Thanks!!!!

-Alex

If McCain ends up getting elected, it will be because stupid women didn't care about issues, policies or morals; they were just pissed that Hillary Clinton didn't get nominated and they're going to vote for McCain because he picked Sarah Palin as his vice president. Let's break the "glass ceiling" (I've already grown tired of that term) just for breaking's sake! Never mind all the shards of glass the American people will have to pick up one by one in order to clean up the mess.

But I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like this is the first time this has happened  - even in this year's election. I'm willing to consider the possibility that a major reason Barack Obama got the nomination was because he is black. If you don't vote for the black guy, you're racist. And now, if you don't vote for the woman - especially after what happened to Sen. Clinton - you're sexist.

I wrote a few months ago about gender, age, race and religion playing a part in this election. I had really hoped that Americans would vote solely based on who would make the best president. And maybe they will. Maybe (hopefully) I'm overreacting.

But I'm pretty sure McCain picked Palin in order to win over those disappointed Hillary-ites who wanted a woman in the White House. So if McCain gets elected in November, it won't matter that the United States has its first female vice president. It won't prove our progressiveness, our equality, or our unbiasedness.

The only thing it will prove is that politicians take advantage of Americans, and that Americans are stupid enough to fall for it.

This is not the end of Barack Obama's campaign, however. It is merely the beginning. Aside from the small matter of defeating a 72 year old war veteran in a time of global crisis, Barack Obama has much to do once he assumes office. He confidently declared that the next decade will see the end of America's dependance on middle-eastern oil. He faces a weakened global economy, insecure borders, illegal immigration, rising oil prices, the continuing situation in Afghanistan and, perhaps most of all, the task of ending the US presence in Iraq.

The task which faces Barack Obama is not an easy one. The resurgent John McCain, alongside the frankly terrifying Sarah Palin loom large, but the Democratic party have declared with one united voice that there is nobody better qualified than he to take them on and defeat them. The world must wait until November before we find out whether the American people can truly believe in the change they bring.

Here is is:

NORTH ZULCH HOMECOMING – 100 YEAR CELEBRATION

All events held on the school grounds

Friday, 11/21/08
6:00 pm – Alumni Reception
7:00 pm – Annual Alumni Dinner (must have tickets in advance)

All proceeds benefit NZESA scholarship fund

Saturday, 11/22/08
8:00 am - Arts & Crafts Fair (Booth rental $20)
9:00 am - Tiny Mr/Miss NZ Contest
10:30 am - Parade
11:00 am - 2:00 pm - NZ Booster Club BBQ & Live Auction to benefit 4-H/FFA Club
6:00 pm – Boys Basketball Game, followed immediately by the girls game

For information / booth rental:  Contact Melissa Radde (936) 399-3501 or NZexstudents@yahoo.com

North Zulch ISD Website

This will be the 47th year of Homecoming celebrations for North Zulch.  While the town is small, the celebration has continued to grow.  The Friday night banquet is host to over 200 ex-students that come in to visit and contribute to the upcoming year's scholarship fund.

Saturday's activities include a small parade that is mostly made up of floats that have been created by current students and local organizations.  Several antique cars and Santa Claus usually accompany the entourage.

The Arts & Crafts Show is intentionally limited to the number of participants and as diverse as possible.  The school has always been very generous in allowing us to take over their facilities.  This allows us to have both outdoor and indoor booth spaces so that the weather is not a problem.  Some of our returning vendors include jewelry, candles, woodworking, western art and leather works.  We gladly offer booth spaces to organizations such as Project Graduation etc.  There are always a few booths with Christmas items.  There are no booth spaces that allow garage sale like items.  The roads are closed to through traffic for pedestrian convenience and safety.

The local 4-H Booster club and FFA sponsor a barbecue and live auction starting at 11.  This is the primary fundraiser for these kids to raise money for the County Fair in the Spring.  It is a very popular event and the food is well worth the wait in line!  The school cafeteria seats 375 and it will be crowded.

This sounds fun! I wonder if they'll have fried Twinkies. I've never had one of those, but I'm interested.

North Zulch is about 20 minutes Northeast of Bryan on Hwy 21.

