Archive for January 28th, 2011
Andrea Shea King and the Space Shuttle Challenger on the 25th Anniversary today
Andrea Shea King is one of the most remarkable people I “know” through HillBuzz.
She’s invited me on her popular radio show many times — which remains one of the most respected and entertaining conservative programs out there. She never pulls punches, is never bullied by the Left, and lets Democrats and the Cocktail Party establishment really have it. On top of all this, she’s an incredibly nice person who has the foresight to organize great projects….such as the one she’s running right now to collect birthday messages for Ronald Reagan’s family so she can print them into a book to give to Nancy Reagan on February 6th (if you have not yet done so, send off a message to be included in the book by emailing Andrea at Radiopatriot@gmail.com). Deadline is 12 midnight EST on 1/28/11 (so hurry!).
I never knew this until today, but Andrea Shea King was also the announcer giving color commentary in the pre-launch sequence the day of the Challenger Disaster 25 years ago.
I was a grade schooler in Cleveland home in front of the television because the little Catholic school I went to had the day off for some reason (it was either a snow day for us, a teacher in service day, or a day when something weird happened like “the boiler isn’t working and there’s no heat”). I munched on Frosted Flakes and drank orange juice on the green carpet in front of the TV, our Siberian husky puppy playing with a bone next to me, and I didn’t understand what had happened to the shuttle for the longest time, even after the people on the ground started bawling. I saw the “Y” shape in the sky, but thought those were just the booster rockets finished with their mission and that the shuttle had just rocketed into space already, leaving that trail behind. My grandmother dropped a load of whatever she was carrying and when I turned around her hands were up to her face, in horror, and she was crying. That’s when I realized how devastating it really was.
Andrea Shea King was actually in Mission Control that day. You have heard her voice if you’ve seen any footage of the pre-launch activities of the crew.
If you have listened to her radio show (and if you haven’t, you need to start, immediately, because it’s that good), you will pick up her voice a few seconds into this video as the astronauts get ready to board the van to take them to the shuttle:
Andrea went on to author a special report on what happened, after the White House asked for NASA’s cooperation in preserving what happened for history.
This is a “Forrest Gump” moment for me, where I learn someone I know was a first person witness to a major moment in American history, and I never realized it.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since that day on the floor eating cereal, watching TV, before witnessing that horror live on the air. In my lifetime, I’ve honestly only had five moments that are burned into my memory as “Where were you when you heard?” days: the Challenger disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing, Princess Diana’s car crash, 9/11, and the night Obama won the presidency.
Four of those were horrible nights for America. And the other one was a terrible thing to happen to what always seemed like a very nice mother of two, who was just starting to come into her own and be a real three-dimensional person.
Do you have any Challenger memories to share?
It’s late in the evening to get this thread up, but honestly with all the other depressing events happening today with Islamic takeover of Egypt, I just didn’t want to spoil the last day of the work week for people by talking about these tragedies while they were happily thinking about their upcoming weekends.
Ideas to Reagan-ize your SuperBowl party this year, in honor of President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday
President Reagan would have been 100 years old on February 6th, SuperBowl Sunday.
Since many of you are having parties that day anyway, to watch the game, why not have a little Reagan Birthday Party too?
You could do something very simple, like get a cake that says Happy 100th President Reagan on it.
Have red, white, and blue Jelly Belly jellybeans scattered around the room in bowls (because they were his favorite, and a favorite gift to friends and supporters).
Decorate for the party with red, white, and blue balloons and streamers.
Or, if you aren’t a football fan, counterprogram the game with some of President Reagan’s old movies, like Dark Victory (bonus since it stars Bette Davis).
What other ideas do you have to share a Superbowl Party with a celebration of Reagan’s 100th…and anything interesting Governor Palin has to say that day, should she feel like saying anything.
What think you?
Terrible Person Update: Obama operative Helen Jones-Kelley gets new government job in Ohio (where she can illegally use sensitive databases some more…since she thinks it’s so fun…and everyone is too afraid of being called RAAACIST to stop her!)
Click to embiggen to see where Helen Jones-Kelley gets all her bougie outfits.
This woman should never again be allowed near either a government computer or a baby Snuffleupagus.
On top of everything else, did Helen Jones-Kelley teach Michelle Antoinette Obama her fashion sense?
