Marley Sue's Pop Licker
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Revealing "The Big Picture," And The Truth
Hello, everybody!
Well, it seems that things are going pretty well with the well in the Gulf of Mexico. The well cap seemed to have held up pretty well enough to be left to its own devices when the oil workers had to evacuate the Gulf when Hurricane Bonnie threatened to blow over the Gulf, but she was downgraded to a tropical storm, so the workers are coming back to the Gulf today. Everything seems to be fine, although the news media did admit that oil and methane was beginning to leak from the ocean floor, but "this is normal" for deep sea oil rigs. Whether or not that's really and truly "normal" all depends on whom you want to believe, the news media or your natural common sense. Now, natural common sense would tell you that when oil and methane leak from somewhere other than an uncapped well, something is seriously wrong. But, since most people tend to look at a glass as half full, they tend to believe what the news media tells them, no matter how erroneously wrong it may be (and, in the case of Fox News, this is quite a great deal).
Speaking of how erroneous Fox News really is, I feel that I must touch bases on that not-so-little news story from the past week, involving the African American member of the Department of Agriculture and the supposedly racist statements she made concerning white farmers she had helped keep their farm twenty four years ago. From what Fox News would like for us to believe (boy, would they!), she didn't want to help these people because they were white. However, what they didn't tell you or even show you was that this was the beginning of a very interesting story she was about to tell concerning the subject matter which states, in a nutshell, that you really shouldn't look at a person's race when they need help, but at their economic situation. The story, in its entirely, was that she was considering not doing everything to her full potential to help these people, but, after carefully looking over their financial situation, she decided that it was not race that made these people eligible for help, but how poor they were, and she decided to do the right thing and help these people save their farm, which she did. Now, that's the story Fox News didn't tell you, and I think I know why. It's because this woman's entire story teaches us all a very valuable lesson in what Jesus Christ would want all of us to do, help each other when we need help, no matter who we are. Something the right wingers at Fox News would never do. How sad that is.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, it seems that things are going pretty well with the well in the Gulf of Mexico. The well cap seemed to have held up pretty well enough to be left to its own devices when the oil workers had to evacuate the Gulf when Hurricane Bonnie threatened to blow over the Gulf, but she was downgraded to a tropical storm, so the workers are coming back to the Gulf today. Everything seems to be fine, although the news media did admit that oil and methane was beginning to leak from the ocean floor, but "this is normal" for deep sea oil rigs. Whether or not that's really and truly "normal" all depends on whom you want to believe, the news media or your natural common sense. Now, natural common sense would tell you that when oil and methane leak from somewhere other than an uncapped well, something is seriously wrong. But, since most people tend to look at a glass as half full, they tend to believe what the news media tells them, no matter how erroneously wrong it may be (and, in the case of Fox News, this is quite a great deal).
Speaking of how erroneous Fox News really is, I feel that I must touch bases on that not-so-little news story from the past week, involving the African American member of the Department of Agriculture and the supposedly racist statements she made concerning white farmers she had helped keep their farm twenty four years ago. From what Fox News would like for us to believe (boy, would they!), she didn't want to help these people because they were white. However, what they didn't tell you or even show you was that this was the beginning of a very interesting story she was about to tell concerning the subject matter which states, in a nutshell, that you really shouldn't look at a person's race when they need help, but at their economic situation. The story, in its entirely, was that she was considering not doing everything to her full potential to help these people, but, after carefully looking over their financial situation, she decided that it was not race that made these people eligible for help, but how poor they were, and she decided to do the right thing and help these people save their farm, which she did. Now, that's the story Fox News didn't tell you, and I think I know why. It's because this woman's entire story teaches us all a very valuable lesson in what Jesus Christ would want all of us to do, help each other when we need help, no matter who we are. Something the right wingers at Fox News would never do. How sad that is.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Cool Shows For a Hot Summer
Hello, hello, hello!
Well, for the first time in about three months, it seems that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (made possible by a grant from British Petroleum) has finally stopped gushing! Yes! It seems that this new cap is finally working! It seems to be, that is. The pressure could be a little stronger, because the weaker the pressure, the more of a possibility that the well casing could be leaking elsewhere, and that, my friend, would not be a very good sign. And there's also reports that there's oil and gas leaking straight out of cracks in the ocean floor. Again, that would not be a good sign. But, of course, the news media is saying that those reports are false. They are saying that. Let's hope that they're right, for all of our sakes.
Well, we've finally reached the middle part of the summer, and boy, has it been a scorcher! I hope that all of you have your fans and air conditioners in working order, and I hope you all have plenty of citrus juice drinks on hand, along with plenty of watermelon, which is another great refrigerant. Ice cream and yogurt also are good to keep cool with in the summertime, although those of us who watch our figures should use these treats sparingly. Also, in the season of ultra hot weather, we should also look out for our pets. Keep your cats and dogs indoors as much as you can, and never, ever, leave them in a locked car for any amount of time on a hot day. The same could be said for children and older people.
