June Bug

During this short Holiday week I usually take a couple days
to attend some of the most recently released movies.
I have a short list of those I want to see before the awards shows ruin
them for me.
First on my list was Juno, and if I don't see another movie this year I would be
fine with that.

Juno, the story of a 16 year old girl,
an outcast at her High School.
It brought back so many memories to me.
I knew this girl in school she was a friend of mine
through my Sophomore year.
Then she got pregnant and quit school to get married.
I didn't see much of her until about 5 years ago when we started communicating
again.
I wish she was here today so we could have gone to this movie together.
but she died last year from cancer.

So as I sat in the theater I thought of Sue
and I laughed and I cried,
and I wondered if Sue had followed Juno's path
would her life have been more meaningful.

Juno played by Ellen Page was so wise for her young years.
I don't know if credit can be given to Ellen's outstanding performance
or a script magnificently written by Diablo Cody.
I just know that Juno is hard to forget and I'm sure there are a lot of Juno's
in schools everywhere today.

Diablo Cody a former stripper in Minneapolis clubs,
is Hollywood's hottest screen writer right now.
She has two or three movies in development, and
is writing a TV series for Stephen Spielberg.
I look forward to seeing anything of hers they put on screen.
Her writing is beyond compare to anything I have read.
I do worry about her, she did not have an easy life and
I suspect she was Juno.
She well deserves all the praise she is getting.
I just hope she can handle the pressure of such an overnight success.

I give this movie 4 stars, and recommend it to anyone who has
teenagers in school, male or female.

Happy Christmaka!!

Letter from Joy

I received this letter from My sister in law. We will be spending Christmas day with her and my brother and their family.

Click to enlarge:

Traditions

Here I sit drinking Oprah's favorite
Pomegranate Martini with my own twist,
she uses way to much Pomegranate juice.
My version is

2 shots vanilla vodka,
1/2 shot Triple Sec
2 shots juice
Very tasty, and it might be my new favorite holiday drink.

We had our family Christmas today, and it went by way to fast.
All the preparation for just a few hours, but it was
so fun to see the Grand kids and listen to their lives
It's different when there is only one cute little 5 1/2 year old
Princess Amalia.
The joy of Christmas is because of children.

The rest of the G kids are age 13 to 28 and their lives are so busy.
Two of our Granddaughters had to work, so we missed seeing them.
I hope we can catch up sometime in the next couple weeks.

We played a couple games to exchange gifts and I enjoyed them very much,
something better then just sitting and opening gifts.
In the past when our 3 oldest Grandsons were young, we would end the night playing Trivial Pursuit, or cards.
But now every one is in such a rush and it is hard to try and find a relaxing way
to spend the holidays.
Trying to make things less stressful is stressful in its self.
Next year we will have another Granddaughter in law
and she has a few tricks up her sleeve already for next Christmas.
Our second oldest grandson will be getting married on Memorial day weekend.
Their daughter Princess Amalia will be the flower girl.
She is growing her red hair long and
if I have my way she will wear a crown.

Christmas day we will go to my brothers family celebration,
one member of his family won't be there.

We will all be thinking about her.

CC Eaton

It was 45 years ago today That my Dad left this planet.
He was just 56 years old.
Since his death 2 Grandsons carry his name.
My son born 3 months later KC, and my Nephew CC Eaton, who
was born a few years later.

It seems strange it has been that long and
so strange I couldn't get through this day
without thinking about him every few minutes.

I think that was the year that my Christmas Spirit
died and now I just go through the motions.

Friday I helped at a lunch after the funeral of a woman who died at age 56.
While watching everyone at the luncheon, I realized another family was going to lose those feelings of joy that we all use to feel when we were younger.

Today I volunteered for my Womans Club,wrapping gifts at our local shopping mall.
Wednesday, some of us are taking a friend to lunch for her birthday.
A friend I have had for 40 years, who suffers during the holidays because
she lost her son then her husband a few years later, both in the month of December.

You have to go on, its just so hard sometimes when you see so much pain in this world.
I think about all those families in Iraq suffering because of loss's.

Yes, there are many Christians there celebrating the birth of Christ.

Something many people forget, that the middle east is where HE was born.
That, the real message of Christmas is.
"Peace on Earth, Good will toward Man."

It just seems that many in this country have forgotten that.

Kenny Kenmore

After waiting all day on Monday, service plus came around 3:30.
Diagnosis was quick, it was the heating element on the defroster and of course he had to order the part.
He spent about an hour with a heating gun melting the ice on the coils, and told me it would be fine for a couple days.
I left everything out in the garage anyway.
When the part came, I called and rescheduled and they came back Tuesday around 4:00.
So my latest bump was taken care of and thanks to Service Plus we didn't have to pay the couple hundred bucks it would have cost.
Bill the Repairman told me I should have a few good years left on Kenny Kenmore,
but being the skeptic I am,
I think I'll be shopping next spring.
Now back to my original plans.

Thanks for the good thoughts.

BAH HUMBUG!!

Don't you get pissed when you think you have all your eggs in a row and then one of them breaks?
Last night I noticed my freezer wasn't cooling properly so I turned it up.
Denial, because I had this week planned.
Got my groceries yesterday and was going to do some pre-cooking and freeze a few things to make quick meals next week.
Well this morning the freezer wasn't any better and the refrigerator wasn't cooling either.
I farmed out my freezer supplies to a neighbor and put the Fridge stuff in a cooler in the garage.
I called Service Plus, and they will be out tomorrow morning.
I am hoping it can be fixed because the last think I need is to go shopping for a major appliance and listen to Ho Ho music at the same time.

KEITH BELONGS ON NETWORK TV

MORE SECRETS

Every time I turn on the news lately there seems to be more
illegal activities going on in Washington, under Bushes watch
The latest information is about the CIA destruction of at least 2 videotapes
documenting the interrogation of two Al-Qaida operatives.
Tapes that should have been turned over to the 9/11 commission.
According to sources the videotapes may have shown
severe interrogation techniques, including water boarding,
in plain English torture.
President Bush says, yesterday was the first he knew about the tapes.
Ya Sure!!
I hope that the Democratic congress does not ignore the CIA's obstruction of justice
It is time to get at the truth, it is time for people to demand accountability
of those in charge.
If they don't they are just as culpable as the White House.

MEET TECHY FLASH

Author of 'liberal' blog may lean left, but he aims to be right
By Charley Shaw, Legal Ledger Staff Writer
December 3, 2007

Don't get Kurt Schiebel wrong. The St. Paul blogger known as Flash who writes the Centrisity blog is admittedly left of the political center.

He identifies himself as a Democrat; he's supporting New Mexico Gov. Bill Rich-ardson's bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. And Schiebel's liberal stance runs in the family: his mother, Jean, served as one of 10 U.S. Electoral College "electors" in Minnesota for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for the 2004 election.

But Schiebel, 47, often takes heat from fellow liberals in the blogosphere on a host of issues ranging from Minnesota's smoking ban to welfare policy to the war in Iraq.

"I guess the small 'l' libertarian has come out of me. I think I recognize that government doesn't necessarily dictate everything we do in our lives. But they do have a role to play," Schiebel says.

Schiebel's penchant for intra-party controversy was evident on Nov. 20 when his Centrisity blog linked to a news article about a captured al-Qaeda leader in Iraq who reportedly joined the insurgent group because of financial incentives rather than a devotion to ideology.

Schiebel wrote that if Iraqis are joining the insurgency, especially for financial and not religious reasons, that's an impediment to the U.S. winning the war in Iraq – a war that, contrary to what most liberal bloggers advocate, Schiebel believes the U.S. has to and can win.

"We need a new leader who is serious about winning this war, and I don't think we can wait 14 months to get it. But at this rate, the stagnation will continue and we will have to redefine victory just to save face," Schiebel wrote.

"This mess continues to be mismanaged," Schiebel continued, "and the few of us left supporting this war is becoming fewer yet." (Schiebel's blog is at centrisity.blogspot.com).

Schiebel's criticism of President Bush coupled with his hope to secure victory in Iraq was received like heresy by his fellow bloggers on the left. Charley Underwood, who writes at the liberal Minnesota Blue (www.mnblue.com), quickly joined the fray at Centrisity.

"Flash, you and I have a long history of disagreement about this war. You continue to be concerned about 'mismanagement,' while I find the entire war morally wrong and flawed in its basic conception. I celebrate that our disagreement has been polite and respectful, with none of the name-calling and dismissiveness that has often been typical of these discussions," Underwood wrote.

Fellow bloggers echo Underwood's sentiment that Schiebel is controversial but not confrontational.

Mitch Berg, a conservative who writes at Shot in the Dark (www.shotinthedark.info), has known Schiebel for more than 15 years. They used to baby-sit each other's children, and Berg introduced Schiebel to blogging more than five years ago.

"He gets flak from both sides. I think he might be one of the last of the Kennedy Democrats out there," Berg says, referring to the foreign policy of former President John F. Kennedy.

Schiebel celebrated Centrisity's fifth anniversary on Nov. 19.

