Interesting Viewpoint Found on Brietbart

» Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We Could Make in 2010 - Big Government
I could agree with some of the points made in this article but I will not fall into that trap.  How many times will it take the Congress and the Presidency balance of power to shift and only provide the same results before we learn?  The problems of corruption, cronyism and special interests run rampant in both parties.  And when either party is in power, they cowtow to the extreme right or left, neglecting the wishes of the moderate majority.  So, what does a disgruntled American yearn for but a third party?

Fare thee well…

My employee and friend, Bob McDermott, lost his battle with cancer tonight.  And he battled hard since July 2007.  His toughness, courage and strength were amazingly inspirational.  That’s how Bob was on the outside too, tough, courageous and strong, but gentile and sensitive on the inside. 

I met him on his first interview with me.  I had already hired for the one position I wanted to fill but there was something about Bob that I needed to explore further.  During the second interview, I understood what it was about him.  It was his loyalty.  He spoke of his previous employer, Sonny, with high regard and no resentment.  Upon the offer of employment, Bob told me that he would give my company a “try” to make sure it was a fit he liked!  So, all loyal and ballsy, he started working for The Grand Handyman.

Bob was the oldest on the staff but physically the strongest and maybe the most stamina.  He never complained to me about working hard and our customers liked him very much.  He taught us trades he excelled at and learned a lot on the job too.  I think the learning was something he enjoyed.  Bob helped me build and bond a staff of eventually 9 and I told him he was the “heart” of our team.  Mutual respect, admiration and teamwork was important to him and he knew it was critical to our company goals.

I can’t remember how long he was with me, I think 3 or 4 years, until Bob became ill.  His last day was Monday, July 7th, 2007.  The economy was beginning its unraveling and I had made a decision that weekend to let go of Bob’s last counterpart because he was becoming a huge burden and untrustworthy to the organization.  I figured there was barely enough work for Bob and I, but we’d hunker down and weather the storm ahead.  See, Bob understood the reality of recession cycles and he knew making entitlement demands on me would benefit no one (yeah, Benedict, that’s a dig).  But this day, Bob wasn't looking too good and his belly was bloated.  He was unable to keep anything down for many days and he had not gone to see a doctor although he had been losing weight for some time (did I mention he sometimes was one stubborn SOB too!).  He worked that day but came to me around 2 pm talking of going home.  Knowing his stubborn qualities he was not going to go to the doctor.  I used the “do it for your grandchildren”  routine (no credit here…this man adored his grandchildren.  In fact, he returned that morning, straight to work, from one of his many “get in the truck and drive south of the Mason-Dixie to see his grandkids for the weekend trips” ). That worked but I knew he was worried.

In the year and a half of his illness he visited the office, met me at jobsites and we spoke.  He always mentioned getting back to work. The last call we spoke of the progress and the hopefully final treatment that was to rid him of the cancer. Of late, we missed several phone calls and began to text.  His last text was that he was going home last Saturday.  Today, Caller ID told me it was Bob but it was his wife, Margaret, on the phone.

I wish I had one last conversation with Bob…or another chance to swing the hammer with him.

Bob McDermott loved his Facebook but I never engaged him on it.  So, I wrote him my first and last message to him before:

Bob, Shoulda, woulda, coulda done this a long time ago (getting on Facebook with you) but never did.  Now I'm sending a message to say farewell. 
I knew you for over 4, maybe 5, years and I will miss our conversations.  You began as my employee but that did not last long as you became my friend soon after.  During life's unhappy experiences and mistakes, you listened and taught me patience and how to forgive myself.  We had many deep conversations and I always felt we were cut from the same cloth but a generation apart.   And that made it easy to talk to you with vulnerabilities aside.
You made us laugh with your English butchering, smile with your grandchildren stories and comfortable with your youthful exuberance (when you weren't a crabass).
I pray that you're comfortable, talking a little theology or philosophy with Him, and you have a Grey Goose in your hand.
Thank you for being there so many times for me.
Your Friend,
Bob
p.s. You’re right, your lady does look like Ann Margret!  :)

Ping Pong & Pill Bugs

I grew up watching EVERY episode of the Flintstones many times. Love the Flintstones. I bring this up because of some technological nonsense I seem to always be dealing with and all of a sudden out of the depths of my RAM pops up the episode where they play ping-pong with a pill bug (it's been years but I believe Fred plays the paperboy, Arnold, for some wager. Can anyone refresh my memory, or better yet , find some video to attach of that episodes' match please?).  So, I have been dealing with Sprint on my Blackberry end and an IT guy on my server end. Each one was blaming the other and leaving me with no results. This has been going on for months, yes, months.

Then it came to me that our government has operated this way for the last 20 years. Just put an "R" on Fred and a "D" on Arnold or vice-versa.

Don't know about you but I'm tired of being a pill bug.

The March on DC, 9/12/2009

On Saturday, September 12th, I, along with my good friend John, traveled to join the march in DC (by now I hope you’ve heard about the event). This was not a well publicized rally but it caught our attention and we felt it our duty to go. Interestingly, I stopped by my first TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party on July 4th and there was no mention of the 9/12 march. I had heard about it on the radio and visited a site The 912 Project for some insight. Since we were new to activism, we knew the who (us and other frustrated Americans) but not the what, where and when.
So, we drove to Philly to catch an early train and arrived in DC around 9 a.m. We had very modest predictions and expectations of the crowd totals. But when we got off the train and joined the massive amounts of people walking to the starting points we knew we needed disposable cameras. John and I agreed that the most productive thing we could do was share what we viewed and encountered in DC with our friends and families.
I invite you to take a look at the photos below capturing the spirit of peaceful protest. Read the signs people made, see the faces of the protesters and the magnitude of the crowd that attended. The format to view the pictures from the link is decent and you can select individual pics, point and click in the middle of them to enlarge, to read the poster signs better.
I purposely waited to post these pictures and comments until after The March was last month’s news. Media coverage immediately and within days reported “tens of thousands” attended, only an anti-Obama message was cast and that the attendees were bused in, organized, provided printed signs and were fringe radicals. An idea of what truly occurred is noted below in text and pictures.
What we saw:

• A family was the largest group on the train (a dad, mom & her sister with three boys)
• Kids and parents made poster signs in the Snack Car
• On the walk to the starting point, people proudly shouted out their state of origin
• Almost all homemade signs and all were clever, thought-provoking and honest
• Sign content: 10% anti-Obama, (calling him a Socialist, Communist, Marxist, etc.), 25% anti-Congress, 25% defending our Constitution, the remaining was anti-big government, taxes, corruption and spending. We saw no distasteful (unless you find calling the President a Socialist, Communist, Marxist, etc. distasteful) or racial messages.
• Some folks dressed as Founding Fathers
• A few buses and maybe a dozen groups with Tea Party group tee-shirts.
• A sea of Gadsden Flags (Don’t Tread on Me) and obviously many American Flags
• No network or cable cameras or personnel, only Internet Media and indie interviews and one lone helicopter about two hours into the rally
• At least 350,000 people as far as I could see (the largest concert I attended was 105,000 that I used as my gauge) I heard a report a few weeks later that the DC Police aerial photo results estimated the crowd at 1.2 million
• Lotsa port o’ potties (I counted a wall of 100), few cops, no litter (unfortunately we were out of film but the thousands of signs were respectfully stuffed and left at the large drum cans on the way out of the Mall)

Limited sleep, gas & tolls, $5 disposable camera, $160 RT Phila-DC Amtrak ticket, $175 food & bar tab at the Green Turtle with my dear old friend John…The 912 March on DC…Priceless.

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Power to the People