By Deborah K. Martin sitting in for Crystal Laramore Lutz
This is Thanksgiving week, the start of the long holiday season which will encompass Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Ashura and I’m sure many others. Being a tried and true American I’m glad this season starts off in the United States with a celebration of abundance, cooperation and gratitude.
Getting together with family and friends over a very large, calorie laden, fragrant meal has always been one of my favorite things but it’s not the only thing I think about at this time in November. Each year I stop for some serious thought about what has happened in my life over the past 12 months. I think about how I could have made it better, about my own mistakes in judgment and wasted opportunities. It’s not a time for beating myself up, just doing an honest self-evaluation.
I also think a lot about the true blessings in my life and try to be consciously grateful for each one. Things like my wonderful children who really aren’t children anymore. My older son has 4 daughters of his own. My younger son has added a beautiful wife to his life this year. I’m grateful for my grandchildren and my siblings. My two brothers are especially precious to me. They are both great men with many talents. I love them dearly.
I’m grateful for wonderful friends who encourage me during the tough times and keep me grounded during the good ones. Especially Miss Crystal, who has been my buddy and soul-mate for many years. What a blessing she is. She makes me laugh, she encourages me, she curses the latest guy who has hurt me and she challenges me to be more. Thank you, honey.
All this thinking got me wondering about attitude. It is everything, isn’t it? Some bad things have happened in my life this year (and last year and the year before and the year before, you get the picture) but I still have the ability to be cheerful, happy and grateful. Now please, don’t think I’m patting myself on the back here. I’m just as human as the rest. There are days when I think my life just plain sucks. But that passes.
Why? Because I CHOOSE to let it pass. I CHOOSE to look on the bright side. I CHOOSE to learn from those sucky days. I think maybe I was born with this bent anyway, but I’ve had many opportunities over the years to keep making the choice to be happy and cheerful. You CAN make that a habit like any other habit.
This brings me to the “glass half full or empty” question. There are two men who, over the years, have been very dear to me, each for different reasons. One I have known for over 13 years. We became instant friends and over the years he has been a buddy, a mentor and spiritual guide for me. He is a very successful businessman who has built quite a nice life for himself and his family. Last week we found out he has a rare, incurable cancer. He may live a year. He may live ten. It’s devastating news for someone who was planning an early retirement in the hill country with his wife and his Harley. He said he has to find different dreams now, short term ones. He has his bad moments but all in all, he is handling this news with grace and dignity. His life will be full for however long he is here.
The other man I have known for about 5 years. He has been a friend, a playmate, a lover, a fiancé. We’re no longer together as a couple but he calls every once in awhile. He also has been diagnosed with cancer. Prostate cancer. It seems to have spread to his kidneys, which is never good news, but still and all there are treatments and cures for his disease.
Like the first man, he is smart. He is also successful in his work. He has a loving family. He can still make me laugh. But none of that matters. He says his life is over. He’s done. He’s thinking seriously of not getting any treatment for his cancer. (Seriously? Give up? I can’t fathom that kind of thinking.) He says he’ll just live until he dies because he hates his life anyway. But would that be living? It’s not the disease that will kill him, but his attitude.
My first friend doesn’t just have a glass half full mentality. His glass is always overflowing, now as much as ever, just in different ways. My former fiancé’s glass apparently has always been empty. (just one of the reasons we’re no longer together) Isn’t that an amazing difference? I draw a complete blank when trying to figure it out.
So what’s my point? It’s not to look at your life and say, “Oh thank God, I don’t have cancer so I’ll be extra grateful! Yippee! Aren’t I lucky?!” No. That doesn’t usually work with me. Sometimes I look at that other person’s life and still say, “Well, my life sucks anyway. What’s your point?!” My point is that even though I may feel that my life sucks in some temporary way, it’s my choice to stay stuck there or to adjust my mind and move on.
It’s a choice. Sometimes a pretty difficult one, I’ll grant you, but a choice nonetheless. Frankly, at my age I no longer dread those challenges because I’ve already been through enough of them to know I’ll not only survive them, I’ll learn something valuable I can pass along to others. Every challenge makes me more grateful. It gives me more hope. More faith. More strength. Not less.
Anyone reading this little article in this little paper is blessed beyond measure. You can read. You have enough income to buy a paper. You have enough brainpower to understand what you’re reading. You live in a country which allows someone like you to read the scribblings of someone like me. Likely you have someone who loves you. Maybe a lot of someones. You have friends. Perhaps you have a career which thrills you every day. Or maybe you’re facing challenges. Physical. Mental. Financial. Emotional.
This is a great week to count your blessings. I dare you. Write them out. One by one. Seriously. Don’t bother with the negative unless you just can’t help yourself. Write out everything you can think of. Not only your job or your health. How about being grateful for how sweet your child looks when he’s asleep. Or how about the smell of a pumpkin pie straight out of the oven? The fact that your dog wiggles all over whether you’ve been out of the room 5 minutes or 5 days? Hugs? Smiles? Double Stuff Oreos? Hearing someone says I love you. Or how about this one – automatic deposit of your paycheck. Cell phones so you’re never out of touch. Or maybe leaving the cell phone at home. Any golf course at 7:30 in the morning. And the perfect tee shot. Take nothing for granted.
Make your list. Then choose. Will you have an attitude of gratitude? Will your glass be half empty or half full?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Honoring Veterans – Old & Young/Past & Present
by Crystal Laramore
Veteran’s day; a time for reflection and gratitude for many. And boy, do we have a lot to be grateful for! Just in my family and circle of friends alone I spent a few hours today (Tuesday) making phone calls and sending emails, thanking them for serving our country. I even received a few “thank-you’s” myself, which humbled my heart beyond measure.
One of my friends, CW 4 Luke Sweeney, flew an apache helicopter in the downtown parade in Houston on Veterans Day last year. His co-pilot was CW2 Darrick McGill. The lead Apache was expertly piloted by CW3 Roka (Rock) Wolgamott and co-piloted by CW2 Dusty Davis and they were followed by CW2 Ross Hovey and his front-seater was CW2 Jonathan Johnson.
Apparently this was a death-defying act! We were in Baghdad together and he said the flight that day was more frightening than most of the flying he did over there! The buildings downtown were only 75 feet apart and his span on the helo is about 50 feet! Warrant Officer Sweeney, aka Coco, lives here in Coldspring with his children, Brooke & Lucas Sweeney and his sister Sue Sweeney. If you live in Conroe, you may see him flying overhead a lot. He is based out of Lone Star Executive Airport. He belongs to the 7/6 Calvary Regiment. So, those guys you see practicing are doing it for a reason. And when you do see them, take a moment to say a silent “thank you” or heck, yell it till your throat hurts!
Until you’ve been in a war or a war zone you cannot begin to understand the level of commitment the men and women serving your country have embraced. Almost every day people ask me what it was like “over there”. Being Veteran’s Day today and having a chopper fly over my restaurant today made me remember this article and want to re-run it…
The military hospital is called the CASH (combat support hospital; incidentally, they used to be called M*A*S*H hospitals so says Col. Uncle Bill). When I first arrived I was sick with flu-like symptoms for the first three months. The doctors and civilians called it the Baghdad bug and many people were sick with it. So, I was in the CASH a lot. Then my neck stiffened up on me and I could not turn my head so I was in physical therapy for about six-8 weeks every day.
While I was hanging out at the hospital I would visit soldiers who were wounded and find out about their injuries and their lives at home and where they came from. Most of the soldiers had their purple hearts or their silver stars sitting right by their bedside. I caught a few of them watching Oprah, but as soon as I’d walk in and said “Hey, how’s it going?” they’d change the channel to WWF or something. (Not really WWF since we didn’t get that channel, but you get the idea!) And I never once called ‘em out on it. It was a secret among friends.
Other times, when I was coming in for treatment, I’d see a Chinook in the parking lot with a big red cross on it or a Blackhawk with blades running. Sometimes the medics would be taking soldiers off and carrying them in the CASH right in front of me. People screaming, men running, blood dripping. ER in a war zone. No commercials. No actors. No do-overs. Other times the only noise in all the area would be the deep, heavy thudding of the chopper blades. Either scenario was a grave situation. Those young men were in that chopper, on that gurney, in those bandages, bleeding red-for me. (And not all of them were Americans. This is a coalition of forces.) And I would always say a little prayer before walking through those ominous glass sliding doors, because of what awaited me on the other side; a soldier or a marine would often be lying on a gurney with his buddies standing around him in prayer. And I always knew (or thought I did) if the young man would make it or not. Sometimes I couldn’t even get through my physical therapy session b/c I was crying so hard. Probably what pulled at my heart more than anything is that I always expected to see a man; a grown man; an older man; a man who had lived most of his life; a man ready to die;. What I saw were men all right; it’s just that they were men at young boy’s ages; they hadn’t lived their lives; they just graduated from high school; they weren’t ready to die. But they were ready to fight for their country. Their faces were so young and so innocent, and yet so very brave.
At night, when we would all be sitting around winding down, we’d hear the choppers coming in; always, two-by-two. First one, then the other. If I was on the phone with a family member or friend I’d have to say, “Hold on, a chopper’s coming in” and after the chopper passed the person would start talking again and I’d have to say “Hold on, there’s another one coming in about 30 seconds”.
After being over there for a few months you could determine if an Apache, a Blackhawk or a Chinook was coming in. If it was a Chinook, chances were, the second one always had a big red cross painted on the side indicating there were wounded or fallen soldiers on board. The mood always fell to a heavy silence. Sometimes people would cry. It makes my heart beat fast just writing about it. We could hear the war in the background and we could always drown it out with laughter and chit chat and a few Coronas-naked not dressed-who had limes and salt? But, we could not drown out the sound of Chinooks coming in; two-by-two; first one, then the other. It was a heavy, thudding noise that cut through and drowned out our laughter as if demanding attention and prayer; respect and thought. It was ominous, surreal and sad.
And sometimes hearing the choppers coming in, feeling them come in, well, it felt patriotic, brave and warrior-like. I miss the sounds of the choppers flying over-head at night, rocking my hooch (where we lived-term brought back from the Vietnam War). I miss the feeling that I am well protected and loved by those who know me not. I miss feeling protected by the best armed forces in the world simply because I was blessed enough, by God, to be born an American.
So this veteran’s day, when I flew my flag I flew it out of respect for veterans of wars past, but especially for the young men and women who are fighting now. The one’s I’ve met and the one’s I know not. God bless them and God bless America!
Check out my new Blogs:
http://randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
http://sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
Veteran’s day; a time for reflection and gratitude for many. And boy, do we have a lot to be grateful for! Just in my family and circle of friends alone I spent a few hours today (Tuesday) making phone calls and sending emails, thanking them for serving our country. I even received a few “thank-you’s” myself, which humbled my heart beyond measure.
One of my friends, CW 4 Luke Sweeney, flew an apache helicopter in the downtown parade in Houston on Veterans Day last year. His co-pilot was CW2 Darrick McGill. The lead Apache was expertly piloted by CW3 Roka (Rock) Wolgamott and co-piloted by CW2 Dusty Davis and they were followed by CW2 Ross Hovey and his front-seater was CW2 Jonathan Johnson.
Apparently this was a death-defying act! We were in Baghdad together and he said the flight that day was more frightening than most of the flying he did over there! The buildings downtown were only 75 feet apart and his span on the helo is about 50 feet! Warrant Officer Sweeney, aka Coco, lives here in Coldspring with his children, Brooke & Lucas Sweeney and his sister Sue Sweeney. If you live in Conroe, you may see him flying overhead a lot. He is based out of Lone Star Executive Airport. He belongs to the 7/6 Calvary Regiment. So, those guys you see practicing are doing it for a reason. And when you do see them, take a moment to say a silent “thank you” or heck, yell it till your throat hurts!
Until you’ve been in a war or a war zone you cannot begin to understand the level of commitment the men and women serving your country have embraced. Almost every day people ask me what it was like “over there”. Being Veteran’s Day today and having a chopper fly over my restaurant today made me remember this article and want to re-run it…
The military hospital is called the CASH (combat support hospital; incidentally, they used to be called M*A*S*H hospitals so says Col. Uncle Bill). When I first arrived I was sick with flu-like symptoms for the first three months. The doctors and civilians called it the Baghdad bug and many people were sick with it. So, I was in the CASH a lot. Then my neck stiffened up on me and I could not turn my head so I was in physical therapy for about six-8 weeks every day.
While I was hanging out at the hospital I would visit soldiers who were wounded and find out about their injuries and their lives at home and where they came from. Most of the soldiers had their purple hearts or their silver stars sitting right by their bedside. I caught a few of them watching Oprah, but as soon as I’d walk in and said “Hey, how’s it going?” they’d change the channel to WWF or something. (Not really WWF since we didn’t get that channel, but you get the idea!) And I never once called ‘em out on it. It was a secret among friends.
Other times, when I was coming in for treatment, I’d see a Chinook in the parking lot with a big red cross on it or a Blackhawk with blades running. Sometimes the medics would be taking soldiers off and carrying them in the CASH right in front of me. People screaming, men running, blood dripping. ER in a war zone. No commercials. No actors. No do-overs. Other times the only noise in all the area would be the deep, heavy thudding of the chopper blades. Either scenario was a grave situation. Those young men were in that chopper, on that gurney, in those bandages, bleeding red-for me. (And not all of them were Americans. This is a coalition of forces.) And I would always say a little prayer before walking through those ominous glass sliding doors, because of what awaited me on the other side; a soldier or a marine would often be lying on a gurney with his buddies standing around him in prayer. And I always knew (or thought I did) if the young man would make it or not. Sometimes I couldn’t even get through my physical therapy session b/c I was crying so hard. Probably what pulled at my heart more than anything is that I always expected to see a man; a grown man; an older man; a man who had lived most of his life; a man ready to die;. What I saw were men all right; it’s just that they were men at young boy’s ages; they hadn’t lived their lives; they just graduated from high school; they weren’t ready to die. But they were ready to fight for their country. Their faces were so young and so innocent, and yet so very brave.
At night, when we would all be sitting around winding down, we’d hear the choppers coming in; always, two-by-two. First one, then the other. If I was on the phone with a family member or friend I’d have to say, “Hold on, a chopper’s coming in” and after the chopper passed the person would start talking again and I’d have to say “Hold on, there’s another one coming in about 30 seconds”.
After being over there for a few months you could determine if an Apache, a Blackhawk or a Chinook was coming in. If it was a Chinook, chances were, the second one always had a big red cross painted on the side indicating there were wounded or fallen soldiers on board. The mood always fell to a heavy silence. Sometimes people would cry. It makes my heart beat fast just writing about it. We could hear the war in the background and we could always drown it out with laughter and chit chat and a few Coronas-naked not dressed-who had limes and salt? But, we could not drown out the sound of Chinooks coming in; two-by-two; first one, then the other. It was a heavy, thudding noise that cut through and drowned out our laughter as if demanding attention and prayer; respect and thought. It was ominous, surreal and sad.
And sometimes hearing the choppers coming in, feeling them come in, well, it felt patriotic, brave and warrior-like. I miss the sounds of the choppers flying over-head at night, rocking my hooch (where we lived-term brought back from the Vietnam War). I miss the feeling that I am well protected and loved by those who know me not. I miss feeling protected by the best armed forces in the world simply because I was blessed enough, by God, to be born an American.
So this veteran’s day, when I flew my flag I flew it out of respect for veterans of wars past, but especially for the young men and women who are fighting now. The one’s I’ve met and the one’s I know not. God bless them and God bless America!
Check out my new Blogs:
http://randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
http://sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Who's Racist?
By Crystal Laramore
Seriously, I've really had enough of the libs and the White House playing the race card. Kanye West's outburst this past week at the VMA is just one of thousands of examples of how racism exists all right-just not so much with the white folks as with the black folks. Oh heck, maybe it's even-steven, who knows? Who cares? I'm sick of the word, the act and the need to perpetuate it and blame white/conservatives for it.
The libs are the ones always throwing the R word around and bringing it up when someone or some group disagrees with their point of view. We were led to believe that when we elected a black man as president that, as a country, we would have arrived at the Promised Land, the land without racism and bigotry. But the opposite has happened. Now EVERY dissent is blamed on race. We don’t disagree because we have philosophical and/or logical reasons to disagree. Oh no! We disagree because we hate black people and are angry because there’s one in the White House. We can’t win. Well, seems I heard BHO is half white - so maybe that's the part of him people are disagreeing with! Still racist?
Liberals are the ones who keep minorities down so they can maintain their hold over them, all the while promising them a piece of the rich (white) man's pie. Never mind that we ALL can make as many pies as we want. I guess that’s a whole other discussion. Why? Why would liberals want to keep ANYone down, keep ANYone poor? Create dependency on the government? To get that vote man, to get that vote!
Conversely, conservatives want to reward hard work by ALL. Reward us individually based solely on hard work. And if we don’t work? Then we don’t get a piece of that pie, nor do we deserve one. The libs want to keep poor folks poor (and dependent) while they (the libs) get rich (see the Obama's, the Clinton’s, the Edwards’, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc.)
While conservatives look down upon lazy people, liberals look down upon you if you are poor but they don’t want you to know it. Otherwise they'd do more to help poor people OUT of poverty instead of just perpetuating the victim mentality thus continuing the vicious cycle of poverty and dependency they claim to be fighting so hard against. Well, they need to own their racism and get that monkey off OUR backs! I know, I know. That’s wishful thinking on my part.
We, the people (not just the white people), had a senator/congressman? shout out "You lie" during a speech in which the president was indeed lying. Now the libs want his hide. They are out for blood. They want to wreck his life and his career. They are calling him a racist b/c he is white and disagrees, vehemently, with a black president. Don’t I have that right? Wasn’t our country founded on the right to speak up, loudly if necessary when we disagree with out leaders, whether they are black or white? Was every black man/woman who ever disagreed with a white president a racist? And what of BHO himself, immediately disrespecting the act of a white law enforcement officer before knowing any of the details simply because the person arrested was black? Is that racist? Well?
It makes me so sad to see someone like Kanye West do what he did and so proud to see someone like Beyonce try to right his wrong (what a class act). And kudos to Taylor Swift for not knocking on Kayne’s thick-racist-skull with the microphone and saying "Hello! Is anybody IN there"?
And, NO, it doesn't bother anyone because Kanye West is black!! It bothers us because he was extremely rude! Period.
Wilson cannot apologize enough for his outburst! But Kanye West can dishonor a young (white) woman, humiliate another, and an apology is acceptable for him? Why? Because he's black? Can he not be a racist b/c he's black? Or does he have carte blanche b/c he IS black? I think not on both counts. Kanye West showed his true heart - Live, in HD & recorded for infinity in Technicolor!
And what about the black boys who beat up the white boy on the school bus? Is that a hate crime? Just checking cuz we need to keep things fair and balanced.
