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Opinion and views on what is and what is not being reported on... |
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The entries in this Blog are all based in reality, and most topics will come from my current readings in newspapers and books, or what I have heard on daily news shows. I have resisted the urge to do this as long as I possibly can. My only hope is to shed light and insight. I am alarmed at the number of people I talk to that do not have the time to read anymore. News is fast becomming nothing but an echo of sound bites that bounce off the walls as we get dressed for work. Maybe if you stumble across this blog, you will find the time to read again if for no other reason to try to prove that I am crazy. Let me assure, I am not crazy, but I am mad as hell. |
| I really wish I had more confidence in the man who is President of the United States of America, but I don’t. I really wish I could find the faith to trust that the man who is President of the United States had America’s best interest at heart in all that he does, but I don’t. I really think it is arrogant to recommend, and nominate a newcomer to the Supreme Court be installed as Chief Justice. William Rehnquist was on the Supreme Court for a total of thirty-three years before spending the last nineteen as its Chief Justice. The following links are for information purposes only. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rehnquist More later... |
| http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916/ Governor Blanco called Bush's bluff, but at what cost? Was the State of Florida asked to literally turn over state operations to the Federal Government after the state was hit by hurricanes? What about Mississippi? The Louisiana National Guard is where, and who sent them there? Louisiana is in the grips of a state emergency of biblical proportions, our National Guard troops are deployed half way around the world, and when Louisiana needs help the world class spin doctors' employed by the Bush Whitehouse have Bush and his gang in front of television cameras wanting us to all believe Louisiana should have been able to take care of itself all by itself. |
| Quote: "In this day of satellite communications (i.e. satellite telephone, Inmarsat systems), and terrestrial radio communications a ship at sea has no excuse for “lack of communications”. The ship can send and receive email, FAX, and voice communications as long as it has power (ship’s power, emergency generator or even batteries). A portable system can be set up anywhere within a half hour to communicate anywhere in the world. So why was there such a problem with communications during Katrina or in its aftermath? Equipment could be staged for quick response. Emergency satellite accounts could be set up. Was it a lack of funds, planning, or just disbelief that a catastrophe could happen?" My husband was in the military for 32 years, with most of his military duty with the Coast Guard. He is much more diplomatic that I am. My husband is an Marine Electronics Field Engineer. He is in the trenches everyday installing and fixing communications systems on ships and offshore rigs. Don't let anyone tell you that what happened in a port city like New Orleans had to happen. I don't care what excuses the men at the top offer, there are some of us that know better. Unfortunately for too many people there is little or no understanding of how much money has been wasted on fruitless ventures. We have a saying here down the bayou, "Some people are so smart they're stupid." Money, who you know, and fancy political talk will earn you a position in government. It now appears that too many people are even born into power and privilege - they vote themselves pay raises. It is beyond obvious now that when push comes to shove people like the Homeland Security guy, the person who had the authority to send in the National Guard, and the people managing FEMA are clueless, reckless, and irresponsible. The media interviews today look like an exercise to cover their collective asses. Some rapper on a telethon got cut off when he made the personal statement, "Bush don't care about black people." Well, for everyone information, I don't think Bush or any of them care about regular, everyday working citizens. Color has nothing to do with it. If you are black and rich, they'll take your money, and if you are rich enough they'll stand in line to kiss your ass. If you are white, or any other color, and poor - your a drain on their horded resources. That is just my opinion folks, please prove me wrong  I couldn't help but notice how fast the Red Cross, and ALL the other non-profit organizations featured on Larry King Special got their fund raising commercials up and running in no time flat. How quickly all the CEO's jumped on television pleading for donations. Let me remind you NATIONAL TELEVISION commercials are expensive. Let me remind you that six months after the tsunami, money donated to help the tsunami victims has been proven not to have reached the tsunami victims. Now we have an apocalyptic disaster in New Orleans, Louisiana. National Organizations have collected and are still collecting donations. Lets see how long it takes for help to arrive from all these non-profit organizations who are busy collecting money. Individuals, and individual States have stepped up, opened their stadiums, and shelters, and are providing more assistance than ever could have been imagined would be necessary. To each and everyone of you - Thank you! After the water is pumped out of New Orleans, and the mud dries, somebody needs to make all these organizations account for the millions of dollars they have collected. I am not just talking about filing the required IRS forms either. We all know that more can be stolen with a pen, and hidden from plain sight with fancy, creative accounting. It didn't have to happen, but since it has - stand and take notice, "It could have happened anywhere, and the response to pleas for help from New Orleans that took so long to be answered - could just have easily been you, and your state." |
