NANCY PELOSI

I like her.

What's to say about a woman whose face is instantly recognizable, who has been in the news, on television, whose voice I recognize, as well as her manner, her bearing.

I like her.

Why are people surprised that she chose to remain in Congress as the minority leader? I guess they felt she enjoyed her power, and would dislike taking a back seat. (I never got the impression that she loved being in the limelight -- when paparazzi were hovering, she seemed somewhat embarrassed.)

I felt that she liked and understood her job, and had no reluctance about expressing her opinion -- it usually fit with the President's opinion. When it didn't, it was never Nancy Pelosi versus the President. It was Pelosi wanting to help him achieve what he wanted to achieve.

I like her.

She didn't say "I." She used the pronoun "We." Her cheerful, upbeat manner affirmed that she believed in what she was doing. I remember a couple of occasions when she explained some whys and wherefores. When she did, it seemed sensible, not teacherish, just practical.

I like that.

At times, it was if she were Obama's partner -- not a wife, but similar to a wife -- in her consistent loyalty, her ability to change the subject when reporters were bombarding her with questions.

Right now, the media constantly refers to Obama being trounced, Obama failing -- the White House being seriously rebuked by the public's lack of support -- the midterms as a disaster for Obama.

That Pelosi will continue to work with the President says the midterms were just midterms, not a rebuke or a disaster. She's ready to use her knowledge, skills, experience -- her rapport with the President -- to help him move ahead on his agenda.

Pelosi is showing us that actions speak louder than words.

That's why I'm letting you know, I like Nancy Pelosi.

WHY OUR GRANDPARENTS WERE HAPPY

A friend of ours sent me this after I did a blog about marijuana. (He lives in California, one of the fourteen states that allows 'weed' to be purchased at pharmacies with a prescription.)

BAYERS HEROIN
Between 1890 and 1910 heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine.
It was also used to treat children suffering with a strong cough.

METACAF'S COCA WINE
It was one of a huge variety of wines with cocaine on the market.
Everybody used to say that it would make you happy
and it also worked as a medicinal treatment.

MARIANI WINE (1875)
It was the most famous Coca wine of it's time.
Pope Leo XIII used to carry one bottle with him all the time.
He awarded Angelo Mariani (the producer)
with a Vatican gold medal.

MALTINE
Produced by the Maltine Manufacturing Company of New York.
The label suggested that you should take a full glass with, or after, every meal.
Children should only take half a glass.

OPIUM FOR ASTHMA
At 40% alcohol plus 3 grams of opium per tablet,
it didn't cure you, but you didn't care.

COCAINE TOOTHACHE DROPS
Very popular for children in 1885.
Not only did they relieve the pain, they made the children very happy!

COCAINE TABLETS (1900)
All stage actors, singers, teachers and preachers
had to have them for a maximum performance.
Great to smooth the voice.

PAREGORIC
(Opium for newborns, plus 46% alcohol.)
It made them sleep well.


It's no wonder they were called, 'The Good Old Days'!!
From cradle to grave...
Everyone Was Stoned!!!

SHOULD EM SHUT UP?

Commentators have to be careful about what they say. The Granddaddy of broadcasting, NBC, tells its commentators "keep your personal political opinions to yourself."

NBC is following an old-fashioned concept of journalism.

Fox News encourages outspokenness and first-person voices. Fox News is the number one, most listened to Network, by audiences. On Fox News all the commentators keep reminding you that they Tweet or Facebook their opinions .

(Oh God, why in the world, how in the world, did ramblings, spur of the moment blanket statements, private half-formed bla-bla become popular? I remember, do you remember when news was news and nobody said "see me, read me on Tweet, Facebook or Online?)

The new way for commentators to behave is not dictated by rules in a memo. If more and more people are watching, and advertisers are buying time while you're on the air, 1. be careful who and what you attack and smile. 2. don't show your opinion too strongly and smile. 3. smile a lot. (If someone sues, you can say you were joking.)

Meanwhile, MSNBC's commentator, Joe Scarborough was fined and suspended for a couple of days, and so was commentator Keith Olberman. (Both had broken NBC's policy, and made unauthorized donations to political candidates they supported .)

Rick Sanchez was canned at CNN for saying that Jews dominate the media. Juan Williams was fired by NPR for saying that he gets nervous seeing airline passengers "in Muslim garb." Veteran columnist, Helen Thomas retired under fire after saying Israelis should " get the hell out of Palestine." Political reporter David Weigel was dropped by the Washington Post for criticizing some conservatives. CNN's Octavia Nasr lost her job for saying that she respected a deceased Hezbollah leader who had opposed honor killings of women.

It's there -- you have be very, very careful! And don't use the wrong-evil-bad N word, or F or S or any of the old ways of referring to gays.

Should I tape my mouth, zip up, not say I don't like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin -- or that John Boehner upsets me? I haven't recovered from him in March, when he blurted out a violent, angry opinion about the health care vote. I don't admire Pope Benedict -- he's avoided the issue of priests abusing kids, and ... well ... there are other people that seriously bother me.

