I don't want to vote for either of these people. But I'll vote for McCain before I vote for Obama. My husband will probably vote for Obama so we should probably just both pass to save the gas. Argh...
It just seems to me that consumerism and this need to BUY BUY BUY is the problem with everything right now. We wanted what we couldn't afford....as individuals, families, and as a nation. And now we all owe more money than we can ever, realistically, pay back.
What burns me up, though, is that my debt in life comes from the birth of my second daughter....HOSPITAL bills are what have my credit in bad shape. I didn't max out any credit cards or try to buy a house way out of my league. No one is going to bail me out, though.
I went grocery shopping today (and NOT at WalMart, either) and I saved $85.00. I bought wisely and I did not overly splurge (I bought the makings of cheesecake, that was the one big splurge of the trip). I bought well within our budget and have money left over from that budget to buy the extra gallons of milk next week, the extra juice and the extra whatever that I forgot to get. I stayed within my means.
Why can't we do this on a national level? Why can't we spend within our means? Why do we allow the idiot box to tell us that we should buy things that we know we shouldn't? Why are we driving ridiculously huge vehicles, still? Why are we buying name brand when generic is the same thing, usually, and half the cost? Why are we dumping all this money in Iraq? Why are we even talking about doing the same thing in Afghanistan?
My oldest stepson tends to start criticizing his younger siblings when he gets called out for something. I suppose it is his way of deflecting his misdeeds. Isn't this what our country is doing.....going after all these international wrong doers when, really, we need to focus on our own realm of reality.
Our health care system is seriously flawed. Lobbyists have been allowed to take over in DC. Our educational system is absolutely ridiculous and children really aren't learning everything they should be in school (this is just as much the parents fault as the respective school systems). We are all over-spending. Our obsession with oil is ridiculous. We aren't really exploring alternate energy sources (lobbyist influence, most likely). We buy too many foreign-made products (Wal Mart anyone?).
If I was running the show, which I am not and I never will be.....here is what I would try to encourage:
1) Tax breaks to retail stores that carry 90%+ American Made merchandise.
2) Tax hikes on retail stores that carry 50%+ Foreign Made merchandise.
3) REAL tax breaks for people driving cars with 30+ MPG vehicles
4) Tax breaks for companies developing alternate fuel sources (wind, solar, nuclear)
5) If the banks overspent and mismanaged....let them close on down. NO Bail Out. Instead, reward companies doing it RIGHT. Let the people who had their money in the closing bank have their money back and tell them to go bank at bank X or bank Y...where they aren't greedy bastards.
6) Let the gay folk have their rights and don't clog up the legislature with this issue. We all know they are going to get these rights and, really, what does it matter? You agree....you don't agree. But lets now waste money or time debating stupid issues. Give them all of their rights and move on.
7) Leave abortion alone. Don't waste legislative time on this issue. If you don't want one, don't get one. If you don't want your kids to get one, educate them to WAIT. This is a silly issue for our congressMEN to waste time on.
8) This is my big controversial one. Wait for it. Okay.....we have a lot of people on death row. They are wasting a lot of money on death row. If they are going to be executed, execute them. Stop wasting the law-abiding citizens' tax money supporting these people for years. If we are going to execute them, do it. Let the appeals process happen, quickly, for everyone that is sentenced to death and then carry their sentence out quickly.
9) Stop contracting out jobs on foreign soil. It isn't saving money it is wasting money. Haliburton is wasting TONS of money over there. TONS. It does not cost 99 bucks to do a load of laundry.....they don't need fully loaded LEASED SUVs that aren't being driven......they don't need to be paid three times what the trained ARMY personnel were making for the same job (mechanics, drivers, etc.). Let the military do these jobs themselves and make the entire operation EFFICIENT.
Okay, rant over. I am going to go cook my lasagna now (it was on sale!)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Bad Relationships With Our Children
This will be a short post but this is a topic I saw on another forum and wanted to address it on this blog.
TOPIC IS: Parents who resent their kids and act horribly to them because they feel they missed out on their own lives.....blah, blah, blah.
_____________
Life expectancy is pretty up there these days. Ladies can have babies well into their thirties and forties. Men can impregnante their mate well into their sixties or seventies.
