Whew!

Ok, not that anyone remembers what im talking about. But I got over all my Birthday disappointments. And things are back to normal. I know you're thinking.. "wow that's a warped state of normal". But it's normal to us. :) Anyway. Have mixed feelings about my aquariums after I spent the night in the yard cleaning, grooming and fixing the machines used to do that, I enjoyed myself. Maybe it's a sign of getting old and hopeless, I spend evening in the yard fixing lawn mowers, cutting the grass and watering flowers, alone, and enjoy myself. If that seems to be a concern.. then save me, I may be falling into my 50's before I hit 25!! But im sure i'm ok, i think

FDNY

I listened to the 9/11 radio transmissions between the fire companies tonight. One word, Chilling. They were brave.

WTF?

Was that funny? My weekend wasn't. It was supposed to be a fun weekend. They had things planned and asked me to go. They only had me looking fwd. to it for two weeks and 18 hours before it's time to leave they say "we're not going". When I asked 'why not?'. They said, "becasue half the ppl don't wanna go". When I asked all the ppl, only one of them said it was true. "Just tell me the damn truth!" So yeah, my weekend sucked but that's not an anomaly it's more like a trend. I'll end this post abruptly before I decide to post my real feelings and then this post will not have any relevance!!!

The Worst City ?

Monday's edition of Time Magazine ran a story that claimed Mayor John Street of Philadelphia one of the three worst mayors or big cities in the U.S.

Apr 17, 2005 10:11 am US/Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) Time magazine has named what it calls the “five best big city mayors” in America, giving the distinction to New York’s Michael Bloomberg, Atlanta’s Shirley Franklin, Baltimore’s Martin O’Malley, Chicago’s Richard Daley and Denver’s John Hickenlooper.

And in a sure boon to their political opponents, Detroit’s Kwame Kilpatrick, San Diego’s Dick Murphy and Philadelphia’s John Street were dubbed the nation’s three worst mayors.

The lists appear in the issue of the magazine that hits newsstands Monday. Neither list was ranked, and the mayors were listed in alphabetical order. Gavin Newsom of San Francisco received an honorable mention; No dishonorable mention was awarded.

The magazine said it consulted with “urban experts” who chose from among the 29 mayors who lead cities with populations greater than 500,000.

“It is tempting to judge our mayors for the little things that make city life livable, the depth of the potholes, the smell of the streets, whether or not the traffic lights are in synch,” the magazine said. “But the best mayors have also been those who act on a grand scale, building bridges, saving schools, finding the funds that cities lack.”

Time praised O’Malley for implementing the computerized statistics program CitiStat and Bloomberg for trimming New York’s budget deficit and taking control of the public schools.

It cited Daley’s “near imperial power” in Chicago, Franklin’s work on a new ethics code for municipal employees and Hickenlooper’s high approval ratings.

The magazine criticized Kilpatrick for leasing a $24,995 cherry red Lincoln Navigator for his wife on the city’s dime, despite a $230 million budget deficit. It mentioned Murphy’s handling of a $1.3 billion deficit at the city’s public-employee pension fund.

Time singled out Street for criticism because of the corruption allegations involving his administration.
Former City Treasurer Corey Kemp is on trial over allegations that he took bribes. Jury deliberations in the case are expected to resume Monday.

A spokesman for Street said the magazine ignored the mayor’s role in helping turn around a blighted city.
“Crime is down. Taxes are lower. Housing values are up. Population loss has virtually stopped for the first time in 50 years. But instead they are basing their criticism on unproven allegations,” said Street spokesman Dan Fee. “They are not applying a consistent standard.”

