Sunday, December 31, 2017

Ross Perot - Prairie Prophet and Presidential King Maker

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Exactly 25 years ago George Bush, Sr.,  was running for re-election as president of the United States and being challenged by a young, upstart Democrat and Governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton.  And then there was that shrill talking, billionaire from Texas named Ross Perot who was trying to launch the first successful third party campaign since Teddy Roosevelt just after the turn of the last century.


For historians let me set the record straight.  Yes Teddy was elected vice president in 1900 and became president when President William McKinley was shot September 6 and died September 14 of 1901, his first year in office.  Teddy was then elected by a landslide in 1904.
In 1908 he supported his secretary of war, William Howard Taft for president and Taft won.  By the end of Taft's first term Roosevelt felt Taft no longer served the people and when he failed to beat Taft at the GOP convention he started a third party, the Bull Moose (progressive) party to oppose the president.
This is where the parallels between Ross Perot and Teddy Roosevelt become intertwined as if history was simply repeating itself about 100 years later.
In the election of 1912 Republican President Taft got 23% of the vote, Independent Roosevelt got 27% of the vote, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson became president with just 42% of the vote.  Thus Roosevelt blocked Taft from being re-elected and made Wilson President.
After his first term in office in 1992 President Bush was running for re-election riding the popularity of Desert Storm when Ross Perot, a former Republican like Teddy Roosevelt, came out of nowhere with his Independent campaign.
In the election of 1992 Republican President Bush got 38% of the vote, Independent Ross Perot got 19% of the vote, and Democrat Bill Clinton became president with just 43% of the vote.  Thus Perot blocked Bush from being re-elected and made Clinton President.
During Clinton's first term Ross Perot sought to influence the national agenda focusing on three issues, the NAFTA economic treaty, Health Care Reform and rebuilding our educational system.
He opposed NAFTA, an issue Clinton co-opted from the GOP because he was in danger of losing his re-election campaign.  Perot warned passage of NAFTA would lead to the destruction of our manufacturing industries and we would lose millions of jobs to Mexico and other countries.  Clinton got it passed and the final nail was driven into the coffin of America's once dominate manufacturing base.
On health care Perot warned the lack of cost controls would bankrupt America, and any government entitlement programs regarding health care like Medicare and Medicaid would drive the American deficit beyond our capacity to pay.  In 1996 the US national debt was $107.4 billion under Clinton and by 1998 would become a surplus through Bush in 2001.
Today the National debt stands at a record $17 trillion, thanks in large part to runaway entitlement costs as predicted by Perot.  In fact America spends more per capita than any other nation on health care yet ranks just 37th in the world in terms of quality of health care.
Finally, Perot was so disgusted with the deficiencies in our education system that he started his own high school in Dallas and was to set records for educational achievement and college attendance by urban youth.  Today our educational system continues to spend more per pupil than any other nation and we still are failing in terms of the quality of educational care.
Sooo, Ross Perot, the caricature from Texas who dared challenge the American two-party system was a figment of historical déjà vu showing up 100 years after Teddy Roosevelt played the same role for America.
Both were prophets in terms of warning of the dangers faced by America and both greatly influenced the national agenda and debate.  A couple of obscure Democrats owe their fortune and fame (Wilson and Clinton) to these political rebels.  At the same time, the failure of our government to heed the warnings of these two left us floundering in the winds of indecision as our judicial system seemed to collapse, our health care costs spiraled out of control, our manufacturing base vanished away, our educational system continued to flounder and our national debt reached epic proportions.


More on the Prairie Prophet from Texas later as the story of Ross Perot and his unbending care for the nation, commitment to veterans, exceptional patriotism and whose incredible rescue of his employees from the prison of Iran after the failure of President Carter to protect our own embassy in the fall of Iran to the Ayatollah is one of the greatest stories of courage to ever take place in our nation.

US hostages in Iran 1979
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CPT Spirits in the Sky - George Michael - Christmas Day 2016 at age 53



Britain's musical icons lost yet another legend in 2016 on Christmas Day when George Michael, a powerful force in concert who sold over 100 million albums died of heart failure according to his manager at age 53.

Here is what some of his friends and fellow legends had to say about the electric George Michael.


