Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview

If she's running for VP with a 4 month old with DS, I dispute her insight (and wisdom) on both special needs and family issues. If she can afford the care this child needs while dragging it around on the campaign trail, she is way beyond seeing things from a blue collar standpoint. If the child is staying home with dad after this week, then I once again question her insight into "family" as far as the ideal of putting them first and foremost.



After reading about her church, I wonder if they are seeking special therapy or assistance in helping her youngest reach his full potential, or just praying for God to do all the work for them.
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

An Overblown Fear About S-CHIP

To hear the Bush administration tell it, expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would entice hordes of families to drop their private coverage and put their children on the public dole. As the Health and Human Services secretary, Michael Leavitt, argued in a recent television appearance, states that cover middle-income children as well as the poor are essentially telling people to “cancel your private insurance and we’ll have the government pay for it.”

There are several things wrong with that claim.

The article then goes on to cite studies and statistics which blow the opponents of the recent bill out of the water.

It is funny when things I knew all along, which are pood on by right wing partisans, need to be studied by supposedly better educated/qualified people than I am...net result, I was right all along.

Can anyone let the PTB know that they can save millions in study group moneys by just paying me for the right answers?

Only rich wingers in la-la land who haven't had to worry about the cost of insurance since they made their nut think health insurance is affordable at $1000+ month. I find the hundred twenty a month painful, especially when I am paying out more than I get back. An OB exam should NOT involve co-pays and lab fees not covered to the tune of more than my monthly premium. A NORMAL OB exam. My insurance is pitiful, but if catastrophe happens I'll at least get into the hospital.

The thing that gripes me is I am required by law to have car insurance, ( my premiums could have bought about 5 brand new vehicles over the years, after subtracting my couple of claims). I am required to have homeowners, or no mortgage. Yet being at least somewhat healthy is important to things like not wrecking my car, or accidentally firing my house and no entity says I must have insurance. I think if the state requires something like insurance, the state has the responsibility to pay for it, just as they say my kids must be educated, the state pays for this unless I choose a private school.

I think that back when man lived at a more tribal level, it worked that if a disaster happened everyone pitched in to help, unless of course the disaster did in the whole bunch. Insurance came about when the tribes could no longer care for their own, and you became part of a bigger group. We are now in a global, individualized, compartmentalized society. We must have insurance to survive. We must have certain insurances required by the government. I think if government can offer insurance to stock barons and industries in the form of interest rate manipulation, money printing, and price supports, it is time a bare bones government sponsored everything insurance went into effect. If you want better, you pay for it. Basic auto liability. Basic preventive and acute care and prescription drugs. low ball homeowners and renters insurance, a death benefit equal to the cost of a simple cremation and 3 months wages (if you have a spouse, significant other common law relationship, or kids).

This isn't socialism, anymore than guaranteed government loans to business or tariff protection is. It is an investment in infrastructure by taking basic care of the human being part of the country. Just as an education through high school was deemed an appropriate thing to provide, so should making sure families can eat after the breadwinner dies, so should seeing that transportation where mass transit is not an option does not fail, just as helping a homeowner rebuild after a fire used to be a community affair in the tribal era, the government needs to fill the role once claimed by the clan.

If it is done as tax credits for up the dollar amount for minimal coverages on the above, the very poor have incentive to sign up-they'll get money back if they earn little enough. The working poor to lower middle class have the insurance they must have without going hungry to do it, as well as ones who now have coverage(saving society money in the long term) who didn't. Those who scrimped in order to have the minimum will have extra money in their pocket-stimulate the economy, maybe even spend some of it on a bit better prescription plan, or eye care. The well-off who pay for all these things find some more money in their pockets, which will go back into the economy. Will the guy paying $12000 for insurance drop all his private stuff to avoid paying anything? Or keep his and take the $6000 credit? If he's got a half mil life insurance package, he isn't going to drop it for one paying $50000 tops just because it costs less-he could have already had the one that cost less. And a lot of the marginal folks with decent coverages at okay prices would keep to the private, especially since it would be subsidized.

Note the folks terrified that someone will possibly choose public health care in lieu of private. The accusations are always that they are greedy parasites if they would do such a thing. All I can say is "project much?" I have to assume that the panic among the reich wing is because they cannot conceive of anyone acting other than the way they themseves would act if given the chance to save a few bucks. They are afraid someone somewhere is going to die with more toys than they do, scared somehow some brown or yellow or black person is going to get ahead of them because someone gave them a hand. Oh, bailouts of ne'er do well sons like Geoge Bush is different, it all stays in the "rich men's club". Start helping the ignorant masses, and it can lead to nothing but cheaters and grifters (liars are incapable of seeing truthfullness, the thinks everyone is out to rip him off, the greedy who want more and more are incapable of seeing a person who could be satisfied with just enough for a change.

Why I prefer the Mommy State

Demoracy and freedom means taking responsibility for yourself. It means letting your neighbor take responsibility for himself. It means that "Daddy" government has to leave us citizens to make our own jugements.

