More that just Zimmerman...

 Most people know about the incident in Sanford, Florida where a  seeming "nutcake" shot a youth there for no reason other than HIS version of "suspicious behavior", which seems to, in this case means doesn't belong in this community"...at least that's how I read it. The kid was doing nothing to garner this guys attention, let alone a bullet. He was LOOKING for someone to have arrested or shot so he could be the big hero, it seems to me. And I'm sure you're already aware of this story below, so I won't go on about that, you either know or can read it here, BUT I DO want to point out something the police chief, who has stepped down for now, actually has said. Apparently he has the same feelings about "outsiders" as the over-zealous Mr. Zimmerman. I highlighted the paragraph and the particular sentence in that paragraph. I just want you to consider what he means by who BELONGS in a community. REALLY? Unless you're flashing "no doubt about it" gang tats or driving below the speed limit in a custom painted low rider late at night, OR are hanging out on a street corner wearing not much, waving at men and obviously soliciting for sex, WHO doesn't belong in any community? You ever hear of fair housing, guests, extended family, not to just say, don't be a racist? The only people that might not "belong" are trouble makers, and this child was NOT making trouble, he was walking home from the store. I think maybe Chief Lee should just STAY down after this is over, and hopefully Mr. Zimmerman is in jail for manslaughter.
Just sayin'
Dragonfly

SANFORD, Fla. -- At a hastily called press conference this afternoon, Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. announced that beleaguered police Chief Bill Lee Jr. is stepping down temporarily amidst growing anger over his handling of the investigation into the killing of Trayvon Martin. Bonaparte told reporters that he hoped the move would "restore calm to the city of Sanford" and help speed the case through the legal process. He said that the city has not yet appointed an interim chief.
"As a former homicide investigator, a career law enforcement officer and a father, I am keenly aware of the emotions associated with this tragic death of a child," Lee said at the press conference. "I'm also aware that my role as the leader of this agency has become a distraction to this investigation...Therefore i have come to the decision that I must temporarily remove myself from the position of police chief of the city of Sanford."
This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
The move comes a day after city commissioners voted "no confidence" in Lee during a meeting Wednesday evening. Lee has come under increasing fire over his department's investigation into the killing of Martin, who was shot on Feb. 26 by George Zimmerman, who told police he shot the teen in self-defense, moments after calling 911 to report a suspicious person.
The Justice Department, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement all agreed in the last week to join the investigation. During that time, local officials have been pressuring Bonaparte to fire Lee. Bonaparte told Huffington Post Black Voices last week that he was weighing all of his options, and said last night that he wanted to postpone a decision until those outside investigations into the killing and the department's handling of the case were resolved.
Local residents and community leaders, particularly in the black community, have said they have absolutely no faith in the Sanford police or Lee, who came into office less than a year ago after another scandal brought down the previous chief of police.
Chief Lee's predecessor, Brian Tooley, was forced from office last year amid a scandal involving a lieutenant's son who was captured on video attacking a homeless black man. As the homeless man lay bleeding on the ground, police officers reportedly drove his attacker from the scene. The lieutenant's son, Justin Collison, 21, was not arrested at the time. A month later he turned himself in after video surfaced on Youtube.

For years the local NAACP and others have claimed that the police protected their own and routinely harassed and embarrassed blacks. And in the last few years, some Sanford officers have displayed questionable behavior: a couple have been arrested for taking bribes and kickbacks, and one was fired last summer for falsely accusing a suspect of attempted murder. In one case, the NAACP said that an officer had refused to investigate the rape of a black woman until the organization put pressure on the department.
In the year since Chief Lee took over the department, some in the community said things were just beginning to change.

Lee told the Orlando Sentinel in June that "I hope to focus on developing partnerships with the community and continuing what they've started in their efforts of community policing: working in areas that will enable an officer to get to know the community he's working in; who in that community is not supposed to be there; work together with the community to identify problems."

The department has been criticized for several aspects of the Martin investigation.
Martin, 17, was headed back to the home of his father's girlfriend shortly after 6 p.m. on Feb. 26 after a trip to the convenience store. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch member, reported Martin to the police and told the 911 dispatcher that the teenager looked "suspicious." Zimmerman was told by the dispatcher not to follow Martin, but a few minutes after the police call, Martin lay dead from a gunshot to the chest. Zimmerman admitted to police that he shot Martin, but claimed he acted in self-defense; he has not been arrested or charged.
Officers initially told Martin’s parents that Zimmerman had a squeaky clean-record. He was arrested for violence and battery against a police officer in 2005. Martin was tested for drugs and alcohol after his death, but Zimmerman was not. Police failed to check cellphone records for Martin and Zimmerman after the shooting, according to a lawyer for Martin's family. And witnesses have said police did not return phone calls, attempted to manipulate them during questioning and have twisted their statements to fit Zimmerman's self-defense claim.
The case has garnered national attention, with protests and rallies around the country calling for the shooting to be investigated and for Zimmerman to be prosecuted

Made in America? You'd be surprised...