A quick glance at pollingreport.com reveals that Congress' highest approval ratings during Bush's last term were in 05 when the routinely hit above 40%. However, since the week of April 12-15, when ABC/Washington Post reported the approval rating at 44%, Congress has failed to reach 40%. Since the week of April 25-May 1, Congress has managed to only reach an approval rating of at least 30% a few times (that week they reached 39%.) Since 2008 began Congress has only reached an approval rating of 30% once, reported once again by ABC/Washington  Post for the week of January 30-February 1.The most up-to-date poll by Diageo/Hotline RV show an approval rating of 16%.

When dividing the parties, we come to different numbers. The Harris Poll shows currently that only 22% of people polled believe the Democrats in Congress are doing a good job. Republicans received 21%  of people believing they have done a good job.

The President on the other hand currently has a 30% approval rating, for those who can't do math that means he is 8% higher than Democrats in Congress, 9% higher than Republicans in Congress, and 24% higher than Congress in general. For a man who is routinely made out to be the bad guy, President Bush has managed to maintain at least a 20% approval rating in 2008. In 2007 Bush failed to have at least a 29% approval rating only five times, the lowest not even dipping beneath 25%.

The Supreme Court has the highest approval rating to date at 39% of Americans who approve of their job. This was taken by the Quinnipiac University Poll for July 8-13. When asked by the same people for the same week if the Court was moving in the right direction, 33% of those polled answered yes. The Gallup Poll back on the week of June 9-12 asked how those polled viewed how the Court was handling it's job, 48% of those polled said they approved.

It is hard to imagine that Mr. Biden really believes that Barack is the man who will bring trust back to the Federal government. If this were true then his own party wouldn't have had threats of schism all the way up through the historic nomination of Mr. Obama earlier tonight. If Obama can't even have assurance that his own party will stand unified behind him, why does Mr. Biden believe that this will be true for the whole nation? At this point I find it hard to imagine that any man, woman or child could possible regain the trust of the American people for a flawed Federal government. If the Federal government desires to regain our trust they must be willing to earn it, and it won't come by electing a self proclaimed Messiah. Remember Mr. Biden, not even Jesus Christ had the support of most of the world until after he was executed for high treason.

After Senator Obama announced Senator Biden as his running mate, the masses did not flock to Obama as experts had predicted. In fact, Biden has actually caused Obama to lose ground in the early stages of this Presidential election. How could he or anyone claim that Obama is the Messiah we have been promised to help return the lost children of America to her bosom? Obama couldn't even get a spike in the polls, which is traditional after a candidate has announced his running mate. It would appear that the hopes and dreams of the Democratic party rest in who Mr. McCain will choose as his running mate. Either way, Joe Biden must be drinking from the same pitcher of kool-aid as Jim Jones. I can only hope that there are those out there that will not fall into the trap, because certainly in this election year the Democrats have been full of crap at their Convention.

One of the few regrets I have in the salsa scene was missing the very 1st Salsa Congress in the Philippines back in 2005. How can a Pinoy like me miss such a good thing? Ah, but then past is past.

On the last week of December 2006, I emailed David Melendez asking him If I can help out for the next Philippine Salsa Congress.  I received a reply in an instant saying, "Hey Rod, I appreciate your willingness to help out, but we will not be doing a congress this year, But  I will let you know."

After a few days, I have heard from a friend in New York that David had been battling Malignant Mesenchymal Tumor. In a word, Cancer. So being the cancer survivor that I am, on December 27, 2006, I felt compelled to call him again just give him a pep talk and positive energy.

He was very positive and upbeat and assured me that we would see each other and talk at the Salsa Event in Palm Springs. Little did I know that was the last time I'll ever talk to him.

On February 8, 2007, on his way to his new dance studio in Florida, David sufffered a seizure and died. It was a big shock to the salsa community world. He was an icon and was a true ambassador of salsa. To this day, David Melendez is sorely missed.