| The majority of the people everyone is seeing through the major news medias around the country, and the world need to realize that all those people did just as they were told - they went to the Superdome, a shelter of last resort. The first problem AS I SEE IT, is nobody expected as many law abiding citizens to show up and need to stay for as long as they obviously had to stay. Crowd control is a real issue when supplies are low or non-existent. Mayor Ray Naquin did the right thing to offer emergency shelter. The failure to have the National Guard on alert and at the ready the day before the hurricane Katrina made landfall is unforgivable. The failure to have viable emergency communications in place at a major port city is criminal. How much has been said about communication failure in New York City during 9/11? How much money has been spent on mock terrorists attack exercises? Mayor Naquin had no authority to order National Guard troops into the city of New Orleans, or to commandeer buses, trains, or cruise ships - all he could do was request help. Help didn't come soon enough from anywhere. So if terrorists had blown up a levee in New Orleans what would be the governments’ officials’ excuses as to why there was no real, doable emergency evacuation plan in place? I am sick and tired of hearing about the obviously non-existent chain of Command. Who is in charge? All the money in the world is not going to undo the damage that happened in New Orleans. Money may rebuild the houses. Money - All the money paid in salaries and benefits to the men and women responsible for protecting the city has just been proven to be a waste. Seems to me that somehow protecting the city did not include protecting the citizens - and therein lies the problem. Our New Orleans, Louisiana residents appear to be considered nothing more than collateral damage - expendable. At the center of the devastation in New Orleans it was impossible to distinguish between a doctor, a nurse, a cook, or a garbage truck driver. And to my way of thinking there should be no distinction - They’re all people! As I have said before, about other less important issues now than the current tragic goings on in New Orleans, and the surrounding Gulf Coast - the elderly, the sick, the young, and the poor are the most at risk. The elderly can't contribute as they once did... The sick can't contribute as they once may have... The young are not yet able to contribute... And the poor, the financially working poor, their contributions to the city, and society as a whole are far underestimated... When I say that self importance and self reliance are not the same thing - the pictures and the stories emerging from the destruction all along the Gulf Coast should make it clear. Officials, like Governor Blanco and President Bush were worried about the chain of command. Mayor Naquin had to repeatedly beg for help that was inexcusably slow in coming, while officials were holding meetings trying to decide what to do - the city of New Orleans flooded because of broken levees. If the Corps of Army Engineers ever had a plan for fixing broken levees they must have forgotten to write it down, and refer to it. Inexcusable!!! Locally self reliance is what is pulling our area through our challenges and problems. The local radio stations are providing much needed communications to residents from local parish government officials concerning electric service, garbage collections, food and water distribution points. The National Guard are just now arriving at smaller down the bayou towns - six days after Katrina, and six days after local shelters have taken in thousands of New Orleans and surrounding area residents. More later... |
| http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9175611/ If you take the time to view the news videos of what has been going on in New Orleans you just might realize how desperate the conditions are. http://www.wdsu.com/index.html Realize that the crisis in New Orleans could happen anywhere... and the response by people responsible for the emergency response to a major disaster have failed miserably. The people you see in New Orleans are the everyday working men and women. The working poor, if you will. Five days after hurricane Katrina and evacutions are still going on. People have died, and people are still dying while waiting five days for help to arrive. It has taken five days to delivery water to the 25th largest city in the United States of America. Tens of thousands left waiting for help for five days. Right here in Houma, refugees have arrived with barely the clothes on their backs... the same for Thibodaux, and Morgan City. Evidently the same kind of communication problems that plagued New York on 9/11 have happened here - hindering rescue operations. The reports of lawlessness, shootings, and looting in the city added fear. America put massive amounts of troops on the ground in Iraq within 24 hours, but five days later tens of thousands of people in New Orleans are only beginning to be rescued. Of course the majority of the people needing rescue are the Invisible People, who are all too often taken for granted. These people are the labor force that enables a city the size of New Orleans to function. The cooks, hotel maids, janitors, doormen, taxi drivers, sales clerks, fast food workers, and a multitude of others who work in the jobs that serve. If I was anyone of them, I'd think long and hard before I'd plan to come back to New Orleans. I'm one of the lucky ones... we had very little damage, but we had a good vehicle and some money to leave town, and get back. I shutter to think what could have happened if we didn't have a car, and some money. My yard man actually came by yesterday and cut my grass. For him, that is what he does. My water man came by this morning to delivery water. For tens of thousands their daily lives are simply gone. They don't know where their going, or what their going to do where ever they end up. Hurricane Katrina is not singularly responsible for the devastation in New Orleans, Louisiana and the surrounding area. |