When he first started writing the blog, readers informed Schiebel that he was spelling the word "Centricity" wrong. So Schiebel put his own definition of Centrisity at the top of his blog: "Being right, even tho you lean Left."

A computer technician for the St. Paul public schools, Schiebel typically gets up at about 5:30 a.m. and reads the papers. He then writes and saves his work. En route to work, Schiebel takes time to think over his writing and then, after reflection, dispatches his posts into cyberspace.

He doesn't usually blog during weekday evenings or on the weekends, when he makes his family life his priority.

"I call myself a blue-collar blogger. ... I'm not like other bloggers where that is their social life," Schiebel says.

He lives in the Midway area of St. Paul with his second wife, Andrea. He has raised four boys, one biological and three step-sons. The two youngest boys are in high school, one recently graduated and the oldest is in the Marines stationed in Florida.

Schiebel was born in St. Peter and raised in Brooklyn Center. He received a bachelor's degree in finance from St. Cloud State University in 1985. He wanted to be a stock broker, but stock market declines in the late 1980s convinced him to move in a different direction.

Growing up in Brooklyn Center, Schiebel was exposed early to politics, especially DFL politics.

He used to cut former state legislator and U.S. Congressman Bill Luther's grass in the 1970s. He interned for Brooklyn Center DFLers Luther and Bob Ellingson at the state Capitol.

His mom, who's long been active in DFL politics, is his political role model.

"Mom's involvement showed me that you could make a difference without having to be an elected official," Schiebel says.

His father, an accountant, was a Republican. The senior Schiebel served as a campaign treasurer for former House Speaker Phil Carruthers, a Democrat formerly from Brooklyn Center.

Schiebel has other interests besides politics. In particular, he enjoys marching in drum and bugle corps. He started in 1978 by learning to play the two-valved soprano trumpet. He has marched most often with the Minnesota Brass, but in 2005 Schiebel marched with the Govenairs from St. Peter, the drum corps in which his father marched in the 1950s and 1960s and his grandfather in the 1920s. Due to the demands of family life, however, Schiebel stopped marching in 2006.

Blogging fills up Schiebel's free time now. And while he credits Berg's influence in turning him on to blogging, he doesn't give his conservative friend any leeway when writing about politics.

"We don't get along online but we get along off line," Schiebel says.

Through blogging, Schiebel has interviewed big-name politicians like Gov. Richardson of New Mexico and gotten to cover major political events.

In October, Schiebel and two other bloggers spent an hour interviewing U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Schiebel sees bloggers gaining more recognition aside mainstream political journalists. He now consistently gets media credentials and Internet connections that enable him to blog at political events. Three years ago, this didn't always happen.

"The new media is starting to become a part of the respected media. There was a time two or three years ago where we were not part of the respected media," Schiebel says. "What's really going to be interesting is what happens next year at the Republican National Convention (in St. Paul)."

Schiebel counts the debates he's had with people from diverse political perspectives as the benefit of his five years wrangling in the Minnesota political blogosphere.

"The neatest thing is all the people I've met from both sides of the aisle. ... Regardless of how brash they can be or how sensible they can be, they're all the same in the sense that they want what's best for our country and our state and our world. The difference is how they get there."

THANKSGIVING PAST

Saturday we had our family dinner at our daughters,
it was good to see all the G Kids together.
They are growing up way to fast.

Unfortunately there were College football games
on Saturday
and so the guys all sat staring at the boob tube.

I think TV has destroyed the Holidays
Seems we have to work our schedules around which games are on.

I think back to past Thanksgivings with my family either at my Aunt Lo's or Aunt Stell's

Before TV, when we had to actually talk to each other.
My mom had 4 sisters and a brother that made it to adult age.
It was a blast watching them get together and fix a meal.
Remember this was pre-microwave days, everything was made by scratch even Aunt Stell's Pumpkin Pies.

At my Dads sister, Aunt Lo's, she actually dressed the Turkey,
it was home grown not out of a supermarket.
At her house we had homemade ice Cream,
my Grama Em's Pecan Pies and Plum Pudding.
At both houses we played games.

Today many of us are still close, not just cousins, but friends.
I worry that won't happen with many of My G kids.
I hope I'm wrong but,
it is kind of hard to get to know each other when they sit staring at the TV,
and kind of hard to get any games started when they are out the door as soon as they eat.

On Sunday I called my Aunt Lo, she is in a nursing home, 96 years old but her mind is sharp as tack.
We talked about those old days, how much fun they were and how much we missed them.

This generation of TV and video games, doesn't know what they are missing.

BLACK FRIDAY

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when all the shoppers hit the store.

One disgruntled letter writer in the Star Tribune last week
said;

"I deplore the trend of greedy retailers opening earlier and earlier
the day after Thanksgiving to jump-start their cash registers
at the expense of their employee's precious time with family and friends."

This year many stores opened at one minute after midnight.

Last night at midnight in Minneapolis there was a traffic jam
as cars rushed to the Eden Prairie Mall and the Albertville outlet stores.
If this trend continues, it won't be long before they are starting their Christmas sale
the day after the 4th of July.

My Mom was a shopper big time, and when she would come for Thanksgiving,
she would be up early waiting for me to take her to the Mall to do her shopping.
She was in her glory, going store to store and looking for bargains.
Trying to find the right thing for all of her chicks.
She had 2 chests at home and she would fill them up with gifts for the following Christmas.
Many years later when she was no longer able to shop. she still had enough gifts in those chests to
take care of a couple Christmas's.
I would lay every thing out and she would shop from her own things for her grand kids
with that twinkle in her eyes, while I wrapped and labeled.

I didn't get the shopping gene.
In that one way I am more like my dad .
You shop only when you positively have too.

Mom and Dad did not have much growing up,
their Christmas's were very sparse.
Because of this, Mom always made sure
there were many gifts under the tree for every one.
When we brought her gifts to our house for Christmas,
and put them under the tree,
not much room was left for ours.

Since my Mom died, I start getting a little blue at this time of year.
As much as I hate shopping
I miss those shopping trips.

But now I have another problem with shopping,
Christmas music that I use to love, now makes me sad,
it just reminds me of everyone that is no longer with us.
You can't escape it when you go into any store after Thanksgiving,

The music they play irritates me, and I can't turn the dial.

HAPPY THAKSGIVING!

I am Thankful,
for my Hubba who is a very patient man.
I am Thankful for my daughter who is hosting Thanksgiving
My sons and all the G kids who are helping
My sweet little Princess Amalia.
If I knew how to post pictures you would see her here,
maybe someday "Techy Flash" will give me a few minutes of his time.

I am Thankful for Rosie and Ross

I am Thankful for:
Friends, including stranger friends
My hairdresser who keeps my hair the right color
Deb who not only gives a mean massage, but is my Political Hero.
I am thankful for the gift of reading my parents gave me.

For:
Books
Chocolate
Green tea
Nonni Biscotti
White Wine

Most of all right now I am Thankful for the fact
that Bush/Cheney will be gone soon.
People keep asking me.
Who I am supporting for President?

My answer is, which ever Democrat is left standing!

Now what are you Thankful for??

Bill Moyers Journal

Every Friday Night I turn to PBS and watch Washington Week, Now, and Bill Moyers Journal. This week Bill did a follow up on a story that he has been covering. Instead of giving you my drift, I decided to print the transcript.

I wish I could have found it on Youtube, it was much more dramatic watching FCC Chairman Kevin Martin booed in Seattle and squirm as these angry people questioned him.

Take a minute to read this or go to: Bill Moyer's Journal

Note at the bottom of the Transcript you only have till December 11th to voice your opinion.

Imagine all of the News channels sounding like Fox News.

It gives me chills!!

Bill Moyers Journal;

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL. And to some stories of how regular Americans have decided that if democracy is going to be rescued from the powers-that-be, they will have to do it.

We begin with big media, our favorite beat for years now. There's a new twist this week. Despite overwhelming public opposition from across the country and the political spectrum, the Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin, isn't letting up in his relentless push to allow a handful of media giants swallow up more of your local media.

He made it official on Tuesday: He intends to lift the longstanding ban that keeps one company from owning both the daily newspaper and a radio or television station in the same market. For ten days this has been a fast-moving story and we have a quick update from our media team, producer Peter Meryash and correspondent Rick Karr.

RICK KARR: Last week on Capitol Hill, members of Congress sent a sharp message to the FCC: Maine Republican Olympia Snowe was among the Senators who said, "No more media consolidation."

OLYMPIA SNOWE: It seems like "Here we go again" in this pursuit of easing up on these restrictions and regulations regarding the consolidation of corporate ownership of media, and I think that is truly disturbing.

RICK KARR: North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan said the FCC was rushing to grant media conglomerates' wishes.

BYRON DORGAN:One of the concerns I have, and a significant one is there will be, it appears to me, perhaps a month maximum for the American people to weigh in on a new rule that will be proposed for a final action on December 18th. That doesn't meet any test of reasonableness or any standard that I know that makes any sense.

RICK KARR: But FCC Chairman Kevin Martin ignored the Senators' concerns. The very next day in Seattle he convened the Commissions last public hearing on media ownership — a meeting he'd called on just one week's notice. And that put the hundreds of people who'd shown up for the hearing in a foul mood.