Instead, we have 'patriotic,freedom-loving, pro-democracy' so-called conservatives calling for a "Daddy State" as a preference to what they claim is the liberal "Mommy State". The Daddy state makes rules and expects unquestioning obediance. When the Daddy State is displeased, he'll throw you out on the street to sink or swim. The Mommy state tries to guide into proper behavior. The Mommy State listens to dissent with an eye toward compromise. And when inevitably, some "kid" runs afoul of the rules due to bad luck or bad choices, the Mommy state will help get them back on their feet and actually forgive them.

I personally had a father and a mother who were both nuturing and expected us to make our own choices and mistakes. If I had failed miserably, I could have gone home and lived. I am much more comfortable with a "Mommy State"-a government that provides a flexible structure, rewards, support, and a stable infrastructure while I have the freedom to choose my own course- to the Bushco "Daddy State"- a government that provides inflexible rules and punishments, no support, and an indifferent infrastructure because we are to do it all alone. Communist Russia, Fascist Germany, both were "Daddy States". England, Canada, and Sweden are all "Mommy States".

I'm Amused

I decided after putting my sexy name, handcuffs and all, into my sidebar, I'd check my blog rating. It changed to an R. I'm amused.

Free Online Dating from JustSayHi

Whilst looking for a group

A long time ago, I signed up for something called "Friend Circle", which seemed to be like the old "Six Degrees" site of years ago. Well, I don't have any friends in my circle, but I occassionally get spammed or propositioned over there. I was reading an interesting business proposal, got bored and decided to check out the interest groups. I found one about protecting families. As my one regular reader knows, I'm really big on that, so off I went. I kinda liked my rant/commentary I posted, so here is the initial post, and my comment, for those who can stay awake for it

the traditional family is being threatened today in almost every aspect of society and in many endeavors being conducted by those who view the traditional family as a hindrance to development and world domination. it is our duty, we who believe in the sanctity and dignity of the family, to preserve, protect and promote the family - to save the family - and we can only do it by a united effort, and with the help of God.

Comment

I'm not sure what the agenda is here.For folks whose policies, rather than rhetoric, seem bent on world domination and destruction of traditional families, I hear a lot of rhetoric about preserving families coming from politically active proponents of lessening support for health care, not paying a living wage, reducing education in the sciences to conflicting "matters of opinion"-ie. creationists vs evolution-starting wars to try and dominate the middle east... These folks seem to want to make it impossible for a family to exist with a stay at home parent, or for parents to have time for their kids-after all, need to keep that Wal-Mart 24 hours, don't we?- refusing to recognize the need for qualified foster and adoptive parents even if the prospective parents are gay or lesbian, refusing to legally recognize the legal families formed in one state when they visit another, refuse to extend protections to children raised by gay or lesbian couples enjoyed by other children.
I would hope that every good concerned person would read up on history, read up on science and the scientific studies done on families these last couple decades, and figure out that the "family" and "marrige" as defined by the hard right is a recent invention of the West. Even as short a time as 100 years ago, a family was often defined as a household, some of who may have been servants, with one common goal-the preservation and well-being of the "family". The same held for the Old clan and tribal relationships of earlier times.
In it's essence, this IS the definition of family-folks bound by blood or desire to the common well-being of the group, people who will sacrifice their own desires for the well-being of the group, folks who will assume the responsibilities(such as medical care, child-rearing, and support) of the ther members of the group as necessary. Even Ozzie and Harriet fit this definition. Yet our society, where 51% of adult females are unwedded, is no longer the world of Ozzie and Harriet. It in reality wasn't then either, but no one wanted to admit it.

The family as a unit is economically important to a stable society. If my dad had chosen to abandon my mom to nursing care after her stroke, taxpayers would have spent a heck of a lot more, and she probably would not have lived and enjoyed her last 19 years. Countless children have nursed and supported aged parents out of love and duty. Countless parents have kept their disabled children at home and educated and taught and brought them to a far better and useful place in society than if no bonds of "family" held. Countless gays have nursed their partners through the final stages of AIDS with absolutely no thanks or support from society. Yet these gays were a "family", and worthy of the same support as my dad with mommy, or I get with my son with DS.
I know two women raising the son of one by a previous relationship. In our state, they are legal strangers. Yet be there at school functions, visit their home...they are a family, by any definition. Maybe even more so, in that they by necessity must take the hard road, face the kinds of uncertainties modern families no longer face due to all kinds of automatic protections and bennies of a government sanction. Should a celebrity's 15 minute marrige grant that couple more rights than the gay or lesbian couple who have spent decades working on their life together? When this happens in the name of defending families, or marrige, or whatever, all I can say is someone has done some fast talking and made the whole concept-the almost holy concept-of marrige and family into a political discussion about plumbing, with absolutely no discussion about committment, love, facing adversity, or sharing a lifetime. Plumbing. We must fight to make sure the plumbing fits, who cares if the couple are drunks, who cares what kind of parents they would make, who cares if the ceremony is performed in the prison while he serves time for assault, the plumbing is right, so they are a family, and must be protected. THIS IS SICK. They will let a murderer on Death row get married but not my son's teacher and her partner? The girlfriend and her condemned man are a legal family, but my friends aren't, despite huge positive impacts they make on the community and their 3 or 4 kids? Does this make sense?

