Henny Penny meets Stalin

With the financial earthquakes shaking many previously rock-solid institutions, the fear they have engendered is turning capitalists and conservatives into almoners begging the government to alleviate their pain, in return for which, they are willing to surrender their freedom to the state. I wrote about this in these very pages some time ago, regarding the nature and effects of crises in history.

The opportunists, those who are in the fortunate position to have been voted into office just as the crisis hit, are using the situation to implement the kind of societal controls they could only have dreamed of a few short months ago. In the name of financial repair, they have convinced the public that anti-greenhouse gas cars will solve most, if not all of the problems facing our economy. They have replaced the war on terror with the war on climate.

Of the 8 billion people on earth, how many do you see demanding a drastic emergency battle against global warming. There are some, you see them at demonstrations, but as with AIDS, for every demonstrator for a quick cure, there are dozens of people deliberately getting infected and irresponsibly infecting others. When reality sets in, the cost involved in preventing the sky from falling causes most people, given a choice, to opt out.

USA Today just recently published an article about a politically inspired program to get children to practice "green" living and 700 schools signed up for it. In USA Today's usual fashion, they take two viewpoints and say, this one says this; that one says that. Then, this one thinks this, that one thinks that, and so forth. Very impartial. No one is left with a really good argument that isn't refuted by the other. One of the arguments against the program characterized it as amounting to teaching environmental religion.

USA Today should call things by their proper name. This isn't "teaching." It's indoctrinating. You can "teach" math, you can "teach" science, you can "teach" English, you can "teach" literature, but watch out when someone "teaches" values other than the universally held ones.

After the vote on the stimulus package, John Duncan, a Tennessee republican congressman described it as a bill full of the democrat wish list.It contains all the elements of the political agenda that they have been unable to push through before under president Bush and the evenly divided congress. When Nancy Pelosi was interviewed on television last week, she said she would not apologize for the money in the stimulus plan that was earmarked for family planning (read: abortion) even though it has little to do with economic stimulus. She had the cheek to suggest that the abortion industry also needs some stimulus. Thankfully, this provision was removed from the bill before it was passed.

All this is happening right under the nose of the public who is now so paralyzed by fear that it will allow the government to do anything in the name of warding off the great depression of the twenty-first century.

A Man's throneroom is his castle

I am working on a more serious post, but since I have been informed that I am getting to serious, and I want to keep my readership, and keep them happy, I shall put that on hold to discuss a matter that I have been holding in for a while.

My bathroom.

It is well documented that in a man's castle is his throne. This is where much great thinking is done, as well as introspection, contemplation ( of thoughts and navels, whatever one's fancy) and other matters more mundane.

Now, I was blessed to have a bathroom in my bedroom ( well, not IN the bedroom, but attached to it. Please do NOT be so literal!) when I was growing up. However, I had to share that one with a washing machine instead of a sink, so it was not ideal, but it was close enough. When I moved as a youngster, we had three in the house, as well as sinks outside of the business area, so there was enough space for most activities simultaneously at peak times like school mornings and bedtimes.

Now, when I got married, I only had one, but with just one person to share it with at first, and still for quite some time after the little ones showed up (anywhere they were was their bathroom), there was not much demand for the for my little refuge from the world. Even so, as I had waaay to much time during those days, I put a phone in the bathroom, so that I would never have to go more than 20 feet to answer the phone, to emulate a revered figure in my life, or be interrupted when busy. ( You might ask why I didn't just use a cordless. 2 reasons. 1, you had to remember to take it with you, and 2, with so many kids in the building, the monitors would pick up cordless phone conversations. I spent hours listening.... that's for another time).

When we moved to a 2 bedroom apartment, we were extremely lucky to have a master bathroom, and got so comfortable with it, that it was one of the few requirements I really wanted in a house.

So now I am in a house. With a master bathroom. And two other bathrooms. Six people, three bathrooms, enough for everyone, I should be thrilled, right?

Please.

While it is true that I have a master bathroom, I am no longer the master of the room. For some reason, the other two perfectly good bathrooms are not good enough for my family, and there seems to be a special bond between the children and my sanctuary. Now, keep in mind that when Bug left, we didn't lose a son for a year, we gained a bathroom, as he pretty much had a lock in the main one. But even though you might think that the congestion issue had abated, the traffic through my room has only increased this past year.

