My 1955 Buick Classic was lot's of fun when I was a teenager

  

A restored classic blue and white 1956 Buick 4-Door Hardtop owned by Leonard O. of California.

The Photo is By Douglas Wilkinson

                                                      By DAVE STANCLIFF                          

In 1968, I was a senior at Azusa High School, and I bought a 1955 Buick off of my Dad for the whopping sum of $300.00! It was a dark Forest Green. I bussed a lot of tables in restaurants to come up with that much loot. I was going to take it on a cross country trip after graduation with several buddies, but it didn't work out. Instead, just one buddy and I toured Canada and the United States for weeks in a Black VW...which I learned to hate for it's lack of room.

One night in British Columbia we were sleeping outside (we camped whenever possible to save money) and a sudden rainstorm hit. It woke my buddy up who - good friend that he was - didn't bother waking me up and he scrambled into the back seat of the VW. When I did awake slobbering wet, my only option was to sit in the front seat and to fold up my long legs like a crippled cricket! The rest of that night was hell.

But, back to the 1955 Buick Classic, which we didn't take on that trip. Gasoline was 24 cents a gallon in 1968 where we lived, and to go to a Dodger game in Los Angeles four of five of us would toss in a buck and it would fill that Buick up! Everything seems so cheap looking back at it, but at the time we thought it was a lot. I smoked cigarettes and would buy them at service stations for a quarter a pack. I didn't quit that nasty habit until January 2000.

I had to sell the Buick however when we ran out of money in Tulsa, Oklahoma on our way back to California. I called my Dad, who bought the 1955 Buick back from me for $300.00 and then sent the money Western Union. We waited for hours on the hot sidewalk outside of the Western Union office before relief came. We gorged ourselves on a steak dinner and hit the road home. Lucky for me, I still had a 1963 Chevy that ran like a top and was even better than the Buick was on gas mileage. It was a peppy six-cylinder with a three-speed transmission that was purchased second-hand from a fleet of Union 76 company cars (with decals on the doors which I had to spray paint white).

The fate of the Chevy will have to wait until another post. I'm outa here....

images via Google Images

You've got to read these Secret ex-president Bush memos!

IF YOU HAD ANY DOUBT THAT BUSH WAS SUBVERTING DEMOCRACY DURING HIS REGIME, THEN THESE MEMOS WILL RID YOU OF THAT THOUGHT.

IT'S INCREDIBLE HOW MUCH HARM DUBYA HAS DONE! CHECK THESE MEMOS OUT YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THEM VIA ALTERNET, VIA HUFFINGTON POST.

From AlterNet....

"Below are previously inaccessible memos written by Bush administration officials outlining their reasons for why the military had the right to warrantless wiretaps and warrantless search and seizures of people in the U.S. they deemed to be terrorist suspects. The Obama administration released the memos." CLICK HERE to read them.

image via alternet.com

Good News? The Feds think so with the new loan program

 DOES THIS MOVE MEAN THAT HOPE MAY BE REPLACED WITH ACTION? THIS BREAKING NEWS SOUNDS LIKE A BREAK IN THE STORM...WILL IT LEAD US TO A RECOVERY? SEE WHAT THE EXPERTS THINK...

                        By Jeannine Aversa/AP Economics Writer

"The Federal Reserve on Tuesday rolled out a much-awaited program aimed at boosting the availability of credit to consumers and small businesses.

The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending — for autos, education, credit cards and other consumer debt. The money will be used to provide financing to investors to buy up the debt.

The bold program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally scheduled to start in February.

Participants — companies and investors that pledge eligible collateral to back the loan — must request the new government loans by March 17. The Fed will provide the three-year loans on March 25.

The Fed said the program has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households."

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE.

AFP/File photo – The US Federal Reserve Building as seen from the air over Washington, DC.

He's Back! Blago signs six-figure book deal to 'expose the dark side of politics'

FROM TALKING POINT MEMO, VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, DISGRACED EX-GOVERNOR ROD BLAGOJEVICH REBOUNDS AND WRITES A BOOK ON (OF ALL THINGS) THE DARK SIDE OF POLITICS! WHEN IT COMES TO PURE GALL BLAGO TAKES THE CAKE. 

By Don Babwin/AP

"Rod Blagojevich, the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed from office by impeachment, signed a deal Monday to write a book "exposing the dark side of politics," his publicist said.

Blagojevich signed a "six-figure" deal to write a book for Phoenix Books, to be released in October, publicist Glenn Selig said in a news release.

Selig said the former governor "plans on exposing the dark side of politics that he witnessed in both the state and national level."

