Art Garfunkel & Kenny Rankin

My Granddaughter Taniaya

Simon Cowell’s vision for a New Britain

This is an excellent article. Cowell, 50, talks of the need to inspire young people and unlock talent, promote family values, stimulate business and reduce knife crime. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/election2010/2959573/Simon-Cowell-says-General-Election-MUST-bring-change-to-Britain.html

'As the World Turns' matriarch Wagner dies at 91

NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Helen Wagner, who played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" for more than a half-century and spoke its first words, has died at age 91.



She died Saturday, said the show's New York-based production company, TeleNext Media Inc., which didn't say where she died or what was the cause of her death.

Wagner opened "As the World Turns" when it premiered on April 2, 1956, with the words: "Good morning, dear." She held the Guinness World Record for playing the same role on television for the longest amount of time, TeleNext Media said.

"All of us at 'As the World Turns' are deeply saddened by Helen's passing," executive producer Christopher Goutman said in a statement. "She is loved by generations of fans, and while we will miss her greatly Helen will always remain the heart and soul of 'As the World Turns.'"

While Wagner, who was born in Lubbuck, Texas, was seen less often in later decades, no other network television performer came close to her run playing a single character.

"It has been fun to keep the character true to herself, no matter who is writing it at the moment," she said in 1998.

She was still part of the cast, though with a small presence, in December 2009, when CBS announced that "As the World Turns" was being canceled and its last episode would air in September 2010.

"As the World Turns" was the first daytime TV drama to run a full half-hour rather than 15 minutes. It rose to No. 1 in the daytime ratings and, in the 1970s, was expended to an hour.

In a 1968 New York Times interview, Wagner called Nancy "a tentpole character."

"Nothing ever happens to Nancy," Wagner said. "She's the one the others come and talk to."

Nancy was morally upright, too: The soap opera website soaps.com put a one-word entry under her "flings and relationships": None.

Fans often mixed up Wagner with the character she portrayed, sending her letters carping about Nancy's homemaking or what they saw as her meddling in her children's lives.

But the many fans who liked Nancy/Wagner could also be a problem. She told the Times in 1977 that a woman once ran up and kissed her as she shopped at a suburban supermarket. "She said, 'Oh, Nancy, I've loved you so long I really must kiss you again,' but at that point I managed to escape."

Real life intruded on the show in historic fashion on Nov. 22, 1963, when "As the World Turns" was still performed live on air. Wagner's character was talking about upcoming Thanksgiving plans ("I've thought about it, and I gave it a great deal of thought ...") when the broadcast was interrupted midsentence with a "CBS News Bulletin" sign.

Viewers then heard Walter Cronkite announcing that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. The actors themselves weren't told at the time.

In a 1998 Associated Press interview, Wagner said she wished her character hadn't receded into the background in later years while most of the plot developments happened to the younger characters.

"I don't like the making of Nancy into only an extra figure at parties," she said. "She is too dynamic a person to be made into a ghost."

She thought Nancy, by then twice-widowed, could provide a moral compass for younger characters on the show, giving another generation's perspective.

"The characters now are destructive, mean, immoral, unattractive and selfish," she said. "They care about nothing but themselves — me, me, me. That's a dead end. That's no life."

Still, she loved the storytelling of daytime television and remembered the maze of complex plots from decades earlier.

Don MacLaughlin, who played Nancy's first husband, Chris Hughes, died in 1986 at age 79, not long after the show celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special program devoted to Chris and Nancy Hughes' 50th wedding anniversary.

Chris' death was then written into the plotline, and Nancy later married a detective named Dan McClosky, played by Dan Frazer. McClosky's battle with Alzheimer's disease gave Wagner/Hughes a meaty problem onscreen for a few years, but the producers eventually killed him off, too.

Wagner, born in 1918, studied drama and music at Monmouth College in Illinois, graduating in 1938. She later helped the college raise money for a new theater.

She appeared on Broadway in the 1940s including a small role in the musical "Oklahoma!" and in off-Broadway and summer stock productions.

In 2002 Wagner received a plaque on the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame in her hometown, TeleNext Media said, and in 2004 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Before gaining her "As the World Turns" gig, she also appeared on early television shows such as "The Philco Television Playhouse" and a series called "The World of Mr. Sweeney."

She married producer Robert Willey in 1954, and over the years he served as her manager and agent as well as producing some of her stage appearances.

View from Hubble

OUT OF THIS UNIVERSE AS SEEN BY HUBBLE

Pledge of Nonviolence

God is always the answer. FAITH...HOPE...CHARITY... and so I wish for Truth as shown by God and my commitment is to the Pledge of Nonviolence.

Pledge of Nonviolence

1. As you prepare to march meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus
2. Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with friend and foes the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Perform regular service for others and the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.


The Five Principles of Non-Violence

1. Non-violent resistance is not a method for cowards. It does resist. The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His method is passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually.
2. Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that noncooperation and boycotts are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
3. The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
4. Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence, but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
5. Nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that allows a nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a cosmic companionship.

Thank You Mr. President...You Have Awakened The Silent Majority

It's The Only Way To Fly

Prenny Bike Riding 4-15-10

Paul Ryan...What to do to stop the Government takeover

Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future

Ryan Introduces “A Roadmap for America’s Future: 2.0”Congressman Paul Ryan offers a bold alternative to Washington’s reckless expansion and growing culture of dependency. Roadmap 2.0 fulfills the mission of health and retirement security, lifts the crushing burden of debt, and boosts jobs and competitiveness in the 21st century global economy



http://www.americanroadmap.org/

I'm No Rockstar - Tim Hawkins

Troubleshootin - Tim Hawkins

Jon Voight's Letter To The American People

Below is the text of the letter:

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“In one year, the American people are witnessing the greatest lie that is cleverly orchestrated by President Obama and his whole administration. The lie is a potent aggression that feeds the needs of people who either have not educated themselves enough to understand the assault upon us all or the very poor and needy who live to be taken care of.

President Obama feeds these people poison, giving them the idea that they are entitled to take from the wealthier who have lived and worked in a democracy that understands that capitalism is the only truth that keeps a nation healthy and fed. Now the lie goes very deep and President Obama has been cleverly trained in the Alinsky method and it would be very important that every American knows what that method is.

It is a socialistic, Marxist teaching and with it, little by little, he rapes this nation, taking down our defenses, making new language for the Islamic extremists. The world looked up to us as a symbol of hope and prosperity now wonders what will become of the entire world if America is losing its power.

The American people who understand exactly what is taking place have come together in the thousands, vowing to try to stay together as a unit of love and freedom for all men and women, from all walks of life, shivering to think that this once great nation will be a third world country.

This will be the first president to ever weaken the United States of America. President Obama uses his aggression and arrogance for his own agenda, against the will of the American people when he should be using his will and aggression against our enemies.

Every loving American for peace and truth and the security of our nation must come out and join the Tea Parties in their states. The opposition will continue their tactics; they will lie and plant their own bullies amongst us. Everyone must pay close attention to who stands next to them. We can weed out the liars and agitators.

Let us all stay in Gods light. Let no man put asunder. We can and we will prevail. God bless us all!”

~Jon Voight, April 10th, 2010

Tim Hawkins 2010 Part 4

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