The House is Falling Down

Boy, I am so disappointed in my fellow citizens right now.  Rile em up, feed them garbage and send them screaming to their elected officials....yup, that's the way to do it.

Do any of you realize that BEFORE McCain pulled his "ride into Washington and be a Savior" antic this past week....the "bail out bill" was close to approval.  Now, after his grandstanding and letting the American public sweat on it for a few days...we have utter chaos.

Save me from heroes....

And no, I'm not for just handing money over to Wall Street willy nilly. However, if you look back at history we must step in.  In the great depression they waited years before they did anything that was constructive and those of my parents age who are still alive lived through some very harrowing times.  As seen by the reaction today of the market, the largest drop EVER. 

The SEC was put into place to guarantee that stockbrokers wouldn't "pad" the system by buying without any actual resources backing it up.  Brokerage houses have been heavily slapped in the past ..ie; EF Hutton's "float"...still can't figure out why they thought they would get around the SEC, once again pure greed and stupidity.

I don't like the bailout, I want as both McCain & Obama have said conditions placed on it that do not reward the exec's of the failed companies, it should be made clear that the funding will be paid back out of future profits. There needs to be a clear, concise accounting of where, to who and how the money is dispersed.   That being said, we NEED the bailout. 

Stop sending letters screaming at your representatives, you are frightening the poor dears, they think they will not get elected again if they vote for it....so, of course, they are going to do what is also good for them - not vote for what they know they should....heck, their jobs are being threatened. How many of us could throw our jobs to the wind to vote our minds? Not many.

Our world has become an incredible shrinking planet, sneeze here in the States and a butterfly loses it's wings in China...or so they say.  So just what do you think that this financial disaster is doing worldwide?  Nothing good, that's for sure.

Mark my words, we are on a downward spiral and we best apply the brakes in any which way we can...before it all comes to grinding thud.

Hey! Henny Penny The Sky is Falling!!!

 

Sometimes you do feel that the world is a weight on your shoulders. The news this week has been very depressing, worrisome and downright bad.  My folks lived through the depression and it changed their outlook on life as they grew up.  Will we learn the same lessons that they did as we perch on the precipice peering into a chasm of monetary turmoil?  I highly doubt it.  Their generation learned to "make do or do without"...from the baby boomers on up to our youngest generations we have never learned how to "just make do".  We want it ALL....and we want it easy to boot.

It's easy to understand how we arrived at this crossroad for our country.  Hey, do you need a house?  Forget about a down payment, we can scoot you in under such and such loop hole and you will pay nothing.  Just forget about that little ole balloon payment in five years...heck, alot can happen in five years.  You, my friend might win the lottery! So enjoy the low payments, low interest....suck it up, don't worry BE HAPPY...you deserve it!!

Save money? Not the typical American I know. As a nation we are a poor excuse for saving much of our income...we are in the SPEND, SPEND mode.  We see it, we want, we have to have it....oh, Lord don't let the neighbors get it before I do. Can you see a pattern here?  We have toddlers walking around with expensive gadgets that just a few years ago adults had to think twice about buying for themselves.  Our values are so screwed and twisted. 

Then we have a total idiot in the White House who believes in maximum spending to achieve what he feels is best for the country..err (Haliburton)??  Ten BILLION dollars a month spent in Iraq, what the hell are we doing?  Pumping up, protecting another countries interests - saying that it is OUR interest too? We have lost over 4,000 American soldiers, hero's every one of them.  Don't forget that more than 30,000 troops have come home injured and willsuffer the consequences of that for the rest of their lives. Yet we have a man who wants to be President....McCain..saying that even if it took another ten years we must stay in Iraq.  Why is Iraq key? Afghanistan is more important in the scheme of things.  If after so many years of our involvement the Iraqis can't manage to get along and control their country something is very wrong.

We cannot take on the ills of the whole wide world.  It is impractical to think that we can. It is one of the reasons that our way of life is in trouble right now.  We need to tend to our own borders, shore up our spending, develop new and exciting areas of energy.  All the money that has gone into death and destruction must stop.  Otherwise our country will go the way of all the other civilizations that have failed. 

We need a grass root movement taking us back to basics.  Do your part, save some money...shore up our banking systems.  Invest a bit in stocks, now is the time to get some good buys while things are low. I'm not saying drop a bundle, just do a little. Every little bit will help.  Especially investing in anything "green" will help our country in the long run.  Grow a garden, give back to nature and you may find that the benefits are great. Fresh food and lower blood pressure.

I watched the debate last night, wish I could of asked the questions.  I thought some of the questions asked were sort of redundant and not well thought out.  McCain comes across as old and tired, constantly trying to bring his listeners back to the sixties and his war years.  Unfortunately, we need to live in this century...it is a brave new world out there and we need someone young, not someone whose glory days were forty years ago. I don't think I'm prejudiced against his age, I'm old too....not quite as old as he is.  He constantly pulls out his 96 year old Mom, I guess showing longevity runs in his genes. So does mine...my Dad is 92 and my Mom is 87.  That doesn't mean that I will see that age...nor does it mean that McCain will either.

