JERKWATER TRAIN

Democracy in the Middle East? What a bloody joke. Is it plausible that the Arabs, most of them, will change their ancient ways of thousands of years (e.g., culture, values, religion) and embrace western democracy? Never. They're going back to the seventh century. And for a simple but powerful reason: Islamic democracy is an oxymoron. For instance, look at Tunis, Egypt, and Libya, where are they going? They want the fiendish Sharia Law: polygamy, amputations, lashings, denial of religious freedoms for their outclassed minorities, and more - not less - oppression of women. The Arabs haven't the slightest idea of what democracy means. Don't expect much from this so-called Arab Spring, a will-o'-the-wisp. Once the Arabs, most of them, dwell in the seventh century for another thousand years, they just might realize that no one else is still left here on Earth, so to speak, but themselves. And then they will, perhaps, figure out the meaning of democracy: freedom of actio

I am at a loss of words, words to describe my fondness of women. Women, the scent of the goodness of this earth, are the vehicles of life and sustenance. The givers, the nurtures, the mothers, the sisters, the daughters, the wives, I cherish them all. They spend their lives giving comfort to others. It's time, had been time, for the men to do right by women.

"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars. Yes, an end to this brutal,   inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between Governments. The once powerful malignant Nazi state is crumbling; the Japanese warlords are receiving in their homelands the retribution for which they asked when they attacked Pearl Harbor. But the mere conquest of our enemies is not enough; we must go on to do all in our power to conquer the doubts and the fears, the ignorance and the greed, which made this horror possible."  -Franklin D. Rosevelt

These AARP guys got confused, mixing fiction and non-fiction: Trying out their script lines. I don't buy it. Here is the problem: The government, in its pursuit to keep us safe, has thousands of people looking for terrorists, but they can't find any; so, they go fishing, and when they find someone willing to taste the bait they hook him. Don't come after me now.

Every time a dictator falls I hope, a hopeless hope I know, for one thing: That his people would show him mercy and forgiveness, which he'd never shown to his own people. Instead, to my disappointment, they always show the animalistic vengeful side of human nature. Dark.

My intentions are never to cloy your ear. My dulcet tones are not for your heart to fear. My words are evocative but quite sincere. And if my words don’t please you dear, I ask you to forgive me in the future near.

It can take about 20 minutes for your brain to tell you your stomach is full. If you are a fast eater, British Medical Journal recommends consider slowing your pace. People who eat quickly are more likely to be overweight. … And I am not an expert on how to shrink a big stomach back to a normal size.

My family has been enjoying this treat for years; and I want to share it with you so you may enjoy it, too. You can make this recipe into fried bread or pancake by varying the amount of water you add to the mix. Bannock (or as I call it fried bread) is a non-yeast bread that can be baked for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Six cups of the mix make 12 servings. For my family of 6,  I make half a recipe. 6 cups flour 2 cups corn meal 2 cups oats 1 cup bran 1 cup rye of whole wheat flour 1 cup almond flour (optional) ¾ cup powdered milk 6 tablespoons baking powder 1 tablespoon sea salt 6 tablespoons shortening cut into the dry ingredients 5 ½ cups water (you want the dough to be semi-wet but not too wet) Canola oil for frying In a bowl mix all the ingredients and add enough water to make a thick, wet dough (the wetter the dough, the softer the bread). Cut the dough into small balls and flatten it  on a cutting board using a roller (add flour to the board to avoid sti

The root cause for the Saudi woman suffrage  i s that they’re too shy and submissive. STOP BEING TOO SHY. Show your faces! Saudi  women: To be taken seriously, show your faces and use your real names when using social media: Be brave and have no fear of men. As along as you rely on the charity of the "beloved" king, you will always suffer. Where is your impatient pride? What fear? What the hell are they going to do to you? What are you afraid of? Take to the streets!

Do you ever wonder about how the majority of countries around the world have not produced a thing of significance in the last 500 years? 195 countries, except for a handful or so, are just hanging out in their pajamas, slipping off into woolgathering , looking on with interest. Now imagine the world without America in it … how desperate it would be.

This morning I was looking forward to drinking my coffee before I had got on with doing what needs to be done to make a living and before my coffee maker had exploded spewing coffee grains all over my wife’s kitchen. The lesson learned : If you forget putting the coffee grains in the coffee maker, unless you like to confirm this mishap and let us know how things go, don’t reuse that same hot water, it’s too hot for the coffee maker to handle (at least my coffee maker). And here is a recent development: Zachary Khelah confirmed this experiment, and the results were just as deadly.