| Thursday 11:15 pm September 1st, 2005 Day 4 after Katrina: The electricity is out for the first time after being restored since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the early morning hours on Monday. The deathly quietness of being cast suddenly into complete silence and darkness startled me awake from a sound and cool slumber. I’ve been luckier than most. I arrived at the hotel in Houston, Texas at 2:30 am Monday morning. I’ve seen more of the devastation in New Orleans, Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast than the majority of the people here in Houma, Thibodaux, New Orleans. Television is a luxury that nobody is worried about for the present. Internet access is just as elusive. Landline based phone service, as well as cellular phone service is sporadic at best sometimes. The best local information is garnered from listening to local radio stations, and if you have never listened to local coonass radio... it is mindboggling. There has been an 8 pm curfew for the last few nights. I hesitate to mention that a curfew has been imposed since the refugees started arriving from the New Orleans area, since I don’t want it to read like I think it is their fault. Houma has not been the sleepy, little bayou town it once was for many years now, but it is obvious that our population has grown dramatically literally overnight. I’ve been in Louisiana for every hurricane since Betsy, and I’ve never seen the likes of what is going on now. I visited three grocery stores today, and was shocked by empty shelves and display cases, yet I was awed by what was still available. There was not a banana in sight, but plenty of apples, oranges, and plums. No bread. No milk. No eggs. Onions and potatoes were getting scarce, but the store employees were continually restocking the shelves. Day by day it is getting better, but for a while it was quite scary. Amazingly we have had mail service the last two days. Our mail is normally routed out of New Orleans, but the junk mail is still getting through - Unbelievable, but true. The stress and strain is apparent on every face I passed in the stores. One particularly worker caught my eye. She looked not so much tired as sad. I felt compelled to speak to her, so as I passed I simply thanked her for being at work. I am glad to report that little simple consideration was all it took to put a smile on her face. She thanked me as sincerely as I thanked her. Every gas station had lines of cars needing fuel. There seems to be a growing sense of concern by many that fuel is growing scarce. The price of gas has increased by nearly forty cents a gallon in less than a week. Until this afternoon the poorest of the poor could not access their state issued food stamps. Food stamps are now issued electronically, and are accessed via a plastic credit card. Telephone service is required to access electronically issued food stamps. Every grocery store had large hand printed signs that read, “Cash or checks only”. I called South Louisiana Electric (SLECA) just before I started writing this. The phone rang, and Theresa answered as she usually does every day of any given week. I know Theresa could hear the laughter in my voice as I asked, “Don’t you usually work during the day?” To which she replied, without missing a beat, “Nights too, now!” Yes, in many ways Houma still has the qualities of a small sleepy town, and one of those small town qualities is evidenced by the fact that people, like me and Theresa, can still recognize each others voice in the middle of the night, some four days after a devastating hurricane. The electricity is back on now. It is 12:17 am Friday morning, September 2nd, 2005. I am sitting here typing this, and thinking about my brothers, who I have not heard from since before the storm. I have to believe that both are making out just fine, found shelter, and will contact me as soon as they are able. I am feeling so blessed. My home is intact; my very pregnant daughter is sleeping just down the hall. My youngest son is sleeping in the next room. My oldest son is at the hospital with Amy and their newborn baby boy, Hayden Daniel Falgout. We have food, water, electricity, and shelter. My middle son called from Iraq yesterday, and I actually had to convince him that we were all just fine as he had been trying to call for days, and he has been watching the news in Iraq about what’s going on here, just like I watch the news programs here about what is going on over there. It’s difficult to go back to sleep to night now that I have started thinking about the many people who have lost so much. Whether homeowners or not, they’ve lost their way of life. They’ve lost their jobs. They’ve lost family and friends. They’ve lost their familiar surrounding. Tens of thousands are being bused and trucked from New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Yes, tonight I am feeling blessed and lucky, but that does not keep me from feeling sad and inadequate in the face of all this devastation. It could all too easily have happened here. It could be my family depending on the kindness and generosity of strangers. |
