Overdosing on Trump's Base, Belly Fat, Privacy, a Benevolent Monarch, Reducing Gun Violence and Peeking in Toolboxes

  Today's "mascot" is the Monarch butterfly, familiar to most of us.  There are fewer and fewer around these days for a variety of reasons.  You can help preserve this beautiful species by having a few milkweed plants around your house or garden.

An Addiction

The other morning on “Morning Joe,” MSNBC correspondent Kasie Hunt commented on what she thought was the reason so many Republicans in both houses of Congress were reluctant to speak out against the President’s efforts to discredit and conceivably ultimately fire Special Prosecutor Mueller, even though their body language and silence showed that they obviously disagreed with him.  Quite simply, she said, “They need him to get elected.”

Her comments reminded me that such behavior is not unlike that of a rock star who needs to take drugs to perform at the peak of their talents.  Without them, they fail, and sadly, by using them, they hasten their demise, which is often death as was the case with Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, 
Prince and others. 

Relying upon Trump’s base supporters to get elected isn’t quite the same as using drugs to perform, but many Republican Senators and Representatives are beginning to realize that becoming addicted to such support, developing a dependency upon it, may not be a good thing in the long run.  Are they beginning to fear that that sooner or later, this dependency will be, like that of the addicted rock stars, their downfall when Trump is “taken down” by whatever means it occurs? They will have “O.D.’ed” on Donald Trump’s voter base. 

And Vice President Pence, who is likely to be in the White House within the next year or two, is not immune to this addiction.  His allegiance to Donald Trump will further shatter his already somewhat questionable credentials.

Recognizing this, some are beginning to try to find a way out.  Going “cold turkey” and denouncing the President would be suicidal for many, so they are content with encouraging efforts to discredit Prosecutor Mueller while not openly supporting any movement to fire him by the President.  Those who are not blind know this kind of fence-sitting can only delay the negative result of their dependency upon his base and is a path leading to a dead end, disastrous to themselves, not to mention the Republican Party. 

Enough of these musings, though.  After watching "Morning Joe" for a while, I switched channels to Fox to see what was doing there.  The other media outlets were filled with broad criticism of the President for congratulating Vladimir Putin for his “electoral” (to use the President’s words) victory in the Russian elections.  His victory being universally acknowledged to have been in a corrupted, fixed election, the President was reminded in “caps” by his advisors, NOT TO CONGRATULATE HIM in his phone call.  Nevertheless, he did.  So what did Fox have to say about this?

Well, they had an apologist on who explained that by congratulating Putin, Trump was enhancing his ability to work with the Russian leader in solving international problems in Syria, North Korea and with ISIS. (Eventually, the White House made this explanation more or less official.)  Of course, they initially ignored mention of the spy poisoning case in the UK, our closest ally, and Russian interference in our own election process, well documented by our intelligence agencies.  To the millions of gullible viewers who spend their time watching Fox apologize for the President, this was sheer brilliancy on his part.  (And oh, yes, he then fired the National Security Advisor who probably was the one who told him not to congratulate Putin. Re-staffing the White House is being handled, I believe, by the Human Resources Department at Fox News.)

Jack Lippman

Belly Fat

Marie Osmond, who does the Nutri-System commercials on TV, is getting old and folks may be tiring of her telling them how to lose their “belly fat.”  Should she choose to retire, an obvious replacement would be Sarah Huckabee Sanders who sooner or later will be fired by the President.  Of course, they would have to throw in an appointment with a really talented hairdresser too. Am I being too cruel?

JL

Privacy, Schmivacy

Another thought (although it is not original):  If you get something for free on the internet, you are not the customer!  Nothing is ever “free.”  You are paying for it by making yourself into “merchandise” to be the subject of another transaction by parties unknown to you.  You and everything that internet site knows about you is sold to advertisers or others interested in such information.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., don’t cost you a penny, but they make their money by peddling what they know about you.  Your “profile” on these social media sites contains much information you have voluntarily provided.  And you have no control, once they have it, as to how they peddle your information.

