Something is Brewering in Arizona.

April 20, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 20 is … Look Alike Day

I have often been confused with the guy that played Candy on Bonanza, no, wait, I have been confused with John Candy, that’s it.

I neglected to acknowledge this historic event yesterday. I am sorry. On April 19, 1995, sixteen years ago, Timothy McVeigh became well known when he became a mass murderer. A truck bomb outside Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City explodes, killing 168 innocent people and injuring nearly 500 people. Luckily, one more person died as a result of this criminal, cowardly act. Timothy McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001. He had been convicted of 11 murders, all federal employees, making it a federal crime. Generally, murder is a state law crime. His execution was a victory for America and democracy. May everyone killed in this incident, except Timothy McVeigh, RIP. McVeigh, I hope he is suffering in hell.

Check out this web site. I do not vouch for its authenticity but it looks legitimate to me. If you want to know a friend or neighbors criminal history, this could be a start. Once at the site, type an address or street at the top in the search boxes.

                                    http://www.felonspy.com/search.html

After I wrote the above blurb, my nephew sent me a web site that debunks what I wrote above. I will give you that web address also. You decide what is accurate.

                        http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/felonspy.asp

What is wrong with this picture? Talk about the high cost of living. In California it costs, to incarcerate inmates, a staggering $49,000 per inmate per year. The national average is $28,000. The national average is twice the poverty line with the California cost approaching four times the poverty line.

So now Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona decides to back off President Obama. She vetoed legislation that would have forced presidential candidates to prove they are constitutionally qualified to be President before they could appear on the Arizona ballot. Brewer said in her veto letter that she was troubled that the bill empowered Arizona's secretary of state to judge the qualifications of all candidates when they file to run for office.

"I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions," said Brewer, who was secretary of state until she became governor in 2009.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said, "I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions.""In addition, I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth to submit their 'early baptismal circumcision certificates' among other records to the Arizona secretary of state," she said. "This is a bridge too far."

You have to wonder who got to her. Is a Cabinet post or Ambassadorship in her future? Arizona would not be establishing a gatekeeper for the White House like she mused. There are 49 other states plus several territories like Guam and Puerto Rico that also get to vote according to their laws not Arizona’s. She obviously wanted to avoid another fight with the Obama Administration regardless of what people in her state wanted. Too bad.

Not only are the air traffic controllers proving you can sleep on a government job and that we really do not need their entire industry, they are proving their stupidity and inability to properly operate a microphone switch. An air traffic controller has been suspended for watching a movie when he was supposed to be monitoring aircraft, deepening the Federal Aviation Administration's embarrassment following at least five cases of controllers sleeping on the job.

In the latest incident, the controller was watching a movie on a DVD player early Sunday morning while on duty at a regional radar center in Oberlin, Ohio, near Cleveland that handles high-altitude air traffic, the FAA said in a statement Monday.

The controller's microphone was inadvertently activated, transmitting the audio of the movie - the 2007 crime thriller "Cleaner," starring Samuel L. Jackson - for more than three minutes to all the planes in the airspace that the controller was supposed to be monitoring, the agency said. Oops!

Your Hit Parade, starring Kay Thompson, Charles Carlyle, Gogo DeLys and Johnny Hanser, was first broadcast on radio this night in 1935. A youngster named Frank Sinatra would later be part of the program as a featured vocalist. Your Hit Parade stayed on the radio airwaves for 24 years.

Snooky Lanson would later host the program when it made the transition from radio to TV. Other long-time regulars on the TV version were:  Russell Arms, Gisele MacKenzie and Dorothy Collins. They were the lucky ones who got to present the top seven songs each week.

Since many songs stayed on the list for weeks on end, these vocalists had to invent new ways to present the hit parade. On April 24, 1959, Your Hit Parade died. The regulars just didn’t fit with the new rock ’n’ roll hits. Imagine, if you can, Snooky Lanson singing Hound Dog.

The original title of the radio show was, Lucky Strike Hit Parade, sponsored by, you guessed it, Lucky Strike cigarettes. The cigarette company continued to sponsor the TV show (those were the days when cigarette companies sponsored lots of TV shows); and the opening theme song was Be Happy, Go Lucky.

