Games People Play

noticed a very big difference between members of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and that is for the most part Democrats stick together, Republicans do not. The Republican Party has the majority of the House right now but is not able to use it to their advantage, and even more importantly to use the vote given offices they hold to do right by those who put them there.

Indeed, if we are honest we must admit that the Democrats wouldn't be able to stand up to any scruitiny on their behavior as well as their associations (talk about conflict of interest issues and the like) and that they have, for many years now, even before they lost the majority advantage, forced the liberal agenda of various special interest (translated: anti-God, anti-American, pro-abortion) groups through via activist courts, clearly violating the law of the land as regards the separation of powers having to do with the different branches of our government. The Democrats have an advantage in a media that wholeheartedly supports their activities and either doesn't report them or downplays them.

But, the Democrats are united, yes, quite unlike the Republicans, who are downright fragmented and scattered all over the place. And because of that they are even more of a target than they might have been had they determined to band together. The politically motivated case against Mr. Delay is laugable in the face of what so many Democrats are doing which can be misconstrued, twisted, and used against them as easily as is being done to Mr. Delay. In some cases far worse.

As I said, the media is a party to all this, though they turn a blind eye to what could make the Democrats look as bad as the media and the Texas Prosecutor are laboring to make the Republicans via Mr. DeLay look.

Hey, I am all for standing against wrong, but this DeLay thing smells bad, just as bad as the Schiavo case smeiled. The judge and the lawyer for Michael Schiavo had clear cut conflicts of interest, but the newspapers refused to play it up as they play up what they want to manipulate what they believe in and want to make happen through their selective reporting. Too many American citizens are led like sheep who are not only blind, but want to be. The reason being that they have their own anger and spite driven agendas that the media feeds by their reporting and trashing of various men and women in Washington and elsewhere who get in their way; so they clamor and shout "Justice! Mr. DeLay Committed A Crime!' and as many shocking headlines as they can come up that make it seem like their concern is ethics and integrity when it is as simple as highschool spite games!

Hopefully and before it is too late, our citizens will put their petty complaints aside and be a part of uniting our country instead of further dividing it.

Getting Up And Slammed Back Down

It has been quite some time since I have last felt that I was getting somewhere and went back a couple steps; quite some time. I have been getting things done, feeling good about doing so, beginning some routines that are beneficial for me and my health, have missed my last cycle, but don't really miss it, and all around believe I was moving forward. And boom, a full blown cavity that makes it impossible to eat and a chipped tooth just in time for a gathering that I have decided to attend and cannot back out of without hurting the feelings of a dear (and probably only one I have left) friend. I am fighting it, really fighting the down feeling, but I have to be conscious of my teeth and not eat the dinner while seeming like I am and working on my listening skills all night because I am not going to talk and let my tooth be seen. I find that I cannot even share how I feel about this because I hear the usual, don't worry, you cannot even notice it, or, worse things happen to people and you are worried about such a little thing? In both cases usually coming from someone who has all their teeth and none of them cracked. I guess I could say they should work on their listening skills, but instead I have to work on mine as well as 'understanding' that people mean well. I just want one friend, that I get to see often enough to feel that I am important to them, who will affirm me and my feelings. I am lucky to even get what I get, mostly words of affection, and am thankful for them. I have to learn the lesson, and it seems to be a hard one for me, of being satisfied with what I get and not wanting more than someone is willing to give. I would say able, but they seem to be able to give to others. I think in a way that it is my own fault in that I would always say to friends to get to me later, to pass me by and let someone who is more needful to move up, etc., and then I simply got left behind I guess. I feel like the afterthought, like, oh yea, her, later. :( I understand that God doesn't treat me like that, but His people do. :)

Honor Our Fallen Soldiers

Link: World Magazine AP News - Weekly News, Christian Views.