Last year of 2007, the New York Salsa Congress, which happened to be David Melendez creation, started honoring David by giving The David Melendez Award. "Every year, we at the New York Salsa Congress honor a person or persons that contributed in his or her own way to the dance community.  From now on, we are acknowledging this honor as the David Melendez Award.  This year, at the 7th Annual New York Salsa Congress, it gives us great pleasure in presenting the award to its first recipient, to its namesake, Mr. David Melendez."  - NYC Congress Inc

Indeed, David's Legacy continues, the salsa congresses he created all over are still being held yearly, and of course, one of them is the Philippine Salsa Festival. This is David Melendez's baby.   Although PSF wasn't held in the year 2007, Kristine Constantino, the co-creator of PSF, felt that David's legacy and his vision for salsa in the Philippines must go on. Enter Philippines Salsa Festival 2008.

"Of all the Asian countries in the world, Philippines has the most Latin influence, so there is no reason why salsa is small. Philippines Salsa Festival will catapult the salsa genre in the country." said, Constantino, Director of PSF.

On November14-16, 2008, Kristine Constantino along with Latin Dance Professionals, promoters and world class DJs, once again, will be honoring the late David Melendez at the Annual Philippine Salsa Festival in Manila with performances, workshops and social dancing.

But let me back up here for a moment…

November 2008 is probably the busiest month for me considering that I am involved on events like the Dallas Salsa Congress and San Francisco Salsa Congress, so for me to do the Philippine Salsa Festival is overstretching it. Then I recieved a shocking letter from Kristine…

To the friends of the 2008 Philippine Salsa Festival,

Hello everyone, hope all of you are doing well. My name is Kristine Constantino, Owner and Director of the 2008 Philippine Salsa Festival. I received alarming news from several of our Philippine Salsa Festival instructors that an outside source have informed them that the 2008 Philippine Salsa Festival has been cancelled and is now being directed by another production company.

This person continued on to say they will now call this event Manila Salsa Festival and it will be held on the same dates as our event. This person and production company is soliciting our current staff and attendees to be part of their event and is providing false information to make you believe otherwise. I am sending you this email to let you know I have not cancelled the 2008 Philippine Salsa Festival and the event will go on as planned.

I want to assure you that I am the current Owner and Director of the 2008 Philippine Salsa Festival and will continue to make final decisions regarding the event. If you have not been contacted by these outside sources please expect them to do so.

We need your support more than ever! We need to band together and and continue our relationship in being part of this event, and making it a success. Please do not believe these rumors and forward me any correspondence you receive and I will personally handle them. It is people like these that destroys the unity and love that Salsa brings to our lives.

Due to these unfortunate news I am determined more than ever to create an amazing and memorable event for you. I am not only doing this for my own dreams, but most importantly to continue David Melendez' legacy and to bring Salsa to the Philippines in a positive way.

If you could please pass this information along to your friends and to other Salsa lovers in the world. I hope you continue to join me in this cause.

Sincerely,

Kristine Constantino Director, Philippine Salsa Festival November 14-16, 2008 Website: http://www.philippinesalsafestival.com Email: kristine@philippinesalsafestival.com - Phone: (650) 832-1681

When I read this letter I was furious, dismayed and very disappointed. How could people dare steal someone else's idea. And to top all that, how can these people purposely do this same event on the same dates and the same hotel? This is David Melendez's vision.

To imitate such event, doing it on the same dates and same hotel is like spitting on his grave!

It's a divisive act and an absolute insult to the salsa community as a whole.

I contacted Kristine to tell her that I am on board. I'm gonna support and help her all the way, after all, this was supossedly what I was gonna tell David at the Salsa Palm Springs event anyways, but the event got cancelled and a month later, David died.

We're now a few months away before the event and salseros all over already confirming their support and presence to the Philippine Salsa Festival. I don't think the dancers and performers supporting the so-called Imitators (Manila Salsa Festival and GWorks) are fully aware of the truth and the whole story of what happened. They need to know and someone or some people need to tell them. I don't even think they know that it is David Melendez's event.

But we're moving on and more salseros now are on board with Philippine Salsa Festival (PSF). We now have salsa brothers and sisters from all over the globe such as Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, USA, Abu Dhabi plus Albert Torres, and recently, PSF and Albert Torres agreed to make Philippines Salsa Festival a qualifier for ESPN World Salsa Championship. It is going to be a fun festival!

