Another vote by Forbes to dismantle the constitution

I continue to be astounded by those who vote for Forbes in my district (VA/4). He supports those who consider themselves above the law. He supports bills and policy that seek to dismantle much of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution. His most recent attempt was to vote against the FISA Act in the House because it did NOT include immunity for the wholesale wiretapping of millions of American citizen's phone and other communications. Luckily it passed but along party lines.

Here is the note I sent to his office:

The fourth amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. The wholesale wiretapping of millions of innocent American citizen's telephone and other communications by the telephone companies at the behest of the Bush Administration violates that right. I believe you should re-examine your position on telecom immunity and affirm your duty to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America. Immunity effectively dismantles the checks and balances built into our constitution so carefully by our forefathers over 200 years ago. Let the courts decide on the legality of the wiretapping issue as our forefathers intended.

I had a conversation about 3 weeks ago with a coworker about this issue. His response that he didn't care that his conversations were listened to. Then I told him about several recent stories I had read about concerning misuses of personal information for vendettas and grudges. I believe I also told him about the 1000+ inappropriate requests for taps made by the FBI in the past few years. I don't know if that changed his mind, but the next day he was registering himself and his son to vote. I can only hope he decided to do so in defense of our constitution.

The "Unhappy" Neighbor

Every school morning, I send my son to the bus stop on the corner across the street. I stay in the garage since his younger sister is never dressed by the time his bus comes. I originally was carting her across the street to wait for her brother's bus, but she had strep and I thought I might, so in order to not infect the other children and parents, I decided to wait in the garage. Now I do that all the time, as it has removed the stress of all three of us getting ready in time to catch the bus. I also didn't feel right about leaving the premises if my daughter was still asleep or inside playing. My neighbor across the street does the same, she sends her son across the street, while she supervises him crossing the street (which I do too).

I have a neighbor who lives a few houses down. Unlike most stay-at-home moms, she seems to have a great disdain for working mothers. When I used to wait at the bus stop in the morning with my son, she would make comments about her parenting skills since she was a stay-at-home mom. I recall one time she made a big deal about 'as a good parent, she could never leave her children in the care of others'. She loves to talk about her stuff, and sometimes others.

Anyway, this past week, for some reason she just felt the need to begin talking about what I think is an upcoming party. Since I am across the street, she has to talk extremely loud - which she does - for me and my neighbor to hear. She began by saying something about her list, and how the other two mothers who were at the bus stop were on it. I was walking back into my garage to put something away, when she yelled, "but not that one over there on the corner". I stopped, turned around, came back out of the garage and just looked at her with an expression of 'what is wrong with you?' My other neighbor's house is not on corner, so that left me as the obvious person she had been speaking about. At that same moment it dawned on me that the other comments she had practically yelled in the past were about me and my kids. Now mind you this happens before the kids are picked up. So the kids can hear everything, including my son. Lucky for me he is oblivious to her as are all the other kids, except maybe her children.

Later that morning I drove my daughter to her day care center on the way to work. As I was pulling in, I just started to laugh. I was giggling thinking about the pre-high school behavior this neighbor exhibited. Even high school students and some middle school students are past the need for such behavior. I mentioned what happened to my other half, and he pointed out to me that there was an article the other day in the paper about competition between stay-at-home moms and working mothers. Now I am not one who competes against others, I don't need others to 'lose' so I can feel I have won. I have my own goals and I compete against my own internal standards. I prefer heart felt Thank You's to any material token of achievement.

My other half commented that such juvenile behavior was mentioned in the article, as something that tends to happen to some stay-at-home moms who are actually jealous of their working counterparts. I believe that happens to a very small minority. I don't know, if she is jealous per se, since she has no idea of the accolades and respect I have earned from my coworkers, customers and competitors. If she did know, then I could see the jealousy angle. But I really think deep down inside she is very unhappy about her life and for some reason can only feel good about herself by tearing others down. I guess for her, she only feels she wins if she puts someone else down. I hope for her children's sake she recognizes this as a destructive behavior and corrects it.

Competition is not healthy when it requires that you tear someone else
down just to feel good about yourself.

TAGS: Working Mothers

Lead Poisoning and Unrestricted Warfare

It is no accident that lead and other hazardous items are showing up in toys made in China bound for American children. It is laughable to believe that China has now banned lead in toys IMPORTED TO THE UNITED STATES. Apart from having that so called 'rule' in effect before their current act was discovered, what strikes me is that they have not ruled out exporting lead toys to other countries. I wonder about Japan, Germany, Brittian, Ireland, are they also recipients of these toys? Do you see a pattern? These are all critical trading partners who make or design critical components.

