Keeping Busy!

I should be working, but I thought that maybe a few minutes to catch up with my reading is in order. I do appreciate the kind comments that all of you leave and I try to return the favor... when I have some free time.


My plan was to start with a lovely picture of my lovely green garden to allow you to see the raised box filled with soil, lovely green bean plants that may take over, onions, radishes, peas, cucumbers, squash,  turnips, and brocolli. YUM! Plus the 5 gallon buckets standing along side the bed holding my tomato plants. There are more tomatoes, and some peppers, but they are not seen in the picture. Why won't blogger let me upload my pretty picture?  I will keep trying, but I may have to do it from another computer.


I've tried again, but it just isn't happening.


In the comments from the last post Carl asked if I could post a link to the newspaper article, or post the article. I could not find a link to it, and my scanner doesn't produce JPEGs and Blogger doesn't read PDFs (why not?), but I will try to use another scanner and see what I can do.


In Week 5 of Term IV now, getting close to the Revolutionary War in Colonial History, learning the basics of Political Science in the other class (I can't ever remember the name), took one mid-term last Wednesday (how long does it take to grade?) and another tonight.. probably. I need to start the paper that is due next Tuesday (I've chosen to look at how Ireland is doing in a growing global economy... since it had to be bailed out last year) and finish reading the book for the other paper.


Work is crazy. I would still be here even if the rest of the government had completely shut down last Friday, because I am a contract employee. Of course we've been living on extension after extension of the contract, but I think that is coming to an end. I should have a new employer by the end of next month.  Same job, new employer. I hope that will help with the issues that I have had on and off around here for the last couple of years. Maybe it will ensure that other people are required to actually be here for 40 hours a week. Maybe.


Things are bad in my wonderful state and while I write letters and make phone calls, I am stuck firmly over here in Right Wing Country, where people love them some Tricky Ricky. Not everyone is crazy about the goings on in Tallahassee, these lovely grannies are probably not going to get a recording contract, but I would love to find a bumper sticker:

Thank you to Hen's Teeth

But while laughter is the best medicine, knowing that teachers, firefighters, police officers, and all state workers are losing ground every day isn't funny. Neither is the attack on my body parts. And knowing that there isn't much than can be done until January 2013 makes me a little sick to my stomach. Will I even be employable then? Or will Sharia Law be in place.. or the "christian" version of it.

I have more to say, but now Blogger won't let me change the font color, and I am finished with lunch, so I need to get back to work. I hope your states are all doing better than mine!

What Have I Been Doing?

You may ask! Or, if you aren't going to ask, I am going to tell you anyway.

Over the 9 months starting August 2009 and ending May 2010, I managed to accrue 25 more college credit hours. And I did not go insane. That was a lovely bonus. I don't have any idea what my GPA is, but it is above a 3.0 and I can live with that. I did take the summer off from school, but it starts again in less than a week. I am not taking 13 credit hours over the next 18 weeks though. I do want to get my degree, but I do not want everything else in my life to suffer for it. I am taking 9 credit hours. 3 during Term I (August 9 - October). 3 during Term II (October - mid December) and 3 at Gulf Coast Community College over their traditional semester. If that is too much to be able to enjoy my life (at least a little), I will drop the number back to 6 in the Spring. I don't want to do that. I would like to graduate one day. But it may be necessary. OH. And I am adding History as either a 2nd Major or a Minor. My advisor was out last week when I went to register, so I haven't spoken with her about it.

I finally started walking the walk I have been talking.
Composting - Check.
Recycling more than just cans - Check.
Enough reuseable shopping bags to never have to use plastic again - Check.
Growing my own vegetables in the dirt - Check. Weeeell. I am trying. I hope that practice will help. I do have vegetables growing, but they aren't producing much. Except the basil. WOW. Do you need some basil?
Cooking more from scratch - Check.
Buying products that are more natural with less preservatives - Check.
Buying local, organic, grass fed meats - Have you seen the prices of those? I am working up to this one.

All in all, I do feel like I have made some progress toward being more responsible to myself, my family (even when they fight me) and the world. I still have a long way to go, but every journey starts with the first step.

I will try to do an entire post about my gardening, what I have accomplished so far (which just includes spending money, sweating and getting dirty, but not much actual food production) and where I hope to go next year (out of the containers and into the actual ground!).

DSD is still out of work. He looks for a while, then he gets discouraged. But I like the fact that the I don't have to touch the vacuum or clean the bathroom. He does a lot of the cooking (although little of the planning) and most of the cleaning. He does 95% of all errands; quick shopping trips, dry cleaners, oil changes, bank runs, etc. And Lola has her Daddy at home to play most days. Financially we are doing okay and we are very thankful for it. So many are losing everything and we are in no danger of that.