Now sometimes I can understand, like this morning, when we had two teenage guests overnight, so there were time constraints on getting the morning toilette done before buses and rides showed up, but I am talking on a regular basis. I don't want to share the bathroom with more than one person. Look at the numbers. I shouldn't have to.

So my question is, what is so darned attractive about the room for everyone? Is it the lovely decor? the newspaper and old readers digest? the baseboard? I don't get it, but every time I want to just sit for a moment and relax, I am shooing someone out, or having to deny the regular requests for access. However, I am not the only one with the keys to the room, and Lovey does not share my deep attachment to the sanctity of the throne. I think this is part of the problem, but one that I am forced to deal with.

I just need my space, even if it is only five by seven.

barack or Hussein?

Now back to something serious, that I just GOT to get out.


I am completely perplexed by Mr. Barry Hussein, as he is lovingly referred to by a dear family member. This guy is either crafty as a fox, in following a plan to deliberately destroy this country, or he is showing himself to be the stupidest ( yes, even taking into account those who hate Bush) and naivest president in our history.


Let me explain. Three recent developments lead me to this analysis. The first is the knee jerk Executive Order to close Gitmo, and the second is his stated policy to possibly allow the states to set emission standards on their own, and the third is his decision to have his first public TV interview on ARAB television.


First, lets take the Gitmo decision. Either he is beyond naive in thinking that by closing Gitmo and saying that we will not torture criminal killers to get information will either endear us to the rest of the world ( who cry at our tactics and generally use tactics far worse themselves), or will get the terrorists to step back and say " gee, he's such a swell guy, lets just find a new satan to direct our murderous tendencies against".) Or there is another play here. Let's move on for now.

The second issue is the emissions. If he allows the states to set policy themselves, then each state will have a different set of rules for the auto companies to follow. They will have to make 50 different sets of modifications for each state, or even if he imposes more insane, stringent policies now, the auto industry will fail for sure, and this will completely destabilize the country, driving us further into a tailspin. Again, this looks like complete idiocy and naivety, to give in to a different kind of terrorist, the eco-tree hugging kind. Or there is another play here. Let's move on.

The third boneheaded decision of this great orator was to go on Arab TV and apologize for the American people. I also heard him quoted that he has the job of telling Americans that Muslims just want to be the best Muslims they can be, or some crap like that. I was under the impression that his job was to defend and protect THIS country, but what do I know, i didn't vote for the saviour. Again, this was either extremely naive, to think that the Arabs see this as a good gesture, or there is another play here.

Points one and three will of course backfire, since these people do not see compassion and decency as anything other than weakness, and I seriously fear another attack on our homeland because of it ( remember the USS Cole and Somalia, for recent examples of our public shows of weakness, which led to 9-11) Point two can only hurt this country, something that the idiotic liberals in Hollywood and Washington have to be able to get through their thick heads.

But what really concerns the conspiracy theorists, and scares me if G-d forbid, there is a shred of credibility to their rants, is that this is all planned. As part of the bigger plot to honor his ( sometimes, maybe, perhaps, but only as a child, and its only my middle name) religion, to kowtow to radicals, making their job of recruiting against us easier, and to allow for the destabilization of this country, and hand it to our enemies.

I hope I am wrong, but either way, we lose.

So long, Mr. Bush, and G-dspeed

heard the final press conference of President Bush a few days ago. Now as some of you may know, I have always been a big fan of the President and have agreed with most of his policies and positions. During the press conference, I was struck by his wit, warmth, courtesy for the press corps, grasp of the issues, and genuine concern for the success of Mr. Obama. Of course, some of his mangling of the language was to be expected, ("misunderestimated me" comes to mind), but overall he was well spoken, thoughtful and introspective. Even when he declined to answer a question about pardons, he told the person asking the question that he wasn't going to discuss pardons, but asked her if she had a different question she would like to ask.

Additionally, what I have most gotten from all reports and anecdotal information about the man ( and his first lady) are their "down homeness", openness, genuineness when dealing face to face, and his desire that those around him feel comfortable.

