DOCUMENTS LEAKED FROM "HEARTLAND INSTITUTE" SHOW PLANS TO INDOCTRINATE SCHOOLCHILDREN AGAINST TRUTH OF GLOBAL WARMING THEORIES

          Back before the public was fully convinced by independent medical studies that cigarette smoking was harmful to humans, the corporations who profited from the sale of tobacco products sponsored hundreds of "studies" conducted by paid medical professionals whose sole purpose was to cast doubt on the truth about the dangers of their product.  Years later it became obvious that the only scientists to conclude smoking was safe were scientists who had been paid to reach that conclusion.  Mercenaries can be found to promote any proposition, no matter how bogus, if there is enough cash to call the tune.
          Today's Tennessean (motto: "That's right, it's not the Nashville Tennessean, asshole... just The Tennessean!") has an article concerning documents that were recently leaked from the Heartland Institute which detail efforts on the part of some very wealthy (and anonymous) donors to promote climate change deniers, websites, and in some cases, school materials.  Among the leaked documents are some which show Heartland pays its global warming skeptics upwards of $300,000 a year, and paid an Energy Department consultant $100,000 to design a curriculum to counter mainstream scientific school materials concerning man-made global warming.
          The article says Heartland raised more than $2 million from insurance companies (WTF?), another half million from tobacco producers (again, WTF?), and raked in a $14 million donation from one anonymous individual.  (think things go better with Koch?) 
          When that kind of money is in play, you can buy any kind of results and spokespeople your crank cause might need.  Obviously, keeping doubt in the public's mind about man-made climate change is in the best interests of those who currently profit from doing business as usual, regardless of the outcome for mankind or the planet itself.
           Think back to those television and magazine ads for cigarettes in the Sixties when everything was designed to make smoking "cool" or sophisticated.  I'm not sure how you sell pollution and rising sea levels to the next generation, but if you give me a few million to work on an ad campaign I can probably come up with something "cool" and sophisticated to show for your cash.
           Why do you think it is that one side of the political chasm sees global climate change as the primary threat to man's survival, while the other side sees it as a threat to their global conglomerates and profit margins?  Could it be that one party's sole purpose is to promote and protect the interests of the wealthiest among us, while the other occasionally does right by the majority?
            Can you name a liberal or progressive think tank that pays millions of dollars to disseminate false information and bogus science to promote their theories?  Can you think of a financial windfall angle for those who would warn of an impending ecological disaster?
            On the other hand, can you think of the financial damage honest scientific fact could bring to those who are heavily invested in fossil fuels, combustion engines, and pollution belching factories? 
             That explains the difference between facts and propaganda, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. 

"NO ONE IS HUNGRY AT MY COUNTRY CLUB..." (Republican Party Chairman of Tennessee's wealthiest county bitches about free school breakfasts)

            "There is no hunger in America." 
            I heard this from my right wing brother-in-law just before one of our annual holiday  political "discussions" several years ago...  I would elaborate on our "discussions", but I love the guy despite our political differences and don't want to poison future family gatherings with this post.  Suffice it to say, his is not a unique opinion in conservative circles.  In fact, I would venture to say most conservatives feel the issue of hunger in America is purely a liberal contrivance designed to confiscate their money for the benefit of lazy minority leeches.  It's chapter one in the Republican Book of Reagan, "I, Me, Mine:  I Got Mine, Get Yours, Mother Fucker!"
             Today's driveway offering from the folks at the Nashville Tennessean (motto: "We've not called this newspaper the Nashville Tennessean in almost twenty years... It's The Tennessean.")  has a front page article concerning a letter written by the Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party and posted on their website in which Kevin Kookogey complains that our schools don't have an obligation to feed under-privileged children:

             “I am sure you have heard about this happening in other areas, but ladies and gentlemen, Williamson County, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation by any measure, is now operating under a perverse incentive to increase the number of students taking government hand-outs,” Kookogey wrote. “Of course, those handouts are courtesy of you and me, the federal taxpayers.”

