Susan Boyle WOWS “Britain’s Got Talent” Panel

Watch Susan Boyle’s stunning debut here!  Also see  a great slide show of Susan having fun with her friends in Scotland; and interviews with Susan at home.

Several amazing things happened on Britain’s Got Talent.  The first thing that happened: a person with REAL talent appeared on the show; that in itself amazes me in a culture where controlled (if we’re lucky) yelling is now called singing.  That goes for you too (actually more), American Idol.

The next amazing thing was that the talented person was overweight, and didn’t look like a Hollywood bimbo with fake boobs and capped teeth.  Because of the way she looked, the unemployed 47-year-old who lives with her cat, Pebbles, in a village in the UK, was smirked at by the judges before she sang – and treated as though she were some sort of a circus side show that they’d have to patiently wait out. 

In a supposedly progressive culture, the western world continues to judge women solely on their looks and how much they weigh.  There are a lot of self-appointed weight and looks monitors out there, and sadly, most of them are superficial, desperate women who seem to thrive on hurting others.  Many of the female audience members looked upon this performer (before she sang) with obvious disdain and repulsion. 

Then, just after the arrogant Simon Cowell rolled his eyes in disgust…it happened:  Susan Boyle stunned the audience with her beautiful voice…all the years of hurt and broken dreams came out passionately as she bore her soul in I Dreamed a Dream from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Les Miserables.  Apparently she’s never had voice lessons – it’s all natural…and not just a pretty voice – it’s got that certain something that touches your soul.

As a professional, classically trained singer, I learned the following about “judges” – both self-appointed, and “judges” on panels.  They usually fall into one or more of the following categories:

• a failed performer with a chip on their shoulder;
• a talentless bimbo who slept their way to a teeny bit of notoriety;
• a bitter has-been; or
• a never-has-been-and-never-will-be who lives in a delusion. 

Susan Boyle is THE REAL THING and thankfully has now been discovered.  It’s sad she had to wait until she was nearly 48 because of all the little “judges” that held her down throughout her life.

Moral of the story:  Follow your dream – regardless of what anyone says.

Go Susan, and be your beautiful self…go forward and don’t ever allow any superficial, little person drag you down ever again.  Step into your God given place in the universe.

LISTEN TO HER WORLD FAMOUS PEFORMANCE HERE!  If you’d like show your support for this wonderful lady, we’d love to publish your opinions on the Susan Boyle Fan Club USA site.

US Navy Rescues Captain Held Hostage by Pirates

   USS Bainbridge

It’s a very happy Easter. 

Our Merchant Marine Captain Richard Phillips has been rescued by the US Navy.  Happily, Captain Phillips is unharmed.  Thank you, President Obama, for approving the lifesaving mission; thank you to the captain of the USS Bainbridge for making the split-second decision to order your men to shoot the pirates; thank you to the sharp-shooting Navy Seals for your superb marksmanship; and thank you, Captain Phillips, for being the real thing - for offering your life for your crew – an Easter lesson for us all.

God bless you all.

Internet Infrastructure Fragility

Our world now revolves around turning on the lights, the heat, the coffee pot, and logging into our virtual one.  When the power goes out, our lives come to a halt.  That in itself is sad, but let’s get to to the point of the article now:  the internet infrastructure is totally unprotected and is ridiculously vulnerable to vandals and terrorists. 

Last week, vandals cut into the fiber optic network in San Francisco which shut down everything including the Bay Area’s 911 service.   Nice.  Reality is: no matter how sophisticated things get, we’re still operating via a bunch of wires that are easily cut with a hacksaw.  When it comes right down to it, our entire electric grid is completely vulnerable to not only terrorists with an agenda, but to complete morons. 

What should we do?  I’ve read that “surely we can’t put armed guards at every manhole cover, fiber optic hub and transportation grid.”  No, not at every site, but we could do so at the biggies.  Of course, that would traumatize the…well, it would traumatize a lot of people.  It’s okay if 911 doesn’t work though – no trauma there.  Anyway, here it comes folks…another solution that’s being discussed is (drum roll):  a national security monitoring network.  Yes, that’s a better solution than hiring armed guards; after all we wouldn’t want any solid security at these sites or to create any more jobs.  