So, why oh why, are people having children when they are teenagers and early-20s??
Go live your lives, people! Go experience something that is yours and only yours. Go live someplace exotic for a summer....get your degree....backpack around Europe....take up kayaking.....do SOMETHING REAL and WEAR A CONDOM when you screw.
I do not understand this phenomenon and I think it is completely detrimental to our society. This entire crop of teenage and young-adult parents that have no idea what being an independant adult means, let alone a parent. You have to be 21 to drink....you have to have a license to drive but anyone who wants can pop out a kid whenever it suits them.
I want every young person who ever reads this to listen to me, now, because you will wish you had if you decide to knock up your girlfriend because it seemed like a cool and adult thing to do at the time.
Wait to have your kids and wait to marry. Wait so that you know who you actually are when you have these relationships because I really don't think a 17 year old or even a 22 year old knows who they are, yet. Get to know who you are. Fall in love with yourself and with who you want to be. Because if you don' know who you are and if you don' love and respect yourself....how can you expect to have spouse that will and how can you expect to properly raise a totally dependant baby?
Have kids when you are too young and you'll regret all the experiences you missed out on. If you are in need of unconditional love, go work at an animal shelter.......because the baby you want isn't going to give YOU unconditional love, it is going to require that from you. Parenting begins with being selfless...NOT selfish. It is hard work, it is not an easy thing. You are not emotionally or financially able to take care of your children if you are this young! (And, no, it isn' cool to move back in with mom and dad so they can support you......they already raised their kids (poorly?))
Grow up and practice birth control people.....save the babies for later on in life.
TOPIC IS: Parents who resent their kids and act horribly to them because they feel they missed out on their own lives.....blah, blah, blah.
_____________
Life expectancy is pretty up there these days. Ladies can have babies well into their thirties and forties. Men can impregnante their mate well into their sixties or seventies.
So, why oh why, are people having children when they are teenagers and early-20s??
Go live your lives, people! Go experience something that is yours and only yours. Go live someplace exotic for a summer....get your degree....backpack around Europe....take up kayaking.....do SOMETHING REAL and WEAR A CONDOM when you screw.
I do not understand this phenomenon and I think it is completely detrimental to our society. This entire crop of teenage and young-adult parents that have no idea what being an independant adult means, let alone a parent. You have to be 21 to drink....you have to have a license to drive but anyone who wants can pop out a kid whenever it suits them.
I want every young person who ever reads this to listen to me, now, because you will wish you had if you decide to knock up your girlfriend because it seemed like a cool and adult thing to do at the time.
Wait to have your kids and wait to marry. Wait so that you know who you actually are when you have these relationships because I really don't think a 17 year old or even a 22 year old knows who they are, yet. Get to know who you are. Fall in love with yourself and with who you want to be. Because if you don' know who you are and if you don' love and respect yourself....how can you expect to have spouse that will and how can you expect to properly raise a totally dependant baby?
Have kids when you are too young and you'll regret all the experiences you missed out on. If you are in need of unconditional love, go work at an animal shelter.......because the baby you want isn't going to give YOU unconditional love, it is going to require that from you. Parenting begins with being selfless...NOT selfish. It is hard work, it is not an easy thing. You are not emotionally or financially able to take care of your children if you are this young! (And, no, it isn' cool to move back in with mom and dad so they can support you......they already raised their kids (poorly?))
Grow up and practice birth control people.....save the babies for later on in life.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Single Man Driving SUV = Small Penis
There is no reason for a single man to be driving around in an SUV. None. I am sorry your penis is small. Really. But you aren't fooling anyone. In fact it just makes you look ridiculous. It is financially wasteful, a complete waste of gas in this time of gas crisis, way too much car for your needs and, most importantly, environmentally irresponsible.
There should be laws about how big a car you can drive. You should have to justify your reasons for purchasing such ridiculously large vehicle...."small penis" would not qualify you.
You've got the money, GET A HYBRID!
There should be laws about how big a car you can drive. You should have to justify your reasons for purchasing such ridiculously large vehicle...."small penis" would not qualify you.
You've got the money, GET A HYBRID!
For me, it begins with Walmart.
So, I have a theory I want to share. It is long but I am a big fan of it (so if no one else reads it, I will!)
