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March 2007 |
James Stabile
Monthly Blog
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Owner, Webmaster: James Stabile |
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In this blog you will find monthly discussions concerning the issues of importance and interest to the site's creator, owner and webmaster, James Stabile. These issues include - Discussion of the Month; Entertainment; Health, Fitness & Lifestyle; Politics and the World; Religion & Spiritualism; Technology & Business; and Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny. Peruse the articles in this blog. Remember to read the Disclaimer above for the legal "stuff". Also, please email the webmaster concerning any programming errors that you may discover on this site. Thank you for reading my blog and for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. |
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Discussion of The Month Happy March 2007! We have so many things to discuss. One of the most important being the long awaited start of Spring. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean too much. The start of Spring is denoted by a particular date on the calendar; however, that date doesn't really affect the weather. Spring may commence on March 21, but spring-like weather may be a long time coming. But the idea of Spring coming is reassuring, especially if you live in the north, mid-west and western areas of the United States where the effects of winter 2007are still being felt. Keep heart, better weather is just around the corner. What about this weather thing? I believe typical weather conditions are being experienced in the usual regions of the United States and the world, but these regional weather phenomena are becoming the most extreme in degree. Could global warming or the hint of this atmospheric, environmental and natural resource abuse be causing such extremes in weather? Are these extreme shifts in weather events and circumstances be related to devastating and ultimate destructive weather situations ahead? Is this just a preview of what's coming our way? The ultimate "qué será será"? For the welfare of humankind, I hope we take a more sophisticated approach to the possible demise of the planet we call home, Earth. Daylight Savings Time begins on March 11at 2:00 a.m., a little earlier form previous years. I believe it will run through the first Sunday of November. Does it really make a difference? Well, it does if you are going to church Sunday morning on March 11, you wouldn't want to be late. Yes, but what I meant was does it matter in our day to day living? I don't think so. I don't think the conditions are the same that they were a few generations ago that prompted the U.S. Congress to enact the daylight savings legislation. We are no longer primarily an agrarian nation. We don't need the extended daylight for the crops or anything else, except maybe recreation in the evening hours. Traditional Eastern Standard Time is satisfactory. But we have Daylight Savings time, so, don't forget to spring ahead; i.e. set your clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed on March 10. And stop complaining about getting use to the time change. It's only one hour for goodness sake. Suck it up and get with it. One caution: The date for Daylight Savings Time has changed this year; therefore, any electronic devices, such as computers, vcr's, etc. will have to be changed manually to reflect Daylight Savings Time or be reprogrammed or updated. So, if you do not reprogram or update the electronic device to the new date, you must manually change the electronic device for Daylight Savings Time for March 11. But if it's not reprogrammed or updated, the device will change again on the usual, customary date. Sounds confusion? Think about it, it really makes a lot of sense. By the way, here's a link explaining the microsoft approach for updating window based PC's. http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx March has a lot of religious oriented holidays. St. Patrick's Day is March 17. This is a day that all people become Irish. However, St. Patrick wasn't even Irish. He was Italian. And the origin of St. Patrick's Day stems from the fact that St. Patrick did a lot of missionary work in Ireland and became the patron saint of Ireland. Legion has it that St. Patrick drove a nest of destructive snakes from Ireland. Believe it or not? Anyway, throughout the ages the Catholics in Ireland celebrated St. Patrick's Day by wearing green and the Protestants would wear orange clothing and cause havoc to the celebration process. A wee bit different here in the United States. I think Americans just like to celebrate, celebrate for the sake of celebrating. Whatever! Happy St. Patrick's Day. Other more religiously oriented holidays - St. Josephs Feast Day is March 19 and St. Benedict's Feast day is March 21. You may wonder why I remember these two saints' days - I went to St. Joseph's school and the nuns at the school were Benedictine. Dah? Back in the 50's and 60's (of course that is the 1950's and 1960's) we usually celebrated St. Joseph's Day and St. Benedict's Day with both days off school. Catholic schooling does have it's advantages. A host of family birthdays, anniversary days and the like are also remembered by this webmaster in the month of March. However, I digress. Back to the public forum. I am so proud of my younger brother Tom. He is living his dream - owning and operating his own exercise physiologist business and living it very successfully, I might add. His popular and highly successful fitness business was recently highlighted in the Mount Vernon News. It was part of a regular feature which presents information to young people about careers and jobs that they could enter in the future. Make no mistake, my brother's business did not come easy and without effort. He started his career the way most people do, working for "the man". Actually in his case, it was a hospital. He started private fitness sessions with interest patrons as a part time endeavor over 10 years ago. With much hard work, long working hours, sweat & tears and a never-ending optimism he developed his business into an establishment in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The business is not just a business to my brother. It is his life and his passion. His clients are real people to him. They matter to him as much as the success he is enjoying due to their patronage. He knows his fitness and exercise physiology to the max and continues to update, renew and revitalize his chosen profession on a continuing basis. Congratulations and Good Luck Tom. See the article below.
