The Great Limerick Contest is set to begin
So submit the one that you think can win
Nothing really crude
(but don’t be a prude)
And you’ll be toasting John Powers with a grin!
So submit the one that you think can win
Nothing really crude
(but don’t be a prude)
And you’ll be toasting John Powers with a grin!
That's right - its limerick time! So until November 7 we will hold the "initial phase" wherein 5 poems will be selected by the committee. Once those five are selected everybody will have a chance to vote on their favorite of those five. Winner gets a bottle of John Powers.
Good luck!
412 comments:
1 – 200 of 412 Newer› Newest»just who is this committee? is Ed leading it? if so, do we have to refer to him as Der Kommissar?
I am on the committe, but the other participants will remain nameless, unless they want to identify themselves here.
And remember - everybody gets a chance to vote.
Plus I am buying the John Powers for the winner - you jerk.
Don't turn around, uh-oh
Der Kommissar's in town, uh-oh
Alles klar, Herr Kommissar
There once was a man named Frank
And all he could say was the rules stank
In reality though
He just didn’t know
How to win when winning’s at stake.
There was once a man named Ed
who got up on the wrong side of bed
couldn't take a joke
so he took a poke
at someone who's smarter in the head.
I was gonna save this one until after the election.
There once was a man named Obama
Vote for him I did not wanna
While speaking lies and deceit
And Billy Ayers in the back seat
He gave us financial drama.
Tom
Frank and Ed they are afightin'
With limericks they are awritin'
Hatfield and McCoy?
Naught on these boys
Dance a jig, 'fore the tension does heighten!
p
Let's see...
I'm not on the committee
Are you?
Ellen...how do
you care for bamboo?
Early voting I did go
and based on people at the show
with people hugging has they holla
"I voted for Barack Obama"
nobody else will carry Chicago.
my limerick:
"Learn HTML Without Pain"
(The thoughful website knew my name!)
"Unable to Load?"
I'm lost in this mode!
CSS language I can't feign:-(
How do you write a limerick,
I asked this Hillary chick.
"Ask that John McCain,
or Obama Hussein,
Neither is my pick."
So how do you care for bamboo?
It depends on the crisis - did you
let the pebbles get dry?
Do the leaves still wave high?
Just watering weekly should do.
I assume we can enter a bunch
instead of just one is my hunch.
I can't think right now;
I'm too full - holy cow,
I had stuffed manicotti for lunch.
I've been waiting all year for this gig
to see how may ways I can rig
my thoughts in the rhyme
and the rhythm this time
'Cause I'm planning to win and win big.
may=many
The John Powers prize is real nifty.
I hope Ed won't think I'm too shifty
If I smile when I win
and keep the cork in.
(and I hope Scott will like my "re-gifty")
That "re-gifty" was lame,
is it because you're a dame?
Anyway, you've got pluck,
and wish you good luck,
and hope you wish me the same.
Cathy for "Miss Enthusiastic"
she's certainly not apathetic
A bit keen is she,
no thirst for whiskey?
Belive not this Power-sharing trick!
Aww, Dash, try to cut me some slack
It's not a testosterone lack
that makes a poem lame.
I'm up for the game
and I'll do it in high heels and back(wards).
Laura is cryin'
The horse is dyin'
"She's all broken up Laura, she's in pain"
"I'll save her Pa, I know I can."
Cable guy gave me channels I'm not buyin.
ok no limerick.
Ed - does it have to have the prescribed formula used in school?
I finally have internet service.
The plumbers are not yet working on our house. Cathy and Steve are so wonderfully kind and understanding. You should all stay with them when in a bind. The new sewer line: It does not run straight out to the street, but rather under our driveway, under the neighbors lawn, down the street on other neighbor's lawns and much later hooks up to the city.
Ta Ta for now. That's not French, but it sounds like it!
lisa
Rain rain go away and don't come back!
So dismal outside, the sky is black!
A couch and remote,
they both get my vote!
I want to watch Pa in his lil' shack.
Bamboo only needs a little water every few days. Doesn't need direct sunlight, so you can put it anywhere. Probably change it to a slightly bigger pot by now, with more small rocks. It might like even smaller rocks than what's with it now. I'm transferring mine today.
It's icky out! Buddy is wearing his blanket sweater for the first time this year and enjoys it. Who's dressing up for halloween? What are all the kids going to be?
This is a Lavelle family oldie but (hopefully) a goodie...
There once was a lady from space,
She came here to save us with grace,
But time is so long,
You can't stick to one song,
And I can't remember her face.
ML
Emma is the princess bride we even found a dress just like the one in the movie! Mary is princess Leia. The princess carries a gun, and Mary wanted a light saber, too. So now we have purchased the first gun and sword in our family.
lisa
The giant man in the Princess Bride
was the best I've heard at making rhyme
Tho dead, we can see
Him on our TV
it's the very best movie of all time!
Limerick writing is an art,
it's in your blood, in your heart.
If you're a fine Irish lass,
or a lad with a glass,
You'll find the words to stand apart.
The Republican National Committee
Spent $150,000 to make Palin pretty!
Some went for clothes
then make-up and hose
Should have got a frontal lobotomy!
Took the girls for some ice cream tasties.
Mia said, "I'll have Bubble Gum, please."
Tiny gumballs so cold
Froze her teeth and she told
me they're made from some weird "stretchy peas."
I go to a restaurant discussion website. Anyone can post comments and questions. They are all as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs when the prospect of an Obama victory is mentioned.