Just wanted to share this info with everyone...It's a clean forward from my ex.
This is a very sad commentary on the way things are getting, but unfortunately,
it's true. "Buy Savings Bonds" was a slogan during WWII to help bolster the
economy, and I think "Buy American" should seriously be the slogan now. I know
it's a small hassle to read on everything we buy to see where it's really from, but
it's also a real eye opener. Brands we've loved for years are now cutting corners
and using foreign labor, and it's actually NOT always cheaper for us, either, really.
Thanks for coming.


*MADE IN AMERICA *


I DIDN'T KNOW HALLMARK* CARDS WERE MADE  IN CHINA ! That is  why I
don't buy cards at Hallmark anymore, They are made in China and are more
expensive! I buy them at Dollar Tree -50 cents each and made in USA

I have been looking at the blenders available on the Internet. Kitchen
Aid* is MADE IN the  USA.

Yesterday I was in WalMart looking  for a wastebasket. I found some made
in China for $6.99.  I  didn't want to pay that much so I asked the
lady if  they had any others.  She took me
to another department and
they had some at  $ 2.50 made in USA .  They are just as  good.
Same as  a kitchen rug  I needed.  I had to look, but I found some
made in the USA- what a concept! - and they were $3.00 cheaper

We are mistaken to believe that everything that comes from
China  and Mexico is cheaper. Not so
One Light Bulb at a Time...

I  was in Lowe's the other day and just out of curiosity, I looked at the
hose  attachments.  They were all made in China .
The next day I was  in Ace Hardware   and just for the heck of it I
checked the hose  attachments there.They were made in USA .

Start looking, people. ...In our current economic  situation,
every little thing we buy or do affects someone else -  most often,
their job.
My grandson likes Hershey* candy .  I noticed, though, that it
is now  marked "made in Mexico" . I don't buy it anymore .
My favorite  toothpaste, Colgate* is made in Mexico ...  I  have
switched to Crest* .

You have to read the labels on everything.
This past weekend I was at Kroger.  I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce*
dryer sheets.
I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE* brand I normally
buy --  was an  off-brand labeled, Everyday Value*.  I picked up both
types of bulbs and  compared them: they were  the same except for the
price the GE* bulbs cost more than the Everyday Value* brand,but the
thing that  surprised me the most was that that GE* was made in Mexico 
and the Everyday Value* brand was made in - you guessed it - the  USA
at  a company in Cleveland, Ohio.
It's Way past time  to start finding and buying products you use every
day  that are made right here.
So, on to the next aisle: Bounce* Dryer Sheets... yep, you guessed
it,  Bounce* cost more money  and is made in Canada .  The Everyday
Value* brand cost less, and was made in the USA *! I did laundry yesterday
and the dryer sheets  performed just like the Bounce Free* I have been using
for years,  at  almost half the price .
My challenge to you is to start reading the labels  when you shop for
everyday things and see  what you can find that is  made in the USA - the
job you save  may be your own  or your  neighbors!

Stop buying from overseas companies -you're sending the jobs there.

(We should have awakened a decade  ago....)
Let's get with the program and help our fellow Americans keep their
jobs and create more jobs here in the USA


This is me again. I have used the Everyday Value brand of several products
and it's just great, like the cleaning wipes and other cleaning products, and 
they all work just as well as the brands manufactured elsewhere, and MUCH cheaper.
Everyday Value brand can be found at all Kroger grocery stores.
I will not DARE anyone to
pass this on like the forward did. What I will do is ASK that you consider
it because we seriously don't need to lose any more jobs for people here.
Even tech support jobs are rare here now. It seems that only the banks use
people here. I needed help with my Verizon DSL the other night and called, 
and the girl was in the Philippines!! Same with so many other places. We
can't afford to ship any more jobs away, can we, really??

That's all, and thanks for reading again, if you checked this a second time.
Just hoping and sayin'
Dragonfly

Good excuses for bad behavior...not!

