Wednesday, August 17, 2011

dead people


AUGUST 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.

August 17 is … National Thriftshop Day



See you Goodwill later. Perhaps I can buy back some of my donations at a real good price.



The estate of Elvis Presley makes sixty million dollars a year. Not bad for a guy that has been dead for over 34 years.



According to Forbes, the top earning dead celebrities are; Forbes Top Earning Dead Celebrities:

1. Michael Jackson - $275 million
2. Elvis Presley - $60 million
3. J. R. R. Tolkein - $50 million
4. Charles Schulz - $33 million
5. John Lennon - $17 million
6. Stieg Larsson - $15 million
7. Dr. Seuss - $11 million
8. Albert Einstein - $10 million
9. George Steinbrenner - $8 million
10. Richard Rogers - $7 million
11. Jimi Hendrix and Steve McQueen - $6 million each
12. Aaron Spelling - $5 million

Although not on this list, the top earning dead person in the world is Yves Saint-Laurent. Also on the list is Thomas Edison.


“Follow the Yellow Brick Road ... There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home ... Oh, Auntie Em, Auntie Em ... and Toto, too!”

Theatre goers first saw the magical The Wizard of Oz in a gala premiere on this night in 1939. The first movie to use the combination of black and white and color film starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale; Bert Lahr as both the Cowardly Lion and Zeke; Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Hunk; and Jack Haley as both the Tin Woodsman and Hickory. Originally, Buddy Ebsen was in the role of the Tin Man; but he became ill and had to leave the production before its completion.

The movie was based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which he wrote in 1900 and adapted into a musical play. Directed by Victor Fleming, the Hollywood version took an Oscar for best movie score (Harold Arlen and E.Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg), and for best song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. With its superb acting, special effects, singing midgets and wonderful songs like Ding Dong the Witch is Dead (the wicked witch was delightfully played by Margaret Hamilton while Billie Burke was equally charming as the good witch); Munchkinland, and Follow the Yellow Brick Road, The Wizard of Oz would probably have won the Best Picture Oscar. As fate would have it, there was another show-stopper filmed that year, Gone with the Wind, and only one film could win.

The Wizard of Oz turned into such a triumph that television later clamored to get the rights to show it. William. S. Paley of CBS made sure his network (which also gave Garland the spotlight with her own show in the 1950s) was the one to bring The Wizard of Oz to new generations of viewers. The movie, now released on video, is still shown on TV and remains a popular favorite of young and old alike.

“Oh, we’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz. We hear he is a wiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was...”



Who will be the weiner? On Monday, in United States Federal District Court, a trial began between Sara Lee, the maker of Ball Park Franks and Kraft Foods the maker of Oscar Meyer hot dogs. The legal has been going on for three years and now it is time to end the litigation.



The dispute began in 2009 when Kraft advertised a taste comparison which claimed its hot dogs were preferred over Ball Park Franks. Sara Lee countered that their hot dogs were not cooked thoroughly, properly or served correctly. Since then, both sides have made claims the others hot dogs are not 100% pure beef as advertised for certain varieties. Lawsuits between consumer product makers are not uncommon. The claims made advertising can make or break a product.



For now, however, claims of hot dog makers have developed into a Federal case. I am sure many jokes will turn up during these proceedings. Comedy often finds it way into litigation.



Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should think about.



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.













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.



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.





Book Titles:



Holmes the Ripper



A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction



"[There is] an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for." - Saul Bellow


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

They die in threes!


AUGUST 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.

August 16 is … Bratwurst Festival



And speaking of a great weenie, Ruth Madoff has cut ties with her husband of 52 years. She has to remember him. He is the guy that made her wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. She has given much of the money to the feds to repay bilked investors but only lawyers are getting paid so far. Bernie’s kids have also cut him off but have not given up their riches either. None of the Madoffs will ever be poor. Thanks dad but go to hell.



Ruth Madoff, who stood by her disgraced husband Bernie despite his $65 billion Ponzi scheme and 150-year prison sentence, is cutting ties to him now in an attempt to reconcile with her estranged family, according to a new report.



Madoff biographer Diana Henriques told London's The Express that Ruth hasn't visited Bernie--her husband of 52 years--since their eldest son Mark's suicide in December 2010. After Mark's death, his grieving widow prohibited Ruth from attending his memorial service in Connecticut. Ruth remains estranged from her other son, Andrew,

as well.