This is truly outrageous (but not in the awesome Jem truly-truly-truly-outrageous sense I love), and I honestly want your opinion on whether you would join in if I organized a letter writing campaign to Ohio Governor Kasich over this.
Helen Jones-Kelley is the bougie Obama operative who wears those ridiculous suits that look like they are made from skinned Muppets, and who illegally used Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services computers to dig up dirt for the Obama campaign to use against Joe “the plumber” Wurzelbacher in the last days of the 2008 presidential campaign.
Then-Governor Ted Strickland just gave her a slap on the wrist and allowed her to resign instead of being fired…so that she could reapply for a government job with the state when people forgot about what she did to Joe the Plumber.
Well, here we are in 2011, and Jones-Kelley is now the Director of the Montgomery County Drug Addiction Board.
This woman should honest to goodness be working in an Arby’s (with Bill Richardson) and should never again be allowed near a government computer. She cannot be trusted with one. Or, come to think of it, with curly fries! The same goes for Richardson if we’re being honest.
Please chime in on this poll and let me know if you would participate in a letter writing campaign to the new Ohio Governor Kasich to let him know what a shock and embarrassment it is to see this terrible woman once again restored access to private information she could potentially use to serve Obama in 2012.
First she came for Joe the Plumber…next will Helen Jones-Kelley come for you…or your Muppets?
Do you honestly think if she was a white man and did what she did to an Obama supporter, instead of being a black Obama operative committing this crime on a white male McCain supporter, that she would have had just a slap on the wrist, no jail time, and be allowed back at a government job in three years?
Be honest.
Because I just don’t think so.
GREAT MERCIFUL ZEUS: Have you seen the forensic video comparing Obama’s physical features to Malcolm Little/Malcolm X?
This is the most shocking thing you will watch today.
Guaranteed.
The best part is to listen to the people in the crowd gasp, repeatedly, all throughout.
Even the black community keeps asking “WHO IS THIS MAN, REALLY?”.
The mysteries with him never end.
Professional baseball player gives up millions
Gil Meche
Yep…you read that right. A professional athlete has willingly given up a 12 million dollar contract because it was the right thing to do. Has hell frozen over? Gil Meche, 32, was a right-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals who had a guaranteed 12 million dollar contract…..even if he was injured and couldn’t actually pitch. There have been a few cases of athletes taking less money if they were unable to play but it is very rare to find one who gives up the entire amount. Gil has been suffering from a chronically sore right shoulder and so earlier this week he announced his retirement. Here is what he said after his announcement…
“When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it,” Meche said this week by phone from Lafayette, La. “Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.”
Professional sports clubs pay their athletes obscene amounts of money and with that money comes big egos and often times bad behavior so when one of these athletes does something amazingly honorable, I think we all need to stand up and cheer.
Hip Hip Hooray!
FASCINATING story about David “Popcorn” Kernell’s sentencing and the judge’s attempt to get him into a cushy halfway house instead of prison
Someone familiar with law enforcement and the penal system please chime in on this one: David “Popcorn” Kernell was sent to prison and not a halfway house because there are needier felons who needed to go to the halfway house.
The prison officials said they sent Kernell to prison despite the judge trying his best to do a solid for the Kernell family and send “Popcorn” to a halfway house near a community college.
Instead, Kernell was sent to prison, where he belongs, and no favoritism was shown to the son of Democrat Tennessee State Rep. Mike “Terrible Father” Kernell.
“Popcorn” will be in the klink for a year, released for good behavior around Thanksgiving.
Read the article if you know anything at all about typical sentencing and then come back here to tell us if the whole thing’s so strange to you. The judge wants him in a halfway house, but the prison says no, there are “needier felons” that should go there, and because Kernell is from a rich family, he should go to prison.
It’s great he is getting the worst possible accommodations so he can be truly punished for what he did, but that logic is so strange. Can you break it down better?
Step right up and see the mythical “Birth Certificate Of Mystery”: Hawaii announces plans to charge $100 to view Obama’s long-hidden original long form birth certificate
Where's the birth certificate? Nobody yet knows, but Hawaii wants to charge $100 a peek once someone there has found it.
Dear HillBuzz:
Interesting things are brewing in the Aloha State. Five Democrat legislators have introduced a bill which would make Obama’s birth records available for a fee of $100.
