Monthly Archives: July 2008

I have a quick moment to post an actually blog.  I normally don’t get this chance during payroll eve….lol  But I started much earlier, like I use to, and it is a hell lot less stressful on trying to get everything ready.  I’m going to have to do that more, especially for payroll on the 15th because I’m going to be losing my mind with the move.

I just hope that I can get through my book keeping tomorrow early.  We picked up the bubble wrap and I want to get that cabinet done.
Got a better workout today.  My new trainer and I are getting more use to each other.  It doesn’t help that I like to talk and with her being new, I’m a chatter box.  But we did less talking today and more focusing.  I didn’t feel as sore as I should’ve yesterday and I’m feeling it today, but I’m not sure I should be feeling it in my neck as much……mmm

Sexual assault in military ‘jaw-dropping,’ lawmaker says

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A congresswoman said Thursday that her “jaw dropped” when military doctors told her that four in 10 women at a veterans hospital reported being sexually assaulted while in the military.

A government report indicates that the numbers could be even higher.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, spoke before a House panel investigating the way the military handles reports of sexual assault.

She said she recently visited a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Los Angeles area, where women told her horror stories of being raped in the military.

“My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military,” said Harman, who has long sought better protection of women in the military.

“Twenty-nine percent say they were raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and downward spirals many of their lives have taken since.

**This is a down right embarrassing that the military does not address it as effectively as it can and should.  No one should ever be subject to such a horrible violation.

Congress: No annoying airplane cell phone calls

WASHINGTON – Cell phone calls on airplanes in flight are not only unsafe, they’re obnoxious and they should be permanently banned, according to some members of Congress.

House members, most of whom board airplanes almost every week, traded horror stories Thursday about their worst experiences with annoying fellow passengers who talk loudly on cell phones before takeoff and after landing. One lawmaker said his wife sat next to a woman who loudly discussed her sex life on the phone.

Another House member topped that with the passenger sitting him behind on one flight who got a “dear John” phone call from either his wife or sweetheart just before takeoff. The begging and pleading was just terrible to listen to, he said. Finally, with the plane ready to take off, a flight attendant had to threaten to have U.S. Marshals drag the man off the plane before he finally put his phone away.

**I normally don’t agree with restrictions such as these, but with as rude and inconsiderate people are I FULLY agree with this.  I do not want to fly with people talking on their damn phones.  I can’t even stand hearing the lady behind me talking loudly through out the whole flight over my headphones.  I just want to tell her to shut her mouth and that I don’t care what her grandkids are doing…..they aren’t my family, so why would I want to hear about them.

Playing the ‘Playing the Race Card’ Card

To see why I don’t think Obama “played the race card”–and why I don’t quite buy the McCain camp’s defense, which is that Obama is using race to “delegitimize any line of attack against him”–try removing race from the equation and imagining the Republican nominee delivering a similar soliloquy: “They’re going to try to say I’m a confused. They’re going to try to say that I’m too angry. They’re going to try to say, ‘Well, you know, he’s a North Vietnamese collaborator with PTSD and he’s older than all the presidents on the dollar bills. But that’s just because they don’t want to debate me on the issues.” Would this be “playing the age card”? Or would it be a legitimate (if preemptive) defensive maneuver against illegitimate insinuations–a maneuver, in other words, designed to focus the electorate on the stuff that McCain wants them to focus on? 

**I know that I didn’t agree with 90% of McCain’s policies, but I did respect him.  But he has totally flip-flopped on running an honorable campaign.  The type of campaign that this country deserves and needs.  I’ve totally lost any respect that I had for him.  =(

We are currently watching Balls of Fury it is funnier then I thought it would be.  Christopher Walken is a riot and creepy as ever…..got to love him.  It may be one to get on DVD…..lol

I got quite a bit of work done today, so I’m happy about that.  It will be a big help for tomorrow.  I didn’t get much packing started at all.  I really need to pick up some bubble wrap for my china and knick-knacks.  I hope to be able to get at least the china cabinet done tomorrow.  Once I get all our breakables done, I’ll feel as if I’ve made some progress.  Then I can move on to the bathrooms and my part of the office.

Does Bush proposal threaten access to the pill?

A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers who object to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount to abortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religious freedom and patients’ rights.

The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.

**You have no idea how much this really, really, really pisses me off.

Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use

(CNN) — The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.

Current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans, said Frank, flanked by legislators and representatives from advocacy groups.

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business,” Frank said on Capitol Hill. “I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

The Massachusetts Democrat and his supporters emphasized that only the use — and not the abuse — of marijuana would be decriminalized if the resolution resulted in legislation.

 **Do you know how much money this country would make in taxes?  And then allow law enforcement to focus on more important things, like violent crime?  What a concept.  Legalized alcohol has killed more people then pot,  legalized alcohol has contributed to more domestic violence then pot has.

