Hatred on the Day of Change~

The world is in an uproar !
The entire idea of Pastor Warren even being present at this historical inauguration makes the skin of many boil, not to mention the news he will actually speak on this joyous day!
Warren is no more than a toxic hate monger who seeks to spread his venom through out our country~ Now some can understand the Obama Administrations desire to reach out and embrace those whom we disagree with, but you sure as hell wouldn't invite Hitler to speak would you?
Many feel this goes beyond tolerance.
Warren himself doesn't even seek tolerance, he doesn't seek to embrace the other side!
This man only seeks to spread his filth across the land while he hides behind his god!
Well I assure you I have no clue WHAT god Warren prays to, but it certainly cannot be a loving god.
Its obvious from the hate that spills from Warrens lips, his is not a god that teaches 'love thy neighbor', nor a god who tells his flock to 'treat others as you would be treated'.
Oh NO..Warren's god doesn't remind him there is only ONE judge in this Universe~
Warren himself has decided he IS the judge, the jury and the voice of the almighty!!
His hatred is NOT the format on which our country can move forward!
No amount of embracement will clear his clouded judgements against his fellow brothers and sisters!
I can only hope that those of us that demanded this change in our Country,
in our Government & in OURSELVES rise up above the rhetoric of hatred and fear
that we rise up and embrace one another that we hold onto each others hands and not allow this man to weave his prejudice into the fabric of our world,
our NEW World.
I implore everyone to stand up as one Nation and let Warrens words fall upon deafness
Let that deafness reverberate around the world so that others may hear
Let this country echo our unity
Warren is but one man, one small burr on the side of a wounded people
Do not let his hatred spill over into your lives
Do not let his prejudice rule your world.
Let him speak....and let his words fall upon a Nation who does NOT hear
A Nation that is resistant, strong...
A Nation he cannot penetrate with the loudest of sermons.
Let this man know, We shall not fall
This Nation shall rise up as ONE
Let him know this Nation will not be divided
We will NOT again be persuaded by lies and fear
It is NOT President-Elect Obama's job to wipe hatred, prejudice, fear and filth out of our lives,
It is OUR job~
WE are the ONLY ones that can determine what influences us
What truths WE hold to be true
What lives WE wish to lead
What direction WE want our country to move
"WE THE PEOPLE of the UNITED States, in order to FORM a MORE perfect Union, ESTABLISH justice, INSURE domestic TRANQUILITY, PROVIDE for the common DEFENSE, PROMOTE the general WELFARE, and SECURE the BLESSINGS of LIBERTY to OURSELVES and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the UNITED States of AMERICA"~~
*sound familiar?*
get off your soap boxes and stop pointing fingers~
If Pastor Warren has an influence over your life, your country then YOU ALLOWED IT.

I will close with a quote from Mohandas Gandhi~
*The Difference between what we CHOOSE to do and what we CAN do, would suffice to solve all the worlds problems*

~ahh just another bump in this ever winding road~

Hand Out or Hand Up??

Here we are again, debating yet another bail out!
Now the auto industry wants a piece of the Poulson Pie~ claiming the economy has sent them into the abyss of potential mass lay-offs and factory closings.
The 'Big Three' slithered into the Capitol begging for relief, yet they arrived in style on a Private Jet!?
Hey if your gonna need to make an impression of poverty upon the likes of Henry Poulson you better do it in a over priced suit, a private jet and a personal income of 23 million a year! yep...that will do it~
I don't know about you, but when our government starts rewarding bad business practices our economy is doomed for sure. The price of free enterprise will sky-rocket and the middle-class once again will be footing the bill.
Instead of asking our government for a hand-out, how about cutting those CEO wages, selling those jets, sending a hatchet into corporate? Imagine the MILLIONS you would save then!
These automakers do NOT need a bail out funded by you and me, they need a good ole fashioned brow beating and sent home with wallets emptied!
Of course those pathetic, self-centered, egotistical white collar money mongers are not about to give up their cushy wages to save their own companies...why should they? If the factory closes they may be out of a job but you can guarantee there is some Golden Parachute standing in the wings to cushion their fall.
On the flip side, if they don't get their 'bail out' money we still pay the price for it!
With over 20thousand jobs hanging in the balance you and I will still be held by our purse strings to cover the cost of such a catastrophe. Sure some will get unemployment benefits, but those of us in the real world know that is a minimal compensation for supporting a family. Food assistance and medicaid programs will have record enrollment and although we are not in Michigan, keep in mind those programs are funded with matched Federal dollars~aka YOU & ME!
So either way we pay for it!
I tell ya what I am gonna sit myself down today and write up my own proposal for a Bail Out, and I am not going to include all the years I have paid my bills on time, or that I have always lived within my means~ that doesn't matter to our government....nope. I am going to list all the credit cards I am going to decide to just stop paying on, the mortgage I have had for the last 7 years and how I am just going to NOT pay it anymore, then I am going to make a list of all the bad things that are going to happen to my local economy if I go bankrupt. How the 2 people I employ will be without jobs, how all those houses will be left with filthy, dirty carpets without my business to clean them. And of course since I won't be working anymore I won't need to put gas in my vehicle as often, and as one who always fills up locally my neighborhood convenience store will miss me. Just like the 'Big Three' want us to ignore the great success of Toyota in the U.S, I am going to ignore the facts my competitors are doing well. They don't matter...what matters is ME!!! I Will have to buy less groceries, no more movie nite, no more donations to local charity's, and to hell with the little kids at my door trying to sell me candles for band equipment!!
Yep..then I am going to file for assistance benefits, food stamps, medicaid and whatever else I can get my hands on...you know ...cuz I can.
Then I am going to make my final plea, I will board a charter plane (hey I don't have a private one), fly into Washington and insist that the millions of dollars I pay myself (just because it sounds good) is justified and necessary yet without a millions of dollars hand-out my company just wont make it.
Hey...isn't that the NEW American Way???
Henry Poulson has already proven he IS NOT responsible either when it comes to managing that kind of money~not a single dime spent thus far has stopped a single foreclosure, saved a single blue-collar job or stimulated a single economy! Yet he continues to be in charge of all that money!
WTF??!!
The pundits screamed that Obama was going to turn us into a Socialist Nation...hmmm perhaps their own reflections were confusing them!
Our government now OWNS 80% in the Largest Insurance Company in America..you know otherwise we couldn't give them all those millions of dollars to fund that snappy vacay they all took before the ink was dry! Now we are buying up an interest in hundreds of Banks.....hmm perhaps the Auto-industry is next!! and all BEFORE Obama takes office....
I can't help but wonder how many people, 4 years from now, will remember it was the Bush Administration that started all this? How many will only remember Obama for being the 'Bail Out President'?
Nothing like a hurdle at the starting line of this winding road ....

A New Day~

And so it begins~
We each awoke to the dawning of a new day, with hope, inspiration & an eager desire to embrace the change we loudly requested on Election Day & we bask in the light of a sun many have not seen for years.
However, the stage is not yet set, the passing of the torch not yet complete. 2008 must first roll out, much in the same fashion as it rolled in. The country's least favorite former cheerleader still presides over our fate. Many cannot help but to continue the backward glance, watching, wondering what the curret administration will fail to pack up, what will they insist on leaving behind? What hidden surprises will they hide in the nooks & the cranny's, what boobie traps await the next President?
Will the Bush Administration slip some major locked in spending under the rug so that they can blame the next Administration for being inept at handling our money?
Will the infamous Bail Out come back and bite Obama? Will America forget how President Bush & HIS Secretary of the Treasury INSISTED on its passage?
The indictment of Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart for the alleged plotting & planning of a mass murder that would have included the assassination of Senator Obama reminds us all that while we have certainly made great strides in our country we have yet to reach the mountain top. There is much work left to do & I emplore each of you to do your part to bring Equality & Peace to our own country.
It is unfortunate as well that while race is still a very real issue in our country, even in light of this historic election, unfortunately other prejudices still run rampant in our world as well. Yesterday voters in the state of California are claiming victory to ban same-sex marriages in their state. While not all the votes have been counted, some 300 absentee ballots remain at large, a law to legalize discrimination in California very well may be written.
I have no doubt what this win was fueled by, as supporters of Proposition 8 stood on every corner within the vicinity of every polling booth waving their signs of HATE & spewing their words of FEAR. Proclamations of 'gays teaching your children how to be gay' stung the ears of voters & again I am reminded the top of that mountain is barely in our sights.
It is my greatest wish that on this day of renewed HOPE & on this day of new beginnings that we as a Nation rise up and embrace one another so that our children will one day embrace their neighbor without hesitation or fear!
The holiday seasons are now upon us; Hannukah, Yule, Christmas & Kwanzaa~ may we each go into the season wiser, more hopeful, more accepting & more thankful for our FREEDOMS & those that fought to protect them~

ahhh this winding road~new asphalt is always smooth in the beginning......

