Friday, June 29, 2007

My new Hero !

Thanks to my stranger friend Misty, I have become a big fan of Hollywood Farm Girl.
Her recent post about Larry King bumping Michael Moore has stirred the kettle on a lot of blogs.
Maybe because his interview was such a bomb that Farm Girl is looking like a good replacement for King.
I wish Farm Girl had a comment section so I could tell her I posted her column because I thought it was brilliant,
and only because she said everything I was thinking.
I will not presume she has read my blog, but I want her to know that I have Farm Girl size balls too,
I just don't write as well as her.


I think Rosie has said it the best about Larry King..

"Stick a Fork in him!!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Farm Girl says it better then Me!

She really does:
TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2007

Dear Larry,

There are not many people who are blessed to have a position such as the one in which you find yourself today. I knew your name from years ago. I knew that if someone was on Larry’s show, it was a big deal. That guest would be smart, contributive, and poignant. I would walk away from your interviews, Larry, feeling as if I’d just been let in on a secret dinner conversation. I used to find your questions imaginative, original, and somewhat interesting and clever. Your suspenders, with matching ties… really, that is such a cute idea. It spells class all the way.

Your show used to have movers and shakers on it. Your show was once significant to the American society, as your show was not only entertaining, but educational and provokative as well. What a legacy you had going, Larry! Unheard of! Unprecedented! CNN! YOU! THE FIRST! GOOO LARRY!

Is it true you bumped Michael Moore from your show to interview a celebrity famous for her porn and drunk driving? Really? Remember Michael Moore? He made Farenheit 911? Changed how we Americans viewed the war? Perhaps your manorexia has caused your brain to eat itself, and you don’t recall. Or, maybe, CNN is owned by some neo-cons, and the decision wasn’t really up to you, it was up to the people who own CNN? Either way, Larry, I am sure you are hitting yourself. I know, I can’t imagine if I had to be you and sit there across fom some poptart who’s labia has seen more sunshine than Cheney’s drunk chrome on a hunting afternoon. I can’t imagine what you will have to tell yourself as you prep for that interview in the makeup chair.Just remember, Larry, as history is written, there will be proof spilled everywhere, like ink. The truth will berry-stain: impossible to forget stain… And you know what? I am going to look back at this time, a time when real journalists could have saved us all some grief by reporting truth instead of soaps, and I will laugh and say “Remember how Larry King dumped Michael Moore for Paris Hilton?”

Or maybe I won’t. I’ll probably have forgotten about you, Larry, and your gossip show. You just became forgettable.

Have a good interview, Larry. I’m off to see SICKO, and try to see about changing this world, not my ratings.

Sincerely,
Hollywood Farmgirl

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Monday, June 25, 2007

Is someone trying to tell us some thing?

Spent the weekend at graduation receptions.

Saturday we went down to my nephews step daughters graduation reception.

The last one on Sunday was here in the western suburbs, very nice, we went early and headed home early.

We had a friend along and I was turned talking to her, when she yelled "look out."

I turned around in time to see my Hubba swerving out of the way of a car coming into the intersection.
Unfortunately not fast enough and the passenger door and front fender
of my brand new 2007 Mercury Milan got the brunt of it.

The other car lost his whole front end, my poor Hubba hasn't had so much as a parking ticket or accident in over 30 years.
So he was in semi shock I think.
I almost wished that I had been driving the car, then I could have jumped up and down and screamed to eliminate my stress.
The rest of the night I dealt with Mr. Pouty.
He was mad at him self, because he was looking for an exit sign and not the intersection.
The other driver was going pretty fast, but had the right of way.
The Officers were very kind and no tickets were issued, and most of all no one was injured.

Before I went to bed..I left a note reminding him of my nieces death and what our
family, especially her parents have been going though.

I said..
"No one was hurt..It's just a car..and you can always buy me a new one." :D

When he came home from work he had snapped out of his gloom.
He took the car to the body shop and got a rental for me.

If this had happened a month ago, maybe I wouldn't have been so calm about it.
Sure it made me ill to see my car like that.
But there was a young man and little boy in the other car, it could have been so much worse.
Another family could be grieving right now.

Maybe it is a wakeup call for all of us to be more observant on the road.
Next week is the 4th of July, think about this when you are driving,
I know I will.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Proud to be Irish.!!

I have always been very proud of my Irish/English heritage.