A heartbeat away is Sarah Palin....she has done nothing in the past two weeks to impress me.  She still insists that because Russia is in close proximity to Alaska that makes her a maven in dealing with foreign governments...huh?  With that regard, I should consider myself a great diplomat, having visited the American Embassy in Japan, being giving a private tour of the Ambassador's office...I think that should count too. Give me a break.

Please, think it over, be careful....vote for Obama

On a personal note, I just returned from a wonderful, relaxing visit to my sister & brother-in-law's home in beautiful Washington State.  I do believe that God must have smiled when he created that area of our country...just gorgeous.  Of course, leaving the oppressive humidity of Florida and arriving to sixty-five degrees felt really refreshing too.

Charlene & Bob are into a lot of "green" things. They have a lovely vegetable garden, grape arbor, fruit trees and they harvest quite a bit on a daily basis. That is a great way to live, taking just enough from the earth and giving back . I think it has a sense of poetry in action to that life style. 

I visited with my youngest son Joey, he's been out there now for about four months and is doing well.  But, it made this Mother's heart happy to actually see that he was okay.  I also appreciate the help that my sister and her husband have extended to him so he doesn't feel all alone out there.

Well, when I get my pictures downloaded I will post some...I think I got some really good shots of the Washington area.....take care for now....

 

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We Do Not Need Another Four Years Of Crap

Okay...this wolf I like. Reminds me of the Siberian Husky Zorro that we used to own. Loved that dog, he was such a love. Scared the hell out of everybody just with his looks but underneath it all...he was a big baby.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our current she-wolf in sheep's clothing....dear homespun Sarah.  At first glimpse, I thought oh great at least one woman is getting on one of the tickets....you go girl.   Now, I want to say whoa, reign in those wild thoughts that she would be one to promote anything for women.  Just the opposite.  If she had her way, you my female compadre could be raped, impregnated by some low life and our resident she-wolf would want you to bring that child to term come hell or high water....only at the point of death of the mother does she relent.  Not only that, it seems in their little back water town she signed a budget codicil that would make any VICTIM have to pay for the cost of the rape kit, which you have to have in order to press charges against anyone.  Cute, huh....

I watched the interviews and I thought that Sarah came across very stiff, like a scripted speech instead of naturally speaking her mind.  I read an article that compared her to that movie where the English fellow took an uneducated girl and turned her into a perfect lady..."The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" keeps running through my head.  You betcha by gum! It's the way they do it up in the far North country.

Speaking of the far North country...my family has friends who have lived in Alaska for a while now and they do not think highly of the Governor either. Evidently, judging from the 1,500 protesters quite a few fellow Alaskans do not either.  I've seem comments from some of them they are horrified at the very idea that Palin would be a heartbeat away from the Presidency...it scares the hell out of them and it scares the hell out of me.

I am just praying that Obama will win, at least his choice for a Veep can step in as President and be as fully knowledgeable if not moreso than Obama.

I think McCain is nuts, first stages of something. I am not playing the age card here but we are on the brink of a brand new world...we need someone who is well attuned to this century not the last.  Ok, the story goes that because of his war injuries McCain could not learn how to do a computer...oh, really?  I have seen people with no arms use a pencil in their mouth to tap out commands to their computers, also given that his wife has more money than God...they do have computers that react to voice commands...McCain could afford it. Look at Stephen Hawkings, he can hardly move at all.  Obama was right and instead he got jumped on  like hey...McCain's a hero don't say anything bad about him... That doesn't fly well with me.  We need change, we deserve change...dam it I want change.

I would love to see a ground swell of our young voters, the ones who will gain the most from whatever is decided in October. So any of you have young adults that will listen to you...get them registered, get them to vote....tell them how important it is.  Our future really depends on this election....besides on my birthday JANUARY 20TH...I want to be singing Happy Days Are Here Again...and not paying homage to an old geezer and a she-wolf in disguise.

If I have insulted any Republicans, well this is how I feel....and it's my blog...

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Wow..Sometimes You Need To Wear Thigh High Boots

 Shades of the past come back to haunt us.  These photographs made me so mad! The city was so determined not to have anything go wrong with the Republican Convention that they practiced riot control for weeks...so it is not surprising that the police sprang into action even against teenagers just sitting quietly on the ground. Hey, they practiced and needed to show strength of purpose didn't they.  I look at these pictures and I am taken back to 1968 and the convention in Chicago (I lived through that). Of course, that was a combination of all sorts of factors and you had some really far out weird groups in the mix too. So that convention did get really violent on oh so many levels. Thousands were hurt, the spillover on the injured even made it to my neighborhood in Niles. Of course, as luck or Murphy's Law would have it...my little two year son climbed up on the toilet, over to the bathroom sink and into our medicine cabinet to find all the goodies! There were pills scattered everywhere...had no idea how many of what he ingested.  So in the middle of a riot I find myself heading to the hospital to have his stomach pumped! I have been in emergency rooms before but I was ill prepared for the chaos that I witnessed. The young people waiting for treatment looked like they had been through a bloody war.  Thankfully the nurses took us into the back away from it and got us out of there quickly.