Luckily, this summer, we don't have all that much work to do around the house, but to tell you the truth, it's been way too hot lately to do much of anything other that sitting back with a cool drink and a hot movie, which, thankfully, cable has plenty of. Turner Classic Movies has a lot to offer on a hot summer's weekend, as does Cartoon Network. The latter also have some pretty cool toons to offer as well, such as Chowder, the Total Drama series, and the latest offering, Adventure Time, which is very campy and very fun. And, of course, don't forget the delicious pickings on DVD that your local DVD store and Netflix have to offer as well.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, for the first time in about three months, it seems that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (made possible by a grant from British Petroleum) has finally stopped gushing! Yes! It seems that this new cap is finally working! It seems to be, that is. The pressure could be a little stronger, because the weaker the pressure, the more of a possibility that the well casing could be leaking elsewhere, and that, my friend, would not be a very good sign. And there's also reports that there's oil and gas leaking straight out of cracks in the ocean floor. Again, that would not be a good sign. But, of course, the news media is saying that those reports are false. They are saying that. Let's hope that they're right, for all of our sakes.
Well, we've finally reached the middle part of the summer, and boy, has it been a scorcher! I hope that all of you have your fans and air conditioners in working order, and I hope you all have plenty of citrus juice drinks on hand, along with plenty of watermelon, which is another great refrigerant. Ice cream and yogurt also are good to keep cool with in the summertime, although those of us who watch our figures should use these treats sparingly. Also, in the season of ultra hot weather, we should also look out for our pets. Keep your cats and dogs indoors as much as you can, and never, ever, leave them in a locked car for any amount of time on a hot day. The same could be said for children and older people.
Luckily, this summer, we don't have all that much work to do around the house, but to tell you the truth, it's been way too hot lately to do much of anything other that sitting back with a cool drink and a hot movie, which, thankfully, cable has plenty of. Turner Classic Movies has a lot to offer on a hot summer's weekend, as does Cartoon Network. The latter also have some pretty cool toons to offer as well, such as Chowder, the Total Drama series, and the latest offering, Adventure Time, which is very campy and very fun. And, of course, don't forget the delicious pickings on DVD that your local DVD store and Netflix have to offer as well.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
When The Long Arm Of The Law Finally Catches Up With Justice
Hello, everybody, hello!
Well, after about two and a half months, finally, some good news from the Gulf of Mexico! Word comes from the news media that a brand new cap is going to be put over the well cap that will finally seal it and prevent more oil from leaking out! True, some oil is going to leak when they took off the existing cap this past weekend, but, from what I've heard, this new cap is supposed to do the job. Let's hope all our prayers are going to be answered and this is finally the solution to all our problems.
In other important news, this past week, the law finally caught up with the infamous "Grim Sleeper," who has been terrorizing the people here in South Los Angeles for some 25 years, and, from what I've been hearing, this person, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr, was just an "average member of the neighborhood." Sure, he was a little, um, shady at times (he was a dealer in what we would say, "hot merchandise," and I don't mean hot in temperature), but nobody, and I mean, nobody, would have even suspected him in the murder of ten people and the attempted murder of one, who managed to survive. This caught everyone on the small, working class block where he lived, right off guard, and shocked and surprised just about everyone there. Well, to paraphrase what Stephanie Miller once said on her radio show, people who live next door to serial killers aren't exactly the brightest bulbs on the marquee. Either the neighbors aren't very aware of what's going on, or the suspects are the best Academy and Emmy Award deserving actors in the universe.
And finally, I hope all of you had a very good Forth of July last week. I know we did. We had enough barbecue and stir-fried vegetables and potato salad and watermelon fruit salad to feed the entire block, even though all our family and friends managed to eat it all up. Afterwards, we all went down to Hawthorne Park to view the fireworks being set off, although I had to leave Bootsie at home. After all, fireworks and pets don't mix. But, anyway, we all had a very good time last Sunday.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the survivors of the earthquakes!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, after about two and a half months, finally, some good news from the Gulf of Mexico! Word comes from the news media that a brand new cap is going to be put over the well cap that will finally seal it and prevent more oil from leaking out! True, some oil is going to leak when they took off the existing cap this past weekend, but, from what I've heard, this new cap is supposed to do the job. Let's hope all our prayers are going to be answered and this is finally the solution to all our problems.