Just to be totally honest here...my family/household consists of my wife of over 10 years, our two sons by her-7 and 3- and it is by the grace of God that we have acceptance both at school, our family physician, the DS therapists and daycare that our sons have two mommies, or this would be twice as hard as it is sitting in a state that says we can not even enter a legal contract together that would "mimic" marrige. We own a house. We share our money. We work like dogs to be good parents. But our "family" is undeserving of protection to many. To many, if my wife dies, they would think I should not get custody...I was there for everything but their conceptions, I was the first non-medical person to hold them, to talk to them, to sing to them. I have no right to them legally. The little one makes no differentiation between the two of us-the older one gets the "birth mom" concept, but is proud of his two moms-besides, he got to pick who his "dad"is(his bio dad is dead) . Is there any logical, valid, moral justification to say that legally she cannot assign custody to me, or allow me to share legal custody? Is there any moral justification to, if something happened to her, take my kids and give them to either a stranger, or split them up with the younger going to his birthdad(who is soooo clueless about kids, but tries hard)and the older to his grandparents 600 miles from his home and friends? I'm lucky, and there are contingency plans in place because her parents are supportive. Hundreds of families don't have that luxury. We agreed before anything else to visitation rights if by some impossible stretch of the imagination we split up. Our verbal understanding has no force of law, yet I know that neither one of us would ever break that promise. How many heterosexual couples would ever think of that beforehand, let alone the large numbers that can't even get to see their kids even with a court order, no matter the harm to the kids. Kids are one of God's most precious gifts, and any pain to them should be avoided. Taking away a significant adult is one pain. Using a child as a tool to "pay back" a spouse is abhorrent. Turning a child against a parent out of revenge is abhorrent. Yet we all hear stories about this.

Lets start protecting ALL families, and lets start by encouraging those that actually behave as a family should, and penalizing those that treat marrige and familial obligations as disposible. Let us not be distracted by politicos and perverts with hyperactive imaginations who are more "focus on the fellatio" than on the family. We know what it takes to build strong families. We also know that strong families can be headed by single parents, grandparents, gays, bis, and lesbians. Support the folks who are supporting each other, who are raising our kids, who are there for each other. Ridicule and shame and for heaven's sake ignore the Brittneys and Courtneys and their multiple trips down the aisle-agitate for for waiting periods for full legal rights to kick in with a marrige licence, demand congrss and our state politicians worry about making sure kids are healthy and fed and loved, not who they call mommy or daddy. Protect the rights of these kids to stay with mommy or daddy even if there is no blood relation. For that matter, get government out of the business of church and call legal marrige what it is-a contract between two individuals for the formation of a state supported family. Call it what it is, a civil union. It has no religious significance whatsoever. I am just as married now to my wife as I would be if the state suddenly issued me a piece of paper. Heart, mind, spirit-we are bound. The small difference it would make to me is purely legal, and the ability to get a lot of stuff without legal fees. It would change my life not one iota in its basics. Married before God is married before God, and nothing man's laws do affects this, except to make it easier or harder.

Back in slavery days slaves sometimes married, had kids....owners would sometimes decide to split up these families by selling them to differnt places. In these days, we look back and decry the sundering of families. Tell me how a law saying I cannot get custody of my kids that I have raised since birth because I am not the birth mother if she died is any less a crime against family? Or in several states with their "protect marrige and families" amendments where heterosexual couples who never got around to marrying are finding themselves in the same boat, where kids go to strangers or blood kin they hardly know, rather thanto the parent they've known for years.

