No More Birthday Cupcakes!

Photo credit: http://www.hubbo.com/images/birthday-cake.jpg

Okay. I'm bugged by the local school system's recent announcement that its elementary school children can no longer bring in cupcakes for their classmates to celebrate their birthdays with them! Why, you ask?

Well, because the Nazi School Administration is sticking its nose into personal lives again! The local administration believes that too many children are gaining too much weight. Yep, that's the reason! They're admitting to it. And I guess they've decided that the children will automatically lose that weight if birthday cupcakes are nixed in school. As if this is ANY of their business!

The real fault probably lies in home lifestyles, not in school birthday cupcakes. It would seem to me that nothing will change if this is so. (And, as if it needs to change.)

Too many parents pick up their kids after a full day's work stopping for restaurant or fast food for dinner--over which they have little control of its nutrition. Or they have established a habit of rewarding the kids for good behavior with sweets, or, on the opposite side, they may make sweets off-limits entirely (causing them to feel deprived and like they should gobble up every sweet they see because there may never be another opportunity). Or maybe the kids don't get enough outdoor exercise. Or maybe they sit in front of computer games and television more than they probably should. But this school has decided to "fix" its students' weight problems by cutting out birthday cupcakes!

What in the world will these kids have to put up with next? What could be worse than idiot adults making crazy arbitrary decisions based on their prejudices against overweight children.

I wish they would spend their efforts teaching children math, English, science, and how to be good, happy citizens--that's Citizenship for you youngsters. They USED to teach that in school. It was a very good subject. Taught alot about personal responsibility and government. 'Course if they learned that maybe they'd figure out a way within the system to get this rule reversed!

How special can a birthday party be with only pretzel snacks or gold fish for all?

What the 'Devil' Is Chavez Doing?

Cartoon Credit: Cox and Forkum along with excellent insights.
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Ripped from my blog masthead: "Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power."--George Bernard Shaw
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Have you been hearing all the hoopla about Chavez and his antics in NYC? Well, just read Rangel, Pelosi, and Fattah's comments below. Others including Chuck Schumer have made similar remarks publicly too.

It's almost worth allowing the lying Chavez loose in the Big Apple in order to hear all the Dems rush to heartily support our Country and our President--even if it's under the, "We can trash him all we want, but you can't come into our house and trash our President" rules.

Fattah speaks with forked-tongue. He made an oil deal with the devil Chavez last winter to receive 50 million gallons at reduced rates for the poor in Philadelphia.

Do the Dems have ANY street cred? They are soooo convincing in their admiration for our President in today's media. They were equally convincing over the past couple of years saying the exact same things that Chavez has been quoted saying.

Granted Chavez wants to start a US revolution of the disenfranchised in order to undermine the US government--as if it's never been run in the hot, hot, hot, Venezuelan way. The kind of way where you can rescind a coup against your administration from inside a tank, and where a third of your population is ten times needier than Americans in Harlem in the winter.

If this ruski-shirted girly man will:

.travel around the world with a purpose of bonding with the leaders of Cuba, Syria, North Korea, Russia, China, and Iran to lobby for a UN seat, and then

.come into our Country and behave like an arrogant teenager on crack who wants to rile the population against its President, and,

.if the Democrats who have never demonstrated anything but dislike for our President, are falling over themselves to leave as much distance as possible between themselves and the verbose Chavez,

you have to take the situation seriously. Moreover, the Democrats are apparently scared sh**less. Could the public think that they are as wacko as Hugo? Could voters be thinking so this close to mid-term election time? Whoo Hoo! Short leap for a voter who's watching even a little TV.

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Rangel to Chavez: 'You Don't Condemn My President'
By Melanie Hunter, CNSNews.com Senior Editor
September 21, 2006

(1st Add: Includes comments from Rep. Chaka Fattah.)

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), in response to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's comments about President Bush Wednesday, said he is personally offended.

During a speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Chavez said "the devil himself is right in the house," referring to President Bush, who spoke before the world body a day earlier. "Yesterday the devil came here - right here, right here - and it smells of sulfur still today," Chavez added.

But Rangel said neither Chavez nor any other president can come to the United States "and think because we have a problem with our president" that they can denigrate the president and Americans will not be offended.

"You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district, and you don't condemn my president. If there's any criticism of President Bush, it should be restricted to Americans - whether we voted for him or not," Rangel said.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also condemned Chavez's comments at a press conference Thursday.

"Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern day Simon Bolivar but all he is an everyday thug," said Pelosi, referring to Bolivar, who led the fight for independence against Spanish rule in several South American countries during the early century.

Hugo Chavez abused the privilege that he had, speaking at the United Nations," said Pelosi, adding that Chavez "demeaned himself and he demeaned Venezuela."

"The statements of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela at the United Nations in New York yesterday were intemperate and inappropriate," said Rep. Chaka Fattah in a statement.

"His differences with United States policies are well-known, and the United Nations is a forum for airing such policy concerns. But his personal attacks and ridicule directed at the President of the United States are unacceptable," said Fattah.