Last Christmas (Over 224 million views)
Double click image to enlarge.


Stars pay tribute to 'truly brilliant' George Michael after singer dies on Christmas Day aged 53

Sir Elton John has led the tributes to his "beloved friend" George Michael, who died on Christmas Day aged 53.

The Rocket Man singer said he was "in deep shock" at Michael's death.

The pair famously collaborated on a rendition of Elton's classic Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, released in 1992, nearly two decades after the original.

Writing on Instagram, Elton said: "I have lost a beloved friend - the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans."


The Wham! singer died at home (PA)

His partner in Wham!, Andrew Ridgeley, said he was heartbroken.

His Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley said he was devastated.

Heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog. Me, his loved ones, his friends, the world of music, the world at large. 4ever loved. A xx https://t.co/OlGTm4D9O6
— Andrew Ridgeley (@ajridgeley) December 26, 2016

Pop stars from the former Wham! front man's heyday were joined by current chart-toppers in declaring their sadness.

Careless Whisper (Over 162 million views)
Double click image to enlarge.


Martin Fry, lead singer and songwriter with Look Of Love band ABC, said on Twitter: "Absolutely devastated to hear of the loss of GeorgeMichael Truly brilliant talent £sad £sad £sad."

Contemporaries Duran Duran referenced the so-called "curse of 2016" - which has seen the deaths of rock and pop behemoths David Bowie, Prince and Rick Parfitt - as they posted on their official Twitter account: "2016 - loss of another talented soul. All our love and sympathy to George Michael's family."


This year's X Factor winner Matt Terry said: "Noooooooooooooooo! I cannot believe this !!!! RIP George Michael".

Matt Lucas, who worked with the singer during a sketch for BBC comedy Little Britain, said: "Well 2016, you had to just take one more, didn't you?"

His Little-Britain co-star David Walliams said: "I pray George Michael finally finds peace. A deeply private man with an awe-inspiring talent that couldn't help but make him a superstar."

Entrepreneur and television personality Duncan Bannatyne said: "George Michael has now been taken by the curse of 2016. Please make him the last. RIP."


While former Radio One disc jockey Tony Blackburn said: "Unbelievable, George Michael has died at the age of 53. RIP.This dreadful year goes on and on.So sad, a real talent."



Somebody to Love with Queen
Double click image to enlarge.

Former X Factor winner Shayne Ward said: "Absolutely shocked to hear that one of my vocal idols George Michael Has passed away. I adored his voice."


Alison Moyet, who performed at Live Aid in 1985 on the same bill as Michael, said: "I met George Michael a few times & he was ever a gentle, unassuming soul. A rare presence in a world full of self. Honest, genuine talent."

Eighties pop star Howard Jones, known for the song I'd Like To Get To Know You Well, said: "Can't believe George Michael has passed ....one of the greatest singers and writers the UK ever produced. I'm really saddened ..a lovely man."


                                              Star Trek actor William Shatner said: "Is this year over yet? Too many people are passing away. Rest In Peace, George Michael."

                                              Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "Very sad to hear the news about George Michael. An incredible talent who brought joy to millions of us with his music."

                                              Very sad to hear the news about George Michael. An incredible talent who brought joy to millions of us with his music.
                                              — Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 25, 2016


                                              Fellow politician Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, said: "This is just too awful. Such an amazing talent gone too soon. Wham was part of the soundtrack to my teenage years."

                                              Singer and stage actress Pixie Lott said: "Grew up listening to the beautiful and talented George Michael - my mama's favourite! was a pleasure to meet him so sad to hear the news."

                                              Fellow pop star La Roux said: "Another one gone.... What a voice, what a songwriter."


                                              Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me with Elton John
                                              Double click image to enlarge.


                                              Producer and musician Mark Ronson said: "I bought (and worshipped) Listen Without Prejudice on my 15th birthday. This song readied me for Stevie Wonder... Other than a global pop phenom, George Michael was one of the true British soul greats. A lot of us owe him an unpayable debt. bye George xx"
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                                              CPT Spirits in the Sky - Frank Sinatra - December 12, 1915 - May 14, 1998 - Happy 102nd Birthday



                                              The man with the golden voice

                                              There is only one Chairman of the Board, golden voice, leader of the Rat Pack, king among celebrities, and legend, Frank Sinatra.  The Jersey boy who was declared dead at birth in his parent's home when the doctor said he did not survive the birth complications, only to be revived by his grandmother and given a second chance at life, ranks second to none as an American icon.

