September, 2004 Week 2
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September, 2004 Week 2
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Monday September 6, 2004 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. i.e. Payback is going to be a bitch... Mathew 7.1&2 The atrocity committed by Chechen "Freedom Fighters/Commandos/Martyrs/Terrorists" used that quote from the Bible to justify what they did in Beslan. 250,000 Chechens slaughtered by Russian soldiers, 43,000 of them children.
I am sure there is a similar admonition in the Koran, payback for Iraq is going to be a bitch... There were women in the group, they call themselves "Black Widows" their husbands and sons were killed by Russians some of the women in the Theater Raid two years were pregnant as a result of being raped by Russian soldiers and they wanted retribution, even to the point of taking their own lives, the bombers on the two Russian Airliners were women and thought to be "Black Widows". Russia has opened Pandora's Box in Chechnya... Just as we have done in Iraq... http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/06/1094322719307.html http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=17714&mode=&order=0&thold=0 A good heart felt letter. If I were a Christian I would be as vocal and irate as a human being could get making sure that the world knows that the Bush's, Fallwell's, Robertson's and their ilk don't speak for me. What concerns me is the passion in the responses to this letter. The Democratic Party is not necessarily the Liberal Party, many of us have very conservative views. The neat thing about Democrats is that they don't all speak with the same voice, it is also why we are in such big trouble. The Democratic Party is trying not to allow Religion to play a major role beyond stating that Religious Freedom is a birthright of this country, we are a party for every one and your Religion just doesn't matter. The Democrats appear to live by that belief, the Republicans just give it lip service. I believe that the Democrats have the Party of Inclusiveness, the Republicans are the Party of Exclusiveness, in other words, the Republicans are all on AOL, the Democrats are everywhere else. We can't afford to alienate anyone, we, as Democrats, accept and grant everyone the right to think and believe whatever they damn well want. We know that progress is made by people who march to a different drummer, we know that dissent is the governor that keeps the country on course and at a steady pace, we know that the path George Bush is leading the country down will lead to our destruction. Bush and his handlers have to go, please don't alienate anyone who agrees with that premise. 9.04 Build 3460 will not allow over 50 pages of a PDF file. What is the limit built into the NEW 'upgrade' Version of this program?
I plan to get the house picked up today, (don't laugh) when that's done I can work on putting down the kitchen floor again. The floor is still warped but the worst part is at one joint where the edge swelled up, I have to take the belt sander to it, when that's down I think a double layer of base material ought to even out the rest. I have been doing laundry all day, except for a trip to the store for food... Christian gets picked up down at McDonalds at 1830 Tuesday September 7, 2004 One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one. Henry Miller, writer (1891-1980) Christy called this morning, she packed up the car and pulled out into the parking lot and the transmission wouldn't engage right away and then it slammed into first gear... went belly up. I told her to get to the nearest transmission repair shop. I talked to her again about 0930, she found a transmission shop and got the car in. She was impressed with the fella who owns the place, he promised to have it fixed and back on the road by tomorrow afternoon. He drove her to a motel and promised to come pick her up when it was done... I was up to my ears getting the kids ready for school, Autumn's first day... I got a late start but met the school bus coming the other way at Don Cuco's, I got Mike "B" and Autumn on the bus, they took off to drop Autumn off at Agua Dulce School and then continue on to Sierra School in Valencia. I waited for one of the moms to drop off her two kids with me and then waited for Rhonda to bring her little girl Allie, her son Austin was sick so I didn't have to take him. We left at 0737... I just made it, 2 minutes to spare.
