個人檔案Laughing Mouse相片部落格清單更多  |  工具 說明 |
|
|
14 November If you were ignorant to begin withI started reading this book last night, You're Broke Because You Want to Be, by Larry somebody or other (forgive me for the lack of typical details today, I'm writing this from work and don't feel like opening yet another window to look it up). Larry is on that A&E TV show Big Spender. Anyway, he makes the point that more money won't make you smarter or better with your money. that if you don't pay your bills on time now, you won't pay them on time if you get more money. He also pointed out that if you're ignorant or stupid, you will still be ignorant and stupid just with money. He points out, quite rightfully, that we really can't be surprised that Brittany and Lindsay and Paris (Isn't it just so sad that you all know exactly who I'm talking about just by first names?) do stupid things like drive around with children on their laps or get drug habits or whatever. People are always going to do stupid things like that, having money just gets your picture taken more often. Case in point: Lohan refers to Obama as 'first colored president' Yep, she did. She is 22-years-old!!! and apparently never got out of her trailer park. I mean really ... who says that anymore? I have an almost 60 coworker who said it a few months ago, but mostly because she is still so unsure of what an acceptable descriptor is. I corrected my coworker almost gently by saying 'Yes, he was African-American." But, seriously, Lindsay's only 22! Another, much more profound, commentary on the state of our society to follow this weekend. I just saw this story and HAD to put in my two cents on it. Sheesh .... I can't hardly believe anyone lets her work! But then, now that I think about it, has she ever worked with a "colored" person?? I'm not sure. And, again, I'm too lazy to look it up on the net right now. I don't believe there have been many, if any, minorities in any of her major films. Interesting. Oh, and I still have to write a debrief about my weekend retreat. That will probably come before the other profound commentary on the state of society. ok, back to my salt mine.
3 November "My Vote Doesn't Count"I can't help but wonder, if all those people who are saying
"My Vote Doesn't Count"
all voted.
I think they could elect one of the random 3rd party candidates!!!
plus, I read something that said that for every vote cast in favor of a candidate two votes have to be cast to reverse it. See I vote for Candidate A, you vote for Candidate B and we have to have a 3rd vote to put one candidate over the top.
Seriously, GO VOTE!!!!!
PLEASE!!!
Plus, I am one of those people who believes firmly that if you don't vote .... you can't complain when the whole place goes to hell in a handbasket.
Hopefully it's not too late for you to go vote.
Now.
GO! 12 September If you don't vote, You're a moron Love me some Craig Ferguson. I think he has an incredible point and is reasonably middle of the road.
Good points, delivered with humor.
It's 8 minutes, but well worth it. Laughed out loud at the end of the bit starting at 7:47.
And, thank you to a friend for leading me to this website where I saw it. 11 September Sleeping inI was woken up by the phone. My (then) best friend was calling and telling me to turn on the TV. I sleep hard and I sleep late and I wake up VERY slowly, one brain cell at a time. I get the TV on and the sight before me is simply inconceivable.
Is this some sort of 20th century 'War of the Worlds' thing?
Is this real??
What are you saying?
What is going on???
Then ... it's not over. A 2nd plane hits ... before my eyes. While I am watching, I see it come up behind the 2nd tower and explode out the sides.
What the ....
Is this real?
Am I awake?
What are you seeing?
All I can think is 'This is it. This is the end of the world. This is the start of World War III.'
( on a side note that is only amusing long after, I also likely thought 'I need to get married ASAP ... so I can have sex before the world ends.' )
I sat in a chair I no longer own and stare sightlessly at the same images rotating over and over.
I don't remember anything about the late morning or early afternoon. I racked my brain over and over to see if I knew anyone in NY to be concerned about. I don't .. and I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
At some point I finally give up and shower and get ready for work. I was working 2nd shift at a juvenile prison and shift started probably at 3. Meaning I worked until 11 the night before. Thus the full-on grogginess of the morning wake-up call. I remember sitting in the employee booth in the building I was assigned to and watching the TV in the corner that was tuned in to CNN or something.