Posted 03/21/2007 at 02:56 AM by wildclover

The Great Goat Rescue

Wednesday, Imp... finally got a call from someone who saw our missing goats. They live over a large hill from us across the river. They saw three goats on the bank of the river on our side. Unfortunately, the hill is steep with cliffs, and that section is accessable only by boat, goat, or railroad(the tracks are there). As she is talking to this person, she gets another call from someone who works maintainance on the tracks, who had heard a goat, was rather puzzled, so investigated. He saw Cori-(short for Coriander) by the rock fence next to the tracks, bawling his fool head off. He noticed a collar and went to try and catch him, but Cori took off up-hill. He was dragging a hind leg, but the guy couldn't go catch him(his boss was grumbling). He met us that evening at the start of the access road to the tracks, and led us down to where he saw him.
We drove a nice bumpy gravel track with trains passing by...even got to drive through the stone tunnel under our road (we figure we'll tell Implet about it around his 18th birthday...no need for a jealous 6 year old!), then got out and walked and called and made goat noises (Picture 3 middle aged adults walking by a train track going "Nahhhahhahh, naahhahhahh. Here Pretty goats. Cori, Rosemary, Bojangles!"). I though I heard a response once, but wasn't sure. Well, we figured we'd come back later, when the guy decides he's going to see if he can tell where the goat went-the hillside where he'd tried to catch him was extremely steep, and all loose soil. He climbs up and sees torn up ground to the left, a bit of a ledge and goes that way.
After a few minutes he hollers that he sees him, he's under a rock overhang, can we come up. So Imp... and I head up, he has to come down and give us a hand up in a spot where there were literally no handholds we could reach, but we found Cori in a deep cut about 3" high and narrowing as it went back. I bellied down and got to where he could smell me and I could touch him. He was standing there scared stiff. I finally got a leash on his collar, and Imp... mostly dragged him out. I ducked to keep from getting a hoof in my face and just got a faceful of dirt. Cori's hips seemed to have a problem, and he was putting no weight on his left leg. Mitch (I think that's his name) announces he's going to carry Cori down. Soft loose soil is much easier going down than up-we slid on feet and butts, Mitch with a scared 70# goat on his lap. One spot where he had to hand him down to me, then we were at the fence.
Injured or not, Cori KNEW the big noisy scary things come by that fence, and we again had to drag him under. He was trying to run on a bad leg-well, two, since the other hind leg seemed none too stable. But we got him out, and stood around and examined his leg/hips. Mitch did not really want to be called a hero, but I think he is. Cori wasn't as appreciative-he bit him(not bad)once we were down. A few more days, and Cori would have died alone in a cave, or fallen down the hill again trying to get food. We put him in my car, where he was perfectly happy to have some goat kibble and look out the window. I left Imp... at her car to go get our kids and went home.
I got home and lifted Cori out of the car. He immediately started to try and get back to the hill across the street, bawling for his sister and his buddy. Damn goat is strong as hell for only having front legs to pull with! I called Imp... and told he to watch out, I couldn't get him out of the driveway, he was trying to get back to the others. She got home, and between the two of us, we got him up near the house. We decided to just tie him out, since it did not look like rain, and the dogs and pigmy goats could hurt or at least annoy him(besides, how would we get him through the kitchen?).
The dogs were going ballistic in the run, the pigmies were nahhing, and one of the cats came by and said hi. Cori suddenly perked up, and insisted he go into the house and see his buddies. He walked-not real steady, I had to lift him on to the porch-up and through the kitchen to the back door and out to his run, where he flopped down to rest. The dogs were beside themselves with joy at having their goat back. I was scared that with him crippled he'd be prey, but neither dog seems to feel that way.
We had the vet come by today-having a vet school near is wunnerful-and he brought a couple students. Cori has a possibly broken back. He got a cortisone shot, the babies got their shots, and all 3 got wormed for good measure. Now we just need to see if he gets better. He's eating fine, is alert and not terribly depressed(though he does NOT want to be left alone). He hobbles to a spot with good eats, flops and lays there nibbling until all the good stuff is gone, gets up, hobbles a few feet, and repeats. I'm hoping for a recovery. I'm hoping if we take him up to the top of the hill and he calls, his sister will come...she was the tamest to start with, and if we have her, Bo will probably follow.

Ohhhh, Too Cool

This is totally cool. Unfortunately, it sucks for you all that don't use Opera as a browser.

Seems they came out with these thingys called widgets...little bitty mini programs/link tools you run with the browser. I found out they have a simple "widget for dummies" program that you can put your blog(or another's)into. Mine has a green dragon on it...cool. But clicking on it gives you a bare bones read of the most recent posts-really fast compared to load times normally.

It's soo cool. Anyhoo, if'n you have Opera, click on the sidebar link to download my widget. The post link will send you to the widget generator. Have fun.

I really hate to do this...

I truly hate the word verification thingy used on sites(like my bank), but I've been spammed enough by idjits with their spam programs sending out comments to EVERY thread I've got when I republish. Deleting this crap is a pain. I have few comments(and fewer readers :)), so seeing a new comment is an exciting moment in my life. Reading "You have great site, very useful" by anonymous with a link to on-line poker is a real let down. So either I go to moderation, which means reading thru all their shit and rejecting it anyway, or the verification crapola.

To my two or three occasional readers, I apologise. To the spammers...May the fleas of 1000 camels infest your armpits.

On NY Marrige Ruling

(posted on The Dark Wraith Forums BB)

I missed this little detail....it dovetails with my own theory that the wingers fear gay marrige because their own marriges are so crappy, they are afraid the gays will show them up...gotta be a real fear factor to be in a blah to blech relationship, hanging in there because it is "proper", "godly", or because of the kids, , to see a couple of guys who've been together twice as long with NONE of the social or legal supports you've had. Anyway, this is kinda funny...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/opinion/14yoshino.html?th&emc=th

Too Good for Marriage
By KENJI YOSHINO
Published: July 14, 2006
New York's highest court ruled that marriage is built to protect unstable heterosexuals.

