The first big gripe are those insatiable ring tones emitted from cell phones. In a open air environment they can be somewhat tolerated, but in any other venues such as Sunday morning church services, Funerals, Hospital ICU units, Library's and Theatres just to name a few, C' mom, Is it really necessary? As if the ringing phone wasn't bad enough the rudeness propagates to loud chatter conducted by the callee, (thank goodness we are not subjected to the chatter of the caller). Who would ever think, the glow from a tiny cell phone screen would have so much impact on a large movie screen.
Why do people call their friends or neighbors who are sitting right in the very same theatre with them? Is it because too many seats are are already taking and they could not set together? LOOK! I see a whole bunch of empty seats, NO WAIT! you can't sit there, those seats have been reserved by people who are paying much more for their tickets than you are. Get real people, the movie theatre has and always will operate on a first come first serve basis.
You can sit where ever you please in theatres as long as you consider the fact that the seats' placeholder may be in the theatre and only visiting the concession stands or the restrooms.
How can you tell the difference between a seat(s) with a warm body or seat(s) reserved for some who is not even there yet, well that may be difficult at best. One or two seats, quite possibly taking. More than that, it's questionable.
Years ago, while living in New York, all the theatres I visited had you ushered to your seat of choice. This type of organization prevented people from holding blocks of seats for their friends.
Cell Phone Bandit Just when you think you've covered all the possibilities of negative cell phone uses, this young lady top the stacks. She has robbed four banks in Northern Virginia over the past month while chatting on a cell phone. Police reports indicate the woman hands a shoe-box-sized box to a teller with a note on it while talking on her cell phone.
Up until her last robbery, her prison term may have been light, depending on her arrest record, and she certainly would have qualified for the America's Dumbest Criminal TV Show; However during her last robbery, the woman opened up her purse and showed a gun to a teller while again still engaged in a conversation on her cell phone. This time though, it's a felony involving a dangerous weapon, a minimum of seven to ten year prison term in the state penitentiary.
Who is she talking to? Police think she may be talking to someone who is either a lookout or another armed accomplice not visible to bank staffers or customers. Maybe she's just a gabber and talking to anyone who will listen.
Her name is Candice R. Martinez, 19, from Centreville , VA , and she could face trial on robbery charges involving four Wachovia Bank branches located in three northern Virginia counties. She was ordered held without bond on November 29, while a federal grand jury considers bank robbery charges against her. Surveillance video like the one shown here from one of the incidents was shown repeatedly on national television.
She stole $48,000 in the four robberies and only $15,000 including $2,000 cash, has been recovered. Her boyfriend, Dave C. Williams, 19, of Harrisonburg , was charged separately. Court papers suggested he work at one of the banks that were robbed.
Court documents have shown the couple wrote the notes she gave to the tellers. Investigators said Williams admitted driving the getaway car each time, and being on the other end of the phone with Martinez . Martinez will face up to 20 years in federal prison for each robbery. She also could face 10 years for a weapons charge.
I have a 5 year old grand daughter. One day during a visit, I happen to think about the little five year old that was handcuffed in Florida a few months ago. I looked at my granddaughter and tried to imagine, with her fragile arms, wrist, legs and body, how could it be possible to locked her down with handcuffs, unless of course you made them large enough to fit her whole body.
In this Florida county, we decided to use body cuffs on 5 years old or younger, simply because their wrist are to small to secure the hand cuffs. Five Year Old Should Be Considered a Criminal - St Petersburg Florida - Can you believe a school in a county in Florida called the police who handcuffed a five year old child for disorderly conduct. HuH! Could this be considered child abuse? Why not call the parents first and asked them to come get their Brat? , that is, if she was one. The child, as seen on closed circuit cameras and captured on tape did appear at times to act no different than any spoiled five year old, and was shown to be seated peacefully when the officers arrived, but they handcuffed her any way. What were they thinking? To handcuff a person is to prevent an overpowering or escape condition, not possible; not even possible with a five year old child. Give me a break.
What's wrong with yesterdays and today's Baptist Church?
Nine members of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in Haywood county, North Carolina were kicked out of the congregation and told not to returned because they committed a grave sin.They voted the wrong way. Maybe they should not have voted for John Kerry.
I thought how you voted was a personal preference. No one else, including your minister, pastor or padre needs to know your voting preferences anyway. These were Rev Chan Chandler words. Quote, "let me just say this right now. If you vote for John Kerry this year, you need to repent or resign." Considering the fact that churches can jeopardize their tax exempt status by endorsing political candidates. Why would this pastor risk the churches status as well as his job? As of May 10, 2005 the Rev Chan Chandler has resigned his position with the church as well he should.