In other important news, this past week, the law finally caught up with the infamous "Grim Sleeper," who has been terrorizing the people here in South Los Angeles for some 25 years, and, from what I've been hearing, this person, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr, was just an "average member of the neighborhood." Sure, he was a little, um, shady at times (he was a dealer in what we would say, "hot merchandise," and I don't mean hot in temperature), but nobody, and I mean, nobody, would have even suspected him in the murder of ten people and the attempted murder of one, who managed to survive. This caught everyone on the small, working class block where he lived, right off guard, and shocked and surprised just about everyone there. Well, to paraphrase what Stephanie Miller once said on her radio show, people who live next door to serial killers aren't exactly the brightest bulbs on the marquee. Either the neighbors aren't very aware of what's going on, or the suspects are the best Academy and Emmy Award deserving actors in the universe.
And finally, I hope all of you had a very good Forth of July last week. I know we did. We had enough barbecue and stir-fried vegetables and potato salad and watermelon fruit salad to feed the entire block, even though all our family and friends managed to eat it all up. Afterwards, we all went down to Hawthorne Park to view the fireworks being set off, although I had to leave Bootsie at home. After all, fireworks and pets don't mix. But, anyway, we all had a very good time last Sunday.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the survivors of the earthquakes!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Stars, Stripes,--and Oil?
Hello, hello, hello!
I'm blogging a couple of days earlier this week, because this Sunday is the Forth of July, and my family and I are going to be very busy this weekend preparing for it! I'm juggling things on a very tight schedule even as I blog. There's last-minute shopping to do (all the stores are packed, even now!), a menu to prepare, and all those other things to do. But fortunately, I do have a little time to spend on my weekly blog, two days earlier, of course.
We've found out a lot about the Gulf Oil cataclysm (now going into its third month), over the past week or two, and, unfortunately, none of it is good. First of all, this stuff is poisonous, because it's coming straight out of the center of the earth and not being refined, like it would be if it's shipped to the mainland refineries, and a lot more stuff is coming out of the center of the earth right along with it: methane gas (which first caused this tragedy when it ignited underwater on April 20), benzine, and a couple of other things I can't pronounce very well, and I'm sure many of you can't either. Well, anyway, many of the workers are getting very sick while cleaning this stuff up from the Gulf, and along the shores and beaches that line it. And here's the worst part: this poisonous raw oil is causing "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, meaning that there's no life-giving oxygen in these pools of water that not only the oil has invaded, but the dispersant that BP has used to thin it out, and you know what that means: water that has no oxygen, can't sustain any life at all. No marine plant life, and no marine sea life. The fish and other marine animals are all dying from this. Looks like the people who's cleaning this stuff up will soon be buying the farm as well. So who's next? The people who live way inside the mainland, mainly, the rest of us? All of this have gotten way too spooky, folks! And it isn't even a freaking movie in a theater or on TV! It's freaking real! I mean, Universal Pictures couldn't have thought of a more scary, a more diabolical, and a more life threatening worldwide scenario! Stephen King could take footnotes from this real-life horror show! Everything I watch the TV news and see all that oil coming out from the bottom of the sea, I wonder when this real-life nightmare is going to end.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, don't for get the survivors of the earthquakes, and Happy July 4!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
I'm blogging a couple of days earlier this week, because this Sunday is the Forth of July, and my family and I are going to be very busy this weekend preparing for it! I'm juggling things on a very tight schedule even as I blog. There's last-minute shopping to do (all the stores are packed, even now!), a menu to prepare, and all those other things to do. But fortunately, I do have a little time to spend on my weekly blog, two days earlier, of course.
We've found out a lot about the Gulf Oil cataclysm (now going into its third month), over the past week or two, and, unfortunately, none of it is good. First of all, this stuff is poisonous, because it's coming straight out of the center of the earth and not being refined, like it would be if it's shipped to the mainland refineries, and a lot more stuff is coming out of the center of the earth right along with it: methane gas (which first caused this tragedy when it ignited underwater on April 20), benzine, and a couple of other things I can't pronounce very well, and I'm sure many of you can't either. Well, anyway, many of the workers are getting very sick while cleaning this stuff up from the Gulf, and along the shores and beaches that line it. And here's the worst part: this poisonous raw oil is causing "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, meaning that there's no life-giving oxygen in these pools of water that not only the oil has invaded, but the dispersant that BP has used to thin it out, and you know what that means: water that has no oxygen, can't sustain any life at all. No marine plant life, and no marine sea life. The fish and other marine animals are all dying from this. Looks like the people who's cleaning this stuff up will soon be buying the farm as well. So who's next? The people who live way inside the mainland, mainly, the rest of us? All of this have gotten way too spooky, folks! And it isn't even a freaking movie in a theater or on TV! It's freaking real! I mean, Universal Pictures couldn't have thought of a more scary, a more diabolical, and a more life threatening worldwide scenario! Stephen King could take footnotes from this real-life horror show! Everything I watch the TV news and see all that oil coming out from the bottom of the sea, I wonder when this real-life nightmare is going to end.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, don't for get the survivors of the earthquakes, and Happy July 4!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Another Jackson Family? Don't Count On It!