New Haven - LAST week, New York’s highest court voted 4-to-2 that a legislative ban on same-sex marriage did not violate the state Constitution. In doing so, it added to the patchwork of state rulings on the issue, including those of Indiana and Arizona (which similarly upheld legislative bans) and Massachusetts (which struck down a legislative ban).

What’s noteworthy about the New York decision, however, is that it became the second ruling by a state high court to assert a startling rationale for prohibiting same-sex marriage — that straight couples may be less stable parents than their gay counterparts and consequently require the benefits of marriage to assist them.

The critical question, expressed in a plurality opinion by three members of the New York court, is whether a “rational legislature” could decide that the benefits of marriage should be granted to opposite-sex couples but not to same-sex couples. The opinion then answered in the affirmative with two different arguments. While both related to the interests of children, they differed significantly in vintage and tone.

The more traditional argument stated that the Legislature could reasonably suppose that children would fare better under the care of a mother and father. Like most arguments against gay marriage, this “role model” argument assumes straight couples are better guides to life than gay couples.

And like other blatantly anti-gay arguments, it falls apart under examination. In a decision last month in a case concerning gay foster parents, the Arkansas Supreme Court found no evidence that children raised by gay couples were disadvantaged compared with children raised by straight couples.

But the New York court also put forth another argument, sometimes called the “reckless procreation” rationale. “Heterosexual intercourse,” the plurality opinion stated, “has a natural tendency to lead to the birth of children; homosexual intercourse does not.” Gays become parents, the opinion said, in a variety of ways, including adoption and artificial insemination, “but they do not become parents as a result of accident or impulse.”

Consequently, “the Legislature could find that unstable relationships between people of the opposite sex present a greater danger that children will be born into or grow up in unstable homes than is the case with same-sex couples.”

To shore up those rickety heterosexual arrangements, “the Legislature could rationally offer the benefits of marriage to opposite-sex couples only.” Lest we miss the inversion of stereotypes about gay relationships here, the opinion lamented that straight relationships are “all too often casual or temporary.”

Letter to a DINO

I sent the following to Congressman Rick Boucher. Granted, then man has helped folks I know cut thru crap and get help when nothing else worked, but, my dad WORKED for a congressman. That's part of congressman's job. The rest is supporting the constitution and their party. One out of three is not a good thing in my mind.

Dear Congressman,

You recently asked me as a Democrat and a past supporter for money. I wrote back that between what the Republicans had done to the economy, and the fact that I was unsure given some of your recent stances that you were representing my interests and beliefs as a moderate to liberal Democrat, I could not give any money at this time.

Your vote to amend the Constitution in a manner to LIMIT rights of an entire demographic is truly the last straw. I will no longer support someone who calls himself a Democrat yet does nothing to help the discriminated against. I was raised by old time Great Society color-blind all people derve equal treatment and equal opportunity Democrats. I still believe in those ideals. I believe in equal treatment of religions-I'll happily perform a marrige for my gay friends. My religious affiliation permits this. But you would not recognize this legally. THIS IS WRONG!. Denying longterm partners the same rights you automatically give to heterosexuals that marry on a whim is wrong. Trying to negate legal marriges performed in other countries because you are pandering to fearful bigots is wrong.

In short, you sir, are a red state republican. It is time you started calling yourself one. A Democrat does not countenence bigotry and unequal treatment under the law. You have lost my vote, just as Hillary Clinton has no chance of my vote in 2008 after her cautions that we need to avoid inflaming the republican base.

You are going to send me a nice position statement telling me you support tradional marrige. Oh yay. Guess what? I support it too, the whole 'till death do us part" and "in sickness" stuff- the stuff most heterosexuals seem to ignore as they merrily practice serial monogamy.

In just this surrounding area, I personally know at least five families with children headed by two mothers. What are you doing to protect their rights and their children's rights? Does it matter at all that pushing their families further outside the law by writing discrimination into the US Constitution makes things like wills and custody issues even more difficult than they are already? What harm does a loving, stable and supportive family that just happens to be headed by two members of the same sex do to anyone else's family? By legalizing gay relationships-by any name- you suddenly have children with officially one parent who now has two-this would save on social service benefits being paid to these 'single parent" families that in practice and reality have two parents. It enriches society to have happy, healthy kids in stable two parent households. You encourage stable households by giving benefits like those conveyed by marrige. It enriches the lives of all to find love and happiness. What sex your true love is really is beside the point in this day and age. Unless you want to ban heterosexual couples who are sterile from the benefits of marrige, then this whole amendment is simply trying to make our gays and lesbians into 2/3 a person. That got thrown out as applied to the negro. I hope to God Almighty that He opens the eyes of those the false prophets have conned, and this discriminatory political distraction dies a quiet death, and fairness and God's love becomes once again the rule in this country.