I also remember getting to a point where I had to turn it off, jus tso I could recover, function and regain my emotions. I remember thinking "I don't actually remember challenger. I wonder what the kids in school know about this? Do they have TVs on? Do they even know about it at all yet?"
The days immediately thereafter don't have any specific or particular memories. But as everyone says 'A day we will all remember. We will all remember where we were that day.'
Where were you?
Have also been, separately pondering the previous post on quirkiness. Need to add the following
1) I cannot leave my shower curtain closed ... ever,unless I have guests over and I wan the bathroom to look really nice. Why? Because that is where the serial killers hide!
2) I would rather leave the refrigerator door open than to have to pull doubly hard to counteract that vacuum effect you get from the door being open.
I continue to be utterly convinced that there are a myriad of other incredibly amusing quirks. But I can't thin kof anymore. And now it's time for bed. 28 August possibly naive, i realize thisLet me start out by saying that yes, I may be naive. I may be overly simplistic. I may be unaware of the 'reality' of politics. But I have to get a few things off my chest. A few things that have been bugging me for months, and one that has been bugging me for YEARS. Let me start with explaining that I am not a staunch anything. I look at the issues and mostly this website here to figure out where they really stand based on their comments and voting history. So, here we go.
I am listening to Obama speak and a few things have struck me. Clearly he is charismatic and engaging. Just as clearly the people are going to cheer for him because they have chosen to be at the convention to see him. You're not going to get many pro-mccain/anti-obama people. So, showing the crowd being whipped into a frenzy over and over, only holds so much effect for me.
It is also incredibly easy to oversimplify your 'solutions' to the problems of our country and say that you know how you're going to pay for it. It's another thing entirely to do so.
I guess this is where my naivete may come in. I guess I just don't believe that a single person, no matter what his position, truly has that much power. At one point there was a smear e-mail going around about Obama that said he was going to 'ruin our country.' And I guess I just don't believe that he alone can manage to do that. He has to not only get a whole cabinet on board with him ... he doesn't actually write legislation (lori, am I wrong here? sincerely am not sure). He has to get along well enough with enough of the people elected into congress, which are people on both sides of this partisan line, to get a bill written and through so he can approve it. He can make a lot of changes, and a lot of enormous and powerful changes. But I do not think he alone can 'ruin' this country.
He has mentioned the flood waters twice ... he said the current administration 'sat on their hands while a city drowned.' Really?? What has ANYONE done for Iowa?? Or Lake Delton, WI?? What has anyone done for the tornadoes that go through the middle of this country every single year. And what has anyone done for the hurricane damage also done every single year. I agree that there were multiple layers of failure after Katrina. And I agree that there is still, to this day, much to be done to try correcting the initial damage as well as the resulting damage. But I don't hear anyone asking what still needs to be done in Iowa.
Now to the thing that has bothered me for years. yes, YEARS. Since about 1997 probably. Econ 101, sophomore year of college. One of the 3 things I recall from that class (right next to K being the multiplier, and don't ask me what that even means either) One of the things that professor told us was this. Any and all economic 'changes' take approximately 10 years to truly take effect. And if you do this math on it, Reagan's trickle down plan actually worked. If you add this math to the last 8 years, .... Dubya has little to do with our current recession. And if you take that another 8 years back, Clinton was able to reap someone else's harvest. So, to apply this particular math forward .... if Obama gets elected, he's going to do the same as Clinton and reap someone else's harvest. All my point is, is this, all this talk of economy and 'fixing' it irritates me. That's it. It just irritates me.
To be honest the whole political process irritates me. We can only make the most reasonable decision for us at this time and HOPE ... I MEAN HOPE AGAINST HOPE that this candidate might actually follow-through on half the promises he made. This is why I refuse to spend much time talking about it or reading about it or watching it or thinking about it, much less worrying about it.
