Which Side are we actually on?

Happy Thursday everyone....ignore the sarcasm.

Read an article in the NY Times Saturday that annoyed and amused me at the same time.
Gitmo. Okay, if we didn't have PROOF that these guys have terrorist connections, they probably wouldn't even be there. So, I'm reading about these guys only getting to eat bread and water, having to stay in cells and be annoyed by blasting music, and being interrogated while soaking wet in an air conditioned room. Which, they THINK might have been the cause of one's death. And I"m thinking, "Okay, so these guys are responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands. And even our so-called torture methods are a far cry from what they would use if they captured one of us. Um think beheadings, Fallujah, burning bodies...that type of thing.. Come on people use that head God gave you.

There was an editorial in the state paper Friday from this woman bemoaning the fact that they were using bedsheets to hang themselves. She said why doesn't the government provide ropes for them. They're so mistreated and all... read the tongue-in-cheek. Quite funny. Now, I'm not saying that there hasn't been abuse, Abu Ghraib was a disaster in most cases. But, are we suppose to coddle and lovingly ask for information? Are we in the habit of taking innocents and dragging their blackened bodies through the streets?

One more item on the agenda..

Is Iraq worse off then when we took over? Read for yourself and decide.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003073487_webiraq20.html

Two captured U.S. soldiers killed "in barbaric way"
By Kim Gamel
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. forces on today recovered the bodies of two American soldiers reported captured by insurgents last week. An Iraqi defense ministry official said the men were tortured and "killed in a barbaric way."
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men were beheaded.
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.
He said U.S. troops — part of a search involving some 8,000 American and Iraqi forces — found the bodies late Monday near Youssifiyah, where they disappeared Friday.
Troops did not recover the bodies until today because they had to wait until daylight to cordon off the area for an ordnance team for fear it was booby-trapped, Caldwell said.
The checkpoint attacked Friday was in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops. Caldwell said troops encountered a lot of roadside bombs and other explosives during the three-day search, including in the area where the bodies were found.
The cause of death was "undeterminable at this point," and the two bodies will be taken back to the United States for DNA tests to confirm the identities, Caldwell said.
The two soldiers disappeared after an insurgent attack Friday at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal, 12 miles south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed. The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.
The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq. The group posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive.
"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named al-Qaida in Iraq's new leader in a June 12 Web message by the group. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.
Al-Zarqawi made al-Qaida in Iraq notorious for hostage beheadings and was believed to have killed two American captives himself — Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004.

Yet another example, US Soldiers and US Contractors have been killed in this battle. US citizens that wanted nothing more than to free Iraq from oppression.

Go back research some of Saddam Hussein's methods of getting people to talk..that will curl your toes. Acid, flaying, beating... if that's any hint...

About.com:
Reprisal Against Dujail.
On July 8, 1982, Saddam Hussein was visiting the town of Dujail (50 miles north of Baghdad) when a group of Dawa militants shot at his motorcade. In reprisal for this assassination attempt, the entire town was punished. More than 140 fighting-age men were apprehended and never heard from again. Approximately 1,500 other townspeople, including children, were rounded up and taken to prison, where many were tortured. After a year or more in prison, many were exiled to a southern desert camp. The town itself was destroyed; houses were bulldozed and orchards were demolished.
Though Saddam's reprisal against Dujail is considered one of his lesser-known crimes, it has been chosen as the first for which he will be tried.

Anfal Campaign
Officially from February 23 to September 6, 1988 (but often thought to extend from March 1987 to May 1989), Saddam Hussein's regime carried out the Anfal (Arabic for "spoils") campaign against the large Kurdish population in northern Iraq. The purpose of the campaign was ostensibly to reassert Iraqi control over the area; however, the real goal was to permanently eliminate the Kurdish problem.
The campaign consisted of eight stages of assault, where up to 200,000 Iraqi troops attacked the area, rounded up civilians, and razed villages. Once rounded up, the civilians were divided into two groups: men from ages of about 13 to 70 and women, children, and elderly men. The men were then shot and buried in mass graves. The women, children, and elderly were taken to relocation camps where conditions were deplorable. In a few areas, especially areas that put up even a little resistance, everyone was killed.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled the area, yet it is estimated that up to 182,000 were killed during the Anfal campaign. Many people consider the Anfal campaign an attempt at genocide.