Furthermore, on the issue of Israel, I don't think we will see another president in this generation who was so absolutely behind the Jewish State, and allowed them to do what they had to do without interference.

So I would like to take this opportunity now that the time to serve the American People has come to an end for this fine upstanding man to publicly express my thanks to him for all he has done good for this Country and the world. Good luck to you and G-d bless you and America.

I feel we are gonna need that more than ever now.

GEESE II

I really think that it is time to lift any and all restrictions, rules and regulations that there are or might be concerning the protection of Canadian Geese. Apparently, I have found out where the geese have gone when they left the fields of Rockland County. Refresh your memory here



There was a plane crash about an hour ago into the Hudson River. From what I have been hearing, there have not been any serious casualties. Thank G-d. What the news is reporting is that the plane hit a flock of geese, and the geese knocked out two engines. If we allowed for some kind of normal control of these pests, ( or squirrels with wings, rats with beaks, etc.) or just plain bashing of them, we might make things less hospitable for them, and they will go the hell back to Canada.



At least we can assume that the plane took out at least two of them .

I did not really hear that

For all of you out there in Doctor Greunkernland who might have been wondering where I have gone, ( except for that quicky about my personal bugaboo, the geese) I have just been busy, but I am back now ( I can hear the fanfare throughout the land).



Perhaps this post would be more appropriate on another, sort-of secret site, were that site my creation. But as I feel one of my duties is to educate as well and rant and entertain, I will put it here, and maybe the blog administrator over there will steal it and put it there as well.

Yesterday I received a call on my cell. I missed the call, so I called the number back, thinking I knew who it was because it was a similar number to someone I wanted to talk to. Alas, it was a young post high school scholar from a well known Brooklyn institution of higher learning. I asked if he called me, and he informed me that someone had borrowed his phone. I asked him who, or what his name was, but I was unable to understand his terse and somewhat confusing replies. I hung up, and thought that the little unpleasant episode was over.

How wrong of me.

A few minutes later, the phone rings, and it is the same number. I pick up the phone, anticipating that all of the burning questions that were left hanging previously will now become clear to me. The caller identifies himself, thereby clearing up the confusion as to whose name was mumbled to me by the first guy, and then asked me if I was going home to the Rockland area.

As I live there, I do attempt to get home at some point, but never know exactly when. And when one arrives at work after the clock is showing double digits, five o'clock just doesn't seem fair to an employer. He tells me where he lives, which is completely on the other side of town, but I'm already out, and I can change my route, so that isn't really a big deal.

Now, dear reader, I ask you, what should be the next question? I posit to you that it should be
"Where are you, and how can I get to you, so you don't have to wait or be inconvenienced or taken out of your way, since you are doing me a favor" ( perhaps some of that could be inferred from "where are you", but, as usual, I digress)

However, the question I got was " Can you pick me up?"

I was stupefied.

I feel that is something that is for me to offer, not for this young man to ask. It would have taken me 15 minutes to get there, and ten minutes extra from there back to the highway. Not outrageous, but I am tired at the end of the day, and it could be rather late, and that is not the point anyway.

Well, I said I guess I could, but I would rather avoid driving into Boro Park if I don't have to, and besides, there is a bus that comes pretty close to me. He told me he is a suburban kid who really doesn't take city buses. ( It sounds worse than it was, he was polite and not at all obnoxious, but the whole conversation was a bit surreal). I said we'll see but I could leave anywhere from 6-8ish ( I actually left 8:45), so he said he would take an alternative route home.

What are we teaching our kids, and is no one explaining to them basic courtesy? We are told to do acts of kindness, but for kids to demand them, it seems a bit odd. I hate to put people out, and will do everything I can to avoid it, who do our children feel everything is their right??? Sometimes its just personality, but why aren't the schools these children attending stressing need to be concerned about others instead of themselves, especially when asking for a favor?


I was considering this post graduate program for one of my sons, I am glad THAT didn't work out.

In the world of mules.....

If it wouldn't be for the unwritten code here at Dr. Greunkern against using obscene language in our posts, I would have spiced up this piece with what I really think of Ehud Olmert. Restrained as I am by the aforementioned protocol from giving full range to my vocabulary, I will use the strongest terms I possibly can in describing this caricature of a decent human being.