On This Great Day~

It is my greatest wish today, my loudest prayer
that every god the human race has ever prayed to
that this Universe protect this man
Protect this man so he may finish the work Dr. King began
So that he may take this Great Nation by the hand
and guide us to rise up
to rise up as One
That our voices may be heard
That the echo of our Unity reverberate across the world

In this defining moment in our history
May we each join in
May we each be inspired in that
We each can aspire to greatness!

May our children watch in their innocence
And may they now know all things are truly possible
May our children seek each day to remind us
we are truly blessed
And as a Nation we have certainly given them
the foundation to GREATNESS!

ahhh this winding road has found a new direction....

The Content of His Character~

Tonite history was again set into motion in the United States of America~ and along with the celebration of what is to become we find ourselves standing in awe, perhaps hearing in the distance that familiar voice, the words of a southern preacher as he shares his dream~
For the day has come that a man TRULY was measured '...by the content of his character and not the color of his skin...'!!
As is the American way, when times are hard and things begin to look bleak we stand up, we reach out and we UNITE!
A dream is realized on this 4th day of November 2008, a dream that THE American Dream truly belongs to ANYONE!
My daughters can now see that hard work, standing for what you believe in, even when its not popular, rising above the rhetoric, embracing those who do not agree with you, You CAN rise up, you CAN aspire to GREATNESS~
One man and a MILLION VOICES rose up tonite, they rose up in a harmony never heard, they rose up TOGETHER for a common purpose and a common goal~the echo resounding around the WORLD.....
AMERICA ROCKS!!~

The American Bowl

and so the race begins....what you say?? begins? Haven't we been watching this race for 22 months??
Didn't anyone tell you? That was just the 'pre-game' !!!
7am this morning was the Official Kick-Off and both sides are on defense. By noon we will surely be in the 2nd quarter and still scratching our heads with mouths agape trying our best to decipher the plays we've seen thus far.
Everytime we jump from our seats and cheer our support for what looks like a lead the groans will ring loud and the ball will be fumbled, the tackle out of nowhere will drop us to our knees and we again find ourselves at first down!
5pm will certainly bring us a half-time show like no other!!! Advertising will not be humorous, funny or enlightening. The songs will not entertain both sides of the field and the sportcasters will be lost in the rhetoric.
We will not find ourselves running to the fridge, instead the majority of the Nation will certainly be stuck to the bleachers, beverage in hand, foam fingers raised high and certain a win is still insight.
When 11pm rolls around and the pacing of the previous quarter will have all but ceased, we will find ourselves not so glued to our seats and freely roaming about the sidelines, rubbing our hands together, well more like wringing as we slowly realize the newscasters were right and this game is headed for some major overtime!
No matter what team you are rooting for today, I do hope you show your support and VOTE!
Remember it is NOT a priviledge...it IS a Responsibility & an Obligation!
And when the final score flashes on the screen please join me & your neighbors & reach across the field, shake hands, congratulate them on a great game and let's all move forward UNITED!
GOOOOO AMERICA!!!!

The Risks of Our Vote....

I was visiting with a couple of friends the other day and as usual politics came up. They know I suffer from electionitis and am political junky...have no idea where they got that idea!
Senator Obama came up, of course, one is a supporter and one is not...
The supporter stated to me "..if he doesn't win we live in a country of racists!" and before I could respond the non-supporter says "oh I sure hope he loses, we don't need a radical muslim running our country"
I sat there a moment shaking my head, wondering if this is what it felt like when Alice went down the hole with the rabbit, was this real? Over 20 months have passed and people actually still believe this crap?
After I regained my thoughts I immediately set out to well...set them BOTH straight.
It was easy, I only needed to point at the latter to show the first why Obama's being black was the least of his worries. I told him this is the ONLY reason Obama would lose, people NOT educating themselves on the FACTS.
I then tried to go on and inform them that the senator is NOT a muslim etc etc...
then what I heard shocked me even more....
The non-supporter says to me "ya well I just can't take the chance. You know Al-Qaeida stated they would get us from the inside"
WOW!! the blinders some people wear still totally shock me!
Does anyone really believe that 45 years ago Bin Laden called up Senator Obama's parents and told them this boy will grow up to be President of the USA and then we will take it over!?
Seriously?
and if for a minute you really think they did, and that Obama is their Manchurian Candidate then explain to me PLEASE....why would anyone go through the trouble of waiting all these years, waiting for a boy named Barack to grow up, go to college, then successfully get into politics....all of this to put a man in a position to take over America....if they did this...then tell me please why would they risk their beloved 'secret weapon' by attacking the U.S on 9/11/2001??
Why would they risk his chance at the presidency by sending a surge of fear into the spines of all American's making them fear Islamic Muslims??
Does that really make any sense to anyone?? Seriously!!??
Senator Obama was already in the legislature, a successful politician in Illinois when the attacks happened. Does anyone really believe Bin Laden to be that stupid?? The man successfully attacked Americans ON American soil....there is NOTHING stupid about this radical dictator!
It is the stupidity of those that would 'rather not take a risk' that will prevent this Senator Obama from moving our country forward. Was a Republican President not in office when the attacks happened? Was it not a Republican President that ignored the warnings?
Senator McCain claims he can find Bin Laden, he knows how!!! but he just isn't going to do it unless he's president??? uhh what part of American Hero does that? ohhh I bet its the same one that ran below deck after his aircraft caught fire and chose to watch his comrades lose their lives fighting that fire on a closed circuit television than actually be up above helping to save their lives! The same 'hero' that ignored the warning signals on his aircraft because he wanted to be a 'hero' and got himself shot down. The same hero that wants to tax our health care benefits? The same hero that boasts about being a Maverick yet voted over 90% of the time with President Bush?
Well I am willing to TAKE A CHANCE so that my child may have the right to a CURE, that she will keep her right to CHOOSE and that she will keep her right to live in her OWN community.
Americans use to vote on the issues that were important to them and their families, our votes should never be based on fear,lies, twisted facts or hatred.
Our VOTE is our ONLY true VOICE in this country, the one that speaks LOUDER than anything we ever do.
I encourage each of you, regardless of whom you support, to STAND UP, to SPEAK, to send your VOICE across the miles and VOTE!
VOTE on the issues that matter to you, but do so with FACTS, show the world we are NOT sheep and that we don't follow anyone's bandwagon, we search the FACTS, we are EDUCATED, and no matter the outcome we are the UNITED States of America!
The road is sometimes bumpy but it is always winding.....

The Scenic Route....

There seems to be a strange and eerie calm over the political front and I am not sure if this is the 'calm before the storm' or if McCain/Palin finally ran out of filth to spew...but either way I am grateful for the reprieve.
Last nite I actually saw a McCain ad that did NOT once mention Obama, his supposed allies or anything negative about his opponent! **I know I know...I almost fell off my sofa!** Then a few minutes later I saw an Obama ad that not once attacked McCain either! **this didn't surprise me as much...but I was equally thankful**

Could we actually see peace this final stretch of the race?...hmmmm...NAH!! lol* but while Senator Obama is busy with a family crisis I find the cease fire cause for celebration :)
**** update**** a mere 24 hours later my television is overrun with new negative mudslinging ads*sigh***** hey it was nice ....for a moment****


The crew and I send many positive thoughts and healing vibrations out to Obama's grandmother and wish only that her time with Barack is spent in love and laughter, creating those warm memories that will surely carry him through whatever grief awaits.
I send my own personal well wishes to 'grandma' as well, I think Obama's grandmother stands as a symbol of great compassion and strength. This woman embraced her bi-racial grandson in an era where the rest of the world no doubt condemned him. She not only embraced him, she loved him in the truest of fashion, she took him in and raised him up like the blood that he is. It took great courage for his grandparents to do all that they have and I honor them!

