Packer Backer Karyn's Musings

Come up with a candidate GOP

2011-12-13T21:37:00.001-08:00

As the title indicates, the GOP needs to come up with a candidate; one who
can beat Obama. This country can't afford another four years of Obama and
Stewart Barney from Fox Business News said tonight on, I believe, the Hanidy
Show that if Obama gets another four years, this country will be bankrupt.
Is that a future the GOP wants to see for our country? I know it's not a
future this Republican wants to see. We don't need to be more like Europe
in that regard.

Several candidates have come and gone. Herman Cain was once the flavor of
the day and has thankfully exited the scene. Rick Perry has taken a dive
after showing that he is not ready for prime time. Bockman and Paul both
need to exit as they're too extreme. What we're left with is Romni,
Gingrich, Santorum and Huntsman. For these last four, Gingrich has what I
believe are insurmountable problems and would do the party and the country a
favor by exiting the race now.

As for the other three, I have problems with Romni on health care. I need
to find out more about the other two but Santorum is a conservative who I
wish would catch fire. Huntsman is one who Obama will have trouble
attacking as Obama appointed him Ambassador to China. That says something
for how they get along. It also gives Huntsman some credible foreign policy
experience.

It comes down to electability and Romni is probably the most electable but
stranger things have happened. I urge all who read this to do as I plan to
do and explore the issues and look at the candidates you are interested in.
become an educated voter. The future of the country is at stake.

9/11 ten years later`

2011-09-10T21:13:00.001-07:00

As I write this, many things are going through my head. It's the tenth
anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. It happened ten
years ago in three different locations; New York City, Washington D.C. and
Shanksville PA. A total of 4 aircraft were used as weapons and somewhere
around 3,000 people lost their lives just doing what they usually did on any
given day. The World Trade Center towers collapsed, the Pentagon was hit
and passengers on United flight 93 became the first soldiers in the war on
terror.

I'll never forget that day and what I was doing. My husband and I had a
habit of talking early in the morning after he left for work and I got up as
he went in earlier than I did. We had our conversation on the morning of
Tuesday September 11, 2001 as we always did. We hung up and I turned on the
radio only to find out that something awful was happening in New York city.
I immediately called my husband and told him to turn on the radio as WBBM
was taking feed from New York City for reasons I did not fully understand
when I called him. It would not be long before we understood what was going
on. It was also not long before we realized that this great nation was
under attack.

It was a cool clear morning that day. I went to the YMCA that morning and
it was quiet in the exercise room. Needless to say the T.V was on with the
coverage from New York City and other locations. It was there I think that
I found out about the Pentagon. It was definitely there that the towers
fell. It was there or later that I found out about the brave passengers on
United flight 93.

There was a national unity that had not been seen before in my lifetime and
sadly won't likely be seen again. People were thought of as Americans, not
Democrats and republicans. How I wish we had that today rather than the
hyper partisanship we have today.

We have not one but two wars as a result of that day. One I supported and
one I did not. Afghanistan was clearly related to 9/11 while Iraq was not.
We have many casualties as a result of both of these wars.

Earlier this year president Obama achieved something that eluded President
George W. Bush and that something was the killing of Osama Bin laden. That
was a wonderful thing and something that offers some closure for the
families of 9/11.

We have tighter security in airports, although not as tight as it could be.
Just look at Israel for that. There is so much we could learn from them on
the subject of airport security.

We've had some attempts at blowing up aircraft since 9/11 but fortunately
those were not successful due to vigilance and luck on our part. There was
the underwear bomber on a flight headed to Detroit on Christmas Eve 2009.
There was the shoe bomber as well.

There've been other plots that were foiled such as the one involving ink
cartridges and UPS shipments internationally. The Brits helped foil that
one.

This country has changed but I hope we never ever forget those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice that day to help those in need, our first responders. We
lost too many of them on that horrible day. You will never be forgotten.

I close with the words of Darryl Whirly from his song "Have You Forgotten?"
"Have You forgotten when those towers fell, we had neighbors still inside
going through a living hell and we vowed to get the ones behind Bin Laden.
Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten? Some went down like heroes in that
Pennsylvania field. Have you forgotten about our Pentagon, all the love
ones that we lost and those left to carry on. ...."

No and I never will.

No big surprise

2011-08-05T20:59:00.001-07:00

Well the U.s. government finally got downgraded by Standard and Poor's
today. That should be no surprise since such a move was hinted and expected
by some earlier this week. You'd think it was a big surprise to the Obama
administration though as the Treasurery Dept. reacted with indignation about
it. Should that be a big surprise either? No it shouldn't considering this
administration has no plan to deal with the matter.

They have no plan because they don't know what they're doing. They're in
over their heads. The stimulus plan, a lot of borrowing in a hurry
according to Sen. Mark Kirk of IL, failed miserably as it did not create any
jobs at all. The unemployment rate still hovers around 9% and the
administration has no clue why either. They have no clue that all their
regulations on things like energy and health care are what is driving
business not to do anything even though they have money. There is so much
uncertainty out there and uncertainty is the enemy of business.

It has been said that if domestic energy production were opened up, several
thousand jobs would be created. How about start by lifting the moratorium
on off-shore drilling. One accident, horrific as it was, should not shut
everything down and bring the domestic energy production to a grinding
hault. This is not the way to increase our energy independence either. Oh
wait, Obama is beholden to the environmental zealots on this one as well.
Remember that he said that electric bills would necessarily go up under cap
and trade. That's another reason not to create jobs as business doesn't
know what their energy costs will be.

The biggest driver of costs for a business is personnel and there are
reasons that business wont' hire. Just look at Boeing V. the NLRB. The
administration is using the NLRB to try and tell business where they must
locate jobs. This will put a damper on any business trying to create jobs,
especially in a right to work state such as South Carolina. There's
legislation in the House to address this matter. Hopefully it will pass but
I wouldn't hold my breath on that getting through the Senate. Reid has
shown his willingness to play politics with jobs. Just look at the recent
squabble over the FAA reauthorization. Much of that hinged on a change that
the GOP wanted but the Dems didn't because it would hurt their union
buddies.

Then there's the issue of the job-crushing Obama Care legislation. They can
say all they want but it's a back door way to get a single payer system and
business doesn't know what their costs will be under this monster
legislation so they're not hiring. Costs will go up under Obama Care not
down. If this legislation were so good, why has the administration granted
over 1,000 waivers? Why don't they just give the entire country a waiver
and repeal the damn thing. By the way, when will Reid bring up repeal in
the Senate under the FY 11 budget deal? The GOP needs to hold him to this
one. If they don't then Reid will make any deal he has to and then break it
when it's convenient for him.

Given all this, is it any surprise that S&P has downgraded the U.S.
government? It's not to me and it shouldn't be to anyone else either. This
situation won't change either until Obama is kicked out of office in 2012.
Vote as if your life depends on it because it does. Maybe then we'll get
some certainty and thus job creation. Time will tell which course the
country chooses.

Can we move on

2011-08-03T21:31:00.001-07:00

Now that there's been a compromise on the debt ceiling issue can we move on
? I sure would like to.

Did everyone get what they wanted out of the deal? Absolutely not.
Republicans didn't get the full amount of cuts they wanted. The Democrats
didn't get what they wanted on the tax hike issue either. As Speaker
Boehner said, it's not a perfect bill. It's not either. Now we'll see if
things move forward.

There will be a committee created to work on finding $1.50 trillion worth of
cuts. This will necessarily include some of the biggest drivers of the
deficit, that being entitlement programs and health care. Health care needs
to be dealt with by repealing Obama Care as this will contribute mightily to
the deficit if not repealed. It adds new mandates on insurance companies
which will increase costs to the taxpayers. Remember that much of this
kicks in after the 2012 election. How convenient for Obama.

Entitlements such as Medicare are on the table but the Democrats won't even
look at Rep. Ryan's plan for it. If we don't do anything, then there won't
be a Medicare program for future generations. It won't be there for my
nieces and nephews and certainly won't be there for my great niece. If we
do something, then there's a chance the program could still be viable.
Let's move on to deal with this problem.

Looking for villains on both sides won't help us move on either. Sometime
you have to compromise which means neither side gets everything they want.
That's just the nature of compromise. I only wish we would see more of it
in Washington.

So I say let's move on and do the business of the people.

The budget and the future

2011-07-22T07:12:00.001-07:00

We hear a lot about the debt, the budget and deficit spending as these are
topics of major concern. They impact all of us and affect the economy,
something liberals don't seem to understand. Just look at the fact that the
Senate hasn't passed a budget and is trying to maneuver its way out of cut,
cap and balance.

What do you expect from a body that is controlled by the Democrats? More of
the same I'm afraid. They don't want to address the real issues which are
the rising cost of health care which does include Obama Care. Entitlements
are another issue they won't' address because some poor person might get cut
off and they won't be able to control that person anymore.

Make no mistake about it. This fight is about control of the people and
liberals want to control people. They will do things that will get you to
do what they want you to do. Just look at environmental and energy
regulations for all the proof you need in that area.

Then there's the overreach of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB),
telling a private business where it must locate jobs. Hopefully the House
can stop this government excess before more jobs are lost. There might
even be a budget cut there.

As for entitlements, we have to look at reform of this as the current path
is unsustainable. We can't keep throwing money at the problem. There
needs to be reform so that people are encouraged to get off programs as
these were never meant to be permanent.

Obama Care is another place to look for budget cuts. This legislation will
only raise health care costs not lower them. It does this in many ways,
including government mandates which have the added harmful effect of choking
off jobs. Decisions should be made between the doctor and the patient
without interference from the government. This would not be the case under
Obama Care. Just look at the bureaucracies created under this law. Budget
busters to be sure, not to mention getting in the way of the doctor-patient
relationship. I won't even get into the dirty deals that were hatched to
pass that law.

To say that it's time to cut the budget is an understatement. This is one
frustrated voter's view.

Day three at AADB

2011-06-20T19:48:00.001-07:00

Well I can't believe day 3 is in the books already. I came back to the room
early as I was tired after not sleeping well for reasons I won't go into
here.

It was a jam-packed ay as I knew it would be though. Where do I start?

How about from the beginning. I got up and had breakfast , followed by my
first workshop on board roles and responsibilities. Some key points that
were stressed:
1. The importance of getting your paperwork done correctly and timely.
2. The fact that personnel information is confidential.
3. If board member has conflict on an issue, they cannot vote on it and
cannot participate in discussion.
4. Related to that is if session is closed on this issue, conflicted board
member needs to leave as he is considered member of the public in this
instance.
5. Fundraising is one of the functions of a nonprofit board.
6. ED handles day to day operations while board sets mission, budget and
other matters.
7. President is liaison between ED and Board.

Another important point that Howard Rosenblum mentioned was that the board
must follow the law in an ethical way.

After the two session on this subject, it was time for lunch and some work
at the AADB table taking sign-ups or pledges for the walk-a-thon to be held
on Thursday here in Ft. Mitchell. Please pray that the weather cooperates
for this event as it was stormy today and there is concern about the
weather for Thursday.

I managed to end up at the last hour of the business meeting where the board
and the ED were taking questions from the membership. Financial issues
topped the list of questions. S it's getting a little late here and I want
to get to bed, I won't go into great and glorious detail here.

This evening there was a Special Interest group for those who primarily
communicate using speech. It was interesting but turned into a political
discussion. I went upstairs after this to pick up a couple of small silent
auction items I had successfully bid on.

After that, I came to my room and went on-line. Now it will be time to go
to bed shortly. Let's hope we don't get any more rain here as we got some
noisy storms this morning.

Stay tuned for another jam-packed report tomorrow.

Day two at AADB

2011-06-19T20:57:00.001-07:00

Well today was a much busier day here at AADB. There were things to do and
people to meet.

I helped out with the raffle whose drawing will be held tomorrow. I looked
at some silent auction items and put in some bids. I came back to the room
and rested for a while before the opening ceremony.

We had the opening ceremony tonight where several things happened. It
started with the singing of the National Anthem and "Oh Beautiful", both of
which were done very well. One of the teens from that program did the
signing for the National Anthem. That had to be a thrill for her.

We next had Lynn give some announcements about the symposium. The
communications coordinating team was introduced and all of the team leaders
were introduced. That goes up to letter P as they're doing it by letter
this year. The team leaders are the ones delegates go to if there are
problems with SSP matches and the like.

There was next a plaque given in memory of Tom Sprinkle, a former Board
member, who recently passed away. After this was completed, we had the
introduction of the board. After that was completed, there was the call of
the states and then questions from members. These questions ranged from
issues with the symposium to issues outside of it.

All in all it was a jam-packed day with more to come tomorrow.

One more thing about the restaurant. The food is good and there is plenty
of it. I had a chicken Cesar salad for lunch today. When it arrived, I
could not believe how big it was. It had to be one of the larger salads
I've seen. Last night I had a grilled cheese BLT. Before you think, yuck
or whatever, just know that I wasn't sure how I would like it either.
Actually it wasn't bad at all. It was certainly different.

Now off to catch some zzs as things start early tomorrow.

First night at AADB

2011-06-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

This report won't be long as not much is happening and this netbook wil die
if I don't get off of it.

I had a safe trip down. As the title implies, there's not much going on
tonight. Have seen a few people I know and met some too.

Things really get started tomorrow.

Concealed carry: A Bad Idea

2011-06-14T21:38:00.001-07:00

Just last Friday an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland was shot for getting too
close to a man's car while playing. More info at
www.crimecrawlers.com/?p-6338.

That is likely not the only situation to come to light either. What about
other populations, such as senior citezens and people with disabilities?
They would be vulnerable if there were concealed carry. Are there numbers
available for states that currently have concealed carry? If so, I've never
seen them and the vulnerability issue is something that is not talked about
by advocates for concealed carry either. Why is that? Might it be because
there are no reliable statistics to back up their view that it makes
everyone safer. Might it be because these statistics would punch a gaping
hole in their arguments? Whatever the anser is, it is never mentioned and
you'd better have good statistics if you're going to argue with some of
these people who want this so bad they wont' listen to the other side.

The other problem with concealed carry is that the arguements for it are
based on the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution. What the
proponents forget is that this amendment refers to a militia which means the
military or national guard. It does not mean civilians outside of law
enforcemetn or the military. When will these people understand that?

The guy who shot the 11-year-old was a vigilante, nothing more and nothing
less. Hopefully he will pay the price for it. How many more like that will
there be if there is concealed carry? Safety is at stake.

As the title of this blog states: Concealed Carry: A Bad Idea. Let's get rid
of it once and for all.

Congress the economy and related items

2011-06-06T21:25:00.001-07:00

The title says it all. This one's about the economy, Congress and related
items. It's an outgrowth of a discussion on social media. The upshot is
that the person who started this one agrees with OBAMA AND THE DEMS ON
POLICY. As regular readers of this blog know, I don't.

Bush was brought up in this discussion and to some extent, that's fair game
as he did some things I don't agree with. Chief among these were TARP and
the auto industry, aka UAW, bailout.

Before you talk about the GOP remember that the Democrats in Congress never
bothered to pass a budget last year. How shameful is that? It's plenty
shameful as it shows that the Dems aren't doing their job as responsible
leadership demands that they pass a budget. The Dems also don't want to
enact any spending cuts. They just want to spend like drunken sailors ,
something that cannot be sustained. Obama wants to re-distribute wealth by
taking it from the rich and giving it to others. That's called socialism as
he wants everyone to be equal.

Don't even get me started when it comes to the unions. They couldn't even
get card check, aka forced membership, passed in a democratically-controlled
Congress. That tells me that this is real bad, stink out loud legislation.
Membership is down and unions are desperate. Thankfully Congress didn't
reward them on that one. People see unions as Irrelevant and only
protecting the leadership of the union, not the workers.

The UAW didn't want to change things and wanted to write all the rules when
it comes to the auto companies. The bailout kept their way of doing things
in place, something that is not good. It kept a bad business model in
place. The auto companies should have been forced to go through bankruptcy
which would have been a much more orderly process than the bailouts. Keep
in mind that this was the second bailout for Chrysler. What does that tell
you about the company? It tells me that the company isn't viable. Keep in
mind that Ford didn't take the bailout. Good for them.

Unions wonder why they're irrelevant. They're irrelevant because much of
what they were created to do has already been done. Things like the
40-hour week, minimum wage and worker safety to name a few. They demand
what could be characterized as extortion wages, lavish benefits and control
over the work rules, the latter of which should be the prevue of management.
The wages and benefits cause companies to take jobs where it's cheaper to do
business, even if that means sending those jobs overseas.

Regulations are another can of worms I won't go into right now. Suffice it
to say, there are a number of reasons the situation is not good right now.
Only time and the right leadership will bring about a change.

Thoughts on victory in war on terror

2011-05-05T22:11:00.001-07:00

Sunday night May 1 turned out to be a great night for the U.s and the
families of about 3,000 people who were visciously murdered on 9-11. Why do
I say that? Because we finally caught and killed Osama Bin Laden.

I am proud of the SEALS who carried out this mission and thank them for what
they did. It was obvious we were never going to take the slime ball alive.

While President Obama takes the credit for this, he certainly can't take all
of the credit. I say this because president George W.Bush and his policies
laid the ground work for this wonderful victory. Some of that ground work
unfortunately is too inconvenient for President Obama and his liberal
buddies. This is particulary true of the enhanced interrogation methods
that were used on various detainees which yielded valuable information.
KSM was one who gave valuable information through use of enhanced
interrogation methods. If the slime ball were taken alive,there would be
the necessity to use some of these methods on him and this would be highly
inconvenient to president Obama and his liberal buddies.

Leave it to president Obama and others in the White House to screw up what
should be a proud moment in our history. They didn't plan for the aftermath
of the mission and thus don't have their story straight from what I have
heard in some places. There is also a raging dispute about release of the
pictures and president Obama has already answered that one by saying no to
release of any pictures. Failure to release them will only further fuel the
conspiracy theorists, something which is not a good idea. Yes, the hard
core ones in that crowd will never believe it even if the pictures were
released. However, these need to be released as we had to endure the
carnage of 9-11 and we should see justice done. The pictures would allow us
to see justice done and can be done without compromise of military
oeprations. That's why you do the release in consultation with military and
intelligence officials.

This was a great day in our history. Too bad president Obama had to screw
it up like he does almost everything he touches.

Why we don't need nuclear power

2011-03-17T07:28:00.001-07:00

I can give 50 reasons and more why we don't need nuclear power, especially
given the looming crisis and catastrophe in Japan. We're now looking at a
likely meltdown and egregious problems with the spent fuel ponds. This is a
massively dangerous situation and will eclipse Chernobol as the worst
nuclear disaster rather soon. The Fukushima 50, as they are known, will
ultimately give their lives trying to bring this catastrophe under control.
It's not the way anyone should have to die.

There are those who say nuclear power is safe. I beg to differ with them.
When something goes wrong, it really goes terribly wrong. That's not a risk
we can tolerate nor is it an acceptable risk. Building these thigns at all
is an unacceptable risk and I don't care where they're located. The risk of
problems from either a natural or man-made disaster are too great and
Fukushima just makes that abundantly clear.

We don't need to take that risk. The U.S. is now evacuating U.S. nationals
from Japan. What does that tell you about the situation? It tells me that
the situation is deteriorating and rather fast too. We need to get control
of this and fast. It's a scary situation that doesn't need to be repeated
by building more of these things anywhere in the world.

I've heard recently on Fox News that China will likely build about 60 of
these things over the next decade. To that I say no way as their safety
record in other industries is not good and give me no confidence that they
can safely handle nuclear power. Besides, there are some active seismic
zones in that country and we don't need another Fukushima in China.

We've got two plants in active seismic zones here in the U.S. I hope there
are plans in place for evacuation in the event of a disaster. I wonder
about that though. Decommissioning those plants would probably be a real
good idea. That's an option that needs to be looked at.

Yes folks, this is one issue I don't agree with the republicans on. They
advocate for nuclear power and I don't want to see it. It's not necessary
and not economical, especially given the cost of natural gas right now.
Hopefully the economics will continue to work against the building of
nuclear power plants. That would be safer for everyone.

Remember that at least 50 people will likely die as a result of the
Fukushima crisis and catastrophe. Is that a sacrifice we want to make
again? I don't and hope no one else does either.

Chernobol all over aain

2011-03-15T07:32:00.001-07:00

They said it couldn't happen again but it has. What am I referring to? I'm
referring to Chernobol,the world's worst nuclear disaster up to this point.
Now we have another disaster looming in Japan that may rival Chernobol.
That disaster is the nuclear plant at fukoshima which is in the earthquake
zone in Japan.

I pray that those who are working on this one can get it under control and
quickly but to say I'm scared would be putting it mildly. There's the
chance for another Chernobol and they're actually using that description
from what I understand. How many days is this crisis going to last? No
one knows just as we didn't know with Chernobol. Radiaiton and lots of it
is something to be scared about.

I will comment on the larger issues later. Right now I hope and pray for a
successful end to the current crisis.

Times they are a changin'

2011-02-23T07:53:00.001-08:00

Last November, republicans won in many states. This means more fiscal
responsibility and more sanity for state budgets. However, it is clear that
the Democrats didn't get the message from last fall's elections. Wisconsin,
Indiana and Ohio seem to be ground zero for this fight with Wisconsin being
the worst of it.

In Wisconsin, Gov.Scott Walker introduced a budget repair bill that seeks to
reign in costs by reigning in union power among other things. It asks that
public employees pay 12.6% toward their health care costs, well below the
national average of 29% for combined public/private match. It also seeks
5.8% toward their pension where they now contribute nothing. This bill also
removes collective bargaining for everything except wages and strips unions
in the public sector of the right to force payment of union dues. The
collective bargaining changes would allow managers to set the rules rather
than the unions. Right now reporting times are set in the contracts so that
if there is an event outside of those hours, time and a half must be paid
for setup whereas hours could be adjusted for this if this were not part of
the contract. That's just one example.

The disconnect that you see between the union leadership and the rank and
file is huge. The leaders are the ones who are all worried about these
changes because they know they will lose power. The leaders are the ones
who are scared of losing the compulsory dues payments because they know
union membership is down. Instead of fighting over compulsory dues payment,
union leaders ought to be working on ways to make sure they are representing
their members and remaining relevant to their members rather than protecting
their precious six-figure salaries. If leaders are doing such a good job,
why is union membership down? It's down because the rank and file workers
don't see the leaders or the unions as looking out for their interest. The
leaders are seen as looking out for their own interests and protecting
themselves.

Unions are also seen as arms of the Democratic party. Money gained from
compulsory dues is then funneled to the Democratic party and the result is
what you are seeing in Madison right now. You now have Democrats who are
hiding out in a location outside of Wisconsin in order to stall the passage
of the bill. They are acting like children rather than attending the
session an dbeing a part of the process. If they disagree with parts of the
budget repair bill,then they should be in the Capitol doing their job and
debating the bill. They should be voicing their disagreements and offering
solutions of their own. They should be answerable to their constituents
which they now are not. There are now recall efforts under way on 8 of the
14 AWOL Wisconsin Democrats. These AWOL senators now must go to Madison
directly to the Senate floor while the Senate is in session in order to pick
up their checks as a rule change allows for this requirement of anyone who
has missed two days in a row of session. The Democrats in the senate
qualify under this requirement.

In short, the Democrats and their union paymasters need to grow up, do their
jobs and be part of the process. The people spoke in the November elections
and they're saying that the out-of-controll spending is unsustainable. Get
back to work and do your job whether you are from Wisconsin or Indiana. I'm
tired of Illinois being the hub of this activity but when you have a Chicago
politician in the White House, this is what you're going to get.