Do you want a few links to sites that I rely on? Some are Partisan and others are either non-partisan or apolitical? try these: http://www.vvaw.org/resources/listservs.php This is an Anti War site, it will be deemed Partisan by Republicans Select; VVAWNET distributes news about VVAW and about issues in which the organization has taken an interest. Expect 0-10 posts per day. It has a list you can sign up for and it watches what's going on in Iraq... it's amazing what is being overlooked by the Media... good and bad. This is a very Partisan page, verry little ranting vut some very solid articles, updated hourly, Maurine Dowd, Molly Ivins, Paul Krugman, Gregg Palast, Eric Margolin, Thomas Oliphant and many others... excellent site... http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Disinfopedia A little complicated to get started on but it lets you check out any claim, it is non-partisan... Checks out everything being said by and about the candidates... it is non partisan If anyone else has someplace to add let me know... Don't let the Democrats or the Republicans do your thinking for you... check out everything they say and make up your own mind. Wednesday September 8, 2004 The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. Theodore M. Hesburgh, educator (1917- ) Mornings are stressful... too much going on, I managed to get through it. I got all the kids to their appointed places at the proper time... I went to Otto's. for breakfast... I'll never learn. I did manage to do my crossword puzzle though. I came home and called Christy, still no word on the car, I went to S&F and picked up some necessaries, went to S&S Furniture and picked up Calie & Autumn's beds they took up so much room I couldn't see out the passenger side at all so I went to the Lab at Kaiser to make a deposit, then I went home to get the beds out of the van, . I was running out of time so I took the car back down to Wall-Mart to get Calie her kneepads and some dog food... I called Chris, the car won't be ready till tomorrow... damn. She sounded in good spirits but I think she is getting a little stressed, missing two days out of her itinerary is going to make things pretty tight and I think she'll still be able to do most everything she wanted to do, she'll just have to do it quicker... Once she has the car and is stopped for the night tomorrow I can work up a new itinerary for her. Politics Just saw this blurb: Despite his lip-service, President Bush is NOT taking the action needed to provide American children with first-rate educations. Washington is handing out tax breaks to millionaires while laying off teachers. And our tax dollars are being spent on building schools in Iraq, while slashing school construction funding at home. The facts speak for themselves:
Thursday September 9, 2004 I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945) Rhonda drove today, that's a good thing except that it gives my poor brain whiplash. I had the day mapped out and now I have to reorganize. I have DVD's to deliver, bills to mail and lord knows what else. Christy's car is fixed as of 1400 her time, she is going to try to push through to Oklahoma City tonight... I have reworked her itinerary... except for passing on visiting her pal in Denver and spending about 5 hours less time with her sister Pat in Pennsylvania she is still on track... Christy left Santa Fe at about 1520, she plans to drive about 8 hours, to Oklahoma City, about 500 miles... I talked to her at about 2200 my time, she still had about 2 hours to go... I have been doing laundry for 5 days, I finished the pile in the Laundry Mountain today. The last load of kids socks (Yes, there were two loads of socks...) I had to do it twice, I may have to do the last load three times to get the dirt out of them, the water was so brown I couldn't see into more than about a 1/2 inch. Some of the socks were so damn dirty I had to throw them away. Autumn isn't real good about swallowing so she drools a bit, especially when she is eating so her shirt gets stained a lot, the most damaging food to her shirts is Oreo Cookies, after eating an Oreo we have to throw the shirt away... Unfortunately I have just moved Laundry Mountain to the living room though, I have to go through it all with the kids, I hope to be able to throw away about a 1/4 of it... either too stained or too small. Calie won't wear Cindy's stuff, Cindy trashes her clothes, Monica won't wear Calies clothes, their too 'Girlie Girlie', and Autumn is too small to wear any of the other kids stuff. "B" takes Mikes hand-me-downs but Mike doesn't hand down very much. Christian wears a 'uniform' at school so... when he's out grown it it gets tossed in the Goodwill pile. Friday September 10, 2004 A panic attack is like drowning, but there's no water to make you feel better about it. Jason Love As I was taking my shower this morning I noticed that the water pressure was less than it should be... the cobwebs slowly went away and the subliminal feeling of dread that all was not right with the world meshed with the realization that the water pressure was not improving and the knowledge that I had recently experienced the same phenomenon resigned me to the distinct possibility that there was something wrong with the well... again. Apparently all the laundry I did overtaxed the well and the tank is