Merry Christmas

Hybernating

2006-01-02T19:38:00.000-05:00

This blog will be hibernating for a while. But I'll still be around (aren't ya lucky!).

Come by and see me at Blue Star Chronicles.

UPDATE: March 2006 New blog address Blue Star Chronicles.

We'll see you here next Holiday Season!!!!

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

Parody thanks to Sacred Cow Burgers.

Happy Birthday

2005-12-24T19:16:00.000-05:00

My dearly beloved was born on Christmas Day. I strongly suspect that has something to do with his general attitude about the Christmas season. Bah Humbug pretty much sums it up.

Last year we spent Christmas/his birthday with his children in Boston. We spent a wonderful week with his son, daughter, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Aren't they all beautiful?

It was a very nice Christmas/birthday!

As long as I've known him, I've suspected that he secretly likes Christmas. He's just too manly to admit it.

We celebrate Christmas in the morning and his birthday in the afternoon. He's bound to feel cheated.

His mother told me that when he was a child they tried to celebrate his birthday in June so he'd have a seperate celebration. But when people asked how old he was, 5 1/2 just didn't cut it. So it went back to Christmas Day.

Maybe he was disappointed when he got old enough to realize all the decorations and celebrations weren't just for him?

So this post is for you, honey. It's not wrapped in Christmas paper and not a single jingle bell on it.

Just wishing you a Happy Birthday. You da man!

Love you,
Me

Merry Christmas to my Children

2005-12-24T18:28:00.000-05:00

I forced my children to pose in these homemade fleese scarves we made last year. You can see how thrilled they look :). We made them from leftover material from the fleese blankets we made.

I think my daughter-in-law thought of making the scarves. She's quite handy with making things.

They are all in other places this year. So - I'm sending a Merry Christmas via blog to my sweet children.

I wish for you long, happy and prosperous lives!

I love you!

Remembering Christmas Past

2005-12-24T14:56:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day was spent at my grandmother’s house when I was a child. Really through my young adulthood, until her death in 1994. She insisted on it.

I didn’t understand until I was older that she pretty much made everyone come to her house on Christmas. To me, it was just what we always did. All of her sons and their families were dutifully at her house on Christmas. I’m not sure anyone questioned her authority.

She decorated – really decorated. The photo in this post is perfect of her. It’s how I remember her, especially at Christmas, with all the frills, lights, candles and garland she could fit into her house.

It didn’t seem to matter that she was living in a mill town in Georgia and her husband was a barber. She had my grandfather, and after his death, my uncle take her into Atlanta to Rich’s to do her shopping. She was a lady and she would have the nicer things. Period.

She wasn’t a bad person. She had a difficult childhood and a strong will and with all sons, she was not going to be take a back seat to anyone. I’m not sure she wasn’t right, she set up a family tradition that contributed considerably to the closeness of the family and some very fond memories.

She worked us all hard. There were no excuses for not contributing. That was expected too. She raised 5 hard-working, very fine, honorable and just basically good sons. So she obviously did some thing right.

That was Christmas. We got up in the morning. Daddy always made us wait in the hall while he got his movie camera out (the kind with the huge hot lamps), when he had everything set up, we could come into the living room and see what Santa had laid out for us during the night.

Then we all got ready and went to my grandmothers for the evening and opened presents again. One or the other of my uncles always had a prank gift for someone. My uncles were all hilarious. They played as hard as they worked.

After dinner the men would go and sit on the porch and smoke and tell tall tales. The women went to the kitchen and cleaned and prepared for opening gifts. When I was very young I could go out on the porch with my granddaddy and uncles. I always liked going out there with them. They talked about more interesting things than the women did and they thought I was cute. They would sit me on their laps and let me light their cigarettes with those old-fashioned propane lighters and laugh at everything I said and did. I loved them very much.

As I grew older, I had to help in the kitchen, but escaped as quickly as I could to go back out to the porch with the men.

I remember the last real Christmas there. The last one before they all started leaving. It was crowded in her house, as usual. I remember we were at her table and she was opening presents. My daddy’s youngest brother had gone into the kitchen to get more coffee and was coming back into the dinning room, I bumped into him as he came through the door. He made some kind of joke out of it, as he always did, I wish I remembered what he said.

What I do remember is that I looked straight into his eyes and I remember behind his laughter I saw a sadness. He was beautiful, he had strikingly beautiful eyes, and he was so very young.

It was the last time I ever saw him.

A week later he died of a massive heart attack at 47 years of age. He was the first. My father died just before Christmas the next year. Within a couple of years, 3 of the 5 brothers were dead. All died suddenly of massive heart attacks, just like their father did.

Nothing was ever the same after that.

My grandmother still insisted on the Christmas gatherings at her house. But it was different now. The laughter was more forced, if it was there at all. Unspoken sadness inevitably hung over the gatherings. The two surviving sons talked together and became closer than ever.

My grandmother outlived all but one of her sons. When her 4th son died, she seemed to decide it was time to go herself. Eventhough she had been remarkably healthy during her life, she died within just a few months. We haven’t had Christmas together with that side of the family since then. I’ve rarely seen them at all since then.

I find true joy in my family and friends who are in my life now. But during the Christmas season I always find myself thinking back on those years with a certain amount of melancholy.

I am always sad for the times that have been tucked away into the past. Times that I had no idea would ever end. I miss the people who have left.

I miss them, everyone.

Christmas at Arlington

2005-12-23T02:08:00.000-05:00

Greater Love Hath No Man .... Than To Lay Down His Life ...

The picture speaks for itself.

I found this at Freedom Folks
Trackback url: Freedom Folks

Cartoon of the Day

2005-12-23T00:02:00.000-05:00

Christmas Tree

2005-12-20T01:58:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me today and I thought it was appropriate to put it on this blog.

For anyone who might be confused.

This is a Christmas Tree.

Christmas Tree.

It is not a Holiday Tree.

Just wanted to clear that up.

America's Earliest Terrorists

2005-12-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

I ran across Collecting My Thoughts today (well, actually, I went there because she had left some comments on mine). She has a lot of interesting and informative information. Facts, in fact, that are well-researched and documented. If you are really interested in understanding some of the issues our society is facing dealing with, you can find a good collection of articles in her blogs. She touches on a wide variety of subjects.

I found an article I found particularly interesting having to do with the Our Earliest Battles With Islamic Terrorists.

She states, among other things, that in 1786 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain. They met to negotioate a peace treaty and protect the United States from the threat of Barbary piracy.

"These future United States presidents questioned the ambassador as to why his government was so hostile to the new American republic even though America had done nothing to provoke any such animosity. Ambassador Adja answered them, as they reported to the Continental Congress, "that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

More can be found in this article by Joshua E. London (December 16, 2005)

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams came to learn back in 1786, the situation becomes a lot clearer when you listen to the stated intentions and motivations of the terrorists and take them at face value.

It's worth reading and thinking about.

Blue Star Chronicles

2005-12-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

Remember to check out my new blog at Blue Star Chronicles ....

Blog address updated in March 2006 - check it out:

Blue Star Chronicles ....

See you there :)

Schwarzenegger Stands and Delivers

2005-12-12T17:11:00.000-05:00

Good for Arnold. He didn't bow down to pressure from the League of Hollywood Obnoxious and Over-rated.

In a very articulate and well thought out statement. Gov. Schwarzenegger in part states:

"After studying the evidence, searching the history, listening to the arguments and wrestling with the profound consequences, I could find no justification for granting clemency. The facts do not justify overturning the jury's verdict or the decisions of the courts in this case."

The 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals also denied Tookie's request for a reprieve stating in part that there is no "clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence."

I still wonder why there is so little said about his victims (at least the ones he was convicted for murdering. There is so little said about them, that a MSN web search yields THIS INSIGNIFICANT blog!!!