If your electricity is working, wake up and smell the coffee.

Inmates to have Voting Rights in Great Britain

Well, it’s another blow for the sovereignty of a once great nation on which the sun never supposedly set!  In convict jargon: Great Britain is now the European Union’s bitch! Gosh, and here I worry about England turning into America…they’re outdoing us with stupidity now.  Why is Great Britain allowing some inmates voting rights?  Because the European Union told them they had to do so.  Sounds as though the New World Order, or should I say New World Disorder is getting a scary foothold.  Countries losing their sovereignty is WRONG.  My English Mother-in-law was a code breaker in WWII.  I wonder how she likes this one?  What a slap in the face!  England, wake up: PUT A STOP TO THE LOSS OF YOUR SOVEREIGNTY NOW; if you don’t you’ll soon be sporting a little EU microchip in your hand.

Modern Day Pirates – What to do?

Family members of the hostage (Maersk Merchant Marine Captain) say, “ I don’t want any heroicism where someone on the ship will get hurt.  If they (the Somali terrorists) want money, just give it to them.”  I understand the family members making such a statement, acting out of emotion and fear for their loved one’s safety.   My Dad was a Merchant Marine Captain, and I’d have probably felt the same way if he were held hostage.  I, however, would fully expect our armed forces to blow the terrorists to kingdom come afterwards – especially considering the service the Merchant Marine provided during WWII – delivering ammunition while they themselves were sitting ducks. 

However, we seem to be giving criminals all kinds of leeway these days -after all, “they have their rights” we’re told.  Law abiding citizens must tolerate them and just “hope” nothing happens.

It IS time for heroicism, it IS time to take a stance.  To put it succinctly, these modern day pirates need to be done away with.  Before you know it,  some bright political star or news anchor with illusions of grandeur will give us some lame excuse why we should have to tolerate this kind of terrorist garbage.  We certainly wouldn’t want to hurt the pirates - after all they’re only trying to make a living for their families.  A former Marine sent me the following email with which I couldn’t agree more (it also includes a much needed history lesson): 

~ I was intrigued by the response by some authority person on tv today that there was ‘no silver bullet response to pirates.’ I say there is, its called a brass casing bullet. Time to get tough with these idiots and take them out. Since they are some 300 miles off shore my response would be sink their boat and see if they can swim all the way back. Beats me why we keep fooling around with these terrorists. This is the first time in 200 years that  pirates tried to take an American boat. The last time it happened Thomas Jefferson sent in the Marines. That’s was in Tripoli. That’s where the Marines song comes from, From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, which is now Libya. Time to send in the Marines. ~

National Customer Service Manager

Did anyone know  there was a “National Customer Service Manager?”  Indeed, there is.  You can write with complaints about government “customer service.”   Here’s the address:

NATIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS

2100 Pennsylvania Ave., 3rd Floor

Washington, DC  20037

Please, USE this address with any complaints you may have.  My finding this address was borne out of extreme frustration with applying for a new passport.  I decided to get the forms online (God help anyone who tries to print them out to  “their” specifications – the programming is a disgrace), from the travel.state.gov website.  Long story very short, I sent in my new application with new picture (went to great lengths to meet all criteria).  I’ve just received the entire packet back in the mail…rejected because…why?  I don’t know…something about the picture is wrong.  SomeTHING…it doesn’t say what; it gives a list of things it  COULD be.  At the end of the canned letter, it says, “Thank you and we look forward to serving you.”  Right.  I called the toll-free number and stayed on hold for a great deal of time – only to get a kind sounding woman who tried to help (she ended up reading the paragraph to me of what “could be” wrong).   The two saving graces: she spoke excellent English, and she gave me the National Customer Service Manager’s address (which I notice they’re not advertising on TV). 

People, it’s time to stand up and demand a far higher calibre of customer service from our government!  Couldn’t there have been a form with little check boxes to tell me exactly what was wrong?  Perhaps that’s too much to ask. 

I’ll re-apply for my passport and prepare  to get patted down at the airport by a ” US citizen” (I use the term loosely) as though I were a common criminal. 

I implore you, USE the address I’ve painstakenly discovered (above).  Don’t  “just let things go” anymore.  How else can we expect anything to change?