| It is important to remember everything that has been said to Americans by the United States government. It is important to keep an open mind, and listen for the truth - where ever it may lead. This is difficult to listen to, and even more difficult to consider the possibility that it could all be true, but as Americans, as citizens, what is our duty? The following link is to an audio interview with an employee that worked in the North Tower for 20 years, and survived 9/11: http://www.prisonplanet.tv/audio/270605truthexpose.htm The following link has information about London bombings, and more: http://americathebushieful.blogspot.com/ And know this, if Bushilter could shut down, or at least limit and control Internet access - he would. Think people! Unless you enjoy being sheep. The above sites were brought to my attention by my eighteen year old son. My son then asked me, "Ma, is what's being said true?" I am still trying to explain to my son that there is the possibility that it is. We are talking about mass murder. We are talking about major insurance fraud. We are talking about unimaginable evil. We are talking about our Government's betrayal of its citizens. And I am still trying to explain an article in the AARP magazine that talks about Condilessa Rice running for President in 2008, and the fact that she once referred to Bush as "my husband". Think about this: Was the governments story about the Ruby Ridge incident true? Some forty something years later, do we know the truth about the JFK assassination? I remember a time when Aids was a chocolate flavored diet supplement. I am going to go quilt on my quilt now, and think about how I can explain this mess to my son. Regardless of what any of you think about my post, I still want to ask anyone, and everyone reading this post to Pray for my son, who is in Iraq. God help us all. Sincerely, The Critic |
| The tunes to which a man dances(/i} are not predetermined - its a choice! Generally speaking, fishermen know what fish are attracted by which bait. |
| The title of this day's blog entry pretty much sums up how I felt when I woke up at 5:30 am this morning. It is not that I don't have things that need doing, I just don't feel like doing any of the regular, and routine things that need doing. Often times I settle for living precariously through my writing! But some day's, like today, I crave real activity. Why? I have laudry to wash, dry, fold, and pick up, dishes that need washing, supper to cook, and bills that need paying... but I just feel like saying, "Fuck it." I really feel like I want to do something, other than all the routine things I do. I don't want to go shopping. I don't want to go out to eat. I don't want to write more letters to Senators' or Congressmen that somehow I just know are being intentional ignored. The only e-mail I've received on Writing.Com is the update your blog reminder, and the usual spam in my off Writing.Com e-mail. Damn! Wish I lived near Bush in Texas, and could innocently shoot off my gun while pretending to prepare for Dove season. HA! And if I had the computer skills of some of these hackers, I'd be spending my time targeting the IRS, and other government agencies that do more harm than good. I've been thinking a great deal about all this reported Identity Theft. Seems to me that the greatest part of guilt and shame of identity theft should fall on the companies that are allowing everyone else's personal information stolen. People surprise me, in that no one has realized that all the propaganda being put out there about how "WE" need to protect ourselves is useless. Identity theives are not stealing identities from on individual at a time. OH NO THEY ARE NOT, but somehow all the precautionary propaganda leads one to think that somehow it is a single individual's fault if you're identity is stolen. Bullshit! But of course, if one wants what these companies offer, credit cards, etc, then one must abide by THIER rules, requirements and regulations - thus giving these companies license to maintain all of our personal data in their ineffectively protected data bases, which allows the information to be stolen in the first place. How rude! So, after all is said and done, and I can't legally discharge a gun, I guess I will just go to the Quilting Niche... and quilt. Hope everybody is having a better, more productive, and unboring day than mine. Later, eventually |
| Quote: Besides telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and, die, the GOP has done a fine job of getting gov't out of our lives. - unknown ******* Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S. The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc. Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48 Norway Oslo $6.27 Italy Milan $5.96 Denmark Copenhagen $5.93 Belgium Brussels $5.91 Sweden Stockholm $5.80 United Kingdom London $5.79 Germany Frankfurt $5.57 France Paris $5.54 Portugal Lisbon $5.35 Hungary Budapest $4.94 Luxembourg $4.82 Croatia Zagreb $4.81 Ireland Dublin $4.78 Switzerland Geneva $4.74 Spain Madrid $4.55 Japan Tokyo $4.24 Czech Republic Prague $4.19 Romania Bucharest $4.09 Andorra $4.08 Estonia Tallinn $3.62 Bulgaria Sofia $3.52 Brazil Brasilia $3.12 Cuba Havana $3.03 Taiwan Taipei $2.84 Lebanon Beirut $2.63 South Africa Johannesburg $2.62 Nicaragua Managua $2.61 Panama Panama City $2.19 Russia Moscow $2.10 Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74 Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91 Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78 Egypt Cairo $0.65 Nigeria Lagos $0.38 Venezuela Caracas $0.12 In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation's citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005. Source: CNN http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/ ******* I have a question: Are gas prices rising as fast in other countries as gas prices are rising here in the United States? I suspect the answer is, "NO". If gas prices are not rising as fast around the globe as they are here in the United States, the next logical question is, "Why not?" Personally, I am sick and tired of the conspiracy theories that pop, uninvited, into my brian. Ever since Bushitler became President, every thing that ever defined America as a land of opportunity, and a land of the free, is being threaten. I've read a reference to Vice President Cheney being referred to as "Cheneyburton"... but I don't understand the reference. What notorious historical figure was named "Burton"? America has serious problems. The rising price of gasoline pales in comparison to many of them. NOTE TO SELF: Need to do much more research? |
| http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8876383/ The above link is to a story blaming the Internet for ... Will the Bush Administration try to limit Internet Access? I won't be surprized it he does. Will you? |