I keep getting pounded, verbally, by my ex-husband about the bad behavior of some of our soldiers overseas. He seems to think that it's perfectly fine to do whatever they want to because of the enormous
pressure they're under and that they should be allowed to "blow off steam" any way they see fit. 
Well, yet another bad soldier has shown up, and this time, he slaughtered 16 innocents in Afghanistan, presumably because basically he was under SO much pressure at home due to, get this, financial matters, for the most part. Well buddy, guess what? Staff Sgt. Robert Bales (you can read the article at the bottom, if you really want to) was not forced to do FOUR tours of duty OR commit this act. I really sort of have a problem with men signing up for so many tours during this sort of thing. I think maybe there is more than patriotism at work here. AND I think we'd cut WAY down on PTSD victims if we would start limiting tours in wartime arenas to one or two only. Being a career soldier is one thing, being a career killer is another. YES, I know there are many times when killing is unavoidable in war, that's why it's called war, but killing an oncoming enemy in a "it's either him/them or me" sort of situation, and the wholesale slaughter of innocents are two different things, aren't they??
They don't even know if he's suffering from PTSD or not, but if he is, I think he should become the poster boy for limited time at war. We've had enough embarrassment from our boys, haven't we? We just had that group that had their little "pee party" on dead bodies, when is enough enough??
And don't think I'm saying that PTSD isn't real, because I happen to know first hand that it is. I have suffered from PTSD since before they even called it that, or used it for anyone other than soldiers. It used to be called "shell shocked" in the stone age. I had a severe trauma at 17 when I was sexually assaulted by someone I trusted and I have lived with it for 43 years now, and I have yet to murder or pee on anyone. It is one thing to have something traumatic happen to you far away from everything you know, and another to have it happen in your back yard, almost literally. If I had been assaulted overseas, I could at least have the security of knowing that I NEVER had to go back to wherever again, and that I was somewhere at least safer, and that makes MY PTSD, at least in MY head, a lot harder to deal with than this Bales guy. He VOLUNTEERED to continue going over there. That's like me going back to my rapist's home over and over again, isn't it??
And think about this. These soldiers are supposedly acting so badly because of all the horrible things they see. Well, I watched a movie today that make me think. This movie was about a heinous series of murders and the detectives trying to find the perpetrator. Real cops, every day, see all sorts of horrors doing their jobs. So do doctors, ambulance personnel, ER personnel, prison guards, social workers, CPS workers...hell, even Humane Society workers see things too gruesome to forget, ever. Do we give everyone that is traumatized a free pass to act out any way they want to? I could have easily just told my brother what
had been done to me, where the guy worked and the rest would have been "handled", but I didn't. I lived with being so stupid for putting myself in the position to be date raped all this time, telling myself that he didn't take anything away from me because I didn't give it to him to take. I was robbed in the worst way possible. Did it scar me? Yes, and I still carry that scar. Should I have been allowed to cut off his penis or have him beaten half to death? No. There are rules that civilized people live by. Back then, there was no such thing as date rape. If a guy you knew did something to you, well, you asked for it. Had it happened after date rape was established as a crime, I would have gone straight to the police. But my hands were tied, so I lived with it and have managed to be human ever since. Soldiers DO go through a lot in war, but these days especially, they go willingly, often multiple times and if they sign up to play the game, shouldn't they be accountable to the rules? There ARE rules, and WE expect everyone else to play by them, don't we? The Geneva Convention? We hunt down war criminals, don't we?? We still hunt Nazi's, for heaven's sake, and they're ancient.
Don't let another guy get away with an atrocity because he played too long and had "personal problems", please.
Just shaking my head and sayin'
Dragonfly 
See below

He is accused of the kind of crime that makes people shiver, the killing of families in their own homes under cover of night, the butchery of defenseless children. Under normal circumstances, Americans would dismiss such an act as worthy of only one response: swift and merciless punishment.
Not so in the case of Robert Bales — at least, not for some Americans.
So far, many seem willing to believe that a 10-year U.S. military veteran, worn down by four tours of combat and perhaps suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, simply snapped. That somehow there must be, if not an excuse, at least an explanation.
Exactly what set off the Army sergeant accused of massacring 16 civilians in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province is far from clear. But already, organizations and individuals with differing agendas have portrayed Bales as the personification of something that is profoundly broken, and have seized on his case to question the war itself or to argue that the American government is asking too much of its warriors.
On the website of Iraq Veterans Against the War, organizer Aaron Hughes declared that Afghan war veterans "believe that this incident is not a case of one 'bad apple' but the effect of a continued U.S. military policy of drone strikes, night raids, and helicopter attacks where Afghan civilians pay the price." Those veterans, he wrote, "hope that the Kandahar massacre will be a turning point" in the war.
"Send a letter to the editor of your local paper condemning the massacre and calling for an end to our occupation in Afghanistan," Hughes wrote.
On March 11, authorities say, Bales, a 38-year-old married father of two from Washington state, stalked through two villages, gunned down civilians and attempted to burn some of the bodies. The dead included nine children.

