Monday, January 3, 2011

The Civil War will never end for some.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
DATE: January 3, 2011
TITLE: The news and views at the beginning of the year.
January 3 is …Festival of Sleep Day. Finally, a useful day we can all enjoy.
Valerie Bertinelli, 50, got married on New Year’s Day to her boyfriend of seven years Tom Vitale, a financial planner.
The Chicago Bears managed to make an exciting situation a boring game. Why is Johnny Knox in the NFL? Why is Johnny Knox playing for the Bears? Why is Johnny Knox being thrown to? Why is Johnny Knox being paid to be a professional athlete when he is not one? I think Johnny Know just dropped another pass. No, No, he just ran the wrong route.
The holidays are over. It is Monday morning. The world has reset itself to a normal lifestyle. The holidays always go too fast, once they are over but many people cannot wait until they are over during the holiday season. I hope everyone had a joyous holiday season and received what they wanted or needed as gifts. May your 2011 be better than your 2010 and I hope the world and the United States begins to straighten itself out. It is doubtful the politicians are going to help. We, as citizens, must do this ourselves.
In 1959, on this date, Alaska (49th state) entered the United States of America; capital: Juneau; bird: willow ptarmigan; flower: forget-me-not; nickname: The Last Frontier
The March of Dimes was established on this day in 1938 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fight poliomyelitis (Roosevelt himself was afflicted with polio). The organization was originally called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (as the disease was commonly known).
The March of Dimes accomplished its mission within 20 years. Another historical example of what we, the United States, can do if it is determined to accomplish a goal we set. Research led by Dr. Jonas Salk and supported by funds (those marching little dimes) raised annually by thousands of volunteers, resulted in the announcement in April 1955 that the Salk polio vaccine was “safe, potent and effective.” The foundation also supported the research that led to the Sabin oral vaccine, another safe, effective polio preventative discovered by Dr. Albert B. Sabin.
Following the victory over infantile paralysis, the March of Dimes turned its attention to conquering the largest killer and crippler of children: the mental and physical problems that are present at birth.
Currently, The March of Dimes raises funds to support research, education and community-based programs to prevent birth defects and help lower the rate of premature births and infant mortality. The March of Dimes is one of the 10 largest voluntary health agencies in the United States, with 101 chapters nationwide.
Mike Haywood, 46, was hired as University of Pittsburgh’s head football coach sixteen days ago. Saturday, January 1, 2011 he was fired. When Pitt made this hire, it was a mistake that was costly and going to set the program back farther than Dave Wannstedt did. The hire was racially motivated and everybody knew it was a mistake. Luckily for Pitt, Haywood, managed to get himself fired hours after getting out of jail after his arrest for domestic violence in South Bend, Indiana. Pitt did the right thing this time, both morally and financially. They fired him quickly and cut all ties to him. It is only fair. If a student-athlete had been arrested for the same charges, he would have been kicked off the  team, ending any chance for a successful athletic career. Haywood had his bite at the apple as an adult and brought this on himself. He cannot explain this away as a youthful mistake like the student-athletes always try to do. Good job Pitt.
I am glad to see we are still fighting the Civil War as a divided Nation. When National Park Service rangers fired a New Year's cannon shot at the Civil War battleground in Manassas, Virginia to hail the arrival of 2011, they also ushered in the start of a four-year commemoration of the war's 150th anniversary. The date marked the 150th anniversary of the day South Carolina became the first of 11 states to secede. Inside the ballroom, elected officials and others in period costume celebrated the courage of their fore-bearers to stand up for their state's right to leave the Union. Outside, on the sidewalk, the NAACP led 100 demonstrators who viewed the event as a celebration of a treasonous act against the federal government in order to protect the institution of slavery.
I think the slavery check has been cashed enough times by this Nation. I do not want to cash it any more. The Civil War will never be forgotten. Slavery will never be forgotten. Groups like the NAACP just keep picking at an old scab, never letting it heal. I did not enslave anyone. There is no one alive that enslaved anyone. No one is alive that was a slave in this country. As Abraham Lincoln said, “A House divided cannot stand.” African- American activists need to get on board with the real world. Pull the United States up not down, we would all be better off.
Carol Mosley Braun is a glaring example of a person who thinks she deserves to win elections because she is black, not because she is intelligent, productive, a leader or has the right answers. She once called George Will, a respected, national journalist from Champaign IL a nigger hater. She used that word and did not get in any trouble for it. She called George Will a Ku Klux Klan member. She was found to have broken campaign finance laws but was not prosecuted because of “lack of resources” Two requests by the IRS to the  Justice Department to investigate her went unanswered. Do you think the lack of criminal prosecution or investigation had anything to do with the fact she was a black Democrat serving while a Democrat was President?
She recently attacked a Chicago Tribune writer, calling him “a drunk and a wife beater” Both times she justified her actions because she was an African-American, not because she was right. When she was a Senator (How did that happen?), she was in trouble because her live-in boyfriend, with a criminal record and checkered past did business with terrorists African nations. Her past is full of similar examples. She made lucrative financial deals with Nigeria at a time Nigeria was on the terrorists watch list. She failed to notify our government of her visits to Nigeria or register as a lobbyist forNigeria. This woman I would pay just to go away.
Top of the charts in the music world on this date:

