Available from Amazon.com Drawing on history, public …

Amy, my daughter in San Diego, a very busy bi-lingual BSN Senior Case Manager and a Blue Ribbon Award winning quilter extraordinaire, has created a wonderful quilt for me to wrap up in when I doze in my Lazy Boy rocker. She named it  “Growth Unlimited” .  What a memorable gift! What a blessing! What a labor of love. 

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains the …

The “friendly” people of Harrison, …

When White Boy Rick Wershe, an FBI snitch who spend three decades in prison was released, he wore a shirt that said Free Big Meech? What was that about? The answer appears to be Hollywood money

Is Coronavirus More Severe Than The Flu …

Rep. Yoho (R-FL) Resigns Ted Yoho resigns from the …

In reviewing a CD of a talk I gave for the U.S. Army …

Will Knight is the son of a first-generation Latina immigrant and an American expat who met and married in Popayan, Colombia, where Will was born. From early in life, Will has known the value of a criminal justice system responsive to the needs and concerns of individual victims as well as the community at large.

I never attended college. I earned just one-half credit for attending a course on Overcoming the Fear of Computers at our Community College. 

Many years ago in Michigan I was a member of the Battle Creek chapter of the Lions organization. We had an annual meeting where each of us was assigned a blind person in our community to bring as a guest to dinner at the hotel where we met.  Instead of bringing a guest I made arrangements with my blind buddy, Harold Rowley to participate in a little experiment. Harold had lost his sight when he was a very young child. 

There are many people that have words of optimism …

Little did I know that evening at Bryant,Ohio when I stood in front of that audience some fifty years ago that I was embarking on a great adventure that would require travel to 50 of our United States, 7 Canadian Provinces and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hong Kong to the Arctic Circle and hither and yon.

…

North Carolina. When I was widowed in 1993 I buried myself in work and it was several years before I took to courtin’. One thing I knew though was that I was tired of the cold Michigan winter weather and snow.

Did you ever try to locate something and you just couldn’t find it, but you found something much better? Well that happened and I found a little book my daughter Nancy presented to me on my birthday ten years ago. It is precious. What a perfect thing to read for Father’s Day. There is no title on it but the last words of the dedication say, “Oh my Papa, to me you are so wonderful.” There are eleven stories, each one more special to me than the last.

The Dancin’ Rag The story behind “The …

Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy, and …

…

God, how the world needs a good shot of happiness and positive thinking right now, this minute, if not sooner.  Enough gloom. Let’s think about sunshine and happiness and smiling too. Let’s think about that greatness that is in you.

Are you staying home as you read this because of the coronavirus? Well for folks married or otherwise this can be quite a challenge. It might be quite a strain. I’ve read that the sales of alcohol, illegal drugs and porno are soaring. Mental health problems, suicide and spouse abuse are skyrocketing. Oh where is the relief we seek?

A conservative group’s protest called …

When I was a student at the University of Detroit High School my English teacher in the eleventh grade was named Father Skiffington.

Reckless and irresponsible. [efn_note]CBS News, Jason …

Is there anybody out there still reading this?  I hope a few will respond. After watching the news one wonders. Leave your comments below near the bottom of the page. 

Trump “Fiddled” while People Died How can …

Several steps have been outlined by the experts. File …

Wash your hands. That is the mantra we are hearing …

In this time of turmoil let us pray.. I believe that right now this might be the greatest crisis that we have faced as a nation.  Fear appears to have overcome this whole world and it is a time for prayer. Early in my life I discovered this Prayer of St. Francis and only recently have I realized that the prayer itself  is a menu of ways that we might individually serve as an instrument of the Lord’s Peace. Examine the words of this prayer yourself and see if one particular mission might call out to you.

Instead of Orange-Faced, Trump Should Be Red-Faced A …

Who cares about ethics? Assets held by President …

My academic career left a lot to be desired.  Not only was I a poor student but I was a troublesome one too.  My graduation yearbook lists my achievement as spending the most time in the jug (after school detention) than anyone in the history of the University of Detroit High School; a dubious distinction indeed.

Follow The Money $5,600, the maximum allowed for the …

In 1975 then President of the United States, Gerald Ford had to cancel his speech for the Michigan Petroleum Association’s Annual meeting at the Grand Hotel,  Mackinac Island, Michigan. The Petroleum Association President  called me and hired me to speak as the replacement for President Ford.

God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change those things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 

Do Your Research BallotPedia.org United States …

The impeached President’s supporters Senator …

The National Prayer Breakfast is a thing that is not …

End Citizens United There’s no way around it: The …

It looks Trump is starting a war with Iran. Hundreds …

It is just January 2nd as I write this but this is my third day of high productivity. I cheated and started early. First thing I did was weigh myself.