                                              Here is an excerpt of what Bob Pisani of CNBC said about Frank.

                                              Frank Sinatra's favorite toast was, "May you live to be 100, and may the last voice you hear be mine."
                                              He didn't make it to 100, but the business of Frank Sinatra is still going strong.
                                              Nineteen years after his death, that voice can still be heard in restaurants, bars, airports and other public spaces all over the world.
                                              And why shouldn't business be good, with a legacy like this: 1,400 recordings. Thirty-one gold, nine platinum, three double-platinum and one triple platinum album. And he appeared in 60 films!
                                              And the business keeps expanding.



                                              The following are comments from around the world on Frank.

                                              New York Post
                                              This Dec. 12, Frank Sinatra would have turned 100 years old. James Kaplan’s two-part biography of the legendary singer only seems that long.


                                              Lady sings the blues

                                              Sinatra said Billie Holiday was the single biggest influence on his music.
                                              Photo: AP; Redferns

                                              Billie Holiday, just eight months older than Sinatra, had been a success long before he was, recording hits while Frank was scrounging for singing gigs in Hoboken.

                                              He was in love with the ragged texture of her voice and her incomparable laid-back phrasing, and in love, too, with Billie herself: her sultry, wounded, distant presence both regal and ravaged.

                                              “It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me,” he said.

                                              In July 1959, Holiday, a longtime narcotics addict, lay dying in Harlem’s Metropolitan Hospital. According to Jacobs, he and Frank visited a gaunt and wasted Lady Day in her hospital room, where three cops were stationed at the door. She was thrilled to see Sinatra, who made happy talk about how he’d loved her latest album and how much she’d influenced his phrasing.

                                              “I may have showed you how to bend a note, Frankie, that’s all,” Holiday said. Then she leaned over to him and whispered, so the police couldn’t hear, “Will you cut the s–t, baby, and get me some dope?”

                                              Sinatra, despite his hatred of drugs, tried to get heroin for Holiday as a medical necessity. When that didn’t work, Frank bought it himself from a dealer. With police outside Holiday’s door, though, there was no way to get the drugs through.

                                              Billie’s liver failed, and she went into a coma and died on July 17, 1959. Sinatra was disconsolate, holed up in his apartment, drinking, weeping and playing her records over and over for four days.


                                              Broken Marilyn



                                              Sinatra had thought about marrying Marilyn, just to save her.
                                              Photo: Getty Images

                                              Frank was fond of Marilyn Monroe, even buying her a poodle she named Maf — short for “Mafia.” But Jacobs said that his boss was disgusted by Marilyn’s slovenliness and disdainful of her intellect.

                                              Still, Sinatra had considered marrying Marilyn, just to save her.



                                              “He felt if she were his wife, everyone else would back off, give her some space and allow her to get herself together,” a friend recalled. “ ‘No one will mess with her if she’s Mrs. Frank Sinatra,’ he said. ‘No one would dare.’ ”

                                              When Marilyn died, Frank was “devastated,” his valet recalled. Joe DiMaggio was devastated, too, and furious. He blamed the Kennedys — “she was a toy for them,” he said — as well as Sinatra.

                                              DiMaggio organized Marilyn’s funeral and would not invite a single movie star. Frank arrived at the cemetery with bodyguards and tried to force, then bribe, his way in. He was turned away.


                                              Yesterday Marilyn






                                              Marilyn Monroe rejected Frank Sinatra's marriage proposal a year before her death, new book claims
                                              18 OCT 2015
                                              By Christopher Bucktin

                                              A new biography of the singer claims the Hollywood beauty turned him down because she was secretly back with estranged husband Joe DiMaggio


                                              Marriage proposal: Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe look at a photo from fellow actor Peter Lawford's new polaroid camera

                                              Marilyn Monroe turned down an offer of marriage from Frank Sinatra , a new biography of the singer claims.

                                              Sinatra thought he alone could stop Monroe’s downward spiral that would lead to her death from a drugs overdose, aged 36, in 1962.