Back to Senator Wilson: When he called out "You lie" Obama was giving some lip service by saying illegals would not be using, ahem, abusing the new and improved health care plan and he was, in all honesty, disrespectful. But can't ya just understand and feel the level of frustration that pushed a grown man to that point? This administration is stealing, lying and cheating us out of our money, jobs, health care and overall sense of hope and prosperity each and every day and NO ONE in the mainstream media is calling them out on it. What he and his cronies are doing to our country is an atrocity. And NO ONE in the mainstream media seems to even know how to spell ACORN yet Wilson is a racist? We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.
Back to racism-I have NEVER heard the word or felt the power of the word more than since this man's first week in the oval office. This administration and the rest of the far left are perpetuating an evil spirit and bringing back to life what so many gave their lives to kill. Racism doesn't just belong to the black race, oh no. The whites and browns, purples and yellows all have their fair share. It's awful and sick and pathetic. And why someone, anyone, especially LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD would want to perpetuate it is beyond my ability to comprehend. This administration and the liberal-led Congress are destroying so much progress we have struggled to make over the past 50 years.
Follow the money. All I can think of is follow the money. There must be some profit somewhere for someone for racism to exist. For one thing some black leaders would be out of business if they didn’t have racism to fight. It’s all they know how to do and I swear I believe that part of this is their fault. They egg people on so they’ll have something to fight. Maybe because they can’t get real jobs.
Tea Anyone?
Seriously, I've really had enough of the libs and the White House playing the race card. Kanye West's outburst this past week at the VMA is just one of thousands of examples of how racism exists all right-just not so much with the white folks as with the black folks. Oh heck, maybe it's even-steven, who knows? Who cares? I'm sick of the word, the act and the need to perpetuate it and blame white/conservatives for it.
The libs are the ones always throwing the R word around and bringing it up when someone or some group disagrees with their point of view. We were led to believe that when we elected a black man as president that, as a country, we would have arrived at the Promised Land, the land without racism and bigotry. But the opposite has happened. Now EVERY dissent is blamed on race. We don’t disagree because we have philosophical and/or logical reasons to disagree. Oh no! We disagree because we hate black people and are angry because there’s one in the White House. We can’t win. Well, seems I heard BHO is half white - so maybe that's the part of him people are disagreeing with! Still racist?
Liberals are the ones who keep minorities down so they can maintain their hold over them, all the while promising them a piece of the rich (white) man's pie. Never mind that we ALL can make as many pies as we want. I guess that’s a whole other discussion. Why? Why would liberals want to keep ANYone down, keep ANYone poor? Create dependency on the government? To get that vote man, to get that vote!
Conversely, conservatives want to reward hard work by ALL. Reward us individually based solely on hard work. And if we don’t work? Then we don’t get a piece of that pie, nor do we deserve one. The libs want to keep poor folks poor (and dependent) while they (the libs) get rich (see the Obama's, the Clinton’s, the Edwards’, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc.)
While conservatives look down upon lazy people, liberals look down upon you if you are poor but they don’t want you to know it. Otherwise they'd do more to help poor people OUT of poverty instead of just perpetuating the victim mentality thus continuing the vicious cycle of poverty and dependency they claim to be fighting so hard against. Well, they need to own their racism and get that monkey off OUR backs! I know, I know. That’s wishful thinking on my part.
We, the people (not just the white people), had a senator/congressman? shout out "You lie" during a speech in which the president was indeed lying. Now the libs want his hide. They are out for blood. They want to wreck his life and his career. They are calling him a racist b/c he is white and disagrees, vehemently, with a black president. Don’t I have that right? Wasn’t our country founded on the right to speak up, loudly if necessary when we disagree with out leaders, whether they are black or white? Was every black man/woman who ever disagreed with a white president a racist? And what of BHO himself, immediately disrespecting the act of a white law enforcement officer before knowing any of the details simply because the person arrested was black? Is that racist? Well?
It makes me so sad to see someone like Kanye West do what he did and so proud to see someone like Beyonce try to right his wrong (what a class act). And kudos to Taylor Swift for not knocking on Kayne’s thick-racist-skull with the microphone and saying "Hello! Is anybody IN there"?
And, NO, it doesn't bother anyone because Kanye West is black!! It bothers us because he was extremely rude! Period.
Wilson cannot apologize enough for his outburst! But Kanye West can dishonor a young (white) woman, humiliate another, and an apology is acceptable for him? Why? Because he's black? Can he not be a racist b/c he's black? Or does he have carte blanche b/c he IS black? I think not on both counts. Kanye West showed his true heart - Live, in HD & recorded for infinity in Technicolor!
And what about the black boys who beat up the white boy on the school bus? Is that a hate crime? Just checking cuz we need to keep things fair and balanced.
Back to Senator Wilson: When he called out "You lie" Obama was giving some lip service by saying illegals would not be using, ahem, abusing the new and improved health care plan and he was, in all honesty, disrespectful. But can't ya just understand and feel the level of frustration that pushed a grown man to that point? This administration is stealing, lying and cheating us out of our money, jobs, health care and overall sense of hope and prosperity each and every day and NO ONE in the mainstream media is calling them out on it. What he and his cronies are doing to our country is an atrocity. And NO ONE in the mainstream media seems to even know how to spell ACORN yet Wilson is a racist? We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.
Back to racism-I have NEVER heard the word or felt the power of the word more than since this man's first week in the oval office. This administration and the rest of the far left are perpetuating an evil spirit and bringing back to life what so many gave their lives to kill. Racism doesn't just belong to the black race, oh no. The whites and browns, purples and yellows all have their fair share. It's awful and sick and pathetic. And why someone, anyone, especially LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD would want to perpetuate it is beyond my ability to comprehend. This administration and the liberal-led Congress are destroying so much progress we have struggled to make over the past 50 years.
Follow the money. All I can think of is follow the money. There must be some profit somewhere for someone for racism to exist. For one thing some black leaders would be out of business if they didn’t have racism to fight. It’s all they know how to do and I swear I believe that part of this is their fault. They egg people on so they’ll have something to fight. Maybe because they can’t get real jobs.
Tea Anyone?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Ted Kennedy-Hero or Hindrance?
By Deborah Martin
Edited by Crystal Laramore
WARNING: If you are a tried and true Kennedy lover to the exclusion of all reason, just set this article aside or give it to one of your more reality-based friends.
Ted Kennedy, senator from Massachusetts died last week and since then there has been a virtually endless deluge of praise from family, friends, colleagues and our “state run” media. He has been praised as the Lion of the Senate, the rock and anchor of his family, the most influential and accomplished legislator of our time. Really? He was?
Perhaps he was those things and to tell the truth, when someone dies it is customary to leave out their faults and remember their virtues. We all tend to forget the infinite ways deceased relatives drove us crazy. When it’s our leaders, we want to remember the good stuff. We want to count up all their accomplishments. It’s natural. No one wants to be critical of the dead. After all, they can’t defend themselves. Right, Mary Jo?
And when it’s a Kennedy, well this country goes into overdrive. After all, they’re the closest thing we have to royalty; they are a dynasty. They certainly have all the qualities of royalty. Money, looks, power, tragedy, glamour, romance. We have been watching this family since the 1940’s or earlier. We hang on their every accomplishment like they invented water or something.
I don’t really want this article to be all about Ted Kennedy and his shortcomings, though they were many. It’s really about who we hold up as our heroes. Who do we respect? How many flaws and what sorts of flaws do we tolerate in our leaders? Is drunkenness okay, or negligent homicide? How about cheating? Lying? How about rape or attempted rape? And why does the Kennedy family seem to get a pass on the same kinds of things which have destroyed the lives and careers of the rest of us mere mortals?
Flaws aside and to be fair (which as a conservative I am compelled to be) - in at least one way the Kennedy dynasty was and is quite remarkable. Whether or not you agree with their politics you have to agree that they all seem to have a strong bent toward public service. Jack, Bobby and Ted were all senators. Jack was even elected President, which in 1960 was amazing seeing that he was an Irish Catholic back when people still thought those things mattered. Various nephews have served in Congress. The Shriver branch of the family started The Peace Corps AND the Special Olympics!
Well, that’s the family as a whole, but what about Ted since he’s the one who died this week and effectively ended an era. It doesn’t look like younger Kennedy’s have the drive the original group had. They’re branching out, getting out of politics. And good for them, but I digress.
Does Ted Kennedy deserve the praise being heaped on him since his death? What about the other side of his life. I’ve learned some interesting things lately. A lot I already knew, all of it pretty twisted and yes, I did my research. Everything in this article is true. Did you know that he was kicked out of Harvard the first time around for cheating? He had someone else take a test for him. Yes, it’s true. And I have to add that as a parent I am certain that this wasn’t the first time he did it, just the first time he got caught!
The Kennedy family seems to be plagued by plane crashes. Ted lost two siblings that way and a nephew. He survived his own crash by flying while intoxicated. Only his two passengers were killed in that crash. Seems like he couldn’t learn his lesson because in 1969 the most famous incident happened – Chappaquiddick.
After a night of partying he drove a car carrying his 28 year old companion, Mary Jo Kopechne off a bridge and into a pond. He escaped. She did not. However, he waited nine hours before reporting the accident. In the meantime, he walked back to his motel, complained to the manager about a noisy party, took a shower, went to sleep, ordered newspapers when he woke up and spoke to a friend and two lawyers before finally calling the police. This is when the phrase, “the Kennedy curse” was coined, and guess who coined it? Ted. Why? Perhaps to take attention from what he did and make him a victim instead of a perpetrator.
You know what the worst part is? Mary Jo did not drown. She survived for several hours in an air pocket before succumbing to a lack of oxygen. Had he gone straight to the authorities she likely would have lived but you’ll rarely read about that. Wonder why he waited? Could it be – let me think – maybe – just possibly – he was drinking? Did he feel entitled? Was he a spoiled rich kid? Oh, and another thing – he never spent a day in jail for this crime. His family arranged for money to be given to the Kopechne family as if that would make a difference. Apparently, for them, it made some difference because they took the money.
After that, his political ambitions for President were effectively DOA even though he did try. Only a Kennedy would have the nerve to try that with so much of his bad behavior public. Ted Kennedy, like his brothers and father, was a notorious drunk and womanizer. He was known to proposition virtually any reasonably attractive female when he was drinking and there were several incidents at his favorite restaurant where he would bodily try (and sometimes succeed) in forcing himself on the unlucky waitress who had to wait on him and his companion (by the name of Dodd) in a private dining room. I assume they were tipped VERY well.
I also heard this week that he actually enjoyed Chappaquiddick jokes. If I didn’t already have a bad opinion of him that certainly did it for me. It was said by his defenders that he finds the ridiculous in any situation. What??!! The only things ridiculous about that situation is that he felt no remorse, never apologized to her family and never did a day’s jail time over it. What kind of twisted person finds humor in any situation where a person loses their life?
Speaking of his title “Lion of the Senate” I once saw him on live HDTV speaking loudly with spittle spewing forth, fist shaking, standing up for “the little people” saying “And we’re gonna raise minimum wage, and raise it, and raise it and raise it”! Really, how does that help “the little people”? How does that encourage the small business owner (who drives 85% of the GDP) to hire more people and give them more hours? Why didn’t Ted give some of HIS money away? Why didn’t he lower his salary? I’m betting because it’s easier to give away other people’s money. Doesn’t hurt quite so bad. Careful people who ya follow.
Did you notice how pleasant his last days were? He was on the sail boat. He was pampered by wait staff. He had the very best health care our country has to offer. He had NO end-of-life counseling. His brain tumor was incurable yet he received enough care and medicine to live comfortably for an additional year. I do not begrudge him this. I’m just curious why he begrudges his constituents and the rest of the country the same care. Maybe he’s just entitled…
And I’m sorry but am I the only one who thinks the good DOESN’T outweigh the bad? It seems pretty significant to me that the Catholic Church, which Ted professed to put so much faith in, completely ignored his passing. His lionization says a lot about our society and what drives us these days. Crystal always says follow the money and I guess, unfortunately, that’s right. Any lesser mortal would have been (and IS) driven from society for such consistently abhorrent behavior.
It makes me sad and angry that we tolerate this stuff. Is it so wrong to expect our public officials and our heroes to be circumspect in their private lives? This isn’t just a problem with politics or with folks like the Kennedy’s. Look at the people we hold up as role models. We have football players who break every rule, yet are still allowed to play. We tolerate bad attitudes and immoral behavior. I believe in redemption. You do the crime, do the time and you’re done. If you stay clean you deserve another chance. Did Ted Kennedy deserve another chance at Harvard? How about after the drunken plane crash? Or the drive into the pond? And it’s a little scary that these are the things we KNOW about?
Call me a prude, or a throwback. I want men and women in politics, in court, in my doctor’s office, teaching my kids and running my bank to have some character, some backbone. Stand up for what’s right – ALL the time, not just when it’s convenient or a camera is shining on you or a microphone is in your face; in the little ways, behind the scenes, when no one knows but you. Unlike much of Ted Kennedy’s life – do the right thing, just because it’s right.
Edited by Crystal Laramore
WARNING: If you are a tried and true Kennedy lover to the exclusion of all reason, just set this article aside or give it to one of your more reality-based friends.
Ted Kennedy, senator from Massachusetts died last week and since then there has been a virtually endless deluge of praise from family, friends, colleagues and our “state run” media. He has been praised as the Lion of the Senate, the rock and anchor of his family, the most influential and accomplished legislator of our time. Really? He was?
Perhaps he was those things and to tell the truth, when someone dies it is customary to leave out their faults and remember their virtues. We all tend to forget the infinite ways deceased relatives drove us crazy. When it’s our leaders, we want to remember the good stuff. We want to count up all their accomplishments. It’s natural. No one wants to be critical of the dead. After all, they can’t defend themselves. Right, Mary Jo?
And when it’s a Kennedy, well this country goes into overdrive. After all, they’re the closest thing we have to royalty; they are a dynasty. They certainly have all the qualities of royalty. Money, looks, power, tragedy, glamour, romance. We have been watching this family since the 1940’s or earlier. We hang on their every accomplishment like they invented water or something.
I don’t really want this article to be all about Ted Kennedy and his shortcomings, though they were many. It’s really about who we hold up as our heroes. Who do we respect? How many flaws and what sorts of flaws do we tolerate in our leaders? Is drunkenness okay, or negligent homicide? How about cheating? Lying? How about rape or attempted rape? And why does the Kennedy family seem to get a pass on the same kinds of things which have destroyed the lives and careers of the rest of us mere mortals?
Flaws aside and to be fair (which as a conservative I am compelled to be) - in at least one way the Kennedy dynasty was and is quite remarkable. Whether or not you agree with their politics you have to agree that they all seem to have a strong bent toward public service. Jack, Bobby and Ted were all senators. Jack was even elected President, which in 1960 was amazing seeing that he was an Irish Catholic back when people still thought those things mattered. Various nephews have served in Congress. The Shriver branch of the family started The Peace Corps AND the Special Olympics!
Well, that’s the family as a whole, but what about Ted since he’s the one who died this week and effectively ended an era. It doesn’t look like younger Kennedy’s have the drive the original group had. They’re branching out, getting out of politics. And good for them, but I digress.
Does Ted Kennedy deserve the praise being heaped on him since his death? What about the other side of his life. I’ve learned some interesting things lately. A lot I already knew, all of it pretty twisted and yes, I did my research. Everything in this article is true. Did you know that he was kicked out of Harvard the first time around for cheating? He had someone else take a test for him. Yes, it’s true. And I have to add that as a parent I am certain that this wasn’t the first time he did it, just the first time he got caught!
The Kennedy family seems to be plagued by plane crashes. Ted lost two siblings that way and a nephew. He survived his own crash by flying while intoxicated. Only his two passengers were killed in that crash. Seems like he couldn’t learn his lesson because in 1969 the most famous incident happened – Chappaquiddick.
After a night of partying he drove a car carrying his 28 year old companion, Mary Jo Kopechne off a bridge and into a pond. He escaped. She did not. However, he waited nine hours before reporting the accident. In the meantime, he walked back to his motel, complained to the manager about a noisy party, took a shower, went to sleep, ordered newspapers when he woke up and spoke to a friend and two lawyers before finally calling the police. This is when the phrase, “the Kennedy curse” was coined, and guess who coined it? Ted. Why? Perhaps to take attention from what he did and make him a victim instead of a perpetrator.
You know what the worst part is? Mary Jo did not drown. She survived for several hours in an air pocket before succumbing to a lack of oxygen. Had he gone straight to the authorities she likely would have lived but you’ll rarely read about that. Wonder why he waited? Could it be – let me think – maybe – just possibly – he was drinking? Did he feel entitled? Was he a spoiled rich kid? Oh, and another thing – he never spent a day in jail for this crime. His family arranged for money to be given to the Kopechne family as if that would make a difference. Apparently, for them, it made some difference because they took the money.
After that, his political ambitions for President were effectively DOA even though he did try. Only a Kennedy would have the nerve to try that with so much of his bad behavior public. Ted Kennedy, like his brothers and father, was a notorious drunk and womanizer. He was known to proposition virtually any reasonably attractive female when he was drinking and there were several incidents at his favorite restaurant where he would bodily try (and sometimes succeed) in forcing himself on the unlucky waitress who had to wait on him and his companion (by the name of Dodd) in a private dining room. I assume they were tipped VERY well.
I also heard this week that he actually enjoyed Chappaquiddick jokes. If I didn’t already have a bad opinion of him that certainly did it for me. It was said by his defenders that he finds the ridiculous in any situation. What??!! The only things ridiculous about that situation is that he felt no remorse, never apologized to her family and never did a day’s jail time over it. What kind of twisted person finds humor in any situation where a person loses their life?
Speaking of his title “Lion of the Senate” I once saw him on live HDTV speaking loudly with spittle spewing forth, fist shaking, standing up for “the little people” saying “And we’re gonna raise minimum wage, and raise it, and raise it and raise it”! Really, how does that help “the little people”? How does that encourage the small business owner (who drives 85% of the GDP) to hire more people and give them more hours? Why didn’t Ted give some of HIS money away? Why didn’t he lower his salary? I’m betting because it’s easier to give away other people’s money. Doesn’t hurt quite so bad. Careful people who ya follow.
Did you notice how pleasant his last days were? He was on the sail boat. He was pampered by wait staff. He had the very best health care our country has to offer. He had NO end-of-life counseling. His brain tumor was incurable yet he received enough care and medicine to live comfortably for an additional year. I do not begrudge him this. I’m just curious why he begrudges his constituents and the rest of the country the same care. Maybe he’s just entitled…
And I’m sorry but am I the only one who thinks the good DOESN’T outweigh the bad? It seems pretty significant to me that the Catholic Church, which Ted professed to put so much faith in, completely ignored his passing. His lionization says a lot about our society and what drives us these days. Crystal always says follow the money and I guess, unfortunately, that’s right. Any lesser mortal would have been (and IS) driven from society for such consistently abhorrent behavior.
It makes me sad and angry that we tolerate this stuff. Is it so wrong to expect our public officials and our heroes to be circumspect in their private lives? This isn’t just a problem with politics or with folks like the Kennedy’s. Look at the people we hold up as role models. We have football players who break every rule, yet are still allowed to play. We tolerate bad attitudes and immoral behavior. I believe in redemption. You do the crime, do the time and you’re done. If you stay clean you deserve another chance. Did Ted Kennedy deserve another chance at Harvard? How about after the drunken plane crash? Or the drive into the pond? And it’s a little scary that these are the things we KNOW about?
Call me a prude, or a throwback. I want men and women in politics, in court, in my doctor’s office, teaching my kids and running my bank to have some character, some backbone. Stand up for what’s right – ALL the time, not just when it’s convenient or a camera is shining on you or a microphone is in your face; in the little ways, behind the scenes, when no one knows but you. Unlike much of Ted Kennedy’s life – do the right thing, just because it’s right.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Oh Oprah...
by Crystal Laramore
edited by Deborah Martin & Cheryl Laramore
…you were right; He IS the one! He IS the one who is trying to destroy the American dream one sector at a time. He IS the one who is trying to destroy the best medical care system in the world. He IS the one who is trying to divide our country down racial lines instead of uniting us, as he so eloquently promised while holding the hand of his mighty, all-knowing teleprompter.
He IS the one who is trying to make a joke of your hard work and success because it flies in the face of his end goal – total dependence on government! He IS the one who is trying to press you to work harder for less. Why? So that many of his followers (aka voters) can NOT work at all and get more for it. More from us, Oprah. Maybe you have soooooo much money that you just don’t care anymore. Well Oprah-I don’t and I do!
He IS the one getting mainstream conservative Americans off our lazy butts to take back our country. He IS the one who is motivating average working Americans across the nation to get back to the basics of our constitution. He IS the one who showing the American people just how elitist Washington D.C. really is.
He IS the one responsible for Americans rallying together to stand up to our Congressmen and remind them that THEY work for US, just as Hillary Clinton suggested we do when George W. Bush was President. Hey Pelosi, are you listening? What's good for the left hand is good for the Right! Get it?!
He IS the one who proudly proclaimed his background as a simple hardworking community organizer. Just a grassroots kind of guy trying to better the community and now he has the NERVE to criticize and marginalize those who stand up in Town Hall meetings to proclaim their objections to the hastily slapped-together legislation HE is calling reform? And if that weren’t bad enough he has actually asked his supporters to report dissent directly to him? Can you say BIG BROTHER???!!!
And to take matters a step further the police tried to make the anti-health care Americans who attended the President’s Town Hall meeting in Massachusetts stand behind the front lines, behind the parking lot, under a grove of trees, while allowing the pro-health care Americans stand street-side. Can you say "hate crime"? Might as well be.
What the heck IS going on??? If they are afraid then they must be doing something wrong? If they really care about our wants, needs and desires then why are THEY using such antics to push through something the American people clearly DO NOT WANT? Follow the money. Always follow the money.
Medicare and Medicaid, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac and Social Security...just a few examples of well run (snicker, snicker) governmental programs wrought with fraud, abusive, power hungry folks and financial leaks in the billions. Now let's just make government run health care bigger and let's include all illegal immigrants. What, do they get to vote if they have health care? What is the motivation to further tax our system by taking on and encouraging illegal immigration? Somebody PLEASE splain it to me, Lucy?
Over the last few weeks the news has been peppered with stories covering Town Hall meetings. After watching several of these I realized why our president wanted to get his health care bill passed BEFORE Congress went on recess – because he’s afraid that if they wait they won’t be able to stand the heat coming from their constituents. Smart man. However, it didn’t even come to a vote and now our voices are being heard - loud angry voices, I’m told. Well, hell yes we’re loud and angry. Congress does not work for the President, they work for us (we the people) yet they consistently do the President’s bidding, not OURS! Hey Congress-you are pandering to the wrong body of people! The last I checked WE THE PEOPLE put you in office, not we the president.
Obama and his cronies are accusing conservative Americans of tactics he’s quite familiar with; planting people who are against (wink wink) his cause, racism, partisanship, inciting violence, etc. You know what they say…when you point one finger three more are pointing right back atcha! Hey, Obama, don’t look now but your (community organizer, Chicago political machine) roots are showing and WE are just plain fed up with being manipulated.
My favorite story this week is about the African American man who was selling “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and buttons. Two black and one white SEIU men beat him up. What??!! Wonder if the president and his teleprompter will address this none-of-his-business issue and play the race card. Let’s see.
As horrible as it was for this man I believe the incident is going to be even worse for the libs because, guess what? The African American victim has an attorney and they plan to file civil charges using the libs own Hate Crime legislation! Snicker, Snicker! Oh, why go for a hate crime? Because the first black man to throw a punch called him a “F…ing Ni..er! Oh yes he did! He said “What kind of f…ing n…er are you” selling these flags?”
Seriously! I’m sorry, is every black person in America supposed to love the president and everything he does just because they belong to the same race? Talk about racist! Obama IS a product of Chicago politics at its worst. Given his upbringing, his consistent association with radicals and ruffians, how could this NOT start showing up?
Did his followers really think the tiger was going to change his stripes once in office? Did they really believe all that hope stuff? Are we really going to stand by and let our country become third world without a fight? I don’t think so and the August town hall meetings all over the country are evidence that Americans, liberal and conservative, are waking up and paying attention. PS. If you see anything "Fishy" in this article pls. report it to the White House aka Government Mobsters.
In closing, I’d like to quote a famous Japanese admiral who stated after Pearl Harbor: “I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant.” Obama, Pelosi, Reed, Senators, Congressmen... You’d better be paying attention because the giant is awake and he’s coming after YOU!
Tea anyone?
edited by Deborah Martin & Cheryl Laramore
…you were right; He IS the one! He IS the one who is trying to destroy the American dream one sector at a time. He IS the one who is trying to destroy the best medical care system in the world. He IS the one who is trying to divide our country down racial lines instead of uniting us, as he so eloquently promised while holding the hand of his mighty, all-knowing teleprompter.
He IS the one who is trying to make a joke of your hard work and success because it flies in the face of his end goal – total dependence on government! He IS the one who is trying to press you to work harder for less. Why? So that many of his followers (aka voters) can NOT work at all and get more for it. More from us, Oprah. Maybe you have soooooo much money that you just don’t care anymore. Well Oprah-I don’t and I do!
He IS the one getting mainstream conservative Americans off our lazy butts to take back our country. He IS the one who is motivating average working Americans across the nation to get back to the basics of our constitution. He IS the one who showing the American people just how elitist Washington D.C. really is.
He IS the one responsible for Americans rallying together to stand up to our Congressmen and remind them that THEY work for US, just as Hillary Clinton suggested we do when George W. Bush was President. Hey Pelosi, are you listening? What's good for the left hand is good for the Right! Get it?!
He IS the one who proudly proclaimed his background as a simple hardworking community organizer. Just a grassroots kind of guy trying to better the community and now he has the NERVE to criticize and marginalize those who stand up in Town Hall meetings to proclaim their objections to the hastily slapped-together legislation HE is calling reform? And if that weren’t bad enough he has actually asked his supporters to report dissent directly to him? Can you say BIG BROTHER???!!!
And to take matters a step further the police tried to make the anti-health care Americans who attended the President’s Town Hall meeting in Massachusetts stand behind the front lines, behind the parking lot, under a grove of trees, while allowing the pro-health care Americans stand street-side. Can you say "hate crime"? Might as well be.
What the heck IS going on??? If they are afraid then they must be doing something wrong? If they really care about our wants, needs and desires then why are THEY using such antics to push through something the American people clearly DO NOT WANT? Follow the money. Always follow the money.
Medicare and Medicaid, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac and Social Security...just a few examples of well run (snicker, snicker) governmental programs wrought with fraud, abusive, power hungry folks and financial leaks in the billions. Now let's just make government run health care bigger and let's include all illegal immigrants. What, do they get to vote if they have health care? What is the motivation to further tax our system by taking on and encouraging illegal immigration? Somebody PLEASE splain it to me, Lucy?
Over the last few weeks the news has been peppered with stories covering Town Hall meetings. After watching several of these I realized why our president wanted to get his health care bill passed BEFORE Congress went on recess – because he’s afraid that if they wait they won’t be able to stand the heat coming from their constituents. Smart man. However, it didn’t even come to a vote and now our voices are being heard - loud angry voices, I’m told. Well, hell yes we’re loud and angry. Congress does not work for the President, they work for us (we the people) yet they consistently do the President’s bidding, not OURS! Hey Congress-you are pandering to the wrong body of people! The last I checked WE THE PEOPLE put you in office, not we the president.
Obama and his cronies are accusing conservative Americans of tactics he’s quite familiar with; planting people who are against (wink wink) his cause, racism, partisanship, inciting violence, etc. You know what they say…when you point one finger three more are pointing right back atcha! Hey, Obama, don’t look now but your (community organizer, Chicago political machine) roots are showing and WE are just plain fed up with being manipulated.
My favorite story this week is about the African American man who was selling “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and buttons. Two black and one white SEIU men beat him up. What??!! Wonder if the president and his teleprompter will address this none-of-his-business issue and play the race card. Let’s see.
As horrible as it was for this man I believe the incident is going to be even worse for the libs because, guess what? The African American victim has an attorney and they plan to file civil charges using the libs own Hate Crime legislation! Snicker, Snicker! Oh, why go for a hate crime? Because the first black man to throw a punch called him a “F…ing Ni..er! Oh yes he did! He said “What kind of f…ing n…er are you” selling these flags?”
Seriously! I’m sorry, is every black person in America supposed to love the president and everything he does just because they belong to the same race? Talk about racist! Obama IS a product of Chicago politics at its worst. Given his upbringing, his consistent association with radicals and ruffians, how could this NOT start showing up?
Did his followers really think the tiger was going to change his stripes once in office? Did they really believe all that hope stuff? Are we really going to stand by and let our country become third world without a fight? I don’t think so and the August town hall meetings all over the country are evidence that Americans, liberal and conservative, are waking up and paying attention. PS. If you see anything "Fishy" in this article pls. report it to the White House aka Government Mobsters.
In closing, I’d like to quote a famous Japanese admiral who stated after Pearl Harbor: “I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant.” Obama, Pelosi, Reed, Senators, Congressmen... You’d better be paying attention because the giant is awake and he’s coming after YOU!
Tea anyone?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Got Change? When Pigs Fly-But Wait, Swine ‘Flew’!
by Crystal Laramore
Edited by Deborah Martin
Last week we talked about how race seems to be interjected into every situation these days and how Barack Obama seems to interject himself (AND race) into things which are none of his business.
He says it’s all about “change”. It was a common theme on the campaign trail and many, many people fell for it. They heard for months and years about how W was taking us down a baaaadddd road. I was never sure what they meant. They didn’t like the Patriot Act even though I’ve yet to hear of ANY innocent person losing their freedoms because of it. They didn’t like the War on Terror and now we don’t even call it that.
We’ve talked in this column before about the entitlement mentality and it seems to have settled on a target – healthcare. Man, people want EVERYthing taken care of for them. Nothing wrong with wanting care. We all need medical attention from time to time. But isn’t it out of hand when we expect every bump and scrape in addition to the big dogs like cancer, taken care of for free? Who do we think is going to pay for this??
Well, back to BHO. An ongoing none-of-the-government's-business issue is healthcare. Last week's speech by BHO was supposedly about healthcare until he deliberately sidetracked it and started talking about the police and race. Was that to sidetrack US into thinking about something other than the hugely invasive, highly expensive, totally unworkable healthcare bill he wants passed so fast that our Congressmen won't have time to read this one EITHER???
Healthcare IS an issue for some Americans these days but why, if health care, or lack thereof for the elderly, disabled, or incurably ill, is such a large issue is he using Gestapo tactics to try and push through a plan WE DON’T WANT and no one seems to have time to read? It took our President 6 months to decide what type of DOG to get for the family pet, surely rebuilding our health care system should have, at the very least, as much consideration right???
I do not have health care insurance, yet I have never been denied treatment. I’ve been to an emergency room several times over my lifetime and have been attended with professionalism and care. I have never been made to pay on the spot. I have been sent bills and have been given adequate time to pay them. They even have payment plans. Really.
But I see this one more as an overall treatise on BHO’s inability to continue to hide (I say that sarcastically) his true intentions 100% of the time. No matter what the issue, he carries a common theme – we are bad, everything we’ve done is bad, everything we have is bad, and only HE, THE ONE, can fix it. Many of us doubt his intentions when he speaks of “change”. We see the class of close friends, confidantes and associates he surrounds himself with. Even so, he was elected. He WON, as he likes to remind us.
He’s feeding the entitlement mentality with program after program which caters to those who can give him votes the next time around. All while he is lying to HIS voters; no new taxes on the middle/lower class. Really? Wait and see. Wait and see. I think he’s made a serious miscalculation. There may actually BE hope and change coming, but BHO and his ilk will be on the losing side this time. Just ask Arlen Specter and Kathlee Sebelius. It seems at least some of those blinded by the “light” have finally begun to regain their vision.
I am not rich but I do not want others to take care of me nor do I want to be forced to take care of others. I do, however, want the FREEDOM to take care of myself. And so does most of America. I also want a cortisone shot if I need one. And so do most hard working people. That is where I’m placing my hope right now – that the good, hardworking, moral people of this country are waking up to what is going on; deficits in the trillions; billion dollar programs which do little to actually alleviate problems; tax hikes on the horizon. Oh yes, mark my words. The changes are a coming -Nationalization of business, one small sector at a time.
BHO seemingly has an ax to grind with those who contribute to the GDP. You know, those of us who made it possible for him to be where he is today…in that big, white house. Maybe he doesn’t understand how much blood, sweat and tears it takes to make it possible for folks like him to have the lifestyle they have. Maybe it’s because he’s a taker and not giver that he doesn’t understand there’s only so much taking you can do.
He talks about making America great again but all his policies are aimed at making us just like most of the rest of the world – 2nd rate and 3rd world. He travels to lands far away to apologize for us, the greatest nation on earth. What kind of person is embarrassed by excellence? Isn’t that a little twisted?
I happen to be proud of the fact that we are a young country yet we are THE super power in the world! I happen to be proud that people from the lands he visits to do his Apology Act can’t wait to leave and come to the land he is apologizing for and have a better life; if they work hard. Maybe that’s it. Maybe he just never worked hard so he doesn’t get the point. Maybe he’s never had the satisfaction which comes from ACTUALLY pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Maybe he should be president of a country he’s proud of instead of turning our country into one we are not proud of. Yeah, maybe that’s what he should do.
I want everyone to remember what profound words our president spewed forth into the universe with the help of his teleprompter, just days before the election. Mr. Obama said we are on the eve of fundamentally changing this country! Did anyone believe this was the type of change he had in mind? Is this the type of change YOU had in mind?
Tea anyone?
www.randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
www.thedamgoodtimes.blogspot.com
www.sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
Edited by Deborah Martin
Last week we talked about how race seems to be interjected into every situation these days and how Barack Obama seems to interject himself (AND race) into things which are none of his business.
He says it’s all about “change”. It was a common theme on the campaign trail and many, many people fell for it. They heard for months and years about how W was taking us down a baaaadddd road. I was never sure what they meant. They didn’t like the Patriot Act even though I’ve yet to hear of ANY innocent person losing their freedoms because of it. They didn’t like the War on Terror and now we don’t even call it that.
We’ve talked in this column before about the entitlement mentality and it seems to have settled on a target – healthcare. Man, people want EVERYthing taken care of for them. Nothing wrong with wanting care. We all need medical attention from time to time. But isn’t it out of hand when we expect every bump and scrape in addition to the big dogs like cancer, taken care of for free? Who do we think is going to pay for this??
Well, back to BHO. An ongoing none-of-the-government's-business issue is healthcare. Last week's speech by BHO was supposedly about healthcare until he deliberately sidetracked it and started talking about the police and race. Was that to sidetrack US into thinking about something other than the hugely invasive, highly expensive, totally unworkable healthcare bill he wants passed so fast that our Congressmen won't have time to read this one EITHER???
Healthcare IS an issue for some Americans these days but why, if health care, or lack thereof for the elderly, disabled, or incurably ill, is such a large issue is he using Gestapo tactics to try and push through a plan WE DON’T WANT and no one seems to have time to read? It took our President 6 months to decide what type of DOG to get for the family pet, surely rebuilding our health care system should have, at the very least, as much consideration right???
I do not have health care insurance, yet I have never been denied treatment. I’ve been to an emergency room several times over my lifetime and have been attended with professionalism and care. I have never been made to pay on the spot. I have been sent bills and have been given adequate time to pay them. They even have payment plans. Really.
But I see this one more as an overall treatise on BHO’s inability to continue to hide (I say that sarcastically) his true intentions 100% of the time. No matter what the issue, he carries a common theme – we are bad, everything we’ve done is bad, everything we have is bad, and only HE, THE ONE, can fix it. Many of us doubt his intentions when he speaks of “change”. We see the class of close friends, confidantes and associates he surrounds himself with. Even so, he was elected. He WON, as he likes to remind us.
He’s feeding the entitlement mentality with program after program which caters to those who can give him votes the next time around. All while he is lying to HIS voters; no new taxes on the middle/lower class. Really? Wait and see. Wait and see. I think he’s made a serious miscalculation. There may actually BE hope and change coming, but BHO and his ilk will be on the losing side this time. Just ask Arlen Specter and Kathlee Sebelius. It seems at least some of those blinded by the “light” have finally begun to regain their vision.
I am not rich but I do not want others to take care of me nor do I want to be forced to take care of others. I do, however, want the FREEDOM to take care of myself. And so does most of America. I also want a cortisone shot if I need one. And so do most hard working people. That is where I’m placing my hope right now – that the good, hardworking, moral people of this country are waking up to what is going on; deficits in the trillions; billion dollar programs which do little to actually alleviate problems; tax hikes on the horizon. Oh yes, mark my words. The changes are a coming -Nationalization of business, one small sector at a time.
BHO seemingly has an ax to grind with those who contribute to the GDP. You know, those of us who made it possible for him to be where he is today…in that big, white house. Maybe he doesn’t understand how much blood, sweat and tears it takes to make it possible for folks like him to have the lifestyle they have. Maybe it’s because he’s a taker and not giver that he doesn’t understand there’s only so much taking you can do.
He talks about making America great again but all his policies are aimed at making us just like most of the rest of the world – 2nd rate and 3rd world. He travels to lands far away to apologize for us, the greatest nation on earth. What kind of person is embarrassed by excellence? Isn’t that a little twisted?
I happen to be proud of the fact that we are a young country yet we are THE super power in the world! I happen to be proud that people from the lands he visits to do his Apology Act can’t wait to leave and come to the land he is apologizing for and have a better life; if they work hard. Maybe that’s it. Maybe he just never worked hard so he doesn’t get the point. Maybe he’s never had the satisfaction which comes from ACTUALLY pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Maybe he should be president of a country he’s proud of instead of turning our country into one we are not proud of. Yeah, maybe that’s what he should do.
I want everyone to remember what profound words our president spewed forth into the universe with the help of his teleprompter, just days before the election. Mr. Obama said we are on the eve of fundamentally changing this country! Did anyone believe this was the type of change he had in mind? Is this the type of change YOU had in mind?