| Coffee's brewing, and I'm wishing I had a friend, who quilted, to share a cup with. It's cool here this particular morning, almost too cool, but it won't be long before everything heats up. I generally spend way too much time alone, but I have been actively seeking to rectify that problem. I have been going to a Quilting class at one of the local fabric stores every Monday. Although, I have been quilting for years, I have seriously neglected that hobby of mine. Monday is now officially my quilting day. Quilting is an excellent skill, and one that can be a wholesome group activity. I don't aim to make award winning quilts - I have enough stress in my life - Thank You Very Much. So, Monday's are my day to relax, while still being productive. I think everyone should have a hobby - a distraction from the problems and grief of everyday life. The most amazing thing about the quilting class is that the six of us who are quilting make the same quilt block on any given Monday, yet each of our blocks look so totally different. It's absolutely amazing how that happens. Quilting, to me, kinda resembles the fabric of life. We all start out from the basic same pattern, yet, as people, we are all also very different. Amazing, isen't it - how much all people are the same, yet still different. Each of our lives, like a quilt, is certainly an interesting combination of similar events... we are all born, we all grow up being raised in different family's, who we are similar to, but still uniquely individual, just like the quilts being made in quilting class. Amazing, if you take anytime at all to make any comparisons... how life is like a quilt. Quilting has also come a long way due to the advances of technology, which is certainly making quilting easier, and faster, and for once the influences of technology has not dimished the individuality of the craft of quilting. I think that is marvelous. Technology has not made quilting less costly, not by any stretch of the imagination. Time saving technological advances now seem necessary, as I can't imagine the quilting bees of times past are very practical these days -everybody is just so busy. So, there the six of us are in our afternoon quilting class, cutting and sewing quilts, which are really only blankets, while unique and individual as each handmade quilt is, there are nice mass produced quilts available in the market - Parish the thought... I've always hand-quilted my quilts in the past, but now I am actually entertaining the thought of learning to machine quilt. I just don't think the value of a hand quilted quilt is appreciated any more. That's a shame really, but alas a reality. Besides I've misplaced my quilting frame, and the money I would now have to pay to buy a new quilting frame I'd much rather invest in a new sewing machine. How does a person lose a quilting frame? All I can figure is some idiot took it and used it to start a fire. Oh, yes, I often feel I am surrounded by idiots... but I've yet to know any idiots that quilt... and that is a very good thing. |
| Why just ban tobacco? Coffee, Caffeine & Fitness http://www.topendsports.com/nutrition/coffee.htm The buzz about caffeine - health aspects of coffee. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1041/is_n5_v73/ai_16873712 Is Caffeine a Drug of Dependence? http://psychiatrictimes.com/p010247.html Hell no, I'm not kidding. Caffeine is a dangerous drug, and just as dangerous as nicotine, and alcohol. http://www.globalchange.com/drugs/TAD-Chapter%204.htm I am tired of being ridculed, mocked, harassed, and generally treated like a second class citizen because I am a smoker. And there certainly Smoking Police everywhere So where are the hard right, do-gooding crusaders, who support damn near outlawing the use of tobacco products, when it comes to coffee, tea, and chocolate - well, where are they? Why just a campaign against drunk driving? Alcohol is a definite health risk. So, once again, where are the people who want to ban smoking, when it comes to alcohol consumption? Huh? Well, where are they? Righteous Hypocrits, and Group Dynamics (Waxing poetic about smoking bans, and what I think about the people involved) So, tell me, Oh, self-appointed righteous guardians of moral behaviors, What would you have me do? I'm outnumbered and surrounded, By so many, just like you, who Tell other people what they should do. Freedom, Liberty, and Justice for all Oh, I see, of these Long held great American truths Only apply to me Conditionally, Based upon your point of view. You're not my Country's President Nor have any of you been Elected to Congress or Senate Yet, there you all stand, As the Moral Dictators in majority Telling me what I can, and can't do. Collect your millions of dollar donations File your non-profit Corporate Status with the IRS Form your Political Action Committees Peddle your influence on Capital Hill Support the politians that will sponsor your bills Dicate to me just what you would have me do. Hide in your outside sheds Chew bunches of fresh breath mint gum Tell lies to family, friends, and co-workers too Be politically correct in all that you do By sheer vocal numbers, deny my right To be different from you Count your filthy lucre Misuse your power, influence, and control Pass your tyrannical laws So much more is wrong in this world, than Any of you bother to possibly see Blinded by your own misdirected sense of what matters Just let me sit here in peace, and quite Smoke gently creating clouds about my head My burnt offerings, so to speak Of profits made Of taxes paid Faint memories of a time rush to my head When I could have just told all of you to drop dead! |