We did our normal gym thing this morning.  I can’t tell you how much I hate to run and the treadmill, but I know it burns the fat off of my ass…..grin  Even with my hatred of it,  I’m still pushing myself on it and improving how much distance I go within 30 mins.  I use to only get 1.88 mile and today I hit 2.59 and that is with working the incline up to 12 and back down.  But I do have to admit, I’m no longer doing one incline per minute, I wait until I get most of my first set of running out of the way, work it quickly up to it while doing a very fast walk and a little less quickly down before I do my second set of running.  I sweat so much that I’m getting very tempted to buy a headband, but I don’t want to look like a throw back from the ’80s and, of course, give Harold more ammo to make fun of me.

I got nearly all, but 3 things taken care of for our utilities for the move.  I did forget to make 2 other calls for getting this place ready for the walk through, so that is on my to do list tomorrow.  I got a bunch of work done today, no packing.  =(  I’m hoping that I won’t have much work tomorrow and start focusing on the china cabinet tomorrow.  Thursday will be an intense work day.  I’m actually hoping to be able to get some of it done before bed.

We got our 1st rain in over 23days.  It was light and hopefully we’ll get some more tomorrow.  It is hard to believe that after a Portland, Oregon winter and spring, which seems to be nothing but rain, that I actually miss it for how it helps to keep things soft and green.

House issues historic apology for slavery

WASHINGTON – The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

“Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past,” said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

**About damn time.  Our country is screwy as hell (depending on administrations), but at least, we keep striving to improve and work up to our ideals.

Justice Department indicts Sen. Ted Stevens

WASHINGTON – Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of failing to disclose thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

Stevens, the first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993, has been dogged by a federal investigation into his home renovation project and his dealings with wealthy oil contractors.

The investigation has upended Alaska state politics and cast scrutiny on Stevens — who is running for re-election this year — and on his congressional colleague, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who is also under investigation.

**I’m loving this!  He is the prime example of what is wrong in congress.  I don’t believe either of my parents voted for him when we lived in Alaska…..at least I hope not, I was rather young.  =)

Met with my new trainer at the gym, my other trainer has a new position at the gym.  Boy, do I go through trainers …..it is my 3rd one.  The good thing is that my old trainer use to be her trainer and that he trained her.  So she is very similiar to him on her focus, very focus on the correct technique.  Which is the only way to make sure you are getting a full workout and not hurting yourself.

I had a bunch of phone calls that I needed to make when I got home, I have a ton to do tomorrow.  Today was mostly work related, but tomorrow I’m going to call around to get our utilities and such ready for our new place.

Then I just tried to get some work down.  I had to find my desk….it was completely buried under papers and I can’t stand that….it is as bad as nails on a chalkboard.  I finally found it about an hour ago.  So it will be easier so me to get work done tomorrow and once work is done it will be easier for me focus on packing.

Our weekends is our down time, so it is hard to motivated, but during the week I just want to be left alone and work.  I don’t want to do a bunch of running around.  Hell, even the time going to the gym grates on me, but I know that it is needed both for my health and sanity.

Justice called uncooperative on voting rights

WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee chairman on Wednesday said the Justice Department is stonewalling efforts to make sure this year’s presidential voting operates fairly.

Chairman John Conyers told Attorney General Michael Mukasey there hasn’t been enough cooperation with Congress on voting rights issues. Conyers also said the work that has been done hasn’t been effective.

“As we sit here today, probably 100 days before the election, we don’t know specifically how our government will respond to the problems that made the elections of 2000 and 2004 so problematic and so controversial,” Conyers told Mukasey at the start of the panel’s oversight hearing — likely the last House appearance for the attorney general.

**This scares the hell out of me.  Especially after all the crappy tactics the GOP has done to disenfranchise voters, especially minorities.

Just Democracy

Some in Washington have touted the export of democracy abroad (often with disastrous results) while they neglect our own. The terrible irony is that they would not grant unconditional funding to a country whose democratic design looks like ours. The machinery of American democracy is broken: mistakes, chicaneries, snafus and disasters debilitate almost every race everywhere, every two years, with the result that an increasing number of Americans report feeling alienated by the voting process.

There are clear signs of the decline of our democracy: registration and voter turnout lag far behind other democracies; ever larger numbers of citizens are disenfranchised; the cost of running for office is spiraling out of control, excluding citizens of average means from participating in government; and our media, the forum for the healthy debate so essential to any democracy, are increasingly incapable of acting in the public interest.

This decline predates the 2000 presidential contest. Some of its roots are found in the invidious history of racial discrimination of which Senator Obama (all too briefly) reminded us. That unresolved election focused attention on our increasingly dysfunctional electoral system and the larger problems of our democracy. The past seven years of extremist Republican rule have stymied every effort to address the flaws that the 2000 election revealed.

Pollsters tell us that “process reforms” don’t galvanize voters. Candidates slight them. Pundits often scorn them, assuming that money will always dominate and that corruption is simply a fact of nature. But the primary season just past–which saw Americans of every background and political persuasion becoming experts on superdelegates and tuning in to a live broadcast of the Democratic Party’s rules and bylaws committee meeting–suggests that Americans do care about how our elections are run, and that they want them to be fair and functional. Obama–and, for that matter, Republican John McCain, who made his reputation as an election reformer–should, in this election year, address the concerns of millions of Americans about a broken system. And in 2009 progressives should recognize that it is vital to break from cynicism and advance a vision of government that is, in fact, of the people, by the people and for the people. It’s time for Just Democracy.

**This is a very interesting article with a break down on some changes that we really should make sure that everyone’s right to vote is protected and their vote counts.  It also makes me sad how far behind the US is on voter rights when we throw it to the world what a great democracy we are…..what hypocrites.  We can’t even get our population to vote in the numbers that other countries do….that is just sad and shameful.

Is Impeachment Too Little, Too Late?

Less than six months before President Bush leaves office, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on whether he should be impeached. 

As could be predicted, the hearing was highly partisan. Democrats said they wanted accountability. Republicans called the hearing a show trial. People on both sides showed anger and emotion. 

The hearing was about executive power and its constitutional limitations. The Democrat-controlled Judiciary Committee is concerned the Bush administration exceeded its authority in several areas including the following: improper politicization of the Justice Dept; misuse of presidential signing statements; misuse of surveillance, detention, interrogation and rendition programs; manipulation of intelligence and misuse of war powers; improper retaliation and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame CIA agent outing case; and misuse of executive privilege. 

**Now I know that this country doesn’t need to be divided and damaged anymore then that piss of crap Rove did to us.  But at the same time we have to reestablish the constraints that was placed in our Constitution for checks and balances.  This administration has disrespected and trampled all over our founding fathers beliefs.

And on that note of abuse………..

Audit: Gonzales-Era DOJ Played Politics

Top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales violated federal law and Justice Department policy by considering politics in hiring career employees, according to an internal department report released today. 

Monica Goodling, the former Justice Department White House liaison, came under particular scrutiny in the report.

“Our investigation found that Monica Goodling and others in the attorney general’s office subjected candidates for certain career positions to the same politically based evaluation she used on candidates for political positions, in violation of federal law and department policy,” Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a statement. “This resulted in high quality candidates for important department positions being rejected because of improper political considerations.”

**You can not convince me that Gonzales didn’t know!  This has been the practice of this administration since day one.   Now I want that bitch Goodling in jail and debarred, but they are just using her as a scrape goat because they don’t have the guts to man up to revel what scum that they are.

Can’t you tell how pissed I am about the previous 2 articles?

FCC may punish Comcast over Web blocking

WASHINGTON – A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast Corp. for blocking subscribers’ Internet traffic, an agency official said Friday.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, was accused of violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet.

Three commissioners have voted in favor of an order reaching agreement with the finding, enough for a majority on the five-member commission. But the decision will not be final until all five members have cast their votes. The commission is scheduled to take up the issue at its Aug. 1 meeting.

**I just love this!  They have the worst servers when you are trying to do business, the worst dvr boxes and they won’t even offer the Big Ten Network.  It sucks that I use them.  I hate them and miss my brighthouse with my roadrunner.  We are seriously thinking of ditching them and getting a dish just to get what we want.  Do you know how many people around here avoid them and use dishes?  It really makes us consider it.

Israeli paper publishes Obama’s private prayer

JERUSALEM – An Israeli newspaper’s decision to publish a handwritten prayer left by Barack Obama in the cracks of Jerusalem’s Western Wall drew criticism Friday as an invasion of his privacy and his relationship with God.

**This was disgusting! I am extremely surprised that they have not publicly released the name of the student who did this and shamed them.

World War II aviator Ringenberg dies

OSHKOSH, Wis. – Margaret Ray Ringenberg, a World War II pilot from Indiana who continued to fly into her 80s, has died. She was 87.

Ringenberg, of Fort Wayne, Ind., died Monday in Oshkosh, where she was attending an Experimental Aircraft Association event. Winnebago County Deputy Coroner Shelley Donner said Ringenberg died of natural causes.

Ringenberg ferried military planes across the country during World War II before serving as a flight instructor and competing in numerous air races, including an around-the-world race at age 72.

Her adventures earned her a chapter in Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation,” a book documenting heroes of the World War II era.

Ringenberg got the bug to fly when she was 8 years old and a barnstorming pilot landed in a field near her family’s farm in northeastern Indiana. After she graduated from high school, she was resigned to becoming a flight attendant – thinking that was the only job on airplanes available for women.

During World War II, however, flight schools suffered a shortage of students as men were drafted. She was 19 when she flew solo the first time in 1941. Then she joined the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots.

When the war wound down, she returned to the Fort Wayne area. She married banker Morris Ringenberg in 1946 and took a job answering phones at the airport. In the 1950s, she began racing and giving flying lessons.

**A trailblazer for women everywhere has passed on.  May not have been famous world wide, but she did her part.

“Birth Control – It’s Prevention!”
Access to birth control for millions of women is under attack. 

For each $10 you contribute, a symbolic “Birth Control – It’s Prevention!” pill pack will be sent to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where this egregious rule has surfaced. Our goal is 2,000 packs by July 31st so please purchase yours today and help us show the Bush administration we will not stand for this attack on reproductive freedom.

**Send the HHS a message about birth control!