We are calling all salseros and salseras around the world to support the Philippine Salsa Festival. We need your help more than ever.

Support the Annual Philippines International Salsa Festival here: http://www.philippinesalsafestival.com

http://salsacrazy.com/worldsalsanews/2008/08/26/asia-salsa-dance-news-stories-it%E2%80%99s-like-spitting-on-david-melendez%E2%80%99s-grave-a-call-to-support-he-philippine-salsa-festival/

Located in the Philippines, this fun, lively and wonderful group are alive and well!  Each week, the group particpates in races throughout the Philippines whether it's in Manila, Makati, Fort Bonifacio, Quezon City, Clark and other areas.  The country of 7107 islands are fortunate to have a group that has runners that are serious but also runners that run for fun.  I read one post today that there is one runner that started running in February. Just hearing about that is exciting!

Usually after races and workouts, the group will have photo-ops and either go for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  What I feel is more important is that the group doesn't have all these rules and regulations that running groups / clubs in the United States have.  Over the near 40 years that I've been running, most running clubs here have a structured way of running things.  Sometimes, these things work and other times, they don't.  I've seen both sides of it.

I've been told a little of the history of the group.  Let me share it to those that live outside the Philippines. (The following paragraph has some names that weren't mentioned. I haven't asked them if I could mention their names. With permission, I will add. - editor).

The Yahoo e-group was formed in May 2007 for anyone interested in the Metro Manila area. The first formal gathering was a Nike 5K race at Fort Bonifacio.  From there, the group really took off. To my understanding, it now has over 200 people on it's e-mail list! 

One of my favorite bloggers (actually, everyone is a favorite here!) - Patrick Concepcion invited me to join.  Here I am, over 9,000 miles away and I don't know anyone in the group! I went to the e-group and wanted to join.  Within moments, I was accepted with open arms.

In the short time, everything from welcomes, to language lessons (tagalog, taglish, etc.), to encouragement and more have come this way.  Despite the 15 hour time difference, I've done my best to find the time to do the same.  I've been asked, what about the 80-100 e-mails that you get from us daily?  My answer is that I welcome it.  If there were no e-mails in a given day, I would be extremely concerned!  This group is extremely active and I'm honored to be a small part of it!

In November, I'm looking forward in meeting the Happy Feet Running Group.  Whether it's a group run, lunch, dinner, karaoke?, road race, whatever, it will be a lot of fun.  At the New Balance Power Race on November 16th, if the group has an extra singlet for me, I'll proudly wear it to help promote this wonderful group.

Don't worry runner-bloggers of the Philippines.  I'll have time to spend with you as well.  Remember, because of you, I found out about running, road races, trail races and running groups.

I'll see all of you in November!    

This is how they describe their own conference:
"Opportunity Green is a convergence of the prime movers & shakers and the up & coming innovators driving today's new green economy. Rub elbows with 500 of the best and brightest thought leaders: entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors and designers, all focused on building socially responsible and sustainable enterprises."

Since I attended last year, let me throw in my two cents about this event. Essentially, it's a green business conference focused heavily on LOHAS Consumer goods (LOHAS = Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), with an additional emphasis on discussing catalysts for change and emerging social trends. In many respects, It's a conference tailored for young professionals and start-up businesses, modeled after the organizers who are just that, young professionals who started up this conference.

The conference is a breadth of fresh air compared to some other conferences I've attended which are tailored more towards selling sponsorships, and acting as platforms for politicians to spout off about Bush's terrible environmental record, than actually providing fresh content and interesting speakers. If you are interested in green business issues, I recommend you attend.

Hopefully I'll see you there!

Fall Out Boy will release the follow-up to 2007's Infinity On High on November 3. The record will be entitled Folie A Deux.
In related news, Wentzy and co. have released a new mixtape online featuring tracks and remixes by Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, The Hush Sound and The Academy Is... among others. You can download it for free from http://www.friendsorenemies.com/web/foe/users/falloutboy/

Source: Kerrang Online

Fall Out Boy are quite love them/hate them with most people, but I'm a fan so can't wait for the new release. I think it's a clever time, releasing it in time for Christmas, and is going to be on lots of peoples lists.