Oh dear ...

Well, I'm my own boss. I am not controlled or paid or on a salary, or following anyone's rules but my own, which are 1. be careful, 2. don't use vulgar swear words, 3. answer all messages from readers who disagree with me.

Commentators have to be careful about what they say. I don't!

I'm a blogger, as in blo, and ogger, so I'll keep on blo-ING ogger-ING with my mouth not zipped-up!

JANET JACKSON (Video)

That's Janet Jackson and big brother Michael. I haven't forgotten Michael Jackson, or his children, or the Jackson family, and I wondered how Janet Jackson was doing right now.

The 44-year old Jackson's self-help book/memoir, "True You," that's about to be released, focuses on her issues with her weight and her life with her "secret" husband, whom she divorced. Currently s dating Wissam Al Mana, a wealthy native of Qatar, who is nine years her junior, she's been working as an actress with director Tyler Perry in his last three movies, co-starring with Whoopie Goldberg in Perry's adaptation of "For Colored Girls."


WHAM, this photo hit my eyes.

ADDICTIONS

Do you devote yourself to something -- habitually, obsessively, ardently, enthusiastically -- surrender yourself to a cause, object, or pursuit?

Runners and daily exercisers get endorphins -- opioids (a compound produced by your glands during exercise, excitement, pain, consumption of spicy food, and orgasm) that resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a feeling of well-being.

I am not a junkie, but I've been a daily dancer person all my life. I don't dance to get a HIGH from doing it. I just do it.

You can overdo running, dancing, or any of the things you do that create the HIGH or high-point of your day. You could be a sex addict, a gamesters on your computer, gung-ho about gaining/winning /losing in Farmville, or Mafia Wars , and get the LIFE IS GOOD, LIFE IS OKAY sense of calm and hope.

Hey, you could be an eating addict and get that glow from eating six or eight or ten times a day. Or a "reading addict, a writing addict, a texting, a phone chatterer addict.

(Actually, I think facebooking -- contacting, communicating with friends, new and old, who are lonely, bored, needy, responsive, and often pretending to be their younger selves), is very addictive..

Okay, anything you do -- do often, do routinely -- can give you endorphins. Does it matter? Is it creating a need, a dangerous obsession?

Want to know if your "thing" that you do, is serious addiction?

Here's the test: Name the "thing" and tell me your score.

PRIVACY

Oh c'mon, clothes show off cleavage, pecs, butts. buttocks, belly buttons, What's the fuss over the airport X-rays? You don't want your parts, your shape, curves, or bulges observed by strangers?

What about all the private-parts stuff on TV, in theater, films, in store windows? We're seeing more than a peek -- getting major revelations about women's everything, and men in jockey shorts or trunks, their everything revealed.

Is it fear that X-rays can give you cancer? Or is it because everything seems to be invading your private space, your world?

Is it the FDA rulings about wrong, not good medications? Is it the faster world, the latest new electronics, or our ever-larger, more-crowded cities and the longer lines? Is it all the things happening here and there -- immigrants, gays, Muslims, Jews, Blacks -- that get you wondering if your rights are being jeopardized, disallowed, ignored?

Those damn peek-a-boo X-ray machines -- stupid, unnecessary, waste of time -- didn't some Israeli Chief of Security say so? EL AL planes had one hijacking in thirty years -- all they do is interview every single passenger, and then, focus on the guilty-looking, stuttering um ... er... a-a ... um ... weirdoes.

Isn't all this a malaise -- this heavy, gray, bad-weather feeling -- that you don't matter?

If you're fit, unfit, overweight, old, young, sexy, un-sexy, revolting or attractive -- the guys who check the X-ray photos don't care -- you're a gray shape, a number, a digit the data-miners are collecting and collating.

Everything about you -- body and soul -- what you do, see, visit, research, check out, enjoy, like, love, hate, avoid, or follow -- it's YOU! You are INFORMATION that can be sold to other data miners employed by pollsters, who work for someone (in business, politics, or the media ), anyone who's buying something.

Adjust to the reality that this is the way the world is -- it's the reality of now -- so brush away your feelings like specks of dirt blown by the wind.

Stand in line, be counted, X-rayed, or patted down -- just obey the rules.

Mankind, womankind, people like you are creating rules and inventing and expanding the new reality --so why not rejoice in that? You are alive and kicking, complaining, and YES, you are benefiting from being part of it.

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (Video)

If you're in a hit show, performing eight shows a week, what do you do to sustain your energy, keep the character fresh?

John Cullum explains that he prepares each night. Emily, wanting specifics, asks if he's bored, does he warm up his voice, his body, and does he ever go blank.

"Yes," John exclaims, and re-enacts what happened to him on one of the preview nights last week. Performing the moment for her, John delivers a speech that doesn't really make much sense, but viewers will get a good sense of how John Cullum attacks the role that he's performing every night at the Lyceum in "Scottsboro Boys."