Ted's Soapbox 2.0

I think I have cought a summer cold. It started out as sinus problems but now I started coughing and feeling tight in my chest. I hope it is gone before my surgery next month.

~~~~

August 7th, National Mustard Day.

Look for plenty of hot dogs, live music from a group called the Red Hot Horn Dawgs, mustard games, mustard tastings, an occasional mustard “fight” and appearances by Oscar Mayer’s iconic Wienermobile and French’s Mustard Man as thousands of people are expected to show up in Middleton today to figuratively paint the town yellow in celebration of National Mustard Day.

If you didn’t make it to Middleton for the event, stop by the national mustard museum and check out some interesting facts and maybe buy some “Poup-on U” stuff, perhaps a Poup-on U toilet seat?

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5599

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4399
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1200
_______________________________________________
28 year old Army Staff Sgt. Kyle R. Warren

My sinus’ have been really giving me a hard time the past few days. I have been using a sinus rinse and they really have not improved. I don’t know if something bloomed outside or if my wife brought something back from California and passed it on to me, but something is really bothering them.

Stella, one of our dogs, is doing much better, her drain tubes are out and on Monday she gets her staples out. Her and Emma have been playing again like nothing happened, so I guess all is well in the dog part of our family.

~~~~

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, a birther and Palinbot, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at Fort Belvoir, VA on charges of disobeying orders. He failed to report to Ft Campbell, for predeployment training to Afghanistan.

Sounds like he is using the excuse of not believing President Obama is a citizen to cover the fact that he is just plain chicken to go to Afghanistan.

****I say kick his ass out and take away his pension and benefits.****

~~~~

httpv://www.youtube.com/user/findthe1path#p/a/u/2/F2-7-OxLwNQ

At the beginning of the year, Saad was living in Frisco with his parents, as an ambitious member of the American middle class, a model immigrant. His parents owned a house and two cars, and they both worked. They had left Bangladesh 15 years ago, when Saad was three years old. His father told him about the problems he had had with politicians, and about the persecution and threats that had prompted him to leave the country.

The family went to the United States and applied for political asylum, but after eight years the application was turned down and the US immigration authority informed the Nabeels that they were to leave the country immediately. Instead of complying with the request, Saad’s father moved with his family from Los Angeles to Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. But it wasn’t as if they had gone there to hide from the authorities. On the contrary, the parents bought a house there, found jobs and applied for a permanent residency permit, a Green Card. The American authorities did not intervene. By then Saad was 11 and had almost no memories left of Dhaka.

According to Saad, in late 2009 his father received a notice from the immigration authority stating that the family’s Green Cards would be sent to them in January 2010. But before that happened, immigration officials suddenly showed up at the family’s door, took the father to a detention facility and threatened to deport him. The family still doesn’t know why. Saad’s mother left Texas with her son, and the two embarked on an odyssey that lasted for several weeks and ended with deportation, marking the beginning of Saad’s new life.

~~~~

Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5599

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4399
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1200
____________________________________________________
25 year old Army Sgt. Kyle B. Stout

An event took place in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province North Korea, on Wednesday on the occasion of the World Breastfeeding Week.

Present there were officials concerned, public health workers in various provinces and cities and staff members of the missions of the UNICEF and the WHO here.

An inaugural speech was followed by speeches of the representative of the UNICEF and an official of the WHO here.

Speakers said that the UNICEF set the first week of August every year as the World Breastfeeding Week and recommended all the countries to conduct activities on this week.

They underscored the need to successfully conduct the work to promote the health of the mothers and babies on the occasion of the week.

The participants heard speeches before looking round photos displayed on the occasion of the week.

****In the United States it is almost a sin, especially in public.****

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5595

Deaths by Age

18-22: 2515
23-28: 1907
28-35: 1135
35-45: 661
45+: 125
_____________________________________________
23 year old Marine Lance Cpl. Shane R. Martin

Things are going ok. Stella is getting better each day and she is calming down more and more. She should get her drainage tubes removed Monday. That should also help her out a lot.

My wife comes home tomorrow! I am so happy and her dog will be really happy. That dog just gets so depressed when she is gone. She won’t eat, and doesn’t do much but sleep and poop. (although at her age, thats about all she does anyway).

I really won’t see my wife until Monday since I have to work this weekend, and we are short on people so I won’t be able to take Saturday or Sunday off.

~~~~

Thousands of children in the Gaza Strip set a new world record for flying kites simultaneously on a Mediterranean beach in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip. The event was organised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), who told reporters that 6,000 children had taken part in the event, and Israel didn’t even hold an air raid over the event.

Kites in Gaza

~~~~

Congratulations to the people of the DPRK on completing the Kumyapang Power Station .

A dam of the large Kumyagang Power Station was completed in the east coastal area of the DPRK.

The dam created a power base with rich water resources in the upper reaches of Kumya River and made it possible to satisfactorily water tens of thousands hectares of paddy and non-paddy fields with the help of a man-made lake, boosting agricultural production.

Now feed your people.

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5590

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4399
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1191
____________________________________________
27 year old Army Spc. Joseph A. Bauer

Dawnell is gone this week and it is just Shane and I at home. Wouldn’t you know it, the first day she left we had drama at the house. Emma and Stella got into a fight. Stella again got her butt kicked and I had to take her to the vet for surgery. She had two good sized puncture wounds in her. One went about 3 inches into her and the other was not as bad. She has two drain tubes on her left side and about 15 staples in between them. On her right side she has about 20 staples holding the skin together. She was in a lot of pain.

She is much better now and although she is nervous she is trying to be nice around Emma.

The problem is, when the dogs get excited at the door, they both run down there and if Stella, who is smaller, gets cornered, she snaps and growls at Emma, and then they get into a fight.