FOR THE WHOLE STORY CLICK HERE.

image via Associated Press

The Illusion is easy to see: The artwork is not easy to do

image via damnfunnypictures.com

There is no such thing as clean coal regardless of what the industry is saying to the public

Science trumps rhetoric as the coal industry shells out $18 million in TV ads to convince people coal is a clean energy. It's about time American's get the real story about coal. It's confusing with all the misinformation put out by the coal industry, but people like the Cohen Brothers are working on that problem. Making fun of the coal industry-while sticking to facts-is a good way to reach people. But don't take my word for it. I've got two sources for you to look at this morning. A past As It Stands column on coal, and a current story from the Chicago-Tribune on the subject. 

click here to read my column on Big Coal: Energy Source Should be Cleaned up or Shut Down

COHEN BROTHERS TV AD RIDUCLES 'CLEAN COAL

"Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen, known for their grimly comic portrayals of human nature, are poking fun at a new target: the coal industry.
The filmmaking brothers have directed a TV spot for an environmental coalition that's trying to demolish the notion that there's anything clean about so-called clean coal."

 click here to read the whole story in this morning's Chicago-Tribune.

smokestacks image via Google Images

Today's As It Stands: Avast Mate! There's pirates on the high seas, the web, and on Wall Street

Back in the early sixties, my brother and I played pirates on the roof of our house when our parents went to the movies. We scrambled up wooden trellises as their car disappeared down the street in the waning moments of the day's light.

Darkness didn't slow down our adventures on the roof, aka our pirate galleon.

We clashed plastic cutlasses under the moon and pretended to be Blackbeard, Captain William Kidd, Black Bart Roberts, or Captain “Calico” Jack Rackham who was known for his colorful attire and for having a couple of females (Anne Bonny and Mary Read) in his crew.

Our two older sisters weren't interested in our stupid pirate games and refused to portray Bonny or Read.

Instead, they agreed not to rat us out when our parents went to the drive-in movies if we wouldn't bug them.

For the rest of the story click here.

pirate images via Google images

The Moderate Voice exposes the GOP's presidential hopeful

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR THE SKELETONS TO LEAP OUT OF GOV. BOBBY JINDAL'S CLOSET AFTER HIS RANT ON TV TUESDAY...ANYBODY ELSE GOT SOME GOOD KATRINA STORIES TO SHARE?

IF THIS THE KIND OF COMPETITION THE GOP PLANS TO THROW UP AGAINST OBAMA IN 2012...it looks bad for the Elephant set. See what you think about this column by...

TONY CAMPBELL, TMV Columnist

"It is a bit early to order the 57th Presidential Inaugural collectibles but the smart money has to be on Obama getting re-elected in 2012. This week was a major victory for Obama, not only with the signing of his stimulus package, but also with a well-received prime time address that bolstered his approval ratings while the country continues its economic nosedive.

It couldn’t get any better for Obama, could it? Oh, yes… I forgot about the other actors in our national political drama, the hapless Republican Party. First, Michael Steele announces that he is going to start a civil war within the ranks to get rid of sitting Republican United States Senators because of their vote on the stimulus package. Second, the party revives Newt Gingrich as its new (or retro) leader of the loyal opposition. Yesterday, the CPAC true believers booed Tucker Carlson for having the nerve to give them political and media advice that might actually work in the 2010 midterm elections.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the cherry on top of the unpalatable sundae is the remarks by Governor Bobby Jindal on Tuesday night. Not only did the GOP front runner look like a spelling bee contestant that has stage fright, it has been learned that his story about the Louisiana sheriff was totally made up. Jindal’s presidential run and the best hope of the Republican Party to offer an alternative to Obama over the next three years failed miserably.

For the GOP, it’s back to the drawing board. For Obama, you better keep the name of that horseshoe maker a secret… everybody is going to want one."

Jindal image via Google Images

Pay Toilets on Airline? Customers without cash in deep s**t!

LONDON (Reuters) – Ryanair's chief executive said Europe's largest budget carrier might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, but his spokesman cautioned Michael O'Leary often just made things up at will.

"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future," O'Leary told BBC television.

He said this would not inconvenience passengers traveling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

A spokesman said the airline had considered the fee as a possible source of extra revenue since passengers had the option of not using the toilet on board, but added that "maybe O'Leary was just taking the p*ss this morning."

To read the rest of the story click here.

image via DW/Mattox via Google Images

Controversial doll turns fifty: Barbie is still a hot item

  

Guess who just turned 50? That's right. Barbie.

The real age Barbie offered today, with gray hair and all (shown top left), is a far cry from the original Barbie. One thing is for sure about Barbie - she changes with the times, as evidenced by the photo above in her black leather and fishnet stockings. A month ago a group called "Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood" named the Dallas Cheerleader Barbie the Worst Toy of the Year Award - the TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young children) for causing harmful expectations on what girls are supposed to be like.

But not everyone things she's bad. Collectors rave about her. Children still play with her. And she's probably as popular now as she was in 1959. Here's an article from The Chicago Tribune about her birthday and the decades she dressed up.

images via Google Images  

'Attractive' Lions with Dark Manes have a Little Secret!

I was watching the Animal planet the other day and they had some interesting information about lions.

It seems the darker their mane is, the more attractive they are to the females. Scientists have determined that those with dark manes tend to be healthy and even have less lice.

There's one big drawback however. Those dark manes, unlike the light ones, attract the sun more and tend to sap the lion's strength.

When their that hot, scientists say, their sperm is weak and too slow to impregnate an eager female! What irony! What a trick of nature.

It's one time when the best-looking mammal doesn't get the girl!

image freefoto.com