KEVIN MARTIN: You're asking 'why the rush and why no notice?' Let me respond. Throughout this process, I've been as transparent as I could be.

RICK KARR: But members of the audience weren't buying Martin's explanation because whatever the process had been, he'd given them only seven days' notice for the hearing.

KEVIN MARTIN: No, I'm not quite done. And I'll sit down in a second and you'll have your chance.

RICK KARR: Throughout the nine-and-a-half-hour hearing, members of the crowd slammed Martin for not giving the public enough time to weigh in.

JIM BOWMAN: I would like to thank the FCC, and Kevin Martin, you in particular, for coming to Seattle on such short notice.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPANT: Running this hearing with five days notice and then trying to jam media consolidation through by mid-December to me is damning evidence of the total abuse of the process itself that you're up to some kind of no-good. If this is a legitimate issue, then it deserves and demands a legitimate public process to determine the outcome. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves for not respecting the democracy you live in.

RICK KARR: Other speakers said they're angry because they think Big Media is already too big — and shouldn't get any bigger.

SUSAN MCCABE: We told you a year ago, when you came to Seattle, that media consolidation is a patently bad idea, no ifs ands or buts about it. So with all due respect, I ask you: What part of that didn't you understand?

Do you think that another year of listening to the same homogenized, formulaic, mindless crap that passes for news and entertainment on the commercial dial has suddenly caused us to say, "Please, I'd like a little more of that."

ROBERTO:I think I heard them justifying, encouraging you all to monopolize the media even more than it already is. I mean, have I died and gone to Hell, or what?

KING COUNTY COUNCILMAN REAGAN DUNN (R): I'm a Republican and I'm a capitalist, but some areas of our private sector must be regulated. Freedom of information is too important. We must be proactive in protecting that fundamental freedom.

RICK KARR: But the FCC's failed to protect the public's fundamental freedoms, said Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps.

MICHAEL COPPS:Did you ever notice that the FCC is always ready to run the fast break for big media, but it's always the four-corner stall when it comes to serving the public interest?

RICK KARR: The FCC's other Democrat, Jonathan Adelstein, warned the audience that the Commission's Republican majority wasn't really interested in listening to the public.

JONATHAN ADELSTEIN: Unfortunately, judging from the way this hearing was arranged, it looks like the media conglomerates' agenda is far ahead of yours at the FCC. Now, if you see a proposal for more consolidation made quickly after this final hearing. You'll know your input was dismissed.

RICK KARR: And, in fact, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced his proposal for more consolidation as soon as he was back at work in Washington, D.C. after the long weekend.

In a NEW YORK TIMES op-ed article on Tuesday of this week, he argued that "newspapers ... are struggling financially" ... and "will ... wither and die" unless they're allowed to get into the broadcasting business. So he wants to allow "[a] company that owns a newspaper in one of the [twenty] largest cities in the country" ... to "purchase a broadcast TV or radio station in the same market". That could affect the newspapers and radio and TV stations that nearly HALF of all Americans depend on for information - in places from New York and Los Angeles to Orlando and Cleveland and sixteen other cities — including ,where just last week at the FCC hearing, members of the public made it clear that they've had enough.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPANT: If you will not stand up for we the people, then I have news for you. We the people are standing up for ourselves. This is our media, and we are taking it back.

BILL MOYERS: The story's not over, and we'll be returning to it. But keep these points in mind for now.

First, the claim that newspapers are in dire financial straights depends on your definition of dire. The average profit margin for publicly-traded newspaper firms last year was 17-18% - that's higher than the average Fortune 500.

Second, Chairman Martin says his new rules would just affect the 20 big markets. Not so. A giant loophole buried in the fine print could open the back door to runaway consolidation in nearly every market, large and small.

Third, it's the FCC's charge to ensure 'competition, localism and diversity' in media. These new rules fail on all three accounts. The FCC's own data shows that markets with cross-owned outlets provide less news as a whole. And when it comes to diversity, these new rules will make a disgraceful situation even worse. The very few commercial TV stations owned by people of color — hardly 3% of the total — will be in the crosshairs of the media giants.

Fourth, who do these guys work for, anyway? As you will see on our Web site at PBS.org, one FCC commissioner after another has gone to work in the media world. How can you serve the public when in the back of your mind you think that one day Rupert Murdoch may have a big job for you?

Remember Michael Powell? He was the last FCC chairman who wanted to let big media have all it can eat. Powell is now in the pay of "the world's leading private equity firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments."

Finally, whatever your position on this, you have until December 11th -December 11th - to let the FCC, Congress, and the White House know what you think; that's when the FCC's public comment period closes. Check it out on our Web site.

Americas Embarrasment !!

As this war continues, it is time for people to know what is really going on
with our veterans.
You are not hearing it on Fox News or for that matter on most of the other news shows, accept maybe Keith Olberman's Count Down.

You may have seen the latest photo op, GW standing and laughing
next to a burn victim from this war.

You may not have realized it was a privately funded Hosp.
I doubt if you will see him anytime soon at Walter Reed.

I borrowed this from
rosie.com

I am not changing a word.




a brave woman speaks

Posted by ro on November 11th at 4:14pm in in the news

Keep speaking the truth Ro. Civilians have ZERO idea what its really like. Walter Reed? I’ve been there. Its mold covered and they’re drastically understaffed. Prescriptions Line? It takes hours. Active Duty gets to go first, but there are usually hundreds of veterans waiting in line waiting. Veterans who gave their lives and some their sight, hearing, body for this country don’t get to get their pain medication in a timely period? What is wrong with this system. It’s not just Walter Reed, I’ve been to every military hospital in the DC area now, since we’re stationed at Andrews AFB. Malcolm Grow, Bolling, and Walter Reed. All are drastically understaffed and the prescription situation is the same. It takes weeks to get an appointment. They say to call just a couple days before the start of the month to fight for an appointment that month. What if you’re sick? Well you can try calling early in the morning but if its urgent make a trip to the ER where you get to wait with a bunch of other sick people for hours. My son, who is one, was bleeding from the head and we weren’t seen for 3 hours. 3 hours! You want to know what we see on a daily basis? Med buses medivac sick wounded soldiers from the flight line at andrews afb to walter reed. Those buses are generally filled and during the week I see at least 2 a day. AT LEAST! Thousands of men are coming home wounded and all we hear about are the dead. Yes, we need to honor the dead, but people need to know how many are hurt and what their care is like. I’ve seen those rooms at Walter Reed. We stayed in one. It looks like a time capsule. Metal beds, slates of metal as mirrors, bathrooms so old the pipes creak whenever you turn on the water, mold, grit. Its not clean. It doesn’t smell like other hospitals, that clean sanitized smell. It’s sick! It’s sick. For those veterans who need care after, and for us military families there are wonderful signs on the door of the family care offices. They read “one issue per appointment please”. That’s right. Those people who fight for this country and us families left behind can only bring up one issue per appointment. If more then one make another appointment which is IMPOSSIBLE to get. Our hospitals are out of date and our doctors are deployed. I see veterans every day at the commissary and the BX on the base where we live. I’ve seen men burned so badly they’re unrecognizable as human. I’ve seen men who recently found themselves blind. I’ve seen families whose husbands gave their lives who can’t get a doctors appointment for a sick child and sit in the ER for hours. It is not right. Sure, we get “free” health care, but look at the price. This is a disgrace. Please keep speaking out Ro, no one else will. We can’t have a voice or we risk the consequences. We need a voice. That man they call our president sits by and does nothing visiting privately funded hospitals. He gets to have all his appointments at National Naval Medical Center; which is REALLY nice, but impossible for the underlings to get into. I don’t think he waits months for an appointment, hours for prescriptions, can only talk about one issue per appointment, and gets medical care in these conditions. That’s whats wrong with this country.

Remember Our Vets II

Hubba circa 1950's, Korean Conflict (USS Healy DD672, USS English DD696, USS Shenandoah)Flash at Centrisity has a list of other family members that serve(d), including my active duty grandson, the Marine! Last word on him is that he is training in Miramar with potential Spring Deploy Pensacola, FL, studying avionics at the top of his class..

Oh for the Good Old Days !

Wall street fell today,
the dollar is falling again,
GM is in dire straights,
and Oil is almost 100.00 a barrel.

"They" (who ever "They" is") are predicting 4.00 a gallon gas by next year.
The last time Oil was this high Jimmy Carter was President and the Republicans wanted to lynch him.

We all know what has happened to the Housing market.
Every day someone is losing their homes, and many others can't sell theirs.


OK, now, I want to hear those Republican candidates running for President tell us how good our economy is.

Add to this, in Minnesota, Republicans are smug in the Robbinsdale District 281, because, by bringing in an outside agitator,
and dropping an untruthful piece of Literature at the last minute they were able to
defeat the school referendum, and because of the defeat some schools will have to close, and
many programs will have to be cancelled.

What has happened to common sense in this country??

Can you tell I'm Pissed???

Remember our Vets!