Ruth infuriated her family when she stood by Bernie after he was beaten in prison in 2009. She had initially aligned with her sons, who gave her an ultimatum when the Ponzi scheme was exposed in 2008: him or us.



"Ruth has not seen Bernie since Mark's suicide, and I think the remnants of the family will now pull together," Henriques told The Express. "Ruth visiting him in prison was a major impediment to her being reconciled with them.” In a CBS "Early Show" interview Monday morning, Henriques--the first reporter to interview Madoff in prison and the author of "Bernard Madoff, The Wizard of Lies"--revealed that Bernie wants Ruth to move on.

"Bernie wants Ruth to do whatever she must to rebuild her life, even at the expense of their obviously limited time together. He cares very much about her, and I think wants her to have the comfort of her family in the years to come," she told Chris Wragge.



But is reconciling with her son and grandchildren possible? "We're going to see," Henriques said. "I'm encouraged by the sources that I hear that there are good signs of reconciliation."



1948 Babe Ruth Baseball legend, dies in NY at 53.
1977 Elvis Presley dies of heart ailment at Graceland at 42.

1991 Shamu the Whale dies at 16, from respiratory failure.



The great ones always die in threes. The death of Elvis sent many people to the end of Lonely Street, right to the Heartbreak Hotel because they were All Shook Up, when they couldn’t find a partner, they used a wooden chair. Many people have never gotten over the fact Elvis was Returned to Sender.



Elvis Presley was rushed from Graceland to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on this day in 1977. Doctors’ efforts to revive him were fruitless and he was pronounced dead (coronary arrhythmia) at 3:30 p.m. He was 42 years old. Thousands of mourning fans kept a vigil outside Graceland, the home of the King of Rock and Roll, for three days before his burial. Thousands more lined the streets of Presley’s hometown on the day of his funeral.



The city, the nation, the music world and fans from around the world were in shock over his passing. Even to this day, some say that Elvis didn’t die -- he just wanted to get away from it all. Fans from all over have reported sightings of Elvis -- from a hamburger joint in Kalamazoo, MI, to California.



Elvis had an unprecedented 107 hits on the pop music charts and an unprecedented number of fans. His first hit was Heartbreak Hotel in 1956 and his last, one of two RCA hits released after his death, was Guitar Man in 1981. Presley had 28 gold records, 12 number one songs and 38 top-ten hits.



Presley is buried at Graceland, now a major tourist attraction.



We remember him well. We miss him a bunch.



Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should too or at least think about.

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.













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.



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.





Book Titles:



Holmes the Ripper



A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction



"We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours; we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries."- Will Durant










Monday, August 15, 2011

Tiger and Pawlenty are out of the picture


AUGUST 15, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

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

August 15 is … National Relaxation Day and National Failures Day



Why don’t we just relax and fail, kind of like President Obama is about to do on Martha’s Vineyard.



The PGA Championship was decided later Sunday afternoon. The final golfing Major clearly showed there is life after Tiger Woods. Keegan Bradley was four shots back with four holes to play. He rallied in his finishing holes while the leader, Jason Dufler limped to the finish, bogeying 15, 16 and 17. He wound up in a tir with Keegan Bradley.



The PGA Championship uses a three-hole aggregate score playoff to determine a winner. Bradley took an early lead in the playoff and won by one. The final hour and forty-five minutes of the television broadcast was probably the only 105 minute time period Tiger Woods did not dominate the broadcast chatter. It was good, exciting, entertaining television.



There is unfinished business from the weekend news. The Iowa Straw Poll did not hold many surprises although Ron Paul did better than expected. Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann emerged the winner in the widely-anticipated Ames Straw Poll in Iowa on Saturday.



The conservative congresswoman came out on top in the event with 4,823 votes. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul came in second place. Here's a breakdown of the results:



U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.): 4,823 votes
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas): 4,671 votes
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty: 2,293 votes
Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): 1,657 votes
Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain: 1,456 votes
Texas Governor Rick Perry: 718 votes
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney: 567 votes
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: 385 votes
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman: 69 votes
U.S. Rep Thad McCotter (R-Mich.): 35 votes



Romney, Gingrich and Huntsman did not actively campaign for support in the straw poll despite their names appearing on the ballot. Perry, who announced his candidacy for president on Saturday, did not aggressively look to lock up votes in the event. His name did not appear on the ballot; however, write-in votes were allowed in the straw poll.



The outcome is the first indication of what Iowans think of the field of Republicans competing for the chance to challenge President Barack Obama next fall. But it's hardly predictive of who will win the winter Iowa contest, much less the party nod or the White House.



