appealed to the kegger kids they had scammed to kick over $5 bucks a head to get into the convention as a maneuver to elbow out Clinton supporters.

They're losing North Carolina and cancelled the kick-off scheduled to roar out of Concord in a NASCAR event and have been snubbed, first by the West Virginia trio that includes the Governor and Senator, a Pennsylvania Congressman and yesterday, Claire McCaskill confirmed she'll be taking a Pass-a-dina on Labor Day in Charlotte. No sympatico with Claire at all. She's toast. Expect Bill Clinton to deliver a severe blow to her campaign around the 23rd of October. As we close in on the actual convention, keep an ear to the ground for rumblings as to whether Bubba even attends. Bet there'll be intense "negotiations" about whether to even have him speak. I'm betting not.

Dos Equis Beer Ad Notches "the (arrogant) One"

Greta closed tonight's "On the Record" with a parody ad that takes off on the Dos Equis Beer ad about the most interesting man in the world.  The Conservative group, Right Change, has posted this spot and Greta hosts it on her wire tonight with the invitation to us to post our impression.

I was most impressed by the comment of Neil Turner, who posted

It's nice to see some real truth in advertising for a change.

Now if they would only address the fact that the preponderance of evidence shows that he was NOT born in Hawaii, that he is NOT a natural born U.S. Citizen, that he is NOT a Christian (truth be known, he is a Muslim - since there is no fatwa of death on his head for apostasy), that he did NOT register for the draft in 1980 (which he would have been required to do so IF he was a U.S. Citizen rather than a foreign student), and that is is NOT, and never was, eligible for the Office of President and Commander in Chief.

Now let's stop looking like absolute fools by giving legitimacy to that which is so obviously illegitimate. Expose his ineligibility NOW, before it is too late to be able to ever make such a truthful and humorous ad again.

#LiftaFingerForObamainNovember

In response to the Whiner In Chief's prediction that the Republicans won't lift a finger to help pass his jobs bill, the Tweeters say:

FormerDeminTX‏@FormerDeminTX19h

My entire family will ‪#LiftafingerforObama‬ in November. It’s ‪#forthechildren‬ ‪#caring‬ pic.twitter.com/5JkVMCJv

I'm sorry.  I was reading Crawdad Hole's comment section about Toure Neblett on MSNBC carping that the Press "disrespected" the godfather President with interruption of his recent press conference. 

WMCB commented:  Obama whined today again that R’s won’t lift a finger to pass his jobs stimulus boondoggle. New hashtag game! Everyone lift a finger for Obama! and FormerDeminTX had this beauty up ...

Like I said:  I'm really sorry to be laughing at a child being used so improperly by an adult.  It's not funny, but I laught...sorry



Gadget Geek In Chief Confiscates Others'

A President who's addiction to his Blackberry forced the Secret Service to devise one capable of satisfying his own brat-bink fixation while remaining secure from hackers and spies, has his staff confiscate and separate his fellow suckers from their own cell phones if they are to be seated at "private fund-raisers at which he is to appear.

The bugaboo of the two-faced political hack - the revealing video - has so threatened the candidate running "unopposed" by his own party is the concern of all his campaign handlers.   Isolating and pampering the Little Prince has so led him to paranoia that while, on the one hand Obama is disguised as a sitting President campaigning on the taxpayers' largess, maximizing the advantage of the incumbency, on the other hand, the prospect of video of one of his arrogant say-whatever-will-seperate-them-from-their-money videos appearing on You Tube so threatens his icon status that the deep pockets at the event will be separated from their techno-toys as a condition of admission.

This "news" of the management of news is, of course, routine for this crowd, but to be outed this way on a level that is so central to his identity as a hipster clearly disrobes the "Judgment" candidate as somebody who thoroughly doubts himself.  Hidden in his eyes, the fear and the resentment of anybody attempting to be regular folks in his presence is driving the billion dollar campaign to curb the very unifying practice that made the arrugula-munchers his social kin in the first place.

It would appear that four years of lap-dog media treatment has solidified the staff's copping of the right to commandeer the evenings of those who pony up and attend such functions designed to fill the coffers for their continued self-indulgence. 

Bubba's Endorsements Sting Just Enough

The message everybody's getting here is this: 

I could have just demurred, but issued the endorsement because I had to. 

Never expect to apply the political (Axle) Rod and escape it on the upsurge.  What we contribute is our bank. 

The vaunted Judgment by which a brash 1st term Senator, who was in no position to caste such a vote, was indulged when he insulted former First Lady/Senior to him Senator Clinton set the tone for his entire presidency.  He appears, today, on Telemundo, a bedraggled, graying, uncertain phony about to be schooled in the Better Way.  Dick Cheyney calls him an unqualified disaster.  Funny: those were the exact words we used to describe George W. Bush.  Partisanship and health.

We discern that we have neither to gain by being respectful nor to lose by being absent.  The fresh ignorance of men of the power grab is fair game.  Let us, the Citizenry, have at 'em.  The professionals who have earned respect understand that ignorance and poor judgment are the ingredients that foster such disrespect from wanna-be's.  We observed the out-of-turn, turn, turn and heard the divinity explain that to this lesson had arrived l'etudier.  It's their party.  Let 'em defile the diadem in the misguided effort to feather their nests.  It's bickering at its classic truth.

The issue isn't abortion; it is availability of health care.  The decision to abort is driven by far less irresponsibility than was the behavior that impregnated.  The decision to defeat the incumbent is always the demonstration of better judgment.

From the SWIRL

“Some day we hope to liberate every man on earth from the tendency as old as human history to identify our strength and manhood with the ability to control the lives, limit the chances, and doom the dreams of women and girls”  Bill Clinton

I'm going through another transition; from not formally employed to "unemployed" as the result of a hacker in need of my administrative services taking the position of the Employer, yet performing none of the essential Employer duties. He lists and reports me as a "1099" as though I am self-employed, yet presumes to demand that I work hours he dictates, even though neither he nor his other "employees" has much interaction with me. I do books. Payroll. Enter Account data. Theoretically, I handle accounts payable and receivable, but in truth, I'm merely his stooge, telling callers that he plans to pay them in two days when, in fact, he may or may not do so. I have twice been served paperwork by the Sheriff in behalf of creditors demanding payment, and have been troubled for my assistance in account reconciliation for suppliers with whom he disputes statements. I'm scandalized by his contempt for those who do the work and am repeatedly shocked by the disregard he shows for their well-being, my own included. He tries to show himself to be a caring,professional person, but his decisions and policies are so toxic and insulting as to cause me to feel utterly scalded by them. I faced hostility each time I came into work, or when he would enter the office, as though no matter how much I did, it wasn't enough and he could drop hours of work on me with complete disregard for the work he was already demanding be done, under deadline, with his own input being at the very minimum. He never approached me professionally; always opening with an ultimatum based on me being there at 8:00 a.m. Often as not, the single computer on which the Quickbooks was loaded was in use by him until then, and his presence, as I said, was so hostile and insulting that I could barely endure being in the same room - frigid, dark and ugly as it was - with him. I "signed on" for 15 hours per week. He wanted those hours to be from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. m-w-f. If I came in at that hour or earlier, he would pound me with work that had to be done immediately, then never follow through or use the product. After ascertaining that I could use QuickBooks as needed, he suggested he'd like my service "full time" but never so much as suggested that we agree on a job description, terms or even that I become an "employee." I had no budget to run my office, and no authority to pay even the most routine bills. Each day, when I'd leave the office, I would feel completely spent; no energy to do even my marketing, make dinner or go to the gym. In the morning, fresh from having a night's rest, I would try to catch up with my housework, laundry and household paperwork, including efforts to keep up with my husband's medical assistance application, insurance, taxes and utilities. With neither health insurance nor "Unemployment or Workman's Comp" contributed to by him, I was "earning" a starting hourly wage that was never increased in acknowledgement of my performance level. When my blood pressure clocked in at 210/170 it was time to dislodge myself from his oppressive mistreatment. I took ten days off to visit my daughter and when I returned, he fired me. That is to say, he terminated his pretense of employment of me. The entire outrageous charade was a Walk-over of a person who served in good faith but was treated as unworthy of even the basic minimum from one posturing as an Employer who had zero standing as one. Neither a contract nor a handshake agreement: the "probation" period of my start terms were extended indefinitely while the demands and requirements for my services expanded exponentially. Ick. I'll never do that again. The Labor Department has a word for Unemployed and Under Employed. What do they call "Engaged in employment efforts at the hacker's whim but neither employed nor contracted? I guess I'd call it Faux Employment.

fashion statement burka

The War on Women is gaining legs as the nation's evangelical and Right to Life movement has its say.  To show their objection to the newly passed HB954, Women gathered outside the chamber to chant "Women Will Remember In November."  We'll see.