Recently I read an article about the number of Iraqi troops that have come home,
left the military and then committed suicide.
Over 430 have killed themselves in the last 6 years.
That may not sound like a lot, but these are our kids, they were traumatized by
2 and 3 tours in Iraq or Afghanistan

Many more are homeless.

This week in my VFW news letter, there is an article about the need for Winter Coats,
gloves, stocking caps, insulated underwear and of course money.

Steve Eisenreich of the St.Cloud VA Medical Center Homeless Vets Department
reported that as of now there are 80 to 100 homeless Vets in the St.Cloud area.
They are in The Salvation Army shelters, church of the week, by the river and under the bridges.
These are Veterans, average age 44 suffering from PTSD and Brain Trauma
and other deployment issues.
They have come to the St. Cloud area hoping to get assistance at the VA hosp.
Steve physically goes out to see these Veterans to bring them bus tokens, clothes etc.
Every year he does a motorcycle run to earn money for his fund.
This year because of rain he only raised 2000.00, this is not enough to last for one year.

As the weather is turning colder here, the need for winter wear is urgent.

Monetary donations can be sent to:

St Cloud VA Medical Center
Bldg 28 Room 39
4801 Veterans Drive
St. Cloud Mn 56303:
Be sure to write "Homeless Vets Fund" in the memo portion of the check or it will go into the general fund.

I am sure that this kind of help is needed at every VA Hosp. in this country, but in the cold winter states it is more urgent

Donald Rumsfield..War Criminal?

Love Her or Hate Her ?

I just finished reading Rosie O' Donnell's book, Celebrity Detox.
Love her or hate her, you can't deny that she is a passionate
woman with strong beliefs.
I have been a fan since her days on Star Search.

When Barbara courted her to be on The View, she knew she was getting an outspoken sometimes loud personality who was not going to be managed.
She wanted her, because she knew it would bring viewers who had watched the old Rosie show.
I was one of them.
Prior to that I had not been a frequent watcher of the View, Star Jones turned me off.
When Star left and Elisabeth Hasselbeck joined the group I watched a little more often.
But even her views were so out in space I couldn't stand to listen to her
most of the time.
To call her naive is being kind I think.
When Rosie became a member of the panel, I was a constant viewer, when I wasn't home I taped the show.
It wasn't long before you could see Bill Gedde's heavy hand.
It was obvious he didn't like Rosie.
There were many times he could have broke for commercial and he chose not too.

That final show when Rosie and Elisabeth went at it, I felt Rosie's
pain.
I have been betrayed like that by someone I thought was a friend and I knew she wouldn't be back.
Instead of breaking to commercial, Bill Gedde went to a split screen.
Did he know what the result would be? You betcha he did.
You could see the pain in Rosie's eyes when Elisabeth attacked her.
These things should have been handled off the air, but Bill turned Elisabeth into a pit bull that day.

Rosie does not go into that final day in her book, but she is honest about her hurt.
She is honest about BW and BW didn't like it.
The book is moving and emotional, I cried through most if it.
Love her or hate her, you can't lay this book down without realizing she is a person who cares about humanity, sometimes to a fault.
I love her!!

One of those Days!

Isn't it frustrating when you go to one of your favorite restaurant's and get lousy service?
After Hubba got home from visiting a friend who is in rehab for a brain injury,
we decided to go do some errands and then have lunch.
It was about 12:15 when we stopped for lunch,we have several waitresses we know,
we have always had good service even when we didn't get a regular.
Today was not one of those days.
After sitting there for about 10 minutes, the host came over and asked if we had been served yet.
He then brought us our beverage and went to find our server,I saw him stop and talk to her and
I realized she was the one who had been standing around for 10 minutes visiting with some friends

"Myself , I said, be patient she is new."

Meanwhile a couple sat down at the booth next us, she went right over and got their beverage order and then came to us.
We gave her our orders, it had now been 20 minutes since we sat down.
I ordered a Reuben sandwich and asked her to bring my fruit to go.
Hubba had his usual salad.
We sat and talked and watched people come and go.
Our server was again visiting.
I then noticed that the people in the booth hadn't got
their beverage yet,
I thought, this will be interesting.
Suddenly she noticed them looking at her and went over and said
"Are you ready to order?"
"We will be when you bring our beverage" said Blond Lady.
She apologized and asked what they wanted again.
I heard one say Hot Tea and the other Coffee.
Ten more minutes went by and I noticed that the two ladies at the table next to us were putting on their coats and leaving, they still hadn't got their beverage.
They stopped at the cashier and I'm sure she got an earful.

It was now 30 minutes since our server took our order,
I said to Hubba " I bet it is sitting and getting cold"
She was again at a table visiting with the same friends
She noticed me watching and said
"I'll go check on that order for you"
She hadn't even noticed the other ladies had left.
Soon she came out with Hubbas on a plate and mine all bagged to go.
"My self I thought, just eat it."
I opened it up and the sandwich instead of hot, was soggy.
It was also soaked in pickle juice,
enough with the patience..I called her over and said "only the fruit was to go and I can't eat this soggy sandwich so just cancel the order."
She looked at me like I was crazy, and said OK, sorry.
That pissed me off even more, and I said "if you haven't noticed your other customers left," she looked over at the table with a stunned look.
I said " honey if you want to keep this job, your going to have to be more observant"
She just walked away.
Hubba was getting nervous, he knows me when my ire is raised.
I told him "don't worry, just finish and we'll leave."
About that time some friends of ours came in and were about to sit at the booth that had been vacated, I said "don't sit there, I'll come over and tell you why when we leave."
Hubba wasn't going to leave a tip and I said, "just tip on your order."
I don't know the girls circumstances and I figured the way things were going she wasn't going to get many tips that day, if she lasted.
When we left, they said they were sorry about our service and they comped my sandwich, which I didn't get anyway.
If the usual manager had been there he probably would have comped the whole thing
It is one of our favorite places so,
we'll go back, but from now on we will ask for certain stations.

I worked as a waitress when I was in high school it isn't an easy job, and it doesn't pay that well.

I hope she gets her act together, because there are many out there to replace her if she doesn't.

Our Senator-My Friend Paul Wellstone 1944-2002

Besides Paul and Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia, and three campaign aides - Mary McEvoy, Tom Lapic, and Will McLaughlin.
Bright lights that went out that awful day.

Old Friends are like Old Shoes!

Finally we have gotten some sunshine and I can't believe how much energy it brings
with it.
Thankfully I had cleaned the house and was ready for anything,
Because with the sunshine, came some old friends.
George and Donna were our neighbors more then 30 years ago.
They moved to several different communities over the years while George bought, ran and sold Hardware stores
Eventually they settled in Fargo ND, now he buys, remodels and sells houses.
Because of the slow housing market he is now renting his latest fixer up.
Over the years we have touched base many times and it is so strange that even if we haven't talked or seen each other in years, once you sit down and start talking, it is almost like they still live next door.
They were in the area for a funeral and decided to check out the old neighborhood.
We went to dinner and caught up on kids and G kids.
One story came up when we were looking at pictures of their grandson by their youngest son (Greg) who is a clone of his father, red hair and freckles.
Shortly before they moved Hubba was having a driveway poured, Greg was watching on his side and then spotted the kids on the other side and took off across the driveway leaving deep footprints.
When he saw what he had done he ran for home leaving everyone laughing as he scampered away.
After the driveway was repaired, Hubba went to get him, and he wouldn't come to the door hiding in his bedroom he shouted, "I dont want to tee him"
Eventually he came over with his dad, his big eyes couldn't believe there were no footprints.

It was a good visit and it is so good to see them both looking the same, with maybe a few lines, but not much else.

Old friends are like old shoes, they always fit the best.

Soup for my Soul

Though Autumn is my favorite season,
I am not very fond of the gloomy weather we are having right now.
I haven't seen the sun for several days and it is getting to me.
All I want to do is crawl on the couch,
with a book and snuggle under a blanket.

What I did do today was go down into my husbands den
and catch up on Bill Maher shows.

Last week his guests were Paul Krugman, Tucker Carlson and Joy Behar.
Even Tucker Carlson had trouble keeping a straight face trying to defend this
administration as it slowly tries to shreds the Constitution.

I don't agree with a lot of Bill Maher's stands , he is a libertarian
and he believes
"that all persons are the absolute owners of their own lives,
and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or property,
provided they allow others the same liberty."

I do believe we are a country of laws and maybe there
are some people who do need
protection from those that think we don't need laws.

What I do like about Bill is, he is willing to admit
when he is wrong, as he has about his support of Ralph Nader in 2000.

He is also willing to have both sides of the argument on his show,
and has no problem telling them they are full of it,
if they say something ridiculous.

I am looking forward to his show tonight.

But first I have to get up off my "chair" and
head to the kitchen and make some soup.
That is my catharsis when I am feeling as gloomy as the weather.

Windbag Diplomacy!

Since I handed off my cold to Hubba,
I was feeling so much better this
morning when I got up.
Usually I go to mass on Wednesday morning and
several of my friends meet at Panera afterwards for coffee.
But today I was meeting my cousin/friend for lunch,
tomorrow she and hubby are off to
Florida for the winter.
In some ways I am envious that she can pick up
and go because she isn't married to a workaholic.
But then I don't think I would want to leave my home for months at a time.