Entertainment
Breach
An excellent
spy movie. It is based on a real story. The story of the FBI spy Robert
Hanssen. In February 2001 the FBI obtained enough evidence to seize one of
their own, FBI Agent Robert Hanssen, on charges of spying for Russia. He had
been undermining the FBI for over 15 years by selling classified information
to the former Soviet Union. Ryan Phillippe did an outstanding job as the
rookie FBI employee who worked with Agent Hanssen and aided in his capture.
The movie was very interesting and scary. Scary to the extent that this was a
true episode concerning a breach of security at the FBI. And it happened only
a few years ago. What could be happening now or in the future concerning
national security and the like. Food for thought. 24 The Fox Network Monday night
extravaganza is an overwhelming hit in my opinion. I must confess that I do
not watch 24 every Monday night, but when I do catch the show I really enjoy
it. In fact I am hypnotically pulled into the plot of the show and cannot, I
repeat, cannot change the channel except during the commercials. It is
unbelievable. Unbelievable in a variety of ways – the characters are amazing,
bigger than life, but average Joe’s and Jane’s. The subject matter is so
interesting and topical. The situations portrayed on the show could very well
occur in today’s world. Although I dare say that the situations would not
happen as rapidly as portrayed on the show. The situations are portrayed in a
very real way, improbable just yet, but very plausible if and when they did
materialize. And the characters – real, dramatic and almost super human. For
the life of me I can’t understand how they go through the violence and the
trauma that they go through and still are capable of performing their daily
rolls in their jobs. Amazing. 24 must be an overwhelming hit for me and an unequalled attraction
because I usually enjoy the viewing on CBS and CNN on Monday nights. On CBS
during the 8 o’clock viewing hour I usually opt to watch CBS – How I Met Your
Mother followed by The
Class. In my opinion, both are phenomenal – funny, real (if you follow
the underlying hypothesis to it’s conclusion) and a study in human dynamics. Each
show is centered on a very tight group of young people sharing different life
experiences. Each show presents a case study on human behavior including
group dynamics and interpersonal relationships. As for me I watch them
because they make me laugh. During the 9 o’clock hour I usually watch Larry King Live
on CNN, the grandfather of the 24-hour cable news networks. Although I don’t
always enjoy the topics and the quests appearing on the show, I usually end
up watching Larry King because I like the host, Larry King. Larry King has
had a wild live. He is in his early 70’s, has a wife at least 30 years his
junior and 2 children, from that wife, under the age of 10. He got his start
in the news industry on radio in Miami Beach. He has made it big in the
industry, making loads of money, losing his money, I believe due to gambling
and alcohol abuse, reinventing himself and making it to the top again in the
TV news arena and financially. He has undergone successful open-heart
surgery. And is the personal friend of literally hundreds of celebrities
including most of the current day political leaders throughout the world.