              Kookogey's right about this, of course.  Our public schools and the federal Department of Education are under no obligation to feed people, and any effort to do so is clearly an entitlement program not specified by our nation's Constitution. 
              But studies have shown that hungry children are less likely to focus on schoolwork, and since a rising percentage of students nationwide live at or below poverty levels it has been determined that providing free or reduced cost meals to those in need is a cost effective expenditure.  A fed student is a better student; better students are more likely to learn and graduate; an educated populace leads to a more productive populace; graduates are less likely to enjoy the fruits of our penal system than those hungry kids who drop out to sell drugs and steal Mr. Kookogey's golf clubs for Happy Meal money.
              Heavy sigh...
              Here's what prompted me to sit down for this little rant:  Williamson County, Tennessee has one of the highest per capita income levels in America.  It is without question the richest county in Tennessee.  Mega-mansions are as common as zits on a hungry teenager in Franklin and Brentwood.   But just because the county is home to a great many very (!) prosperous people doesn't mean there aren't people in need living in the mansions' shadows.
               According to the article, more than 5% of the school-aged kids in the county and nearly 15% of students in the Franlin Special Schools District were living in poverty in 2010.  In other words, out of any group of 100 students in Williamson County, between 5 and 15 of them are probably coming to school on empty stomachs.  And they're sitting side by side with kids whose parents dropped them off at school from behind the wheels of Cadillacs.
               Of course, most of the wealthier kids don't darken the doors of our public schools.  I doubt seriously that Mr. Kookogey's kids, if he's spawned, attend school with the kind of riff raff he's bitching about...  Those kids are hauled to and from very tony private schools by their parent's chauffeurs, and you can bet your sweet Cheerios they're fed and watered before they leave the gated communities they call home.
               Finding a way to tighten the grip on every penny seems to be a fixation for Republicans, especially those who have the most pennies to spare.
              



  

PREPARING FOR THE INVASION OF TERRORISTS, MURFREESBORO'S FINEST ARE ARMED TO THE TEETH!

           There's an article in the current issue of the weekly Nashville Scene by Jonathan Meador detailing the on-going exploits of our local police forces as they prepare for the inevitable terrorist attacks bound to strike in sleepy Murfreesboro.  The article centers around complaints filed by rural residents who are being "terrorized" by the sound of heavy munitions being fired adjacent to their farms and properties out in the country, as law enforcement personnel play with their newest and bestest toys.  Boys will be boys, and if it's loud and powerful, they have at least one of them in their arsenal.
            Rutherford County Sheriff's Department's Felony Arrest Search Tactical (FAST) team is one of the units that has reportedly been "practicing" on a patch of land out on Hwy. 41 south of town, and some of the neighbors in that area of the county have been annoyed enough by the daylong fusillades to complain about the noise.  The Scene reports that the Sheriff's Department has been joined by the Murfreesboro City Police Department on some occasions, turning the peaceful sounds of rural middle Tennessee into something akin to a war zone for local residents.
            The article details some of the equipment these local law enforcement departments have requisitioned, including M-4 assault rifles and armored personnel carrier through grants provided by the Department of Homeland Security (your tax dollars at work).  It's not known whether or not they actually took possession of an armored personnel carrier, but the fact that they wanted one ought to be telling.  The report says that a .50 caliber weapon was donated to the Sheriff's Department by the locally manufactured Barrett firearms company, but that it was later returned.
            A representative from FAST was asked to explain why sleepy little Rutherford County (population 262K) would need such an arsenal, and Sgt. Chris Kauffman explained that the department needed to be prepared for biochemical terrorist attacks or "events like the Madrid train bombings".
            I can see it now... Muslim jihadists from the local Islamic Center storm in and take hostages at Hooters on Broad Street, leading to a days-long standoff with Murfreesboro's SWAT and FAST teams.  Barney Fife needs to be kept up to speed on the latest weaponry, just in case.

           Film at eleven...

ARE YOU THE WORST NEIGHBOR IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD? OR IS THERE SOMEONE "SPECIAL" RIGHT NEXT DOOR?...

         Yesterday I was poking around over on Mooner's blog and read a comment by one of his loyal disciples in which this guy claimed to known as "asshole" by most of his neighbors.  That inspired me to confess to having been the neighborhood "asshole" in a previous life, and made me wonder if most of us don't have stories from our pasts that might paint us in a less than favorable light.