Music at the top of the charts on this date through the years.

1950 If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake - Eileen Barton
Music, Music, Music - Teresa Brewer
Peter Cottontail - Gene Autry
Long Gone Lonesome Blues - Hank Williams

1958 He’s Got the Whole World (In His Hands) - Laurie London
Book of Love - The Monotones
Don’t You Just Know It - Huey (Piano) Smith & The Clowns
Oh Lonesome Me - Don Gibson

1966 The Ballad of the Green Berets - SSgt Barry Sadler
(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration - The Righteous Brothers
Daydream - The Lovin’ Spoonful
I Want to Go with You - Eddy Arnold

1966 was a good year for music

1974 TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) - MFSB featuring The Three Degrees
Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me - Gladys Knight & The Pips
The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk
A Very Special Love Song - Charlie Rich

1982 I Love Rock ’N Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. This is a classic song.
We Got the Beat - Go-Go’s
Chariots of Fire - Titles - Vangelis
The Clown - Conway Twitty

1990 I’ll Be Your Everything - Tommy Page
Don’t Wanna Fall in Love - Jane Child
Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’Connor
Five Minutes - Lorrie Morgan

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaw.com

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

http://www.kobo.com/

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." - Joseph Addison

The way it was?

April 19, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 19 is … Garlic Day

A young woman I do not know has gone missing in Tennessee. Her name is Holly Bobo; she is a twenty year-old nursing student. She is missing from her small community of Parsons, an hour or so northeast of Memphis but worlds apart. Holly is the cousin of country singer Whitney Duncan. Until three days ago, I had never heard of Holly Bobo or Whitney Duncan.

Holly Bobo was last seen Wednesday morning by her brother, who called 911 after seeing her heading into the woods with an unknown man dressed in camouflage. Authorities have said they believe Bobo did not go "willingly," but she also was not dragged or carried into the woods outside her home, as early reports suggested. The brother thought she was with her boyfriend but that was an error. Neither the boyfriend nor the brother are suspects, persons of interest or the subject of an investigation.

On Sunday, more than five hundred volunteers searched the woods and area near where Holly Bobo was last seen. This story has played out across America thousands of times over the last few years and before. It likely happens around the world but I don’t really care. I am an American. This should not take place in my country.

More than likely, this will not end well. Her body will be found. Sooner or later, and in Tennessee I bet sooner, her killer will be caught. It will be a man with a lengthy criminal history of violence. He will be punished but not executed. This is sad. The barbarians are at our gate yet the liberals and ball-less politicians will not stop the violence. The death penalty must be implemented on a grand scale. I am aware an innocent man or two may be put to death but a few must suffer so the many survive. We need to get a clue. We need to let the average American make this decision not some over-educated ‘expert’ who has made a living working on the government dole conducting meaningless studies that come up with pre-determined anti-death penalty answers.

Think of the counselors and psychiatrists you have seen, heard or read. They are all paid by the government or a university that is funded by the government. The ‘studies’ they concoct are all funded publicly. Killers, serial killers, mass murderers and rapist rarely have the money or the inclination to go see a counselor or psychiatrist. The source of the funding is obvious.

Why study this behavior. Over the years, since the end of WW II, this type of anti-social, violent behavior has increased at an alarming rate. I did not study that, I just know it. It is caused by single-parent households with children born out of wedlock that have no guidance or discipline at the government supplied home they grow up, or at least get older, in. When you give people everything they need, they feel no responsibility for their life or pride in their existence. They feel they are worthless and so are others’ lives. Religion has left the mainstream urban lifestyle. I am not talking about fire and brimstone religion or some cult type religion, I am talking about dressing up in your Sunday go to meeting clothes religion; fellowship and community service, bake sales and children’s programs, yawning during the sermon religion, where the celebrant is not espousing a political message or looking for a donation to a cause other than the Church. Good old fashion religion.

The way the ‘experts’ have been telling us how to live and treat our fellow Americans is not working. Just because we used to do it a certain way and have changed does not mean the way we changed from is wrong. Let’s get back to the way it was; we can always change again if the new old way does not work but it will.