As you may have seen from other posts here, I am a Christian. And what that means for me is that I rely solely on God for my provision and sustenance. I pray about the candidates and the issues. Typically I don't put much stock in what they say is their religion or belief system, because those are just words and I can't get close enough to them to judge the fruit of their lives. I check that website and other basic areas that tell me facts and not propaganda. And I make my choice. I cast my vote. I make my voice heard. And then I pray hard ... I pray that GOD would put the right candidate in that position to take this country where HE wishes us to go. I believe absolutely in God's sovreignty and ability to guide and lead this country regardless of our votes. I just think if Jesus could multiply some fish and bread in baskets ... I'm pretty sure God can multiply votes as necessary to have HIS way.
But all of the hype and arguing and fighting about it are useless. Believe it or not I'm also saddened by the amount of artificial and temporary excitement generated in all the stadiums that will be used by the time this is done. Same for major league sports in this country. We are sooo up in arms about what Brett Favre has decided to do, but noone cares how many kids went hungry today. We are so upset by what Obama had to say tonight, but we don't care that social workers are one of the single most understaffed and overworked careers in this country. We grumble and complain aout how much money Lindsay got for her last movie, but we don't want to think about or fight for the teachers who have to use parts of their salary to provide for their classrooms. I just think this becomes one of those situations where our priorities are a bit skewed. That's all I'm sayin' is all. 6 May The world, as a villageI saw this also on Myspace, and just thought it poignant and thought provoking. Even if it's only half true, it should still make you think twice. Like this fact I recently heard: 13 million people live in Calcutta, 11 million of them are homeless. Yep, 11, that's not a typo. That'll make you think twice next time you want to complain about the time waiting in the drive-thru, huh?
If Earth's population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people - with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining-what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found.
57 would be Asian. 21 would be European. 14 would be from the Western Hemisphere. 8 would be African. 52 would be female.
48 would be male. 70 would be nonwhite. 30 would be white. 70 would be non-Christian. 30 would be Christian. 89 would be heterosexual. 11 would be homosexual. 6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth. All 6 would be from the United States. 80 would live in substandard housing. 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition. 1 would be near death. 1 would be pregnant. 1 would have a college education. 1 would own a computer. The following is an anonymous interpretation: Think of it this way. If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are fortunate, more than three billion people in the world can't. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... You are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer healing touch. If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all. 24 April IRS E-mailHey friends, just wanted to give you a heads up. I just got an e-mail supposedly from the irs.gov telling me that I paid in $128 too much in taxes and they will electronically send it back to me. I know for certain that this is phishing because it came to my work e-mail and there is no way anyone here used our e-mail to file taxes. Plus, the link they included did NOT go to irs.gov. So, just know that someone (multiple someone's probably) is trying to get your banking info this way too. Oprah just did a "how to avoid a scam" show last week and, honestly, I thought most of the people were basically idiots for falling for the scams they did. NUTSO. But, this one looks a little more credible. So, be careful out there in cyberspace. 2 April What Do You Make?I saw this on my "funnieststuffonthenet" e-mail today. Although I don't think it's as "funny" as some of their videos it should make you think. See what he has to say.
11 September I RememberI Remember I remember what you did. I remember watching the second plane hit. I remember going to work and being in a functioning state of shock about what had happened and yet being detached because I am so far away from it. I remember wondering what it meant and where we would go from here. How would our lives change after this. I remember hearing the names read. I remember seeing the documentaries. I remember. Nothing can make me forget. This is my Pearl Harbor. In my remembering is my power. I remember your cowardice. I remember your defeat in Pennsylvania. I remember your ongoing defeat as we continue to live our lives much as we always have.
So, I had to tell you that you can’t make me be afraid. You can’t make me slouch when I walk in an effort to look smaller. You can’t make me stop flying. You can’t make me stop traveling. You can’t make me be afraid to get on a plane, no matter what day it is. You can’t make me afraid to visit a monument or attraction. I refuse your fear. You are a coward. You thrive on fear, but not here, not anymore.