                                              But he was rebuffed because the Hollywood icon was secretly back with her former husband, baseball player Joe DiMaggio .

                                              In his book The Chairman, James Kaplan says Sinatra once took Monroe to his Cal-Neva resort in Lake Tahoe and looked after her when she was ill.

                                              Sinatra supposedly believed he could save Monroe from the vultures he saw as leading her towards her doom.


                                              By that time Sinatra had divorced second wife Ava Gardner but had not yet married his third wife Mia Farrow - while Monroe had divorced her third and final husband Arthur Miller.

                                              Jilly Rizzo, Sinatra’s closest aide, told the author: “Yeah, Frank wanted to marry the broad.

                                              "He asked her and she said no.”

                                              Rat Pack


                                              The one song Sinatra hated? My Way... and other odd facts about Ol' Blue Eyes on the eve of his 100th birthday

                                              Rumours and truths: This week marks the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth
                                              This week marks the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth.

                                              To celebrate the life of one of the world’s greatest entertainers, here are some facts you probably didn’t know about Ol’ Blue Eyes — from his strange backstage demands to his links with Scooby Doo.

                                              SINATRA WAS GIVEN UP FOR DEAD AT BIRTH

                                              The delivery of the 13lb baby in his parents’ New Jersey kitchen on December 12, 1915, was traumatic. When he finally emerged, there were no signs of life. So the doctor put him to one side to attend to his mother, Dolly.

                                              It was only when the child’s grandmother picked up the baby, ran cold water over him and slapped his back that he started breathing.

                                              HE WAS CALLED FRANK AFTER A MIX-UP

                                              He was supposed to be called Martin after his father, but the priest who conducted his baptism accidentally named him after Frank Garrick, the family friend who was there as the baby’s godfather.

                                              Sinatra’s mother chose to stick with the name, believing the mistake must be a good omen.

                                              HIS TEEN NICKNAME WAS SCARFACE
                                              THE FIRST GIRL FANS WERE PAID TO SCREAM

                                              The young singer certainly had appeal — but George Evans, his publicist, wasn’t taking any chances. He auditioned girls to find those who could scream the loudest, then paid them $5 to sit at carefully chosen points in the audience, so creating even more of a frenzy.

                                              HE MADE SEVERAL SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

                                              Frank's stormy relationship with actress Ava Gardner upset him so much that on more than one occasion he tried to kill himself.

                                              Gardner once walked into the bedroom to find him holding a gun to his head. As she struggled to take the weapon from him it went off, but the bullet missed them both.

                                              Another attempt came during Sinatra’s dip in popularity in the Fifties. Walking through New York’s Times Square, he saw a crowd of girls waiting to see new showbiz sensation Eddie Fisher.



                                              Band of brothers: The 'Rat Pack' aka Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop always preferred to call themselves ‘The Summit’

                                              HE LOATHED HIS CLASSIC HIT MY WAY  

                                              It became one of his most famous songs, but according to his daughter Tina, he ‘always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent’. But it ‘stuck and he couldn’t get it off his shoe’.

                                              IT'S THE NEW YORKNEW YORK YANKEES

                                              The New York Yankees baseball team play his signature song New YorkNew York after every home game in the Bronx.

                                              For a while they played Sinatra’s version only after victories — following a defeat they would play Liza Minelli’s rendition. But when Minelli complained bitterly they stopped the practice.

                                              AT 5ft 7in, HE WORE LIFTS IN HIS SHOES

                                              Sensitive about his modest height of 5ft 7in, the singer used what Americans call ‘elevator shoes’, some of them the work of celebrity Los Angeles shoemaker Pasquale di Fabrizio.

                                              HE INSPIRED THE NAME SCOOBY DOO . . .

                                              Scooby Doo was originally going to be called Too Much. But during a flight to a development meeting, CBS executive Fred Silverman heard Sinatra’s recording of Strangers In The Night.
                                              The ‘dooby do’ lyrics at the end gave him the idea for the cartoon hound’s new name.

                                              ... AND A SUCCESSFUL BRITISH POP GROUP 
                                              In 1972, Belgian artist Guy Peellaert (who designed album covers for David Bowie and the Rolling Stones) published a book called Rock Dreams.