Lola is great. Almost 100 pounds (she is getting fat), but on a diet.

The kids (my 1, his 3) are doing well. BabyBoy moved out, but he is back at home. Working now. We will see about school for the fall. He is without medical insurance. The health care reform does not force Tricare to cover children who are 21, but not in school full time. Nice, huh?

I have suffered from what I believe was an incorrect diagnosis of Lupus and 4-6 pills a day to an actual diagnosis of Plantar Faciitis that is 95% better with physical therapy. I am now drug free, except for the occasional alcoholic beverage and/or Tylenol. And I am dealing with the early stages of Menopause. Yes, I am only 43, but it is common in my family.

There is so much more. I hope that I am energized enough to continue to post. About DSD's daugher's upcoming wedding and why I am dreading it. About my parents' and the fact that they are loving retired life. About the oil spill and how its effects have been felt locally and how the media has taken a horrifying situation and made it so much worse.

Enjoy your Wednesday and keep checking back. I hope to be here.

Really Quick

Hello!! I hope everyone is well. I am well. Just insanely busy. Still.

Term 1 is completed. I managed 2 A's and 1 B. That World Politics class was TOUGH. I am really lucky I got a B, I think.

Into the 2nd week of Term 2. Working my butt off. I keep thinking I am going to have a stroke or something, but I keep getting up and going to work and going home, cooking dinner, studying and sleeping. Wow.

This weekend, I have 3 papers due on Sunday for ONE class (assignments in the other class are completed and turned in) and DSD and I are leaving in the morning for Starkville, MS to watch UF play @ Mississippi St. I figure I can write the papers (2 are started) on the way and type them on his laptop on the way home. I hope.

Keeping a close eye on the President. I want the rest of the TARP money to go toward healthcare. I don't think bailing out anyone else is a good idea, but I do like the idea of capping salaries for those businesses who have not paid the taxpayers back. Is that legal?

Why is Glenn Beck still allowed on the air? I have emailed and called sponsors. I have complained. How does anyone with a brain believe the lies on put out by the hate mongers? Sad state our country is in.

Trying to eat healthier, less processed food. It is more work to PLAN the meals, but not really to cook them. I spend a lot of time on FoodNetwork.com.

That isn't all, that isn't even CLOSE, but I have to shut down the computer and get out of here for a doctor's appointment. Maybe I will have a minute before the end of the month?

Believing in the CIA

The CIA has been in the news a lot latey, claiming that the entire Congress (but especially Nancy Pelosi) knew exactly when the torture started and how it was being done and that they (she) had approved it and it just wasn't their fault. Following orders, you know.*

Ms. Pelosi is not very popular across America, although she does not seem to have a lot of trouble getting re-elected to her seat. I don't pay a lot of attention to the hoopla surrounding her. She is from a different state and I can not vote for her or for her opponent and I have a difficult enough time following the bozos.. I mean, politicians, in my own state.

But this is the same CIA who fed us information on WMDs. Non-existent WMDs. WMDs which led to a war that has cost this country far more than any dollar amount could explain.

Plus, there is old Newt screaming about her. Screaming that there should be an investigation into what she did or didn't know. Can that be proven at all, either way? Why isn't Newt screaming about those who have ADMITTEDLY authorized the torture?

And why isn't anyone other than NPR carrying this story about former FL Senator Bob Graham?

former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, is also disputing the CIA's version of the briefings that he received at the time.
...
Graham is known as a meticulous note-taker and has maintained a daily log that fills hundreds of spiral notebooks
...
I called the CIA and asked for the dates in which I had been briefed," Graham tells Robert Siegel. "They gave me four: two in April of '02, two in September."
Graham says he consulted his logs "and determined that on three of the four dates there was no briefing held."
He adds: "On one date, Sept. 27, '02, there was a briefing held and, according to my notes, it was on the topic of detainee interrogation."

Because corroboration of her story makes her seem slight less insane? Sen Graham does go on to say that waterboarding and other torture techniques were not mentioned. At.All.

And he makes the same connection I did above about the CIA and the WMDs, but does a better job of it.

Maybe the CIA needs to rethink its approach to this issue and go back to pointing the finger at those who authorized this stain (one in a long line) on America.

* The military are required to follow orders, but only those considered "lawful" and active duty military personnel can be prosecuted for following "unlawful" orders, as can be seen by the Abu Ghraib scandal. If 18 or 19 kids are supposed to be able to tell the difference, why aren't the grown up in the CIA being held accountable?

