July 25, 2006
True Love
Two elderly people were living in a mobile home park in Florida. He was a widower and she was a widow. They had known one another for a number of years. One evening there was a community supper in the Club House, and the widower and widow made a foursome with two other singles. They had a wonderful evening and the widower sent a few admiring glances across the table, and the widow smiled coyly back at him. Finally, he plucked up his courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"
After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes. Yes, I will. "
The meal ended with a few more pleasant exchanges and they went to their respective homes.
The next morning, the widower was troubled. Did she say 'Yes' or did she say 'No'? He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank. He remembered asking the question, but for the life of him he could not recall her response.
With fear and trepidation, he picked up the phone and called her. First, he explained that he didn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say 'Yes' or did you say 'No'?
"Why, you silly man, I said 'Yes. Yes I will.' And I meant it with all my heart. "
The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat. Then she continued, "And I am so glad you called because I couldn't remember who asked me."
--------------------------
The rate of homeownership in America now stands a record high of 68.4 percent.
---------------------------
How Much Is That?
Cost of cars: If we wanted to consider the costs of the Model T using today's prices we would find that the $850 cost in 1908 is $17,900 in today's prices using the CPI.
http://eh.net/hmit/compare/ (this is a pretty neat website)
Disney lay-offs mean R-rated films out
July 21, 2006 Famed family-film maker Disney is headed back to its roots, with confirmation yesterday of cuts of 650 employees that will include a phase-out of its R-rated movies.
Oren Aviv, newly appointed president of production at Walt Disney Pictures, told the Hollywood Reporter that the company's coming productions will be along the lines of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Chronicles of Narnia," "National Treasure" and "Miracle."
"If it's a great idea and it's done with quality and care, then it qualifies to be a Disney movie," he told the newspaper.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51167
Housing downturn 'appears orderly'
7/20/2006 WASHINGTON — Softening in the housing market has been gradual and has been marked by little increase in mortgage delinquencies or home foreclosures, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.
"The downturn in the housing market so far appears orderly," Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee. "The level of (housing) activity is still relatively high on a historical basis."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2006-07-20-bernanke-housing_x.htm
Judge stops irrigation project over possibly extinct bird
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A woodpecker that may or may not exist has brought a temporary halt to an Arkansas irrigation project.
A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the 320 million-dollar plan because it may wipe out a habitat for the ivory-billed woodpecker -- which scientists thought was extinct.
Hopes that the woodpecker might still exist were raised when a kayaker reported spotting one in 2004. Avid bird-watchers flocked to the White River area, but couldn't find proof of the bird's existence.
The federal judge says, for the purposes of the lawsuit, he has to presume the woodpecker exists. And he says federal agencies may have broken the nation's endangered species laws by dismissing the possibility.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=5176173&nav=0RYb
If we’ve gotten along this long without that woodpecker…
Tiny jumping mouse may trump developers
July 24, 2006 A tiny mouse vying for survival in the Rocky Mountains may have gained an upper hand over Western developers.
Scientists hired to review contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies, limited to parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute would help justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The mouse uses its 6-inch tail and strong hind legs to jump a foot and a half in the air.
Fish and Wildlife is expected to decide by early August whether the mouse should stay on the endangered species list. The decision affects nearly 31,000 acres designated as critical habitat to help the mouse recover. Its population has dwindled to an average of 44 mice per mile of stream.
(the question not asked: is there any benefit to this mouse? Most people I know try to kill mice...)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NATION/607240365/1020
USHCN Temperature Record of the Week: Milledgeville, GA
This issue's temperature record of the week is from Milledgeville, GA. During the period of most significant greenhouse gas buildup over the past century, i.e., 1930 and onward, Milledgeville's mean annual temperature has cooled by 1.15 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much global warming here!http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/data/ushcn/stationoftheweek.jsp
Excuse me, can you tell me the way to Disneyland?
