Archive for the ‘General’ Category
??? As many of you might know I have fibromyalgia and many times it is a “tough row to hoe” so to speak. I have been really feeling its effects this week therefor my lack of new posts everyday as I try to do normally. I did make it out with my wife yesterday afternoon, the first time this week, and then only rode with her to pick our up daughter from school.
??? I did notice something that brought back memories of when I went to high school, that was students gathered up right off of the edges of the school grounds smoking. I noticed a group of maybe a dozen and a half lit up and puffing away, oblivious of the fact that they are dangerous and a hard habit to kick. Now when I went to school the only ones that had to sneak off campus to smoke were the lower class men or one that did not have a permission form signed by their parents. Every rest room or at least every one for the boys was smoke filled as there was always someone sneaking a smoke that was not allowed to. Students who had permission slips filled out and on record could use the student smoking areas. I think back on those days as I see how the new rules are layed out. Tobacco itself is forbidden anywhere on campus, much less its use by anyone on campus student, teacher or visitor. Gone are the days where they had to catch you in the act and even then it was only a slap on the wrist. Now simply having cigarettes on your person is an offense that will get the student a few days off from school as well as their parent having to come in and have a conference before the “vacation” is over.
??? I am glad that they have made smoking so much harder to do for students than when I was a teenager. I smoked all through school with and without a permission slip. Tobacco is a gateway drug. It opened up the gates for many of us to use drugs. I was skipping school smoking cigarettes and helping consume a stolen bottle of wine when I first smelled and tasted the sweet aroma of marijuana burning. I am not saying that I would have never been exposed to it had I not been smoking cigarettes but it would not have been during my school days. Or was that school daze? I know that as a teenager you are supposed to be a little wild, rebellious, and willing to try new things but making it harder at each step for them to get a hold of things that can hurt them is a good thing. I worry about my daughter the same way I worried about my son when he was that age.
??? I wish there was a way I could have made the students I saw smoking see what they are letting themselves in for by smoking cigarettes. As many of you know it is a very hard habit to break. Even though it has been over 6 weeks since I had my last smoke I still reach for one every time that I lean back to let my hands rest up or to catch my thoughts. It has become that ingrained – smoking is insidious. Like the Sirens of Odysseus day that Homer tells us of. If only they had Orpheus, (a talented musician) on board with them. [He played music even more beautiful than the Sirens so that the men did not hear them.] I doubt we can find anything good for us that is more alluring than cigarettes other than good health and being able to breath. Though those are two darn good reasons in themselves. At least smokers are becoming less and less in the norm and it is lots harder for children to start.
???? Yesterdays tragedy in Illinois brings sadness to my heart and no doubt all of you. The investigation is still in its infancy and as time goes by we will learn more of what happened and what may have caused this individual to go nuts and start killing people. Maybe my saying “going nuts” is not politically correct but thats how I feel about anyone who would do something so senseless. I can almost understand someone being mad at another and killing them. I can’t condone it as all killing is wrong. But it is easier to understand than killing people you do not know and can’t have a gripe with. Suicide is wrong but killing a bunch then committing suicide is even worse. If he was hell bent to kill himself he could have done that easy enough alone, and without involving others.
??? We might be better off if some of the students or professor had been armed themselves. At least they might have been able to stop him before he killed and wounded as many as he did. Something to think of as I am sure there will soon be some kind of bill to potentially outlaw guns or make them more difficult to obtain. As I understand it Illinois has one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. When guns are outlawed all it will do is embolden the criminal and make the law abiding citizen helpless and unable to protect themselves or others.
??? I did find some good news with a gun involved. In Texas a WWII veteran, successfully fought off two attackers who forced their way into his home and sent one of them to the hospital. Police said they believe the brothers went to 80-year-old James Pickett’s home with the intent to rob him, and even possibly kill him. It all began when Pickett said he opened his door and two men barged inside. According to Mr Pickett, “He just came through that door stabbing and beating.” However, Pickett said just before he went to answer the door, he had first placed a pistol into his pocket. The two brothers, Paul and Holden Perry, ran, but didn’t get far before calling an ambulance. One of the bullets just missed Paul Perry’s spine. I saw the interview and you could tell that he [Mr Pickett] had went through a heck of a fight, showing numerous bruises and stitches from where he was beaten and knifed. I got tickled when he told the interviewer that the only problem was he ran out of bullets. Those two deserve all they got and more and I for one applaud the the old gentleman for standing up for himself.
I am a little behind on this post but the tragic events in neighboring states really touched me and I had to write about them. There has even been a miracle overnight as they found a little baby boy tossed from the wreckage that was his home – with his mother who they found dead – and landing about a hundred yards away buried under the debris that was once his home. Finding him was truly miraculous as they only decided to search once more after they found the wreckage of a baby carriage. Once again the man upstairs is watching out for us.
Ok that out of the way what I was going to talk about was I reached another milestone in my commitment to quit smoking. I believe that is the correct word too, – commitment – you have to be truly ready to commit to breaking the tobacco habit. Wednesday was a full month of me not smoking or actually the last cigarette I smoked was on a Wednesday night a month ago. Every day it gets easier to not smoke though I do still want one even right now as I type away to you my readers. Every time I sit back to gather my thoughts and put them to page I almost unfailingly reach for a cigarette. It takes a lot of determination not to fall back into that trap again and it is a trap. Cigarettes are a seductress who will wrap her cold fingers around you in a vise as if to never let go. I have read where some people claim that marijuana is the gateway drug to other drugs but I beg to differ as I feel it is cigarettes that are the gateway drug. Once you start smoking cigarettes you are, if you are young, either stealing them or getting someone else to buy them for you. and you are sneaking around to do it. Placing yourself amongst others that are sneaking around smoking and maybe doing even more. Such as smoking pot and or drinking. Smoking cigarettes and drinking seem to go hand in hand anyhow. I am not going to go off on a tirade from the top of the biggest box of soap I can find about the ridiculous laws that foster the violence from the drug trades.
I will say this, smoking is a hard habit to break and you need to muster up all the will power you can to beat it. I have a very close friend who is working on her first week of being smoke free. It is going to be harder on her as there is another smoker in the house and it is too cold to banish him to the outdoors. But having a smoke free home really helped me to quit as I would have to go outside or come down to my computer to smoke. Try making as many areas around you as possible, smoke free. Force yourself to get up and go elsewhere to smoke. Going outside is a very good thing if you are smoking as it protects others from breathing your second hand smoke and especially in the winter months will make you want to hurry back in again. Cutting back the amount of the cigarette you smoke will help too but the only true thing that will ever make you quit smoking is yourself and your will power. There are many aids to assist you in your quest but ultimately it is upon your shoulders to quit or not.
??? The death count has went up since I posted yesterday, They found 7 more souls lost to the killer storms. Lets just hope the federal response time will not be so woefully lacking as it was after Katrina hit the gulf coast. Probably not as these people may not have been as poor as the residents of New Orleans who languished for days on end awaiting help that was so slow to come. Help that was too late for some as they perished awaiting relief. I could write a book articulating the inadequate response from the federal government. The only ones on top of their game were the men and women of the Coast Guard who tirelessly, flew mission after mission saving stranded people. It breaks my heart still to think of the way our president and his staff bent over double to insure that help got there the very next day. (Insert Sarcasm Here) I can say with all honesty that I truly believe that if the storm had flattened an affluent city that the response time would have actually been overnight and I would not have to hold my tongue in cheek when I say that. There is a double standard in this country and it is not based on race or color of skin, though it is based on color and that color is green – money green – that along with the greed it brings out in people. But here I have gotten away from the subject at hand and it is the poor unfortunate people who have lost everything they own and are now trying to pick up the pieces. Now would be a good time to donate to the Red Cross as they can use your help. Right now they have a massive effort across five southern states to bring relief to every storm stricken community. Already Red Cross workers are on the job – providing shelter, feeding victims, and search and rescue workers,- and lending emotional support to all. They are encouraging families forced from their homes to register – or have a friend register you – on the Red Cross Safe and Well web site. On the site, people within a disaster area can register themselves as “safe and well” by selecting and posting messages for friends and family. Since the disaster struck, a total of 14 shelters have sheltered more than 450. Over the past two days, Red Cross volunteers have provided devastated residents and emergency workers with thousands of meals and snacks.?
??? Once again the Red Cross beats any efforts from our government. Lets just hope their response won’t be like Katrina’s – too little, too late.