         For example, I once lived in a very modest little subdivision with my modest little family, and in those days I wasn't as "lawn conscious" as I am now.  At the time, crawling around on my hands and knees plucking thistles and dandelions didn't rank way up there on my list of priorities...  I think working nights had a lot to do with my lawn care attitudes, actually.  When you have small children living at home and work when they're sleeping, you don't get much rest during the day when they're bouncing all over the house doing what kids do.  Because I was sleep deprived for the entire two years we lived in that house, I didn't spend a lot of my time out weeding.

         One of my neighbors was a retired old fart who did nothing BUT work on his lawn.  Every blade of grass was trimmed with the care a good stylist would employ on a wealthy woman's hair.  He and his wife (The Biddy, as I called her) would spend hours of every day stooped over in some manner of lawn maintenance, weeding flower beds, tending to their immaculate gardens, trimming rose bushes, putting mulch around flowers, and decorating their porch with hanging baskets and flower pots.  In short, their lawn was something fit for the cover of Lawn and Gardens.

         Our lawn, on the other hand, looked a lot like Hal and Lois' lawn on the show "Malcolm in the Middle"... we had patches of barren, grass-less dirt everywhere, no flowers to speak of, and a lot of dandelions and thistles poking up everywhere between the discarded kids' toys.  Our lawn was the blight of the neighborhood.  It actually looked better when I neglected the mowing for a couple of weeks... it sort of filled in the blank spots from the road if the grass was overgrown.  Heavy sigh...

           Anyway, Mr. Lawn and Gardens and his wife hated my guts.  My dandelions were like a cancer threatening to spread over to his lawn at any moment, and so he made quite a show of crawling around on our property line border plucking them up by the root and then tossing them back into my yard.  He made sure I saw this operation on multiple occasions, and I have to admit I found it amusing as hell.  I'd wait until he was done, then take my mower down the property line with the exhaust chute pointed back into his yard, sending the same dandelion and thistle pluckings right back onto his lawn.  Good times.
           At some point one of my neighbors must have been privy to a conversation with this guy and heard his complaints about my sloppy lawn, and in an effort to make me sound slightly less asshole-ish pointed out that I DID work nights and was usually exhausted during daylight hours.  All that did was inspire this asshole to mow his lawn just outside our bedroom window VERY early on Saturday mornings.  As soon as the dawn arrived this guy would fire up a mower and take it up and down the property line just beneath our bedroom window.  Like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, "No sleep for you!"

            One particular morning this Briggs and Straton alarm clock triggered a "kill him" response in my weary ass, and had it not been for the fact that my kids would have seen me drug away in handcuffs I would have gone next door for a "conversation".  Instead, I waited until that night after work to do a little lawn maintenance of my own. 
             I arrived home at 12:30 AM, went straight to the refrigerator for a couple of cold beers, then went out to the garage for my little 22" Toro push mower.  I filled up the tank, rolled it right out beneath HIS bedroom window (on my side of the property line, mind you), fired it up (they always start on the first pull, those Toros!) revved it up as fast as it would run, then left it there and went back into the house for more beer.
            I watched through the window as all of the lights came on in his house.  He came outside in his pajamas.  His wife followed him out on the front porch clutching a housecoat around her like she was a refugee in the snow.  They were pointing and talking, shaking their heads.
            I don't know if he called the police or not, but no one came over to discuss the noise with us.  Eventually the Toro ran out of gas.  My own wife at that time was about as pissed as the neighbors, but knew better than to turn off the mower once I'd started it.  A pissing match is a horrible thing for all involved, I told her.  Everyone gets wet.


            If you have a "neighbor" story, or better yet, if YOU'RE the neighbor, leave a comment!

GETTING DIRECTIONS OFF THE STREET (does this sound familiar to anyone else?)

             Found this video clip on Boing Boing...

             Okay, a confession.  About twenty-five years ago I took a friend of mine to Fall Creek Falls State Park here in middle Tennessee.  FCF is by far our nicest state park, featuring the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi River (250 feet, and it looks a lot higher than that if you're sliding backward in icy cold water toward the top of the falls... trust me!)  Anyway, my friend and I were on a road trip for the day, and along the way we imbibed in some serious efforts at brain cell destruction, one doob at a time.  Needless to say, by the time we found our way to the park we were significantly altered individuals, not fit for public.