Helllooo, everybody!
Well, we've come to the first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and the question that's been on a lot of my friends' and relatives' minds is, "Will there ever be another Jackson-type musical dynasty?" Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer to that question is, sadly, no. There will never be another musical dynasty quite like the Jackson family, and not only because they were one of a kind, which they were. Here are three reasons why there will never be "another" Jackson family.
Number one: The African American middle class that made the Jackson family rich, no longer exists. Sad, but true, but back in the 1970's, many middle class African American kids had much more disposable income than we do now. That's because their parents had those good union factory jobs that paid for many of the things those kid enjoyed, including the albums and 45 singles they bought. True, the Jacksons have many different fans from all over the world, but back in the 1970's, it was the African American middle class, who listened mainly to rhythm and blues, who made them, and sadly, that middle class of average workers with high school diplomas, and maybe a community college Associates degree, who had good union jobs in the inner cities factories of this country, no longer exist.
Number two: The music industry itself has changed in the past forty years. Back in the day, the record companies used to make the majority of their dough by packing recording artists' albums with a lot of "turkey corn" (novelty songs, or songs that would never make it onto the Billboard Top 10), and maybe a couple of songs that are really worth a person's while. This particular practice made it possible for the record companies to get rid of a lot of songs that they wouldn't normally be able to any other way, and sell millions of albums in the process. Not any more. Thanks to the IPod and MV3 player, listeners can pick and choose what they want to listen to. And that, I suspect, is the real reason why CD sales have slumped over the past decade, because people don't have to buy a whole album of "corn" just to get a couple of gold nuggets anymore.
Number three, and the most obvious reason: in order to make the kind of dough now that the Jacksons made back in the day, you have to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's Degree. A community college Associates won't cut it. The only thing an Associates is good for is to transfer to a university that's at least at a state level. True, there are a lot of celebs out there with various educational levels, but if you really noticed, the ones who are really successful, and whose wealth is out there in the stratosphere, are the ones with the college degrees that are a Bachelors or higher. And we all know how increasingly hard it is for the average American to get a community college degree, let alone a university degree.
So there you have it. The three reasons why there will never be another family like the Jacksons. And that's also all the time we have. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, we've come to the first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and the question that's been on a lot of my friends' and relatives' minds is, "Will there ever be another Jackson-type musical dynasty?" Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer to that question is, sadly, no. There will never be another musical dynasty quite like the Jackson family, and not only because they were one of a kind, which they were. Here are three reasons why there will never be "another" Jackson family.
Number one: The African American middle class that made the Jackson family rich, no longer exists. Sad, but true, but back in the 1970's, many middle class African American kids had much more disposable income than we do now. That's because their parents had those good union factory jobs that paid for many of the things those kid enjoyed, including the albums and 45 singles they bought. True, the Jacksons have many different fans from all over the world, but back in the 1970's, it was the African American middle class, who listened mainly to rhythm and blues, who made them, and sadly, that middle class of average workers with high school diplomas, and maybe a community college Associates degree, who had good union jobs in the inner cities factories of this country, no longer exist.
Number two: The music industry itself has changed in the past forty years. Back in the day, the record companies used to make the majority of their dough by packing recording artists' albums with a lot of "turkey corn" (novelty songs, or songs that would never make it onto the Billboard Top 10), and maybe a couple of songs that are really worth a person's while. This particular practice made it possible for the record companies to get rid of a lot of songs that they wouldn't normally be able to any other way, and sell millions of albums in the process. Not any more. Thanks to the IPod and MV3 player, listeners can pick and choose what they want to listen to. And that, I suspect, is the real reason why CD sales have slumped over the past decade, because people don't have to buy a whole album of "corn" just to get a couple of gold nuggets anymore.
Number three, and the most obvious reason: in order to make the kind of dough now that the Jacksons made back in the day, you have to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's Degree. A community college Associates won't cut it. The only thing an Associates is good for is to transfer to a university that's at least at a state level. True, there are a lot of celebs out there with various educational levels, but if you really noticed, the ones who are really successful, and whose wealth is out there in the stratosphere, are the ones with the college degrees that are a Bachelors or higher. And we all know how increasingly hard it is for the average American to get a community college degree, let alone a university degree.
So there you have it. The three reasons why there will never be another family like the Jacksons. And that's also all the time we have. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Time To Let Dad Have His Day
Hi, everybody!
Yeah, I know I usually blog on Sundays, but I'm blogging today because I'm going to be very busy this coming weekend. I have a cake I have to make tomorrow and a major dinner I have to help prepare Sunday, and today is the only time I have to blog.