Walmart sucks....there you go. That is my theory.
Walmart doesn't just suck, it has ruined our country. Let me tell you why....
Walmart started with Sam Walton, a good businessman who cared about his community and employees. He was a maverick in his field and he started an honest company that had integrity. But once daddy Sam died and the reins passed over to his (over-indulged) children, it all went to hell. His kiddos had no concept of community or the values that daddy Sam had. They used their daddy's good name and reputation to forever ruin the landscape of small town Ameica. They did it out greed.
Back in the day (when all the new walmarts were coming to the small towns) Walmart would open its doors with super low prices. SO LOW it was unbelievable. No one stopped to question that. Well, the prices were low and money was lost (at the store level) and that was part of the plan. In order to drive out the local (established) regional stores, Wal Mart would absorb the loss. Time goes by, competition has dwindled (or completely disappeared) and the prices were, all of sudden, much more than they originally were. In fact they were pretty darn close to what those regional stores were selling their wares for. (Baaaaaa says the sheep.)
Local economies were ruined, absolutely destroyed. Downtown America has now become a novelty...and we lost much more than cute stores when we lost downtown. We lost our communities, we lost our connections to each other, we lost our accountability, we lost our sense of identity.
People shop at Walmart because they believe they are saving money. I pay a little more to shop at my regional store but my regional store donates part of my purchases to my school store and they give back to their area. My regional store is a part of my community. Plus the employees look happier, it is more kid friendly (they have the cool race-car carts), the lines are shorter, they have sales (WalMart does not have sales.....just occasional falling prices). I, frankly, hate being bombarded by so much absolute junk when I just need a week's worth of groceries....it leads to impulse purchases that throw my budget completely off (which is part of their plan, I am sure).
Walmart does not contribute to your community. The employees may contribute but the corporation really is pretty tight....they give enough to be able to say that they do. Walmart does not take care of their employees, your neighbors, in fact I think most of their employees are pretty miserable.
To sum it up: Walmart doesn't give a damn about me or you or any of us. They only care about their bottom line...it is a soul-less machine.
Walmart started it all. They started the "gimme, I want that" mentality. They bombarded us with junk and we became convinced we needed it. They ran out the good guys that were a part of our towns, the guys that CARED. They contributed to the isolationist mentality where we can go days without having to really interact with anyone outside of our homes and offices (self checkout, anyone?). They contributed to a mentality that lead to the loss of manufacturing jobs all over this nation. They made it okay to screw our neighbors out of their own jobs because it was cheaper for us to buy a badly made shirt made in Pakistan.
Walmart doesn't care about you or me or the communities they are a part of. There is a reason why so many towns are now blocking them from coming in to their towns (Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a good example). There is a reason why their commercials are more like propoganda-infused political ads....they are attempting to overcome the rightfully earned negative-publicity. The commercials are there to convince you it is OKAY to shop there, shopping there will make you happy.
I, for one, avoid the place at all possible costs. I hate going there. I hate the narrow checkout lanes that are full of junk specifically placed there in an attempt to make me cave in and buy my tired children the buzzy-wuzzy just to keey them quiet.
I hate the greeters who aren't there to greet me. (They are there to make sure I didn't steal anything while patronizing this store, how welcoming!)
I hate the vasteness of the place.....is there anything worse than realizing that you have to go back to aisle 3 (200 yards away) because you forgot the friggin parmesan cheese. I hate that I have to traverse the entire friggin width of the store to get shampoo, a pretty common grocery list item!
I hate that after I have gone back and gotten the damn cheese, traversed the entire store for my kids' shampoo, denied my screaming children the M&M filled Spongebob in teh checkout lane, passed the McDonalds causing my over-tired children to now want hamburers instead of the healthy lunch waiting at home, passed the greeter who needed to see my receipt because I had an item not bagged (the big box of diapers which would be impossible to slip by the cashier).......now I have to remember where I parked my car in their stadium-sized parking lot that is absolutely packed with cars.
Ugh....the local store is smaller, community-friendly, trusting of their patrons, and they have fabulous race-car shopping carts that my children and I get to race through the store. I can usually find a good space to park, too!
Easy choice.
