Help send Alaskans to the Inaugural! Alaska’s only HS marching band set for Inaugural without bailout

Bet you never thought this space would be asking you to help send Alaskans to Washington, D.C.  Well, I am.

Alaska’s only high school marching band remains on its own to raise money to cover a trip to Washington, D.C. , to march in the inaugural parade.

PALMER — The Colony High School marching band will have to continue raising funds for a trip to Washington, D.C., without monetary help from the Mat-Su Borough School Board.

The board voted 3-3 Monday on a decision of whether to give the band $15,000 to help cover expenses for a trip to play in the Jan. 20 Inaugural Parade.

The tie vote effectively becomes a failed vote.

Source:  Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

Board members opposed to covering the band’s $15, 000 shortfall said it would set a bad precedent and open the board to many more requests for special funding.

Marching band director Jamin Burton said he disagrees.

“How many other groups will be invited by the President-elect to play?” Burton asked after the vote failed.

That notion seemed to be one reason the board members in support of the funding found it to be a good idea.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Colver said of the funding. “It’s history in the making.”

Still, Welton, who said she received a threatening letter attempting to influence her decision, said setting a precedent where the board acts like a bank is bad.

“We cannot be the cash cow,” Welton said.

Source:  Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

However, the band and its supporters say the youngsters will march one way or the other and fundraising will continue.

The Colony High School marching band is the only marching band in the state, and was invited to play in the inaugural parade over scores of other bands that applied to do so.

Source:  Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

The band is receiving some help from Alaska Airlines, which waived its second bag luggage fee for the students. A church in Fairfax, Va., has agreed to lodge the band.

Burton said anyone who wants to donate money to help the band get to Washington, D.C., can still do so at any Wells Fargo Bank. There is also a Web site, www.chsmusicboosters.com., that will accept online donations.

So far, a gauge on the Web site shows 12 percent of the $45,000 the band still needs to get to the Inaugural Parade.

Source:  Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

You really cannot blame the school board and I am not calling them out on this.  There are kids in bands in similiar situations all over the country right now.  Part of it, I admit, is the irony.  The other is that these kids will be representing kids from all over Alaska and they’d like to know the other states know they are here, especially on the 50th Anniversary of statehood.

Please send money.

Kittens in Arlington, Texas, need a home

Please, if you are looking for a pet and can offer a good home, please think about adopting these rescued kittens in Arlington, Texas.

The lovely lady who rescued the kittens doesn’t want to turn them over to a shelter, but taking of these and her own cats is starting to drive her crazy.

A Chainsaw Christmas

The attempt at lyrics here was inspired by this story –

The little girl had been good all year.

Even in October when they took her to the “haunted house,” and it got a little scary.

So the mother asked her friend to write the little girl a letter from Santa.

The woman did and laid it on thick about how wonderful she was.

The mom got the letter, addressed it to the little girl and put a stamp on it.

Unfortunately, as soon as that was done, the little girl started to act up.

Some other children came over and she didn’t seem to appreciate her not getting all of the attention.

She was three.

The kids left and mom and dad took her to the mall to see Santa.

As soon as she got on his lap she told him in no uncertain terms,

“I hate Christmas.”

He shook that off, and asked her “Well, then, what do you want for Christmas?”

She told him, “A chainsaw!”

His jaw fell open.

After they got home and put her to bed, the mom said to the dad, “What do we do now? The letter
to Santa is already sealed.”

Then she said, “Maybe I’ll just write something on the back of the envelope.”

She wrote, “Dear Emma Grace, I was very saddened to hear that you hate Christmas. But I forgive
you, and I hope you will be a better little girl than you were last night.”

Then she signed it “Santa.”

And then below his name, she added:

“P.S. No Chainsaw!”

StandUpToRacism, NowPublic Crowd Powered Media

A Chainsaw Christmas

It’ll be a chainsaw Christmas from the break of dawn

I’ll start with the lights and crap out there on the lawn.

Then I’ll shred the mailbox before I leave the yard

So, I’ll never have to suffer another Christmas card.

Inside, me and my chainsaw will be as ferocious as we can be.

The lights will spark and fizzle as we chainsaw the Christmas tree.

We’ll sit and wait for “It’s a Wonderful Life” and take out the TV.

I hear roaring of the engine, the spinning clatter of the chain

as I take out sweaters and underwear and Johnny’s electric train.