You see, you can’t even scare me with death. I will do as I please, visit what I want to see and travel to wherever I’d like without worrying about your plans. For me death would be release. Release from this world. My eternity is decided and secure. I will go on living gloriously in eternity with the love of my life.
So, you see, you have no sway over me. You have no hold on me. You get no say in my life. I will make my choices as an American and as a woman and you don’t even get input much less an opinion or a say.
You tried to defeat us, but all you really did was mobilize us. You tried to instill fear and all you did was scare us for a moment. We are not afraid. We are still flying. We are still traveling. You have not stopped us. You have, however, drawn wrath down upon your heads. May God have mercy on your souls. We have not forgotten and neither has He. Copyright 2006 LaughingMouse 8 August * Wave *I'm still alive.
I'm still here.
I'm still around.
I just got a raise at my day job so I'm working more hours for a little more money. I also focused in on my health and weight management and have subsequently joined Spark People. Feel free to come check us out. It's FREE and you can say that I referred you, my username is MOUSEMARIE. So, I've been busy keeping up with that and watching Big Brother All Stars. I'm keeping up with the 4400 and occasionally the Dead Zone. Not much else on TV for me lately. Lots of movies and browsing.
I am very excited about the upcoming Survivor season and Amazing Race!!! Plus, my regular shows come back. I'm considering getting a DVR (tivo) style service this fall with the money I'm going to make on my raise. I'm comparing it against how much faster I could pay my parents back with that. So, we'll see. Also, I'd need to convince mom to let them put a satellite dish on the house. not sure if I could talk her into that. So, we'll see.
But, like I said, I'm around. Trying to figure out ways to add more. Maybe I'll add a text message e-mail ability or something and see if I can do it that way. But, you can message me somehow if you'd like. 6 April Newsy updateHello friends!! I apologize for the long delay. It has been over a week since I posted. I've never been good at posting over the weekends and I started my new job at Curves this week and so I worked all day and then every night so far this week. Granted, I only work until 715ish, but by the time I get home I want to watch my TV shows and then go to bed. No time for you here!
 and, clearly, the lunchtime posting is going WELL! Still working on those kinks. Maybe I'll get them out sometime soon. . .So, work at Curves is going GREAT. I LOVE it. It is WAY laid-back and lots of chatting and a little bit of cleaning that, I guess, makes sense to me that I can and do take some pride in and therefore do a good job at. Although our vacuum doesn't suck anything at all. Well, occasionally it picks up a little piece of dirt, but mostly it just spreads it around so that it's not so noticeable. I cleaned off our big front window of a paint project for an old promotion and then cleaned off a poor sad geranium that had a TON of brown stuff hanging on it. I also watered two plants that were grand opening gifts and were both bone dry and dying sad, slow, pathetic deaths. I'm taking on those plants as my personal project. I tried to paint some tulips in the window to go with the new promotion, but apparently I can't paint as well with my hands as I can in my mind. Not sure what we're going to do about that since no one else is very creative either. We'll see what we can do. So, that job has been going great!!!!!
Work at the agency has been fine too. I'm finally mostly caught up after the move. A month later. I don't have my list of things I want to do done yet and I have a huge pile of cases to "close" and then send stuff to the State and file them in the back room, but I'm NOT behind anymore, which is always a bonus.
Otherwise life has been good. Hangin out with friends occasionally, spending time with the parents, trying to figure out what happened to my budget last paycheck, going to Chicago on Saturday. Curves is having some kind of convention . . .
Oh, oh, get this! So, apparently we need to leave for Chicago by 530 AM!! So, we're meeting on the other side of town at 515 AM to leave from there. When I first agreed to go I was going to carpool and a couple girls were going to meet at my house AT 530. Now I have to leave my house by 5 so I can be to the club by 515 and carpool, maybe with one of them. I'm SO NOT HAPPY about this, but I don't have any choice, so I'll just have to deal with it.