Chemical Weapons Against Kurds
As early as April 1987, the Iraqis used chemical weapons to remove Kurds from their villages in northern Iraq during the Anfal campaign. It is estimated that chemical weapons were used on approximately 40 Kurdish villages, with the largest of these attacks occurring on March 16, 1988 against the Kurdish town of Halabja.
Beginning in the morning on March 16, 1988 and continuing all night, the Iraqis rained down volley after volley of bombs filled with a deadly mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on Halabja. Immediate effects of the chemicals included blindness, vomiting, blisters, convulsions, and asphyxiation. Approximately 5,000 women, men, and children died within days of the attacks. Long-term effects included permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects. An estimated 10,000 lived, but live daily with the disfigurement and sicknesses from the chemical weapons.
Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid was directly in charge of the chemical attacks against the Kurds, earning him the epithet, "Chemical Ali."

Invasion of Kuwait
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops invaded the country of Kuwait. The invasion was induced by oil and a large war debt that Iraq owed Kuwait. The six-week, Persian Gulf War pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991. As the Iraqi troops retreated, they were ordered to light oil wells on fire. Over 700 oil wells were lit, burning over one billion barrels of oil and releasing dangerous pollutants into the air. Oil pipelines were also opened, releasing 10 million barrels of oil into the Gulf and tainting many water sources. The fires and the oil spill created a huge environmental disaster.

Shiite Uprising & the Marsh Arabs
At the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, southern Shiites and northern Kurds rebelled against Hussein's regime. In retaliation, Iraq brutally suppressed the uprising, killing thousands of Shiites in southern Iraq.
As supposed punishment for supporting the Shiite rebellion in 1991, Saddam Hussein's regime killed thousands of Marsh Arabs, bulldozed their villages, and systematically ruined their way of life. The Marsh Arabs had lived for thousands of years in the marshlands located in southern Iraq until Iraq built a network of canals, dykes, and dams to divert water away from the marshes. The Marsh Arabs were forced to flee the area, their way of life decimated.
By 2002, satellite images showed only 7 to 10 percent of the marshlands left. Saddam Hussein is blamed for creating an environmental disaster.