Tea anyone?
www.randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
www.thedamgoodtimes.blogspot.com
www.sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
It Don’t Matter if You’re Left or Right…
By Crystal Laramore
Heavy-handed editing/commentary by: Deborah Martin & Cheryl Laramore
It’s bad. It’s bad. Shamon. Hey, this is how my brain tied MJ into politics. Please. Hold your applause.
Is our PRESIDENT perpetuating racism? I’m reminded of the song lyrics “Don’t hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself”. His hands do not need to be in a local matter regarding police officers and a private citizen. His opinions on racial profiling were off-base. And like everything, it seems he did not have adequate information to be making such a speech.
The 911 call which started this whole thing has now been released. The call wasn't racially motivated. She lady who called only mentioned a possible "Hispanic" connection AFTER she was asked about race. So race wasn't on HER mind. The officer who made the arrest is a racial profiling expert and from all accounts he's a straight up guy; not racially motivated and not power hungry, so race wasn’t on HIS mind either.
At some point we will hear everything about this arrest because the stupid officer's microphone was on the whole time. Snicker. THEN we can make a definitive judgment about this situation. Until that time, we can only go on what has been reported and it doesn't look good for our Harvard professor. For a well-educated, intelligent guy, he sure flew off the handle quickly. HE was the one who brought up race instead of trying to find out what legitimate reason the police had for being in his home.
We suppose if you are black and it looks like you are trying to break into someone’s house you shouldn’t be arrested. You know - cuz you’re black - and that might be considered racial profiling. Are you flipping kidding me???????? WHO’S racist? We’re all confused here; and, getting more and more confused as the months drag and drag on…to the next election.
So how do we handle these situations, which seemingly are started by the very people who feel discriminated against and looked down on? I've got to say that us white folks are between a Barack and a hard place. It seems nothing we do is good enough and when we do the right thing we MUST be doing it for the wrong reasons. My best friend, Jasmine, works for a company where the racial makeup goes like this - 45% black, 25% Hispanic, 20% white and the rest divided among people from the Far-East.
Jasmine doesn't hear much from most of the groups regarding racism but, the most vocal about racism is the black group. They complain about other blacks who make friends with the whites. "Oh, she's just tryin' to be white!" What???!! This is something which mystifies Jasmine, who is white and could care less about someone's skin color. Aren't people just people? Don't we all love our kids, work hard at our jobs, worry about our old age, like to have fun? She always thought so, but apparently there's some fundamental difference between the races.
At the same time Gates’ story was being sprayed on HD televisions across the nation another one was also being covered; three young boys arrested for stealing items from a neighbor’s yard. The boys were black and white. And the nation, black and white alike, seemed to be on the side of the children. Yes, even though there was a black child among them, Mr. President.
Like so many people out there I am sick of our so-called leaders playing the “race card”. Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and now it seems our President talk more about racism than I have ever heard any of my friends talk about it. Furthermore, I’ve never heard SO MUCH about racism since WE ALL elected a BLACK president. Does nothing work?
It doesn’t matter if you are left or right of the issue; right is right and wrong is wrong; be you black, white, brown, purple or fuchsia. No one sector of society should be given special or preferential or less than legal treatment, not even the New Haven firefighters. Remember when they were not given promotions b/c they were white? If it’s not right to discriminate against the color black or brown then it certainly isn’t right to discriminate against the color white. Period. Where the hell IS that “Easy” button?
Spewing on and on about racism will only cause it to be a sore spot among the people. It will only serve to perpetuate the great divide; not close the gap, Mr. President. What in the world is the motivation behind such speeches? Why the antics? Do they (the far-left, black leaders among us) want racism to continue to exist? Why would they? So they can keep getting votes from a particular sector of society? You tell me.
I always say “follow the money”. Many of my colleagues and friends (black and white and brown-let’s be clear-I’m not a racist and don’t care what color your skin is) believe some far-left, black leaders need racism like MJ needed Propofol. Without it they have no demonstrations or rallies to organize. And they are SUCH good organizers! Have you ever heard the term “poverty pimps”? Well, now you have.
Wasn’t Barack Hussein Obama supposed to be talking about his health care plan? Talk about “stupid”. So he insinuated a police officer was racist during his “Health Care” speech. What did racism have to do with health care (I shouldn’t have asked right? Is that next? You’re not getting treated b/c you’re black? Maybe that is his tie-in…). Where was I? Oh yeah, Nothing. Racism and health care have nothing to do with each other. It was obvious to any half-wit the question was staged so he could make a point. Why? Because clearly, he wants to continue the class struggle. He’s an instigator! Otherwise; he would have surely said I don’t know enough to comment. Surely.
What is the motivation of our President and other leaders to drum up hatred and impune reputations? Why does this man seem to hate our country so much? Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) has become the “bus chaser” of issues that Jackson and Sharpton are – never hesitating to glom onto an otherwise run of the mill occurrence if he sees an opportunity to tie it to race, thinking he’s making himself look the hero to “his people”! And we whiteys just don’t understand the plight of the black man!!
HELLO – I would be thanking the police and my neighbors for ensuring my property was safe. Why would Mr. Gates not do the same? Why would he make a stand refusing to show ID? BECAUSE, like BHO, Jackson, Sharpton and others – their FIRST thought goes to their own racism – against whites. And, as BHO’s bud, Rahm Emanuel, says - never waste a good crisis!! The bigger problem we see is that BHO saw this incident as something befitting a presidential response but the stealing of Iran ’s election by a thug who wants to destroy us and Israel from the face of the earth was not?? REALLY???!!!!
Racism will never go away as long as each group sees the other as a threat for whatever reason. Blacks will never feel safe and whites will never be able to do enough. And back to the original subject - our president is going straight back to his community organizer roots by agitating the situation. If he said in one breath that "he didn't have all the facts" then he should have STOPPED THERE. End of comments. But he didn't. So you tell me what his motivation was?
Tea anyone?
www.randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
www.sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
www.thedamgoodtimes.blogspot.com
Heavy-handed editing/commentary by: Deborah Martin & Cheryl Laramore
It’s bad. It’s bad. Shamon. Hey, this is how my brain tied MJ into politics. Please. Hold your applause.
Is our PRESIDENT perpetuating racism? I’m reminded of the song lyrics “Don’t hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself”. His hands do not need to be in a local matter regarding police officers and a private citizen. His opinions on racial profiling were off-base. And like everything, it seems he did not have adequate information to be making such a speech.
The 911 call which started this whole thing has now been released. The call wasn't racially motivated. She lady who called only mentioned a possible "Hispanic" connection AFTER she was asked about race. So race wasn't on HER mind. The officer who made the arrest is a racial profiling expert and from all accounts he's a straight up guy; not racially motivated and not power hungry, so race wasn’t on HIS mind either.
At some point we will hear everything about this arrest because the stupid officer's microphone was on the whole time. Snicker. THEN we can make a definitive judgment about this situation. Until that time, we can only go on what has been reported and it doesn't look good for our Harvard professor. For a well-educated, intelligent guy, he sure flew off the handle quickly. HE was the one who brought up race instead of trying to find out what legitimate reason the police had for being in his home.
We suppose if you are black and it looks like you are trying to break into someone’s house you shouldn’t be arrested. You know - cuz you’re black - and that might be considered racial profiling. Are you flipping kidding me???????? WHO’S racist? We’re all confused here; and, getting more and more confused as the months drag and drag on…to the next election.
So how do we handle these situations, which seemingly are started by the very people who feel discriminated against and looked down on? I've got to say that us white folks are between a Barack and a hard place. It seems nothing we do is good enough and when we do the right thing we MUST be doing it for the wrong reasons. My best friend, Jasmine, works for a company where the racial makeup goes like this - 45% black, 25% Hispanic, 20% white and the rest divided among people from the Far-East.
Jasmine doesn't hear much from most of the groups regarding racism but, the most vocal about racism is the black group. They complain about other blacks who make friends with the whites. "Oh, she's just tryin' to be white!" What???!! This is something which mystifies Jasmine, who is white and could care less about someone's skin color. Aren't people just people? Don't we all love our kids, work hard at our jobs, worry about our old age, like to have fun? She always thought so, but apparently there's some fundamental difference between the races.
At the same time Gates’ story was being sprayed on HD televisions across the nation another one was also being covered; three young boys arrested for stealing items from a neighbor’s yard. The boys were black and white. And the nation, black and white alike, seemed to be on the side of the children. Yes, even though there was a black child among them, Mr. President.
Like so many people out there I am sick of our so-called leaders playing the “race card”. Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and now it seems our President talk more about racism than I have ever heard any of my friends talk about it. Furthermore, I’ve never heard SO MUCH about racism since WE ALL elected a BLACK president. Does nothing work?
It doesn’t matter if you are left or right of the issue; right is right and wrong is wrong; be you black, white, brown, purple or fuchsia. No one sector of society should be given special or preferential or less than legal treatment, not even the New Haven firefighters. Remember when they were not given promotions b/c they were white? If it’s not right to discriminate against the color black or brown then it certainly isn’t right to discriminate against the color white. Period. Where the hell IS that “Easy” button?
Spewing on and on about racism will only cause it to be a sore spot among the people. It will only serve to perpetuate the great divide; not close the gap, Mr. President. What in the world is the motivation behind such speeches? Why the antics? Do they (the far-left, black leaders among us) want racism to continue to exist? Why would they? So they can keep getting votes from a particular sector of society? You tell me.
I always say “follow the money”. Many of my colleagues and friends (black and white and brown-let’s be clear-I’m not a racist and don’t care what color your skin is) believe some far-left, black leaders need racism like MJ needed Propofol. Without it they have no demonstrations or rallies to organize. And they are SUCH good organizers! Have you ever heard the term “poverty pimps”? Well, now you have.
Wasn’t Barack Hussein Obama supposed to be talking about his health care plan? Talk about “stupid”. So he insinuated a police officer was racist during his “Health Care” speech. What did racism have to do with health care (I shouldn’t have asked right? Is that next? You’re not getting treated b/c you’re black? Maybe that is his tie-in…). Where was I? Oh yeah, Nothing. Racism and health care have nothing to do with each other. It was obvious to any half-wit the question was staged so he could make a point. Why? Because clearly, he wants to continue the class struggle. He’s an instigator! Otherwise; he would have surely said I don’t know enough to comment. Surely.
What is the motivation of our President and other leaders to drum up hatred and impune reputations? Why does this man seem to hate our country so much? Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) has become the “bus chaser” of issues that Jackson and Sharpton are – never hesitating to glom onto an otherwise run of the mill occurrence if he sees an opportunity to tie it to race, thinking he’s making himself look the hero to “his people”! And we whiteys just don’t understand the plight of the black man!!
HELLO – I would be thanking the police and my neighbors for ensuring my property was safe. Why would Mr. Gates not do the same? Why would he make a stand refusing to show ID? BECAUSE, like BHO, Jackson, Sharpton and others – their FIRST thought goes to their own racism – against whites. And, as BHO’s bud, Rahm Emanuel, says - never waste a good crisis!! The bigger problem we see is that BHO saw this incident as something befitting a presidential response but the stealing of Iran ’s election by a thug who wants to destroy us and Israel from the face of the earth was not?? REALLY???!!!!
Racism will never go away as long as each group sees the other as a threat for whatever reason. Blacks will never feel safe and whites will never be able to do enough. And back to the original subject - our president is going straight back to his community organizer roots by agitating the situation. If he said in one breath that "he didn't have all the facts" then he should have STOPPED THERE. End of comments. But he didn't. So you tell me what his motivation was?
Tea anyone?
www.randomthoughtsonpaper-crystal.blogspot.com
www.sexinthewoods.blogspot.com
www.thedamgoodtimes.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tea Party Speech
by Crystal Laramore
Good evening! If I had known I was going to be speaking tonight I’d have worn lipstick. My favorite color is Sarah Palin Red!
Let me apologize in advance if I jump around a bit. My staff forgot the teleprompter. I’ll be forced to speak from experience, knowledge and from the heart.
Before I came to the podium I noticed my future step-daughter, LaRen (aged 6), playing in the dirt and my first instinct was to tell her to ‘stop it. My second, more rational, thought was ‘Dig deep. Spread some to the other children here. It is after all your dirt. You’re the one that is going to be paying for it; again’.
When people ask me to speak at events I always want to talk about commitment; the attention to it and the lack of it. Maybe you’ve noticed that the line between conservative politics and liberal politics has a deep divide these days. The divide didn’t just happen all of a sudden folks; it’s been progressing for decades. We, the conservative minded have just not been very committed to stopping it. We keep ‘hoping for the best’. Well, these tea parties that are springing up all over our great nation are a sign that we have realized that hoping and doing are two different things.
Liberals, far to the left liberals, have however been doing and working and talking and stealing and lying and cheating us with a fervor deep in their bellies while we have been ‘hoping for the best’. Why? Because THEY are, and have been for a long time, committed. They are committed to their cause. They are organized in the name of their cause. And their cause is for us to provide for them. And they start with YOUR children. Get the book “The Death of Right and Wrong” by Tammy Bruce.
Do you want to know why so many children are liberals today? And by children I mean anyone under 35. Because the left is committed. And organized. And they have functions and rallies and it’s FUN to be a liberal. And everything is about acceptance. And they spin it until the collective, rational little minds you sent off to school become fuzzy and tainted and liberal. Then they grow up and don’t have any money and need to come back home. Or, by the grace of God they grow up, get fed up, and build their own home!
The middle class in America is rapidly shrinking. And how can it not with one class providing for two others. Yes, we are not only providing for the entitled poor, we are also providing for the entitled wealthy.
Being from a small community there isn’t a lot of money to go around to support sports leagues, cheerleaders, the library, Lions Club, Women’s League, Prom, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, FFA, Basketball Organizations, Senior Citizens, Toys for Tots, Senior Trips, miscellaneous fundraisers like the yearbook, band, etc.
Now, almost every single month at least 6 organizations show up on my front door asking for donations. Since the bailout by GW and the expansion and movement toward socialism by Obama I’ve posted a letter outside my restaurant:
Our donation quota for the month has been reached. For a list of recipients see list below:
AIG
GM
Welfare
Social Security
FICA
FUTA
Frisbee Park in Austin, TX
Date night with Michelle & Obama in New York
The White House
Nancy Pelosi’s House
Retirement plans for Congress
Health Care better than I’ve ever had for Congress
Fuel for Air Force One in order to brainwash Americans into buying into Socialism
Pepsid AC for the heartburn I get every single day I hear the President of the United States of America trashing my great country and doing everything in his power and then some to shove something down my throat that I DO NOT WANT! i.e.; a bailout, socialized medicine, electricity monitoring, and well, you get the picture. Oh yeah, and the picture of Air Force One buzzing the Statue of Liberty in New York.
I’m sorry, but don’t these people work for me? Don’t they work for you? Did you approve any of this? I didn’t. We really need to understand that the entitlement mentality is having a trickle-down effect. It’s not money trickling down any longer or the pride to achieve great things, its entitlement. If I achieve great things they are entitled to take it away. It is illegal what they are doing yet here we are.
As a small business owner I see a lot of entitlement mentality on both sides of the fence. Everyone always talks about benefits when they apply to work here. Like they’re entitled…My response is ‘It benefits you to show up to work and do as I tell you to do’.
Fighting the establishment is tough. Oh and speaking of tough fighters; I served in Baghdad, Iraq for almost two years with men and women who fought, and some even lost their lives fighting, for a country that believes in what our fore fathers believed in. Those men and women who have died protecting our freedoms will have died in vain if we lose our country to a man, a government and a sector who would rather see it fall than rise!
And we, the foot soldiers of this great nation are also going to have fight; tea parties are just one way of accomplishing the goal of getting our country back. And believe me, we’ve lost our county. And I want it back! Don’t you want to live by our code; a code of honor and pride. Don’t you want to live in the country that is proud of capitalizing on one’s ideas and hard work; we’ve lost the county that believes in the constitution; and we’ve certainly lost the America that believes in a government that is ’For the people of the people, by the people’.
I want to thank my fellow Bible thumping, flag waving, gun toting, America the Great loving patriots for showing up today. And if that isn’t the America YOU love, don’t Tread On Me-LEAVE!
God bless you all and God bless the United States of America!
Good evening! If I had known I was going to be speaking tonight I’d have worn lipstick. My favorite color is Sarah Palin Red!
Let me apologize in advance if I jump around a bit. My staff forgot the teleprompter. I’ll be forced to speak from experience, knowledge and from the heart.
Before I came to the podium I noticed my future step-daughter, LaRen (aged 6), playing in the dirt and my first instinct was to tell her to ‘stop it. My second, more rational, thought was ‘Dig deep. Spread some to the other children here. It is after all your dirt. You’re the one that is going to be paying for it; again’.
When people ask me to speak at events I always want to talk about commitment; the attention to it and the lack of it. Maybe you’ve noticed that the line between conservative politics and liberal politics has a deep divide these days. The divide didn’t just happen all of a sudden folks; it’s been progressing for decades. We, the conservative minded have just not been very committed to stopping it. We keep ‘hoping for the best’. Well, these tea parties that are springing up all over our great nation are a sign that we have realized that hoping and doing are two different things.
Liberals, far to the left liberals, have however been doing and working and talking and stealing and lying and cheating us with a fervor deep in their bellies while we have been ‘hoping for the best’. Why? Because THEY are, and have been for a long time, committed. They are committed to their cause. They are organized in the name of their cause. And their cause is for us to provide for them. And they start with YOUR children. Get the book “The Death of Right and Wrong” by Tammy Bruce.
Do you want to know why so many children are liberals today? And by children I mean anyone under 35. Because the left is committed. And organized. And they have functions and rallies and it’s FUN to be a liberal. And everything is about acceptance. And they spin it until the collective, rational little minds you sent off to school become fuzzy and tainted and liberal. Then they grow up and don’t have any money and need to come back home. Or, by the grace of God they grow up, get fed up, and build their own home!
The middle class in America is rapidly shrinking. And how can it not with one class providing for two others. Yes, we are not only providing for the entitled poor, we are also providing for the entitled wealthy.
Being from a small community there isn’t a lot of money to go around to support sports leagues, cheerleaders, the library, Lions Club, Women’s League, Prom, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, FFA, Basketball Organizations, Senior Citizens, Toys for Tots, Senior Trips, miscellaneous fundraisers like the yearbook, band, etc.
Now, almost every single month at least 6 organizations show up on my front door asking for donations. Since the bailout by GW and the expansion and movement toward socialism by Obama I’ve posted a letter outside my restaurant:
Our donation quota for the month has been reached. For a list of recipients see list below:
AIG
GM
Welfare
Social Security
FICA
FUTA
Frisbee Park in Austin, TX
Date night with Michelle & Obama in New York
The White House
Nancy Pelosi’s House
Retirement plans for Congress
Health Care better than I’ve ever had for Congress
Fuel for Air Force One in order to brainwash Americans into buying into Socialism
Pepsid AC for the heartburn I get every single day I hear the President of the United States of America trashing my great country and doing everything in his power and then some to shove something down my throat that I DO NOT WANT! i.e.; a bailout, socialized medicine, electricity monitoring, and well, you get the picture. Oh yeah, and the picture of Air Force One buzzing the Statue of Liberty in New York.