I have errands to run after work today and I'm debating about getting a workout in at some point. I don't think I'll have the time to. I need to run to Wal-Mart and then go to get groceries and be home in time for supper because Mom is making Pizza Casserole. So, I think I'm goin to nix the workout tonight, but maybe I'll get one in tomorrow night. I got 3 in already this week, but I'm so fat I want to be a bit of an overachiever. Ok, well, I'm going to go get some work done now. Hope you all have a GREAT day. Talk To Ya Soon!!! 29 March Break out the Bubbly!!!Hello my 7 lovely loyal readers!! I think I'm at 7 . . . aren't I? Is anyone else keeping track?? Well, if you're a loyal reader and have never commented or there is no way for me to know you read, then let me know. Leave me a note to say CONGRATS!!
 I started my new job tonight and IT WENT VERY WELL!!! Yahoo!!! I think I know who left the (unnamed) comments on the previous post and she is totally right! I will spend at least half of my time just talking with the members and making sure people are using the machines properly and effectively. I'm kinda excited. The only "concern" at all is how many hours I can get. The club I'm probably working at closes a little earlier than some of the other ones, but I'll just wait it out and see. I have it in my head that 20-25 hours would be great, BUT that may end up being too much. So, we'll just take it easy and see how it goes. There is some cleaning and a bit o' sales, but the sales will be no problem for me, well, eventually not. Right off I do have to learn their system, but in a few short months (I'm sure) I'll have it down pat. So, all was well. I'll be back out there on Saturday working, if you can even call it that.
So, Yeah for me. We'll see how the money and time comes out. I'm sure I'll be posting in the future about how it's going. Anything wonderful and exciting in your life?? I got it!!!I got it. I got a call from the Curves owner today that she really liked me and my bubbly personality and asked if I could make it to training tonight and on saturday. I'm a little freaked out 'cause the last time I got a part-time job in addition to my day job it ended VERY badly and even though I didn't, I still FEEL like I got fired. So, say a prayer that it is either REALLY great tonight, OR REALLY SUCKS. Because if it really sucks, I'm not going to go back. I'm going to take this step of faith and see what happens. I'll hopefully be able to post tonight or tomorrow about how it went and what i'm thinking.
Unfortunately, if I get two jobs I'll have even less time to post stuff here than I do now. The lunch hour thing should keep working though. I'm on my lunch now. But, even though I'll lose touch with my cyber-friends, I'll be making even more money to pay my parents back with and get out of their basement that much faster!! Yahoo for me!!! Yes, if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a pathetic late-20's adult living in her parents basement. Oh, well, c'est la vie for me. Okay, I'm going to go now, hope you have had a great day, I'll post soon!! I hope  Early!!!I can hardly believe it. I'm EARLY FOR WORK!!! So, early I've decided to pos ta quick note about my interview yesterday. So, first and foremost
Yeah for ME!!!  But, more importantly, the interview, well, both of them went fine. The first interview was pretty much just chatty, tell me about yourself, why do you want to work for curves kind of stuff. Would you be willing to learn this or that and can you work in this other town nearby. Yes to all basically. That only took like 10 minutes and I was 5 minutes early for it, so I was back at work earlier than I expected. Then I went back for the "second interview"/workout, which also went well.
The owner told us that she wants to see how we do the machines and how much we pay attention and retain while she teaches us how to do the machines, etc. I thought I did VERY well and I got a minute afterwards to tell her that I've got experience in sales and to smile at her a bit more and improve the impression I had already made.
I have to say here though, that there was a girl there, I swear she never smiled once until the owner looked directly at her! Why would they hire you if you can't even smile while you're sitting around? well, wait, not only was she not smiling she actually looked . . . . I don't know . . . . like eeyore I guess. She just looked not happy to be there, which was so odd to be because it was a second interview, how'd she make it through the first one? Then again, with my "luck" she would be the person they would hire and I would probably never know it. Oh, well. I've said it once, I've said it 100 times
"I don't run the world."
So, I'm off to work now. I want to also say here, again, I
 Flylady. She's got me doing a nighttime routine that includes laying my clothes out for the next day and it's saving me, apparently, 10 minutes or so, which is just long enough to get my makeup on!!! So, I've been wearing makeup for like two weeks or something!! Again, Yeah for ME!!! Ok, well that's enough out of me. I'm off to work now.
Maybe someday next week I'll post about the cute guy I met at the body shop while I was getting an estimate to repair the recent damage to my car. Oh, I didn't tell you about that. Minor fender bender and now it's $1,000 in damage. Oh, well. I got to meet a cute guy and someone else is paying for it. What more can a girl ask for. If you ask nicely I may post about that later someday.  7 March Talking about Remembering Dana Reeve, dead at 44Quote Remembering Dana Reeve, dead at 44 (video) 19 January Speaking of part-time jobsOkay, so I haven't been speaking of part-time jobs, but I did tell a friend last night that I was sorta looking. Actually I have been looking for something full-time clerical for a few months to replace my part-time clerical job and get me mucho mas cashola and hopefully benefits. I've been reading a variety of things lately and I think I've decided to develop some loyalty and stick with this company unless I get that "booming voice from the sky" telling me to move on. So, in lieu if living in my parents basement (i know, it's pathetic, don't remind me) for 3 more years to pay them back the money I owe them I am considering focusing my search into part-time jobs I could do in addition to this job. Why you might ask? First because of the loyalty thing. True loyalty is VERY rare in our world. I would like to be a person of loyalty and integrity. In addition, I like this job. Truly, I do. I love my boss, well bosses. It's not bad paying, it's just not enough since it's part-time. But I have no problem with the company or my job, so why leave? Just for the money? Seems untrue to myself to do that. So, here I stay. So, I told my friend last night that I was pretty sure this was my new plan.
Then, I get up this morning and check my cell phone that I left in my purse and I apparently missed a phone call last night. Very odd for me since I check my phone constantly, but somehow checked it at like 815 and then not again until this morning. Well, I check the voicemail and there is a message from a local video store that is expanding and looking to hire all positions for their new stores. So, I called back this mornin gand I have an interview on Monday at 430, even after my day job!!
Now, a funny thing about this, I told my boss this morning that i had an interview and she made this "not-quite-a-groan, definitely-not-excited" noise and I said, "BUT, I wouldn't have to quit." Her whole face lit up and she said "Oh, YEAH!!" She's so funny. Made me laugh.
Second funny thing. I made up a joke yesterday. I was walking around my house in these shoes that I don't like because they used to squeak and it drove me crazy. So, I said to my mom "I HATE these shoes!"
Why?
Because they squeak . . .
ask me why they squeak
Why?
Because they have a MOUSE in them!!!
HA HA HA HA HA
She and I were both pretty amused by it. As were my other friends that I told. My dad on the other hand, just groaned, which actually is kind of a good sign.
Last funny thing for today and it's not nearly as good as the shoes joke. I was driving home from work last week and I was sitting at a stoplight when I saw this guy riding a bike down the road. But, the guy was like 28 and the bike looked like a 7-year-olds Christmas present, seriously, he was WAY oversized on it. Which would have been amusing enough, but then I look past him at the oncoming traffic also waiting for the light to change and I notice these two women in the front seat of a minivan laughing VERY hard and looking at that guy. I had to laugh at myself, because I see these things that I think are funny and I think "I should put that on my site, that's too funny" but then I'm never sure if it's really funny or if I just think it's funny. this, clearly was actually funny. I will admit it was probably only funny if you could see it, but it was still funny. More humor to be posted soon . . . I hope . . . 4 January Pray hardI believe in praying hard whenever you're praying. But, I especially want to say that I am praying hard for the Miner's families in West Virginia. I have seen posts and comments on a couple of sites about just not using fossil fuels and people calling coal miners idiots. That has NO place right now. Find the right forum to have that say. Do not use this tragedy to try to "raise awareness." These families have plenty of awareness and what they need right now is comfort, peace, love, patience, compassion and help. Do not use this tragedy and horrible "miscommunication" to further your own cause. Remember what your mother taught you
"If you can't say something nice . . .
THEN DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL."
My prayer for the families:
Lord, I pray that you would wrap your loving arms of comfort around each and every member of every family that lost a loved one this week. I pray that you would extend that love and comfort to all of their friends and neighbors and every life that has been forever changed by this tragedy. I pray that you would be their vindicator and that YOU would bring the truth to light. I pray for future safety for anyone who has to go into a mine today or tomorrow or the next day. I pray that you would answer anyone who cries out to you "Why God?" I ask that if there is anything any of us can do that you would show us and help us to have the courage to do whatever it is. Lord, please cover all these people in your grace and protection. Amen.
If you want to watch Video of the broadcasts you can go here to see video. 31 October I'm ANGRY!YES, ANGRY. VERY VERY ANGRY. I can only hope and pray that I write something to help spur us into action. When did our society decide that we should cater to men's wants? That is what we are doing. Did you realize that? I know, it sounds crazy doesn't it. It probably sounds even crazier coming from me. But, stick with me for a minute. Who has the stigma when a rape is reported? The woman. Who has the stigma if a victim is freed from sex slavery? The victim! Who has the stigma when a PERSON is illegally smuggled into this country? The country they are coming from! Not us, God forbid anyone here should take any responsibility! Child pornography Violent pornography Rape Date Rape Domestic Violence Human Trafficking Child Molestation Prostitution Strip Clubs Wondering where this is coming from? I watched the Lifetime Mini-series Human Trafficking tonight. Charity Tivo'd it. As many as 800,000 people are trafficked every year. 17,000 are trafficked INTO THE US!!! 80 percent of the victims trafficked across international borders are female and 70 percent of those females are trafficked for sexual exploitation. What if that were your daughter? What if your sister was kidnapped? What if your niece went on a class trip and never came home? Does that sicken anyone else? So, what does the first paragraph have to do with the second? All of it exists because there is a demand. If no one looked at child porn there wouldn't be such a thing. If no one enjoyed brutalizing women, there would be no domestic violence. We wouldn't have a word for it. If it were not somehow okay for a man to pay someone money to do whatever he wanted to a given woman, then we would have no human trafficking!!! Think about it. And, what's worse, the part that truly infuriates me is that ALL of these crimes are perpetuated by satisfying a man's WANTS. By far and away most of these crimes are committed by men. Yes, I included Strip Clubs. No, they're not illegal most places, but consider what they do. First and foremost they gratify primarily men's desires. Worse, they make women objects, toys, property. Let's be honest here. A lot of strippers and even some prostitues would argue that they do it by choice, but when all is said and done, if men didn't want it, it wouldn't exist. Women certainly don't want it. Many of you are thinking one of two things right now. 1) Yeah those things suck, but strip clubs aren't illegal or 2) I don't go to strip clubs or do any of that other stuff on her list. You don't have to. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)I believe most of you are good men or women. But if you do nothing, then you may as well be an accomplice to one or all of these crimes. How many of you men feeling self-righteous about "I don't go to strip clubs" have turned the other way while a buddy went to one? How many of you have listened to a friend say "She's asking for 'it'" and said nothing? How many have walked the other way when someone asks you for help? SPEAK UP!!! Honestly, I am so beyond sick and tired of the wussy men in my world. Step up to the plate guys!!! There aren't enough exclamation points to stress that enough. You want this world to be different? You want crimes like these to stop? Then speak up. Be a strong man who knows his mind and isn't afraid of his image and reputation. If we all spoke up and made these things not only wrong, but UNTHINKABLE that alone could end all of these crimes. Women, you so-called feminists, you stay-at-home moms, you career women, you speak up too!! VALUE EACH OTHER. Do something. The Home Foundation - Natalie Grant Trafficking in Person's Report 2004 Justice for Children International
Photo taken from Slavery Still Exists campaign.