1947 Ole Buttermilk Sky - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas &
The Campus Kids)
The Old Lamplighter - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams)
For Sentimental Reasons - Nat King Cole
Divorce Me C.O.D. - Merle Travis
1955 Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Let Me Go, Lover - Joan Weber
The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane - The Ames Brothers
More and More - Webb Pierce
1963 Telstar - The Tornadoes
Bobby’s Girl - Marcie Blane
Go Away Little Girl - Steve Lawrence
Don’t Let Me Cross Over - Carl Butler & Pearl (Dee Jones)
1971 My Sweet Lord/Isn’t It a Pity - George Harrison
Knock Three Times - Dawn
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson
1979 Le Freak - Chic
Too Much Heaven - Bee Gees
My Life - Billy Joel
The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
1987  * Walk Like an Egyptian - Bangles
Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung
Notorious - Duran Duran
Mind Your Own Business - Hank Williams, Jr.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2010
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
www.brucebrennanlaws.com
www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.




 “The best prophet of the future is the past”













Sunday, January 2, 2011

Way to go Big Ten!


BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

DATE: January 2, 2011

TITLE: The news and views at the beginning of the year.

January 2 is …Run Up the Flagpole and See if Anybody Salutes It Day.

The Big Ten was awful yesterday in the bowl games. They played in five and lost five, most by blowout scores.

The holidays are a wonderful time of the year. Alas, all good things must come to an end. The time period from December 15th through January 2nd is typically a slow news period but life does go on, for most of us.

The Chicago Fire Department lost two firefighters during the course of their duties in late December, 2010. The fire was in an abandoned laundry. The fire was extinguished but the firefighters were looking for people in the abandoned building who may have been using the building for shelter.

Eight homeless people were killed in a fire in New Orleans just before Christmas. They were gathered in an abandoned warehouse trying to stay out of the cold weather, at least for New Orleans, when a fire they started got out of control. Two people escaped and survived.

In the Miami, Florida area, five teenagers were killed by carbon monoxide in a Motel room they had gathered in to celebrate one of the teen’s 19th birthday. The Motel was built on stilts. They parked under the room they rented and because of a bad battery, left the car running. They were overcome by the fumes before they could consume the bags of fast food the authorities found in the room uneaten.

Bill the Governor has denied a posthumous pardon for Billy the Kid.

Legend says that the notorious gunslinger of the Wild West was promised a pardon in exchange for testifying in a 19th-century murder trial. But authorities in the then-U.S. territory of New Mexico allegedly broke their promise, and the pardon never came. Billy the Kid was shot to death in 1881, at the age of 21, after escaping from a jail where he was awaiting execution for killing sheriff William Brady  during the Lincoln County War in New Mexico in 1878.

An Albuquerque trial attorney and Old West history buff, Randi McGinn, filed a petition for Billy the Kid's pardon earlier this year, nearly 130 years after his death. "This injustice should be corrected,"
the Petition for a pardon reads. "A promise is a promise." That should be followed immediately by “I want some publicity.” And “Let’s waste some government time and money for my personal gain.” By Mr. McGinn.

But New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson turned down the petition today, telling ABC's "Good Morning America" that the facts of the Billy the Kid case do not support a pardon.

Born as Henry McCarty, most likely in New York City, "the Kid" became a criminal celebrity in America in the late 19th century, committing a string of violent crimes and evading authorities while he was still a teenager. He became embroiled in the Lincoln County, N.M., war of the late 1870s, a violent struggle between groups of cattle ranchers and merchants. In 1878, Sheriff William Brady -- rumored to be the secret agent of a rival Lincoln County faction -- was shot dead. McCarty was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.

 It is nice to see a Governor do the right thing and not just look for the publicity a pardon would bring his way. We have seen a rash of this type of revisionists history over the last several years. People who lived and died years ago lived and died according to the laws and customs of their times. We should not change that regardless of the bleeding heart liberal’s scatter-brained call for what they perceive as justice. We cannot run today good enough to worry about changing yesterday.

Music’s Chart toppers on January 1:

1946 It Might as Well Be Spring - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy
Williams)
I Can’t Begin to Tell You - Bing Crosby with the Carmen Cavallaro
Orchestra
Symphony - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Clyde Rogers)
Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight - Bob Wills
1954 Oh! My Pa-Pa - Eddie Fisher
Changing Partners - Patti Page
Stranger in Paradise - Tony Bennett
Let Me Be the One - Hank Locklin
1962 The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens
Run to Him - Bobby Vee
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke
1970 Someday We’ll Be Together - Diana Ross & The Supremes
Raindrop Keep Fallin’ on My Head - B.J. Thomas
Holly Holy - Neil Diamond
(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You Again - Charley Pride
1978 How Deep is Your Love - Bee Gees
(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again - L.T.D.
Baby Come Back - Player
Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
1986 Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie
Party All the Time - Eddie Murphy
Alive & Kicking - Simple Minds
Have Mercy - The Judds

BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2010
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
www.brucebrennanlaws.com
www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.


Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.


http://www.paybox.me/r/lawyerbruce




Saturday, January 1, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR PREDICTIONS

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

DATE: January 1, 2011

TITLE: Happy New Year

January 1 is …First Foot Day and Z Day

Yesterday was: December 31 is … Unlucky Day.


If you are bored and want to try to get some great deals, especially if you are up in the middle of the night, go to:                        www.skoreit.com
It is a penny auction house and you can often find deals on gift cards, cameras, watches, silver and gold. Use the BidAgent feature to bid automatically for early morning auctions you may not be awake for. Try it out. Signing in up is free.

The former Prime Minister of Israel was found guilty of rape. The former President of the United States would never stand trial for a crime let alone be convicted. It takes all kind to run aworld, I guess that’s why there is chocolate and vanilla.

You better hurry. Today is a great day to buy my book. It makes a great gift for anyone including, yourself. Buy it while you still have money. Be one of the first on your block to own and read Holmes the Ripper.

I think I will make a few predictions for 2011. These are just my thoughts. I have no inside information or scientific basis for them, just 56 years of experience.
1.      One of the Rolling Stones will die… you pick which one.
2.      The stock market will rise 10 to 13% for the year from today’s value.
3.      Brett Favre will retire, really.
4.      The Blackhawks will not repeat but will go to the Stanley Cup Final.
5.      The Cubs will not make the playoffs.
6.      The White Sox will play in the American League Championship Series.
7.      I will have a child graduate from Law School.
8.      I will have a child get married in June.
9.      The Tea Party will be the punch line to a cocktail party joke by 12-31-11.
10.  WikiLeaks will be a faint memory by 12-31-11.
11.  True Grit will win four Oscars.
12.  Larry King will pass away in 2011.
13.  Sarah Palin will announce she is not running for President in 2012.
14.  I will publish at least one book in 2011.
15.  The Republican candidate for President will be a current sitting governor not from the south.
16.  The Congress taking over in 2011 will spend most of its time undoing what the last Congress did. It will be one of the least productive Congress’s in memory




Events from January 1 throughout history

1751 - The world’s most celebrated holiday, New Year’s Day, has been observed on this day in most English-speaking countries since 1751 when the British calendar act was passed. Before that, folks wished everyone a Happy New Year on March 25, to coincide, approximately, with the beginning of spring.
1764 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played for the Royal Family at Versailles in France this day. In fact, he was even given the honor of standing behind the Queen at dinner. Not odd, really -- for Mozart was only eight years old.

1890 - The very first Tournament of Roses Parade was staged in Pasadena, California. Horse-drawn carriages decorated in flowers made up the parade.

1892 - Ellis Island opened this day to begin the processing of what would amount to more than 20 million immigrants to the United States. The immigration center was also used as a deportation station, and later, a Coast Guard Station, and then, a national park. Ellis Island is now a museum.

1898 - Happy birthday Big Apple. The five boroughs of New York became the city of New York this day. It was called ‘the consolidation’ and the five boroughs were fused into a single, powerful city.

1902 - The very first Rose Bowl collegiate football game was played in Pasadena this day. Michigan trounced the Stanford Cardinal, 49-0. It would be 14 years before another Rose Bowl game was held. One is being held today, in fact; following the Tournament of Roses Parade; where all floats in the parade are created using only flowers, fronds, leaves and seeds. You’re probably watching it on TV right now if you didn’t camp out in Pasadena overnight.

1923 - The very first radio broadcast of the Rose Bowl was beamed in Los Angeles over KHJ radio -- some 42 years before 93/KHJ became Boss Radio.

1924 – At five seconds past midnight, while the shouts of Happy New Year were still ringing out, Robert N. Cronk entered the world in Savannah, Georgia. Cronk was the first person to be born in the United States that year. He spent his adult years, at least 36 of them in government service and as a private pilot. Cronk added to his 15 minutes of fame by composing music, penning stories and poems, and entertaining country music fans for nine years as a disc jockey by the name of Bob Norwood (primarily on WQIK in Jacksonville, Florida.) Think about this – when Bob was born, there weren’t any radio deejays.
1937 - The First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX. Texas Christian (T.C.U.) beat Marquette, 16-6.
1953 - A sad day in country music, as the legendary Hank Williams died at the young age of 29. You may recall or even be able to sing along with some of the songs Hank wrote or co-wrote: "Cold, Cold Heart", "Half as Much", "Jambalaya", "Your Cheatin’ Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin", "I’m So Lonesome I Could Die", "Why Don’t You Love Me" (Hank’s own recording of this song climbed the charts in 1976, 23 years after his death) and "I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive" -- which, ironically, became a hit not too long after he was found dead in the back seat of his chauffeured limousine. Undisputedly, the biggest star in the history of country music, Hank Williams’ legacy is being carried on by his son, Hank Williams, Jr.
1967 - In his annual New Year’s column of predictions, the great Criswell wrote that there would be a one-week war with Egypt and Russia against Israel. War broke out in the Mideast that June: The Arab-Israeli 6-Day War. His column also stated that actress Jayne Mansfield would die in that year. She did.
1968 - Criswell was at it again, predicting that a black civil rights leader would be assassinated before October. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot in April.
1968 - A group known as The Blue Velvets decided to change its name this day and it’s a good thing they did. The new name soon became a national pop music favorite as Creedence Clearwater Revival climbed to stardom.
Notable births on January 1st:

1
1735 - Paul Revere
silversmith, patriot: “The British are coming!”, member of Sons of Liberty and participant in Boston Tea Party; died May 10, 1818
1752 - Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom)
flagmaker from Philadelphia, legendary folklore says she sewed the first American flag; died Jan 30, 1836
1942 - Country Joe McDonald
singer: group: Country Joe & the Fish: The F-I-S-H Cheer from Woodstock. “Give me an F…”
1955 - (Dewey) La Marr Hoyt
baseball: pitcher: Chicago White Sox [Cy Young Award: 1983]; San Diego Padres. Drugs sure can kill a career.
Notable events on January 1:
1995 Last "Far Side" by cartoonist Gary Larson (started 1980)
1995 Raman Lamba & Ravi Sehgal score 464 for 1st wicket for Delhi
1996 After 27 years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone vitamin

Chart Toppers – January 1,  through the years.

 1945
Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
There Goes that Song Again - Russ Morgan
I’m Making Believe - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots
I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter

1953
Why Don’t You Believe Me - Joni James
Because You’re Mine - Mario Lanza
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Skeets McDonald

1961
Are You Lonesome To-night? - Elvis Presley
Wonderland by Night - Bert Kaempfert
Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
Wings of a Dove - Ferlin Husky

1969
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder
Stormy - Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

1977
Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) - Rod Stewart
You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) - Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
Sweet Dreams - Emmylou Harris

1985 - Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Why Not Me - The Judds

HAPPY NEW YEAR IN 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2010
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
www.brucebrennanlaws.com
www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.