"Jerk" and "fool" don't seem to carry enough punch. Pompous, bombastic, blustering, self-inflated, hubristic jerk is a bit better.

What, you may ask, engenders this kind of description? (Remember, this is a euphemism)

Read this, or in synopsis, this is what happened. Olmert has claimed that Condoleeza Rice was going to vote in favor of the security council's resolution calling for a cease fire. He further claims that he dragged President Bush, who was making a speech, off the podium to take his call by demanding to speak with him immediately. Mr. Bush is a humble man and probably did take his call even though he was in front of an audience at the time. The purpose of Olmert's call was to order President Bush to order Ms. Rice to abstain in the security council. Ms. Rice claims that the story is a fabrication and that she meant to abstain all along.

Regardless of the truth in this matter - and I tend to believe the Secretary of State against a known liar and slimy and corrupt politician - someone should point out to this boastful, fatheaded braggart that currently, the only nation completely supporting Israel in its Gaza adventure is the United States. Someone should also let him know, if the information can even penetrate the mush he has for brains, that you don't deliberately insult the only ally you have even if your purpose is to publicly aggrandize yourself.

A new administration is due to take over the United States in less than a week. If you were the new secretary of state, how much of a limb would you climb onto for this weasel and his country if you could expect such embarrassment as your reward?

It's amazing that Israel, full of educated and intelligent people chose such a clueless stupid boastful moron to be their leader. Even more amazing is that he is still in power after the criminal botching of the Lebanon war.

Green Eyed Monster

I recently wrote in these pages that we ought to rename the upcoming holiday in honor of Stephen Milles whose act of note was to attempt to throw his shoes at the chairman of the MTA in a parody of Islam's greatest insult. I got some real flack about this, mainly because the commenter felt it was an insult to the memory of a "great american." The commenter missed my point so now I will clarify it.

Stephen Milles is a great guy because he is someone who finally had the courage to oppose the MTA, who have been riding roughshod on the backs of suburban commuters for years while feathering their own cushy, highly paid, boondoggles. (To mix some metaphors, but you get what I mean). Realizing that their old ways of taking money from the riding public using the threat of service cutbacks no longer appeals to a formerly docile ridership, they have switched tactics to engage the current craze for saving the planet from climate change and proposing a "green" monthly ticket which will resonate with some doomsday fanatics to get them to voluntarily part with their money. We all know where the money will ultimately end up. Obviously they now feel that begging will do more for them than protection-racket type tactics.

The fact that they can even propose such a funding plan illustrates how far the green craze has developed. Very early in the game, I realized that Rachel Carson would be responsible for a movement as powerful and dangerous as nazism and communism. In the short 48 years since the publication of "Silent Spring," the educational establishment worldwide has successfully indoctrinated 2 generations of the world's population who are ready to die for environmentalism. I recently heard a news story on BBC where an Australian woman with a heavy German accent was bemoaning what to her seemed the imminent disappearance of a beach on the Aussie coast. Climate change and rising seas are now so accepted as truths that some people really believe that a beach will vanish before their eyes. What they expect the beach to be replaced with is anybody's guess. This attitude reminds me of an incident with my (then) ten year-old son who ran into the house one day slamming the door because he spotted a moth and he had just donned his new wool suit. He explained that he didn't want the moth to eat his suit.

Not only is this climate change nonsense ludicrous but it's leading some of our more level headed political and financial leaders into some massive mistakes. The New York Times just reported that Detroit has decided to risk billions of dollars to develop an all electric car which they are not sure will sell. I am sure that the impetus for this decision comes from the recent congressional and media discussions about the bailout of the auto companies. Every report on the issue mentioned that the auto companies were not doing enough in the field of green technology as if that was the cause of their financial difficulties. If they go ahead with the electric car, they will really be in the soup!

Who, in his right mind is going to buy a car which will go 100 miles and then require a 6 hour stopover to recharge so that it can go another 100 miles. The article states that most people drive an average of 35 miles per day. Take a typical retired couple in Michigan that use their car to go to the local Wal-Mart, go to church on Sunday and maybe once in a while go to the big city to have dinner and go to a movie. They also drive to Sarasota every winter and spend 4 months there where they use their car in the same manner. It would take them 10 days to get down there and also ten days to get back. Even if they could manage more than 100 miles a day, what do they do during the six hours they are plugged in? Or take the case of a family in Des Moines that wants to visit the Mall of America for the weekend. The weekend would be over before they got there!