Tom
Why? Doesn't he enjoy eating out?
p
No- because among other things Obama wants to up the min. wage to the $10 per hour range. This would devistate the independantly owned restaurant industry. The margins for operators is already thin - under 4% net profit in most places.
This will leave the field wide open to nothing but Applebees, Benningans and the ilk. I hope you all like factory Riblets.
Tom
Well yes this would be worrisome.
Why can't the federal minimum wage be tied to cost of living in variou areas of the country. That seems to make sense to me. I mean, $10 an hour in NYC is way different than $10 an hour in Algona.
Santa Fe raised their minimum wage citywide to something like $10.50 I wonder how it has affected the restaurants there.
P
At night when you you put your tired body to bed,
Do ideas for limericks swirl in your head?
Counting sheep is all for naught.
Will the sleep come? No it will not!
No wonder many writers kill themselves dead.
predicting mixed rain and snow monday morning here... awesome.
Cathy, if you regift Powers to my spouse
Won't your spouse think you a louse?
Certainly Stevo'd like a nip
Of precious Powers on his lip
Not enough to make him soused.
Well I wouldn't want Stevo to suffer
when the Powers could be such a buffer
on the rocks and betwixt
him and office politics
How would Scott like some gloves and a muffler?
Stuck on the desk with a hangover
Wishing that I had a do-over
I watch some TV
Get to bed before 3
Then I wouldn't feel like I was kissed by a Rover.
Emily - Ed Dougherty says "hi".
I = I'd (the first time its used).
Wait a minute. Don't most waitstaff make less than minimum wage already? Like maybe about $5 and tips? Am I wrong? How would a (probably phased-in) minimum wage hike hurt restaurants if the gradual increase in wages due to marketplace pressure might be offset by marginal-income people having a little money to go to nice restaurants once in a while?
In the economy we're going to have in the next couple years at least, I'd be more worried about the erosion of middle-class spending power. This constant coverage of the tanking economy has already inspired me to pass up a pair of cute shoes, some towels and 2 nice shirts.
Dang. Already busted my resolution to post nothing but limericks between now and Nov. 7.
Waitstaff make up less than 50% of mosts restaurant's payroll expense. Most of it is cooks, bussers, bartenders, hostesses and dishwashers.
My waitstaff is almost in it's entirety not relying on their income from here as their main source of income.
Most of the small manufactures in this area pay around $8 to start. A livable wage (not great) but a livable wage here. I'm thinking if I owned one of these places and my labor cost went up by 25% due to government mandate I would relocate to Mexico.
Tom
Not if you stood to lose all your tax deductions by doing so.
Not if you stood to lose all your tax deductions by doing so.
Yes, a Servers minimum wage is $4.35 and most (not all) of our Servers earn minimum. However, if the Server does not claim enough tips to bring her up to regular minimum ($7.25)...then, we have to cover the difference. Now, our Host(ess), Salad Bar Keeper, Diswasher, Bartender, Cleaner, Bus Person, Cooks, people in training or for a meeting...they all earn at least minumum.
In October of 2001...regular minimum wage was $5.15 and $3.25 for Servers. Yah, it does impact payroll when you have 18 employees.
Also, Restaurant Employees are not typically our client base. Raising the minimum wage, for us, would be a bit of a bummer. We're already paying close to $50/week in fuel surchages we never had to pay before. I am glad that gas prices are going down as we head into the Winter Season...this will dramatically help our gas bill and people will be more interested in travelling to go to eat. ;-)
Sorry about the double post.
But don't you think those same arguments have been advanced every time the minimum wage has been raised, and especially when it was established to begin with? People who rely solely on the marketplace to drive the economy don't figure in unbridled greed. The insertion of some regulation is an attempt to force some social justice to what is basically a dog-eat-dog system. Add pure capitalism to a total lack of mandated regulation and social justice and you get Russia.
Just asking but... why would this leave the field to the chains? Wouldn't they be affected just as much?
My friend mary Ann filled up her car yesterday for $2.29/gallon. I'm glad I was wrong about that! I perdicted that gas would go up to $4.00 and stay there.
I rememeber when I was 16 and was a Server at Pannekoeken Huis...I made $1.65/hr...cRaZy! I worked 2 days a week and my paychecks were like $35. The good thing was that I made about $120/weekend in tips. When I was transferring from Winona State to the UofM...I worked at Things Remembered for minimum which was like $3.65 an hour. I worked enough (Christmas Season) to take home $780 for 2 weeks! I worked everyday from like 7am until after midnight. That's a lot of engraved key chains and picture frames. I quit after the Holidays.
The chains are better equipped to handle increases due to their buying power. As a small independent I pay as much as 20% for the same item that a national chain does. They are in a better position to negotiate because of the velocity of their purchases.
Tom
Oh, and the servers who do rely on Sister Sarah's as their main source of income - we do pay them more than min. wage.
Tom
I don't know why Tom thinks so...but, I suspect the chains would survive (weather the storm) because they have deeper pockets and can handle more money going out while less people walk in the front door. Of course, I don't know...I'm just guessing.
Someone (Molly?) asked what the kids are going for this Halloween. Eli and Liam were gonna go bc Jude was coming...then, Jude couldn't come and so they weren't gonna. However, in light of their love for candy...they have decided to suck it up, go under the cover of night and dress-up as scary guys or Eli said he'd like to go as Nixon or someother President of which I cannot recall.
I'm going as a Dark Knight and Nadia is going as an Angel.
Chains have to cook with trans fats.