What sad news indeed, that so very many lives have been lost in this war in Iraq. Not wasted though, not by a long shot. These lives have been given, sacrificed, so that we can continue to live free, because our way of life has been bought with a great price, a price that includes these same sacrifices. This war makes perfect sense. Iraq was the proper entry point for us to engage an enemy that hides behind terror and has no borders. What do 'anti-war' people think? That if we disengage everyone will play nice? Do they have any idea how many people will be slaughtered? Or perhaps the simply do not care. It would be just like VietNam should we lup and eave, that is for sure, in the sense that we will be the cause of the slaughter of millions of innocent people who just want to be free. All they want is a small taste of what we here in the US take so for granted and indeed, what we trample in the dirt and disrespect more and more each day.

It is not big secret that Congress politicized the VietNam War, refusing to let the military do what the military does and running a war from Congress, bowing eventually o the winner of the propaganda war that caused the funds to be cut off for the war, signing the death warrants of millions of Cambodians; people who thought we cared, who thought we were their allies, who thought we were going to protect them. Allies? No, only when it benefits, but not when it is a sacrifice for someone else's well being. And our media, that is when I saw our media give up any last vestige of integrity and sign off on love of their own country and reporting the news objectively as true news reporters should.

Now American deaths in Iraq have reached two thousand and my heart aches for their families and their loss. But I will live my life in deep thankfulness and gratefulness to these men (and women) for their sacrifice. I will not dishonor them. They deserve better. They deserve for the anti-war people to shut their mouths and not say what they think just because they can. Instead they act just like Jane Fonda did all those years ago, by perpetuating lies, by meeting with the enemy who were play their political game to the hilt, and demoralizing and demonizing our military men and women at a time when they needed to be strengthened.

Silly people can spout all that want about war for oil, but they do with ignorance, ignorance of the fact that these terrorists want to completely annihlate the US. Of course that is an entirely new post, so for now I will just leave it.

In the meantime, let's not make the mistake of thinking that the Iraq War is a mistake; it is not.

Commenting On An Aspect of Miers Nomination

I consider myself a conservative and I don't think that conservative leaders received any assurances that Miers would oppose Roe v. Wade. If anything they were probably pandered to politically due to possible leader and voter disappointment in the President's nominee. I actually like President Bush and think he is a strong leader for these times, but I am not blind nor deaf when it comes to the politics of Washington D.C., from a member of any party. That is why I further think that Miers is a 'safe' choice for the President as opposed to any of the highly qualified persons he could have nominated, many of who I believe are personally and morally opposed to the abortion of an entire generation at this point with more to come, as I believe Miers to be. Of course that is my personal opinion.

When it comes to Roe though, it is highly unlikely that even if the high court began to lean in that direction with related opinions that are subsequently handed down, the reversal of Roe is many legal battles (and $$) away. At the very list, revisiting Roe v. Wade would adress some issues that were not adressed in the initial case, and that is the beginning of life question that technology was years from revealing via ultrasound, back in the 1970's. At the most, what is so bad about a law protecting unborn children even if it is protecting them from their own mothers? In the end, legal or illegal, abortion is really about both a beating heart and a changed heart, for without a changed heart, those who support this horrific practice will continue to do so. All one has to do is look at the Partial Birth Abortion cases and read some of the arguments. Grown men and women totally disregarding a human baby's death in the name of 'rights'.

I am all for the overturning of Roe v. Wade but in the end I want a Justice on the Supreme Court who is going to interpret our Constitution the way the Framers (for all their faults) intended it to be. I don't want an activist like Justice Ginsberg on the court even if she were an activist for the Conservative agenda. I want to see our country governmental branches operate as they were intended to because I do not want to see our way of governing perish.

Becoming Learned

Having spent the last eleven years homeschooling my sons I have now found myself desiring to learn more, especially in history, American History, to be precise. While I am at it, why not psychology as well since I have an even greater interest in why people do the things they do, even chock full of information and facts, not to mention getting perfect scores on the stuff in quizzes and tests! It is absolutely fascinating.

