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James Stabile Info Blog |
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In this newsletter you will find monthly updates and editorials concerning the issues of extreme importance and interest to the site's creator and owner 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 and if you desire, send comments, questions or join our mailing list. Feel absolutely free to email ideas and topics to be discussed in upcoming months. As always do not feel obligated to participate. For the legal issues: please read the disclaimer at the top of this page. Also, please email the webmaster information concerning any programming errors that you may discover on this site. Thank you for this opportunity. Owner,
Webmaster: James Stabile |
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"I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't." Lucille
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Topics of Discussion
Discussion of The Month April 2006, where does the time go. Spring is in full bloom, at least it is progressing. Daylight Savings Time is finally here. I don't know about you, but I like Daylight Savings Time - more time to enjoy outside activities. The light seems to make the early evening last longer. This is a sure sign that summer is on the way. April 2006 is the time that Jews and Christians celebrate Passover and Easter. These are two of the most important holidays in each religion. I consider myself a "Judaic-Christian Catholic". I appreciate my Jewish heritage as well as the completion of that heritage by the birth of Christ. Easter is the time when Jesus "proves" His divinity. We remember that Jesus was like us, a person. He went through all of the characteristics of any young Jewish man. He shares our happiness, sorrow and all of the emotions of any human being. At Easter we celebrate the fact that Jesus is truly the Son of God. The promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled by the life, death and resurrection of the Christ. May the blessings of Spring, the knowledge of the Divinity of the Christ and the hope of our own resurrection sustain us in life to be good role models to others and faithful children of God. Let us live the life, suffering , death and resurrection of Christ by imitation and action, not so much by verbal means. Let us continue to imitate the actions of Christ by loving one another and most importantly loving God, who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. By the way, we have no real "proof" of any of this, we believe because we have faith. Faith is the reason for our belief. Happy the man and woman who has faith. Faith is a gift. There are many people who do not possess this gift of faith. People of faith celebrate the Easter season and life in general because it brings us closer to the ultimate day that we too suffer the pains of death and are resurrected into eternal life. So we believe. Lucy died on April 26, 1989. I can't believe it has been 17 years. If you know anything of this webmaster, you know that Lucille Ball is one of his most cherished entertainers. I remember the Wednesday afternoon when I learned of Lucy's death. I was on my way home from work, I had left work a couple of hours early to run some errands. I heard the sad news on the radio. I was heartbroken. I went straight home, forgot all about any of those errands and sat in quiet meditation for the remainder of the day and night. Lucy was dead. And I Love Lucy. Click to view my I Love Lucy and She Loves Me and my, I Love Lucy Trivia Quiz. Entertainment Failure To Launch...A funny, romantic comedy. Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker did an outstanding job as the two main characters of this movie. She's The Man...Yes, it's another teen movie, but a comedy, with a message. A teen girl play's a boy in order to play on a boy's high school soccer team. It's a very funny movie, although, it seemed to drag at times. It presented a lesson concerning gender equitability in athletics, particularly in high school sports programs. Stay Alive...Another teen horror film. It's so exhilarating to watch a group of young , drug invested, techie people discover this world and the next. TransAmerica...A great, thought provoking and eye opening story of people discovering and living with their sexuality in this crazy mixed up world. Felicity Huffman did an outstanding and believable job portraying a woman, portraying a man portraying a woman. The world is a complicated place these days. Actually it has always been such a place, but it's only recently that we are becoming free to discover the real world. People who do not understand other people's unconventional sexuality probably won't understand it any better after viewing the movie. Prejudice and intolerance stem from ignorance and a desire not to understand and not to empathize with the different. Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Gays trying to go straight is as funny as dogs trying to be cats. It just won't work. Gay people do not choose to be gay, they are gay. They may choose to be free and express their sexuality, but they are what they are, period. Programs that try to deprogram or heal gays to be straight are not only ridiculous they are dangerous and highly harmful to the people going through the programs. Gay, straight, bi or trans, people must accept the person they are. If you know someone who is "different" offer them understanding, support, love and encouragement. They need it. On a diet? Beware of Salad Bars. They can be a source of high calories and unhealthy eating. The lettuce is fine. The plain vegetables are fine. The dressings, the bread, the pastas, the nuts, grains and the fats and carbohydrates could be killers. Remember a successful diet is a change in eating habits. Healthy eating, moderation and physical activity is still the way to go for optimum health. Smoking a problem, an health issue and a matter of breath and life. It's hard to quit smoking. Most people have some kind of addiction - smoking, drinking, eating, behavior. We all have some kind of addition. It's usually a matter of degree. Smoking is among the worse addictions to break. Many people do quit smoking, many do not. Yes, it takes a commitment and a change in thinking and behavior. Professional help may be needed for continued success. For you own sake, stop your addiction. If you need help, get that help. Get control of your life. The bottom line - 1st and foremost you must like yourself to gain control of your behavior. I really think that self respect and love of oneself are the keys to gaining control over addiction and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Politics and the World President Bush is losing credibility and support, so the political polls suggests, but don't count him out just yet. The President is starting to fight back. He is going on the defensive, concentrating on the Iraq War. I believe the President's biggest mistakes stem from his lack of understanding of the Iraq culture and his own arrogance. The President is and remains a patriot. Albeit a misguided patriot. He lacks