Fall Creek Falls                            

             After touring the park for a few hours, we decided to head on back home to our apartment complex in Nashville, but somehow left the park heading the wrong direction (like I said, we were buzzin'...).  Evening was approaching and the sky was beginning to darken, which can be a problem on some of those windy mountain roads when you're sufficiently impaired, so we stopped a guy who was walking along the road and I asked him "Tell me where are you going?" and this he told me.  Wait... those are lyrics from Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock"... pretty sure this guy wasn't Joni.
            In fact, the guy we pulled over to ask for directions was a twenty-something year old wearing a suit and tie, despite mid-summer temps.  That should have been a clue... I pulled the car off the road next to the fellow and my buddy rolled down the passenger side window to ask for directions.  That's when I saw that he was carrying a Bible in his hands.  Uh-oh...
            "Excuse me... can you tell us how to get back to I-40 from here?"  my buddy asked.
            What followed was a lengthy set of directions much much much much more confusing than those given by the little girl in the video above this post.  In fact, the guy we had stopped had a severe speech impediment, along with some mental disabilities of unknown cause.  He was almost impossible to understand, but that didn't stop him from trying, hard, to tell us how to find civilization again.  He motioned this way and that with his free hand, pointing and gesturing like a guy directing traffic at a busy intersection.
             Anyone who's ever been blitzed from a long day of "inhaling" can tell you that sometimes it doesn't take much to set off a giggle fit.  Within about ten seconds of this guy's opening salvo of directions I was having spasms trying to contain myself, while my buddy kept nodding his head as if he knew exactly what the fuck this young man was trying to tell us.  Obviously, he didn't understand any better than I, but being a kind-hearted and sensitive fellow he did his best to ignore me and at least pretend to be listening.  Meanwhile, I was losing it on my side of the car.
              Finally, after about two minutes of well-intentioned noise my friend shook the man's hand and motioned for me to drive.  I was having way too much fun by that time, so I asked the guy if he'd mind repeating those directions for my friend, just one more time to make sure he had it.
              I felt bad about it later, but at the time I don't think I've ever come so close to busting a gut in my life.

              Thank God for GPS and TomTom. 

LOCAL SHERIFF HIRES ISLAMOPHOBIC ORGANIZATION TO "TRAIN" HIS OFFICERS ABOUT LOCAL MUSLIMS (perhaps the KKK wasn't available?)

            My hard-earned tax dollars at work...  Our local sheriff here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee has accepted an Arlington, Virginia hate group's invitation to allow them to "train" our law enforcement officers on "the threat to America" posed by Muslims and Islamic Centers such as the controversial mosque being constructed less than a mile from my house.  A local Christian mega-church, whose pastor Rev. G. Allen Jackson spoke against the new mosque during court proceedings, has graciously offered their facilities to host the training sessions, because "...I would submit to you that we have a duty here at home to understand thoroughly the nature, the intent, the funding of any group that is being invited into our community under that general banner (of Islam)...".

             I guess if the Civil Rights movement of the 60's were taking place today our local authorities would turn to the KKK for educational guidance.  We're so fucking proud...

             An article in this morning's Nashville Tennessean (motto: "Helping Tennesseans housebreak puppies since 1907!") says the sheriff's office has hired ex-FBI agent John Guandolo, VP of a group called Strategic Engagement Group, to train Rutherford County's finest.  SEG has a stated position that mosques and Islamic centers are "potential military compounds", and Guandolo was recently quoted as having said of them "They do not have a first amendment right to do anything."
             The three day "training" session (which concludes today) is being held at the World Outreach Church here in Murfreesboro, which recently hosted an event called "The Threat to America" which was sponsored by a group called Tennessee Freedom Coalition.  The article says THAT group is led by Lou Ann Zelanik, who ran and lost in her bid for a seat in the state House of Reprehensibles on an anti-mosque platform, and little else.  During last summer's heated mosque controversy here in Murfreesboro Ms. Zelanik tried in vain to make her Islamaphobic positions central to the campaign, and lost badly in the process.  She's a real piece of work...
             The local rag here in Murfreesboro has a quote from Saleh Sbenaty, a member of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro:
“I was completely taken by shock when I heard the news last night about this training by a private organization that is brought by a small number of radical members of the community,” said Sbenaty, who has served as a spokesman for the local Muslim community throughout the controversy. “Deputies are paid by our tax dollars and they are being trained on a mission of hate that this group has brought from outside Tennessee.