But just because I'm blogging a couple of days earlier doesn't mean that there's nothing to talk about, like the latest on the Gulf oil disaster, for one. Now, I hope you all are prepared for this one, and I, for one, hope to the Almighty that this is not true, but, from what I've been hearing from the various parts of the news media, it's beginning to look like that oil well in the bottom of the gulf, is beginning to show signs that it's failing. Now, I hope that all this speculation is false and many people don't have their facts straight, but that's the ongoing news that's coming from the media. Now, if you're a dyed-in-the-wool optimist like I am, you tend to take everything negative that you hear with a grain of salt (iodized, of course, because it's a necessary nutrient), then you all are, like I am, hoping that this "worst case scenario" doesn't happen to be true, because if it is, then it really will be "game over" for dear old Planet Earth, and for all of her inhabitants as well, all creatures great and small. So, all we have to do is keep our eyes and ears glued to the news, and hope for, and pray for, the best, and be prepared for the worse, whatever that may be.
Well, in much happier news, Father's Day is coming up this Sunday! Yes! In just a couple of days, dear old Dad will finally have his day! And, if you all are like me and my family, I know you have something extra special for that special man in your life. Whether it's buying him a lottery ticket hoping that's it's the winning one (which I know the vast majority of you are doing this weekend!) to treating him to his favorite meal either at home or at his favorite restaurant, everyone who has a very special dad in their life knows exactly how to treat him right, mainly because, you know, he treats them right. So hears to you, Dad, and to all that you do for us, let's hope that this coming Sunday will be a very special day for you (and that we all get a raise in our allowance!).
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the earthquake victims!
Sincerely,
Marely Sue
Yeah, I know I usually blog on Sundays, but I'm blogging today because I'm going to be very busy this coming weekend. I have a cake I have to make tomorrow and a major dinner I have to help prepare Sunday, and today is the only time I have to blog.
But just because I'm blogging a couple of days earlier doesn't mean that there's nothing to talk about, like the latest on the Gulf oil disaster, for one. Now, I hope you all are prepared for this one, and I, for one, hope to the Almighty that this is not true, but, from what I've been hearing from the various parts of the news media, it's beginning to look like that oil well in the bottom of the gulf, is beginning to show signs that it's failing. Now, I hope that all this speculation is false and many people don't have their facts straight, but that's the ongoing news that's coming from the media. Now, if you're a dyed-in-the-wool optimist like I am, you tend to take everything negative that you hear with a grain of salt (iodized, of course, because it's a necessary nutrient), then you all are, like I am, hoping that this "worst case scenario" doesn't happen to be true, because if it is, then it really will be "game over" for dear old Planet Earth, and for all of her inhabitants as well, all creatures great and small. So, all we have to do is keep our eyes and ears glued to the news, and hope for, and pray for, the best, and be prepared for the worse, whatever that may be.
Well, in much happier news, Father's Day is coming up this Sunday! Yes! In just a couple of days, dear old Dad will finally have his day! And, if you all are like me and my family, I know you have something extra special for that special man in your life. Whether it's buying him a lottery ticket hoping that's it's the winning one (which I know the vast majority of you are doing this weekend!) to treating him to his favorite meal either at home or at his favorite restaurant, everyone who has a very special dad in their life knows exactly how to treat him right, mainly because, you know, he treats them right. So hears to you, Dad, and to all that you do for us, let's hope that this coming Sunday will be a very special day for you (and that we all get a raise in our allowance!).
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the earthquake victims!
Sincerely,
Marely Sue
So Long, Annie, It's Been Good To Know Ya!
Hello, everybody!
Gulf Oil Catastrophe, Week 9 (just about): Well, the oil cap is doing its job of syphoning oil from the broken well, but now comes word that the oil leak is much worse than everyone seems to have thought. It seems that there's more oil that leaked out into the bottom of the gulf than even BP had even known about (or, maybe they knew about it all along, but just didn't tell anybody). And to make matters even worse, the number of animal casualties as a result of this catastrophe appears to be rising, with more dead dolphins and sea turtles washing up along the shores of the gulf coast and the number of oil-covered birds rising every single day. I've seen picture of oil-slick pelicans, and, believe me, it just sickens my stomach, as, I'm sure, it must sicken yours. And, I've also heard that, as the temperature rises in Louisiana, the heat is literally cooking some of the birds covered in oil! (I'm sure that's one Louisiana meal you don't want to consume!) Putting all this unappetizing circumstances aside, no is quite certain when all this madness is going to end, if, heaven forbids, it's ever going to end at all, for, even if they do successfully cap the undersea oil well, the ecological complications the consequential oil leak has caused can go on for years to come, with the fragile ecosystems along the southern coasts of the United States drastically changed forever. Either way, it doesn't sound too good for the citizens of the southern part of the United States.
