Spam, spam, spam, spam....

Oh, Spam, wonderful Spam! A classic bit from some of our humorous friends across the pond.



Brits are actually quite fond of Spam, having found it among the incoming U.S. troops during WWII. Many of our soldiers hated Spam, so they freely sold or traded it to get other items that they preferred more. It is still a widely sold staple to this day in the U.K.

Take this quiz, and take part in the show today.

Reality-based found this really insightful civics quiz. Take the time to challenge yourself, and let us know how you did. It's been a while for me, but I will 'fess up that my score was 52/60 for 86.6%. The address is listed below for you. Thanks, RB. GS

Click this link to take the quiz:

www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Make your points here (May 28, 2008)

Welcome to the WOW Blog! Anything you want to comment on during, before, or after the show would be great!

By the way, I saw Iron Man yesterday afternoon. It is one of the coolest movies of the year, with a killer soundtrack. There, Jay, now I can compare notes. GS

How Should We Remember Our Heroes?

Go to an observance, or stop and observe a moment of thought yourself this weekend. Write a remembrance here, or attend the flag-updating on Saturday 12:00 noon at Prospect Hill Cemetery when we remember "Our Fallen Heroes" in Iraq and Afghanistan. (The address is 700 North George Street in York, PA .) I've also included an old poem that is associated with Memorial Day, plus a short history of its writing, just to get us thinking about our honored dead sometime this Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for taking the time to say "Thank you" to our heroes.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

Thanks to Mack Welford for reminding me of this great poem.

$12 to $15 Dollars Per %@&*$# Gallon??

One person has speculated gasoline to be that way in the future. Astonishing? Yes. Justifed? Who knows. $4 per gallon by the weekend?? Probably, the way things have gone this week. That and other subjects will be on today's docket. We'll also check in with Mike Machrowitz from Foxnews on the Farm Bill and the War Funding Bill. Drop us a line in this blog thread if you are unable to get in on the phones. Grab onto something and hold on for dear life, the ride is wild on The Gary Sutton Show!

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Clean your microwave with a lemon

Today's tech tip is cleaning your grody microwave with a lemon:

Put 1 to 2 cups of water in a microwave-safe bowl.

Squeeze half a fresh lemon into the bowl and then drop the lemon into it.

Close the door and microwave until the water boils.

Stop the microwave and then let the microwave sit there with the door close so it steams the gunk.

Wipe down with a clean towel.

Admire your clean microwave.

A "shortcut" to buying your gas

We've discovered this new method, and boy does it work!

OnThe Road Again....

I just can't wait to get on the road again! We're hot & heavy today on the PA Turnpike, The Race For 2008, Osama Bin Laden, and more. If you can't join us on the air, on the phones, or however, you can leave a post in this thread and we can address it. It could be an interesting week, so sit back and enjoy the ride!

To think I'm anti-woman (or don't understand them)!

Remember the other day when a person nicknamed Hillary Forever said I’m anti-woman?

It really bothered me, as you can probably tell by now. I’ve studied women, and to the degree you can understand them, I have tried to do so.

For example, I have learned that when a woman says yes, it means no, and when she says no, it equals yes.

If she says maybe, it always means no.

When she blurts out I’m sorry, the translation is you’ll be sorry.

When she states we need, it means I want, while "We need to talk" is code for I need to complain.

Sure, go ahead means I don’t want you t, and I’m not upset is interpreted to mean of course I’m upset you moron.

This kitchen is so inconvenient in woman talk really is stating, I want a new house.

Do you love me is the precursor for I’m going to ask you for something expensive,

and Are you listening to me—well, too late, you’re dead.

Was that the baby crying tells you to get out of bed and walk him until he’s asleep.

Is my butt fat is a call out to Tell her she’s beautiful.

How much do you love me is the warning that she did something you’re not going to like, and I’ll be ready in a minute means sit down and find a good game on tv.