…Iran has been quite busy in Lebanon of late. The Lebanese Tourism Ministry’s Research Center announced an amazing statistic in early July: in the first six months of the year, 60,888 Iranian tourists visited Lebanon. No other Asian country came close (the Philippines ranked second, with a bit over 12,000). I don’t think that there’s enough disposable income in mullahland to cover the expenses of more than ten thousand people a month headed for the Beirut beaches. Do you think, as I do, that a goodly number of those “tourists” were up to no good? Maybe some of them were working for the Revolutionary Guards Corps? Or were Hezbollah operations people? I’ll bet you your favorite farm that one of them was the world’s most wanted man, Imad Mughniyah, the operations chieftain of Hizbollah, the world’s most lethal terrorist organization.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDE4MDA3NDUyYjA0ZGY1MzQ4NjM5NjM1MWY4NDVkZGM=
BBC Admits Many Lebanese Casualties are Terrorists
Jul 23, '06 / 27 Tammuz 5766(IsraelNN.com) The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has admitted that many of the victims of Israeli retaliation in Lebanon are terrorists and not innocent civilians. A BBC reporter said he saw Hizbullah terrorists using a private home and added, "It is difficult to quantify who is a terrorist and who is a civilian."
Media reports have emphasized that Israeli air strikes have killed more than 350 Lebanese civilians, prompting accusations that the IDF is carrying out "collective punishment" on the country
http://arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=108122
Iran leader asks Merkel for help on Zionism -German official
20 Jul 2006 BERLIN, July 20 - A letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism, a German government official said on Thursday...
"It's all related to Germany and how we have to find a solution to the Palestinian problems and Zionism and so on. It's rather weird," the official, who has seen the letter, said.
...Berlin's relations with Ahmadinejad have been complicated by his denial of the Holocaust, in which Germany's Nazi regime killed six million Jews, and his call for Israel to be wiped off the map.
…In February, Merkel compared Ahmadinejad's statements and stance to Adolf Hitler's rise to power when he and his Nazi party began threatening to exterminate European Jewry.
"Remember that in 1933 many people said it was just rhetoric," Merkel said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20811361.htm
Hezbollah trained for 6 years, dug deep bunkers
July 21, 2006 JERUSALEM -- Hezbollah has dug dozens of bunkers in the difficult hill country in Lebanon close to the Israeli border, some as much as 130 feet deep, from which fighters can emerge at night for forays against Israeli positions, according to Israeli military officers.
Numerous mines have been planted by Hezbollah against personnel and armor, and their mortar squads have the area zeroed in.
According to Israeli intelligence sources cited in newspaper reports, the bunkers were dug deep apparently to withstand the bunker-buster bombs such as the ones Israel dropped on suspected Hezbollah bunkers this week.
"They've been preparing for this battle for six years, ever since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon," a senior Israeli officer said.
When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, it was after years of skirmishing with Hezbollah... Since then, thousands of Hezbollah fighters have undergone training in Iran, which has also provided Hezbollah advanced armaments as well as intelligence and communications capabilities it did not have previously.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060720-095532-3181r.htm
Iran squeezed paying for refined products
Iran makes money every time oil prices go up, giving it an incentive to keep turmoil roiling, and keep oil prices at terror-threat levels. But Iran also imports 40% of its refined products. And those imports keep going up in price too, and are underwritten by huge government subsidies, to keep Iranians happy behind the wheels of their cars. Domestic gasoline prices are a fraction of actual cost at world levels.
Accordingly, Iran is dipping into reserves (fattened by high oil prices) to pay for refined imports (also driven up in price) and keep domestic prices low.
Unchanged is the strategic vulnerability of Iran to a cutoff of refined products imports.http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5632
U.S. Successfully Completes Missile Test
Jul 20, VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early Thursday.
The Minuteman III dummy warheads were fired at 3:14 a.m. and traveled about 4,200 miles before hitting a water target in the Marshall Islands.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSILE_LAUNCH?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-07-20-08-49-31
Having accomplished their mission of taking our society down a few more steep steps along the slippery slope...
Same-sex marriage pioneers separate
July 20, 2006 BOSTON — The lesbian couple whose lawsuit led to legal same-sex marriage in Massachusetts have announced they have separated. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4061953.html
what about Katie?
Katie Couric, who takes over the CBS Evening News in September told Access Hollywood that at this point, she would not venture into the Middle East hot spot.
"I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing," Katie said.http://www.accesshollywood.com/television/ah950.shtml
I guess she can't handle being a "real journalist".
Senate Committee: Brokaw's Objectivity Compromised In Global Warming SpecialU.S. Senate Comm. on Env & Public Works
7/12/6
Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw’s lack of objectivity and balance on the issue of global warming appears to have tainted his upcoming Discovery Channel documentary called: “Global Warming: What You Need To Know” airing on July 16.