It also doesn't look to good for the future of the newspaper in the United States as well. As if you didn't hear by now, the long running comic strip, Little Orphan Annie, ends its more than eighty-five year run today. Once appearing in more than one hundred newspapers in America and now appearing in less than twenty, the people who drew it finally decided that, after today, the sun will not come out tomorrow for Annie, Daddy Warbucks, and dear old lovable dog, Sandy. This, however, fares even worse for the newspapers that once carried her, since more and more newspapers all over the country have now, literally and figuratively, folded. But don't worry, it seems that Annie and the newspaper will soon have a chance to live on, thanks to the Internet, through online newspapers. So, maybe for Annie and the newspapers that once carried her, the sun will come out tomorrow after all.
Well, that's all for today. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Gulf Oil Catastrophe, Week 9 (just about): Well, the oil cap is doing its job of syphoning oil from the broken well, but now comes word that the oil leak is much worse than everyone seems to have thought. It seems that there's more oil that leaked out into the bottom of the gulf than even BP had even known about (or, maybe they knew about it all along, but just didn't tell anybody). And to make matters even worse, the number of animal casualties as a result of this catastrophe appears to be rising, with more dead dolphins and sea turtles washing up along the shores of the gulf coast and the number of oil-covered birds rising every single day. I've seen picture of oil-slick pelicans, and, believe me, it just sickens my stomach, as, I'm sure, it must sicken yours. And, I've also heard that, as the temperature rises in Louisiana, the heat is literally cooking some of the birds covered in oil! (I'm sure that's one Louisiana meal you don't want to consume!) Putting all this unappetizing circumstances aside, no is quite certain when all this madness is going to end, if, heaven forbids, it's ever going to end at all, for, even if they do successfully cap the undersea oil well, the ecological complications the consequential oil leak has caused can go on for years to come, with the fragile ecosystems along the southern coasts of the United States drastically changed forever. Either way, it doesn't sound too good for the citizens of the southern part of the United States.
It also doesn't look to good for the future of the newspaper in the United States as well. As if you didn't hear by now, the long running comic strip, Little Orphan Annie, ends its more than eighty-five year run today. Once appearing in more than one hundred newspapers in America and now appearing in less than twenty, the people who drew it finally decided that, after today, the sun will not come out tomorrow for Annie, Daddy Warbucks, and dear old lovable dog, Sandy. This, however, fares even worse for the newspapers that once carried her, since more and more newspapers all over the country have now, literally and figuratively, folded. But don't worry, it seems that Annie and the newspaper will soon have a chance to live on, thanks to the Internet, through online newspapers. So, maybe for Annie and the newspapers that once carried her, the sun will come out tomorrow after all.
Well, that's all for today. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Take a Vacation In The Pages Of A Book
I'd like to say "hello" to all my friends out there.
Well, since we were last together, BP had, finally, capped the well! Yes! The well is capped! But that doesn't mean that all is fine and dandy. Oil is still leaking out, and, from what I've been hearing, it won't be until August, another two months, before they're able to drill an alternative well to try and slow the flow. But at least, with the capping of this one, it's a start.
In much happier news, June is finally here! And we all know what that means! That's right! Summer vacation is also finally here! I, for one, still have one more week of school left, this upcoming one, and after Friday, it will be my time at last! I can finally catch up with all the things I've been wanting to do lately, like, oh, sleeping in late, and playing Beatles Rock Band, and watching Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies and Centric all day, and studying Hooked on Phonics, and visiting the library, and doing light gardening outside (Wait a minute! Am I channeling my mother here?) Well, you get my point. The next three or so months will be spent doing, well, whatever.
Of course, going to the library is never a bad idea, even during the school months. The library opens the door to a whole different world for young people, and can literally take them to different places, from magical lands like Oz, Wonderland, and Narnia, to real places where history was made, like the Island of Krakatoa (scene of the loudest volcanic explosion ever) and Mount Everest, where, recently, a teenager became the youngest person ever to scale it. You can even go there and check out the lives of famous people as well, like Anne Frank, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, or even the Beatles! Hey, maybe I'll take my mom's advice and visit the local library more often this summer. Speaking of which, here's my personal challenge to all of you young people out there: put down the video game and the remote control, and pick up a book this summer. You can read one to two books a month, so that would be about six books you could tackle this upcoming summer. And that's a thrill that can rival even Grand Theft Auto!
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, since we were last together, BP had, finally, capped the well! Yes! The well is capped! But that doesn't mean that all is fine and dandy. Oil is still leaking out, and, from what I've been hearing, it won't be until August, another two months, before they're able to drill an alternative well to try and slow the flow. But at least, with the capping of this one, it's a start.