??? I tried to watch the Super Bowl last night and fell asleep during the first half. My not sleeping the night before must have caught up to me as I awoke at 2 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. At 3 am I remembered that I had not taken my bipolar meds and got up to take them about 8 hours late. So I guess my record is still intact of not watching any pro ball games this season. I am a sports lover and avid ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) basketball fan, but no longer watch any professional sports on television. The athletes make sinful amounts of money just for playing a game while being a piss poor roll model for the children that want to be like they are. That along with the strikes they have gone on and the steroid controversy leaves a sour taste to professional sports. We all the time hear of one athlete or another in trouble with the law. And the teams don’t seem to care as long as they can get the players back out there playing again. Though I must admit the Atlanta Falcons wasted very little time in suspending Micheal Vick. Nor did the commissioner of the NFL as they suspended him from playing football in the league. They did act promptly but I think there was more to it than just the public outrage that he was fighting dogs with the money he had gotten from the Falcons. I think part of the reasoning for suspending him was monetary as they wanted as much of their money back as they could get. It’s not just football, it also encompasses baseball and basketball too. They both have very serious issues that really need to be addressed and I won’t watch any of them any longer. Colleges are not immune to the bad behavior of athletes, coaches and supporters but they are held accountable more than pro athletes and teams are. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has strict rules for all sports and enforces them to the letter. Individual teams and coaches also typically enforce suspensions and such when a player goes out of bounds with their on or off court/field life. That type of enforcement insures that the athletes and schools haven’t cheated their way to a better season and places them on higher ground to me than pro ball. Plus the students at the games cheering for their schools make for an exciting atmosphere. This is most noticeable at basketball games where they are enclosed in the gymnasium and cheers are easily heard and noticeably pick up the teams encouraging them to play even harder and better. Thinking of that makes me want to attend a game near me soon even though I am way past the typical ages of students. Student athletes get nothing out of playing other than maybe their education and the love of playing the game. Maybe I can interest my daughter in going to a game at her high school. It’s been an eternity since I was inside a high school gym but used to love it and went to all my schools games.
Are you like me, an animal lover, who would love to be able to take care of more than the pets we now have? Well I have found a web site – The Animal Rescue Site – that will allow you to help feed abused, neglected, and abandoned animals by simply clicking a button on their web site. It takes only a few moments to visit and click the purple button to donate food to these needy animals. Corporate sponsors and advertisers use the number of daily clicks to donate food in exchange for advertising and public relations. They pay CharityUSA, the parent entity of the site on a per click basis. CharityUSA then directs a percentage of the ad revenue to animal shelters and sanctuaries. They then keep the remaining funds. The Animal Rescue Site is not a non-profit entity so it should not be confused with charity even though it does send a large portion of its revenues to the needy. While you are there you can click the tabs to give for hunger, help sponsor mammograms, click to give free health care for children, donate books for literacy, and assist in saving the rain forests. Now that I have explained that let me also make sure you know that upon your clicks, all proceeds are donated 100%. There is no profit off you clicks only giving. Now if you would visit every day and tell ten of your friends to tell ten of their friends and so on and so forth there would be a big difference made for abandoned pets and humans as well. Over all it is a win win situation for those in need. Can you please help them?
Yesterday was a damp snowy day for the Republican Primary here in South Carolina. Or at least it was snowing here in the upstate. We never got any accumulation of snow but John McCain accumulated enough votes to get 33% of the vote – enough to win the GOP Primary here in SC. Turnout was relativly high for a primary especially considering the inclement weather where people were concerned about getting out on slippery roads to vote. South Carolina’s Democratic Primary is next week. It is kind of confusing to a lot of voters who do not know this and went out expecting to be able to simply select the party then their candidate. I was one of those that did not know the primary was broken up into two seperate days until we had made it to the polling place.
We made it there after going out shopping for some essentials and I was totally worn out. It seems the cold and my arthritis and fibromalgia do not get along very well at all. By the time we finally made it home I was pretty much down for the count so to speak. I was lucky in the fact that a few of the stores had nice benches to sit on while my wife and daughter were gathering up our supplies. I don’t like to leave them alone but when you are whipped physically it is hard to keep up with them. The ride through the snow flurries was rather nice though. Not enough to lay on the roads and make it slick but enough to start showing white in the grasses and woods alongside the roadway. At least it doesn’t hurt much more to drive than it does to ride.
I really enjoyed the time spent with my wife and daughter. Even after 28 years of marriage I still enjoy spending time with her. And our daughter is such a pleasure to spend time with too. I really feel blessed to have the family I do. I know of other people and families that can not say they get along so well and enjoy going places and spending time together so I am very lucky in that respect. Even with our son who we love dearly was not as easy to get along with when he was a teenager. The rebel without a cause syndrome I guess you could have called it. I think boys go through more of a wild stage than girls do or that is how it is with our two children.
Day eleven and counting without a smoke. Each day is a little easier or most of the time it is. I can now see the triggers that got me to light up and remember how many of those times I was simply lighting up, then letting most of it burn up without even a draw on it. There by wasting it which may have been a good thing in the long run.