Do Be Fooled by Trump’s Lies Voo-doo Magic So …

The following article was received via email shortly …

Here I go again! I don’t know about you but it seems like every year, a few days after Christmas I get all antsy and I feel compelled to write down a whole bunch of impossible resolutions.

We came across an interesting article by Vince Wade …

Until a year ago, I rarely dealt with the bank branch that handled my business account. Those transactions were always handled by an associate.

Martin Scorsese’s new gangster film epic, “The Irishman” would seem to be a slam-dunk winner. It has an all-star cast, featuring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It showcases state-of-the-art special effects which have “de-aged” De Niro and Pacino. And Scorsese is widely regarded as one of the best directors in Hollywood. But the film has one big problem. The film story line is not true.

Have you ever gone into an ethnic restaurant here in the U.S. and pretended to yourself that you were back in time visiting a foreign land? Jean wanted to find something different for me on Veteran’s Day and so after driving around for a bit we arrived at the Hong Kong restaurant in Durham, NC.

A perceptive, smart-ass newspaper columnist named H.L. Mencken made that prediction in 1920, nearly a century ago.

What a wonderful fall day here in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Just a bit of nip in the air and the leaves on the trees in our yard are like a rainbow. The air is so fresh and crisp and I slept like an angel last night. Certainly, all is well with the world.

One day a schoolteacher wrote on the board the following: 

Jean and I innocently walked into a local Target Store and at the front of the store they had a table with three young ladies recruiting new employees to work this Christmas season.

On the morning of February 14th, 1961 I became a writer. First thing, I answered a want ad offering a used Underwood typewriter for sale.

For the past few weeks, I have been endeavoring to sort out the books and booklets I’ve written by date. Then I want to make a second collection sorted by topic. I thought it would be a simple project but now I am suffering from the result of a lifetime practice of sloppy bookkeeping.

Have you ever been scolded and told “You just better straighten yourself out.”  Well I caught myself saying that to myself yesterday.

H. L. Hunt, who in his time was one of the richest men in the United States, once said that “You must decide what it is you want and decide what you will give up to get it.” Persistence falls into that category. The reason my poem titled “Pay Attention Brother” has been an inspiration to new writers is that many of them never had a hint of the price they must pay to succeed as a writer.

Twenty women who have faced extraordinary challenges and have overcome hardships are profiled in a new documentary-style exhibit at Flagstaff’s Pioneer Museum. It’s called “Resilience: Women in Flagstaff’s Past and Present.”

I was listening to the news this morning, really trying to keep up with the reporters but they were just a tiny bit too fast for my comprehension. It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear, keeping up was my problem. 

A dynamic speaker named Bill Sanders invited me to join him one day when he was visiting Jackson prison. That would be around 1980. We went into the maximum security section and visited with prisoners serving life sentences and then we would each gave a little speech and talked with prisoners privately.

James Brown, the old Blues singer, wrote and sang a song titled “Papa’s got a brand new bag”. I sort of associated that song with the different brands I have had in my career.

Did you ever get to laughing so hard that you had to get down on the floor and get into a fetal position just to survive?

From February of 1997 to February 2001 I wrote a total of 57 songs which we recorded with Greg Brayton at his studio in Coldwater, Michigan.

Hot has been the topic of conversation these recent days and my memory went back to 1951 when I was a G.I. at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

The Final Minutes of President Obama’s Farewell …

Oh the stuff I find around our house when I am looking for something else. Did you ever do that.? The same is true with my computer.

Something happened as I was approaching my ninetieth birthday. I began to look back upon my life as nine decades old so far. The first thought I had was that ten years ago on my birthday I decided to take a comedy classes and that lead to my adventures as Almost Andy.

In 1975 I wrote this poem for a Bicentennial speech I was preparing. It was published in the United State Congressional Record and in Success Unlimited Magazine.

A precious little porcelain doll dressed in a pretty dress and seated in an aged wooden snow sled, a tiny classic car set, a little stuffed pillow saying “You’re A Very Special Neighbor” A Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Book, A framed print of a Norman Rockwell print, A book celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the city Auburn, Maine published fifty years ago.

Just the other day I asked myself, “What do you want to be when you grow up, Art?”  Here I am almost 90 and I still don’t have a good answer to that question.

What with Memorial Day and D Day recently, my thoughts drifted back to a man named Glen Miller. He had a band in the late 1930;s and early 40’s that was #1 in the nation.

When someone asked Thomas Edison where he got all of his ideas from he replied something like “They are all around us in the ether of the air and all we have to do is capture them.”

Back when we used pay phones every now and then when we stepped into a phone booth we discovered that there was a sign hung over the phone that read “Out of Order”, well,we got rid of the phones and the booths and the signs too, I guess, but every now and then I get the feeling that we ought to have saved those signs so we could take them to Washington, DC and hang them around the neck of some of the folks who are allegedly working for us there.

