BANKS PAY OUT BILLIONS IN BONUSES TO EXECUTIVES

(Tom writing) I'm sad today. Sad on so many fronts, but I'll attempt to be succinct. On the train ride in to work this morning, I read on the front page of the Washington Post Express that Citigroup paid out to its executives over $5.33 billion in bonuses - this action was carried out despite the bank being paid billions of dollars in taxpayer money to get out of trouble which their top paid executives got the bank into in the first place. But the report, commissioned by President Obama soon after assuming office and written by Mario Cuomo's son, Andrew Cuomo, also lists more banks involved in this pay out of bonuses using taxpayer money: Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs - in total paying out over 4,800 million-dollar-bonuses to their executives. I, for one, no longer believe that paying these outrageous sums to these idiots is the only way to retain "the best and the brightest" when these are the dumbheads that directly contributed to the mess we're in. Am I the only one getting angry over this?
On another front, I'm saddened that we are now learning more about our President's inner circle of "friends" - first it was the firebrand Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now it's a hothead Professor Gates. Professor Gates absolutely and categorically acted badly and did the wrong thing. Rather than calmly and professionally (like a well educated and highly respected Harvard professor should do) politely thank the officer for responding to a potential "emergency" at his home and hand over his I.D., he became belligerent and disrespectful of the officer's badge and immediately played the race card. The President should have had no comment and the whole matter would have gone away and Professor Gates would have faded off into obscurity without the rest of the country ever even knowing his name. But the President admitted to knowing Professor Gates, said that the police "acted stupidly," and now the President has a public relations nightmare to address distracting him from dealing with the mess outlined in the first paragraph above. And Professor Gates has gotten his 15 minutes of fame. He can go away now. Just like Rev. Wright.
OK, I'll get to my point. I'm saddened today because as I read the article describe in paragraph one above, I realized that the innocence of the country that I love and where I grew up is gone. I think it has finally dawned on me this morning that we (a collective "we" as a country) cannot any longer believe that our politicians and leaders will do the right thing. I firmly believe that corruption is endemic and has pervaded every corner of our Government and financial institutions - and no one knows how to clean it up. Our leaders are completely devoid of any conscience, ethics, or morals. The lust for money has pervaded every fiber of their being. Remember the day when at the first whiff of impropriety a politician would step down? Not any more. Now, a politician holds a press conference, sheds a tear or two, has his wife stand behind him at the podium, claims he has found Jesus, and he continues to stay in office. What's that all about?
Rob and I have these discussions all the time and I continually ask, "What will it take to wake people up?" What will it take to shake America out of its sleepy existence? I certainly don't have the answer and it's frustrating. Rob says to write to your Congressmen. Well, the two Congressmen from Maryland - Hon. Steny Hoyer (from the 5th district) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski - have been in office since I was in grade school and their ability to be instruments of change has long since passed. Rob says to stop banking at the institutions listed above. I guess that is one potential solution. I understand that our country goes through cycles of ups and downs - we just happen to be in a really serious "down" swing at the moment. I, for one, hope that we will find leaders that will stand up and do the right thing. And do it soon.

(PHOTO INSERT FROM ROB: I think this is a picture of a deceased banker from those institutions Tom mentioned. Note where his head is located in this skeleton.)

Help a Weimararer Walk Again - Donations Accepted

Sydney Has Opportunity To Go To The Rehab Center At The University of Tennessee.
Sydney is a Weimaraner at the Wolf Creek Weimaraner Rescue in Tennessee (Where we adopted Dolly from) who came to the rescue in February 2008 due to complications from a surgery to remove a blood clot in her spinal cord. This paralyzed Sydney leaving her helpless to use her rear legs. With lots of work from Dr. Marti Drum and her staff at UT Vet Hospital and Amber, Laura and the staff at Wolf Creek. Sydney began her long journey to recovery and currently lives with Amber and Laura full time and goes to work with Amber daily. There she can swim most
days and work out. She is showing improvement and hopefully just on the verge
of being able to walk again. The time is also near to find Sydney a more permanent home if possible. This may take a while, but we are hoping that we have great success with the opportunity at UT. Sydney will be getting extensive therapy and rehab. but the cost is $2500!
I've made a donation, and urge any readers to help out - Make a Donation in memory of someone you know- Dog or Person. Go to: http://www.wcweimrescue.org/