Finally, the answer to What’s wrong is “the same old things” which means “nothing” which is” really everything” which finally can be interpreted that her pms is acting up.

And to think I am anti-woman or don’t understand you. Huh.

GS

New poll: Should Sen. Clinton quit the race?

New poll: Should Sen. Clinton quit the race?

Poll results: Where do you get your news?

Radio - 60%
Print - 39%
Television - 39%
Internet - 78%
Nowhere - 8%

Multiple choices were allowed.

Anti-Hillary does not equal anti-woman

This comment was written here the other day:

Mr. Sutton is so anti-Hillary - and obviously anti-woman. As a woman who has waited way too long for a real lady to break through the glass ceiling, it's appalling to have latent and only semi-disguised male chauvinism be so blatantly exposed on this blog and in the comments of those Neanderthals who profess to be so tired of the Clintons but are really scared of having a woman in power.

If the Democratic party can't rise above gender bias, who can? It makes me want to cry. Mr. Sutton, how can you call yourself open minded? You can't with any honesty, but you will anyway. How sad.

So because I am opposed to the Clintons, I am anti-woman?

If you listen to everything in this message, it is cloaked with the idea that it’s time for a strong woman to be president. Does that mean that Hillary forever [the author of the comment] is opposed to men? I don’t think so.

Let’s cut to the chase. Some of us, maybe even a lot of us poor Neanderthals (as the writer describes us) have gotten to know the Clintons way too well over their 16 years on the national stage.

We are sick and tired of the idea that the time has come to have a woman, black person, Hispanic, gay, straight, transvestite, or any combination thereof in power. It’s only ever time to have the best candidate elected into power, and have them seriously considered by the nation as a leader. To cloak it in terms of “we need a strong woman” as the writer did is demeaning to women or any other group.

In fact, to vote for Hillary because she is a woman, Barack because he is black, or McCain because he was a POW, are ignorant reasons for being inserted in place of real qualifications. Hillary Forever, please put away your "ists" , and "Neanderthal" terms and understand that familiarity and dishonesty of the Clintons has turned a lot of us off over the years.

I am anything but a chauvinist, and when a non-pandering, honest, qualified candidate comes along who happens to be a woman, I may well vote for her.

Just another Manic Monday

That song title does indeed fit today's Gary Sutton Show, so tune in and join in as well. We'll be visiting some great topics, including the 2008 Presidential Race, why Gary was out on Friday, and lots more.

Grab your goggles, your floatie and jump in because the water is just right!

Read my lips: No new posts?!

Yeah, yeah, we know -- updates this past week or so have been sparse. Personal (and work) life intruded, but we'll be back to our frequent update schedule very soon.

We're working on some cool new contests and activities for us here, so stay tuned!

So, what now for Senator Clinton?

In the wake of her most recent lack of progress cutting into the Obama lead this past Tuesday, Senator Hillary Clinton now begins the final swan song tour that includes primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky which she will win.

She cannot win the nomination now, nor will she see the super delegates flock her way. For all intents and purposes, she will do what her husband did, which is decide what her legacy and her future will be from now until June 3rd when the final primary will be held.

My bet is that she will become a uniter, not a divider; she will talk more about the issues, especially healthcare, she wants to leverage into the party platform come August. Little negative will be said about Senator Obama, so as not to detract from the presumptive nominee. She will play cat and mouse with the Vice Presidential talk that is certain to run rampant as a super ticket is considered. Senator Clinton will come across as more human than ever before, so as to gain the mantle of Grand Dame of the Party, and return to the Senate in a position to gain even more power there. Finally, she will choose her moment to exit from the race as she should, but look for her to do it after a win either in West Virginia or Kentucky.

She will then go to work for the Democratic Party which will have defeated the Clinton Party for the nomination, and will help to get its nominee ushered into the White House come November 5th. For a family which has only known winning, and has forged its own niche for 16 years in presidential politics, it is a humbling moment that Democrats hope will be tenderly handled with care and grace. I’m Gary Sutton.