 

If you search for some free information on line about buying an appliance or car or check out airline fares or hotel prices in a particular location, you become the recipient of ads for car dealers, appliance stores, travel agencies and hotels. Gee whiz, how did they know you were interested in purchasing a late model used Mercedes convertible?  Well, they do and that is how you have paid the internet site you used “for free” for your information.  You have been sold to someone as a likely customer. You are the “merchandise” the “free” internet has for sale.  And unfortunately, this blog is no exception because it sits on a framework managed by Google.  But at least we give the pennies they pay us when you click on an ad to charity.

How much attention, really, do you pay to the “privacy notices” you receive from every utility, bank or other enterprise, financial or otherwise, with which you do business?  Or do you just throw them in the trash, unread, as I do.  Same goes for the “Terms of Service” of innumerable web sites you use.  You just click “Agree,” right?  They are required by law to tell you how they are using you, but you know that if you don’t click “Agree,’ you might not be able to use the site and you would have to move back to the way you did things in the twentieth century, depending on telephone calls, the U.S. Mail and trips to the public library.  But then, at least, you had your privacy.

A question:  If you have liberal, progressive, conservative or even radical political ideas, you might reflect those views by the sites on the internet you visit, the searches you make and the emails, often unsolicited, which you choose to open.  So long as you have no criminal intent, Is that anybody’s business but your own?  Really.

In totalitarian regimes in “the old days,” neighbors were called on to spy on neighbors.  Stalin’s Russia and Nazi Germany are good examples.  There are more.  But that isn’t necessary anymore.  We have the internet.  Think about it.  Think hard about it.

JL

Democracy's Failure - Would a Monarch be Better?

How did we get into the mess we are in today?  Two posting ago, I suggested that democracy wasn’t working because of:

(1)  the misinformation which is financed in this country by corporate dollars under the guise of free speech allowed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision,

(2) unrepresentative legislatures made possible by the gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts,

(3) the replacement of traditional reputable sources of information such as newspapers by tremendous numbers of unreliable and opinionated internet media outlets and the exchange of specious information through social media.

(4)  the acceptance in the minds of many of the existence of more than one version of “truth.” 

Thomas Jefferson is often quoted, or more likely misquoted, as saying that “an educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”  While his remarks, if ever made, probably referred to education rather than to politics, they pretty much refer to the "educated citizenry” which the items (excluding the gerrymandering) listed above aim at destroying.  Ask yourself, because what we have isn’t working very well, would we be better off if we were not a democracy?

Would a kind and benevolent monarch or even a kind and benevolent dictator, one without worries as to where their plentiful resources were coming from, and faced no internal nor external threats, be better than a democracy which produces a Donald Trump in the White House, an N.R.A. supporting bad laws, the Koch brothers buying governmental power and an economy which caters to the wealthy and is not particularly kind and benevolent toward society’s have-nots? 

I think not.  Sooner or later the resources (think oil in Saudi Arabia) run out or threats to the monarch appear and then, the lack of democratic institutions can hurt or even be fatal … and the party will be over.  But in a democracy, so long as it doesn’t totally destroy itself, there is always the opportunity to rebuild and correct its errors.   The Roman Republic’s bicameral legislature, judiciary and executive branch (the consuls) lasted over half a millennium.  Our government, patterned after it, will last longer, once it corrects its flaws (enumerated above) and lets democracy get back to work.

Please register to vote!

JL

Reducing Gun Violence

We worked hard on our local demonstrations here in South Florida supporting the kids who went to Washington last weekend to “March for Their Lives” and lobby for the only real kind of effective way to reduce gun violence, the banning of military assault weapons in the hands of civilians! 

We must keep the pressure on legislators.  Here is a copy of an email with which I blessed Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell last Saturday evening. 