This story caught my attention because my name has the same initial for first and last name. This came out of San Francisco but has ties to the rest of Northern California, New York, Reno, Nevada and federal prison. A man charged in four killings that have gained national attention because of similarities in the victim's initials had set his focus on an apartment neighbor 30 years ago, an upstate New York couple said Saturday. Margaret Prisco and Thaddeus Iorizzo said a detective contacted them last fall saying that Joseph Naso -- who lived downstairs from the couple in a San Francisco apartment building in the early 1980s wrote in graphic detail about torturing a then 23-year-old Prisco. "It's disconcerting. When you're that age, living in San Francisco, you don't have your guard up and thinking that someone is after you," Prisco, 53, told the Associated Press on Saturday from her home in New York. Joseph Naso is accused of killing four women between 1977 and 1994. An upstate New York woman says he stalked her in San Francisco in the early 1980s. "It never occurred that someone was stalking me," Prisco said.

Iorizzo, also, 53, added, "Well, I knew he was a whack job, but imagine someone wanting to kill your soul mate?" The San Francisco Chronicle first reported Saturday that the couple said Det. William Thurston of the Nevada State Police told them Naso -whom they called "Crazy Joe" - had apparently filled three notebooks describing how he wanted to torment Prisco. Iorizzo said the details were so graphic that Thurston didn't want to repeat them on the phone. He said the documents included a "to-do" list of women Naso wanted to kill. Prisco's name was No. 10. Iorizzo said Thurston also told him a copy of the couple's rental agreement was among Naso's documents. The evidence was among writings and photographs found in Naso's home in Reno after he violated his probation for a theft conviction last April. It sparked a yearlong investigation leading authorities to charge Naso this week with murdering four women in Northern California from 1977 to 1994.

Naso, 77, did not enter a plea Wednesday as a Marin County judge postponed his arraignment until April 27 while the court determines who will represent him. Prosecutors noted that Naso has up to $1 million in assets, which could allow him to hire a private lawyer. The four victims - Roxene Roggasch, Carmen Colon, Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tafoya - had identical first and last initials. Authorities have released few details about the cases, which all involve women whose bodies were found in Northern California with little trace of their assailant. But their names alone already bear an eerie resemblance to the notorious "double initial murders" in the Rochester, N.Y., area in the 1970s. The victims there were three young girls with alliterative names. And one of them also was named Carmen Colon. Prisco told the Associated Press on Saturday that she has always gone by Margaret and was sometimes called Maggie and Margo, but not Peggy.

The couple, now married with two teenage sons, has been following Naso's case on the internet. Prisco, now a computer programmer, said she didn't have much interaction with Naso, but that Iorizzo remembers clearly. "Each time I crossed paths with him the hair on the back of my neck would stand up," Iorizzo said. "You'd get a real creepy feeling. He was pure evil.

"I'd say to myself, 'Stay away from this guy. He's nuts.' “Iorizzo recalls one day at the trash bin when Naso was dumping two stacks of pornographic magazines featuring photos of women in bondage and being tortured.”He kept saying, 'This isn't mine, this isn't mine,' "Iorizzo said.”So, after he left, I untied the bundles, looked at the photos and said, 'This is disgusting! Who would look at stuff like that?' "

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Iorizzo also recalled practicing his bass guitar one afternoon. Iorizzo said Naso came out of the building dressed in his underwear, holding a bottle of tequila and screaming for whoever was playing to stop. Iorizzo said he opened up his window and told him it was the middle of the day. "He yelled, 'I'll kill you!' I'll kill you!" Iorizzo said. "I told him, 'Yeah, bring it on Joe! You'll be seeing stars!' I had a Louisville Slugger with Harmon Killebrew's autograph on it waiting for him."

Prisco said she's curious to see the notebooks written by Naso and if she can bear to read the alleged graphic details. "It would set my mind more at ease to see if there was a threat," Prisco said. "Maybe it will offer some closure. You don't know the darkness of the human heart until you hear something like this

I know this is out of the land of fruits and nuts but it happens all over. This story references Rochester, New York. The initial arrest reports involving crimes like his are always updated, usually adding names or increasing numbers. Once this story circulates for a while, others will come forward with tales about the accused. Some will be credible; some will be from other nuts.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaw.com

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought and attended to my answer." - Henry David Thoreau

Blachhawks about done; fork to be removed later this week.