I could have told you that without all the research! From the beginning when he said, "The brothers and sisters run this city now" to the corruption scandal that took place, maybe not with him, but with his 'brothers and sisters'. It has been problem after problem from what the average person can see. Let me make a point; if we had a white mayor and he said, "Finally us white folk can run this city right once again", you'd have Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Matthew Henson, Thurgood Marshall, Ruby Bridges and James Baldwin in this city crying that civil rights were violated! Ok ok, maybe not all those people, some of them are dead and some really wouldn't give a hoot. But you got my point im sure! The corruption, who pays for the legal fees that are in the millions of dollars? We do!! The City tax payers do, why not? If I were being investigated for fraud or corruption im sure the government at some level would kick in and foot the bill right? why not? They are doing it for this man who brought this on himself! Now my whole point in all of this is not to prove to you that i'm a racist, because I don't think I am. The point being that we may not live in the worst city or necessarily be the worst people, BUT, we do have the worst mayor and alot of really really dumb people. I can see electing John Street into office as mayor for his first term, seeing that he was a failure and saying to ourselves "Ok, we made a mistake, let's learn and move on". But no, we have to stick our heads in our hind quarters and re-elect him a second term! And say to him, go ahead take our city down a few more notches,,, brother.

the pope

It's amazing how so many people can put so much into one mortal man. I know it is sad when people die and especially if you look to that man or have alot of respect. But to think that a mere man is next to Jesus Christ is a little over the top. And as the Angry Agnostic said the american media puts so much emphasis on such insignificant things. The pope is insignificant in the way that what does it matter who the pope is, he is just a man who makes church law. He cannot forgive sin, he cannot save a person from hell and he may not even escape hell himself. There is nothing that says that the pope is guarenteed a place in heaven. He must go by the same grace that the rest of us seek. It is just reall intersting that a mortal man is held almost as high as our Holy Father. (and no, I don't mean the pope, he is not our Holy Father)

A Pile of Rant

I find it amusing that people will actually remember what I blogged ages ago. The other day someone asked me about a film or something and when I replied, they'd like to have a cow because that is not how I responded a year ago. Well excuse me! You see, a year ago was a long time. If ppl kept the same opinions about things and the same convictions or beliefs to the T it would be a boring world with boring people! RT? Anyway, finally got into the spring yard work mood this weekend. went out and got an S load of topsoil for the box around my plum tree and planted wild flower seeds. Hopefully they grow to look nice. I got tired of trying to get flowers to grow in that shaded area. Although the Impatients are nice they are too common and we've had them for the last 25 summers. Cindy wants to plant tomatoes this year, so more power to her, we will buy her some tomato plants when its time to plant. I think it's more important to let someone of her age to get involved and plant something or help out in a hobby kind of yard work thing, even if it is totally wacked.. she will keep the interest as long as someone pats her on the back and says.. 'good job'! So the yard may look funny (im sure it wont) but Cindy will plant what she wants! The baby fish are growing fast.. no new pics yet but they are coming.. im busy and lazy.. so i guess the happy medium is normal.. RT?Anyway I added a new blog to my list of daily read blogs (Angry Agnostic) while at the same time I deleted one from my daily read list because it had music playing.. I dont know why.. but it pissed me off that someone would have the nerve to play their music on my computer trying to read and enjoy my own music. The part that pissed me off the most is that I use Mozilla Firefox for my browser and when I read my blogs I open all 15 of them in tabs. So when the music started playing.. I had to exit them one at a time to see who was playing the music.. and at that point.. I just deleted it! If you dont use Mozilla Firefox you've got to try it. its great if nothing more than using tabs. I can open pages in tabs instead of a new browser window therefore saving system resources and keeping my comp running fast as usual.

TURN IT OFF!

I don't read blogs with music- Kelly said it good - although i'm probably not a music snob only because i'm not sure what exactly it mean.......... my music is better than yours.

Arrgh with my photos

Still having trouble finding a lens that will focus close enough to the fry before they get any bigger. my regular 18-55mm lens won't focus close enough. An extension tube will not fit the lens. I now am borrowing a macro lens and for some odd reason, it will not focus through glass and water. OH WELL !! I'm thoroughly frustrated, time for bed!

Pro Sports players

You ever see those people who are so wrapped up in sports that their moods are actually dictated by the player or team that they idolize? Well it's true, there are those people that have 'their player' and their life is run by them. If it be a basketball star, they have the shoes, the shorts, the jersey the sweat band etc. And they act like them and think they are as good as them but in reality they are not as good as them. But because they carry that star's name on their clothing and on their walls and the team logo on their vanity plate they now feel more worthy. If their player has a good game or scores big it makes them feel good and strong and skilled and athletic. Like they just played hte game. Pretty much there are those people who are never going to be pro so they live a life through a professional athlete.