I awoke this morning with the now usual aches and pains to find the cold, wind and rain outside my window. A whopping 38 degrees cradles NorthWest Iowa this morning and yet I find myself standing in gratitude.
I certainly dislike the cold; especially when mixed with rain and wind, but how wonderful to be presented with this day, a day where I am still FREE.
Still free to log onto the internet and bitch about anything I want!

so here is the bitch....(oh you knew it was coming)...

Now I am all for competitive play; we do have 2 very different candidates for president
I am all for strategic moves; McCain did pull Palin out of his ass..oh I mean Hat.
I am a 100% supporter of FREE SPEECH; both sides have spewing the typical 'pick me' BS.
However...
I am NOT in support of BLATANT LIES AND FALSE CHARACTER ASSASINATIONS!!

When the McCain campaign began slamming community organizers as peons, when they began overly repeating the claim to 'executive experience', or when Palin misquoted Margaret Albright in an attempt to force women to vote for her, or exploited her new baby trying to create a connection or bond with special needs parents that just doesn't exist and even when they began clinging to the Bill Ayers aquaintance association, or polluted the airwaves with robo calls of false allegations intended to frighten voters I was annoyed, but chalked it up to desperation.
However....
When the Republican National Committee began distributing VILE, HATE-FILLED mailers to voters I have NOW HAD ENOUGH!
The mailers in question can be viewed at https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/mailing1?source=20081023_DP_D1
When your only hope of winning an election is to create FEAR, TERROR AND INTIMIDATION OF THE VERY VOTERS you seek to win its time to throw in the towel!!!
John McCain should be ASHAMED!!!!!
What kind of American Hero turns on a fellow American? What kind of 'hero' plays politics like a 3rd grader on the playground?
I can only imagine the fear he has now instilled across our great country with these lies and bullshit, how many voters has he now convince to NOT vote at all? How many fellow AMERICANS has he now removed from the process?
There are laws against what he is doing, its called DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER and he should be thanking Obama for being a better man and NOT suing his stupid ass, or better yet, for not pounding his damn head in!!!!
If you get one of these mailers I do hope you check the FACTS yourself, throw it away and remember if this is the only way McCain can win then it doesn't say much about his policies does it!!!!!

ahhhhhh this winding road.....now where did I put my steamroller.......

To Walk in My Shoes...

We all travel the proverbial road of life, yet none walk the same path.
We each reach out from the moment of birth for a hand to comfort, arms to warm and words to enlighten. Not only do we not know the path that lies before us, but neither does our parent/s.
Our world could be one of riches or one of poverty, it could be one of bedtime stories or one of night terrors. Our lives could be sending us into laughter, tears, love or hate, but one thing for certain is ALL of these things are not predictable nor are they prejudice. They do not care who our parents know, who our god is or our race.
There are many things that cross the lines of LIFE and no matter how we begin our paths are not stone, they wind, they twist and they change. A wealthy man can become poor, a child adored can become a woman of rage, a hungry infant can become the head of an empire, our beginnings do not dictate nor predict the choices we one day make.
Our choices in life certainly can change the direction of the road before us. Getting an education, not misplacing our anger, reaching higher than where we stand.
But other things in this life are equally unpredictable and certainly change the path in which you walk. Yet, we all must remember that even as we walk this life, we do not do so alone. We can at any given moment look around us and find others beside us. Certainly there are those moments in which it is hardest to see, moments when we are certain we are alone. And yet as we walk among many no two people walk the same path.
So why am I giving you all this philosophical explanation of life, our choices and roads we travel?
Sarah Palin!
yep! the moronic VP candidate for the right wing of government!
She has suddenly decided that SHE KNOWS ME. She not only knows what its like to be 'Joe Six-Pack', 'Joe-Plumber' and 'Hockey Mom Extraordinaire' but now she claims she knows what its like to be 'Jo-Momma' too!
Somehow between making more than $175,000 last year, firing those that didn't agree with her, having 5 children and a husband who worked 'sometimes' she decided that simply having a child with special needs has crowned her as the 'all knowing' of 'all things'.
I am sick of turning on my television and hearing the air waves scream with her claims of being the newly found ADVOCATE, the long awaited Prophet for all things SPECIAL NEEDS!!
GIMME A BREAK!
Her child, Trig, is in fact 'special needs'; however he is ONLY 5 months old! Now don't get me wrong, its not that I lack compassion, or knowledge. Many special needs children in fact do have lots of issues, trials & tribulations in a short five months after they enter our world. But Sarah Palin's son has not suffered the heart abnormality, which can be common in Down Syndrome, (which is greatly fortunate and we celebrate with him) nor has he suffered any other unfortunate malady's of his delicate situation.
Trig is a healthy, adorable smiling boy!
Palin has NO clue what the road is like ahead of her or him. She has no idea the hell others have lived or the unpaved roads which have been plowed by the not so 'ordinary' parent.
She does NOT know the fatigue which can plague an entire family when a child doesn't sleep for days and days, nor does she know the path of worn carpet at the local pediatric ward or NICU. She has never touched the fevered brow of a child in Status Epilepticus or touched the cold hands of a child as it struggled to breathe. She has never spent a single day rising with no sleep to drive her child to the pediatrician, to the physical therapist, to the neurologist or to the geneticist all in the same day!
She hasn't spent her days on the phone with teachers, superintendents, parent advocates and the speech language guy just to get an IEP that includes communication. Sarah Palin has never sat in a group of supposed experts and heard her child discussed as though they had no name. She has not found herself searching the realm of her vocabulary to explain to the other child at the playground why her child didn't mean it nor could he help it. She hasn't had to desperately search the eyes of another parent and beg for understanding.
Sarah Palin HAS NO CLUE!
She doesn't begin each day cleaning carpets at 3am because her 9 year old took his diaper off to 'play', she doesn't spend her time in the grocery store reading every label to ensure there are no signs of gluten, dairy, wheat, soy, msg or red dye #40! She doesn't sit at the playground watching other children and choke back the tears as she struggles to accept her child's differences.
Sarah Palin has never sat in a restaurant and watched her child finger feed herself spaghetti at the age of 7 nor has she ever searched the internet relentlessly for a spoon her child could hold. She has never struggled with a wheel chair in a door way not accessible, she has never dealt with the stares while shopping with her 5 year old in the basket or the head shaking from passersby as her 12 year old has a melt down.
Sarah Palin does NOT advocate for me! She does not walk in my shoes nor does she know the scenery of the path that I travel. She is merely just begun to find her way. It will be years before she will be expected to know every acronyms meaning or every therapies purpose.
When Miss Alaska can recite to me the meanings and purposes of the IDEA, IEP, OT, PT, SLP, ABA, AT, AFO, OAP, ISP, DOJ, and the ADA I will listen. When she can explain to me myoclonic, petit mal, aspergers, spectrum, genotype, phenotype, mutation, mosaic, FSH, karyotype, methylation, EEG, MRI, CT, PET, EKG, ECHO, board maker, dynovox, mac button, g tube, j tube, kenogetic, casein and failure to thrive I might lend an ear. When Sarah Palin can stop looking at Russia long enough to share with me the difference between Hatchbacks and court shoes, platemates and dinner plates, switch plates and power buttons, weighted vests and t-shirts, shirt protectors and bibs, chux and sheets, Vails and cribs, melatonex and melatonin, pecs and pictures, signs and gestures, placement and a microboard, legal incompetence and self-determination then I might actually pay attention.
So while Sarah Palin may in fact speak to the masses about how she is now one of them, she doesn't even know what that means!
Now before anyone starts attacking me, there is not a single thing I listed here that I cannot explain, and no I won't have to first google it. I know all of these thing because I am a parent of a child with a disability, and unlike Govenor Palin I am not going to say I WALK IN YOUR SHOES, because I know that I don't.
I only know what its like to have a child with Angelman Syndrome, I know what its like to have a child with a seizure disorder, a sleep disorder and severely developmentally delayed. I don't pretend to know what a parent of an autistic child faces each day, nor do I claim I walk the road of a Down Syndrome parent. But I have been a parent of a child with multiple challenges for 19 years and counting :)
oh there are many roads in this world......they all have potholes, they all have detours ...but no two are the same.....and its time someone told that to Palin!!

Millionaire Plumber's? Now THAT is the American Dream!