“After today’s demonstrations all over the nation, it becomes clear that your leadership role in Congress demands that you personally introduce legislation banning assault weapons in the hands of civilians.  The alternative to this for you is to resign from Congress.  The NRA is, as of today, history.  The voices out there on the streets today, far outnumbering the NRA’s membership, are the present and the future and you must accept this … or leave office.

In D.C. vs Heller (which dealt only with handguns), the late Justice Scalia clearly stated that Second Amendment rights were not unlimited and that prohibitions on unusual and dangerous weapons were acceptable.  Remember this when you decide whether to introduce legislation banning assault weapons in the hands of civilians or tender your resignation.”

And while on the subject of reducing gun violence, here is a copy of a sign I have in the rear window of my car.

Up until now, I have been very careful where I drive with it displayed, even removing it when I leave my car parked.  But after seeing the guts those Parkland kids displayed in Washington, I am proud to display it anywhere I drive for all to see.  There has been a “sea change” in America since last week.  We all must be part of it.

  JL

Look in Their Toolboxes

Joe Scarborough recently pointed out that In the "Art of the Deal," Donald Trump advocates striking back as the best action to take when attacked.   And he has not hesitated to do so frequently during his  Presidency.   Please note that the only ones whose attacks he has responded to with silence are those of Stormy Daniels and Russia, in the personage of Vladimir Putin.  His silence, other than claiming that what he doesn't like to hear is "fake news," is his tacit admission that the tools in both Daniels' and Putin's toolboxes are more potent than he can handle.
JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

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Jack Lippman 

An Irish Blessing on Saint Patrick's Day, the $130,000 Deal, a Letter to the Post, "Taking him Down," a "Tweet" Battle and a Discarded Newspaper

              The "Mascot" for today's posting is the State Butterfly of Florida, the Broadwing Zebra  (Helconius)

The Art of the Deal

Just how do you arrive at writing a check for $130,000 to close a deal?  It is an unusual figure, an odd number, unlike $100,000 or $150,000.  Imagine a scenario like this:

A:  My client wants a quarter of a million dollars, $250,000, that’s what we want.

B:  You’re crazy.  We’ll settle for $50,000.  Take it or leave it.

A:  Look, we’re reasonable.  Make it $200,000 and it’s a deal.

B:  $100,000, not a penny more.

A:  Now you’re talking more sense.  We’ll settle for $150,000.  Bottom line!

B:  Look, let’s cut the difference in half.  We’ll up it to $125,000

A:  Maybe, but look, we’ve come down way more than you’ve come up!

B:  You’ve got a point.  So we’ll sweeten it a bit.   $130,000?

A:  You’re getting away cheap but it's getting late, so okay, we'll go with that number. 

Does this sound like a believable discussion between two lawyers?  And of course, the deal would never have been made without there being something of substance at issue.  That is the important thing, not the money.

In previous blog postings, I’ve made it clear that the President eventually will be “going down.”  Obviously, the Republican majorities in both Houses are for the present incapable of carrying out this duty for a variety of reasons such as fear of far right-wing challenges in primaries, a loss of campaign donations and inept leadership on the part of Messrs. McConnell and Ryan. 

So, it looks like that task will fall upon an aging porn star who claims she had an affair with the President a dozen years ago, just about the time the President’s wife, one of the most beautiful women in the world, was giving birth to his son. Sooner or later, someone will take down that unfaithful, lyin’ sonofabitch and since Mitch and Paul won't do it, it might as well be Stormy.

   Us?  Hell no!!

And speaking of "sonsofbitches," I recall that as a kid back in the Forties (gee, that makes be seem ancient), I heard a story about a man who bought a newspaper every day, looked at the front page, and then threw it in a nearby trash can.  Finally, one day, the guy who ran the newsstand leaned over and asked the man, “How come, sir, you buy a paper every day, glance at the front page and then throw it in the garbage?”  The man quickly answered, “Oh, I’m just looking for an obituary.”  The newsstand operator replied, “But sir, the obituaries are way back in the second section of the paper.”  Before he could say more, the man interjected, “When this sonofabitch dies, it’ll be all over page one!”  

