Our TSA….saving us from wheelchair grannies and their evil defibrillators.  No wonder American Airlines went bankrupt earlier this week. 
(msnbc.com)…An 84-year-old New York grandmother said Saturday she was injured and humiliated when she was strip searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner.  Lenore Zimmerman said she was whisked away to a private room and made to take off her pants and other clothes after she asked to forgo the screening because she worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one two-and-a-half hours later, she said.
“I walk with a walker — I really look like a terrorist,” she told The New York Daily News. “I’m tiny. I weigh 110 pounds, 107 without clothes, and I was strip-searched.  I was outraged,” said Zimmerman, a retired receptionist.   (more…)

In honor of our many wonderful Texans who frequent, and greatly enliven this site, we are choosing the great state of Texas as the next in our American Puzzle Pieces series. To refresh your memory, we started this series because we who live scattered across America have come together here, united by beliefs and values we share, by concerns for the future and direction of our country. We enjoy each other, learn a little, share some humor and a beer or two from a Texas sized cooler, manned by our own WeeWeed. To date, I have written articles on a couple of states I have called home, and Pat gave a great feature on Michigan. Sadly, tragically, I have never visited Texas. However, with all the attention given the Lonestar State after Rick Perry’s hat toss, we have wanted to show our appreciation for our Texans, so I have decided to make them work. Being Texans, I just don’t think they will care. (more…)

Since most New Yorkers think the world revolves around their city, consequently few of them have an accurate idea of what the Unites States of America really looks like.   Anyone who doesn’t live in Los Angeles or New York City doesn’t really matter, has no meaningful opinions, or doesn’t exist other than in some weird Amish/Deliverance kind of lifestyle.
News Flash:  Minnesota is not Southern Canada.  E-I-E-I-O is not a zip code. And, there is no East Jesus.
Below is the Map of America….as seen by the average New Yorker.  (more…)

Several months ago, we introduced the Puzzle Pieces series, hoping to share what we love about our homes, to bring out more knowledge about various areas of the country we all love. We have fallen behind in the series, so I thought this patriotic weekend would be a good time to get back to it.

I would like to share a little history, a little folklore, a little of my love of my home state, Georgia. (more…)

“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”  The official state motto of Michigan encourages both visitors and residents to enjoy their surroundings.

 People who have never visited my home state think of it as an industrial state, home of the Big Three auto makers, so this statement may seem strange to you:  Michigan is one of the most unusual of the fifty states.  It is split into two peninsulas, and is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, giving it 3,200 miles of coastline, more than the Atlantic coast of the United States.  It has a beautiful and diverse landscape – virgin pine forests, beautiful waterfalls and inland lakes, fertile farmlands, and the tallest sand dunes in North America. (more…)

Friday afternoon I decided to return home for the weekend through some back roads in the Smokies rather than the faster method of the interstate. It took me four and a half hours instead of the usual two and a half, and it was an afternoon of pure pleasure. Let me tell you a little about my former home state, the state I was raised in and called home until 2001. But first, spend an afternoon in the beautiful Smokies with me.  (more…)