To Service Members & Their Families

Having lots of things on my mind and unable to sleep I turn to you tube for some company and some interesting music. You tube never disappoints. Tonight’s gem is perfect, as I have a couple of big projects coming up in support of Service Members and their families – in particular the little ones. Now I’m smiling, feeling better and finally sleepy. Enjoy the music!

It's Fleet Week in NYC!

What is Fleet Week?:

The first Fleet Week in NYC occurred for our nation's bicentenial in 1976. It was a such a hugely popular event that once the economy recovered NY made plans to bring the Fleet back. And they have been here every memorial day since 1984, honoring the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The week features military demonstrations, as well as the opportunity for the public to tour some of the visiting ships. The Memorial Day commemoration is a highlight of the week's festivities, featuring the singing of Taps and a military aircraft fly over in honor of those who lost their lives in service to the United States.

Fleet Week Activities:

Wednesday, May 20th
10 a.m.-1 p.m. - Parade of Ships
Where: Along the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan

Thursday, May 21st
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Marine Day in Central Park
Bands, static displays, martial arts demos, military working dogs
Where: Central Park – 5th Ave. & 72nd Street

11 a.m.-noon - USCG Search and Rescue Demo
Location: Stapleton Pier, Staten Island

3-5 p.m. - USMC Air/Ground Demonstration
Where: Central Park

Friday, May 22 9 a.m.-10:15 a.m.
Reenlistment / Promotion Ceremony
Where: World Trade Center

10 a.m.–noon - USMC Display
Aviation and personnel equipment
Where: Orchard Beach/Pelham Bay Park, Bronx

11 a.m. - noon - Iwo Jima Wreath Laying
Where: Intrepid Museum

Saturday, May 23
7:30 a.m.-9 a.m. Tug Of War –
USN vs. USMC on the NBC Today Show
Where: Rockefeller Plaza, 49th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan.

9 a.m.-4 p.m. - USMC Day in Times Square
bands, static displays, martial arts demos, military working dogs
Where: 7th Ave & 46th St.

10 a.m.-noon - USMC Air/Ground Demo
Where: Eisenhower Park, Long Island

3-5 p.m. - USMC Air/Ground Demo
Where: Clove Lake Park, Staten Island

5-8 p.m. - USMC Band Performances
Where: Central Park Band Shell

Sunday, May 24
10 a.m.-noon - USMC Air/Ground Demos
Where: Intrepid Museum

noon-4 p.m. - Intrepid Band Performances
Where: Intrepid Museum

3-4 p.m. - Intrepid Best Chow Contest
Where: Intrepid Museum

5-7 p.m. - USMC Air/Ground Demo
Where: Playland Park, Rye NY

Monday, May 25
11 a.m.-1 p.m. - USMC Air/Ground Demo
Where: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens

11 a.m.-2 p.m. - Kings County Memorial Day Parade
Where: 3rd Ave & 87th St, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Glendale Memorial Day Parade
Where: Ridgewood / Glendale, NY

Noon-3 p.m. - Staten Island Memorial Day Parade
Where: Hart Blvd & Forest Ave, Staten Island

1-2 p.m. - Manhattan Memorial Day Parade
Where: Broadway & Dyckman Streets, Manhattan

2-5 p.m. - Memorial Day Parade - Bronx City Island
Where: City Island, Bronx

Tuesday, May 26
9-11 a.m. - USMC Air/Ground Demo
Where: Westbury High School, Long Island

Wednesday, May 27
Ships and service members depart New York City :(

Lighthouse Challenge

Here's something I used to do years ago and wish I had time for now: The "Lighthouse Challenge." If you visit 10 Long Island lighthouses (pictured above is the Long Beach Bar Lighthouse at Peconic Bay) this Saturday at your own pace, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., you'll receive a commemorative souvenir at the end of the journey. Individual lighthouse fees apply. For info call 631-661-4876, or visit: http://lilighthousesociety.org

~ Looking For Your Face ~ by Rumi

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstacy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your efflugence
has lit a fire in my heart
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer

~Poem by Rumi; Translation by Farsi scholar Fereydoun Kia

~ My Burning Heart's Bittersweetness ~

Poems by Rumi; Translated by Deepak Chopra; Reading by Chopra & Madonna

~ My Burning Heart ~

My heart is burning with love
All can see this flame
My heart is pulsing with passion
like waves on an ocean

My friends have become strangers
and I’m surrounded by enemies
But I’m free as the wind
no longer hurt by those who reproach me

I’m at home wherever I am
And in the room of lovers
I can see with closed eyes
the beauty that dances

Behind the veils
intoxicated with love
I too dance the rhythm
of this moving world
I have lost my senses
in my world of lovers

~ Bittersweet ~

In my hallucination
I saw my beloved's flower garden
In my vertigo, in my dizziness
In my drunken haze
Whirling and dancing like a spinning wheel