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Cleaning your notifications area

We spent the last two weeks trying to clean up your Windows desktops. We started by pinning stuff to your Start menu and then worked on your Quick Launch toolbar. This week we'll spend some time on your Windows notifications area.





See where the arrow points in the above image? You can click the image to enlarge it. That's the Windows notifications area. Most people have them littered, littered, sir, with junk they don't need. You only want to see what you need.

If you right-click on a blank spot on your bar (for example to the right of Adobe Photoshop), you can click on Properties in the context-sensitive menu that pops up.

Make sure the box next to "Hide inactive icons" is checked. Then click on "Customize..." and you'll see a complete list of icons hiding in your notifications area.

Each icon has a behavior (like "always hide this icon"), so feel free to hide whatever you don't need to see.

Lots of possibilities in today's primaries?

To use some tennis lingo, we are at match point again in the Democratic Primary process, at least according to the all-knowing prognosticators out there.

The popular thought is that Senator Clinton must snatch the primary from next-door-neighbor-favorite-son Barack Obama to continue in the race, and at the same time, close to about 5-6 points in North Carolina where she was down 20 at one time. The predictors seem to be babbling that the pressure is on her because she needs to record big wins to catch up in the numbers, therefore, her back is against the wall.

If that's so, it seems to me that she has the company of one Senator Barack Obama who can’t say he’s gotten his momentum back with that big weekend victory in the Guam Caucuses where about 4,000 people voted. Uh-Uh. No, Barack Obama has won every border state to Illinois so far and much of Indiana is located in the Chicago Media Market. If he can’t win there, even though there are Hillary enclaves located in the northern part of state, further doubt about will explode around the country as to whether he is their guy.

The elected numbers don’t matter anymore for Hillary because she won’t overtake Obama. What does matter is the tally of reasons called primary victories no matter how small that give super-delegates reason to pause on their choice or change before or at the Convention in August. In addition, it also makes dealing with the Florida and Michigan rules mess more palpable if she comes steamrolling into the convention close enough where it becomes a real question.

Either way you look at it, both need Indiana today to either keep the door open to victory for Clinton or slam it in her face if you are Obama. We’ll see at the end of this day who comes knocking. I’m Gary Sutton.

Main Street of America: 5/6/08

There's lots on the table today, not the least of which are the Indiana and North Carolina primary elections. Will the Democratic race end today, or will it go to the convention in Denver for a nasty fight? Would Hillary and Barack work together in any order on a Democratic presidential ticket?

There were lots of arrests of kids at a party who were drinking over the weekend -- a lot of them well-known athletes in the area. Why is drinking so important at a party, and what about all of these contracts students sign with the school about "no alcohol parties" or "no drinking" with their coaches and teachers?

More importantly, where were the parents at a house where a booze party was taking place? Is this much ado about nothing and we sweep it under the rug, or is it a serious situation that needs our attention?

Today, like everyday, your comments are welcome here and on the show!

Congressman Platts in today

Okay, folks, wanna gripe, groan, compliment or just plain get something off you chest about the Federal Government?

Your opportunity has arrived today. Congressman Todd Platts is in with Gary this morning -- and in case you can't call, please feel free to leave you questions here on the blog so we can get them on during the broadcast.

Sen. Clinton and Bill O'Reilly

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Fox's Bill O'Reilly "takes one for the team" and interviews Hillary Clinton. Views from many sides of the political aisles here in an interesting discussion.

It's personal, it's divisive at times, and most of all, it's entertaining and informative. Click on these and see just what went down.

Indecision 2008: Cheesesteaks

Insightful political analysis of the difficult Pat's versus Geno's cheesesteak issue:



Me? I'm throwing my support behind Gary Sutton Show guest Joe Vento and his shop Geno's Steaks.