Neen Tribune

Thursday, October 9th, 2003

In Today's Tribune
By Amerfino B. Aquino

I saw an amazing statistic yesterday. Did you know that in the year 2002, over 43 million Americans were without health care? That's mind boggling. In this age of modern high tech advancements, we're still in the stone age when it comes down to taking care of our own.

The cost of the Iraqi war is $78 billion and still counting. Now President Bush wants to give another $87 million to help install a new government there. For what? So they can stab us in the back again? What's wrong here?

As most of you know, I have advanced rheumatoid arthritis. There was a time when I couldn't move in my own bed because of the pain. Trying to get out of bed was another painful story. Then, due to modern medicine, I began a Remicade infusion program. Every two months I'd get an infusion (IV) of Remicade at the hospital. When the arthritis got wise to that, I started on an Enbrel program. I give myself an Enbrel fix twice a week. Enbrel has made my life bearable. On top of the Enbrel I take; 12.5 mg of methotrexate a week, 5 mg of prednisone a day, 1 mg of folic acid a day and I also have a prescription for Motrin for the occasional flare-ups. Do you know how much all of this stuff costs? The Remicade costs $2,200 per infusion and the Enbrel costs $1,300 per month (8 injections).

I have no idea how much all the pills cost but you can imagine.

I'm lucky. I have health insurance. There are some that aren't so lucky.

I belong to a Yahoo! arthritis group and every day I read messages from the different members. I read of their pain afflicted lives and can relate as to how they feel. I know their agony. I've read many messages where the member or their spouse has lost his or her job and do not have health insurance. They endure without medicine. They live with the pain and suffering. It's sad. There are a multitude of medicines out there that can help slow down the deformity process but they can't afford it. The arthritis spreads till they are crippled and are no longer able to even contribute to the workforce. How, in a clear conscience, can this government give so much to other countries and yet fail to recognize the need for health care for those in their own backyard? What's more important? Our citizens or Iraq?

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953

I've decided to give myself a day off tomorrow. I hope you all take a minute and think about those who are less fortunate than you.

Here's today's tidbits

Scorpio's page has been updated. Click on the link at the left to access it.

Don't forget to view the Piknik photos

Click here 2003 Piknik Photo Album

Born on October 9th

John Lennon (1940)

Jackson Browne (1948)

Sharon Osbourne (1952)

Scott Bakula (1954)

Steve Burns (1973)

Zachery Ty Bryan (1981)

Note: Taiyo has admitted herself into the Betty Ford clinic. We have installed a joke submitted by Chiyo. We hope this is only temporary .

Marylou

A man was sitting quietly reading his paper one morning, peacefully enjoying himself, when his wife
sneaks up behind him and whacks him on the back of his head with a huge frying pan.
MAN: "What was that for?"

WIFE: "What was that piece of paper in your pants pocket with the name Marylou written on it?"

MAN: "Oh honey, remember two weeks ago when I went to the horse races? Marylou was the name of one of the horses I bet on."

The wife looked all satisfied, apologizes, and goes off to do work around the house. Three days later he is once again sitting in his chair reading and she repeats the frying pan swatting.

MAN: "What was that for this time?"

WIFE: "Your horse phoned."

New Ride At Raging Waters - Wata Sride

        Puzzler

Question

What is it that when you take away the whole, you still have some left over?

Answer
Wholesome

Fickle Feline

What is the Daily Buzzword for October 9?
paternal \puh-TER-nul\ adjective What does it mean? 1 : fatherly 2 : related through the father How do you use it? Uncle Vern, my wacky paternal uncle, often tells me stories about the mischief he and my dad got into as little boys. Are you a word wiz? "Paternal" traces back to the Latin word "pater," which means "father." Which of the words below do you think is also from "pater"? A. parent B. patent C. patient D. patriot Answer: Even though your pater may be a patently patient parent, the word "patriot" is the only one in our list that is related to "pater." English speakers actually learned "patriot" from a French word that meant "someone from one's own country." That French word descended from the Latin "patria," meaning "lineage," and "patria" came from "pater." We listed only one "pater" descendant, but that root has given English many other words including "patron" (which refers to a customer in a store) and "expatriate" (a synonym of the verb "exile").

Women

Today's Jigsaw puzzle

    Tamale Mamas

Click here http://www.jigzone.com/ms/z.php?ui=620820049i1020689&z=48_piece_classic

Like I said, I'm taking tomorrow off. I hope you all have a very safe and pleasant weekend. See you Monday. Peace.



The following is what appeared in Wednesday's edition............