There’s one thing that unites everyone who works at PetSmart: we all love pets. Cats, dogs, goldfish, parakeets, hamsters – you name it, we love them. Every day, we bring our passion together to create something amazing: a place for our many best friends to be healthy, happy and to keep those tails wagging!

Plaintiffs Attending the Wedding of Suzanne Cummins and Holly Mitchell

“I personally think eventually this will be very positive for the state of Arizona,” Pochert said. “If we win this case, I think our real work begins, and that’s that process of healing. I think it’s going to take a couple of years or even longer for people to realize the impact of the decision. I think people will realize nothing has really changed. We’ve created another layer in society that’s a little more stable.”

On February 17, 1998 I was a guest speaker at the Florence Crane Women’s Facility, A Maximum Security Prison. This story that follows is about that day.

Although not currently available on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s website, there are nine cameras that now monitor traffic along the critical route into the City of Maricopa.

This program allows citizens and business owners to register the locations of their video surveillance systems with the Maricopa Police Department. When a crime occurs, we will be able to identify the locations of video surveillance systems and enlist the assistance of citizens to help us collect video evidence.

Anchor, reporter. References: Facebook…

Adam Polaski from Freedom for all Americans writes, “Carl Mangold is something of an expert in helping people better understand themselves, their feelings, and the world around them.

Alia Beard Rau writes for the Arizona Republic and AZCentral.com, “U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick has ordered Arizona to pay $200,000 in legal fees in one of the two cases that challenged the state’s ban on same-sex couples marrying.

U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick has ordered Arizona to pay $200,000 in legal fees in one of the two cases that challenged the state’s ban on same-sex couples marrying. And the costs for Arizona to defend its law defining marriage as between only a man and a woman could get much, much higher. The order came in the Connolly vs. Roche case, which attorney Shawn Aiken filed in January 2014 on behalf of several individuals and couples, including Joe Connolly and his husband Terry Pochert.

Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes from KTAR …

News-Herald – Lake Havasu City, Arizona

One of the staples of Hollywood B-movies in years past was to take themes from horror or monster films with adult casts and apply them to movies with teenaged casts; I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Zombie, etc.

Richard J. Wershe, Jr., better known to some as White Boy Rick, is a sinner. There isn’t any argument about that. He is the first to admit it.

In January of 2014, Joseph Connolly (above right) and Terry Pochert (above left) were the first couple in Arizona to file a lawsuit to remove the state’s ban on same-gender marriage. In October of that same year, U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick did just that, declaring Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, immediately ordering the state not to enforce it.

Our lawyer, Shawn Aiken, received the Human Rights Campaign Arizona’s Corporate Equality Award on behalf of his firm, Aiken Schenk Attorneys at Law. Shawn and his team fought tirelessly for Marriage Equality here in Arizona.

Fair warning: these blogs won’t be a “quick read.” In a world accustomed to 140-character tweets and 160-character text messages many, perhaps most, of these blogs will exceed a thousand words, sometimes a lot more. Thanks to the exponential growth of mass media, 24/7 news coverage and the endless short-burst chatter on the Internet we’ve become a society with the attention span of a gnat on amphetamines. If that describes you, this blog isn’t for you.

Moving Arizona Forward was the theme of the 2015 HRC Gala held in Phoenix, Arizona. Thousands attend to celebrate achievements of those of supported many of the LGBT issues through the past year including Shawn Aiken, the lawyer of filed the first lawsuit to bring marriage equality to Arizona.

Document 93 References: 2:14-cv-00024 #93 (PDF …

Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert are a Valley couple whose legal 2008 California marriage formed the cornerstone for one of the two cases that brought marriage equality to Arizona on Oct. 17. Their marriage is now considered valid in the eyes of Arizona’s laws, and the lawsuit for which they were the lead plaintiffs (Connolly vs. Jeanes) was based on secular arguments.

Defendants Michael K. Jeanes, Maricopa County Superior …

It’s time to vote for equal rights

Notice of Withdrawal of Co-counsel

References: New Times, October 23, 2017, Ashley Cusick …

Terry Pochert and Joseph Connolly are Among Those Who Changed History – At 10:36 a.m. on Friday, October 17, Michael Jeanes tweeted his followers: “Welcome All to the Clerk’s Office. Your marriage license awaits, and we are ready to serve you!”

Lawyers who helped win marriage equality in the State of Arizona with Terry Pochert and Joseph Connolly.

Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert, the men who sued the state last December to recognize their 2008 California marriage, released a joint statement Friday morning.

Sara Ruf writing in the Casa Grande Dispatch on October 18, 2014, “…In the end, it all came down to Judge John Sedwick, a visiting judge from the U.S. District Court in Alaska. Sedwick ruled Friday morning that the recent Ninth Circuit Court decision to strike down gay marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho also applied to Arizona.