Yes, such anti-Franklin Roosevelt jokes were prevalent during his four terms in office.  Oddly though, I can appreciate the man’s attitude. Each morning when I wake up, I turn on the bedroom TV (usually set at MSNBC for “Morning Joe”) for exactly the same reason.  And then, somewhat disappointed, go on about my day’s routine.

Jack Lippman

Saint Patrick's Day

Saturday was Saint Patrick'sDay, and while the day indeed celebrates a Roman Catholic Saint, it has a broader meaning in our American culture.  The Irish represnt a group which emigrated to theis country in the mid-nineteenth century to excape both famine and poitical oppression.  Other groups have come here for similar reasons.

The progeny of Irish immigrants have contributed much to our country particularly in the areas of public service, literature and entertainment. But when a green stripe is painted up the center of Fifth Avenue in New York City, it is not for religious reasons.  It celebrates the Irish contribution which along with the contributions of groups such as the Italians, Jews, Greeks, Africans, Latinos and many others have served to make America great. 

In the future, the contributions of newer immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa will be increasingly celebrated, that is so long as our government does not forget and ignore what brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock and successive waves of immigrants through our "golden door" beside which that lady "lifts her lamp."

                   

JL

Battle of the Tweets

The Friday evening firing of Deputy FBI Director McCabe, probably by order of the President, was followed by his tweeting that the firing was “a great day for Democracy” and also that McCabe knew “all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”

Well, it didn’t take long for former CIA Director John Brennan to tweet the following message, replying to the words of the President: “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.  You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America … America will triumph over you.” 

(Incidentally, it has already been reported on “Breitbart” that Brennan’s comments should be investigated as to whether they constitute a threat on the life of the President. Apparently they hit home.)

JL

Letter to the Post

And here’s a low key letter I submitted to the Palm Beach Post last week which points up the need for additional resources for law enforcement agencies as well as for mental health programs as part of an effort to deter violent acts, including those carried out with weapons.   I'll let you know if they print it.

"It seems that law enforcement agencies on several levels were aware of the potential for violence posed by the shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as well as by the teenager who stabbed several people, killing one, at a recent Palm Beach Gardens sleepover.  It’s good news that local police and Federal agencies have the tools to get this information, but I wonder if they have the resources to keep tabs on all such individuals, which there may be many more of in our area.  Knowing who they are does not necessarily mean they are under surveillance.  Even though the new “School Safety” legislation allows police to get court orders to take away weapons from such individuals, predicting which ones are about to explode, as these two recently did, seems almost impossible.  And there are weapons other than guns."

Okay, although that's what the letter isn't about, a logical solution would be to ban the kind of weapons these sad cases usually use, assault rifles.  Knives are dangerous too, but they cannot be used to perpitrate mass killings.  Assault weapons can.

JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

HOW TO CONTACT ME or CONTRIBUTE MATERIAL TO JACKSPOTPOURRI.com 

Just send it to me by email at Riart1@aol.com.   YOU ALSO CAN SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS AT THAT ADDRESS.  (Comments can also be made by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link at the blog's end.)

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DID YOU KNOW THAT www.jackspotpourri.com IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICES IN A MODIFIED, EASY-TO-READ, FORMAT?   

HOW TO VIEW OLDER POSTINGS.                                                

To view older postings on this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” midway down the column off to the right, or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the very bottom of this posting.  The “Search Box” in the right side of the posting also may be helpful in locating a posting topic for which you are looking.

HOW TO FORWARD POSTINGS.

To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below, enabling you to send them an Email providing a link directly to this posting.  You might also want to let me know their Email address so that they may be alerted to future postings.

Jack Lippman 

What's Wrong with Us, Arming Teachers, Who Tunes in to this Blog and Why I Wear a Hat

Blog Survey Results

Well the numbers are in.  Of the 130 recipients of the “Blog Posting Alerts” I send out, twenty-one replied that they indeed read the blog.  Personally, I know of another dozen or so who did not respond but who, from our conversations, I know also read the blog.  And there are those who just don’t reply to surveys, ever.  I feel it safe to say that about 40 individuals regularly follow Jackspotpourri and that is not a bad number, about 30% of those who are alerted to each posting. 

