Monday Is Here

-Hello everyone and a good “Monday” morning to each of you. Welcome to our blog … we are Steve (35) and Warren (62) and we live in the beautiful but cool State of Minnesota. In the great upper midwest of the United States of America.

-Out in the back yard this morning we have a cool 39 degrees under clear skies. Color weather radar at this hour indicates a small area of rain in south eastern Minnesota – down near Rochester, Minnesota.

-Today’s weather forecast for our corner of the world is: Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Highs 43 to 48. North winds 10 to 15 mph..

That means we’ve got an 80% chance of sunshine today – which is great.

-Yesterday was football day around our house and also cleaning day. Steve and I made our picks for the NFL games … and when the day was over with … I was 3 and 5 and Steve was 5 and 3 … he’s beating me again.

Oh well … it’s just a toss of the coin as far as these NFL games go anyway – your never know from weekend to weekend which team is going to win.

Needless to say our Minnesota Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears … 48 to 41. What an upset, and what lousy playing on the part of Minnesota.

The last time the Chicago Bears scored this many points, Walter Payton was taking handoffs and Mike Ditka was prowling the sideline … and that we between 1982 and 1992 … My Steve was still in diapers.

-We mentioned it here first … the comments of “hatred” coming out of the mouth of Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann …and in this writer’s opinion, her words were ugly – to say the least.

This morning the Minneapolis Star Tribune has picked up on her comments … according to the Tribune:

Even as Rep. Michele Bachmann said she had been misunderstood, strong reaction Sunday to her claim that Barack Obama “may have anti-American views” brought an unexpected shakeup to the race in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.

News reports, political TV shows and websites buzzed with chatter about Bachmann’s comments Friday on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”

On Friday, Bachmann was asked by host Chris Matthews whether she believes that Obama may have anti-American views. She replied, “Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.”

The exchange took on national scope Sunday as former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced the Republican’s comments.

Meanwhile, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Bachmann’s DFL opponent, said Sunday that her remarks about Obama triggered a surge of contributions to his campaign that will allow him to wage a more vigorous media campaign.

Tinklenberg’s campaign said that in the 48 hours after Bachmann’s remarks, $640,000 from nearly 13,000 people came in to his campaign. That is more than all donations he received during the entire third quarter.

His campaign now will air more TV ads than it had planned this week. National Democrats say they will help.

“We’re certainly going to be able to be on TV a lot more than we originally thought was going to be possible,” Tinklenberg said. “We are confident that we are going to be able to go step for step with her the rest of the way.”

At the end of September, Bachmann had about $1 million more to spend than Tinklenberg. It’s unknown how much she and the National Republican Congressional Committee will raise in the final weeks before the election. The party, which recently has concentrated its efforts on saving embattled incumbents, has been spending money on ads in the Sixth District.

I’ve not seen such “hatred” interjected into a campaign since the late 1940 and early 1950’s. Something I only remember reading about, since even I was to young to remember these events about McCarthyism.’

Apparently there is an effort to censure Bachmann for her words.

I for one, see no need for such “hatred” and such condemming words by Bachmann or anyone else.  This still is America and we don’t have to accept such behavior by anyone including our elected officials.

Remember she’s elected and not anointed.

-While Steve was watching football … and getting more and more upset at our Vikings … I was busy in the bedroom shredding some old billing statements and personal papers that I’ve had for years.  Everything was going along just fine … until the paper shredder jammed up … and I had to ask Steve to assist me in getting it “unjammed”.  Which he so graciously did.

After the games were over, we went for our usual hike / walk and then came back home.  We had a lite lunch and a lite supper meal … nothing special … just some Weight Watcher’s meals.

Neither of us really felt like a big meal or like cooking.

-Things we’ve read…

* Second Street’ is the most common street name in the U.S.; ‘First Street’ is the sixth!
* Anteaters prefer termites to ants.
* Until 1990, the deadly poison mercury was used in about 30% of latex paints!
* Your brain is 80% water.
* Terrell Owens’ middle name is Eldorado.

-GLBT history month…on this day:

October  20

October 20, 1969 – The National Institutes of Mental Health released a report based on a study led by psychologist Dr. Evelyn Hooker. The report urged states to repeal sodomy laws.

October 20, 1987 – Over fifty ACT-UP members were arrested during an act of civil disobedience protesting President Reagan’s lack of action in the AIDS epidemic. Another demonstration of about 150 people was held across the street from the United Nations building during the UN General Assembly’s first debate on AIDS.

October 20, 1987 – The US House of Representatives voted 368-47 to approve an amendment to withhold federal funding from any AIDS education organization which encourages homosexual activity. The senate approved a similar amendment the previous week by a vote of 94-2. It was introduced by Sen. Jesse Helms.

October 20, 1987 – The US House Judiciary Committee voted 21-13 to approve a bill requiring the justice department to collect statistics on hate crimes, including anti-gay violence.

October 20, 1992 – The San Diego Police Department announced that it was severing its ties with the Boy Scouts of America due to a local chapter’s dismissal of a gay police officer who was involved with the Explorer program.

October 20, 1993 – Roman Catholic priest Rev Andre Guindon died of a heart attack at age 60. In his book “The Sexual Creators” he wrote that heterosexuals should look to same-sex couples to learn about tenderness and sharing.

October 20, 1997 – Portugal’s first Gay and Lesbian Community Centre opened in Lisbon.

-Well it’s official … Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for the presidential race.

Democrat Barack Obama, running a presidential campaign that’s raising money at a record clip, has won the endorsement of a widely admired Republican and former member of President Bush’s Cabinet.

Just hours after Obama’s campaign disclosed Sunday it brought in $150 million in September — obliterating the old record of $66 million it had set only one month earlier — Colin Powell, Bush’s former secretary of state and a retired four-star general, went on TV to say he was disappointed in Republican John McCain’s largely negative campaign and that he would back Obama.

“I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Senator John McCain,” said Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The endorsement by Powell, long one of the nation’s best-known African-American public officials, was a boost to Obama, who has struggled to establish his national security and foreign policy credentials in the campaign against McCain.

“I have been honored to have the benefit of his wisdom and counsel from time to time over the last few years, but today, I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell,” Obama said.

Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton.

He expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain’s campaign, his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate and their decision to focus in the closing weeks of the contest on Obama’s ties to 1960s-era radical William Ayers, saying “it goes too far.”

At a boisterous rally Sunday, Obama said McCain was “out of ideas and almost out of time.”

-Steve will be up in about 40 minutes or so – to get ready for work. Immediately after he’s out of the shower, it will be my turn. I’ve not been shaving this week … kind of letting the beard grow out … and now I’m trying to decide if I should shave this morning or continue to let it grow out. Decisions decisions…wow, this retirement brings about a lot of important decisions for me.

We wish you a great Monday – don’t work to hard, but give your employer an honest days work for an honest days pay. You’ll be glad you did and so will he/she/they.

Be kind today, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.

-Until next time…