Goat Update

The goats made a hole in the fence. The two miniature goats we are goat sitting are back where they belong, but the 3 big ones have wandered off in the rain. I hope they wander back in the morning when it is light (I was out with a garden solar lantern at the edge of the woods going "NaaaAAaahh,NaaaAAaahh" at midnight-no response).

I'm either very worried, or very annoyed, I'm not sure which.

My Pet Goat(s)

Well, a few weeks back, Imp... tells me she is getting another goat from the lady that gave us Jasper. The woman has too many goats and hates to take them to the meat market. Then, as time draws nearer, she asks if we'll take his half sister too, with the caveat that if we breed her, we do it to one of hers and she gets the babies. Okay, cool. We bring home two 3-4 month old goats in the back of the station wagon. They've been named Rosemary and Coriander (Rose and Corey) and are slowly getting less skittish.

Well, there's this sweet old black man that raises goats that comes into my store. He gets 2 $1 lottery tickets a day to scratch for entertainment, and my standing joke has been that when he hits it big we're running off together. He comes and gets the stale bread from Subway for his goats. It seems that after Jasper was killed, he set out taming a youngster to give me. THis fellow is wild-he's a meat goat, part Boer-his daddy looks like someone crossed a mountain goat with a miniature ox-and is strong and stocky while the ones we have are sleek and skinny milk goats-alpine crosses. They are taller at 4 months than he is at 9, but he outweighs them. But I think it is so sweet that one of my customers tamed me goat because my buddy had gotten killed.

New goat is white with a brown head and neck except for a white blaze. Each foot is brown, so he looks like he's wearing shoes. He has a few brown spots on his underside. But his leaps to avoid being loaded into a station wagon, and the dogs when he got home, are incredibly powerful and graceful and reminded me of male ballet dancers. Decided he needed a dancer's name and so he has been christened Bojangles. He does not like the beagle dog, but both outweighs him and has horns he isn't afraid to use, so I think Casper is gonna learn pretty quick.

He was a good passenger until Imp... got a flat on the way home. Of course the spare is under the goat. I am left holding the goat, who is quite unhappy, next to a busy highway while she and Implet(6 1/2) changed the tire. Well, the MU's dad showed up and helped by holding the Mu, who wanted no more of this car seat, thank you very much. I am just strong enough to keep a panicking goat on a leash from running into the highway. I have to wonder what passers-by thought-two women, a man,a goat and two kids, two station wagons and a Camry perked on the shoulder of the highway. He was actually a pretty good passenger except for loading him back up after the tire was changed too. Rose and Corey have become old hands at car rides, and load pretty easily now.

This could only happen to us.

The Perfect Me

I got this at the local Sci-Fi convention, with permission to use as I like, especially if I link back to her site. Diana Harlan Stein is her name, and she does art works to order, too.

Yay! Wheels at Last!

Courtesy of the tax refunds, we were able to get 2 running vehicles for the two households, allowing the poor old Toyota to get a valve repair and letting me sleep an extra hour or so on days when Imp... needs to be at work early. Large suckiness to have to drop her at 7, the boys at 7:30, and me not needing to be in until 3 or 4pm. 20 miles to go home for a few hours, and 20 miles back. Now the trips are the same in number for totals, but not all in one vehicle.

The new one for me is a 95 Mercury Tracer wagon, aquamarine green, with a rather adrogynous character. My musings on naming went thusly: Mercury=messenger of the gods. Hmmm, angel=messenger from God. Both the boys are named for Archangels. So my wagon is christened Ariel, who is associated with both water and air, so the color is appropriate. My sense of absurdity prompted me to pick up the official car mascot(every new car needs one) in the form of one of those fake stone carved boxes at Dollar Tree in the shape of an angel-this is now velcro mounted to the dash for small items like meter money. I also found a cute car magnet with a rainbow over clouds with a dove and "hope,faith,love" on it. HA! I can have my rainbow and NOT be a cop magnet (every vehicle I've driven here that sported a rainbow sticker tended to be stopped for having a taillight out, or other specious reasons frequently. Without the sticker, I've driven unmolested with burnt out bulbs for days until I had time to replace them). I'm also seriously thinking about "ARC-NGEL" as a personalized plate(that one's available). Snort.

The wonderous amusement of this week is that the boys's grandparents d'Imp... are visiting, so Imp... has Ariel for her use-being less contaminated by cat hairs. HER folks are from a Jewish tradition that hasn't been religious in generations. So not religious in fact that I was told to rewrite my naming ceremony for the eldest because there was too much God in it. I said to Imp... "It's a frickin' RELIGIOUS ceremony. I'm already stretching it thin being A)not Jewish, B)not a Rabbi or Moyel, and C)had already made it as general as I could and keep it at least a smidgen accurate." I caved. Of course, the Kodak moment came at dinner a few nights later when we were explaining why we had circumscised Implet and tried to conform to Jewish law/tradition as closely as possible-I stated that he might as an adult suddenly wish to practice his birth religion, and it was a lot better to be already circumscised than to trim it as an adult. Grandpa's reaction to the thought that his grandson might wish to be religious? "I should hope not!", said in a horrified voice.

