Still confused, but bits of good news

Still unclear on what people are thinking-- I know Bush was unpopular--- but to think that a swing away from personal responsibility is the answer-- well, that I don't get!

There were some good bits of news coming out of the election cycle-- sadly the defeat of Murtha was not one of them-- that man is really a jerk.

Anyway, Californians upheld their previously passed and then knocked down by the judicial system act-- to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Whether you agree with the purpose of the bill or not. It does demonstrate the power of the voters over the power of judges which may become important again in the future.

A number of states had ballot issues surrounding affirmative action (a BIG pet peeve of mine!) Nebraska passed theirs banning state and local governments from giving preferential treatment to people on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or national origin. YAY! I am pretty sure that even though we have elected a president of a different race-- many will still claim it is "impossible" for minorities to gain success without handouts based on skin-color, but we shall see. Nebraska joins CA, MI, and WA in similar bans. The decision in Colorado is still up in the air.

No sour grapes, just a lot of confusion...

Apparently the majority of voting Americans feel that the government knows better than they do how to manage their lives-- so that being said--

I expect that those who voted for Obama will remove their children from their private schools and enroll them in the public ones-- after all, the goverment knows best and we want to ensure that EVERYONE receives exactly the same education and opportunities.

That those same people will allow the bureaucracy that plagues the VA to infect their medical care. I mean, just because you've PAID for your health insurance, doesn't necessarily mean YOU should get medical care before others or in the location of your preference. Expect months to year long waits for procedures and diminished access to health care for "hopeless" cases.

That they will allow the government to determine the timing and viability of your children-- its only a small step from allowing abortion to encouraging it in the cases of "undesirable" children who would be a "drain" on society. Particularly when society is footing the bill for these children.

That they will abandon their protests of free speech since they rapidly have abandoned their recognition of other portions of the Bill of Rights.

That they will immediately start writing checks for the government to determine where and how to spend. Regardless of income-- your tax money will be used to fund an increasing array of social-welfare and special interest groups.

That they will prepare for a semi-imminent shift in world-power and increased intimidation in the face of a US leader who is more interested in accomodation than defense.

But, the majority has spoken. That being said, I hope you all somehow found something I missed and that our new president turns out to be the man you hope for, and not an embodiment of the lack of traditional American values I fear. I will defend those values in my home and with my family and will watch the next 4 years with a mixture of curiousity and hope that things are not as dark as they seem right now.

Someone who puts it better than me

another good quote

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
Andrew Tyler (Tytler?) 1787

Whoever said it... I think they may be right and we're all heading right along with it.

From one of our founding fathers.

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." –-Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (1801)


I'm pretty sure he had it right. Not the ideals of "spread the wealth around" we're hearing about these days!

What is a right ???

I saw this article and thought it was worth sharing!
What Is a Right and How Do We Know?

Deborah Kerr, September 1921- October 16th, 2007

Actress in one of my favorite movies of all time. Sad to see her gone.
But she outlived co-star Yul Brynner by many years. (Smoking kills)



Now if only I could get this message across to my father-in-law and his damn cancer sticks.

Post #101

I have again been a lousy blogger this last week... my only excuse is well... I'll share next week maybe, but really its pretty much that I am house sitting for a coworker and have no internet at night-- also, her being away means I have to deal with all the nonsense in the lab that comes up. (Where is the _____? Can I mix Acid and Chlorine?? etc)

I ran out at lunch today to get to borders and get my wristband for the big event. The Grand Hallows Ball tonight. I am in the second batch of people to get my book, which means I should definitely have it before 1 am!!!! YAY! OK, so no sleep for me tonight until I finish. And if you are confused as to what I am referring to-- well, you must be blind, deaf, and have buried your head in the sand for the last few weeks because tonight of course is the big release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can't wait... only 8 hours and 10 minutes left!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow when I have slept some, and recovered a bit. I will reenter the world-- hopefully not mourning the loss of Harry (please please please let harry, hermione, and ron at least live... oh, and Hagrid... and well, all the weasleys (except percy-0-- he's dispensable)-- and well... yeah... I hope no one really like gets killed, but I know JK Rowling is going to kill off someone important.)

In related news, Craig and his Dad have been working on my kitchen floor this past week-- so I will hopefully come home soon to a nice finished kitchen!!! I'll share some pics as soon as the floor is done.

me and my big mouth

Well, this afternoon, I got myself in trouble. I am participating in a mentoring course this summer and today's topic was DIVERSITY. Ah yes, if there was a topic more likely to cause me to vent my political and personal views it would have to be firearms or taxes. Its a close tie for all three.

Anyway, academia, bastion of far leftist thought that it is, may not have been the smartest place for me to expound on my beleifs. I think I am more worried because the head of my department heard my statements-- and I am pretty sure now thinks I am a member of the KKK. Honestly, nothing could be farther from the truth. I do not ever judge people on the color of their skin, only on the work that they do, the way they treat others, and the honesty in their hearts. Stating this got me into trouble. I take my philosophy to be against afirmative action.

AA judges people first on the color of their skin, not on WHO they are and WHAT they can do. I never want to be judged on different standards than people around me-- not based on my height, weight, ethnicity, family background-- anything. I have NEVER claimed special treatment based on those things (ok, other than a step ladder)-- and I never will. I want to know I am worthy of what I acheive. I think this basic right to know you are due what you acheive and that it was not handed to you unevenly is proper for every person.