Dogs and Heat Danger

(Dog Suffering from heatstroke in Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2008 being cooled with ice packs before being taken to a vet)
Every spring and summer, we always see some DUMB dog owner that left their dog in the car with the window cracked open. Last summer I heard a small poodle yelping in an SUV parked outside a Marshalls store. I went in and had customer service page the owner. A woman walked up and said "what's wrong with my dog?" I told her that with 92F temperatures and being parked in the sun, her SUV was heating inside to 120F in 10 minutes, and her dog was suffering from heat stroke. She shot me a dirty look and stormed out in a huff, leaving her clothes shopping on a table. People standing behind me in the customer service line thanked me.
FACT: Takes less than 30 minutes to injure or Kill a dog from heatstroke in a vehicle when temperatures outside are 75F or higher.
FACT: Cracking a window does NOTHING for air temperature
FACT: Dogs pant because they lack sweat glands. You're sticky, they're hurting.
FACT: Opening a window or leaving a bowl of water makes little difference.
FACT: SYMPTOMS OF HEAT STROKE: Excessive panting, a rapid pulse, overly red or purple gums, increased salivation and lack of coordination are warnings signs of heat stroke, according to the SPCA. More severe signs of heat stroke include a dog's reluctance or inability to rise after collapsing or a pet suffering from seizures, vomiting or diarrhea.
FACT: Walks along hot pavement, attending outdoor events and sitting inside automobiles - even with windows open - can quickly lead to deadly heat stroke.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HOW TO COOL DOGS DOWN:
http://www.vanerp.net/ilse/GSDINFO/Heat%20Exhaustion.htm

A 36 Hour Flu hits the house

Tom came home Tuesday night not feeling well. In fact, he had a fever of 100.9F, headaches, bodyaches and after picking at dinner he went to bed at 6:30pm. He awoke at 8:30pm for five minutes and went back to sleep through the night. Yesterday, Wednesday, we awoke at 4:30am as usual and his fever was still burning at 100F, still with the headaches and bodyaches, so he smartly stayed home. He took ibuprofen and rested all day. When I came home, I made dinner and rubbed him down with rubbing alcohol which cooled him down. I gave him something to sleep and he slept through the night, waking up today feeling well with no fever and an appetite again, so he went to work. That was 36 tough hours - not sure what it was, just glad he's well (and hoping I don't get it now!).

Another GOP Senator Is Unfaithful

This article appears in the Tennessean Newspaper today, July 29th. This is another "conservative, Christian" GOP politician who has committed adultery - I know that both GOP and democrats have been unfaithful, however, it seems the conservative GOP "Christians" are doing a lot more of it- Like the NV Senator, SC Governor... What Irks me is that these are the people that PREACH "marriage" being sacred between a man and woman. This idiot also even states in the article below that he stands against sex outside of marriage and single people adopting. Who in the heck are these people to tell US how to live when they can't abide by the rules? Thinking about it a different way, maybe he meant "Once you get married, then it's okay to have sex with others" - that worked for him!
Here's a photo of him - and I say this as a gay man- He is NOT all that.

Tennessee state senator Stanley resigns, admits affair
By Chas Sisk • THE TENNESSEAN • July 29, 2009
State GOP Sen. Paul Stanley resigned from the legislature Tuesday, telling a Memphis radio station that he stood by his socially conservative record despite the sex-and-extortion scandal that forced him from office. Stanley, a Republican from the Memphis suburb of Germantown, will leave office effective Aug. 10. The announcement comes more than a week after a court hearing in Nashville named Stanley as the victim in an reported extortion plot that centered on nude photos of McKensie Morrison, a 22-year-old Austin Peay student who interned in his office.
Stanley acknowledged in an interview with WREC radio host Ben Ferguson that he had an affair. He also defended statements he had made condemning sex outside of marriage and a legislative record that included backing a ban on adoptions by unmarried couples. "Whatever I stood for and advocated I still believe to be true," Stanley said. "Just because I fell short of God's standard ... doesn't mean that God's standard is reduced."

Finished Good Book: The SHADOW #13: Green Eyes

This classic series about The mysterious superhero of the 1930s was written in the 1930s by Maxwell Grant (also known as Walter Gibson). Reading these really gives you a feel for the way society and technology was in the 1930s.
In this story: The Shadow is in San Francisco, on the trail of the mystery of the Chinese cult leader "Green Eyes." A government agent is investigating, and The Shadow is shadowing him, rescuing him several times. The gov't agent poses as a Chinese cultist and the Shadow is always around but never obvious. The story is told from the government agent's perspective so the reader never knows what the Shadow is thinking... but, "The Shadow knows!" (Couldn't help myself with that). Although it's out of print, used copies are available on Amazon. Read it!