In the book Unrestricted Warfare, a paper created by two high level Chinese Colonels, unconventional warfare is advocated. One of the striking quotes from the book is that "This is to say that there is nothing in the world today that cannot become a weapon, and this requires that our understanding of weapons must have an awareness that breaks through all boundaries" [p16]. "What must be made clear is that the new concept of weapons is in the process of creating weapons that are closely linked to the lives of the common people".

Now let's look at what lead is known to do in children:
When ingested or breathed in:
1. Reduced IQ.
2. Attention deficit disorders.
3. Behavioral problems.
4. Kidney damage.
5. Stunted growth.
6. Impaired hearing.

At high levels lead poisoning can:
1. Cause mental retardation.
2. Cause the victim to fall into a coma.
3. Death.

In the long term lead poisoning is linked to Juvenille Delinquency.

Now for another link in this chain. Many factories in China employ or are run by the Chinese Military (aka PLA, Peoples Liberation Army).


I for one do not believe for one second that the use of lead paint was simply a mistake or oversight on the part of the Chinese factories. I believe this was an attempt by the PLA to poison our children. One of the passages in the book Unrestricted Warfare, is that it is more effective to cause casualties than it is to kill your enemy. The reason is simple, having to take care of casualties/wounded weakens the enemy. Not only is lead poisoning one way to ensure your enemies are unable to fight, it is also an excellent way to ensure they cannot fight you for their lifetime due to sickness or mental incapacity.

China's leadership believes War with the US is inevitable. China has been implementing their master plan to defeat the US via unrestricted warfare. I believe this war has been going on since the late 1990s if not earlier. In addition to the recently published Network Warfare attacks and successful penetration of DoD networks by Chinese military, there is the policy of China to conduct financial warfare against us. By using prison labor and military workers, China has eliminated alternate source of many items we buy by making it economically unfeasible to make products anywhere but China. If you take a look at Unrestricted Warfare's list of alternative methods of combat, you will see we are battling China already on most of these.

Technological Warfare: HD-DVD standard - 2 weeks ago. Purchase of IBM's hardware business - Lenovo, 2 years ago. Red Flag? Linux (chinese version of linux).

Resource Warfare: Buying rights to oil fields, and buying as much crude oil as possible (e.g. Venezuela, Argentina). Buying shipping ports in the US (Long Beach , New York).

Smuggling Warfare: China has been doing this for years. Currently Chinese factories have created at least 5 or more knockoffs of the iPhone.

International Law Warfare: UN Security Council, G8, and I believe the IMF.

These are just some of the methods China is using to wage war against the US. Add disabling and sickening American children to the list.

TAGS: china | lead poisoning

Sore Throat Remedies

Earthclinic's site for natural cures

I read the link above and compared it to my mom's recipe...

Take a couple of Garlic cloves, honey (to taste), a little bit of lemon juice, water and a couple of cinnamon stick and bring them to a simmer. Then let it simmer for at least 10 minutes so the cinnamon sticks release their cinnamon. Cool slightly and serve in a mug. Then sip it down.

I adapted my mom's recipe based on the recommendations Earthclinic's site and came up with this recipe.

Cinnamon-garlic-honey tea - mostly by my mama Terri (except **)
* 2 ounces apple cider vinegar
* 2 cups water
* 2 sticks cinnamon
* 2 TBS lemon or lime juice
* 2 Cloves of garlic peeled
* 2 ounces+ of honey (+to taste)
* 2 shakes (~1/4 tsp) ground chile powder - chipotle or cayenne **

Boil all together, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Cool slightly and serve. Sip while still warm. You can make a batch and simple reheat it during the day. Save in glass canning jar and refrigerate if necessary then reheat on the stove.

The pepper kills some of the sting of the soreness. Granted I haven't had as severe a sore throat as others described on the earth clinic site, but this works for me. I think the honey, lemon juice and cinnamon help to make the brew more palatable.

technorati tags:
remedies | sore throat |folk cures

What's up with Wavy10

Tonight on their news cast I saw them use a technique that caught me offguard. They were doing a story on the most arrested criminal in the country. The odd thing was that instead of simply showing his series of mugshots, they started each somewhat out of focus mugshot at a normal frame and then zoomed in. The effect was that this black guy was coming after you. I was taken aback. I've never seen them do this to a white guy (even the most disgusting ones). I'm not black but the implied message is something only an apologist could miss.