Call me oversensitive, but as eclectic as I am, I am quite religious/spiritual and that comment offended me. I made sure my own(admittedly from a fringe church)ordination was actually proper and registered before I did the ceremony-it made a difference to ME, not in any practical sense. I am very respectful of anyone's belief in a Creator. I may find what they do with that belief abhorrant, but Pollyanna that I am, I think those who find belief in a higher power(from within, not from being indoctrinated)to generally be good folks. This was offensive especially coming from these great tolerant 1960's liberal academic types.

As Imp... puts it, I hold a grudge until it dies of old age, then have it stuffed and mounted. I needed to put a sticker showing a Disney Pooh on it to make my subtle digs complete with Ariel, though.(Grandma has a hatred for all things Pooh from Disney-hee). Ah, well, I think the MU has a new outfit for the visit with Pooh on it-chosen with malice aforethought by both of us.

Unfortunately, I must have a nice family dinner with them on the morrow. It will be pleasant(probably), though my other grudge-one Imp... shares-will be present. See, the Mu has Down Syndrome, and both grandparents were advocating aborting. Even with him being only about 6 months behind his peers(and with them or ahead in spots), and even with both grandparents loving him to death, they STILL think he should have been aborted. That's almost enough to make this pro-choicer a pro-lifer...well, not really. It just is really hard to deal with folks who believe your son should never have been born. It doesn't matter that of parents for him to choose, the two of us are maybe the best damn moms around when it comes to knowledge and experiance.(even grandma, with her degrees in chid development says this) Yeah, he probably should have picked moms with more $$$ while he was at it, but maybe none were available to give him what he needs. The child is tenacious in mastering skills, and is trying very hard to keep up with his brother, who is at times a shooting comet of competence, brilliance, and empathy. Of course, at other times he's just 6 and a handful. This is when I wonder if I'll let him live to be 7 :)

Yes, a Typically Two

It was a gape mouth moment in the car day before yesterday. The 6 year old in the back of the van and I(driving) were swapping really bad jokes, the 2 year old was singing(?), and Mommy Imp... tells us all to be quiet and the boys to rest on the way home. Well, I am constitutionally unable to leave myself in "jokus interuptus" and so had my last word, which got Implet replying. Suddenly from the center seat is yelled "Im'le SHUDUP!" by the two year old Mu. I looked at Imp... and said "He said "shut-up". She says, yeah.

The phrase was picked up from Uncle Fuzzy we believe, but the amazing thing was the absolute clarity in our barely verbal little one.

I'm still stunned...

So, an Update

A belated update on the Great Stove Saga...

The final result had me and Imp...-2 40something females- out in the dark and cold, slipping on old ice/snow running copper tubing along our house as we did the stove installation ourselves, at least as far as the tank. Many thanks to the nice people at Lowes that told Imp... what she had to buy and what to do. We got to the cut-off valve in the kitchen and found we had the wrong size, so we did not complete the job until Thursday, and the propane guy was by maybe an hour after we called to do the final hook-up to the tank and test the system. We then finished hooking the stove to the line and changing the burners over from gas to propane.
Now it is time for the test...nada. The electode is going "sput..sput..sput..", but no flame. Imp... says, "did you turn on the valve behind the drawer in the stove?" Noooo, I thought she had. AHA! We turn on the valve. Nada. We are having an "Oh Shit" moment when my glance falls upon the cut off at the wall. "It might help if we turn the gas on from the tank, too", says I. Boy we felt like idiots. But now we had flame at the burners.

I immediately cooked up some smoked sausage and potatoes for lunch, leaving Imp to convert the oven over since I had to get to work. When I left, she was having no luck getting it to light. Well, later she calls me. She has achieved flame at the broiler, but it needs a bit of adjustment, since the flames should be 1". So I ask what size flames she has. Oh, about 8". Eeep! Turned out the instructions to set air flow were backwards, and this was the problem. But Imp... baked cookies to test things, and they were perfect.

So I had a stove for Christmas after all, and my dinner came out to perfection, with all and sundry drooling at my turkey, which was tender, moist, and succulent if I do say so myself. Even the 6 year old was like, "oh wow" when I got it out of the oven. When folks have asked me how my Christmas was, I tell them I got a new toy and played with it about 12 hours on Christmas.

Life Should Stop Being so Dang Complicated

And so it goes... Why can't life just be sane? Here we are, two weeks 'till Christmas, and I am getting a wonderful present...A gas range. All is arranged(we think). It will come Tuesday, the propane folks will come install the tank and lines/cut-offs by Friday, and all will be well with the world, except we will be much poorer. HA we say.