From the Boston Globe.
Iraq soccer vagabonds right at home
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff August 16, 2004
PIRAEUS, Greece -- Instead of playing for their lives under a torturous regime, Iraq's soccer vagabonds played as though they had the time of their lives last night.
Pushing the play relentlessly in front of a delirious partisan crowd, the driven Iraqis struck for a pair of second-half goals to keep their fairy-tale Olympic odyssey alive with a 2-0 thumping of Costa Rica.
The victory advanced the Iraqis to the quarterfinals, a stunning showing for a once-proud program that had been demoralized and brutalized by Uday Hussein, the country's sadistic former Olympic director.
"We're delighted with this victory because we all recognize what that means to our people," said coach Adnan Hamed.
For thousands of cheering Iraqi expatriates who stood throughout the game, the triumph was sheer joy amid a torrent of depressing news from their war-ravaged homeland.
The Iraqi fans laid down an intense, steady drumbeat of noise. They booed every Costa Rican shot on goal, whistled at every collision, and cheered every Iraqi advance past midfield. When an apparent Costa Rican goal was waved off at 53 minutes, the crowd erupted in delight.
And when each Iraqi goal was scored, at 67 and 72 minutes, arm-pumping supporters stormed the field to hug their heroes.
The match clearly was much more than a game to the Iraqis, who for years fielded one of the best squads in the Middle East before Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's two sons, gave a cruel new meaning to taking one for the team. After a 1997 loss to Kazakhstan in a World Cup qualifying game, for example, the players were badly caned on the soles of their feet.
On another occasion, defeated players were dragged on the pavement until their skin became raw and then were forced to leap into raw sewage. Such was the unhealthy life of an Iraqi soccer player.
Hussain Mohammed, the country's soccer federation president and a star player in the 1970s, pleaded with Iraqis at home to use the triumph as a unifying force for better times.
"We call on all Iraqis to respect this victory," Mohammed said, "and to use it as a platform to perhaps cease-fire and be peaceful about what they're doing at the moment and come back from the brink."
Amir al-Saadi, the Iraqi Olympic Committee's secretary-general, mentioned the bombs that are daily fare near his Baghdad home. But on this night, al-Saadi managed to exhale.
When asked about the reaction in Iraq, al-Saadi replied with grinning understatement: "This victory is maybe making them happy."
Undoubtedly. After the team's startling opening-round victory over heavily favored Portugal, the streets of Baghdad erupted with celebratory gunfire.
The genesis of this team, helped financially by the US Olympic Committee and foreign soccer federations, has been a testament to the desire of the global sporting community to give Iraq something to cheer about.
Forced to roam from their devastated country, the Iraqis played their qualifying matches in Jordan and trained in Germany before arriving here. The team earned a slot in the tournament only three months after its reinstatement by the International Olympic Committee.
Raad Shano, 26, an Iraqi native, guaranteed victory before the match from his front-row seat.
"I am sure of it," he said, an Iraqi flag clenched in his fist. All around him, Shano's fellow expatriates pointed, jumped, and fidgeted with the pent-up excitement of people trying to will something good for their country.
Hundreds of Iraqi flags fluttered in the brisk breeze. Fans proudly wore Iraq T-shirts into the 33,000-seat stadium, which was about one-third full. And a familiar chant from their homeland punctuated the air, but with a starkly different twist.
From both sides of the arena, the excited fans clapped rhythmically as they pledged to sacrifice their souls and blood for Iraq. Until the war, that chant always offered the sacrifice to Saddam Hussein.
Shano noted the difference. A native of Basra, Shano said he fled his country four years ago to begin a nomadic quest for a new home, where peace and stability would be the norm instead of a dream.
Syria, Turkey, and now Greece have been stops on his journey, Shano said. Maybe Canada will be the final destination.
"Sometimes you must end it," Shano said of his decision to leave Iraq. "Because you don't want your children to suffer like you did. Our life there was finished."
But last night, the focus was on sport and on a team unfettered by the cruel whims of a dictatorial regime.
Shano shouted encouragement to the Iraqi players as they emerged, all business, from the locker room. The players pumped their fists, the Costa Rica fans were nowhere to be seen, and the Iraqi national anthem prompted an emotional sing-along from both sides of the stadium.
It was a good night to be an Iraqi soccer player, even if the team might not play an important match on home soil for the foreseeable future.
But to Shano and other Iraqis living in Greece, the sight of them on the field was enough.
"It's a chance to see your flag on another land," Shano said. And for families back home, who Shano said have telephoned to revel in Iraq's performance, the Olympic adventure is a respite from their hardships.