Of course, the totals I see in the statistics Google provides to me include (1) the many times I personally access the blog in preparing it each week [they say they don’t count them, but I believe they do], (2) the robots in Russia and elsewhere who keep an eye on it without really reading it and (3) those who are led to it by a search engine.  Nevertheless, according to Google’s sometimes unreliable statistics for what they are worth, last week’s viewership for Jackspotpourri including those looking at older postings as well as the current one, was as follows:

	United States 69 Russia 10 Germany 3 Ukraine 3 France 2 Latvia 1 Poland 1 Romania     1
	Go Figure! Jack Lippman

What's Wrong Around Here!

The United States of America is in trouble.  It is like a car whose steering wheel is broken.  That would be bad enough, but it’s worse because of the fact that its four tires are all flat.  

We have a President who is incompetent and incapable of leading the country and who refuses to listen to those he has appointed to help him do his job. 

He does not understand the difference between campaigning for office and actually being in office and executing the tasks of governance.

And Congress is unable to step in and assume a leadership role of its own because it is bogged down, not only in struggles between Republicans and Democrats, but between factions within both these parties.  Let the allegory end here, although the nation does have the opportunity to fix those flat tires in the 2018 Congressional elections, and to install a new steering wheel in 2020.  Meanwhile, beside being the laughing stock of the world, we are falling behind better organized and better managed nations in areas where we always were the leader.  And how did this come about?

Could it be that democracy has failed in the United States?  It is the best political system in the world, but to succeed, it demands knowledgeable and civic-minded citizens.  We don’t have them any longer for a variety of reasons.  

We are in a fix because of:

(1)  the misinformation which is financed in this country by corporate dollars under the guise of free speech allowed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision,

(2) unrepresentative legislatures made possible by the gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts,

(3) the replacement of traditional reputable sources of information such as newspapers by tremendous numbers of unreliable and opinionated internet media outlets and the exchange of specious information through social media.

(4)  the acceptance in the minds of many of the existence of more than one version of “truth.”

All this works together with a failing educational system, our constantly besieged media, our worship of false gods (and I am not talking about religion) and our failure to properly utilize the technology we have developed.  Many of those that we have elected to Congress and the man in the White House illustrate these shortcomings.  They are the products of our crumbling democratic process.  Other nations surpass us because they are not democracies and can single-mindedly strive to achieve state determined goals without considering the rights of individual citizens.  This is not to praise them but to point out that we are stuck with a democracy which is bogged down because it lacks enough knowledgeable and civic-minded citizens for it to work properly.  And those impediments can be remedied.

To start down the road to remedying this problem,

we must elect Democrats to Congress, to State Legislatures and to the Presidency.  They, at least, have not made a Faustian deal and sold their souls to the devil in the person of the National Rifle Association for a few dollars and a few votes, and have the interests of the people at heart rather than those of the very wealthiest of Americans.  And the best way to elect Democrats at any level in 2018 is for Democratic candidates to demand that their Republican opponents state their position on the President of the United States.  Will they acknowledge his incompetence or will they continue to support him?  Either response will divide and diminish the Republican vote and enhance Democratic candidates’ chances. 

  

                                       *   *   *   *

A few postings ago, I suggested that the President would be “going down.”  I stick to that position despite his ability to shrug off problems which would, by now, have resulted in the impeachment or even the incarceration of a less egotistical president.  This one is play acting the role of President and sooner or later reality will set in when they come to cart him off, figuratively speaking of course. 

Meanwhile, Trump thrives on changing the subject every time he is threatened with damning facts and headlines which publicize them.  He will say or do anything to dominate media content.

When Special Prosecutor Mueller’s investigation creeps dangerously close to the White House, he comes up with unprepared and illogical tariff reforms which anyone with even minimal expertise in that area finds laughable. (Tariffs are taxes, ultimately paid for by the consumer through higher prices, and unless carefully tailored, cause significant job loss.  The President never learned this while taking Wharton courses at the University of Pennsylvania where he must have been dozing in class.)

When indiscretions with Stormy Daniels pop up, it’s time to announce that he will meet with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. 

Doing this without prior negotiations and months of preparation is stupid, handing a two-bit dictator the gift of apparent equivalency with the President of the United States, an act all previous Presidents, regardless of party, have assiduously avoided. He approaches diplomacy like a twelve year old playing a video game.  As I said earlier, Trump does not know the difference between campaigning and governing. 

Yet his gullible base continues to back him for the reasons stated earlier in this posting. 

Those who believe in impeachment (a slam dunk if the Democrats take over the House and come close in the Senate later this year) are stressed, however, by the fact that Vice President Pence represents the ideas of the right wing of the Republican Party even better than does the President and is not burdened by the moral, ethical and intellectual shortcomings so evident in the White House today.  That would make him a far more elusive target for Democrats, who might prefer having Trump around as a continuing menace to the nation, unifying their support until 2020.   Keep your eyes open as to how this dilemma is resolved.  Right now, I do not think the Democrats have an answer.

JL   

Arming Teachers?

Arming teachers and other school personal as a means of reducing gun violence?  School boards and teachers almost universally oppose our doing so.  Besides the danger of putting more guns into our schools where they might be misused or fall into the wrong hands, they know it presents the danger of law enforcement not being able to distinguish between a “shooter” and a teacher attempting to “shoot back” at a shooter.  Innocent people will be killed. 

But carrying this idea of arming school personnel further, why are not its advocates asking that personnel in other “soft targets” be armed as well?  Ushers in theatres and sporting events.  Baggage handlers in airports. Clergy in houses of worship. Salespeople in shopping malls.  Doctors and nurses in hospitals.   Drivers on busses.  Ticket takers on commuter trains.  Get the point?  Why stop with school personnel?  The whole idea is ridiculous and only a way for legislators to show some fealty to the National Rifle Association which provides campaign contributions and votes for them. 

Of course, the very best way to reduce gun violence is to ban assault weapons, which have no place in the civilian world anyway, except for arming killers.  But don’t try to explain this to the NRA nor to chicken-hearted legislators who take money from them.

JL

Jack's Hat

Some people ask me why I wear a hat most of the time.   Aside from the fact that my dermatologist advises be to do so because of the intensity of our sub-tropical sun, I do it from a vanity standpoint.  Each remaining hair on my head retains a feeling of independence and after it is put in position by a comb and brush makes its own decision as to how to behave.  Some turn northward.  Others head for the equator. 

I can resolve the problem by using a lot of grease on my hair (when younger, I used a product called Brylcreem which my father used and is still around) or generous spraying with hairspray imparting a shellac-like finish to my head.  I choose to do neither and instead, when I have a mind to, I imprison my remaining head of hair under the protective cover of a hat.

JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

HOW TO CONTACT ME or CONTRIBUTE MATERIAL TO JACKSPOTPOURRI.com 

Just send it to me by email at Riart1@aol.com.   YOU ALSO CAN SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS AT THAT ADDRESS.  (Comments can also be made by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link at the blog's end.)

MOBILE DEVICE ACCESS.

DID YOU KNOW THAT www.jackspotpourri.com IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICES IN A MODIFIED, EASY-TO-READ, FORMAT?   

HOW TO VIEW OLDER POSTINGS.                                                

To view older postings on this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” midway down the column off to the right, or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the very bottom of this posting.  The “Search Box” in the right side of the posting also may be helpful in locating a posting topic for which you are looking.

HOW TO FORWARD POSTINGS.

To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below, enabling you to send them an Email providing a link directly to this posting.  You might also want to let me know their Email address so that they may be alerted to future postings.

Jack Lippman