The Head of State's Bunghole. It's Everyone's Concern.

It is important that a President have adequate room for his bunghole.

I think that nearly all subsequent presidents could have used more room for their bungholes, and we'd be a better country.

9/11/01 Ground zero - Ground level.

My jacket patch from the recovery project. 

I was preparing for a flight to Chicago for an executive meeting. I was the Vice President of safety & training for Medcor. One of the largest occupational health providers in the US. It was a beautiful Tuesday in September. Cheryl dropped the girls off at School and when she returned home, she said, what is this news about a plane hitting the World Trade Center? I was in my tiny "office" (a ridiculously small bedroom we couldn't put a bed in, so I put a desk in it). I turned on the tiny TV sitting on my file cabinet in time to see Bernard Shaw, and watch the second plane. Little did I know that less than a month later, we'd be the occ health provider on that pile.

I was there. I saw the outpouring of love and patriotism. I saw the "Taj Mahal" - a giant canvas tent building that included decon, rest bunks, counseling and the huge mess hall with walls lined with pictures from children around the world, and food prepared by the best chefs of New York - Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Emeril Lagasse - and many others - volunteered time to feed the weary workers on the pile.
We all have our questions, but I am stating right now that I will delete any responses that are other than those honoring and respecting the memory of those who died, and those who worked that event. Please save your conspiracy theories for another time.

The deaths were real. The tragedy was real. And I am very proud of the people with whom I worked, who did the heavy lifting on that pile.

God bless them all.
God bless America. 

The Economy. Everything you are sure you know is wrong.

Which president would you rather have manage the economy, hold down taxes, reduce the debt, deliver high returns to investors, create a positive climate for business growth, and reign in the size of government - Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan?

That's a joke, right? Everyone on the face of the earth knows that Obama is a big government, socialist, tax-and-spend liberal, who hates business, right? And The Gipper was the bestest ever gen-u-wine, gold-plated example of everything good, righteous and true when it comes to conservative creed. Hell, he deserves to be the fifth face on Mount Rushmore for his brilliant handling of the economy. Everyone knows that.

Except it's completely false.

"Economically, President Obama’s administration has outperformed President Reagan’s in all commonly watched categories.  Simultaneously the current administration has reduced the debt, which skyrocketed under Reagan.  Additionally, Obama has reduced federal employment, which grew under Reagan (especially when including military personnel,) and truly delivered a 'smaller government.'  Additionally, the current administration has kept inflation low, even during extreme international upheaval, failure of foreign economies (Greece) and a dramatic slowdown in the European economy."
~ Forbes Magazine, Sept 5, 2014

“President Reagan has long been considered the best modern economic President.  So we compared his performance dealing with the oil-induced recession of the 1980s with that of President Obama and his performance during this ‘Great Recession.’
President Obama’s job creation kept unemployment from peaking at as high a level as President Reagan, and promoted people into the workforce faster than President Reagan. President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his 6th year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did.  At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year.  So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration. We forecast unemployment will fall to around 5.4% by summer, 2015.  A rate President Reagan was unable to achieve during his two terms.
[...] The labor participation rate adds in jobless part time workers and those in marginal work situations with those seeking full time work.  This is not a 'hidden unemployment'. (In other words, it's not a false number created by people who have 'given up')  It is a measure tracked since 1900 and called 'U6' today by the BLS. 

What’s now clear is that the Obama administration policies have outperformed the Reagan administration policies for job creation and unemployment reduction.  Even though Reagan had the benefit of a growing Boomer class to ignite economic growth, while Obama has been forced to deal with a retiring workforce developing special needs. During the 8 years preceding Obama there was a net reduction in jobs in America.  We now are rapidly moving toward higher, sustainable jobs growth.”

~ Bob Deitrick, CEO of Polaris Financial Partners and author of “Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box”

Who knew?
Those who follow the actual data, and not the media Obama-bashfest knew. And that's why they're all making a ton of money right now in the market, and you're not. 

You've been awfully quiet.

I have been busy, but out of the spotlight.

While I have been struggling to form opinions on things going on in the world right now, I have been myopic in my focus on local hunger and health issues.

ISIS, Ferguson, Israel/Hamas, the murders in South KC and many more things - all are rattling around in my brain bucket. These issues are too important to knee-jerk react with some bullshit Facebook meme that relies upon bumper-sticker mentality. These matters require careful thought and consideration of all facets. To borrow from the President, I refuse to act on these things until I have a strategy. Mock all you want, but a well-reasoned, purposeful and effective strategy takes time. It takes getting all the facts on the table and careful deliberation. You don't just start dropping bombs - literally or figuratively.

Right now, my righteous indignation is directed at recent changes in public policy by both the US Congress and the Kansas State Legislature, that are causing children to suffer, while those resources are diverted to lining the pockets of political allies, cronies and even out-of-state billionaires. This is happening right now. It's real. It is going on in my state and county and school district and neighborhood. And it pisses me off more than anything else happening in the world right now. These are my neighbors and friends whose lives are being turned upside down by malevolent political hacks doing favors for each other at the expense of those in need. And worse, these hacks are painting the needy children as vultures and themselves as benevolent victims. It's sickening.

While Americans thump their chests on social media, pontificating their cable-news-spoonfed, armchair "expertise" at geopolitics and world religions, most are oblivious to the silent suffering of some child in a house on their block. Suffering caused by politically-motivated, reverse-Robin Hood rule changes that are stealing the health, hope and future of our children in order to feather the nests of the comfortable.

It's un-American. It's un-Christian. It's wrong. And these politicians must be stopped.

But the first thing that has to happen - Americans need to get off the sofa, get involved in their neighborhoods and communities, and stop wasting time pretending they know exactly how to bring peace to the Middle East. One person really can make a difference with a little applied effort in their community. How about starting by taking some of that time wasted in futile, and worthless online debates about international politics, and reallocating it into something useful?

President Nero?

We are all familiar with the story of how Emperor Nero "fiddled while Rome burned" during the great fire that consumed more than 70% of the capital city of the Empire in 64 AD.

Everyone assumes it must be true. The facts however don't support it. The first historical record of the existence of any bowed instruments similar to a modern "fiddle" were from the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century - a thousand years after Nero. And the first modern violins emerged in Europe nearly 500 years after that. Further, records from that fire indicate that significant and prompt action was taken by Nero and his subordinates to provide relief to those injured and displaced by the great fire. In other words, you can be told a story and believe it, and it still can be utter bullshit.

Fast forward.

We are now being told that it is abominable that a President seek something to clear his head when the world is burning. A round of golf, we are told, is an unacceptable way for the Commander-in-Chief to blow off some steam after dealing with a crisis. Why? Because "it looks like he's fiddling while Rome burns".

The first time I remember anyone being critical of "how it looked" for a President to seek relaxation on the golf course during a crisis was in Michael Moore's movie "Fahrenheit 911", when George W. Bush is caught on the golf course, and admonishes all nations to take on terrorism, and then says, "Now watch this drive." The criticism of President Bush caused him to swear off golf the rest of his time in office. However, he still did manage more days on vacation than any President in history.

http://youtu.be/pJvRUL81ZU8

Prior to that, I don't recall the President's need to escape into a mindless activity for a bit to clear his head ever being called into question.

For instance, this picture of President Reagan was taken on October 23, 1983, by an AP photographer during the President's vacation at Augusta National Golf Resort in Georgia, the day after Reagan was told of the plan to invade Grenada, and less than an hour after he was briefed on the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 241 US Marines. The New York Times nonchalantly reported, "Mr. Reagan, on vacation, and others in the Administration were ”shocked and grieved” at the deaths, a spokesman said."

Why was there no hair on fire outrage in 1983? Wouldn't a military invasion and the terrorist killing of 241 Marines a day apart be a bigger crisis than anything the current President has yet faced? Could it be that in that kinder, gentler time, it was acknowledged that the President is first, and foremost, a human being? And could it be that it was understood then that human beings often need to escape with their thoughts into a book, or a movie or a game to clear their minds in order to make better decisions?

I, for one, am thankful for the opportunities that Presidents get to relax. It is likely the world's most stressful occupation. Just look at how rapidly they age in office. And I frankly don't care if his instrument of choice was made by Stradivari or Titleist.

Why I Cook - Geneva and Julia

I cook. I do not call myself "chef" because the only people, in my opinion who have earned that honor are those who have been the "chief" (en Français = chef) of a kitchen, in the French brigade tradition. I have not. There are many I know who also have not, but have no problem wearing the term "chef" loudly and proudly, anyway. But that's not me. I'm a cook. I have not earned the "chef" moniker.

Two women most influenced my decision to cook - Helen Geneva Wright Thomas and Julia Carolyn McWilliams Child. The former was my paternal grandmother, and the latter, the most famous chef in the world.

When I was a teenager, we kids would be shipped off to "the farm" with Geneva and Ray Thomas - my grandmother and her husband. The farm was really a house in a remote area of St. Clair County, Missouri, a few miles east of Lowry City. There was a barn, a small lake, a huge garden and woods. It was adjacent to the south of my great aunt & uncle, Faye & Roy Vinyard's dairy farm.

I learned to garden, to cook, to smoke meats and to can foods from my grandmother, Geneva. Mostly because I prefered her company to her crusty, grumpy old Marine husband, Ray. He was cantankerous and surly. She was joyous and kind. She had a record player on an old wooden chair in the corner of the kitchen. She didn't cook without a stack of records on the record player. From big band jazz to old time country, her music was the sound track of my earliest memories in the kitchen. And to this day, I can't cook without music.

Then came Julia. I was a newbie cook, playing around with recipes in my 20's, in the 1980's when I discovered a public television show called "The French Chef", starring a 6'2", lumbering woman with a raspy voice, who defined what I had learned, and put wheels under it.  I learned later that she was the wife of a spy, and all kinds of other amazing things that made her my hero. But at that time, I only knew that she mesmerized me. She wasn't afraid to screw up. She took everything in stride. She made cooking look fun, and yet stressed discipline and structure. She taught me the importance of mis en place. She taught me the value of knife skills. She was the most remarkable, enthusiastic and intelligent person I'd ever seen work a stove. She inspired me to take what I had learned at my grandmother's apron, and improve it - push it - learn more, do more.

So today I cook. Some say pretty well. But I would have never cooked without the inspiration, knowledge and enthusiasm of two brilliant women - Geneva and Julia. I will be forever in the debt of you both - may you both rest in peace.
DD

What would you be if you didn't even try?

I understand too little too late
I realize there are things you say and do you can never take back
But what would you be if you didn't even try
You have to try
So after a lot of thought
I'd like to reconsider
Please
If it's not too late
Make it a cheeseburger