What a life and it continues to be. As he always says, “Not bad for a kid from
Brooklyn”. Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Stress, it can kill. That
is an understatement. The way we handle stress is very important to our eventual quality of
life. Each person must know himself or herself. This is fundamental. We must
be aware of our personality type, the way we respond to adversity and our
basic view of life. Once we determine the “kind” of person that we truly are,
including our philosophy of life and our pattern of responses to life events,
then we can tackle the job of surviving in this life. We must develop
strategies to deal with life’s ups and downs. We must have an arsenal of
defense mechanisms to deal effectively with the conflicts that we face each
day of our struggle. I think one of the most important strategies has to do
with our frame of mind and perspective. We should be cool, calm and
collective when dealing with unexpected or expected situations. I think that
the old maxim, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game,”
is still very true. Attitude, perspective and forgiveness are paramount to
the development of self worth and the successful living in today’s world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson put it succinctly, “Finish each day and be done with
it. You have done what you could; blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it
serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” Yes, live today and then it’s over. Go on
to tomorrow with zest and zeal and it too will be over. Live each day to the
fullest, but in that one day. Tomorrow is a new opportunity; don’t approach
it with left over fears of yesterday. A great way to live. Try it! Our best
defense in time of illness may be our mind and it’s role in healing. Our mind, our
outlook or our attitude, whatever you want to term it, plays a significant
role in healing our physical body in time of illness. When we are ill it is
very important to seek medical help and follow our physician’s advice.
Maintaining an optimistic outlook can speed up our healing process. Our
mental, emotional and spiritual outlook many times assists our physical
rehabilitation. The way one sees the world and his or her role in it has a
direct relationship to the ability of that person to fight disease and maintain
optimal good health and fitness. I think it has been proven or at least
hypothesized that positive visualizations concerning the healing ability of
one’s body can be instrumental in establishing and maintaining good health.
Proactively, while in good health one should continue to reflect, visualize
and practice good thoughts concerning good health and fitness. When one is
ill, one should reflect and visualize the healing process developing in his
or her own body. Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat”? True
enough. Now I challenge you to believe and live the saying, “What you think
and feel produces the kind of physical, mental and spiritual fitness that you
enjoy”. I recently
read an article in the newspaper about the little princes and princesses
being born today. No, the article was not talking about royalty. It was
referring to the practice of providing the “best” of everything for these
little bundles of joys. Parents are smothering their newborns with the best,
the most expensive and the most up to date material possessions that any
human baby could want. Everything from clothes, accessories, strollers, etc.
are being secured for the newborns of today. Most of the time, this practice
started at the time the parents were wed and it will continue throughout the
lives of their children. Why is it that parent’s feel that their children
must have it all and have it all immediately? Many times working parents
follow this practice. Could it stem from a sense of guilt? That may be as it
may. The interesting thing to me is the fact that in that same newspaper I
read an article about Presbyterian Hospital in L.A. “dumping” homeless ill
patients in the most undesirable neighborhoods in their city. Babies get the
best and adult homeless cannot get good or even minimal health care. What
kind of a nation do we live? This is outrageous. We, Americans should be
ashamed of our treatment of the poorest of the poor. Something is dreadfully
wrong with our priorities and the American value of life. Talk about respect
for life? This is total disrespect. Yes, the government and the politicians
are partly responsible for this lack of human respect, but so are we. We all
are responsible for the deplorable conditions of the poor, the homeless, the
ill or anyone who is not able to take care of himself or herself. Each
American is responsible for this irrelevant attitude to the least of His
brethren. Not even thinking of the religious overtones, this disgrace is
un-American. Politics and the World The presidential campaign
of 2008 has commenced? Not exactly, technically, but one would think so watching the news
reports on the networks and cable news channels. The Democratic as well as
the Republican parties are gearing up for a year’s battle for the
presidential primaries in 2008. The gloves are coming off among the
Democratic candidates. Barack Obama
has started referring to Hillary
Clinton by name in his rhetoric. Senator Obama is starting to slam
Senator Clinton for her voting record on the Iraq War. Obama says that he has
been against the war from the start. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t in the
senate when the vote was called. He implies the Clinton should apologize for her
initial support of the war; again he isn’t giving us all of the facts.
Senator Clinton did vote to give President Bush the authority to wage war in
Iraq, but she was responding to the information that she had at the time.
With the information that she had at the time, war was the obvious result.
The United States could not let Iraq become a nuclear power in the world.
Iraq had been violating the demands of the United Nations. The information
presented to the congress by the Bush administration was totally in error.
