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Address labels

Given what seems to be the slow death of letter writing and paying bills by mailing them in, I have to wonder what all those organizations are going to do that send you a “gift” with their solicitation in the form of return address labels.

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Who the hell…..

… is Justin Beaver and why won’t people on TV stop talking about him? Unless, of course, he’s recently created a successful blueprint for peace in the mideast.

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They also serve who sit and wait

In the best of times, which would be a time without war, being a military spouse is a challenge. You move a lot and you spend more time than you could possibly have imagined being a single parent.  It is not a calling for the faint of heart.

I just spent a few days with a military wife whose husband is on his third deployment in as many years. She is raising two small boys by herself for the next few months. But thanks to the advances of modern technology, her husband gets to be an active father in his

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It’s not as bad as CaCa

My godchild’s three year old insisted on calling me UncleEese. Either we really were unable to teach him that aunt was for ladies and uncle was for men OR I’ve finally gotten so old that all secondary sexual characteristics have been totally obliterated.

On the other hand, at least it’s better than his nickname for his aunt whose name he can’t quite pronounce and so she has become… now and forever as far as I’m concerned… CaCa.

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It just seemed odd

There I was, walking down the strip opposite the Bellaggio in Vegas. The fountains were spurting as a woman sang what was admittedly a beautiful version of the Star Spangled Banner.  As she reached the high notes and the rockets red glare, the fountain spouted gushers higher than one would have thought possible. The whole show was obviously designed to cause you to gasp and remember anew why you loved America. 

Except it was hard to reconcile that patriotic fervor with the men on the corners handing out cards for strip clubs that boasted the most beautiful naked ladies in

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Nipples, nipples everywhere and not a drop to drink

I was in the elevator at my hotel in Vegas. It was during those awkward few moments when it’s just you and one other person, in this case a man, on the elevator and you are trying to pretend to casual nonchalance. I glanced to my left where a poster hung touting a show.  I thought I could pretend interest in it until we hit the lobby floor.  Then I realized I was staring at the dancer’s nipples, carefully encircled with glittering diamond-like jewels and held perkily up by the contraption holding the jewels and aspiring to be some sort

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Yes, you can

Yes, it is entirely possible that if you try hard enough, you can make that penny slot machine take back every cent it gave you. The key to success is to just never give up… and I’m guessing that’s also the key to casino profits.

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Helping the homeless is not always easy or popular

It’s pretty easy when confronted with some of the homeless in our town to forget that once they were children with hopes and dreams that probably didn’t include addictions or homelessness. Then you read about a vet whose belongings were dumped by the city because he didn’t move them fast enough. You can no longer ignore our common humanity when that vet says one of the things he lost was a checkerboard from his childhood that his father had carved from spruce.

The homeless are not unlike you and me except for some really bad luck or some really bad

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