I saw myself as the source of existence
I was there in the beginning
And I was the spirit of love
Now I am sober
There is only the hangover
And the memory of love
And only the sorrow

I yearn for happiness
I ask for help
I want mercy
And my love says:

Look at me and hear me
Because I am here
Just for that

I am your moon and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden and your water too
I have come all this way, eager for you
Without shoes or shawl

I want you to laugh
To kill all your worries
To love you
To nourish you

Oh sweet bitterness
I will soothe you and heal you
I will bring you roses
I, too, have been covered with thorns

~ Intoxicated by Love ~

Because of your love
I have lost my sobriety
I am intoxicated
by the madness of love

In this fog
I have become a stranger to myself
I'm so drunk
I've lost the way to my house

In the garden
I see only your face
From trees and blossoms
I inhale only your fragrance

Drunk with the ecstasy of love
I can no longer tell the difference
between drunkard and drink
Between lover and Beloved

Memo to the Undecided Voter

Newsweek recently asked NYC Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, to share his thoughts on what the President-elect should focus on starting November 4th. What Bloomberg produced was a memorandum full of issues and ideas that Newsweek has published in their November 3rd issue.

In reading the memo I thought to myself "This is precisely the reason I'm really glad Bloomberg will be able to run for a 3rd term as Mayor. He has an understanding and a vision of where this city and our nation need to go. I'd like to see Speaker Christine Quinn's and Borough President Markowits vision for our city and nation. Which leads me to ask: Do they even have one?

In reading the memo I also thought it was a great guideline for undecided voters to use in figuring out who to vote for and who is best qualified to achieve the most items on that memo.

I hope you read it and ponder on its contents!

Buffett on the State of the Economy

Why Rescue is Needed/Who's to Blame

Please watch the first 3 minutes of the first video below so you'll understand the impact of this crisis on you. Then watch the info on who's also to blame for this mess. When you're done, contact you're congressional representative and let them know how you feel. Check out the list to see how your Representative voted, then tell them how you want them to vote. Currently representatives are receiving letters of 20 to 1 running against the bailout. I'm a fiscal conservative who absolutely hates the idea of a bailout, but the truth is, we've done nothing till now, and after last night's bailouts by European countries of large European banks, its obvious that doing nothing is no longer an option that works.

We need to stem the fiscal hemorrhaging before there's a global economic collapse. Sovereign weatlth funds (foreign goverments who invest their money in the US) have begun to pull their money out of the US stock market and out of American banks during the last week. If we don't bring confidence and faith back to our banking system, we can lose more than our retirements, we will eventually lose our jobs. The real truth is, our Government does not have enough money left to help you or me to bail us out. Think about that if you decide to do nothing.

If you want to make an informed decision before contacting your Congressional Representative, then check out the draft language of the bailout legislation.

Found this video accurate and interesting

HUGE Mistakes

Who is out of touch during this campaign? Well, since the Dems are now finding themselves floundering, they are getting into the business of throwing muck, insults and stating lies (as well as calling the Republican candidates liars, McCain as toooooo old and Palin as a greedy, flip/flopping, inexperienced woman candidate). Bad move! REALLY BAD MOVE!!!

They have just alienated 62% of the most active/dedicated voters:

1) Baby boomers: Men & women over 50, which are the largest and most consisting voting block in the country, that participated or remember WW2 & Vietnam.

2) Middle-aged White Women (aged 35 to 50): As one who tried to break the glass ceiling repeatedly and who eventually got through, the tone of the Democratic party used towards Sara Palin is both strident, contemptous and sexist! Those of us who have been exposed to it can detect the hint of it in the more subtle comments than the "lipstick on a pig" comment. The most glaring one is passing over Hillary (without even so much as a courtesy interview) as a VP choice, and going for Biden without even considering any other qualified woman on his ticket. Talk about the old boy network!

Prediction: As the Dems go down in poll numbers, they will take more desperate measures, like trying to spin untruths as facts and resorting to name-calling and even more blatant sexist and agist remarks. As a middle-aged white woman, ;) who has only begun to bloom even more. See, I knew that once Obama got off the scripted speeches his inexperience, arrogance/condescension towards the common man/woman (especially women).

BTW, I have to say this before as I EXPLODE! Regarding Obama's "comprehensive" sex education legislation for K - 12. NEWSFLASH!!! It's a parent's responsibility to protect their children from sexual predators AND TO TEACH their children about sex WHEN PARENTS BELIEVE ITS APPROPRIATE NOT WHEN THE GOV'T BELIEVES ITS APPROPRIATE. As a former educator, I would like to know how teachers would teach this before a child learns to read. ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS!

I find it interesting that Ms. Palin's voting and veto record is coming under scrutiny and we're not hearing about what votes Mr. Obama didn't vote on when he simply voted himself as "PRESENT". Or the close to 1 Billion dollars in earmarks he applied for during his 4 yrs as a senator. On that score alone he beats Ms. Palin handily. Bet you don't hear that on tv.