The results of this nonbinding vote, held on the Iowa State University campus, came just hours after Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the race.

"I full well believe I'm going to win," Perry told South Carolina voters on a conference call before delivering his first speech as a candidate. Despite Perry's best efforts to overshadow the day, the epicenter of the presidential contest was in this Midwestern town, where Iowans cast ballots during a daylong political festival, a late-summer ritual held every four years.



The only thing decided in Iowa is that Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Thad McCotter had better start looking for another job. Herman Cain and Rick Santorum are on life support. Please pull the plug so we can get to the serious, viable candidates and away from the dog-and-pony show. At least Tim Pawlenty was smart enough to leave the race while he still had a bit of respectability.



Not much going on during the dog days of August. Sox are playing better; Bears are gearing up for season; Cubs are playing out the string but will win a few to keep the Cubs’ fans coming to the City’s largest bar. Same stuff, different year.



Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should think about.

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.













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.



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.





Book Titles:



Holmes the Ripper



A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction



"If you can't change your fate, change your attitude." - Amy Tan

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Good morning Mr. Perry?


AUGUST 14, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

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

August 14 is … National Creamsicle Day



It is finally official, Rick Perry is running for the Republican nomination for President. In this story from HuffPost, Tim Pawlenty is not mentioned as a candidate. Perhaps he should get out. Perry, 61, was to visit New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, later Saturday before stepping onto Iowa soil Sunday.



The leading GOP candidate so far has been Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor making his second run for the nomination. With perhaps the exception of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), no one in the field has managed to raise the kind of enthusiasm among conservatives that seems to surround Perry.



Among the others in the race are former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and businessman Herman Cain. I am not sure the Texas governor is a viable national candidate but he adds pizzazz to a campaign being lead by Mitt Romney



On Friday, a Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta struck down the mandate in Obamacare that individuals must buy insurance from private companies from birth to death. This ruling is going to be appealed. The law that took up so much time and energy to get through Congress while this country was falling down around us is not approved of by over 50% of the population. Still President Obama and his cronies will spend billions of dollars we do not have to salvage a law no one likes. If Obamacare falls by the wayside, President Obama would have accomplished nothing in his three years in the White House.



A federal appeals court panel on Friday struck down the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul package that virtually all Americans must carry health insurance or face penalties. The divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the so-called individual mandate, which is considered the centerpiece of the law, siding with 26 states that had sued to block the law. But the panel didn't go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.



Government attorneys can – and likely will – ask the full 11th Circuit to review the panel's ruling. They also can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which many legal observers expect to have the final say on the issue. The states and other critics argued the law violates people's rights, while the Justice Department countered that the legislative branch was exercising a "quintessential" power.



The decision, penned by Chief Judge Joel Dubina and Circuit Judge Frank Hull, found that "the individual mandate contained in the Act exceeds Congress's enumerated commerce power." "What Congress cannot do under the Commerce Clause is mandate that individuals enter into contracts with private insurance companies for the purchase of an expensive product from the time they are born until the time they die," the opinion said.



Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus said in a lengthy dissent that the majority ignored the "undeniable fact that Congress' commerce power has grown exponentially over the past two centuries, and is now generally accepted as having afforded Congress the authority to create rules regulating large areas of our national economy." The 11th Circuit isn't the first appeals court to weigh in on the issue. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the government's new requirement that most Americans buy health insurance, and an appeals court in Richmond has heard similar legal constitutional challenges to the law.



But the Atlanta-based court is considered by many observers to be the most pivotal legal battleground yet because it reviewed a sweeping ruling by a Florida judge. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson's ruling not only struck down a requirement that nearly all Americans carry health insurance, but he also threw out other provisions ranging from Medicare discounts for some seniors to a change that allows adult children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' coverage.



The states urged the 11th Circuit to uphold Vinson's ruling, saying in a court filing that letting the law stand would set a troubling precedent that "would imperil individual liberty, render Congress's other enumerated powers superfluous, and allow Congress to usurp the general police power reserved to the states." On Friday, the National Federation of Independent Business, which joined the 26 states in the challenge, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the rest of the health care overhaul. The federation has argued the federal health care law would cost small businesses millions by forcing them to provide health insurance for employees.



"Small-business owners across the country have been vindicated by the 11th Circuit's ruling that the individual mandate in the healthcare law is unconstitutional," the group said. "The court reaffirmed what small businesses already knew – there are limits to Congress' power. And the individual mandate, which compels every American to buy health insurance or pay a fine, is a bridge too far."