From Sports Illustrated:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Uday Hussein, the murderous and erratic oldest son of Saddam Hussein, controlled propaganda in Iraq and allegedly oversaw the torture of athletes who failed to perform.
The 39-year-old had a US$15 million reward on his head as No. 3 on the list of 55 most-wanted men from the ousted Iraqi regime -- only Saddam and younger brother Qusay ranked higher. The three also were on a U.S. list of former leaders who could be tried for war crimes.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq, said Uday and Qusay were killed Tuesday during a gunbattle with American soldiers in northern Iraq.
As head of the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary force, Uday helped his father eliminate opponents and exert iron-fisted control over Iraq's 25 million people. The eldest of Saddam's five children, Uday was elected to parliament in 1999 with a reported 99 percent of the vote, but he rarely attended parliament sessions.
Iraqi exiles say Uday murdered at will and tortured with zeal, and routinely ordered his guards to snatch young women off the street so he could rape them. The London-based human-rights group Indict said Uday ordered prisoners to be dropped into acid baths as punishment.
The Caligula-like Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself Abu Sarhan, an Arabic term for "wolf."
But his tendency toward erratic brutality even exasperated Saddam, who temporarily banished Uday to Switzerland after the younger Hussein killed one of his father's favorite bodyguards in 1988.
The bodyguard, a young man named Kamel Gegeo, arranged trysts for the Iraqi president -- notably with one woman who later became Saddam's second wife. Worried that his father's relationship with the woman could threaten his own position as heir, Uday beat Gegeo to death with a club in full view of guests at a high-society party, according to some reports. Other reports said Uday killed Gegeo with an electric carving knife.
Uday had once been a strong candidate to succeed his father, but he was badly injured in 1996 in an assassination attempt by gunmen who opened fire as he drove his red Porsche through Baghdad. The attack left Uday with a bullet in his spine that forced him to walk with a cane. Younger brother Qusay was instead groomed to succeed Saddam, worsening already uneasy relations between the two brothers.
Uday owned Iraq's most widely circulated daily newspaper, Babil, which he used as a platform for regime propaganda, publishing signed editorials full of bombastic rhetoric. He also oversaw Al-Zawra, a weekly published by the journalists union that he headed, and owned the popular Youth TV.
Much of Uday's notoriety abroad stemmed from his position as head of the National Iraqi Olympic Committee, which was accused of torturing and jailing athletes.
The London-based human rights group Indict said the committee once made a group of track athletes crawl on newly poured asphalt while they were beaten and threw some of them off a bridge. Indict also said Uday ran a special prison for athletes who offended him. The International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, said earlier this year that it was investigating the allegations.
One defector told Indict that jailed soccer players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Another defector said athletes were dragged through a gravel pit and then dunked in a sewage tank so infection would set in.
Army officers also were fair game for Uday's outbursts of violence. In 1983, Uday reportedly bashed an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow Uday to dance with his wife. The officer later died. Uday also shot an army officer who did not salute him.
Things were hardly better on the family front, where relations between Uday and his uncles were especially bad. Uday reportedly divorced the daughter of one uncle, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, in 1995 after she complained of being beaten. Uday shot and wounded another uncle, Watban Ibrahim Hasan. Both uncles were captured after the war and are in the custody of U.S. coalition forces.
While millions of Iraqis suffered dire poverty, Uday lived a life of fast cars, expensive liquor and easy women.
When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo with lions and cheetahs, an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars, Cuban cigars with his name on the wrapper, and $1 million in fine wines, liquor -- and even heroin.
Uday's obsession with sex was evident everywhere: The house was adorned with paintings of naked women and photographs of prostitutes taken off the Internet, complete with handwritten ratings of each.
There were bags and boxes of pills and medicines everywhere -- ginseng sexual fortifiers, heartburn medication, the anti-depressant Prozac -- and an Accu-Rite HIV Antibodies Screening Test Kit was in Uday's office.
Nearby was a domed house believed to be the residence of Uday's concubines, a bastion of bad taste with statuettes of couples in foreplay, couches with fluffy pillows and a swimming pool with a bar.