That's pretty telling!

Treats for the Troops

2005-12-12T14:40:00.000-05:00

I have been getting packages together to send to my son and his new wife overseas. Being in the military they are poor as church mice, so I send them what I can. Just everyday things are helpful and not that expensive or time consuming to get together and send.

Some tips on sending packages:

Make sure you have the correct APO address.

Be sure to fill out a customs receipt at your local post office

If you are are sending food, the more airtight the better. Send vacuum-packed cookies, or you can remove air from a zip-lock bag by sucking the air through a straw.

Layers! The more layers the better. Wrap items in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place them in zip-lock bags.

Pad items with soft usable items. Toilet paper is great for cusioning and something that will be much needed itself.

I have found the post office personnel to be very helpful when sending packages to APO addresses.

Packages can take 3 or more weeks to get to our soldiers, especially if they are deployed. So make sure they are packed well and that the contents are the type that will travel well.

Some suggestions for travel-friendly treats.

Crispy Peanut Squares

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups crisp rice cereal squares
1 cup peanuts

Combine first 3 ingredients in a glass bowl; microwave on HIGH 3 to 4 minutes or until melted, stirring once. Stir in vanilla.

Fold in cereal and peanuts. Spread mixture into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Cover and chill 1 hour or until set; cut into small squares

Spicy Pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Cook first 6 ingredients in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and stir in pecans. Transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until toasted. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Nut Brownie Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped walnuts

Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beating until blended.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to mixer, beating at low spped jut until blended. Stir in morsels and nuts.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls for small cookies or 1/4 cupfuls for large cookies onto lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or untils et. Cool cookies on baking sheets 1 minute, and remove to wire racks to cool completely.

** These recipes aren't original with me, but I don't remember where I got them. But they travel well.**

Check out Samantha Speaks who has a post about deployed warriors today.

Also check out Any Soldier for more information about sending packages to our soldiers. At Treat Any Soldier you can order packages and have them sent to 'any soldier'.

Hope this is helpful!

*also post at Blue Star Chronicles

Cartoon of the Day

2005-12-11T21:23:00.000-05:00

I found this at The Changing Face of America. And on The Median Sib. It just seemed apropos .....

Retreat and Defeat

2005-12-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

The Progressives (new term for liberals) are none too happy! They support our troops! They have said so repeatedly. Their words are just being taken out of context by the evil Republicans.

That is NOT what they MEANT!

This ad is making them crazy.

Howard Dean states:

The idea that we’re going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.

John Kerry states on December 4, 2005 on Face The Nation (CBS),:

There is no reason Bob that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night terrorizing kids and children, you know, women.

Barbara Boxer on Fox News Sunday on December 4, 2005:

So there’s no specific timeframe but I would say the withdrawal ought to start now, right after the elections December 15th.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a November 30, 2005 Press Conference:

I'm Endorsing What Mr. Murtha Is Saying .... And Let's Be Clear About What It Is Mr. Murtha Said, 'Yes, Let's Bring The Troops Home.

Representative John Murtha (D-PA) speaking on a Congressional Resolution on November 17, 2005:

The Deployment Of United States Forces In Iraq, By Direction Of Congress, Is Hereby Terminated And The Forces Involved Are To Be Redeployed At The Earliest
Practicable Date.

I support our troops, but ........

cartoon from Sacred Cow Burgers.

Also posted on Blue Star Chronicles

Blue Star Blogroll

2005-12-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of moving. I'll be spending more time over on The Blue Star Chronicles. I hope you'll come visit over there.

For information about the Blue Star Banner check out this post.

Join The Blue Star Blogroll

Christmas in My Neighborhood

2005-12-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

I live in a pretty quite neighborhood. It's the kind of place that you'd have a hard time finding if you had a GPS tracking devise and exact directions.

During the winter, like now, you can kinda sorta see the road just below us. The trees have lost enough leaves that you can see the lights of the houses down there and sometimes even hear the people who live there talking if they are outside and the wind is blowing in just the right way.

One of our down-the-hill neighbors puts out a 'National Lampoon Christmas Vacation' style display on their house and in their yard every year. It's hard to miss and occassionally if I walk by certain windows in my house and catch the light from the corner of my eye, I think for a second that the woods behind my house are on fire.

The couple that live there spent last weekend putting out the display. I was out in my yard and could hear their voices, but not make out what they were saying. Then all of the sudden I heard a crash and a string of what sounded like some serious cursing.

This was getting interesting. I kept working in the yard.

A couple of minutes later the voices were sounding decidedly irritated and angry. But the work continued interspersed with loud phrases that floated up the hill and through the trees. Phrases like, 'Just hand me the d*mn hammer' and 'Did you plug the f*ckin thing in?'.

By the end of the weekend the display was up and out and fully lit. As far as I know they aren't in divorce court yet.

Merry Christmas!

Speaking of Recipes

2005-12-10T18:21:00.000-05:00

Two of the best recipe books I have come across are not easy to find. One is written by Ruth at RuthLace. Recipes, Rhymes and Reflections. It contains some of her good down-south recipes as well as her poetry.

Another is written by Carol at The Median Sib. This book is a collection of recipes from her family members and has some downright excellent recipes. The recipes are shared with just a dash of stories and personal accounts of memoriable meals.

You might check out The Cozy Reader and her post suggesting a way to deal with the Christmas 'problem'. She also has an excellent post on the rising danger presented by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

The America-hater Chavez continues to viciously stop any opposition against him and rally his people against the United States. I have heard lead Democrats say we should overlook his attitude towards America and instead look at Venezuela as an alternative oil source. So, it's just about getting their oil??

Joan at DaddysRoses has a post about tacky Nativity Scenes. It's worth checking out. And while you are there, check out her Basketmaking for Gift-Giving

RuthLace has an excellent posts Christmas Wishes and a Chaplain's Report from Iraq.

AND, my brother Terry has posted an actual recipe (I bet his wife and kids think that's a hoot! lol).

Okay - still reading. Will check back again in a while.

adios

Recipe of the Day

2005-12-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

This is one of my family's favorites:

Pepper-Seared Beef Tenderloin With Hoseradish Cream Sauce

4 (6-ounce) beef tenderloin fillets

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cracked pepper

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

2/3 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Sprinkle fillets evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt: press cracked pepper into all sides of fillets

Melt 1/4 cup butter into a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat; add beef tenderloin fillets, and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or to desired degree of doneness.

Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and ground pepper until blended;

Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute.

Add cream, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until thickened and bubbly.

Stir in horseradish and mustard.

Drizzle over fillets.

YUM

Cartoon of the Day

2005-12-09T18:12:00.001-05:00

Actually, this is the cartoon of a couple of days ago. Just been too busy to post it.

I found this on Sacred Cow.com.

With the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I had been wondering about the same thing, what if it had happened today?

Quote of the Day

2005-12-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those

Mother Theresa

An the Nobel Prize Goes to ...

2005-12-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

Harold Printer.

Harold Printer, writer and political activist.

His most notable works date to the 1960s and 1970s. He is an Englishman. He is very ill with only months to live, if that.

So one would expect he would use his probable last moments in the spotlight to be a voice of calm in this turbulent world. Or perhaps to speak of peace, love and understanding. Maybe he would use the time to reflect on contributions to world peace he might have made.

No, he spent 46 minutes of a taped acceptance speech to spew bitter hate-filled rhetoric at the United States.

I surfed around blogdom a little last night and noticed blog after blog written with the same vehement rhetoric. One that I found particularly interesting was written by a South African who was extremely defensive when a non-South African made a rather non-controversial statement about her country. So defensive that she seemed to run out of vocabulary pretty quickly as she resorted to calling the person vile names within just a few words.