           The mosque controversy here in Murfreesboro brought unfavorable national attention to our community, and many of us participated in tolerance rallies meant to counter the bigotry being spouted by a noisy minority of local residents.  Now our sheriff's department is using our tax dollars to enrich the same hate groups who are fomenting this kind of horseshit nationwide, under the guise of "training" a law enforcement agency that is supposed to represent and protect all of Rutherford County's residents... not just the lunatic fringe.
            The sheriff seems a little surprised his department's training methods are being questioned, saying " There are not many classes out there for anything when it comes to Muslims... but this training isn't just about that, it has many other components to it... My stance is and office's stance is we are here to protect the people of this county, and I am never going to waiver from that." 
             Suddenly I can hear fifes and drums in the distance...
            Sheriff Arnold went on to explain that training like this evolves over time, likening it to advances made in CPR training over the decades:
“This is kind of like CPR,” he explained. “It took 20 years to perfect CPR. When we first started doing it, we weren’t’ doing it correctly ... but at least we were doing something. And over time we got to where we are today with CPR. I’d say we are saving a whole lot more people today than we were when we first started training people in CPR because we’ve learned all this stuff over time, and to learn stuff over time you have to start the learning at some point.”



              Yeah, paying folks who profit from prejudice to come into your town, putting their little seminar up at one of the largest churches in the area so they can spout their hate rhetoric to officers who are being paid to attend those sessions is just like rudimentary CPR training... except that it isn't. 

             If tolerance seminars had been conducted by the Sheriff's Department to help his deputies understand the Civil Rights movement, I guess they would have started with cross construction and the application of flammable liquids.            

*********UPDATE**************UPDATE*********************UPDATE*************

             I just got a call from Sheriff Arnold returning my voice mail message concerning this matter, and he had a few clarifications I'd like to pass along.
             First of all, he insists my tax dollars aren't being spent to fund this right wing organization's Islamaphobic training sessions, but that the thing is funded by that organization itself.  He also said the Strategic Engagement Group was recommended to the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department by the FBI, and when asked for a specific name within the FBI to whom I could address my concerns, I was told it was done by recommendation of the FBI's Springfield office in Murray County.  (get back to you on that as things unfold...)

             Sheriff Arnold was quick to say that he wasn't taking sides on the mosque issue, despite media attempts to vilify him or the department.  I expressed my concerns that simply by having his employees attend a seminar hosted by a group that uses, in my opinion, hate speech, he was giving tacit approval to their message and opinions on the matter.  I conveyed my Civil Rights/KKK analogy and told him I thought we would be embarrassed years from now by giving voice to intolerant points of view concerning Muslims in our community.  (for what it's worth, I'm not sure he got my analogy at all... probably having more to do with my lousy communication skills than to his understanding of the comparison)
               I asked if he had had a lot of feedback from the public, and he said so far there had been two complaints about the seminar as opposed to more than twenty calls in favor of it.  Apparently, the folks who are offended by this are greatly outnumbered by those who think Muslims with scimitars are building bombs in their basements and planning to put our women under burkas...  Who knows?
              In short, the guy was straight up about it, and honestly interested in hearing what I had to say.  At least I wasn't told to go fuck myself or something...

             

            

 

NEWARK MAYOR CORY BOOKER RESPONDS TO N.J. GOVERNOR'S IDEA OF PUTTING MARRIAGE EQUALITY UP FOR A VOTE (and he blasts such a cowardly suggestion)

        If you've seen Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Bill Maher's Real Time or heard him interviewed on cable news you already know the man is a bright rising star in Democratic politics.  Each and every time I've had the chance to see and listen to Booker I've come away impressed by his ability to communicate his thoughts in a way that connects with people, even on contentious issues.
        Recently the state legislature in New Jersey passed a marriage equality bill that would legalize same-sex marriages in that state, over the threatened veto of Governor Chris Christie, the darling of the Republican Party.  Governor Christie has suggested that perhaps the good people of New Jersey should have the option of voting up or down on the issue, ala Proposition 8 in California (which was recently deemed unconstitutional by a committee of the 9th Circuit Court).
         Mayor Booker was asked about his opinion on letting voters have a say in the marriage equality law, and here's what he had to say:

"Dear God, we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote to be subject to the sentiments, the passions of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and sentiments of the majority. This is a fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for."