From Fox News.
Obituary: Qusay Saddam Hussein
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's younger son, held wide-ranging powers over the nation's ruthless security apparatus that made him one of the most feared men in Iraq.
Qusay was No. 2 on the U.S.-led coalition forces' list of the 55 most wanted men from the former Iraqi regime, behind only his father. He was also on a Bush administration list of regime members who could be tried for war crimes.
The two brothers, who each were sought with $15 million rewards, died in a shootout with American soldiers Tuesday in northern Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition troops in Iraq, announced.
Quiet, handsome and every bit as brutal as Saddam, the 37-year-old Qusay headed Iraq's intelligence and security services, his father's personal security force and the Republican Guard (search), an elite force of 80,000 soldiers responsible for defending Baghdad.
He stayed out of the public eye and led a substantially more subdued private life than his older brother Uday, who collected luxury cars by the hundreds and had a habit of ordering his guards to snatch young women off the street in order to rape them. Iraqis nicknamed Qusay "The Snake" for his bloodthirsty but low-profile manner.
Qusay was far more trusted by his father and appeared to be his heir before the regime crumbled. In televised meetings with top security and military men, Qusay was seated next to his father, wearing well-tailored suits and dutifully noting his father's every word.
An exiled dissident told The Associated Press that only Qusay and Saddam's private secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti (search), who was captured in June, were kept informed of Saddam's whereabouts. Uday was thought to be too reckless to be trusted with such information.
Experts do not believe Qusay played a significant role in the Gulf War of 1991 (search). But he was a leading figure of terror in the conflict's aftermath, using mass executions and torture to crush the Shiite Muslim uprising after that war.
Qusay also helped engineer the destruction of the southern marshes in the 1990s, an action aimed at Shiite "Marsh Arabs" living there.
The marshes — roughly 3,200 square miles — had provided the necessities of life for tens of thousands of marsh dwellers for at least 1,000 years. The area was destroyed through a large-scale water diversion project intended to remove the ability of insurgents to hide there.
Qusay also oversaw Iraq's notorious detention centers and is believed to have initiated "prison cleansing" — a means of relieving severe overcrowding in jails with arbitrary killings.
Citing testimony from former Iraqi intelligence officers and other state employees, New York-based Human Rights Watch said several thousand inmates were executed at Iraq's prisons over the past several years.
Prisoners were often eliminated with a bullet to the head, but one witness told the London-based human rights group Indict that inmates were sometimes murdered by being dropped into shredding machines. Some prisoners went in head first and died quickly, while others were put in feet first and died screaming. The witness said that on at least one occasion, Qusay supervised shredding-machine murders.
On another occasion, a witness said, an inmate's foot was cut off in a prison torture room while Qusay was present.
"The amputation had been carried out with a power saw during his torture under the direct supervision of Qusay ," the witness told Indict.
Qusay was made chief of the army branch for the ruling Baath party in 2000, meaning virtually all the army's movements were under his supervision. Just before this year's war began, he was put in charge of defending the nation's capital and heartland.
Qusay was spared any real combat during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, although state television showed him conferring with commanders. He did not do any of the compulsory military service required of most Iraqi men.
Qusay wed the daughter of a respected senior military commander. The couple, who later separated, had two daughters. U.S. officials said a teenager killed with Qusay may have been his son.

From FreeRepublic.com:
Iraqi Foreign Minister: American Soldiers Captured in Iraq to Be Burnt or Beheaded
BAGHDAD, March 18. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has no intention of carrying out the demands made by US President George Bush in his recent ultimatum. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced by Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri at a press conference in Baghdad today.
He said that the Iraqi people 'elected Mr Hussein as their leader' and they will lead a fierce struggle against the aggressors under his command. The Iraqi foreign minister added that a horrific death awaits any Americans captured on Iraqi territory. 'They will be burnt or beheaded,' said Mr Sabri.
US President George Bush made an ultimatum to Mr Hussein, giving him and his sons 48 hours to leave the country. If these demands are not carried out, the American army will attack Iraq. The deadline of the ultimatum is Wednesday evening.

Welfare.

So. I do honestly hate taxes. I honestly do.

I despise working like a dog in order to support people that will not work.

I despise working like a dog so that people that aren't even legal citizens can have access to better healthcare and benefits than citizens.

An illegal can come to the US, have a baby, that baby in turn is a legal citizen. Yet, their illegal status deems them qualified for medical attention, money, groceries, etc.

Yet, only citizens that meet a certain requirement can have access to these benefit.

Where does the line between abuse and need blur? Where does the seperation occur? Oftentimes, it doesn't.

We have limits on the amount of daycare the government or rather taxpayers will pay. That doesn't stop people from living together and having a joint income. These people will have a maximum of 230$ a month to pay in childcare. That's one months worth of co-pay. When the average parent, not on welfare, will pay that in a week.

