Pieces of my mind - - (tidbits from a forum)

Althea1, conversing in such a manner as this forum is frought with potential misunderstandings because you can't see expressions, hear tone of voice or the cadence of speech. Bearing that in mind, allow me to clarify my point.

1) While I respected President Bush as a man, I too, disagreed with some of his actions. I cannot, however, say the same for the current Administrator. I have NO respect for him. When the heat came on him, he abandoned the church he had gone to for 20 years because it was not politically expedient for him to associate with them any longer. That, in a nutshell, shows the lack of courage and the strength to stand for his own beliefs. Either that, or he was wishy-washy and without a foundational set of beliefs in the first place. That is only the beginning of the examples I could name. That has NOTHING to do with PARTY. That has to do with personal character.
2) You use the word "evolve". The definition of which is "to develop gradually; to develop via evolutionary change". ---- To say what is happening now is the evolution of our country is to say that a peach was once an apple.
3) Static -- I realize that things aren't static. Without change, it would be like a stagnant pool of water. Change is good provided it is for the good of EVERYONE - not just on the backs of some.
4) Health insurance? My mother has none. Went for years without it. Suffered physically because of the lack of it. Blamed nobody for the lack of it - just simply couldn't afford it. It is not an unalienable right of being an American. It is a privilege to be able to afford medical care. Is that good? No. Is it a fact? Yes.
5) DEMOCRACY? I must tread dangerous waters here. The southern states were built upon the backs of the African slaves. Some of these slaves were stolen by slavemasters and transported here against their will. Some were sold by their own countrymen for profit and were brought here against their will... fast forward 125 years....now, the current Administrator says that for a democracy, for FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY, so that EVERYONE has the same financial standing and equal financial opportunities --- now I and people like me must work twice as hard just to provide for our own families - - because the majority of what we make is going to go into GOVERNMENT COFFERS to pay for the never-ending entitlement programs that will make everyone happy and equal? Did we learn nothing from the first actions of slavery? NOW WE ARE GOING TO ENSLAVE ANOTHER GROUP TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WHO SIT AND DRINK MINT JULIPS WHILE THE WORKERS ARE IN THE FIELDS? It is the same thing. The only difference is we have traded a cotton field for corporate America and the people sitting on the porch are not just white - they are WHITE, MEXICAN, AFRICAN AMERICAN, EVERY COLOR - with the one identifying trait being that they are LAZY AND ARE WAITING ON SOMEONE ELSE TO HAND THEM THE GOODS. That is not my definition of a DEMOCRACTIC SOCIETY.
6) You said that I'm "just on the other side of the divide now". That is where I again must part ways with you. I was trying to explain that NEVER before now have I FELT THAT THERE WAS A DIVIDE. I always respected people of all kinds - rich, poor, purple polka-dotted. Didn't matter. I know that there are people on both sides of the racial and financial lines who are very disdainful of the other side. Those kind of people will always CREATE a divide if they can't find one. What people who are of your belief don't understand is that the DIVIDE that is being felt right now has NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTY OR CLASS. Most of us don't give one tiny little iota about Democrat vs Republican. I can honestly say that I have NO VALUES in common with either and NONE of them speak for me. The divide comes because I see my country walking down a path towards the Government having control over every facet of my life. These things will come if we can't find the guts to stop them - - - forced volunteerism for kids, government control over my own home (under the guise of being "green"), control over the food I eat (under the guise of safe food), whether or not I have the right to protect my property and life (not even bothering to hide the coming gun control), worship as I choose (to be Christian these days makes you very non-progressive).

These changes are being forced upon me because someone feels like doing all these things will bring needed "change and improvement". How does taking from the calloused hand of work and giving to the soft hand of lazy improve anything???? I don't care what color you are or what kind of house you live in. Get off your glutteous maxi and work for your food and shelter just like I have!

Sadly, these are the very reasons that the Pilgrims left their country 300 years ago. Persecution in their daily lives.

Then there is the subject of war/peace. The battle rages on. He (the current Administrator) is going to be sending more boots to Afghanistan. Why are you and yours not crying foul about that?



4/7/2009 4:07:27 PM
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Althea1, I honestly mean you no disrespect but one thing I will never understand is why do people who hold your beliefs and our current President's philosophy even live here?