It's time for civilized political debate where views are exchanged and
serious conversations are held. It's time to dispense with the child's
play and the temper tantrums. Last time I checked, these Democrats were
adults; but they sure arent' behaving like adults. I've got one message for
them, grow up and do your job.

2011 A time for Sanity

2011-01-03T08:12:00.001-08:00

We're now in 2011 and I thought I would reflect on what I think needs to
happen this year. As the title imlies I hope it is a time for sanity rather
than insanity. The last two years have really been a time of insanity, what
with the passage of the health care legislation, the administration's
failure to charge wiki leaks with anything and more.

The way the Republicans are talking, this year will be different. Well, I
certainly hope so. Rep. Darrell Isa is going after the administration,
particularly Atty Gen. Eric Holder for failure to prosecute a number of
organizations. Two of these I would venture to say have likely ties to
Obama and the third one there is no excuse for. The President has a past
history with ACORN so that one is understandable but not justified. The one
involving the New Black Panterhs party is not justified. Voter intimidation
is voter intimidation no matter who is committing it.

As for the third one, Wiki Leaks, that one is a travesty. We have espionage
laws and Atty. Gen. Holder needs to use them to prosecute Wiki Leaks founder
Assange or resign from office. This is about what Isa is saying and I
agree. Otherwise we look like a paper tiger and will only be laughed at and
that's not what I want from this country. Also those who enable Wiki Leaks
need to be gone after under the espionage laws. Holder had a chance last
spring but failed to take action after the leak of the papers involving
Afghanistan and Iraq. It should never have gotten as far as the diplomatic
cables. While the Army has one person under investigation,there are clearly
more people involved. They also need to be investigated an dprosecuted.

As for health care reform, there is a constitutional challenge on this one
and I hope it succeeds as Obama care is bad legislation. Short of the
constitutional battle, I hope there is success in outright repeal or
defunding. I8t is my opinion that there will be a battle royale over the
budget with health care right in the thick of it. If we can at leat get
this thing defunded, that would lower the deficit. Then let's get it
repealed. It's interesting to me that many of the major provisions don't
take affect until 2014. Why is that? IMO it's because this is bad
legislation and its authors know that and don't want to take the political
hit for it. The adage that the more the people see about this legislation
the more they don't like it holds true on this one. Let's hope ewe can get
some sensible health care reform, starting with tort reform which would
limit malpractice suits and stop judge shopping in these cases. This type
of sensible reform would bring down costs as there would be less of a need
for defensive medicine.

I also hope there's sanity on the foreign policy front as well but that will
be difficult given that two rogue nations, North Korea and Iran, appear to
be working together. This is dangerous and needs to be dealt with. I'm not
even going to go into what needs to be done here as I'm not sure of that
one. Looking weak though is not an option in my opinion.

These are just a few things that I hope will happen in order to bring real
sanity in 2011. Let's see how much gets accomplished prior to the
Presidential campaign starting in the fall.

Remembering our veterans on their day

2010-11-11T13:41:00.001-08:00

Today as I sit and type this entry, I'm reminded of the sacrifice our
veterans have made so that we have the freedom to post such material, to
live and work in the community of our choice, to practice our religion and
to criticize our government when we don't agree with a decision they have
made. Much of this would be impossible in many countries and could subject
one to harsh treatment, including death.

As someone who is blind with a mild hearing loss, I am able to work and live
on my own. Contrast that with some other countries where someone like me
would be kekpt at home and cared for the rest of her life. I have access to
technology that allows me to ac cess information. I'm able to participate
in the political process through my advocacy work. I can even go out
shopping on my own.

I'm able to do many, if not all, of these things because of the sacrifices
our veterans have made. They have defended freedom so that I and others
like me can have choices. They have answered the call to serve so that all
of us might be able to vote in free and fair elections as many of us did
last week, choosing to toss out politicians we didn't like in many places.
In many countries, they don't have free and fair elections so can't affect
change in this way. We can and that is a right we have because of the
sacrifices of our veterans.

I'm reminded of these sacrifices thanks to the Greatest Generation who are
now part of the honor flights and are just now getting the thanks from a
grateful nation which they so richly deserve. That's been a long time
coming but well and richly deserved for life would be very different today
if they had not answered the call to serve.

So if you see a veteran today, tell him or her thank you for their service
no matter which branch of the military they served in or which war they
served in. All have sacrificed much for future generations.

In closing, I just want to say thank you to any veteran who might read this.
Please know that your service to our country is greatly appreciated.

About four weeks to go

2010-10-07T06:30:00.001-07:00

It's about four weeks until the election. There's a lot at stake this time
around and no one can afford to be on the sidelines. You need to make sure
you're informed and vote for the candidates youfeel will do the best for
this country,your state and or local area.

Our vote will influence the direction of the country for years to come.
Business is not investing due to uncertainty. They don't know what
regulations will be coming down the pipeline; they don't know what they will
be paying in taxews and they don't know how much their costs will rise as a
result of Obama Care. Business won't hire or invest until they know the
answers to these questions. To that end, who wins will say a lot about the
direction of the country.

If the Democrats win,it will be more of the same thing that we're getting
now. There will just be more regulation They willhave succeeded in taking
over health care by mandating what must be covered; who must be covered and
how much can be charged for said coverage. When private companies are
reduced to offering what the government mandates just to stay in business,
that's a takeover despite what the media would have yu believe. What will
be next? That's a scary thought.

If the Republicans win, we will see an effort to repeal the onerous
takeover of one-sixth of the economy. We will see regulations reduced and
taxes will be reduced which will allow for investment. Bailouts would end
and they need to as taxpayers should not be funding failng businesses. If
they have a bad business model, then they fail under capitalism.

The Democrats view business as evil and greedy. Just look at their
so-called financial regulatoryreform. It strangles business and regulates
what credit card companies and others can do. Granted some changes were
needed but not in the manner that the Democrats did it.

Republicans, on the other hand, see business as innovative and the creator
of jobs. It is the private sector who creates job, not the government.
Democrats believe just the opposite when it comes to who creates jobs in
this country.

The future is in our hands and we need to make sure we let everyone know
what direction we want to see things go. That's why it's important to get
out and vote as if your life depends on it because it does..

Taking the opportunity tocomment on cell phone access

2010-10-04T22:08:00.001-07:00

Rarely are we given an opportunity to comment on such an important issue.
This is such an opportunity and it has been made so easy. I urge all who
read this to do so, encourage others to do so or help someone to do so.
These comments are due to the FCC by October 15 and were sent to
pam.gregory@fcc.gov. let her hear our voices.

Docket #10-145
Accessibility of cell phones
I appreciate the extension of the deadline for comments on this very
important topic.

While it is nice that Applle has made a phone that is accessible out of the
box,not everyone will want to use a touch screen. Some people,like me, will
not have the patience for such a device. I saw a friend's I-pod touch over
the weekend and know I am in that category.

This leads me to my next point, that being that there must be options out
there; and that's not the case unless one is willing to invest money over
and above the cost of the cell phone. I, as a blind hard of hearing person,
should not have to do that. Right now, I have to pay $300 additional for
the cost of a screen reader to make my phone accessible as I cannot read the
menus, text messages or anything else on the phone. I then must invest
money to keep that software current, something a sighted person does not
have to do. That puts the cost of access at right around $500 over and
above the cost of the phone itself. Sighted people don't have to pay this
extra cost and neither should I. I am happy with Verizon, my current
carrier, and I don't want to switch just to obtain accessibility out of the
box. I should, like anyone else, be able to choose the carrier from whom I
want to obtain service.

As I wear hearing aids, I also had to test the phone in the store to make
sure it was going to work for me. Thankfully it did and the representative
in the verizon store knew something about the ratings system for hearing aid
compatibility (HAC). In the past, I've had to use a loop which added
additional cost to the phone. However, I've not had to use such a device
since 2006 and I'm not going back.

In conclusion, Apple has shown that accessibility out of the box is
possible. However, the I-phone is the only phone for which this is true.
Other manufacturers need to follow Apple's lead. It's good for business and
the consumer.

Six weeks and counting

2010-09-21T07:24:00.001-07:00

It's six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast
enough. Six more weeks and hopefully Obama and his minions will be slowed
down dramtically, giving this country a chance to slow down the pace of
change and get us to 2012 without too much more damage. Heck we may even
have a shot at repeal of the government takeover of health care. I hope so
as I want to make my own health care decisions. I don't want them made by a
bureaucrat in Washington.

Businesses will be happy to see the elections come too as maybe the
uncertainty will end for them. They will get a clearer picture of where
issues of taxes, regulation and health care are headed. Only when business
is certain about these issues will they begin to create jobs once again.
Only when they know what they will be paying for health care for their
employees and what they will be paying in taxes will they then decide to
create jobs.

Unfortunately you have a President right now who has never worked in the
private sector so he doesn't know the first thing about how government
policy affects business. President Obama and his Democratic friends think
that government, not the private sector,creates jobs. This is, of course,
not the case. Government thinks right now that they are the only ones who
create jobs and that the private sector is evil. You see this here in
Illinois. All you have to do is read any news release from Gov. Quinn's
office to realize that Gov. Quinn spends money thinking it will create jobs.
That's what you see time and again as a justification for every project on
which there is a release. There are releases on broadband projects,
high-speed railroad service and highway interchanges just to name a few. Go
to www.Illinois.gov and click on news and then Governor's office and you
will see what I mean. What happens when these projects are finished? Where
are the jobs? Are these projections grounded in reality? Does anyone know?
I wonder why but won't speculate here.

You can look in other categories on the above-mentioned site to see what
else is going on. You will find out about regulations, appointments and the
like. There's not much in the area of budget fiscal, with nothing being
mentioned in this category since July. What are they doing to fix the
budget problems? Spending is obviously outpacing revenue and that can't be
sustained. We need long-term solutions that are not crisis-driven. We need
solutions that will stabilize the situation, not make it worse.

Six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast enough.
Make sure you are registered and then that you vote for the candidates
youfeel will do the best job for the future of Illinois and the nation.

Ground Zero Mosque no way

2010-09-11T20:27:00.001-07:00

I've been listening to all of the controversy surrounding the building of a
mosque/Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero. While those who own the
property on which this facility is to be built have the right to do what
they want with the property, does that mean they should? In this case the
answer to that question is a resounding NO!

They should have known that building a Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center so
close to Ground Zero would stir up some strong emotions, especially among
the families of those killed on September 11, 2001 by Islamic extremists.
Locating the facility where its backers want only serves to cause pain and
ill-will. These people should be more sensitive to the situation at hand.
There are other places further away from Ground Zero that this could be
built; and these options should be explored. This should have never gotten
this far due to the sensitive nature of this area.

As for the burning of the Quron to protest this Mosque/Cultural Center,
that's far out of bounds of free speech and is far beyond wrong and far
beyond being in extremely poor taste. It's extremely disgusting and should
never, ever happen. Disagreeing with a project is no reason for
dessicration of any religious symbol of any religion. Let's not inflame
the situation literally here.

I have not forgotten

2010-09-11T14:01:00.001-07:00

Today is 9 years after 9-11, that horrible day when this country was
tragically and brutally attacked by terrorists using planes as weapons.
These 19 so-called human beings had no regard for human life and some 3,000
people lost their lives, many just going to work as they normally did. The
only thing different is that they never came home. Then there were the
heroes who died just doing what they do. (taken from Allan Jackson "Where
Were You When the World Stopped Turning?")

You also have those aboard United flight 93 who were determined that their
plane would not destroy another landmark. They were the first soldiers in
the war on terror. Tod Beamer and the rest died like heroes in that
Pennsylvania field. Then there are those who died at the Pentagon.

It's a day I'll never forget and a day we must never forget because if we
forget, then it will happen again. We must do everything we can to defeat
terrorism so that these deaths will not be in vain. We came together as a
country and we must continue to work together as a country.

Have you forgotten? No I haven't and never will. I still remember talking
to my husband that day and then turning on the radio to find that the
station was taking feed fromNYC. I called my husband and told himn to turn
on the radio. He did and thus began a day filled with terror and horror.

My hearts go out to the first responders who did their best to try and save
those trapped at the WTC, many of them dying in the process. It just shows
the sacrifice these people make every day, and especially on 9-11. They
paid a high price as did this country. May we never see another day like it
ever again.

When will liberals get it?

2010-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

When it comes to almost anything these days, I must ask the question that is
the title of this blog post. When willliberals get it?

It's obvious they don't get it when it comes to jobs. They insist on
passing numerous laws that affect small business. This shows in legislation
that they enact such as the misguided financial reform measures which will
only serve to further tighten credit. What will the regulations for this
legislation require? Noone knows yet and that will further fuel uncertainty
by business which will in turn mean fewer jobs and les investment. Why
should business create jobs if they are not certain what will be coming down
the road in terms of regulation and taxes? As for taxes, there are a ton of
these in the health care legislation. Talk about more uncertainty, you have
it in a large piece of legislation which amounts to a government takeover of
health care. Don't forget what they did to the student load program either.
Talk about uncertainty. There is some for students as well. What will
those regulations look like? I don't think anyone knows.

You have liberals talking about energy independence. What this means is cap
and trade which would choke off industry and necessarily, by Obama's own
admission, raise electric rates. How is this a good thing for business or
the individual? One more example of where liberals don't get it.

Then there's uncertainty at the state level. Providers and others aren't
getting paid due to state financial problems. When will the Dems realize
the problem and begin working across the isle to help fix the problem? Who
knows.

Noone really knows what the future holds. The liberals don't seem to
understand that uncertainty is no friend of business. They just think that
business is evil and needs to be regulated. They think that the government
knows what is best rather than the individual. Whatever happened to free
enterprise? I don't know but we had better figure that out before we become
so like Europe that there's no turning back, something we're really fast
approaching.

November can't get here fast enough.

ADA 20 years later

2010-07-25T21:05:00.001-07:00

We have an important anniversary to celebrate tomorrow. What is that
anniversary? It's the signing of the Americannnnns with Disabilities Act
(ADA) by then-President George H.W. bush. It gave those of us with
disabilities the right to be included in all aspects of society including
success and failure. It gave us access to the built environment, to state
and local government programs and services and places of public
accommodation. This meant stores, restaurants, bars, amusement
parks,festivals etc. We could go where everyone else goes. We have a right
to get material from city council meetings in accessible format.
Transportation became accessible so we could get out and go where we need
and want to go. This includes fixed route and paratransit service. These
are just a few things that the ADA has allowed us to do.

Is there still a ways to go? Yes there certainly is. There is the issue of
access to goods and services sold over the Internet. The Dept. of Justice
will be dealing with this issue very soon so that is a step in the right
direction. Are there still access issues when it comes to voting?
Absolutely there are but voting is something that we can do independnently
now thanks in part to the ADA and I for one am not going back.

Pedestrian access is something that still needs work but will improve.
Access to state and local government programs and services is better but
again could improve.

There is, however, one thing that legislation will not change no matter how
hard you try; and that is attitudes. There will continue to be problems
with employment when you have attitudes which say that PWD can't work or
live independently. These attitudinal barriers will come down much more
slowly than the physical barriers have come down. All of us have attitudes
that we have acquired since a veryh young age. It's hard to change those
attitudes but we must continue to try.

Does the ADA hold promise for equal rights? You bet it does, especially if
we make full use of its provisions. If we don't make full use of its
provisions, then we won't realize the true power that this law gives us.
Let's dedicate ourselves to realizing the full potential of this landmark
legislation.

Arizona

2010-06-14T20:42:00.001-07:00

Once again I must ask if people have actually read the Arizona immigration
law or even understand how it works? If you're a liberal, the answer to
that is probably no on both counts because it doesn't fit your agenda of
open borders. If you're a conservative, the answer is likely yes because
you understand the issue and know that the feds aren't doing what they need
to and you want to see the boarders secured.

Liberals say this law is or will lead to racial profiling. Well, if there
is documented racial profiling going on then let's deal with it; but until
then let's enforce the laws that are on the books. How many people know
that there is a federal law on the books, signed by a Democratic President,
that requires aliens to carry their papers on their person? I'd venture to
say not many, especially among the liberal crowd as once again this doesn't
fit their agenda.

As further proof that this is getting nasty, there was news that an ACB
affiliate has withdrawn an invitation for the Maricopa County sherrif to
speak at there convention this summer in Phoenix. Once again, if people
would read the law, they would know what it says. People cannot be stopped
primarily because they might be here illegally. They can, however, be asked
as a result of a stop for another offense or reason for contact with the
police. What's so damn hard to understand about that?

While the convention will be fun this summer, I'm not looking forward to the
freaking politics due to the location of the convention. Can we just do the
organization business without getting involved in an issue that IMO we
should not be involved in? I pray that the answer is yes but I'm afraid it
won't be given GDUI's action on the speaking engagement of the sherrif.

He has every right to be angry over that one as it's real disingenuous to
invite someone and then pull the invitation just because you don't agree
with a law that was passed and that he only enforces.. If anyone has a
better solution out there, I'd like to hear it but let's not get the
convention or the organization involved in this one please.

BP and anyone else can't get it right

2010-06-07T07:04:00.001-07:00

We've all heard about the explosion of the deep water horizon oil rig in the
gulf of Mexico and the oil spill that has resulted from this explosion.
We've also heard how the beaches and marsh lands have been fouled by this
oil. With each passing day, we also hear about the fact that BP hasn't a
clue how to stop this. It's been said that everything they've tried hasn't
been tried at these depths. You've got to be kidding me. Why would a
permit even be issued in this situation?

The answer to that question is certainly open for debate and the fact that
deep water drilling has been closed for now is a good thing despite what the
Mississippi Governor Haley Barber says. We do need to know how to deal with
something like this if it were to happen. And we don't right now. BP
certainly hasn't got a clue.

I go back to the 60 Minutes broadcast done about three weeks ago where the
gentleman from Transocean who was on the rig at the time of the explosion
said that BP wanted to move too fast and that there were problems with the
ring on the blow out preventer. Well, the blow out preventer did not do its
job, that's for sure. Did BP move too fast on production? I think that the
answer is likely yes. Did they ignore signs of trouble with the blowout
preventer? I think that we will find out that the answer to that one is
likely yes. Come on, when there's rubber where it shouldn't be, that's a
problem.

Does the government have some blame here? Certainly they do and Obama, if
he can bring himself to do it, needs to take responsibility for it too. The
response has been slow at best. Come on, Louisiana is waiting for answers
regarding , I believe, the digging of berms or something to protect the
coast line and marshes. The last I had heard on this was that they had not
yet received an answer. What's taking so long for that answer to come? As
for the finger pointing game in front of Congress by the companies involved,
there'll be enough blame to go around by the time this investigation is
finished so no one needs to worry about anyone escaping responsibility on
this one.

BP certainly can't get it right though. Everything they try doesn't work;
and it'll be two months before the relief wells are done. That's no
comfort to the coast states, especially Louisiana who stands to lose big on
this one. What will they try next? Stay tuned to find out.

Thank You To All

2010-05-30T20:29:00.001-07:00

On this Memorial Day, I pause to say thank you to all who have served,
especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. It is because of
you that we are free today. Those who went to war did so out of a sense of
patriotism and a call to serve their country. They did so because there was
a danger to our country and our way of life.

This Memorial Day I am reminded of the Greatest Generation, the men and
women who served in WWII. They came home and quietly assimilated back into
society. At the time, they were not properly thanked. Thanks to the Honor
Flights, they are finally getting the thanks they truly deserve for what
they did. So many never made it home either. It is these men and women
whom we remember this weekend.

Please take a moment out of your busy day to remember these men and women
from all wars who gave the ultimate sacrifice. To very loosely quote a Toby
Keith song, Courtesy of the Red, White and blue, " When you see Old Glory
fly, there's a lot of men dead so we can live happy and free..." Please
remember that as you go about your day today.

Reflections on local news

2010-05-08T09:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was certainly a busy day in local news rooms. You had two big
stories happen at once with no rhyme or reason to either one of them. These
two big stories happened within a half hour of each other which I'll bet is
a nightmare for any news room.

The first story was the death of Metra's Executive Director and the other
was the shooting at the Old Navy store in Chicago's loop.

The shooting , while sensless, was easier to explain but difficult to
swallow. The reason is that an innocent woman was taken down with the guy
who didn't want the relationship to end. There are better ways to handle
that situation than to murder someone and then take one's own life.

The Metra story however gives me the creeps as I have had interaction with
the Executive Director in the past when transportation issues were hot in
the early to mid 1990s. He was one who got it where disability access was
concerned and that was saying a lot for the Executives at that time. The
waythis gentleman chose to end it was what makes this so creepy as he no
doubt saw reports and handled incidents of this type while employed at
Metra. Why would you use a train, something you were in charge of running
the service of, to take your own life? There were obviously more problems
here than we will ever know because the taking of money inquestionable
fashion should not alone be a cause for taking one's own life.

Will I ever look at getting on a Metra train or any other type of diesel
train the same again? Probably not because I knew this person
professionally and that's the creepy side of this story. My condolances to
the family who is left wondering why. May the good Lord give them the
strength to get through this crisis in their lives.

November we need you now

2010-05-08T09:17:00.001-07:00

The title says it all. We need November and it can't get here fast enough
for me. I say this for a number of reasons.

First of all, the Democrats so-called health care reform will be the death
of this economy if it isn't repealed and replaced. However, we need
Republicans in office in order to make this happen. Small business, which
is the lifeblood of our economy, will be hurt or even killed if this
so-called reform is allowed to stand. What small business will be able to
afford to open its doors given that its health care costs will go through
the roof and they'll have to hire someone just to keep up with all of the
mandates. Small business' who can afford to do so will choose to drop
their employees into the exchange and pay the penalty rather than deal with
the headaches of this travesty that calls itself reform but is really part
of the democrats plan to create a single payer system by gutting the private
insurance companies.

You also have legislators who want reform of the financial system but who
won't deal with the root cause of the problem which is Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the two mortgage lending giants who are being bailed out by the
taxpayers because they made loans to people who couldn't afford them. The
Democrats don't want to deal with reform of these two entities because they
don't want to deal with the fact that some people just can't afford a home.

Then there's the issue of terrorism which was brought into sharp focus last
week. You had the Time Square bomber who nearly made it out of the country
and should never have gotten that close. You have the fact that the
administration still feels that this is a criminal justice rather than a
military matter. Something unfortunately is going to happen; it's only a
matter of time. Two close calls should tell you all you need to know.

Now we get to the issue of immigration. The Democrats clearly don't want to
deal with this one as they support open boarders. What else can you say
when they deem a state potentially racist because that state wants
immigration laws enforced. I'm talking about Arizona who has a real problem
with a porous border and the feds aren't doing a damn thing abobut it so
they sent a message. Obama's response is to have the Justice Department
look at it because people's rights might be violated or there might be
racial profiling. Give me a freaking break. Then there's the whole issue
of the border and federal land. That's another matter all together. Not to
metion the fact that theliberals don't even talk about the requirement, on
the books since the 1940s, that aliens carry their paperwork on their person
in orer to prove their status and that they are here legally. Why not
enforce that law while we're at it and the liberals don't need to give any
crap about violation or rights because we would e expected to have our
papers on our person if we were traveling abroad.

Porkulus and the health care debacle have only seved to raise the national
debt. These liberals who are spending like drunken sailors and worse need
to be stopped before we wind up in the same shape that Greece now finds
itself in. We're not going to spend our way out of the recession which is
something the liberals don't understand. And you can't even have a civil
debate about this without being called a racist or anything else. Just
watch how the liberals marginalize he tea party movement which is a
cross-section of America. It's not just Republican but Democrats and
independents as well. It's people who want their country back as I do.

As you can see November can't get here fast enough and we need it now before
the liberals inflict more damage on this country. I want my country back
and I will do what I can to see that this happens.

