Category: entertainment

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Western Women’s Conference 2008

Western Women's Conference 2008Laura and I have enjoyed attending each others functions, although lately, Laura’s level of ‘activities’ has bumped upward significantly.

It’s still fun to see the ‘other half’ in action.

Laura will be speaking at this year’s Western Women’s Summit being held at the Reagan Ranch Center. Although I haven’t seen her presentation, I am sure it will be entertaining.

Part of the appeal to me will be a tour of “Dutch’s” Ranch and that should be fun.

Clare Boothe Luce Policy institute is sponsoring the event. Clare Boothe Luce was certainly interesting in her day, here are a few quotes that amused me:

I don’t have a warm personal enemy left. They’ve all died off. I miss them terribly because they helped define me.

Nature abhors a virgin — a frozen asset.

There is nothing harder than the softness of indifference.

Love is a verb

No good deed goes unpunished

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes”

Roger Freberg

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Publishing Your Story

Kristin's experience in Iraq

Recently, my daughter Kristin gifted us with a book. This wasn’t a book you can buy on-line or in the store… but one she put together herself on-line and published a few copies.

It’s her story of the invasion of Iraq and as she says,‘it is not about war… it is about people.’ The book shows pictures of the folks who made it happen and lived to tell the tale… and some who didn’t make it through the war or died later in Afghanistan. It was amazing.

Do you have a story to tell? Check out MyPublisher.com.

Roger Freberg

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Olympics in Beijing should go forward!

Support the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing!

There’s a bunch of talk about various countries bowing out of the Olympic Games in order to ‘teach China a lesson.’ I wonder what kind of lesson that would be?

I remember the last time we boycotted the Olympic Games in 1980. This was at the time Jimmy Carter was President. It was merely a distraction from the reality of double digit inflation and having our butt handed to us around the world. I remember our poor Olympic athletes being paraded on the White House lawn and being presented a meaningless medal for their non-attendance in the games in Moscow.

Many say that Martin Van Buren (“Martin Van Ruin” by critics) was our worst President, but I would nominate Jimmy Carter the incompetent, micro managing peanut farmer.

Some european countries and some from our American House of Representatives feel ‘morally’ moved to keep their young people from competing in the Olympics.

I hope no one is stupid enough to believe that this boycott talk is all about “Tibet?” Ask yourself if these two things have any connection: first, Arab oil producing countries have been squawking about the recent crack down on Muslim Terrorists in China in preparation for the Olympics; and now, China has just provided the United Nations with evidence of Iran’s Nuclear Weapons ambitions. Is this ‘tit for tat?’

Let’s let the youth of the world fight it out in the Olympics as Baron Coubertin originally envisioned and not in the oil field. He wrote:

“the important thing in life is not victory, but the fight; the main thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.”

Let the Games begin!

Roger Freberg

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Yahoo’s Shine… doesn’t

Yahoo's Shine... doesn't
Yahoo’s “Shine” …. doesn’t. That’s it in a nutshell.

Now, I fully realize that this is a site that is geared toward women between the ages of 24-54 and nearly 40 million of them… but it just seems like a grown up version of the “Miss Bimbo” site that created so much controversy in Britain.

Now, although I understand the marketing angle going on here, I can’t get my arms around the idea that we are really building on a ‘separate but equal’ theme… whereby,  women can spend their lives on this site, read, buy stuff, check their email and never leave. It sounds all too close to those ‘girl’s only’ clubs and schools that seem to benefit no one… including the girls who suffer them.

As a father of three daughters, I have tried to help my daughters prepare for the world by keeping them involved and compete at the ‘A’ standard with accomplished men & women, rather than staying in some minor females-only league.

Yes, men and women are different. However, to compete successfully in the world, we must look at it honestly away from the comfort and security of gender segregation that sites like “Shine” present.

To truly ‘shine’, one must be in ‘the mix.’

Roger Freberg

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the Mighty Meaty Noodles with Cheese Casserole

Thomas Frebergson the inventor of the Noodles With Cheese Casserole

When I think of distinctively American Foods, I always come back to the “Noodles with Cheese” Casserole! It’s hard to find a recipe book or a listing in a family’s epicurean collection of 3 by 5 cards that does not reference this dish!

History tells us that this bit of yummy Americana can be traced to before Thomas Jefferson’s time (circa 1800)… however, something always was missing in this dish for me… I always asked,”where’s the beef?” Somewhere in time, possibly to make it more appealing to young boys, chefs added a bit of hot dog or such to raise the male interest… which worked.

So, I decided to put a recipe together, that contained the traditional three ingredients: cheese, noodles and butter… but added some needed refinements: cream, various sausages, Mirepoix and complementary fresh herbs and spices. I think it turned out wonderfully.

So, here is my recipe for a “Mighty, Meaty Noodles with Cheese Casserole”.

Enjoy!

Roger Freberg