Are you excited about the GOP presidential candidates? I don’t know about you, but I am not . You’ve got the Just-For-Men Mitt and the born-again-christian Texan (we’ve seen that movie before) who says we must not appease the Palestinians (he means the Nazis) and neckless Newt  and the very black guy (forgot his name) who wants to replace the not so very black guy, and the old doc who’s been in politics for a while but hasn’t cured a patient yet and wants to abolish the government, and Michelle who lives few miles down the road from me (and wouldn’t  it be nice to have a pretty gal president from MN, eh? but not Michelle, oh god no, not Michelle), and some others whom I don’t care about - and now they’re thinking about bringing in the model from NJ (at least the ladies might find him more appealing than neckless Newt, I don’t know). … After all, Michelle,  a terrific lady, may not need start packing.

The Iranian president Ahmadinjad, whom I will refer to as the apostle of ignorance, had offended almost all the UN delegates, whereupon many walked out on him. It was not his speech, bloody nonsense, that caused the uproar in NY, but rather was his reek. When the apostle of ignorance was asked by a reporter about the overpowering stench that seems to follow him wherever he went, he went on to say, that it was the mischievous Amerrikkans, who were behind his hygiene troubles. The reporter was preplexed, what do mean by that, sir? You see, the Amerrikkans had deployed thousands upon thousands of cockroaches equipped with tiny receivers, made of nuclear waste, terrible terrible things, to spy on the good people of Iran, and those cockroaches polluted the water of Iran and turned it into a yellowish, brackish, smelly water. And, he continued to say, no matter how many baths I take, I still stink.  . . .  Nobody has the right to act like a God-damned idiot, or to treat people like dirt.

Friends, Your donations not only signify a sense of generosity but also a sense of hope in the struggle against autism. I have already exceeded my fundraising goal of $100. Thank you. Click Here to Donate My Thermometer Click Here to Donate My Team's Thermometer Click Here to Donate Walk Now For Autism Speaks, Minnesota Thermometer Click Here to Donate

The kids, in wondrous attention, came upon this turtle laying her eggs, by the pond next to our house, and were captivated by the spectacle. Based on my research,  Minnesota DNR , I think this is a  Blanding's  turtle; though I am not that confident.  My interest in turtles has soared since I saw her laying eggs. Now I must identify the turtle's type - with confidence - so I can know the length of incubation. Waiting to see baby turtles come out of the the ground will be too long, 45 to 90 days depending on the type. If this is not a  Blanding's turtle , reader, please let me know. I'll keep you posted. So long ...

No one with a respectable mind, who values human life and human dignity, would mourn the death of a mass murderer, Osama Bin Laden. Only those whose minds are spongy, full of resentment, and empty of logic would have sorrowful hearts for the death of a fiend. Yet there are so many who are mourning. And for that my heart is not rejoicing. Reader, are they mourning what you're about to read next? That fiendish draconian ideology of Al-Qaeda, which had landed upon our shores on 9/11, and had spilled the blood of the innocents who were just going about their business, killed and maimed and widowed so many people of all kinds, from New York to Wahsington, from Istanbul to Bagdad, from Mardrid to London, from Bali to Riyadh, from Yemen to Afghanistan, from Moscow to Mumbai, from Marrakesh to Cairo, from Islamabad to  Amman. The draconian killers spared no one. Nothing has sanctity for them, not even children, not even places of worship, not even women. They even used the disabled as h

This undulant life hangs in the balance of our minds, where the things inside our heads are different from the things outside our heads, and reconciling the two befuddles us.

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of shedding tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlaying our hard hearts. I was better after I cried than before—more sorry, more aware of my ingratitude, more gentle altogether. If I had cried before, I should have had Joe with me then.” There is much sadness in me, but I don't cry, not outwardly. I often cry inwardly - and that is the hardest crying of all. For I was taught as a child not to cry. With the passage of time, and with no tears to wash away the pain, my heart had hardened and rusted inside. But the above paragraph of tenderness made my eyes mist--if only a little. "No varnish can hide the true grain of the wood; and the more varnish you put on the more the grain will varnish itself." "So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people who we most despise." "I really do not even now see what I could have done sav

I saw these guys in concert back in the eighties. America's greatest music was in the eighties. Of course, I am biased because my brain was being formed at that time  as a young chap, and the melodies were weaved in it; and whenever I hear that music, I am stirred by emotions.

At some point in my sleep last night, ellipses silhouetted against my moonlit bedroom's window and tazed me (as in 'Tazered') on the forehead, “We're being lengthened and shortened and misused.” I woke up, and decided: the ellipsis would be avenged and justice restored. Proper usage of the ellipsis … 1) We use an ellipsis ( … ) to indicate the deletion of one or more words in texts. Be careful, however, not to distort the meaning of the sentence by deleting words. 2) Spacing Requirements: Leave one space on both sides of an ellipsis: I … would be very happy if my friends use the ellipses correctly. ... 3) The ellipsis has 3 dots—not 5, nor 10, nor 20—like so ... 4) If the words that precede an ellipsis form a grammatically complete sentence, then place a period, a space, and then the ellipsis: I wish I could go to Spain. … I am using [The Associated Press Stylebook] conventions. You may, however, use the ellipsis without any spacing like so...Or like this...