Nice touch, however, was the newly fashioned American style burka: the Caution Tape, resembling Police Crime Scene Tape, yellow and ugly, wound around their heads covering their mouths.  It projects a message Women would do well to promulgate:  that the Womens Health Care issue is not in the hands of people who care about YOU, girls.  The bill is referred to as the Fetal Feelings Bill, and removes all rights from a woman whose pregnancy has resulted in conditions she wishes to change.  I'm seeing something of the same "honor killer" in the men of the Right to Life / Pro Life organized to subdue, subordinate and otherwise subject females of their own species to the will and dominion of any male.  Intelligence, competence, status not-with-standing, any male willing to assert whim over wimminz is entitled to have his way as well as to have HER have his "output" without regard to the Life that living entity will experience out of the womb. 

What kind of warped people will make such a public spectacle and confrontation over something as personal as a pregnancy while the victims of domestic violence, no doubt the product of such ignorance, are left to endure untold misery and stress, pain and aversion in the households of males emboldened by such improperly placed pressure? 

The emotional nature of the debate spilled over into the lobby, as the head of Georgia Right to Life and a representative of a doctor’s organization almost came to blows outside the Senate.
GRTL president Dan Becker and John Walraven, executive director of the Perinatal Infertility Coalition of Georgia, had a heated verbal exchange that became physical Thursday. A state trooper standing nearby spoke to both men and to witnesses but no charges were filed.
"We commend the Legislature," Becker said later, despite not fully endorsing the compromise. "This is one of the toughest pro life laws in the nation. We will not comment on support, not support, endorse, not endorse. It will save roughly 1,500 lives a year."
But the emotion spilled over to the other side, too. Senate Democratic women for the second time this session walked out after HB 954 passed their chamber. Sporting yellow police tape, they marched into the hallways and, joined with other HB 954 opponents, shouted "we will remember!" loud enough to be heard through closed doors. "The GOP war on women is alive and well in Georgia," said Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. Within the hour, the bill passed the House on a 106-59 vote. Democrats turned their backs on McKillip in protest.
Commonly referred to as a "fetal pain" bill, House Bill 954 would tighten medical exemptions for terminating pregnancies and require any abortion performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy be done in a way to bring the fetus out alive. No exemption is made for rape or incest. The measure says that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks, therefore the state has an interest in protecting it.
Supporters of the new Georgia bill said it would save lives and protect more fetuses.
Opponents said the bill would legislate decisions that should be made by doctors and would put doctors at risk who work with difficult pregnancies. Doctors who are involved in abortions after 20 weeks that do not meet the bill's restrictions could be charged with a felony and face up to 10 years in prison.

For me, the question is this: Where this much emotion accompanies debate, it is clear that neither side is in position to legislate anything. Until the matter may be discussed with a measure of composure, decisions made under such emotional influence can do more harm than good. This was not an appropriate field for this confrontation. Men can step up an protect unborn children from their own mothers, yet they cannot protect those very mothers from the Men who would bring unwanted children into the world. Wearing the Caution Tape Burka says it all.

To Mark Critz

Mark:  I now reside in Mike Kelly's district, but was represented by Altmire.  Following the corrupting of the Democratic Party, I could no longer stomach the NBC / Obama-worshipping media and became a PUMA ... my first exposure to Fox News was Neil Cavuto when he interviewed Diane Mantouvalos of HireHeels.com about the Just Say No Deal Coalition.  

Altmire goes on Fox because THAT'S WHERE THE VIEWERS ARE!!!  His remarks were heard as the sort of congressional self-respect we want from members of an equal branch of government.  It should not be characterized as "bashing" Democrats.  When I circulated his nominating petitions, I got a lot of crap from 'so called' democrats who peevishly refused to sign  and who advocated loudly for measures intended to force our Congressman in line with the Progressive Agenda.  Point is, Altmire got re-elected while Obama Care supporters did not.  Bashing Republicans doesn't win votes either.  