Copyright 1998-2006 Cybercast News Service

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See Earlier Stories:
Muted Reaction to Hugo Chavez's Outburst (Sept. 21, 2006)
Bush Is A Devil, Chavez Says, Echoing Some in US (Sept. 20, 2006)

Also see YouTube video (below) about Chavez's own coup.

Hugo Chavez Comes To Power

Venezuela Urgente

The Monsters and The Weak

The Pope spoke only facts in an academic environment. The President spoke passionately, even eloquently, before the bizarro-world UN body. Both spoke bravely because they also spoke truth. Our enemy fears the truth. Yet, it is our strongest weapon against them. Free people need to continue to courageously pull back the curtain and reveal the truth to those who will hear it.

The enemy will fight hardest and most viciously when it is most afraid. We can expect to have to defend ourselves from those who fear us. They are convinced that they have a religious imperative to do evil things in the name of their Allah. There will be no changing their minds from this conviction. They must be overcome. Or we will be overcome. They have promised us this repeatedly and it's as simple as that. It is a somber time on Earth.

This poem was written by a Marine.

Monsters and the Weak by Michael Marks

The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.
The mid-day air ran thick with dust, my throat was parched and dry.

With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,
I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear, "Stay low!"

My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,
the figure stretched across the rubble, steps away from me.

He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of grey and brown,
that hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.

He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,
but pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.

"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,
"beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device."

A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,
"You think he's gonna set it off along the crowded street?"

The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,
unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."

A thunderclap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered;
while citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.

Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,
The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.

And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,
instead he pulled a logbook out and quietly he wrote.

"Hey, I could put you on TV, that shot was quite a story!"
But he surprised me once again -- "I got no wish for glory."

"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"
He looked at me with saddened eyes and said, "You just don't get it."

"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?
before a mortar hit, it used to be a grocery store."

"But don't go thinking that to bomb a store is all that cruel,
the rubble just across the street -- it used to be a school."

"The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"
His head hung low, "They never thought a car would just explode."

"As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"
He swallowed hard, the words came from his mouth just like a curse.

"Today the fight's on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,
I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fight's back at home."

"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,
don't wanna get a call from school that says my daughter died."

" I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,
nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."

"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,
I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."

He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,
"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."

"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin;
that most of us are OK and we're coming home again."

"And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,
how when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."

"You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,
without the fear that tyranny is just a step behind;"

"Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,
or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."

He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,
then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added;

"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,
that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak."

by Michael Marks, A Marine, January 25, 2006

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Read more Here, Here, and Here.

President's speech text: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040921-3.html

Pope Benedict's address text: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=46474

We Will Never Forget Hector Tamayo

Let's never forget all those who died on 9-11-01. Among them was Hector Tamayo, age 51. He was a resident of New York, N.Y. (USA) who was killed in the World Trade Center on that day.

His NY Times obituary (link here) said that:

Hector Tamayo loved to sing: Engelbert Humperdinck and Elton John, country music and campfire favorites, especially the one that begins, "Today, while the blossom still clings to the vine . . ."

At home in Holliswood, Queens, he had a karaoke machine with thousands of songs. "He had a lot of friends, most of them are relatives, and on Friday nights and Saturday nights and sometimes weeknights they would drink together and sing together," said his sister-in-law, Sylvia Mercene.

Many of those relatives lived with Mr. Tamayo at some point, because he opened his house to family and friends when they came to the United States from Aklan province in the Philippines, as he had in 1980. "As a joke we call his house the Ellis Island," Ms. Mercene said. Five of his six siblings are now in the United States, as are his wife, Evelyn, and their two children, Ian, 20, and Pamela, 16.

A civil engineer, Mr. Tamayo, 51, was working in 2 World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

His family remembers him as a happy person who loved jokes, his family and, of course, to sing: "A million tomorrows will all pass away/Ere I forget all the joys that were mine today."

We send our prayers to Hector's wife, children, siblings, and many friends--losing a loved one never gets easier. Always hold your memories of Hector close in your heart.

We signed up August 4 for the 2996 Tribute Project honoring the 9/11 victims. We were the 1286th blogger to do so. You can still join too and honor one of those who died that day. A month ago less than half of the victims were spoken for, but today all will have at least one tribute and some have more than one. Bloggers can still sign up HERE.

We are honored to be posting about Hector Tamayo's all too-short, but powerful life this September 11, 2006. We will continue to honor Hector and all who lost their lives 5 years ago--leaving their loved ones behind all too soon. Godspeed, Hector, you will always be remembered with love and thanksgiving...and with a smile while thinking of the joy you brought to those who knew you.


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Related Sites Mentioning Hector Tamayo:

9/11 Victims List: Hector Tamayo

NY Times obituary

9-11 Heroes Memorial Site for Hector

9-11 Tribute Site and Database

Filipino Reporter article which mentions the loss of Hector Tamayo's life

September11thMemorial.com list