More Acceptance Speeches Like This

I thank you kindly for this mark of your confidence. I hope I shall be able to meet your expectations but I fear that I will not for I bring with me to this position but little experience. To err I believe is the common lot; I cannot hope to escape it. I shall however throw myself upon your kind indulgence and ask your assistance; and I hope that you will give it to me not only as a duty but as a pleasure.

Order and decorum of the Assembly rests as much with you as with me and I Read more »

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Resolve not to Revise, Redux

Apparently the message is not sinking in. Once again:

On Tuesday May 14, 2013 Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown will present a revised budget plan. That means the document he shares with California and its 38 million residents is a REVISION of the spending plan he presented in January.

It is not a revise of the spending plan he offered four months ago, although it could be a revising thereof.

If the previous document is the Democratic governor’s January budget plan, this new document would be the May REVISION.

Not now, not ever, would it be the May revise. 

Revise, according to the Free Read more »

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Be Kind to Koreans Today

Gov. Jerry Brown met with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Los Angeles May 9, issuing a “Korea-California Friendship Day” proclamation to commemorate the event. The press release from the Demoratic governor commemorating the commemorative proclamation is silent as to the South Korean president’s reaction.

The proclamation in full:

WHEREAS, California is home to over 450,000 Korean-Americans, many of whom are among our most prominent and accomplished citizens; and

WHEREAS, among the 50 states California is the Republic of Korea’s foremost trading partner and Korea is California’s fifth largest export market; and

WHEREAS, the Republic of Korea and California exchange billions Read more »

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From a Subscriber: The Modern Church Service

PASTOR: “Praise the Lord!” 

CONGREGATION: “Hallelujah!” 

PASTOR: “Can we please turn on our tablet, PC, iPad, smart phone and Kindle Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13:13. And please switch on your Bluetooth to download the sermon.” 

P-a-u-s-e… 

PASTOR: “Now, Let us pray committing this week into God’s hands. Open your apps, BBM, Twitter and Facebook — and chat with God.” 

S-i-l-e-n-c-e… 

PASTOR: “As we take our Sunday tithes and offerings, please have your credit and debit cards ready. You can log on to the church wi-fi using the password ‘Lord909887. ‘ The ushers will circulate mobile card swipe machines among the worshipers: Those who Read more »

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Margaret Thatcher Remembered

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

*****

“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”

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“If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a  woman.”

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“To me consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.”

*****

“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my won way in the end.”

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Not Sleeping Enough Can Make You Fat

Maintaining a normal metabolism requires a certain amount of sleep. Less sleep affects metabolism, which can contribute to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. In one study, those sleeping five hours instead of eight had higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone the stomach releases to signal hunger.

(See “Childhood Obesity from Lack of Sleep?” from PsychCentral, October 24, 2006.)

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Of Small and Large…

“If you let yourself be undisciplined on the small things, you will probably be undisciplined on the large things as well.”

–Warren Buffett

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Of Missives and Misogyny

The following letter was sent to Hawk Koch, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. It says the Academy’s choice of Master of Ceremonies Seth MacFarlane “struck a new low in its treatment of women.”  MacFarlane “crossed the line from humor to misogyny” by “singing about ‘boobs’ during a film’s rape scene,” says the letter.  

“Our finest female actresses” (Not to demean proofreaders but are there male actresses?) were reduced to “caricatures and stereotypes, degrading women as a whole and the filmmaking industry itself,” write Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal and Sen. Hannah-Beth Read more »

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He’s Not Called Mahatma For Nothing

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.

“Keep you words positive because your words become your behavior.

“Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.

“Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

– Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

(Editor’s Note: ”Mahatma” is a combination of the Hindu words “Maha,” meaning “great” and “atma,” which is “soul.” Says the dictionary: “A person regarded with reverence or loving respect; a holy person or sage.”)

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Caveat Emptor

The Food and Drug Administration does not define or regulate use of the words “natural or “all natural.” Neither has any nutritional meaning.

That’s a big deal becuase “natural” is the most frequently used claim on new U.S. food products and “natural” foods constituted a roughly $22 billion industry in 2008, according to a July 2012 George Washington Law School essay by Erik Benny.

Says the FDA:

“It is difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth. That said, FDA has not developed a definition Read more »

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