I digress, what started as a good morning, ended when Ellen was interrupted
by a G. W. press conference.
This mans voice just turns me into a screaming meemie, and what comes out of it blows my mind.
Worse are the softball questions the media throws at him.
Only a couple brave souls were willing to give it a chance.
David Gregory, NBC and Martha Raddatz ABC tried their best with their questions, but were shot down.
It is obvious, that the majority of them are more concerned with getting picked to answer a question, then they are to getting at the truth.
It is the reason we are in the middle of the Hornets nest in Iraq.
If they had been seeking true answers in the beginning almost 4000
of our kids would still be alive and 20,000 or more would not be looking at life long injuries.
It was bad enough that Matt Lauer over the last couple days would spend a hours on National TV discussing Larry Craig's sex life, instead of questioning what is going on in Washington.
I have lost all respect for him and other so called journalists who don't
tell the important stories,
but only want to talk about the latest scandal.

I turned off the TV and went to my lunch, the 20 minute drive calmed me with the help of some soothing music.
I had a good visit, wished her well on her trip and headed home.

I just wish that this mess in Washington could end as easily.

I firmly believe this war would end tomorrow,
if the national media really wanted it too.

They are a sorry bunch, that Washington Press corp..

Holy Vikes!!

Vikings beat Chicago?

No "#%$#" !

I wouldn't have bet on them.
I haven't been much of a fan ever since they traded
Randy Moss.
But I did watch most of today's game, and watching Adrian Peterson,
I just might have a new Randy.
I am not going to jump on any bandwagon yet.
I am just going to watch and enjoy.

Next week they play Dallas, and that isn't going to be easy,
especially when The Goddess of the Universe is using her magic down in Texas..

Dallas lost today, but hey they were playing against Brady and Moss.

Sorry Granny!!

Ross makes me laugh!

I woke up yesterday with a hateful cold.
I feel so lazy..
If you didn't catch Ross the Intern on Leno
last Thursday, here is the segment.
He is so funny and makes me feel good..
Enjoy

Trust me next time !

A couple weeks ago I convinced Hubba it was time to retire his old recliner.
Like an old pair of shoes he was very reluctant, but finally agreed and we went shopping.
We found 2 matching rocker recliners and ordered them.
I then decided I wanted the living room painted walls and ceiling.
I told Hubba we needed to find some one to do it,
"No", he said, "I can do it."

Granted he is a perfectionist, but a little slower these days.
OK, I went to get the paint.
He started on Thursday and painted all day, it was obvious to me when he finished it needed another coat
So on Friday he got more paint and redid the walls.
He could not see the areas he had missed so I had to point them out and
Saturday after he finished the ceiling I took the roller and redid areas he missed
again.
His vision is excellent, but his color concept isn't and he doesn't see different shades of the same color.

Now that it is finished, he said next time we'll find someone.

Men are funny, just like kids sometimes, you can't tell them anything.

Autumn

Fall is my favorite time of year, sitting out on the deck Hubba and his bud
built for me several years ago.
Brisk fresh air, no bugs..

When I was a young between age 7 and about 14, we lived in a house with a large porch
in the front.
I loved that porch and have always wanted one..but in a community with zoning laws, the best I could get was a small deck on our rambler.
It starts at the side door by the kitchen and wraps around the front of the house to the front door.
I know, most people build their decks on the back of the house but,
I love it, I designed it and I now have friends and neighbors wishing they had done the same thing.
I read there on good days, and at night I sit out there talking to friends that are no longer here.

The past year I have had to adjust to the time I spend out there.
We have new neighbors, Hispanic from Honduras, good hard working people.
A mother, daughter, her boyfriend and child and several relatives.
They work different shifts so the cars are in and out of the driveway, which is right next to ours.
So I am constantly sliding down into my chair when the cars come around the corner.
I have had to adjust the time that I sit outside at night.

I am a night person,I like being up when everyone else is sleeping.

I long for the good old days, when the neighbors were in bed at 10:00PM.

Ken Burns "The war"

Like millions of others,
I have been glued to the tube watching Ken Burns
unbelievable documentary about WW ll.
Seems even back then the Military was not completely honest with us.
The propaganda doled out in the John Wayne movies made us look like.
"The good guys in the white hats" rushing off to save a damsel in distress.
Granted it was a war we needed to fight.
But hearing that some of our service men pulled the gold teeth from Japanese soldiers
and that some of them enjoyed a little torture when they took captives, made me a ill.

Kudos's to Ken Burns for this gem, it should be required watching in every school in our Nation.
Especially now as the self proclaimed King prepares to engage with another country,
(Iran) thus expanding the War.

Who he is going to use to continue this fight is a mystery to me.

Anyone have an answer??

One for the Good Guys

"Tom Hiltachk, a California Republican political legal hack, apparently can't even throw a spit ball with a straight arm. He wanted to put a measure on the California ballot that would have taken twenty or more Electoral College votes away from the Democrats by changing the way we allocate those electors from winner take all to proportional by Congressional district.
So much for the sucker punch from the right hook of the Republican Party. After tens of thousands of people joined together in the netroots and grassroots to just say no, the initiative seems to have fallen apart. Courage Campaign worked with civilian leaders such as Brad Whitford and joined with the leading bloggers in California and across the country to make sure that if this got on the ballot, it would fail and that the conspirators would know that the more they cheated, the more they helped us to organize."



This is just a small snippet from The Huffington Post, you can go there to read the whole article.

The Republican party and it's extremist followers will stoop at nothing to steal the next election.
They have proven that in the 2000 and 2004 races.
If our Constitution is going to survive, we can't afford to lose the next election.

With the help of this new world of bloggers, people are waking up and paying attention.
We can all help to insure that the next election is fair, by keeping our eyes on the
prize, the 2008 Presidential election.

The wingnuts are not going to give up so easily next time,we have to remain observant
and stop them every time they come up with a new plan.

Where is Paul Revere when we need him??

The Rammer says goodbye

Another Republican Congressman announced he was retiring last week.
Jim Ramstad, who happens to be my Congressman.
Though he is a Republican,
I have voted for him over the years.
He is moderate, pro-choice, and has tried very hard to get through some significant legislation that would help the mentally ill get decent insurance coverage,
legislation he co-sponsored with my favorite Senator Paul Wellstone.

To learn more about Paul..google him.
If he were alive today he would be running for President and the liberals in
the Democratic party would not be split in their vote.

As a recovering Alcoholic Jim has learned to care about people.

My votes for him stopped when he went along with the other Republicans and voted to
impeach President Clinton.
Bill Clinton's dallying, doesn't even compare to the criminal offenses we see in the Bush administration
But he hasn't spoken up about them.
I wouldn't be surprised if GW Bush isn't the main reason for Jim's decision to leave
Washington. But I doubt if he will ever voice that.

The 3rd District in Minnesota has been under Republicans since 1959, but they have been moderates.
I don't think the Republican party in Minnesota has any moderates,
so the Democrats have a chance to pick up this seat.
Now, we have been known to do some stupid things too, we need to run a Moderate, a fiscally conservative pro choice Democrat.
They are out there, I know a couple that would bring me out of my semi- retirement from campaigning.

Meanwhile I wish the Rammer well in his new life and I know my friend Paul is looking down and smiling at him.
Because even though they held different political beliefs, they were the best of friends

The Chicks

What do you Think?

I guess everyone has a bad day once in a while.
I had one today.
It started out fine, I was up early and at the food shelf by 8:00 AM.
and it went down hill from there.
I wasn't there 15 minutes and they started bringing in food orders.
Three staff people all coming in at once and putting their slips on the spindle.
What does that mean?
It means number 3 on the spindle may have a 45 minute wait for their order.
But the staff person doesn't bother to tell them.
My first couple orders went fine, then they started bringing in orders for 10 or 12 member families and I got backed up.
I probably moaned a few times
( a moan I'm sure my kids would recognize)
Pretty soon this young lady carrying a baby came back to see what was taking so long
I explained why I was backed up and she was very sweet about it, when I filled her order I gave her some extra meat.
About 11:00 I had filled 12 orders had 4 on the spindle and my butt was dragging,
in the door came the volunteer coordinator, a new lady that took the place of one of my favorite people.

She said.
"When you tell the client's to bring back the cart after they unload
(we have had several stolen!)
"Can you say it with a smile, some of the clients think you are crabby." and it frightens them,
(another look I'm sure my kids would recognize)
By then my back was killing me because I had not sat down for 3 hours straight.
I said,
"I always say please bring the cart back in and then thank you when they do."
Can you say it with a smile.?
( this from a woman who is new, comes in at 10:00 AM and has never filled an order)

When I first started there, we had such a neat staff.
Most of them pitched in and helped when orders got backed up.
Not this new group, they hardly acknowledge your there.
It is just a job to them, not helping people in need.
Most of them act like they would rather be somewhere else.

I know it wasn't the fact that I wasn't all smiley face, it had more to do with the long wait they had.

They can't take it out on the staff who screens them, and gives me the slip for their orders, so guess who takes the brunt of it if they have a long wait.?

