Now, perhaps the handcuffs weren’t necessary, but the youth’s family hopes to be enriched by $15 million dollars because of it, as they are threatening to sue the school district and the city. Before you say, “right on,” please remember that it will be the taxpayers who will have to pony up the money, and that is money that the school district won’t be able to use to educate the other 35,000 or so students in the district. $15 million for a few minutes of handcuffed detention - Seems a bit of an “overreaction” on the part of the clockmaker’s family, does it not? Not to mention the priceless benefit the youth got from the Presidents of the US and Sudan and the techno-nerds and the government of Qatar.
By John Shaffer One of the truisms of progressive thought is that any “reaction” by conservatives is “an overreaction.” For example: When the Irving, Texas school officials detained “The Muslim Clock Kid” because he brought a “hoax bomb” to school. After giving confusing and evasive answers to questions, the youth was handcuffed, for a brief period of time (long enough for his sister to snap a cell-phone picture). The Progressives are certain this was “an overreaction.” Well, maybe it was – but let’s see. . . a student brought a strange device in a pencil case, with wires sticking out from it, and declared the thing to be “a clock,” even though it did not resemble a clock. Can one so assuredly condemn the school administrators for treating the device as a “hoax bomb” and, therefore, its maker as a “hoax bomber?” What happened to the clock-maker? Well, he was invited to and visited the White House and met the President; he was lionized as a “genius” by a “Who’s Who” of America’s progressive high-tech computer/internet community, had an audience with the President of Sudan, and then was invited to Qatar, and he won a scholarship to a school there. And what did not happen to the youth. Well, he was not arrested; he was not expelled; he was not deported. But he self-deported, moving with his family to Qatar.
Now, perhaps the handcuffs weren’t necessary, but the youth’s family hopes to be enriched by $15 million dollars because of it, as they are threatening to sue the school district and the city. Before you say, “right on,” please remember that it will be the taxpayers who will have to pony up the money, and that is money that the school district won’t be able to use to educate the other 35,000 or so students in the district. $15 million for a few minutes of handcuffed detention - Seems a bit of an “overreaction” on the part of the clockmaker’s family, does it not? Not to mention the priceless benefit the youth got from the Presidents of the US and Sudan and the techno-nerds and the government of Qatar. By John Shaffer For the second time this year, France has been the site of a horrific atrocity committed by Islamic terrorists. This attack struck several targets, and the terrorist themselves had at least three objectives: First, to gain publicity by evoking shock through the bloody butchery of innocent lives in the middle of a peaceful city; second, to cripple symbols of western civilization (restaurants, sports stadiums, theaters); and third, to frighten French society, to compel it to capitulate, to reach an accommodation with radical Islam.
Well, the first objective occurred; as for the second, the tourist industry may have reeled for a few days, but it already is bouncing back; the third objective was a total failure, for far from surrendering, France, epitomized by the determination of its Socialist President, François Hollande, has been hammering the terror network as it hasn’t been hammered since the days when there were US ground forces in Iraq. The French have conducted raids on hundreds of locations, arrested or detained a significant number of terrorists, suspected terrorists, or sympathizers; and have used the French Air Force to inflict serious injury to ISIS targets in Syria. By John Shaffer There’s a TV commercial playing now that asks the viewer if he would eat one piece of broccoli or do one push-up or take one pill if it could prevent cancer or cure a disease. Well President Obama seems to believe that “one more pipeline” – in this case the Keystone XL pipeline, would be the one that destroyed the environment. He as much as said so, in the announcement of his decision to stop the pipeline. The President has been sitting on the decision for seven years, and we should mention that President George Bush would have approved it, and John McCain and Mitt Romney each said they would have approved it, had they been elected.
By Canton Fitness Center Most people want to try to eat things that are “healthy”. What is healthy? The answer to that question often depends on who you ask. Can you tell by the label? The labels on foods aren’t much help either. All kinds of things are being labeled as “healthy” because the fat or sugar content has been reduced, but how “healthy” are reduced-fat cookies? Healthy also doesn’t mean it will help you lose fat. Often people think they are eating “healthy”, but struggle with their weight. Following a healthy diet might not be what it takes to make body shape changes. For example, yogurt, whole grains, seeds and nuts, avocados, beans, bananas and pineapple are healthy, but none of these will do much to help with fat loss. Changing the body requires reducing fat, increasing lean protein, reducing carbohydrates and increasing fiber and water. By William Bower On a recent visit to our son and daughter-in-law, who have a condo at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Mary Alice collected pine cones to make Christmas decorations. While she was gathering the cones, I began taking pictures of the many species of pine and spruce trees in the area of their condo. When examining a cone closely you would notice that they are quite intricate and some could be full of seeds. There are two different kinds of plants that have seeds: flowering plants have seeds that are inside of a fruit, such as an apple and berries, while some non-flowering plants have seeds that are not inside of a fruit, for example pine cones. By Esther Butcher We sure are having a beautiful week for the first week of November, wish it would stay this way all month.