I don’t know what we are going to do with Emma. Maybe a muzzle on her or if it comes to it, we may have to put her down. Not something I want to do but I can’t keep spending 500 bucks at the vet everytime they get into a fight.

Stella's Drain Tubes

~~~~

Pick up a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Can you find the word corporation in it?

You cannot.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees you and me, living, breathing human beings, citizens of the United States, the right to free speech.

In one of the greatest affronts to our democracy ever, five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court decided in January, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that corporations have free speech rights just like you and me, and, that includes the right to spend whatever corporations like to support or oppose candidates for elected office.

Corporations already spend money on politics and our elections, and after the USSP decision things will get worse.

Just think what it will be like when ExxonMobil, Walmart, BP, ConocoPhillips, GE and other corporations start pouring their millions and billions of dollars in profits into political advertising, without regard or what the candidate thinks, protected by their “free speech”. Endless political advertisements on television, radio, internet and spam email. All legal and protected by the U.S. Constitution.

When will the Supreme Court offically change the Constitution to read “We The Corporations” instead of We the People?

When will We The People stand up and demand an admendment to change this abortion of our Constitution by the Supreme Court?

The time to act is now!

~~~~

LISTEN UP, HATEFUL ASSHOLES: The end is near! The Muslims have already invaded that city you call godless, yet love because terrorism happened there! There is already a mosque only four blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center.

All you PALINBOTS out there get a clue, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu’s and many others were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

What right do we have to stop any religion from building a place of worship because it is close to the former WTC site?

The United States has no offical religion, the country was set up that way for a reason. Get over it.

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5589

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4399
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1190
_______________________________________________
20 year old Army Pfc. James J. Oquin

Very depressing lately. It seems like I am missing out on so much stuff. Shift work really sucks, I only get 2 months of work normal days, and the last time I worked the days, my wife ended up working extra hours at work so we never did really get to do much as a family. Nothing gets done around the house because we are always working. I am either working strange hours or she is working extra hours without being paid for them, her boss is a total ass who doesn’t believe in management being paid for the time they put in, just the normal 8 straight hours. On our one day off together, if we get a day off together, we rush around trying to get the things done like cutting the grass, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and then on the next day, we have appointments for our son which last all day long.

Our friendships have all drifted apart, as they all work normal Monday – Friday jobs and have time to go do things on weekends, and boy do they go, they go on trips, ballooning, shows, games, you name it. Us? The only trips we have been in in 5 years is a 2 days trip to Mt Rushmore and then weekend trips to visit my mom. We never get a head, its one step forward and two steps back.

Sometimes it would be so easy to just put a gun to my head and be done with it. I am sick of being told NO, we can’t do this or we can’t get that.

Tomorrow, I will cut the yard and lot if it doesn’t rain and then I have to stain the back fence because the people who built a house behind us are putting up a fence and I will never be able to get back there again to get it done, after that it will be time to get cleaned up and ready for bed so I can get up early and take Dawnell to the airport and then take my son to his appointments for the day.

~~~~

NAPA Sucks!

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5582

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4398
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1184
_______________________________________________
22 year old Marine Cpl. Paul J. Miller

HOT! Thats all I can say. It has been hot, and it appears it is going to stay that way. Even the dog’s don’t want to go outside, well all except Newton who doesn’t even seem to care if it is hot or cold, except he can’t handle the heat and comes in snorting and panting after a few minutes. But he likes to go out and chase the bee’s.

I will have to have surgery on my knee and I could be down and out for 6 to 10 weeks but I really doubt I will be down that long. I plan on being back to work in a week or two at the most. The government doesn’t give much sick time and having only worked for the government for 5 years I don’t earn that much vacation time so I will need to return quickly or I will be sitting home without any money coming in.

I sure would like to know how presidents get to take so much vacation time. Military members get 30 days a fiscal year, government workers start out getting 4 hours every two weeks and then move up to 6 hours every two weeks after 6 years and then 8 hours every two weeks after 15 years but I know Bush took way more than 30 days a fiscal year and he couldn’t have earned enough hours to take as much time as he took only being presidnet for 8 years and Obama has taken a good bit of time off too.

WHY DO THEY GET SO MUCH TIME OFF? I guess it is the same with members of Congress. We got the 4th of July off, Congress was off for two weeks. They say it is so they can go home and communicate with the people in their districts, but I never once saw my congressman over those two week he was off for the 4th. Bunch of bullshit if you ask me. they should get paid by the hour and have a time card.

~~~~

5 years ago a three-story, 145-foot yacht named Summerwind dropped anchor off the coast of Belize. As the yacht was preparing to drop its anchor, people around it were yelling and waving their arms screaming not to drop anchor there. The yacht’s owner, not on board at the time, now says it never happened.

That’s right, Billionaire Jeff Greene, candidate for the U.S. Senate says it never happened. In fact his campain says it is all a lie and a plot by political rivals.

Greene bought Summerwind in 2003, registering it in the Marshall Islands, a well-known tax haven. The yacht has traveled across the world, hosting Greene, family members and celebrities including Lindsay Lohan. He took it to Nantucket, Mass., last weekend to crash a meeting of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee where only his Democratic rival, Kendrick Meek, had been invited to speak.

Meanwhile back in Belize, Green and the Summerwind’s captain are wanted people facing fines up to 1.87 million dollars.

1.87 million dollars, chicken feed for a billionaire.

~~~~
Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5582

Deaths by Conflict

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4398
Operation Enduring Freedom: 1184
______________________________________________
21 year old Marine Cpl. Dave M. Santos

Thank you for being my wife and putting up with me.

I love you…