I find myself often going to great lengths to jerry rig (do  makeshift repairs)  things in my house. MacGyver was the ultimate jerry rigger. Here is more about "jerry rig":  http://www.dailywritingtips.com/i-said-jerry-rig/

Zachary Khalil Khelah finds Philosophy extremely engaging, and so I dedicated this stanza to him. O happy race of men If love who rules the sky Could rule your hearts as well - The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (AD 480-524)

Saudi Arabia, a police state with over 35,000 political prisoners, ruled by  draconian Sharia , is still, largely, tribal and illiterate; their educational system is rooted in the seventh century - where school children are taught superstitions and lies -, and therefore, a revolution is a will-o'-the-wisp. Not only there is, still, plenty of money to buy obedience but also lots of sticks to scare the population. Another dimension is the mosque, which is loyal to the untouchable royal family. ... And most Saudis are devout Muslims and are opposed to the "filthy" Western ideals. The educated, liberal elite, sadly, doesn't have much support among many Saudis. The tribes are the key to any successful revolt against the house of Saud. The house of Saud is doomed, but not yet - not in the foreseeable future. Things are bad in SA, but not THAT bad. People need to get hungry before a significant uprising sparks the fire of change. ... Most people in the Central

Dear Anita: The words I write here will not mend your bereaved heart of a loss so profound and a wound so fresh and deep and throbbing. But it’s all I know how to do, however fruitless, in consoling your anguished soul and tender emotions. I hope you and your children will find, in time, some comfort and strength in the memories of your beloved departed husband. Yours sincerely, Ken K

It's not as though the Arabs are a different breed, they are not - think Europe two hundred years ago; They're just two hundred years behind the rest of the world. Their leaders have cheated them out of their humanity by not giving them the tools to succeed in the twenty-first century: civil rights, women's empowerment, education. Not only school children are, largely, taught superstitions and lies but also conspiracies and, in some places, hate and intolerance. The result is a people who find themselves outside of history and human progress. Hence, revolts and chaos and cruelty and injustice. And that is what the world is going to grapple with for the next few years or even decades. But this is a chance to lend our support, but only if we're asked. This is the West's opportunity to shine in the eyes of the Arabs, the aggrieved people, and dislodge itself form the claws of the oppressors and defeat terrorism decisively. It's imperative, in these trying times,

The original Walter Mitty was created by humorist Thurber, who wrote the famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In Walter's real life, he is a reticent, henpecked proofreader befuddled by everyday life. But in his fantasies, Walter imagines himself as various daring and heroic characters. Thurber's popular story, which was first published in the New Yorker in 1939, was later made into a movie. Walter Mitty has since become the eponym for dreamers who imagine themselves in dramatic or heroic situations. Every family has a Walter Mitty, I know mine has two - does yours?

Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh share two attributes: They both don’t have a sound mind and know how to make millions of dollars off the fools.

One can’t help but cheer for the young Egyptians in their aspirations. They are, however, so euphoric and the whole thing is turning into a big party and Fool (Fava beans, a popular staple among poor Egyptians) and soon they will have to go back and listen to their mams and do their homework, and listen to their papas who are more worried about bread and Fool than Mubarak. ... And they all love the military because the military is somehow neutral and has not been colluding with Mubarak and his cronies for thirty years, really? ... Eventually the good people will get discouraged and disillusioned about their big exercise of rage and venting. By then a small change will have taken place. And Mubarak and his billionaire sons will be gilded into retirement, perhaps abroad, no harm done, they need to live, too. ... Historians will write about the missed opportunity of the revolt: When the fools kissed the soldiers and rode on the tanks, historians will conclude,  was the death of t

In the Kingdom of Darkness (K.D, Saudi Arabia) - where school children are taught superstitions and lies about the greatness of one man - a vulture had been arrested, accused of being an Israeli spy. The evidence was damming: attached to the vulture’s body, a GPS transmitter had been discovered by the Enlightened people of the K.D. Meanwhile, the Enlightened people have hunkered down in their dwellings and refuse to go outside. Rumor has it that Israel mobilised millions of GPS-armed flies and mosquitoes to spy on the Enlightened people of Arabia.  Furthermore, bird-lovers have a presentiment: That the poor vulture may receive the swift,  bestial Islamic justice: Public beheading by the sword, a highly sought-after, fun-loving activity for the Faithfuls to enjoy after Friday Prayer. Or the amputation of the right wing - since the poor bird has no right hand - and the left foot, a punishment prescribed for vandals under the fiendish Islamic Law, which is widely practiced - o