I hope they don't build this car. After all, with the bailout, it will be our money they're risking.

Once Again, the World Complains

Don't you breathe a sigh of relief and sleep easily knowing that the world has become very sensitive to civilian harm and even to military casualties. We read daily of horrific losses on the magnitude of 2 soldiers killed and several non-combatants wounded and how unacceptable these casualties are even in wartime. War today is something which only allows for the destruction of a few buildings, burning of a few fields, but once that gets out of hand, it is time to stop the war.

Compare that with the figures from the two world wars. During the Somme offensive in 1916, there were over 1 million casualties with about 300,000 killed from June to November and during the general conflict of those times figures are cited which range into the tens of millions of deaths as a result of the fighting. Not all of them soldiers by any means.

During the second world war, London was severely bombed by the Germans, twice in fact, once at the beginning and then towards the end, and Coventry was devastated by fire bombing. The US pounded Dresden to rubble, and the Russians did the same in the fighting for Berlin. No one called for a cease fire.

Only when Hiroshima and Nagasaki fell victim to the awesome power of the atom, which caused the deaths of over 200,000 civilians, was there a call for ending the fighting and that was for a surrender, not a cease fire. The war resulted in 55 million deaths.

Which makes things quite puzzling when we hear cries of outrage that a few civilians who were being used as human shields by the same sort of people who wantonly murdered, unprovoked, close to 3,000 civilians going about their daily business in New York's World Trade Center, are killed in the line of fire. Outrage at whom? At those fighting a fair war against a brutal, cynical, cowardly enemy who use women and children as cover for their nefarious activities. In previous wars, the populations of the warring countries were the enemy, civilian or uniformed combatant. They supported, for the most part, the aims of their leaders and were complicit in what they did. They deseved to be targeted and everyone understood that.

How much more so in Hamas controlled Gaza where the people voted these murderers in. There are no uniformed soldiers, just killers cast in the role of freedom fighters who blend in with the rest of the population who actively support and aid them. So now the world hides behind the most overused words in the global media: "Humanitarian Crisis." I guess that's what you get when you start a war. There are some legitimate crises in the world, natural disasters, planned genocides and the like. If I were Israel, I wouldn't be too concerned about world opinion. The world did nothing when 500,000 people were senselessly slaughtered in Rwanda and untold numbers have been deliberately targeted, killed and maimed in the Sudan. There was a lot of talk but very little action.

Both sides always come to the table with complaints about the other, but in the end there is always the understanding of who is right and who is wrong. It is usually quite clear. In the Hamas - Israel war, Hamas will never give up their fanatical devotion to murder and mayhem. The only solution is to pound them into surrender where they can join the ranks of their brutish German and Japanese predecessors.

Hello? it's your body calling

As most of you have already heard, I recently had the opportunity to assist a little girl in into the world. ( I know one of you is going "big deal, been there, done that" but not most of you)

As others of you may have heard as well, another call ended in the patient, after spirited, and fortunately for him, less spirited objection, took our advice and agreed to go to the hospital.

There were no obvious signs that would indicate an immediate need to go to the hospital, but the EMTs were just not comfortable leaving him home, because little things just didn't feel right to them.

However, about 2 minutes after moving the patient from the ambulance stretcher to the hospital gurney, he went into cardiac arrest.

Even more fortunately for him, as G-d was clearly smiling upon him, the episode occurred in front of a doctor, who immediately set the procedures in motion to work on him, and within 5 minutes, this man was alive again and talking.

So what is the point, and what is the common theme of these two stories?

The lessons that I am trying to impart upon you, dear readers, is that you should not ignore either what you bodies tell you, or your gut feelings in such matters as health. If it is obvious (gee, where DID that baby just show up from?), that's one thing, but usually it isn't, and if something feels really off with you, don't ignore it and contact the appropriate medical personnel immediately. The same goes for you parents out there, when dealing with your children. The worst that will happen is a waste of a few hours, and possibly feeling ( or even looking slightly) foolish.

But it sure beats the alternatives.