The Bush administration, Et. Al. were deliberately, illegally and unethically
deceiving the congress and the American people concerning the threat of Iraq
on the United States and the rest of the world. The Bush administration is
the group who should be apologizing to the American people. Senator Clinton
is committed to defending the United States from attacks from within it’s
borders and from outside it’s borders. The junior Senator from New York is
serious and determined to end this war. She is also committed to finding a
lasting and equitable peace in that region of the world. Senator Clinton has
been there, she has been tested, she knows the score, she is ready to defend
and protect the United States of America. Is it any secret who this blogger
will support in the 2008 presidential election? Now for the other side of the story. Of course I’m referring to the Republican candidates or
supposed candidates in the presidential campaign of 2008. The Republican
front-runners, Senator John S. McCain III, Former Governor W.
Mitt Romney and Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. "Rudy"
Giuliani are basically the same – center of the road Republican conservatives
who are trying to position themselves to win the primary as right of center
conservatives. This positioning must be done in order to win the Republican
nominations. However, I don’t think that it will work for these three guys. I
think someone from the second tier of Republican candidates, a more
conservative candidate (a real Republican) is likely pull ahead in the next
several months and end up carrying the conservative flag for the party.
Someone like, Former Governor Michael D. "Mike" Huckabee or Senator
Samuel D. "Sam" Brownback or even Former US House Speaker Newton L.
"Newt" Gingrich just may garnish enough real, Republican
conservative support and go on to become the party’s nominee. That scenario
seems the most plausible at this juncture in time. The front-runners just
don’t seem conservative enough to win the nomination of a right conservative
political party. A right conservative party, the grand ole’ party just “ain’t
gonna” nominate any candidate who supports gay rights, civil unions, stem
cell research or abortion rights. Even if the candidate now pleas a Damascus
like conversion. Back to my party, the people’s
party, the Democratic Party, the nomination isn’t wrapped up yet. Clinton and
Obama may be the front-runners, but former Senator John Edwards is laying low
right now, not making headlines but meeting with the middle class trying to
sow seeds for his “everyman” following. He just may come alive in October or
November of this year and make a valiant effort to capture control of the nomination.
Another well known name, former Vice President and 2000 Presidential
candidate Al Gore may step in at the last minute and be seen as the “savior”
for the party and take control of the nomination process. There are so many
ways all of this could play out. I think the campaign will be exciting,
frustration and interesting to watch. Whatever happens, the next year will be
grueling for the really serious candidates. They all have their work cut out
for them. One point that I am as please
as punch to make known, “I want a Democratic
candidate to win the 2008 presidential election.” But if you have been an ardent reader of this blog, then
you already knew that fact. Is there any circumstance that would force me to
support a non-Democratic candidate? Probable not. Although it is possible.
Hey, anything is possible. But probable – not on your life. Religion and Spiritualism Could I be an Atheist or
an Agnostic? For me personally, probably not. Although I have recently
toyed with the idea that man and woman may be in this world alone with no
supreme being at the helm. I think about that possibility, but I always come
back to the basis of my Catholic belief – there is a God and He loves me. I
believe that it is very healthy to explore the possibilities concerning this
God thing. As I’ve said before in this blog, we really have no direct proof
of the existence of God, no matter how one defines God. What we do have, if
we are fortunate, is faith. Faith can be shaken and it should be shaken
periodically. It should be shaken, re-examined and hypothesized. We must
stretch our thought processes to include all dimensions of our existence and
God’s existence. We should not become complacent in out beliefs, any of our
beliefs regardless of the context. A healthy, eager and explorative mind must
develop, analyze and discover the basis of his or her beliefs. If we do not,
we run the chance of becoming complacent in our thinking and comfortable in
the lack of discovery and wonderment of life and life’s mysteries. What is an Atheist and an Agnostic? An atheist is a person who does
not believe in the existence of God and believes that this fact can de
conclusively proven. Whereas an agnostic says that he or she does not know if
there is a God. An agnostic believes that he or she does not have the proof
establishing the existence of God. I think it is very reasonable for a person
to be an agnostic. None of us has the conclusive prove of the existence of
God. For believers, we believe in the existence of God because of faith. An
agnostic has not found that faith, yet. He or she may never find it, but if
he or she remains open-minded and continues to search for God, the gift of
faith may be bestowed on the agnostic. These are all personal concerns. They
are private and the sole responsibility of the individual. We are all
individuals. Our beliefs must remain our sole property. Yes, we can share our