I’m sorry, but don’t these people work for me? Don’t they work for you? Did you approve any of this? I didn’t. We really need to understand that the entitlement mentality is having a trickle-down effect. It’s not money trickling down any longer or the pride to achieve great things, its entitlement. If I achieve great things they are entitled to take it away. It is illegal what they are doing yet here we are.
As a small business owner I see a lot of entitlement mentality on both sides of the fence. Everyone always talks about benefits when they apply to work here. Like they’re entitled…My response is ‘It benefits you to show up to work and do as I tell you to do’.
Fighting the establishment is tough. Oh and speaking of tough fighters; I served in Baghdad, Iraq for almost two years with men and women who fought, and some even lost their lives fighting, for a country that believes in what our fore fathers believed in. Those men and women who have died protecting our freedoms will have died in vain if we lose our country to a man, a government and a sector who would rather see it fall than rise!
And we, the foot soldiers of this great nation are also going to have fight; tea parties are just one way of accomplishing the goal of getting our country back. And believe me, we’ve lost our county. And I want it back! Don’t you want to live by our code; a code of honor and pride. Don’t you want to live in the country that is proud of capitalizing on one’s ideas and hard work; we’ve lost the county that believes in the constitution; and we’ve certainly lost the America that believes in a government that is ’For the people of the people, by the people’.
I want to thank my fellow Bible thumping, flag waving, gun toting, America the Great loving patriots for showing up today. And if that isn’t the America YOU love, don’t Tread On Me-LEAVE!
God bless you all and God bless the United States of America!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
It Don’t Matter If You’re Black or White
By Crystal Laramore
By now we’ve all had time to mourn the death of a music icon. By now we’ve heard enough about this and enough about that. Sometimes it’s sad that we are in a world where ALL you hear for days on end is about someone’s private life. I’d much rather be watching 24 hour music videos starring Michael Jackson (as a Tribute) than I would be watching 24 hour scandalous and titillating not-so-news stories. There will be plenty of time to discuss the mans dark side in the coming months and years, but for now do as your mother says and “If you can’t say anything nice, keep your mouth shut.
Michael Jackson was an entity that defied a definition and certainly defied racial lines. Having said that, I want to say I am appalled at P. Diddy and Jamie Fox for trying to make all the media coverage about Michael Jackson a racial issue. At the BET (which is divisive in nature) Awards P. Diddy and Jamie Fox said things like Michael is our black man and things like we didn’t go on and on about the drug abuse when Elvis died or JFK or Anna Nicole Smith…Hmmm. Yes we did. And still do. And Jamie, how are you defining “we” and why is Michael Jackson your black man and who is making this a racial issue besides you?
Elvis and JFK did not die in the era of shock T.V. when media is streamed into our homes 24/7 on 896 different channels and they have been dead a long time but now you CAN catch all the sordid, gory conspiracy theory stories your brain cells can handle on either one of them.
Anna Nicole Smith did die during the Jerry Springer era and since the public wants it, they gave it to us; 24/7 on 896 different channels. Follow the money baby, follow the money. Anna’s story was attached to Marilyn Monroe’s story and the tie-that-binds filled our television screens not b/c she was white and certainly not because of any God-given talent but because she was sexy, and complicated, and a drug addict, and surrounded by controversy, and sad and…scandalous.
Farrah Fawcett also died during this “I gotta know it all yesterday” era but, at about 3:15 we forgot all about it. Most of us anyway. Why? Because she wasn’t as news-worthy as the latest celeb that had just died. Why? Because she wasn’t scandalous. Follow the money baby, follow the money.
Michael Jackson was many faceted and many things, black happens to be one of them. Moreover, he was an American. Period. End of story.
Michael Jackson is receiving the same inflammatory coverage for many of the same reasons; one of them being because he was, dare I say it, scandalous but, certainly NOT because he was black. Comments like those just create more racism and perpetuate the already existing racism. Stop it.
When MJ was coming out with songs like PYT and Billie Jean and Thriller, oh I wanted him to be my boyfriend. The way that man danced and moved defied physics. That could be a little overstated but by now you all know me, I’m a little overstated! His looks were secondary and the color of that man’s skin did not matter to me or a lot of my friends. We looooooovvvvvveeeeeeed him.
When we (the whole wide world) think of Michael Jackson we have different first impressions. My girlfriend, Dr. Deanna Foster, PHD, said her first impression was “what a broken, sad soul”. She is a psychologist and I am an artist. Makes sense. My girlfriend Vicki Warner likes the song “Dirty Diana”. She says she thinks about “how amazingly talented he was and how sad it was that he never had a childhood and how sad it was about how much pressure was on such a young man”. She never mentioned the color of his skin. Hmmm.
Another friend reminded me that Michael transcended not only race but, even more so, he transcended cultures. He was as popular in Asia as he was in America. Additionally, the man transcended religion. He was raised a Jehovah’s Witness but loved by Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, etc.-equally. And we all probably prayed for him-equally. And bought his music and watched his videos-equally. WE LOVE MICHAEL! We. All of us Jamie. So, YOU don’t go trying to take that away from US.
And Jamie, if you want to get down on someone for beating up Michael, why not start with Eddie Murphy. Or, Chris Rock. His HBO special really trashes Michael. But it was funny. And it was titillating. And the money followed.
So, let’s let the man rest in peace. And let’s also remember Farrah Fawcett. And Ed McMahon. And Billy Mays. And our friends and family who have also passed this week. Let us especially remember our soldiers. God rest all their souls. And God rest the race issue. And God rest the media. And God bless America.
P.S.
It really saddens me that the very people who are trying so desperately to gain equality still look at our country as divided among racial lines. Oh, I agree there are those…but most of the people I know and love, myself included, do not see color first; especially where Michael Jackson is concerned! We see Americans. We see Human Beings.
While we celebrate our independence this year let us celebrate independence from racism. Let us celebrate a God who created us all equal. Let us celebrate each others diversity and sameness. Let us, together, celebrate our talents whether they come from hard work or they are God-given. Let us celebrate our freedom to spew non-sense out into the universe and the freedom of others to condemn it. Let’s celebrate liberty from tyranny. Let’s celebrate democracy. Let’s celebrate that God loved us so much that he gave us entertainers like Michael Jackson to uplift us.
Michael Jackson and his talent certainly belonged to God and his music certainly belongs to the world; the whole wide world. He represented the best in each of us and maybe even the worst in us as every man is flawed and every man a sinner; “And, It don’t matter if you’re black or white”.
By now we’ve all had time to mourn the death of a music icon. By now we’ve heard enough about this and enough about that. Sometimes it’s sad that we are in a world where ALL you hear for days on end is about someone’s private life. I’d much rather be watching 24 hour music videos starring Michael Jackson (as a Tribute) than I would be watching 24 hour scandalous and titillating not-so-news stories. There will be plenty of time to discuss the mans dark side in the coming months and years, but for now do as your mother says and “If you can’t say anything nice, keep your mouth shut.
Michael Jackson was an entity that defied a definition and certainly defied racial lines. Having said that, I want to say I am appalled at P. Diddy and Jamie Fox for trying to make all the media coverage about Michael Jackson a racial issue. At the BET (which is divisive in nature) Awards P. Diddy and Jamie Fox said things like Michael is our black man and things like we didn’t go on and on about the drug abuse when Elvis died or JFK or Anna Nicole Smith…Hmmm. Yes we did. And still do. And Jamie, how are you defining “we” and why is Michael Jackson your black man and who is making this a racial issue besides you?
Elvis and JFK did not die in the era of shock T.V. when media is streamed into our homes 24/7 on 896 different channels and they have been dead a long time but now you CAN catch all the sordid, gory conspiracy theory stories your brain cells can handle on either one of them.
Anna Nicole Smith did die during the Jerry Springer era and since the public wants it, they gave it to us; 24/7 on 896 different channels. Follow the money baby, follow the money. Anna’s story was attached to Marilyn Monroe’s story and the tie-that-binds filled our television screens not b/c she was white and certainly not because of any God-given talent but because she was sexy, and complicated, and a drug addict, and surrounded by controversy, and sad and…scandalous.
Farrah Fawcett also died during this “I gotta know it all yesterday” era but, at about 3:15 we forgot all about it. Most of us anyway. Why? Because she wasn’t as news-worthy as the latest celeb that had just died. Why? Because she wasn’t scandalous. Follow the money baby, follow the money.
Michael Jackson was many faceted and many things, black happens to be one of them. Moreover, he was an American. Period. End of story.
Michael Jackson is receiving the same inflammatory coverage for many of the same reasons; one of them being because he was, dare I say it, scandalous but, certainly NOT because he was black. Comments like those just create more racism and perpetuate the already existing racism. Stop it.
When MJ was coming out with songs like PYT and Billie Jean and Thriller, oh I wanted him to be my boyfriend. The way that man danced and moved defied physics. That could be a little overstated but by now you all know me, I’m a little overstated! His looks were secondary and the color of that man’s skin did not matter to me or a lot of my friends. We looooooovvvvvveeeeeeed him.
When we (the whole wide world) think of Michael Jackson we have different first impressions. My girlfriend, Dr. Deanna Foster, PHD, said her first impression was “what a broken, sad soul”. She is a psychologist and I am an artist. Makes sense. My girlfriend Vicki Warner likes the song “Dirty Diana”. She says she thinks about “how amazingly talented he was and how sad it was that he never had a childhood and how sad it was about how much pressure was on such a young man”. She never mentioned the color of his skin. Hmmm.
Another friend reminded me that Michael transcended not only race but, even more so, he transcended cultures. He was as popular in Asia as he was in America. Additionally, the man transcended religion. He was raised a Jehovah’s Witness but loved by Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, etc.-equally. And we all probably prayed for him-equally. And bought his music and watched his videos-equally. WE LOVE MICHAEL! We. All of us Jamie. So, YOU don’t go trying to take that away from US.
And Jamie, if you want to get down on someone for beating up Michael, why not start with Eddie Murphy. Or, Chris Rock. His HBO special really trashes Michael. But it was funny. And it was titillating. And the money followed.
So, let’s let the man rest in peace. And let’s also remember Farrah Fawcett. And Ed McMahon. And Billy Mays. And our friends and family who have also passed this week. Let us especially remember our soldiers. God rest all their souls. And God rest the race issue. And God rest the media. And God bless America.
P.S.
It really saddens me that the very people who are trying so desperately to gain equality still look at our country as divided among racial lines. Oh, I agree there are those…but most of the people I know and love, myself included, do not see color first; especially where Michael Jackson is concerned! We see Americans. We see Human Beings.
While we celebrate our independence this year let us celebrate independence from racism. Let us celebrate a God who created us all equal. Let us celebrate each others diversity and sameness. Let us, together, celebrate our talents whether they come from hard work or they are God-given. Let us celebrate our freedom to spew non-sense out into the universe and the freedom of others to condemn it. Let’s celebrate liberty from tyranny. Let’s celebrate democracy. Let’s celebrate that God loved us so much that he gave us entertainers like Michael Jackson to uplift us.
Michael Jackson and his talent certainly belonged to God and his music certainly belongs to the world; the whole wide world. He represented the best in each of us and maybe even the worst in us as every man is flawed and every man a sinner; “And, It don’t matter if you’re black or white”.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Tribute to Fathers
By Crystal Laramore
Father. Just the name alone stirs the heart. For the daughters out there Father is the first male relationship we had. He was our first kiss, our first love. He taught us what good love was all about. He taught us how other men should treat us. He gave us our foundation for all future loves to come.
He was the first man to treat us with respect, love and admiration.
I am 44 and I still sit on that man's lap and I still call him "Daddy". The father-daughter relationship is a special, sacred relationship. Treasure it. Nurture it. Never take it for granted.
For most of us, male and female, Father was our first buddy. He was the first man we laughed with; the first man to make us furious and the first man to heal a wound. He’s the first man we forgave.
Father taught us all respect. I don’t know about you, but I NEVER was unkind to my mother if my father was around! If I were ever going to smart-off you can be rest-assured it was when daddy was somewhere else! I always said yes-sir and no-ma’am. I minded my manners and was respectful to my elders; and still am. I did not(for the most part)interrupt adults and I did not plunk my rear-end down at the dining room table with the adults either. Children were to be seen and not heard during certain times and we knew when those times were.
Our fathers teach us kindness. I’ve seen my father be upset but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be unkind. If he found himself in a situation where kindness wasn’t possible he became quite and disconnected maybe but, not unkind.
Fathers teach us about generosity and charity. Mine taught me that it started at home and that was good advice. If you don’t take care of yourself first, you will have nothing to give to others.
My Father taught me that generosity and humility = strength. Father taught us to have a good work ethic. He taught us to be good employees and employers. He taught us the meaning of pride and loyalty. Father taught us about politics too. We are probably of the same political persuasion as our fathers.
Father is probably the one that took each of us to our first live sporting event. He’s the one who baited our first hook and netted our first fish; heck, he probably actually caught it too but being the good storyteller he is, that is NOT how we replay it in our minds today; and so the fishing stories began...
So this Sunday as we celebrate Father’s, Step-Fathers and Daddy's around the country let us also celebrate the life-long lessons, the love and the sacrifices they made on our behalf, the ones we know about and the ones we know not.
Not too long ago I wrote my Father a love letter. It made him “weepy”. I highly suggest it!
Happy Father’s Day Daddy! I love you!
Father. Just the name alone stirs the heart. For the daughters out there Father is the first male relationship we had. He was our first kiss, our first love. He taught us what good love was all about. He taught us how other men should treat us. He gave us our foundation for all future loves to come.
He was the first man to treat us with respect, love and admiration.
I am 44 and I still sit on that man's lap and I still call him "Daddy". The father-daughter relationship is a special, sacred relationship. Treasure it. Nurture it. Never take it for granted.
For most of us, male and female, Father was our first buddy. He was the first man we laughed with; the first man to make us furious and the first man to heal a wound. He’s the first man we forgave.
Father taught us all respect. I don’t know about you, but I NEVER was unkind to my mother if my father was around! If I were ever going to smart-off you can be rest-assured it was when daddy was somewhere else! I always said yes-sir and no-ma’am. I minded my manners and was respectful to my elders; and still am. I did not(for the most part)interrupt adults and I did not plunk my rear-end down at the dining room table with the adults either. Children were to be seen and not heard during certain times and we knew when those times were.
Our fathers teach us kindness. I’ve seen my father be upset but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be unkind. If he found himself in a situation where kindness wasn’t possible he became quite and disconnected maybe but, not unkind.
Fathers teach us about generosity and charity. Mine taught me that it started at home and that was good advice. If you don’t take care of yourself first, you will have nothing to give to others.
My Father taught me that generosity and humility = strength. Father taught us to have a good work ethic. He taught us to be good employees and employers. He taught us the meaning of pride and loyalty. Father taught us about politics too. We are probably of the same political persuasion as our fathers.
Father is probably the one that took each of us to our first live sporting event. He’s the one who baited our first hook and netted our first fish; heck, he probably actually caught it too but being the good storyteller he is, that is NOT how we replay it in our minds today; and so the fishing stories began...
So this Sunday as we celebrate Father’s, Step-Fathers and Daddy's around the country let us also celebrate the life-long lessons, the love and the sacrifices they made on our behalf, the ones we know about and the ones we know not.
Not too long ago I wrote my Father a love letter. It made him “weepy”. I highly suggest it!
Happy Father’s Day Daddy! I love you!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Baseball, Apple Pie & Government Motors?
By Crystal Laramore
Edited by Deborah Martin
Barack Hussein Obama said he was going to give us change. Change can be a good thing, but he is not stopping at changing our core values, changing our paychecks, changing the way the world sees us, changing our life styles and those of generations to follow but he’s changing the lyrics to our favorite past time songs too? Is there nothing about our country that he loves? Is nothing sacred?
Why does Barack Hussein Obama hate America so much? Every day, EVERY DAY since his inauguration I’ve had to listen to him speak on television about how “bad” America is and how he and Pelosi and Reid and all those corrupt folks at ACORN are going to drive us in the right left direction. Remember what John Adams once said “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There has never been a democracy yet that didn’t commit suicide”!
Every time I see Barack, which is OFTEN because he LOVES to go on TV, his brow is furrowed and he looks serious and we’re always in a flipping “crisis”. Where are the motivational speeches? Why isn’t he rallying the troops? Why isn’t he telling us “We are Americans! Let’s be all we can be!”?
I feel as though he’s saying, “Let’s just face it, we suck. We’re no better than anyone else and it’s time we get off of our pampered pedestal. Let’s sabotage ourselves further and go in the direction of socialized health care. It’s never, ever worked and I know it won’t work here either, but isn’t that the goal - to be on a ‘level playing field’ with the rest of the world? Now listen, we don’t want to be better than everyone else because then they might not like us. I know everyone who lives in a country with socialized medicine comes here for their treatment, but still, let’s just lower our standards so those who aren’t as great as we are don’t feel bad”.
Hey, I just had a thought – if we’re ALL second rate where will WE go for treatment?
Our shiny new president keeps talking about justice, about how he's going to bring economic "justice", racial "justice", ecological "justice". What the heck IS he talking about? I thought I knew what justice meant but maybe I should look it up again. I have always thought it meant doing what was right as established against a solid set of criteria.
Economic justice would be to give everyone equal opportunity to be financially successful - NOT give them what they want regardless of their work ethic. I do not want to work my tail off for SOMEONE ELSE!!! Who does? Why does he want to punish those of us who are using our own resources to drive this country? Is he jealous?
I am beginning to think that since he (and all of his cronies) basically got a free ride, and seemed to have such a good time getting it, that he (and all of his cronies) thinks everyone should get a free ride. No, Mr. President. If everyone gets a free ride who will pay for it? There IS a tipping point. Tea anyone?
Oh, and wouldn’t economic “justice” be that any corporate executive should be able to fly around the world in the jet HIS company worked to pay for but, the President and his wife should just stay in town for entertainment? Is there NOTHING to do in Washington? I bet he could find a tea party to attend…Why does he get to fly around on our plane, while we pay for it but we cannot fly around on our planes??? Can you spell “double standard”? “Ya say ya want a revolution…”
I thought racial justice meant treating all the races the same because, after all, underneath our skin we are all basically the same - NOT give formerly mistreated races the upper hand to dole out retribution henceforth and forever more. And what about reverse discrimination? Several teenagers have told me they are being made to change clothes if their t-shirts say anything political in a conservative sense. However, everybody wearing a t-shirt with a dollar bill on it and screaming “Change” and “Obama” gets a high five!
One student at a local high school was made to remove a bumper sticker from HIS truck that HIS parents paid for that read “McCain Palin”. Seriously??? Are you kidding me????