In addition to that, I spent the first thirty years of my life doing all the wrong things, give or take the first twelve or thirteen before I started on a path of rebelling as a way to vent my frustration and anger at being ignored, not to mention lashing out instead of reaching out due to the deep need we all have of wanting to be loved and appreciated and treated such a way. In effect I wasted them, truly wasted them, and there is no getting them back.

I keep alive the memory of my great loss and to prevent future generations from being as moronic as I, I undertook to homeschool, to pray, to set an example of the right way, and to remember what it was like to be so frustrated and so alone. To this day I have this uncanny experience to feel that way in a room full of people, as well as to have a nagging feeling come over me time and again of feeling like I just don't fit. One day maybe I will understand what that was all about and I expect that I will just have to trust God in this life to know He knows what He is doing and it is okay as long as I continue to put it in His Hands as He has said I could.

I know some would think this post has little to do with education, but it has everything to do with education. 8-)

Wimpy On Comments

Many years ago, a very kind elderly woman told me that I needed to develop an alligator-like skin so that I wouldn't take things that were said to me personally. I agreed with her then and I agree with her now. She was insistent that it should apply even to those things said to me personally that were intentionally said to insult or mock, perhaps more so at those times.

I don't think I have developed such a skin yet, though I have worked on it over the years. The best I have been able to do, however, is to aviod returning the insult or mockery and to move on from the attack. I have not been able to thicken my skin enough to not let it give me emotional pain or sensitize me to such things.

The main reason why, I believe, that I don't return the insult or mockery, is that I am very aware that in doing so I behave in the same manner as the person who is saying demeaning things. I am simply not like that nor do I have a desire to be like that. I have found that, once the initial insult is tossed my way, the only time I get the urge to respond in like manner is immediately after they utter whatever, and it quickly passes, therefore I just don't act on the impulse.

When giving it thought I also realize that I really don't hate anyone or anything with such intensity that I cannot control my tongue when insulted. I also understand that oftentimes the things said are said out of ignorance or a misunderstanding of a situation. This helps in not developing unresolved anger/hate issues that spill over into my own behavior towards others.

All that said, it still upsets me when someone spews forth ignorant hate speech in my direction simply because they disagree with what I say. With all the things going on in my life and with my family members, there is just no way that I want to deal with that on top of everything else, yet I love the blog and journal and writing. 8-)

Is it me or does anyone else notice that those who demand tolerance in the loudest voices are the ones who hate the opposing opinion and the person speaking the opposing opinion the most? Watch closely next time you encounter a situation such as that, but don't count on the media giving it to you straight. Instead, observe for yourself.

Random Current Event Thoughts

In the news of late is the recent earthquake in a very poor nation, kiling thousands of people in a poverty striken nation; a poverty striken nation in poverty courtesy of the countries leaders. In other words, if the leaders weren't so dang greedy, its people would not be so utterly poor. This is probably the most attention and care they have ever received, for a couple generations too!

Then we move right along to the bombings in Bali. Was it Bali? I think it was. Bombings designed to continue to terrorize, and subdue through terror, those who the terrorists absolutely hate and want to do away with, annihilate, if you will. Who can even comprehend such intense hatred? I cannot. I would say that the average joe in the street cannot either. Mostly we are concerned about what is for dinner and who needs a ride where and when. I think though, that we better start paying attention to this sort of thing as well as the poor of the world.

We move from there to more tropical depressions forming in the waters of the Atlantic, activity such as this ocean has not seen in many, many years, dumping tons of water on nations, swamping all that people own, destroying it and taking lives as well.

Here in the US we have the questioning of a certain Mr. Delay, a very suspicious investigation backed by a certain questionable person of note that the media conveniently keeps the spotlight off of. Of course if one has done wrong one should pay, but inventing things for political power play purposes serves no good purpose and is a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the American people.