Living a lie

i often wonder if i'm living a lie or how many people i interact with each day are living a lie. i mean, like we get up each morning eat breakfast go to work or school come home eat dinner indulg ourselves in what we like or have to do for about 6 hours then go to bed just to start the routine over again. dont get me wrong i enjoy most of my days at work and what i do when i arrive back home, but in the grand scheme of things its like a tiny world inside his big world and everyone does their part to make it go round. what could the lie be that we live? i often here people say that the christian life is a lie. could it be? they say that god is a lie. could he be? they say that being nice and good and thoughtful is decietful and a lie. is it? i dont think so. i think it is all true all good and all desperately necessary. so why the doubts and wondering about the big lie?

My Fish

I am back to a topic that, in the past, was not the most loved. With comments such as (paraphrased) his fish are his only friends. Anyway, my fish. They take alot more time than the average person probably thinks. That's why it is called a hobby, because it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to raise them right. Recently I sold all the occupants of one of my 75g tanks. The ones sold included two big tiger oscars, one small golden oscar, some african glass cats, and two jack dempseys. I thought I had pics of all of them online.. but I don't. Oh well, i'll put them up later. I replaced that whole clan with two Parachromis Motaguensis "Jaguar Cichlids". One male and one female. The reason why I got these two is because they are a mated pair. The thing with most Parachromis is that they don't just mate with any fish of the opposite sex. You have to put them in with a bunch of the same species and let them fight it out and pair up on their own. That part of the deal was done by my friend John from the hidden reef. He has been successful with breeding this pair and I hope I am too. Which leads me to something else. Is there anyone who has an old aquarium or fish tank that they are looking to get rid of.. if so.. email me. And we'll work something out if I am interested. I am kicking around the idea of building an aquarium in my basement this fall/winter. I am looking at an aquarium somewhere between 350 and 1000 gallons. And believe it or not.. It will be built out of plywood with a glass front. Yes it will hold water, no it will not leak, yes its been done before, yes its safe! There at detailed instructions here if anyone actually cares to look at them. I still have my prized Parachromis Dovii "Wolf Cichlid" in my other 75g aquarium. And in my 29g lives a lonely Yellow Zebra Cichlid which you can see better here and a Chinese algea eater. So there it is.. If anyone wants some baby Jags just let me know.. because once she spawns nature will take its course with the de-population of the fry. This female laid approx. 1600 eggs less than one month ago.

That's all for now folks. If anyone is interested I will post pics of the eggs, fry etc. if that occurrs.

JF

Blogger comments

*ATTENTION*This is NOT an attack on Jon Carlson, I respect the man*btw, congrats on the wedding coming up soon!

After a recent comment about Jon's blog I decided to blog in some detail why I think that most blogs should have comments enabled. You see, awhile back I had comments disabled on a certain blog post. It was unintentional but it happened to be controversial as I recall and my friend Shauna inquired as to why I had comments diabled on this post, at that point I realized that if I blog publicly and especially if I blog things that could tend to be controversial, I am somewhat obligated to allow public comments. The reason being that if I post something that someone has a question about and they email me, I could be offended by the email, hurt that I was wrong, or any other reason and just ignore the email. Or if the blog their own response to my blog , I may not know them or their blog and therefore not ever read what they had to say. I think that by me having my comments enabled, I am then vulnerable to people publicly scruntanizing what I have to say. If they ask the question or make the comment in private, I can snuff it and go on, if they do so in public I am more likely to respond. I respect the opinions of anyone else and what they do with their own possessions, But that, folks, is why I keep comments turned ON.

But then again, I don't have the same concerns as others, I'm not sure who else besides Shauna actually reads this thing.

Click me click me

Notice the gooooogle ads to the right? click them,, yes,, whether you want to or not!