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=258440
Pictures of pro-Hezbollah rallies in the world
http://precaution.ch/wp/?p=57
Inside Hezbollah in pictures, Time Magazine, last August:
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_hizballah/
David Bennett <><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
Two elderly people were living in a mobile home park in Florida. He was a widower and she was a widow. They had known one another for a number of years. One evening there was a community supper in the Club House, and the widower and widow made a foursome with two other singles. They had a wonderful evening and the widower sent a few admiring glances across the table, and the widow smiled coyly back at him. Finally, he plucked up his courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"
After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes. Yes, I will. "
The meal ended with a few more pleasant exchanges and they went to their respective homes.
The next morning, the widower was troubled. Did she say 'Yes' or did she say 'No'? He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank. He remembered asking the question, but for the life of him he could not recall her response.
With fear and trepidation, he picked up the phone and called her. First, he explained that he didn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say 'Yes' or did you say 'No'?
"Why, you silly man, I said 'Yes. Yes I will.' And I meant it with all my heart. "
The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat. Then she continued, "And I am so glad you called because I couldn't remember who asked me."
--------------------------
The rate of homeownership in America now stands a record high of 68.4 percent.
---------------------------
How Much Is That?
Cost of cars: If we wanted to consider the costs of the Model T using today's prices we would find that the $850 cost in 1908 is $17,900 in today's prices using the CPI.
http://eh.net/hmit/compare/ (this is a pretty neat website)
Disney lay-offs mean R-rated films out
July 21, 2006 Famed family-film maker Disney is headed back to its roots, with confirmation yesterday of cuts of 650 employees that will include a phase-out of its R-rated movies.
Oren Aviv, newly appointed president of production at Walt Disney Pictures, told the Hollywood Reporter that the company's coming productions will be along the lines of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Chronicles of Narnia," "National Treasure" and "Miracle."
"If it's a great idea and it's done with quality and care, then it qualifies to be a Disney movie," he told the newspaper.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51167
Housing downturn 'appears orderly'
7/20/2006 WASHINGTON — Softening in the housing market has been gradual and has been marked by little increase in mortgage delinquencies or home foreclosures, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.
"The downturn in the housing market so far appears orderly," Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee. "The level of (housing) activity is still relatively high on a historical basis."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2006-07-20-bernanke-housing_x.htm
Judge stops irrigation project over possibly extinct bird
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A woodpecker that may or may not exist has brought a temporary halt to an Arkansas irrigation project.
A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the 320 million-dollar plan because it may wipe out a habitat for the ivory-billed woodpecker -- which scientists thought was extinct.
Hopes that the woodpecker might still exist were raised when a kayaker reported spotting one in 2004. Avid bird-watchers flocked to the White River area, but couldn't find proof of the bird's existence.
The federal judge says, for the purposes of the lawsuit, he has to presume the woodpecker exists. And he says federal agencies may have broken the nation's endangered species laws by dismissing the possibility.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=5176173&nav=0RYb
If we’ve gotten along this long without that woodpecker…
Tiny jumping mouse may trump developers
July 24, 2006 A tiny mouse vying for survival in the Rocky Mountains may have gained an upper hand over Western developers.
Scientists hired to review contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies, limited to parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute would help justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The mouse uses its 6-inch tail and strong hind legs to jump a foot and a half in the air.
Fish and Wildlife is expected to decide by early August whether the mouse should stay on the endangered species list. The decision affects nearly 31,000 acres designated as critical habitat to help the mouse recover. Its population has dwindled to an average of 44 mice per mile of stream.
(the question not asked: is there any benefit to this mouse? Most people I know try to kill mice...)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NATION/607240365/1020
USHCN Temperature Record of the Week: Milledgeville, GA
This issue's temperature record of the week is from Milledgeville, GA. During the period of most significant greenhouse gas buildup over the past century, i.e., 1930 and onward, Milledgeville's mean annual temperature has cooled by 1.15 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much global warming here!http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/data/ushcn/stationoftheweek.jsp
Excuse me, can you tell me the way to Disneyland?