OK this is my dilemma. Do you think it is time for me to hang it up?

I am biting my tongue, and will go in next Monday, but something I use to enjoy is not any fun anymore

Presidential Address

I hope that everyone will watch the President tonight,
and I also hope you put what he says in perspective.

Take time to watch this Video

My Grandson

My son took this picture while he was in NY with one of his boys in August 2000.For more details, you can read his 'Moment in Time' post.

Oh Britney

Yes I watched or should I say fast forwarded
through the VMA awards last night.
I wanted to see how Britney would do, and she didn't.
Today she knocked Rosie off of all the tabloid shows.

OK her performance was awful but then so was most of the show.
Maybe it's my age, but I don't find Sarah Silverman funny.
Her type of comedy makes me want to shower.

I hope before it's to late some one wakes up and
gets this girl into some type of therapy.
She is obviously on the road to self destruction,
and I for one don't want to see another Anna Nicole.

Rock Bend 2007

Yesterday we traveled down to our hometown for Rock Bend Fest.
It has been a tradition for the last 10 years or so.
Rock Bend has 2 stages with continuous music,mostly folk, blues, country
Check out the website, click on the links and you will have a taste of it.

rockbend.org

This year my brothers kids decided to celebrate
his turning 80 at the end of the year.

They figured when it got close to his birthday
he may not come out of his house.
They put an ad in a couple local papers
with a picture inviting his friends and
former students to
"Come and eat cake."

When he arrived, I was the one he blamed and
I can't print what he lovingly called me.
His kids all agreed if he was mad it was all my idea,
if he wasn't it was there's.

He enjoyed every minute and was very tickled to see relatives that came from out of
town or state just to see him.
On his way back to Superior this AM, I'm sure he was thinking about everyone
that showed up and remembering those that couldn't.
If you are lucky enough to reach the age of 80, you are apt to be there without many of your old friends and some relatives.

This has been a bad summer for our family.
It has been 3 months since the tragic death of his only granddaughter.
(Check my May 30th blog for the whole story)

This was kind of a catharsis for all of us, so with that out of the way, next Dec when he has his actual birthday and the Holidays are over,
maybe we can all heal a little faster.
His kids and Hubba and I are planning on driving up to his home
and celebrating again with him.
My bro is 10 years older then me and one of the pictures the kids had, was of him holding me.

I love that picture

End of the Summer ?

I remember the many Labor day weekends
we use to spend at the Lake.
I use to love swimming and water skiing.
I don't know when it changed, but one day I remember sitting
in the back of the boat and thinking
"This isn't any fun anymore"

We also use to have a garage party every year in August.
Then one day I decided, maybe next year someone else could host,
that ended them.
This year,all of the young ones in the family are doing the Lake thing
or something else, so hubba and I spent a quiet day.

I will go out on the deck later when it cools down to read.

I am getting behind on my books and today
we went to the 20% off sale at the Half Price Book store

I came home with 2 more.

One I couldn't find at the Book sale is waiting for me at the Library.
It is an upcoming book club choice, not sure if it is my taste but I'll soon find out.

So if I don't post in the next couple days you will
know why.

Enjoy the rest of your summer cause Fall is peeking around the corner.

Big Brother or Big Idiot?

Watching Big Brother tonight brought me no surprises,
just gagged me a little more.

Like every other year, the naive put there trust in someone
they don't even know and end up on the losing end.

Jessica deserved to be nominated tonight for letting Big Dick and his anorexic
daughter stay in the game.
She had a chance to get them out twice and didn't.
Don't any of these people ever watch the past shows?
Then there is Erick, please, whoever came up with the Peoples Player idea
should not be around next season.
He should have been put up right next to Jess, and I think Zack may end up regretting it.

CBS should also be ashamed of themselves for allowing a Tattooed, disgusting
man to verbally and physically abuse the young woman on this show.
His constant references to some of the ladies as Bitches, makes my blood pressure rise.
So why am I still watching it?
I honestly don't know, I was a big Jessica fan..but the fact that she could be attracted to Erick, gives me pause.

I guess like a lot of people I am a gawker!

"Another Saturday Night"

I'm sure everyone is sick of me whining because TGIF closed near us,
when I say near, I mean within a mile of our house.
Not only did they have a good Happy Hour,
they had the neatest bunch of kids working there you could ever meet.
When we walked through the door we felt at home.
Some of them are transferring to the new store, but it will be about a month before they open.
Last night we drove to another TGIF about 10 miles away.
It was good, and one of the managers use to be at our home TGIF.
There were a couple of the regulars that were also there from our old place.
So we talked, and will probably go back at least till the new one opens in a month that will be a couple miles closer.
Problem with both of them is driving, so we have to limit our selves to 2 drinks.

Tonight Hubba wanted to go someplace again and we didn't want to drive far.

First we headed for the old faithfull VFW..knowing they wouldn't have the slightest idea on how to make a Cosmo, I agreed to go over there anyway.
I figured I could always find something to drink, vodka something.

We walked through the door and were not only hit with the gross smell of heavy cigarette smoke, but also heat.
I asked " What happened to the air conditioner?"
The old guy at the door said
"Broke"
From the smell of the place I figured so was the ventilation system.
Needless to say we did not stay.

(Minnesota has a current smoking ban that does not cover private clubs.
a new ban that will, starts Oct. 1st)

Next stop was a bar and grill under new management.

We had heard some things about it, but decided to check for ourselves.
The old place had a terrible reputation,
fights between different ethnic groups.
Drug deals,
police there all the time.
They had lost their bar license and chose to sell.
Another friend of ours said the new place was being strict about a dress code.
(meaning they didn't want certain ethnic groups in there)
They wanted to change their image, well they certainly did.
When we walked in the door we were blasted with loud country music coming
from a new fancy juke box.
Most of the people in the bar were wearing t-shirts and jeans
"Dress Code must mean Red Neck clothes"
Because thats what the place looked like
"Redneck Alley"
should have been the new name.
We ordered a drink and got 2 for the price of one.
"Oh goody" I thought, I really wanted to leave.
It was like a bad first date.
Slowly Hubba leaned over and said

" I don't think we'll come back here anytime soon."

We both laughed, when we left we decided to try the bar at the bowling alley
on our way home.
It has always been a busy place and no where to sit.
Young crowd mostly and a few drop ins from near by motels.

Not tonight we were with a crowd of maybe 10 other people.
(The bartender blamed it on Holiday weekend)

The quiet was nice, the popcorn was good and the bartender had worked at another place we use to go to.
I had a lemonade and discussed my reluctance to pay 5.00 to 7.00 for a cosmo.
When we got our bill to leave,he told me when we came back and he would discount my cosmos.

Well I certainly can't turn that offer down, now can I,
it may be a couple weeks before we can get back there, but we will.

It was fun to get out of our rut and explore a little.

End This Endless War

I need to quit watching news shows before I go to bed.
I sat and watched Anderson Cooper tonight following a Marine unit in Iraq.
So now after seeing our kids fighting a war that can't be won, knowing kids that are there.
Steven the son of my neighbor and friend,
just shipped out a couple weeks ago with his guard unit.
His dad talked to him today after he had come back from having some minor surgery on his foot. A spider bite that caused an infection.
Unbearable heat, and he gets a spider bite to add to it
Makes me &%#% sick to see what our "Moron President" and his administration has gotten us into.
No matter what any of the candidates say right now, there is no easy way out.

When we leave, there will be massacres.
If we stay it will be our kids, 100's every week and growing.

My guess is Bush will drag this out so he can blame another President for the disaster that will follow.
It's now or later, I say now.

Forever Young

I can't believe that it is 10 years since Diana left this planet.
It seems like yesterday when the news flashed across the TV screen.

Those handsome boys, mourning their Mom.

How sad it was to see them walking to the church
for the services.

How sad it has been over the years to watch them grow and know she couldn't.

Elton Johns beautiful tribute

"Candle in the Wind"

Goodbye England's rose;
may you ever grow in our hearts.
You were the grace that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you whispered to those in pain.
Now you belong to heaven,
and the stars spell out your name.

And it seems to me you lived your life
like a candle in the wind:
never fading with the sunset
when the rain set in.
And your footsteps will always fall here,
along England's greenest hills;
your candle's burned out long before
your legend ever will.

Loveliness we've lost;
these empty days without your smile.
This torch we'll always carry
for our nation's golden child.
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the joy you brought us through the years.

Goodbye England's rose,
from a country lost without your soul,
who'll miss the wings of your compassion
more than you'll ever know.



Diana, Princess of Wales 1961-1997

Things that I Hate

I hate it that our favorite TGIF is closing on Monday.

I hate that all of the staff and servers, and bartenders, that have become so close are being split up and sent to different restaurants.

I hate that some of our favorites weren't working tonight.

I hate that next Monday night will be the last time we see some of them, unless we run over there tomorrow night.


I hate that I when I went to do some laundry this morning, I found water on the floor from a drain backup

I hate it that I forgot to call David, our Drain cleaner guy, 6 months ago when we were due
to clean out the roots we get from the trees in our front yard.

I hate that it is another sign of brain cells dying.

I hate that I am the one that will have to remember to call him in 2 years so we don't have a major flood down there.

It wouldn't be the first time.

More then anything else,

I hate it that George Bush and friends have destroyed our reputation on this planet, and have at least 17 more months to cause more damage.

What ever happened to the Phil Donohue's and the Dan Rather's in this world who were willing to speak out??

Right now all we have is Rosie O'Donnell and Andy Rooney.....

And though I love them, I hate that....

Here he come's again !

Tomorrow "The Shrub" invades our space again.
He isn't flying in to see the flooding or to check on the recovery of the last body from the Mississippi
River after the bridge collapse.
No, he is flying in to help raise money for our Senator Normy Coleman.

Across the Lake at a public park, from the million dollar house where he will gracing everyone with his Texas charm, and with 1000.00 handshakes.
Protesters will be standing with signs, maybe whistles and duck calls.

I wonder if the true genius Karl Rove will be with him ?

Letter to the Editor in the St.Paul Pioneer Press. August 18, 2007

A True Genius

It was pure coincidence that I purchased Boy Genius on Sunday and the subject of the book, Karl Rove, resigned from the White House on Monday.
It didn't take many pages to realize that Rove is a brilliant and ruthless political operative. whose philosophy seems to be that the ends justify the means.
From the beginning, he employed the most devious and dishonest methods to achieve his political objectives.
His achievements are impressive.

He is responsible for twice helping elect an arrogant, incompetent buffoon to the most powerful office in the world.
He took a failed businessman, George W.Bush, and placed him in charge of the economy of the United States.
He took a man who dodged his military service in Vietnam and turned him into the commander in chief of the US military.
He took a man who failed his law school entrance exam and placed him in a position to nominate Supreme court Justices

Yes Rove's most historic triumph was creating the worst president in American history.
And that is why some call him the Boy Genius.

TOM HAMMOND
Woodbury

Somewhere Richard Nixon is smiling!

Shrub

George Bush is about to break Ronald Reagan's
record for vacation days.

Meanwhile more slaughters in Iraq
and several more mine workers injured,
with three more dead in the Utah Mine

What is happening in New Orleans?
Nothing!
Are they prepared for the next round of Hurricanes?
No!

His old MaMa must be proud!

"George can't halp it he was born with a silver foot in his mouth"
Ann Richards 1988 Democratic Convention

Oops I guess that was his daddy,
the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree does it?

Time Flys When Your Having Fun.

I went to my Dermatologist today for a post op check of the skin cancer he removed from my face.

My friend Marie went with me to Edina where his office is located.
He told me not to worry about the puffiness and said the scar on my cheek would fade.
If it doesn't they have a few tricks they can use.
Meanwhile he was very kind and told me I could do my follow up body checks with my GP who is a Female.


After my visit, Marie and I headed over to the Cheese Cake Factory for a salad.
Love that place, and we were good and skipped dessert.
You don't know how hard that was.
But I have a Big Birthday coming up next Monday 8/20 and I intend to drown my sorrows, starting on the weekend.

My daughter who just celebrated her birthday is having a BBQ at her house to celebrate all of our August birthdays.
My Hubba 8/5, daughter 8/8, oldest son 8/19 and twin G sons 8/17 are all Leo's.
Can you imagine Kings of the jungle all under one roof?
Well it certainly was interesting when the kids were growing up.
My youngest son is an Aries and kind of hid from every one
at times.
But believe me he held his own, and still does.

How old am I?
I gag when I think about it.

Jane Fonda and I were born in the same year
so when you think of me visualize her.
That seems to soften the blow for me.

Anyway I've been told 70 is the new 50.

Please don't pop my balloon..

Lazy day

Couldn't believe it when I stepped outside this
morning.
The humidity has dropped about 20%.
I am actually going to go out on my deck and read.
I don't know how long we will have this reprieve.
So I am going to enjoy it.
Meanwhile for some good reading
click on my links, especially

"My girl with kaleidoscope eyes"
*smiling*

Stormy Weather

It has been one of those weeks when I didn't have time to breath.

Add to that the god awful heat we are going through right now in Minnesota.
Earlier it was 90 degrees with 68% humidity, perfectly conducive to a major storm.

I love rain storms in the spring, but this time of year, it frightens me,
Every flash of lightening and crack of thunder reminds me of a storm we had a few years ago when we lost several trees and we were without power for 6 days.
I realized then that I would have made a terrible pioneer woman.
I wore the name "Bitchy" with pride.

We have storm warnings right now and hoping for the best.

Last night trying to sleep when thunder and lightening rocked our house, and rattled our windows.
I think it was well past 4:00 AM before I fell asleep.
This time we were lucky there are areas in Mpls without power.
The State Fair grounds has massive damage and the fair is scheduled in about 3 weeks.
I am feeling guilty for whining,
so I will do what the Nuns always told us, back in grade school.

"Offer it up"

I will tonight for all those kids in Iraq basking in temps of
120 degrees.

Happy Birthday Eve..

August is probably the worst time of the year for me.
8 years ago today my life changed
Why? Let me explain the best way I can.

Every body has friends, I am lucky to have many.
I am still close friends with those I had in childhood,
friends from High School, friends I worked with.
friends from Church and through volunteer activities.
We moved into our neighborhood, and became involved in our community, worked on campaigns, volunteered at our kids schools, we met many people we became close too.
Over the years we have lost many good friends, it has been hard on Hubba who has not only lost
all of his siblings, but most of his close childhood friends too.

But I digress.

When we moved into this community over 40 years ago.
I met someone who would become the best friend anyone would ever want.
You know what I mean?
Someone who you can tell anything too.
Someone who accepts you warts and all.
Someone who would come and sit at your bedside if you were ill, and she did.
Someone who would baby sit not only your kids but your dog as well.
Someone you could be with and not say a word, but leave feeling you had just had the
best time of your life.
Well for me that was Arlis,
It would be way to long to go into how we became friends.
Just know that we became close.
Arlis, who was widowed, was about to retire from her job as an LPN at a local nursing home.
She planned on putting in her notice on Monday Aug 3rd 1998.
I was so excited, because we had made plans to go to New York City for a trip to celebrate and then to Connecticut to visit her daughter and family.
On that Monday I was home supervising the carpet layers as they put in new carpeting in my family room.
The phone rang and it was Arlis, she had not gone to work that day because she had been up with chills and headache all night.
She was calling me to tell me she had a new granddaughter Eve, and she was so excited.
I congratulated her,and told her to rest.
Her son who was in med school and lived at home was out of town and would be back late Tuesday the 4th.

I did not talk to her again until late Tuesday night, she said she was tired,
so I told her I would stop over in the morning.
I did, around noon, and when I saw her I thought I would die.
I could see how ill she was.
I wanted her to go to the Doctor and she wanted to wait till her son came home.
I argued with her but she was determined to wait.
I went home and called my hubba and told him to come home from work, because we needed to get her to hosp.

Why didn't I just call 911?

By the time he got home, so had her son, and I went with him to the Hosp.
Before I left the hospital that evening I told her I loved her and not to worry.
We thought then it was pneumonia and she was in good hands.
It was the last time we would talk.
By the following Sunday she had died from a rare strep infection of the blood,
and no idea where it came from.

The following Wednesday was her funeral, her daughter, son in law and newborn little girl Eve flew in for the funeral.
Leaving their oldest daughter at her paternal Grandma's.

Little Eve turns 8 today, Arlis never met her.
I have received pictures and she is Arlis's clone, not only in looks but according to her daughter in personality and gentleness.

I am sad today, and I am sure that Arlis's family is too.

Arlis was my soul mate and I miss her..

Happy Birthday Eve, you had a very special Grandma!

Are Your Bridges Safe?

What a tragic night we had yesterday.

The collapse of the 35W bridge has caused many deaths and injuries, at this time 20 to 30 are missing , probably in the Mississippi river.
There is a recovery going on now.

I was watching the 6:00 news when it happened and immediately started checking to see if my family and friends were OK

This morning our President appeared on TV and began to spin.
He blamed the Democratic in congress for not bringing him a spending bill.

Give me a break!!

He forgot to mention that our Republican Governor Pawlenty vetoed a Transportation bill
that included a 5 cent gas tax increase that would have gone to road and bridge repair.
Our Governor who has made it clear "no new taxes" under his watch.
He is only willing to borrow and spend, so I expect to see him offering a bonding bill to the legislature
It should be pointed out that our Government has been ignoring the infrastructure in this country.
Money that should be used here is being used in Iraq.
The essay I posted "The Fungi Terrorist" by Charley, written tongue in cheek
has this quote in it.

"When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda took the money from our infrastructure, so that soon
our bridges will collapse under our heavy S.U.V.s and our roads will fill with potholes."

It give me chills to think what we have ahead of us.


Go to my links at the right and click on Centrisity
for more info on this tragedy, he is doing a great job of updating!

The Terroist Fungi

I thought this was good reading and Charley gave me permission to Post it.