Raping the Holy City

That's right! There is about to be a rape committed but not by a single person. It is by the gay and lesbian community. They plan to have their "World pride festival" in Jerusalem this summer. I'm still wondering what they are actually proud of. But that's another topic. There are religious leaders from around the world teaming up to put a stop to the festival. btw, what makes them religious 'leaders'? Self appointment? idk, that's something i'd like to know.. its seems that most religions, even though they have a supreme being that they worship, have some mortal human that they also worship. idk.. You can read the whole story about the homo city.. i mean holy city.. HERE

Answer 1 Q

I will not elaborate or bring T Schiavo back up, so ppl don't tell me i'm stuck on it. BUT One last question, and I would love an answer. Send this blog around the world so I can get my answer.

"What harm would it have done to let T Schiavo live in her parent's care? What would it have hurt?"

Answer me that 1 Q, That's all I ask, I don't think there is an answer

Easter

Found this on this blog and thought it was interesting

Pastor Bill was preaching this Sunday (yesterday) and he raised an interesting point. I found it fascinating, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. But first, it seems as though a little context is called for:

Matthew 28: 8-10
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Pastor Bill brought up an interesting point. You see women's testimony didn't really hold much water in Jesus' day. Pastor Bill cited Josephus (a historian from around the time of Jesus). He wrote about legal statutes regarding the treatment of the testimony of women. I'm paraphrasing here, but the jist was this, Women can't be trusted because they are the 'irrational' and 'emotional' sex.

Indubitably, Jesus knew this. Yet, with this understanding of the law, culture, and mores of his day he instructed the instruments of his ressurection to be women. Jesus recognized that women were seen as untrustworthy, but he bucked the system.

Of course, as Jesus probably well knew, his disciples didn't really trust these women--their words were to them like 'nonsense.'

Still, the fact remains that despite the women's unlikely status as messengers of the good news, as bringers of truth, Jesus entrusted THEM with the message. Jesus saw the system and saw that it was sinful, and behaved in ways appropriate and just and right--despite being in a 'man's' world.

Jesus Christ, the feminist.

Have You Seen Me?

Back to Shiavo

I didn't want to write about this again.. but I think it will clear up my previous post a bit. I'm not going to say that either side is 'wrong' because i'm not there and all any of us get to hear is what the media and other first handers choose to tell us. I think the difference between this case and any of the other thousands of cases where people starve to death, is that there is one man who wants her dead and cremated and her parents who want her alive. It's the husband's word over the parents. Don't you think that we have a moral obligation to stay on the 'life' side rather than the 'death' side if there is reasonable doubt? There are cases heard every day in our courts that the judge says that there is reasonable doubt in the evidence so this person will not get the death penalty. Well you cannot tell me that there is not reasonable doubt in this case.. and that is not even being there and witnessing anything!

I have another thought. There are congressman and senators for our great nation who voted against bills to help Terri and who want this decision left entirely left up to the husband. Those elected officials feel that it is ok for her to starve to death even tho she is innocent by all our standards today. NOW, If someone in the right power decided that all lifers in our prisons should be denied food and water until the day that they died of dehidration or starvation, the same senators and congressman would be in an uproar because the basic human rights of these prisoners were being denied! Now let's look at this a little closer. Terri's parents agreed to pay ALL expenses that their daughter incurred. Prisoners eat up tax dollars every day! Terri is innocent of any crime or wrong doing by today's standards. The prisoners are guilty and are getting what they deserve by today's standards. I could go on and on.. but im not in the mood! get the picture,, they would say that it is 'inhumane' and a denial of their rights! OK, what now, Terri Shiavo is not a human and has no rights?? Anyone who would, in the case of doubt, not be on the side of 'life' needs to get checked into a mental hospital! OR have a very good arguement!!

.....

Doesn't it seem like when you need ppl the most.. the ones that should be there.. just turn their shoulder and 'walk out' on you?

New York New York

As Frank Sinatra sings.... I'm thinking about vising New York City in a week or two.. Just for the day on a Sat. But I've never been there and was looking for stuff online of what's in walking distance from the train and all that jazz.. if anyone is so inclined to share any info with me i'd be glad to hear it. either as a comment or at jfm@safeplace.net. :)