April 18, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 18 is … International Jugglers Day

A day just for lying politicians; they seem to have too many days!

The Blackhawks have managed to play the playoff series they now trail 3-0 with the same uncaring, uninspired type of play that has plagued the team all season. I thought near the first of the year they we righting the ship but that was a short burst of enthusiastic play. The end appears near. Not since the platinum days of Michael Jordan when he was playing with the Bulls and Scottie Pippen have I followed or cared about the NBA. That is going to have to change if I want to continue to follow Chicago sorts over the next six weeks. I have not given up on the White Sox but this purple funk they are in now could take a while to lift. Go Bulls!

At about 10 p.m. on this day in 1775, three men took to their horses to ride from Boston to Concord, MA to warn the citizens of the approaching British army. Most of us know of just one of those riders, one Paul Revere. The famous poem, Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, glorified the Bostonian as the lone rider. He was, in fact, accompanied by William Dawes and Samuel Prescott.

We think it’s time they should get some recognition too! After all, it wasn’t their fault that their partner in the midnight ride was already well known, having been a member of the Sons of Liberty; incited the British by publishing an engraving of the Boston Massacre; carried messages for the Committees of Correspondence, an underground organization; and having been a participant in the Boston Tea Party.

Incidentally, only Prescott made it all the way to Concord. Revere was nabbed by a British cavalry patrol near Lexington, MA (Dawes and Prescott escaped). We’re not sure what happened to Dawes but Revere was released and returned to Lexington -- without his horse. There was lots of running/riding around that night, but suffice to say, when British forces arrived in Lexington, they found the minutemen waiting for them.

In honor of this midnight ride, get out your Revere ware and make a pot of tea. If it has any silver content, sell it, silver is way up and has been for a few years.

Today is Patriot’s Day, the day the Boson Marathon is run. Patriots' Day (officially Patriots' Day in Massachusetts and Patriot's Day in Main) is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed in Massachusetts and Maine (once part of Massachusetts), and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin. Observances and re-enactments of these first battles of the American Revolution occur annually at Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, (around 6am) and The Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts (around 9am). In the morning, a mounted reenactor with State Police escort retraces Paul Revere's ride, calling out warnings the whole way.

Since 1969, the holiday has been observed on the third Monday in April, providing a three-day long weekend. Previously, it had been designated as April 19 in observance of the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is also a school holiday for many local colleges and universities, both public and private.

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots' Day every year so many Bostonians know the holiday as "Marathon Monday".

The Boston Red Sox have traditionally been scheduled to play at home in Fenway Park on Patriots' Day every year since 1959. The games were postponed due to bad weather in 1959, 1961, 1965, 1967, and 1984, and canceled in 1995 during the players' strike. Since 1968 the games have started early, in the morning, around 11:00 AM. The early start to these games usually resulted in the game ending just as the marathon is heading through Kenmore Square. However, since 2007 the marathon has started between 9:30 AM and 10:00 AM, resulting in the racers going through Kenmore towards the middle of the Red Sox game.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaw.com

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Conquer yourself not the world." - Rene Descartes

Nicolas Cage and Cheese balls.

April 17, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 17 is … National Cheese ball Day

 This should be a day remembered nearer to Christmas. I rarely eat a Cheese ball other than around Christmas. I like Cheese balls but they are always best after warming a bit at room temperature. Now little cocktail smokies/wieners, They need to be a bit warm with the cooking sauce, whatever it is, pulsating all around the little beggars just calling pout “Eat me, Eat Me” If you have eaten a serving of little wieners and don’t have sauce on your shirt or blouse you did not do it right and should start over, going quicker and messier.

I wrote the other day about the air traffic controllers falling asleep at the wheel. Ray LaHood said it has become priority # 1. Well, it happened again, this time early Saturday in Miami. I hope too many incidents of this type happening do not cause the problem to fall from its lofty perch as priority # 1. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt were briefed on the incident early this morning by David Grizzle, acting chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization. Perhaps we should be investigating the air and water supplies running to the places these people are falling asleep. Maybe a Muslim terrorist organization, aren’t they all, is putting something in the air or water causing the sleep in preparation of an attack to commemorate the ten year anniversary of 911 in a few months.

We are all aware of short wars like 3-day, 7-day, and 3-month wars, but have you ever heard of a 335-year war? Today is the anniversary of the day such a war officially ended. In the year 1651, a war began between the Isles of Scilly and the Netherlands. No one seems to know or care what started the war. What seems to be more important is that, although the actual fighting ended in the 17th century, no one had ever officially declared an end to the war until this day in 1986. It was then that the Netherlands ambassador to the Isles of Scilly, Jonkheer Rein Huydecoper, flew to the islands delivering a proclamation that terminated the war.

We’d say that 335 years is a long time to hold a grudge!

On Friday, the Arizona legislature passed a law forcing Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates to prove they are natural born citizens before they can appear on the State’s Presidential ballot. The Arizona Legislature gave final approval late Thursday night to a proposal that would require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens before their names can appear on the state's ballot. Arizona would become the first state to require such proof if Gov. Jan Brewer signs the measure into law. Republican Rep. Carl Seel of Phoenix, the author of the bill, said the bill wasn't about opposition to Obama. "This bill is about the integrity of our elections," Seel said.

Thirteen other states have considered similar proposals this year. The proposals were defeated in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine and Montana. The bill won final approval from the state House in a 40-16 vote. So-called "birthers" contend since the last presidential election that Obama is ineligible to hold the nation's highest elected office because, they argue, he was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland. The Constitution said a person must be a "natural-born citizen" to be eligible for the presidency. This should end the ‘birther’ debate unless Obama decides not to enter the Arizona election or a liberal Obama backing Judge throws the law out.

How’s that Libyan war going for you Barack? Oh, I forgot, we surrendered to NATO. How’s that NATO assault on Libya going for you, Barack? History should teach you Mr. President, that the countries that make up much of NATO are the same ones we bailed out of WW I and WW II. They do not have this winning a war thing down yet. Watch out for the French or before you know it, the Frogs will be surrendering to the Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

Sometimes National Treasure III just cannot come quickly enough. Nick Cage must sure think that way. Nicolas Cage was arrested in Louisiana early Saturday morning, following an altercation with his wife of six years, Alice.

The incident that led to the arrest was a rather public one: According to TMZ sources, the Oscar winner was "very drunk" on a New Orleans street when a taxi driver allegedly witnessed the couple quarreling loudly. The cabbie reportedly called the police when Cage pushed his wife. Cage is said to have taunted cops into taking him into custody, repeatedly refusing their request to quietly go home and asking, "Why don't you just arrest me?" The officers ultimately obliged, charging Cage with disturbing the peace and domestic violence. He remains in custody awaiting a bail hearing; his wife is reportedly denying any physical violence occurred, and expressing no wish to press charges. It may not be much of a gravy train but it is her gravy train. With Alice, the actor is raising a son named Kal-El, born in 2005. Cage, who lost his father in 2009, was previously married to Patricia Arquette and Lisa Marie Presley. Cage has a history of public outbursts, including a blow-up last year (caught on tape) on the Romanian set of a movie, and a bar fight in New Orleans last month.

Nobody would dispute that Cage has been battling his fair share of demons recently, including major financial woes. The IRS has alleged for years that he owed millions in income and property tax, while the mother of Cage's firstborn son sued him in 2009 for more than $13 million. That same year, Cage filed a $20 million negligence and fraud suit against his business manager, Samuel Levin, who then accused Cage of ignoring his pleas to stop living beyond his means. Levin said in a countersuit that Cage was repeatedly advised to curtail his spending, but instead ended up purchasing yachts, Rolls Royces, a Gulfstream jet and 15 homes. I guess 14 homes were too few homes. He had to have that 15^th home to make life worth living. Now he has 15 homes and a bunk at the New Orleans lockup. I would bet that is a nice, clean, disease free and quiet place to spend a night or two while enjoying the Cajun cuisine.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaw.com

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops." - Thomas J. Watson

Mr. Watson was a self-made industrialist who started and ran IBM. The computer that just won the Jeopardy contest in February was named Watson, after the IBM founder.

The rich really pay the taxes no matter what liberals tell us.

April 16, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 16 is … National Stress Awareness Day and National Eggs Benedict Day

When is Arnold Benedict day? Yesterday would have worked. All three of the major professional sports teams from Chicago that played, lost. The Blackhawks do not play today but the Bulls do, so that could repeat today.

This is a tragic and an all too common story. It is hard to write about and even harder not to comment on some of the ignorant statements people make under the circumstances. I am not a reporter; I don’t claim to be fair and unbiased. I comment on the news of the day or week. I write down my thoughts.

A woman who had just been involved in a domestic dispute loaded her four children into a minivan before letting one out and driving the rest of them into the Hudson River, killing herself and the three other children, firefighters said. The 10-year-old boy who had been let out of the minivan Tuesday night ran to a nearby fire station and alerted firefighters, Chief Michael Vatter said. The boy told firefighters his mother had driven off a boat ramp in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, and into the murky water of the river, Vatter said. Inside with her were the boy's siblings: two boys, ages 5 and 2, and an 11-month-old girl. Firefighters and police officers responded with boats. Divers searched for the minivan for about an hour before finding it submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards offshore. They used a heavy-duty tow truck to pull it up the boat ramp and onto land. Everyone inside was dead, Vatter said.

The woman lived about six blocks from where she and her children perished, he said. The woman lived in an apartment in a gritty part of this humble river city. Several neighbors on Wednesday recalled her as an attentive mother who balanced care of her children with an outside job. They were shocked by the news.

"She was a very good mom," said Tina Claybourne, who lives nearby. "She took care of her kids. She always was with her kids."

Neighbors said they did not know the woman's name or where she worked. They said the children seemed energetic and happy and would play on the block and ride bikes. "You know kids, they make noise, they play around," said Shantay Means, a downstairs neighbor. The domestic altercation occurred about 10 minutes before the woman drove into the river, said Vatter, who didn't have any more information on it. The concrete ramp was just a few blocks from her apartment. The boat ramp was unguarded by gate or chain. There was no sign that anything tragic had happened save for a single teddy bear left at the end of a dock that runs alongside the boat ramp. Newburgh, which has about 30,000 residents, sits on the western shore of the part of the river that runs south through New York state and eventually splits New York and New Jersey.

A similar incident occurred in 2006, about 20 miles south of Newburgh.

In 2007, Victor Han, of Queens, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to child endangerment. Han admitted he knew he was putting his daughters at risk when he stepped out of the family minivan on Bear Mountain in June 2006, leaving them with their mother, 35-year-old Hejin Han. She then drove the Honda Odyssey off a 300-foot drop, killing herself. The mother was killed but the children somehow survived the plunge.

It's also reminiscent of the case of a South Carolina woman who drowned her young sons in 1994. Susan Smith is serving a life sentence for killing 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex by strapping them into their car seats and driving the car into a pond. Smith originally claimed she was carjacked before the truth came out.

The suicidal mother who loaded her four children into a minivan and drove off a boat ramp into the frigid Hudson River changed her mind as the van sank and cried, "I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake," said her 10-year-old son, who survived by crawling out a window and swimming ashore. The ten-year-old said his mother had held him and the other kids - boys ages 5 and 2 and an 11-month-old girl - as the minivan began sinking.

"She was holding on to all of them and said, 'If I'm going to die, you're all going to die with me,'" sources said. "She said that two or three times."

But as the vehicle sank, the 10-year-old broke free of his mother's grasp and clambered out a window, a police spokesperson said: "While he was doing that, he heard his mother saying, 'I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake.' And she tried to reverse the car out, but at that time it was too late. He said, 'Mommy, I'm going to go get help,' and she said, 'OK.' And that was the last he heard from his mother."

A quote in this story says “She was a good mom. She took care of her kids.” The woman who made these statements, named above, should have any children she has taken from her. She should be sterilized. The killer of her own children, who this woman thought was a good mom, was 25 years old with a 10-year-old son. Do the math. She was having unprotected, reproductive sex when she was 14 years old. The father would be arrested today. I do not think a woman that kills three of her children should ever be confused with a good mom. I named the woman who made the quote but intentionally did not name the killer or her children.

The following article is by John Hayward and it appeared on Anne Coulter’s web site April 15, 2011.         http://www.humanevents.com

It’s Tax Day, a time when Americans briefly think about how much their government costs, instead of daydreaming about all the wonderful things it promises to do for them. 