In Today's Tribune
By Amerfino B. Aquino

Bush Privatization Plan Passes Senate Washington Post Wednesday, September 24, 2003; Page A09 The Senate handed the White House a victory yesterday when lawmakers defeated an attempt to curtail President Bush's drive to open up more government jobs to bidding by private contractors. Lawmakers turned back an amendment to an appropriations bill by Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) that would have blocked new studies of whether private contractors should take over thousands of jobs now done by federal employees at the Interior and Agriculture departments. The vote was 51 to 44.
The beginning of the end? Yup, Bush is pushing real hard and his Republican buddies are backing him all the way. Do you realize what could happen if he gets his way?
This "new company" could fire all of the work force and hire new employees at minimum wage giving the new owners a big lump in their wallets. How would you like to pay $2.19 for a stamp? That's possible too. Think of the profits! The stockholders would love this.
Don't take this too lightly. Brother Jeb in Florida has already eliminated thousands of civil servant jobs down south.
That's all I'm going to say on this matter. What happened to the good old days when if a company made a little profit and the workers were decently paid, everybody co-existed peacefully? Today it seems that everybody is downsizing and putting faithful, reliable workers on the street. All to please the stockholders. It's a shame what greed can do.

Here's today's tidbits

Scorpio's page has been updated. Click on the link at the left to access it.

Don't forget to view the Piknik photos

Click here 2003 Piknik Photo Album

Born on October 8th

·        Juan Peron (1895)

·        Rona Barrett (1936)

·        Paul Hogan (1939)

·        Jesse Jackson (1941)

·        R.L. Stine (1943)

·        Chevy Chase (1943)

·        Sigourney Weaver (1949)

·        Stephanie Zimbalist (1956)

·        Matt Damon (1970)

Note: Taiyo has not been heard of since she received her dime bag. We have installed a joke submitted by Chiyo. We hope this is only a temporary lapse.

After spending time with Eve, Adam was walking in the Garden with God.
Adam told God how much the woman meant to him and how blessed he was to have her. Adam began to ask questions about her.

Adam: Lord, Eve is beautiful. Why did you make her so beautiful?
God: So you will always want to look at her.

Adam: Lord, her skin is so soft. Why did you make her skin so soft?
God: So you will always want to touch her.

Adam: She always smells so good. Lord, why did you make her smell so good?
God: So you will always want to be near her.

Adam: That's wonderful Lord, and I don't want to seem ungrateful, but why did you make her so stupid?
God: So she would love you.

The Difference Between Men And Women

Paradigms

Did you know a basic unit of laryngitis is one hoarsepower? How about the shortest distance between two jokes? A straight line, of course.

Here are some other tongue-in-cheek twists to metric system conversions/units:

--1/2 large intestine = one semicolon
--1,000 aches = one megahertz
--Weight an evangelist carries with God = one billigram
--Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = one bananasecond
--453.6 graham crackers = one pound cake
--A one-mile journey = one Milwaukee
--Ten cards = one decacards
--Eight nickels = two paradigms
--2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds
--One kilogram of falling figs = one fig newton
--1,000 grams of wet socks = one liter hosen
--10 monologs = five dialogues
--Five dialogues = one decalogue
--Five monograms = one diagram
--100 Senators = not one decision!

AOL?

What is the Daily Buzzword for October 8?
journal \JER-nul\ noun What does it mean? 1 : a brief account of daily events : diary 2 a : a daily newspaper b : a magazine that reports on things of special interest to a particular group How do you use it? Emily couldn't wait to find out if her short story would be included in the school's literary journal. Are you a word wiz? Like so many other English words, "journal" comes ultimately from Latin. What do you think the Latin root of "journal" means? A. news B. day C. author D. memories Answer: If you picked B, you made our day. From the Latin words "dies," which means "day," and "diurnus," meaning "of a day" or "daily," came the French word "journal," which was borrowed into English with the same spelling. Originally it was also an adjective meaning "daily," but now it functions only as a noun. The use of "journal" to mean "a day-to-day record of events" appeared in the early 1600s. It was later used for a newspaper that was published daily. Still later, that meaning was broadened to include a special interest magazine that might only be published a few times a year.

Today's Jigsaw puzzle

     Grandpa

Click here http://www.jigzone.com/ms/z.php?ui=620820049i1019449&z=48_piece_classic

That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for some more stuff. Peace.



The following is what appeared in Tuesday's edition....................

In Today's Tribune
By Amerfino B. Aquino
Since I was talking about the Postal Service yesterday, I thought about hashing around another subject that has to do with postal employees. Our President wants to privatize the Postal Service. That means he wants to take it out of the government's hands and sell it to the highest bidder, mainly his rich crony buddies. His father tried to do that when he was in office and was soundly defeated. Now junior is trying to fulfill another of his daddy's dreams. First Sadaam, then Iraq and now privatization. I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the phone to daddy every day getting instructions on how to run the world. Ok, I won't get into politics or logistics but I'll give you the crux of the matter. The good ol' boys know that the Postal Service could be a big money making organization which it was not intended to be. It was constructed to provide the country with a means to send and receive mail. That's it. No profit. George W. wants to sell it off (and you just know he'll get a piece of the cake) and rid the government of this huge burden.
I'll talk more about this tomorrow.