Sarah's can say "we don't do that!"
Come here and eat healthy
Then have a martini,
The chains can't compete with all that!
The ratio of chains to independents has been growing heavily in favor of the chains over the last few years.
I wonder how many restaurants and other businesses sprung up just outside the Santa Fe city limits.
Tom
Can't compete
With the Straub elite
Limericks a blazin'
They're savvy and brazin'
Winning would be quite a feat!
Ken Mink is something of an anomoly,
He plays college B-Ball at 73!
Coach says he'll play him
'cause from halfcourt he sinks 'em
It's a JUCO, Roane State, Tennessee!
I find I'm craving an amber liquid,
for sure the taste is not insipid.
Powers be the nectar I covet,
many others likewise love it.
So pour a glass and be a drinkin' Druid!
Powers made me inebriated,
the lamb left me satiated.
I drank all the night,
my wife wants to fight.
I did not know one could be so hated.
That's my "Sunday morning comin' down" type of limerick.
Is that Joe K.?
Please, say.
Council Bluffs cop o' the year
had more than too many beers
Drivin' and drinkin'
arrested and stinkin'
fellow cops grin ear to ear.
Yes M.E, you are certainly correct.
Does it sound like I am henpecked?
Hope it's not too dark,
I wrote it on a lark.
I am trying not to sound too rednecked.
Joe Kennedy I knew it was you!
The word "insipid" gave me the clue.
Henpecked sounds dangerous
She be different than us.
Tip more Powers and feign you have the flu!
He is not henpecked!!
Now, get back to work.
Hello,
Garrigan hosted a big quiz bowl last Saturday and one of their teams won. Joe 4 is on that team. If you go online to Algona.com that will get you to today's issue of the Algona paper. Then click on news and at the bottom of that page click on more news or more stories or something similar. Then go to the 7th or 8th story and you will see the article about the quiz bowl with a photo of the winning team. In the photo with Joe is a guy named Chris Schmitt who is from Whittemore. He is an exceptionally nice kid and is one of joe's best friends.
Sorry, but I could not put all of that in Limerick form.
Dad
Here's a funny story posted by someone on that foodservice website I mentioned earlier...
***********************************
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie. Again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
Holly
***********************************
(Tom)
More people have already voted in Georgia than during the 2004 election. Amazing.
p
Anyone in the food service industry who would stiff a server over politics is a mean-spirited crank who doesn't have a clue about economics anyway. I don't like Holly.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphtv/3145850/Japanese-monkey-waiters.html
Monkey waiters are the way to go
They work for peanuts don't you know?
one problem might be
when they throw poop and pee
on people they precieve as foe.
Ha! Hey, does anyone remember where on this blog I can find the address list?
Dear henpecker...I blog when I please
I'm self employed (it's a disease)
But if you check times
It's at noon or at 5
Say that again and I'll hit your knees!
I don't know, Cathy. What's wrong with completely tangible and not real costly lesson on Obama's philosophy.
Tom
I mean what's a college credit course cost to learn something like that. More than $10.
Tom
It's not Obama's philosophy, for one thing - take from the marginally employed to give to the poor? Not a chance. I just got mad imagining the smug smile on that piggy's face as she tells the guy that expressing a political opinion contrary to hers (and not verbally or directly, at that) was going to cost him his tip, when she's probably the kind of customer who would have left a dollar and thought he was lucky to get that much. I bet she never even gave the homeless guy any money. Come on, do you ever want this witch for a customeer? She's the kind of customer who tells her friends stories about how she bullied the manager into giving her a refund as if it's some kind of moral victory when it's just meanness.
FYI - the story about stiffing the waiter is false. I have heard it three times now.
It doesn't change the point though.
And I bet the waiter turned and walked away, not "angrily stormed from my sight." Too bad she got her food already - he could have given it a little extra attention.
Even if it's a figment of her imagination I'm still mad at her.
Happy Birthday, Stevo and Eli! I won't be near a computer tomorrow because I'll be IN A TENT. Hope you guys have a great day and get some good stuff. That reminds me, I gotta stop at menard's.....
Cathy - you are wrong about this Holly's character. Here's a thread she started on another that foodservice website. In it she is mad because her boss stiffed a server on a "to-go" order.
http://www.foodservicei.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17642
So you see not all conservatives are dark-hearted blood suckers.
I don't know if her story about the server and a homeless man is true. I just found it amusing.
Tom
Has anyone noticed Sarah Palin's new clothes?
Her shopper has a thing for short skirts and dark hose.
$74,500 in St. Paul
$46,000 in a St. Louis mall
She is GOP, down tot he gold on her toes!
I spend most of my working days with conservatives and I like them. I just didn't like the tone of that story but if it's just something she lifted from the internet she might be OK. Still don't like the story. If any middle-class conservatives didn't like that "redistribute the wealth" slip of Obama's, they could probably send back their middle-class tax cuts they're going to get when he gets elected or give them to the wealthy who paid for them. See how mean that sounds?
Gotta go - I have to pack to spend the weekend IN A TENT.
Are you a Muslim?
I agree with Cathy. Steal from the just getting by to give to the poor. Smug through and through.
p
No wonder the Food Service Workers Union is backing Obama...because of people like Holly.
Pat- your logic is all backwards. Holly stole from no one. It was her money. She can decide what to do with it. This is what's wrong with the liberal mindset. It's her money. Keep your mitts off it.
Also, you cannot be socially liberal until you are first finacially conservative.
Tom
I bet that bum is financially conservative.