                                              It told the story of popular music in 125 paintings. One depicted Sinatra’s move from singing into acting as a newspaper article headlined Frankie Goes Hollywood.

                                              The Liverpool band added the extra word ‘to’ to form their name Frankie Goes To Hollywood and had a string of hits including Relax and Two Tribes.


                                              Tragic: Frank's relationship with Ava Gardner upset him so much that he attempted suicide

                                              J.F.K. DIED AS HE FILMED A FUNERAL 

                                              The movie Robin And The 7 Hoods was a re-telling of the Robin Hood myth featuring Chicago gangsters. While shooting a scene at a funeral in 1963, the cast and crew received news that John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. Sinatra, who had been friends with the President, was traumatised.

                                              HE WAS ALWAYS READY FOR A KIDNAP

                                              As if the JFK coincidence wasn’t spooky enough, Sinatra learned during the filming of a kidnap scene in Robin And The 7 Hoods that his own son, Frank Jnr, had been kidnapped. (The scene was cut from the final version of the movie.)

                                              Following the abduction on December 8, 1963, Sinatra received a ransom demand of $240,000, together with the instruction that he must only call the kidnappers from pay phones. In the middle of one call, he ran out of money, and panicked that the error had cost his son’s life. 
                                              But after payment of the ransom, Frank Jr was released. His father vowed he would never be caught without coins again and always carried a roll of 10 cent coins.

                                              THE RAT PACK DIDN'T USE THAT NAME 

                                              Sinatra’s famous gang of friends — which included singers Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, comic Joey Bishop and actor Peter Lawford — were given their famous nickname by Hollywood star Lauren Bacall. But they always preferred to call themselves ‘The Summit’, after a 1960 meeting of world leaders in Paris.

                                              HIS HOTEL SPANNED TWO U.S. STATES 

                                              At one time, Sinatra was part-owner of the Cal Neva Lodge resort and casino in Lake Tahoe. The resort was so-called because half of it was in California and half in neighbouring Nevada.

                                              SINATRA HATED THE GODFATHER 

                                              In the classic Mafia novel The Godfather, later made into an Oscar-winning series of films, the entertainer Johnny Fontane receives help with his career from organised crime figures.

                                              Although the book’s author, Mario Puzo, denied that the character was inspired by Sinatra, the singer — always surrounded by rumours of Mafia links — took it as an insult.

                                              When the two met in Los Angeles restaurant Chasen’s in 1970, Sinatra screamed: ‘I ought to break your legs!’

                                              HE WAS A FUSSPOT ABOUT RED CARPETS 

                                              HIS contracts always specified that the red carpet leading from his dressing room to the stage must be anchored by tacks no more than 18in apart.

                                              Broadcaster Clive James introduced Sinatra at a 1988 concert to mark the opening of the Sanctuary Cove resort in QueenslandAustralia. He witnessed the singer’s lawyer bending down with a tape measure to ensure that the clause had been complied with.

                                              HIS TIPPLE WAS JACK DANIEL'S 

                                              ‘This is a gentleman’s drink,’ he said of the his favourite drink, Jack Daniel’s. He always had two fingers of whiskey, four ice cubes and a splash of water.

                                              For some reason, Sinatra would never touch the rim of the glass — he cupped it in his hand, protected by a cocktail napkin.

                                              HE NEVER LEARNED TO READ MUSIC 

                                              Though he began performing professionally as a teenager in the late Thirties — as a singing waiter at the Rustic Cabin club in EnglewoodNew Jersey — he never learned formally to read music, instead relying on a good ear to help him hold a tune.

                                              HIS LAST WORDS WERE ‘I'M LOSING’

                                              Ol’ Blue Eyes suffered a heart attack on May 14, 1998. His journey to hospital was through empty streets because most people were at home watching the final episode of the TV comedy Seinfeld.

                                              Sinatra’s life couldn’t be saved. His last words were: ‘I’m losing.’ The Empire State Building was lit up in blue in tribute.

                                              BURIED WITH BOOZE AND CIGARETTES

                                              His friends placed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in his pocket when he was buried and put a pack of Camel cigarettes and a Zippo cigarette lighter in his coffin. His gravestone reads: ‘The best is yet to come.’ 

