OBITUARY FOR COMMON SENSE

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He
will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the
worm; Life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more
than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in
charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an
abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became
businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by
his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son,
Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I’m A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Guards busted an escaped inmate trying to sneak back into prison with a haul of smokes. Harry Jackson, 25, had opened a door to the exercise yard and climbed over a fence to temporary freedom, said deputies in Camden County, Ga. On the outside, he allegedly stole 14 packs of cigarettes from a nearby store before being caught - trying to re-enter prison.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03092009/news/weirdbuttrue/weirdbuttrue.htm

Just one more test to check one more thing.

Still just a test, still nothing to see here. Please move along folks.
Thank you.

Turns out Ralphie’s mom was right after all. Not about shooting his eye out with his Red Ryder 200 shot carbine action BB gun, but about falling icicles being known to kill people.

According to this Reuters report

Six people have been killed in three days by icicles falling from buildings in a central Russian region, ITAR-TASS news agency reported Tuesday.

San Diego County and Palm Springs - you know, southern California San Diego County and out-in-the-desert Palm Springs - have been  hit by a snowstorm accompanied by rain, sleet, hail and ice.

A couple of days ago Palm Springs was 85 degrees.

Clearly, more proof of man-made global warming.

You hear people complaining all the time:  it always rains on the weekend.

Science says otherwise. A recent study concluded more rain comes down mid-week than on weekends:

The study was carried out by atmospheric scientist Thomas Bell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and his colleagues. They looked at data collected by NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite from 1998 to 2005. This method has advantages over rain data collected with ground-based gauges that can vary from one gauge site to the next.

They found it rains on average more between Tuesday and Thursday than from Saturday through Monday. The clearest day of the week was Saturday, with nearly twice the rainfall on the wettest day, Tuesday afternoon.

Just when the 9-11 twoofers have me convinced that the US has cornered the market on complete and utter ignorance and stupidity, I come across this survey involving 3,000 residents of England, raising the hope that maybe other countries have as many drooling imbeciles per capita as we do:

23% of those British surveyed believe Winston Churchill is a myth, a fictional character who never really lived.

I am not making this up.

47% think King Richard the Lionheart is a mythical character. 23% think nurse Florence Nightingale is made up, and 3% believe Charles Dickens, one of England’s most celebrated writers of fiction, is himself a fictional character. Also on the list of people believed to be myths are the Duke of Wellington and Mahatma Gandhi.

On the other hand, 58% know that Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, was a real person. Which would come as a surprise to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer who created Holmes.

From a NEWSMAX insider report: 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has announced the formation of a new non-profit organization aimed at “discovering, rewarding and fostering excellence in education.”

The Tallahassee-based Foundation for Excellence in Education’s programs will include honoring top teachers and their classrooms with awards of at least $2,500. Selection will be based on how their students improve on standardized reading and math tests.

The group is backed by some of Florida’s largest companies, including Disney and Gulf Power, and is staffed by several of Bush’s closest political advisers, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

During his two terms as governor, Bush brought significant changes to Florida schools, using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to measure student progress, grade schools, and award teacher bonuses.

“Reform is never finished and success is never final,” Bush said. “A perpetual cycle of reform will lead to sustained improvement for the long term.”

 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has mended fences with the Jewish community and is now favored by American Jews ahead of her Democratic rivals.Clinton’s embrace of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1999 was featured on the cover of the New York Post and upset many pro-Israel supporters. But since taking office in the Senate, Clinton has taken a hawkish stance on Israeli security, helped win world recognition of the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, and arued against anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.

In a survey late last year by the American Jewish Committee, 58 percent of Jews said they view Clinton favorably, compared to 38 percent for both Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Her strength among Jewish voters could be important in the Feb. 5 primaries in New York, New Jersey, and California.

Obama,  has been criticised for taking on Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, as his national security adviser. Brzezinski has clashed with pro-Israel groups since the 1970s. And Obama had to issue a statement strongly condemning the “anti-Semitic statements” made by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan after it was reported that Obama’s Chicago pastor had praised Farrakhan.