This is about as simply as it can be put.
Right now this country needs working capital in the hands of it's industries. Mr. Obama wants to take working capital out of the system (by way of heavy taxation).
Without capital there is no capitalism.
Without capitalism our country will cease to exist as we have known it.
Tom
I just made shepherd's pie for dinner tonight. YUMMY
p
It's stevo and eli's birthday.
Steve may drink, eli may play.
Dont drink too much
Powers or sodapop slush
I hope you eat in bed on a tray.
HAPPY BIRTHDayS!
p
Why are Warren Buffet and Gates for Obama if he's such a socialist?
The every time the Phillies won the world series a rupublican was elected president.
I heard that on NPR the other day. I think they have only won once.
Cathy, why oh why are you sleeping in a tent this time of year?
There once were two men who stayed up 'til dawn.
They drank the whiskey until it was gone.
Their antics grew odder.
They cried, "Goes down like water!"
And it did, 'til they puked on the lawn.
Mary - I can only theorize that Gates and Buffet hit their Grand Slams long ago. After decades of untold wealth they have forgotten the struggles of the everyday entrepreneur. They now sit in the proverbial catbird's seat and can lick their paws and wax philosophically having long forgotten the tenants of capitalism.
Good for them. As far as men of their financial stature, they are in the minority in their opinion of Obama.
Tom
Joe Straub - KLGA Player of the game in last night's victory. Playoffs wednesday evening at home against Alta. Whom I know nothing about.
Tom
Happy Birthday Eli! You're really growing into an awesome young man. We are so proud of you!
Love, Mom and Dad. :-)
Eli's Party went great! 10 of the 11 invitees went to the movie...one came to Sarah's afterwards. I don't think anyone was scarred from Max payne...thank God. ;-) The boys were gonna play football at Sarah's...but, it was bitterly cold and very windy. Even at 12...they love to run around the Restaurant in semi-darkness and play tag. I am always amazed that no one gets hurt...so far! They played a lot of video games and we had music on and Football. Tom made chicken strips, game burgers, mini-corn dogs, mozarella sticks and french fires...they ate a ton! They were doing "Sarah's is the best" chants and wanted to schedule a sleep over there for next Saturday. Nice group of kids...always cool to be around them as you can really get a feel for which ones are very nice and well behaved.
I cannot believe that Eli will be 13 next year. :-<>
Tomorrow, Eli will turn in his Food Pantry money.
Oh! I couldn't believe that a medium pop (Theatre) was $4.50!
Happy Birthday Stevo! :-)
Hope you had a great birthday/camping weekend!
The Algona Movie Theatre has expensive movie food!! More than Omaha and maybe more than downtown Chicago!!
Tom, the "everyday entrepreneur" is exactly who Buffet invests in (who he buys for Berkshire Hathaway)...I think ye better re-think this Obama thing.
The limericks have stopped coming in.
No one thinks they can win!
Put your thinking cap on
Bring your funny bone along
Add your voice to the rhyming din!
P
A ISU tailgate has come and has went.
A good time for feasting and drinking was spent.
Toasting Stevo's nativity
was prodigious activity
and then, just for him, I slept (not) IN A TENT.
Actually we spent Friday night at Ellen & Andy's place. The campground was not the Ledges (where we usually camp) but a pretty park at a lake called Hickory Grove. We took every sleeping bag we own, plus the air mattress, which leaks air slowly throughout the night, but there were so many sleeping bags stacked on top of it, and then two on top of us, so it was very comfy, except for the rain in the middle of the night which woke me up and made me have to go to the bathroom, and the fact that 60 mph wind gusts in the morning broke one of the tent poles and brought the tent down on top of us. Funny. So no camping until the tent is fixed or replaced. Shucks.
Ellen & Andy made these great burgers - either Greek, piled with onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and tzatziki sauce, or Buffalo with bleu cheese and hot sauce and all the other stuff. Stevo made a mixed grill of peppers, onions, chicken legs and sausages. Reeders brought salads, chips and some good beers. Ellen made a birthday cake. Tonight we're celebrating again - Lisa made homemade soups and the Richardsons are coming over for soup and (Lisa-made) birthday pie.
Sounds like Eli had a good birthday! I was bragging about his contributing to the food pantry to my friends.
I AM financially conservative and socially liberal. Holly can give her money to whoever she thinks needs it most - she just doesn't have to tell someone else that she has decided to punish them for having different political views by giving their tip to someone else. Like she would have tipped him $10. Gratuitous (get it?) meanness.
Happy Birthday Eli Cash Straub,
You share the day Uncle Steve Nob.
Uncle Nob is not new,
doesn't live in a shoe
Nob now lives with the Milbrath Mob.
(They live with Nob and Cathy Straub)
Happy Birthday Uncle Stevo Jayjack
m.e.
McCain's aides say Palin's "going rogue"
The purchase of clothes to look "en vogue"
Irked Palin,so she wasn't nice
"she's a diva takes no advice"
Said the aide from under the bus on the low road!
just had a mini snow flurry. awesome.
Happy Birthday Eli! Happy birthday Stevo! Sounds like you both have been having lots of fun.
Congrats to Joe 4 - player of the game!
We had flurries here yesterday. Bundling up kids in the cold sure is a pain in the ass. pardon the language.