Listen, I can't even address ecological justice without nearly throwing up. We should take care of the earth, definitely, positively. But why lie about the situation? Al Gore won a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE and had stolen/pilfered/lifted footage from a MOVIE to use in his DOCUMENTARY! And, now it seems any animal or germ having a hard time and in danger should be saved, but when it comes to humans its okay to kill babies from embryo to full-term. What the heck. We must get the world to a manageable global population level SOMEHOW! Why not kill viable babies? Tea anyone?
What gives people cause to behave so badly? What ARE they afraid of? Have we come this far to go straight back where we were? Has no one in this generation read 1984 or Brave New World? How about early 20th century European history? Why are we so afraid to be what we are? Americans used to be proud of being an exceptional, hard working, upwardly mobile society. THAT’s why so many people from other countries want to live here. Because they sky was the limit! You could DO and BE anything! If we become like everyone else then the whole world loses. EVERYone loses. America has been the escape hatch for oppressed people everywhere. How crazy is it to follow a man who wants us to oppress OURSELVES??? The old America would never stand for this.
I would like to mention some items for consideration: Builderbergers, The Illuminati, and The Trilateral Commission. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” Guess who said this? I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I am becoming one…
I'll tell you what! Justice will only happen when enough conservatives, liberals, democrats, republicans, Christians, Atheists and hot blooded Americans WAKE UP and STAND UP for REAL equality and justice or we are going to wake up and be France, for Pete's sake!! Let's collectively grow a set and put our country back on the right track, where hard work is rewarded, not poor planning, apathy, carelessness or downright laziness. Tea anyone?
I want to live in the United States of America. The one where government is small and works for US; the one where men and women who fight for their liberties are considered heroes not murderers; the United States of America where men are considered equal no matter the color of their skin but the character of their heart, Mr. President, Sir.
We don’t want to be wimps, sir. We want to be able to whip some serious a$$ if need be. If someone threatens to tear apart the moral fiber our country we want to stop it, sir. And why don’t you want that too? Is it because you feel inadequate in our shadow? Is it because you are not really, after all, one of us? What IS it? Oh, I guess it depends on what your definition of “is” is…
I want to live in the United States of America where men love their country so much they will leave family and friends, hop on an aircraft, travel half way across the globe, jump off the aircraft, put on 80 lbs of battle gear in a foreign county and look evil in the face knowing all the while there is a strong possibility they will die- and all to keep the enemy OVER THERE so you, sir, the man who hates his country, can sleep safely knowing your wife and children will encounter no harm in the night, sir.
Tea anyone?
Edited by Deborah Martin
Barack Hussein Obama said he was going to give us change. Change can be a good thing, but he is not stopping at changing our core values, changing our paychecks, changing the way the world sees us, changing our life styles and those of generations to follow but he’s changing the lyrics to our favorite past time songs too? Is there nothing about our country that he loves? Is nothing sacred?
Why does Barack Hussein Obama hate America so much? Every day, EVERY DAY since his inauguration I’ve had to listen to him speak on television about how “bad” America is and how he and Pelosi and Reid and all those corrupt folks at ACORN are going to drive us in the right left direction. Remember what John Adams once said “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There has never been a democracy yet that didn’t commit suicide”!
Every time I see Barack, which is OFTEN because he LOVES to go on TV, his brow is furrowed and he looks serious and we’re always in a flipping “crisis”. Where are the motivational speeches? Why isn’t he rallying the troops? Why isn’t he telling us “We are Americans! Let’s be all we can be!”?
I feel as though he’s saying, “Let’s just face it, we suck. We’re no better than anyone else and it’s time we get off of our pampered pedestal. Let’s sabotage ourselves further and go in the direction of socialized health care. It’s never, ever worked and I know it won’t work here either, but isn’t that the goal - to be on a ‘level playing field’ with the rest of the world? Now listen, we don’t want to be better than everyone else because then they might not like us. I know everyone who lives in a country with socialized medicine comes here for their treatment, but still, let’s just lower our standards so those who aren’t as great as we are don’t feel bad”.
Hey, I just had a thought – if we’re ALL second rate where will WE go for treatment?
Our shiny new president keeps talking about justice, about how he's going to bring economic "justice", racial "justice", ecological "justice". What the heck IS he talking about? I thought I knew what justice meant but maybe I should look it up again. I have always thought it meant doing what was right as established against a solid set of criteria.
Economic justice would be to give everyone equal opportunity to be financially successful - NOT give them what they want regardless of their work ethic. I do not want to work my tail off for SOMEONE ELSE!!! Who does? Why does he want to punish those of us who are using our own resources to drive this country? Is he jealous?
I am beginning to think that since he (and all of his cronies) basically got a free ride, and seemed to have such a good time getting it, that he (and all of his cronies) thinks everyone should get a free ride. No, Mr. President. If everyone gets a free ride who will pay for it? There IS a tipping point. Tea anyone?
Oh, and wouldn’t economic “justice” be that any corporate executive should be able to fly around the world in the jet HIS company worked to pay for but, the President and his wife should just stay in town for entertainment? Is there NOTHING to do in Washington? I bet he could find a tea party to attend…Why does he get to fly around on our plane, while we pay for it but we cannot fly around on our planes??? Can you spell “double standard”? “Ya say ya want a revolution…”
I thought racial justice meant treating all the races the same because, after all, underneath our skin we are all basically the same - NOT give formerly mistreated races the upper hand to dole out retribution henceforth and forever more. And what about reverse discrimination? Several teenagers have told me they are being made to change clothes if their t-shirts say anything political in a conservative sense. However, everybody wearing a t-shirt with a dollar bill on it and screaming “Change” and “Obama” gets a high five!
One student at a local high school was made to remove a bumper sticker from HIS truck that HIS parents paid for that read “McCain Palin”. Seriously??? Are you kidding me????
Listen, I can't even address ecological justice without nearly throwing up. We should take care of the earth, definitely, positively. But why lie about the situation? Al Gore won a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE and had stolen/pilfered/lifted footage from a MOVIE to use in his DOCUMENTARY! And, now it seems any animal or germ having a hard time and in danger should be saved, but when it comes to humans its okay to kill babies from embryo to full-term. What the heck. We must get the world to a manageable global population level SOMEHOW! Why not kill viable babies? Tea anyone?
What gives people cause to behave so badly? What ARE they afraid of? Have we come this far to go straight back where we were? Has no one in this generation read 1984 or Brave New World? How about early 20th century European history? Why are we so afraid to be what we are? Americans used to be proud of being an exceptional, hard working, upwardly mobile society. THAT’s why so many people from other countries want to live here. Because they sky was the limit! You could DO and BE anything! If we become like everyone else then the whole world loses. EVERYone loses. America has been the escape hatch for oppressed people everywhere. How crazy is it to follow a man who wants us to oppress OURSELVES??? The old America would never stand for this.
I would like to mention some items for consideration: Builderbergers, The Illuminati, and The Trilateral Commission. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” Guess who said this? I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I am becoming one…
I'll tell you what! Justice will only happen when enough conservatives, liberals, democrats, republicans, Christians, Atheists and hot blooded Americans WAKE UP and STAND UP for REAL equality and justice or we are going to wake up and be France, for Pete's sake!! Let's collectively grow a set and put our country back on the right track, where hard work is rewarded, not poor planning, apathy, carelessness or downright laziness. Tea anyone?
I want to live in the United States of America. The one where government is small and works for US; the one where men and women who fight for their liberties are considered heroes not murderers; the United States of America where men are considered equal no matter the color of their skin but the character of their heart, Mr. President, Sir.
We don’t want to be wimps, sir. We want to be able to whip some serious a$$ if need be. If someone threatens to tear apart the moral fiber our country we want to stop it, sir. And why don’t you want that too? Is it because you feel inadequate in our shadow? Is it because you are not really, after all, one of us? What IS it? Oh, I guess it depends on what your definition of “is” is…
I want to live in the United States of America where men love their country so much they will leave family and friends, hop on an aircraft, travel half way across the globe, jump off the aircraft, put on 80 lbs of battle gear in a foreign county and look evil in the face knowing all the while there is a strong possibility they will die- and all to keep the enemy OVER THERE so you, sir, the man who hates his country, can sleep safely knowing your wife and children will encounter no harm in the night, sir.
Tea anyone?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Memorial Day 2009
By Crystal Laramore
Memorial Day - a time for reflection and gratitude for many of us. I spent the day having a lot of fun with my fiancée & friends and all our combined children. We spent the day on the lake tubing and sun bathing and telling stories. You know, enjoying our freedom-while it lasts-wondering if the children splashing in the water were going to enjoy the same America I’ve enjoyed…hoping that everyone is paying attention to the rapid decline of freedoms and the rapid increase of direct government involvement in our lives. Find a tea party. Enjoy some tea.
Then, as always, I thought about our boys overseas. I always say MY Marines whenever I’m telling one of my Baghdad stories. Those guys over there-they are our guys. So if you are ever wondering who’s over there, now you’ll know…our boys and our girls. They are over there carting around 80 plus pounds of battle gear in 120 degrees, sleeping on the dirt, losing buddies, losing limbs, dying. For all for us, so we can have the freedom to be here today, enjoying the lake and our families & friends.
It’s holidays like this that cause me to pause for just a moment in time and realize how damn lucky I am to be living in the United States of America; the country that has the Bald Eagle as its national symbol; the three heads symbolizing the three branches of government, and the right wing representing conservation and the left wing representing the liberal side of life-doing stuff for those who cannot (or will not) do it for themselves. Our bird is becoming out of balance with a tiny right wing and a very large left wing. As Glen Beck pointed out, we can’t fly like this.
And its holiday’s like this that give me reason to remember who we are as a nation:
We are the country that remembers what we did for France. No, not what we did for France, what we sacrificed for France. The Dixie Chicks may be too young to remember or too self-centered to care, but you can bet most of us are not, uh Toby? And I’m the person who served the French Ambassador Woodbridge wine. Take that! Listen, it’s the best I could do under the circumstances. My Marines and I thought of several other things but all plans led to prison.
We are a rich country; gracious, forgiving and we should also be demanding. I want Reagan back. Sorry, I’m chasing butterflies again. We’re the country who shows up in a big way in every natural disaster area around the world. We’re the guys with C-130’s filled with relief supplies in Burma who cannot get in. We want to help China more than China wants to help China. That’s who we are! And we do NOT need the government to mandate our compassion.
We are the country who forgives. We forgive a lot. We may never forgive the Dixie Chicks but we’ll forgive a nations’ debt so they can feed their hungry. We forgive where it counts. And we do not need the government to mandate our forgiveness.
We are a proud country. We’re proud of ourselves, our children, our nation and most of all, our forefathers. Just ask the Dixie Chicks. We can love you one minute and turn on you the next. We have the power to make you rich (see: Toby Keith) or wish you’d kept your mouth shut (see: Dixie Chicks). We can put a company in business or take one out. We have the power b/c our government gave us that power. And we do not need the government to do it for us. It’s a free market. We understand. Those of us buying and selling. We ALL understand.
We are flag fliers and banner wavers - with wild abandon! We wear our bumper stickers and our yellow ribbons and we speak out against dictatorships and tyranny and open our arms for refugees and immigrants from those countries who do not. We not only take care of our own but we take care of others; sometimes to our own detriment. And no, we don’t always do the best, but I believe we do the best we can. And we don’t need the government doing it for us.
We are a brave country. We have brave men signing up every day to go to war. We don’t have to make them - they volunteer. They don’t run away to other countries by the hundreds (a few-but that’s another article) to escape serving their country, they run to the recruiter’s office and say “I want to serve. Sign me up; Sir”! So no, we don’t need the government interfering here either.
Just watch the right news programs and you’ll see our young men with their chests out and their eyes squinted; their weapons slung over their shoulders and a cigarette between their gritty teeth; sweat dripping down their foreheads into their eyes, thoughts of survival on their minds. Some of us have seen all of this up close and personal; and for those of you who haven’t, be grateful, be very grateful and think before you speak about what you know nothing of.
One of my Marines came back from Fallujah and told me how he had to handle an insurgent up close and personal. Kill or be killed. Only brave men sign up for that. They are a band of brothers. They train together, live together, sleep together, dream together, fight together and sometimes die together.
And in those rare moments when all seems safe, they have fun together. On my big Four-Oh, I was in Baghdad, with my Marines. As I drove from the U.S. Embassy to my hooch I had to go through several check points. My marines were there, singing happy birthday to me as I drove through. I was on the phone with my dad. He was a little weepy and I was…brave.
A lady opened the door of my restaurant Monday and wondered why everything in town was closed. I told her it was a national holiday. She said that she had driven for an hour to pay her taxes. I reminded her that it was a NATIONAL holiday. “Well, I guess it’s important to some people”.
Seriously? I told her that in fact it was important to some people and I was one of “those people”. Then I showed her my cousins’ picture from WWII receiving a Silver Star medal and told her he also received a Purple Heart. I told her his name was Don Cook, just in case she repeats this story. I said the holiday was important to him too. I showed her the autographed covers (hats) and uniforms hanging on my wall, one with my last name on it belonging to my UB, and told her the holiday was important to them too.
I asked her if she was actually from the United States of America. She said yes. I just looked at her and then asked her to leave, you know, since I was closed and all. But what I thought was “too bad”. Too bad so many people have become so apathetic. My pastor says apathy is worse than being vehemently opposed or for something; at least those emotions show that you care-one way or the other. And then I thought it was people like her that caused someone to invent duct tape.
And, we are FREE! So the next time you hear someone complaining about our country, your country, remind them they are free-to leave. It’s a real show-stopper. I hear France is nice.
Memorial Day - a time for reflection and gratitude for many of us. I spent the day having a lot of fun with my fiancée & friends and all our combined children. We spent the day on the lake tubing and sun bathing and telling stories. You know, enjoying our freedom-while it lasts-wondering if the children splashing in the water were going to enjoy the same America I’ve enjoyed…hoping that everyone is paying attention to the rapid decline of freedoms and the rapid increase of direct government involvement in our lives. Find a tea party. Enjoy some tea.
Then, as always, I thought about our boys overseas. I always say MY Marines whenever I’m telling one of my Baghdad stories. Those guys over there-they are our guys. So if you are ever wondering who’s over there, now you’ll know…our boys and our girls. They are over there carting around 80 plus pounds of battle gear in 120 degrees, sleeping on the dirt, losing buddies, losing limbs, dying. For all for us, so we can have the freedom to be here today, enjoying the lake and our families & friends.
It’s holidays like this that cause me to pause for just a moment in time and realize how damn lucky I am to be living in the United States of America; the country that has the Bald Eagle as its national symbol; the three heads symbolizing the three branches of government, and the right wing representing conservation and the left wing representing the liberal side of life-doing stuff for those who cannot (or will not) do it for themselves. Our bird is becoming out of balance with a tiny right wing and a very large left wing. As Glen Beck pointed out, we can’t fly like this.
And its holiday’s like this that give me reason to remember who we are as a nation:
We are the country that remembers what we did for France. No, not what we did for France, what we sacrificed for France. The Dixie Chicks may be too young to remember or too self-centered to care, but you can bet most of us are not, uh Toby? And I’m the person who served the French Ambassador Woodbridge wine. Take that! Listen, it’s the best I could do under the circumstances. My Marines and I thought of several other things but all plans led to prison.
We are a rich country; gracious, forgiving and we should also be demanding. I want Reagan back. Sorry, I’m chasing butterflies again. We’re the country who shows up in a big way in every natural disaster area around the world. We’re the guys with C-130’s filled with relief supplies in Burma who cannot get in. We want to help China more than China wants to help China. That’s who we are! And we do NOT need the government to mandate our compassion.
We are the country who forgives. We forgive a lot. We may never forgive the Dixie Chicks but we’ll forgive a nations’ debt so they can feed their hungry. We forgive where it counts. And we do not need the government to mandate our forgiveness.
We are a proud country. We’re proud of ourselves, our children, our nation and most of all, our forefathers. Just ask the Dixie Chicks. We can love you one minute and turn on you the next. We have the power to make you rich (see: Toby Keith) or wish you’d kept your mouth shut (see: Dixie Chicks). We can put a company in business or take one out. We have the power b/c our government gave us that power. And we do not need the government to do it for us. It’s a free market. We understand. Those of us buying and selling. We ALL understand.
We are flag fliers and banner wavers - with wild abandon! We wear our bumper stickers and our yellow ribbons and we speak out against dictatorships and tyranny and open our arms for refugees and immigrants from those countries who do not. We not only take care of our own but we take care of others; sometimes to our own detriment. And no, we don’t always do the best, but I believe we do the best we can. And we don’t need the government doing it for us.
We are a brave country. We have brave men signing up every day to go to war. We don’t have to make them - they volunteer. They don’t run away to other countries by the hundreds (a few-but that’s another article) to escape serving their country, they run to the recruiter’s office and say “I want to serve. Sign me up; Sir”! So no, we don’t need the government interfering here either.
Just watch the right news programs and you’ll see our young men with their chests out and their eyes squinted; their weapons slung over their shoulders and a cigarette between their gritty teeth; sweat dripping down their foreheads into their eyes, thoughts of survival on their minds. Some of us have seen all of this up close and personal; and for those of you who haven’t, be grateful, be very grateful and think before you speak about what you know nothing of.
One of my Marines came back from Fallujah and told me how he had to handle an insurgent up close and personal. Kill or be killed. Only brave men sign up for that. They are a band of brothers. They train together, live together, sleep together, dream together, fight together and sometimes die together.
And in those rare moments when all seems safe, they have fun together. On my big Four-Oh, I was in Baghdad, with my Marines. As I drove from the U.S. Embassy to my hooch I had to go through several check points. My marines were there, singing happy birthday to me as I drove through. I was on the phone with my dad. He was a little weepy and I was…brave.
A lady opened the door of my restaurant Monday and wondered why everything in town was closed. I told her it was a national holiday. She said that she had driven for an hour to pay her taxes. I reminded her that it was a NATIONAL holiday. “Well, I guess it’s important to some people”.
Seriously? I told her that in fact it was important to some people and I was one of “those people”. Then I showed her my cousins’ picture from WWII receiving a Silver Star medal and told her he also received a Purple Heart. I told her his name was Don Cook, just in case she repeats this story. I said the holiday was important to him too. I showed her the autographed covers (hats) and uniforms hanging on my wall, one with my last name on it belonging to my UB, and told her the holiday was important to them too.
I asked her if she was actually from the United States of America. She said yes. I just looked at her and then asked her to leave, you know, since I was closed and all. But what I thought was “too bad”. Too bad so many people have become so apathetic. My pastor says apathy is worse than being vehemently opposed or for something; at least those emotions show that you care-one way or the other. And then I thought it was people like her that caused someone to invent duct tape.