In addition to that, the little deli where we have been buying our milk and cold cuts for almost eighteen years was closed for almost an entire week due to a death in the family. I knew that Dilip (he is a man from India) had his father-in-law working there who is very old, so I thought right away that maybe it was Pop. I was saddened to hear that it was in fact, Dilip's wife, and the death was sudden. They have two small children, a boy and a girl, the girl is about eleven or twelve and the boy about eight or nine. I wish that there was something that I could do for him and his family. I know that many family live there together, but I also know what it is like to be married. He must be devastated. When he spoke to me, he accepted my condolences and looked as if he would cry. Terribly sad.

So, there it is. All over the world sad and sorry things are happening. And that is as random as random can get of current event thoughts.

Earthquake!!

What a horrible nightmare of a headline that is! People using their hands to dig through blocks of cement vainly trying to rescue their family members! Terrible! Horrifying! And it is another disaster happening in an area which does not have the resources available to rescue such as we have here in the US.

One of the most glaring differences between our nation and so many, many others is the availability of the resources necessary to feed and house the victims of disasters. I think that at this point those who have experienced Katrina and complained are going to have to reassess their situation and rethink the blame game's next move.

The first headline that I saw gave a number of 3,000, but within hours that number had changed to 20,000! I thought that it was a misprint and a horrible mistake, but it turned out to be the truth. So there you have roads inaccessable, people at the mercy of whoever and whatever who are willing to take even the little these people don't have, including the person's life, because they themselves are in a panic and without food or shelter.

Across the board however, no matter how much money a country has and no matter what people think a government is supposed to do, we are to help one another; to, when we see a need, do all that we can to meet it, to care for and look after the injuries of our neighbors, to give drink where needed, a doctor where needed, shelter, clothing and protection from predators. What that all people would respond to those who are victims of disasters with kindness and a helpful spirit. It takes one thing and one thing only to become someone who helps or someone who takes advantage, and that is a decision, a simple deciding of the question: What will I do? No matter the language, no matter the resources, no matter the government, but individually asking ourselves: What will I do?

Once the decision is made to help (and not hinder with finger pointing blame-especially based on flaming newspaper reports of those who hate various government factions) then we can move free of hinderance and doubt, to help in whatever way that we can. This is something that could have happened with Katrina as well. Instead of taking pictures of a dead body disrespectfully left lying there, the media could have granted the dignity a human being deserved by first, not displaying it on national television, and second, by being a person who did something about bringing relief and aid to those affected by the nightmare called Katrina.

Even persons who were victims of a disaster can become those who reach out and help others. The more people do it, the stronger the help base becomes, and the more people are taken care of, or the more people look out one for the other. This sort of attitude has the benefit of keeping one out of the feeling sorry for themselves trap (a trap I know all too well) and giving purpose and meaning to your life and the day in the midst of a disaster that is overwhelming and devastating to the mind, body and spirit. There were some, probably many more than the media has room in their papers to report on, who did just that. Having lost everything, they located what they could salvage that could help others and then went on their way from neighbor to neighbor to help in any way that they could. Selah.

Ah, Books, Sweet Books!

Books. They have always been a refuge for me at so many stages of my life. One of my earliest memories is of learning to read. No, correction, one of my earliest memories is being fascinated by the printed word and then such joy at being able to make out what the words said!

I learned to read in first grade and I believe it was by the whole language method; or at least that is the information that family members have given me and that is judging by the Dick and Jane books of the time. No matter though, I grasped it very quickly and from an early age my nose could be found in a book.

Truth be told, books got me through many traumatic times in my life. I grew up with no support system, emotional or otherwise, as well as had the instability of a home abandoned by an alcoholic father. The only emotion exhibited in my home was anger and if we children exhibited it, well, that was just not allowed. SInce I was the only girl with three brothers, I had my own room and spent many an hour hiding out there from the instability of my home life, often with a book in my hand. It was a blessing that I was able to get my hands on books as I did, living within walking distance of libraries in just about every place we lived (and we lived in many different places) and the times that we did not, having a decent in school library to borrow books from.