                                              When he died his funeral was larger than the funeral for President Kennedy.  Here is a news account of the event.

                                              That's Life


                                              New Jersey Online

                                              Family, Stars bid Sinatra Farewell
                                              May 21, 1998

                                              By JEFF WILSON
                                              Associated Press Writer

                                              BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- It was the passing of a legend, another time marker for the century, and Hollywood's royalty bid farewell to Frank Sinatra with touches of kindness, doses of laughter and moments of reflection.

                                              ``Barbara, Frank loved you very much,'' Kirk Douglas, his speech still showing the effect of a stroke, told Sinatra's widow. ``We all know that, so don't cry too much. Think of Frank up there with Dean Martin, up with there with Sammy Davis Jr.

                                              ``Boy, heaven will never be the same!''

                                              There was hearty applause from the 400 mourners packed inside Good Shepherd Catholic Church for Wednesday afternoon's two-hour service, which included a funeral Mass officiated by Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles.

                                              It was uplifting, as Mrs. Sinatra asked, but there was no escaping reality: As speakers paraded to the microphone and Communion was served, eyes were focused on the metal casket in front with the body of Ol' Blue Eyes.

                                              Sinatra died of a heart attack last Thursday at 82.

                                              Just before the funeral began, Nancy Sinatra placed her head on her father's casket and prayed. Nearby, Liza Minnelli hugged Mia Farrow, who was briefly married to Sinatra in the 1960s. Another touching moment came when ``Put Your Dreams Away'' by the man known as The Voice boomed from speakers.
                                              ``Our world is a better place because Frank Sinatra passed through it,'' Douglas said.

                                              Mourners spanned the generations: James Darren, Bruce Springsteen, Vic Damone, Sidney Poitier, Jerry Vale, Tony Bennett, Debbie Reynolds, Tom Selleck, Dionne Warwick, Angie Dickinson, Wayne Newton, Quincy Jones, Milton Berle, Ernest Borgnine, Gregory Peck, Joey Bishop, Tony Curtis, Paul Anka, Red Buttons, Nancy Reagan, Bob Newhart.

                                              During his remembrance, Frank Sinatra Jr. noted his father had the mystic romance of Rudolph Valentino, the aloofness of James Dean, sexiness of Marilyn Monroe and the appeal of Elvis Presley.
                                              ``Unlike the others, he lived to a ripe old age,'' his son noted.

                                              Looking down at the casket 10 feet away, he concluded: ``So long buddy, and take care of yourself.''
                                              The church was a floor-to-ceiling ocean of white flowers -- orchids, roses, mums and Sinatra's favorite, gardenias. Pallbearers, including Don Rickles, Steve Lawrence, Tom Dreesen and Sinatra Jr., wore gardenia boutineers.

                                              Mrs. Sinatra, wearing black, sat in the front row with her son, Robert Marx, who delivered one of the brief eulogies. ``He made her feel like a little girl. She called him her knight in shining armor. And he was,'' said Marx, whom Sinatra considered a son.

                                              The tributes were by turns touching and racy, reflecting the personality of a man whom Peck described as a ``reckless rogue, sentimental fella.''

                                              Producer George Schlatter offered a slightly off-color remembrance: ``His favorite words were `Jack' and `Daniel's.' His least favorite: `Take two.'''

                                              Following the tributes, Sinatra's casket was carried out of the church to a hearse, amid the din of four media helicopters hovering overhead and dozens of reporters and camera operators behind police lines across the street.

                                              As news helicopters followed, the hearse drove to Van Nuys airport, where the casket was loaded on a private jet that flew with the immediate family to the desert town of Palm Springs some 110 miles east.
                                              In a simple ceremony at modest Desert Memorial Park in nearby Cathedral City, Sinatra was buried next to his parents and his best friend, Jilly Rizzo, in a plot near the road.

                                              Sinatra fan Earl Timko, 80, drove up to the cemetery in his golf cart and recalled that he had seen the Chairman of the Board when he was alive.

                                              ``He and his friends, they knew how to live it up.''

                                              Pallbearers at Sinatra Funeral

                                              Pallbearers and some of the other notables who joined Frank Sinatra's family in mourning at Wednesday's funeral:

                                              PALLBEARERS

                                              Tom Dreesen, Mason Golden, Steve Lawrence, Robert Marx, Tony Oppedisano, Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra Jr., Eliot Weisman.