More like Europe Not Here

2010-04-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

Obama has said more than once that we need to become more like Europe. My
answer is no we don't. We don't need the out of control spending that they
are now having to wrestle with. We don't need the regulation of every facet
of our lives and we don't need the debt crisis that is sure to come our way
by spending like Europe has spent and taxed too for that matter.

Spain was the third country to have its debt downgraded by Standard and
Poors or Moody's. I'm not sure which one but it's one of those two big bond
houses. Greece was downgraded to junk status. Portugal was downgraded
yesterday from what to what I'm not sure; but it wasn't good. Now we have
Spain; and I hear this may not be the last one either. Italy is on the list
as well. Where will this stop and when will people see that you can't spend
yourself into oblivion nor can you spend your way out of aneconomic crisis.
I don't care what country we're talking about.

My fear is that the U.S. could be next down the line. I say this because
the debt is going up, up and away. We can't afford to keep doing this; and
I certainly don't want to see us end up like any of the countries listed
above. As it is, foreign powers control our debt which isn't good either.
This is especially true when you consider that these countries have leverage
over us; and China is the biggest among these countries. Scary stuff to say
the least.

Just one more reason we need to take our country back and gridlock Obama
until we can get him out of office. My nieces and nephews and their
children don' t need to be dealing with this crisis and explosion of
spending. We've got to control spending. If we don't, we'll end up like
Greece, Portugal and Spain and likely Italy. The debt virus is one virus
that doesn't need to make its way to U.S. shores.

My message for the Dems is to stop spending like drunken sailors. The GOP
needs to stop enabling it too. This fall should prove to be the first step
in stopping this out-of-control spending. God I hope so for the sake of
this country. I can't say this enough. I want my country back.

What will they regulate next

2010-04-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

The question has to be asked with the Democrats in power. Santa Clara
County is regulating the offering of toys in children's meals under the
guise of combating childhood obesity and Sen Charles Schumer D-NY) wants
Facebook and other social networking sites regulated with regards to
privacy.

With regard to the Santa Clara county regulations, since when was it the
government's job to regulate what children can eat? It's not. What
children eat is up to the parents and they need to say no if they don't want
their children eating the happy meals because they are fattening. Next
thing you know, we will all be told what we can eat and when we can eat it.
The liberals don't trust the people to do what the liberals think we ought
to do. They believe that the government is more capable than the
individual. I believe quite the opposite, that the individual is quite
capable of deciding what is best for them or their family; and certainly
much more capable than the government. Remember that requirements for
listing calorie counts on restaurant food are hidden in the massive health
care debacle known as Obama Care. What else is hidden in that monster of a
piece of legislation? Who knows? Only the Dems do but the Republicans are
pointing it out too.

Now on to Facebook and other social networking sites. Sen. Schumer who
likely has never held a real job in his life wants to regulate something he
does not understand at all. First of all, Facebook is a global site which
means that it would be difficult to regulate for that very reason. If it
were to be regulated, there would have to be tracking of people so that the
necessary regulations could be applied to U.S. users, something which
Schumer doesn't understand even if he were to object to it which he likely
would. But wait! The government knows best. Schumer doesn't understand
that when you go on-line you are taking a risk in the first place. That's
the nature of the beast.

Just two more examples of why the Dems need to be driven out of office and
Obama gridlocked for the last two years of his administration so he can't do
any more damage than he's already done; and he's done quite enough already.
I want my country back and I hope you do too.

Have they no brains

2010-04-22T06:52:00.001-07:00

The title is the question for the Obama administration today. Regulations
take affect which will add to the cost of a home remodeling job. The
contractor will now have to prove that they have the EPA's stamp of approval
to do the work which will add cost to the job. This involves homes built
prior to 1978 which is the year that lead paint was banned. It's designed
to, in the minds of the liberals, combat lead poisoning, but in reality
sticks it to the construction industry in a down economy. Once again I ask
has this administration no brains?

All this regulation will do is kill jobs as people forgo remodeling in order
not to pay the additional cost which will be incurred as a result of this
regulation. The EPA in an article I saw in the Washington Post said that
this will add something like $80 to $167 to the cost of a job. Contractors
tell a different story, saying it will add at least $500, if not more, to
the cost of a job. There's the cost of training employees and also the cost
of God knows how much paperwork which likely will have to be done as a
result of this one.

I tend to agree with the contractors on this one. This is kicking an
industry when it's down. It's about policies that kill jobs while
satisfying the liberal agenda; and to roll this out on Earth Day is the
bitterest of ironies too.

One more example of why this administration needs to be gridlocked until we
can get it out of office.

I want some sanity back and my country as well

2010-03-24T06:12:00.001-07:00

The last couple of days, or should I say the last couple of months or more,
have been totally insane when it comes to politics in this country. You
have the Democrats at both the state and federal level on a spending orgy
that has no end. You have Democrats like President Obama and House Speaker
Pelosi and others shoving health care reform down our collective throats and
the people gagging on that one. You have terrorism cases being handled as
criminal matters rather than military ones. You have Democrats who have no
clue as some in the state of Illinois want to cut spending, or at least
pretend that this is what they want. You have state Democrats who are
proposing their favorite solution to the problem of the spending orgy,, that
being a tax in crease in a bad economy. It won't fly and they are clueless
to that as it is their only solution. You have programs all over the place
who are getting hurt as a result of this; and you have the federal
government, through the recently-passed health care monstrosity, dumping
people on to the state Medicaid system which is in trouble already. What
more could go wrong? Plenty if these idiots aren't stopped.

The liberals have wanted to shove their agenda down our collective throats
for a long, long, long, long time; and now it appears that they will succeed
if they aren't stopped. These people are so arrogant that they think they
can do whatever they want. They have no clue about the outrage of the
people nor do they have any clue about what will happen this November.

What needs to happen is a /Republican revolution that makes 1994 look like
child's play. What needs to happen is that the Democrats need to be told
that they are absolutely and completely out of touch with the people. It
doesn't help that the majority of the media is in bed with these idiots
either. Fox and maybe the Wall Street Journal are two of the better outlets
for news as they aren't biased. The mainstream media, on the other hand, is
and they've been losing audience share because of it as people have other
options and are using those options.

I have never given to a campaign nor worked on one in the past but that
might change if the right situation presents itself because I want my
country back. I don't recognize what this country is fast becoming, a
country where the government takes care of your every want and need rather
than the individual making his or her own choices and controlling their own
lives. It used to be that we had statesmen who would step up in tough times
and do what was right. I'm not sure we have that anymore. Instead we have
Chicago-style politics at the national level. It's the politics of
coercion, thuggery and arrogance. I don't want that. People like the late
Sens. Simon and Kennedy were partisan to the core but each knew when to
reach across the aisle. The same can't be said about today's so-called
leaders. Those like Pelosi, Reed, and Obama lead by intimidation and
they'll do anything to get what they want, including buying votes with
sweetheart deals. This occurred so many times on the health care
monstrosity, it's not funny. There's the Stupak sellout, the cornhusker
kickback, the Louisiana purchase, Gatorade and more. It all stinks and I
can't take the stench anymore. I want my country back.

We all need to do whatever we can to take our country back from these
idiots. I plan to check some things out and see where I go from here but
taking no action is not an option. Only time will tell what action I will
take.

Powerless on health care

2010-03-22T06:23:00.001-07:00

Right now I feel powerless as the steam roller that is health care reform,
oh I mean deform, keeps rolling on. Last night this country was
transformed in a historic way with the passage of health care reform. This
legislation will drive up the deficit, saddle our children and grandchildren
with debt, kill jobs, force people on Medicaid, mandate that everyone have
health insurance and use the IRS to achieve these ends. This country was
transformed from a free enterprise system to a socialist economy last night.
Government knows best according to the Democrats. Well, not in this
author's opinion. Government doesn't know best and I sure as hell don't
want to be asking for permission to do absolutely anything related to
health care from what I can eat to when I can make a doctor's appointment
and with whom. Don'[t even get into health care records which I won't be
able to access because they haven't considered the needs of people with
disabilities.

I feel powerless because I am opposed to this train wreck. Fortunately I am
represented by a Congressman who is also opposed and I certainly appreciate
his no vote on this monstrosity. He knows that this will be a jobs killer
and will hurt the economy. How the hell could it not when you are affecting
1/6 of the economy.

and the contempt for life shown by the Democrats is breath taking. What you
saw last night was the naked repeal of the Hyde Amendment which bans
federal funds for abortion. The Democratic comeback on that is that there
will be an executive order regarding this. Well, what is done by executive
order can be taken away by the same means. You also have the fact that,
according to Rep. Roskam, an executive order must be congruous with the
legislation in order to be constitutional and this one would not be. Stupak
and his ilk were rolled on this legislation big time. There's no question
about it. The Democrats were so desperate for votes on this one that they
were willing to do anything to get what they want. Welcome to Chicago
politics at the national level.

I've heard that this monstrosity will be signed as soon as this Tuesday.
Hopefully it will soon be declared unconstitutional, something that I have
heard several state AGs are going to go to court and contend as soon as this
is signed. I hope to God that they succeed because this travesty cannot be
allowed to stand. Where in the Constitution does it state that the
government has the power to compel a citizen to buy something, in this case
health insurance? It doesn't. The Dems obviously don't understand the
meaning of commerce.

Let the Republican revolution begin. Maybe we can bottle up this
administration until we can get it out of office. For the sake of this great
country. I want my country back and the fight is now to get it back. I
pray that the courts will stop this travesty and soon.

Obama Care no thank you

2010-03-09T08:37:00.001-08:00

I was recently visiting some family members and let's just say that we don't
agree on health care reform. The people we were visiting did not seem to
think that the Republicans have any alternatives to the huge mandated
takeover by the government of health care. Yes they do and these need to be
looked at seriously by all involved for no one side has all of the answers.
God knows the Democrats don't. The Democrats' answer is for the government
to take over health care thus creating some 118 new agencies if the estimate
on this that I heard is correct. Do I want government to expand that much?
Hell, no I don't. It only contributes to the deficit and drives us further
into debt and makes people more, not less, dependent on the government for
things that they should be able to control themselves. I don't want some
government puke telling me when I can go to the doctor. The insurance
companies do enough of that right now. For example, I'm told how often I
can go to the dentist, especially if I want insurance to pay for it; which,
by the way, is why I have insurance. I'm told how often I can get tests
such as a mammogram. I certainly don't want to be told by some government
puke what I can eat and when; and I fear that could come in the name of
combating obesity. Don't forget that the Democrats see the restaurant
industry as evil and in need of regulation.. That should be considered an
issue for another day but unfortunately it ties in here in the name of
telling restaurants what ingredients they can use in food preparation and
how much they can use of things like salt. It's my responsibility to make
choices about what I put into my body, not the government's responsibility
to make that choice for me. More on that some other time.

Have there been some mistakes? Yes and the biggest one was with the
prescription drug program for Medicare. Why wasn't the government allowed
to negotiate for the lowest price? Well, because Congress caved in to the
pharmaceuticals and insurance lobby on that one. Even this Republican
doesn't agree with that move.

Republicans talk about allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.
This is all well and good as long as the state with the lowest standards
doesn't become the Delaware of the insurance industry. I say this because
Delaware has the , what I would consider, weakest laws regarding corporation
and/or bankruptcy; which is why a lot of companies incorporate there. What
is done to make sure this doesn't happen, I don't know nor do I pretend to
have the answer. This is one argument which was brought up on our recent
visit.

There's so much wrong with the Democratic plan that I don't know where to
start but I also think it's going nowhere and fast. It needs to die a
merciful death, that's for sure. About the only argument we did win on our
recent visit was over the presence of death panels in the Democratic plan.
There is language about this in the bill, section 1233, and those with whom
we were engaged in this conversation did not say much when we brought this
up. I wonder if they knew that we were right.

Let's have some meaningful, incremental reform that doesn't explode the
deficit. Why do the Democrats want to give us a plan that requires 10 years
of taxes for six years of benefits? Why do they want this to take affect
after they leave office rather than immediately? Is the legislation that
bad that they don't want to own up to it? My answer to that question is yes
it is. Let's scrap the current legislation and start over, that is if Obama
will truly listen to the people rather than practice Chicago-style politics
on this one. If the Democrats want to fight over this one, then the
Republicans should just stand and watch them kill the legislation. It's the
best thing that can happen to this country.

The time is now for H.R. 3101

2010-02-21T18:47:00.001-08:00

If ever there was a critical time for legislation, now is it when it comes
to H.R. 3101, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of
2009. This legislation would do a number of things in the area of access to
telecommunications including the following"'
Require hearing aid compatibility (HAC) for cell phones.
Require accessible user interfaces for telecommunications devices.
Provide $10 million a year from the Universal Service Fund (USF) to fund the
purchase of telecommunications equipment for deaf-blind consumers.
Restore the requirement for video description.
Require that programming that moves to the Internet have video description
and closed captioning.
Require small devices to carry closed captioning and video description .

I've just outlined the key provisions of the bill. To date we only have 30
co-sponsors for this legislation. We need much more than that in order for
this legislation to move. Are we prepared to see this opportunity for
meaningful legislation in this area lost? I sure am not. I am not prepared
to be party to telling the deaf-blind community that we don't care about you
and your access needs. I'm not prepared to tell people who are blind or
visually impaired that they must have sighted assistance to set up a home
theater system. I'm not prepared to tell people who use hearing aids that
they can't have direct access to a cell phone. I'm not prepared to tell
people who are blind or visually impaired that they must pay extra for
access to all of the features of their cell phone. In short, I'm not
prepared to lose this opportunity and lose it we could if nothing happens
with this legislation.

If nothing happens this year, the legislation will die and must be
re-introduced next year. There's no guarantee that this will happen as no
one knows what the Congress will look like next year; and if we couldn't get
this done in a Democratically-controlled Congress, there's certainly no
guarantee that we'll even get this introduced in a Republican-controlled
one. Therefore, the time is now for H.R. 3101. Don't let this time pass
you by. Please contact your Representative in Congress and ask him or her
to co-sponsor this critical legislation. If you don't, the opportunity
could be lost for a generation. Are you prepared for this to happen? I'm
not.

Live from Washington

2010-02-21T15:47:00.001-08:00

Today was the first full day of meetings here in Washington D.C. We had a
full agenda too.

We discussed how to advocate effectively for your school for the blind, how
to use ACB radio to get more content to more people, convention plans for
this summer and legal matters such as confidentiality, conflict of interest
and financial forms.

It was all good information but I do have concerns in one area. That area
is the use of ACB radio. I don't mind using it but we need to remember that
audio content doesn't work for everyone. There are some among us who don't
have enough hearing to make effective use of audio content.

I must say though that I am proud and excited to be here. I thought fondly
of who I think influenced me and thought of a couple of giants in ACB, one
living and one dearly departed. Both of these people have spoken up for the
db community. I would like to think that I have followed in their footsteps
although the shoes to be filled are large indeed.

That's all for today. We had a heavy load, especially at the end with all
of the legal stuff. That can get you down if you let it because it can seem
so big, bad and challenging. We as leaders can't let it get to us though.
If we do, we're done. I'm not ready to give up.

More thoughts from Washington tomorrow.

Batteries not being nice

2010-02-18T08:11:00.001-08:00

Last week I had a day where a couple of batteries were not being nice at
all. First the left hearing aid battery went out. I got that fixed after
the nurse found the batteries and discovered that she had one left in the
size that I needed. Then, later the right one started doing the same thing.
I had to hope that this battery would make it until I got home, which it did
barely.

It's frustrating when you don't have both of them working as directionality
is messed up as is the amount of sound you hear. That's not a good thing at
work either, especially considering the fact that I work on the phone and
use a computer.

I got the second battery changed as soon as I got home and all was well with
that problem.

However, I have an ear mold that likes to show up once in a while and it has
decided to do just that. Once I'm done traveling, I'll get it looked at but
now is not the time. I don't know why it always shows up when I'm
traveling. I hate only having one hearing aid in is also a pain for the
same reasons mentioned above. I hate it too. I won't do that one outside
of home either as my mobility is royally messed up if I do and that's not a
good thing. If only that ear mold would behave. It would be very nice.

Adventures with a chili can

2010-02-16T07:50:00.001-08:00

It was Super Bowl Sunday and my husband and I were making a dip to celebrate
prior to the game. There was one problem though. I was getting my
ingredients together as it was my turn to make the dip. It's a real easy
recipe too. I had the cream cheese and the chili and I knew where the
shredded cheese was. The problems is that I then lost track of the can of
chili.

I thought it was over by the chips on the south counter of our kitchen. We
both looked all over for it. And a minor shouting match was had over this
with me accusing him of throwing the thing out and him saying he didn't do
it. I finally went to a neighbor's place to have him help us look for the
can as both of us are blind. The neighbor found the can immediately when he
walked in. It was sitting on the north counter pretty as you please. If it
was any closer, it would have bitten both of us in the nose. I did move it
and forgot that I had done so. Boy was I embarrassed. How many shades of
red could I turn for that one? Also where was the nearest hole that I could
crawl into?

Believe me we had some laughter and a discussion with the can after that
one. The can of chili was promptly put into the dip and the dip prepared
and consumed. That can would not haunt us again..

Stories that changed our lives

2010-01-27T08:50:00.001-08:00

All of the first week in January or the last week in December WTMJ out of
Milwaukee WI did a top ten list of stories that changed our lives. As I
don't recall the full list, I will concentrate on the top two stories, those
being /#2 9/11 and how it spawned two wars and changed the world and at #1
the digital revolution.

9/11 is certainly one of those stories where you remember what you were
doing when you heard about it as well as remembering that day and, likely,
the days that followed it. Who can forget where they were that day? I
can't as I was listening to the radio after speaking with my husband,
something which usually happened as he left before I did at the time. I
called him and told him that WBBM was taking feed from New York and I didn't
know why. The whole world would soon learn why. The World Trade Center
(WTC) became ground zero in the war on terror; but more importantly a field
in Pennsylvania gave us our first casualties in that war. The fact that the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were spawned by this attack cannot be
understated. They showed the U.S. resolve to go after these animals
although the war in Iraq was not a popular decision by any stretch of the
imagination. Now you have to wonder about that resolve with Obama in power
and a team who doesn't even know how the hell to handle a terrorist suspect,
i.e. enemy combatant.

Now, eight years later we're still dealing with the fallout from 9/11,not
the least of which is the ill-advised sale of the Thompson prison here in
Illinois to the Federal government for use in bringing Guantanamo to
Illinois. Then you have the difference in how Republicans and Democrats see
this issue. The Republicans see terrorism as a military issue while
Democrats see it as a law enforcement issue. Where has that gotten us?
Nowhere fast. Are we more or less safe today than under Bush? Less safe in
my opinion precisely because of how this issue is seen by those in power.

The #1 story though is the digital revolution. It has changed our lives for
better or worse. I'm typing this blog on a netbook. Who would have thought
ten years ago that we would have full-blown computers of this size? I
certainly wouldn't. We have the social networking sites such as facebook
and twitter. We have I-pods, cell phones that do all manner of things and
the ability to access the Internet on the go through the use of air cards.
Technology is becoming smaller and more ubiquitous in our lives. /While
that's not always good, it is what it is. It has also changed political
campaigns as well. You saw it in 2008 and you are continuing to see it
today. The use of twitter, text messaging and more has changed the
political landscape. Blogs have also done this.

The digital revolution brings up new issues, including Internet security and
cyber security in general. You hear terms such as spam, virus, worm and
more. These things can get down to national security concerns, something
which I wonder about with this administration especially given the fact that
they don't know how to handle an enemy combatant caught on U.S. soil. How
scary is that?

Stay tune to find out my feelings on the state of the union.

Obama's first year in office nothing short of failure

2010-01-20T06:51:00.001-08:00

It's been one year since President Obama took office amid all of the talk of
hope and change. He had high approval ratings at the time and everyone was
feeling good and hoping for the best. Let's take a look at what things look
like one year later as this will constitute my grade for Obama's first year
in office. I must warn you though that if you're still drinking the Obama
kool-aid, you need not read any further. However, if you're not drinking
the kool-aid, read on as this will be a harsh assessment of the first year.

What do I see as his grade for the first year overall? I see his grade as
an F- as he has utterly failed in his first year in office. He has done
this on several fronts which I will address. These include terrorism,
Afghanistan, the economy and health care.

I'll start off with terrorism as that has been in the news since Christmas
Day with the "underwear bomber". You have the tepid response including
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano saying that the system worked
and having to retract that comment. This shows a secretary who is
incompetent and in over her head. Furthermore, Obama is not holding anyone
accountable for the failures so nothing will happen. He only says that
agencies must share information and does some vague things to see that that
supposedly happens. How can no one lose their job over this one? It's
unphathomable to me. Napolitano and head of the National Counter Terrorism
Center John Brennan ought to be gone at the least, along with at least one
or two other people. How could this colossal a failure be allowed to occur.
It's but by the grace of God that nothing bad happened on that day.

Now we get to Afghanistan where Obama took far too long to make a decision
in part because he was trying to do whatever wouldn't anger the liberal
base. He did end up sending more troops but this is a decision which should
have been made much sooner than it was. This further shows the lack of
competence and experience of the national security team. What experience
does James Jones, the National Security Agency Director, have in this area?
My answer is probably not much. The commanding General Stanley McCrystal
was put there by Obama and then left hanging on the troop decision. You
can't do that and say you are affective. What does this signal to our
enemies? It signals that we are weak and that talk is cheap and won't be
backed up by action. Why do you think we did not have another attack after
9-11? We didn't because our enemies knew that Bush meant business. They
don't feel the same way about Obama.

We now move to the home front where the economy was, and still is, front and
center. Obama insisted that his economic stimulus package needed to be
rushed through Congress, which Pelosi and Read did. It was said that this
pork laden bill would create some 8 million jobs and some other benchmarks
but none of these have happened. All we got out of this bill was the
liberal agenda shoved down our collective throats. The economy is still
losing jobs namely because businesses can't hire because their costs are
going up in the form of taxes as Obama and his liberal buddies tax the hell
out of business and create programs with mountains of paperwork that must be
completed in order to get any money attached to them. This is true of the
stimulus bill from what I have heard.

Then there's health care. Obama wants the government to run everything,
telling us when and what treatment we can get, when we can see the doctor
and more. They even have the audacity to tell us when we must die. They
want a public option but don't look likely to get it in the face of mounting
opposition. They want to ram it through Congress because the more the
public sees, the less we like the bill. This is why they're so desperate to
get it through Congress. The Democrats will do anything to get votes on
this too, including sweetheart deals regarding the rest of the country
paying for Nebraska's Medicaid costs; something which I have heard will be
challenged on Constitutional grounds if this bill were ever to become law;
something I think is highly unlikely now. You also need to ask about the
promises of transparency with regard to this debate as the deals are being
made behind closed doors much as things are done in Chicago. How come they
don't want to do this in the open, allowing C-span in on the debate? They
don't because they know that the more we the public find out about the bill,
the more we won't like it and won't want it.

However, I don't think it will become law now thanks to the voters of
Massachusetts, a heavily blue state which elected a Republican in a special
Senate election. How ironic too since it was Kennedy's seat. The voters
were fed up with health care so-called reform and many other things as well.
That election was a referendum on that plan and other policies and is a
harbinger of things to come and Obama is not going to get what he wants now.
He won't get another stimulus package, his bank tax, card check, i.e. forced
unionization, health care or anything else. Thanks to Brown's victory last
night, health care reform died a merciful and needed death. We're starting
to take the country back from the abyss that the liberals have put us in.
They need to stop blaming Bush and start taking responsibility, something
liberals are allergic to anyway. I also heard just before this writing that
Obama's nominee to head the TSA has withdrawn his name. This is great news
and a victory for Republicans who have held up this confirmation over
skeletons in this guy's closet as well as his plans to unionize the TSA.