In much happier news, June is finally here! And we all know what that means! That's right! Summer vacation is also finally here! I, for one, still have one more week of school left, this upcoming one, and after Friday, it will be my time at last! I can finally catch up with all the things I've been wanting to do lately, like, oh, sleeping in late, and playing Beatles Rock Band, and watching Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies and Centric all day, and studying Hooked on Phonics, and visiting the library, and doing light gardening outside (Wait a minute! Am I channeling my mother here?) Well, you get my point. The next three or so months will be spent doing, well, whatever.
Of course, going to the library is never a bad idea, even during the school months. The library opens the door to a whole different world for young people, and can literally take them to different places, from magical lands like Oz, Wonderland, and Narnia, to real places where history was made, like the Island of Krakatoa (scene of the loudest volcanic explosion ever) and Mount Everest, where, recently, a teenager became the youngest person ever to scale it. You can even go there and check out the lives of famous people as well, like Anne Frank, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, or even the Beatles! Hey, maybe I'll take my mom's advice and visit the local library more often this summer. Speaking of which, here's my personal challenge to all of you young people out there: put down the video game and the remote control, and pick up a book this summer. You can read one to two books a month, so that would be about six books you could tackle this upcoming summer. And that's a thrill that can rival even Grand Theft Auto!
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Thank You All, So Much
Hello, everybody!
Well, I'm sure you all have heard by now that Betrayers of the Population's (oops! My bad!), I mean, British Petroleum's, latest attempt to put a stop to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has drastically failed. The "top kill" ending up not even attempting to kill the gushing oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf, and now, they're looking for other options, but, if you ask me, I really think that all their options have pretty much run out. And time is running out for all of the sea animals in the Gulf as well. I looked at a picture in the front page section of The Los Angeles Times this morning and I saw a dead dolphin lying in the water, being towed behind a marine biologist boat. So the killed Flipper (the bastards!), and it all looks like it's going to go downhill from here on in, and pretty fast, if you ask me. So a way of life that the Gulf shore people have known for centuries, as well as a way of life the rest of us would know through low prices and non scarcity of supplies, will soon and tragically come to an end. Thank you, BP, so much.
And I would also like to say a brief "thank you" to three of the most talented people this world has ever known, who have all recently taken their final bows on this earthly stage. First of all, I'd like to say thank you to the lovely Leena Horne, a rare beauty on the inside as well as out, who entertained a multitude of generations while contributing to the civil rights movement in her own elegant way. I'd also would like to say kudos to Gary Coleman, who continues to entertain millions around the world through reruns of the classic sitcom Different Strokes, through many syndicated outlets, including TV Land, and who, along with his cast members Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Conrad Bain, and Charlotte Rae, taught many, many people that, no matter who you are, people are really the same wherever you go. And finally, a final shout out to the one and only Dennis Hopper, one of the original Easy Riders, who put up a valiant battle with cancer in later years. Whether he was on screen or in real life, he taught us all that you can be a rebel and a bit of a cup up at the very same time. All three of these very talented thespians have made their mark on the world's stage, and in the hearts and minds of people all over the world. Thank you all, so very much.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the survivors on the earthquakes!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, I'm sure you all have heard by now that Betrayers of the Population's (oops! My bad!), I mean, British Petroleum's, latest attempt to put a stop to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has drastically failed. The "top kill" ending up not even attempting to kill the gushing oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf, and now, they're looking for other options, but, if you ask me, I really think that all their options have pretty much run out. And time is running out for all of the sea animals in the Gulf as well. I looked at a picture in the front page section of The Los Angeles Times this morning and I saw a dead dolphin lying in the water, being towed behind a marine biologist boat. So the killed Flipper (the bastards!), and it all looks like it's going to go downhill from here on in, and pretty fast, if you ask me. So a way of life that the Gulf shore people have known for centuries, as well as a way of life the rest of us would know through low prices and non scarcity of supplies, will soon and tragically come to an end. Thank you, BP, so much.
And I would also like to say a brief "thank you" to three of the most talented people this world has ever known, who have all recently taken their final bows on this earthly stage. First of all, I'd like to say thank you to the lovely Leena Horne, a rare beauty on the inside as well as out, who entertained a multitude of generations while contributing to the civil rights movement in her own elegant way. I'd also would like to say kudos to Gary Coleman, who continues to entertain millions around the world through reruns of the classic sitcom Different Strokes, through many syndicated outlets, including TV Land, and who, along with his cast members Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Conrad Bain, and Charlotte Rae, taught many, many people that, no matter who you are, people are really the same wherever you go. And finally, a final shout out to the one and only Dennis Hopper, one of the original Easy Riders, who put up a valiant battle with cancer in later years. Whether he was on screen or in real life, he taught us all that you can be a rebel and a bit of a cup up at the very same time. All three of these very talented thespians have made their mark on the world's stage, and in the hearts and minds of people all over the world. Thank you all, so very much.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the survivors on the earthquakes!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Worst Movie Ever?