…Iran has been quite busy in Lebanon of late. The Lebanese Tourism Ministry’s Research Center announced an amazing statistic in early July: in the first six months of the year, 60,888 Iranian tourists visited Lebanon. No other Asian country came close (the Philippines ranked second, with a bit over 12,000). I don’t think that there’s enough disposable income in mullahland to cover the expenses of more than ten thousand people a month headed for the Beirut beaches. Do you think, as I do, that a goodly number of those “tourists” were up to no good? Maybe some of them were working for the Revolutionary Guards Corps? Or were Hezbollah operations people? I’ll bet you your favorite farm that one of them was the world’s most wanted man, Imad Mughniyah, the operations chieftain of Hizbollah, the world’s most lethal terrorist organization.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDE4MDA3NDUyYjA0ZGY1MzQ4NjM5NjM1MWY4NDVkZGM=
BBC Admits Many Lebanese Casualties are Terrorists
Jul 23, '06 / 27 Tammuz 5766(IsraelNN.com) The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has admitted that many of the victims of Israeli retaliation in Lebanon are terrorists and not innocent civilians. A BBC reporter said he saw Hizbullah terrorists using a private home and added, "It is difficult to quantify who is a terrorist and who is a civilian."
Media reports have emphasized that Israeli air strikes have killed more than 350 Lebanese civilians, prompting accusations that the IDF is carrying out "collective punishment" on the country
http://arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=108122
Iran leader asks Merkel for help on Zionism -German official
20 Jul 2006 BERLIN, July 20 - A letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism, a German government official said on Thursday...
"It's all related to Germany and how we have to find a solution to the Palestinian problems and Zionism and so on. It's rather weird," the official, who has seen the letter, said.
...Berlin's relations with Ahmadinejad have been complicated by his denial of the Holocaust, in which Germany's Nazi regime killed six million Jews, and his call for Israel to be wiped off the map.
…In February, Merkel compared Ahmadinejad's statements and stance to Adolf Hitler's rise to power when he and his Nazi party began threatening to exterminate European Jewry.
"Remember that in 1933 many people said it was just rhetoric," Merkel said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20811361.htm
Hezbollah trained for 6 years, dug deep bunkers
July 21, 2006 JERUSALEM -- Hezbollah has dug dozens of bunkers in the difficult hill country in Lebanon close to the Israeli border, some as much as 130 feet deep, from which fighters can emerge at night for forays against Israeli positions, according to Israeli military officers.
Numerous mines have been planted by Hezbollah against personnel and armor, and their mortar squads have the area zeroed in.
According to Israeli intelligence sources cited in newspaper reports, the bunkers were dug deep apparently to withstand the bunker-buster bombs such as the ones Israel dropped on suspected Hezbollah bunkers this week.
"They've been preparing for this battle for six years, ever since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon," a senior Israeli officer said.
When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, it was after years of skirmishing with Hezbollah... Since then, thousands of Hezbollah fighters have undergone training in Iran, which has also provided Hezbollah advanced armaments as well as intelligence and communications capabilities it did not have previously.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060720-095532-3181r.htm
Iran squeezed paying for refined products
Iran makes money every time oil prices go up, giving it an incentive to keep turmoil roiling, and keep oil prices at terror-threat levels. But Iran also imports 40% of its refined products. And those imports keep going up in price too, and are underwritten by huge government subsidies, to keep Iranians happy behind the wheels of their cars. Domestic gasoline prices are a fraction of actual cost at world levels.
Accordingly, Iran is dipping into reserves (fattened by high oil prices) to pay for refined imports (also driven up in price) and keep domestic prices low.
Unchanged is the strategic vulnerability of Iran to a cutoff of refined products imports.http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5632
U.S. Successfully Completes Missile Test
Jul 20, VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early Thursday.
The Minuteman III dummy warheads were fired at 3:14 a.m. and traveled about 4,200 miles before hitting a water target in the Marshall Islands.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSILE_LAUNCH?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-07-20-08-49-31
Having accomplished their mission of taking our society down a few more steep steps along the slippery slope...
Same-sex marriage pioneers separate
July 20, 2006 BOSTON — The lesbian couple whose lawsuit led to legal same-sex marriage in Massachusetts have announced they have separated. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4061953.html
what about Katie?
Katie Couric, who takes over the CBS Evening News in September told Access Hollywood that at this point, she would not venture into the Middle East hot spot.
"I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing," Katie said.http://www.accesshollywood.com/television/ah950.shtml
I guess she can't handle being a "real journalist".
Senate Committee: Brokaw's Objectivity Compromised In Global Warming SpecialU.S. Senate Comm. on Env & Public Works
7/12/6
Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw’s lack of objectivity and balance on the issue of global warming appears to have tainted his upcoming Discovery Channel documentary called: “Global Warming: What You Need To Know” airing on July 16.
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=258440
Pictures of pro-Hezbollah rallies in the world
http://precaution.ch/wp/?p=57
Inside Hezbollah in pictures, Time Magazine, last August:
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_hizballah/
David Bennett <><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
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