Monday, March 7, 2011

Presidents and guns; Lisa Madigan is not welcome.

March 7, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
March 7 is … National Crown Roast of Pork Day. Didn’t we just have National Pig Day? Hey Glenn, want a pound or two of bacon?

Slaughter in America;  Police say the mother of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in a toxic truck in Florida three weeks ago has been charged with murder. The Miami-Dade Police Department said Saturday that Carmen Barahona has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Nubia Barahona. The girl was found in the back of the truck Feb. 14 along Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach. Her brother was found in the front seat of the truck, critically burned by a chemical. Their father was lying on the ground nearby. Barahona also faces seven counts of aggravated child abuse and seven counts of child neglect. The children's' father, Jorge Barahona, has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder of Nubia's twin brother, Victor.

On one page while reading a story about the chemical attack on the young boy mentioned above, the following headlines appeared directing you to similar stories. This is just from one page on one web site;
Related
Video
What the hell is wrong with this country? Why do we care what is happening in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain or anywhere else when this is going on in our own country. There is an old saying about throwing the first stone if you live in a glass house. How about a glass nut house or a glass horror house? Assuming the people being charged in these horrific crimes are guilty, execute them quickly. That will get the point cross in a hurry. If a hundred or so of these morons were executed in a year, this cruelty would stop. Putting these people in prison or institutions is not the answer. It is too expensive and none of them will ever return to society as a productive member. Who would give them a job. Who would rent them a place to live? We have been trying rehabilitation and molly-coddling criminals for more than fifty years. Things have only gotten worse. It is time to try something else and decreasing the country’s population of violent criminals and pedophiles is a fine place to start. Throw in gang members as a bonus.

A Maine auction house is preparing to cash in on the growing, lucrative collector shotgun craze currently underway. In addition to Ernest Hemingway's safari hunting rifle, a rare gold-inlaid Browning 12-gauge automatic shotgun that was presented to President Richard Nixon in 1970 will be offered at James D. Julia Auctioneers' Important Firearms sale in Fairfield, Maine on March 14. The gun, estimated at $50,000 to $75,000, is also historically significant in that it was the two millionth Browning shotgun made. At one time destined for the Smithsonian, Nixon returned the gun to Browning Arms where it resided in their archives until it was given to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The impressive firearm is engraved with gold-inlaid phoenixes and griffins derived from a 1930s design. It bears a gold presentation plaque, James M. Browning's signature, and the number 2,000,000. This shotgun is seen as a highly desirable collector's item combining the history of American firearms and politics. Firearms are a common gift given to heads of state with our president being no exception. As Time magazine reported recently, collector shotguns are fetching record prices at auction and are gaining stature as good investments. Guns with a special provenance are particularly prized. This hobby is not for the small dollar collector but firearms of any type rarely decrease in value making them a decent investment most people can afford while also being useful in self-protection and preservation. You cannot ward off an attacker by pointing your stock certificates at them or threatening them with your 401.

Now don’t forget, if Lisa Madigan has her way, and you buy this piece at auction for $75,000 or any price, you will have to let the world know you own it and where you live. Unless, of course, there is an exemption for the wealthy, like her campaign donors and one of them purchases the shotgun.

It was on this day in 1933 that Charles Darrow created the game we know as Monopoly. Or was it? Maybe Lizzie J. Magie’s The Landlord’s Game, patented on January 5, 1904, was the real monopoly game. Or was it? Lizzie's game was very similar to Monopoly, except she, a Quaker from Virginia, created it as a political comment to promote a single land-ownership tax. She shared it with other Quakers and proponents of the tax measure. Families copied the game, adding their own favorite street names and changing the rules as they pleased. The name of the game changed as the rules changed. A Reading, Pennsylvania college student, Dan Layman, played the version his friends called Monopoly in the late 1920s. Once out of college, and back home in Indianapolis, he produced the game under the name, Finance. His dorm-mate, Louis Thun, copyrighted several rules that the two had written. Was Layman’s the real Monopoly game? Or was it Ruth Hoskins and friends, Quakers who lived in Atlantic City, who made the Monopoly game we still play? Ruth learned how to play the game from a friend of Layman’s in Indianapolis. She then moved to Atlantic City and shared it with other friends. In 1930, they made a version complete with Atlantic City street names like Boardwalk, Park Place, Virginia and Pennsylvania Avenues; even including Marven Gardens, a residential section at the edge of Margate City, a suburb of Atlantic City. Charles Darrow, an inventor of sorts, first saw and played the game in 1931, when he and his wife were introduced to Monopoly by mutual friends of Ruth Hoskins. The Darrows, who lived in Germantown, Pennsylvania, were penniless. The Depression had left them destitute. Fascinated with the game, Darrow made some modifications, misspelled Marven Gardens as Marvin Gardens, added copyrighted artwork and produced games which he then began to sell on this day in 1933. The popularity of the game was instant. Darrow could not keep up with the demand. He eventually sold his ‘rights’ to Parker Brothers who initially turned Darrow away, saying that his game had “52 fundamental errors.” The 50-year-old company eventually agreed to give Darrow royalties on every Monopoly game sold, on the condition that they could write “short version” game rules. Ultimately, Darrow became a millionaire at age 46., giving him plenty of time to play the time consuming game.

So, who made the unwritten rule that the next player to land on Free Parking gets the money, if any, collected from Chance and Community Chest fees? We don't have the answer to that or who the real Monopoly creator was ... but you have to wonder if whoever it was owned Boardwalk? And, did they pass GO and collect $200?

Music at the top of the charts on March 7th through the years;

1946 Let It Snow - Vaughn Monroe
Symphony - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Clyde Rogers)
Oh, What It Seemed to Be - The Frankie Carle Orchestra (vocal: Marjorie
Hughes)
Guitar Polka - Al Dexter
1954 Make Love to Me! - Jo Stafford
Young-At-Heart - Frank Sinatra
Cross Over the Bridge - Patti Page
Slowly - Webb Pierce
1962 Duke of Earl - Gene Chandler
Hey! Baby - Bruce Channel
Break It to Me Gently - Brenda Lee
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke
1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Travelin’ Band/Who’ll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Rainy Night in Georgia - Brook Benton
It’s Just a Matter of Time - Sonny James
1978 (Love Is) Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb
Sometimes When We Touch - Dan Hill
Emotion - Samantha Sang
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys - Waylon &
Willie
1986 Kyrie - Mr. Mister
Sara - Starship
Living in America - James Brown
You Can Dream of Me - Steve Wariner


BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

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

“The secret of staying young
is to live honestly, eat slowly,
and lie about your age.”

 Lucille Ball