On both my Mothers( Trowbridge) and Fathers ( Eaton) side we have been able to trace the English blood back to early years in those countries and maybe even to Francis Eaton who signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

My Irish side has been harder to trace, my maternal Grandmother was Irish.
Her Grandparents came from County Cork and that's about all we know.
We aren't even sure of her Grandfathers name.

Along with this "precious" blood line comes the curse on people of Irish/English descent, that shows up in skin cancers and other damage the sun does to fair skinned people who were stupid in their youth when they tried to get a tan, and did nothing but burn and peel.

I am paying for it the same way my mother did. I have been to the Doctor 3 times to remove Basil Cell skin cancers from my cheek.
Cells keep showing up in the outer areas during the biopsy.

My Doctor has now recommended a procedure that will be done by a Specialist where they will slowly take samples and examine while I wait until all of the affected area is removed.

I have a niece that has been through this and she told me it's better to have the Specialist do this because they can do it with out leaving much scarring.
In fact I couldn't even see hers.
But then her skin is much younger and more elastic

It just seems to me it would have been simpler for me and my Insurance company if I had been referred to a Specialist at the onset of the problem.
But hey, Insurance Companies don't work that way they try to get by the cheap route and then it ends up costing more money not to mention the time of the doctor and patient

I am just wondering what happens if it's all over my face?

Will the insurance company cough up money for a plastic surgeon if I need one?
When I asked the scheduler this she laughed, and I'm not sure if she thought I was being funny or if she laughed at the idea that my insurance would pay big bucks for a plastic surgeon.

Well only time will tell, and I couldn't even get an appointment for the procedure till August 8th.

If I do get the plastic surgeon, I'm leaning towards the Angelina Jolie look,
well without the big lips though.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

TV News..Comedy Central and MSNBC ..Rock!

I just love The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

Last Night Stephen Colbert had Toby Keith on, and I loved how
Stephen tried to get Toby ( Big Head) to apologize to the Dixie Chicks.
He said he wouldn't apologize for his patriotism. Oh Please,
what a Phony **** !

I just love the way Stephen gets these (right) wingnuts on his show
and then makes them look ridiculous.

Nobody does news better then Jon Stewart or Keith Olberman and nobody puts things into perspective better then them.

I feel today that if you really want to know what is going on in this world,
then you have to watch these shows.

Your not going to get the truth from Fox News

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Fathers Day

I thought a lot about my dad today.

He was bigger then life, a man's man.
Handsome in a John Wayne sort of way.
He would stop you in your tracks with a look.
Many young men I dated hated coming to my door to pick me up
when he was home.
He would just stare at them with his John Wayne eyes.
Needless to say I didn't have a lot of problems on my dates with them.

He was a hunter and fisherman, a licensed gunsmith and his last job before he became ill was as a Security Guard at the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

He had worked many jobs in his youth and during the depression,
when there were no jobs,
he and his brother in law Red made bathtub hootch and sold it on the streets after dark.

I don't think there was anything he couldn't do.

My mom told me the story of how they met.

She was a senior in High School and working part time at her dads popcorn stand
This good looking young guy, kept coming over and buying popcorn from her.

She was smitten and a month before she graduated from High School
they eloped.

My Big Brother was born the following December.
They were young parents who struggled for many years before they continued their family, then they added me and my sister.


He was a good dad, strict, stern and sometimes scary.

It wasn't until I had children of my own that I realized what a pussycat he was.

He died way to young at the age of 56 from Hodgkin's disease, a disease they had no treatment for at that time.

I was expecting my 3rd child when he died so he never got to see my youngest son who resembles him so much.

Isn't it too bad that when we are young we don't spend the time talking to our parents about their lives?
They did not have it easy growing up, unlike the pampered children of today.

There is so much I would like to know about him and his early life, that I now have to hear second hand

I hope everyone took time today to remember their dad's in some way.

My kids did and their dad is smiling while he sleeps.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Stages of grief

Why is it that men think they have to hide their feelings in times of grief?

Why can't they just let it out.

Eventually it will hit like a wave and no matter where they are it will flow without control.

I saw that today......

Woman tend to share with close friends, and in time, each day gets better.

Lot's of time will have to pass before anyone wakes up and smiles again.

Grieving is difficult work, people have to take time and not be rushed into it.
We all need to cry and sometimes I think this world has ruined our sons by
making them think that crying isn't manly.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Time to wake up!

This column was posted on one of my discussion groups
After you read this, tell me if you think we are now safer.
I'm still waiting for all the flowers Cheney told us we would be welcomed with.