the ability to accept, evaluate and act on the advice of others. He lacks the moral courage to say, "I was wrong". Admitting to a misjudgment or mistake is not being a loser. It's being a person of character. Real heroes are real Americans, with dedication, a sense of right and wrong and the ability to accept defeat and then rebound. The President must admit his mistakes and readdress his agenda. The President and many Republicans say that there is global warming , but they deny that the American way of life is exacerbating the problem. Evidence suggests that the icebergs on Antarctica have been losing 36 miles of surface each year since 2000. Global warming is increasing at an alarming rate. The United States as well as the world's mistreatment of the environment and resources as well as our general behavior in and related to our ecosystem are adding to this decay. Coast lines as well as low areas throughout the United States and the world such as the low areas in South Florida are vulnerable to flooding caused by such global warming. We must accept these facts and be proactive to save our planet. Politics has no place in the survival of our planet. Same sex marriage ban is headed for the November 2008 Florida ballot. I do not think that same sex marriage is appropriate. I think marriage should be reserved for the union of one man and one woman. Other unions should be dealt with as civil unions, each party should be given the respect and rights given to those parties in a marriage. The problem: today's legislation against same sex marriage is motivated by hate and intolerance. Hate and intolerance is wrong, in any context. Religion and Spiritualism There is strong evidence that the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II was planed by the former Soviet Union. The Pope's intervention in the fall of communism in Poland as well as His Holiness' ethnic ties to Poland was the major reasons that the former Soviet Union wanted him dead. The Russians, former Soviet Union or present day Russia, can not be trusted. President Reagan's doctrine of trust by verification must be applied to the Russians as well as all other foreign governments. Pope Benedict XVI has elevated 30 or so men to the rank of Cardinal in March. It seems to me that he is doing just as his predecessor, elevating men who share his own particular philosophy of ethics, morality and Catholic Doctrine to the status of Cardinals. After all, the next Pope will be chosen by those exact same Cardinals. Do you think that politics exists in Rome? It sure does. Remember, the Church of Jesus Christ is alive and remains strong, the people who run the church will always be weak and inferior. It is up to the followers of Jesus, people like you and I, to make the personal decisions regarding our Church and our relationship to it and to one another. Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, fell on a Friday this year. Many Bishops throughout the United States lifted the law of abstinence on that Friday. As you may know, during Lent Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Friday. However, because of St. Patrick's Day, meat was allowed to be eaten on March 17. I think this is pretty crazy. Do you really think that God cares about what we eat? I think not. I feel that God cares more about how we treat other people and the quality of our lives on Earth than He does about food. After all, God is not human. He is a Spirit. Spirit's do not eat food. I do believe Lent to be a time of atonement and reflection on our lives. I do believe that we must ready ourselves to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, but food has little to do with it. Attitude and behavior must be readied for the Lord. Although, people must atone for sin in their own unique way. Eating practices may be one of these ways, but not under the pain of sin. Each person must find his or her own way to prepare for Easter and the religious significance of the season. Fast and Abstinence are appropriate, they are certainly historically appropriate, if the individual chooses that option. As far as March 17, I still abstained from meat. Why? Because that's what I do. Technology and Business In a recent news blog I announced that the cell numbers were being released to sales companies, etc. for solicitation. The Florida State Legislature is tackling this problem in the current legislative session. The Florida Senate gave a stern warning to telemarketers, "Stop calling cell phones". Actually legislation is being drafted to fight this problem. I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction. Cell phone users need protection from telemarketers. Cell phones like email costs money. I don't think that the users should be penalized financially because they answer their cell phones. Insurance hikes are a 'comin. Just like the 2006 hurricane season. Property insurance rates in the state of Florida are skyrocketing. This is understandable, to an extent. It is understandable if the insurance companies levy these increases across the board in an equitable and just manner. Insurance company profit margins must not be increased at the expense of people like you and me. In other words, working people's interests must be as important in the formula as company profits and earnings. Equitable, fair and just increases are understandable. Any thing less should be considered a crime. You people who feel safer in those big SUVs, surprise. Research suggests that people including children are no safer in SUVs than in cars. Higher prices for such vehicles, even higher fuel bills, I don't see the draw. Each to his or her own of course, but size isn't always the important thing. Safety and realistic prices seem to be the desirable outcome. Big for the sake of big is just stupid. The release of Microsoft's newest operating system has been delayed. Longhorn was supposed to be released by the end of this year (2006), but now Microsoft officials say that it won't be released until early 2007. So what. Another new operating system, who has the time or inclination to upgrade. I guess a lot of people jump at the chance, but not me. I'm content with XP, at least until next Spring. Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny The first highway drive-in massage parlor opened in March in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Malaysian government opened this highway drive-in massage parlor to help ease the stress associated with driving. Oh really? In the United States we have rest stops and trucker stops, but massage parlors? Give me a break. High school drama class in Fernandina Beach, Florida were filming a movie in the town's post office. A bystander saw a teen carrying a toy gun into the post office and called the police. When the kids emerged from the building they were surrounded by police and ordered to hit the ground. Poor kids. Leave those good kids alone. A would be bank robber was rescued after he got stuck in a bank chimney in Granger, Washington. The man was asked what he was doing. He said, "What does it look like I was doing. I was trying to rob the bank." |
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