empty... damn, I went to the pump house and heard the pressure pump straining so I turned it off. Then I checked the level in the holding tank, it has about a foot of water, maybe less. The alarm never got replaced so I had no way of knowing what was going on in the tank, I was checking it every day for about two weeks and then just once a week, I checked it on Sunday and the level was fine but I guess all the laundry I did drained it faster than the well could handle it., the water is coming back... slowly... I will monitor the water level every couple of hours, until then, no showers, no laundry and no dishwasher for at least a day. Saturday September 11, 2004 Water level is about 3 feet, much slower recovery than it should be. By the end of the day the tank was a little over half full... Christy reached Wernersville Pennsylvania at about 1700 her time, she will visit with her sister and her husband and get some sleep, it was a long drive. She will drive down to Virginia tomorrow hoping to arrive before check-in at 1700, it's about a 4 hour drive so she will leave around 1100. I got "B" a haircut and did some shopping with Autumn and Christian, the girls are with Mrs Harrison at church, Calie came home about 1630 but Monica went back to the church to see a movie, translated that means she was meeting some of her friends. Monica isn't a 'church person'... I came home and while I was straightening out my computer desk I noticed that I hadn't returned a DVD to Modern Video, it is in a nondescript case similar to the ones used for software programs... Assassination Tango with Robert Duvall [at 72] playing an mob hit man and [sexy?] leading man... It got, and deserved, lousy reviews. Anyway, it is weeks overdue. I ran down to pay for it and they said that'd be $47.00. I said, that's more than the video is worth... I want to talk to the manager; Not available... They have my name and number so if there was a demand for it or if it was in their best interest to save their customers unnecessary charges, they would have called me... apparently not. I have never been more than a day late, so, from my perspective at the moment, the only reason they didn't call is to run up the late charges... no one wants to watch Assassination Tango but me and one or two other Robert Duvall aficionados. If they force me to pay I will never go back. September Eleven, 2004, three years since that horrible morning... I don't know anyone who was killed, I think Christy knows a lady who is the Aunt of another woman who had a daughter who's husband was killed... it really doesn't matter. I know that none of those people deserved to die, and I know that my country was attacked and I know that my president hasn't caught the man who's ultimately responsible. Three years! 7000 Americans maimed, 1000 dead, and all he has to show for it is one pathetic old dictator, found hiding in a hole, locked up. attacked two countries who had nothing to do with it! Alienated the whole World, divided the country into virtually armed camps... maligned the career of a good man. Single-handedly thrown the country into virtual bankruptcy. Going to war against Terrorism is impossible, Terrorism is a concept, a tactic. Terrorism is a crime against humanity, the perpetrators need to be hunted down and summarily killed, they have to disappear, they can't be martyred they can't be given a forum, they need to be removed. Their lines of support need to be eradicated... the world needs to band together and jointly hunt them down. I read David Brooks's column this morning and felt compelled to share my views, pointless I know, but his smug presentation sort of twisted my knickers...
Sunday September 12, 2004 The water tank is almost full, only about 6 inches to go as of 1500 today. I got a hold of Christy, she had been on the road about 45 minutes, the transmission isn't going into gear for a few minutes when she gets to a stop. Not good. She nursed it the rest of the way to the Wellness Center in Locustdale and Grandpa took off to see his brother in Lynchburg. The car was acting up all the way there, sounds like the same trouble they had to begin with... I was very concerned about the folks trying to get to Lynchburg and I was really getting worried when I looked at my watch and found that they had not called after three hours, it's only 106 miles, I finally contacted them at his brother Ray's house and called Christy to ease her mind. Now we have to see how good the Warrantee at ATRA is, my past experiences with Warrantees is not so hot, I can't remember one single instance where I came ahead in one of these situations... so I will not be resting easy till I hear from Grandma. I just heard Cheney saying that Bush's tax cuts are a success because we will come in under the Budget offices estimate... so in his twisted mind the fact that instead of setting a record with a deficit worse than the one set in 2003 which had a negative $379 billion deficit we will set the record with $422 billion deficit instead of the projected $477 billion... according to Cheney that's a good thing... does that sound crazy to you? It sounds crazy to me... Who is falling for this crap!!! The Kerry Campaign is reaching the 11th hour... if he has anything up his sleeve he had better use it quick or that beady eyed little weasel will get to finish off the country...
On the Anniversary of my Daughters Murder Fear and blind hatred; threats and spurious accusations; these appear to be the accepted “norms” of the Bush/Cheney cabal. It is very apparent to this old vet that Bush, Cheney and the rest of the “Mayberry Machiavelli’s” surrounding them need high levels of chaos and instability to operate-to push their “agenda” of world dominance; their vision of Pax Americana. This they have turned into an art form. All one has to do is look at Iraq. 9/11 is exactly what they needed and were looking for to rally the great unwashed masses, us the people of this nation, behind the pre-existent Iraq invasion and war plans. This was right out of the Project for a New American Century’s play book when it stated the nation would need a “Pearl Harbor” type event to rally the nation behind invading Iraq. The murders of 3,000 people on 9/11 provided Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz with exactly what they needed to push the “Liberation of Iraq” down the throats of not only this nation, but the rest of the world as well. It seems however, that the only people that fell for this “scam” are right here in the good old U.S. of A. Well before 9/11, during Cheney’s “secret” energy task force meetings, Cheney, Ken Lay, et al, had mapped out Iraq’s oil fields, refineries and pipelines. They turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to ALL pre 9/11 warnings. They were too busy looking at Iraq’s oil fields and drooling too concern themselves with the notion of a major “terrorist” attack on the U.S. Why worry about that when there are oil fields to “liberate.” Why were all the warnings ignored by Bush/Cheney? For me that is an easy one to answer: they want their “New World Order” and will stop at nothing in their quest for power and domination. And that includes the deaths of 3,000 people on 9/11. One of the innocents that was murdered on that day, Vanessa Lang Langer, she was in Tower ll, 93rd floor, was told to “stay at your desk, you are safe.” Vanessa’s mother, Donna, who teaches Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University, has a lot to say about what happened on 9/11 and about Cheney’s recent warning, threat, whatever you want to call it, when he told us a vote for Kerry is inviting a new 9/11. Outrageous is an understatement. An open letter to Dick Cheney on the anniversary of my daughter's murder: Thank you for warning me about my vote for John Kerry. In this version of America, the one you all have crafted, clarity is very difficult to come by. Let me make myself perfectly clear: my daughter was murdered on 9/11/2001, on an absolutely clear, late summer morning. She was four months pregnant and, that morning, five minutes after the first of two planes hit the World Trade Center, she was told she was “safe.” She was told to “stay at her desk.” She was found whole and intact ten feet from an alley between Towers IV and V. I cannot tell you how I would have appreciated such a clear warning before September 11th, or even on September 11th. Before that day, there were warnings, clear warnings, but they only reached the desk of George W. Bush. And I note he did nothing to stop the events of 9/11. Nothing. There were other warnings during Clinton's tenure in the White House (many I’m sure you don’t need me to innumerate)--some, though they were perhaps more coded than your recent missive, came in the form of Ken Starr's investigation of Clinton. As a mother or a citizen of this country, did I read this as a warning then? No. I did not. Was this money well spent by the Republicans? Many of my Republican friends at the time did not think so. Could we Americans afford this kind of investigation, knowing now how much we needed Clinton to be free to pursue more pressing issues? No. Should I have read in my lack of understanding of the import of the Ken Starr investigation that there was something you people wanted to have occur? Was this a deliberate distraction? Has anyone in the media since, or, in fact, has anyone in any office of power in this nation asked any of you to, perhaps, answer for that? Anyone? I ask these questions now because the Bush/Cheney administration and all of your followers are the greatest beneficiaries of the events post-9/11, and I take your warning as an indication of what you guys will bring to America if Kerry wins. Get this clear, Mr. Cheney, what you guys will bring to America. I fear you, believe it or not, more than I fear another bin Laden attack and that is why I am asking you these questions now. Because I take your warning as an admission of your ties to that event. Even, no especially, if that admission is not what you intended. So thank you, once again. And, understand how truly thankful I am to hear you articulate what only I seem willing to articulate: That if Kerry wins, you will come back at us. We are forewarned. But know this: I will never again watch my values, and the values of my fellow Americans be trampled on by so much corruption, so much duplicity and so much unadulterated hate without speaking out. You are not a Republican. You have shamed Republicans. And many of them, I pray, will be voting with me, in hope as well as fear, for John Forbes Kerry. Donna Marsh O'Connor The article below from NYTimes.com Missing in Action September 8, 2004 By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF President Bush claims that in the fall of 1972, he fulfilled his Air National Guard duties at a base in Alabama. But Bob Mintz was there - and he is sure Mr. Bush wasn't. "I'm sure I would have seen him," Mr. Mintz said yesterday. "It's a small unit, and you couldn't go in or out without being seen. It was too close a space." There were only 25 to 30 pilots there, and Mr. Bush - a U.N. ambassador's son who had dated Tricia Nixon - would have been particularly memorable. |