In Lake Tapps, Wash., neighbors knew Bales as a patriot, a friendly guy who loved his wife and kids, and a man who never complained about the sacrifices his country repeatedly asked of him. They find it hard to believe he could be capable of such depravity.
"I kind of sympathize for him, being gone, being sent over there four times," said Beau Britt, who lives across the street. "I can understand he's probably quite wracked mentally, so I just hope that things are justified in court. I hope it goes OK."
Paul Wohlberg, who lives next door to the Baleses, said: "I just can't believe Bob's the guy who did this. A good guy got put in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Talk like that infuriates Fred Wellman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel from Fredericksburg, Va., who did three tours in Iraq. He said comments like those of Bales' neighbors and his attorney simply feed into the notion of "the broken veteran."
Wellman does not deny that 10 years of war have severely strained the service. But while others might see Bales as a wounded soul, Wellman sees a man who sneaked off base to commit his alleged crimes, then had the presence of mind to "lawyer up" as soon as he was caught.
"That may play well with certain circles of the civilian community, which doesn't understand our lives," Wellman said. "But he's going to be tried by a military court ... and chances are three or four of those guys had things happen to them, may have had three or four tours, may have lost people, may have been blown up. And NONE of them snapped and killed 16 people." He added: "It's just too easy, and a lot of us, we're not buying it."
Benjamin Busch, a Marine veteran of two tours of Iraq, wrote last week on the website The Daily Beast that he and his comrades are afraid to admit that Bales "lost his mind in war," because that "allows for the possibility that any one of us could go insane at any time, and that every veteran poisoned by their combat experience could be on edge for life."
James Alan Fox, an expert on murder, said Americans can more easily make excuses for Bales because the shootings did not occur here at home.
"Although the victims weren't soldiers or the enemy, they were civilians, many Americans ... literally distance themselves from this case, because it's so far away in a foreign land," said Fox, a professor at Boston's Northeastern University. "It's still mass murder, yet many Americans sort of perceive it differently because it is related to a military situation, as opposed to a private citizen who's murdering other private citizens."
Even some fellow warriors who deplore Bales' alleged acts suggest he should not bear all the blame.
Reacting to a New York Daily News headline labeling the then-unidentified suspect "Sergeant Psycho," Ron Capps wrote an angry piece on Time magazine's blog site.
"To our elected officials and the people who elected them: this is what you get when you refuse to do what is necessary to create and maintain sufficient military force to fight your wars," wrote Capps, who described himself as a 25-year veteran who did a combat tour in Afghanistan.
"This means everything necessary up to and including the implementation of a draft. ... The all-volunteer Army was designed as a peacetime force. It was never supposed to carry us through 10 years of war."
The killings sent Thomas L. Amerson, a retired Navy captain from Ledyard, Conn., back to the history books to explore other stains on America's military history, including the 1968 massacre of Vietnamese civilians at the village of My Lai. Too often, he argued, Americans absolve the leaders who start the wars and "invest the full responsibility in the combatants themselves and the families that support them."
"These actions in Iraq and Afghanistan have been more than a clash of combatants; they have been a clash of cultures, ideologies, and religions that has blurred the lines of right and wrong," Amerson wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Amerson asked that Americans "hope for the safety of Sgt. Bales' family and for the ability of his wife and small children to reconcile the person they knew with the one they now face. May they be successful in un-blurring lines that society and courts will, no doubt, fail to distinguish satisfactorily."
___

The fabric of life...