When you have a grade of F-, it's time to clean house and the voters are
doing that starting with the Senate race in Massachusetts. There have been
other signals too coming out of Virginia and New Jersey, the latter of which
is definitely significant since New Jersey is a blue state that elected a
Republican governor. There's a God after all and his plan is for us to take
back our country. Republican voters need to get out and vote this year as
we have a chance to stem the tide of failure and stop Obama from doing more
damage than he's already done. Here's also hoping we can make him a
one-term President. That would be a great day; but let's savor the victory
from yesterday and move on toward further victory and past the failure of
this last year. The more we can ,gridlock Obama, the better off this
country will be. Le't's make sure we can recognize this country by the end
of this year, let alone in two years time.

Count your blessings

2010-01-14T21:04:00.001-08:00

Once again the title says it all. As I continue to hear and read stories
coming out of Haiti, I am thankful for what I have. Many of these people
had far less than I now have even before the quake; but have far less now
than they did before the quake. We are talking about the poorest country
in the western hemisphere but even they don't deserve this. No one does and
tragedy of this magnitude knows no boundaries in terms of wealth or social
status. The rich as well as the poor are dying and suffering in this
disaster.

As I made my meal this evening, I thought about the fact that I have food to
eat and was thankful for that. I also have a roof over my head, a place to
call home. So many of these people don't right now. They've also lost
family members in the cruelest of ways and it only took seconds for it to
happen.

This is why we should count our blessings. We can lose everything in an
instant. We don't know when this might happen either. Be thankful for
every moment you have as it is precious as are the people you love. Take
time to stay in touch with your family. I pray that I never ever have to go
through a living hell like what is happening in Haiti. The tragedy is
horrific and unimaginable. All I can say about the situation is nasty,
nasty, nasty!

One book not to miss

2010-01-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

I recently read a book which is one not to miss, especially given current
events. It's called Let's Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage by
Lisa Beamer

This book tells the story of her husband Tod and their family. Tod Beamer
was a passenger on United Flight 93 on 9/11. This book recounts the
chilling details of that day as well as the aftermath for Lisa and their
children. You also learn about both Tod and Lisa, their family, their faith
and their lives as well as values. It is these values that allowed Tod to
risk his life to save others. Believe me when I say, you won't want to
put it down as I had a hard time doing that. I wanted to go on to learn
more about them and what happened. This book was very well written and
paints as positive a picture as one can on something so horrific. As you
will see, faith is a big part of their lives. It is my opinion that this is
what helped Lisa Beamer get through it all; and this is very evident in the
story.

After reading this book, you'll want to see more done about current events.
You won't want to see another family go through what the Beamers and many
other families have gone through. This book gives a behind-the-scenes look
at what it was like for the families of 9/11, particularly the Flight 93
families.
It's available through NLS for those who are eligible for that service. I
encourage you to read and be forever changed.

2009 and beyond

2009-12-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

As we leave 2009, I trhought I would take a look at the significant events
of this year and also look at what I think might come next year.

First looking back at 2009, a year of change. We had the inauguration of
the first President of African-American heritage which is a historic event
no matter what your political persuasion is. He spoke of hope and change
but by the end of this year we are seeing anything but hope and change.
We've seen changes in the economy,not all of it for the better either.
Forclosures were up and so were business failures with bailouts going to
these businesses. We have people losing their jobs and states unable to pay
their bills. Many of these things affect those of us who are blind or
deaf-blind as we live our lives as part of a larger society.

We've seen technology for reading books become smaller and smaller with the
advent of the booksense, the plextalk pocket and the Victor Stream. We have
note takers with Braille displays that make reding books portable for those
who must use a Braille display. Reading books on the go is easier than it
was just ten years ago, not to mention at the beginning of this year.

What needs to happen this coming year? There is much that needs to happen
in my opinion but much of what I am going to discuss does not depend on
one's political persuasion. For one thing, no matter what you think about
health care, we do need better access to prescription drug information, not
to mention Medicare and insurance reimbursement for vision services. This
would improve people's lives by allowing them to betther manage their health
through more effectively taking their medication and learning the skills
they will need in order to become contributing members of society after
loosing their vision. Coverage for hearing aids would also improve the
quality of people's lives by allowing them to be part of life rather than
isolated because they can't hear what is going on.

There are a couple of other issues which need to be worked on this coming
year. One of these is H.R. 3101. Technology is changing fast and we who
are blind or deaf-blind cannot afford to be left behind. This is why we
must resolve to work tirelessly to see that H.R. 3101 is passed so that we
can be on an equal footing when it comes to technology. No more being one
or two steps or more behind everyone else in this area.

We also need to work to make the pedestrian environment more accessible.
This means dealing with the quiet car issue once and for all; and this can
be done by seeing that H.R. 734 and S.841 are moved so that we will have a
standard for sound emission for these quiet cars. This will help not only
those who are blind but everyone.

We also need to work toward better access to books right off the shelf. You
are seeing things like the kindle and the knook coming on the market. These
devices have the potential to change how books are accessed, especially in
education. We must not be left out and right now I am not aware of any
access for those who use Braille displays and audio access is limited at
this point in time.

As you can see, much has happened in 2009 and much needs to happen in 2010.
Let's all enjoy the holiday and then be prepared to work to make the above
-mentioned pieces of legislation a reality in 2010 so that access for those
who are blind or deaf-blind will be improved. If this is what you as an
advocate want, then please join me as I do my part to work to make this
happen.

Hey Liberals, it failed

2009-12-28T21:40:00.001-08:00

As the title indicates, airport security failed miserably this past weekend
despite what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.
It failed miserably on so many levels, it's not funny.

First of all, there were so many alarm bells that should have signaled
trouble but did not thanks to the liberals who are clueless as hell on this
stuff. The alarm bells were paying cash for the ticket, having little or no
luggage and having what by all accounts was a one-wayh ticket. These are
alarm bells that should signal additional scrutiny up to and including
failure to fly. How the hell can Napolitano say the system worked when all
of these signals were ignored? She can't and the fuckign liberals know it.

The next failure involves the watch list. He was on it but not on the no
fly list. Hey liberals,if someone's on the watch list, then they should
automatically be on the no fly list no questions asked. If they are
dangerous enough for the watch list then they are dangerous enough to the
safety of the flying public to keep them off an airplane. They can figure
out how the hell they are going to get somewhere. That's not our problem as
actions have consequences, something liberals don't get.

We could learn so many lessons from the Israelis on this subject. The first
one is regarding profiling. The Israelis do it and they haven't had a
hijacking in years and haven't had an incident of this type to my knowledge.
What does that tell you liberals? It tells me thattttttt they're doing
something right. They don't playt games. If they don't like something
about you, you don't fly. It's as simple as that from what I understand of
their methods.

Right now, as someone who flies domestically about 2-3 times a year, I have
absolutely no confidence that I will be safe doing so. I want to be able to
fly knowing that I won't face any additional risk beyond what is normal when
flying.

I certainly hope that the liberals are exposed as weak on terrorism as they
don't understand that a war is fought by the military and not law
enforcement. Liberals don't understand that these animals want us dead pure
and simple. Law enforcement is not equipped to fight a war and the liberals
need to figure this out. These animals don't have rights either, something
else that the liberals don't understand but that's nothing new when it
comes to this subject.

Profiling can be very useful here as the profile of these animals, oh I mean
terrorists, is that of a young, muslum, male. Anyone who fits this profile
should automatically be singled out for additional scrutiny up to and
including denial of boarding privledges. If Obama doesn't figure this out,
then he and his liberal buddies will have blood on their hands and I hope
it's not the blood of anyone I care about, including me.

We got lucky this time but next time we might not be so lucky. I pray that
the liberals are exposed and dealt with before we have another 9-11 on
American soil. Remember liberals,there were people who were sick enough to
celebrate those attacks. Does that tell you about the mentality of the
animals we are dealing with here? If it doesn't, it sure as hell ought to.
Also remember that terrorists understand one thing and one thing only,that
being the business end of a weapon. That is the language they speak. Let's
communicate with them in their language, the business end of a weapon.
Talking to them will do absolutely no good and recent events have shown
this.

Liberals, get a clue or get out of power, something I certainly hope will
happen in November for the sake of this country and the world.

The True Meaning of Christmas

2009-12-23T20:36:00.001-08:00

Some think that Christmas means getting presents, Santa Claus and spending
money. They're all into the commercialism that has become Christmas.
Believe it or not, there is another even more powerful meaning of this
holiday. For those of Christian faith, Christmas celebrates the birth of
Jesus our Savior.

The gift of the season is the birth of Christ, not the material things we
are given. It is the gift of his saving grace. It is the gift of rebirth
within our own lives. It is being with family and enjoying their friendship
and love. It is being rededicated to our purpose in life, that being to
help others. It is about the peace that The Lord brings at this time of the
year. It is about making this peace last all through the year. The song
"Let There Be Peace On Earth" says it very well when it starts with the
line "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.". It must begin
with each of us or there will be no peace.

My wish for everyone is for a joyous and peaceful time with your family.
Look at what matters, the company of those you love. Cherish that time
always and don't be absorbed in the material needs of the season. This
season is far too commercial for me and begins far too early in the
commercial arena. ''Too many forget the true meaning of the season, the
gift of Jesus' birth.

Peace and joy to you and yours.

Jobs over public safety and security

2009-12-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

Yes that's right. A decision made today will do exactly as the title
suggests. What is that decision and who is involved in this travesty of a
decision? The decision was made by the Obama administration to have the
Federal government purchase and operate the prison at Thompson Illinois.
/gov. Quinn and Sen. Durbin, Illinois senior Senator are involved in this
travesty which is part of Obama's plan to keep his promise to his liberal
buddies to close Guantanamo and bring the animals held there to Illinois.
You can tell that this is one promise the Democrats intend to keep at all
costs,no matter how high the costs are.

They claim it will create jobs but what kind of jobs are we talking about?
/very likely these would be union jobs. Is that what the government should
be doing? Not in my opinion. There's nothing being said about the enormous
risk to public safety that will result from this travesty. How many lives
is this administration willing to put in danger with this purchase? /Who
knows as this prison is only 150 miles from the nation's third largest
city. There are rich opportunities for a huge body count which is something
that terrorists look for when they plan an attack, something liberals
clearly don't understand. Public transportation and the airports, both of
which I do use, are definitely rich targets. Obama, Quinn, Durbin and
others will have blood on their hands if anything happens as a result of
bringing these animals to Illinois. Obama has betrayed his home state and
needs to be called out for it too.

I hope and pray that there is some way this travesty can be stopped, either
through the legislative process at the state or national level or through
the Federal courts. These animals are just fine where they are at
Guantanamo where they belong. They don't need or deserve access to the
Federal courts. They are animals who only understand the business end of a
weapon, something they have no problem at all using on innocent civilians.

I further hope that this deal shows why all three politicians mentioned
above need to be out of office soon for the safety of this country, not to
mention this great state of Illinois. It needs to be done before there is
blood on the streets, or will they have blood on their hands if this isn't
stopped? It had better not be my blood or the blood of anyone I care
about.

A lifetime of change

2009-12-14T08:44:00.001-08:00

Well, on that day that comes only once a year for everyone, I would like to
reflect on the many changes I have seen in my own lifetime.

Let's start with school days. I've seen tapes go from reel-to-reel to
cassette and now to CD and even download from the computer. What a change
just in how we receive information. Then there's the availability of the
computer for doing school work and other tasks.

As you can see, these things go far beyond school and work and enter home
life as well. Just look at how technology has changed our lives. We can
now use a cell phone to make calls, receive text messages and so much more.
Where was that even 10 years ago. I already mentioned the change from
various types of tape technology to CD to download. There's even secured
digital cards which are the size of a postage stamp and hold incredible
amounts of data. There are players which are as small as a cell phone.
There's wireless connection to a computer. There are people who only have
a cell hone for their phone service as they've gotten rid of their land
line.

Other changes are equally amazing. I can make a call to someone who is deaf
using video relay service even though I don't have a video phone. How cool
is that? Video phones didn't even exist about five or so years ago. You
had to use good old-fashioned TTY and relay to make these type of calls.
There's the use of conference calls, with and without video relay service.
Before this, if you wanted to have a meeting, you definitely needed to meet
face-to-face. I still maintain that a face-to-face meeting is the best but
there are alternatives today.

I've seen ATMs with audio assistance (talking menus and the like) so that I
can use one of these ubiquitous machines to carry out financial transactions
independently.

OI forgot to mention that the size of computers are getting smaller all of
the time. Who thought that one would be able to carry essentially a full
computer with them? Certainly not me. Well, it's possible and I'm doing it
through the use of a netbook. There are other small, portable options out
there too. I think we're seeing a change here though too as the note takers
are fast being replaced by the netbooks.

Is all change good? That's probably a debate for another time but I will
say that things do tend to move so fast that a segment of the population is
left behind. What segment of the population might you ask is left behind?
Well, it's the deaf-blind community. We're seeing it right now as note
takers get smaller. The deaf-blind communicator (DBC) just came out in 2008
and already things are moving fast as the platform that this was built on is
fast becoming obsolete. This technology needs to be taken to the next
level, that of the Braillnote apex because if it isn't, then a bunch of
people will be left behind. This technology has opened up so much for so
many people. I know of one person who can make phone calls for the first
time in about eight years. That's saying something pretty powerful.

These and many other changes not spoken of here have happened in my years on
this earth. There will likely be many more too. As I said, things are
moving very fast. There's just not enough time or space to talk about
all of it. That's how much things have changed. To say I've only scratched
the surface would be a major understatement.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

2009-12-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

It's a couple of days late but I wanted to remember those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice on Pearl Harbor Day as well as those who lived. They are
the reason we are free today and I salute them for their heroism, bravery
and sacrifice so that future generations can be free.

Many of the survivors are no longer with us. I hear that we are losing more
of these fine men and women each day. Pretty soon we won't have the
pleasure of any of their wisdom and wise counsel. They're part of the
greatest generation and we won't see another one like it I'M afraid.

My parents were young children at the time of Pearl Harbor but it's
something they lived through and grew up around. Thank you to that
generation. I hope we don't squander all that you've given us by doing some
of the questionable things that Democrats would have us do today. That won't
make for a freer society and certainly won't, in my opinion, honor those who
fought and sacrificed to keep this great country free.

Thank you again to the Greatest generation. This is one person who
appreciates what you have done.

One angry taxpaying citizen

2009-12-03T07:16:00.001-08:00

You might wonder why I'm one angry taxpaying citizen. Well, it's because
we're paying the price for six years of Blagojevich and the Democrats in the
form of agencies not getting money that has already been appropriated to
them through the budget process. Comptroller Dan Hines is refusing to
release the vouchers for one such agency and the amount of money involve is
substantial. The answer this agency gets when making inquiries is that
there is no money. Come on, the money has been appropriated. Oh, that's
right they used smoke and mirrors to put that budget together. Will
children who really need services eventually pay the price? I hope not.

Then you go to www.illinois.gov and look under the news link under
governor's office and find that Gov. Quinn is spending money for
construction at the U. of I and Southern Illinois and wonder what in the
hell is going on. What is he doing spending like this when agencies whose
money is already appropriated aren't even getting paid? This certainly
isn't the time to be looking for jobs and this is about jobs as much as the
construction spending is about jobs.; but Democrats don't understand that
the economy is cyclical and that jobs are usually the last thing to come
back in a recovery. They want it and want it now and think they can spend
their way into a recovery. This behavior certainly doesn't help agencies
who are waiting for payment of money already appropriated.

Dan Hines is running for Governor next year. Please ask him to define the
following terms: waste and wealthy. He says in one of his commercials that
he will cut waste and make the wealthy pay their fair share, something we've
heard from Democrats before. However, he like other Democrats fails to
define either of these terms. Does cutting waste mean not paying agencies
money they have already been appropriated? I don't think so and this is a
question that he needs to be asked. I like a colleague at work won't ever
vote for Hines for anything.

These games have got to stop. They're playing with people's lives, both
staff and children. This is just one agency. I'm aware there are others
out there with problems getting money they are due.

Veteran's Day Thank You

2009-11-11T20:12:00.001-08:00

Today was Veteran's Day. I had the day off of work as my employer gave me
and some other staff this holiday. Others had to work today but got holiday
pay for it. What did I do today? I celebrated this day by taking advantage
of the freedom that I have to get involved in organizations which advocate
for those with disabilities. I took care of some board-related business for
one such organization and was proud to do it. Those who fought and died for
our freedom gave me the freedom to do this type of work. I appreciate it
and want to thank everyone, whether they returned from war or not, for their
service. It is because of your sacrifice that I am able to do what I do.

I am able to advocate for legislation which would benefit people with
disabilities. I have been too /Capitol Hill in Washington to do this
advocacy work; and I always feel honored to do this. I know that not
everyone in this world has the freedom that I have to speak to my elected
officials. In fact not everyone in the world has the freedom to elect their
government, much less criticize it. It's a freedom I cherish now and
always.

Again, to those who have served this country and continue to serve this
country, thank you very much. We would not be free today without your
sacrifice and commitment.

Government-controlled health care no thank you

2009-10-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Lately we've been seeing reasons why the government should and must not
control health care in this country. The current administration can't even
handle a vaccination effort. What makes anyone think they can handle health
care if, God forbid, they get control of that? I have absolutely zero
confidence that they can handle it. Does the media play a role here? You
bet they do because they're whipping up the hysteria over the swine flu.
The regular flu causes people to die but you don't hear about that. Why is
that?

You have a vaccine for swine flu that is being rushed so that this
administration can look like it is doing something about a problem which is
largely, in my opinion, being created by the media. All we've heard about
in the way of health news since last spring is swine flu, swine flu and more
swine flu. The hype has gotten so bad that I avoid listening whenever I
can. I don't need to be reminded every minute of every waking hour about
the precautions I should be taking. There are, however, people who don't
know how to take these precautions or just don't care. Deal with them but
don't force me to do what they won't do because they don't give a damn. You
go into any church or ride any train during the winter months and you will
hear people coughing and sniffling. These are people who should stay home
from work or school. If they did, we wouldn't have some of the problems we
have currently. If some of these people would go to the doctor sooner than
they do, they wouldn't spread their germs to everyone else. I, however,
don't want to pay for their mistakes.

Back to the vaccine for a minute. There is no track record, no research and
nothing to tell us about the side effects of this vaccine. I for one won't
take anything which is as untested as this thing is. Is that the reason
that the Obama administration wants to force it down everyone's collective
throats? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

?Given all of this, I certainly don't want the government in control of my
health care. Any decisions about my health should be up to me and my
doctor, not some government puke who knows nothing about me. I don't want
to have to play 'mother may I" when it comes to health care. I want to know
that my doctor and I can make decisions about my health care and what's
right for me, not what suits the politicians. If health care does go
through in the way that the administration wants, get ready for rationed
health care because it's coming to a doctor's office near you. Get ready
for the affects of section 1233 of the House bill which mandates end of life
care. People can say whatever the hell they want about that one but it's
there and they can't deny it. It's aimed at the elderly and those with
disabilities in my opinion. If you're not useful to society, then you have
no value. White House Chief of Staff Rom Emanuel's brother has said as much
and this is someone that Obama listens to. BTW you don't hear about him
from the adoring media either. Another form of biased coverage I would say.

Wake up America. We're headed down the path of socialized medicine if this
so-called health care reform passes. Be prepared to wait years for
treatment as is currently done in Canada and Great Brittan. Be prepared for
the government to tell you when you can go to the doctor and what treatment
you can obtain. If you don't want these things, then wake up and take
action to oppose the current administration and what they are trying to do.
Act as if your life depends on it because it very likely does.

they should pay for this one

2009-10-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

The whole thing with the "balloon boy" is making me sick. The story gets
crazier and crazier every time these people open their freaking mouths. Now
the sheriff is even having some doubts, or he wants at least to look at it
again. I think that's a great idea and hopefully this will be with an eye
toward making the family pay for the search and rescue as well as the cost
of the investigation.

The fact that these people have been on "reality TV" a couple of times makes
me think they are odd to begin with. You have to crave attention to do that
in the first place.

Not only do I hope that the family will be required to pay for the search
and rescue, not to mention the investigation, but I also hope that the
children will be monitored closely by child welfare authorities to make sure
that they are safe. Why would these people drag the children through the
ordeal of "reality TV "? Do these children have any friends or a chance at
what many would consider a normal childhood? Who knows.

The parents, however, need to be held responsible for what they have done;
and each time the father gets angry about questions means, in my opinion,
that the authorities are getting closer to the truth. I know the media can
be relentless and ruthless at times but his losing his cool shows that they
may be getting close.

Does the media know what reality is on this one and what is fraud? I'm not
sure on that one. What does that say about their coverage of politicians,
especially liberal ones? Not much but that's a subject for another day.

I heard about this late into the story and wasn't fascinated like many
people as I had to get back to work, something which these people disrupted
for many people through the closure of the Denver airport, or at least a
part of it, for a time. I'm glad the boy was found but now let's get
answers to the questions as to why this even happened. The boy got sick
twice on national TV which shows you that someone is getting close to
something as that boy is likely scared and certainly not sure of what is
going on. How can he be at six years old and with the name Falcon? If I
were him, I'd go to court and get my name changed when I was old enough to
do so; and hopefully he will do that if he can.

Once again, what will be uncovered during this investigation? Only time
will tell but getting this out of the news would be a good start toward
starving these people of what they most crave, and that's attention. Making
them pay the costs would definitely go a long way toward that and hopefully
deterring them from ever doing something like this again. It's a strange
one to say the least.

Conservatives need not apply

2009-10-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

When it comes to ownership of an NFL team, conservatives need not apply.
Rush Limbaugh found that out the hard way after being asked to be a minority
owner in a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams. When word got out,
there was all kinds of furor from the usual suspects and Limbaugh was sacked
from this group. Why? Because he dared to be conservative. There is a
visceral hatred of Limbaugh and anything he says is held against him no
matter the fact that it may be true. The man can't even express a fucking
opinion unless he wants it to come back and haunt him. While I don't agree
with Limbaugh, I also don't think he should be denied the right to own a
team just because of his views.

People like Sharpton and Jackson ought to shut up and get real jobs. Then
they would find out that real employers don't tolerate their garbage. But
like Obama, they've never held a real job. Limbaugh has and is hugely
successful, something these two idiots can't say. All these two idiots can
claim is that they have big mouths and that they are good at forcing their
views down other people's throats. Well not mine as I don't want to choke
to death on that liberal garbage they spew.

Too bad Limbaugh's dream was trashed by these idiots and their cohorts.
Since when does owning a team depend on your political views? It didn't
until now. In other words, conservatives need not apply to own a football
team. What sport will be next? I'm afraid to ask .

Obama has no concept of business

2009-10-14T21:33:00.001-07:00

The title once again says it all. Obama has no concept of business no
matter what type of business it is that we are talking about. In the case
of health care, we're talking about the insurance industry which is an
industry that Obama and his liberal friends have nothing but contempt for.
As Obama has never held a real job in his life, he's never had to provide
benefits which include health insurance. He and his friends don't
understand the concept of risk which the insurance industry is based on.
The less risk there is the lower the cost will be. The higher the risk is,
the higher the cost will be. Thus people with preexisting conditions or who
make risky lifestyle choices will be more costly to insure. Anyone who is
fat is at risk for complications from the fact that they are fat.