The baby is fussing again
The 3 year old's trying to get in
I didn't want an hour
Just a 10 minute shower
But it looks like that's not happenin'
McCain on Meet the Press was iconic
Arms looking all pheumonic
And the setting for the interview
was in Iowa - Waterloo
Which I found somewhat ironic.
pheumonic = pneumonic
I hate Illinois nazi's
http://www.channel3000.com/politics/17815517/detail.html?treets=c3k&tml=c3k_natlbreak&ts=T&tmi=c3k_natlbreak_1_03340710272008
Went to Mason City today and bought some awesome fabrics for the Party Room. Hobby Lobby had it 30% off. Fabric (floral, tapestry like) to recover the chairs and complimentary fabrics to dress the windows...both a sheer and a shiny, satin stripe. Oh! And, a brown, floral embossed, pleather for bench cushions. Excited. :-)
Hello everyone, I spoke with Dad today and he and Mom are coming here for Thanksgiving. Anyone else who would like to come is more than welcome. We have lots of room and would love to have everyone.
If you are coming could you let me know.
Thanks, Monica
Ok
Call me the limerick police, but if a bottle of Powers is at stake, we all have to play by the same rules.
A limerick is:
A 5 line poem.
The first, second and third line rhyming, the third and fourth rhyming, in a pattern of aabba.
The first, second and fifth lines have three beats (usually 8 or 9 syllables) while the third and fourth line have two beats (usually 4 - 6 syllables). The last line is often the punch line or a repeat of the first line.
Polisa
Too late, Polisa. I think the rhyming scheme is enough.
p
We have a new heater! palloo, pallay!
Our old heater was discovered to have a gas leak so we have been working without heat. Yesterday and today were the only bad days, and we have the option to go over to the rectory to work but our computers are here. But they have ordered a heater that has to be hung from the ceiling studs and we work in a garage with suspended ceilings, so it's not a 15-minute job to install....we'll see what they decide to do. As long as it heats and isn't too loud.
Joan Berner and I had the blues.
Noses, toes, fingers all clues
to the chill in the air;
Soup and tea were the fare,
But now we'll have some BTUs.
It's a heater designed for garages
Not for making some holy collages.
But as long as it's warm
and we come to no harm
we'll toast it with wine and fromages.
Yes - the limerick rules can be found by clicking the title of this post, however, it is up to the committee members as to how much weight they put into the stucture of the poem.
I think that by far content will be more important than structure.
It's such a pretty day today!
Everything is going my way.
Number 1 is the rhyme
Number 2 is the time
My limericks are A-OK!
Happy birthday Stevo and Eli!
Hope all your wishes come true1
lisa
Lisa made some yummy beef barley soup last night. We addedsome tailgate leftovers and a few pieces of fried chicken for a great cold-weather birthday supper. Then...Lisa's homemade brownie pie and apple pie! All the kids went to bed late on a school night. I could live on soup from October through March.
Hey! Come on, you slackers! Let's have some limericks!
Yes I love soup. We had cabbage soup a couple of nights ago.
P
When you live in "Boca" Florida
Cabbage soup is a fun way to say,
Sis, "I feel your pain,"
Snow mixed freezing rain,
Try cabbage to keep shivers away!
The Democrats just sent me a notice!
Urgent election party plans, DON'T MISS!
"Tom Straub is hosting
Obama's toasting"
Sister Sarah's for a Donkey Kong Kiss!
Following the structure's a must
Everything else is a bust
A limerick's a way
For someone to say
Something clever and don't bite the dust.
Mary - this is a response to something you posted a while back.
The day I see Bershire Hathaway start investing in everyday entreprenuers like Sister Sarah's or The Gallery or Meyer Home Improvement is the day I believe your comment. Otherwise, you're blowing smoke.
Steve Forbes is a billionaire who supports McCain.
Finally, I wonder why the LA Times won't release that video...?
Tom
So, is one not allowed to be friends with someone who has differeng viewpoints? That stuff drives me crazy. So he's friends with someone who was an international scholar and outspoken critic of Israeli politics.
The way politics works (or doesnt) now is so twisted. Every single word a person utters, ever, is potential fodder, subject to twisting and intentional misinterpretation. I mean this in regard to all candidates.
p
Friends with a PLO spokesman? That could be troublesome. If nothing incendiary was said on the tape then they should release it.
Tom
Is he an official spokesperson, or outspoken? I haven't read a lot about it.
I want someone who is able to listen to and converse with those of all viewpoints.
p
The news story I heard was "PLO Spokesman".
There's nothing wrong with dialog with opposing views. My problem is what if Obama's view is not opposed to this PLO spokesperson's? Release the tape and do away with the ambiguity.
Tom
Here's a link to a Fox News story on the video. In the story a link is provided to the LA Times article so you can read their version of the story. Interesting that when I did a search for "Obama video PLO LA Times" I had to go deep before finding a link from the LA Times for the story. The only major news organization for which a link is provided in my search is Fox News. None of the major networks surfaced in the search.
Anyway...here's the link.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/28/la-times-refuses-release-tape-obama-praising-controversial-activist/
Tom
And here a NY Times article which details the lack of details in Obama's healthcare plan. Obama has not released the details of his plan. But in essence he is saying that employers who do not provide healthcare coverage for their employees would pay a fine.
Another burden on businesses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/us/politics/27healthcare.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
Tom
Today we celebrate Mely!
Whose feet are never smelly.
Raise your glasses,
Attend some masses,
Put some cake in your belly.
P
Who does Garrigan play tonight, what are the chances of winning and what time is the game? Its tonight right?
Go Bears!
I do hope the Obama administration has a good association with Lebanon...the PLO is needed as was the IRA back in the day...we have very good Lebanese friends in Omaha and the atrocities Israel commits there are awful and half don't make headlines. I don't care who Obama spoke to with the PLO...it takes alot of guts, with the Jewish lobby as it is.
Garrigan plays ALTA tonight
Mely please tell us, if you might
Does Alta mean tall?
Those giants must fall!
Cheers Mely! The BEARS will take on the fight!
¡Feliz cumpleaños Mely!
Esperamos que tu día sea especial. ¡Te amamos!
I always hated what the IRA did. The ends don't always justify the means. It's fun to sing their songs but if you want to talk about atrocities...
Tom
Obama is hiding nothing. Khalidis was his neighbor and friend in Hyde Park before he left to teach Arab studies at Columbia. Michelle Obama just attended their daughter's wedding.
Then he should get in front of a mic and tell the LA Times to release the video.
Tom
http://www.catholic.org/video/?v=1699
I just copied this address off of a video in which Uncle Bob was talking of the natural order of things and the presidential candidates if any of you wish to see.
I did not test this address to see if it will take you directly to him.
Lisa
Happy birthday, Mely!
Have some toast and Jelly!
Tell us what you did on your big day!
Lisa
randy
emma
mary laurel
hey Cathy,
you should run Molly across the river and drop her off at a hospital in Omaha under the safe haven law before they change it. you might end up on the news.
Well I read that story, and it quotes the guy as saying pretty much what Jimmy Carter said in his last book. It also says the guy worked as a liason between Israel and Palestine. They won't realease the tape because they promised their source they wouldn't, but they ran a story on it six months ago. This appeared in the comments column amid the Obama Hussein is the antichrist babble:
You radical paranoid conservatives probably look like regular people too.................. EXPLAIN THIS: In regards to Khalidi, the guilt-by-association game burns John McCain as well. During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars. A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."
If the LA Times had a story of a similar nature for McCain you can bet they would release it - concern for their sources aside.
It sounds like this Khalidi guy is fairly benign.
If there is nothing of controversy on this tape then Obama should tell them to release it. Not doing so leaves everything open to speculation.
Tom
Obama has no say in whether they release it or not. they promised their source they would not release it, so they won't.
I do wish Obama weren't running a half hour infomercial tonight.
Now that annoys me.
P
Happy Birthday MELY!!! Have fun and celebrate by watching the Obama infomercial.
But he is and if this doesn't prove what a chump he is nothing will.
Tom
Won't change my mind. Just mean they both annoy me in certain ways and Obama less so.
p
Oh Molly I feel your pain.
Scott is out of town again.
My hair is greasy.
My legs are fleecy.
My nerves are under serious strain.
The state of the house is a digrace.
It is not fit for human race.
A ring of soap scum around the tub.
Dustballs lurking in every hub.
Laundry piling up in every space.
Sam is teething, fussy and gassy.
Every day Jude gets more sassy.
Little juvenile offenders I'm raisin'.
Some day I'll visit them in prison.
The whole thing is too much for this lassie. (no I'm not a dog.)
you know what i find annoying? clowns. i hate 'em.
How about mimes?
p
Good poem fleecy legs!
Dad is in Mason City having a scheduled MRA...(that's the Mason wing of the IRA.)
Did Molly post something that I didn't get, or is EVERYONE on face book??
Well, you can't purchase 10 minutes on network...so it's either 2-3 minutes or the 30 minute..just have a beer and enjoy (or a martini).
I'm on facebook!
Eli is bringing in his Birthday Food Pantry donation today...3 kids didn't donate...which I thought was odd. Although, Eli didn't get any gifts at his party and we had already given him his bike...he had a few gifts to open from my folks and siblings...he was completely outfitted with a Quick Silver ensemble from Diamonds. He really *loves* clothes...I think it's because he wears a uniform. Yesterday, he was wearing his new jeans with his uniform shirt and said, "Mom, I like this "look"...don't you?" Ha, ha...cute.
He rec'd some B-Day cashola and bought a PlayStaion2 game with some of it and is keeping G & G's check in his wallet. It's gonna be hard to make him part with it. My brother, once, found about $200 worth of 2 year old checks in his sons wallet...ha!
That's cute> Just don't tell him that if he doesn't spend it, it will be redistributed,because I'm sure he's safe, no matter who wins.
Monday Stevo broke his nose.
It's not what some of you suppose.
No spousal abuse
he just didn't use
his eyes and wham! the door was closed.
The noseprint's still up on the glass
And he feels somewhat like an ass
His nose goes, "Snick"
when he bends it - sick!
But attractively crooked noses have class.
Cumpleanos, Mely dear!
Wish you could celebrate right here.
But blow out your candles,
and grab Pete's love handles
and dance until you run out of beer.
(alternate ending)
and dance to celebrate your new year.
There is a bottle containing the Powers
To magically infuse the hours
With a mellow display
As they while away
Drifting past like golden leaves in fall bowers
The economy is on the skids
So we flush what the capitalists did
Politicos don’t care
Full of gas (and hot air)
They buy out big political bids
I hesitate to do this but here is an explanation on the 2 candidates health care plans in plain english as posted by a member of that foodservice website I frequent. I did not include all if it and I picked it up well into his explanation.
Tom
***********************************
The point of McCains plan is to incentive insurance companies to come up with better offers. With the dangling $5000 carrot in front of their face, you can be sure that options are going to be created that make companies compete for that $5000 and bring down insurance costs. There will be too much money out there to turn down. While Obama will claim that $5000 isn't enough to cover anyone, that is the point. That $5000 gives insurers an incentive to tighten their belts, and streamine operations to come up with a way to gain all those extra insurance dollars.
