In Honour of the Last Bataan Death March Survivor

Lest we forget the brutality of war, let us pay a leafy tribute to the men who died during the Bataan Death March, and all the millions of others who've suffered and died because of our inhumane treatment of one another, no matter how un/justified it seemed at the time or in the long reflection of history.

And don't worry, the future is the same in one form or another -

let descendants decide how to measure our progress in developing a civilised world.

As we have done for our ancestors...

A voice not to be forgotten

Thanks to the beautiful, smiling faces of the folks at the Huntsville office of the American Red Cross today - Nyesha, Janie, Doris and Juanita.  I enjoyed watching "Open Range" during apheresis process.

A nod to Welch Allyn for the blood pressure cuff used today.

And I greatly appreciate the tumbler, window shade and umbrella that show I am a platelet donor.

Will get to be WordPress whenever it allows me to log back in and post blogs.

Silence is my friend but not absence of words.  ;)

Give a nod, too, to Chavez for his sense of humour - true satire!

A nod to two great friends

Two shoutouts today:

Annette Spence and her journalism acumen

Toby Sells and his RX for effective FX

A Little Bit Louder Now

While I was listening to a rare, unauthorised, unpublished, underground, bootleg recording of Frank Zappa's version of César Franck's Symphony in D-minor, an announcement came up via the network that you don't know about using technology that does not exist in this universe.

According to sources I don't have to reveal to you because they officially do not exist, a UN coalition force found a cave on the Pakistan border that had recently been occupied by Al Qaeda.

No news there.

The unique fascination resides in the fact that the cave is apparently a shrine Al Qaeda set up in honour of one of their great inspirations.

Namely, Tom Clancy.

According to notes buried in the ceiling, operatives use spy and adventure novels of Western countries to carry out their plans, conveniently laid out in fictional detail by bestselling and obscure authors.

With the release of new Kindle firmware by Amazon, terrorists can sync their actions via page numbers in ebooks easily read out in the open with no one suspecting they are following orders down to the paragraph, sentence and letter, period.

Analysts at DARPA are going back through novelised versions of "Murder, She Wrote," hoping to figure out which town resident is next to be played by an out-of-work and formerly controversial actor willing to be killed for the sake of weekly ratings.

Hotels, in fear of losing their valuable valets, are insisting that special guests no longer pull up under the awnings or covered entranceways, worried that WMDs will be set off by infiltrating suicidal taxi/limo drivers who will also kill the best parking attendants the hotels had ever hired.

The guests they can easily replace.

My friend, Elizabeth, familiar to most of you, assured me that her best method of dealing with such uncivilised, unruly drivers is to heavily wax the hardwood or cement floors on which taxis and limos are parked, throw an ashtray or skillet at suspected terrorists and watch them break their necks as they slip and fall.

Another test she recommends is to draw the attention of the driver, who will swerve, because he/she was focused on the ebook displayed on the mobile phone or ebook reader perched between the dashboard and the steering wheel.

Speaking of playing chicken on the road, do you think the Iranian naval vessels are hoping to pull a "Remember the Maine" event to enable Iran to launch an offensive attack on Israel?  Ahmen-a-jihad has been accused of worse.

And what of countries whose silence on such matters may point to secret funding of counterpoint-postcounter-rotisserie-revolution?

And the two young women who watched "Unknown" unknowingly?  They couldn't drink enough to be convinced to see the Justin Bobblehead teenie bopper movie.  Thank goodness, Lauren serves popcorn and Coke like a real pro - there's a future in business marketing for her, should she have the right connections through her friends in the world of sports.

And while we're on the subject of sports, fans will be standing in their seats to see if the 10-year anniversary will cause another great pileup at the end.  Thank goodness, Michael Waltrip and Sterling Marlin are nowhere to be seen.  Who will win?  As the saying goes, "they call him the streak, boogity boogity, the fastest thing on two feet."  No, DW, it's not you.

That's all, folks.  Ethel, get your clothes on!!!!

Valid on bus and streetcar lines

Another island, another spontaneous outburst of solidarity.

The two Irish governments proclaimed today to be President Robert Bentley Day, in honour of their decision to unite as one Christian nation where brothers and sisters in Christ can work and play together.

As President For Life, Dr. Bentley will preside over a democracy where abortions are banned, divorces are not allowed and child/spouse abusers will be flogged in the public square of their local townships and locked in stockades for all passersby to jeer.

Vegetable venders will be allowed to sell ten percent of their produce as waste, to be used as projectiles thrown at prisoners put on public daily display on a rotating basis. Those prisoners not on display in the public square will be seen working in roadside cleanup chain gangs.

Prisoners convicted of white collar crimes will be assigned one of the following duties: cleaning public toilets, working for the national diaper changing brigade, or psychobiological weapons testing.

The single government of Ireland officially operates under the guidance of the SSSF Party.

The SSSF Party declares solidarity with its nonChristian brothers and sisters fighting corruption in Tunisia and Algeria. The Party wishes an Irish blessing on the two Korean governments seeking resolution of the conflicts between their brothers and sisters, no matter what religion(s) they choose to worship the Almighty Creator.

Rumours are spreading that Israel and Palestine are considering forming a joint task force to develop a plan for peaceful negotiations for the opening of a civil conversation to politely detail the discussions that might lead to a possible reconciliation of a few thousands of years of misunderstanding an argument between a nomadic shepherd and a rug merchant over the value of a peace they established concerning the value of a piece of unfarmable/ungrazable land that they both agree was built by God/Allah and is for Allah's/God's use only; thus, they are temporary caretakers, neither can own the land outright and must share equally.

India and Pakistan are taking a wait-and-see approach to these acts of unselfish love for one another.

Meanwhile, "Baby" Papa Doc Duvalier says he always had his people's best interests in mind and that's why he seemed so cruel - he was just playing the part of a stern and assertive father of children who needed a lot of discipline to stay on the straight and narrow path to membership in the international brotherhood and sisterhood of mature nations - look what happened to them after he left - they need him now more than ever.

Amazonian Indian tribes are not fooled by any of these proclamations/acts. They remember the deforestation that round after round of collapsed civilisations told the tribes were for their best interests.

The U.S. government released a statement clarifying the intention of the Extended Family Act, which eliminated public and private pension plans and replaced them with a directive that encourages all extended family members to move in together under one roof to save overhead costs in order to allow the family members to live off a few salaries or the salary of the primary breadwinner. Tax incentives will take effect in 2040 that compensate the children who suffered under the early years of the EFA.

Producers of "The King's Speech" made their final payment to Ricky Gervais for his backhanded comedic adverts of the movie, disguised as insulting jokes he told at the Golden Globes. Celebrate subliminal subtlety!