Ok...you all knew this was coming!!
Bloggers all over the world have been frantically slamming cyber space with comments, laughs and personal insights on the now infamous Joe the Plumber that rocked last nights debate! Well here is my take...
Simply put... I WANNA BE A PLUMBER!!!!
hell yah!!! I had no idea they made more than a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!! I am soooooooo in the wrong business!
Yep I wanna be Joe, I wanna make tons of money, and YEP I WILL GLADLY pay MORE TAXES....WHY NOT? I will suddenly be able to afford too.
Never have I seen a candidate for Presidency put his chances of winning in the hands of ONE voter! I believe we can now finally say McCain has LOST IT! ahahaah
Seriously though... I agree with one thing from Last Night in this regard, Joe the Plumber DOES COUNT! just as all hard working Americans do.
It just doesn't matter if you are a plumber, a mechanic, a trash collector or a stock broker, ALL OF US count and matter and its high time we had a President that is willing to include us all in the conversation.
Now some of you may think that last night John McCain was that person, but I direct you to go back and watch it again. While McCain very clearly wants to help Joe Plumber, the guy he believes will be making over a quarter of a million dollars, the guy he doesn't want to raise taxes on because he shouldn't have to pay more just because he makes more, is the ONLY blue collar guy McCain sent his love out to, and ONLY because he thinks Joe will make tons of money.
so what happened to you and me in that conversation? Where do we sit on the McCain list of priorities?

While Obama quietly, calmly and clearly included us all in his plans for the future, the majority of his time was spent AGAIN explaining, refuting, endlessly beating the horses that were pronounced DEAD in the primaries. McCain just couldn't help himself..he walked into that debate last nite with defibrillator in hand..he was on a mission of DISTRACTION!
uhmmm wasn't it George W's long list of distractions that has gotten us where we are today?
and yet McCain declared 'I AM NOT GEORGE BUSH'!!!
Well, while I may have hooped and hollered, congratulating the man on finally getting the ball he failed to make the shot! During his stomping of his feet he forgot to explain WHY he is NOT George W. I mean, come on, we know the obvious reasons!! DNA.
But other than genetics, HOW is he NOT the same?

On a lighter note, Joe was not the ONLY interesting 'guy' taking the spotlight in last nights ring. How many of YOU saw the EDin08 signs flashing in the crowds and stumbled over your own feet to find out WHO IS ED?? Oh Don't go lying...I am pretty sure at least 250,000 of you did! How do I know..was I watching from the window outside? Nope..I was there with you, desperately trying to get into the site that was so overloaded with hits, its server hit the dirt!
And I wonder if, like me, you laughed out loud to discover whom ED is :) Well ED has my vote!

So while last nights debate was not the yawn fest of the last two matches, it certainly drew no blood by either candidate.

Joe/ED '08 !!!!!!

sometimes the road winds and the detour takes you to an unexpected place...this was one of those times....

THIS JUST IN........

ok this story was actually documented the 22nd of September, but I wasn't sent the link until today. I just want to again, SCREAM!!
I received this today and am still unable to find the words to describe it.
It astounds me how few steps we have actually taken in a world that has come so far.
Is it me or has the world gone to hell?
This story is NOT about politics, political affiliation or the State anyone lives in, as I am POSITIVE no one would want any of these things to be represented by this story, nor would the Great State of Tennessee want all of America to see them through this story teller's eyes.
I only ask that you each read it, think about it and do the right thing every day, every single day to reach out to your neighbors, regardless of race, gender, disability, political affiliation, religion, orientation, whether they have a yellow house or a pink one....let's stop this hatred in America!
This is NOT the image we wish to project to the rest of the WORLD......is it?
note...that while the following blog post is a true-life account it is graphic and disturbing
http://progressives.blogspot.com/2008/09/sad-night-in-tennessee.html

Super Highway or Bi-Way to Hell?

Information Super Highway or Information Detour?
While the internet has certainly put the world at our fingertips it has also been put into the hands of EVERYONE and that includes the drama queens, exaggerators, drug dealers, pedophiles, racists, haters, sex-offenders, religious freaks, terrorists and yes even our children!!
What has happened is that while you and I enjoy surfing the web, perhaps finding that new recipe or long forgotten one, or reading the local news and even the national headlines. Unfortunately it also means that every sick freak on the planet can also learn how to make a bomb, buy some Oxycodon, download porn while uploading their own collections.
Oh but let's not forget the world wide web is not just for the voyeur, thanks in part to the 1st Amendment, microsoft and intel we can also post our own information for the world to view.
Yep! We can each upload our photo, someone elses photo, our own recipe's, illegally share our music files, and let's not forget post our opinions on a blog like this one.
However, it also means that not only do terrorists have access to a wide array of HATE, they have the glorious option of spewing it at us from across the globe!
It's unfortunate however, that it has not occurred to them that there is no reason to post anti-American threats and lies, nope! Enough of it it is actually permeating our e-mail system quite well from none other than AMERICAN'S themselves!!! YEP!
Go ahead check your email...its there waiting for you.
How many "Obama is a muslim" e-mails do you get in a day?
How many "Call your congressman and stop the gays" requests?
How many "I'm White & Proud" letters do you read and then forward?
How many "Social Security to Illegal Immigrants" headlines do spend time indulging and then fuming about?
How many "English language to leave schools" messages do you gasp at?
How many commentarys have you read by 'George Carlin', 'Jay Leno', 'Bill Riley', or 'Paul Harvey'?? hmmm??
Come on...you all know you read these, and the majority of you actually BELIEVE THEM!
And how many of you actually take the time to find out if they are indeed true, or actually written by the stated author?

Seriously! Do you really believe that any of these reporters, comedians or commentators actually scribed an E-MAIL TO THE WORLD???
Do you really believe that ANYONE would vote to give social security money to ANYONE who did NOT pay into the system themselves, or their spouse?
What exactly would you be doing for the world by preventing the GAYS from having the SAME constitutional rights as YOU?
and btw Obama is NOT a muslim...but let's also remember that NOT ALL muslim's are terrorists!!! It is NOT a prerequisite to the religion you know, kinda like being Pro-Life doesn't require you to be Catholic, nor does being of Hispanic origin doesn't make you an illegal!
Seriously people!!

It's insane, how a people with such mass information at their fingers fail to validate the bull shit rumors and lies that fill their inbox's. Its like e-mail has become the coffee shop of gossiper's and the birthing room for Urban Legends; reaching out in the masses and tainting our minds, ideals and our beliefs.
Yep...if I were a terrorist I would just sit back and watch, not do anything. American's will be the death of themselves. Spreading rumors and filth like wild fire. Gossiping and spreading hate and prejudice. We no longer have to worry about our teachers, neighbors or bullies to fill our children's minds with hate or disgust for others, nope, we now have the internet to do that for us!!

In my disgust for you all that continue to forward the lies, the hate, the filth, the self-serving, loathing bullshit I would like to pass along to you a few guidelines:
One: CAN YOU PROVE IT?
Two; DOES IT PROMOTE LOVE & HARMONY?
Three; not sure? SEE RULE ONE!!

Need some assistance in finding those facts? No problem!!
Here is where you do NOT look;
Wikipedia *this is a self-made encyclopedia of pple's opinions and thoughts*It is NOT a factually based compilation designed to replace the World Book!*
Blogs *these are ONLY the authors opinions & thoughts*they are NOT factual compilations of mass information**unless of course all sources are sited and all sources are NOT other blogs*
Myspace *while it is fun to meet new people, let's remember this IS the internet*anyone can be anyone!*
Facebook *same rule as Myspace*

Where CAN you look;
http://www.snopes.com/ urban legends, e-mails making claims, and all around tall tales can be checked here! * and NO Obama, George W, the Queen of England, Al-Qaida or the right wing of American government is NOT the creators or the contributors to this site!!!*
http://www.factcheck.org/ all things political can be checked here, regardless of party, politician or bill. Check it here and save yourself the embarrassment of passing along mis-information and looking like a moron.
http://www.politico.com/ again voting records, political statements and biographies of politicians all across america can be viewed here for REAL FACTS

I truly should never have had to write this blog, it should be a given that we Americans are MUCH SMARTER than this. That we are not a hate filled country of racists and prejudice holding, arrogant asses should have been obvious!
I can think of another country or two that fill their minds with hate, prejudice's, and self-fulfilling loathing....can you?
Do YOU really want AMERICA to be equated with them?
ahhhhh another bend in this ever winding road........
P.S ...again! Obama is NOT a muslim, a terrorist nor the owner of snopes.com, ACORN or any other group of any kind!