And, we are FREE! So the next time you hear someone complaining about our country, your country, remind them they are free-to leave. It’s a real show-stopper. I hear France is nice.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wake Up Congress-We Are
By Crystal Laramore
Edited by Deborah Martin and Cheryl Laramore
Ever heard the old saying “I’m so mad I could chew up nails and spit out tacks”? Well that is how I felt when I heard a congressman say something like: The American people need to rediscover the republican agenda. They need to rediscover the core values of the Republican Party. Is he kidding? Seriously? I’m pretty sure it was the American people who organized the tea parties. Right? It certainly wasn’t congress! And they, the American people, were right and left. I’m pretty sure, congressman, it is the American people and ONLY the American people who are pretty damned sure what our conservative core values are! And we’re pretty damned sure you congressman, and your colleagues are the only ones who have forgotten what our core values are. Clearly, there is a difference between the American people’s core values and those of congress. Clearly.
But never fear; we the American people are here to remind you, sir, and your colleagues. Hence, the tea parties, you sap. Ever since the AIG bailout all I could think about was tea and Boston . I told everyone who would listen, “People are going to start throwing tea over the side of the boat any day now”. So, it was no surprise to me, you sap, when tea parties started popping up all over the United States of America.
And now you have the audacity to stand there on national television in your designer suit and tell us, via Fox News, that WE need to re-connect with OUR values???? You did not. Oh, yes you did. Jesus said “What a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. I was a hater today, sir. You made me want to hate you. Jesus says it’s a bad thing to cause someone to stumble, and I was stumbling all over the place today, sir. Again, I wanted to hate you or hit you. But instead, I’m going to pray for you. I’m going to pray that you learn to whom YOU are speaking. God forbid that we the American people REALLY get together and tell you how connected WE are. And make no mistake about it, sir, we are connected; in thought if not in action. But, the thought does come first doesn’t it. Look out, sir.
And for full disclosure let me state that I did vote for GW. Also for full disclosure let me state that I did NOT vote for GW to bail out AIG. That did not line up with my core values, sir. It did not line up with a free-market, sir. They were NOT too big to fail, sir. Nor are you. Careful how you speak to us. We are the American people. When we’ve had enough we will fight back. Can’t you feel the earth move under your feet?
California is certainly feeling the earth move and by no fault of the fault lines. No, this time their government is causing the movement. California , liberal California, is voting NO to higher taxes. But Barney Frank wants to bail them out. Listen Barney, you need to let California fail if that is what it takes. Oh wait; I have a better idea-let Texas govern them. Tee hee hee. Hey, it’s a good idea. In 2008 Texas produced more jobs than the other 49 states combined! Oh yes we did. And, Texas also produced more new businesses and cut taxes and we’re cutting taxes again. People WANT to do business in Texas because we are “The Friendly State”. We are friendly to strangers, entrepreneurs and gun owners.
And while we, the gun-toting, Bible-thumping, Jesus-loving people of America are holding onto our guns and our religion you had best hold onto your tongue. Do not speak down to us. We put you up there - on that pedestal and, with the help of our buddy Toby Keith, we can knock you off of it! I’m beginning to understand why you guys want to take away our guns!
Can anyone spell TERM LIMITS? These careerist politicians have no inkling what the founders meant when they intended ordinary people to “serve” their districts by going to DC. Instead, narcissism now exists in the place of service to others – by both parties!! Narcissism has never been more evident than in Arlen Specter – vote for me all you dumb PA democrats. I’ve turned my back on my friends, colleagues, those who helped me win elections and not to mention my own principles, if I ever had any. And why you ask? Because at 76 years old I need to be sure I win another election…Because…well, because it is ALL ABOUT ME and only ME!!! I just can’t give up the POWER, the POWER…..THE POWER!! I am too important. My opinions, my votes and my influence – it’s all TOO IMPORTANT!! But, don’t worry, I’d never sell you Dems down the river to pad my own nest or ensure my pedestal is secure….HA!!! I hope he gets his A$$ kicked by Pat Toome!!!!!
68% of Americans do NOT want to pay higher taxes in order to provide health care to all.
76% of Americans OPPOSE a federal bailout of ailing insurance companies. That 76% is made up of Republicans and Democrats; libs and repubs; blacks and whites; pro and anti abortionists; Christians and atheists. Oh! Which equals THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!!!
And the leader of the most unfavorable pack? You guessed it; CONGRESS.
Yep, over 90% of Americans do NOT TRUST CONGRESS.
The Supreme Court happens to be the branch of govt. we trust the most and that is a tenuous relationship, at best.
Wake up Congress-we are!
Edited by Deborah Martin and Cheryl Laramore
Ever heard the old saying “I’m so mad I could chew up nails and spit out tacks”? Well that is how I felt when I heard a congressman say something like: The American people need to rediscover the republican agenda. They need to rediscover the core values of the Republican Party. Is he kidding? Seriously? I’m pretty sure it was the American people who organized the tea parties. Right? It certainly wasn’t congress! And they, the American people, were right and left. I’m pretty sure, congressman, it is the American people and ONLY the American people who are pretty damned sure what our conservative core values are! And we’re pretty damned sure you congressman, and your colleagues are the only ones who have forgotten what our core values are. Clearly, there is a difference between the American people’s core values and those of congress. Clearly.
But never fear; we the American people are here to remind you, sir, and your colleagues. Hence, the tea parties, you sap. Ever since the AIG bailout all I could think about was tea and Boston . I told everyone who would listen, “People are going to start throwing tea over the side of the boat any day now”. So, it was no surprise to me, you sap, when tea parties started popping up all over the United States of America.
And now you have the audacity to stand there on national television in your designer suit and tell us, via Fox News, that WE need to re-connect with OUR values???? You did not. Oh, yes you did. Jesus said “What a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. I was a hater today, sir. You made me want to hate you. Jesus says it’s a bad thing to cause someone to stumble, and I was stumbling all over the place today, sir. Again, I wanted to hate you or hit you. But instead, I’m going to pray for you. I’m going to pray that you learn to whom YOU are speaking. God forbid that we the American people REALLY get together and tell you how connected WE are. And make no mistake about it, sir, we are connected; in thought if not in action. But, the thought does come first doesn’t it. Look out, sir.
And for full disclosure let me state that I did vote for GW. Also for full disclosure let me state that I did NOT vote for GW to bail out AIG. That did not line up with my core values, sir. It did not line up with a free-market, sir. They were NOT too big to fail, sir. Nor are you. Careful how you speak to us. We are the American people. When we’ve had enough we will fight back. Can’t you feel the earth move under your feet?
California is certainly feeling the earth move and by no fault of the fault lines. No, this time their government is causing the movement. California , liberal California, is voting NO to higher taxes. But Barney Frank wants to bail them out. Listen Barney, you need to let California fail if that is what it takes. Oh wait; I have a better idea-let Texas govern them. Tee hee hee. Hey, it’s a good idea. In 2008 Texas produced more jobs than the other 49 states combined! Oh yes we did. And, Texas also produced more new businesses and cut taxes and we’re cutting taxes again. People WANT to do business in Texas because we are “The Friendly State”. We are friendly to strangers, entrepreneurs and gun owners.
And while we, the gun-toting, Bible-thumping, Jesus-loving people of America are holding onto our guns and our religion you had best hold onto your tongue. Do not speak down to us. We put you up there - on that pedestal and, with the help of our buddy Toby Keith, we can knock you off of it! I’m beginning to understand why you guys want to take away our guns!
Can anyone spell TERM LIMITS? These careerist politicians have no inkling what the founders meant when they intended ordinary people to “serve” their districts by going to DC. Instead, narcissism now exists in the place of service to others – by both parties!! Narcissism has never been more evident than in Arlen Specter – vote for me all you dumb PA democrats. I’ve turned my back on my friends, colleagues, those who helped me win elections and not to mention my own principles, if I ever had any. And why you ask? Because at 76 years old I need to be sure I win another election…Because…well, because it is ALL ABOUT ME and only ME!!! I just can’t give up the POWER, the POWER…..THE POWER!! I am too important. My opinions, my votes and my influence – it’s all TOO IMPORTANT!! But, don’t worry, I’d never sell you Dems down the river to pad my own nest or ensure my pedestal is secure….HA!!! I hope he gets his A$$ kicked by Pat Toome!!!!!
68% of Americans do NOT want to pay higher taxes in order to provide health care to all.
76% of Americans OPPOSE a federal bailout of ailing insurance companies. That 76% is made up of Republicans and Democrats; libs and repubs; blacks and whites; pro and anti abortionists; Christians and atheists. Oh! Which equals THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!!!
And the leader of the most unfavorable pack? You guessed it; CONGRESS.
Yep, over 90% of Americans do NOT TRUST CONGRESS.
The Supreme Court happens to be the branch of govt. we trust the most and that is a tenuous relationship, at best.
Wake up Congress-we are!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
QUEENS AND QUESTIONS
By Crystal Laramore and Deborah K. Martin
People are always asking me how I come up with stuff to write about week after week after week. Are you kidding me? I can barely contain myself sometimes. Especially in the cultural and political climate today!
My thoughts at this moment are:
I am outside on my patio piddling (a Texas word) around and listening to all the controversy surrounding a beauty queen, another kind of queen and a question. Last week the Miss USA beauty pageant was held as usual but the outcome was anything but normal. By the time it was over all hell had broken loose in the media over one question and its answer. What was the question? “Do you believe in gay marriage?”
Believe it or not this question does not have a right or wrong answer like “Is 2+2=4?” There are still quite a few subjects we have a perfect right to disagree on without fear of being criticized, ostracized or blacklisted. Aren’t there? Do we have to water down all our opinions these days for fear of offending someone out there???
The smarmy weasel who asked the question was none other than Perez Hilton, a BLOGGER, for Pete’s sake. His name isn’t even Hilton, its Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. Exactly what ARE his credentials for judging beauty pageants anyway? He asked a question whose answer he almost certainly already knew. The fact that Miss California is a conservative Christian was well known and he HAD to know this would stir up controversy but he asked it anyway. The little twerp didn’t really want to know what she thought. This was ALL about HIM, and his political agenda.
My gay friend Marty Morales said this: “Perez Hilton did not speak for the whole gay community when he verbally attacked Miss California. Miss California spoke her mind. Is there something wrong with that? Whatever happened to just being you? Good for Miss California for being herself, regardless if I agreed or disagreed with her answer.” Thanks, Marty. Your tolerance is showing, as well as your integrity.
Miss California valued her integrity and her faith more than she valued a crown and a title. Her reply was her opinion based on principles she believes in and frankly a lot of other Americans do as well. No offense to anyone, but marriage HAS a definition. In my New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus marriage is defined thusly: mar-riage n. the institution under which a man and a woman become legally united on a permanent basis.
Now, being that it is 2009 and we are as tolerant as we are I did NOT find that definition on my Microsoft Word dictionary…hmmmm. Seems the definition has changed to “a legal relationship between spouses”. My favorite definition was number 2. specific marriage relationship: a married relationship between two people, or a somebody’s relationship with his or her spouse.
From where I sit high upon my writer’s pedestal I have a few things to say about this:
First of all if you are gay, straight or crooked, I don’t care. There are many gay people, male and female alike, in my circle of influence from family members to customers to great friends; NONE of whom care, or seem to care, what term is given to the union with their partner. So what is all the fuss about on the news and in congress and on the internet? Well, it’s just like anything, there are those on the fringes of all cultures, in all sectors of society, that just cannot relax and let folks be. They scream that they want us to be tolerant but that happens to be the last thing they are. Tolerant, I mean.
But here’s this guy on Utube calling Miss California a cu*t! Are you kidding me? And you wonder why our tolerance is dwindling away. Or do you really?
Once again, marriage has a definition. Let it go. Get another definition for a union between two people who happen to be of the same sex. WE DON”T CARE!!!! Most of us love you no matter what race, religion or sex you happen to be. And, as far as your sexual preferences we straight people really don’t care. Most of us. Again, there are some on the fringes…but don’t worry about the fringes. If you please them on one issue, there will always be another issue for them to gripe about.
You know, I've had a question for gay/lesbian folks for some time. Perhaps some of our readers are of the gay/lesbian persuasion and can enlighten me. Why is it that militant gay people seem to be so defined by their sexuality? I'm straight and no one cares about my sex life. Why should I care about yours? Aren't we ALL more than that part of our lives which takes up so little actual time? I'm just curious.
Back to other issues; I can see a legitimate issue for gay couples. When my gay friend Marty had surgery, the hospital staff didn’t want his partner, Shaun Carter, to come back to support him while he was waiting. Why? He wasn’t “family”. Actually, this can be an issue for straight couples sometimes. Sandra Bullock was asked why she married Jesse James and her answer was a light bulb moment for me. He had a motorcycle accident and as he was being put into the ambulance she realized just how powerless she was. Here they were, partners for life, but she had no legal rights whatsoever in determining his care, simply because they were not legally married.
That’s the complaint I hear from gay and lesbian friends and I have to agree. We can call the institution something else if we want to. We can disagree on whether it’s “right” to be gay. We can disagree on whether people were born that way or “made” gay at some point. Meanwhile, many people make a lifetime commitment without the ability to make life and death decisions for and with the person who means more to them than anyone else. Is that fair?
There are people of integrity on both sides of this issue and then there are others who use their status as a bludgeon against those who disagree. Seems like my friends Sean & Marty and Miss California have a lot in common even though they are on opposite sides of this issue. She stated that her answer was her opinion and though she didn’t wish to offend anyone and wasn’t angry with anyone, she had to be true to herself. Marty confirmed that he believed in her right to her opinion (and maybe even the crown?) even if he didn’t agree. He didn’t withhold approval of her just because he disagreed with her.
And in the end it doesn’t matter of Perez Hilton is gay or straight. He’s a sleazy opportunist and don’t we have those in every sector of society? Doesn’t sleaze cross all sectors of society? Likewise, don’t we have courageous role models who are male, female, gay, straight, black, white, Christian, Muslim, atheist? I haven’t always held a high opinion of beauty queens but this year I’m glad one had the poise and courage to speak up for what she believed in. We should all try to follow her example; gay, straight OR crooked!
People are always asking me how I come up with stuff to write about week after week after week. Are you kidding me? I can barely contain myself sometimes. Especially in the cultural and political climate today!
My thoughts at this moment are:
I am outside on my patio piddling (a Texas word) around and listening to all the controversy surrounding a beauty queen, another kind of queen and a question. Last week the Miss USA beauty pageant was held as usual but the outcome was anything but normal. By the time it was over all hell had broken loose in the media over one question and its answer. What was the question? “Do you believe in gay marriage?”
Believe it or not this question does not have a right or wrong answer like “Is 2+2=4?” There are still quite a few subjects we have a perfect right to disagree on without fear of being criticized, ostracized or blacklisted. Aren’t there? Do we have to water down all our opinions these days for fear of offending someone out there???
The smarmy weasel who asked the question was none other than Perez Hilton, a BLOGGER, for Pete’s sake. His name isn’t even Hilton, its Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. Exactly what ARE his credentials for judging beauty pageants anyway? He asked a question whose answer he almost certainly already knew. The fact that Miss California is a conservative Christian was well known and he HAD to know this would stir up controversy but he asked it anyway. The little twerp didn’t really want to know what she thought. This was ALL about HIM, and his political agenda.
My gay friend Marty Morales said this: “Perez Hilton did not speak for the whole gay community when he verbally attacked Miss California. Miss California spoke her mind. Is there something wrong with that? Whatever happened to just being you? Good for Miss California for being herself, regardless if I agreed or disagreed with her answer.” Thanks, Marty. Your tolerance is showing, as well as your integrity.
Miss California valued her integrity and her faith more than she valued a crown and a title. Her reply was her opinion based on principles she believes in and frankly a lot of other Americans do as well. No offense to anyone, but marriage HAS a definition. In my New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus marriage is defined thusly: mar-riage n. the institution under which a man and a woman become legally united on a permanent basis.
Now, being that it is 2009 and we are as tolerant as we are I did NOT find that definition on my Microsoft Word dictionary…hmmmm. Seems the definition has changed to “a legal relationship between spouses”. My favorite definition was number 2. specific marriage relationship: a married relationship between two people, or a somebody’s relationship with his or her spouse.
From where I sit high upon my writer’s pedestal I have a few things to say about this:
First of all if you are gay, straight or crooked, I don’t care. There are many gay people, male and female alike, in my circle of influence from family members to customers to great friends; NONE of whom care, or seem to care, what term is given to the union with their partner. So what is all the fuss about on the news and in congress and on the internet? Well, it’s just like anything, there are those on the fringes of all cultures, in all sectors of society, that just cannot relax and let folks be. They scream that they want us to be tolerant but that happens to be the last thing they are. Tolerant, I mean.
But here’s this guy on Utube calling Miss California a cu*t! Are you kidding me? And you wonder why our tolerance is dwindling away. Or do you really?
Once again, marriage has a definition. Let it go. Get another definition for a union between two people who happen to be of the same sex. WE DON”T CARE!!!! Most of us love you no matter what race, religion or sex you happen to be. And, as far as your sexual preferences we straight people really don’t care. Most of us. Again, there are some on the fringes…but don’t worry about the fringes. If you please them on one issue, there will always be another issue for them to gripe about.
You know, I've had a question for gay/lesbian folks for some time. Perhaps some of our readers are of the gay/lesbian persuasion and can enlighten me. Why is it that militant gay people seem to be so defined by their sexuality? I'm straight and no one cares about my sex life. Why should I care about yours? Aren't we ALL more than that part of our lives which takes up so little actual time? I'm just curious.
Back to other issues; I can see a legitimate issue for gay couples. When my gay friend Marty had surgery, the hospital staff didn’t want his partner, Shaun Carter, to come back to support him while he was waiting. Why? He wasn’t “family”. Actually, this can be an issue for straight couples sometimes. Sandra Bullock was asked why she married Jesse James and her answer was a light bulb moment for me. He had a motorcycle accident and as he was being put into the ambulance she realized just how powerless she was. Here they were, partners for life, but she had no legal rights whatsoever in determining his care, simply because they were not legally married.
That’s the complaint I hear from gay and lesbian friends and I have to agree. We can call the institution something else if we want to. We can disagree on whether it’s “right” to be gay. We can disagree on whether people were born that way or “made” gay at some point. Meanwhile, many people make a lifetime commitment without the ability to make life and death decisions for and with the person who means more to them than anyone else. Is that fair?
There are people of integrity on both sides of this issue and then there are others who use their status as a bludgeon against those who disagree. Seems like my friends Sean & Marty and Miss California have a lot in common even though they are on opposite sides of this issue. She stated that her answer was her opinion and though she didn’t wish to offend anyone and wasn’t angry with anyone, she had to be true to herself. Marty confirmed that he believed in her right to her opinion (and maybe even the crown?) even if he didn’t agree. He didn’t withhold approval of her just because he disagreed with her.
And in the end it doesn’t matter of Perez Hilton is gay or straight. He’s a sleazy opportunist and don’t we have those in every sector of society? Doesn’t sleaze cross all sectors of society? Likewise, don’t we have courageous role models who are male, female, gay, straight, black, white, Christian, Muslim, atheist? I haven’t always held a high opinion of beauty queens but this year I’m glad one had the poise and courage to speak up for what she believed in. We should all try to follow her example; gay, straight OR crooked!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
America's White Collar Cartel
By Crystal Laramore
Weren’t you under the impression that organized crime was illegal? I certainly was. There’s always so much yapping about Mexico’s drug lords and the drug cartels. What about the cartels in Africa, Venezuela, Columbia? Can you spell Chavez? There is certainly enough anger directed toward him, straight from our very own mafia bosses; Obama, Reed, Pelosi (who is probably the real head of the organization. Obama is the figure head and spokesperson and Reed must just be kin to Guido who apparently has something on Pelosi.