Seek the Third Alternative.  Give the People Respect: find out what they want and introduce legislation to give it to them.  Force them to swallow what the "Party wants them to have" and lose.  

The party has demonstrated contempt for hard-working legitimacy and has failed to understand the numbers who are hovering out of reach by virtue of the view that the Democrats are somehow building a sympathy vote against contrived claims of abuse.  People want STRENGTH in their leadership.  They are getting, instead, a spin by perceived cheaters crying that their opponents cheat!  We must listen to Fox in self-defense.  It is a Citizen's duty to get BOTH sides, just as it is the duty of those who keep score to keep BOTH SIDES.  The hard-hardheadedness of the Democrats put the Republicans in position to gerrymander the districts.  The last two elections, wherein the Democrats were shown the door by the Voters, was the result of the DNC cheating to commandeer their convention.  Nothing Obama does is for the Country, nor even for fellow elected Democrats.  It's for himself and his own re-election prospects.  As he has done in the two previous seasons, he puts his democratic colleagues in an impossible position requiring them to oppose his ill-considered legislation or lose.  Democrats are in the minority because of their leadership and a mal-practicing 4th Estate.  Read the editorials around the state about the view of Amanda Holt's redistricting plan and get the sense that the editors would cheer on any effort to remove the partisanship from the process.  When I talk to Independents, Altmire gets high marks.  Unfortunately, the young people who still think politics is a game will feed your campaign this same manipulative propaganda, but to those of us who have withheld our support until we see what we're seeking, we are now "playing" Obama like he plays us.  Wait til they can't do anything about it and stiff them.  Do the very thing you just promised them you'd never do and laugh all the way to the bank.  He had to read every word of the speech in which he justified his actions "as a Christian," because he has zero familiarity with the life.  Those of us who do what we say we're going to do and can FACE our supporters aren't playing a game.  We are riding out the insanity that has gripped our party.  

They knew he was a psychopath and yet .....

The boys had begun talking about the night their father destroyed their family.  "Mommy was in the trunk...  And then Mommy got lost."  they recalled.  Nobody believed his story.  Yet they allowed those children to be in his presence.  

An innocent, gently well-intended social worker, just doing her job, was induced to deliver the victims to his trap, and she could only call 911 as the children eluded her, rushing out of the car and into the death-lock maneuver of their father.
How do we stand by, paralyzed by shock, and permit the courts - whom we understand to be out of control - to fuck this up?

Susan Cox Powell will emerge in her own good time.  Like Holly Notestine, her remains lie in the elements, and another innocent, unsuspecting person just going about their business, will be the eyes to whom she will reveal her fate.  As a society, we add the details and continue to work through the incidents to come, in time, to understand men who abuse.  The common "thread" awaits our discernment.

Super Bowl Center - Dawson Enters The Hall

Steeler Center, Dermonte Dawson, perennial Pro Bowler under Bill Cowher, was among those elected yesterday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  The NFL does this for their performers and the writers make every effort to indulge.  Although not eligible until five years following their retirement, the players all express humility when announced.  It's that "hovering" between making it and not expecting to that is a place prospective enshrinees must avoid.  For the Fans, it's a distraction permitting them to question how one or another great (Jerome Bettis) doesn't make it on the first year of eligibility, and the ballot-casters who are infused with the protective principles that make waiting for it a badge of integrity.

Playing for the drama, the Game and for the merit of the honor, these writers who have witnessed the greats, are not as inclined to bestow the nod on a player just because he was a Steeler.  Fans in Fall River get that, as do those around the world who grudgingly concede a Steeler score but resent that there are so many of them.  Spread the Wealth Liberalism has its roots in sentiments experienced when the Hall of Fame Committee makes its picks official.

Winners can't help keeping score.  Wanna-be Winners ditto.  

