'Gone To Soon'

Like millions of other people around the world, I watched the tribute to Michael Jackson today with very mixed emotions. A part of me was very thankful that all the media hoopla of the last couple of weeks would now begin to settle down but at the same time feeling somewhat sad for Mr. Jackson and his family for what they had to endure especially just in last few days.

First, you have a Congressman from N.Y. going ape shit over the July 4th weekend asking why so many people were celebrating the life of a 'Pedophile' instead of out honoring our military, teachers, volunteers etc...In the same rant, Rep. King goes on to refer to Michael Jackson as a Child Molester and Pervert irregardless of the simple fact that he was acquitted of the charges. I would have expected this kind of a comment from the blogasphere at large but I was very surprised that it came from the mouth of a U.S. Congressman. Then yesterday, Bill O'Reilly on Fox News questions as to why the black community is following the Michael Jackson story so closely especially considering his kids and Micheal's own face was white.

WTF is that suppose to mean? What does the color of Jackson's kids have to do with this? As I have stated so many times before...You Couldn't Make This Kind Of Shit Up Even If You Wanted To. It's these kind of idiotic comments that makes Jon Stewart's job very easy.

The night that Jackson died, I told a friend of mine to get ready...It might come from a talk radio or cable news pundit, it might come from a late night comedian, or it might even come from a politician, but just wait...the racist comments and the angry sentiment about Jackson's acquittal will be forthcoming in a big way.

Sadly, I was correct.

My comments however should not be taken as trying to put Michael Jackson on some kind of pedestal...not by no means. This entertainer and singer had some serious issues. Issues that probably in the end led to his untimely death at age 50. While many will choose to remember Jackson by his many faults, I will forever remember Michael for his music - May he now rest in peace.


From today's tribute - USHER - 'Gone To Soon'

Latest Garden Pics

Tomatoes, Peanuts, Okra, and Corn

 

Moon & Stars Watermelons

 

Brandywine Tomatoes

 

Suspended Drip Hoses For Watering

 

The month of June was a very dry month here in Georgia with many areas recording only about a inch or so of rain for the month. Over the last few weeks, watering has almost become a daily event but the drip hoses is helping greatly in curbing the overall water usage. We are keeping are fingers crossed for some passing rain showers this weekend.

Happy Gardening!

Remembering Michael Jackson -

'We Are The World'



The song 'We Are The World' was recorded in January of 1985. It's official release came in March of that year. The lyrics were written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and was produced and conducted by Quincy Jones. The single reached # 1 on the billboard top 100 on April 17, 1985. It immediately sold out its initial shipment of 800,000 copies, and sales reached 1.5 million shortly afterwards

via - wiki

President Obama - 150 Days In Office, 450 Days Until Midterm Elections

President Barack Obama has now been in office over 150 days and many are beginning to ask if his honeymoon is ending? While it may be a little to soon to answer that question for sure, the answer is probably - YES.

Most Americans still view President Obama very favorably (60% as measured by the average of all polling conducted in the last two weeks) but they are increasingly becoming concern with his individual policies. His decision to close Gitmo and his bailout of GM and Chrysler seem to be just a couple of the things that many in the middle find very troublesome and thus his support from independents and moderates has taken a hit as a result. According to a NBC News poll taken just last week, Obama's approval is down over 10 percentage points among independent voters compared to what it was a just back in late April. As a whole the President's approval dropped 5 percentage points as registered by the same poll (61 down to 56%.) CBS and ABC polling seems to show his approval holding somewhat steady overall but even those polls showed the nations deepening concerns over the economy and the President's own policies.

As Obama gets ready to celebrate his 6th month in office, the 'Bush Economy' is rapidly becoming his economy to own. While the job layoffs might be slowing - the overall unemployment percentage is getting worse. In fact, it's very likely now that the nations unemployment percentage will go over the 10% figure sometime this summer with most economist not predicting a significant turnaround in the job picture until well into 2010 at the earliest. Needless to say, the state of the economy and the overall jobs picture will be a huge factor as how the Republicans do in the 2010 midterm elections. Can they do well enough to recapture the House? Well...anything is possible.

Political pundits feel that something as simple as Obama's approval numbers will have a large part in forecasting just how effective the GOP will be in making significant gains in 2010. Many feel that an approval of 55% or better for the President come next fall would make it extremely hard for the GOP to get enough votes to come anywhere close to taking back the House. On the other hand if the President numbers fall to below 45%, this will indicate that significant gains could be made by the Republicans and possibly enough to even take back the House. As for taking back the Senate? 0% for the GOP...just not enough States in play.

This summer and fall will be a crucial period for the President as Health Care reform takes center stage. If the President fails at obtaining a strong health care reform bill - his first year as President will be viewed upon as a huge disappointment by many especially those on the left. On the other hand if he able somehow to get a bipartisanship bill passed that includes a 'Public Option' that is perceived to be balanced and fair, the chances for a GOP comeback in 2010 and any chances of defeating Obama in 2012 might become nothing more than just a dream.

Summer Is Here!

The HEAT is on...This weekend's tempertures are expected to rise in the upper 90's. No rain is site.

Time To Bring Out The Soaker Hoses.

'Propeller' Community Says Good-bye To Its Editor

Last Friday, in his 'Week In Review' posting on the Propeller blog - James Marcus, editor of the social news site announced to the Propeller community that he would be leaving the site and would be moving over to assume new editorial duties at AOL News. While most of the members wished Mr. Marcus well with his future endeavors, a great deal of sadness and disappointment was expressed as well.