Pigs to the Rescue!!!

So...both Presidential candidates have been telling us for months now that they are going to CHANGE Washington, they are going to stop Ear Marks and PorkBarrel spending!
John McCain goes as far as to tell us he will VETO any and all bills that contain them!!
hmmmm...when does he start?
It seems campaign promises are just that 'promises', the things they are only going to do IF we elect them..certainly NOT before!
The $700 BILLION dollar BAIL OUT for Wall Street is a perfect example of what these men truly stand for. John McCain 'pretended' to suspend his campaign then rushed back to Washington to ensure the passage of this historic interference by our government. Well, while he was in Washington, literally doing nothing, his campaign forged ahead. Attack ads continued to clog our air ways and his volunteer troupes continued making calls to put the fear of Obama into the homes of every citizen. *I don't think that is an actual 'suspension'?*
All of McCains silence paid off with the result of the bill NOT passing ...so much for being a MAVERICK ahhahaha guess he left his guns at home.
Barack Obama stayed on the campaign trail, appearing at rally after rally doing his best to explain to the American people why WE needed to bail out the greedy elite of Wall Street and Investment Banking. In the midst of the failed passage I guess we can surmise his point was elusive to those of us working hard every day, paying our bills on time and NOT living outside our means.
But....wait.....as we Americans began to celebrate our victory our government had another card to play...well more like $110 BILLION dollars worth of cards to play...
YEP! They went back to work, wheeling and dealing, making compromise and manipulation the golden crown of politics breathe again!
Insistent on putting the pressure on the House the Senate drafted its own bail out! Doing its best to manipulate the people they adamantly insisted this was no longer a 'Bail Out' it was a 'RESCUE PLAN'.....my question is who were they 'rescuing'?? it certainly wasn't you or me!!
This new plan had an additional $110 BILLION dollars in EAR MARKS ADDED TO IT!!!
hey...you read that RIGHT.....this overloaded PORK BARREL BILL was passed by the Senate in an overwhelming MAJORITY..and yep...BOTH McCAIN & OBAMA VOTED YES!
This 110 page bill grants the Authority to the Secretary of Treasury "to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary,.."
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/28/ayo08c04_xml.pdf
Well I feel better already...how about you?
Now let's talk about that Pork...or should we say 'Sweeteners' of the so-called Rescue Bill.
While the additional $110 BILLION dollars tacked on allowed for the extension of expired or due to expire tax cuts and provisions for Research & Development of alternative energies, it also included wasteful spending.
What they aren't telling us, well very loudly that is, it also includes "..Extending an expired provision that gives Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate against excise taxes charged on imported rum.." Cost $192 million ( http://www.nypost.com/seven/10032008/news/nationalnews/sweetners_tacked_onto_rescue_plan_132000.htm )
*we all know how important our Rum is to the American Citizen!!!*
Oh and let's not forget the tax extension for us 'Joe Six-Pack Americans' or in this case the Nascar fan... "Extending for one year a seven-year depreciation timetable that NASCAR and other motorsport racing facilities have had for some years,.." *hey what else we got to watch while we drink our six-pack?*
or the "Extending for five years a program that reduces import duties on some wool fabrics..." Cost: $148 million * gonna need those wool sweaters this winter!*
Oh I know you movie buffs are gonna be grateful for this one "Increasing the single-year deduction in production costs, from $15 million to $20 million, that film and TV productions may take if the costs are incurred in economically depressed areas..." Cost: $478 million. *who knows they might make a movie in the Ninth Ward*
And those with children you are going to be so grateful for this one! "Exempting wooden practice arrows used by children from an excise tax of 39 cents per arrow.." Cost: $2 million *hey a kids gotta hunt ya know*
Let's not forget what's being called the 'Lance Armstrong' ear mark "Allowing employers to exempt from taxation what they spend on some fringe benefits for workers who commute to work by bicycle, for example reimbursing the cost of parking the bikes" Cost: $2 million *damn where are they parking these things?*
you view these and ALL the added Pork here:
(http://www.nypost.com/seven/10032008/news/nationalnews/sweetners_tacked_onto_rescue_plan_132000.htm?page=2 )

It was not only a sugar overload but while the bacon was burning our 'CHANGE' candidates were signing away OUR tax dollars! It just didn't matter how many Americans aggressively called or e-mailed their senators and representatives begging them to VOTE NO....NO ONE was listening!
We the People? really? where?
With 159,000 jobs lost in September alone you would think our government could have done better. This mass spending and political push & pull will NOT save ONE job, it will NOT keep ONE homeowner from its already impending foreclosure, it will NOT keep you and me warm this winter, nor our children fed.
$810 BILLION DOLLARS SPENT.....and NOTHING changes for us.
sometimes life has road blocks, sometimes detours, but in this case I do believe we have fallen into the biggest pothole of politics yet!
ahhhh this never ending winding road.....

Bail Out? really???

Is this Armageddon or did Wall Street plan this to get back at George W. for NOT following through with is campaign promises?
Well if ever there were an Armageddon on the economy we are certainly setting the stage for it.
The rumor mills are in overtime and the American middle-class can't catch a break, then out of know where the stock market takes an Olympic Dive into the abyss of an already staggering economy leaving the so-called 'white collar' worker standing in line at the unemployment office behind the rest of us.
The Federal Reserve stood quietly by and watch a 135 year old company close it's doors, lay off its workers and file for bankruptcy and just when you thought the bottom of the barrel had been reached they jump up and throw 85 MILLION dollars on the doorstep of AIG!
Washington will let the investment banks fend for themselves and watch the retirement plans of millions disinigrate, but when an insurance company is going to give the Federal Government an 80% interest in the company..hey...let us empty the pockets of Americans everywhere and bail them out!??
I don't know about you but the idea of our Federal Government having an invested ownership in one of the top insurance companies in the country kinda gives me the heebie jeebies!
What happened to the idea of 'less' government control? First they bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now AIG....what's next?
Well I don't know what is next but I can tell you what WON'T be next...the almighty Federal Reserve won't be offering up any bail outs to you and me!
Nope, if we make a bad investment, or fail to make a loan payment you and I will be left in the shadows of the giants.
Yep, our hard earned, scarcely saved monies will be taxed and given to the corporate giants that promise to give the Feds a cut. Our taxes will no longer build new infastructure, it will be used instead to patch up the walls of a failing one.
Yesterday Gov. Palin was rejoicing in the governments decision to let the Lehman Brothers fall and then today claiming it was a necessary decision to bail out AIG.?? huh?
Yesterday Senator McCain claimed the fundamentals of our economy were strong, and today is saying what he really meant was our working class citizens are strong....but what he failed to mention was the thousands that are now NOT working.
and let's not forget Senator Obama, while he and Joe Biden both claimed a bail out of the Lehman Brothers was the right thing to NOT do, today the only thing they could offer us was an explanation for why McCain was wrong?? huh?
I think you and I can figure out for ourselves who is right and who is wrong, but what we still have failed to hear is what McCain and Obama are GOING TO DO for US!!
I wanna know HOW they are going to get more and higher paying jobs HERE in the USA.
I wanna know HOW they are going to put Wall Streets balls in a noose.
I wanna know HOW they are going to keep my tax dollars from bailing out a corporate giant that got greedy.
More importantly I wanna know HOW they are going to BAIL MY BUTT OUT of the mess George W. Bush has left us in.
another twist in this long and winding road......

Why Vote At All??

I received this from a friend and while I have always seen myself as one who takes my right to vote very seriously, I will admit I had NO CLUE about the horrific, tragic and heroic fight it took to give me that right.
I, like many of us, always imagined a group of ladies in long dresses, carrying home-made signs chanting some feministic phrase, politely asking for the right to vote.
How many of you were like me?
With a very important election upon us,
I felt it EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that every woman, every PERSON read this!
For every woman I say VOTE! it's your PRIVILEDGE to uphold
For every man I say VOTE! you owe it to YOUR MOTHERS!
and YESSSSSSSSSS that means you toooo Kyzac!!
There is NO EXCUSE for not voting.....
WE ALL OWE IT TO THESE WOMEN......

HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET.....
IF ....
WE EVER KNEW......
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers;
they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory.
Some women won't vote this year because-
-why, exactly?
We have carpool duties?
We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter?
It's raining?
We donʼt like the candidate?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself.
'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD .
I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave.
That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women.
Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party -
remember to vote.
History is being made...

How Many Days Has It Been??

Ok...it has been wayyyy too long since my last very informative, totally hysterical and quite sarcastic post...but that is not the reason for this one.
Nope.
I have had TONS of readily available political rhetoric, as the Political Season has been extended this year with the long, drug-out, terribly tiresome Primaries of the Democratic Party. Which of course included the long, boring, squibble amongst themselves meeting they referred to as a 'special session' ; that had to be called in order for them to decide if the rules they made years ago did indeed matter or not (they concluded that they didn't).
And the Democrats were not the only ones offering up boxes of ammunition for my pleasure, the republicans have given me MORE than their share of lies, scandal and misrepresentations.
I have not posted, because well there is SOOOO MUCH to talk about I fear overloading cyber-space with one mere post!!
But alas...I finally can take no more!
First we have the racist blurbs flying back and forth, then sexism rearing its ugly head, oh and let's not forget the 'ageism' discrimination! I do believe the only discrimination in this never-ending race to not be mentioned is that of the American CITIZENS!!
Has anyone noticed that through out all of this bashing, spewing and stupidity NOT ONCE have we been asked what we think??
Are we NOT the ones who get to DECIDE who wins? While campaigns have indeed been sold to the highest bidder in more than one election, I INSIST MY VOTE COUNTS!
It would do the the media, the administration and the candidates to REMEMBER THAT!
On this day of rememberance in the lives of EVERY American I want each of you to remember that its is YOU & I that get to decide who will protect us in the next administration, who will lead us out of the perpetual rut we have fallen, and it is US that will decide WHAT MATTERS!
This is 2008 and yet the MEDIA has insisted that gender, race and age matter more to you and me than the Economy, the War, Terrorism, Education and Health Care.
Every day at any given moment you can flip on the television, the internet, open a newspaper and you will hear the constant argument of who has more elected experience, who had harder times in there life than you, who is more patriotic, who is more in tuned to your ideals and beliefs (although your ideas and beliefs are NEVER mentioned)!
Well, here ya go..
Here is EXACTLY how many days EACH have been in ELECTED Office......

John McCain who served in the U.S.House of Representatives (1983–87) ; or 1,460 daysand the U.S.Senate (1987– present) or; a little over 7,540 days thus far

Governor Sarah Palin made history on Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office. which was about 604 days before she was selected as McCains running mate.Wasilla Alaska's Mayor term is 3 years, thus she gets 6 years for being mayor twice; or 2,190 days

Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, where he remained until 2004; thats 2,920 days, In 2004 he was elected to the United State Senate where he remains; that is a little over 2, 795 thus far.

Joe Biden who has served as a U.S Senator since 1973 or; 9,855 days

therefore days served in Public Office:
McCain 9,000
Palin 2,794
Obama 5,715
Biden 9,855
or a combined total of:
McCain/Palin = 11,794 days of Elected Office
Obama/Biden = 15,570 days of Elected Office
* 3,776 days MORE EXPERIENCE THAN McCain/Palin*

Now how many of you really give a crap?? How many of you are now MORE impressed with one or the other?
EXACTLY!! The American Citizen DOES NOT CARE!
What we do care about is what there individual plans are for:
Economy
Health Care
Alternative Fuels/Energy
Education
Environment
Terrorism/Homeland Security
& the War

With only 54 days til WE DECIDE you would think the media would focus on the REAL ISSUES..as afterall, they too, ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS and the decision will GREATLY EFFECT THEM TOO!!

well that is life down this winding road....watch out for the potholes...

I Don't Mind You Telling Me What's Been On Your Mind Lately.

Happy Valentine’s Day Month, everybody!!! This is a very important month for us all, because it’s the time where our love for one another is tested. Whether it be your spouse, fiancé, boy/girlfriend, or just partner of the day, weekend, week or month, if you don’t own up to your duties as being in love on Valentine’s Day you won’t be getting your ugly bumped in a very long time. At least, not by your lover of the moment. Many people don’t like Valentine’s Day just because it really is so much pressure. I don’t really mind it because I’m single and it’s just another day to me, but then again I LOVE the people who are single and complain about it! They just crack me up by all their whining about how they don’t have to be pressured into spending tons of money for someone who they’ll probably be broken up within a week anyways, when really they should be thankful. Love is not about a single day, anyways. It’s about surprising your lover by waking them up in the middle of the night to a special something-something on Flag Day! Support the troops! *salutes*


Bai Ling's $16 Arrest
Actress Bai Ling, a native of China that really claims to be from the Moon, was arrested at an LA airport because she stole about $16 worth of goods from one of the convenience stores in it. I did not even know you could get arrested for stealing $16 worth of stuff! Maybe she just thought the line for the counter started at the door! If I had been working I simply would have asked her to pay. $16! That is far from a big deal, in my opinion, but then again if it does not get stopped now she’ll probably try to steal again. I just can’t believe she had the cops called on her for $16! That’s good stuff! Apparently, she was very cooperative. This proves my point even more about how she just thought the line started at the door. If you need anything Bai, just give me a call! Well, except not this week because I have finals. And not this weekend because I have plans with my brother, in which I'm still figuring out what they are.

Heidi’s Going Higher Again
Last time I showed everyone her disaster of a music video. Rumor has it that she’s going to redo the music video because of all of the negative comments it’s been receiving. Well… That’s fine, but what about the music? That’s not going to change how you sound! Apparently, because she had more hits or comments than Britney Spears she thought that she was winning. To explain the hits, it’s like seeing a massive car wreck, in which you just can’t take your eyes off of it because it’s so bad! And of course you're going to want to show all of your friends what you've just seen, it's only humanly natural! As for the comments, these people are not saying, “We like your music!" and "Please make more!” Okay? These are angry messages telling you to go away and to stop singing! She also keeps talking about how her budget for the video was $0. Well... that's very obvious just by watching it. Moving on to another singer with problems…

Britney's Faking Being Normal
Britney Spears is actually acting normal, everybody! In fact, she has even seen her children again just the other day. Here’s my favorite part of this story, though! There are claims that it’s all just an act so that she can get her fortune back as soon as possible. I’m not how someone could be so aloof that they had to fake being normal! Maybe this will put her back onto the right path! Apparently the conservatorship is driving her crazy. Personally, I think we should give Jamie (her father) about a year to fix all the damages that Lutfi guy has done! Jamie basically had to rehire her entire security detail because Lutfi dismissed almost the entire staff! Changing the locks was also a smart move on Jamie’s part. And now that Lutfi is out of the picture, at least for a while, I think we’ll start seeing some positive changes. I think her father has really made a lot of good moves on her behalf, and I hope she realizes it. Everyone should pay attention when I say nice things, because I don’t usually have any nice things to say ever!

Spice Girls Cut World Tour Short
You know when you get back together will an ex-friend, ex-girlfriend, or ex-boyfriend? There’s that whole awkwardness happening there… I’m assuming that is what has happened to make the Spice Girls end their tour early. They’re saying that it’s for personal commitments to their families and own lives. They also are telling us that they never even thought the tour would be as long as it was! I just… don’t know about that! At first they were telling us how great it was and how they wanted to do it “right” one last time. Ending early is not doing it right! Apparently, there are also a lot of fans in China or somewhere who are very disappointed in them ending their tour early! Yet another story reveals that Posh was the one wanting to drop out of the group and starting cat fights between them! Whatever it may be, tomorrow is the last day to see them! I would say they're definitely not reuniting again after this! Ever!


That’s it for now! I have to go actually do some school work now! It involves taking finals, so it’s definitely not going to be very fun. Hopefully everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day, and if you have not I'm sorry I did not post my advice about that day sooner, but there’s always next year! Remember to comment! Every time you don’t leave us a comment, Larry King gets one more liver spot added to his back. Now there’s a visual for you!


***Please feel free to email us at iowasasphalt@live.com with topics or ideas you'd like us to discuss, as well as to get on our mailing list so you're always up to date with the latest Jack and Kyzac have to report!***

There Go The Streetlights: The Night's Officially On!