//requiring everyone to have health insurance isn't the same as requiring
everyone to have auto insurance. As another blogger said, anyone who is
relatively healthy will wind up paying for those who are not. You might not
like to hear that but unfortunately it is a fact of life. Requiring
insurance companies to take people who choose to wait until they are sick to
get health insurance will only increase costs for all of us because these
people will be higher risk.

These are concepts that Obama and his liberal friends don't understand. If
health insurance reform can't be done right, then don't do it. Anyone who
has read this blog knows I don't support the current plan for a variety of
reasons. /with government control of insurance comes government telling you
what you can and cannot do from what you eat to how long you sleep and a
myriad of other lifestyle matters. I don't want that but the liberals do
because they don't like the decisions that we would make on our own.

Also, what if someone legitimately can't work? How are they supposed to get
insurance under the Senate plan? They're screwed too because of the fine
contained in this bogus piece of legislation if they don't have insurance.
It's just another way for liberals to force us to do things that they want
us to do. They can't make a convincing argument so force is the only way
they know how to get their point across. It's all about control and I don't
like it. We need to stop it before we lose control of our lives and the
health care reform, I mean deform, is the first place to stop it. Please
act now while we still can. God knows Obama knows nothing about business
and will continue to shove these bad ideas down our collective throats and I
for one don't want to choke on that piece of horse shit.

Time for parents to be parents

2009-10-07T21:25:00.001-07:00

Today there was a summit in Chicago on the issue of school violence. This
was done so that, in my opinion, the politicians could pose for holy
pictures and make it look like they were doing something; when in actuality
they are not. There may be many things which need to be done; but there is
one thing that can have an immediate effect on this issue. What, might you
ask, is that? Well, the answer is that it is time for parents to be
parents.

It is time for parents to actually discipline their children rather than
expecting everyone else to do it for them. It's time for parents to stop
being their children's friend and start being their parents. It's time for
parents to take responsibility for feeding their children rather than
expecting the schools to do it for them. It's time for parents to know who
their children's friends are and what they are doing when the children are
not at home. It is time for parents to set ground rules such as being home
by a certain time. It is time for parents to be involved in their
children's education. It's time for parents to not allow their children to
just hang out whenever and wherever they feel like it. In short, it's time
for parents to be parents. No summit or posing by politicians for holy
pictures will change that. It's time everyone figures that out, the sooner
the better.

By the way a healthy respect for life wouldn't hurt either. Valuing other
people for who they are would be a good thing. Teaching children how to
control their anger and that violence is not an acceptable response would
also go a long way in this matter. The violence won't stop just because the
politicians are meeting to talk about it and just because they want it to
stop. There must be community ownership of the problem and that starts at
the family level. It's time for parents to be parents. It's time for
discipline at school and administrators not being afraid that parents will
get in their way. It's time for parents to allow school administrators and
teachers to exercise discipline.

To be perfectly blunt, if the parents don't want to exercise these
responsibilities, then they should never have had the children in the first
place. That may sound harsh but it's true. If you can't take the heat then
get out of the kitchen. If you can't handle the responsibilities of
parenthood, then don't have children. It's that simple .

A sorry excuse for a football game

2009-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. What game am I talking about? It is the Monday
night game where Minnesota and Bret the brat beat up on the Pack 30-23.
This wasn't supposed to happen but then Aaron Rogers wasn't supposed to be
sacked about eight times either. The O line was very offensive and
hopefully Allan Barber will be Allen Bye bye this week. He's proven he
can't play offensive line in the pros. Now it's time for him to go out and
get a real job. Good luck as we don't need you around to get Rogers killed
out there.

The defense wasn't real good either as the brat wasn't even harassed let
alone sacked. You can't do that and expect to win the game.

Donald Lee needs to decide whether he wants to play in the pros as well. On
fourth and goal at the one, he needed to catch the ball as any pro tight end
should and even Wayne Laravee made that point.

To say that was a sorry excuse for a game is an understatement. If the team
plays this poorly in two weeks, Detroit could have their second win; and I
don't want to see us play into their hands. We need to play much better and
show those sorry little lions who's really the best; and it aint them,
that's for sure.

Labor Day

2009-09-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

It's the day after Labor Day and I will reflect on what this day means to
me. It should be a salute to the real worker, not the greedy overpaid and
highly unnecessary union thugs who call themselves leaders. Those are the
people who are in the game for their own aggrandizement. It's not about the
worker on the lines but rather about support for liberal causes which the
workers on the lines may not support. To these people I say go away and let
the workers on the lines do the work without interference from you. In
other words, get a real job.

A good example of union leaders with screwed up priorities is the whole
Mercury Marine mess up in Wisconsin. There is blame to go around on this
one. There is blame to be assessed to the union who didn't get the fact
that the jobs would move. There is blame to go around to the company who
gave the greedy union too many chances rather than cutting its losses and
moving to Oklahoma as they said they would do. This reveals the squishy
nature of that company's management. Then there are the local politicians
in Wisconsin, a state where regulation is king. These idiots got involved
late in the game and caused problems as well. Then there are the people of
Stillwater Oklahoma who stand to lose the jobs that were destined to go
there. Congratulations everyone involved in this sorry mess. All you did
was make more money for the trial lawyers because this whole sorry mess will
wind up in court where it should because no one seems to know how to do
anything right.

The above situation shows how the workers on the lines are caught in the
middle of disputes like this and further shows how it's not about the
workers but rather about the leaders and how they can make the company look
bad. It's about workers who are being told to vote themselves out of a job,
something which they did in the first vote. It's about leaders who onlhy
care about themselves and don't care about the workers whom their ations
will hurt.

My salute to workers is about those who work to serve the food in
restaurants, those who protect us and keep us safe and those who assist us
when we need help. Thank you for all you do. You may not have gotten a
break in order to spend time with your families but you are appreciated.

A Senate Lion is silenced

2009-08-26T07:52:00.001-07:00

Late last might a Senate Lion was silenced forever. However his legacy will
live on for generations. Sen. Edward Kennedy was a statesman despite his
personal problems. He was able to reach across the aisle and many pieces of
legislation which bear his name also bare the names of Republicans as well.
One of these pieces of legislation which I remember is Kennedy-Casabaulm
which dealt with Sen. Kennedy's favorite subject, health care. It barred
insurance companies from turning people down due to pre-existing conditions.
I don't remember if this ever passed but I do remember its existence.

Sen. Kennedy has been mentioned for his involvement with the ADA which
should not surprise you given his family's links to the disability
community. There is his son Edward Jr. who is an amputee and there is his
sister Rose who was developmentally disabled. It was this connection which
got the special Olympics its start in the late 1960s, I believe, in Chicago.
Rose lived at St. Colletta's I in Wisconsin until her death a few years ago.

Sen. Kennedy was involved in many pieces of legislation and championed many
causes in the disability community. He was actually a co-sponsor of S. 841,
the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. He was involved with the
Dear Colleague letter earlier this year for the increase in funding for
Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) for deaf-blind within the
Dept. of Education. Last I heard, there is likely to be an increase of $1
million which is pretty good in a bad economy.

Sen. Kennedy knew how to reach across the aisle even though he was a liberal
Democrat. This was true when it came to education reform. He worked with
then President George W. bush on that issue.

While I didn't agree with Sen. Kennedy's politics, he did have a way of
getting things done. He fought for what he believed in and he was larger
than life. He will be sorely missed in Washington by those who work in the
Capitol and beyond. A Senate Lion has been silenced forever. Let's all
reflect on the many achievements of this public servant for he knew what
public service was, having served some 47 years in the Senate. Will we ever
see another one like him? I highly doubt it.

Rest in peace. Your fight is over.

Education today what's wrong

2009-08-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post, there are issues in education. I did elude to
some of these issues in my last post but not all of them.

There are many issues today, some go to the way we educate our children and
what is expected of the schools and some goes to how education is funded.
Let's start with how our children are educated.

First of all, you have the self-esteem crap that is so pervasive in the
schools. This shows up in how grades are administered, what constitutes
failure and the like. In one district, the grade was changed, I believe,
from F to E; but who were they kidding? The children still know what it
means. You could get 50% and still pass. What a load of garbage. That's
mediocrity and is not acceptable in my opinion. Whatever happened to
striving to do one's best? It went by the wayside when the touchy feely
folks got a hold of education.

Along with the self esteem crap, you have teachers, some of whom are good,
who get burnt out because they can't control the little darlings because you
can't discipline them anymore or you might be facing the angry wrath of a
parent who is otherwise uninvolved in their child's life. There are parents
who are very involved and who make sacrifices to do that. These parents are
to be commended for they have a tough job and are putting their children
first and setting their priorities. If only other parents could emulate
these parents, the world would be a better place.

You have the fact that subjects are not taught as they should be. History
is but one example of this. There are some who say that one does not have
to know the facts. They just need to think historically or some such
nonsense. How can you understand history if you know nothing about the
facts? You can't and the educrats don't see the problem with their logic or
lack thereof.

As far as discipline you have what I would call liberals who absolutely
abhor anything which might even be remotely violent such as a swat across
the butt; and I'm not even talking about hitting. These pambyies don't even
like yelling as it might be too violent for them. Well, here we go with the
bubble wrapping of our children. We want to protect them from everything so
that they are ill-equipped to deal with the world when they become adults.
And we wonder why they can't handle rejection. Take a look and you will see
why this is. They've never been taught how to deal with rejection at an
early age because they have been protected from it. When everyone makes the
team andyou don't keep score because someone might not feel good about
themselves, then you have a problem. Whatever happened to doing better the
next time? It too went by the wayside along with respect and responsibility
which are not taught by some parents let alone the schools. Don't even get
me started on the subject of helicopter parents as that is a subject for
another day and would further lengthen this post.

Unions are also part of the problem as it is difficult to remove an
incompetent teacher. The administration must jump through an insane amount
of hoops in order to do this. There are also other work rules which must be
followed or the administration could end up having a grievance filed against
them. I work in a facility which has a union and I see this all of the time
with the schedule. The paraprofessional staff does not realize that the
supervisor has other duties over and above the scheduling of the
paraprofessional staff. However, due to the need for heavy documentation of
everything that is done, this can take more time than it should; and the
union and its work rules are the reason for it. Unions, in my opinion, have
largely outlived their usefulness and are relics of a day gone by. There
needs to be a different model but that won't happen anytime soon
unfortunately, especially with the current administration in power in
Washington.

Funding is another issue which must be dealt with and I don't know how to
deal with this one as I don't want my tax dollars going down some black
holes in this state; and there are some districts in this state that I do
consider black holes. That's why the property tax is still used. Yet over
70% of the property tax can be tied to the schools who keep going to the
voters again and again until they get what they want; and that is squeeze
more money out of the taxpayers whom they consider a piggy bank. There was
a recent referendum which I voted for but would not have had I known about
the superintendant's contract. There is another referendum which I did not
vote for but which passed because there were too many gullible people who
voted for it.

Well, I don't know what the answer is totally but teachers do need to be
accountable for what children learn. Parents need to be accountable for
making sure their children are ready to learn which means being properly
fed, clothed and disciplined. The school cannot and should not be expected
to fulfill these rolls. The schools are being asked to babysit many of
these children as parents go off in their own little worlds and go to work
and serve on all of the boards they think they need to serve on and all of
the rest. The schools are expected to feed these children breakfast, lunch
and then keep them entertained after school. It wasn't like that when I was
growing up and I think I am better for it.

Where did we go wrong? We went wrong in a number of places. There are too
many work rules thanks to the unions. There is too much touchy feely self
esteem crap thanks to the administrators and there is a funding crisis
brought on by the fact that taxpayers don't want to see their hard-earned
money go down what they view as black holes of under-performing districts.
I haven't even touched the removal of prayer from the schools and the fact
that someone is always looking for something to be offended about.

There needs to be choice. Parents need to have a choice of where they send
their children; whether that choice is public or private schools, they need
to be able to send their children to the school which will do the best job
of educating their children according to their values. Liberals
traditionally oppose this as they know that people will migrate away from
the public schools which they helped change for the worse. I've heard one
city's system referred to as a jobs program for the union rather than
someplace where children are educated. That's a pretty sad statement.

Will we solve these issues overnight? No we won't but if we don't do
something to regain control from the special interests, we will pay for it
with the loss of tomorrow's leaders today; and I for one don't like the
thought of that.

Kids TODAY

2009-08-24T07:24:00.001-07:00

I was recently involved in a discussion of education today and this
discussion has led me to some thoughts about kids today. There are many
differences between kids of today and those of my generation. Some of these
differences are not necessarily for the better either.

First of all, when I was young we could go out and play and in fact were
encouraged to do so. Such is not the case today due to the hyper fear of
kidnapping or sexual predators. While both of these problems are issues, I
believe that the media has overblown these fears to the point of hysteria.
That's possible today with so many sources for news and information and what
passes for same. One must be careful about sources as not everything seen
on the Internet is accurate with some of it being outright false.

Back to the topic of kids today. Many of these kids are in organized sports
and the like so that parents can get them out of their hair. This is not
necessarily good either because there is no time for imagination which
unorganized play allowed for. You can't play cowboys and Indians anymore
because that's not pc or politically correct. Well, in my world PC means
personal computer and nothing more. However, certain groups, mostly
liberal, have shaped our world when it comes to this type of stuff. You
can't play the above-mentioned game because someone might be offended or
something. It might send the "wrong message". Give me a break.

Then we have the self-esteem crap that is peddled in school. This is why
you don't keep score in games anymore and why kids can't play dodge ball.
In both cases, someone might feel bad about themselves if they are on the
losing end of the game and we can't have that. As a result, you have kids
who feel good about themselves and feel entitled as well. Can you say
"cute and authorized"? I can and hate it. This is a lot of what you see
in restaurants these days when you have brats running around sticking their
grimy little hands into everything and the parents not stopping them and the
restaurant staff afraid to do anything due to the fear of being sued for
doing what the parents refuse to do. Anyone who does try to do something is
likely to catch hell from the uninterested parents of these brats. Well,
discipline them and establish control at an early age and you would not have
these problems,now would you? These parents don't get it.

Then you have parents who are too busy and self-absorbed to get involved in
their child's life, a formula which only leads to problems later in life.
Where were these parents when their child was 2? Where were these parents
when their child was 12 and running around the neighborhood totally
unsupervised? How come the parents knew nothing about their child's friends
when the child is 18 and wearing a prison jumpsuit? These are the parents
who have really failed to own the responsibility as some like to call it.

You have good parents who don't give their kids everything they want, who
challenge their kids to do good things, who see failure as a way toward
success by allowing the child to learn from that failure thus allowing for
success the next time around and who teach respect and responsibility.
These are parents and children you don't hear about as good news does not
sell. Bad news, however, does sell and there's plenty of it too.
Unfortunately the bad kids stick out a lot more than the good ones do and
you see examples of the former in the grocery store and the like, more so
than you see the good ones because the good children are quietly doing good
things while the bad ones are making everyone's lives miserable.

Are their bad parents out there? You bet there are and often times bad
parents lead to bad kids. These are parents who don't discipline their
children and let them run wild because they can't be bothered. These are
parents who should have never had children in the first place.

Are there issues in education? You bet there are and those issues are a
topic for another day and another entry.'

Little brat go away

2009-08-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

You might ask who I am referring to in the title of this entry. The answer
to that one is Brett, I mean Brat, Favre who is the former QB for the Green
Bay Packers. I say this because he won't just retire and go away. That's
all I want to see him do right now.

As a friend said this morning, Brat has a serious case of Peter Pan Syndrome
meaning he won't grow up. At some point you have to move on to the next
stage in your life but this guy just doesn't get it and he's ruining his
legacy by his actions.

Ted Thompson, Green Bay's General manager, was right to get rid of him last
year after not wanting to put up with his indecisiveness and me, me, me
attitude. The Jets dumped the problem after last season and now Minnesota
has the problem. Well, all I have to say to Childress and the others is
don't cry about it when you have to deal with Mr. indecisive next year. You
can't plead ignorance because He's done it to two teams already. Why the
hell would you want to be the third one? You have to be awfully desperate
and lack trust in your current players, not to mention your own GM. If I
were Rosenfeld or Jackson, I would be wondering what I have to do to get
playing time. Could either one want a trade? We'll have to wait and see
but the Vikings have added an off-the-field distraction to their club if not
an outright cancer to their locker room.

I hope the Packers legally wipe Brat Favre all over the field this year. It
serves him right for what he did. He's hell-bent on revenge against Ted
Thompson and Thompson will be the one who comes out smelling like a rose,
not Favre. Is that how he wants to be remembered? It must be because he's
certainly being a little brat about the whole thing. Just go away little
brat!

One clunker of a program

2009-08-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

When the government tries to run something, the outcome usually isn't good;
and cash for clunkers is no exception. There are a myriad of problems with
this program from not knowing how much money is left to what will happen to
all of the clunkers that are traded in. Can you say unintended
consequences? I sure can.

Let's start from the beginning. The deal on this one is that $1 billion
will be spent by the government, who will get the money from God knows
where, to get inefficient vehicles off the road and allow people to trade
them in for more fuel-efficient vehicles. The goal is to get these clunkers
off the road permanently. Obviously the clunkers will be scrapped. The
amount of the rebate depends on the increase in fuel efficiency of the
vehicle purchased vs. that of what is being traded in.

After the first week, dealers are wondering if they will get their money and
there are questions about how these clunkers will be disposed of. I have
also heard about snafus with the government website for this program as
dealers complete mountains of paperwork, with said paperwork being typical
of any government program. Now no one knows how much money is left in this
program and the House was in a hurry to rush another $2 billion down this
black hole. The Senate doesn't want to move so fast which is just fine with
me. Let them ask some tough questions because I am quite certain that the
administration can't answer the questions.

Then there is the disposal of these clunkers. Enter unintended
consequences, something Liberals don't think about. There is a shortage of
the chemical which is needed to kill the engines on these vehicles so that
they will never run again. That's
one unintended consequence. The other is where and how to dispose of the
dead engines and the other parts of these vehicles. I've seen headlines to
indicate that these are not a boon for junk yards either. Can parts other
than the engines be used or not? Likely not as that would defeat the
purpose of the program in the eyes of this administration and its liberal
friends. It's for the environment but they forgot to think about the
environment when they were conceiving this program. If they had been
thinking, this program would have died a merciful death.

You say things would be different in the area of health care. I highly
doubt it as the government has proven before that it can't run other things
well. Take the digital TV conversion which started under a Republican
administration. This one was botched from the start. There was no
consideration of accessibility for people with disabilities to the menus at
all. Heck I can't even turn on the stupid TV at work due to the need for an
analog to digital converter box that is inaccessible to me. People from the
government were clearly clueless on that one as demonstrated by two
underwhelming appearances at ACB functions in 2008.

These are but two programs that illustrate why you don't put anything
crucial into the hands of the government. They will, and usually do, find a
way to screw it up. The two examples given show that in two
administrations. Need I say more? I don't think so.

Let's get to work on H.R. 3101

2009-07-29T06:55:00.001-07:00

Well, there's another piece of legislation out there that needs our
attention urgently. What is this legislation, you ask? It is H.R. 3101,
the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Right now it
only has two co-sponsors, something which is abysmal to me. We all,
including me, need to get it in gear if we want to see this legislation
passed. I ask this question; do we want access to the latest internet-based
technology? I know I do. What type of access would this legislation
provide? Let's look at some of what is in the bill.

Some of the provisions include:
1. Full hearing aid compatibility for all devices such as cell phones and
Internet-based devices. No longer will you have to wait for your spouse to
get something so you can try it to make sure you can use it. I've been
there with my current cell phone and don't want to have to go there again.
2. Restoration of the modest requirements for video description but also
requiring this for digital TV.
3. Screens smaller than 13 in would have to provide closed captioning and
this does include content that migrates to the Internet. Video description
is also included here.
4. Accessible menus and user interfaces for devices. How many things can
you not access due to inaccessible menus?
5. Nonvisual information regarding emergency warnings. No longer would you
have to go get your radio or ask someone what is going on and hope that the
tornado doesn't reach you before knowing what is about to take place.
6. $10 million worth of funding a year for people who are deaf-blind so
that they can get the communications equipment they need in order to access
communications services such as text messaging, TY and/or TRS as well as
face-to-face communications. This contributes to less isolation, more
independence and better chances for employment for starters.
7. Establish a process for the provision of real-time text capability. No
longer would you have to worry about which IM service you use.
8. Clarification of Life-link, Link-up and relay to relay requirements to
make sure they are relevant to our needs.

These ;are just some of the things which are contained in this huge bill.
This version also enjoys some support from industry. Companies such as AT&T
and Verizon do support this legislation. It's a chance we cannot squander.

What do we need to do? We need to contact our Representative, especially
since they will be back in the districts in August, and let them know how
much this legislation means to us. We need to tell our stories and
encourage them to co-sponsor this legislation. We want access now. We
don't want to be left behind. For one thing, I want to be able to make use
of Instant Messaging but now am limited by the technology I currently have
due to the fact that these things don't work across platforms. There is no
standard for these things, something which I believe this legislation will
address. It's a problem which needs to be addressed too.

If we want access, we need to get to work and seek co-sponsors. We have
approximately 129 co-sponsors on pedestrian safety legislation in the House.
Let's work to get that number on H.R. 3101. Over 4400 of us say we want
this legislation passed by signing the COAT petition. Let's put our words
into action by seeking co-sponsors. I plan to do my part. What about you?

Obama Care no thanks

2009-07-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

When it comes to health care reform, I say no thanks to Obama Care. There
is too much not to like about this piece of garbage that is being crammed
down our collective throats. Cost is but one thing. There is stuff
coming out about some provisions too. Just do a Google search on "mandatory
end of life counseling" and you will come up with a bunch of stuff. This
wasn't possible yesterday apparently but is today. That is referred to as
Section 1233 and does exist. Reading the legislation itself is a dry read
so seek summaries elsewhere. From what I have heard about what is in that
section, I want nothing to do with it. It tells certain people that they
should end their lives for the sake of society. That's wrong and this bill
ought to be dead just for that; but that's not the only reason to kill it.

I have also heard that making more streamlined plans available would be
impossible. In other words, new policies of this type would be next to
impossible to write. Is that a good thing? No it isn't because the
government can't run anything. Just look at what they presently attempt to
run. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the financial sector, not to mention
what they currently run in health care. Bureaucracies are by nature bloated
and inefficient. For example if my husband and I see the same provider, his
claim will process sooner because he is not going through a government
program and I am. Does that tell you anything?

The Republicans say this would lead to socialism and they are right. I
don't want what would amount to rationing of health care in this country.
Section 1233 would make some people expendable and I as a person with a
disability resent that very strongly. You don't put decisions about who
lives and who dies in the hands of low-paid bureaucrats. Even Betsy McCoy,
a Democrat herself, did not think this ought to be in the hands of
government.

This bill would also be a jobs killer as it would tax the crap out of the
rich in order to pay for it. Again it punishes success. In the minds of
the liberals, if you are successful, you are evil. Not true and it's about
time that they figure this out. We didn't get to where we are in this
country by punishing success and we won't remain there if we do punish
success.