I'm feeling a bit philosophical today. Turning 60 is a horrendous thing when you have basically done nothing noteworthy with your life, and have nothing going on in it in the present. Sigh, well, I had this thought in the wee hours this morning...
We worry SO much about the planet, about how we are destroying it and all. That's not strictly true. What we are doing is making it harder and harder for US to live here, that's all. The planet will go on just fine without us. Think of humankind as a giant piece of cloth that covers the Earth, and it's made of a very heavy thread count, meaning that it's rich and plush and dense. The higher the thread count on something, as anyone spoiled can tell you, the longer it lasts and the more substantial it is. Of course that makes sense, the more threads, the longer the cloth will last. Well, in terms of "since the Earth was formed", we've been here about 5 minutes, if all of time here was about an hour, BUT we have been really using that cloth hard, and harder every day. We spill on it, burn it, submerge it, shave it down...one way or another, we are constantly "pulling threads" out of this cloth by our actions. We don't care for this garment like it is of any value, we act as if when it's too used up to wear, another garment will just suddenly appear. Well, guess what? It will, BUT it may not be the sort of cloth we can wear. We could be totally allergic or otherwise unable to bear it. In fact, I practically guarantee it. This planet has worn MANY garments made from a lot of different types of cloth, and did just fine with every one. There has only been ONE that we could fit into, and we are steadily pulling out the final threads. Some, and I'm one, believe that we will have a chance at a second Eden once this ruined one has been ridden into the ground, and that's a good thing, a hopeful thing. But in the meantime, instead of continuing to rub the worn spots, shouldn't we be more concerned with patching them up? 

The planet is going to be just fine, with or without us. We can't say the same thing, can we?
Just saying'
A very old Dragonfly

Social Security, Medicare...endangered species

I was told the other day that my blogs are too long. Okay, that's an opinion, and I value most people's opinions. I will be the first to admit I'm wordy. That's sort of the bane of the writer, not being able to stop, or we wouldn't need editors, now would we? BUT, in the spirit of brevity, at least this time, I will keep this short.
The fate of Social Security, Disability and Medicare is being decided by people who have so much money that they have no real need for any of these things. Of course, your average Congressman, upon retiring, WILL take advantage of ANY and ALL perks available, as will all the other obscenely rich (due in large part to the giant raises they constantly give themselves, and other nice amenities)... The point is, people who won't NEED these things and have NO concept of HAVING to NEED them are deciding the fates of those of us who DO. I live on the rim of poverty most of the time, and I can't afford to lose any more benefits, and I know others like me who will end up on the streets, literally, if these people aren't stopped. This is the optimal occasion for the "walk a mile in my shoes" speech. 
My question for today is : Should rich people be the ones to exclusively decide what is to happen to the rest of us?
Please, seriously think about this.
Dragonfly

Why the Clooney bashing??

I check the news and the first thing is that I'm assaulted with the most hurtful ( and ignorant) things being said about George Clooney. And WHY, you might ask? Because the man got himself arrested, with some congressmen, in front of the Sudanese embassy today in protest of the way the Sudanese people are being treated. He is being bashed for being a publicity whore (he needs publicity like the sky needs more stars), NOT doing anything but protesting (he donates more money in a year, I believe, to various causes, than most of these numbskull detractors MAKE in a year, so unless you're his accountant, please shut up about THAT.) He's being ripped because ALL he did was get his face on camera, and that's all he cares about. YEAH, in this case, that's partially true, because of WHERE he was, you idiots, to bring the crisis out in the open more. IF important people are seen at the "scene of a crime" that is being perpetrated, it's WAY more likely to draw more people to it to help "solve" the crime, huh? I can pretty much promise that if it's been YOU there instead, most people STILL wouldn't know how dire a situation this is, so you can choke on THAT point, too. He's also flown to Washington and quietly spoken to the President about getting help for the Sudanese people, especially before rainy season starts. Those starving people are on a deadline there, and Mr. Clooney, unlike the goons that are bad mouthing him, KNOWS that if those supplies aren't gotten where they're needed very soon, a LOT of people are going to die.
He had a purpose today, and he achieved it....

 
The A-list celebrity made clear that his role is to shine a light on the situation, not to solve it.
"I don't make policy," Clooney said. "All I really can do is amplify the situation and help to bring a spotlight to it."

I cannot wait for unemployment to keep going down, so that more and more of the idiots that have all the time in the world to write "comments" about everything they manage to read, even though they clearly don't really understand the concepts, can go back to work and stop. What kills me the most about these people is that most are obviously under-educated, can't spell, and don't have a clue about how to see the larger picture. They grab a random crumb and think if they make a stupid enough comment, they'll get famous and get on YouTube or something. Of course, if they get famous, they'd have to give up their welfare checks, take a shower, put down the beer, and probably be interviewed themselves. And I doubt most would be willing to do that, unlike Mr. Clooney, who is busy trying to save thousands of people. He's doing everything HE can to help with his time, his celebrity status, his funds, everything he has. What have YOU done to help, redneck?
Just angrily sayin'
Dragonfly 

Who wants to pay for air??