Hi everybody and welcome to Iowa's Asphalt! Sorry I haven’t posted in quite some time everyone! I was hoping for twice a month but these last few weeks have not been so good. Between midterms and a mortally sick friend, I have not had much time to concentrate on my blogging. Why am I choosing to post right now? Because I’m procrastinating from homework, like any good college student would do!



Britney Spears On My Birthday
On my 21st birthday, Britney Spears went to the hospital. I figured one of us would have to go crazy enough to get admitted, and a lot of people were even betting on me! But our very own Britney Spears outdid me by a landslide! She was in the hospital first on another 5150 hold, which is the 72-hour one, but they then upped it to a 5250 hold which is one that can keep you there for up to 14 days. As has been the trend, she was released only three days into her 5250 hold. The good news is that her parents, until the 5250 hold would have been up on Valentine’s Day, are in charge of her finances and have encouraged her to stop hanging out with Middle-Easterners. Not saying they’re bad people, but Sami Lufti (her former Middle-Easterner manager) allegedly had been drugging her. She’s been seemingly normal every since she got out of the hospital, so hopefully this time she’s really going to get better. I don’t usually say nice things about anyone, so you should all pay attention when I actually do! It’s just really time that she gets better and stays better.

Jessica Simpson Banned From Texas
Dallas Cowboy fans want to ban Jessica Simpson from Texas, everybody! They’re saying that she’s bad luck to their football team and that she was the reason they lost in the play-offs. Really, Cowboy fans? I’m not superstitious in the least so I just think that is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life! With so many Bush haters out there, I’m surprised they would want to ban Simpson before him, anyways! I love Bush, myself. He can always live in my garage if he ever gets banned from Texas. I don’t keep up with politics, though, so that’s not saying much.

Heidi Montag’s Not Breaking Out
Okay, everybody. Heidi Montag has a new music video out. Has everyone seen this disaster by now? What a train wreck! There’s a hilarious parody that I’d like to share with you if I may in regards to her music video from E!’s The Soup. Take a look.

Chelsea Handler, who is like my idol as far as comedy goes, also had some things to say about the video in which I thought I would share with you because it's too good not to! Here she is making fun of Heidi's rediculus music video on E!'s Chelsea Lately.

I’m so glad I found these clips because now I don’t have to say anything! They did for me! AND you got to see for yourself how awful the video was! It was a double jackpot!

Paula Abdul Does The Super Bowl
Paula Abdul was the halftime entertainment during last Sunday’s Super Bowl. Her performance was pre-taped under the disguise that they didn’t want another Janet Jackson incident to happen. I know the real reason! They didn’t want her horse tranquilizers to wear off in the middle of her performance and go crazy on all of her fans. Paula Abdul is not the person you come to when you want things to go off smoothly, as they had claimed. Can you imagine how many assistants she went through up until her actual performance? What a mess she is! Anyways, I really must say the song is awesome! For not being in the studio for about a decade, I think it's amazing and it also doesn't even sound like her! It was definitely my style and the performance wasn’t too bad as well. I just wonder how many takes they had to do before they got a useable one for the Super Bowl!



That’s all I really have to say as of right now! Hopefully my friend gets better soon so that I may put more time into the celebrity world again! It’s just a very scary situation right now that will unfortunately be happening for the rest of their life, but hopefully the disease goes into another recession and everything becomes better once again. Thanks for reading! And don’t forget to leave a comment because we get in trouble every time you don’t! Just think of it this way: Every time you don’t leave a comment, a dry cat gets sprayed with water.



***Please feel free to email us at iowasasphalt@live.com with topics or ideas you'd like us to discuss, as well as to get on our mailing list so you're always up to date with the latest Jack and Kyzac have to report!***

The Final...FINALLY!!!

As we gear up for yet another groce display of our current President’s inability to complete a thought or a sentence we can’t help but rejoice in the fact it is his FINAL State of the Union Address!!
The word ‘FINAL’ rings loudly in my ears like the jack pot sirens on a slot machine…WOOHOOOO!
While the analysts have busied themselves today trying to decipher, predict and suggest what it is he might focus on, we can all be certain the entire undertone, or subliminal message if you will, of his speech will no doubt be a desperate, final attempt of projecting the Republican party into the light of a caring, concerned father figure, pledging to fix it all and make it better.
Well, I’m afraid Mr. President there is no band-aid big enough, or boo-boo kiss loving enough to fix the mess you have literally made of our country.
From crashing our economy into the abyss, leaving hundreds and thousands of children without healthcare, thousands of elderly with no heat, civil rights as much of an issue as its always been, the education system still lying in the dust of other countries and our men and women in uniform still in harms way in a far away country where the word ‘American’ is spat like a curse word on the playground of hell, you Mr. President certainly cannot do or say anything that would convince the people you had their best interests in mind.
George W, you are the uninvited guest that stayed too long! The party is over, the punch bowl is dry and it’s time for you to go! There is nothing left in the pockets of our society for you to steal, there is nothing left of our respect or our power.
You must go now Mr. President, while we still have our dignity!
It is hard for me to comprehend how this is the same country that sought to impeach a president for ‘bugging’ a hotel, sought to impeach a president for sexual favors in the Oval Office, yet have allowed you to lose Bin Laden, invade another country out of distraction, clear out our surplus and leave us further in debt than any President before you. This same country has allowed you to destroy our image world wide, to take us from powerful and mighty to lame and selfish.
You have been allowed to fail at levels most of us did not know existed, if ever there was REAL cause for impeachment it was you, George W.
You are an employee of this country and yet you continue to be paid for a job you refuse to do. You go bed every night with health insurance paid for by Us, you have food on your table every day paid for by Us, you have heat in your home every day paid for by Us and what have you given Us???
I say Good Bye and Good Riddance!!!

A Repeat worth Repeating!!

In light of recent developments here in Iowa where a prejudice, narrow-minded calling themselves 'Everyday America' are trying to impeach Judge Hanson for over-turning a ruling that violated a select group of Iowans of their civil rights and liberties.
Same-sex marriage seems to linger on the minds of those who have, well, nothing better to do. From the 'protection of marriage act' to 'civil unions' this issue has just gotten beaten to death!
And it should...shouldn't it? I mean the extremely high divorce rate loudly proclaims just how important and sacred 'marriage' between a man and a woman is to everyone ..right?
And let's not forget the ground-breaking passage of 'don't ask, don't tell'. I mean, really...we DID legalize every gay person to remain SILENT did we not?
Don't ask, Don't tell = people don't like that your here, so stop telling them!
Civil Unions= you can ride the bus, but ONLY if you sit in the back
so what does 'marriage equality' mean?
hmmmm.... I suppose it would mean that 'couples' of all gender mixes would be treated ...I dunno...EQUAL!
meaning of course that they now have the right to 'equally' divorce, hey why not! it's rather popular afterall.
'equally' have health insurance provided by a spouses employer. Gee that would mean one less uninsured person in our state! IMAGINE THAT!
'equally' pay taxes. What? are you confused now? Well, married couples often fall into a higher tax bracket due to 'combined' incomes....hmmm and to think all this time those darn homosexuals were paying less taxes than you!!!
I imagine the self-centered, narrow-minded, bible-beating, control freaks heading up this campaign are no doubt connected to the very blood lines of those that initiated slavery, segregation, lynching, genocide, institutionalizing the disabled and prevented women from voting.
Just as all those things were WRONG, so is the legalization of ANY discrimination, in ANY form!
Slaves were freed
Schools were integrated
Blacks got the right to vote
People got the right to marry regardless of race
Women got the right to vote
Disabled people got a real life, real jobs and real futures
and guess what....AMERICA SURVIVED....HELL IT THRIVED!!
and while I could continue to list all the reasons Equality belongs to each of us, surely you get the idea by now.
so in conclusion I have revived a post I made previously as I feel it bares importance once again....
The Triangle or the Square
Labels, categories, slots, boxes, corners, identities, sex, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, political beliefs, blah blah blah!Our society is so hell bent on labels and categorizations that anything unable to fit perfectly in one place or the other cannot be dealt with.Some people are feminine but not female, some masculine but not male. Some have disabilities, but all have abilities. Some people believe in a god, some in many. Some stand for something, others fall for anything.For these people society can not find a place for them, a place they can neatly put them. A box they can hide them in, a corner to stuff them. Instead society takes their turn degrading them, oppressing them, raping them emotionally and mentally. They try to force them into place, like a child with a sorting toy, trying to cram the triangular piece into the square compartment. It’s similar to the square, but different.Our society has become so adamant and obsessed with sorting and segregating our society. From oranges to apples and people to genders they act as though without the power and ability to sort no one can function.Are we so ingrained with the expectations of what is thought normal that none of us can see past the package and hold what is inside? I dare dream NOT.Yet everyday reverberates with the headlines of the world. “Hate crime takes two lives”, “Boy left to die on fence post”, “Employees file sexual harassment suit”, “President seeks an amendment to ok discrimination”, “Stem cell research banned; no cures allowed”, and the list goes on. Whether it is the actual headline or a story between the lines, prejudice, racism, sexism, all of it, are alive and well here in the United States.We must take the insults, the hate, the non-understanding and reclaim it, make it our own and in doing so we remove the negativity, the hurt, the shame, the tears and the loneliness.We as a society have to stand up and reclaim ourselves, our world and our way of life. We need to resist the norm, and refuse to subscribe to the blatant separations and categorizations of our friends, lovers, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. We need to stop the insanity of sorting human beings like they are no more than inanimate objects to be used and thrown away. We don’t need words to explain ourselves into someone else’s understanding. We need only be, be who we are, express ourselves and just be.With living comes understanding, with love and compassion comes acceptance. The dictionary cannot tell you who I am. The almighty Webster cannot even begin to recite where I have been, where I am going, and all the reasons why. Words alone cannot describe a persons self.When asked if you are heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, transsexual, trisexual, or republican, democrat, independent, white, black, Hispanic, Indian, Jewish, Christian, pagan, Muslim, or disabled, handicapped, handi-capable, able, limited, challenged, male or female how about just loudly proclaim “I am me”!I am a member of the human race. I owe no one anything. I do not have to explain myself to anyone. I am here, you are there, we both breath, we both dream, we both aspire to do and be great things. We are the same, but different. We are the triangle and the square.