What was interesting about her diatribe against the visitor to her blog was that her blog was primarily focused on the great evils of the United States and Americans. I should write 'dumb Americans', to use her eloquent words.

Her logic? If you aren't a South African you have no right to critize South Africa or say anything about it for that matter. If you aren't a citizen of the United States, you have an obligation to verbally beat the living daylights out of the US and citizens of the US at every opportunity.

Another blog I thought was particularly pathetic was written by an American citizen lamenting the fact that she is an American citizen. She made statements about feeling 'culturally deprived' as an American. Culturally deprived? Which culture is she deprived of? Asian culture? South American culture? Which? I'm sure she means European culture.

Meet the United States of America - the world's whipping boy. Take a shot, it's free, it's easy and guarenteed no consequences for whatever you have to say.

I understand why people do that. People don't want to lose their own cultures, they want to retain their own languages, of course. A powerful, wealthy nation is a threat to those things. Their cultures, their native languages. We could easily get way too homogeneous for anyone's taste. Our differences are our strength and with instant information, we are losing our diversity. Fortunately, 'we the people' of the United States of America don't want to destroy other cultures. But the fear of it happening anyway is there, and rightfully so. It happens with no one meaning for it to happen. We are big, wealthy and strong. We are hated for that.

Meanwhile, Nobel Prize for Art, Literature and Politics winner, Harold Printer will leave as his virtual last words a legacy of divisiveness, hate and bitterness towards a nation that's not his own.

Frieden

Quote of the Day

2005-12-09T12:09:00.000-05:00

When I only begin to read, I forget I'm on this world. It lifts me on wings with high thoughts.

Anzia Yezierska

Bah Humbug for Crying Out Loud!

2005-12-08T18:52:00.001-05:00

My new best friend San Francisco Liberal Traitor has brought to my attention that one expects Christmas recipes on a Merry Christmas blog.

My answer to him is as follows: (I would have written a post rather than just repeating what I wrote on his blog - but it's time for Survivor and one has to have priorities!)

My dear friend Liberal Traitor,

I have read your posts and your comments on my blog. And have taken all of your suggestions under a considerable amount of consideration.

After much contemplation and the picking off of fleas. I have come to the very uncomfortable position of having to concede you have maybe made perhaps just a tiny little tad of a little bit of a point in the Merry Christmas political blog issue.

In deference to your suggestions and out of a deep and enduring respect for our new found close friendship, I have made the agonizing decision to post daily (maybe) Christmas recipes on the Merry Christmas blog.I only cook when there are pending nuclear holocausts immediately threatening my own personal neighborhood.

Hopefully, that gives you some idea of what a real sacrifice it is for me to trudge out holiday - opps - Christmas recipes just for YOU.:)

smooches back at cha

Beth

Daily Southern Christmas Recipe

2005-12-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

Southern Christmas Peacan Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar (the granuated kind, not the kind your grandmama used to ask for )
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 chopped pecans, toasted

Beat butter and cream chees at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating 5 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears.

Combine four and salt, and add to butter mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and foured 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Eat - yum.

Quote of the Day

2005-12-07T08:54:00.000-05:00

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.

Winston Churchill

(1874 - 1965)

Ain't America Grand!

2005-12-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought Liberal Traitor and I had kissed and made up, he posts this on his website.

I've been doing my best to educate him on the right way of thinking ( grin and wink ). But it doesn't seem to be working.

He says: "While I didn't see a single tree lot advertising "holiday" trees"

I have, I have seen them everywhere. I haven't seen a single sign for 'Christmas trees' since this issue has been brought to my attention. That's ridiculous.

He says: "Even Fox News is doing it"

Then it should be brought to their attention.

He says: "why do you hate capitalism so much?"

I don't. Can't speak for other people. But there is a difference between being 'inclusive' of other relgions and deliberately excluding the religion that is responsible for at least 85 - 90 % of their seasonal sales. Come on!

Since Liberal Traitor is on the left coast and I'm on the right coast (figuratively and literally) we couldn't get a photo made together. So I found a computer simulation of us as new best friends :) Can you tell which of us is which?

Hope you enjoy:)

Ciao

They Are Tearing Up My Front Yard

2005-12-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

I stayed home today to try to get some work done without the constant interuptions I have in my office.

So the city decided to tear up my front yard today. It's a conspiracy, I'm sure it is.

I went out and talked to the guys with the front end loaders (plural) digging up my yard. They are putting in new water lines, they told me. All the way down the mountain. It's all about improving our ability to get good water from the water tanks on top of the mountain.

I think it's really about the chi-chi new neighborhoods that are being built a little further down the mountain from us and one a little higher on the mountain.

As per the city, they have a right-of-way up to 15 feet into our yard. Well, maybe we'll end up with better water.

A man is standing in the hole they are digging and I can only see his head - so it's pretty deep. As I watch them tear up the curb, and dig out the entire length of the road front of our yard, I can't help but think of all the money we spent last spring to reinforce the drainage system around our property. { See previous story about the need for drainage and flood insurance when you live on the side of a mountain. }

Sigh.

Uh - Oh San Francisco Liberal Traitor Doesn't Like My Blog

2005-12-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

It seems I've offended San Francisco Liberal Traitor.

He's getting "all whipped up into super Christmas spirit!" just reading my blog.

He says, among other things, that I am cheerleading for "Bush's war in Iraq and attacking those of us who don't think it's a particularly good idea for us to be in that war (you know, the majority of Americans at this point, not to mention the rest of the world)."

He says my blog is the rantings and ravings of another rightwingnut.

I wondering who I have attacked and who is calling who names??? hmmmmm.....

I also notice in San Francisco Liberal Traitor's blog several posts having to do with other blogs he disapproves of.

For instance, in this post, he makes catty, vicious and rather nasty fun of another blogger. He even states this other blogger is the source of jokes among bloggers who are regulars on Blog Explosion.

Just a few of the names San Francisco Liberal Traitor calls people he doesn't agree include: religious lunatic fringe; rightwingnuts; braindead neocon sheeple. I didn't read any further.

Ah well, it's a good thing he's a liberal and therefore so accepting of people who don't agree with his point of view.

I'd hate to see how mean-spirited it might have gotten if he were a conservative!

Thanks Traitor, for showing me the error of my ways.

This rose is for you.

Quote of the Day

2005-12-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

“The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.’ She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘you want a piece of me?’”

Attributed to Robin Williams

Etiquette Question

2005-12-03T14:29:00.000-05:00

If you are giving a Christmas party and you've included on your guest list elected officials, does that violate the Seperation of Church and State?

This is a real dilemma! I don't know what to do. I want to do the right thing for our country.

Should I change it to a 'Holiday Party'? But that has religious implications as well.

Perhaps I should not invite anyone who holds public office. That would solve the problem.

Maybe it's better to not give a Christmas party at all.

I want to be a good American. It's probably better to just call the whole thing off and sit at home alone in the dark and eat nothing but dry bread crumbs comtemplating the suffering the American Lust for World Domination has thrusts upon the world.

Bah Humbug

Cartoon for Today

2005-12-03T13:01:00.000-05:00

It's Up To Arnold

2005-12-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

Stanley 'Tookie' Williams made a phone call recently to address a gathering of people who were rallying on his behalf. He said that he had made an impact on the world and whether or not he was executed, he would be remembered.

Tookie, your last hope is now in the hands of a man who's nickname is 'The Terminator'.

It doesn't look good for you.

Oh, and, you are a flash in the pan. You are having your 15 minutes of fame. You have not contributed to the world in any positive way. When you are gone, no one will remember you.

Quote of the Day

2005-12-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.

Winston Churchill

There's Something Between Her Ears!

2005-12-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

My daughter has a full time job and goes to school full time. She doesn’t have a 9 to 5 type job. She’s an investigator, which requires her to work all kinds of odd hours and deal with all the paperwork that accompanies a job like that. She’s also working on her M.B.A., which requires her to attend classes, work on presentations, read, study and meet with study groups.

She’s a little bit of an over-achiever. Yes, I’m bragging on her a little, but there is a story here.

She went to college away from home and when she graduated and moved back to the area she had her own apartment. So, she’s been on her own for a while. About a month ago, she decided she would move into our basement to save some money.

Even though she’s living in our basement now, we still don’t see all that much of her. But it has been nice having her around more than she was before.

Part of her day today: She tried to track down someone she’s been trying to interview for a few days. She’s been told not to go to this interviewee’s house without a male co-worker because of the reputation of the neighborhood and the person she is to interview. So today, she got one of her co-workers to go with her to the neighborhood in question to see if she could find this woman.

No one answered the door, again. But as she started to walk back to her car a man rushed over from across the street. He said, ‘I know who you are and I know why you’re here.’ He went on to say he was glad they were there because he was tired of all the sh*t going on in the neighborhood. He then proceeded to tell her that he’d spent a year and a half in Vietnam and hadn’t seen as much sh*t as he sees in that neighborhood.

He said, ‘You go ahead and do your job.’

‘No one is home’, she replied. ‘I’ll come back.’

‘She’s hiding from you.’

‘Where is she then?’ my daughter asked.

‘She was right out here when you drove up, you saw her. You know where she went.’

‘I’ve never met her. I don’t know what she looks like, I didn’t see her.’

‘You saw her, she’s hiding, go get her, I’m tired of her doing that sh*t.’ ‘Everybody here does that sh*t and I’m f**kin sick of it. You had to see her, she was right there when you drove up.’

‘I didn’t see her. I was looking at the people on the sidewalk when I drove up. Where is she hiding?’

He looked at her quizzically and then looked at her male co-worker. ‘She’s awful pretty, but there’s nothing between here.’ he said, pointing with great animation at his ears.

Her co-worker tried to help her out by explaining to the man that no one had come to the door and they couldn’t go in with only suspicion. The man shook his head and replied, ‘She’s hiding, you know where she is.’

‘She’s in there doing that sh*t right now, hiding.’ His bling glistening as he spoke.

‘What sh*t is she doing?’ my daughter asked, wanting him to be more specific. ‘Doin sh*t’ doesn’t always stand up in court.

‘You know what I’m talking about. She’s doin’ sh*t right now. Now, you go do your job. I know you’ll do the right thing.’ Looking at her co-worker, he motioned towards his ears again, shaking his head vigorously. ‘There’s really nothin’ in there, right? She’s mighty pretty though’.

Trying to help again, the co-worker said, ‘If you could tell us what sh*t you think she’s …’

‘I don’t think, I know what sh*t she’s doing.’

‘As soon as you leave, she’s gonna come out here and jump all over me want’n to know what we been talking about. And I’m gonna tell her ‘Go on now B*tch, I told them what sh*t you been doin’ and I’m sick of you doin that sh*t and all the sh*t your bringing down on this neighborhood.’

He went on in this vein for a while. My daughter was taking notes and he began instructing her on what to write and spelling words out for her at times. Several times looking at her co-worker, nodding towards my daughter, gesturing towards his ears and shaking his head.

‘When you get her, you tell her it was me that told you.’ He said at one point.

‘What’s your name?’ the co-worker asked.

‘I’m the nosey neighbor.’ He replied.

‘Okay, but what’s your name?’ My daughter said.

‘I just told you.’ Looking at the co-worker, nodding towards my daughter, gesturing towards his ears and shaking his head again. ‘She’s real pretty, but there’s nothing between her ears.’

In his own way, he was trying to do something for his neighborhood. He was right about all but one thing he said.

She does have something between her ears.

Mindless Clicking

2005-12-01T23:51:00.000-05:00

It's after midnight. I missed blogging on December 1st by 12 minutes. Instead, I've been mindlessly clicking around the internet.

With two hours sleep last night, a very busy day at work today and thinking I'd come home and go to bed, I am sitting here just clicking from page to page. Wide awake, but basically brain-dead (yeah, I know, I'm opening myself up for all kinds of sarcastic remarks for writing that!).

I probably should rename this blog something to do with insomnia.

I've cruised a lot of interesting pages, but can't seem to retain the thoughts long enough to write anything about them. Or I'm just too lazy right now to give it any real thought.

The poor peace activist who have been kidnapped in Iraq. I've read several blogs about them and their probable fate, including the Median Sib. Idealistic, unrealistic, naive, silly, stupid and horribly misguided. Their reckless disregard for the dangers of the world (a war zone, no less) and credulity and disloyalty to their own country will probably cost them their lives, in a very cruel and horrific manner. I have a lot of thoughts about that, but it'll have to wait.

I've read a few of pro-surrender sites. People who seem to think that surrendering to the enemy is the answer to ... the answer to what? I haven't figured that out. They just scream surrender and vile hatred for our President and critism of everything American. But I don't seem to get their motivations, other than they just want to protest something. I have a lot of thoughts on this too, but another day.

Most of these types are in their 20s or 60s (who are missing the 1960s).

I've seen several really silly accusations against the behavior of our military. They always say they support the troops, but are against the war. But they attack the troops to protest the war. Perplexing, isn't it?

So there'll be more to say on another day when I'm not so sleep deprived. Meanwhile, I'll be clicking around glaring at the computer screen.

Gute Nacht

Quote of the Day

2005-11-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

'To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief.'

George W. Bush

President of the United States of America

United States Naval Academy

Annapolis, Maryland

November 30, 2005

Entire transcript of speech can be found here.

New York, New York

2005-11-30T07:59:00.000-05:00

Watching Imus in the Morning this morning. He just interviewed Senator Joe Lieberman (democrat) who dares to make statements like, 'Things are better in Iraq' and 'We are making great progress there.'

NOT the party line!

Following the interview, the crew on Imus' program start whinning and carrying on about how silly it is to think anything can be gained from 'winning' a war in Iraq.

Imus said, 'What are we going to do? Stay there till there are 3,000 dead?.' Bernard, one of the regualars on Imus, made a sarcastic statement, 'As long as it's not one of your family.'

That's the point that I blew up.

What exactly happens if we surrender? Huh? Have you thought that through?

That's what they want us to do. They call it 'a time-table for withdrawal'. But leaving a battle unfinished is surrender and defeat. (Iraq is a battle, not a war. The war is bigger than Iraq, in my opinion).

What happens then? New York? What happens then?

Imus, you are in the great state of New York. If politians keep interfering with this war and set a time-table for withdrawal, ignoring all reports from the military and civilian personnel on the ground in Iraq, than New York had better brace itself.

Imus, if we leave the Iraqi people now, after liberating them and without any further support to get on their feet, you had better go back to your ranch in New Mexico before the celebrating in Iran, Syria, etc is over.

I don't know if New York or Israel or California will go first, but New York is surely on their short list.

I'm sick to death of these politians trying to build their careers on the bodies of American soldiers. They seem to live for counting bodies.

Let the military handle the war and SHUT UP!

Who Did Stanley 'Tookie' Williams Murder?

2005-11-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

Who did Stanley 'Tookie' Williams murder? It's hard to know.

I Googled his name to try to get a better understanding of the issue and the man. The first few pages of Google results read page after page hailing Tookie's Redemption.

I had read an article a while back written by prison officials that were in direct opposition to the headlines and movie star statements about this death row inmate.

I tried to find the statement on the internet without success. I did find several sites that blast the prison officials for trying to discredit Tookie.