Mary Ann Visits- Day #2 and 3

After a walk around Baltimore's Inner Harbor in the 91F heat, we headed up to a unique place for dinner. The Paper Moon Diner in Baltimore. The place is painted funky colors on the outside, and has a toilet and sink outside that are used as planters. It's a wacky, fun place.

(PHOTO: Inside the diner, there are countless toys glued to the ceiling and the wall. You could spend hours looking at them. The menus are actually fastened between covers of old children's book covers, too).

(PHOTO: The Paper Moon Diner also has a large PEZ collection, so Mary Ann posed for a photo next to it, but it's next to a window, so the light wasn't right for a photo)

DAY#3: ANNAPOLIS!
On Sunday, July 27, we drove to Annapolis and met our friends Mike B. and Amy (his girlfriend) for Breakfast. Mike is the friend who married us in Connecticut, and he and Amy were in Annapolis for his sister's wedding. So, we met at the restaurant his Dad owns called "Eggcellence" a WONDERFUL Brunchery in Annapolis. We met Mike's dad and also enjoyed his mom's company at breakfast. http://www.eggcellencebrunchery.com/
PHOTO: Mike and Amy

PHOTO: After breakfast Tom and I took MaryAnn to old Annapolis for a quick tour of the State House and shops. Here's Mary Ann in the lobby of the State House next to a giant model ship that sits there.

PHOTO: Of course, we had to take a goofy photo of Tom, MaryAnn and Rob (me) in the State House, with a statue of George Washington in the background. In fact, we were in the very room where Washington had resigned his commission.

Mary Ann Visits -Day #2

These are more photos from our free tour of the Australian Naval Ship. While in line we talked with a really nice sailor who told us that he's 43 (he looked 60), and he quit working in offices at 30 because he wanted to see the world and was bored by business. He said that he's been all over the world, and that the ship came from NYC, next to Norfolk, VA, then through the Panama Canal to San Diego, CA, then Hawaii, Japan and back to Australia. Australians are incredibly friendly folk.

(PHOTO: I got Tom and I these matching Dog T-shirts for our Weimaraner and Dachshund. I thought they were cute. Although the tee-shirt says "let the dog in, let the dog out..." It should say "walk the dog, walk the dog..."

(PHOTO: Jeff gets assistance from an Australian Naval Officer coming up steep stairs on the ship. This is Jeff's dream to be man-handled by a Navy man!)

(PHOTO: Here's the gang inside the ship- Rob is taking the photo)

(PHOTO: Here's a self picture of Tom and Rob- Rob took this in a hallway on the ship).

(PHOTO: Baltimore's Beautiful Inner Harbor as seen from the deck of the Australian Navy Ship)

Mary Ann Visits from New England - Day #1 and some of Day #2

Our friend Mary Ann in Massachusetts needed a getaway weekend, she works two jobs, has two grown sons, and 2 grandchildren and never seems to get a break- so we made her take one and come visit us this weekend.
We picked her up from BWI Airport on Friday night, and it was a warm evening, but not terribly uncomfortable. After a nice dinner at Bob Evans, we came back home and Mary Ann and Rob took the dogs, Dolly and Franklin for a nice neighborhood walk. To wind down, Tom and Mary Ann sat on our front porch (later joined by Rob and the dogs) to watch the thunderstorms build up from the west and move in. (PHOTO: Tom and Mary Ann enjoying the front porch)

The next morning, Saturday, Tom and I (Rob) were up early with the dogs, and we wanted to let Mary Ann try and sleep. So we fed the dogs and took them out after 6am. Then Tom watered the garden. Here's a picture of Franklin (the dachshund) inside, looking at Dolly (on the patio) with Tom watering the garden in the far background.I liked this shot.
Later on Saturday, we were joined by friends Jeff and Gary and all drove to Baltimore to visit the Australian Navy ship that docked there. We learned about it through our friends Craig and Jim, who were also there, but we missed them.










(PHOTO: Tom found a funky sculpture in Baltimore City that he liked)









(PHOTO RtoL: Tom, Gary, Jeff and MaryAnn in front of the Australian Navy Ship at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore)








(PHOTO: MaryAnn joins Rob and Tom for our typical goofy closeup, near the Navy Ship).