That is also the point of the tax on employee insurance programs. Group insurance programs are part of the problem in our system. They are part of what is driving up the cost of healthcare. Large companies get to choose insurance providers for their entire work force. Only the large insurance companies are capable of handling large employers. The result is very little competition and large insurance companies getting larger. The larger they get, the more bargaining power they have with hospitals. When they have a larger share of the market, they can demand lower reinbursement rates making hospitals raise their prices to compensate. It's an exponential cycle. Insurance companies reimburse less causing hospitals to charge more causing insurance companies to reimburse less causing hospitals to charge more. When you charge a tax on group insurance programs, on some level it will drive people to purchase individual insurance policies. The more individuals who are purchasing policies, the more opportunity there will be for smaller insurance companies to compete.
What neither health care plan deals with is the underlying cause of all this negotiating power, namingly Medicare. While insurance companies are typically blamed, hospitals draw more revenue from Medicare than all their insurance providers combined. Medicare, another socialized government system, has too much negotiating power. It is a monopoly that sets the precedent for insurance companies to negotiate lower reimbursement rates. They see what Medicare gets, and they follow suit when they have the enrollment to take up enough market share to get that negotiating power. The ultimate result is the largest companies reimbursing the least, giving them the best financial position and the ability to make more money for their business and grow larger and gain more market share. The greater market share they have, the less competition there is.
Once again, another socialist program screws up the free market system.
What one of the candidates needs to do is to eliminate the ability of Medicare and insurance companies to negotiate prices with hospitals. Hospitals need to be reimbursed fully for their goods, whether they are privately owned or publicly owned, so they don't have to keep raising prices. Then hospitals as well as insurers can compete with each other on an equal playing field. That competition will bring down costs.
The key difference between Obama's health care plan and McCain's health care plan is how each of them are trying to bring down the costs themselves.
Obama wants to regulate the market into lower prices. Regulation has never decreased the price of anything without raising the cost somewhere else. Regulation adds overhead that has to be recovered by increasing prices. Obama's plan does have some good ideas regarding digital health records that would make a small dent though.
McCain wants to bring down prices through the only method that works to lower prices, competition. Making companies compete on an even playing field is the only way prices come down.
A good example of how this works is from the communications industry in the 80's. Anyone remember Ma Bell? They had a monopoly on communications in our country. They owned most the lines, towers, and everything else used for communication in our country. They had a monopoly on phone charges and long distance. It was very expensive to make long distance phone calls and phone service cost too much. Part of what created this dynamic was the excessive regulation in the communications industry that made it too difficult and expensive for smaller communications companies to compete with Bell. Bell was the only one with the resources to abide by the regulations, so they ended up the only major player in the game.
The government eventually decided that Bell had a monopoly. They broke Bell up and sold it off at fair market value to other companies and created competition. They also deregulated the industry so the same situation wouldn't happen again. The result today is incredible choices in communication, and phone services that cost less than they did in the 80's when Bell had a monopoly. We enjoy more services at less price because a monopoly was broken up and the playing field leveled.
Well today, government run Medicare has a monopoly in it's market. The rest of the insurance market is spread out to three main companies, all of which are too big. As long as this situation persists, healthcare costs are going to continue to rise 10% every year, doubling every 7 years.
If Obama gets his way, and group bargaining is grown instead of shrunk, healthcare costs will grow at even greater rates. He is basically doing "more of the same". Taking the same failed policies of every president since Lyndon Johnson and growing them more than any since have. He's bringing Medicare to the masses and effectively ruining any chance at price competition there is left out there.
Though McCain's plan doesn't do enough to fix the underlying Medicare mess that is causing the huge increases in health care costs, he does at least propose a plan that does something to battle against it by promoting competition.
__________________
Brandon O'Dell
O'Dell Consulting
thank you everybody
yea alta is tall.
You didn't hesitate long enough. I read the whole thing and I'm going "Whuh?" I'm too tired or dumb to understand it. I did notice though, that the good-news breakup of Bell was because of government regulation - that is, antitrust and anti monopoly laws being enforced. Almost anti-capitalism. I just want me some of that Congressional insurance that pays for health club memberships.
How did Garrigan do? Any scores? I worked till 9:00.
Alert! Alert! Sarah Palin is GOING ROGUE!
"Going rogue" is Sarah Palin!
McCain staffers hearts are failin'.
They don't like spunk
or the down-home junk
of painted pitbull plots derailin'.
Some of them have thought of bailin'.
The campaign looks like it's ailin'.
Time for some robo-emailin'.
John McCain should just go sailin'.
Obama will hear "to the Chief" hailin'.
My awesome powers of rhyme are failin...
Oh li'l apostrophe, pray what
would I do sans your gift to cut
the ends off words to make them rhyme?
You make me giggle every time
I lim'rick like some kind of nut.
There once was a man named Tom
Whose wife thought he was the bomb.
He used to like Biden
now it's McCain his money's ridin'
On this day he came out of him mom.
Happy Birthday Tom!
P
Hey- I still like Biden. He's not a socialist. He's a liberal which is kissing cousin to socialism. Obama, the scurvy snake, is in bed with the cousin.
***********************************
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Thomas Jefferson
***********************************
Tom
Down in the plaza for a smoke
Looked up - thought it was a joke
Lights on the trees.
come on - oh geez!
It really made me want to croak.
Turkeys at No Frills - buy one, get one free! I haven't seen a sale this good since Kia was selling two-for-one minivans a couple years ago. I can't make a limerick out of it though.
Happy Birthday, Tom! Do you by any chance get to take all or part of your birthday off? Hope you have a great day.
No Frills turkeys buy one get one free
This in my fridge, now I gotta see
Happy will we be
Eating this turkey
Yum yum is the dish without fee
lisa
Happy birthday, Tom! Hope your day is spook-tacular!
Let us know what you did for your big day!
Lisa
Have a great birthday Tom. Get a free drink at Sister Sarahs.
Monica
Happy Birthday Tom! Tomorrow you can steal your kids' candy.
So I see that garrigan lost., That's too sad.
p
The other team scored on all 3 of Garrigan's fumbles (all 3 by the same kid, Jacob Behr)...Joe4 had a VERY good game. At the end the entire team had left the field and Joe4 was sort kneeling/sitting at about the 50 yardline, looking toward the scoreboard, it was very sad...right after the game he took off his helmut and lead his team toward the other team to shake hands...:-)
Congratulations to Joe4 on an extraordinary football career at Garrigan! We're all very proud of you.
Happy Birthday Tom! :-)
We love you and think you are the greatest father and husband ever! Today may not be a relaxing day...but, Sunday will be fun!
Thank you for the birthday wishes. Vote McCain.
Tom
If there is one single ideal the Founding Father's held sacred it would have to be the ability to cast your vote in a secret ballot. I can't think of anyone who would disagree with this.
Except Barack Obama and the union leadership in America. An under reported component of this campaign is the support he has for Card Check. A process where a union would be allowed to collect votes openly. Worst case scenarios would be large men coming to your door and "asking" you to check the box saying you are in favor of the unionization of your workplace.
I find this detestable and, yes, smacks of communistic flavor. This is the single biggest reason (among many) I will vote against Obama.
Here's a link that tells more...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/31/obama-supports-union-organizing/
Tom
Happy Halloween!
Eli brought his costume to school today...it was his idea and he made it up himself. He is John McCain. He's wearing one of those rubber masks that go to just above the mouth...it's of an old, balding man. He's wearing a too tight, navy, kids blazer (which makes him hold himself in an uptight should/arm position-like McCain), he's wearing navy uniform shorts and old-man-brown socks, pulled-up...oh and a McCain/Palin pin on his lapel...super funny!
Liam is wearing his costume from last year which is a scary/white mask with a "joker" smile, black cape and green, rubber, scary hands w/ long fingers...the mask is cute...'cuz the smile looks just like Liams'.
I just finished the book Blindness by jose Saramago. Has anyone out there read it? Talk about terrifying....
p
I just made homemade pumpkin pie bars. Even used a real pumpkin. Not from a can. Yummy.
Monica
oooh yummy i love pumpkin bars. do you have cream cheese frosting?
i have just voted.
p
I just emailed you for the recipe...love pumpkin bars too. Yes, must have cream cheese frosting. Do you make the frosting homemade or use canned?
It's really more like a pie than bars. It's good with whipped cream.
I'm going to vote right now. And get my flu shot. They're across the street from each other.
I haven't voted yet but did make an "Obama '08" pumpkin.
Happy Halloween! Andy and I are dressing up as Waldo and Wenda from Where's Waldo. Not that we wanted to go as a pairing, but we have two sets of those binocular flasks and based the costumes around using those. I'm already dressed up, just waiting for Waldo to come home.
Vic Gecko, lounge lizard, will be coming out of retirement this year.
I went to vote but there was a huge line so I didn't get it done. I did get my flu shot though.
Monica
yeah, monica, voting is way inconvenient. that's why whenever anyone asks who i'm voting for i tell them i'm canadian.
7:45 and not a single trick or treater.
p
Me too P, I stayed home to "pass out candy" while Brian took Mia out and Catie went trick-or-treating with a friend. I have had exactly 2 treaters since they left an hour ago.
i haven;t been to a halloween party in a few years, but Vic Gecko is still a hit.
i still a little green, but i'm going to bed.
Tom had his mock trial contest today. He won "outstanding witness" for the 6th grade. They didn't make it to state though. I know Gillian was in it too. How did she do? Jim? Erin? This was a civil case. Next year they do a criminal case. They're more interesting.
Monica
Awesome...very cool, Tom...way to go! I wonder when/if Eli's class will do that? Sounds like a lot of fun. :-)
Men - get your hairspray and eye liner out. Great White has been added to the Rock Gone Wild line up. Appearing August 2009 in that legendary cauldron of rock - Algona Iowa.
Tom
An eager young volunteer came to my door as we were eating dinner last night. Right at 6 o'clock the door bell rang - just as I had put the first bite in my mouth. I lifted my aching body up having worked 15 hours the day before. I tried to calm the bedlam that was the spastic dog. My beagle didn't appreciate the type of hopeful audacity that brought this person to my door. Beagles are very loud. After dealing with the dog I went to the door. Who is this knucklehead interfering with my otherwise serene and rarely enjoyed domicile?
A perky outstate plant from the Obama campaign making sure I knew where to vote. As though I were a disadvantaged, inner city victim of our country's boot heel.
I tersely told her I knew where to vote. My answer to her next question was even more terse.
"Will you be supporting Barack Obama on Tuesday?"
"I will not."
Then she choked on her words as she audaciously and with a stutter that betrayed her sudden dislike for me encouraged me to vote none the less.
She's as phony as her hero.
Tom
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