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.....