Martin with Teacher

Obama supporters, take the Steeler Nation, the Audacity to Fashion a Black & Gold Flag with 3 hyper-cycloids where 50 5-Points should go, 13 Black/Gold Stripes and a Terrible Towel to the tote-board.  Two former Steelers, two Pitt Players will be inducted in Canton on August 4.  One of them, Jack Butler, is 84 years old!  Following his playing days, Butler spent 44 years scouting for the Rooneys and heard his name called - finally - fifty years after having retired.  FIFTY!!! What an inspiration this is to those of us who are pluggers.  Curtis Martin, elected more promptly, credited his personal ethic in his acknowledgement; "Shows what can happen if you do the right thing."

Read more: Steelers' Dermontti Dawson, Jack Butler make Hall of Fame - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_780105.html#ixzz1lWKwYwiu

He doesn't say "What WILL happen, but what CAN happen."  Here-in lies the inspiration.  For the generation coming up, the generation that loaded uninformed votes into the bank that elected the 2nd incompetent in a row to the presidency, this is crazy.  To those of us who step into the shower shaking our heads at them, this is akin to those who questioned the Recording Academy for feting Steely Dan over Briteny Spears.  To us, it's the body of work for which we are recognized; like convicting OJ for armed robbery, like the Oscar to Kidman for "The Hours,"  Susan Lucci for the "Alright, Already!"

Steady, reliably good work is delivered by those who are in it primarily for the purpose of making their folks proud.  Folks who recognize and respect, affirm faith in goodness as its own reward.  It matters less that you carry off a trophy than that you carry off the quality performance, gave it your best, went "ALL IN" for the effort with no regard to the gravy train that has historically followed the winners.

I guess it will be a rematch between the Pats and the Giants today.  I'm again rooting for the Giants, because, deep down, I don't get the New England Blue State / Kennedy-Concessions.  I don't get how a soil that absorbed the blood of the Minute Men can diddle near the fulcrum instead of coming down definitively on one side or the other of the see-saw.  The New England Voter, from Maine to Rhode Island, talks self-determination but votes for slackers.  What's with that?

I wish the New England Voter would get the Butler attitude and just hang in, hang on, hold 'em responsible and discern the truth in their representatives' character.  Bernie Sanders?  Ted Kennedy?  Barney Frank?  Snow and Dukakis?  How is it Kentucky isn't in New England?  You folks don't stand for ANYTHING!  It's ok to look the other way when Belichick and Brady use every edge they can concoct.  It's ok to register Independent yet Vote Democrat 70% of the time.  It's OK, but it's chickenshit!

Martin, while a Pitt graduate and a Pittsburgh native who grew up under the hyper-cycloid stars, made his Mother proud.  Made his hometown friends proud and made his Schools proud.  One of his Schools is that one that stays on purpose.  To avoid trouble and to stay close to his Mom who stuck with him when his dad turned to drugs, Curtis did the right thing each time he was faced with a decision that offered him the choice between taking and giving.  From the School of Fidelity to Purpose, Martin takes his diploma to Canton where he'll remind us to take our satisfaction side by side with the Butler story.  Though it seems no recognition comes your way, turn your resentment at being snubbed into deeply abiding self respect for doing the right thing, for giving part of your best for others to enjoy and for going All In on those things that make your days right.  Jack Butler waited 50 years, but balances the satisfaction that comes with a job done well.  

Bully Pulp - Pretentious Preach

The pressure's on from the Obama camp; a guy who "cancelled" the 2011 National Day of Prayer but observed Ramedan is touting his "Christian" stripe with a slug at those of us who hear Gospel and take a moment to self-examine... the same day a brou-ha-ha erupts over his administration's influence on the distribution of funds for the care of breast cancer patients...

Ask what YOU can do for your Country and the Pretendident will smugly assert that ANYTHING you do for him is the right, moral and religiously relevent thing to do.  I've often compared Obats' insipid reasoning and inability to converse intelligently with the "unconvinced," to 70's Hare Crishnas who marauded airports in gangs, hitting up passers-by for cash elicited via a combination of suckiing you in with a floral offering and pinning you to the most narrow interpretation of your basic decency.

"For me as a Christian, ..." (and aside kudos to Orin Hatch for referring to the Occupant of the Oval Office while calling him out for his "walk on water" over-reach using our Christian and deeply held beliefs as a connection to our will to serve.) this wicked step-sister played the Jesus card to intimidate any who question his caste-in-stone-demand for your money.

