Responsibility of our elected officials **UPDATED**

Reading a blog post by my friend Emma, I realized that she’s right, we DO need to do something to light a fire under the ass of those in Congress! She wrote these words, and I tweaked them a tiny bit. She hit the nail on the head, and I didn’t feel anything further was needed to convey the message!

Then I sent them to EVERY single one of my elected officials, from the President all the way down to my local Government offices.

Would you please consider doing the same?

A very good place to start would be Congress.org, as you can email several of your officials at once. You can also go to USA.gov .

Dear _________,

I am writing to simply say, Enough is Enough!

Right now Congress is at a standstill. The Republicans are using the infantile tactic of voting no on every single piece of legislation proposed. They are blocking by any means available every chance Congress has of accomplishing the work of the people. Like toddlers who can’t have the toy they want, they are throwing a temper tantrum and trying to break everyone else’s toys. They are proving that they are patsies in the pocket of the extreme right because this is exactly what Glenn Beck has been telling them to do for over a year now. He told Congress that he didn’t want any legislation to come out of Washington D.C., and this is exactly what the Republicans are trying to do.

Who the hell is Glenn Beck? Is he in charge of this country? Is he the arbiter of our legislation? Is he more powerful than our elected officials? Is he the one you want deciding the fate of our nation?

If your answer is no to any of those questions, then it’s time to act. It is time to stand up for our rights and demand that this nonsense be stopped. It is time for progressives, Democrats, liberals, independents and anyone who doesn’t think a two-bit media clown should be dictating the direction of our country to stand up and fight back.

Tell Congress we want our country back. We want a functioning and productive Congress. We demand that they put re-election campaigns on the back burner and start doing their jobs. Make your voice heard!

We want our elected officials to stop acting like children and get on with the people’s business. This is the job you were sent to Washington to do. Democrats and Republicans alike need to grow up, stop whining, stop grand-standing, stop campaigning, stop worrying about whether they’ll get re-elected and DO THEIR JOBS!!!!

We ALL vote. It isn’t just the conservatives who are upset by what is going on in Washington. Progressives are just as disgusted as conservatives by the political machinations and shenanigans that are going on.

Please hear our voices!

Thank you,
_________

**UPDATE**

Check out this article, regarding this exact subject. Unbiased and very informative.

What Happens When Congress Fails to Do Its Job?

Can I get an air sickness bag?! Please!

So, I’m over on Facebook tonight, debating with a friend of mine (All in good spirits, no bashing or name-calling. Shush, I know it’s unusual! LOL) when he sends me this link to something that had me laughing so hard I was almost crying. I’m probably going to spend a good portion of my day tomorrow picking this apart piece by piece, but I thought I’d let my friends take a crack at it, as well. Have fun, everyone!

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Out-of-touch Congress Sounds Our Clarion Call to Take a Stand

We’ve been reminded many times that elections have consequences. Yesterday we saw the consequence of voting for those who believe in “fundamentally transforming” America whether we want it or not. Yesterday they voted. In November, we get to vote. We won’t forget what we saw yesterday. Congress passed a bill while Americans said “no,” and thousands of everyday citizens even surrounded the Capitol Building to beg them not to do it. Has there ever been a more obvious exhibition of a detached and imperious government?

In the weeks to come, we can expect them to try to change the subject, but we won’t forget. Don’t let them move on to further “transformational” steps while forgetting what Congress just did against the will of the people. Though Obamacare will inflict billions in new taxes on individuals and employers, at least it creates some jobs: the IRS might have to hire as many as 16,000 new employees to enforce all the new taxes and penalties the bill calls for! And that doesn’t include all the other government jobs from the 159 new agencies, panels, commissions and departments this bill will create. As the private sector shrinks, we can count on government to keep growing along with the deficits needed to keep it all afloat. (Is this the kind of “change” Americans asked for?)

In the end, this unsustainable bill jeopardizes the very thing it was supposed to fix – our health care system. Somewhere along the way we forgot that health care reform is about doctors and patients, not the IRS and politicians. Instead of helping doctors with tort reform, this bill has made primary care physicians think about getting out of medicine. It was supposed to make health care more affordable, but our premiums will continue to go up. It was supposed to help more people get coverage, but there will still be 23 million uninsured people by 2019.

Though they’d like us to forget, we will remember the corrupt deals, the corrupt process, the lack of transparency, the deceptive gimmicks to game the CBO score, and the utter disregard for the will of the American people. Elections have consequences, and we won’t forget those who promised to hold firm against government funding of abortion, but caved at the last minute in exchange for a non-binding executive order promised by the most pro-abortion president to ever occupy the White House.

All along we’ve said that we want real health care reform, but this isn’t it. We mustn’t be discouraged now. We must look to November when our goal will be to rebuke big government’s power grab, reject this unwanted “transformation” of America, and repeal dangerous portions of Obamacare that will bury us under more Big Government control.

This is just the beginning of our efforts to take back our country. Consider yesterday’s vote a clarion call and a spur to action. We will not let America sink into further debt without a fight. We will not abandon the American dream to government dependency, fewer freedoms and less opportunity. Change is made at the ballot box. If we work together, we can renew our optimistic pioneering spirit, revive our economy, and restore constitutional limits.

Stand tall, America. November is coming!

– Sarah Palin

A glimpse

Pensioneering

I came upon this blog post tonight, and it had me in tears.  It was a glimpse into my own life, my daily struggles. One of the reasons I find myself so depressed most days. One of the reasons I struggle with my weight.