| Using my blog as Public display of what I have been reading about the History of Tobacco. Seems Tobacco bans are nothing new... even a Pope once reversed a smoking ban. Yea, I'm pissed that smoker's are being blamed for all that ails America. It just ain't so, and that's a fact. State's tax tobacco products. Tobacco taxes benefit non-smokers'. Don't see any non-smokers' boycotting any of the Tobacco tax supported goings on... roads, bridges, teachers' salaries... Oh, and gambling is healthy. Yeah, right. Just get off my back. I smoke. I'll just stay home and smoke, and if I can figure out a way to grow my own tax free tobacco - I will. Go ahead. Ban smoking. Ban cigarettes. Your smoking ban will only create a black market, as prohibition created The Speak Easy, where everybody drank and smoked - in peace I might add. As far as I'm concerned there are certainly more important issues that threaten the lives and well being of our Nation, and our world... Partial list, in no particlar order: Corrupt local, state, and Federal Politians Drugs like Crack, Meth... War Patriot Act NAFTA CAFTA Terrorism Illegal Aliens Stupidity Ignorance Medical Costs Our Nation's dependancy on Oil Equality - we are not all treated equally, or provided for equally, or protected equally... those entrusted with enforcing our Constitutional Rights are NOT protecting Americans equally... want to argue about that fact? Racism Recession Employment Education etc. ... and the list goes on and on, and Smoking and Smokers' are not even in the top 500. Links: http://smokingsides.com/docs/hist.html#aa2 http://www.historian.org/bysubject/tobacco1.htm http://www.historian.org/bysubject/tobacco2.htm http://www.historian.org/bysubject/tobacco3.htm http://www.historian.org/bysubject/tobacco4.htm About the consumption of Spirits (why not?): http://www.historian.org/drunkeness.html Oh, and for fun, just Google the word "FAILURE". |
| The following links provide a list of my mornings reading. No wonder I am depressed, discouraged, and very often angry. I know what I think, but if you are reading this I'd like to ask you to comment on exactly what you, the reader, thinks. I want to compare your comments on the following links to my own thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Thank you. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8769418/site/newsweek/ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8769416/site/newsweek/ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8770112/site/newsweek/ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071761/ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8713518/ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8716780/ |
| At the Atlanta airport there was a "smoking lounge" on the concourse. Air travelers that smoke know that a smoker's lounge is a real luxury, not necessarialy luxurious, but a luxury just the same. The Smoking Lounge was horrid. The ceiling was a wade of exposed wires, cables, ducts, and pipes. The obviously old light fixtures hung precariously at odd angles. Dust on the varied ceiling fixtures was at least a half inch thick. There was an over abundance of huge ugly, ash trays the size of trash cans that appeared to not have been emptied for quite some time. The paint on the walls appeared a putrid shade of green. The vinyl covering the mismatched chairs was split and cracked with age. The combined appearance of the paint, and furniture in the smoking lounge definitely made an impression - an impression that someone had been sent to trash pick to find furniture just for the smoker's lounge. The lounge appeared to be a set, or stage for the movie Escape From New York. It was obvious that this Smoker's Lounge was designed as some kind of cruel joke by non-smokers. The ratty, unclean space craved out of the cleaner, better maintained space afforded non-smokers was a concession we accepted gladly. The non-smokers' did not deter any of us, even the most well-heeled, and well-dressed walked in, glanced around, and if need be requested a light from a fellow smoker. The contrast between inside the Smokers' Lounger and outside the Smokers' Lounge is as dramatic a contrast as I have witnessed. People should not treat other people like this, nor expect people to tolerate this type of treatment silently, or for very long, either. Smokers' have now joined the ranks of the most mistreated, and persecuted of our generation. We realize that prejudice is not only about the color of someones' skin, or their nationality. Yes, smokers' realize exactly what it is like to be segregated, and admonished. Non-smokers' profit from the taxes we pay on cigarettes and other forms of tobacco products, states and lawyers are making millions of dollars in profits from taxes and lawsuits, and all the while, We, the lowly smokers', are treated like second class citizens. Smokers' are not breaking any laws. Smoking is legal. Smoking is taxed. Smoking is a choice, freely made by a free person living in what is suppose to be a Democratic nation. I did quit smoking once... the world stinks, and the world is not being stunk up just by smokers' either. I decided to start smoking again so I didn't have to smell all the chemical plants discharge, and other stuff. Capitalist Non-smokers, who want to impose your ways on everybody, are allowing too many others to really pollute our world, but you're blinded by your single sighted goal to rid the world of smokers'. News flash - we all got bigger problems. Sure you, campaigning Non-smokers' may cause a few smokers' to quit smoking, you will earn the points for winning that battle, but while ya'll were out figuratively beating up on individual smoker's, you will have lost the war. HA HA "What war?, non-smokers' ask. That is the problem isn't it, ya'll non-smokers' really think smokers' are the problem. "Idiots'!" and I just call'em like I see 'em. |