It's no wonder the bitter clingers are going deeper inward and tightening down with the guns and churches.  Where the Catholic Church once applauded the feel good dismissive to those who questioned his birth and credentials they now recoil in dismay at the depths to which the Preacher in the bully pulpit would use-em-and-lose-em on the birth control issues.  Manchild recipient of unlimited props and hand-overs  continues to hold court in the shallow, shallow surf of the corporal works of mercy while asserting that the coveting of prosperous members' goods is driven by Christian principles.

Back when the Catholics were first losing their members we heard countless of those "losing their religion" blaming it on the end of their patience with priests who hammered them endlessly for money prompting them to look elsewhere for spiritual guidance.

Like being "rapped" for money, even when you bow heads to pray?  Let's just say, the "Christian" for a prayer day who is also a Muslim on Ramedan and a secularist when in San Francisco (named after a Saint who had his own personal relationship with God) is playing you.  The religious bullying is a gesture too often use by Users who just don't know when to say when.

The Cheshire Grinning Moon

Lisa has found a place in the heavens from where she can encourage me and point the way.  When I ran my early races, it was so comforting to come to the checkpoint guides who reassured me that I was on course and not all alone out in the unknown.  Last night, on the drive home from her funeral, I noticed the waxing crescent moon - grinning at me from behind clouds.  It morphed and yawned, widened and thinned, always slipping in and out from behind clouds.  It was alive with the Smiling-to-me twinkle that gets my attention.  It dawned on me that it was Lisa.  It didn't "dawn" on me, actually.  That would be a Sun thing.  It ?Mooned? on me...or rose on me, waxed or gibbous-ed on me...in any case, it was Lisa letting me know she's in the best place imaginable, and already in touch.  After days of anguished tears processing the shock, the loss, the grief, the disbelief, we parted ways, her parents and me, to go on with our life.  We were together, intensely, for days as we said our goodbyes.  Sunday night, she suffered a massive heart attack and was without oxygen to the brain for too long to be saved.  An organ donor, she was sustained on life support for another 36 hours while the arrangements were made for the recipients.  We sat with her, watching her "breathing" on the respirator, all monitors in the ICU indicating normal activity in her body, but the brain showed no response.  Placid and beautiful, she hovered there with us, mostly gone, but standing by for a few final gestures.

Her fourteen year old daughter, Maria, came to hold her, grieve and accept the unimaginable.  On her Facebook page the night before, she had posted notice that her Mother was on life support, and asked for prayers.  Maria had "unfriended" her grandmother, me, Aunt Mayra and other adults, giving only her peers access to her postings.  Her young cousins, Marissa and Vinnie could only report to their mothers what they couldn't imagine was true!  Maria!  Tell us this is not happening!  But between phone calls and frantic messages, we learned too soon; Maria was posting: "Rest in peace, Mommy."

OMG!

Thus we processed and accepted, alternating between sobs and ok-ness, seeing the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, the nurses busying about with the normal ICU activities, changing the IV, administering anti-biotics, checking vitals and emptying catheters for a body that was flushed with color and life as though with their care, she would revive.  Our hearts and eyes saw this ritual, but our minds knew she was already gone.  It was a see-saw of emotions; we intermittently chatted as visitors to a patient's bedside, only to be reminded she was not a patient as family members arrived, tearfully collapsing at the sight of her, so beautiful and placid, her long hair cascading across the pillow.  

Under the management of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education personnel, Lisa had transitioned to Donor.  Knowing her decision to give of herself so that others might live on gave her mother and dad comfort, and they respected her wishes.  Noble though it was, however, the questions of arrangements couldn't be made until the recovery surgeries had taken place.  So we marked in our journal that our beloved little girl was 

Lisa Jo Norelli Tosi 

September 19, 1971

January 22,23,24, 2012

To reflect that she had suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday night, was sustained on life support through Monday in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Washington County and regulations of the hospital pending re-confirming neurological tests, and yet not declared "deceased" until 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, when those tests confirmed what no miracle could reverse.  We allowed ourselves to process by degree, finally and agonizingly. 