What? Is that all you got to say?

Hello, everybody!

I'm back from a frisky holiday season! I have quite a bit of celebrity news to cover, as well as introduce you to a new Iowan celebrity that appeared on Ellen Degeneres today! Whether you were tormenting your relatives to no mercy or whether your relatives were tormenting you to the point of breaking your New Years resolution to quit drinking, either way I hope your holidays were very fergalicious!

Celebrity News
Well... We already have two new, bouncing babies this year! Christina Aguilera is finally a mother! It seems like she's been pregnant almost forever. She named her new son Max Liron Bratman. I feel sorry for anyone with that last name. Nicole Richie has been not eating for two about nine months as well and gave birth to her new daughter, Harlow Winter Kate Madden. This may have been the only pregnancy known to man where the baby weighed more than the mother at birth...
Moving on, Jamie Spears, 16, is pregnant with her 18 year old boyfriend's kid. It's a beautiful story, they even met in church. Unfortunately, apparently with all the levees breaking in Louisiana, so did all the condoms.
Britney Spears is just plain insane! She was forced to go to the hospital as a "Special Needs Patient" after not handing over her sons to Kevin's bodyguards. She was to be on lock down for 72 hours, but managed to serve only a little more than 24 hours before being escorted out an underground tunnel to avoid all of the paparazzi. Apparently, when the cops were trying to extract her from her house she was screaming at them "I know who you are!" and "Get me my 'vitamins'". First of all, she better know who they are because they're in very distinct uniforms, okay? Are we clear? Second, I can't believe she thought to call her pills 'vitamins'. She might be more clever than any of us think! Well... okay maybe not. Not only is she insane, but she's also wearing panties! What does it all mean?! Well... It actually means nothing to anybody, but thanks to these stars for making 2008 a very exciting year already! We couldn't have asked for more even if we had ever wanted any... And really, we didn't want any.

My Iowan Celebrity: Fort Dodge Lady
Our blog is called Iowa's Asphalt, and as we travel around the world looking to enlighten every one's lives we also like to look for our own Iowan celebrities, Jack and myself excluded. Iowa is seemingly only known for it's caucuses once every four years, but since I'm not very political I need to reach for something a little lighter. I call my newest Iowan celebrity Fort Dodge Lady. The story is that she caught her son with an empty alcohol bottle on the floor of his car and is now selling it. The ad in the paper reads:

"OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage
son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to
get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the
planet."

I'm not sure if exactly selling the car was the right thing to do or not, but I do agree that a lot of parents now days do not punish their children, but more or less stand by their mistakes no matter how awful they are. At my job that I love so much, when a kid wants something and knows that all they have to do is kick and scream to get it, that's bad parenting. Especially when the first answer the child gets is "No" and then they proceed to the kicking and screaming stage where the parent gives in and gets it for them to shut them up. That is the parents basically rewarding that kind of behavior. Since when does the kid get to make decisions with their parents money every single time they go somewhere? And why didn't that work for me? Then again, maybe these kids are onto something!
Another thing I've seen is the child failing a test or a class and the parents call the school arguing with the teachers that they're wrong. No! That's not going to make your kid pass the class, so stop acting like they didn't deserve the F! I've actually seen these arguments happen with college kids and their parents, and it's just so very pathetic. I'm not a parent myself, so when it's this obvious to even me that's a pretty bad sign. So, Fort Dodge Lady, I must congratulate you for at least not defending your son's irresponsible actions, but I'm undecided on whether selling his car was the most appropriate way to handle the situation. Yeah, I said it! You're welcome!

You're Invited!
I have one last quick announcement before I let everyone get on with anticipating our next blog entry. We have decided to open Iowa's Asphalt to our readers even more by offering new services! Feel free to send in topics, new ideas, or even to sign up for our new mailing list so you never miss a single blog entry that we do! Just beam a message to iowasasphalt@live.com and maybe you'll see your requested topics or ideas being discussed by Jack or myself! After all, we're famous you know.

***Please feel free to email us at iowasasphalt@live.com with topics or ideas you'd like us to discuss, as well as to get on our mailing list so you're always up to date with the latest Jack and Kyzac have to report!***

Experience = Change??

“That Hurts My Feelings” was the quote of the day during the back to back debates in New Hampshire Senator Clinton desperately groped for laughs while expressing her upset over voters ‘liking’ Obama more than her.
Well first of all Obama offers much more to like!
Clinton was constantly on the defensive over the issue of ‘change’, claiming she is all about change and has been doing it for years, but one must ask themselves does experience really equal ‘change’?
How can the American people be sure her 35 years of ‘experience’ won’t merely add up to one very long record of favors now owed?
She’s been all about special interests groups and PAC’s, they are the backbone of her campaign funding as well as trolls of earmarks during her term as Senator, and so where on her list of ‘things to do’ will the people of this great nation fall? When and where will these mongrels come, calling in favors and funds?
Many, but mostly Clinton herself, are complaining that Obama lacks experience but doesn’t that also mean he lacks the puppet strings that are no doubt attached to her purse pockets??
Obama speaks to a crowd very much like JFK himself, he enthralls his audiences, grasps their attention and leads them down a smooth worded journey of Hope. He points out the faults of our country, and unlike many others he offers up a solution to fix it and most importantly he invites the American people to assist him. He invites them into his circle, his plans, his America, reminding them this country BELONGS to them.
Do you really need ‘experience’ to have a good idea? Does it really take experience to move forward? George W himself was a governor and had many more years experience than Obama and it certainly did not lead this country forward.
When you sit back and think of the qualities you want in a president, in a commander in chief do you want a politician or a person?
Sure, the Clinton years were great years for our country, not so much for the Clinton’s marriage., but our economy was strong, no one was bombing us, and the price of gas wasn’t bankrupting the blue collar worker. That was another time, different era. Do we really think the map of Bill Clinton will fix the mess created by George W?
Will the leaders of our once ally countries lend an ear to a woman with no personality? If the American people can’t stand to listen to her, how can we possibly expect the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan to take her seriously?Crossing the line of race, gender, economic status, political affiliation and generation is Barack Obama. If this man can reach the ears of those on the other side of the divide, then perhaps this is the man we need to extend a hand to our third world nemeses, and if that ‘hurts’ Hillary’s feelings she needs to go back to the kitchen!