I am not asking this out of sarcasm or disrespect. I seriously just don't know why people would choose to live in a country where they obviously do not feel at home, where everything you see and hear is a problem and you want to change everything literally from the ground up. Why live here? Why not study the cultures of other societies and pick up and move?

Life is so short. I would REFUSE to live in a country where I believe that everyone is mistreated. Everything that our current President says and stands for indicates that he does not believe that there is much at all RIGHT with our country. Likewise, if you listen closely to the tone and cadence of many of his followers a spirit of anger and hostility is readily apparent. Anger and hostility at what? If it is that bad here why do you all stay? Feel free to go somewhere that you don't have such anger and bitterness simmering in your soul. It can't possibly be good for your health.

That being said, beware. When you approach people with the complete lack of disrespect and reverse discrimination (NOT just skin color, but financial discrimination as well) that is such an open policy as it is in this Administration as well as its followers from Hollywood on down to the streets, you are stirring a pot filled with ingredients that you can't even imagine.

I have NEVER been a person that tolerated discrimination whether it be against skin color or monetary worth. I have lived a life where I deliberately cultivated friends and business associates from across the spectrum. What the current Administration and its followers don't realize is that by constantly crying- foul! discrimination! make up for sins of the past! righteous anger! evil America! - is that you are taking away the compassion that many people felt for the downtrodden and/or people who have been discriminated against.

I will help ANYBODY that wants assistance. I will help ANYBODY that I see trying to help themselves. I WILL HELP NOBODY WHO STANDS IN MY FACE AND SAYS THAT I OWE IT TO THEM FOR REASONS PAST OR PRESENT.

The attitude and demeanor of the current Administration is serving NOTHING except to deepen the divide that fractured our country and to CREATE A DIVIDE WHERE THERE WAS NONE BEFORE.

Debate goes on and on about Iraq and how we should or shouldn't be there. If we pull out of Iraq, then the same people who are whining about being there will then start whining because we AREN'T somewhere else - like Africa and Afghanistan, or the next New Orleans. Our soldiers cannot win with people like that. The complainers and whiners don't want them to do their jobs to protect our country, but should tragedy befall on our own back doorstep, then they are the first ones whining and crying like banshees because they want the military there to rescue them. What happened to the brave spirit that founded our country? Strike out on your own and rescue yourself! Our ancestors went into uncharted territories with their families at their sides and literally carved out an existance from the wilderness. They sit on a log and wait for somone to bring them a loaf of bread. They grew the corn to make the flour to make the bread! Now I am being told by the current Administration and its followers that I have to go to work to provide my own family's bread, BUT TEN OF MY POOR UNFORTUNATE NEIGHBORS WHO ARE SITTING ON THEIR PORCHES WAITING FOR BREAD!!!!?????? I think not.

Catch a plane. Ride a boat. Go somewhere and start a new country if you don't like this one.

I must apologize for my anger, but I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AMERICAN.

I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MISTAKES OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE. NEITHER CAN I TAKE CREDIT FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE COUNTRY THAT WAS FORGED BY THOSE VERY PEOPLE. I CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST. I WILL, HOWEVER, DO WHAT I CAN TO PROTECT THE FUTURE OF MY FAMILY AND MY COUNTRY!!!
4/7/2009 2:40:31 PM
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boggiestu - - thanks for making me laugh through my sobs.

Watching the changes in our country is like watching a loved one die of cancer. Eaten alive. Walking dead.

Americans in mourning.
4/7/2009 10:22:46 AM
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He is right. He is NOT at war with ISLAM. He is at war with your average, everyday American citizen. If you are an average, everyday American citizen and you just happen to be a Christian as well, then enjoy your freedom now because it is slipping away. He has NO love for this country. He and his wife have NO respect for our country. It becomes ever more apparent every day.

Four years. He has four years. Four years to annihilate what has taken over 200 years to build. He is rushing, sprinting - moving forward as quickly as he can in minute and hidden ways via new laws and in obvious ways because he really doesn't give a rat's hind-end what America thinks. He is going to take his four years and run towards the vision of America that he has where everyone is entitled to wealth whether they work for it or not, and nobody has to worry about anything because the government (he and his pals) are in charge.