Here's today's tidbits

Scorpio's page has been updated. Click on the link at the left to access it.

Don't forget to view the Piknik photos

Click here 2003 Piknik Photo Album

Born on October 7th

Andy Devine (1905)

June Allyson (1917)

Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931)

John Cougar Mellencamp (1951)

Vladimir Putin (1952)

Yo-Yo Ma (1955)

Thom Yorke (1968)

Toni Braxton (1968)

You know you're a redneck if your wife's hairdo has ever been ruined by a ceiling fan.

You know you're a redneck if both your dog and your wallet are on a chain.

You know you're a redneck if your house doesn't have curtains but your pickup does.

You know you're a redneck if your car window is a Hefty bag.

You know you're a redneck if Red Man chewing tobacco sent you a Christmas card.

You know you're a redneck if your family tree does not fork.

You know you're a redneck if the primary color of your car is 'bondo'.

You know you're a redneck if you have a rag as a gas-cap.

You know you're a redneck if in your wedding picture, you had a toothpick in your mouth.

You know you're a redneck if you consider a six-pack and a bug-zapper quality entertainment.

You know you're a redneck if your belt buckle is bigger than your wife's head.

You know you're a redneck if directions to your house include: and then you turn off the paved road...

You know you're a redneck if going to the bathroom at night involves putting on your shoes and carrying a flashlight.

You know you're a redneck if people ask to hunt in your front yard.

You know you're a redneck if your most successful pick-up line is, "Hey Baby, nice tooth!"

You know you're a redneck if your daughter gets married and all the wedding guests sit on the same side of the church.

Bush's Hotmail Box

        Puzzler

Question

What is it that when you take away the whole, you still have some left over?

answer on Friday

Failed Drug Test

Today's useless fact –

What good are goose bumps?

None whatsoever. You'd have to be a stunningly hairy guy - Howard Stern or somebody - to get anything useful out of them. Goose bumps are a vestige of the days when we all had pelts. Attached to every hair follicle is a tiny muscle called the "pilo erector". When you get the willies or the shivers, this muscle pulls on the hair, so it stands on end. This is good if you're an animal: It makes you look bigger and more ferocious. It also keeps you warmer by trapping dead air. In humans, however, all it does is make us look like something from the poultry case.

A Cat's Life?

What is the Daily Buzzword for October 7th?
ambiguous \am-BIG-yuh-wus\ adjective What does it mean? : able to be understood in more than one way How do you use it? Danny's message was so ambiguous that it was impossible to tell whether he wanted us to meet him at the mall or at his house. Are you a word wiz? Which of the following words do you think are most closely related to "ambiguous"? (Remember, look for a family resemblance!) A. antebellum, antecedent, antedate B. animated, animosity, inanimate C. ambidextrous, ambivalent, amphibian D. appease, apologize, appendage Answer: Today's word cousins are "ambidextrous," "ambivalent," and "amphibian." All of those words come from either the Latin prefix "ambi-" (which means "on both sides" or "around") or the Greek prefix "amphi-" (which is closely related to "ambi-" and which means the same thing). Someone who is ambidextrous can do things equally well with both hands, while someone who is ambivalent both likes and dislikes a situation. An amphibian can live both on land and in water.

Today's Jigsaw puzzle

     The Partridge Pamily

Click here http://www.jigzone.com/ms/z.php?ui=620820049i1018016&z=48_piece_classic

That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for some more stuff. Peace.



The following is what appeared in Monday's edition....................

In Today's Tribune
By Amerfino B. Aquino
People are always giving the Postal Service a bad rap and I'm as guilty as the next guy. Sure, sometimes your mail doesn't always arrive on time but it's not always the postman's fault. Do you realize how many people handled that letter that you mailed yesterday? Let's say you mailed a letter from Hacienda Heights and it is addressed to Santa Clarita. By the way, I don't think anybody from Hacienda Heights, Loma Linda, Fullerton, Covina, Fontana or Cucamonga has ever mailed a nice letter to Santa Clarita. Anyways, first your postman picked it up and took it to the station where it was sorted by destination. Then it was sent by truck to the Santa Clarita Main Facility where it was read by an OCR and given a barcode. It is then sent through a Barcode Sorter machine (BCS) and sorted by city. It is then sent through another machine (DBCS) which reads the barcode and sorts it by it's location on the street route! These DBCS's are amazing. They can sort through over 40,000 pieces of mail in an hour and still read the barcode! You'd have to see it to believe it. That letter is then trucked to the Santa Clarita station where the letter carrier picks it up along with the rest of the mail on his route and delivers it to it's destination. Whew!
Did you know?
The Postal Service:

Delivers mail to almost 138 million homes, businesses, and post office boxes. About 1.7 million new addresses are added each year.