I understand that sometimes AA gives people chances they would never have gotten without it, and that sometimes people succeed due to these chances. But I also have seen people use AA to get away with doing less work, use it as an excuse to try less, and use it to get a position and then be unqualified for that position. I think these are all invalid uses for the AA policy. I would much prefer a gender/race blind application process for colleges and jobs. Let the best candidate get the spot end of discussion. All this regulation of what percentage of any student body or office needs to be of each certain ethnicity is frankly ridiculous.

Diversity should be fostered not forced. Diversity takes many forms-- I have friends of different religions, races, politics, upbringing, sexual orientations,money status and who knows what else. I didn't pick them because they were black or lesbian or whatever. I picked them becuase they make good friends.

Why can't academia rely on its oh so touted "colorblindness" to develop diverse student bodies? Why do they have to rely on laws and altered standards??

ok, enough venting. Here's hoping I don't get signed up for sensitivity training or something now. I am not ashamed of how I feel about this stuff... but by now I should have enough self preservation instinct to not spout off in front of professors I know are way way way way far left of me. (Craig by the way, thinks I should have gone further with explaining why AA is not a good plan)

Is it real? Should I believe it???

Someone posted online what the ending to HP#7 is. Is it real? (having read it, I hope not) Granted the person who posted this one says they are doing this to convince people not to read it because the Pope told them that this book is leading young people to paganism--- but still.... I have to wonder if someone somehow really has gotten the ending.

Would you read it if you knew where the ending was?

Can't wait for the book (and the movie)

Our Craptacular Neighbors

Yesterday evening, our lovely White Trash, Jerry Springer fodder, bum with multiple baby daddies and a prepubescent boyfriend all living in the same house neighbor decided to entertain. By entertain, I mean she invited over a bundle of men and their ridiculous motorcycles. I appreciate a good bike... one of my gal friends from HS rides regularly-- so its not the bikes that bother me. These were funny looking though-- I guess some sort of defective combination of a big wheel kids bike with a grown-up motor cycle... but hey they had NEON! Woohoo.. that just screams class doesn't it?? What my big problem is was it was 10 pm (and then 10:30 and then 11:30) when they decided that a fun activity is to sit on the bikes in the street and rev them up loudly, over and over and over. Needless to say, adult beverages were involved in this event. Also, these morons parked up the whole street so there was no where for me (carrying the load of groceries) nor anyone else to park. They thought this was quite funny and would laugh as residents drove slowly down the street looking to park. They also participated in high speed drag racing up and down the block from 5-9pm-- not so good in a small quiet suburban neighborhood.

Sometime after 10, I went across the street to ask them to cool it with the reving engines, as it was getting pretty late. I got mocked. And one of them complained that Craig while mowing the lawn got grass clippings on his bike. I laughed and said there was no way I was going to complain-- my husband mowed the lawn -- as far as I cared, that was good.

So the moron troupe continued their noisy revelry into the night-- keeping the future Jerry Springer kiddo stars out and shreiking as the adults kept drinking and hollering. Seriously, what is wrong with people. This was a MONDAY night. Not a weekend-- not a holiday. Not that any of those excuses rude neighbors and their trashy guests-- but seriously-- 30 people drinking and motorcycling and shouting at 11 at night on a Monday?!?! There is just no reason.

Any one have any ideas on how to deal with this. They are just awful neighbors. I don't want to start a war with them, but I don't think I should have to deal with their carrying-on all the time.

Tempting as it is to just sit on the porch with a shotgun and pick them off for the betterment of the human gene pool-- I am pretty sure that is illegal... and immoral. So any realistic solutions are more than welcome. Meanwhile, I will pay a damn sight more attention to the neighborhood before we buy our next home-- and keep praying that those three rental properties across the street get sold out from under them to nice normal families.

Oh, and NEVER NEVER NEVER will I let my (hypothetical) kids play in those peoples houses or be unattended while they are around. They're just BAD BAD BAD news.

On a side note-- not all our neighbors are awful, its really just the 3 rentals across the street from us-- and one more up the block a little ways. Most of our neighbors are young families, who work hard, and try and keep their properties up-- but a few bad apples... well, you know the story.

Visitors!!!

Amazingly, I have had visitors from 4 continents!?!?! According to google analytics-- I have gotten visitors from all over the US-- some I can account for for people I know-- others have been referred in from other places I can only guess. Even cooler are that people from South America, Canada, Australia, England and France have stopped by. Woohoo... I feel famous. OK, so this is still only a home for my random ramblings, but its neat that someone out there is reading.

Anyway, to all my visitors-- Please feel free to comment, leave a message, 0r whatever-- I'd love to know who out there is reading this.

To Kiki- thanks for being brave and commenting-- nice to meet a reader!
Friends and family-- hope you are enjoying these silly messages and a chance to catch glimpses of Craig and my life in the pics I post.

Post #60!

Wow... this is my 60th post. Cool. Hope someone is still reading and at least mildly amused. I need to remind myself of this... and its a great song-- and a great message-- so here it is--
Turn up your volume and Enjoy! (FYI, Ecclesiastes 3:-1-7(?))

The Foundation for a Better Life

The Foundation for a Better Life are the people responsible for all the really creative billboards and radio/TV ads you see around now promoting traditional values-- Perseverance, Courage, Love, Living your dreams, Forgiveness, Optimisim, Effort, Responsibility-- and many more. I highly recommend their website. This is a non-profit who will not accept donations, the only thing they ask is that you "Pass it on". So in that light, I am placing the link on the side of my Blog... and I recommend you check it out. The site has the bill board and ads-- but also a wonderful collection of quotes from all over the world about values and how to live them.

And these are the people responsible for the best ad ever!

(Picture taken from http://forbetterlife.org/be_inspired/billboards.asp?id=19)