                                              HONORARY PALLBEARERS

                                              Tony Bennett, Milton Berle, Ernest Borgnine, Hank Cattaneo, Kirk Douglas, Quincy Jones, Billy May, Wayne Newton, Gregory Peck, Susan Reynolds, George Schlatter, Danny Schwartz, Jerry Vale, Jerry Weintraub.

                                              MOURNERS

                                              Paul Anka, Joey Bishop, Red Buttons, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Tim Conway, Tony Curtis, Vic Damone, Marvin Davis, Tony Danza, James Darren, Angie Dickinson, Phil Donahue, Mia Farrow, Lee Iaccoca, Alan King, Larry King, Steve Lawrence, Jack Lemmon, Sophia Loren, Larry Manetti, Ed McMahon, Liza Minnelli, Bob Newhart, Sidney Poitier, Nancy Reagan, Debbie Reynolds, Carol Bayer Sager, Tom Selleck, Suzanne Somers, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Stack, Marlo Thomas, Robert Wagner, Dionne Warwick, Lew Wasserman.

                                              Christmas Holidays and Christmas Cheer - Watch the Games have another Beer. Did you thank Jesus?

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                                               What is so important about the birth of Jesus?

                                              First is the example he set for all of us.  We know we experience two major events in our lives, being born and dying.  Jesus was sent to show us what we have forgotten about the stages in one’s life.

                                              He was Born, like us, although we probably missed out on the part of Mary and Joseph fleeing Bethlehem to avoid the Baby Jesus being killed by Herod.  I doubt too many of us were brought into the world in a manger in a sable.

                                              Then he showed three apostles, Peter (Simon), John and James the Transfiguration, when the full grace of God was brought into him.  The three were blinded by the light emanating from Jesus.


                                              Next, like us, he faced Death, a horrible death unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced.  From the time he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane through the trial, he was beaten, whipped, clubbed, crowned with thorns, while denied food and water for 24 hours.  Then he was forced to carry the Cross to his own Crucifixion.

                                              In a little over 24 hours Jesus faced the most awful torture and death possible for a human while being ridiculed and blasphemed by those around him.  This was the will of the Father in order to give all people a chance to repent and receive redemption for their sins against the Father’s will.
                                               

                                              Unlike us, after his death Jesus Resurrected from the dead, then went on to Ascend back into the Kingdom of Heaven.  In both the Transfiguration and the Ascension, Moses and Elijah showed up in spirit form when Jesus prayed.  All these mysterious and miraculous stages took place as a result of the Baby being born.

                                              Enlightenment, hope, redemption and salvation were now possible for all people because this little Baby was born.  That is his gift to us, what is our gift to him?

                                              Jesus was sent to Earth by his Father and ours to open us to the presence of the Holy Spirit and Father Creator within us.  Jesus is the pathway to discovering the Perfect Love of the Father for us and all his creations.


                                              Once we seek out and discover the Perfect Love of the Father, we will learn to live the will of the Father.  Perfect Love is what you live by and project to all that is – in the Kingdom.  No small task.

                                              You must master forgiveness, obliterate all bias, reject revenge, view the weakest as the strongest, view the least of us as the best of us, well you get the picture.  You will look at all others and see the face of Jesus, then look in the mirror and find him there as well.

                                              It seems there are two prevalent notions about the Son of God, consistent with the concept that all of Creation was meant to be good, then again, what else would he create?  So, if he is all about good, what is the deal with all the sin in the world?  Considering we are the Father’s Creations, there seems to be an awful lot of nasty, even dreadful, dark stuff we generate.  Not good.  It is our contribution to the spiritual evolution of our soul.  How can you know good if you have never experienced bad?  Just another exercise of free will, the ultimate learning experience.


                                              Believe it or not, when the anti-matter physicists of the future finally toss in the towel and admit God did create us, we may finally understand all the instructions he gave us through Jesus, and many others.  Our problem was we just did not get it right.

                                              All of Creation seems to be built on the “Trinity” model, where Protons and Neutrons exist in the atom along with Electrons.  It is a matter of positive and negative energy as expressed in electromagnetic waves, two polarizing influences, and when they collide in an effort to destroy their counterpart, they combine forces in the surviving Electron.