Muhammad Ali Up To His Old Antics With David Frost
Back in the late 1960's, I was a teenager, I had not been drafted yet, but that was yet to come in just a few years. A lot of important history was being developed during those years and I was blessed to witness a lot of it. Unforgettable events were unfolding all around me, although during that time I didn't have a clue of the impact those events would project in the future. Here's an example, I was working for Philips Electronics in Pelham New York at the time. I was invited by a co-worker to go to a concert of bands in up state New York. Had a great time, saw and did things I could not have imagined possible prior to going, I even believed that I was no longer a teenager after that four day event.
Fast forward to 1972; I served 22 of 24 (required) months in the US Army, 10 months 22 days in Vietnam. President Nixon during his campaign promised to bring 80,000 troops home from Vietnam if that would get him elected. He was elected as President of the United States and he kept his promised. so I got a two month early out. It was at least a couple of years after that before I realized, I had attended, and was part of the infamous Woodstock Music Festival. That turned out to be a special event to me since I'm able to reflect back and witness the things that grew out of that festival. I will never forget the sounds of Santana, Jimi Hindricks, Joan Baez, Sly and the Family Stone, Creedance Clearwater Revival (One of my favorites) and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Part of that memory inspired me to go into entertainment through the door as a Disk Jockey.
But wait a minute. Getting back on track, the guy you see here in the green shirt is Muhammad Ali. Back in the late 1960's, his name was not Ali, but Casius Clay, "The People's Champ."
I could not tolerate him back then. I thought he had a big mouth, did a lot of bragging: which turned me off, and I wondered why no one had punched him in the mouth or knocked him out. Ali or Casius at the time received the same letter I did from the Selective Service, which was an order to report for active duty, Ali exercised the same technique that many draftee's attempted during the Vietnam war and that was filing as a conscientious objector to the war, but it did not fly and he was subsequently convicted of refusal to being abducted into the armed forces. During the same year, his boxing license was suspended as well as his boxing title. In 1971, the supreme court overturned his conviction and he was exonerated.
Casius Clay later on accepted the Islamic faith and changed his name to Muhammad Ali and the rest is history. Coming out of Vietnam and honorably discharged from the armed services I could not help but follow Ali's boxing career, he was knocking out everybody who was crazy enough to jump in the ring with him and I mean everybody. I gained a new found respect for this man and no longer felt the same about his bragging as I had when he was Casius Clay. Changing his name had nothing to do with the admiration I had for Ali, he was still a bragger, but at the same time he was backing it up knockout after knockout after knockout. IMHO Muhammad Ali is the best heavyweight ever in the boxing sport.
Ali was a humorous character then and still is today despite his affliction with Parkinson disease. Shown here in an interview with David Frost, Ali is pretending to have fallen into a deep sleep. He even included the sound effects of snoring. This was humorous enough on Ali's part, but not nearly as funny as the expression on David Frost's face when he heard Ali snoring in the middle of a conversation.
David doesn't know what to think or how to handle the situation. He's caught completely of guard. Bewildered, he turns toward his producer and camera man wondering should we stop the tape? Hell, they don't know, they are just as bewildered. This has never happened to us before. So David turns back and looks at Ali with an expression on his face that would suggest, I can't believe this.
Ali, Who of course was never sleep to start with opens his eyes, smiles at David Frost and says I was teasing and David say's Brilliant! "We didn't know." And Ali says you 'are' as dumb as you look.
Only Ali could say those words with out insulting his host. David Frost got tricked here. Or maybe we got tricked. Do we know for sure Ali wasn't teasing? I have witnessed a number co-workers nod out whom I was having a conversation with.
President George Bush signed the chapter 1607 Education Benefit into law. In October 2004, Congress passed the bill. The law as defined was to give college money to at least 175,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Any other actions involved in the war on terrorism were also included. The National Guard and Reserves personnel activated for duty were specifically targeted for these benefits according to Bush. These benefits were designed to be at least $827 per month. That's not that bad based on a semester and if the money goes strictly to accessories and tuition cost.
Problem is, not one veteran has received those benefits, while a second Veteran's day has passed us by. That equates to two years. WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM? According the Department of Veteran Affairs, the DOD (Department of Defense) is still creating a database of eligible veterans. Give me a break! Since when did the military not know the status of any soldier in fatigues or dress greens since WWII? In other words, every soldier ever activated for the Armed Forces is automatically entered into a database with full status info. The government knows who is eligible, they are just stalling, don't believe them.
The longer the DOD takes year after year, the less education the veteran is entitled to, simply because tuition goes up each year.
-BTW- In a year, efficient personnel could build a new database on the entire population of 360 million people if they were already tabulated in a previous database.