http://www.tributes.com/show/90506421?active_tab=condolences

I was trying to re-connect again . . .  instead I found his obituary.  I am both stunned, and saddened by his passing.  He was one year my junior.  We dated before, during, and after his service in the military.  We re-connected when I lived in Arizona a few years back and saw each other a time or two.  We had talked about getting together for a movie, out for coffee, etc.  Our schedules never worked out, and now I know why I couldn't find him again . . .  finding out about his passing, by happenstance, breaks my heart.  I still have our memories, from the past. 

“Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness.  Science fiction?  It is already happening to some extent in our own society.  Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed, modern society gives them antidepressant drugs.  In effect antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual's internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.”  ~Theodore Kaczynski
     I so agree with this, in many cases.  We need to get to the "source" of an illness, like the peeling of an onion - "cleansing" and "curing", from the inside out - layer by layer, whether physical or emotional.  Instead, our medical communities first shove pills down our throats, as a band aid, get us addicted, raise their profit levels by being in bed with big pharma ... rather than "begin" with natural means - nutrition, water (often problems begin with lack of hydration), and lifestyle changes.

“People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull.  They hate their work and find no rest in their leisure.  They are estranged from their families and their neighbors.  It should tell us something that in healthy societies drug use is celebrative, convivial, and occasional, whereas among us it is lonely, shameful, and addictive.  We need drugs, apparently, because we have lost each other.”  ~Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
     Sad, but true!

“Drugs are a bet with your mind.”  ~Jim Morrison
     Legal or illegal!

“Dear Anyone Who Finds This, Do not blame the drugs.”  ~Lynda Barry, Cruddy
     Again . . . "legal or illegal"!

“Medicine is not a science; it is empiricism founded on a network of blunders.”  ~Emmet Densmore, How Nature Cures Comprising a New System of Hygiene; also the Natural Food of Man

“Disease is the biggest money maker in our economy.”  ~John H. Tobe
     Sad, but true!  But more the pills they push, not the disease itself.

A miracle drug is any drug that will do what the label says it will do.  ~Eric Hodgins
     Probably the most truth on the label of most drugs is the list of "side effects" that MAY occur, rather than the drug itself and the drug prescribed for your affliction. 

It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy.
~Chinese Proverb
     Uh huh, uh huh . . . 

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BrendaLee1.html

     "The pint-sized songbird with the giant voice and exuberant spirit continues to captivate. There’s a street named for Brenda Lee and a day dedicated to her in Lithonia Ga. Singer-songwriter Chuck Berry wrote a song about her, Brenda Lee for his album, St. Louis to Liverpool. And in 1990, the American Rose Society named a miniature rose in her honor. “The Brenda Lee rose is yellow with pink to red edges,” writes the ARS. “The little beauty is exceptionally hearty, smaller than other miniature roses, and an all-around winner.”
~from http://www.thebillmillershow.com/pages/articles/brenda-lee.php 

The photo is copyrighted, but you can see the "Brenda Lee" rose here, and read more about it:  http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.58900.0

This photo is from the following website:

http://www.heirloomroses.com/roses/miniature-roses/brenda-lee.html#

The "Brenda Lee" miniature rose (actually smaller than miniature) ... the variants of color ranges from orange to red, with reverse of yellow.


Here's a link to a song written by Chuck Berry, appropriately titled, "Brenda Lee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKGGUbJfeF0 

Here's my Yahoo blog comment about Obama's gum chewing:  I would think after the first few times he saw himself on camera and stopped momentarily, he would have tactfully gotten rid of it. Whenever he realized he was being filmed up close, he would stop chomping and chawing so intently! I feel his gum chewing was inappropriate, for the inaugural and related events which were seen worldwide! Would he have been accepting if all of his "employees" and "military" personnel were chomping on gum, like he was doing? Some how, I doubt it ... so, why is it all right for him?

Anyone ever see one of these on Obama's desk?
Hmmm ... 
Chewing Gum Container Camera w/ Integrated Motion Detection Spy Camera
http://www.spyshop911.com/motion-detection-spy-camera-chewing-gum-container-camera.html 

What are the ingredients, in gum?
http://wakeup-world.com/2012/08/22/is-chewing-gum-the-most-toxic-substance-in-the-supermarket/

“Electioneering and chewing gum are the best examples of motion without progress.”
electioneering - verb; take part actively and energetically in the activities of an election campaign

Gum Art?  Yep, yep, yep ... check it out ... http://www.gumart.com/pictures.htm

“Gum Chewing Survey” Nabs Murder Suspect 36 Years Later
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/17/gum-chewing-survey-nabs-murder-suspect-36-years-later/#ixzz2IpmwQTDN

Curious about the story of chewing gum?
http://www.fordgum.com/story.html
http://www.inventions.org/culture/ancient/gum.html 

SONGS about gum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC2-z6cVDQo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGkyBomjIAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNOf1j5omNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XghHXd5JXJIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bFTVi0hHs 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a18sZGr8lIE&playnext=1&list=PLBEACB5ECD9052FF4&feature=results_mainhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WlSJRw7eFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZRhfatTHAY