This 4th of July, we should all take some time to remember the men and women shaping and protecting our Country… from the Founders and Patriots who formed our Nation Under God, to our Heroes today who have made the ultimate sacrifice, in order to give us the freedom and abundance we enjoy today. God bless them and their families.
God Bless America.
The following is from an e-mail sent to me by a dear friend. Grab a box of Kleenex and watch the video below:
Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, on June 11, 2009. The Henry County Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. A simple notice in local papers indicated the road route to be taken and the approximate time.
Nowadays one can be led to believe that America no longer respects honor and no longer honors sacrifice outside the military. Be it known that there are many places in this land where people still recognize the courage and impact of total self-sacrifice. Georgia remains one of those graceful places. The link below is a short travelogue of that day’s remarkable and painful journey. But only watch this if you wish to have some of your faith in people restored. Please [right click to copy the link for this post and] share widely.
Happy Independence day, Y’all! Have loads of fun…please be safe…and don’t forget what we’re celebrating today. There are folks who want to kill us for it or take it away from us EVERY DAY!
Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Judy Garland, River Phoenix, Chris Farley…and it seems to look as if, Michael Jackson.
I had a huge argument with someone not too long ago about whether or not the fans were responsible for the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. His argument was that the fans wanted more and more and they HAD to take the drugs to keep doing better and breaking records. I have never heard anything more ridiculous in my life.
People are using drugs for many reasons…I don’t get it, myself…but the fans are not the problem. It’s still a choice they make. And not a good one.
If it’s the owners, the agents, the studios, the producers, the assistants, the DOCTORS…whoever…these are TRUSTED members of a star’s [whether it's a sports or entertainment star] inner circle!! If they are making these drugs available in an unsafe or illegal manner…well, that sucks. If they are forcing them to use them for whatever reason? Then surely, they should have a special place in Hell.
I don’t care who the celebrity is, good grief, people! It sickens me to think that they surround themselves with leeches and yes men who care so little for them that they would watch while a human being unknowingly kills themself. And if they are being told to take them or forfeit a career? I don’t even know where to go with that.
On the other hand…what is it with us, that we glamorize and idolize people who are so screwed up they have to have drugs to get through the day? And what is it about being so talented and rich that makes some folks so damn unhappy?
My advice to the remaining super celebs out there in the sports and entertainment world:
Take care of yourself! Those people you hire to be your friends are not. Watch your own diet, watch your own money and stay off the damn drugs! You want recreation, build a gym! Go to the beach! Heck…go to Disneyland! How many people have to die before you figure out that drugs are not the answer?
Ultimately, you folks are all grown ups. There are rehab facilities out there. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes from others! Be original. Too many people admire you and look to you as an example. If you don’t want this ritzy life and it’s perks and downfalls, get out of it and go work at Home Depot or something.
I still feel bad about Michael. I feel bad about the rest, too. Wasted lives, wasted talent. But, seriously, people…how many times do we see this thing play out without the rest of them getting a clue?
Michael Jackson has died. He was only a couple of years older than me. I am sad, and stunned. And a bit disgusted at the media, and some of the folks on Twitter and FaceBook for the crass comments about the accusations made against him.
All in all, the two [out of thousands of kids who spent time with him] who accused him had money hungry parents…and I believe that was behind all of it. Kids DO lie, and especially if they are coerced or forced to by the most important person in their life. A parent. And having been close to someone who was put through a false allegation trial, I can tell you it is a horrific ordeal. If he paid these people to make them go away, it’s only because he could. Fact is, if those parents truly believed their children had been molested? No amount of money would have been enough to make them drop the charges. So, he was only ever accused. He was never convicted. It’s supposed to be “innocent until proven guilty”. But not for Michael.
Jackson himself was abused as a child. No one ever seems to care about that, or the fractured and bizarre childhood he had. Why wouldn’t he want to stay childlike and hang out with kids, when the adults in his life used him and treated him so hideously?
I would rather…since the allegations were never proven and the accusers such bad witnesses, such obvious liars, so obviously greed-driven…I would rather we focused on the wonderful things he did.
Besides the obvious contributions to music and dance in all of our lives, Michael Jackson donated more than $300 million to various foundations. Jackson also raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his own foundation, charity singles and support of 39 charities. He was instrumental in the orchestration of “We are the world” and LiveAid, among others.
I met him when I was a kid. I was probably 8 or 9, which would have made him 10 or 11. He was at a karate studio for private lessons in Culver City, one of the cites in Southern California I lived as a child. A friend and I happened to be outside when they came to pick he and his brother up in a limo. We hung around out of curiosity, and the driver asked if we wanted to meet Michael Jackson. So stupid, I know…we were dumb and no one really taught the whole stranger danger deal as much back then. But, my guardian angel had my back…again…and we went up to the studio. They just seemed like completely normal kids. Michael and Marlon and were so shy, and so nice about giving us autographs. Of course, I have lost them over the course of my own tumultuous life…but the memory is still fresh.
I am also disappointed because I was looking forward to seeing how his comeback tour would do. At our age, it’s nice to see if we can have a comeback, you know?
Rest in peace, Michael. You have definitely earned some peace.
Sometimes things happen all at once in life. It feels like everything is coming from all sides and you’re just under attack, right? It doesn’t have to be a major illness, a death, a horrific tragedy. Sometimes, it’s just enough of the everyday…all at once…
That’s where I am right now. It’s really hard to decide what to focus on, what disaster to give your attention.
Do I work primarily on the business I have been growing for over 5 years? Faced with the fact that the company I have spent so long in partnership with and trusting with the future of my business has been systematically pulling bricks from my foundation, until now I am left with no other choice but to start over…well, feels like a hurricane. Maybe I should work on it.
Or do I spend my energy on the emotional tumult of having to deal with going to court, yet again, to attempt to remove the mistake of my husbands past from our “payroll”? One would think that after their youngest is nearly 22, after finishing her BA in accounting, after putting her ex [and me] through hell for 13 years, that this vindictive, greedy, hateful, unforgiving woman would have gotten her fill. At some point the courts should allow you to be DONE with a relationship that you have determined you cannot make work. But no, they, in their infinite wisdom, decide that after shelling our more money for the welfare of someone who treated you like dirt, you should have to pay for more court related expenses to beg for relief…again. The woman should have some backbone, some decency, some pride…and if she were the Christian that she claims to be, some forgiveness…and just get a job for crying out loud. She makes me ashamed to be female. It’s very difficult not to stay wrapped around that tornado.
Then there’s the tsunami of stress from worrying about everyone’s everything, and doing everyone’s everything that they need done and planning everyone’s everything else.
So, it comes down to this:
A. Deal with the crushing disappointment and frustration of building a new business from the ground up…
B. Deal with the mind numbing anger of trying to shake a giant blood-sucking leech that’s been clamped onto your husband’s ass for 13 years…
C. Drown in the worry and stress of everyone’s everything…
The answer is: D. None of the above.
The only thing to do is cope.
“Life is not the way its supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.” ~Virginia Satir~
And so, I will. I will keep slowly moving the business back to where it should be. I will deal with this greedy, lazy, mean-spirited, pseudo-Christian leech and pray to God for relief from her. Please don’t tell me to pray for her. I have tried. I’m not Job and I’m sure not Jesus. But I’m not the one pretending to be a holy woman, either. I will love and protect and care and plan and carry and drive and shop and work and advise and soothe and heal and nurture and feed.
And just like the rest of the sisterhood of normal, reasonable, loving, forgiving, patient women…
Everything old is new again! We are undergoing a HUGE and amazing update!!! Stay tuned and HOLD ON TIGHT! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride! But fun! Very fun!
Do they honestly think…and I am including anyone at all in this whole “they” thing, cuz “they” know who they are…do they honestly think that Rush Limbaugh is the problem? Maybe not…but I think that THEY think we are stupid enough to believe that he is.
Making it a bad thing to speak out what we think about our government?? That is one of the key ingredients to our “freedom”. If Obama wants to squelch our freedom of speech and opinion…among the other steps we are seeing towards socialism, then I hope he fails at that, too. Which was actually what was said, by the way. Rush said turning this country into a socialist experiment is what he wants Obama to fail at…pay attention, you goobers.
It is also not flying with me to blame the previous administration for our debt when it has been doubled and soon to be tripled in less than 90 days. That’s double 8 years worth of spending…in 3 months.
Some other things I think, just for the record:
I think Michelle Obama’s “fashion sense” is fair, at best. The dress she wore on Election night made her look like a black widow spider. I am sick of being told that she is the end all and be all of fashion that has ever been in the White House.
I think that many folks who voted for Obama are regretting it now.
I think NO EARMARKS should mean NO freaking EARMARKS! And if you’re a Republican with an earmark in these bills? You should lose your RNC card, or whatever it is you get. Idiots. I told you folks he didn’t have the power to do what he said he was going to…don’t look for your check in the mail anytime soon.
I think Rahm Emmanuel is scarier than Nancy Pelosi. For a lot of reasons. Nancy Pelosi [woulda loved to be a fly on the wall when she met with the Pope] is scarier than Joe Biden. Joe Biden is scarier [not to mention, pathetic] than Obama…and he’s scary enough. Believe me when I say I pray for Obama’s safety.
I think I’m sick of bailing out big business when they have obviously screwed up and blown billions of dollars already. When I had a business and times got bad, no one bailed me out. NONE of the bail out money is going to small business, and they employ over 90% of the people who work in this country. That is a huge WTF? for me.
I think NO ONE on earth is worth a $5 million a year salary, plus stocks and perks and jets. Unless that guy is running the factory by himself and delivering the goods in his company hybrid and writing all the ad copy and making all the sales…nope. Not unless he’s doing all of that…alone. And anyone who’s making that much and still taking bonuses and approving layoffs and letting anyone below him in the company take a pay cut…well, they should have a cut somewhere else. Bastards.
I think, since tons of countries owe us money and we owe a ton of money to other countries, we should have a “global olly-olly-oxen-free” and just start over. Screw it.
I think it’s insanity to put someone who cheats on his taxes in charge of…
Oh, to Hell with it. This whole thing is insane. God help us all.
Holy cow…it was just like one of his election speeches. Does he know he won? Cuz he’s still making all the same promises…but never any concrete idea of how it’s going to happen.
He says we are in dire times. He’s going to cut the deficit he “inherited” [from a Democrat dominated Congress for the last two years, right?]…but he never says what he’s going to do about the money he’s spending. He’s going to send more troops…but end the war. He’s writing a new budget and restoring “fairness” to the tax code. According to him, I will not pay a “single dime” more in taxes. I might even get $20 a month or so back. Not sure where I’ll spend all that, but I have time to figure that out.
He’s going to snap his fingers and create jobs and clean energy and school programs and more troops and education for everyone [if you volunteer for something, is what I got out of that]…he’s going to stop the “torture” at Gitmo [if embarrassing someone is actually torture...whatever...at least we don't pull out fingernails or cut folks heads off...hello?] and get “swift justice” for the detainees there. He will keep jobs here in the US and save the auto industry and make Medicare better…um, by cutting parts of it, I think. Hmmm. Oh. And he’s going to raise the benefits and pay for everyone.
He says he gets it. I’d love to think he does. But it feels like he’s buying into his own publicity. Whatever he was saying during the election that made some folks certain he was going to pay off their mortgages and put gas in their car. Only this is bigger.
And that’s great. GREAT. I mean, really…I’ll take it. But I am not under the spell, I guess, cuz I do not get how he’s going to do it. He has already spent an insane amount of money without batting an eye or even looking at it first. So, I guess, while I would love to believe what he says he’s going to do?
I belong to a “family rec center” type of gym. It’s awesome. Cheap, clean, loads of equipment…and best of all, three pools. TWO heated indoor pools, one “recreation” with slides, a “lazy river”, etc…one lap pool with 8 or 10 lanes [I've never really counted], and one outdoor pool with slides, etc, that’s open all summer.
Normally I go during the week…I sort of plan to NOT work out on the weekends, cuz I am trying to work up to two hours in the water five days a week. If I can do that? I think I should be able to have the weekends to relax. And? Did I mention the “family” nature of the gym I go to?
Today was almost more than I could endure. I don’t mind splitting lanes. I don’t mind however they want to share lanes. But some common courtesy about it would be nice. I always ask to join a lane. I also know my speed and never try to share a “fast lane” since, I’m not really fast. But? Other folks either can’t read, don’t know how fast they swim, have delusions of grandeur, or are just plain rude.
Then there are the little cherubs and the people who believe they are the sun and the moon. That’s awesome. But? They do NOT belong in the lap lanes. On Sundays there are only 3, because they block off a large portion of the lap pool for a slide and the diving boards. And 3 would be enough, if the only folks in the lap lanes were actually swimming laps. But no.
Today there was a child, who could swim, sure…but he was with his Grampa, and wherEVER he wanted to go was fine. So. If he cut across the lap lane in front of me…oh, well, good for him. No matter which lane I moved to, they were there…either hanging on the edge or standing in the lane or swimming in the center of the lane I was trying to “share”. Not like there wasn’t an entire pool and a half for the darling lil munchkin to play in.
*sigh* Anyhow…took me forever, or it felt like it, to get my mile and a half in. Grrrr. But now I have more incentive than ever to go every week day…cuz…never again on a Sunday.
OK, no hate mail, please. One of the reasons I haven’t blogged much is that it seems like only people who bow down and kiss Obama’s feet…or want to…are allowed to have an opinion. I actually got negative comments and e-mail from several people when I openly said I was happy that Sarah Palin was added to the Republican ticket. I told folks on day one of this blog that I am a Republican. Not a surprise, so…
Anyhow, I have decided to have my opinion AND my blog and whoever doesn’t like it, well, that’s fine. The election is over, and the Obamaniacs won. He went right in and started HIS plan. The one that had folks convinced they didn’t have to worry about their mortgage or gas prices or anything at all. It was supposed to fix everything. Unless you listened to Biden. Lord help us if he ever gets in the top spot.
We’re definitely having ups and downs. Prices on everything are up, my shop sales are down, everyone’s anxiety is up, the dow is down…we just took a 5% pay cut with Steve’s job…which is better than a layoff. The good news is we might get $15 back per paycheck with Obama’s “stimulus plan”.
Today, Obama threatened to “call the mayors out” if they “misuse the economic stimulus dollars”. How on earth could those dollars be MORE misused than they already have been?? How would he even know? He never even read it…and likely still hasn’t. Yeah, yeah…I haven’t either…but it ain’t my job. And I don’t have to read it to smell the pork in it. All I have to see is the speed at which the liberals blew it past everyone…because they can.
There is a “check and balance” system in this country for a reason. Too many people got bamboozled into believing the liberals had the answer and swung the balance too far out of whack. So here we are…with a Congress dying to spend a ton of money on a bunch of ridiculous crap and no grown ups in the White House to say no.
I was in Walmart last night, a woman came down the aisle I was loitering in [yes, I forgot what I needed...again], she was talking to the man walking with her. She stopped mid sentence, just in front of me, looked at him and said, “Hello? Who are you?” then continued chattering. I burst out laughing.
She turned around and looked at me. I threw my hands up and said, “I’m sorry. I thought I was the only one who did that.” She said “Oh, noooo. I have had the worst day. I went and got drunk after work. I’m drunk. Cuz I found out today my company is cutting half of us, so I may not have a job. So, I got drunk. On top of all that, I’m feeling even more stupid cuz, know what? I voted for Obama!”
So, I’m thinking…as bad as it gets? It could still be worse. At least I didn’t do that.
and women shaping and protecting our Country… from the Founders and Patriots who formed our Nation Under God, to our Heroes today who have made the ultimate sacrifice, in order to give us the freedom and abundance we enjoy today. God bless them and their families.