TAGS: subtle racism | racism

A coworker ended up with my old CRX

Small world. No, I don't mean the disney ride, I mean as in how ironic. Back in 2001 I sold my 1988 Honda CRX to a family friend. I had taken relatively good care of it engine wise - regular oil changes. Body wise, it was ok. It had a few distinctive dings in it, mostly of the "I keyed your car" type. Which I figured were caused by some F-150 driving rednecks who "don't like them Jap cars". Well F-150 drivers, those will now be built by my cousins!! Meanwhile most of those 'Jap cars' are built here in the US, by workers who don't shaft the buyer. Unlike workers at a local truck plant who don't put parts on the truck 'because they don't feel like it' (like a friend who worked at the plant told me about) -- but I digress.

My coworker has been driving this car for at least 2 possibly 3 years. Recently I had read that great book, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. One of my projects was Cleanout the Garage. In said garage was a donut spare from the CRX I sold. I remembered that my coworker had a CRX, so I finally remembered to ask him if he wanted the spare. Sure. This morning I brought it in. As I was talking to him, I wondered if it had been my CRX. He explained how he had bought it from a used car lot that had bought it from an auction a couple of years ago.

He mentioned that he had replaced the windshield on it and had to scrape out some silicone. Funny, I said, I had a leaking windshield that I had fixed by caulking with silicone. "On the drivers side?" I asked. "Yes". Then he asked, was the side window ever replaced. I said, yes the guy after me locked his keys in the car and ended up busting out the right side rear passenger window. He said, Yes that's the one and said the seal wasn't the original. He walked me over to his car, and there on the passenger side door was a vertical rust line about 1 inch long and a sharp indentation next to it. The same one I remember finding one day after going back to my car from school - a Navy school no less. Perhaps it had occurred earlier, but it was the first I had noticed it, back in 1989.

Then he opened up the hatch and I looked at the bumper, same scratches on the top of the bumper where I had dragged something heavy across it. Hey, I used to be very petite, and I still rest heavy things on a bumper before I lug them into my van.

My other half wants me to get a picture. If I remember I will and add it to this.

At least my coworker takes care of it. He says the engine runs great. Which is great to hear despite the 2 other owners after me. One who I know abused the car - drove it down a dusty road to work everyday for maybe a year. Lost the wheel covers, don't think he gave it regular oil changes (or air filter changes). The other guy I don't know how well he took care of it, but he was a young kid and I don't think he could afford to keep it up as well as I did.

Small world indeed.

TAGS: cars | coincidences

Eating better - no this isn't a New Year's resolution

My 'sister-in-law' recently started asking her brother (aka Dad) about better foods. I realized that we have been buying better for us food for a little over a year now, but hadn't really shared that with anyone. So here is my attempt to share how you can eat better for sometimes alot less and also actually get a little exercise in the process.

3 Simple things to do
We have been losing weight and feeling better just by doing these three simple things. Well actually I have done two of them and not much of the 3rd.
1. Bread - eat whole grains - 3 grams minimum per slice.
2. Butter/Spread - use Smart Balance.
3. Pedometer - wear it and aim for 10,000 steps per day.

1. Bread - eat 'better' carbs
We replaced white bread (aka refined carbohydrates) with it's better and actually more tasty variety - whole grain edition.

Any bread we buy must have at least 3 grams of fiber per slice. Pepperidge Farms makes some excellent breads (7-grain, 9-grain, 12-grain, 15-grain) that are quite tasty. So does Arnold. We prefer Pepperidge Farm's Nutty Oat, but Walmart no longer carries that. That was the best tasting bread we have tried. However Sam's club now carries Arnold Whole Grain classics in a double loaf pack that costs slightly more than the same as a single loaf at Walmart around $2.88 if memory serves (I can't find the receipt).

I gained a ton of weight when the diet message 10 years ago was to eat Pasta (aka Low Fat era, lots of carbs). Boy did I. I gained 30 pounds which has never come off! The problem was that the pasta was white, not whole grain. In addition to having a high glycemic index - which means it burns quicker and if not used gets converted to fat quicker, white pasta also makes you hungrier. Yup that's right. You end up feeling unsatisfied and hungrier, so you eat more. Another reason to limit your intake of white carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes) and soda. The easiest way for me was to start by cutting out one serving of white carbs per week, then every couple of days and so on.

2. Butter/Spread - eat 'better' fats
Another thing we did was discover Smart Balance spread last year, as I have noticed many others have. Most medical professionals and dieticians are promoting that not all fat is bad. In fact you shouldn't avoid all fat, just the bad - saturated fat (sat fat) variety. You can't cut out sat fat entirely but you can make choices to replace it with the artery Clearing variety, poly unsaturated (poly fat) and mono unsaturated (mono fat). We try to keep sat fat grams down to no more than 6 per serving - and that's actually more than we usually allow.

Smart Balance has 9 grams of fat, but only 2.5 of that is sat fat. Poly fat makes up 2.5 grams and mono fat makes up 3.5 grams and 0 trans fat grams. According to their label a Brandeis University study showed their spread helped to improve cholesterol ratios of HDL (good) versus LDL (bad) cholesterol in study participants - the catch per CSPI is that you must exclusively eat it in place of all fat. Still it's better than using regular butter or margarine. I believe any little bit of good you can do still helps.

So if you've been doing Atkins, etc, at least cut the fat off your steak and try to get lean cuts of meat. You'll get your protein fix and not be clogging your arteries with heart killing sat fat.

Also did you know that your brain needs fat? Just don't forget, it needs mostly better mono fat far vice the not-so-good trans fat

3. Pedometer
Ok so this is not something you eat, but it can help you with your eating plan. I don't know how it does, it just seems that all that walking helps you prefer better foods (maybe because those foods have more nutrional value).

Last year Dad started to wear a pedometer. He finally settled on one he picked up at Sam's Club for $10, the Omron model. It has a 7-day memory and automatically 'clears the cache' to dump the 8th day's numbers. His goal last year was to do 10,000 steps each day. Sure enough a couple of weeks ago PBS had a Frontline special about Diet Wars where that was the consensus of several medical experts. In fact many sites and organizations are now promoting the 10,000 steps per day.

In Dad's experience working in an office, if you drink alot of coffee and "have a busy day" you'll average around 6,000 steps per workday. If you're like me and get stuck at your desk, you might make 3000 per workday. It also helps to have a baby who likes to be held and the holder must be moving at the same time (e.g. walking back and forth). Per Dad, "the earlier you wake up, the more steps you seem to build up before you leave the house" -- linlu note: it works for him since he's hyper to begin with. He also says that staying up late doesn't work because you tend to be winding down (aka sitting more).

Summary

So there you go, two eating tips and one activity tip, which I classify with eating better. We have others but those escape me right now. Until next time..

TAGS: dieting | New Year's resolutions | Eating better

.:end:.

Blogging for your kids

Here's an interesting idea that finally occurred to me. This blog will serve as insight into who I am/was for my children. I know that there are many many blogs out there and many of the bloggers are parents. As the mom of two under 6 year old kids, I can see that already many of my attitudes and ideas have changed in the almost 6 short years they have been with me. I know that in the teenage years and especially in the adult years and when I am gone, this blog may well be the best indicator of who I was at this time. So although I may have an audience of 1 or 2 at least I can hope (assuming I'm not archived off) that my kids will be able to read my blogs and discover who I was.

I'm lucky in a sense that my memories of my dad are still with me, but how can I share what he was like with my kids (a lot of fun). My son does not remember grandpa, and my daughter never met him on this earth (although a toy in her room was 'talking' to her last night - must be one of the grandpas).

If my dad had a blog when he was still 'mostly here' he might have still been alive today - at least he would have taken better care of himself. It would also have been neat to peer into pop's mind at various points in his life. I wonder how he handled becoming a father. I know I ended up disappointing him later in his life, but at least my sister was there for him. I can only imagine that when we were little I was his favorite, but later in life it was my sister who took care of him. I am glad he left what he could to her. She is also the person I am trusting with the most important details of my life (although she doesn't know it yet!).

Anyway back to 'blogs as heirlooms'. Here's to hoping this little corner of the internet will be passed on to my kids.
.:end:.

TAGS: heirloom | legacy

Sucked vs didn't Suck

The American Music Awards (AMA) is on tonight. This is my take on who sucked and didn't suck.

Sucked
AMA Producer & the Sound Engineer
When will any music awards show get the sound right? If this thing was broadcast in Dolby surround you certainly didn't hear it. The music sounded as if it were coming out of a 1 foot wide flat speaker in the front - not even stereo in some cases. This is on my Yamaha/JBL surround sound system. I had to use the make believe surround Concert Hall setting to make it sound wider than 1 foot and three dimensional. Ugh, in 2005 this is the best they could do? If I were a performer, I would have wished I had never performed on this show.