The most basic of things is now for sale, and at a pretty price I might add. Air has not been free at most gas stations since there was "full" service at the pump. (You have to be over 40 to know this means that an actual person would come to your driver side window to see what you wanted, would take care of your fueling, wash the windows, check the tires for air (free), maybe even check fluids under the hood. (I found out years later that if a car is, or has just been, running, that the fluids will Always show as low since they are currently circulating, or coming back FROM circulating)  AND, even longer ago than THAT, boys and girls, you often got trading stamps or drinking glasses, or some other prize for coming to that station so many times, it was wonderful. Well, NOW you're lucky if the person behind the counter/glass can find the time to take your money and get the pump number that YOU have to remember to tell them, or that's another trip back up there, and that is IT. Now if you have a gas card, you can still flash it at most of the employees, and get air and water for free, but it still requires that walk to where THEY are, and wait your turn in line...sigh.
But this is not news....what I'm about to tell you may just BE.
Air is finding more and more room in our FOOD now. They are trying to make this sound like a new, wonderful invention made to make the product even more tasty....BAH.
First is Hershey Chocolate, they now have TWO products out, a chocolate bar AND kisses that have air bubbles in them!! And they refer to them as "delights". Well, they're LIGHT alright. For the same price as a complete, full-on KISS, you're getting the teenage virginal version of a kiss, FOR THE SAME PRICE, and you're getting at least one third less chocolate, maybe more. Same thing with the bar. These adorable (or at least that's how they're marketing them, caverns in your candy bar makes it considerably lighter on the actual goods your paying for!! And then there are English Muffins. Thomas English Muffins are pretty good, but the "nooks and crannies" version is NOT a real, whole muffin. It is, after splitting it, a partial muffin bottom, and a miserable little flap for the top. Know why?? Because they "give" you all these marvelous "nooks and crannies' for your butter or whatever to hide in, that's why.  Does anyone else remember when you had to use a fork and I mean all the way around a muffin to split it, and when done,you had TWO complete halves to spread whatever on. With these N & C muffins, you can barely even make a breakfast sandwich with an egg and sausage. Now you can still buy the store brand or the wonderful Orowheat brands and still get a great, full-size muffin that is sturdy and has some substance, but start paying attention to more of your regular food, and see if you don't see differences. My oatnut bread, which I toast on the darker side (otherwise you basically just have warm bread) used to be able to stand up to margarine and peanut butter, but now collapses as if it's a punctured balloon. Saltines and chips and cookies are thinning out, too, you will notice. But we are paying the SAME amount of money, OR more.
I really like the Tilapia fish now available, but if I were the paranoid type, I'd swear they managed to bio-engineer a fish with the least fleshy flesh possible. I mean it's a wonderful, lightly flavored fish, but good grief, you'd have to eat twice as many pieces of it to get as full as you would with, say, cod, another white fish. There is just nothing to it, substance-wise.
There are other things, but if you pay attention, you'll start to see it yourself.
Even "extra large" eggs seem to be the OLD size of regular eggs, and regular eggs are possibly being laid by either very young chickens, or very ambitious pigeons.
The only thing that seems to be better for time, for some unknown reasons, is almonds. You can buy a pound of them, and flavored, for $4 now. They are no longer the BOSS of the nut world. They seem to take turns, nuts do. Right now, it seems to be walnuts and pecans, so grab the almonds, and btw, pistachios, while they are low on the nut list (unlike me) and enjoy. Did you know almonds not only lower cholesterol, but also have calcium,for those of you, like me, don't care for milk. I DO eat yogurt, but I apparently need more, and about 20 almonds a day does the trick, it would seem. GOOD deal, at last.
SO, make sure when a company offers a new "delight", that it's not half of what it used to be for the same price.
Just shoppin' and sayin'
Dragonfly

Last ink I give this fool...

This is the last I'm going to speak about this guy Rush Limbaugh, because, as we all know, any publicity is better than none, right?
NOW, and I can't imagine that he didn't think of this lame excuse before, Limbaugh is blaming rap music, Don Imus and everyone he can find that has used inappropriate language for HIS. Is he THAT easily manipulated that what others say influences anything that HE says? If THAT is the case, he doesn't need to be on TV, radio, or any other social media, does he? As his sponsors are clearly saying,NO, it doesn't, bless them all.