Carries more mail to more people over a larger geographic area than any other country.

Serves 7 million customers daily at one of 38,000 postal retail units, and 10 million customers a month online.

Collects mail from more than 326,000 street mail collection boxes.

Employs 750,000 career employees, including 235,985 veterans and 47,937 employees with disabilities.

Handles more than 200 billion pieces of mail a year, or five pieces per address per day.

Operates a transport and delivery fleet of 215,530 vehicles driving approximately 1.15 billion miles a year.

That's a lot of mail! Ok, I can hear you now. "You guys keep raising the price of stamps!". Take a look at the rates for these countries.

Germany.............59/oz

Japan..................53/oz

Italy.....................52/oz

Switzerland.........47/oz

France.................49/oz

Great Britain........41/oz

Canada................40/oz

Australia..............34/oz

Ok, the Aussies are cheaper but they don't have as many people and businesses per square mile as the United States does. So the next time you find yourself complaining about the rising cost of stamps, just remind yourself how good you've got it.

Here's today's tidbits

Scorpio's page has been updated. Click on the link at the left to access it.

Don't forget to view the Piknik photos

Click here 2003 Piknik Photo Album

Born on October 6th

·        George Westinghouse (1846)

·        Le Corbusier (1887)

·        Carole Lombard (1908)

·        Britt Ekland (1942)

·        Elisabeth Shue (1963)

·        Amy Jo Johnson (1970)

"Do you really believe your husband when he tells you he

goes fishing every weekend?" asked Jane's best friend.

"Why shouldn't I?" Jane inquired.

"Well, maybe he is having an affair?"

"No way! He returns every time without any fish."

Proud Pup?

Mergers

It seems that, because of current economic conditions, many companies are contemplating mergers and acquisitions. Here are a few to keep an eye on:

1. XEROX and WURLITZER. (They're going to make reproductive organs)

2. FAIRCHILD ELECTRONICS and HONEYWELL COMPUTERS. (The new company will be called (Fairwell Honeychild)

3. POLYGRAM RECORDS, WARNER BROTHERS and KEEBLER. (The new company will be called Poly-Warner-Cracker)

4. W.R.GRACE CO., FULLER BRUSH CO., MARY KAY COSMETICS, and HALE BUSINESS SYSTEMS. (The new company will be called Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace)

5. 3M and GOODYEAR. (The new company will be called MMM Good).

6. JOHN DEERE and ABITIBI-PRICE. (The new company will be called Deere Abi)

7. HONEYWELL, IMASCO and HOME OIL. (The new company will be called Honey, Im Home)

8. DENISON MINES, ALLIANCE and METAL MINING. (The new company will be called Mine All Mine)

9. GREY POUPON and DOCKERS PANTS. (The new company will be called Poupon Pants)

10. KNOTT'S BERRY FARM and THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN. (The new company will be called Knott NOW)

11. ZIPPO MANUFACTURING, AUDI, DOFASCO and DAKOTA MINING. (The new company will be called Zip Audi Do-Da)

12. And the latest addition to the above list would be the merger of COLONEL SANDERS' FRIED CHICKEN AND SCHICK RAZOR CO. (The new company will be called Chicken Schick)

New Barbie Doll

What is the Daily Buzzword for October 6th?
saturate \SACH-uh-rayt\ verb What does it mean? 1 : to soak or fill with something to the point where no more can be absorbed or dissolved 2 : to fill completely with something that penetrates : steep How do you use it? In order to get out the taco sauce he spilled on his favorite shirt, Garth had to saturate the spot with stain remover. Are you a word wiz? The English language isn't exactly saturated with synonyms for today's Buzzword, but there are a few. Which one of the words below do you think has almost the same meaning as "saturate"? A. drench B. relax C. predict D. investigate Answer: Consider yourself steeped in language know-how if you picked A. "Saturate" and "drench," as well as "soak" and "steep," all mean "to pass or to be passed through a liquid." "Soak" suggests dunking something in liquid for a long time in order to soften or clean it. "Saturate," on the other hand, stresses soaking something to the point where no more liquid can be absorbed. "Steep" applies to the soaking of something (such as tea in hotwater) so that some part of the thing passes into the liquid. And "drench" implies a thorough wetting from something that pours down.

Today's Jigsaw puzzle

     My Girls

Click here    http://www.jigzone.com/ms/z.php?ui=620820049i1016817&z=48_piece_classic

That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for some more stuff. Peace.