25 October Caitlin's LawI sat watching Dr. Phil this afternoon (October 25) and cried and prayed, for a family I have never met and most likely won’t meet in this lifetime. I cried for them because a man decided that he had the right to hurt them. He decided that he had the right to decide their lives for them. He decided that he had the right to get a gun, to get duct tape, to get extra ammunition, to put that all in a bag and to try kidnapping his girlfriend (ex-?) When a friend helped the police free her and arrest him, that should have been the end. He should have gone to jail, stayed there, stood trial, and gone to prison. Unfortunately, that is not how our justice system works. Because of the laws in Oklahoma he was allowed to pay the bail and get out of jail within 30 hours of the kidnapping! 30 hours!!! The police did the best they could and they warned this woman that he was going to be released and allowed her time to evacuate herself and try to achieve safety for herself. Unfortunately, she mis calculated what his actions would be. Instead of chasing after her this man decided to kidnap her daughter, Caitlin. He went to her school and took her from her car as she was loading her color guard flags into the back seat. He kidnapped her, shot her in the back and then shot himself. Now this family, their friends, this community, this police department has to deal with the grief and rage that accompanies a horrific crime like this. So, why am I writing all of this you may ask. Why? Because this is the society we have created. I don’t know about this man’s past so I can’t say how he came to the decision making processes that allowed him to do these things. However, somehow, somewhere, something got really confused. There is no way that an average person can simply flip a switch and overnight become a homicidal maniac. Somewhere it became okay for him to decide how this family should live their lives. Somewhere he decided it was okay to get a gun and kidnap a person he said he cared about. Somehow he was allowed to get out on the streets in less than two days and try it again. How have we gotten to this place? How have we gotten, as a society, to the point that this is allowed. This is horrifying and I’m sure everyone watching this show and hopefully anyone reading this agrees with me. What should be more horrifying is that this situation plays out over and over and over and over all over this country to every race, religion and social class of women. That is the truly horrifying event that occurs REGULARLY. I don’t know the statistics so I can’t make the "while I was writing this X # of women were hurt" analogy, but we all know it is happening. So, what are we to do? I saw a public service announcement commercial the other day of a couple in bed listening to their upstairs neighbor be abused by her partner. The headline at the end said "It is everyone’s business." And it is. If we, the rest of this average American society, do not speak up then these horrifying crimes will continue to happen over and over and over and over. How long do you think it will take before it is someone in your family? I have already experienced a removed level of this. My aunt married an abusive man and divorced him twice. But, am I willing to take a chance that I sit on Dr. Phil’s stage in 3 months or 6 months or a year because my sister’s boyfriend has done the same thing?* Are you willing to take a chance that you grieve your daughter because you didn’t speak up?. We need to speak up and change the laws. I just heard Dr. Phil say "Legislators do not make the laws, WE make the laws." The legislators can only do so much and more importantly, WILL only do as much as we tell them to. If there is no outcry against this, then they may not know HOW important to us, as a community, this is. It does not take much time to write a letter or an e-mail or make a phone call and say, "What happened on Dr. Phil today? Make sure that never happens here." They have staff and files to keep track of exactly these things. THAT IS THEIR JOB!!! Make them earn your tax money. Speak up, make your voice heard. I’m going to find my legislators right now. If you want to find yours, go to your state website and look for a legislative link. This should hopefully have a "Who are my Legislators/Find my Legislators" link that you can fill in the appropriate information and get the contact information you need. Join me, and Dr. Phil, in this crusade. *I, personally, am not actually worried about my sister, at least not with her current boyfriend. But this was a poignant example of the chances we are taking with our loved ones. 7 October CONGRATULATIONS!!!!Congrats to Kari and Nathaniel on their new baby boy! I don't know his name, weight, length, or time of birth, just that he was born this morning sometime. I may post details on him later, but in the meantime,
 CONGRATULATIONS!!! |
|
|