I did find the names of his victims and descriptions of the crimes he was sentenced to death for. But only on a few blogs. Michelle Malkin discusses his crimes and quotes the survivors of his victims. FullosseousFlap's Blog has a series of posts keeping watch of the Tookie story.

I'm sure there are more sites with information about and/or sympathic leanings towards the victims of the crimes. But I didn't have time to spend hours looking for them.

As part of Tookie's Redemption, he has written children stories to inform kids of the dangers of gang life. He says he doesn't want kids to end up like him.

The statement from the prison is decidedly debunked by Tookie's spokeswoman, Barbara Becnel. He has a spokeswoman?!?!

His supporter's challenge the prison's official statements regarding Tookie's Redemption or lack thereof, with statements like:

'they are trying to discredit him at every turn'
'it's an abuse of the prison system's power'
'we knew they would try to malign him'
'they are trying to drum up business on death row'
'they can't even let him have his dignity'
'the prison system's allegations are ridiculous'

The supporters of Tookie are also simply appalled that the Los Angeles District Attorney's office wrote a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that included details and photos of the crimes he had been convicted of committing. They called the photos and descriptions of his crimes bloody and prejudicial.

San Quentin spokesman Vernell Crittendon said "A con always will say one thing to you while the whole time he has another agenda," the San Quentin spokesman said. "I'm concerned that possibly this marketing that's going on ... leads the public to hear the words, but not to see that sleight of hand."

Crittendon has noted, among other things, that Tookie has an unusually large bank account for an inmate. He often gets $500 or $1000 at a time as compared to other inmates with $10 or $20. Tookie's spokeswoman says that's just cause people appreciate his work.

Tookie's spokeswoman and celebrity supporters have an answer to every allegation prision officials have made concerning Tookie.

Most of their comebacks are on the level of, 'Yeah? Your mama!'

So let's recap:

Tookie was convicted of horrific crimes {plural};
Tookie was sentenced to death by lethal injection in a state that supports the death penalty;
Tookie has run out of all his appeals;
Tookie has now turned to publicity and goof-ball celebrities who will get some air time to take up his cause;
Tookie's people say looking at photos of his crime scenes and descriptions of his crimes is prejudicial;
Tookie's people say he's been redeemed;
Tookie's people say he can help save children who might go into gang life;
Tookie's people say the prison officials are just out to get Tookie;
Tookie's people don't want us {we the people} to know the names or circumstances of the deaths of the people he was convicted of murdering;
Tookie is getting desperate;
Tookie is running out of time.

What's left to find out is whether or not Governor Schwarzenegger will have the guts to let justice take it's course.

If the governor does not interfer with the 1979 sentense, then perhaps Tookie will get his wish. Perhaps he'll be able to help the children from the communities he says he is reaching out to through his books.

He says he does not want these children to end up where he is.

Where he is right now is in the lime-light with a bunch of celebrities surrounding him and taking up his cause.

If he really wants those kids to see the results of gang life,

then ...

he should get his wish ...

with an exclamation point at the end of his wasted life.

We Have a Blue Star Banner in Our Window

2005-11-29T18:48:00.000-05:00

Someone asked me what the Blue Star Banner on my blog means. It simply means that someone in this home is proudly serving in the United States Armed Forces.

The Blue Star Banner is properly displayed in a front window of the home. It should be hung inside, not outside.

The Blue Star Banner was first used during World War I. Some history of the banner can be found on the American Legion Website.

"The Blue Star Service Banner was designed and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry who had two sons serving on the front line. It quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in the service.

On Sept. 24, 1917, an Ohio congressman read the following into the Congressional Record: “…The mayor of Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce and the governor of Ohio have adopted this service flag. The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother - their children.”

Other websites or blogs that might be helpful in learning more about Blue Star Banners include:

Blue Star Mothers of America
Blue Star Moms
American Gold Star Mothers
America Supports You
Directions for making a Blue Star Banner Quilt (believe it or not)

One of the interesting things that I have found is that the Blue Star Memorial Highways historical markers we see along American highways were taken from the tradition of the Blue Star Banner. The Blue Star Memorial Highways historical markers are tributes to Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America.

And that is what being a Blue Star Family is about. Hope it helps.

Quote of the Day

2005-11-29T00:51:00.000-05:00

"Any man who may be asked what he did to make his life worthwhile,

I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction,

'I served in the United States Navy.'"

President John F. Kennedy

August 1963

Addendum to A Fierce Blow

2005-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

And another thing ....

My husband was giving me a detailed explanation about the weather earlier tonight (see post below). He really does know a lot about the weather. He used to have his pilots license, so he has a thing about weather and weather maps and the like.

When we were looking at the map on the internet, he instructs me, 'see the little red dots here?'. 'Yes', I reply. 'These are right over us now, this is the worst part of the storm.'

He moves his finger over the computer screen, showing me how the storm system is shaped. 'See how it is swirling back to the west here?'. He's pointing to a question mark looking area all the way up in Canada, where the storm sweeps back and under into the US. I ask him what that shows. 'This is a fierce blow', he says.

This is the front end of a cold front he tells me, but he assures me it's fast moving and we are directly under the worst of it at that very moment.

There's more, but that's the general gist of my weather tutorial for the evening.

All that said, I couldn't help but be impressed with the detail with which he could read the map and the weather systems blowing over the length of the United States.

The little red dots in particular stuck in my mind. Considering that not an hour earlier he couldn't find his pants.

'Where are my other pajamas?', he had asked me. That's translated to mean; where is a pair of sweat pants other than the one's I'm wearing right now?

I went back into our bedroom and picked up a pair of sweats and brought them to him in the family room. 'Where'd you find those?', he sounded surprised. It took me as long as it took me to walk to the bedroom and back. I had the distinct impression he'd been looking for a pair for a while.

He can read a weather map in great detail, but can't find a pair of pants in his closet.

And that is the fundamental difference between men and women.

Retailers Banning Christmas

2005-11-28T23:48:00.000-05:00

Hardcore Conservative has posted the results of a survey done by the American Family Foundation on stores banning Christmas.

He writes:

We gathered advertising inserts from 11 different companies placed in two papers on Nov. 27 (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and Memphis Commercial Appeal.) Combined, the inserts totaled 280 pages.

Of the 11 companies, only one McRae’s/Belks had a reference to “Christmas.” They mentioned “Christmas” only two times. The other 10 companies did not mention “Christmas” a single time! While refusing to use “Christmas,” they used the term “holiday” a total of 59 times in their 10 inserts. The companies which refused to mention Christmas a single time in their 260 pages of insert promotions were Target, Kroger, Office Max, Walgreens, Sears, Staples, Lowe’s, J.C. Penney, Dell and Best Buy.

Their online petition can be found at this link.

Might be worth checking out :)

We're Having a Fierce Blow

2005-11-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

My dearly beloved just checked the weather website and told me, 'we are having a fierce blow'. I pretty much already knew that because it's storming something fierce outside. But he confirmed it officially.

He actually gave me a more indepth analysis of the weather system that is currently immediately over our house. He's an expert on weather amongst many other things. I defer to him on issues of weather.

Our relationship is like that. There are some things he knows and some things I know and we both pretty much know which is which. But we don't always agree on which one of us knows more about which things. If that's confusing to you, you might have an idea of how things are in our house sometimes.

Nights like this make me think about flooding.

A few years ago we bought a house on the side of a mountain. Our house is no where near the top of the mountain, it's on the side of the mountain closer to the bottom than the top. Our yard is pretty much angular. It looks pretty, but is more of a problem in terms of mowing and lawn maintenance than either of us realized when we bought the property. Some people actually get nervous driving down (literally) our driveway. A few yards behind our house is what we call 'the gully'. The gully is where the yards merges into a severe drop off that does go straight down.