While saying no thank you to Obama Care, here are some things I would like
to see in a responsible effort to reform health care:
1. No coverage for illegal aliens. This would get some 12 million mostly
uninsured off the rolls. Yes this would mean showing proof of citizenship
but this is necessary to keep those who have already broken the law off the
rolls. Heck, maybe we can actually catch some of these people and send them
back to their country of origin which might save money elsewhere including
law enforcement.
2. Power under Medicare Part D to negotiate for lower prescription prices.
This should have been done in the original legislation but was not due to
who was involved in the writing of that legislation.
3. Coverage for vision-related services. This includes orientation and
mobility, rehabilitation teaching, etc. for someone who is just losing their
sight. People who have a stroke, for example, have the equipment they need
covered. The services of a physical or occupational therapist are also
covered. Vision services and equipment should be covered at the same rates
as for other professionals and equipment.
4. Requirements for standards for independently accessible prescription
information for people who are blind or visually impaired. This would cut
down on health care costs by cutting the number of mistakes and accidents
with medication that is not identifiable or instructions and other
information that is not known to the patient because they can't identify it
or see the instructions. It's better to have the patient properly taking
their medication rather than the patient ending up in the hospital due to
improper use of that medication.
5. Coverage for hearing aids as these are not cosmetic. They help a person
hear better and increase independence thus saving money on health care. If
cochlear implants are not considered experimental, then coverage might need
to be looked at here as well.

These are just a few things I would like to see in any reform package but
Obama Care can die a merciful death for the sake of the country.

To show an I.D. or not to show an I.D.

2009-06-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of discussion on an E-mail list I am on,
both public and private, regarding the carrying of I.D.s for
guide dog handlers. While some say this is not required under
the ADA, I'm not so sure. However, one of those who is saying
this is someone I respect for his knowledge on the law and this
person even thinks that maybe a change is needed.

I have also advocated on and off this list for standardization of
training for other service dogs, something which won't happen
overnight but certainly needs to happen. It didn't happen
overnight with guide dogs either and it won't happen overnight
with other service animals, particularly dogs, but I think it
will eventually happen and needs to happen. There needs to also
be standards and licensure for private trainers. While there
are some private trainers who might be good, there are others who
are horrible and who use this to take their precious little pets
with them everywhere they go. That's an abuse that must be
stopped for the sake of those who use service animals
legitimately.

Standards and licensure are used for other professions and no
one screams bloody
murder about that
but when it comes to
showing an I.D. to
prove your dog is a
legitimate guide
dog, then people
scream bloody murder
and use the law to
hide their laziness
about showing an
I.D. I would think
that you would have
a better case if,
after showing the
I.D., there is
discrimination. How
come people don't
scream bloody murder
about having to have
an I.D. for
paratransit, yet
they scream bloody
murder about having
to show a stinking
I.D. related to
having a guide dog.
What's the big
freaking deal? You
pull out the I.D.,
show it and put the
freaking thing away.
Is that too much to
ask? How do these
screamers do
anything in today's
society where you
have to have an I.D.
to fly, ride Amtrak
and cash a check,
just to name a few
things one must have
an I.D. in order to
do.

Standards and an I.D. will hopefully come sooner rather than
later so that people cannot use private training to take their
precious little pets everywhere with them. Anyone who is good at
training should not mind having to submit to standards to prove
the creditability of their training. Anyone who screams about
this must know that they cannot qualify for licensure, pure and
simple.

BTW this is one of many reasons why I won't get a dog in the
first place.

The importance of access

2009-06-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Once again, the subject says it all; but does the community get it? I'm not
sure about the answer to the second half of that question though. What
might you ask am I referring to? Well, it's that thing called digital TV,
or should I say don't watch TV independently anymore. The latter name
applies if you must use a converter box to convert analog signal into
digital signal. In this case, it is entirely driven by inaccessible menus
so that one MUST have sighted help just to watch a TV show. This has been
illustrated very plainly to me at work the last couple of days when I have
gone on break. Both days, I have had to call someone to help me with the TV
and that's not a good feeling either. I knew the disappearing remote was
going to be a problem; but I did not realize fully the fact that I would
lose independent access. While I'm angry about this one, I'm not in a
position to file a complaint as my employer would have to agree to it and
this is a place that I just won't go. I want to keep my job, especially in
these tough economic times. BTW this is not an issue at home as we have
cable,thank God.

However, those who were in a position to do so should have been filing
complaints long before the conversion happened. How can the government do
anything about a problem if no one files a complaint, especially when there
is assistance available to help with the filing of such complaints. There
is one individual that I know of who has been urged by more than one person
to file a complaint but for some reason, unknown to this author, will not
file a complaint. How are we supposed to get access when people in a
position to do so won't file complaints? Well, don't come crying to me when
you lose access to TV and more because you can't access the menus. Keep in
mind that this is the same issue with the DVDs, not to mention the players
in that case. In case anyone is asking, I do include myself when it comes
to the DVD comments. Also keep in mind that phone service is going digital
through use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and the ability to access
it through your cable company; and some of this isn't accessible either.
Then there is the fact that the relay service is going to video as is phone
service for the deaf itself through the use of the video phone (VP). Once
again, this brings up access issues in the deaf-blind community. When will
this community unite and demand access?

I have a question for everyone who reads this. That question is how long
will it take for us to realize the importance of access? Then how long will
it take for us to demand such access? Or, will we continue to be left
behind in this brave new digital world? I'll let the reader decide.

Mobility options cane vs. dog guide

2009-06-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Recently, there has been a discussion of an incident in Texas regarding a
woman and her guide dog. She fussed over the use of the term "seeing eye"
to describe the dog and got into a tussle with the police when she tried to
correct them. She pointed to the harness and tried to show them a book
which had all of the laws in it. It is questionable whether she showed the
actual ID or not.

It has been said that the ADA does not require these IDs and that they are
required only for guide dogs. I hope I am understanding this correctly but
that could be faulty as that has been known to happen. In any case, this
whole thing has led me to some thoughts. Regarding mobility options. I use
a cane and am quite content with it as I don't have the major hassles that a
dog guide team has, the above story being but one of those hassles.

I call it a hassle. Others might call it a responsibility; but either way,
it is a problem or situation I don't want to deal with. There are other
responsibilities or hassles with using a guide dog. You have to take care
of them, feed them, relieve them, make sure their vet records are up to
date, etc. With a cane, you don't have any of these problems and you avoid
the fights in restaurants such as I opened this entry with. You can just
put your cane in a corner and forget about it when you come home, not so
with a dog.

Guide dogs can be a wonderful option for those who are willing and able to
take on that responsibility; but too many think that once they get a dog,
they can just go and go anywhere. Well, you still have to have the mobility
skills necessary to travel well and some of us, myself included, just don't
have the skills for whatever reason. One needs to think about their
lifestyle and whether having a dog would fit into that lifestyle. Quite
frankly, it would not for me as we travel quite a bit. We also live in a
condo which is not fair to a dog.

With regard to the issue of IDs, I think this should be mandatory for all
types of service dogs. This is one way of knowing which ones are legitimate
and which ones are not; and also which people are trying to use this
designation to have their pets ride with them in the cabin of a plane rather
than in the cargo holds where pets ride. We have lisences for drivers. Is
it too much to ask to have official IDs for dog guide and other service dog
teams. I speak of dogs as I believe these are the only legitimate service
animals which will put me at odds with some people for sure. I, however,
can't see letting many other types of animals into public facilities under
the guise of "service animal". I know this is a sensitive issue and just
another reason why I won't have a dog.

In the opening story, I don't have any doubt that the woman's rights were
violated but maybe an ID could have quickly diffused the situation. Only
time and a thorough investigation will tell us for sure whether this is the
case. I don't know whether we have heard the last of this story; and the
issues are certainly ones we have not heard the last of by a long shot.

Politics and nominations

2009-05-30T19:49:00.001-07:00

Once again we have a nomination for Supreme Court justice. This
means that the fighting and nastiness will begin. There will be
a fight based on ideology over this nomination. However, the
Republicans need to be careful due to the double standard
employed in politics in this country. There are things that the
Democrats, which usually means liberals, can say and not suffer
any consequences. However, if the Republicans, which usually
means conservatives, say the same thing, then all hell breaks
loose. There is one big reason for this and it has to do with
the fact that the "mainstream media" is biased toward the
liberals or Democrats.

Let me illustrate what I mean. When Robert Bork was nominated to
the Supreme Court, Sen. Edward Kenedy set out to destroy him and
succeeded in doing just that without suffering any consequences
for his actions. Then you had the contentious nomination of
Clarence Thomas. Did the Democrats suffer any consequences for
this one? No they didn't but we sure haven't heard from Anita
Hill thank God.

You have the nomination of Miguel Esttrada to the Appellate Court
and there was a major filibuster in the Senate. Finally Estrada
said enough and withdrew. We haven't heard from him since. He
has the same compelling story that Sotamayor does with a big
difference. Estrada is conservative and Sotamayor is liberal.
which made Estrada "the wrong kind of Hispanic". Alberto
Gonzalez for Attorney General under President George W. Bush is
another example of a Hispanic being destroyed because he was "the
wrong kind of Hispanic".

The Democrats, however, have never suffered any consequences for
trashing these fine people. However, if Republicans did the same
thing, there would have been hell to pay, not to mention
consequences for the actions.

I hope that Republicans will use Sotamayor's words against her in
this process. Obama wanted someone with "empathy" which is a
liberal code word for judicial activism or making law from the
bench. Republicans tend to be what are called strict
constructionists which means they tend to interpret the
Constitution rather than make law from the bench; and tend to
nominate judicial candidates who fit this philosophy. The
Democrats feel the need to make law from the bench because they
can't always get their liberal ideas through the legislative
branch which is where laws are properly made.

We don't need judges making law from the bench and this is an
appointment that will affect the country for decades to come as
it is a lifetime appointment. Let's put someone on the Court who
understands the proper role of the judiciary. That will serve
the country much better than having essentially two legislative
branches. Only time will tell how contentious this one will get.

The change I did not vote for

2009-05-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

President Obama has brought change to this country all right; but it wasn't the type of change I voted for. This is one voter who was not hoodwincked by the mystique that is Obama. I voted for John McCain and I am proud of that vote. Many people say they voted for hope and change. However, is what we are getting right now the hope and change they voted for? Only they can answer that question but I would venture to say that the answer is probably no in the eyes of some of them.

Let's go through the changes that we have seen and decide if they are hope and change or fear, desperation and demogogery.

First we have the bailout of the auto industry which is turning out to be more trouble, not to mention a mes, than was first envision before the One Big Almighty Mistake America (OBAMA took office. We now have government ownership of two automobile companies. Is this what America voted for? I certainly didn't. Does anyone think that this will succeed? I don't because the government and the union each don't know how to run anything. That not withstanding, we the taxpayers own 70% of GM which I will now call Government Motors as the name fits. The One Big Almighty Mistake America has seen fit to ride roughshod over the bankruptcy laws; and fortunately, the GM bond holers were not fooled. They saw what happened to Chrysler and did not want to play the game. For this reason General Motors is almost certainly headed for bankruptcy and should have been allowed to fail. The One Big Almighty Mistake America rode roughshod over the bankruptcy laws in the Chrysler bailout and they will do it again if they can get away with it. What makes anyone think that the government won't meddle in the business of these companies such as firing executives, mandating what materials are used and more. There is nothing stopping them andyou know they will do it. Hell,they have already fired Rick Wagner, former CEO at General Motors. This whole mes falls in the fear, desperation and demogery category.

The next change not to be voted for was the huge budget deficits brought on by such proposals as porkulus, spendulus which is better known as the Economic Stimulus bill which only serves to stimulate the spending of taxpayer dollars and not much more. With this money comes mandates and the heavy hand of the Washington liberals. The administration is telling states how to spend the money or threatening them with the loss of that money if they do things that the left does not like. California is a case in point. They were forced to rescind a pay cut to home health care workers or risk losing their stimulus money. I thinkyou know what happened there. Again,, this falls in the category of fear, desperation and demogogery; not to mention intimidation and control, with this administration being one big control freak.

Another change that the One Big Almighty Mistake America wants is national health care which is code for rationed health care. One of the ways that is proposed to pay for this mistake is through a tax on employer health benefits with the claim being made that this will even the playing field as these plans are not currently taxed. If you believe that one, I have ocean front property in Minesota to sell you. Once again, we are talking about fear, desperation and demegogery, not to mention intimidation and control as they want to control what you eat through taxes. The disability community better be real careful here because rationed health care has huge dire implications for our community. Once again, not much good comes from the Democrats to our community; but this is a subject for another day.

Then there's cap and trade which the One Big Almighty Mistake America has already admitted will necessarily jack up your electricity rates. How does he intend to pay for this? My answer is he intends to bankrupt the country to pay for all of the unwanted change.

This unwanted change comprises three cars on the train wreck that is the Obama administration. The other car on this train is the ill-thought-out credit card legislation which I spoke of earlier today. Maybe the massive deficit that this out-of-control administration will run up should be the fifh car on this train wreck that is moving much too fast for my liking.

It is bitterly ironic that some in the foreign pres are asking if we know what we are doing, especially considering how liberal those countries are. is this administration going further than some of these countries? Who knows but that's a scary thought that I don't think American voters bargained for. I haven't even mentioned the weak foreign policy and the dangers posed by both North Korea and Iran. Can we add three more cars to the train wreck? I sure can and just did.

Will 2010 be too late? I fear ever more that it could be. Remember the scale of 0-100 for hope and change, with 100 being all hope and change and 0 being scared to death. The last time I mentioned this scale, I was at about a 10 from a 60. Well I aminching ever closer to that 0 mark, placing myself at about a 2 right now. What a real scary thought. Can it get any worse? I think it can and we won't recognize this great country either by the time it's over if we even survive.

Credit card reform was it necessary?

2009-05-27T07:04:00.001-07:00

My source of irritation today is the new credit card reform law which was
just signed. Was it really necessary? I am not sure it was but then the
government thinks they can tell any company or industry what to do. Let's
look at some of the provisions of this law as I understand them first.

First of all, anyone under 21 would either have to prove that they can make
the payments or have a parent cosign for the card. That's not a bad
provision in and of itself; but there are issues with this one that I will
discuss later.

Another provision would limit the fees and interest charges on people who
are carrying a large amount of debt, as it is said by liberals that these
people are sinking deeper into debt and the credit card companies won't let
them get out because of all these fees and interest rate hikes and the like.
Once again, there are issues and consequences here that we will get into in
a bit.

The last thing is the one which irritates me to no end as it affects those
of us who are responsible with our credit and pay off our balances on time.
We will see our fees go up. We will lose the rewards and we will be stuck
paying for those who don't know how to handle credit, whether they are over
or under 21.

Now to the provisions of the law and my comments. There are those who whine
about cutting off the under 21 crowd, saying that this will have unintended
consequences. As I understand it, those unintended consequences will be the
inability of people to get credit later. Well, I didn't have a credit card
when I was in college. I had a checking account and had to pay my bills. I
didn't get a card until I got out of school. Even then there were issues
which needed to be looked at and dealt with; and the issues were dealt with
satisfactorily.

Too many people both over and under 21 don't know how to say "no" when they
get some advertisement from a credit card company. People also don't know
that they can opt off these lists. True the companies don't make it easy to
find out this information. How about making that information more readily
available so that the consumer has the choice. That would be a start.
Also, if you are going to require people under 21 to prove they can pay, why
not require everyone to prove they can pay? The liberals won't do this
because the number of people in their core constituencies who would be
affected would be huge. Well then, that shows the need for consumer
education in those communities; and this is something which should start at
home. Unfortunately too many adults don't know how to handle credit either;
and how can they teach their children if they themselves don't knhow how to
do it; but this is a question for another time. The question of the age of
adulthood, which I have heard talked about, is also a question for another
time.

This brings me to my next point about limiting the increase in fees and
interest rates on those who carry a balance. Remember that extending credit
is a risk. Some people are good risks and some people are bad risks. Those
who don't know how to handle credit and get deeper and deeper into debt are
the ones who are crying about it rather than trying to do something about
it. Take responsibility for your actions. If you are having problems,
don't hide. Let your creditors know what is going on. Failing to pay your
bills only hurts you in the long run; but unfortunately in these times we
all pay the consequences of irresponsible behavior. By definition, the ones
who don't pay their bills are bad risks and should be treated as such.
That's why you work to improve your credit, not whine about how bad it is
and run from your responsibility for that situation.

This leads me to my last point about those with good credit paying for the
sins of others. I don't want to pay for the irresponsibility of others. I
and my husband pay our bills off on time. Heck we don't even like debt but
we will be forced to pay for everyone's irresponsibility. There's something
wrong with that picture.

As I said, consumer education begins at home. Should this be shoved off on
the schools much as everything else is these days? I am not sure about that
but maybe here is a place for it. In any case if one is responsible with
credit, they won't have any problems.

Again, this is proof that the future is in the wrong hands. Hopefully the
train wreck can be stopped before it is too late. The credit card reform
legislation is just one car on that train wreck. There are others which
will be addressed separately. Suffice it to say, this train wreck is moving
far too fast for my liking.

memorial Day

2009-05-25T20:10:00.001-07:00

What does Memorial Day mean to me? It means plenty more than picnics,
parades and the beginning of summer. It means more than good, bad or so-so
weather and it means more than a baseball game in late may. So you might
ask what this day means to me.

It means remembering those who served our country and gave the ultimate
sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms of this great country. We must
not forget those who gave their lives in order to keep us free. Many have
done this in the name of freedom over the years from the Revolutionary War
to the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and every war in-between.

Because these brave men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice, I can
speak out when I disagree with something that the government has done. I
also have the freedom to assemble with like-minded people. I also have the
freedom to write to officials such as Legislators to either disagree with or
advocate for a certain position. I also have the freedom to worship as I
see fit. We also have freedom of the press in this country and don't have
to get our information from just one source. I have the freedom to speak
out about how I feel about issues, such as I am doing on this blog. As a
woman, I have the right to vote, work, play and otherwise participate in my
community, not to mention receive an education. There are women in some
countries who don't have that right; and Afghanistan was once one of those
places.

These freedoms and others I have not mentioned are made possible by the
sacrifices of our service men and women, especially those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice. These are the ones we remember today, Memorial Day.
Let's all take a moment to remember these brave men and women.,

The future is in the wrong hands

2009-05-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

President Obama has done more to change this country than anyone
I know of recently; and it's not for the better either. There
are many examples of this fact which lead me to the conclusion
that we surely won't recognize this country when President Obama
gets through; and sadly, I am afraid this will be true and sooner
than we think. This is why I think that the future of this great
country is in the wrong hands.

What are the examples I am talking about. The first one is the
push for health care reform which is nothing more than code for
rationed health care. It is also code for the fact that some
people are just going to be deemed too expensive to have around.
That's playing God and no human should be allowed to do that. It
is telling some Pwd that we are too expensive to have around. I
was with someone yesterday who uses a ventilator; and I resent
the fact that this woman will be told that she is too expensive
to have around. This so-called reform will also hurt seniors as
some of them will likewise be told that they are too expensive or
that they are just getting old and need to live with whatever
they have. It's scary to say the least.

Insurance companies have caved in to Obama on health care reform
for a couple of reasons. the first one is that they don't want
it shoved down their throats. Well, I've got news for you. It
will be shoved down all of our throats likely this year as Obama
has enough votes in Congress to ram this through despite
Republican opposition. The other reason insurance companies
caved in is that they are afraid not to for to oppose Obama
invites retaliation against the business. This behavior has
already been seen nationally. Just look at the wet sloppy kiss
to the UAW that is the auto bailout. Obama has ridden roughshod
over the bankruptcy laws of this country in the Chrysler deal.
Bon holders who own secured debt have been told to accept the
deal with Fiat (Fix It Again Tony) or else. I have heard that
there are some bond holders who are not happy; and I hope they
sue over this as they have legal rights which Obama doesn't give
a damn about. What makes anyone think that the UAW can run an
auto company and produce a product that people will buy? They
can't and that's the problem. Will the government have to buy up
this slop that resembles a car to prop up the company and the
union? God help us all if this happens.

Getting back to health care, we are seeing some vindictiveness
already. I just heard today that California is trying to cut its
budget as it must balance the budget. One way it wanted to do
this was to give a pay cut to home health care workers. There
are about $68 billion problems with that solution though. The
cut was worth $74 million but in a wet sloppy kiss to the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU, California was told by the
Obama administration to rescind the pay cut or lose its stimulus
money which totals about $68 billion. Talk about using a hammer.
The Obama administration will use this stimulus, spendulus,
porkulus to get entities to do what it wan because the Obama
administration thinks it is the only one who knows what is good
for the people and the country. Well, that very far from the
case thank you very much.

Former Vice President Cheeney has spoken out, saying this country
is not as safe now as it was under his and Bush's leadership.
Sadly Cheeney is right about that. Terrorists know we won't get
tough with them and God forbid we have to bring that danger to
the shores of this country because of closure of Guantonimmo .
Do that and you are inviting another terrorist attack in this
country. Lord knows I don't want to see that.

If anyone in the disability community thinks that Democrats and
liberals are our friends, they need to wake up and smell the
coffee. Who cut the federal operating subsidy for mass transit?
It was Clinton who is a Democrat. Why did we not hear about a
recent ADAPT demonstration in Washington where 99 people were
arrested using tactics that ADAPT is famous for? The answer is
that the liberal media did not cover it because it did not fit
their precious little template. Who was President when the ADA
was signed into law? It was George H.W. Bush, a Republican. Who
was President when the amendments to that law were passed? It
was George W. Bush, a Republican. Who was President when the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was signed into law? The answer is
Richard Nixon, a Republican. Who was President when the sit-ins
became necessary in order to get the Rehab Act regulations
passed. It was Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. I think I have made my
point. Democrats are not necessarily our friends. Just look at
the pay cut for home health care workers who were forced to
unionize, at least in Illinois. Their pay is regulated by
liberal Democrats who have forced these people into unions.
Unions are no longer about what they once were which was getting
decent wages and working conditions. Now they are about power
for the overpaid leader and influencing politicians. It's not
about the little guy anymore which is sad. The little guy gets
shafted; but these are the people who helped get Obama elected
and he owes them in a big way and he will pay them back too.
This payback won't be good for the country either.

Remember also that Obama fired the CEO of General Motors, or
should I now call it Government Motors. That is unprecedented
and shows that Obama will do anything to get his way. He wants
us to be more like Europe where companies are run by the
government and where the political system is socialist in nature.
Will we recognize this country when Obama gets done?
Unfortunately the answer to that question is a resounding "no"
and it's happening much too fast too. Will 2010 be too late for
a Republican revolution? God I hope not but at the rate this
idiot is going, it might be too late.

As I said in the beginning of this piece, the future is in the
wrong hand. There's no question about that. I just hope people
realize the mistake before its too late. Oh, I forgot. It's
already too late for that. I just hope this country survives for
the sake of all of us. What are we leaving for the children?
Nothing but a mountain of debt and an administration willing to
do anything to get its way, including committing "generational
theft" as John McCain called it. Can you say worse than Carter?
I sure can and just did and that's a real scary thought.

Well, at least I can make these comments and we had better not
lose that but that's a thought for another day..

Swine flu hysteria

2009-05-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Can you say hysteria over the swine flu? I certainly can and just did. If
one person gets sick at a school, panic mode sets in and the school is shut
down. What does this teach our children? Nothing good, that's for sure.
It tells them that if you don't feel good, you don't have to go into work.
This is not a lesson we ought to be teaching our children. If you are
actually sick, that's one thing but just generally not feeling well without
specific symptoms is quite another. I heard of one area high school that
will be closed until Thursday due to one student having a probable case of
this flu. What a load of crap. Another load of crap is what Chicago
schools are telling parents. This load of crap is that if a student comes
to school with a cough and a temperature over 100 degrees, that student will
be sent home and they must stay home for 7 days. Can you say more hysteria?
I sure can and did. Again, what a load of crap.

I have two words for everyone, including the media and the federal
government, and those words are, "calm down". It's not worth getting
hysterical over. If you take the precautions that everyone should be taking
as a matter of course, you'll be all right. Getting hysterical will only
increase your blood pressure and stress level, neither of which are good for
your health to begin with. Dare I mention that this signals terrorists
that it doesn't take much to scare this country. Once again, this just
proves we aren't as safe as we once were due to projecting an image of
vulnerability. Is that a signal we want to be sending? It's not one I want
to be sending but liberals love a good crisis, don't they?