I was in line for airport security a couple of weeks ago. I looked down at my feet and
realized that, like half of those with me, I had on sandals and no socks. The sandals
would soon be coming off, and my bare feet would be walking across the same floor as
thousands of other bare feet that day. I started wondering how many of my predecessors
had athlete's foot or other communicable problems.

Suddenly, I had an epiphany: what if it was all part of an Osama bin Laden plot! What if we
were simply being distracted by yesterday's danger of hijacked airlines, while submitting
to today's danger of millions of new cases of athlete's foot? Imagine the consequences.
An American nation weakened, hobbling around on itchy, burning feet while mad
fundamentalists took over the world. Like a magician's unsuspecting rubes, we had been
looking in the wrong place while the evil mastermind had concocted a new danger to
strike us unawares.

As the days have passed, I have come to understand what a diabolical plan Al Qaeda has
set into motion. I mean, here we are, fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, spending a couple
of trillion dollars to fight a war we cannot win, sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers
and Marines to guard impossibly vulnerable pipelines and close permanently porous
borders. The scale of economic and human waste is staggering, of course, but I have
come to understand that the war itself is not even the point. What we are dealing with
here is a subtle plan to destroy our civilization while we don't even notice. It is much like
the magician's slight of hand, directing our attention elsewhere while he produces the
rabbit from the hat or the coin from behind our ear.
While we have been distracted by the war, Osama and his cohorts have been up to no
good. Consider the following:

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda shipped all of America's manufacturing jobs to other
countries, leaving our nation like helpless pigs waiting for other nations to fill the trough.

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda took all the resources out of our schools, leaving an
entire generation of children unprepared to make intelligent decisions, prey to
superstition and fundamentalism.

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda gradually deprived our citizens of healthcare, leaving
us sick and weakened, ripe for an attack.

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda made us buy enormous quantities of fashionable
trinkets (manufactured in other countries), putting us into impossible debt (often to
countries like China, which are loaning us the money).

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda took the money from our infrastructure, so that soon
our bridges will collapse under our heavy S.U.V.s and our roads will fill with potholes. Al
Qaeda has been particularly successful in depriving us of the investments needed to
develop clean and sustainable energy self-reliance, so that we daily become more
dependent on the petroleum of other countries.
When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda tricked us into giving up our liberties and into relying
on methods like torture, which have in turn taught the countries of the world to fear and
hate us.

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda made our government corrupt and our citizens
mistrustful of that government.

When we weren't looking, Al Qaeda made us rely on mercenary armies, which have no
loyalty to our once-great nation.

In short, while we have been paying attention to the war, Al Qaeda has undermined every
single structure that once made our nation strong. We are now the biggest debtor country
of the world, living for the moment with no thought to the future, undereducated and
under-informed, susceptible to disease and panic, mistrusting ourselves and our elected
officials…a fruit ripe for the picking.
It is a sad state of affairs indeed, to finally understand that our civilization has been
dismantled behind our backs, even as we thought we were fighting terrorism. I think I
hear some cruel laughter from a cave in western Pakistan.

(This essay is cross-posted at http://www.mnblue.com/node/576
Charley Underwood

Good Old Days!

Last Saturday Hubba and I drove down to Sheldon Iowa to visit my favorite Auntie Lo,
my dads oldest sister.
Lo turned 95 in June,she is still as sharp as ever though her body isn't.
She was always there for our family, and she was the first one at the Hospital
when we knew dad was dying.
They were very close and in many ways she is still my connection to him.
It is so hard to let go, but I know that day is coming.
I could tell when our visit was ending, she kept dozing off.
Heading back we had made arrangements to spend the night in our hometown, so it was only a 2 1/2 hour drive.
We had also contacted some good friends and told them to meet us at the Legion club.

What an Interesting night it turned out to be

While we sat visiting in the Legion, I noticed some familiar, though old looking, people walking through to the back room.
It wasn't long before one of them yelled my name, and I found out it was a social gathering for my younger sisters class reunion.
She is 1 1/2 years younger then me, but sorry, those guys looked old!!

For the rest of the night I was getting the "Where is Cleo?"questions
I didn't know till the next day that she was out of town at her daughters.

I don't know how many of you go to your class reunions, but I speak from experience.
Go!! So it isn't such a shock when you see the fat bellied athletes or the quite large cheer leaders.

I was very surprised at a past all-school reunion when one of my male friends told me he had a crush on me all through High School.

I am still ticked at him for not saying something back then when I needed it.

But Hey better late then never!!

I hate Change!!

It is so frustrating when you get use to a product and then it is discontinued without letting consumers know.

I have gone through this many times with makeup, and even food products.

At least with a food product you have someone in the store that can answer your questions

Today my Stylist told me she could no longer find my hair color.
Roux # 63
What does it mean?
Much experimenting or go grey,and that will never happen.
I started greying in my late 20's and began coloring then.
Once I let it grow out only to see my mother staring back at me in the mirror.

I decided to call Revlon and check for myself.
I immediately got through only to be told I had to call Colomer, she gave me the
1 800 number and I called.

For the next 45 minutes I was told by several different canned voices

"Someone will be with you momentarily."

"Please stay on the line, your call is important to us."

Then back to their god awful elevator music.
The least they could do was give me a little Bach or Mendelssohn.
I finally gave up on it and tried thier website.
That was even more frustrating, it was impossible to figure out.
I shot off an e-mail to their webmaster asking for the combination to get into the site.
I haven't got a reply yet.

For some reason I am beginning to think that Revlon does not want anyone to
ask questions.

So if you have any Revlon Stock, I suggest you watch it very carefully
something may be brewing.

They are all our Kids

On a recent post Homecoming, I talked about an e-mail that my friends granddaughter sent to family from Iraq.
She was with one of the Minnesota guard units that recently came home..
She can now get back to her life with her husband and with her education.
Like her Great Grandmother and her Grandmother she is planning on a nursing career.
This is just a small inkling of what our young kids and the Iraqi's are going through thanks to Bush and Company
Thank God many of them have come home safe.
The Minnesota Guard Units have the "distinction" of serving the longest in Iraq.
I just pray none of them ever have to go back.
I want to thank her for allowing me to post this.



May 31, 2007

Dear and wonderful family and friends,

Hi! It’s the last day of May and also time for one of my last mass email updates. I hope you are all soaking in some beautiful rays where you are. I know I am! The temperatures have been between 115-125 degrees for the last week here. Steamy! We might be crazy, but my friends and I make it a point to walk to lunch every day, which is just over a mile each way. That way we know we are really experiencing the heat of Iraq. Strange, I know.

How are you all doing? I am getting extremely excited to see you all again. Word from higher is that we will be home in Minnesota by the third week in July. I can’t wait! I have plans to spend time with many of you and I hope to see you all again soon.

I had an excellent time working in the hospital at Balad. I worked in the ICU and stayed very busy. The hospital has three ICU units and I had the chance to work in all three. ICU 1 is strictly for U.S. soldiers and contractors. I found this ICU to be the most heart-wrenching place to work, for obvious reasons. One of the young soldiers who I helped had both of his legs amputated. He woke up over 30 times during my shift, each time realizing as if for the first time that he no longer had legs. His crying led to many tears on the part of many the ICU staff. This was such an emotional experience for all of us working there.

ICU 2 is where Iraqi pediatric patients recover. I really enjoyed working in this unit because many of the children made such great progress while I worked there. Their stories are very sad, and we had the opportunity to talk to their parents too. I can’t imagine what it must be like to one moment be playing in your backyard and to suddenly wake up in the hospital with a huge piece of shrapnel in your head. I am attaching a few pictures of the children and families I worked with while I was in Balad. I found the Iraqi parents and family members to be friendly and very concerned for their children.

ICU3 houses the adult Iraqi patients, whether they are Iraqi Army, civilians or even detainees. For the most part, we knew very little about these adult patients, mainly because there were very few visiting family members and our patients were so critically injured that communication often wasn’t possible. Although detainees were given the same standard of medical care, many of us had mixed emotions in having to help someone who had just tried to injure our soldiers.

Hmm, this is sounding like a very depressing email, isn’t it?! Yes, working in the hospital has been both very challenging and rewarding. My overwhelming feeling is that it’s sad to see all of the effects this war is having on both Americans and Iraqis. At the same time, the optimist in me tries to see the positive interactions I’ve had with Iraqis and the medical experience I am gaining while working here.

Enough said. I just hope that you are all there treasuring every moment you have to see your loved ones and to enjoy your lives. I can’t wait to be on that side of the ocean with you again.

Love you all,
XXXXXXX

Summer TV

I am beginning to think the biggest mistake
we ever made was getting Cable.
In days gone by, summer TV was so boring or repetitive.
I would read everything in sight.
Right now I have 3 books to read for my book club,
and what did I do this afternoon?
Sat in the family room,catching up on HBO series Big Love
and John from Cincinnati.
I enjoy Big Love, but for the life of me don't know why I am watching John.
It is the weirdest thing I have seen in years.
I sometimes think they make it up as they go along.
Right now I think the only reason I am staying with it,
is to find out who and what John is.
I should have turned it off after episode 2.
I did that with Lost after the first season and also 24.
If anyone reading this can give me a hint, at what my attraction to John is.
I would love to know.