So imagine my surprise when we moved into the house and my dearly beloved takes out flood insurance. 'FLOOD INSURANCE?', I said. Flood insurance on a mountain? In my feminine mind, I was wondering how on earth water would rise this high!

He gave me 'the look'. That being a look I've become accustomed to and understand to mean he's wondering how on earth I could be this dense. As he's giving me the look he also gives me his usual elaborate detailed explanation about why we need flood insurance. I'll quote him verbatim: 'We need flood insurance.' The end.

At times like this I know it's futile to argue with him about it. So I deferred to his greater knowledge on these matters and let it go. But I was still grumbling in my own head about how dumb it is to have flood insurance when you live on the side of the mountain and Noah himself would have been safe this high up, for crying out loud.

It wasn't long before I found out why you need flood insurance when you live on the side of a mountain towards the bottom.

Did you know, when it pours rain for several days that all the water raining at your house is also raining at every point higher than your house? In addition, as the ground becomes saturated, it starts running downhill, gathering with other water running downhill it becomes little streams, by the time the little streams get toward the bottom of the mountain {like to our house} it's like little torrential rivers.

All this water from up the mountain heads directly at our house. I'm sure of it.

It doesn't sit in the house like traditional flooding, it flows through the house, yard and everything around it. That also explained to me why we had to have such an elaborate system of underground pipes and landscaping around the house and yard. Another issue I balked at.

I'm a big enough person to admit he was right and I was wrong. This time.

Senator Chuck Hagel's Opposition to Iraq War

2005-11-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

The Median Sib quotes part of Senator Chuck Hagel's speech given to the Council on Foreign Relations on November 15, 2005. In the speech, Senator Hagel defends the Progressives 'questioning of our policies in Iraq' and should not be 'demonized' and called 'unpatriotic' for their 'challenge in a serious and responsible manner, offering solutions and alternatives' to the War.

The Median Sib offers a good rebuttal to Senator Hagel's arguments. There is a difference between questioning and deliberate undermining of policy.

Adding my two cents worth, the most recent attacks that 'Bush Lied' seem to be pettering out and are being replaced with 'We are losing the war'.

How is 'we are losing the war' helping?

First, we AREN'T losing the war. If you pay any attention to what the soldiers on the ground say, things are going very well. If you listen at all to the Iraqi people, you will hear their appreciation for what America and her allies have done to prove them the opportunity for a democratic society. If care enough to notice, they have had successful elections in Iraq. These things have not been mentioned frequently on the news, but if you try to get beyond the headlines, it seems most definite that we are NOT losing the war.

Second, why would we WANT to lose the war? Should we actually hang out a white flag and call it quits? Should we have our soldiers throw up their hands and surrender? Is that really what we want?

Third, and then what? What then? What happens if we convince the world we are losing, surrender and closet ourselves within the borders of the United States. What then?

It's one thing to say 'Bring Home The Troops'. It's a whole nuther thing to follow that line of thought all the way through to what the end result would be.

Yes, it's patriotic to question. But questioning and giving encouragement to the enemy are two entirely different things.

Bill O'Reilly Opines About Christmas

2005-11-28T20:09:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, Bill O'Reilly is irritating, no doubt about it. But The O'Reilly Show is on right now and I don't have control of the remote. AND, you have to admit, he's entertaining and is right about some things {I don't always agree with him}.

He's opining about the ACLU's attempts to get Christmas out of the Christmas Season. He states, 'Corporate America should be down on their knees thanking Jesus that he was born.'

He goes on .... as he does .... but I have to agree with his talking points on that.

Go on with it Bill and Merry Christmas to you too.

Celebrity Endorsements and Polls

2005-11-27T22:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it, I read People Magazine sometimes.

{Please don’t tell my Mother. She’d chastise me for wasting my time with nonsense and filling my head with garbage. She’d be right of course, but still, having a good cynical chuckle at the antics of the self-absorbed-most-important-people-in-the-world highlighted in these types of publications can be entertaining. They are entertainers, after all!}

There is something about the unashamedly displaying of diamond-studded hedonism that makes it difficult to avert ones eyes.

Furthermore, I don’t begrudge celebrities their opinions or using their mega-means to showcase their opinions. They are people, like the rest of us, and have a right to their opinions. Well, they aren’t exactly like the rest of us are they?

Think of Tom Cruise pitting his ego-driven opinions against the Princeton educated Brooke Shields, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association regarding the need for medication for maladies such as post-partum depression. He made statements like, ‘It’s, uh, like, hormone driven, uh, like, you know, it’s not, uh, Scientifically proven, uh, like, to be a, you know like, a disease.’

Now that’s what I’m talking about. That’s entertaining!

Guess nobody gave Tom a script to memorize for that statement. Brooke Shields made some sort of dignified response to his allegations against her. I’m just guessing, but I think she surely has at least 20 I.Q. points on him. It’ really wasn’t a fair fight, but he picked it.

I saw a poll on the internet recently asking if we, the people, would be more inclined to spend money for products endorsed by famous celebrities.

So I asked myself, would I spend a few extra dollars to have a celebrity’s face on the packaging of whatever I’m buying? Hmmmm .... Can’t think of why I’d do that.

So I clicked ‘no’ on the poll. The poll took me to the results page and the results showed something like 98% no, 2% yes.

I would have clicked the Southern option if they’d of had it.

Not just no, but hell no.

ACLU Homeland Holiday Advisory System

2005-11-27T20:55:00.000-05:00

I found this ACLU Homeland Holiday Advisory System on Stop the ACLU Blog. It's supposed to go in the little sidebar - but I can't get it to fit there, so it's here for your viewing pleasure.

I felt it was important to include here, because, after all. This blog has a little to do with the risks of practicing traditional holiday .... ah ... practices .... or .... traditions.

Anyway, it's about not doing things that have to do with Christmas during the Christmas Season.

I find these sorts of things very useful as I was raised in the usual American traditions of doing things like putting wreaths on the doorway, putting up Holiday Trees (Christmas Trees for those of you who haven't gotten with the program yet!), looking at Nativity Scenes, Christmas Caroling and other disgraces our American forefathers left us to have to live down.

I was going to work on trying to understand and forgive my parents for forcing these traditions on me when I was a mere child, infant even. But I have been studying the Progressive views (that's the new word for 'Liberal') and haven't found 'forgiveness' or 'understanding' or 'tolerance' in anything they put out yet.

Well, that's not entirely true. There's a lot from the Progressives (that's the new word for 'Liberals') about the INtolerance of the Conservatives (now called NeoCons, Nazis, Ignorant, Religious Right, and a whole host of other kind, well-meaning, tolerant and all-inclusive names I've seen them refered to in the Progressive writings).

It seems the Conservatives are the INtolerant ones and the Progressives (that's the new word for 'Liberals') are the tolerant ones. I'm sure since they say it, it must be so. I just have to find out how it is so.

I'll keep looking and I'm sure I'll be able to figure out how the new Proressive (that's the new word for 'Liberal') movement works through forgiveness, tolerance, and understanding.

When I figure it out, I'll let you know. In the meantime, you can use the alert I've posted here to help you keep track of when you are getting close to danger during this Holiday Season (that's the new phrase for 'Christmas Season').

arrivederci

Addendum: Read more about Stop the ACLU on Cao's Blog.

Odds n Ins

2005-11-27T17:05:00.001-05:00

Indigo Insights posted a note written to Wal-Mart about their stance on Christmas. Although I understand Wal-Mart has decided they will have Christmas afterall, I think it's worth looking at. She wrote a nice note about my letter to Cindy Shenanigans on another website.

She also has a good insights into how she may have inadvertantly contributed to the 'Ignorant American' image overseas. HA!

