Displaying 2,641 To 2,670 Of 3,333 Comments PlanetPOV’s Top Posts of 2009 – The Winners! Hi there, Javaz! Glad to see you! I hope you didn’t take my kidding the wrong way! Just teasing you! 🙂 You are right! There are some amazing writers here and I enjoyed every single article! I was humbled to have been nominated and to be included in such a group! But I have to tell you…I really wanted that year’s supply of Clorox Clean-Up! LOL » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 12, 2010 @ 2:58 pm OMG! Javaz didn’t get the Jelly-of-the-Month Club Grand Prize! OMG!!! Seriously, I was blown away by the amazing talent here when I read these articles! My heartiest congratulations to all the winners! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 12, 2010 @ 2:44 pm Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar: Sparkman Committed Suicide Javaz, I would assume that the “Clark” referred to in the last paragraph of your comment is Richard Clark. He was GWB’s counter-terrorism guy in the White House until 2003. I have seen several interviews with him where he stated that he made repeated efforts to bring the threat of impending attack to the attention of the President and Vice President, but he was told that they “didn’t want to hear about it anymore”. Bush, Cheney, and their little cabal just brushed him off. I would probably give anything I have to see these men on trial for war crimes! They and their oil buddies have literally made billions off this illegal, immoral war! Addendum: Sorry that I did not read all the comments below before I posted this. Obviously, you are aware of Richard Clark’s attempts to warn the Bushies. I see the problem of trying to prove the Bushies’ agenda, but the old adage of “Follow the money” would give me reason to believe that the privatization of the military was for that reason. Halliburton/KBR did have some pretty good connections in the White House and managed to get themselves some very, very lucrative no-bid contracts. Sometimes, where there is smoke, there is fire! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 15, 2010 @ 10:20 am Why The Revolution Won’t Be Televised Good article, WTS! I have been away for a few days and am frantically trying to catch up with my reading! Sorry to be so late in replying to you. You make a really good point about the complacency in the country. That same thing came up a couple of months ago concerning the Public Option in the health care reform debate. Someone wondered why the American people were not in the streets, pitchforks in hand, demanding the public option. Well, things just aren’t that bad…yet! The majority of American people have insurance and are happy with it. The dissatisfaction level is pretty low at this point. Perhaps we have to wait until that damned mandate is enacted. Then we may see a few of those pitchforks in the streets. The “tea baggers” held a pretty successful march in Washington back in September (sponsored and paid for by the insurance lobby). We tried our best to hold a march in support of the public option but met with little success, although the majority of American people supported it. I guess that the only way to get people into the streets is to hurt their wallets, or as you suggest, take away their TV’s. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 13, 2010 @ 7:11 am 14 Easy Steps That The US Uses To Conduct War Bravo, KK! What a great article! I agree all the way! The part that angers me most is the deliberate deception of the American people by the government. I don’t know whether they think that we are not able to see through all the flag waving and “spreading democracy” crap that we are fed, or that they just don’t give a flying flip whether we like it or not. I would have to vote for the latter. They, the politicians, are going to support the MIC, making sure that the HUGE defense budget goes to the right people, of course. With the Iraq war, we had another element…a puppet president of our own with an evil behind the throne that we had not seen the likes of. We had the puppet’s personal vendetta to avenge his daddy for some threat (real or imagined) and used by the Dark Lord to perpetuate his “new world order” of never-ending war! Frighten the people…and you can have it. The sheep will cower in their homes with their plastic sheeting and their duct tape! And all the while, disguise the entire operation with religious overtones, calling on the big dude in the sky to come down and smite our enemies! I still believe that Sinclair Lewis made one of the pertinent quotes about the rise of the MIC and the deception of the people… “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” Don’t get me started! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 9, 2010 @ 2:01 am Hi everyone! This is just plain ol’ funny to me! I started my little gem and jewelry business about 20 years ago, a part-time week-ends only gig at first. When my life situation would allow it, I went full time and opened a really neat little shop, including a “gem mine” where you pan for rough gemstones and you may opt for us to cut them into faceted stones. We offer 14K and sterling settings of all kinds. I have watched the gold market more than most since it affects my bottom line. When I first started out, gold was about $500 per ounce. It went down for a while and we even saw a low of around $325/oz. for a time. About two years ago, it began to climb and now is fluctuating around $1,100 per ounce! Quite an increase! My question about this whole thing is, “Why would anybody buy it when it is at record highs?” The time to buy would have been two to three years ago, which I did, buying as much inventory for my shop as possible. We have had to re-price our gold inventory to reflect the increased cost several times. My point here is that there is no guarantee that gold will go any higher in value than it is right now. More than likely, as the economy improves in this country, gold will go down in value…and all the Beck-o-bots who have bought it at this inflated price are going to lose their shirts! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 4:49 pm We have so far to go, but we have come so far Good article, Pepe! It would be interesting to see how the northern universities integrated their athletic teams. I’m sure it would be somewhat similar. I can remember when black men were NEVER seen on TV, except in subservient roles in the movies. You never saw a black news announcer, weather man, or game show host. Now, it is thankfully commonplace. I would imagine that most people now pay no attention to the black news reporter…which is the way it should have been all along. We’ve come a long way…but we still have a very long way to go! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 9:27 am Amen, Gretel! That piece by Rachel was really good. I don’t know why this isn’t picked up elsewhere. I especially liked the graphs she used to show the decline in job losses, and also the stock market gains. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 13, 2010 @ 6:48 am Good morning, all you beautiful Planet People! I hope you all are well! If anyone has missed it (or as behind in reading as I am), I hope everyone will take time to read Cherynkaya’s brilliant article on the comparison of the Senate and House bills for health care reform. She did a magnificent job and made it very easy to understand. Kudos to her for her efforts! All is quiet here today…no snow!! Hallelujah! It is supposed to go ABOVE freezing and maybe some of this will melt. I love the snow but this is getting old. As for Rush and Pat, there is a special karma awaiting both of them! Regarding Haiti, OMG! It just gets worse as the hours go by. The pictures are heart-breaking! I would encourage everyone to donate as generously as possible. Time seems to be the enemy now…the longer these people go without food or water, the more likely that terrible diseases will strike, killing even more…especially the children. There are little kids wandering in the streets that have lost their families. Without immediate aid, some will most likely die. The only hopeful sign there is the fact that the airport was not badly damaged and planes with relief supplies are able to land, at least during daylight hours. The US military is moving to assist with their air traffic control situation. I understand that some planes were turned back last night…no lights on the runway…not helpful at all. I still question why it seems that the worst disasters happen to the poorest and most vulnerable people. I know there are many people of faith who would take issue with me, but if there was a god, why would he/she allow this to happen?? CNN just aired a warning to people who want to donate…just make sure your money is going to a legitimate organization. Already, there are scammers out there…can’t they take a break?? There is a special karma for them, too! Enough of my drivel! I hope you all have a great day! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 14, 2010 @ 7:30 am Good morning, Kalima! I hope I caught you before you have to sign off! I have been away for a few days and have fallen behind on the latest stories. Thanks so much for the links to help get me back on track. I hope all is well with you! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 13, 2010 @ 5:52 am Hi Kes! Sorry I didn’t see your post earlier! Well, it’s the thought that counts! 🙂 So glad to hear about your dad’s small victory! I cannot imagine what it would be like not to be able to hear what’s going on around me. Being something of a musician, that would be hell on earth for me. Thanks for your kind words about my sister. I am so relieved and excited for her. She has been an invalid for some years but was resistant to physical therapy and other things that might help her. She was always adamant that she could care for herself and needed no help. This has been a big wake-up call. Good to see you, my friend! I’ve been a little AWOL for the past few days, busy with home improvement, etc. But it’s time for me to hit the keyboard again. Have a great day! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 12, 2010 @ 3:20 pm Good morning, everyone! I trust you all are doing well! Well, my son was here and did a wonderful job of putting up new light fixtures, a new ceiling fan, some plumbing repairs, all minor in nature, but if I had to hire someone to come in, it would have cost me a small fortune. He left to go back home, so it’s just me, the doggies, and the Planet! It’s still very cold here, with more snow on the way today. I don’t think it’s going to amount to much, but when you add it to what we already have…this is getting really old! I don’t mind the snow but the bitter cold is hard on my old bones! 🙂 My sister is doing well. She has been admitted to a really great rehab facility and is excited about her progress. I hope she will be able to go home in another few weeks. My thanks to all of you who have prayed for her. It was truly a Christmas miracle! Have a great day, everyone! I’ll be back later! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 11, 2010 @ 7:35 am Good morning, Kalima! It’s so nice to actually have you here at the same time I am awake! I miss you when you’re sleeping! 🙂 As to the terrorist element in Britain, I was really shocked at the extent of it. Christiane Amanpour of CNN did a special report on radical Islam in Britain that was a real eye-opener. The hatred that is preached in the mosques in appalling. Now it seems that some of these more radical clerics are demanding what would be almost a separate judicial system in the UK, sharia law. From the tone of some of the radicals there, I don’t see this situation working out very well. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 9, 2010 @ 2:24 am OMG!! He didn’t!!! There are some really sick people out there! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 7:42 am Some people don’t know when to quit!! LMAO » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 7:29 am Hey Tiger! Glad to see you! I was an ER RN and saw some of the weirdest things in the world. The light bulb was the strangest…I’ll leave that to your imagination! Suffice it to say, it required surgery! LOL » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 7:14 am Good mornin’, all you gorgeous Planet People! Warning! this post may be hazardous to your health…you may split your sides laughing! I simply cannot resist posting this story from the Telegraph in the UK! I have not laughed that hard in many moons! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6946257/Mans-penis-removed-from-pipe.html The comments to the article are the best part! “Put that in your pipe and stroke it”. Okay, planeteers! Don’t say I didn’t warn you! ROTFLMAO!! I trust you all are well…more later…after I quit laughing! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 8, 2010 @ 6:44 am Tiger! Brilliant! Hilarious! I COULD imagine Dick Cheney deep in the bowels of the CIA….LMAO! But seriously, I am with you 100% on the “warrantless search”! There is no way that they could defend that in a normal court of law…Civil Rights – remember those??? But then these are NOT normal times. I have some mixed feelings about the desire for safety and the desire for my privacy. I don’t know where I would draw the line. I will have to give this some more thought. Good article…timely subject! Good going there! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 6, 2010 @ 4:09 pm Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! Both the story and the art! You are very brave. I salute you on the continuation of your journey! This life is, after all, a very intense journey! By all means, enjoy the trip! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:52 pm If you would like, I would love to communicate by email. These things are deeply personal and I thought about that after I posted my reply to you. Perhaps you would rather make this a more private conversation…probably more appropriate right now. We can do that tomorrow through the Author’s Cafe. I’d love to tell you about the article I am working on. I can appreciate putting your feelings out there on the line for all to see. Maybe it is cathartic. I hope so! It’s 3am here and I must sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow. Let’s catch up with each other in the morning. BTW, what time zone are you in? I’m Eastern. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 6, 2010 @ 12:06 am Patriot, But Scott, you are still you. These situations you find yourself in are not you! I DO hear wisdom and strength in you. I would give all I own to be able to solve your problems, but all I can do is to send you words of encouragement to let you know how special I think you are. You are among many friends here. I went through a very bad time several years ago. First, I took a nasty fall from a 4 ft. retaining wall, hitting the concrete and shattering my right hip. To make a long story short, the first surgery was botched…badly!! I had to have a SECOND total hip replacement. No fun, I can assure you with much pain and a long rehabilitation. As I was home recuperating from the surgery, a little old man with Alzheimer’s disease drove his SUV into the front of my shop, literally through the front wall of the building, putting me out of business and cutting off my income rather abruptly. I got down to $11 in my bank account, I was running out of food, and my car was almost out of gas. My store looked like a bomb had gone off in there. I had nowhere to put the business, and all of a sudden, no money to work with. At the very same time all these calamities were happening, my mom came down with leukemia and died very soon after. My health, my business, and my mother…all in one blow. I felt as if I had a big hole in my gut. So if anyone can relate to some very hard times, I certainly can. I am not a religious person. But at that time, I knew I had to depend on my spiritual strength (for want of a better word) to pull me through. This is what I am asking you to tap into. I knew that no matter how dark things were, I still had so much going for me…and I knew in my heart that it would take more than those things to keep me down…not the real me, not the brave me! So I drew from that strength, kept on keepin’ on. I did have the encouragement of others…and this is what I offer to you. Tap into that reservoir of strength that is the real you! I know you can! 🙂 BTW, the little old man with Alzheimer’s was not seriously injured! I felt so sorry for him. He did not have a clue where he was or what had happened. That is such a terrible disease and he was pitiful. I still think of him often. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 11:08 pm Good evening, my friend! I just arrived here, midnight my time, to find that you had posted a new comment. I, like Kesmarn, will have to postpone listening to Mr. Hedges until morning if I am to write tonight. I imagine that most of us here have a mental picture in our minds of our other members. I have a mental picture of you…and from your self-description, it is nothing like the one you give. I am not referring to physical traits, but something much deeper. We become transparent here by the sharing of our most deeply held feelings and beliefs. We are courageous; we are brave! We put ourselves out in the open, vulnerable, and subject to criticism from others who might not understand. Another author here wrote that it takes great courage to put ones’ self out there…and I see you in that light! You have graced us with your poetry, words and feelings from the depths of your heart. You have made yourself vulnerable by doing so. I am, kind friend, in your debt for this sharing of your true self. My mother used to tell me that I was my own worst enemy. I never understood exactly what she meant until much later in my life when I began to realize that I was making my own reality…I was defeating myself by my own self-perception. At the risk of over-stepping my bounds, I would encourage you to make your reality a better one. Anyone who has the strength to write as you have written most certainly has that inner strength, courage, and bravery necessary for the task. Surely you must see this in yourself! The picture that I hold in my mind of you, Scott, is one of a man who has seen the heights and the depths, one who has the richness of spirit, born of experience, to write beautifully…and to share that beauty with us all. We are graced by it! I wish you the very best, my courageous friend…only the best! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:38 pm Abby, you are spot on! My point about this is that if the attempted attack was designed to inspire terror in people, then it was a very successful attack in spite of the fact that the explosive did not go off. Semantics? Maybe…but people are frightened and that is what they want us to feel. I can only say that I wish I had been a fly on the wall in that meeting today. I believe the President can help his image by showing a little bit of that anger. I’ve gotta’ sleep…after 3am here now and my eyes won’t stay open much longer. We’ll touch base tomorrow! Have a good one, sweetie! Take good care of that little bambino! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 6, 2010 @ 12:22 am ‘evenin’ everyone! I watched the President’s statement late this afternoon with great interest. His anger was almost palpable and he had “that look” on his face. Someone used the word “smoldering”…most appropriate. As expected, there were few if any details…just a statement that our intelligence failed to “connect the dots”. (Quite frankly, I am sick of that phrase.) What we have yet to find out is who, and more importantly, WHY? Why did our intelligence agencies fail to communicate the information that they had? Was it “turf wars” or some sick someone’s political agenda to make someone else look bad? We may never be told the reason behind the reason that we failed. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 10:22 pm “Populist Republican” is an Oxymoron Hey Jan, it sounds like this “goldnchyl” is just the kind of person we need to invite to the Planet! I hope you have done so…or at least tried to before you were so unceremoniously scrubbed! And just one question…what in hell is the purpose of putting up a big blog site if you won’t allow opinions to be voiced? HP is getting worse and worse as time goes by! I wrote a few days ago: HP has lost more than they will ever know! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 1:11 pm Jan: I just mentioned that in a reply to someone else…Cheney’s hit squad. If one will only take a long look at this man’s history and complete, cold disdain for the American people in general, one can only come to the conclusion that his ideology is all-consuming to him. He is hell bent on imposing his dark visions on the rest of us. Extreme paranoia is a symptom of mental imbalance, to put it kindly. I have serious questions about this man’s stability. And we all know how much damage an unstable ideologue can bring. Remember good ol’ Saddam who gassed his own people? Addendum: I could imagine some scenario where Cheney was so obsessed with his “war” that he would be willing to sacrifice the lives of American civilians to make his point…and to turn the country to his aims. After all, he was willing to sacrifice American troops for an illegal, immoral war. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 10:10 am Oh no doubt he will get his prayer rug, a copy of the Koran, and a special diet made just for him. I am sometimes appalled at the coddling of our criminals…many of them have access to computers, law libraries, and are even able to complete college degrees while in the “clink”. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:39 am For those Rummy haters among us, I offer up another little tidbit. It seems he was one of the executives of a pharmaceutical company and held quite a bit of stock in said company before he came to power. If you remember, we had the big “Bird Flu” scare during the Bush years. The MSM and the government had us believing that millions could die…and that the ONLY drug available to fight it was “Tamiflu”, coincidentally made by Rummy’s outfit. There is no doubt in my mind that he made absolutely millions from the scare. The US government alone bought millions of dollars worth of the vaccine. The dreaded bird flu never really materialized except for a few isolated cases. My point here is about the scare tactics of the Bushies and how lucrative it can be to scare the crap out of the American people! The recent H1N1 scare may be somewhat more serious, but it does make one wonder how much is hype and how much is a little scheme to make a fortune! If you have friends in high places who can spread rumors and fearmongering, you can make a bundle! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:30 am Hey Jan! Sorry I didn’t reply to your comment last night. You’re right! When Keith Olbermann called Cheney a traitor, I actually cheered out loud! It’s time for this traitor to shut his “pie hole”! As I said in my article, the implications of Cheney being somehow involved in this are simply my speculations. But I know he does have his “moles” at the CIA and other branches of government who no doubt are working to undermine the President. It doesn’t take much imagination. I probably would not have thought about this much if Cheney had not been repeatedly making his statements and speeches, trying to knock the President at every turn. Cheney just seems to be the one who has that kind of ugly axe to grind! » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:12 am Abby, you’re right as usual. I am opposed to the death penalty in general. I would imagine that life behind bars without possibility of parole would be worse than death. It certainly would be for me! And sorry, Abdulmuttlab…no prayer rugs are included for the length of your stay! 🙂 I don’t mean to make light of this. I’m just in one of those moods this morning. » Posted By Emerald1943 On January 5, 2010 @ 9:03 amComments Posted By Emerald1943
This is terrible! What a travesty!! We may need to do an “intervention”! A calamity for sure!! LMAO Just kidding, Javaz! 🙂
Let’s do this again next year! Kudos to all!
LOL
“Perhaps it was meant as performance art and a visual gag. It is a PIPE ORGRAN”.
“Sounds like he took the phrase ‘laying some pipe’ too literally”.
“Maybe he mistook it for a blowpipe”.
“It takes banging the pipe on the radiator totally to a new level”.
“I hope the pipe layers’ union doesn’t file a sexual assault charge.”
I don’t want you to take my comments as in any way patronizing, or admonishing you to “keep your chin up”. You have been hurt badly and things look really dark right now. I gathered as much from several of your posts last week.
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