Test Your Comic Book Knowledge

My friend Alan sent me this quiz from MSN - to test comic book knowledge.
http://zone.msn.com/en/celebtrivia/comicbook_default.htm?gt1=29000
I went all three rounds and missed one question: Who was the first comic book to be advertised on TV? hint: it's not Batman. My score was 45.560. Can you do better?
GOOGLE OFFERS NEW SCREEN COMIC BOOK THEMES - If you use Google a lot, like I do, they now have different "skins" with comic characters on them. From Superman to "Pearls Before Swine" and others. Of course, I picked Superman. Go to www.google.com and look for "Themes."

A Bad Dental Week - finally... Relief!

You've already read about my emergency root canal earlier in the week. Well just when I thought things were better...last night, after the novacaine wore off, I got a stabbing, searing pain in the left side of my head! I knew that this was not due to the root canal procedure. In fact, the pain from the root canal had subsided. I knew what this was and I dreaded it. It was a molar.
Months ago, I had to have a large filling replaced in a back molar. Since it was replaced, the sensitivity in the tooth has increased to the point where I just didn't chew on it. I knew it needed a root canal, but I had the other tooth in the front to worry about since that one was actually hurting. Apparently, the drilling from the root canal earlier this week into the front tooth 4 positions over on the same side (and on the bottom) pegged the sensitivity meter to 10! The headache was SEARING. I took 2 Percocets last night and still felt it. I applied a cold compact, I took Motrin, I paced and paced the floor all night. I finally called Maryland Oral Surgery Associates http://www.mosa4os.com/, a local dental surgeon, at 5:30am (emergency line), and talked with a great doctor. He said, "Yes, the tooth needs to come out," and yes, that can happen. I called back at 8am and got a 9:30am appointment.
Fortunately, my mother-in-law (I like saying that!), Ruth, was home and agreed to drive me. She stayed with me during the procedure, took me to the pharmacy, and brought me home. I truly have the greatest in-laws. Her husband,Bob, reminds me of my dad who passed one year ago next week.
The folks at Maryland Oral Surgery were great. (They have locations in Crofton, Silver Spring, Greenbelt, Laurel, and College Park). I took the nitrous oxide and just felt tingling and felt the pressure when the tooth was removed. When I was under, I sensed that Ed, Tom's late partner, was there with me - I saw his face in the haze in my eyes. It was a comfort to me. Later that night, before I told Tom about Ed's appearance, Tom mentioned to me that we should call Ed's dad, Tom, because Tom is a pharmacist - to check out what I was prescribed. There is no such thing as a coincidence.
Anyway, it's 10 hours later and I slept most of the day, ate oatmeal, and drank water.
When the tooth was removed, there were three immediate benefits: 1) the headache vanished 2) The old root canal (dead tooth) stopped hurting and 3) the swollen glands in my throat started going down.
As for why I didn't get a root canal in it? With TMJ, keeping my mouth open for a molar root canal would hurt as much as the procedure on the tooth. Besides, my dentist was on vacation today. :) It will be nice to sleep tonight without the pain.

Virtually Painless Root Canals

They're a rarity - Virtually painless root canals. However, not with my dentist! Dr. Cheryl Hunn in Greenbelt, Md. is the GREATEST dentist.
Before I found her, I was afraid to go to the dentist. I've been going to her for years, and when I go in- we share laughs and stories during my appointments.
As I mentioned yesterday, I had severe headaches from a small front tooth. The tooth had old amalgam fillings in it, and as they age, the shift and the tooth appears to have fractured. So, the answer was what I expected- A Root Canal. Before Dr. Hunn, those words would send me in a panic.
The only pain I experience is the gentle jab of the needle with novaciane. She makes sure that you're "comfortably numb" and proceeds. In fact, some of the novacaine was cherry flavored which made it even better! :)
Because she has the high-tech tooth imaging (no more x-ray films), she can immediately see the insides of teeth. She also double-checks to make sure she got the entire root out. Yes, if you're squeamish this is something you don't want to think about - but when I felt a twinge while she was working to get the root out, she put in more novacaine on the root directly then took it out no problem. She also asked that I call at the end of the day and tell her how I'm doing. WOW.
I told the receptionist that Dr. Cheryl needs a superhero outfit. She's certainly a hero in my book.