Cindy Sheehan continues her tour of duty. But from reading The Political Teen and other posts today about Ms. Shenaigans book signing, she may be coming to the end of her tour.

Quote of the Day

2005-11-27T17:05:00.000-05:00

'When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well ladies and gentlemen, I'd follow the example of their nominee; don't inhale.'

Ronald Reagan

I found this quote in the title of Angry Republican Mom's Blog - check her out.

Poster of the Day

2005-11-27T01:48:00.000-05:00

Cindy, think about it.

Quote of the Day

2005-11-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

From One Soldiers Mother to Another

2005-11-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

Cindy,

I saw another interview with you today, since I wrote the post saying there were no tears from you. I saw the tears, I saw your face. I saw the struggle in your face and eyes.

My heart broke for you, for a moment.

I can’t even bring myself to make sarcastic remarks right now. Others are reluctant to criticize you as well. That’s why you are useful. Do you understand that?

Your precious son became a man, as mine has. He made the choices of a man, whether you agreed with his choices or not, they were his to make. Honor him. Honor his courage, integrity and service to his country, whether you agree with the choices he made or not.

Honor him. He apparently was an honorable man.

Go home, Cindy. Start working on mending the wounds in your family. Be there for your other children, they are grieving too.

Go home. Your son has died an honorable death, you will never be able to out run your grief. It’ll always be with you. Let yourself grieve and quit trying to run from it.

Go home. Go home and find your life. Spewing blame on everyone but the one’s who brought this war to our homeland is only prolonging your grief, and the war, and the danger to our nations other soldiers.

Go home, Cindy, you are being used to the advantage of some who have agendas that are not in the interests of what your son died for.

As one soldier’s mother to another I look at you and am so sad in empathy for your loss and a paralyzing fear for my own son.

As one soldier’s mother to another I look at you with an anger I can’t put words to. I’m angry because I believe your actions and words are endangering our soldiers. If your words and actions, screamed loudly over international airways, get one more American soldier killed, you should be tried for treason.

As one soldier’s mother to another, if your benefactors use your words and actions to promote their agendas, and my son is harmed or killed as a result, I will follow your example. I will be camping outside your house and demanding you be tried for the murder of my son.

Go home, Cindy, your current path will come to no good end.

With Sincere Sympathy and Warmest Regards,

Beth

More Happy Birthday Wishes

2005-11-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

My sister posted a tribute to another one of my sisters for her birthday {I have lots of sibs}

The Median Sib said it all.

'nuff said.

Thanks Carol :)

My sister Joan wrote a dynamic post about her birthday, well worth the read.

Daddy's Roses

Thanks Joan :)

Barbara Bush Didn't Raise George Right!

2005-11-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

Cindy Shenanigans wrote a letter to Barbara Bush telling her she didn’t raise her son right. She told her in the letter that George killed her son.

I didn’t know that!

I thought he had died in a similar manner as warriors throughout the ages have died. In combat. In combat with an enemy of whatever nation, cause, belief system the warrior is defending.

I’m listening closely to Cindy and her supporters. From what I can deduce, our soldiers are over there doing horrible things to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Horrible things!

I thought we had an all volunteer Army. I was wrong. Our soldiers have been forced to go grab poor helpless foreign lands to feed to the Imperialist George Bush in his never ending hunger for power.

Golly-wow! I know some American Soldiers. I didn’t know they were such bad people.

Naw, I’m just kidding. I know, I know. We Support Our Troops, it’s the War we don’t support.

It’s not the troops it’s the war we don’t like. The troops are just the agent used by George Bush to promote his agenda of an American Empire.

When Cindy and the like carry on about American’s putting underwear on war-prisoners heads being comparable torture to that of cutting off the heads of Nicholas Burg, Daniel Pearl and others with a kitchen knife, taking 20 minutes to do it, they aren’t critizing our troops. They are simply pointing out the evils of the Bush Regime.

Cindy wrote a letter to Barbara telling her she didn’t raise her son right. We in the South know what not raising a child right means. It is not a good thing.

I wonder how Cindy’s other children are doing while she’s basking in the lime-light.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

2005-11-25T12:45:00.000-05:00

And if you tell them when we are pulling troops out.

And if you send the message the American public is not behind our troops.

Cindy Sheehan and Me

2005-11-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

Cindy, I have a son in the military too, should I quit my job, leave my husband and children and join you in Texas? I’m perplexed. I want to do the right thing. What is the right thing?

Cindy Shenanigans is back at her protest site in Texas. The media is using terms like ‘stalking’ and ‘haunting’ the President. But she looks happy to be doing it.

Apparently, after having to spend some time with her family over Thanksgiving, she is once again free to continue her own personal tour of duty.

She is pictured arriving at her camp in Texas smiling, hugging and greeting her friends. When interviewed she gushes, ‘I’m so happy to be back here with my friends’. I don’t know her friends, but the pictures on TV of the dozen or so protesters there send my memories back to incense, ripped jeans with patches all over them, ironing our hair so it’s be perfectly straight and peace symbols.

But then, I’m from the fly-over world, so what I think I know is not relevant.

In the brief interview I saw this morning, Ms. Sheehan was smiling broadly while bemoaning the fact this protest is necessary. She said she is doing this for her son’s memory. I can’t question that. She’s useful because no one can question what is in her heart.

She said she’s doing this for her son’s memory, smiling from ear to ear and hugging her new found friends, walking arm-in-arm with them all surrounding her. All getting closer and closer to her as the camera zoomed in on her. Cindy Sheehan, the center of the movement, the center of the attention. All eyes on Cindy.

She is so brave to be doing this for her son. International media attention. The darling of the radical left, the toast of the aging hippies still clinging to the ‘good ol’ days’ when they had something to protest, and, lest we forget, book deals. There’ll probably be a movie.

She is so brave to be putting herself through this in memory of her son.

As per Ms. Sheehan, many soldiers don’t know that the military has to fight sometimes. Bush should have told them that.

I’ve been proud of my son, a brand spanking new Army Officer serving overseas. He volunteered, and has excelled in his chosen profession. He chose this path, my son did. He knew that serving in the military could mean he will have to face battle with an enemy at some point. We knew that too.

I guess all parents don’t tell their children that joining the military could be dangerous. We tell them the dangers of driving too fast, of driving under the influence, of being sexually promiscuous, of walking alone downtown in the middle of the night. I guess some forget to tell them about the dangers in the world.

Bush should have told us that joining the military means you have to go to battle sometimes. Bush should have told us when the government is paying you to be in the Reserves that means when the Reserves are called up, the government wants a return on their investment.

Bush should have told us.

Birthday Wishes

2005-11-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

For my daughter who is celebrating her birthday today.

I love you and I'm very proud of you.

Eventhough you think this blog is annoying

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

I spent the day at my Mother's with various brothers and sisters, neices and nephews. It was a traditional day of gluttonous American over-indulgence. (belch).

Predictably, I got the eating-too-much-turkey-sleepiness about 4 p.m. and chastized myself for my weakness. I justified it to myself by reminding myself that I've only begun my journey towards understanding the evils of American traditions and culture. So I cut myself some slack on that. Since I had already spent the day as a capitalist pig, I decided I would cut myself a piece of cake too, and it wouldn't be any worse if I put ice cream on top. So I did. I even cut the piece of cake a little larger. There's always tomorrow.

I noticed as I drove home from my Mother's a large red sign in front of a large national hardware store, 'Holiday Trees'. I noticed an enormous sign hanging on a local Chinese restaurant, 'Merry Christmas'. Interesting cultural confusion. Apparently, the news that Christmas has become politically incorrect hasn't reached the Orient yet. Maybe the internet will help get the word out.

'Holiday Trees'. Does it have the same festive ring as 'Christmas Trees'?