beliefs, but we must never be overbearing, conceited or pompous about our
beliefs. The dignity and rights of the individual must be preserved or our
own beliefs are meaningless. Burial or Cremation? Which
do you prefer? Either is acceptable in general practice. For many years certain
religions, Catholics, for example, were opposed to cremation. A tenant of the
Apostles’ Creed
and the Nicene Creed,
say that Catholics believe in the “resurrection of the body” or the “resurrection of the
dead”. Former belief says that If the body is destroyed by cremation, how
could it resurrect? Well, think about it. A dead body decays and goes back to
the earth from whence it came, according to Church belief. So, how could a
decayed body be resurrected? Kind of insane isn’t it. The important thing to
remember is the idea that in death the spiritual body of the individual will
rise to everlasting life. Burial or cremation makes no difference in the
matter. The quality of one’s life is much more important in determining the
everlasting consequences of that being. Believe me, God knows what He is
talking about. Just believe and God will justify any incongruence in our
worldly existence. Technology and Business There is a lot of talk
about the demise of the middle class in America. The government, especially
the Bush administration is often times blamed for this demise. The Bush
administrations and the Republican pro-business stance are responsible for a
lot of this fallout on the middle class, but they are not exclusively
responsible. The middle class itself is responsible for it’s predicament to a
large extent. The financial situation of the so-called average, middle class
Americans is totally out of control. Members of the middle class spend much
more than they earn. Credit cards and the easy access to borrowed money is a
major cause of the financial woes of these average Americans. The savings
level of the citizens of the United States is at an all time low. In fact,
this is the lowest rate of savings by our society since the Great Depression.
In short, people do not live within their means. They do not manage their
finances in a responsible manner. Yes, the government, outsourcing of
American jobs and many other financial and business practices have hurt the
middle class; the biggest factor is the financial behavior of members of the
middle class themselves. Middle class, heal thyself. Have you used up those
gift cards that you received at Christmas? If not, maybe you should start using them
up before it’s too late. What do you mean before it’s too late? Well some
gift cards have expiration dates. Ones secured from major credit card
accounts usually have an expiration date and some may even have a monthly fee
associated with them. Another reason to use up those gift cards has to do
with theft. Casual observers may have been making note of more than your good
looks. They may have caught a glimpse of your gift card and retrieved the
identifying information contained on them. This information is usually found
on the back of the gift card and provides and easy method of redemption for
indiscriminate thieves. Companies are starting to take greater precautions
when issuing gift cards, but thieves are industrious and almost always find a
way to cash into your account. Be careful when accessing gift cards, credit
cards, checks and anything of a financial nature, especially when that
financial data contains identification information. Are we saving too much for
retirement? Sounds
ridiculous and contrary to popular belief and practice, but it does happen.
Having enough money to live during retirement is a realistic concern. We hear
about the case of those who do not secure enough money to live comfortable in
their golden years. Some people do have the other problem, the problem of
saving too much money. Does that case really occur? Yes, it does. Some people
are so afraid of not having enough money when they retire, that they may
never retire. They are always saving for that golden time in their life, they
may never reach that golden time. I think a realistic, balanced and practical
approach is needed for this dilemma. Planning is essential, realistic
planning. First one must be cognizant of his or her spending habits. How much
money do I spend now, when I’m working? And then extrapolate to the future
and determine a realistic budget for retirement. Next, one must determine
where his or her money will come from when retired. Example: work related
pension plans, private pension plans, personal savings accounts and governmental
retirement accounts, where will my retirement money come. If one is eligible
for a generous employer based pension plan when he or she has met the
requirements of such a plan, then the amount of money in other private or
personal plans is not so critical. When planning for retirement, day-to-day
expenses as well as emergency expenses and special expenses must be planned
for in a practical and realistic portfolio. The bottom line is retire when
you can afford it. Each person is unique and his or her lifestyle and needs
must be an integral function of his or her retirement planning. One last
important fact – one’s retirement assets belong to the person or persons who
earned those assets. Those retirement funds are intended to support the
individual in his or her golden, retirement years. Don’t be quilted into
working even one day longer in order to support a younger; physically able or
unworthy beneficiary to your financial standing. There’s nothing wrong with
remembering those who come after you, but your primary concern with
retirement is you and your well-being. |
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