__________________
The moral is, you get what you pay for. This is true everywhere and not just at Walmart. Walmart helped to start it but they are, by no means, the only corporation chasing the bigger and bigger profit (at all costs). As citizens of this great land we have to make choices. It IS worth it to pay a little bit more, locally. It is worth it for those better-treated employees/neighbors, it is worth it for the sense of community you'll get, it is worth it for the better quality items). It is worth it. We are worth it.
Go shop somewhere else....it is a great way to let your voice be heard! Corporate greed will only stop when our actions (and dollars) demand it!
Walmart sucks....there you go. That is my theory.
Walmart doesn't just suck, it has ruined our country. Let me tell you why....
Walmart started with Sam Walton, a good businessman who cared about his community and employees. He was a maverick in his field and he started an honest company that had integrity. But once daddy Sam died and the reins passed over to his (over-indulged) children, it all went to hell. His kiddos had no concept of community or the values that daddy Sam had. They used their daddy's good name and reputation to forever ruin the landscape of small town Ameica. They did it out greed.
Back in the day (when all the new walmarts were coming to the small towns) Walmart would open its doors with super low prices. SO LOW it was unbelievable. No one stopped to question that. Well, the prices were low and money was lost (at the store level) and that was part of the plan. In order to drive out the local (established) regional stores, Wal Mart would absorb the loss. Time goes by, competition has dwindled (or completely disappeared) and the prices were, all of sudden, much more than they originally were. In fact they were pretty darn close to what those regional stores were selling their wares for. (Baaaaaa says the sheep.)
Local economies were ruined, absolutely destroyed. Downtown America has now become a novelty...and we lost much more than cute stores when we lost downtown. We lost our communities, we lost our connections to each other, we lost our accountability, we lost our sense of identity.
People shop at Walmart because they believe they are saving money. I pay a little more to shop at my regional store but my regional store donates part of my purchases to my school store and they give back to their area. My regional store is a part of my community. Plus the employees look happier, it is more kid friendly (they have the cool race-car carts), the lines are shorter, they have sales (WalMart does not have sales.....just occasional falling prices). I, frankly, hate being bombarded by so much absolute junk when I just need a week's worth of groceries....it leads to impulse purchases that throw my budget completely off (which is part of their plan, I am sure).
Walmart does not contribute to your community. The employees may contribute but the corporation really is pretty tight....they give enough to be able to say that they do. Walmart does not take care of their employees, your neighbors, in fact I think most of their employees are pretty miserable.
To sum it up: Walmart doesn't give a damn about me or you or any of us. They only care about their bottom line...it is a soul-less machine.
Walmart started it all. They started the "gimme, I want that" mentality. They bombarded us with junk and we became convinced we needed it. They ran out the good guys that were a part of our towns, the guys that CARED. They contributed to the isolationist mentality where we can go days without having to really interact with anyone outside of our homes and offices (self checkout, anyone?). They contributed to a mentality that lead to the loss of manufacturing jobs all over this nation. They made it okay to screw our neighbors out of their own jobs because it was cheaper for us to buy a badly made shirt made in Pakistan.
Walmart doesn't care about you or me or the communities they are a part of. There is a reason why so many towns are now blocking them from coming in to their towns (Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a good example). There is a reason why their commercials are more like propoganda-infused political ads....they are attempting to overcome the rightfully earned negative-publicity. The commercials are there to convince you it is OKAY to shop there, shopping there will make you happy.
I, for one, avoid the place at all possible costs. I hate going there. I hate the narrow checkout lanes that are full of junk specifically placed there in an attempt to make me cave in and buy my tired children the buzzy-wuzzy just to keey them quiet.
I hate the greeters who aren't there to greet me. (They are there to make sure I didn't steal anything while patronizing this store, how welcoming!)
I hate the vasteness of the place.....is there anything worse than realizing that you have to go back to aisle 3 (200 yards away) because you forgot the friggin parmesan cheese. I hate that I have to traverse the entire friggin width of the store to get shampoo, a pretty common grocery list item!
I hate that after I have gone back and gotten the damn cheese, traversed the entire store for my kids' shampoo, denied my screaming children the M&M filled Spongebob in teh checkout lane, passed the McDonalds causing my over-tired children to now want hamburers instead of the healthy lunch waiting at home, passed the greeter who needed to see my receipt because I had an item not bagged (the big box of diapers which would be impossible to slip by the cashier).......now I have to remember where I parked my car in their stadium-sized parking lot that is absolutely packed with cars.
Ugh....the local store is smaller, community-friendly, trusting of their patrons, and they have fabulous race-car shopping carts that my children and I get to race through the store. I can usually find a good space to park, too!
Easy choice.
__________________
The moral is, you get what you pay for. This is true everywhere and not just at Walmart. Walmart helped to start it but they are, by no means, the only corporation chasing the bigger and bigger profit (at all costs). As citizens of this great land we have to make choices. It IS worth it to pay a little bit more, locally. It is worth it for those better-treated employees/neighbors, it is worth it for the sense of community you'll get, it is worth it for the better quality items). It is worth it. We are worth it.
Go shop somewhere else....it is a great way to let your voice be heard! Corporate greed will only stop when our actions (and dollars) demand it!
Introduction
I'm just a southern girl. A hick? A dumb broad? A ditzy bitch? Nah....just a mom with a college education that has the ability to think and see beyond all the BS that gets crammed down our throats day in and day out. I grew up in conservative politics....my dad is a politician. Nothing huge, but he taught me to think for myself, speak for myself and to remember the other people that are affected by my actions. He taught me that winning something by cheating and playing dirty is worse than losing with honor. Those lessons stuck, I think. I would like to think so, anyway.
I call myself a republican but that is just a habit. I don't really belong in any pigeon hole (neither do you, by the way). I am financially conservative but relatively liberal when it comes to social issues. I am working class, all the way. I'd love to be wealthy one day but am realistic about the odds. I work hard being a stay at home mom (to five kids) with a web business on the side. I enjoy raising my children with the good southern values that were instilled in me. I am devastated by what my kids DON'T learn in school and by what they are learning from the TV. I am saddened by the amount of middle class children left to their own devices day after day....while mom and dad grind out their long hours so the whole family can afford that high definition big screen and ignore each other on Friday Movie and Pizza Nights (yippee.....family time!!).
I see the way things are being done by the MEN in Washington and I am not impressed. I have watched and waited for change. It is not happening. I can't imagine that anyone would say that it was. They campaign with bogus promises (that anyone still able to resuscitate the left side of their brain would realize were impossible). Their campaigns are funded by greedy corporations that only care about making money, screw the issues (which is why we are on the brink of an economic crisis, thank you very much!).
What is happening, though, is a loss of everything this country is about. We have become sheep...passive little sheep taking whatever story comes down the wire as the gospel truth. We have become convinced by prime time TV that we can have everything we want and make only five figures a year. We have borrowed and borrowed and borrowed to the point where there is no light of day underneath all the debt.
As a whole, we ignore our children because chasing that dollar is more important. We ignore our spouses because we are already married and shouldn't have to put any additional work into it. We cheat on each other, we cheat our children and we try to cheat the system at every possible opportunity.
Common sense is gone. Replaced by greed and entitlement and selfishness and isolationism. We live lonely lives and we have completely forgotten how to relate and how to think and how to ACT. We have rights in this country and one of them is voting. Most of us don't even bother to turn out to the polls and those that do pull the good 'ole party lever because we always have. We can't even take the time to find out what the issues are.
We have representatives in DC that are there to represent US. But we don't let our voices cry out to that representative. Heck, most of us can't even say who that representative is. We just lie there and let the world roll over us.
GREED has corrupted everything that was once good about our political system. And our political system is run by men who are so quick to take the bribe, the incentive, the handout.
Men go into politics because it is powerful....and they campaign on a platform of reform and change that will never happen by their hand. Women go into politics to better their community, state or country. That is the truth. Sorry, guys.
Women are able to empathize and that is, maybe, what we have to start doing, politically. Women are able to prioritize....they know that parent teacher conferences are more important than the "big game". Women are able to multi-task....when was the last time you saw a man cook dinner, talk on the phone, compose next week's grocery list and spot-check little Jimmy's homework....all at the same time?
There are so many topics I am itching to cover here. The middle east, the welfare system, education, marriage, gay rights, spending habits and the perpetual state of apathy that we have allowed ourselves to settle in to. These are our lives....and we are throwing them away by chasing impossible standards that were put there to keep our eyes OFF the prize. We don't get this time back and the things we do in this life matter. They do, they really really do.
Men have been in power since the beginning of this great nation and, frankly, they have left behind some pretty big messes. I am looking forward to the age of feminine perspectives on the national level. You had your chance, men, and now it is time to let the women come in and clean it all up after you. (Now go be a good man and play your World of Warcraft....us women have some work to do).
So this is a call to all the women out there. The ladies. Take off the power suit and wear what you are most comfortable in. Learn what you can about the issues and take some time to really think about them. Read a book that will educate you on an important issue. Stop taking what they give you....and start working to get back what you need, what your family needs, what your community needs. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first blog!
I call myself a republican but that is just a habit. I don't really belong in any pigeon hole (neither do you, by the way). I am financially conservative but relatively liberal when it comes to social issues. I am working class, all the way. I'd love to be wealthy one day but am realistic about the odds. I work hard being a stay at home mom (to five kids) with a web business on the side. I enjoy raising my children with the good southern values that were instilled in me. I am devastated by what my kids DON'T learn in school and by what they are learning from the TV. I am saddened by the amount of middle class children left to their own devices day after day....while mom and dad grind out their long hours so the whole family can afford that high definition big screen and ignore each other on Friday Movie and Pizza Nights (yippee.....family time!!).
I see the way things are being done by the MEN in Washington and I am not impressed. I have watched and waited for change. It is not happening. I can't imagine that anyone would say that it was. They campaign with bogus promises (that anyone still able to resuscitate the left side of their brain would realize were impossible). Their campaigns are funded by greedy corporations that only care about making money, screw the issues (which is why we are on the brink of an economic crisis, thank you very much!).
What is happening, though, is a loss of everything this country is about. We have become sheep...passive little sheep taking whatever story comes down the wire as the gospel truth. We have become convinced by prime time TV that we can have everything we want and make only five figures a year. We have borrowed and borrowed and borrowed to the point where there is no light of day underneath all the debt.
As a whole, we ignore our children because chasing that dollar is more important. We ignore our spouses because we are already married and shouldn't have to put any additional work into it. We cheat on each other, we cheat our children and we try to cheat the system at every possible opportunity.
Common sense is gone. Replaced by greed and entitlement and selfishness and isolationism. We live lonely lives and we have completely forgotten how to relate and how to think and how to ACT. We have rights in this country and one of them is voting. Most of us don't even bother to turn out to the polls and those that do pull the good 'ole party lever because we always have. We can't even take the time to find out what the issues are.
We have representatives in DC that are there to represent US. But we don't let our voices cry out to that representative. Heck, most of us can't even say who that representative is. We just lie there and let the world roll over us.
GREED has corrupted everything that was once good about our political system. And our political system is run by men who are so quick to take the bribe, the incentive, the handout.
Men go into politics because it is powerful....and they campaign on a platform of reform and change that will never happen by their hand. Women go into politics to better their community, state or country. That is the truth. Sorry, guys.
Women are able to empathize and that is, maybe, what we have to start doing, politically. Women are able to prioritize....they know that parent teacher conferences are more important than the "big game". Women are able to multi-task....when was the last time you saw a man cook dinner, talk on the phone, compose next week's grocery list and spot-check little Jimmy's homework....all at the same time?
There are so many topics I am itching to cover here. The middle east, the welfare system, education, marriage, gay rights, spending habits and the perpetual state of apathy that we have allowed ourselves to settle in to. These are our lives....and we are throwing them away by chasing impossible standards that were put there to keep our eyes OFF the prize. We don't get this time back and the things we do in this life matter. They do, they really really do.
Men have been in power since the beginning of this great nation and, frankly, they have left behind some pretty big messes. I am looking forward to the age of feminine perspectives on the national level. You had your chance, men, and now it is time to let the women come in and clean it all up after you. (Now go be a good man and play your World of Warcraft....us women have some work to do).
So this is a call to all the women out there. The ladies. Take off the power suit and wear what you are most comfortable in. Learn what you can about the issues and take some time to really think about them. Read a book that will educate you on an important issue. Stop taking what they give you....and start working to get back what you need, what your family needs, what your community needs. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first blog!
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