Yes, people that don't need it use it. People that are perfectly capable of working use it. People that have two incomes use it. Where do we stop the merry-go-round?

How much longer will I have to look at my check stub and sigh over the amount of money I gave to Social Security? Until something is done about the system, we simply have to do it.

Social Security is a Communist idea.

com·mu·nism (kmy-nzm) KEY NOUN:
A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

Communism
A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

Quote: "A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people."

All goods are equally shared by the people..

So, is this what we are attempting to do? Let those that work support us all?

I think not.

Air Travel..

I flew home today after spending nearly a week at my parents house for the holidays.
As someone that flies quite a bit, I have no trouble pulling off my shoes and submitting to being scanned.

Two connecting flights, 4 hours worth of layovers and 2 hours worth of security isn't that big of a deal. One makes sure they're there early, wear comfortable clothing, easy to remove shoes and Voila'! Its much simplier.

They are called security measures for the precise reason to keep us safe. Ah yes, they constrain us, crimp our style and make us late. But, at the cost of being blown out of the sky, I would think we should be grateful for them.

We have not had an attack on domestic soil in 5 years. We have completely revamped our airport security, our customs, and our approach to passenger check in.

So why am hearing the bitter complaints of people not being allowed their whims?
Why does the general public care so little about their own safety?

They demand to be kept safe, yet they buck at any attempt to do so. They complain, they whine, they act mostly like spoiled children.

Shape up America, it's not all about you.

Black Friday, Christmas madness.

Happy Holidays everyone!...

Happy Kwaanza..Happy Haunakah...Merry Christmas..

The time has come that those words will become a mainstay.
But before all that, let me take time to reflect on the monstrosity known as "Black Friday".

Yesterday, myself and six members of my family woke up at an ungodly hour, drove an hour and a half, and braved the crowds, all for the love of the sale. Granted, they were very good sales. but sales none the less.

We heard the rumors. "Don't go to Best Buy! People are knocking people over and fighting." We saw the lines. A line in a well known department store that stretched completely around the store and out into the parking lot.

Luckily, we didn't have to join the unfortuntate souls in that line. Why do we embrace consumerism so much? What drives us to buy as much as we can?

Next subject: Christmas madness.
It makes me laugh when I see people dreading the holidays. To me, they can be "the best of times or the worst of times", to quote Charles Dickens.
I shall attempt to expound on that subject more in the future.

Discipline.. why most 18-25 year olds prefer corporal punishment.

Strange isn't it? That the young adults of our world favor corporal punishment for their children.
What happened to the belief that we negotiate our problems? That we 'talk' and 'reason' with our children?

Maybe we have seen two or three generations disciplined this way and the result scares us to death. We're raising a irresponsible, disrespectful, undisciplined generation. A generation that believes that they should be handed everything on a silver platter. That their every whim should be catered to inexplicibly.

Most of the 18-25 year olds were raised with some form of corporal punishment. Whether we were spanked, swatted or smacked. We learned quickly that what our parents said -they meant.

Yes, I am fully aware that there are lunatics that take punishment to despicable levels. They shouldn't be allowed to have children ( or animals). But, to my knowledge, I've never had the urge to beat someone (that didn't deserve it) for no explainable reason. I've never felt as though I was abused, neglected or abandoned. In fact, (shocker) I felt rather loved and taken care of. Spankings included. I learned to respect my parents, elders and those in authority. I learned that there are consequences for my actions. Something many children lack now days.



But what can one do? In a world where children are left to their own devices, with little or no parental guidance.

I also learned to take responsiblity for my actions. I don't blame someone else if I get into trouble or do something I'm not suppose to. I eat everything on my plate and don't whine that it isn't McDonalds. I'm not a terribly picky eater. Another outcome of a lack of discipline.

No, I'm not saying force your child to eat things they honestly don't like. But don't make them turn up their nose at anything they think doesn't look right. Teach them to count their blessings. Teach them that yes, there are children that don't have what they have. Even here in our on country. Give them the oppurtunity to give back to the community. Give them the chance to make a difference. Even if it's something as small as raking leaves for their neighbors or baking cookies for the mailman. Give them a chance to give rather than get all the time.