It’ll be a chainsaw Christmas with shredded turkey and splattered ham

Flying mashed potatoes and pureed sprouts with yams

Yes, a chainsaw Chrismas, I’ve had all that I can take

and my chainsaw Christmas ended when I took on the fruitcake.

Blue Ball in Cowtown!Celebrate the inauguration of Barak Obama

This just in from the Tarrant County Democratic Party!

The Tarrant County Democratic Party’s Inaugural Ball.
The rebirth of Hope.
The Tarrant County Democratic Party proudly invites you to a once-in-a-lifetime event—-the inauguration of our 44th President. This will be an evening you will never forget. It promises to be an event worthy of the most historic inaugural ceremony our country is likely to ever experience. It will be a chance for all of us to wear our finest, and to share the joy and the glory of this celebration with hundreds of Tarrant County Democrats who worked so hard to make it happen.
Cocktails from 6:00-6:30
Inaugural Ceremony 6:30-7:00
To be viewed on tape delay.
Dinner and Dancing 7:00-midnight
Black Tie Optional
When: Tuesday, January 20, 2008
Cocktails from 6:00-6:30
Inaugural Ceremony 6:30-7:00
Dinner and Dancing 7:00-midnight
Where: The Historic Hilton Hotel
Downtown Fort Worth

For tickets, CLICK HERE

Vote for most inane remark by talking chowderheads, uh, political pundits

Media Matters, a lefty liberal watchdog, wants our help in picking the most inane political punditry of the year.  It must have been hard to narrow it down, but they have picked ten, and have an online poll.

Choose one from this list of ridiculous remarks:

• Fox News’ Hill criticizes Clinton for leaving too large a tip, accuses her of “spending like a Learjet liberal”
• Barnes: Obama not “strong on national security” because he opposed war “when the entire world believed” Saddam had WMD
• Defending Givhan’s cleavage coverage, Harwood asserted “calculati[ng]” Clinton knew “what she was communicating by her dress”
• On Hardball, Matthews and Shuster critiqued Obama’s “weird” beverage selection at Indiana diner
  Matthews on Obama shooting pool: “[I]t’s not what most people play. People with money play pool these days”
• Politico’s Simon now on to a different part of Romney’s anatomy:  “shoulders you could land a 737 on”
• Matthews: “Who would win a street fight … Rudy Giuliani or President Ahmadinejad”
• Brooks thinks Obama wouldn’t seem to “fit[] in naturally” at an Applebee’s salad bar — maybe because Applebee’s doesn’t have them
• Cokie Roberts on Obama’s vacation: “I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state,” but it looks “foreign, exotic”
• Scarborough on Obama’s “dainty” bowling performance: “Americans want their president, if it’s a man, to be a real man”

B-O’Reilly is not in the mix.  Perhaps outright lies and conniption fits don’t qualify.

They left out this one:

• Fox News’ E.D. Hill said: “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? … We’ll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says.”

However, I guess that fits more into the inane anchor chatter category.

I am trying to think of more, but I think my brain already has started to shut down Campaign 2008 memories as a defense mechanism.  Any ideas?

My vote goes to Cokie.  You know, real Americans vacation in down-home, “Sarah Sax Pack” places like Kennebunkport, Maine, and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, all so accessible to the average American.  Only “elitests” vacation in Hawaii. Personally, I think we should send the lot of them, politicians, pundits and staffers down to Spring Break in Port Aransas, Texas, and see how they survive.

B-24 Memories

My work on the documentary series “World War II: In Our Words” gave me a whole new appreciation for the B-24 Liberator bomber. I already had a link as my maternal grandfather had helped build them in WWII here in Fort Worth.

In April, 2007, my documentary producing work got me on board the Collings Foundation’s B-24. I got to fly from San Antono to Austin, not just a loop around the field. It was terrific! I returned with video for the documentary, along with personal photos and video.

Most of the bomber crew members I interviewed for “In Our Words” flew on the B-24.

Consolidated’s B-24 was used in every theater in WWII, to only bomber to have that distinction. It still holds the record for the most U.S. combat planes produced. Despite all that, the B-17 got all the glory, and it also was a fine aircraft (and more hearty and survivable by some accounts).

I found B-24 aficionados have few places to go for memorabilia. Thus, I offer up some of my humble efforts. This make great gifts, especially for the men who flew and maintained these aircraft and the men and women who built them.

Click here to get B-24 Gear