Didn't we just do this not six weeks ago when we buried our Mom, Helen?  The same Friends and Family members came to share their sorrow and respect.  Lisa had been at the bedside of her fiance's grandmother, caring for the 93 year old until she passed.  A few days later, her own grandmother came home and Lisa moved in with her folks to care for her through her final days.  Mom passed on December 4, and at her wake, Lisa hugged the very people who came to mourn her yesterday.  How much grief!  How could this be?  God be with us and comfort us.  Family in Faith, together, being there for each other.   

She was a young woman with a "take no prisoners" attitude and an astute awareness of a soul in  need of her help.  When Lisa Jo was around, we knew it.  Her voice carried with an unmistakable "Alpha" vibe that conveyed self-esteem and confidence, and at the same time, one that moved readily into laughter.  With her eyes and her tone, Lisa could make you wonder "What's got her so riled up?" and yet, moments later, she'd make a wry observation from the other side of the universe and with her eyes and her smile, whatever it was that she had just so passionately asserted, she was dismissing with amusement.

A little bit irreverent, a little bit the Classic Italian Matriarch, Lisa was the quintessential Big Sister who delivered her statements with authority and intensity and then might just as convincingly erupt in deprecating laughter at the situation and find the most innocent fun in it.

This little girl understood feelings and how people responded to attention and interest.  From an early age, she developed her relationship skills, burnishing an already intense drive to provide caring and comfort.  Adding to her nurses training, and practical understanding of healthcare, Lisa was a dedicated provider and advocate who thrived on helping others.  In the hours during which we kept vigil at her bedside, we came to accept, minute by minute, that her life was about what she could do for you.  Never caring for material things, Lisa found her bliss in results.  She manifested kindness to those who needed a bit of encouragement, a gentle touch, a reassuring promise and steadfast tendency to break into a grin, them bubble with a giggle that grew into a full-blown belly laugh at how just regular folk we all can be.

Today and for many years to come, she lives on in those to whom she bequeathed what was hers alone to give, her greatest gift, herself.  Her heart-broken parents, Ernie & Joe, navigated the hours of accepting the loss of their daughter with the realization that Lisa's life, as we knew her, has acquired even greater reach and dimension in those she has helped live on.  Her daughter, Maria, will always be able to hear her voice speaking to her from within: no greater champion can you expect to find.  Those of us who knew her will, no doubt, miss her loving greetings and affectionate "Good Byes" can take comfort in the happiness of those who awaited her in heaven who are now greeting her with open arms and a wink for our "too smart," sassy, Lisa Jo.  In a week when Heaven called home Etta James and Joe Paterno, a lesser-known dynamo made the grade and tapped the bell on her way through the gate.  To all her cousins, classmates, friends and colleagues who share our grief and sense of loss, I can only offer this comfort:  Lisa has taken her caring to the next level.  Thank each of you for affirming what a World Class Spirit she is and what an unfailing gift her life was to all of us.

Through the sadness of the week, the sense of something very nice coming was ever present.  Tara will have a little girl in a few months, as we learned the same day Lisa passed.  Michelle dropped her custody challenge and brought Nicholas to be with his Family during this difficult time.  Fran found her own way to the gatherings with a GPS and determination, and Mary Ellen and Cil came with courage driving them past the difficulties following Mom's funeral.  In Joe's newly-finished basement, we toasted Lisa, shed those final tears and prepared for life without her.

It was only on the drive home that I thought about the Cheshire Cat grinning from the tree branch, then the clouds, then through the roof tops at "Alis"  (Lisa with the A moved to the beginning) and I look forward to writing with you.  I know you would have made a great saleswoman.  I'm sorry we couldn't see that in time to intervene.  We let Maria catch the plane with Anthony to spend a week in Florida with Aunt Mayra, away from the pressures of her loss.  Her tattoo'd, pierced, bejeweled gay friends kept her distracted, but could not obscure Maria's realization of the mountain of floral tributes sent by so many to offer condolences.  She had enjoyed quality time with her mother and Nana during three days of recovery from surgery last week after which she withdrew from Ringgold and planned to enroll at Belle Vernon again, moving back home with Nana & Pap.  It was coming together.  But for now, something nice is making a pattern.  To prove it's impending arrival, it smiled to me through the night sky, saying, "Hi."  Remember Frankie crying to Nicole and Sammy that they're the Big Girls now.  They're not ready to be the Big Girls.  Smile on them, Cousin Lisa.  Point the way.