Four months has passed
I am missing you
The voice, the care, the love
Where else could I find them
but only in you...

Memories about you are all I have
They make me laugh and yearn for you
all the time of my waking life
Even in sleep I dreamed about you...

Sometimes I wish that you could feel
The beatings of my heart even before I let you know
You could hear what I think even if you don't hear me
You could dry the tears in my eyes even though you don't see me...

These poems for you are a token to be
Of all that it is between you and me
Each one that you read I ask you to hold dear
And if ever you doubt what I write with a tear
Then all feelings and love will forever disappear...

November Illusion
Will it stay as an illusion?
Or will it became reality?
You and me
In November love...

The legendary Little Richard will give a performance at 013 on November 19th. Don't miss it!

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

See their webiste: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

This information has been taken from their webpage...

Here is my profile there: http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/309116

Am I voting for him because he is a Republican?  No.  I'm voting for him because when you compare him to Barack Obama in the role of Commander and Chief, there is no comparison.  I have to admit that earlier this year I was a little intrigued by the media circus surround Obama, but what I've learned of the man since the primaries gives me no choice but to vote McCain.  Obama will raise taxes - for everyone.  He believes in the redistribution of wealth (i.e. Communism).  He thinks that the government should control health care.  Uh,, haven't the glowing reviews of the systems in Canada and the U.K. shown us that it won't work?  When has the government ever taken control of anything and made it better, more functional, and streamlined?  Never.  just look at any of the other entitlement programs that exist.  They're consumed with red tape and are broken.

I cannot vote for a man whose wife says that she's never been proud of her country as an adult.  I don't care how much whining they do, but the beliefs and actions of the President's spouse matter.  The spouse is supposed to be the closest confidant of the President, and often times the closest adviser.  The Clinton marriage should never be an example of what a Presidential marriage should be.

I will cast my vote for McCain because he is for off-shore drilling.  He believes that an embryo is a human life at conception.  He doesn't think of having children as punishment.  He's ready to be the Commander and Chief of our armed forces on day one.  We can't have Barack stumble through while we're still fighting a war.

So you see, I've had no choice but to change my stance, to eat my words, politically speaking.  I can't allow the media with their hormonal school-girl crush decide who our next President will be.  I don't care how many times Chris Matthews's leg tingles.

Now I'm looking forward to the girls' birthdays, all the holidays in October, and cooler weather. I'm fed up with the summer! People keep saying that I should like the long hot summer because I've chosen to live here.. well not perfectly true.. more that if you've chosen to live here - by some reason you're not allowed to think that summer is too hot.. and that spring and fall is better.

I like March-May and October-November the best. Best temperature is between 68-77 degrees (f) (20-25 c) And that's when YOU should come to visit in our beautiful country!

So SPM fans, I have a couple of questions for you. What made you become a fan of SPM? What is your favorite track? What is your favorite album?

Don't forget to click "home" on the top of the page to see more recent posts.

Your Penguin,

MrsHollywood

Watch Obama's introduction:

and Biden's (great) speech:

You can also watch some reaction of folks like you and me:

Real change will come to America! Change WE CAN BELIEVE IN!
Oh and John, have you already decided in which house you're gonna sleep tonight? I mean, that's a heavy decision to make. You have to choose between 7 houses or were it 6 or 4… well it's at least 4 I think… but I gonna check with my staff first.

       Now that the kids are back in school and college, it is time to take that well deserved trip to warm and sunny Hawaii.  Take a weekend getaway to another island if you are kama'aina, see the volcano or the Ironman triathlon on the Big Island, or stay in Waikiki with half the crowds on the beach.  Fall is the best time to make those long overdue plans to Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, or Hawaii (Big Island).  

     Need advice? Clueless about how to get started? Call 808 722 6979 and talk to the local staff at CheapairTkTs.  It is free, no booking fees or pushy sales tactics, just friendly service: get availability free, courtesy hold plans for 48 hours free, and book with confidence knowing there isf a 24 hour customer service certified travel agency at your beckoning call. Feel Aloha, Save Money, and most of all RELAX.