Suzanne McLaughlin, Wright & Sherburne Counties Realtor

There is no logical explanation for it. But, I am sad at the passing of Davy Jones. There I admitted it. And, I don't feel bad about telling you that I once was fascinated by the Monkees. I thought Davy was cute, of course, who wouldn't? I really admired Michael Nesmith and had as big a crush on him as I had on John Lennon. Peter was George...overlooked and underappreciated. And, of course, Mickey was Ringo with a better voice.

Oh, hearkening back to my teeny-bopper years. No, I had no posters of the Monkees on my wall. I was more into Steve McQueen actually. Bad boys always fascinated me. But, those pop-rockers had more of my soul than say, Donovan.

I actually got to be on stage with Arlo Guthrie at Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis. Yes, I took the plunge, got up on stage and sat next to him at the piano. That was before there was as much security as there is these days. He looked a bit panicked at first, but never missed a beat, and I gracefully went back to my seat all aflutter.

But, back to Davy....he was in an all-American knock-off of the Beatles. Not the Rolling Stones who were dangerous.

These guys were hearthrobs even my parents liked. This was back before all of us thought parents were stupid. At least, I certainly didn't.

They could sing, they had fun, zany, crazy fun. And, no one, not even Peter was completely loopy.

Yes, I am sad. But, you know what? Those guys made me happy at the time and have ever since.

God Speed, Davy. Maybe I'll see you later.

First Endre Barath wrote a post about Chase assisting Operation Homefront to be able to connect our military families with homes, and Ron Marshall reblogged it.

Then Ron investigated further and found many more ways this organization can help military and their families.

See below:

Here is a list of their Programs and Services:

I rarely have time to go to youtube other than for business, but this was sent to me and is too funny not to share.

Our kitty who looks remarkably like this cat also chased a German shepherd off our property once, too.

I hope you enjoy this and the quick commercial at the beginning for adopting pets.

Spay or neuter your animals, please…..

Rick Santorum has been preaching that the Federal Government needs to get out of primary and secondary education.

Q: What as president would you seriously do about a massive overreach of big government into the classroom?

SANTORUM: 20 years ago, the federal contribution to education was 3%. It's now at 11%, and our schools are doing worse. It's because the federal government's meddling. The bottom-line problem is that the education system doesn't serve the customer of the education system. And who's the customer? The parents, because it's the parents' responsibility to educate their children--from the moment they were born, they began the education of their children. At some point, the government has convinced parents that it's no longer their responsibility. They force them, in many respects, to turn their children over to the public education system and wrest control from them and block them out of participation of that. That has to change or education will not improve in this country.

Source: 2011 GOP Google debate in Orlando FL , Sep 22, 2011

Rick Santorum also wants State Aid out of public education. He spoke about this in Fargo, North Dakota, on Tuesday, February 14, 2012.

He wants local districts to fund all education. That means that if you live in North Minneapolis, you won’t get any state aid which redistributes tax dollars from say, Edina, and helps your district.

Rick Santorum’s kids are home-schooled. Great. Many kids are home-schooled.

But, can our districts really afford the quality education that our kids deserve?

Here in St. Michael, we just passed another referendum of several million dollars to help our own children get the education we think they deserve.

We are fortunate to live in an area that can likely afford that.

But, what about inner-city kids? Are their districts likely to be able to afford the buildings, teachers, transportation and other basic necessities to educate their kids?

If there is no state or federal aid for those districts, and the school districts start to fail, who would want to live in those neighborhoods?

Isn’t this just redlining of a different sort? (Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarketss to residents in certain, often racially determined,)

This just frightens me from a human standpoint and also as a realtor. Realtors believe, for the most part, that we are part of the cure of communities.

When basic education is threatened for our most vulnerable----the children, can we just stand by and watch?

Or do we react and tell Candidate Santorum that that is a reckless way to cut deficits?

I just received and email regarding the FDA's plan to approve salmon that has been genetically engineered for human consumption without proper labeling.

Polls show that more than 90% of Americans support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

The FDA is on the brink of approving genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. This would be the first genetically engineered animal on supermarket shelves in the United States.

The salmon is engineered to produce growth hormones year-round that cause the fish to grow at twice the normal rate. The government already requires labels to tell us if fish is wild-caught or farm-raised—don't we also have a right to know if our salmon is genetically engineered? Without labels, we'll never know.

More than forty countries, including Russia and China, already require labels on genetically engineered foods. As Americans, we firmly believe that we deserve the same right to know what we are eating.

If you believe that we, as Americans, need to take a stand against the FDA on this ruling, here is a link to voice your opinion.

Tell the FDA that we have a right to know what's in our food.!!!!