            Only a politician who wants to cover his own ass would suggest that a Civil Rights issue be decided by the whims of the majority of eligible voters who show up at the polls.  There comes a time to do what's right by the people, and to do so in a fundamentally honest and conscientious way, regardless of the political consequences.  Apparently Chris Christie's balls draw up when he has to consider signing or vetoing a marriage equality act into law in New Jersey, but from the sound of this video clip Mayor Booker wouldn't have such reservations.
             I hope this man runs for higher office someday, and that I get the opportunity to cast a vote for him.  When I look across the country for progressives who have national appeal, Booker is the brightest light I see.

BILL BEFORE TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE WOULD REQUIRE FEDS TO TIP OFF LOCALS BEFORE MAKING ARRESTS IN STATE

           Instead of processing last night's basketball photos like I'm paid to do, I have to tell you about the latest hair brained idea hatched in our state general assembly.

           The Republican majority in the state legislature can't stand the thought of an overreaching federal government coming into Tennessee and making arrests on the basis of mere federal laws, especially if they aren't going to let the good ol' boys know they're coming.  Why, that would be downright presumptuous on the part of the U.S. Justice Department... After all, if someone down here is messin' up, we'll handle it.  Y'all  can keep your asses up in Washington, thank you very much!
           State Rep. Bill Dunn (R) has introduced a bill (HB2610) requiring the federal government to notify local law enforcement agencies in Tennessee before making arrests within the state's borders, because "there comes a point where we've got to put a little bit of pressure on the feds and stand up for our own citizens".
           Recently the federal government conducted a raid on the Gibson Guitar Corporation factory here in Nashville, claiming that illegally imported ebony wood was being used to create musical instruments for Nashville's recording artists.  Operations were halted at the plant, wood was confiscated, and a lot of hell was raised by local folks who couldn't give a shit less about whether or not certain trees are endangered in some god forsaken rain forest somewhere.  After all, if Taylor Swift needs a new fiddle for her band, by God, get out the chain saws.
           According to the idiots who are behind this proposed new law, the feds would have to notify state agencies that they intend to enter the state for the purpose of making an arrest.  Local officials would then check with the state attorney general to find out if that federal intent would violate state law.  The legislature could declare federal laws to be unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable in Tennessee, and thus federal agents could be charged with felonies such as kidnapping for arresting someone "illegally" within the state's borders.
           The Legislature has recently declared two federal laws "unconstitutional" in Tennessee (passing the Health Care Freedom Act and the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act) designed to keep "Obamacare" and federal gun laws from pestering the good folks of the Volunteer State.
            So if the feds want to come into Tennessee to arrest a corrupt public official (take your pick) that official would probably have a lot of time to get ready for his perp walk, since his buddies at the state level would have to be notified in advance.

            Can't you just see a local county sheriff placing DEA or FBI agents under arrest for daring to bring warrants from D.C. to Hooterville? 
            Like I keep saying... no one can "out-stupid" our state legislators!

GREAT PARODY OF "FIVE FOLKS ON ONE GUITAR" VIDEO (if you saw the original, you'll LOVE this one!)

         A while back I posted a music video by a cover band called Walk Off the Earth featuring five people playing one guitar on a Gotye cover song.  This is a response video, and it's just as good as the original.

WANNA POST A REBELLIOUS RANT ON FACEBOOK ABOUT YOUR PARENTS? BETTER HOPE DAD ISN'T IN CHARGE OF UPGRADING YOUR LAPTOP LATER...

       Ah, how this takes me back...  My own lovely daughter went through a rebellious stage that pushed me to the edge of insanity, but I don't think I ever resorted to gunfire to get her attention (although I did spray her down with a water hose one day when she made the mistake of bringing an argument to the driveway where I was washing my car... Good Times!)

       The dad in this homemade vid has some serious anger issues, but I'm thinking his teenaged daughter has a lot to do with his short fuse.  God knows, I wouldn't wish a teenaged girl on anyone... They have yet to invent a nerve pill up to that challenge.

       Hannah, whoever you are, I hope you live to see the day when this all seems funny in hindsight...