                                              Each polar opposite is trying to dominate, then absorb, the energy of the other.  Only one can be left standing, there can only be one, and that is the Electron.  So, when Protons and Neutrons fight it out, neither wins but the third entity emerges, the Electron.  The Proton did not defeat the Neutron, nor lose to it, they absorbed each other causing a cataclysmic reaction, thus completing the three elements of the creation Trinity.

                                              When things get out of hand here on Earth, like we begin to embrace the Dark forces rather than light, the Creation polarity is out of balance being dominated by the Dark side, and the spiritual evolution of humans ceases, sometime moving into a reverse-enlightenment evolution.


                                              When we embrace the wrong polarity in our lives, meaning the choice between the Seven Cardinal Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins, and we take the dark side, then we contribute to a growing darkness descending upon the Earth.  The more participants the stronger the force of evil grows as our free will makes more and more wrong decisions.

                                              Satan, the Devil, or the Anti-Christ as I see the face of evil, convince people e can be creators ourselves with our power over Technology through Artificial Intelligence, and Biology through Genetic Manipulation.  Feed people’s egos, nurture their fascination with power and wealth, manipulate prescription drug to keep them sick or make them sicker, and now you can create anything.


                                              Problem is, when you dance with the Devil the music never stops.

                                              So, God did not reign down plagues, pestilence, foods, and famines on us as punishment for screwing up.  We, our collective free will, through the manipulation of fear and offerings of decadence, created the wall of darkness shrouding the Earth.

                                              Embrace the light and you will find enlightenment.  Embrace the dark and in time your guilt will expose you, and your actions will betray you.  Your Golden Palace will be made of fool’s gold and disintegrate when you face judgement for your life’s contributions to Father Creator’ will, not your own will.

                                              Self-indulgence has a price, it is called Redemption. Your pursuit of the temptations of the Dark Side might well have caused you to forfeit your right to Redemption.  You forgot to read the fine print in your pact with the Dark Side.  It says “you sold your soul to the Devil.”


                                              God gives you many chances to repent and seek forgiveness.  If you ignore them all and fully embrace the promises of the Anti-Christ to make you God, it is possible you will be banished to the Void, the Black Hole of the Anti-matter, for eternity and beyond.

                                              There is only one experience worse than pain for eventually pain goes away.  The Void of Anti-matter is your Hell, though devoid of human pain.  Rather it is the experience of total isolation devoid of all color, contact with people, pure black.  A Void of such depth of darkness where nothing can be seen, heard, or touched for eternity and beyond.

                                              If you are reading this story or heard about it there is still a chance you can stop your spiral to the Void by repenting, and perhaps you have not forfeited the chance for Redemption.

                                              Jesus showed us what we can do with our lives.   We are BORN, then we TRANSFIGURE when we embrace the enlightenment of the Soul endowed through the intervention of the Holy Spirit.


                                              When called we have a physical DEATH, and are RESURRECTED as an endowed spirit.  Our last step is the ASCENSION, our triumphant return to the Father and the Kingdom.

                                              Choices and consequences, that is what you face if you can ever break the temptations of the Dark Side and slavery to machines, artificial intelligence, or genetic manipulation.

                                              So when that Baby was born over 2,000 years ago it was to a struggling working class family, not to an emperor, monarch, or aristocrat.  Yet this Baby was the only soul born to Earth I our history who demonstrated what we are capable of doing in our life, being Born, Transfigure, Resurrect, and Ascend back home to our Father’s Kingdom.


                                              Think of the contrast with the world you call reality.

                                              Are you happy?

                                              Have you accomplished everything you could do in your life?

                                              Did you ask Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide you on your path?

                                              Did you live your will or the will of the Father?


                                              Did you transfigure into a state of grace as Jesus?

                                              When you die are you prepared to Resurrect?

                                              When you Resurrect are you prepared to Ascend to the Father’s Kingdom?

                                              Did you get what you wanted for Christmas, Jesus did not?


                                              He died so you might live forever in the Kingdom of his Father.

                                              Celebrate and honor Jesus during the Christmas Holidays for his birth provided you the path to redemption and everlasting salvation. 

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