Hi, hi, hi!
Ocean cataclysm, week five: Well, they put that mile-long pipe down in the oil-filled hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and it seems to be working, but, unfortunately for the rest of us, the oil is still leaking out, and from what I've been hearing, the leak is a lot worse than many of us thought it was. And now, BP (which now seems to stand for Betraying the Population rather than for British Petroleum) is spraying some kind of toxic substance across the Gulf of Mexico, they say it's to help break down the oil that's coming to the surface, but if you ask me, I say that the cure is much worse than the illness. I've also been hearing that the oil coming out of the bottom of the ocean is just as toxic as the stuff they're spraying on the surface of the ocean. So, if you ask me, and even if you didn't, it's beginning to look like it's the end of the line for the ocean species of the Gulf region of this country, as well as the rest of us, because what affects the ocean life, will eventually affect the rest of us on top of dry land as well.
Oh well, in much happier news, the end of another school year is almost upon us! And that means, summer vacation's almost here! Yes! It will soon be time for all us kids (and our teachers) to take a much-needed break, and try to forget about all that's been going on in the world this year, with the oil rig exploding and sinking and consequent oil well rupture, with all the airplane crashes (the latest being this past weekend in India, with about 160 or so dead), with the earthquakes and the volcanoes, and, the unkindest cut of all, the end of the TV show Lost tonight (I, for one, will sorely miss this weekly combination of Giligan's Island and Twilight Zone). Another thing you can check out this summer, and only if you're really into this sort of thing, is the 1989 movie Troll 2, which many people have actually called the worst movie ever made (up until Troll 2, Plan 9 From Outer Space was named the worst movie ever made, which, if you think about it, should tell you something about Troll 2 right then and there). There's even a documentary about it, called, quite naturally, Best Worst Movie, which is quite funny (the documentary as well as the campy thriller it's about). OK, so it's not exactly Gone with the Wind, and there's much more interesting things to do with an hour and a half of your life, unless, of course, it's raining very hard outside or your car broke down and you can't go anywhere, but if in the event that either one of those things happen, Troll 2 is a good movie to watch, while you're doing something else. So if you have to catch up on your ironing, or if you want to finally try making that homemade cake from scratch, than this is the perfect movie to pop into your DVD player, of course, when your car is on the blink, and it's raining cats and dogs outside.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Ocean cataclysm, week five: Well, they put that mile-long pipe down in the oil-filled hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and it seems to be working, but, unfortunately for the rest of us, the oil is still leaking out, and from what I've been hearing, the leak is a lot worse than many of us thought it was. And now, BP (which now seems to stand for Betraying the Population rather than for British Petroleum) is spraying some kind of toxic substance across the Gulf of Mexico, they say it's to help break down the oil that's coming to the surface, but if you ask me, I say that the cure is much worse than the illness. I've also been hearing that the oil coming out of the bottom of the ocean is just as toxic as the stuff they're spraying on the surface of the ocean. So, if you ask me, and even if you didn't, it's beginning to look like it's the end of the line for the ocean species of the Gulf region of this country, as well as the rest of us, because what affects the ocean life, will eventually affect the rest of us on top of dry land as well.
Oh well, in much happier news, the end of another school year is almost upon us! And that means, summer vacation's almost here! Yes! It will soon be time for all us kids (and our teachers) to take a much-needed break, and try to forget about all that's been going on in the world this year, with the oil rig exploding and sinking and consequent oil well rupture, with all the airplane crashes (the latest being this past weekend in India, with about 160 or so dead), with the earthquakes and the volcanoes, and, the unkindest cut of all, the end of the TV show Lost tonight (I, for one, will sorely miss this weekly combination of Giligan's Island and Twilight Zone). Another thing you can check out this summer, and only if you're really into this sort of thing, is the 1989 movie Troll 2, which many people have actually called the worst movie ever made (up until Troll 2, Plan 9 From Outer Space was named the worst movie ever made, which, if you think about it, should tell you something about Troll 2 right then and there). There's even a documentary about it, called, quite naturally, Best Worst Movie, which is quite funny (the documentary as well as the campy thriller it's about). OK, so it's not exactly Gone with the Wind, and there's much more interesting things to do with an hour and a half of your life, unless, of course, it's raining very hard outside or your car broke down and you can't go anywhere, but if in the event that either one of those things happen, Troll 2 is a good movie to watch, while you're doing something else. So if you have to catch up on your ironing, or if you want to finally try making that homemade cake from scratch, than this is the perfect movie to pop into your DVD player, of course, when your car is on the blink, and it's raining cats and dogs outside.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue