Ordinary Day

It has been a while since I published on my blog, shows me how totally exciting my life really isn't. The house is very empty now, the only real noise is the constant barking from my dear companion and friend, Libby (I know you were thinking I was going to say my husband, right?, wrong.) It is almost as if now that the hustle and bustle of our children is gone Libby feels she must make up for the "missing" noises, so bark she does and a lot!
Actually as I sit here in my quiet (well kinda) house, I am finding humor at the 2 wall pictures I hung in our bedroom that I recently purchased at Salvation Army. On TV they are commenting that Michelle Obama hired a decorator to redecorate the living quarters of the White House at a mere budget of $100,000 provided by the Congress. I almost find it humorous at how willy nilly the Congress seems to spend the American people's money. A trillion here a trillion there oh and why not a simple 100 grand over there?
It seems everyone has to live on a budget except the Federal government. Save this company save that company (or at least save the CEO's bonuses and company jets). No problem it is just the American people's money. Does anyone ever consider how many people could still be employed with just one CEO's bonus for a year? Think how much smaller our unemployment rate would be if we used those multi-million dollar bonuses to save jobs instead of line the greedy pockets of non-producing arrogant managers.
I heard an interesting comment on TV the other day by Kelly Ripa (actually one of few that she makes that I agree with). Kelly stated (I am not quoting here, only paraphrasing) that since the American people have given all this money to all these companies, and these companies like CITI decide they are going to buy a corporate jet (but they aren't using the money from the government TARP - yeah right, then why do they need the money to begin with if they have that much to spend anyway?) then technically that corporate jet belongs to the American people, and as such we should all be able to use it, hey works for me. Let me think, I really need to fly to timbucktoo for who knows what but it is important, I think I will just order up that new jet to fly me there.
And so it goes, oh bother.....

Economist vs Media

I heard this week that the economist have finally confirmed what every working American already knew, the United States is in a major recession. Wow I am really glad they cleared that up for all of us. And not only that but we have been in this recession since last December. Wow you know go to any major city street corner and ask the homeless if we are in a recession and how long we have been in a recession, I bet they don't need a 4 year degree to figure that out.
My degree is not in economics or business for that matter, I am just a Registered Nurse. Let me tell you perhaps I should be heading the economy team.

The major auto manufactures in America should have long ago stopped production on their vehicles that were not living up to economic expectations. Have you noticed the more money that goes to bank bailouts the more money the auto industry requests. And the CEO's act like it is just an inconvenience to fly commercial first class. Poor babies. Now everyone is shocked that a CEO is going to only receive $1 salary for the next year, poor baby once again. I wonder if they have any idea how many assembly line workers could be hired for what 1 CEO earns in a year.

Stretch mortgages out so people can pay their own bills, stop sending all our jobs overseas, pull in all those multi million dollar salaries CEO's are collecting, if the auto industry needs money fine then give them a loan at the same interest rate college students pay on student loans. Why should the auto industry get "free" money when the youth of our future have to pay such high rates to get an education to clean up the messes these overpaid, self centered upper management officers created through their own greed.

And tell the media to stop pumping fear into the public by constantly telling us how bad everything is, we know how bad it is we are living it. All the media is doing is fueling the fire, and causing more fear.

When will it stop

Last week a church youth group got together as they do every month for a gathering at a local youth center. They were there to play games, watch movies, eat popcorn, basically to spend time in a "safe" environment.
Once again the concept of "safe" environment was overrated. Three young adults (I use that term lightly) decided they had other ideas. They approached the youth center and one of them started shooting, while another stood look out and the third drove the getaway car.
Evidently they did in fact have an intended target, but as is the case with so many senseless acts, it was the innocent that died. Yes a young man intending to get married was killed.
What has happened to our society anymore that so many feel the answer to their squabbles is violence. My only answer seems to be that somewhere we have stopped teaching tolerance of others. Are these problems at home, school or both?
When are we going to wake up and start realizing that victims are the ones that should have the rights and not the criminals? Three square meals a day, a warm bed to sleep in, a roof over their head, free medical care and on and on. They don't pay for their TV or internet access, they don't have to buy a library card. We treat the criminals better than we treat returning veterans and way better than we treat our homeless population.
As kids we would head outside to play in the neighborhood after breakfast and return at dinner time. Today kids can't even seem to go to a seemingly safe church youth group activity anymore. I am appalled, I am ashamed, and I feel sorry for today's kids because they truly are missing out on some of the best parts of growing up. And why? because of a select few that seem to have more rights than those of us that are in fact law abiding citizens.

How many days till Christmas??

I was watching Good Morning America this morning while eating my bagel and drinking my cup of coffee when a very interesting story caught my eye. Well actually I don't know how interesting it really is, but nonetheless it caught my eye.
It seems that with our current state of the economy being totally in the garbage many retailers are trying to devise ways to somehow salvage their profit margins for the year. HA! Good luck. Oh sorry got a little carried away there for a moment.
Now last I checked it is still 29 days until Halloween, that is right, the day of ghosts and goblins, and dentists seeing dollar signs of little boys and girls rotting teeth. (Well that is another blather for another time).
This story that so nonchalantly caught my eye was about how WM has decided to fill their shelves with Christmas treasures now hoping to cash in on those "early" shoppers. Now I must admit I am an early shopper. I start my Christmas shopping right after the new year and hide treasures all year long. Often times not remembering where I have hidden an item until perhaps 2 holidays in the future but hey I am prepared.
My biggest complaint about lining all those store shelves with pretty green, red and gold treasures is for all the parents that will now have to endure the pleadings of their little shin biters wanting the newest and greatest toy craze. At a time when we are all struggling to put the gas in the car and food on the table what we really need are the retailers enticing our kidlets to convince their parents that they "really, really" need/want that special toy for a mere $59.95. AGH!!!!!!!!!!
Which by the way did anyone else notice that at least in Washington state anyway the income level for a family of 4 to qualify for food stamps is now $42,400? Oh my golly miss molly, all those years I really was starving my family!!!
What is next....Oh bother.....

The Fear of a Few Leads to the Riots of Many

You know the Internet highway is wide and vast and I am sure I have only just cracked the surface. I love all the emails that come my way from the vast populations that claim "WARNING" the worst virus ever is attacking computers. Then to back up the claim there is always a link to Snopes that it must be true because they found it on Snopes.
I like Snopes, I really do, it is fun to go in and research the vast array of urban legends. What I don't like are the "riots" of the many that claim a truth because they found it on Snopes but then only quote half of the cited reference. They see the word "true" and automatically assume that it is the almighty word and begin spreading it to the masses. However, if they would just simply read one or two more lines they would quickly discover that yes it is true but, there are usually qualifications to the truth. Perhaps the virus is 10 years old and signatures have already been created by the anti virus programs. The latest regarding expired boxed mixes having deadly toxic mold and must be thrown out immediately, nice but, mold grows from spores and it is rare that a boxed mix has come into contact with the actual spores and only then does the mixture become deadly if the person has a severe allergy.
I appreciate the warnings, in the case of the boxed mixes the author cites the horrible death of a teenager that encountered a rare course of events and died from anaphylactic shock as a result of a mold allergy. While this family truly has my sincerest sympathies (I cannot even imagine the devastation of losing a child) this particular case was an allergic reaction.
The malicious use of this tragic course of events were used to spark fear in parents across the lands. Again Snopes was cited as the gospel of truth and a paragraph is quoted in the email, however not the entire article.
These events are horrible and honestly I appreciate the warnings. What I don't appreciate is the spark of fear without all the facts. The world has had an abundance of horrific events and I cannot possibly comprehend the twisted minds of the individuals that cast these tragedies upon the masses. What the world does not need is more fear because only half the facts were shared.
I wish that people would step back, take a deep breath and tell the WHOLE story.
People need to step up and read the entire email and then the entire Snopes article to verify the facts and stop spreading these fears based on half told stories.
Oh bother.....