Mariah Carey - A horrid performance of a horrible song. She blamed it on a lack of a monitor, nah, she was signing the song. It just sucks as a song. She needs to stop doing vocal gymnastics and relearn how to sing. Her style is so annoying these days. An x Octave range is not a weapon, it's an instrument for pleasure not pain. She's forgotten that.

Lindsey Lohan - I love her movies, but she doesn't belong on a music stage. She butchered Stevie Nick's "Edge of 17". She failed miserably at using the backup singers to mask her flat and unappealing voice. When she realized that, she started doing the rock star poser routine.

Kenny Chesney - Two things I can't stand -- Male twang and the 'yo yo yo bitch' rap. Guess which category he's in.

Paris Hilton - Why is she even there? I've seen better leaches for publicity.

Ferrell & Gwen Stefani - Like I said two things I can't stand. This was poser rap, no music, no talent. Gwen -- what a waste of theee minutes for her. She should have picked Andre 3000 instead to rap with - at least he has real music behind him and something more than the usual yo yo yo cliche rap.

Hillary Duff - Weak material. But at least she can hit the notes. She needs to lose the silly background dancers. Ouch she's hitting bad notes, I think she's moving toward the suck category... Yup, no warmth in her thin now grating voice. She's in the suck category.

Ciara, Bow Wow and Mario - She had a thin song with a thin grating voice. I don't hear what all the fuss is about. She's another Maria wannabee - yuck. BowWow/Mario - 'snap' 'snap' heard it.

Tim McGraw - I'm sorry but this boy cannot sing. If you remove his nasal twang you'd hear a weak whiny voice. Must be the wife effect.

Eurythmics - Thanks to the sound engineer. Annie couldn't recover from a bad monitor until the end.

Macy Gray - "Dee Dee Dee"

Rascal Flats - Who? Chipmunk lead vocalist. At least they can harmonize, but in a twang! Yuk. "Brother and sister kinda thing" - Yup makes you think of Michael Jackson. Eeew!

Didn't Suck
AMA Video Director - The film effect on some of the performances was a great touch. For some of the performances it almost seemed as if you were watching a DVD. I say almost a DVD because of the sucky lack of surround or even something more than flat sound.

Rob Thomas - Going solo. Still sounds great. Nice understated arrangement and performance. He didn't pose, he just got the job done.

Keith Urban - At last a country singer who doesn't rely on a twang. I've never heard him before since most male country singers can't sing without a cowboy hat a twang or both - both of which do nothing for making the music pleasant. Which is why I avoid male country singers. I like the sound of some of the females, just not the twangy males.

Cyndy Lauper & Sarah McLachlan - Sarah was great as always. Cyndy was a little shaky on some solos. Together their vocals harmonize beautifully. The only down side was that the pedal/steel guitar was too loud, drowning out Sarah in parts.

Will Smith's Acceptance Speech - I love his rap. He's got great music. He's a real talent and his songs are just plain fun.

TMobile Caffeinated Cheerleader commercial - I was once like that - in the ice age.... Giddy, couldn't shut up. It's so amusing to watch.

Santana & Los Lonely Boys - These boys can sing. Harmonies - something you don't hear much of anymore except in Rock. Cool guitar solos by the lead guiatarist/vocalist of Los Lonely Boys. Santana - he's one of those legendary guitar players that just becomes more phenomenal as he gets older. He could walk on water with his playing. How they made their guitars sing such a sweet melody. This was the best performance of the night.

Sheryl Crow - She always delivers, too bad the ABC/AMA Sound Engineer didn't.

All American Rejects - They didn't suck, but they weren't anything special either.

Brooks & Dunn acceptance speech - A heartfelt thanks to all music fans, not just their own.

Rolling Stones - These guys have been performing a little longer than I have been alive. Tina Turner is coming out of 'retirement' to do another tour. I hope I'm kicking and moving like they are when I reach that point in my life.

Tina Turner - I know she wasn't on. But if you can get a chance to go see her, do! I wish they made more like her. She can do it all and sounds like heaven live.

TAGS: award shows

Household tip - Bulldog clips

Here's a tip that will make you say, of course.

Do you have many potato chip, cracker or even frozen food bags that you crumble-roll the ends to close them. Well if you use a 1 1/2" bulldog clip instead, you won't have to do that anymore.

Rather than buy those oversized clips at the grocery store. [You know the ones which have incredibly weak grasping power.] Use an office supply bulldog clip instead.

It won't let you down. It's smaller


and it's easier to store when not in use. . Note: There are at least 4 large and a couple of smaller bulldog clips in that 3" x 3" storage cubby.

TAGS: Household tip | Household