“Spend, spend, spend, more government, more government.” Should be a Obama campaign slogan. “Screw the working man; take, take, and take. I am like Robin Hood. Just call me Obama in the Hood.”



Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should too or at least think about.



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.













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.



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.





Book Titles:



Holmes the Ripper



A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction



"People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have." - Anne Tyler

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Carlos Zambrano should be banned from baseball.


AUGUST 13, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

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

August 13 is … Blame Someone Else Day



You know who you are, Carlos.



Carlos Zambrano, your padded room is ready. This is the excuse the Chicago Cubs ownership, management and field coaches have been waiting for to blame another disastrous season on. They just do not seem to grasp the fact the entire organization is dysfunctional.



It is unfortunate that Sesame Street even has to issue a statement. Let the Gay and Lesbian Right activists bother someone else. Leave American traditions alone. Isn’t it enough you have destroyed the concept of marriage. Bert and Ernie will not be getting married. To each other, or anyone else.



Things are not always as they seem. The rich and powerful also have warts and secrets, Camelot was not. There are reports that secret recordings offer stunning revelations into Jackie Kennedy, in particular who she thought was involved in her husband's assassination.

Never-before-released audio recordings allegedly indicate that Jackie O believed then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson and a group of Texas businessmen were behind the Dallas shooting that left John F. Kennedy dead on Nov. 22, 1963, The Daily Mail reports.

.

The tapes -- which feature conversations between the first lady and historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. shortly after Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald -- also address extramarital affairs, including allegations of the president's involvement with a 19-year-old White House intern, and Jackie O's relations with actor William Holden and Fiat mogul Gianni Agnelli, according to the British tabloid.



ABC, which plans to air the tapes next month, has described the recordings as "explosive." But network officials deny that there's evidence of an LBJ-orchestrated hit on Kennedy.



"The tabloid reports about content of the tapes are total nonsense," a network spokesman told The New York Post. "ABC isn't releasing any content from those tapes until mid-September, at which time it will be clear how off base these reports are."

The recordings were supposed to remain in a vault at the Kennedy Library until 50 years after Jackie's death. But according to The Daily Mail, Caroline Kennedy gave the tapes to ABC just 17 years after her mother's death in a swap that would keep the network from airing its recent miniseries, "The Kennedy’s."



The demands of a petition calling for Bert and Ernie to get married, which has become an internet obsession in the last few years, has been gently denied by the Sesame Street Workshop, who issued this statement on their Facebook page:



“Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”



This isn't the first time the organization has moved to deny a sexual relationship between their two roommate puppets; in June 2010, a tweet sent from the Sesame Street Twitter account from Bert that said his mohawk was more "mo" than "hawk" was suspected by bloggers and conspiracy theorists of being some sort of coded acknowledgement of their relationship. Bloggers also took as a hint the large number of gay guest stars from that season, to which Sesame Street responded, "We've always reached out to a variety of actors and athletes and celebrities to appear on the show, and our programming has always appealed to adults as much as children."



Thank God for sanity among the normal people.



This atheist dressed in a Christian’s clothing must be out of money. He is once again praying on the heart strings and bank accounts of the disenchanted. Controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones, who sparked international outrage for plans to burn a pile of Qurans, will visit Ground Zero on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Jones told MLive.com he will hold a rally Sept. 10 at a yet-to-be announced location in the middle of the city, where he will speak to the dangers of radical Islam. It's a pet subject for Jones, who made national headlines last year for declaring Sept. 11 "International Burn a Koran Day," encouraging Americans to burn the Islamic holy book.

Jones said the event was a one-off occasion, and he sees no reason to advocate another Quran burning. "It's not something we're looking to repeat," he said. After the Sept. 10 rally, Jones and his associate, Pastor Wayne Sapp, are planning several events, including a stop at the site of the proposed Park51 Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and an appearance at Ground Zero.

Jones said he doesn't believe all followers of Islam are radicalized, but does draw a link between strict interpretations of the Quran and violence.

"I personally believe there are moderate, peace-abiding, peace-loving, constitution-respecting Muslims," Jones said. "We're definitely not aiming at them in any form, even though I understand that some of the things we do can be insulting to them."



At least this jackass knows he is a jackass but he wants more money.



Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should too or at least think about.



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.













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.



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.





Book Titles:



Holmes the Ripper



A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction



"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting." - Elizabeth Bibesco