Here's the thing, Rush. Even though I think some of the things said in rap music are sickening and reprehensible, and just more fodder for disrespecting women in general, they don't have the same sponsors you do. I really wish they DID. I can't wait until the need to degrade women in what I would loosely called 'singing" is over. Aren't they bored with it yet? Haven't they pretty much called women everything possible already. They are all just a bunch of pathetic parrots now, BUT I have to say that if the women that allow themselves to appear in these disgusting videos would have a bit of self-respect, the "songs" would have to stop dead, wouldn't they? Think about it, ladies. Being willing to do what you do in those videos pretty much bolsters what these men are saying about you, doesn't it? If it walks, quacks and dances like a slut....well, what are we to think? I know it probably pays really well for a minimum of actual work, but then, so does prostitution, right? I'm not saying that you are anything but ladies trying to survive here, but you ARE helping the cause of totally disrespecting women, okay? This in no way negates the very personal attack that Mr. Limbaugh launched against Ms. Fluke. He apologized, but ONLY long enough to then try to justify what he said, huh? If you try to justify your deeds, then you aren't really sorry for them, are you? At least the rappers have dancers that pretty much back up what they are rapping about, no justification needed. No real men, or women, listen to that trash anyway. Unfortunately, young people do, and that is so sad. I can only hope that their parents set them straight about the different sorts of women REALLY out there, NOT just the ones in those videos.
But what are we to do with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus? Exactly what is being done, their sponsors should stand up and leave, just like decent people should leave a concert that degrades women, or anyone really, and ask for a ticket refund (but better to research the "artist" beforehand...you DO get what you pay for, and if you sign up to be shocked, don't be surprised when you ARE, okay?)
Limbaugh crossed a line, and it was VERY personal. Everyone that does this should be sanctioned, just like he is being, by NOT having sponsors. He has the right to say anything he wants to, BUT WE have the right to limit his audience to people that actually pay money to go see him, or buy a CD he records, NOT on TV or radio when we don't stand a chance against such a surprise attack. Anyone that's listened to either should be ready for anything, but new listeners could be very offended, so change their venues to ONLY people willing to PAY to hear such filth and defilement, and then they won't need so many sponsors...but then, I suspect they KNOW not enough folks would show up to listen to their drivel. Say what you will, Rush, but YOU should have a warning label JUST like the rappers do. As for Imus, same thing applies.
Just sayin'
Dragonfly
IF you care about what he's trying to do now, by back-pedaling and making excuses, it's below in full.



 Rush Limbaugh has managed to cause quite a media frenzy since his offensive comments about law student, Sandra Fluke, have caught the nation's attention. But the controversial radio host, known for his conservative views and sharp tongue has claimed a defense for his actions that might just make more people shake their heads and roll their eyes: rappers do it all the time.  After Limbaugh referred to Fluke as a "slut" and a "prostitute" (in addition to a number of other offensive comments) for advocating that insurance companies cover birth control, he issued an apology saying his words were "insulting." But in response to the continued flight of advertisers from his show--a number that now totals close to a dozen sponsors--he expressed his outrage at his unfair treatment in a culture that has tolerated such language elsewhere, like rap music.  "You talk about a double standard," Limbaugh said in a post on his website. "One of the greatest illustrations of it is that rappers can practically say anything they want about women, and it's called art."  Limbaugh went on to discuss the media and Democratic party's role in the deterioration of morality in society:      Every minority according to the left, every minority in the country is a victim of a tyrannical majority. Every aspect of the Democrat Party agenda is to reverse that, and what's happening here is that everybody is allowing these winds to blow them over. And there's no resistance to it...It's the Democrats and the media that use the power of intimidation to get people to cave on their own morality, to give it up. All for the sake of avoiding confrontation or opposition.   Limbaugh's original comment about Fluke and his rapper defense are reminiscent of a similar incident in 2007 when another radio host, Don Imus, referred to the primarily black Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy headed ho's." Imus said that the phrase "originated in the black community," citing the degradation of women in hip hop music.  More recently in December 2011, the Dutch fashion magazine, Jackie came under fire for referring to singer Rihanna as "the ultimate n***abitch." The magazine editor (who later resigned after the backlash) issued an apology on their Facebook page. Hoeke also referred to the prevalence of the expression in the media:      It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of slang--you hear it all the time on tv and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts--but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it.   Is Rush Limbaugh simply scraping for another scape goat, or do he, Imus and Jackie magazine have a point?