Back to the Real World aka Murder in Oakland

While waiting for the Pre-Game to start on Thursday I allowed* DSD to watch World News Tonight. Imagine my shock and horror when Brian Williams showed the above video. While I had briefly seen a headline on one of the webpages Thursday on rioting, there was no indication where or why the rioting was occurring. There was no indication that a man had been publicly murdered on camera. This morning when I sat down to write this post I googled the man's name, Oscar Grant, and found TWO stories on this in the mainstream media. TWO! There are plenty of blogs on it, thank goodness, but not a lot of "legitimate" news sources are carrying this story.

I don't know anything about Oscar Grant. He was 22 years old and had a4 year old daughter. One story said he was a 'peacemaker' but another said he was a trouble maker. The story on World News Tongght said the BART cops had been called out because there was a fight.

I don't give a flying fatooty. This man was murdered. He was on the ground face down and was shot. It looks possible that he was struggling with the cops. So? I am certain that is not grounds for deadly force.

There has been rioting in protest of this shooting.




I don't think rioting is an answer, but I have never been faced with issues like this, so I am not judging these people. Maybe, if the cop had been fired and arrested, as I would have been, then the riots would not have happened.

The officer remains free and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. And some experts have questioned whether he fired his gun deliberately or mistakenly believed he was using his stun gun instead....

The video footage has led to debate over whether the officer knowingly shot Grant, as the victim's family alleges....

Bruce Siddle, a use-of-force expert who viewed the video clips, theorized that Mehserle was working under stress in a hostile situation and did not realize he was firing his pistol.

I don't want cops on the street if they aren't bright enough to know the difference between a stun gun, a taser and a hand gun.

Having been married to a cop who was a total prick and thought he was god's gift to the world, I have a unique perspective on law enforcement, although not an unbiased one. I know some good cops who are out there performing their duties to Protect and Serve, my EX had Southern Sheriff Syndrome, believing that he alone knew right from wrong and, BY GOD, don't question him.

Whether the shooter was confused or whether it was deliberate should not matter. Arrest him, charge him and get him off the street.

*On a lighter note, I do not allow DSD to go anything, especially with the remote. While he is very enlightened in most ways, he is a total man when it comes to the remote. Penis = control. Lucky for him, I would rather play on the computer or read a book than watch TV, so we don't fight over it...much.

Who Decides the Way America Votes?

I got home from class late last night. The class just ran late in preparation for next week's test. So DSD was asleep and my son was in the living room. I made a little conversation with him while pretty much staring (brain dead) at the TV for 10 minutes or so. I was on the verge of getting up to go to bed when he mentioned that he did not understand how his English professor thought there was going to be enough time for him (my son*) to do his paper. His research paper. Rough draft? Due today! Final? Due Thursday! Done? Not even close.

Now, in my son's defense, he did have a good start on the actual paper. Several paragraphs were completed and they made sense and they were supported by actual research. Unfortunately, there were still several paragraphs to go and he did not have the research to support them. Did I mention the rough draft was due today?

So, I showed him how he could find sources on the 'net. Sources that aren't random websites created by hooligans. How can he not know that? I have no idea.

But one of the things he needed (because this paper is on the opinion of the masses on the GWOT) was information on where our politicians stand on the issue. No problemo! I have every issue of TIME printed for the last year. Issues that I have not had or taken the time to read. Issues that cover 12 months of campaigning, speeches, and general BS by those running for President. So, I felt certain we could find this information. And we did: for Barack and Hillary. Issue after issue after issue. John Edwards stance on the war? Nothing. Rudy Guiliani's vision of the future? Not so much. Fred Thompson joins the race? Nah.

Now, truthfully, I really don't possess every single issue for the past year. I did receive them in the mail, but some I did read, some I passed on, some I disposed of. Still, there was a LARGE stack of magazines. And I could tell you about Hillary's health care plan. I could tell you about Barack's beliefs. I could explan about Hillary's unusual (or unexpected, I was tired) spiritual advisor. But I couldn't tell you a damn thing about John McCain.

The media wanted a historic campaign. The media wanted to see the first viable black candidate run against the first viable woman candidate. It didn't matter who was the best person for the job. It really didn't matter what America wanted, because (let's be honest) Americans are sheep who do as they are told. So the media covered the 2 candidates they wanted to run. And the media has its historic campaign. And the American public? Possibly screwed again, but that doesn't make good headlines.

And when Hillary and Barack rip each other to shreds and things cool down and if John McCain wins the election, will the election still be historic? How is it historic when America gets screwed?

*Yes, I read him the riot act, but he is 19 (next week) and spoiled. I'm working on him, I swear!