| July 21st, 2005 Bethleham, PA First the plane didn't crash... hey folks, thats a good thing. If it wasn't for sky taxis (people who push people around airports in wheel chairs), I'd be dead even though the plane didn't crash.  I DIDN'T HAVE ANY TROUBLE WITH AIRPORT SECURITY...anywhere...amazing... Andrea was ready and waiting at the concourse entrance... she is delightful, absolutely delightful. YOUNG & PRETTY TOO. She came a very long way for this event... There is no coffee or food from the Philly airport all the way to the Holiday Inn at the Gateway Conference Center. Seventy-two miles of no coffee or food. No gas stations either. I AM NOT KIDDING... that must be why the Avis rent a car guy laughed when I said I'd bring the rent car back tanked up... hmmmm, you think? Back to the no coffee and no food... Sure there was probably coffee and food at the airport, but there is also no smoking. I just wanted to get outta there. How in the world can a person enjoy coffee and food, if I can't sit back and have a MUCH NEEDED cigarette after risking my life just to get here? I don't know how it is where ya'll live, but I am from Louisiana... where we eat not just because we are hungry, but because the food is GOOD, real good, and so is the coffee!!! In Louisiana, there are bars and restaurants on every cornor, a person has to travel no more than one block to find coffee and food. In Louisiana, I am convinced, "they" build exits off of the Interstate just to build coffee houses, bars, casinos, and restaurants... NOT HERE!!! Somebody really needs to suggest to the people of PA to rethink their food and coffee availability!!! There is a Steak & Ale across the highway from the hotel where the Writing.Com convention is being held. Wonderful place, absolutely wonderful. Good looking, young waiter too, he's been working at the Steak & Ale for five years. No, I didn't forget I was with my husband!!! The Writing.Com Convention registration was set up in the Lafayette Room... at least 20 or so other attendees were there... including Viv, Loti, StoryMistress, GoCartCherub, Peanut, WildThing, and so many others I can't remember at this very moment. Oh, and Chriswriter - she is a hoot. I was crazed with hunger, needed coffee desperately, and although it was only about 2:00 or 2:30 when I walked through the doors of the Lafayette Room most of the refreshments had already been picked up by the hotel staff. What? Coffee, no cups! Someone offered me a glass coffee mug. Chocolate cake, delicious, but I NEEDED REAL food. The hotel had a major power outage due to some poor critter electrocuting itself in a transformer... NO FOOD... that is how the Steak & Ale came into the picture. Rooms were not going to be ready until maybe 4:00 or so... Rick, my husband, and I had been up in excess of over 24 hours... God only knows what kind of first impression I made... ouch!!! My auction items that I had UPS'ed myself, arrived perfectly fine, but ya'll should have seen the hotel guys face when he offered to take them on a roller cart to the Lafayette Room, and I told him to deliver the boxes and tell StoryMistress these were The Critic's auction items. Oh yes, the Hotel staff is wonderful... but confused by our presence! Tee Hee... I got the bartender in The Bar With No Name, well that is what "they" call it, to make me what I call a Fruit Salad Drink... I told him how to make it, and he was amused... I was just plain hungry... I don't guess these people know about the drinks we call Hurricanes in Louisiana, either.  I missed the dinner tonight, as I collasped somewhere between 5 and 6 pm. The dinner was originally scheduled for 6pm, but due to the power outage it was pushed back just an hour... regretably I couldn't physically handle it... but there is always tomorrow... Thank God!!! I will send Rick out to buy a full size coffee pot tomorrow... this three cup coffee pot in our room is just a tease... somebody has a very sick sense of humor. We are not amused. The goody bag that all of us were given when we signed in at registration was almost too heavy for me to carry. Really! All of us make a VERY eccletic group - All ages, shapes, and sizes. Even in the midst of a power outage at the hotel, we filled the lobby with laughter, and from the astonished looks on the faces of the other hotel guest, you'd think none of us talked English. We all have badges hanging around our necks with our Writing.Com names on them... we are all carrying Writing.Com tote bags filled to the brim with goodies... Breakfast is going to kick off tomorow's activities at 9 am, but ya'll need to know I'll start eating around 6 am... THEY DON'T HAVE GRITS HERE... What???? I don't think these people are at all prepared for a Louisiana appetite. No elevators either, but I'll survive... just taking it slow. The pool is georgeous... the view from our room is grand, my husband is a VERY patient man, very patient... And at this very moment all I can suggest is that each and every one of you REALLY need to plan, budget, beg, borrow, or steal... and do whatever it takes to come to next year's convention. My darling husband really believes that this is going to be a once in a lifetime trip... HA Good thing he loves me!!!! Wait till we get home and I tell him I want to come back next year. More later, Sincerely, The Critic |
| I'll be boarding a plane in New Orleans, LA headed towards Bethleham, PA to attend the 2005 Writing.Com Convention. I am so excited to really get to meet so many of the members I have been reading and interacting with for soooooo long... and that includes the StoryMaster and StoryMistress. |
| Laundry Dishes Sweep Mop all the usually things I have to do. But this day marks two days before I leave my comfort zone to go to Bethleham, PA to meet friends I've known a while, but never seen or heard their voice or laughter. I am so accustomed to my daily solitary existance, and my routine of having coffee with my husband before he goes off to work, and then spending the rest of the day being a house mouse. Yep, I called myself a "House Mouse". That is the best way I can think to describe what I do. I no longer work outside the home, and haven't been able to for years. I teach knitting, sewing, crochet, scrapbooking, and various other arts & crafts projects to a varity of every changing people, who come and go at their leisure... and in between my clients and customers, I troll around Writing.Com. Between all of that I sip coffee, plan and cook meals, and generally wait for my best friend, my husband, to come home from work. When I do venture out, it is mostly to mail packages to my son in Iraq, pay local utility bills, and grocery shop. The older I get the more set in my ways I find myself being. Comfortably settling into a routine. The spontanaity that once was the hallmark of my life is pretty much gone. Life