Gute Nacht

Quote for PETA

2005-11-23T16:45:00.002-05:00

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.

~ Unknown ~

Holiday - Holy Day

2005-11-23T16:45:00.001-05:00

This enlightenment things just gets more and more complicated.

I just read on The Median Sibs Blog that the word holiday is derived from HOLY-Day so I looked it up:

From Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

Main Entry: 1hol·i·day Pronunciation: 'hä-l&-"dA, British usually 'hä-l&-dEFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English, from Old English hAligdæg, from hAlig holy + dæg day
Main Entry: holy day Function: noun: a day set aside for special religious observance

So, if we change over to saying 'Happy Holidays' rather than 'Merry Christmas', we are still getting Church and State all mixed up together.

Back to the drawing board for this member of the unwashed masses!

What If They Gave A Sale, And Nobody Came?

2005-11-23T16:45:00.000-05:00

What would happen if Wal*Mart and Target and other corporate giants had their annual day after Thanksgiving sale and nobody shopped?

These enormous-wealthier-than-anything-our-backward-middle_American-minds-can-imagine-giant-corporations have instructed their employees to not use the greeting ‘Merry Christmas’. They are to use ‘Happy Holidays’ instead. It’s fine to sell holiday items as long as the items do not have religious connotations (except for religious items that don’t have anything to do with Christianity, of course).

I’m sure anyone reading this already knows all about this.

When these corporate policies became public, Wal*Mart backtracked. Their corporate statement reassures us that this has all been one big misunderstanding. They really didn’t mean THAT, they are just trying to be all-inclusive. They have to think globally after all, they are Wal*Mart. They go on to assure us that their ‘associates’ are more than welcome to use the greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ as long as the customer uses that same greeting first. Otherwise, ‘Happy Holidays’ it is.

Target has not backtracked.

These enormous-wealthier-than-anything-our-backward-middle-American-minds-can-imagine-giant-corporations aren’t particularly concerned that a minimum of 85% of their consumer base are American citizens who were raised in the Christian faith. They aren’t particularly concerned that 40% of their annual earnings are garnered during the ‘Holiday’ season.

They know we’ll shop there anyway.

We’ll shop there because we don’t really believe it, not deep down inside. Our rights can’t be taken away. Not like this, ebbing away a little at a time.

One little thing and then another. Not like this. When one change happens, we squirm, then adjust. Then another change happens, we squirm, then adjust. Then another change, then another, then another. And so on. We squirm here and there, but we adjust. We always adjust. Then we go get a pedicure.

We are Americans. This is how we’ve always lived, we believe it’s how we always will live. Why would it change? We are free. We have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom in the pursuit of happiness and all the other freedoms they wrote up in that document way back when.

We are free.

Just don’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ this year.

Quote of the Moment

2005-11-23T15:39:00.000-05:00

I found this on Daddy's Roses. Further proof of the levels to which the insidious eroding of our American values of Seperation of Church and State have gone.

'I ask all Americans to give thanks on that day for the blessings Almighty God has bestowed upon us, and seek to be good stewards of what we have received.'

~Jimmy Carter

President of the United States of America

November, 1979.

A Little Thanksgiving History

2005-11-23T14:40:00.000-05:00

In 1789, Congressman Elias Boudinot of New Jersey proposed in Congress a resolution urging President Washington to:

Recommend to the people of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of the Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.

After much debate, President Washington issued the first National Thanksgiving Proclamation, setting November 26, 1789 as Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Washington stated in his proclamation:

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

"Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A.D. 1789."

George Washington

I found the text of George Washington's original Thanksgiving proclaimation in a number of places. Jeff Cornwall has it posted on his The Entrepreneurial Mind Blog.

What about Thanksgiving?

2005-11-23T13:32:00.000-05:00

I stayed home from work today to do a little preparation for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Between bouts of scrubbing, dealing with Mount Neverest and polishing wood floors, I got to thinking about the Christmas issue again.

'What', I wondered, 'if Thanksgiving is also an assault on the unwashed masses masquerading as a benign traditional holiday?'

A quick look around the blog-sphere and there seem to be blogs everywhere making reference to Thanksgiving and what they are thankful for. Thanksgiving and Christmas, Thanksgiving, It's All About Name, Amy's Humble Musings.

RuthLace devotes an entire post to Thanksgiving traditions from her youth compared to now. She and Daddys Roses have referenced a forum asking about Thanksgiving traditions and what we are thankful for.

I found one refugee expressing his gratitude to America:

American Dream provides reason for thanksgiving
Next year, I will celebrate the 50th anniversary of being a freedom fighter in Budapest, Hungary. Our short-lived and bloody attempt to obtain democracy for our nation failed.
But as a result of fleeing to America, I've become most thankful for the following: {click link for the rest of the article}

And there were these sorts of websites and posts:

Lone Pawn writes in his Thanksgiving Special Post:

Thanksgiving is the day when the dominant white culture (and, sadly, most of the rest of the non-white but non-indigenous population) celebrates the beginning of a genocide that was, in fact, blessed by the men we hold up as our heroic founding fathers.

In my quest for enlightenment, I realize that the term 'Thanksgiving' undoubtedly refers to 'giving thanks' which refers to 'prayer'.

Of course the next question is: 'Who are we giving thanks to?'.

Well, we ALL know the answer to THAT!

This can not possibly be good for our families and children. Especially if it is being mentioned in schools and public government buildings.

More brainwashing, more molding of little vulnerable minds. And those of us in the ill-informed fly-over space of 'Middle America' are dupped again!

After the next load of laundry I'll look into this more.....

Ciao

2005-11-23T02:08:00.000-05:00

Quote of the Day

'Ho, Ho, Ho,

Merry Christmas'

~ Saint Nicholas {with a wink and a nod}

Merry Christmas!!

2005-11-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

I've been reading blogs for a while, thinking of starting a blog, jumping on the band-wagon. But everyone is posting opinions on blogs now days, so who needs another opinion cluttering up the information highway?

Plus, I really couldn't think of a reason to start a blog.

BUT ....

tonight .....

I heard a blurb on Hannity and Cohen on Fox News about a Holiday Tree on the Boston Commons. It was a gift given as a Christmas Tree.

I'm hearing everywhere that Christmas compromises the seperation of Church and State - WHAT!!??!!

We've had Christmas in this country since, well, since 1776. (Probably even before that, but it's wasn't 'this country' before that)

I can't believe we are just now finding out that it has been such as afront to our rights as citizens. Why wouldn't we have known this before now? Why didn't the government tell us we were being mislead into believing that Christmas was a worthy holiday?

It's been.... 1, 2, 3 ..... wait a minute I don't have enough fingers and toes, I have to get a calculator .... okay ... it's been 229 years!!!! Talk about slow responses. (FEMA?)

Christmas is being excluded under the guise that other religions are being excluded by Christmas. I'm still pondering that logic.

The claim is that Christmas is 'proselytizing' our children and that the Dreaded Religious Right is using Christmas to sneak God into our schools and government buildings.

And to think that all these years, we've had Christmas and didn't even know the damage it was doing. We had Christmas for years before I ever heard there was such a thing as the Dreaded Religious Right.

We were so ignorant. We thought it was Christmas and didn't know it had so many hidden agendas and was really a sly political tool.

When I figure out how to do links, I'll put links to the ariticles I refer to in this post. I want to give credit where credit is due.

Meanwhile - be careful you don't innocently get sucked into some mind-altering Christmas celebration. No Christmas Caroling, no Nativity Scenes.

I can help. I'll get a list together of dos and don'ts that we can all use as a handy-dandy-quick-reference-guide-for-what-is-not-appropriate-during-the-Christmas-Season. Whoops - see how easy it is, I already did it myself. I meant HOLIDAY Season. It really is insidious, isn't it?