APPLETON PRESS
Brian Wojtalewicz

“Let’s Have At It”

Hit your “turning point” on the war yet?

The turning point for Staff Sergeant David Safstrom came in February of this year, on his third deployment in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. They killed a man that they caught setting a roadside bomb, and they were stunned when the search of his body found an I.D. card showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army. He thought: “What are we doing here? Why are we still here? We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.” Most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company echoed his feelings when the New York Times reporter talked to them. Sergeant Safstrom explained that in his first two deployments, he and his fellow soldiers were gung-ho and had no or little reservations about being in Iraq.

Sergeant First Class David Moore, a self-described “conservative Texas Republican” and platoon sergeant in the same unit, told the reporter that he now strongly advocates getting out of Iraq. “In 2003, 2004, 100% of the soldiers wanted to be here, to fight this war.” Now, 95% of his platoon agrees that they should get out of Iraq.

Sergeant Safstrom explained why he believed the American presence was pointless. “If we stayed here for five, even 10 more years, the day we leave here these guys will go crazy. It would go straight into a civil war. That’s how it feels, like we’re putting a band-aid on this country until we leave here.”

Safstrom also recalled his thinking one week after the 9-11-01 attacks, when he walked into a recruiter’s office and joined the army: “You guys want to start a fight in my backyard, I got something for you.” The deception that was foisted upon these young people, and the country as a whole, is stunning. I remember reading about and seeing photos of graffiti put up by American troops in Iraq, with the message of “Remember 9-11.” These young people were willing to kill, and be killed, thinking that they were fighting the people who attacked us on that day. For several years now, anyone who has been paying even moderate attention to the situation knows that the people in Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

What have we done to the Iraqi people? A study by medical researchers that has never been successfully disputed has shown that over 655,000 Iraqis have died since the invasion. Approximately 2 million have fled the country. Recently, reporters have discovered among these refugees that way too many young Iraqi women and girls, especially those with no fathers as breadwinners in the family, have been forced into prostitution. Approximately one-third of Iraqi doctors have fled the country, and 2,000 of them have been murdered. Another 1.6 million Iraqis have been displaced within their own country. Our USA is spending $6 Billion a month on the Iraq War, but we have refused to allow any Iraqis as refugees into our country, except for 202 of them.

Our country is now spending $50 million a year on advertising for the army. My son, in his senior year of high school, was stunned to discover a large, brand new SUV, with big speakers and a big TV screen, backed up to the main doors of the commons of our high school one morning. The hip looking young man with shades on, who was greeting all of the students he could, turned out to be a military recruiter. Casey asked him who was paying for this big, showy rig and the equipment. The guy smiled and said it’s just part of their budget in the military. Our military is also now spending $1 Billion a year on enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses. Will this madness ever end? Will we ever get leadership to focus on serious anti-terrorism measures, instead of creating new terrorists in droves?

Friday, June 08, 2007

Don't get sick In the good old USA

This summer Michael Moore's new movie Sicko is being released.
I watched him on Oprah this past week, the new Michael shaved and bathed, almost looking like an accountant.

Many of the stories in this movie will touch someone, somewhere.

The Health System in this country is broken.
Especially the Mental Health system
It is a strictly for profit.
Our country is ranked 37th in health care, below Costa Rica
mind you, check it out for your self if you don't believe
this statistic.

At one point in the movie Michael takes a group a First Responders
to 9/11 on a trip to Guantanamo Bay Cuba, where we are holding questionable
terrorists.
The First responders have been denied medical care in good old New York.
Meanwhile Michael has discovered that in Guantanamo those being held
there have much better medical care and it is free.
Isn't it strange that our country only believes in Universal health care
for them, but not for the rest of us.

I urge everyone to see this movie and think about it before you
choose your next president.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

You Have To Believe

For now I just want to share one of my favorite poems
by Douglas Malloch

You have to believe in happiness,
or happiness never comes.
I know that a bird chirps none the less,
when all he finds is crumbs.

You have to believe the buds will blow,
believe in the grass in days of snow.
That's the reason a bird can sing,
on his darkest day, he believes in spring.

You have to believe in happiness,
it isn't an outward thing.
The Spring never makes the song, i guess.
As much as the song the spring.

Aye, many a heart could find content,
if it saw the joy on the road it went.
The joy ahead when it had to grieve.
For the joy is there-but, you have to believe.