Thursday, January 20, 2011

California shooting and Washington is still playing games.

January 20, 2011
January 20 is … National Buttercrunch Day
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
House Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to repeal the historic health care reform law in a largely symbolic exercise to appease the tea party movement and keep a campaign promise that helped them retake the majority in November. The 245 to 189 vote fell sharply along party lines. No Republicans voted against the bill. Three Democrats voted to repeal the law. Even as lawmakers cast their votes on the provocatively named "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," the measure was as good as dead. Some things just will never change. Why don’t we vote on repealing the Constitution? That has about as good of a chance of becoming law as the repeal of Obamacare repeal has. We spend a lot of money sending a lot of people to Washington D. C. to work on the business of the country. One would think the lawmakers would take it a little more serious than they do.

Sorry, I missed it. John Russell, the actor who played Nathan Burdette, the character who my dog is named after, in Rio Bravo died on January 19, 1991. If you ever meet my dog, just say, “Burdette,… Nathan Burdette” in your best John Wayne voice. He is used to it.

The Bob Hope Desert Classic is being played in Palm Springs, CA this weekend. Can spring be far behind?
On this date in the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll;
1958 - The rock ’n’ roll classic, Get a Job, by The Silhouettes, was released.
1958 - Elvis Presley got a little U.S. mail this day with greetings from Uncle Sam. The draft board in Memphis, TN ordered the King to report for duty; but allowed a 60-day deferment for him to finish the film, King Creole.
1964 - This was a big day in U.S. record stores as the first album by The Beatles was released. The LP, Meet the Beatles, became a huge success and was #1 on the charts by February 15, 1964. The British Invasion had begun. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
1965 - Alan Freed, the ‘Father of Rock ’n’ Roll’, died in Palm Springs, CA. Freed was one of the first radio disc jockeys to program black music, or race music, as it was termed, for white audiences. In the 1950s, Freed, called ‘Moon Doggy’ at WJW Radio in Cleveland, coined the phrase, “rock ’n’ roll,” before moving to WABC in New York. He was fired by WABC for allegedly accepting payola (being paid to play records by certain artists and record companies). The 1959-1960 congressional investigation into payola made Freed the scapegoat for what was a wide spread practice. Freed died in 1962, nearly penniless after the scandal was exposed.
1974 - After an auto accident that had almost taken his life five months earlier, Stevie Wonder was back at work, playing a gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed
1981 Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President. Do you think they are related?

1989 Bush inaugurated as 41st President & Quayle becomes 44th Vice President
1989 Reagan becomes 1st President elected in a “0” year, since 1840, to leave office alive
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In California on Tuesday, a high school student brought a loaded gun to school. The gun was in the student’s backpack. The backpack was dropped. The gun fired accidentally. One bullet struck two other students, wounding both seriously. The student who brought the gun to school fled the scene but was quickly taken into custody. This does not sound very accidental to me coming from a school known to have an elevated level of racial tensions. I thought we used the ‘magic bullet’ in the Kennedy assassination.

Speaking of John F. Kennedy, today is the fiftieth anniversary of his inauguration as President.. Two very intelligent, fun and fact filled websites about JFK and his Presidency are below. Visit them, relax, read and learn.
and


Unfortunately, one of the famous lines from the 1961 inauguration address is remembered but has proven to be way off base. JFK mentioned we should not ask what the country can do for us but rather what we can do for the country.  Since JFK uttered this phrase, people have looked to the country to provide them with more and more. Entitlement programs are out of control. We have generations of families on the welfare rolls. More and more people are takers and give nothing back; they do not feel as though they have to. They feel they are entitled to it. Why? It is mostly because they are ignorant and lazy and because politicians do not have the courage to take the freebies away. They enable welfare recipients in order to gain their vote.

Hillary Clinton once wrote a book about how it takes a village to raise a child. What a bunch of crap. It takes two semi-intelligent parents to raise a child. When society, or a village, raises a child, we get just what we now have; a group of people in our society who are never taught and never learn self-respect or self-reliance. Compassion is one thing, ignorance is another.

Music at the top of the charts on this date throughout history;
1948 Ballerina - Vaughn Monroe
How Soon - Jack Owens
Golden Earrings - Peggy Lee
I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) - Eddy Arnold
1956 Memories are Made of This - Dean Martin
Band of Gold - Don Cherry
Rock and Roll Waltz - Kay Starr
Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford
1964 There! I’ve Said It Again - Bobby Vinton
Forget Him - Bobby Rydell
Surfin’ Bird - The Trashmen
Love’s Gonna Live Here - Buck Owens
1972 American Pie - Don McLean
Let’s Stay Together - Al Green
Sunshine - Jonathan Edwards
Carolyn - Merle Haggard
1980 Rock with You - Michael Jackson
Do that to Me One More Time - The Captain & Tennille
Cruisin’ - Smokey Robinson
Coward of the County - Kenny Rogers
1988 Got My Mind Set on You - George Harrison
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Need You Tonight - INXS
One Friend - Dan Seals
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information to come.

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.
“Beware of hip and rum drivers.”