These comments were plucked from the Propeller comment threads;

"James .. good luck.. hope you will get the utmost satisfaction from your new position... be well.. be safe.. i think i'm gonna cry.. "

"We will miss you James. I've always enjoyed reading your weekly recaps. Hope your new position will make you happy. Make sure to post any articles on prop so we can still read you. All the best James"

"I don't know what to say James, I'm speechless and sad that you won't be here any more but yet I know this is a move for you in your career so I can't begrudge that"

"I can't really thank you enough for all the moments your wit has brought a smile or chuckle to my day, will seriously miss your WIR. And I sincerely hope you keep popping in to keep it honest! Wishing you the very best.

The Manager of Propeller, Tom Drapeau, had this to say -"James will most definitely be missed, not only with his wordplay in these Week in Review posts, but in his leadership role in the Propeller community. He won't be far, as his new editorial position is within AOL, but his focus will be shifting away from Propeller. "We hope to see James stop by every now and then, and wish him the best in all future endeavors. I for one have enjoyed these Week in Review posts immensely. Fridays won't be the same".

Speaking for myself... I will miss James and I wish him the very best with his new role at AOL News. His wit, charm, professionalism and most of all his daily involvement with the community helped make the site a very nice place to visit. He will be sorely missed.

James Marcus was hired as the lead editor for the new Netscape/Propeller website in the fall of 2006. Mr. Marcus added his popular 'Week In Review' segment several months later and it quickly became a success within the Propeller Community.

A Budweiser Commercial You Will Not See On TV

Top Selling U.S. Vehicles In 2009

As we have seen now for over two decades, the Ford F-Series pick-up truck remains the top selling vehicle in the United States with over 143,000 units sold through May. It is pretty amazing that it can hold on to this position in light of the fact that the F-Series sales are down over 39% from the same period last year. While the Chevrolet Silverado is holding on for the number two spot, the Toyota Camry is not far behind and could very well overtake the Siverado before the year is out. Only 1,200 units are currently separating these two.

The 4th best selling vehicle in the U.S thus far in 2009 is the Honda Accord with 107,000 units sold followed by three other foreign models, the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and the Nissan Altima. All four of the vehicles were among the 'Top 10' in sales in 2008 as well.

Coming in eighth in overall sales is the Dodge Ram Pickup. Last year, this truck was the 5th best selling vehicle in the country and the year prior to that it was number three. That's right - for years the three best selling vehicles in the United States were all pick-up trucks. Ford, Chevy, Dodge - in that order.

The Ford Fusion takes the ninth spot in sales, up from 20th in 2008. The Ford Motor Co. sold nearly 20,000 of these in May alone. The new Fusion for 2010 offers a hybrid which is already selling quite well and the car is getting a great deal of media attention. In 2008, the Chevrolet Impala was the domestic car with the most sales. The Malibu overtook the Impala earlier this year and held the honor prior to the Fusion taking it away just this past month.

Finally, rounding out the the top 10 is the Honda CR-V which has sold over 65,000 unites thus far in 2009. If you would like to see the entire top 20 list with comparisons in sales and rankings from last year, click here

Day 2 - Roofers

 

 

 

Roofers Having Fun In The Rain

 

Sprinkles turn into a shower and out comes the tarps...

 

...day one of Roofing project ends early because of rain showers.

Philanthropy Project - Give And Glow

Find out more about the Philanthropy Project at it's new home on AOL

Keeping Up With My 'Friends' list On Propeller

Over the last few years, I have built up quite a few very good friends on Propeller.com. Many have been a part of the Propeller (Netscape) community from day one and each day these fine folks offer story submissions and commentary to the site through its comment threads that I enjoy reading on a daily basis.

Managing my 'Friends' list is certainly an ongoing process...I try to purge my list at least once a month as members to the site as they do on all social sites seem to come and go. For instance, if a friend has had no activity on the site in the last 45 days or so, I remove he or she from my list. On average, I add 2 to 3 people per week to my list which is only a fraction of the Friends request that I may receive in a week. Needless to say, I am very big on completed profile pages that details ones hobbies and/or interests that seem to mirror my interests. Currently I am befriended to around 130 folks on the social news site - most of these people submit articles daily but quite a few are more than satisfied by just proping (voting) on articles or commenting. Without question, the community that makes up Propeller.com is one of the most mature and intelligent within social news today.

In following my friends on Propeller, I make it a point a couple times a day to go into my profile page and click 'Friends Submissions' which allows me to see the articles that my pals have submitted to the site. I read the articles that interest me and will often prop but the others I pretty much ignore and skip over. Its my very strong belief that if I voted on all of my friends submissions that these folks would become clueless as to what I was really interested in and enjoyed reading, thus destroying the primary purpose of social news. I can also track my friends comments by clicking on that person's profile page and then clicking 'Comments'.

On a related note, earlier this year Propeller management brought back the ability to easily share your submissions with your friends via the 'Share' option. This option allows you to send a heads up of your submission to a 'Group' or up to 25 individuals (friends). You can also e-mail your submission to someone who may not use Propeller or at least use it on a daily basis. While this option is very popular within the Propeller community, many like myself will not use it for all submissions. Why? Frankly I submit between 5 to 10 articles a day but not all of them have the same meaning or importance to me - thus I only use the 'Share' option on articles that I find to be the most interesting and thus what I suspect would be of most interesting to my friends. Just imagine, If we all sent out notifications of all of our submissions our 'Site Mail' boxes within Propeller would become very cluttered.

As Propeller gets ready to celebrate its 3 year anniversary next month,

Happy Propelling To All

'Replace Hate With Understanding, Compassion And Acceptance

The Matthew Shepard Foundation

Embracing Diversity

Happy Easter

Family Picture from 1962. I am the little boy sitting all the way to the right in the photo.

Earth Hour Is Today

Earth Hour - Saturday March 28, 8:30 PM

Earth Hour is an international event organized by the World Wide Fund and is held on the last Saturday of March each year. It asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on the issue of climate change.