My advice to the media and the federal government and everyone else is to
take a chill pill and calm down. The world will be better for it.

Green, my least favorite color for political reasons

2009-05-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Green is my least favorite color for some very political reasons.
Green is the symbol of the environmental movement which is
treated as a religion in this country and elsewhere. It's do
this or that for the environment. Go green for the environment.
Ever heard of green technology? Come on, don't make me puke
already.

We are told that we have to be more green. We need to use
compact flourescent light bulbs. never mind that the things are
considered hazardous material for disposal purposes. I shouldn't
have to go down to a site far from my home to dispose of a damn
light bulb, the use of which has been shoved down my throat by
the government and an industry who couldn't sell the damn things
without a freaking mandate to buy them. The reason the damn
things are hazardous material is that there is mercury in them.
You're also not told what to do if one of these little buggers
breaks. That's also a situation that's not ordinary. Can you
say mess in the name of green? I sure can.

Then there is the issue of hybrid buses which I have heard cost
more to purchase and either cost more to operate or don't deliver
the promised energy savings, both of which scenarios are not
good. Will this be the next thing that is shoved down our
throats in the name of green, not to mention a product that the
industry can't sell without a mandate to buy it? Lord I hope not
or the taxpayers will certainly pay big time.

Don't talk to me about green. It's the liberal mantra and
they'll shove it down our throats if we let them. They can stuff
their carbon footprints where the sun don't shine. Obama is real
good at creating such a stinking footprint.

Then, there's the global warming crowd. Don't get me started
there because the science is, shall we say, questionable on that
one., Gor not withstanding. Talk about a hypocrite. Gor owns
stock in oil companies which doesn't make him very green, putrid
or otherwise.

So what about the color green. Don't shove it down my throat
politically. I'd rather not choke on it or gag on it.

A failing grade for first 100 days

2009-04-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

If you haven't guessed by reading the title, my grade for President Obama's
first 100 days in office is a big fat F for failure. There are a number of
reasons I say this. Let me count the ways.

First of all, president Obama and his friends in the Democratic party have
increased the deficit more than President Bush ever did. This means that
our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will be paying off the
debt that Obama has left behind. McCain was right when he called this
spending "generational theft".

The next failure comes up in the passage of the economic stimulus bill. Oh
did I say stimulus? I meant to say porkulus or spendulus, with both
descriptions fitting this legislation. This, I believe, was the bill with
approximately 9,000 earmarks in it which means that Obama broke his promise
to get rid of earmarks. If you think it's business as usual in Washington,
you would be 100% correct about that.

The next failure comes in terms of appointments. Obama can't find anyone
worthy of appointment to various positions because the only people he can
find are those who haven't paid their taxes or "forgot" to pay them. Can
you say politics as usual in Washington? I can, especially given that Obama
comes from my home state of Illinois where we just tossed a rather corrupt
governor out of office. What took so long to get Sevilius confirmed as
Secretary of Health and Human Services? Could it be that she had some
issues back in Kansas? I think so as there was a rather "controversial"
abortion case there and I have heard that there are questions about her
relationship with the "doctor" in that one. Another sign of failure is the
fact that we don't have a surgeon general yet either amid all of the
hysteria about swine flu.

Then you have Vice President Biden who, no matter how he or his office tries
to spin it, will find out that digital recordings don't lie about what is
said. I heard Biden referred to as the "gift that keeps on giving" because
of his reputation as a one-man gaff machine. He just proved it this morning
and Obama doesn't know how to keep him muzzled. Doesn't that prove what a
questionable choice Biden was in the first place?

I haven't even gone into foreign policy yet; and there are failures here as
well. Where are the troops that were promised for Afghanistan? The
teleband is making inroads, squandering the hard work of those who have
fought and died to free that country. A lot of hard-fought gains,
especially for women, are in jeopardy there. Then you've got the whole
issue of interrogation methods which Obama detests but doesn't say how he
would have obtained the information, except to say he would not have used
the methods that were used under the Bush administration. How many lives
have been saved because of use of those tactics. Terrorists don't
understand nicey nice. They only understand brute force, something they are
extremely good at inflicting on their victims.

Do I think this country is safer now than it was under President Bush? No,
I definitely don't. We are weak and we come across as such. I haven't seen
it this bad since the Carter years and that's scary. Can you say Carter all
over again? I can and probably worse this time too.

We are in danger of seeing Pakistan fall to the teleband and there is no
firm plan to deal with this. This is especially scary considering that
Pakistan has nuclear weapons. If those things end up in the wrong hands,
we're all in trouble. What a potentially bloody mess.

These are just a few of the failures of the first 100 days. There will be
more failures to come, I am sure. I just hope we recognize this country
when Obama gets through because I am not sure we will. That's a scary
thought, isn't it?

Swine flu hype, hysteria or something in between

2009-04-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

We have all heard about swine flu. How could you not as the
media won't let you get away from the story. Is this hype,
hysteria or something else? I definitely am not sure it is hype;
but I am also not sure there should be hysteria over this one
either. Something between these extremes would fit here.

If one takes the necessary precautions, which should be part of
any good health practices, they should have no problems. This
also means staying the hell out of Mexico right now until they
get a handle on the outbreak, something which doesn't appear
will happen anytime soon. Should this be a wake up call to
secure the boarder? Absolutely it should but how can this happen
when Secretary Napolitano at Homeland Security is utterly
clueless and incompetent. Screening and quarantine should be the
order of the day at the U.S.. Mexico boarder. That's one way to
stop the spread of this thing. Are liberals that clueless? This
administration appears to be; and it also appears that they don't
want to get Mexico mad at us. Well, this is beyond hurt
feelings. There are lives at stake here. We need to act without
regard for the hurt little feelings of the Mexican government
which doesn't know what it is doing either.

Is the World Health Organization (Who overreacting on this one?
The possibility is there but considering that the Mexican
government doesn't seem to know what it is doing on this one, the
WHO reaction may not be as overblown as you might think.

My advice is don't travel to Mexico. That would be an
irresponsible decision on the part of anyone who makes such a
decision to travel there at this time. Don't come crying to me
when you can't get home because you are sick. Decisions have
consequences and this one is no exception. The difference
between this and other travel decisions is that lives could be in
your hands through the decision you make, including your own.

There is technology out there which can tell if you are hotter
than other passengers with this heat being an indication of a
fever. Why isn't this technology being used? It
needs to be used as one means of stopping the
spread of this illness.

The fact that we don't yet have a Secretary for Health and Human
Services doesn't help either as there is no one leading the
effort on this one. Even the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) is in an acting role. This points
out the need to get moving on appointment, not only by the
administration but also by the Senate. If confirmation is
warranted, then let's get it done. If there are issues holding
up the current nominee, then the administration should consider
its options and act in a manner which will best serve the
country. Not having anyone in the HHS Secretary's post is not a
service to the country. Can we afford it right now given the
current situation? I'm not sure we can.

Again, be careful and take the necessary precautions and you
should be fine. We lived through SARS and we will get through
this one as well.

A noisy world

2009-04-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

The subject line once again says it all. For those who don't know, I am
blind with a mild to moderate hearing loss. This combination can make life
real interesting and make some situations less than enjoyable. For example,
at conventions I don't necessarily enjoy mixers anymore due to the loud
noise. I don't like real loud places because it makes it hard for me to
hear.

This was evident last Saturday in a few situations. The first of these
situations was at the bar in the hotel where we were staying. There was a
radio on and the TV was also on but I could not pick up what was going on
the TV because of the noise from the radio and elsewhere. Having
conversations can be difficult and it can be difficult to understand the
bartender, especially when that person has an accent. I tend to find people
with foreign accents difficult to understand for the most part but this does
depend on the person and how clearly they speak. Anyway, my husband had to
repeat some things for me, especially when he was talking to someone from
the convention we were at and this person was on his other side. We got out
of there and proceeded to the banquet where the problem was once again
evident.

While the program was on microphone, the conversation during dinner was not.
Suffice it to say, I did not get into too much conversation with others at
the table. Ray was talking to someone whom we both know and had to repeat
some stuff for me because, once again, this person was on his other side.
With all of the noise I was unable to hear the other person very well. When
the guys left to take a restroom break, I definitely did not get into any
conversation. I just wanted my husband to come back. I felt alone and just
wanted that time to end. They did come back; and I could at least talk with
him.

The last situation was in a hospitality room which is equivalent to a mixer.
A couple of these weren't bad but one was especially annoying due to the
volume of the music and other activities. Suffice it to say we did not stay
there long as I think that one even got to my husband.

I was happy to get back to the room and go to bed. As you can see, I don't
like real noisy situations but sometimes end up in them because I cannot
avoid the situation all together. It's not nice, believe me and I try to get
out of them as fast as I can.

Blago leave us alone please

2009-04-16T19:37:00.001-07:00

I have not commented on the latest indictment of an Illinois politician
until now. However, former Governor Rod Blagojevich leaves me no choice but
to comment. He was recently indicted on some rather serious charges, the
nature of which I am not sure he understands. He was caught committing some
very corrupt acts such as withholding money from Children's Memorial because
someone didn't get him a campaign contribution fast enough. How despicable
is that? He then tried to sell president Obama's vacant Senate seat and got
caught at that. He eventually put an incompetent also ran in that office.
To say I was not impressed with Burris's office last February is an
understatement.

However, I have digressed. Getting back to Blago now. Why doesn't he just
leave us alone and go quietly to jail where he belongs. Now he wants to be
on a reality show called "I'm A Celebrity; Get Me Out of Here". This is
disgusting on so many levels, it's not funny. What right-thinking lawyer
would even advise him that this is a good idea? None as far as I know; and
don't forget that Blago can't even keep an attorney as he has lost two
already for various reasons. You are also dealing with someone who knows
nothing about reality so how could he be on a show like this? He is also
nothing more than a criminal and a corrupt politician who has put Illinois
through hell. Even the Legislature saw fit to remove the punk from office,
something I was very happy to see.

Hopefully the judge will not allow him to do this so-called show. Hell,
Blago can't even travel out of the country but that doesn't seem to phase
him because he has no concept of reality. I hope the judge puts his sorry
little ass in prison as a flight risk. There Blago will get a dose of
reality, something he has lacked for quite a long time if he ever had it to
begin with. Maybe putting his sorry miserable little ass in jail will rid
us of him from the news until he is convicted of all the charges against
him. He definitely screwed the taxpayers of this state and Quinn was left
to clean up the mess that Blago left behind. Blago just get lost and leave
the people of Illinois alone. You've caused enough damage as it is.

Liberals and what they know or don't know

2009-04-15T06:28:00.001-07:00

You might wonder about the title of this entry. Well, let me explain.

First I will talk about what liberals seem to know a lot about and then what
they don't know a lot about.

Let's start with what they know a lot about, and that is how to spend money
and control every aspect of life if allowed to do so. Why do I say that?
Well, there is the summit by the EPA on bed bugs. I kid you not. That was
a story in the news yesterday. Apparently all o the big problems are solved
so we can go after this one which I feel is nonexistent. To add to the
nonsense on this one, they can't even explain why it is a "problem". They
attribute it to changes in insecticide, more international travel and other
reasons too stupid to remember right now.

Liberals are quick to swoop in if they think there is a problem and they
think that only government can solve the problem. That's not true and
conservatives need to beat on that drum. You have moves in places such as
Milwaukee to mandate 9 paid sick days a year. What will that do to jobs?
Naturally it will kill them. So will higher taxes, something Wisconsin
politicians haven't figured out yet. Then we have AT&T here in Illinois who
is mandated by the Citizens' Utility Board (CUB) to offer three phone plans
for under $25 a month because they think you are paying too much for monthly
service if you pay over $25 a month. Once again the consumer should be
allowed to make that choice but liberals don't think that way because you
might not make the decision they want you to make. It shows how liberals
don't understand business and how it operates which is why you see
politicians saying we have to close loopholes and make corporations "pay
their fair share". This is a jobs killer which is aimed at business because
they don't do what the liberals want. Then there is the issue of unions
which is a subject for another day and another blog entry.

Now let's talk about what liberals don't know and that comes in the area of
science. Did any of these people take a science class in school or did they
just take what they needed in order to graduate? They don't know junk
science when they see it, which global warming is junk scieince as far as I
am concerned. My understanding is that the model they use for this was
invalidated by a University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) math study
recently. This should call much of the global warming "theory into
question; but the environment is nothing short of religion for liberals.
While we do need to take care of the environment, it is not necessary to
mortgage the future to do it.

Then there is their ignorance of physics which is tied to their love
of environmentalism. This manifests itself in their push for CAFÉ which is
a higher fule economy for cars. What they don't realize is that the smaller
the car is, the worse it will do in crash tests, especially with another
moving vehicle of midsize range. Test of that exact type were done recently
by the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (AIIHS) and the small
cars did not fair well against the midsize cars. Let's just say the
occupant of the small car like the Honda Fit or the Toyota Yaris would wind
up dead in such a collision. In other words, there is a tradeoff for better
gas mileage and that trade-off is safety. Cars like the Corolla which is a
midsize get good gas mileage and give you safety. I'd love to know what the
crash results are for the hybrids. As some would say, CAFÉ kills people and
the auto industry; and you know the government would love to shove CAFÉ down
the throats of the auto companies, something which is likely given the
recent bailout of that industry. That's a subject for another blog.

Suffice it to say, liberals know how to swoop in when they see there is a
problem except when the problem doesn't fit the template of their agenda.
These people need to be stopped. Conservatives need to have a voice and
speak up against control by liberals of all facets of life. If we who are
conservative don't speak up, we won't recognize this country and that
process, sadly, is well under way.

Computer unknown

2009-04-13T07:22:00.001-07:00

I had an experience this morning that should teach anyone to be weary of the
unknown, especially in the world of computers. I was going to a website,
someone's blog, and got a strange message about a piece of software or
something. I don't know where it came from either. I kept trying to
contact my husband but he wasn't answering his phone and I desperately
wanted to know what to do. That led to the kind of voice mail I don't like
to leave behind for him or anyone else either. Once I got a hold of him,
the matter was resolved.

I certainly am glad I reached him because I wasn't sure what to do with this
little beast and would have done the opposite of what he told me to do. So,
yes I am glad I reached him.

BTW it was something about JAVA technologies and stopping the running of
said thing. It just goes to show that if you see something that you are not
sure about in the world of computers, it is probably best to run from it as
fast as you and your little mouse or fingers can do so. You'll stay much
safer that way.

Goodbye to another family farm from a distance

2009-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

As I write this we are in the process of losing another family farm. I say
that because the sale is going on right now. When it is over only memories
of those years will be left. Does this sadden me? You ;bet it does because
there is one less family farm; one less farmer who knows and loves the land;
one less farmer who cares about the product that he grows or raises; and one
more link to this life lost forever.

As someone who grew up in the city, I do appreciate the farmer and what he
contributes to the economy as well as the food chain. To paraphrase one
song by Dan Reilly, food doesn't grow on supermarket shelves. Now we will
see some good land carved up and sold in quarter acre lots which is not
something I want to see.

What will replace the family farm? You guessed it, the big corporate farm
where they know about making money but know nothing about the land or
nature. They also don't care about putting out a good product and probably
use more chemicals than necessary. Are we better for it? I don't think so.

You might ask about the from a distance part of this title. That is
mentioned because I am watching this sale from a distance as I am not there
directly. I am told that not many women attend these things; and I guess I
can see why. Most of the items being sold relate to the equipment and
machinery which is usually the man's area in a farm family. This is why
mostly men are involved in these sales. A woman would be vastly outnumbered
at one of these things.

My only solace is that at least my husband's parents are going out on their
terms. They are both in good health and able, I hope, to enjoy the years
ahead of them. Maybe now they will be able to do some of the things they
have wanted to do, such as traveling, now that they don't have to worry
about the farm. For once, they don't have to worry about whether we will
get enough rain, whether it will be too hot or any of the other worries that
come with farming. They were in it for 35 years and now it's their turn to
enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

I say with some bitter sweetness, goodbye to another family farm from a
distance.

Saying goodbye to another family farm from a city girl

2009-04-01T20:16:00.001-07:00

The title once again says it all. In two days my husband's fammily will sell the farm and then all that will be left of those days will be the memories and the stories that will be shared. My father-in-law has been in farming for 35 years and it's time for him to move on in his life. There have been many hours and years of blood sweat and tears on that farm; and now all of the farm equipment and buildings will be sold. Another famly farm is lost.

It doesn't make me feel good because it is in the family but more importantly, I appreciate the fact that farmers grow our food and that for much of the world as well. Where do city people think their food comes from? It doesn't just appear in the supermarket, although some city kids probably think that this is the case. It has to be grown somewhere and then turned into the food that we eat. The farmer is part of this chain and he is the first part of that chain. Without the farmer, the food would not be grown or harvested. Without the family farm, you don't have the love for the land and the sense of pride that goes with had work.

Is there some sacrifice to living this lifestyle? There certainly is and one of these is that you don't get to travel because you have to make sure that the work gets done on the farm. You also have the sacrifice of income, especially in years when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate and give you good weather. Working on a farm is not easy work either. There is the planting of the crop, tending that crop and feeding the animals and caring for them if you raise them. Raising animals, from what I understand, was not always profitable and the farmer did not always get a good price either. The middle man did better than the farmer who raised the animal and the farmer is the one who invested much more effort in the raising of that animal than did the middle man. Can you say fair? I can't. It's why my husband's father got out of the hog business when he did.

What might you ask will replace the family farm? It is the corporate farm which is in business to make money and doesn't always care about the whay they use the land or the quality of their product. It is so impersonal and the people who work on it don't have the love of the land that the family farmer has. They probably don't have the knowledge that the family farmer has either and the corporate farms don't necessarily have the attention to detail that is needed. They don't understand nature and how that works. They only know about making money. Is that what we want for our food producers? I don't and I am sorry to see another family farm relegated to a memory.

Major frustration of small device resolved

2009-03-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

The little device that caused major frustration has been fixed.
All that needed to happen was that the hearing aid needed to have
its tube replaced. The tube broke in three places in the ear
mold. I don't want to see that trick for a long time, that's for
sure.

While that time of isolation is over for me, it is not over for
many of you in the db community because of lack of services.
This is why we must all fight hard for services and that means
working together, whether we come to the community from the deaf
community or the blind community. Each group must work with the
other if we are to get anything done. It was Abraham Lincoln who
spoke about a house divided will fall. I don't remember the
exact quote right now; but it fits here.

Has this been the first experience with isolation for me? No it
has not. I experienced this last spring when I attended the last
face-to-face board meeting for a national organization of the
deaf-blind. We met at a location which is a heavy signing
environment. As I do not sign, barely knowing the alphabet let
alone many signs, I felt very much isolated and looked forward to
getting home where I was on more familiar ground. I did get
there and was thankful for it. However, the experience showed me
what isolation is and how it is so potentially devastating if
you let it be so. It is understandable that this can happen
because, as I said, I had problems with one day. Just imagine
how someone who goes through this constantly feels. It's not
pretty and this is why we must advocate for services such as SSP
services so that the grip of isolation can be broken. There must
also be opportunities for vocational training and employment.
Only then will we break the rip of isolation. This means that
the entire community must work together as one. Remember that we
must be united, not divided because if we are the latter, we will
surely fall; and I don't want to see that.

Here's to working to end isolation and increase productivity and
participation in communities where we all live and work.

The auto industry time to let go

2009-03-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

I hear about the auto industry and what the administration did and want to
say just let go. Let them go into chapter 11 which is something that should
have been done a long time ago. However, GM has been given 60 more days to
come up with a more acceptable plan and Chrysler has been given 30 days.
The feeling is that Chrysler is less viable than GM. However I am not sure
about that one. It's time to stop throwing tax money at bad investments and
these companies as presently constituted are bad companies and thus bad
investments. If chapter 11 was good enough for the airlines, then it is
good enough for the auto companies.

Obama says that we should not, must not and will not allow these companies
to go away, or maybe he was talking about the U.S. auto industry. However,
when a politician uses words like that you should know that the opposite
usually happens. Just look at any Democrat who says that about a tax
increase. Hold on to your wallet as a tax increase is very likely coming.

Obama and the government know nothing about the auto industry just as they
know nothing about the financial industry. What makes anyone think they
know what is best for these companies? They don't and that is a huge
problem. Besides, I don't want the government in the business of running
auto companies. I was never a supporter of the financial industry bailout
and I was not a supporter of the auto bailout either.

In the case of the financial industry, many companies who did not want the
bailout money were forced to take the money even if they did not want or
need the money. This bailout was about taking control of the financial
industry, not bailing it out so that it could stand on its own once again.
The same is true of the auto industry if the government doesn't just get out
of the way and let the bankruptcy laws work as they are supposed to work.
That's the course of action which should be pursued. How many more
bureaucrats will get a job as a result of today's announcement? Several I
fear. Will the government mandate the colors of the cars? Who knows
because they can mandate whatever they want to if they are not stopped and
stopped now.

What I believe is the proper role of government is a subject for another
blog entry which will not happen today. Suffice it to say, government
control is not free enterprise where companies can and do fail. The auto
companies are going down that road of failure which happens when companies
use an outdated business model and deal with irrelevant unions. Again, the
unions are a subject for another day.

One small device causes major frustration

2009-03-30T12:30:00.001-07:00

The title says it all. One small device has caused major frustration. I am
thankful for sick days and the fact that I have a lot of them. I just wish
I didn't have to use one of them for this purpose. What you ask is the
problem and the small device?

The small device is a hearing aid and it broke over the weekend while I was
out of town at a meeting. It picked one of the worst times in the world to
do what it did, that's for sure. I called the audiologist's office today to
see if I could get in to get it fixed and the soonest I could get in was
tomorrow morning. That didn't make me happy but it was the best I could do
under the circumstances. Thankfully it will be fixed tomorrow and all will
be back to normal.

I didn't go into work today because with only one hearing aid functioning, I
cannot be as effective as I would be with two of them functioning. My
mobility is also not good because of problems with directionality, that is
telling what direction sound is coming from, and veering.

For this reason, I am staying very close to home and not going anywhere.
It's a rotten way to spend a forced day off. I'll be glad when this day is
over and I can once again return to the world I know and love.

This day, however, is making me aware that isolation is an all too common
thing for many people with a combined vision and hearing loss. Isolation is
not a pleasant thing either. At least I have some means of communication
which is more than many people have. My means of communication may not be
as efficient without both hearing aids but it does work. Isolation makes
the days longer, or so it seems. You just want the day to end so that you
can go on to the next day and hope it is not the same as the previous day.
I personally don't know how long I could live like that either. If short
amounts of isolation can drive me crazy, I don't want to know what a long
period of isolation would do to me.

This is why there must be services for those living with a combined vision
and hearing loss no matter what the level of that loss. Being able to work,
do business in and participate in one's community is something we all need
to work toward.

While I can rejoin my world tomorrow, for many it wil take more than just
the fixing of a small device for them to join their world and make it a
world where they can be an active part of the community, of their family and
whatever other group they choose to be part of. This is why advocacy is so
important and why I stress it so much. We all need to do what we can to
make the powers that be understand the importance of providing services to
members of the db community so that we can all take our place in society.
Isolation is a nasty thing and must be brought to an end. The time is now.