Who pays for government?  The Evil Rich provide the lion’s share of the income taxes.  According to the Tax Foundation, the top 5 percent of income earners bring home about 35% of the nation’s income, but pay 59% of federal income tax.  The Super Evil Rich – people who earn over $6 million per year, a new category the IRS has been tracking recently - earn 10% of the income, but pay 18.5% of income taxes.  Meanwhile, the bottom half of earners account for roughly 13% of our national income, but pay only 3% of the federal income tax. 

We are constantly told none of this is “fair,” because the Evil Rich need to pay more than 59% of the income tax.  Liberals never tell us what a truly “fair” percentage would be – they always just complain that the current rates are too low, and persist in the absurd and easily debunked belief that taxing the heck out of rich people can fund their insane government spending.  Perhaps if the Evil Rich paid 70%, which would be double the 35% of national income they take in, we would achieve “fairness?”  You already know the answer to that.

Don’t worry, because even if you’re in the lower half of wage earners, you still pay plenty for government.  For one thing, you might be anticipating a nice tax refund this year.  That’s all money you loaned the government interest-free.  This is not just sour grapes, for you could have earned interest on that money by investing it, or placing it in a savings account.  Perhaps more importantly, you could have used it to pay down your own debts.  If you get a $1000 refund from the IRS, that’s a thousand dollars you could have knocked off your credit card balances this year.  What interest rate did you pay Visa or Discover on that thousand bucks?

You’re also paying for government every time you fill your gas tank.  As you may have noticed, that costs a lot of money these days.  Much of this goes to the government, in the form of gas taxes.  The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.  States add an average of 20.6 cents to that total.  More significantly, the high cost of gas is a direct result of deliberate Obama policies, including a refusal to allow the exploration of American oil resources. 

You are funding this exercise in environmentalist ideology, and you pay for even more of it through EPA regulations that increase the cost of energy generation.  The EPA has been working to quietly enforce the “cap and trade” concept – defeated by the representatives of American voters in the Congress.  It already imposes fantastically expensive “climate change” ideology on Americans, many of whom correctly see “climate change” as an international fraud.  Regardless of your income level, you pay for all that.

These energy policies contribute to the rising cost of almost all goods, as do high corporate tax rates.  Corporations do not pay taxes.  They pass them along to their customers.  You’ll have a hard time finding an example of an industry whose profit margins were reduced in equal proportion to rising taxes and regulatory costs.  They correctly, and ethically, view rising taxes as an increase in the cost of goods, and recover most of that cost through rising prices or diminished quality.

You pay for government through the cost of opportunities it forecloses, and jobs it eliminates.  Obviously the vast ranks of the unemployed are paying most directly.  True, they receive unemployment benefits – which cost the rest of us a fortune to fund, as the government keeps expanding them – but these benefits are a fraction of what they could be earning in their chosen professions.  Further, the people who are still employed suffer from lost advancement opportunities.  When your company hires people, your chances for promotion are increased.  The reverse is equally true when staff is downsized.

And, of course, don’t forget about all the money government is sucking out of your paycheck, before you ever receive it.  The entire point of the exercise is to prevent you from noticing the extraction of these funds.  You’re pouring a lot of your regular paycheck into a Social Security fund that absolutely will not be there when you retire – President Obama and the Democrat Party work tirelessly to thwart any real attempt to save it.  That money is not being put into some kind of “lockbox.”  The government spends it immediately. 

Rest assured though, we are all paying for government.  Few of us will ever really know exactly how much we paid.  As the size of government increases, and the Termite State burrows into every inch of our economy, its true cost becomes harder to account for.  You don’t know exactly how much you’re paying, any more than you know exactly what Washington does with all the money. This is by design.

I find this interesting and believable. It is impossible to keep giving away money in any form no matter what you call it, welfare, entitlement, public aid, foreign aid or whatever, without running out of money. The money we give away or waste comes from somewhere. It comes from the rich. Since there are more poor than rich, the rich have to pay a disproportionate share. That’s the way it is.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

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"It is difficult to give children a sense of security unless you have it yourself. If you have it, they catch it from you." - William C. Menninger