Dear Mr. Limbaugh

I love that you are apologizing to all these companies that are dropping you like the rotten hot potato that you are, but your apologizing is falling on deaf ears, and do you know why? Because the public, and the businesses that backed you in the first place are actually a lot smarter than you give them credit for. 
You're like a little kid that got caught calling his sister names, and you aren't REALLY saying you're sorry for saying those things, or even to whom you said them. You're simply sorry you got 'caught", as it were. You thought you could slide by, because you're so witty and wise, when what you really are is hateful and full of vitriolic rhetoric aimed at whoever is unlucky enough to fall into your sights. Even Glenn Beck knows enough to limit his smears to companies and large generalized groups that are used to taking hits like this, but not YOU. YOU felt the need to attack a solitary young woman trying to do the right thing, which she has the right to do. You don't know her medical history. It doesn't really make a difference in your attack, but what if she takes birth control for the same reasons I did, for instance. I had endometriosis, which is amazingly painful during periods until/if you have your first child. It is debilitating and makes functioning during your cycle practically impossible, the pain I would wish on you just ONCE, so you'd know. THAT is a sound medical reason for the pills. 
Like I have said, I don't think anyone but the user of birth control should pay for it IF it is being used strictly for that function alone. That is a totally elective thing, like most plastic surgery, in my opinion, but it's something that has to be evaluated on a person to person basis, and I cannot WAIT for the male birth control pill to come out. It's a shared responsibility between two individuals, not the state, the country, or even an insurance company, BUT, if one cannot afford said medication, I DO think it is better for the insurer to cover THAT expense rather than the expense of an abortion or the ongoing care of a child not planned for. We are over-crowded enough on the planet, don't you think?
The point is that you are just saying you're sorry because you are being punished, and that's the wrong reason to apologize. If I were Ms. Fluke, I wouldn't accept your apology at this point, because it's just to get your sponsors back. Until you have nothing else to lose, or by apologizing, something to gain, I would personally let your twist in the wind until you were deemed totally unfit for ANY and all media outlets, THEN maybe I'd accept, but not definitely. You KNEW exactly what you were going to say, and felt fine saying it at the time. Only when the ship started sinking did you re-consider your horrible, hateful words, and that's not enough, sorry.
Just feeling Ms. Fluke's pain and sayin'
Dragonfly

Sometimes an idiot is more than just that...

I am rarely speechless, especially when it comes to idiots like Rush Limbaugh. Usually I just let them go on their ignorant way, hoping and praying that MOST of the population sees them as the publicity seeking nut jobs that they are, have a good laugh at their tiny, warped thought brains and go about their days....but, sometimes even old Rush, who's been annoying people long enough now with his rhetoric and obvious personal problems, goes too far. This fool called a young woman, Sandra Fluke, a slut because she is standing up for birth control. Now before I go any further, I think EVERYONE that wants birth control should pay for it themselves, just like I did for all those years, unless there is an additional medical reason to take it. I had to take the pill to control my cycles, my rampant acne, etc, but no one covered it then, and if it's strictly for the purpose of not getting pregnant, I don't think any company should pay for it now. That is an ELECTIVE thing, like plastic surgery and most dental braces. If there is no other medical need for it, why is ANYONE covering it? Anyway, back to the idiot, this is a direct quote from the article...

 "What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic] who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex -- what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute," Limbaugh said. "She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex."

Does he know her personally? Does he know that she doesn't have a medical need for this drug? And "she's having SO much sex"? You only have to have sex one time to get pregnant, you jerk. And you don't take a pill after every time you have sex, which he might know, if anyone was having sex with HIM. Would you rather pay for her child if she got pregnant and couldn't afford it? Don't we have enough children in the world that weren't planned? And she's not getting paid anything, any more than I get PAID to not have another breakdown because insurance covers my psych meds. She is NOT profiting if her birth control is covered. Maybe she's not out the cost of birth control, but she isn't gaining anything. This was just plain out of line and how long do people like him get to rip the spotlight over to themselves before we say we've had enough of them and quit giving them the attention they so obviously crave? I know, freedom of speech. It's a good thing, and he can chatter away all he wants to, but do we have to publicize every word, or can we just pass over the more ludicrous stuff?
Oh yeah, and just for the record, Rush, old pal. A slut doesn't get paid. Ask the next pro you see to explain the difference between the two, okay?
Lord have mercy on drunks and fools, (that covers my ex AND Rush)
Just shaking my head and sayin',
Dragonfly