No reason to trust Geithner or Emanual

2009-03-26T21:29:00.001-07:00

Today I heard about some rather distressing information regarding Rom Emanual, Chief of Staff to President Obama. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune published, I believe, today Rom Emanual sat on the Board of Freddie Mac for 14 months while Freddie Mac was melting down. Apparently Mr. Emanual received some $320,000 over that 14 months for little or no work. Does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me, especially since he comes from Illinois which is, unfortunately, known for questionable politics which does get downright dirty. I guess Mr. Emanual made money as an investment banker some years ago according to the article which I heard about on a conservative talk show. The Chicago Tribune is known for usually getting it right too. There was an accounting scandal going on with Freddie Mac at the time I believe.

In any case, given this information, do you really want Mr. Emanual handling the economy? I sure don't. He watched while Freddie Mac burned and what makes anyone think that he won't do it again? Freddie Mac was making questionable loans and Mr. Emanual watched while this was happening. What does that say about the effort he will put into his present position? It doesn't say much to me. Can you say a very cushy job without a lot of work? I sure can; but that shouldn't surprise anyone. As I said last fall, Obama is no reformer. It will just be Illinois politics on a national scale and boy are we seeing that now.

As for Geithner, he doesn't even know how to pay his taxes, let alone come up with a coherent policy on the so-called toxic assets. In fact, I heard a story recently that if Geithner doesn't start doing better, there is a prominent congressman who will be calling for Geithner's resignation. That should happen because a tax cheat should not be in charge of the IRS which is under the Treasury Dept. I thought at first that Geithner's tax problems were an honest mistake but I am beginning to wonder about that one. Can you say politial rewad? I sure can with both of these idiots.

These two idiots want broad powers to shut down financial companies that get too large. Come on, that's like asking the fox to guard the hen house. No way these two should have power like that as they have proven they can't handle what they have now, let alone what they have done in the past. How much worse will they make things? I shudder to think about that and hope we never find out. Unfortunately we just might though.

Universal health care or newspaper bailout run from both as fast as you can

2009-03-25T07:05:00.001-07:00

Recently you might have heard talk about a newspaper bailout. You might also have heard that President Obama wants to "reform" health care. The latter is a code for universal health care and the former will trample on first amendment freedoms. both of these ideas need to be dead on arrival. If they show any signs of life run from both of them as fast as you can.

I will first deal with the issue of newspaper bailouts. This is a glaring intrusion on first amendment freedoms as the government would control the content of those newspapers. At first it will control how the paper should be laid out and how much news content it should have and how much can be made by ad revenue, all of which have been discussed. Then the control will shift to the actual news content. In other words, there will not be content which criticizes people such as Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Their funding would be threatened. In other words, the newspapers would be giving control of the paper to the government and this is something I do not want to see. We see it in radio with the librals wanting to bring back the Fairness Doctrine which is a code word for knocking conservative talk radio off the air. They want this because liberal talk shows cannot make it on their own. Well I am one person who does not want to see them go on the air with government help. If they can't make it on their own in a free market, then so be it. It means they don't have a viable product to sell. The same, unfortunately, is true of newspapers in their current form. However a government bailout is something which everyone ought to run from as fast as they can. We need many sources of information, not just one. You see what happens in places where there is one absolute source of information and I don't want to see this country go there even remotely.

The other thing to avoid fervently is universal health care as this is nothing more than rationed health care and PWD will be adversely affected by this as we will be seen as costing too much, a notion which I as a PWD resent strongly. Under universal health care, we wil be told when we can see the doctor and for what. Excuse me but I don't want to deal with some government bureaucrat in order to make a doctor's appointment. Decisions about my health care should be between me and my doctor and there should not be a government bureaucrat involved in that decision. I work in a facility which serves severely disabled children. These children deserve a chance to meet their maximum potential which I believe won't happen if we have universal health care. They will be considered "expendable", something which I strongly resent.

Universal health care means waiting months for procedures. If you don't believe that, just look at Canada or Britain, both of which have major problems.

There are somethings which could be done in this country. The first thing that ought to be done is allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, something which was not done in the original legislation which I will maintain was largely written by the pharmaceutical companies and insurance industry. Another thing that could and should be done is a ban on advertising of pharmaceuticals such as nexium, Spereva, Boneva, Lipotor and others. These drugs ought to be dispensed by doctors, not advertised on TV.

The long and short of the matter is that I want to be able to get information without the government telling me what information I can have and how to think about that information; and I also want to make health care decisions free of government control. Newspaper bailouts and universal health care are two liberal ideas that scare me to death and ought to be run from as fast as you can possibly do so. They will change the country forever and not in a positive way either. Heck, we won't even recognize the country anymore, soemthing which also scares me to death. I, unfortunately, think we ar eheaded down that socialist path.

Time for madness and escape

2009-03-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

We're at the time of year when March madness begins and this year it will
likely be a welcome escape to all of the economic bad news. It's a time to
get away from it all for just a little while. If you don't know what March
madness is, you haven't been paying much attention to sports this time of
the year. March madness is the NCAA men's college basketball tournament.
There, by the way, is a women's version as well. This weekend will feature
game after game after game which will likely culminate in some upsets as is
often the case with this tournament. Can you quarrel with some of the
selections? Yes you certainly can with the most notable one of those being
Wisconsin who got in ahead of Northwestern even though Northwestern did much
better than Wisconsin this year. Well, the riggers of the tournament will
straighten this one out as they usually do because Wisconsin will be one and
done.

The play-in game will give the winning school the right to be throttled by
Louisville later this week, and throttled they will be. Three number ones
out of one conference is highly unusual with one of those three being the
weakest number one. Who might you ask is that weak number one? It is UConn
who I predict will be gone early; but that's the beauty of the tournament
because one never knows about these things.

Let the madness begin so that we can escape for just a while from all of the
bad news that permeates the world today.

The latest outrag3e

2009-03-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

The subject line says it all. What might you ask is the latest
outrage? It is the obscene bonuses being paid out by AIG even
though the company had to be bailed out by the government which
means the taxpayers., Why the heck does a company pay bonuses
when it needs a taxpayer-funded bailout? It does so because it
has no values at all. It doesn't care about what the taxpayers
think. All it cares about are the fat cat executives that drove
it into the ground. They did not foresee the outrage this would
cause. How insulated or stupid do they have to be to not see the
outrage coming over this one? Can you say pretty stupid and
clueless? I sure can and just did.

I wasn't for the bailout of AIG either. I would have preferred
to see them go under or at least forced into Chapter 11 which I
still think would be the best remedy for them. However, there
are those who have said that the consequences of AIG going under
and failing would be much more disastrous for the world economy.
I am not sure about this as I don't fully understand the enormity
of the impact such a collapse would have; but I do understand the
outrage about the bonuses and agree with president Obama on this
point. This will be one of the few times I agree with him on
anything though.

While we are at it, let's make sure that the auto executives at
Gm and Chrysler don't get bonuses either as these executives have
caused their companies to come to the taxpayers for a bailout.
If anything, they should lose their jobs for running the
companies into the ground. Since when is poor performance
rewarded? It shouldn't be and this is only part of the outrage
over AIG. How can these companies turn to the taxpayers for a
bailout and then turn around and pay out bonuses? The answer is
because they can. This has got to stop and stop now. When you
take a bailout the rules change and bonuses become unacceptable.

Should bonuses be limited? I think so but that is a subject for
another day. I do hope though that the AIG bonuses are fully
recovered. What a stinking outrage this company has perpetrated
on the taxpayers.

The biggest fraud in history and more

2009-03-11T20:33:00.001-07:00

Bernard Madoff is due to plead guilty to fraud and more tomorrow. Let him
plead guilty and then rot in prison for what he did. He doesn't deserve to
see the outside of a prison ever again; and I sincerely hope he doesn't. He
can lose all of his assits as well. Boy how the mighty fall in this case.

He cleaned out innocent people and organizations of a lot of money and
should pay for it dearly. I also think that those in the government who
ignored the warnings should be charged with official misconduct or other
charges that would fit that situation for they did nothing to stop this
creep. Again, let him rot in jail. I also don't give a damn about his wife.
She can fall as well. I think she knew what was going on and can't plead
ignorance on this one.

There are other problems connected with the Obama administration. You can
start with the incompetent press secretary or whatever the hell Gibbs calls
himself. He ought to be fired immediately for incompetence of the highest
order. He doesn't know a damn thing and it shows.

Now we are learning that a second stimulus bill might be necessary. Oh, I
should have called it spendulus or porkulus because that is actually what it
is. The liberals didn't get enough of the porkulus or spendulus in the
first bill so they must pillage from the private sector, that is the
taxpayers, once again. When will this train wreck stop and how much will it
cost when it is finally stopped. John McCain had the best characterization
for this when he called it generational theft and I for one want these
people to stop stealing from my nieces and nephews. They deserve a chance
at a future just like past generations have had. However, this generational
theft will rob them of that chance. What will be left for them? Not much I
am afraid. BJ is in college right now. BK is working and not in school and
the rest are still in grade school, namely high school or junior high. One
of these will graduate this year. What will she find when she enters the
world of work? It won't be pretty,that's for sure.

We've got to stop this train wreck before we all become victims of it and
the private sector becomes unrecognizable. I have heard a twist on John
Edwards theme of two Americas, with one being the private sector and one
being the public sector. This was discussed on a conservative talk show
today. The host, Charlie Sykes, was talking about how the public sector
keeps taking and the private sector keeps giving. He further noted that the
private sector has lost millions of jobs while the public sector has gained
thousands of jobs during the same time period. What does that tell you? It
tells me plenty and I am scared for the future.

Remember that 0-100 scale I talked about earlier this year, 0 being scared
to death and 100 being all hope and change. Well, at the time that
spendulus came out, I was at a 10. Now I am down to a 5 as this
administration clearly doesn't know what thehell it is doing. I kept saying
during the election cycle that I would rather have the inexperience at the
second level rather than the first. However, we got the inexperience at the
first level and it is showing much to the detriment of the country and the
world.

We live in scary times, that's for sure.
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4:35 PM

Obama playing fast and loose with tax money

2009-03-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

We have seen another instance of President Obama playing fast and loose with
tax money. This came in the form of an order lifting the ban on federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research. This time, what he did has
serious ethical and moral consequences which he does not or won't
understand. He does not care about taxpayers like me who have ethical
concerns about what he did today. He claims this is in the name of not
holding science back but he is showing how pro murder he is. He calls
himself a man of faith yet does not believe in the sanctity of life.

Once again this is about the liberal agenda which includes pro murder and,
by the way, let's cure everyone with a disability. Give me a freaking
break. Where will that go down the slippery slope? I'm not sure I want to
go there but go there we will as Obama has opened the dorr through this
executive order today. He took jabs at Bush in doing it too, something the
liberals enjoy with gusto. That's utterly and completely disgusting. Can't
Obama do anything and leave Bush out of it? No he can't because it doesn't
fit the liberal template or agenda while the executive order does fit the
agenda.

Let's not go down this road; but I am afraid we already have. I just hope
to God that Congress doesn't overturn the federal law against creation of
embryos for research purposes. This would really cross the line much more
than it is already being crossed. Then we are dealing with someone who
voted against infant born alive legislation at the state level here in
Illinois. That's legislation that many pro murder, oh I mean Pro choice,
advocates even supported.

Hell right now we don't even have a choice as to how our tax money is spent.
It can be spent for things we don't agree with morally or ethically. The
executive order on stem cells is a great example of this.

What is the fascination with embryonic stem cells when the same material can
be gotten from cord blood or adult stem cells? These two avenues don't have
the ethical perils that emryonic stem cells have and they should be used
instead of embryonic stem cells.

For God sake don't spend my tax money on murder. Spend it on life and this
means using cord blood and adult stem cells for medical research. I knew
Obama was trouble on this subject even before the election. How many babies
will die as a result of this; and emryos are babies as far as I am concerned
and I don't want my tax money going to kill them in the name of research.
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4:35 PM

No more bailouts for the sake of taxpayers

2009-03-08T16:08:00.001-07:00

Last week we heard tha GM is close to bankruptcy and that more money will
be needed for the black hole known as AIG. To the former I say sendthem to
chapter 11 and to the latter I say no more money for them. I am sick and
tired of our tax money being promised by politicians, who haven't run
anything in their lives, to inefficient and bloated businesses who should
be allowed to fail if that's what the market place dictates.

If GM goes into chapter 11 and fails to emerge from it, then so be it. The
business fails and this is what happens in the free market. This company is
too big, too inefficient and too bloated. If chapter 11 was good enough for
the airlines, then it is good enough for 'GM. I don't want any of my tax
money going to run such an inefficient, bloated company. This smacks of
nationalization and I definitely want nothing to do with that. This is the
United States; and the last time I checked it was not a socialist country.
Let's keep it that way!

With regard to AIG, I would like no more tax money to go down this black
bloated hole either. This is a company which got too big too fast and
should be sent into chapter 11 for the express purpose of breaking it up.
Again nationalization should not be the goal here. Unfortunately I wonder
if this is the goal of the liberals so that they can force companies to
follow their left-wing agenda. Again, let AIG live or die by the bankruptcy
laws. This may be a trickier one but it needs to be done. Do regulators
share some blame for this one? Absolutely as they let AIG grow unchecked
and unregulated in what they acquired. Why weren't the antitrust laws
applied here? Only an investigation will answer that one for sure.

If you don't want any more bailouts for companies like this, then call your
U.S. Representative and Senators and tell them to vote no on any bailout.
Tell them that you are sick and tired of your tax money being spent to bail
out companies that should be allowed to go under if necessary. Tell them
that there are services which need to be funded such as services to those
who are deaf-blind, something which would be a better use for the money than
bailing out irresponsible companies.

Keep in mind that many of these politicians who are voting for these
bailouts have never run anything in their lives. They have never had to
meet a payroll or make tough business decisions. Obama is included in this
and his Treasury Secretary doesn't even know how to pay his taxes. What
does that say about the crowd running the country right now? It tells me
that they would not make it in the private sector. They would run companies
into the ground much as the executives of GM and AIG have run those
companies into the ground. I just hope that they don't run this country
into the ground; but I am afraid this could happen unless they are stopped
sooner rather than later.

Let's stop the bailout train once and for all before it's too late.

Obama what now

2009-03-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

The title says it all, "Obama, what now?" It is a question that
many must be asking as things get worse with seemingly no end in
site. Why is this. Those who voted for Obama, this blogger not
being one of them, voted for hope and change. However, we have
seen fear and politics as usual in Washington. To make matters
worse, every time Obama or his Treasury secretary Tim Geithner
open their mouths, the markets tank because there is absolutely
no confidence in either of them. Add to this several factors and
you have a recipe for disaster.

The jobless numbers came out this past week and they were worse
than expected. Obama can no longer blame this on the Bush
administration and their policies as these statistics are from
his first month in office. In other words, he owns the issue of
the economy and all of its problems. The statute of limitations
on blaming the Bush administration should and must run out real
quick. Unfortunately this might not happen as soon as it should
because the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama.
Everything Obama has proposed is long on ideas and short on
details which sends the markets tumbling. To say that we have
inexperience at the first level would be a gross understatement.
What we have is something worse than that but I am not sure what
that is yet.

Then there is the issue of Geithnerr. He can't begin to fill the
top positions at Treasury. I think this is a result of lack of
confidence in him and the tax issue coming back to bite; but that
gets to the whole issue of change and transparency that Obama
preached during the campaign. Once elected, we are seeing
politics as usual, which is something I thought would happen
given the fact that he is from Illinois which is viewed as one of
the more corrupt states in the union, especially given recent
events in this state. Why should the markets have any confidence
in a tax cheat who doesn't know what he is doing? They shouldn't
and don't.

Can you say scared? I sure can because I am scared for the
future and what it holds for all of us.

When opening the mouth is destrutive

2009-02-27T20:32:00.001-08:00

Once again President Obama has proven that when he opens his mouth bad
things happen. The reason I say this is that once again he opened his mouth
and the stock market went down. When will he see that he had better come up
with some plans that won't spend us into oblivion and that he had better
have detail, something which has been lacking to this point. The financial
markets don't like it either and now health care stocks are tanking as a
result of the massive uncertainty surrounding anything that Obama wants to
do.

Furthermore Obama is committing what John McCain calls generational theft by
taking from our children and grandchildren. What kind of future will be
left for my nieces and nephews? Not a good one as theirs is the generation
that is being stolen from. They will be saddled with the debt from Obama's
spending orgy which Palosi, Read and others have aided and abetted.

Don't listen to what they say but look at what they do as this wil be your
guide to what will happen. Remember that Obama spoke about fiscal
responsibility and then unveiled the biggest budget yet with the biggest
deficit in history, making George Bush look tame by comparison.

Do we live in a scary time? You bet we do and it's only going to get worse
unless Obama and his liberal friends are stopped and soon. How many people
must lose their retirement savings before these people are stopped? I know
I don't want to lose everything before these people are stopped. Bring on
the Republican revolution of 2010 as it's our only hope to stop these people
before they turn this country into a socialist country. Hopefully it won't
be too late.
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4:35 PM

Test Posting

2009-02-27T14:16:00.001-08:00

This is a test posting.

Massive tax increase and more the whole post

2009-02-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Once again we are seeing that president Obama does not know what he is doing. It shows in the budget he released yesterday. Why do I say that. Let me show you the ways.
First of all, there is a tax increase of $ 1 trillion on 2% of taxpayers which he calls the wealthy. If you think that it is possible to increase taxes that much on that small a percentage of taxpayers, then I have desert property in Minnesota to sell you. There are tax increases coming on all of us to pay for his irresponsible spending, you can count on that in a big way.
The second thing which shows that he doesn't know what he is doing is that he talks about fiscal responsibility and then goes on a spending orgy. Hold on to your wallets as a lot of money is about to leave. The redistribution of wealth has already begun.
Then there is the move toward national health care. There is a $630 billion or so down payment on this program. Another words, we will all have to seek the permission of some government bureaucrat before we can make a doctor's appointment. There is even stuff in the stimulus, or should I say spendulus or porkulus, package that will start us down the road of national health care. The computerization of records is the start and then it is taken one step further by allowing a government bureaucracy to check to see if your doctor is making "fiscally responsible" decisions. That means those who consume a lot of health care need to worry that they will be deemed "too expensive" under this system.
The liberals have been salivating at the opportunity to put their programs into place; and they are seizing their opportunity at the risk of sending our economy deeper into recession, or God forbid, depression.
You also see the beginning of nationalization of the banks, something which Obama said he would not do. Just watch what happens with Citigroup as there is no such thing as a free lunch. They say there is no tax money involved, something which I for one don't believe. I certainly don't want the government being my stock broker or getting into the banking business. They can't run much of anything now so what makes anyone think they can run a bank without messing it up royally? I certainly don't think they can do it.
If you don't like the direction this country is headed, then you need to tell your Representatives and Senators to slow down before they do irreparable damage to the economy and the nation. If this doesn't happen, we won't recognize this great country anymore because it will be something totally different from what the Founding Fathers had envisioned and intended.
If you think am scared, you would be right.

A massive tax increase and more

2009-02-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

anymore because it will be something totally different from what the Founding Fathers had envisioned and intended.
If you think am scared, you would be right.

Orlando convention the week and beyond

2007-07-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

There were many things that happen this week at convention.
There was the walk which raised money for ACB. That was neat and
I am certainly glad I took part. There were programs on
rehabilitation services, information access, environmental
access, legislation and more. We had some of the cleanest
elections I have ever seen in my years going to ACB conventions.
The SASI committee had a program on communications and assistive
technology assessments, a program which was not well attended but
which had good information. There was a social for this
committee that night. This was better attended than the
program.

The subject of residential schools was a hot one as it should be.
We can't afford to lose these schools as a viable option.

There was a program on the importance of Braille. This
dove--tailed nicely with the one on residential schools as
Braille is an important skill and one which, in my opinion, is
probably better obtained at a residential school.

Each year this convention energizes me to go home and get busy.
I and others must keep it going throughout the year or the value
of the program will be lost and the time spent here will be
wasted. I give up too much for that to be the case. Many are
looking to me for leadership` especially in the Illinois
deaf-blind community. I can't let them down as many of them,
certainly not all, don't have the skills for whatever reason to
assume leadership roles. Is the pressure on in Illinois? You
bet it is but I do want to move ahead as the db community badly
needs services but nothing happens without leadership.

also, where there are opportunities, we must work together. If
we don't we won't achieve what we need in the way of services.
If we don't work together, we could lose much of what we have;
and this is one person who does not want to see that happen.

It's time for all of us who were at convention to come home, roll
up our sleeves and get to work. You'll see a lot more from me in
other places. Ever heard the phrase, "it's now or never"? I
have and it's so true I think. Let's all get to work.

You picked a fine time to leave me

2007-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

You might wonder what the title means and why I chose it. Read
on and you will find out just how appropriate the title is.

Last night I was sitting in the Candidates' forum at the ACB
convention. My right hearing aid was working when I went in; but
by the time I left, it was not working to the point that sound
was barely coming out of it if at all. This is a pain because it
makes it harder to hear other people, not to mention localize
sound. It also made it hard to hear others when I was using an
ALD at convention. What a major pain in what you sit on.

This morning I called my audiologist's office and N answered the
phone. I told her what was going on and inquired as to whether I
could get an appointment on Monday. I was told that this would
not be possible due to the fact that one of the audiologists is
on vacation. The other audiologist did not have a longer
appointment until Tuesday the 21st. I chose to keep my current
appointment. N thought that the problem might be moisture due to
humidity but upon further reflection I am not sure this is the
case. What I forgot to tell N is that I have been in Florida
during the summer, having been in Jacksonville in 2006 for the
same convention, and I did not have any problems while there. I
had the current hearing aids back then as well. There's
something going on and I intend to get to the bottom of it next
week. I didn't think of this when I was on the phone with N this
morning.

Tonight the left one started misbehaving and I also intend to get
to the bottom of that one because, as my husband said, these
things shouldn't be this sensitive to humidity and moisture.

I've had nothing but trouble with the right one for about the
last month. I'm in the process of going through the lovely
process of replacing an ear mold on the right side. What fun!
(hahahah!) That problem also started while I was out of town but
that wasn't out of state. This one was. What is it about
traveling anyway?

Well that hearing aid did pick a fine time to leave me. And now
you know the reason for the title and so much more.

ACB conventiohn Day one

2007-07-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we are just about through Day one of the ACB convention.
As anyone who has been to this convention or any other convention
or conference knows, it flies by fast. It's about 5 PM as I
write this.

What have I done today? I started my day nice and early with the
walk/run for ACB. This felt good and I actually did not mind
getting up for a good cause. I actually completed the walk too,
something I was not sure I would do. I got a silver medal for
the amount of pledges I collected too. In doing this walk, we
let the public know about the capabilities of blind people.
That's a good feeling.

When I got back from that, I went and had lunch after taking care
of other matters. After lunch, I attended a board meeting of the
ACB where important organizational business was discussed.

After this, I attended a program on access to information. We
talked about web 2.0, facebook and twitter. We also talked about
accessible MP3 players. Then we discussed the 21st Century
Communications and Video Accessibility Act, H.R. 3101. We were
asked to contact our Representatives in Congress to get them to
co-sponsor this legislation. ML wanted a commitment from all in
attendance to do this and I am one who will do it as I don't want
to be left behind as communications evolves in the 21st century.
If you think there's nothing in this legislation for the db
community, you are wrong. There is the provision for up to $10
million a year so that our community will have access to the
communications equipment we need in order to decrease isolation
and increase independence. This also calls for full hearing aid
compatibility for mobile phones and itnernet-based devices which
will help a segment of our community. I personally urge all
readers to do as I am going to do and contact your Representative
to urge him or her to co-sponsor this important legislation. The
more co-sponsors we have the better chance we have of getting
this legislation passed. I will post the key provisions
separately later.

This is the start to a very busy and productive week in Orlando.
Stay tuned for more from Orlando.