We just spent nearly $200 on groceries. It has to last us the whole month. For 3 people (including a growing teenage boy who could potentially eat us out of house and home!). I know all too well what this feels like. I don’t wish this on anyone. The constant worry about whether we’ll have enough to eat all month is a nightmare. It attacks the mind and body with equal viciousness.

Being looked down on, and being given “advice” only serve to make things worse. The only people I will take advice from about this particular subject, are people who are currently, or have been very recently, in our situation. Those who have never been, or haven’t been in a long time, just don’t understand (or remember) what it’s like.

Those who say things like:  “Give up your internet or cable, you’ll be able to afford more food!” – truly don’t understand. Giving up either separately, would net us either $20 or $50 extra. Not a whole lot extra. Giving up both would, obviously, give us roughly $70 extra, which is a more “substantial” amount, granted. But what they never take into consideration is that without those things, my mind would collapse. When my mind collapses, I eat or sleep. I stress out. I have no outlet. Scary thoughts creep into my head.

Bill and Matthew are able to get out of the house, interact with other people, see different scenery, experience different things. But me? None of the above. Which is why I can’t give up both of my only sources of sanity (and the positives don’t outweigh the negatives, making it pointless to give up just one for the paltry amount of money we’d gain).

The biggest insult of all, I’ve discovered, are those who flaunt their ability to buy whatever expensive foods they desire. Part of it is jealousy, I’m mature enough to admit that. Of course I’m jealous! I want to eat steak and lobster, fresh fruits and vegetables, and go out to eat a couple of times a week! The other part is anger. Anger that our food industry does nothing to help, and worse yet, they make it seem that if you’re not following the status quo, you’re somehow a substandard human being. And I know that my friends and family who perpetually flaunt their abilities aren’t doing it consciously. They’re just excited that they can buy their fresh, organic, gluten free, corn syrup free, healthy foods. They know not what they’re doing (to the rest of us).

I guess this has been boiling up inside of me for some time. Funny what it takes to get me blogging again after, what, 2 weeks?  I’m still in a mental funk. I’ve had ideas for posts rattling around in my head, but it seems whenever I sit down to get it out, I discover that I’m too depressed to actually type it out. How sad, really, that I’ve had a list of things to do when I give a damn again. The fact that this particular post has been at the top of my list for a while, hopefully means that I’m ready to emerge from the funk and hibernation and depression. Don’t hold your breath, but think positive thoughts for me, please.

MI shooter heard God, put clock in microwave

I read this article tonight, and had quite a few thoughts on the issue.

How many people of all types of religions claim to actually hear their god speaking to them?

Most people who are also religious actually believe this type of thing. You hear it all the time:

“God told me to do it, so I did.”

“He spoke to me, and I listened.”

“I heard him in my heart.”

“God answered my prayers!”

Exodus 3:4 – When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“I talk to god all the time! He listens, and he answers me.”

It’s actually fairly common to hear this type of talk when it comes to religion. And it doesn’t seem to matter which religion, either!

What’s unique about this story, is that this guy acted in a dangerous and reckless manner.

And when that happens, they finally take people like this in for a mental evaluation.

My question is this:
Why do they wait so long to get these people help from a mental professional?!

Why don’t they corral all the people who claim to have conversations with their god?

If the argument is, “well, they haven’t done anything dangerous”, I would beg to differ! People who have conversations with entities that aren’t visible to everyone else are a danger to society! They spread their insanity around to anyone who will listen, especially to others who are of the same religious persuasion as they are, and are highly inclined to believe in this type of mass delusion. They infect children, from the moment they are born; children who aren’t yet capable of rational thought processes; children who will eventually grow up to try to infect more people. They go around claiming that everything they do is because their god wants them to do it, or that it’s “god’s will”.

And eventually, a small percentage of them will go on to do something violent.

Why not nip it in the bud the moment it’s revealed that the person believes s/he is communicating with their god? They are in need of psychiatric intervention at that point, not when they finally snap and do something violent!

Furthermore, why is it somehow acceptable for someone to be talking to their god,

but

if they said they were talking to their dead grandparents, or a random ghost, or their imaginary friend, we’d immediately understand that they were mentally incapacitated and seek professional help for them?

Would someone please explain to me the difference? I’m sure the afflicted person truly believes that what they are experiencing is actually happening to them
(just like the religious person talking to their god).

I’m sure they feel the presence of the invisible entity
(just like the religious person talking to their god).

There might even be proof of the existence of spirits or ghosts! And yet, the majority of society will say that these people are delusional, while they themselves believe that they can have a conversation with their god. Why the hypocrisy?

Lastly, why are this Michigan man’s beliefs any less valid than the belief that Moses had conversations with his god? Moses also acted in a violent manner. Why wasn’t Moses (and any other character in the bible who had a similar conversation) swept off to see a psychiatrist?

Epiphanie Give-Away!

Thank you to Shutterboo for referring me to this contest!

I’ve been wanting a DSLR for quite a while now, but it’s just never been something I could afford. This could be my chance!

And, if not that, then something else I could use for a vacation for my family!

Wish me luck!

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EPIPHANIE IS GIVING AWAY YOUR CHOICE OF

A BRAND NEW CANON 5D MARK II!

OR

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Click the pic!

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Did you know?

This video was played at my step-daughter’s graduation in 2009.