Saturday Jami Park brought Cameron and Damon trick or treating to the family in Granville then to Towanda Personal Care Home to visit their great Gramma, Jean Park. Then to Canton to trick or maybe treat great Gramma Audrey Thomas. Grammy Cindy Putnam rode along and the kids had fun. Bill and Alicia Harris took Quianna to the Canton Parade and did some trick or treating. By Stratton "Lefty" Schaeffer Wearing The Uniform
It was Christmas day in 1941 and the family had gathered at my grandparents' home in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. My most vivid memory of that day seventy years later was my aunts on a sofa next to their husbands, Uncles Lamar and Roy. However, instead of enjoying the holiday my aunts were crying. Several generations would pass before I understood the reason for their tears. They knew full well it was probably the last Christmas Roy and Lamar would be spending with family for a long time, maybe forever. After the holidays Lamar turned in his civvies for army khaki while Roy chose the navy uniform of the day. They ended up in different theaters of operation. Uncle Lamar became an infantryman with the 3rd Armored Division fighting his way across France and Belgium, surviving the Battle of the Bulge unscratched only to be severely wounded a month later during a “routine” patrol. Uncle Roy was more fortunate in the Pacific. Although his carrier was hit by a kamikaze off the coast of Okinawa in 1945, he too survived the carnage unscratched and looked forward to future liberty passes as his ship limped back to the repair facility at Pearl Harbor. But, Surprise! In the bloodbath to take Okinawa skilled mechanics were needed ashore and Roy was a Machinist Mate so he was “volunteered” into the Sea Bees, sent ashore, and spent the last months of WWII toting a carbine as well as a wrench. By Elaine Gee Hi to all my friends that live away.
Monday night Oct. 26th my great granddaughter Blaire Wood had a volleyball game in Troy. They won two games out of three. She plays for Towanda. Terri came up and got me, so I cold see her play. Wednesday night Tony and his family stopped up. By Kenneth Marple, M.A. Coping Better
No one likes pain. We pull away from it; we do what we can to avoid it. Just as the body can experience pain, so can the mind. Thinking about painful things can cause confusion, mental anguish, anxiety, and headaches. Because the brain doesn't like pain any more than the body, it tends to automatically push these distressing thoughts out of the awareness of the conscious mind and into the subconscious. This process is called repression. Once the painful thought is buried in some remote part of the mind, mental distress is reduced. We all use repression; it would be impossible to live without it! By Jim Lewis Do you remember the panic over the potential computer shut-down when Y2K happened, (the start of the new millennia)? There was great fear of chaos in the world economy, air travel, national defense and with many other vital systems that we rely on. The results could have been devastating, yet thankfully the computers worked and nothing happened. Nothing was good. Have you ever considered how your life has been affected as a result of what didn’t happen? The negative consequences of what could have been?
I can think back to my younger years where I was reckless and put myself and others in harm’s way. There were several times where I or someone else could have been severely injured or worse, yet we weren’t. What if I had married a girl who I thought was right, but really wasn’t? What if certain doors were allowed to remain open so that I made terrible financial investments? I can think of many times when, “no” or “nothing” ended up being a real positive in my life. How about you? A beautiful young model boards a plane going to New York with a ticket for the economy section. She looks at the seats in economy, and then looks into the forward cabin at the first-class seats.
Seeing that the first-class seats appear to be much larger and more comfortable, and they are getting free drinks,she moves forward to the last empty seat in first class. The flight attendant checks her ticket and tells the woman that her seat is in economy. The blonde replies, "I'm a famous model, and have never had this problem before. I'm going to sit here all the way, until we get to New York." By Evangelist Eric Smith Do you remember the panic over the potential computer shut-down when Y2K happened, (the start of the new millennia)? There was great fear of chaos in the world economy, air travel, national defense and with many other vital systems that we rely on. The results could have been devastating, yet thankfully the computers worked and nothing happened. Nothing was good. Have you ever considered how your life has been affected as a result of what didn’t happen? The negative consequences of what could have been?
I can think back to my younger years where I was reckless and put myself and others in harm’s way. There were several times where I or someone else could have been severely injured or worse, yet we weren’t. What if I had married a girl who I thought was right, but really wasn’t? What if certain doors were allowed to remain open so that I made terrible financial investments? I can think of many times when, “no” or “nothing” ended up being a real positive in my life. How about you? By Anna Belle Leonard The Gillett Senior Citizens met at the Senior Citizens' building for the last October meeting and luncheon. Bob Barnes was scheduled to present a program on Winter Preparedness, but had to cancel out as he had pneumonia. Barbara Morris was our leader, but Mary McKerrow will be back next week.
One thing I didn't mention last week was the sighting of two bald eagles on our way to the funeral home in Elmira. Cindy spotted the pair in a low tree next to the pond swamp just south of Gillett; you know, the sometimes nearly dried-up one where turtles stand on each others' backs, much like elephants in the circus. Upon our return both were gone.
Before I forget, congratulations to our great-grandson Jaden Brown of Lehighton. He is an integral part of the Pleasant Valley football team and they just completed another undefeated season and now enter the playoffs. This is the Jaden who also races, and is headed for a career in auto racing, probably NASCAR. (Well, that's what he told me.) I didn't report my wife's reaction when I told her about the neighbors harvesting seeds. She made some remarks about "I don't have time for that" and "I can just buy new ones." When said neighbor visited one day last week she brought an envelope full of seeds as a gift so I guess we won't hear any more about that. By Kathie Lepper The ghosts and goblins are disappearing from around "The Ridge".
There are still a few gremlins in the flower beds out front, but for the most part they are pretty much gone. It will be interesting to see what shows up on all the entrance doors around here now. My sister Jeannette May and I watched the parade Saturday evening from the corner. We enjoyed seeing all the little urchins having so much fun in their cute costumes and collecting treats that were being tossed out from the floats. One of my little urchins, Alivia Hicks and Jeannette's Tayten and Tommy Thompson were among these urchins and we enjoyed watching them. Alivia and her parents, Kelsey and Jayson stopped in later where I had treats for them. The table was filled at the Coffee Chat Hour on Thursday, I stopped in, but had to leave to see Dr. Hartung who was seeing his patients on Thursday. They seemed to be having a pretty good chat time without me. Can't understand that. |
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