Sign of Fall; Our Maple Tree

We have three maple trees in the front lawn (we planted them about 3 years ago) and they're turning great shades of orange (Rob's favorite color) and red.  Here's a picture of one of them. Happy Fall!  This is the best season with cool, crisp mornings and warm afternoon sunshine. Enjoy your day.

 

Politics: What is the Values Voter Summit 2011?

Here's an interesting article about the "Values Voter Summit." I haven't heard about it, but it's important to know. I noticed that the only GOP candidate not affiliated with this extreme right-wing, ultra-conservative movement is Jon Huntsman. There's something good to be said about him for steering away from these hate groups.

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 09:06 PM PDT

Last weekend, almost all Republican Presidential candidates appeared on stage at the Values Voter Summit, a meeting sponsored by two certified hate groups on par with (and one with ties to) the Ku Klux Klan and the Council of Conservative Citizens.
Family Research Council and American Family Association have both been considered hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center for some time now, and with good reason; both groups push their shared agenda with dangerous propaganda and outright lies about gay  people.
To repeat: Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum all accepted the invitation of these hate groups (as they have for years), hoping to get their endorsements and the votes of like-minded individuals.
Full article: http://blog.mattalgren.com/2011/10/why-values-voter-summit-2011-should-signal-an-early-end-to-presidential-election-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mattalgren+%28Asterisk%29#.TpSIrNS8GuI

Nashville Newspaper: TN church reels as pastor faces burglary charges

I read an article in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper today about a pastor who has burglarized homes to steal drugs. The town of Smyrna is near Nashville and is well known. BUT- there's something that REALLY bothers me, even MORE than the pastor breaking into people's houses to steal drugs: The CONGREGATION has BANISHED the woman from the church, who reported the crime!!! They want her to "Keep the burglary quiet!"  **This congregation is screwed up.  If it wasn't a pastor breaking in, they'd want the burglar to be hanged. This is what is wrong with some churches. They are so "hell-bent" on saving the face of the crooked pastor that the attack the woman he burglarized!!!  Wackos!!

SMYRNA — After prescription painkillers kept disappearing from her bathroom, Jean Harris set up a surveillance camera on her garage and pointed it to a side door on her house.
What she saw on the tape sickened her, but she didn’t know what to do with the information.
How do you call the police and tell them you have a videotape that appears to show your longtime pastor trying to get inside your house when you’re not home?
“It took me a week and a half of prayer,” Harris said Monday. “But if I didn’t, he was going to keep doing this.”


Police have charged Rickey Alan Reed, 55, pastor of First Free Methodist Church on Hazelwood Drive in Smyrna, with aggravated burglary after, they say, Harris’ camera caught him trying to get into her home. Reed is free on bond, tensions are high at church, and police are investigating whether he may have broken into other homes looking for drugs. Harris, who has attended the church for 55 years, says church members have ostracized her and pressured her to keep the burglary a secret.
VIDEO and FULL STORY: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111011/NEWS01/310110033/2288/NLETTER01/Smyrna-church-reels-as-pastor-faces-burglary-charges?source=nletter-news

An Auditory Message from my (late) Father!

Most of the time I post blogs about my encounters with ghosts (earth-bound) and spirits (those who crossed into the light) on my other blog (http://ghostsandspiritsinsights.blogspot.com/), but this one is very personal. 

  This morning, Oct. 10, 2011 the Columbus Day holiday (which I thankfully have off, although Tom doesn't) I got to sleep in after sending Tom off to work at 5am. I went back to bed and had all three dogs on the bed with me. I drifted back off to sleep until I got a "wake up call."

My dad in his 30s- how he sounded when he called today.

  At 7:51 a.m. EDT, I was in a twilight state, just waking up when I very clearly heard my father call "Robert!" from the kitchen. I responded "yeah, (I'm awake)!" as I used to when my dad would wake me up for school when I lived at home as a kid. I looked around and the dogs also seemed to have heard it. They all had their heads up and were looking around!

   The sound: It was clearly my dad's voice. In fact, since he's been gone over three years, its with difficulty that I recall what his voice sounds like- but that was HIS voice! 

  The date: So, why today? He called to me because it's a week before my birthday. Spirits will usually get in touch with someone close to them around a birthday or anniversary. Either related to the person they're giving the message or for someone the recipient knows. It's a way to confirm its them. Of course, there are many other reasons why they come through.

   Significance: This is significant to me because I usually get messages telepathically from ghosts or spirits. This was clearly auditory and even the dogs seemed to hear it! They were confused and looking around!

   Related Events: My mother (who also has the ability but is afraid of it) clearly heard her mother call her name after her mother passed away in 1958. It scared the daylights out of my mother and she ran to my dad at the time. **Tom heard his name called by his late partner Ed, when Tom visited friends and stayed in the room that used to be Ed's. Tom said he was starting to drift off to sleep when he clearly heard Ed call his name. He turned to the door, where he perceived the voice to be coming from and answered it, but there was no one visibly there. 