At least if (when) our country goes belly-up his plans will be forced to derail because he won't be able to fund his Utopia. That is the one consolation I have while my dreams and my freedom are being destroyed.

I hope all of you sheep who believed his pretty (empty) words are happy. Sheep being led right over the edge of the cliff.
4/7/2009 8:52:06 AM
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Midwest Flooding

The impact of the flood of
'93 is still very fresh and vivid in my mind. The devastation was beyond imagining for those who only watched it through the media. For those who lived through it or were close to those affected by it, it was life changing. The flood waters at that time did not recede for weeks upon weeks. By the time they did recede, irreparable damage had been done. That was supposed to be the "500" year flood. Fast forward to 2008 and we are looking at floods of major proportion yet again, with the only saving grace being that it wasn't from all the rivers that had been inundated before - just a select few. Levee after levee has given way. Every time one gives way, a town or farms are demolished and yet it relieves the pressure for those on down the line. One has to wonder -- the levees that were built in reaction to the results of the flood of 1993 are numerous - how much have those levees impacted the newly flooding areas? Everyone from the top of the map to the bottom tries to protect their own individual areas, but each area that man protects causes the force of nature to move on down with even greater velocity.

I am not an engineer by any means, but it doesn't take a brain scientist to understand that when you try to adjust the boundaries of the mighty rivers, the water will win every time. The water is where it is for a reason. God's plan is not faulty. When civilization encroaches upon areas that are in the path of nature, nature is going to win every time. Living, working, and enjoying the water is second nature to those of us who live close by it, but underlying the daily life has to be the understanding that we humans are no match for the forces of nature that God laid the pattern for.

The devastation these people are suffering is heartbreaking. The endless work to try to save home and local economy is enough to break the spirit, but because Americans are generally a hearty people, they pick up the pieces and go on. It is after the waters recede, the cameras and reporters are packed up and gone home that the reality of the damage soaks in to those who must shovel the muck that is covering what was once their dream.

As our population continues to grow and we go into every corner of what used to be wilderness and carve out our spots, we can't help but realize that we are living on borrowed time before nature claims it back. Engineers, bulldozers and contractors may plan, scheme and promise miracles in "conservation management", but the end result is always going to be the same. No plan of a man here on earth is foolproof. There is nothing in this world that cannot be destroyed should God choose not to change the outcome. God doesn't bring this devastation upon us, but sometimes He chooses not to stop it and allows us to be reminded that we puny humans are not in control.

My heart bleeds for those in not only my own area, but those in all other areas who are being affected by the raging, angry, muddy waters of the Mississippi. I pray that God gives them grace to endure and strength for the battle ahead. The river is in the blood of so many who love it and all that it represents. For thousands of years, people have been drawn to the water for all things that support our lives. It has only been in the last few hundred years that man has presumed to have the audacity to try to control the waters. Obviously, they are not learning their lesson very quickly. The Native Americans and the settlers who originally lived by the water's shores respected the danger and were prepared to flee when necessary. It has only been in the last few hundred years with the industrial revolution and technology industries booming they have come up with myriad ways and trial balloons of controlling God's plan, to no avail. We must return to the former days of respect for the powers of nature and not put ourselves in harms way expecting that the worst won't happen, because invariably it does. For those who live in the tornado belt, we know that we'd better have a safety plan. Those of us who live in fault zones better have emergency supplies. There is danger from nature everywhere and one cannot avoid building or settling where there isn't something possible that can happen, but be aware of the danger and trying to control nature are two different things. Perhaps eventually we will stop trying stop that which is mightier than us.

Creepin' Crud of the Chest and Cranial Cavities!!

My brother Michael - who sees beauty in everything - - and I do mean EVERYTHING took this picture of fungus on a tree limb. I think that fungus is amongus!! Yikes! I have had the creepin' crud for a week now!! I am sick of being sick! I am 43 years old and I have a stupid ear infection! ARGH!!!!! I sound like someone who just spent three days straight in a bar. I cough 'till I gag. Whine, whine, whine. Puny. That's me! I should be outside working in my garden, not sitting on the couch holding my head to keep it from falling off! haha. I must admit, though, having ear infection makes you remember how badly they hurt so you can have more sympathy and pray harder for the little ones who have them!