"...What Kind Of Stuffing Goes With Lycanthrope, Anyway?..."

Halloween is behind us.

Thanksgiving to come.

So a story about vampires and werewolves might seem inappropriate.

But, it's not.

More in a moment.


Compassionate strangers banded together this week to raise more than $56,000 to help a 19-year-old college student whose parents were killed in Superstorm Sandy, leaving her to raise her three younger siblings on her own.

Zoe Everett of Randolph, N.J., posted her story at the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation website.

"I was studying for an exam, waiting out Hurricane Sandy and then I received a phone call," Zoe, a student at Rutgers University, wrote at WishUponAHero.com. "At 11 p.m. on October 29th, I found out both of my parents had been killed. They were driving the pickup truck home with my two little brothers sleeping in the back seat."

Richard Everett, 54, and his wife, Elizabeth, 46, were driving through Mendham Township when winds from Superstorm Sandy sent a 100-foot-tall tree crashing down onto the cab of their truck. Their sons, 14-year-old Theo and 11-year-old Pierce, survived; 17-year-old Talia was not with them at the time.

"My brothers made it out alive but with some bumps and bruises," Zoe wrote. "I finally made it to the hospital in the morning after battling with Hurricane Sandy all night. I was no longer your typical 19-year-old. A moment in time, a second of bad luck, changed my life and my siblings' lives forever."

She immediately decided to drop out of school in order to raise her siblings, but needed help to get by.

"I now have two goals: Caring for and being guardian of my three younger siblings and keeping my family in the house we grew up in," she wrote. "I love them more than they could ever fathom and I am ready and willing to put any amount of weight on my shoulders to lessen the load on theirs."

She was hoping to come up with $5,000 to pay bills and buy groceries while lawyers figure out how to process her parents' estate. Instead, online donors reached deep into their pockets, and raised $56,884.81 for her in a single day.

Tucked among the more than 100 comments were words of support more valuable than money.

"You and your siblings will make it through this. It will be rough but with your guidance and love you will all be OK. Clearly your Mom and Dad did a tremendous job raising you to be the fine young woman you are today," Elizabeth Aprile of Elmsford, N.Y. wrote. "If ever you need a shoulder to cry on or a friend to listen, please don't for a second ever hesitate reaching out to me."

"I am a retired navy SEAL, and can simply offer a safe & comfortable environment for your siblings & remaining family members," wrote Pete Carolan of California. "I salute your ability to survive this ordeal, and am willing to help in any way that I can."

Neighbors posted messages offering everything from hugs to help driving the younger kids to school. Fellow Rutgers students sent sympathy and emotional support, and plenty of people simply offered their prayers. Late Thursday night, Zoe posted a thank you note to the thousands of people who are now a part of her virtual extended family.

"On behalf of my siblings and myself, I would like to express our sincerest thanks for the overwhelming support and generosity shown to us," she wrote. "Wish Upon a Hero has raised funds for my family that have exceeded our wildest dreams. The donations have ensured our well-being for the next few months and will hold us over until we are able to access our own funds."

"If there is something we strive for, it is to be as benevolent and giving as our parents were," she continued. "They had the ability to see the good in everyone they encountered, and they trusted in the good hearts of humanity. It has been a blessing to witness these qualities in action, as a community and a country pull together for a cause."

She asked that those who wish to donate to her family send their money instead to others who are still suffering in the aftermath of the storm.

"My family has been so blessed," she wrote. "We would like to be able to do the same for others who have suffered the misfortune of Hurricane Sandy." The Wish Upon a Hero Foundation has set up a Hurricane Sandy site.

"This wish was spectacular," Wish Upon a Hero's founder, Dave Girgenti, told NBC News. "The entire country came together to help this girl with her tragedy. Her wish is granted."


Every now and then, when the seeming lack of class in our culture nudges drought proprotions, a much welcomed and appreciated shower comes along to soak us.

This young lady, and all the people who have, thus far, contributed to this effort, are forty days and nights of rain and then some.

Oh...and as to that whole Halloween/Thanksgiving thing?

If the whole narcissistic Lohan/Jenner/Kardashian self indulgence is a vampire and/or werewolf doing its best to suck the life blood out of us with each passing day....

...Zoe Everett represents the very best of what a good wooden stake and/or silver bullet can do.

"...And All Of This Before I Learned That The Other Woman Is His Biographer, Said Biography Titled...Well, It's Simply Too Easy A Shot To Take..."

First, an architectural disclaimer.

 

My own house is primarily, and inevitably, made of glass.

 

So the intention here is most assuredly not to throw stones.

 

That said, though,  a couple of things about this made me laugh.

 

If only commiseratingly.

 

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but was undone by "poor judgment" in engaging in an extramarital affair that led to his downfall as CIA director.

 

Just two days after his 60th birthday, Petraeus stepped down from the spy agency where he had held the top office since September 6, 2011.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation," Petraeus told the shadow warriors he commanded at CIA.

It was a stunning downfall for a revered military man who was seen as one of the top American leaders of his generation and was once considered a potential contender for the White House.

Petraeus was credited with pulling Iraq from the brink of all-out civil war and for battlefield successes in Afghanistan after overseeing a surge of 30,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama in late 2009. He became known for counter-insurgency strategies that were seen as gaining ground against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"I don't think he was professionally overrated. His were genuine accomplishments," said James Carafano, a war historian with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.

At the time of his nomination to the CIA post, some Washington insiders had said the White House wanted to find a prominent position for Petraeus to ensure he would not be recruited by Republicans as a challenger to the 2012 Obama-Biden ticket.

When he was nominated to lead the CIA there were some concerns in intelligence circles that the high-profile four-star Army general might not be able to lead from the shadows as appropriate for a spy chief.

But once he took over the head office at the U.S. spy agency, Petraeus kept a decidedly low public profile.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, expressed regret about the resignation of "one of America's best and brightest" and said it was an "enormous loss" for the country.

"At CIA, Director Petraeus gave the agency leadership, stature, prestige and credibility both at home and abroad. On a personal level, I found his command of intelligence issues second to none," she said.

This article goes on for a while, but I pretty much stopped reading here because, first, I already knew and/or had gotten the gist.

Second, I had laughed, again if only comiseratingly, three times.

And there comes a point where you have to sqeulch the snickering and get on with things.

First, there is an old joke that, paraphrased for family viewing, essentially deals with the irony of how even an otherwise insightful, perceptive, strategically gifted and, yes, let's be honest, powerful man rising to the top of a military organization with a power second to none on the planet comes face to face with the fact that he is, after all is said and done, no match at all for the power of the vagina.

Second, there is yet another old joke, truer than true, that God gave man a brain...and a penis...but he only gave the man enough blood to go one place or the other.

Third, though, and, to my sensibilities, the most ironic, poignant and, yes, humorous.

The last line of that last quote.

"....I found his command of intelligence issues second to none...".

As regards that observation, I respectfully refer you to the first two jokes.

As you were.