My favorite books were books about families, but mostly before I hit pre-adolescence. Once I hit adolescence I gravitated to books with single females; strong-willed females who didn't need a guy to define them, even though they many times had a father present who was totally unlike my own.

Pretty much I taught myself to speed read, by going to the library and looking up a book on speed reading and reading it. Then, because I wanted to retain much of what I read, I found a book on comprehension and read that too. It is unfortunate that I didn't recognize that behavior like that is what self-starters are all about, instead of by mid adolescence finding drugs and alcohol instead which really does rob you of motivation and energy.

But reading continues to be one of my favorite things to do and something that the novelty of hasn't worn off yet. I figure since I am middle aged at this point the habit and love of reading is here to stay. I read books about just about anything, having read the 9/11 Commission Report and currently working my way through The Gulag Archipelago, The Fire of Delayed Answers and The Missionary Travels in South Africa of David Livingstone; all excellent books in their own right, and all books about as different from one another as a book can be.

My all time favorite book is and probably always will be Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Another all time favorite will always be Mere Christianity. I add favorites every time that I read a book and the list cna encompass a notebook by itself.

Maybe one day I will make such a notebook as I reread all the books, one at a time. 8-)

Rise Up, Young People!

I thought that each day I would come here and post to one category after the other in my category list. This one happens to be first in line as well as one of my all time favorites for I love the youth of this country and hope to once again be involved in dealing with them via the crisis pregnancy center, perhaps after the New Year. 8-)

Oftentimes in the news there are countless articles revealing the aimless and senseless direction of many young people of today. Drugs, drinking, stealing, and all this while driving in cars that mommy and daddy bought and paid for. This is across the races too. In my town of close to 60,000 people, I have seen many Hispanic, Black, and Caucasian young people in some mighty pretty cars, many of them college students, or upper year high schoolers, that have the attitude of this is their due because parents are supposed to do these things for their children.

We do our youth a grave disservice by giving them all the things we didn't have, or making sure that if Johnny down the street gets PlayStation 2, then we better get it for our children too. What has happened is that we have not taught our children how to postpone rewards, how to have goals and the satisfaction that comes from reaching these goals themselves, as well as having a direction and a plan for their lives.

The word 'bored' was not allowed to be used in our home while the children were growing up. If they did, I had a long list of things that were waiting to be taken care of. It is the truth because there is always something to do, especially if you are blessed enough to have your own home. And to call it home, you have to be a part of keeping it together, from gathering for meals to helping to keep it in shape for the coming winter, upkeeping on painting or repairing, as well as keeping the bathrooms clean and your room neat. So, you put all that together and you have a pretty long list of things to do that all can have a hand in doing.

It seems that many parents have no realistic expectations of their children and many times children have outrageous expectations of their parents. But on the other side of that coin are the parents that risk the scorn of their own children by not being their child's friend while the child is being raised, preserving that relationship for when the child is grown and on their own; a relationship which, by the way, takes a lot of work on the part of both parent and child.

We can give our children a break by loving them right where they are and enough to say no way, and our children can give we the parents a break by saying (and showing) that they appreciate what their parents do for them.

As parents we are in the unique position to have already been teenagers, but as parents we struggle as our children go through these various growing and changing times that we have to try to understand from the parent point of view and teen point of view in order to deal with them and the situations that arise, as best we can. To our children, we pretty much remain the same, a parent all through their years. It is difficult for a parent to learn to let go and then also to become a friend to our adult children, but if successful, it is the crowing glory of our older age to grow into that relationship after all the years of mothering or fathering.

Our young people today have so many more advantages and opportunities than we had and our parents before us. I say, rise up, young people and take your place as the leaders of tomorrow, and in many cases, the leaders of today. I am of the opinion that you are more than capable and am also a part of those who support you wholeheartedly as you make your way in the craziness that the world sometimes is today. 8-)