  Second Guessing:  It's easy to second guess yourself after this happens and try to deny it or write it off as your imagination. It's not your imagination. You didn't hear the voice in your head. You heard a voice, and they called to you because it was important that they let you know they're around you. It's also a great gift.

  As I write this, I have a headache in the back left side of my head (which tells me there's a ghost or a spirit around) and I know it's my dad. He wants to make sure I explain this correctly. He's the one that taught me the importance of reading and writing (and used to buy me comic books all the time as a kid to encourage me to read - and I still read 'em today). I have one last thing to say about this- "Thanks, Dad, for the birthday wishes. I love you and miss you."

Traffic Trouble Weekend

Driving past the Bromo Seltzer tower in downtown Baltimore

Dolly & Sprite happily back home waiting to get into the backyard after 3 hrs drive!

We live in an area where there's always a lot going on, and Saturday was no exception. Tom headed to Annapolis to fix a door frame for his folks (and took our dachshund Franklin), while I (Rob) headed to Baltimore to exchange a dog harness for our other dachshund, Sprite and took him and Dolly (the Weimaraner) with me. Tom hit traffic going to the Annapolis boat show and the Renaissance Festival. It took a long, long time to get through it, and even back and forth to a nearby Home Depot. **I needed to go through one of the Baltimore area harbor tunnels to get to the specific dog store, but saw a sign on my way north that said "I-895 closed for accident." SIGH. So, I had to way to the west and go through downtown Baltimore to go back east to the dog store. It took me over 3 hours to do a 90 minute trip.
 - As a result I missed meeting Tom and his parents for lunch. - Tom didn't finish until 4pm and has to go back. The traffic prevented him from having enough time to finish!
 The RULE: Whenever you think it will take an hour, it will take FOUR. That's the basic rule for traffic around here and for home projects!

3 Months of Iron in the Water... and Motivating Our Neighbors!

When rainwater infiltrates the soil, it dissolves iron, causing it to seep into aquifers that serve as sources of groundwater for wells. We're not on a well, we're on a city water source, so 3 months ago, when a water main leak was repaired our water started turning yellow. When iron comes in contact with oxygen, it changes to a reddish compound that can discolor bathroom fixtures and laundry.

Although present in drinking water, iron is seldom found at concentrations greater than 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or 10 parts per million. Our iron levels were tested in tap water and they're at 0.3 mg/liter, which can cause water to turn a yellowish or reddish brown color. Our water has had a yellow tint to it since July when the water main at the end of our street was "repaired."

We have both emailed and called City Hall since the problem began and informed the water department that we believe the water main wasn't repaired correctly. We were told to check out hot water heater. We told them that the yellow water was coming out of hot and cold taps, sinks, toilets, showers, everywhere... so it's not the hot water heater! We checked with neighbors and they had the same problem- only on our street. 

What iron in the water looks like

SO -why did City Hall think only we had a problem? We were the ONLY ONES on the entire street that called! SO, in the beginning of August, when I (Rob) got the cell phone number of the Water Quality Supervisor (and sent him photos of the yellow water over the 3 weeks preceding), I finally wrote notes for every neighbor on the street with his phone number! I knocked on all the doors and told them all to call. They did! THEN we got action. We got water quality tests, and checks for leaks. Still yellow water.

This week, we received a letter from City Hall that said they've rented a piece of equipment with sonar of some sort, that will detect leaks. They've already found one and they just started. Hopefully, they'll fix this problem. The lesson: When you think that someone is working to solve a problem and you don't call or check on it yourself: They're not. Be assertive. Check it out. Motivate others and you'll get action!  We'll keep you posted!

Dog Walking Action Shots

When Maureen and Ruthie were visiting we did a lot of dog walking, despite the bad weather, and Maureen LOVED taking photos! Here are some of the adventures!

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Maureen and Ruth Visit: Part 4 - Annapolis

On day four of Maureen and Ruthie's visit, I took them to Annapolis (Tom had to work). They treated me (Rob) to the tourist Trolley ride, and we all learned a lot about the city- named for Queen Anne of England. They enjoyed going through some of the shops and grabbing a good lunch at "JJ Subs." Yes, it was another colder than normal day (57F), cloudy and rainy. But- that didn't stop us from having fun.

Maureen and Rob at JJ Subs- Good food!

Annapolis Harbor

Md. World War 2 Memorial Looking at the Naval Academy

Maureen and Ruth at the WWII memorial

Annapolis Skyline- and Naval Academy Cathedral Dome

Dolly missing Maureen and Ruth after they flew home

Franklin missing Maureen and Ruth

Sprite Missing them and wanted for eating Dolly's leftover food!

Maureen and Ruth Visit: Part 3 - Baltimore

Dinner time for our kids!

On Day three of Maureen and Ruthie's visit we took them to Baltimore. We also met a really nice couple who have been friends of Ruth's for years. We met at the wacky Paper Moon Diner in Baltimore City for lunch. If you ever visit Baltimore you should go there. Every toy known to man is glued or stapled to the walls and ceilings there. It's a crazy place. We also took a driving tour of the Inner Harbor, the Bromo Seltzer Tower, Little Italy, Canton, the Korean War Memorial, a great dog store called "Dogma" and more.

Maureen and Ruthie at Baltimore's Korean Memorial

Lunch at Paper Moon Diner: Ruth, Pat, Maureen, Tom, Ralph

Maureen, Ruth, Pat - notice the toys in the background!

Ruth standing in the old lobby of the very haunted Baltimore Belvedere Hotel

Maureen and Ruth Visit: Part 2 - Washington, DC

On the second day of our friends visit, we took Maureen and Ruthie to Washington, D.C.  We started out at Union Station, and despite a high temperature of 49F (unusually cold for this time of year) and rainy, damp and downright miserable, we had a great time. We walked through the National Gallery of Art, the Natural History Museum (Smithsonian Museums); the National Archives (where we didn't want to wait in line an hour to see the U.S. Constitution); had lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion; and walked by the Washington Monument (currently closed after damage from last month's earthquake) and the White House.
  Our thanks to Tom's parents, who took care of our three dogs: Dolly, Franklin and Sprite while we were playing tour guide! 

Maureen always says "Chop-chop" to motivate people, and this restaurant sign was too good to pass up!

Maureen and Tom with his "Leetle" umbrella

Ruthie,Tom, Maureen in National Gallery of Art- with the god of Mercury in the background

Elephant in Museum of Natural History - lobby

Aluminum tree in National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Tom in Dinosaur Exhibit- Mus. of Natural History

Tom and Prehistoric Whale Fossil Skeletons

Maureen and Ruthie at the White House

Tom & Rob at the White House

Maureen and Ruth Visit: Part 1 - Ellicott City

Our friends Maureen and Ruthie visited us for 4 days and we toured them around the area. I (Rob) have known Maureen since I was a teenager. She and Ruthie (now our new friend!) both visited us for the first time. It was a fun, wacky, wonderful time with a lot of laughs. Our first day was in Historic Ellicott City, Md. which is an old Civil War-type town. The buildings date back to the 1700 and 1800s. There's a great ghost tour here - which we didn't get to take, but both Ruthie and Rob are sensitive to ghosts, so they felt a lot of energy around.  Here are some pictures.

Maureen, Tom, Ruthie and Rob squeeze together

Maureen,Tom,Ruthie in Ellicott City

On a storefront porch where a ghost was spotted years ago

Maureen trying to  get out of a store without spending a fortune!

Historic Buildings

This bridge over a river had a lot of "entities" around it. Trust me.

OpEd from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization

America needs tax reform. We’re not collecting enough revenue to meet the nation’s needs and the U.S. collects less in taxes, as a share of our economic output, than most other developed countries.
Our tax system does virtually nothing to mitigate the income inequality that has grown to levels last seen during the Great Depression. Far from being overtaxed, the rich pay taxes roughly in proportion to their income. My organization estimates that in 2010, the richest 1 percent of Americans (who had average incomes of about $1.3 million) paid 21.5 percent of the total federal, state and local taxes, and received 20.3 percent of the country’s total income.
The services provided by government — roads facilitating commerce, schools creating a productive workforce, defense and protection of property providing the stability that businesses need — have benefited the wealthy families who own most businesses, corporate stocks and other assets more than anyone else. These fortunate Americans should contribute more to sustain these services.
First, if Congress simply does nothing, the reductions in the personal income tax and estate tax first enacted under George W. Bush and extended by President Obama will expire at the end of 2012. We estimate that if they are extended again, over 47 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 5 percent in 2013, and poor and middle-class families would see only modest benefits. If Congress again presents the president a choice between extending all the tax cuts or letting them all expire, the president should choose the latter.
Second, lawmakers must eliminate loopholes in the corporate income tax that allow profitable corporations like GE to avoid U.S. taxes. CEOs complain about the 35 percent corporate income tax rate, which is higher than that of most countries, but the percentage of profits that corporations actually pay is much lower because of the loopholes they enjoy.
A 2007 report from the Bush Treasury Department found “the United States takes a below-average share of corporate income in taxes” compared to other developed countries. Some corporate profits are not taxed at all. We recently found 12 major profitable corporations, including companies like GE, Verizon and Boeing, collectively paid a U.S. tax rate of minus-1.5 percent over the past three years.
Some investors say this is not problematic because these profits are taxed under the personal income tax when they are received by individuals as dividends. But two-thirds of stock dividends are not taxed because they go to tax-exempt entities like retirement plans. Even dividends received directly by individuals are not taxed as much as the wages earned by middle-income people. Dividends are currently taxed at a top rate of 15 percent and are not subject to the Social Security payroll taxes that apply to most wages. This allows some super-rich investors like Warren Buffett to pay taxes at lower rates than middle-income people.
By eliminating these sorts of special breaks and loopholes for wealthy individuals and profitable corporations, Congress can raise needed revenue and bring fairness to our tax system.

Steve Wamhoff is a policy analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues.