Meet Jack Russell (on the left) and Chino on the right... (that would be YOUR left... and yes, YOUR right...

Jack is on the quiet side. I think he may be "special"... all he does is blow bubbles all day... Tiny Bubbles... But he is a great swimmer...

Chino was a present from my oldest son. Ain't he cute !!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Was I ready to vote for Obama? I don’t know. I was extremely hopeful he was the man of integrity, morals, and principles he purported himself to be, and until recently, he was a strong possibility for my vote.

However, I am very disappointed in his alliance with that radical a minister. It leaves a distasteful resonance I don’t feel is healthy or one to be overlooked. If the man on that pulpit had been white and had done no more than reversed that minister’s words of white and black everyone would be screaming white supremacy and racial biases. So how, my friends, is it we should not feel it is just as wrong hearing a black man vocalize those thoughts as well? And why do we not take exception to that as well. A racial bias is a racial bias. ANY racial bias BY ANYONE only serves to fuel hatred and keep us from becoming ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

WAY TO GO MIZZOU !!!

GREAT GAME !!!

NPR hit the nail on the head when they stated if one looks at the current events and go backwards in time it appears to be a fall from grace; however, when examined as the events played out, it is nothing short of pure corruption and the ugliest form of greed and public manipulation. The facts and opinions speak volumes of why this country is in dire need of an attitude adjustment.

Probe Sparked by Tragedy

The investigation into corruption in Ryan's office began with a horrendous tragedy, while Ryan was still Illinois' secretary of state. On Election Day 1994, a piece of a tail-light assembly fell off a semi-trailer on a Milwaukee expressway and bounced beneath a minivan, rupturing its gas tank and exploding the van into flames. Six children from the Willis family of Chicago, en route to a little getaway, were killed; their parents were severely burned.
Other motorists told police they tried to warn the driver of the truck that the piece was dangling dangerously, but he didn't understand English. Federal law requires truckers to know and read English to get a license, (I have to wonder if that is STILL the law considering all the translators this country feels it necessary to provide rather than require people who want to live in this country to speak OUR LANGUAGE!!!) and investigators were alarmed that this driver — who was from Chicago — didn't. Wisconsin authorities notified the Illinois secretary of state's office, which licenses drivers and was then headed by the freshly re-elected Ryan.

An internal investigation found the driver may have paid a bribe to get his license. Ryan's response was to squash the probe and fire the investigators. Four years later, with Ryan campaigning for governor, federal prosecutors picked up the case. They began indicting employees in Ryan's office for selling licenses for bribes and then funneling the cash into Ryan's campaign fund. Ryan repeatedly denied he knew anything about the corruption. Illinois voters elected Ryan governor by a narrow margin over a squeaky-clean Democrat, then-Rep. Glenn Poshard.

Though Ryan began his one term as governor triumphantly, with Ray Charles playing at his inaugural bash, he remained under a cloud of suspicion. The federal probe into Ryan's former office widened, with investigators finding a wide-ranging scheme to use employees of the secretary of state's office to raise cash for his campaign coffers. The probe culminated with Ryan's indictment in 2004. In all, 79 people have been indicted in what the U. S. attorney's office dubbed "Operation Safe Roads." At least 75 people have been convicted, with no acquittals.

At this point I should point out all his positive attributes and all that he accomplished… including, of all things, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in prison reform… but my point is this… THE MAN COMMITTED A CRIME !!! END OF STORY !!!

"Why would anybody take any great satisfaction that this man is going to prison?" longtime GOP state Rep. Bill Black told the Associated Press. "He had decades of, I think, noble service." This is what I’m talking about people, what is wrong with people that ANYONE can think themselves above the law? I guess if we carry a donor card that entitles us to commit other crimes before we croak? I mean, hey… isn’t saving another a pretty high form of nobleness???

I have a reoccurring dream that I have begun to dream again. I have a lot of reoccurring dreams and always have had. In this current dream I am living in more than one place. It is a lot like I have recently moved into a "new" place but I still have a lot of my things in another place as well. (Sometimes I even have more things in storage.) I don't seem to have room to put all my things in one place.

Plus there is the feeling if I don't hurry up and find somewhere to put the other items, as well as find somehow to move them, someone else will claim them as theirs. I struggle between being relieved I have what I need and I "am moved", yet worried I will lose the rest of it for good; in other words both a peaceful and an apprehensive feelingat the same time.

A thought.... (that has nothing to do with what I just wrote about, but, at least to me, an interesting tidbit) Journaling is akin to leaving crumbs along the path, or tieing pieces of cloth to twigs of trees in hopes you can find your way back...

I'm tired... What is wrong with people??? Has common sense totally escaped this era??? This country is going to implode and all these people wanting a free ride are going to take US ALL DOWN !!! That's okay, the Romans chose not to hear the fat lady singing either. The wonderful citizens of that era didn't want to take their part in the demise either. I think their excuse was Nero, wasn't it??

Come on... those of you who took balloon type mortgages and mortgages you couldn't afford... tell us the truth! Tell us why you did it. Tell us you thought you could make a quick buck before time to pay the piper or that you just didn't bother to think at all. But now you need to be bailed out...

It wasn't your fault, was it? You didn't bother to read the fine print? Or you didn't bother to read the documents you agreed to AT ALL??? Or maybe you did read them, but you didn't think they actually meant what they said about your payment going to go up??? Why should you be held accountable for something someone ALLOWED you to do !!! For heaven's sakes !! What were those mortgage companies and those banks thinking???

And now people like me who had the common sense to live within my means has to bail you out... Personally I think this country would learn a lot if we would learn to live by the promises we make. People might start using the brain they were given if they had to live homeless for awhile because of their stupidity and greed.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck, I'm saying that just maybe people might learn to think and finally get it through their heads just exactly what a dollar does buy... not a piece of plastic or a piece of paper, but honest to goodness, real money and its price. If ya wanna dance you have to be prepared to pay the piper.

Ugh... Another Sunday night....

I should go get my shower and get ready for the week but I can't bring myself to let go of the weekend just yet.

I've had a good weekend. I made great progress with the basement. I only have one corner left to wallpaper as well as I got quite a bit of cleaning done. I've made food for the week ahead to take in my lunch, plus, I've gotten a lot of exercise as well. My feet were killing me after being on them all day in the basement, but I still did 3 laps tonight. I was inspired after finally hitting the 5 pounds in weight loss. Now I just have to keep it off along with keep losing... But hey... for now I'll take the 5 pounds.

Sigh.. enough for now. Got to keep on keepin on and get ready for the week...