Would you knowingly eat meat that came from cloned animals? In a recent decision by the US Food and Drug Administration not only have they declared it to be safe but they also declared that no warning labels need be used either. The agency decided that no labeling is necessary for meat or milk from cloned cows, pigs, or goats or their offspring. (Ironically the FDA didn’t include cloned sheep in the announcement, claiming a lack of data, though the very first cloned animal was a sheep named Dolly.)
Now, will people buy it? Consumer anxiety about cloning is serious enough that several major food companies, including the big dairy producer Dean Foods Co. and Smithfield Foods Inc., say they aren’t planning to sell products from cloned animals. It is not too likely that we will have actual cloned meat for sale in your local supermarket. At 10 – 20 grand per cloned cow it is highly unlikely that they will be slaughtering these animals. But they will be breeding them and perhaps milking them very soon.
My question to you is – How do you feel about the subject of cloned animals and their products being sold unlabeled? The FDA noted that their focus groups and other public input indicated that about 1/3 of US citizens do not want food from cloned animals under any circumstances; another 1/3 have no objections; and the other 1/3 fall somewhere in between.
Yesterday was a little known anniversary. It was the anniversary of the the ratification of the 18th Amendment, commonly called the Prohibition Amendment. Nine months later, Congress passed the Volstead Act, or National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department. Despite a vigorous effort by law-enforcement agencies, the Volstead Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages, and organized crime flourished in America.
Today we once more have a failed prohibition trying to be enforced to no avail. Only this time they call it a war. A war on drugs. It has created gangs who run all aspects of the drug business, while making fortunes off the misery of others. Now don’t get me wrong there are drugs that no one should ever be allowed to use, as they are too dangerous to society as a whole. But on the same token there are drugs that are mostly benign and present no harm to anyone except perhaps the user. We need to step back and take an honest look at the way we try to run this war. This war has gone on for 35 years officially and unofficially for much longer, and has not produced results that satisfy most citizens and analysts. Drugs remain a significant problem at all levels of society, across ethnic, racial, economic, and educational lines.
If I could set the policy the first thing I would do would be to make medical marijuana available to all who need it. Then we would start an open discussion on its classification under drug law. Right now it is on the same level as heroin. Which means officially, by law, it has no medical value whatsoever. Now I know it is quite easy to overdose on heroin and many have done it causing loss of life. But there has never been a recorded incident of anyone overdosing on marijuana. It just doesn’t happen.
We have a failed system of teaching about drugs that I feel leads or can partially lead to other drug use. When a young person tries marijuana and none of the terrible things that they were taught happen to them they then feel like the village where the boy cries wolf. Does one lie, begat another? Marijuana should be legal, taxed and regulated like alcohol is today. No one under 21 should have access to it. And if it were regulated and sold from a real store instead of off the street corner or the back room of someones house where other harder drugs are commonly being used, then perhaps we would not have as many users migrating on to harder drugs. Plus the money from the taxes could then be put to a good use. Treatment of people who are on harder drugs. Our law enforcement officers could focus on the drugs that are actually killing people instead of a harmless plant. No one should be in prison for a crime that has no victim. Smoking marijuana is a victimless crime. Were it up to me all people currently locked away for victimless crimes would be set free, but if you had committed a crime that hurt others your backside better get used to it back there as you are going to be hanging out there a long time.
Hunger is a terrible thing and it is – lucky for us – something very few if any have ever had to deal with. But to most of the world hunger is something that must be dealt with on a daily basis. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving. It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called “absolute poverty”. Every year almost 15 million children die of hunger or hunger related problems. It is not just third world countries that have hunger issues. Even here in the United States one out of every eight children under the age of twelve goes to bed hungry every night.
This is a terrible thing and even though you want to help you are not able to financially. Many of us live from paycheck to paycheck, just barely getting by. My readers may remember me posting about the FreeRice site that gives away rice with every correct question on vocabulary. I have found yet another site where you can help feed the poor for free. It is estimated that over 3 billion people in the world are struggling to get by on $2.00 US per day. The site is The Hunger Site. Since its launch in 1999 the site has helped feed the world’s hungry. To date there has been more than 300 million visitors that clicked the yellow “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button. Turning the clicks into more than 500 million cups of food. They also sell ad space and have a store that features hand made items from various countries. They have numerous pages of items in their store. Anything from hand carved gourds to Peruvian silver jewelry. And all the profits go to a good cause, feeding the hungry. Most items will tell you how much food is being donated per purchase. But you do not have to purchase anything whatsoever to give away free food everyday. Simply visit the site everyday and click the Yellow “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button. It will only take a few moments of your time and can mean the world to someone else.