And what about Blago? Poor sap. Someone had to be a sacrificial lamb.
Now, Harry Markopolos tried to point out to the SEC that Barney Madoff was running a ponzi scam? The only reason I use the word “try” is b/c the SEC couldn’t understand what Markopolos was saying. He actually laid the information under their noses and it took over 10 (count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10) years to open an official investigation. Well, they sorta opened one, but couldn’t find their calculators with both hands and, after ELEVEN months of finding NOTHING, they closed their “investigation”!
Understand that if the people working in the SEC know nothing about finances, statistics, integral calculus, algebra, hedge funds, money market accounts, pension funds, how to add and subtract, they probably will not be able to pick off a fraud even if the fraud was sitting right next to them. And Madoff did sit right next to them and placated them and disrespected them and lied to them. But, he made them feel good cuz he told them what a great job they were doing and how NO ONE could get one over on THEM! Snicker.
Taken from the 60 Minutes website:
Asked how long it took him to figure out something was wrong, Markopolos said, "It took me five minutes to know that it was a fraud. It took me another almost four hours of mathematical modeling to prove that it was a fraud. "
It was the performance line that Markopolos said caught his attention. "As we know, markets go up and down, and his only went up. He had very few down months. Only four percent of the months were down months. And that would be equivalent to a baseball player in the major leagues batting .960 for a year. Clearly impossible. You would suspect cheating immediately."
"Maybe he was just good," Kroft remarked.
"No one's that good," Markopolos said.
Wonder how much money was embezzled during those periods when the Government doing NOTHING except feeling good about themselves and getting paid by us!!!! Oh! I have a theory…if you don’t actually earn the money how can you respect the money?
If the SEC cannot do their job; if the SEC cannot oversee their own oversights (redundant, I know!), what makes anyone in this country think the govt. can run, oh let’s say an international corporation that builds automobiles? Just look at the man who is the frontrunner to be the COO-Barack Hussein Obama. He does not have a business degree. He has not run a company. The closest thing he’s ever come to being in charge of anything larger than a lemonade stand is organizing community events. Well at least the company picnic should come off without a hitch! Maybe Oprah will let him run her company for practice.
Furthermore, since he’s been elected to organize our country, he’s failed miserably. Have you noticed that we are not organized? Our country is breaking off into separate cells quicker than a fertilized egg. Our financial thermometer (Dow Jones) is down, down, down, up, down, down…But Obama’s power is up, up, up, up! This power grab is out of control. He decides he wants to be in control and bam the COO from GM is fired! Just like that. What about the board of directors? What about the shareholders? The American Government Cartel has decided they want control of major corporations and they are taking it. And they will take away our guns so we cannot stop them! Just wait.
So, with no positive track record he is taking over GM and Chrysler. Really? Just taking them over? Folks, wake up. The next thing he will take over will be farms. “No”, you say. Check out your world news. It’s coming. They will make it illegal to grow your own garden unless you are an agriculture giant like Archer-Daniels. When any company is as big as Archer-Daniels, GM, Chrysler, the Madoff firm or the Federal Government, corruption is just around the corner. Read The Informant.
Do your homework. Obama, Pelosi and Reed will go after every major industry in our country and we’ll all make the same wages and we’ll all work for THEM! Is anyone safe? Rush says he’s pretty sure they won’t go after companies making teleprompter parts! LMAO!
Let’s see what else…ahh yes the second amendment. Screw the constitution and take away the peoples’ right to bear arms. If the people do not have arms, how can they defend themselves? How can we make it appear that it is dangerous for average citizens to bear arms? Apparently, the cartels in Mexico are the fault of their government allowing guns in the hands of the people who aren’t terrorists, oops, I forgot I cannot say that word anymore. The mafia might be listening…might be? See Germany and all facts pertaining to Hitler.
I thought the government was put in place to work for us; to do our bidding. Who’s on first?
Weren’t you under the impression that organized crime was illegal? I certainly was. There’s always so much yapping about Mexico’s drug lords and the drug cartels. What about the cartels in Africa, Venezuela, Columbia? Can you spell Chavez? There is certainly enough anger directed toward him, straight from our very own mafia bosses; Obama, Reed, Pelosi (who is probably the real head of the organization. Obama is the figure head and spokesperson and Reed must just be kin to Guido who apparently has something on Pelosi.
And what about Blago? Poor sap. Someone had to be a sacrificial lamb.
Now, Harry Markopolos tried to point out to the SEC that Barney Madoff was running a ponzi scam? The only reason I use the word “try” is b/c the SEC couldn’t understand what Markopolos was saying. He actually laid the information under their noses and it took over 10 (count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10) years to open an official investigation. Well, they sorta opened one, but couldn’t find their calculators with both hands and, after ELEVEN months of finding NOTHING, they closed their “investigation”!
Understand that if the people working in the SEC know nothing about finances, statistics, integral calculus, algebra, hedge funds, money market accounts, pension funds, how to add and subtract, they probably will not be able to pick off a fraud even if the fraud was sitting right next to them. And Madoff did sit right next to them and placated them and disrespected them and lied to them. But, he made them feel good cuz he told them what a great job they were doing and how NO ONE could get one over on THEM! Snicker.
Taken from the 60 Minutes website:
Asked how long it took him to figure out something was wrong, Markopolos said, "It took me five minutes to know that it was a fraud. It took me another almost four hours of mathematical modeling to prove that it was a fraud. "
It was the performance line that Markopolos said caught his attention. "As we know, markets go up and down, and his only went up. He had very few down months. Only four percent of the months were down months. And that would be equivalent to a baseball player in the major leagues batting .960 for a year. Clearly impossible. You would suspect cheating immediately."
"Maybe he was just good," Kroft remarked.
"No one's that good," Markopolos said.
Wonder how much money was embezzled during those periods when the Government doing NOTHING except feeling good about themselves and getting paid by us!!!! Oh! I have a theory…if you don’t actually earn the money how can you respect the money?
If the SEC cannot do their job; if the SEC cannot oversee their own oversights (redundant, I know!), what makes anyone in this country think the govt. can run, oh let’s say an international corporation that builds automobiles? Just look at the man who is the frontrunner to be the COO-Barack Hussein Obama. He does not have a business degree. He has not run a company. The closest thing he’s ever come to being in charge of anything larger than a lemonade stand is organizing community events. Well at least the company picnic should come off without a hitch! Maybe Oprah will let him run her company for practice.
Furthermore, since he’s been elected to organize our country, he’s failed miserably. Have you noticed that we are not organized? Our country is breaking off into separate cells quicker than a fertilized egg. Our financial thermometer (Dow Jones) is down, down, down, up, down, down…But Obama’s power is up, up, up, up! This power grab is out of control. He decides he wants to be in control and bam the COO from GM is fired! Just like that. What about the board of directors? What about the shareholders? The American Government Cartel has decided they want control of major corporations and they are taking it. And they will take away our guns so we cannot stop them! Just wait.
So, with no positive track record he is taking over GM and Chrysler. Really? Just taking them over? Folks, wake up. The next thing he will take over will be farms. “No”, you say. Check out your world news. It’s coming. They will make it illegal to grow your own garden unless you are an agriculture giant like Archer-Daniels. When any company is as big as Archer-Daniels, GM, Chrysler, the Madoff firm or the Federal Government, corruption is just around the corner. Read The Informant.
Do your homework. Obama, Pelosi and Reed will go after every major industry in our country and we’ll all make the same wages and we’ll all work for THEM! Is anyone safe? Rush says he’s pretty sure they won’t go after companies making teleprompter parts! LMAO!
Let’s see what else…ahh yes the second amendment. Screw the constitution and take away the peoples’ right to bear arms. If the people do not have arms, how can they defend themselves? How can we make it appear that it is dangerous for average citizens to bear arms? Apparently, the cartels in Mexico are the fault of their government allowing guns in the hands of the people who aren’t terrorists, oops, I forgot I cannot say that word anymore. The mafia might be listening…might be? See Germany and all facts pertaining to Hitler.
I thought the government was put in place to work for us; to do our bidding. Who’s on first?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tea Anyone?
By Crystal Laramore
While I lived in the big metropolis of Houston, politics didn’t really enter my life in a tangible way, but I never turned the radio off of Rush from 11 am to 2 pm. And the dedication paid off. Several years ago I left the big city and the big corporate paycheck and headed east where the pine trees grow a hundred feet tall and the locals have been round these parts for as many years. I be-bopped into this whisper of a town with big city ideas and an “I can do anything I want b/c I’m an American” big city attitude. I bought a building on the courthouse square (no sense making a ripple, splashes are more fun), turned it into a restaurant and applied for a liquor license…
…Stay tuned.
…During the time we (my customers and I) were applying for a private club license so we could all have a glass of wine or adult beverage with our dinner, I learned a lot about politics; especially small-town politics. I also learned that what people want far out weighs what is legal in some cases. People behave in the strangest of ways when what they want is not what is right. It’s that feeling thing we so often discuss. Obtaining a private club license in my restaurant was/is 100% legal. But that did not matter. What the locals wanted is what mattered. Never mind what the majority wanted. Never mind what the majority tax payers wanted. Never mind the law. Never mind capitalism. Never mind…Never mind…We had the right, under law, to do what we were doing. And we won. But we had to suffer expenses and lost revenue in the mean-time. But, we won.
When people are making decisions and laws based on feelings bad things can and do happen. Laws were made and passed to stop the change. Lies were told. Secret meetings were held. Illegal meetings were held. More lies were told, ON THE RADIO! Good thing I was the host! Snicker. Else, I would not have been able to defend myself against blatant lies, told to stop a legal event, b/c some (very few) people did not want it to occur. Basically, relatively good people did some bad things. Emotions got in the way of logic. Happens all the time. Happening today.
Now, back to feelings and national politics:
What is going on now on a national level is no different than that tiny event that occurred on a local level. Just more people care now. Thank God! But, sometimes, we don’t win. Do you feel like we are winning now? Today?
And no, I did not vote for the saxy jazz musician, but a lot of people did. At the end of the day I just wanted to be safe. It was a matter of national security for me. At the end of the day more people just wanted to feel…good? Apparently a lot of people voted based on the warm fuzzy feeling Clinton gave them. Apparently they thought he was in touch, too. Snicker. He was in touch all right. Apparently feelings outweighed thoughts and those who voted for him suspended their thought process; which means they had to possess it at some point…hmmm.
On a regular basis people ask me what I think about politics or specific candidates. I have a lot to say about that considering my background and my own personal fights, but my answer to them is “What do YOU think”? Seriously, unless I know they have researched the subject themselves, I’m not giving away all my knowledge. I’ll debate someone b/c maybe I will learn something myself, but I’m not just giving up all my hours of research and study time, all my “Rush” hours. That’s like giving someone who hasn’t studied a lick the answers on the final college exam. Not liberal. No level playing fields. Not happening.
Now, if they just don’t know cuz they’re lost, that's a different story. That's when I send them to Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and Fox News in general. I steer them away from their network news and explain to them that just b/c it’s on television or in print does not mean it’s the truth. Nooooo. Yeeeessssss. My very own flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, mother once belonged in this category. She once exclaimed (during the first Clinton era) while I was berating the imbecile for lying about “have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky” and berating the news network for spinning the story, “Crystal Lee (I’m from the south, our middle names end in vowels so our moms can scream for/at us ad-nauseum) it is on TV. They can’t lie on TV!!" OMG! Rush had often mentioned people like this. I just didn’t know I was kin to any of them! And so closely kin…crap.
Journalism has become somewhat of an ugly term in the conservative vocabulary. Words do not mean anything anymore. The liberal or, as Rush says “The drive-by media” no longer value the truth. I’m not sure they (the liberal media) value much of anything except maybe seeing their name in print. This assault on truth in the written form can be witnessed from the smallest of newspapers/journals all the way up to the mega-media giants.
When did spinning something go from yarn to truth? When did what we want start prevailing over what is true and right? When this assault on what is right happens in small doses, we don’t hear much about it therefore, we don’t DO much about it, maybe that is why we are in the mess we are in right now. And we are in a mess. Our politicians are NOT doing the work of the people. Not the majority anyway. They are doing the work of the lazy. They are taking from the working people and giving to the lazy. And the working people are fed up. Tea anyone?
My AC and UB are living in Colorado Springs, Colorado where most people are conservative but something weird is happening in Denver. People in Denver are volunteering to have electricity meters in their home! You know, to measure how much they are using when. I can guarantee you there will NOT be one in the Laramore home!
We all wonder how far our President, our Speaker of the House and Harry Reed want to take their agenda? Wonder if they realize every red-blooded, Christian, conservative, born in the U.S.A., flag-waving, gun-toting, Bible thumping person we/they know is buying ammo, with cash, whenever/wherever they can. Wonder if they are paying attention to the murmmers and the discontent of the majority of this country? Wonder if they realize even folks who voted for Obama is against his far-left agenda? Wonder how they like their tea?
Like so many things in life sometimes you have to fall all the way down to get back up. Many people become Christians this way. They try things their way for awhile and when they are all the way down, with nowhere else to turn, they call on God. My AC (aunt Cheryl Laramore) and I were debating this issue just yesterday. I said maybe God knows what he’s doing…duh! Maybe we needed to get this far down in our country to be able to get back up. It’s like God is saying “You want a country without religion? You want a country that is ‘tolerant’? You want to keep prayer out of school? Really? Well, here’s what it looks like. Have a nice day”.
While I lived in the big metropolis of Houston, politics didn’t really enter my life in a tangible way, but I never turned the radio off of Rush from 11 am to 2 pm. And the dedication paid off. Several years ago I left the big city and the big corporate paycheck and headed east where the pine trees grow a hundred feet tall and the locals have been round these parts for as many years. I be-bopped into this whisper of a town with big city ideas and an “I can do anything I want b/c I’m an American” big city attitude. I bought a building on the courthouse square (no sense making a ripple, splashes are more fun), turned it into a restaurant and applied for a liquor license…
…Stay tuned.
…During the time we (my customers and I) were applying for a private club license so we could all have a glass of wine or adult beverage with our dinner, I learned a lot about politics; especially small-town politics. I also learned that what people want far out weighs what is legal in some cases. People behave in the strangest of ways when what they want is not what is right. It’s that feeling thing we so often discuss. Obtaining a private club license in my restaurant was/is 100% legal. But that did not matter. What the locals wanted is what mattered. Never mind what the majority wanted. Never mind what the majority tax payers wanted. Never mind the law. Never mind capitalism. Never mind…Never mind…We had the right, under law, to do what we were doing. And we won. But we had to suffer expenses and lost revenue in the mean-time. But, we won.
When people are making decisions and laws based on feelings bad things can and do happen. Laws were made and passed to stop the change. Lies were told. Secret meetings were held. Illegal meetings were held. More lies were told, ON THE RADIO! Good thing I was the host! Snicker. Else, I would not have been able to defend myself against blatant lies, told to stop a legal event, b/c some (very few) people did not want it to occur. Basically, relatively good people did some bad things. Emotions got in the way of logic. Happens all the time. Happening today.
Now, back to feelings and national politics:
What is going on now on a national level is no different than that tiny event that occurred on a local level. Just more people care now. Thank God! But, sometimes, we don’t win. Do you feel like we are winning now? Today?
And no, I did not vote for the saxy jazz musician, but a lot of people did. At the end of the day I just wanted to be safe. It was a matter of national security for me. At the end of the day more people just wanted to feel…good? Apparently a lot of people voted based on the warm fuzzy feeling Clinton gave them. Apparently they thought he was in touch, too. Snicker. He was in touch all right. Apparently feelings outweighed thoughts and those who voted for him suspended their thought process; which means they had to possess it at some point…hmmm.
On a regular basis people ask me what I think about politics or specific candidates. I have a lot to say about that considering my background and my own personal fights, but my answer to them is “What do YOU think”? Seriously, unless I know they have researched the subject themselves, I’m not giving away all my knowledge. I’ll debate someone b/c maybe I will learn something myself, but I’m not just giving up all my hours of research and study time, all my “Rush” hours. That’s like giving someone who hasn’t studied a lick the answers on the final college exam. Not liberal. No level playing fields. Not happening.
Now, if they just don’t know cuz they’re lost, that's a different story. That's when I send them to Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and Fox News in general. I steer them away from their network news and explain to them that just b/c it’s on television or in print does not mean it’s the truth. Nooooo. Yeeeessssss. My very own flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, mother once belonged in this category. She once exclaimed (during the first Clinton era) while I was berating the imbecile for lying about “have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky” and berating the news network for spinning the story, “Crystal Lee (I’m from the south, our middle names end in vowels so our moms can scream for/at us ad-nauseum) it is on TV. They can’t lie on TV!!" OMG! Rush had often mentioned people like this. I just didn’t know I was kin to any of them! And so closely kin…crap.
Journalism has become somewhat of an ugly term in the conservative vocabulary. Words do not mean anything anymore. The liberal or, as Rush says “The drive-by media” no longer value the truth. I’m not sure they (the liberal media) value much of anything except maybe seeing their name in print. This assault on truth in the written form can be witnessed from the smallest of newspapers/journals all the way up to the mega-media giants.
When did spinning something go from yarn to truth? When did what we want start prevailing over what is true and right? When this assault on what is right happens in small doses, we don’t hear much about it therefore, we don’t DO much about it, maybe that is why we are in the mess we are in right now. And we are in a mess. Our politicians are NOT doing the work of the people. Not the majority anyway. They are doing the work of the lazy. They are taking from the working people and giving to the lazy. And the working people are fed up. Tea anyone?
My AC and UB are living in Colorado Springs, Colorado where most people are conservative but something weird is happening in Denver. People in Denver are volunteering to have electricity meters in their home! You know, to measure how much they are using when. I can guarantee you there will NOT be one in the Laramore home!
We all wonder how far our President, our Speaker of the House and Harry Reed want to take their agenda? Wonder if they realize every red-blooded, Christian, conservative, born in the U.S.A., flag-waving, gun-toting, Bible thumping person we/they know is buying ammo, with cash, whenever/wherever they can. Wonder if they are paying attention to the murmmers and the discontent of the majority of this country? Wonder if they realize even folks who voted for Obama is against his far-left agenda? Wonder how they like their tea?
Like so many things in life sometimes you have to fall all the way down to get back up. Many people become Christians this way. They try things their way for awhile and when they are all the way down, with nowhere else to turn, they call on God. My AC (aunt Cheryl Laramore) and I were debating this issue just yesterday. I said maybe God knows what he’s doing…duh! Maybe we needed to get this far down in our country to be able to get back up. It’s like God is saying “You want a country without religion? You want a country that is ‘tolerant’? You want to keep prayer out of school? Really? Well, here’s what it looks like. Have a nice day”.
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