Seeing these new photos, watching the video of it...just brought back such bad memories.  It's always the youth of our nation that fight injustice where they see it, they stand up against and more times than history has proven that they were correct in their fight.

It's funny Obama's speech here in St Petersburg got interrupted by several black youth holding a large banner...he asked them to sit down and that he would speak to them after his speech. And he did. 

Now, of course, I don't expect McCain to stop his acceptance speech because of someone holding up a banner against him...but what he said goes to show exactly what he thinks of the general public....he brushed it off telling folks "don't let static or background noise bother you".  Hmmmm

I hate to say this, as I love my country...but those pictures could of been taken in Beijing.  That's how they deal with protesters.

It also is very comical the way McCain is now trying to re-establish himself as a "maverick"...uhh...I don't think so.  He's older than I am and I feel older than dirt. Yes, he is a hero but that does not automatically convey the keys to the country. What about the fact that he has been part and parcel of what has gone on in the Senate and Congress for years....now he wants to be "new" again? Don't think so.

I just hope everyone votes from a good perspective on this race and do not just follow part rhetoric....for the love of our country.

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Jeeze who would of thunk it?

Well today's developments were not expected.  Emotionally I feel like I'm being played and I don't like it.

I really, really wanted Hillary to win...okay it didn't happen...get over it. Then I thought, okay Obama pick her as your running mate...good lord what a ticket!  Okay it didn't happen...get over it.

Now today I get up and discover that McClain has picked a woman to be his second in command! Talk about picking up leftovers at the table! Is this to appeal to all of us ladies out here in lala land who desperately wanted that glass ceiling to crash down in a testrone filled Washington?

The funny part is the news coverage I"ve seen so far is not making any big deal over the fact McClain chose a woman for the VP spot...why is that?

The powers that be that are behind McClain are pretty dam smart and determined to win.

Ironically, from what I've read about the Governor of Alaska I really like her....she sounds like one tough cookie.  Taking on the bad guys, yet managing to still keep her white hat clean.  Well, crap any woman who can manage a home, a husband, five kids, run a state - while pregnant and give birth during your term of office...has got my attention and respect.   I'm sure that is what John is counting on.  Pick up all those disgruntled Hillary backers with his female choice.

Her I would vote for....Him..not so much.  Well, anyway this whole race just got a lot more interesting...what a country!

 

Happy Days Are Here Again

I've been watching the Democratic Convention for the past several nights...actually enjoying the speeches.

I think Hillary delivered an excellent speech, filled with amazing grace.  I wanted her to win the nomination in the worst way, but it was not to be.  For the life of me, I cannot understand any woman who would not of voted for her.

Eighty some odd years ago our fore-mothers knew the power of togetherness.  They fought for and won a hard battle...they gave us the right to vote.  It wasn't easy for them, some of them were put into harm's way to achieve it. It disappoints me that young women of today do not respect what has gone one before in history.

When my grandmothers were born, they had few rights, little choices and certainly not allowed to vote.  Most men were of the accord that women did not possess a brain capable of thinking in the heavy realms of political bullshit.

There were a few brave men who stood by their valiant women in their struggles to achieve their rights. I'm quite sure they were looked down upon by their brethren.

Let me tell you something, the real power players in Washington don't respect women, certainly they do not want one in the Oval office.  Oh, yes, throw Conde at me..hell, if she were that smart she should be a democrat.

We are standing on the threshold of history, right here, right now...as a nation we must make the right choice.  For our children, our grandchildren...it's their future we are risking. America has during the last eight years been reduced in stature, finding itself stuck in a quagmire of a war that is draining our resources and killing the best of us.

Now is not the time to stand on party lines. I was a Republican for over 35 years...NOT ANY MORE.  The past eight years have been awful, let us not forget that the election itself was so totally in question. Of course, all that got blown away about the same time as the World Trade Centers.  Yes, we have to be armed, yes we need an army, yes we need to be able to protect ourselves our allied.

We do need protection from terrorists and we must have the ability to go after them wherever they are.

I am going to listen to Barack Obama tomorrow night when he makes his acceptance speech.  I hope America listens too, with an open heart.

Anyone out there that says they will not vote for him because they wanted Hillary is not thinking straight.  What Hillary said was so true....did you vote for her because who she was? Or did you vote because you knew she could bring change?   Obama will bring change.  Please vote.

 

 

 

Rain & More Rain

 

 

Well, it seems that Faye is not done with us yet.  Since early this morning we have been hit with one feeder band of rain after another. I can only imagine what the upper panhandle of Florida is going through right now.

This rain came down heavier than any rain I have ever been through, and that's saying a lot because I have lived through many a hurricane and cyclone too. 

The sky can't seem to make up it's mind weather to let the sun peek through or send us back into the deluge mode. Living in Florida yuck....

Anyway, ducks, frogs - wading birds looking for frogs...are going to be extremely happy. 

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