I recently spoke with a woman who's grandchildren were raised through talking, timeouts, and a 'hands off' method. They were polite, they were well behaved and generally nice children. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm glad that they turned out the way they did.

But what do you do with a ten year old that has already been suspended twice for bringing a knife to school? Can you reason with him? Or perhaps he needs to be shown some 'tought love'? He thinks it's glamorous to have a record. I had a chance to speak with him. I told him, "you don't want to go to juvie. You don't want to go to Rader (local youth incarciration facility). You think you're tough? They would beat the crap out of you and worse." Hopefully, he understood.

With all that said.. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you..

Remember to be thankful.. Count your blessings.. Etc.

I'm currently setting in an airport awaiting my connecting flight..

Over sexed?

Reading through a popular magazine today, I was disturbed at how sensualized our world has become.

Everything from shoes to perfume it can't be sold any other way but through sex. Is the only way to make money is through blatant exposure of the human body?

What kind of ideal is that? Are we so insecure in ourselves that we have to become something we're not? Are we so tired of reality that we have to escape to surrealism?

What does this tell our children? What do they think when they see our attempts to be something we're not? Does this create in them the same insecurities? The same beliefs that the 'real' us isn't good enough? We have to plasticize ourselves in order to measure up to the ungodly standards of models, ad, commercials and Hollywood. But, I'm tired of having to be plastic, I'm tired of being told that my body isn't right. That the only way I'll ever measure up is to be an oversexed, plasticized barbie.

Modesty is something that isn't wrong. It's something that allows us basic human dignity. There's nothing flattering about exposing ones self to the world. Do you really think we want to see it in the first place? The term, 'TMI' (too much information) was coined for a reason.

Death. On why they hurt nearly a year afterward.

The 1st anniversary of my grandmother's death won't be until January 11. 2007.
But, experiencing firsts this year is going to be difficult.

My grandmother died at the hands of an incompetent surgeon or physicians assistant. To this day we're still trying to learn the truth.

My birthday is in 4 days. It will be the first without her. Thanksgiving is in 3 days. It will be the first without her.

I received a check in the mail today from my grandfather. I'm not sure what hurt the most? Seeing the check that she always signed. Or only seeing his name on the check header. Then, it will be Christmas, then New Years. Then, the anniversary of her untimely death. She was 66, not old. Not unhealthy. A wonderful lady that loved all of her grandkids and spoiled them all.
I was the oldest grand-daughter. After having 4 sons and 4 grandsons, I finally made an appearance. It was interesting, being the first girl. Although, a bit challenging as well. It's funny when the emotion hits you. It comes from nowhere, you're never expecting it. But it can be something as simple as a check. Or something as powerful as a picture.

One thing is for certain, death never let's us forget.


With the Holiday season upon us, I always marvel at the ability of people to care about their fellow man, then turn it off as though it was a faucet.


Why must we only care during certain times of the year? I know this is a cliche' idea. But, it's one that's worth repeating.

I spoke with a woman tonight, her group is adopting two families in the community. Their biggest problem was trying to surreptitiously procure the sizes of the children in the families.
So, why can we not do the same? Lack of time? Lack of money? What about a lack of heart? Yes, granted, there are people out there that abuse the system, that are perfectly capable of going out an getting a job.

But what about the man that was laid off? His wife, used to being at home with the kids, is now making minimum wage at the grocery store. They can barely pay their bills, let alone buy frivolous presents. Their spirit wouldn't be frivolous, but why buy your kids presents and not buy them food?

What about them? Or perhaps, the elderly couple down the street. Both live on Social Security, although, that's just enough to get by on. What would it hurt, to buy an extra pumpkin pie, buy one extra can of cranberry and take it to someone in need?

Or do something daring. Go volunteer this Thanksgiving, in a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

Not quite brave enough? Just remember, every little bit helps.