is more settled now, more predictable, and more comfortable. I was once very ambitious, as I was once young and healthy, now I am more resigned to just staying alive and as well as possible. I am a watcher, an observer, but I have almost lost interest in that, as people are becomming more predictable than ever. Seems far too many seem to be struggling finacially, emotionally, and physically. I have noticed that alot of women are wearing fashionable clothes to do even the most mundane of chores. Women are wearing more skirts made of attractive, light, breezy fabrics, while their young daughters are wearing very short, very tacky, very unflattering skirts. I contribute these young pre-teen fashions trends to the influence of the current stars in the music industry, but I could be wrong. At the moment, I am feeling a bit over-whelmed. My kitchen is a diaster area, as is my dining room table, and craft room. I have too much mail to sort through, and most of it is trash, I guess. By choice, getting ready to attend the 2005 Writing.Com Convention has taken up most of my time lately. Regardless, at least with this blog entry I won't be getting one of those annoying "Update Your Blog" e-mails. Thank God, and yes, I know I could turn off the reminder, but then if I am not prodded into blogging I might just NOT. I'd almost find this funny if it was not so annoying, but the one thing I am having trouble finding is books of matches. I certainly don't want to give the idiot Atlanta airport security screeners a reason to piss me off with their stupid security proceedures. The type of people that take that low paying job have issues about their own self-importance. They are dillusional at best, thinking that their "Oh so obvious" searches of everyday American citizens is doing anything to protect anyone from anything. Case in Point, the following is an experience a soldier's wife recently at the Atlanta airport when she was bringing her husband to his flight back to Iraq: I had to drop my husband off today at the Atlanta airport and I wanted to warn any of you going through there about something so nobody else has to deal with this. When we were going through the metal detectors I kept setting it off. No big deal right? Well it definetly turned into one for me! They took me off to this glass cage thing and then I had to do all the stupid stuff with taking my shoes off and such. A little annoying but not that big of a deal. Because it was taking a few minutes and they were trying to make my husband, and my dad and kids move on with out me, my ARMY husband comes over to tell me where they'll be at. This guy steps between us and tells him he can't speak to me, or be near me while they're "handling" me. So then I start getting mad. Then I have this lady doing the thing with the wand, and it became apparent it was my underwire bra that set off the alarms and I think common sense is about to prevail and they'll let me go on my way. But no.. She tells me that I can be searched there or they can take me to a private room cause they're about to really search me! So I tell her that it's obviously the bra and she should know b/c when the wand beeped she'd had to feel that area. I told her I'd take it off and let her check it and then I'd be on my way. So since it was a strapless I popped that thing off, threw it on the desk and told her to check it and let me leave. They acted like I'd thrown a bomb on that desk! I was even told that b/c I'd removed it they couldn't tell if what had beeped would still be there! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I am so infuriated that they had me in a glass cage, take off half my clothes, treat me like a criminal in front of my husband, my kids, my dad and a whole lot of strangers and all while I'm there dropping my husband off to go back to some crappy country to fight some dirty terrorists that they'd never check like that cause they don't want to profile people! So ladies whatever you do don't wear an underwire b/c they WILL find it cause the security is that good (little sarcasm there) Let me explain something else... our soldiers are required to treat Iraqi women with more respect that TSA screeners treat Americans in general. Huh? Oh yes... and another thing that proves all that security stuff is a dog and pony show... a sucide bomber would certainly blow himself up, right along with the security screeners and other passengers that they so foolishly require to stand in line all bunched up before a sucide bomber would submit to a search. duh... yea thats safe. I'm still thinking I should have drove. Then again the soldier's wife that reported the above incident at the Atlanta airport is young and attractive... I am old and fat... so maybe some sicko security screeners just get their jollies searching pretty young American wifes of Army soldiers. |
| I get around on Writing.Com. I can cover a lot of ground in a day, and I do regularly spend an entire day on this blasted machine. Yes, I know I need to get a life, but that is a different blog... The point is there are just too many neat ports. Yes, you heard me correctly... too many, too neat portfolios. I have generally discovered over the years that talented, creative type people are somewhat, shall we say, messy. I look at my port, and I don't even begin to know how to organize it. Yes, yes, I know how to make folders, but very often I think some work deserves to have its very own space. To me, I feel putting an item in a Folder is like putting something away in a drawer. Well, if how we keep our portfolios is any reflection on how we keep our houses... ya'll are all neat freaks. Neatness can be an obsession too. Am I just making escuses for myself... you betcha. |
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I am making a peach pie and a mincemeat pie, myself. No point even starting, yet, though - turkey's just over 10 lbs, and company doesn't arrive until around 1:00 PM. Santa was good to us - how about you? Just imagine the damage I can do in the kitchen now, between a Cuisinart food processor and my slow cooker?! 