The delivery was supposed to be changed from Thurs to Tues, and we had arranged someone to wait on it for us (since we'd be working). They forgot to reschedule. It sleeted, snowed and rained Thursday...this after I got my shift changed from AM to close so I could be home for them. I run Imp... into work, go to drop Implet at daycare 1st-the county schools were closed, so no one to take him to school, which at this point has not announced closing, so wasted trip. Okay, I drop Imp... and head to Mu's daycare...no cars, just some guy shovelling. At this point the radio tells me Implet's school is closed. Back cross town to daycare. I call Mu's daycare-closed. Okay, I head in. I'm told Implet's daycare will decide around 10 if they are closing at 12:30. I arrange with his teacher to drop him at the store (yeah, during Subway's lunch rush) if they close in case I'm home waiting for a stove. Go back to the store, get food for the Mu. Talk with my boss, wait for Imp... so I can take her to the bank-her boss is on paternity leave, no one else to do deposits. Call Home Depot when they open. Oh well, no stove today. By the time we return from the bank, Mu is sound asleep and I'm sleepy. It is also 11:00. I go nap in daycare's parking lot until they close at 12:30. Go eat lunch with my boys at KFC. Get to the store at about 2:30. Imp... gets off at 3ish, I tell tell the boys to rest a while, I was going to nap...I had to be at work at 4:30. I'm almost asleep when... Crisis with my store, the credit cards are down and the cashier has no clue. I go in and manage to reset the register, though the back-up still is down. He asks me to clock in early so he can leave early and get all the side jobs done. Not until after I figure out transportation with hubby, Imp..., and the others [side note: hubby, Faithful, her other man, and her son all moved to an apt about halfway between work and my house. She totalled her car, so the three have been commuting in mine, with the occassional carpool since 3 of us all work at my store. Hubby and other man were in town, she was scheduled in at 7. We both needed a car to get home, but everyone won't fit in the van, as well as I did not want Faithful driving my car in the ice. Uh-Huh. 1st choice me, second, Imp..., poor 3rd hubby, Faithful can't drive worth shit in good weather).]

We work things out, I talk with my boss, clock in a little early. Life goes on... stove will be delivered today, when both Imp... and I were off. Yay. Mu had a PM eye appointment, Implet no school. No problemo. Well, the stove comes, we go to do the conversion to propane and discover we cannot find half the tools we need-despite owning at least 2 of each. We also call the propane folks and initially get told öh, it will be a couple weeks, we're behind. AKKKKK!!!!'' Imp.. does some talking with them, then she goes off with Mu and Implet and I go nap. She calls while I sleep...propane guys are coming. Yay. Propane guy arrives. No one told HIM to install the stove. He thought Home Depot was doing that. No, they don't install propane, they told us you guys had to do it, this was what Imp... discussed in your office. So we have stove, we now have tools, we have a propane tank. We have no lines from the tank to the stove. And no idea what day next week they can come. All I know is microwaving Xmas dinner is NOT an option.

Oh yeah...boss called me tonight, needs me to work PM not AM tomorrow, the indication is that someone got fired. So talk about losing flexibility next week when they come hook up the stove as far as getting off work.

So why can't life be simple for once?

Sad Birthday

Today was my birthday. Not a bad day excapt that this afternoon our pet goat (yes, you read rightly)Jasper Billygoat Gruff was hit by a truck and died. What the idiot goat was doing across the street and in front of the neighbors today when he invariably has confined his ramblings to the yard and our abundant and tasty weeds in the past I'll never know.

Rest peacefully Jas. May your goat heaven have people and dogs and cats willing to play chase with you and scratch that itchy place behind your ear. May it be a place with all the newspaper and important mail you can eat, as well as a house for you to realize your ambition of being a house goat in.

As my almost 6 year old said "He was a good goat".

Been Neglectful

I've been tagged for the Meme:

'The Meme':
1.) What were you doing 10 years ago?
Working.Being a Mommy with a husband and a wife.
2.) What were you doing 5 years ago?
Working. Being a new Mommy again.
3.) What were you doing one year ago?
Gee, uh, working, being new mommy to an almost 1, and seeing the older one's 1st year in Kindergarten.
4.) What were you doing yesterday?
Hee
Working, then Blogging, then playing on forums.
5.) Five snacks you enjoy
Popcorn
Brownies(they do a heckova job as a snack)
leftover steak
leftover pizza
pepperoni

6.) Five songs I know all the words to.
"There was an Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly"
"On top of Spaghetti"
"Hush little Baby"
"Elenor Rigby"
"It's all for the Best"from Godspell
7.) Five things you would do if you had a million dollars
Fix house, add 3 rooms.
Pay off EVERYONE
Buy a lawn tractor
Donate large sum to defeat anti-gay right politicians
Fence our property and add a second house/garage combo.
8.) Five things you like doing
Computer stuff
Reading
Playing with kids
Building stuff
Cooking
9.) Five bad habits
Smoking
Sleeping
Procrastinating
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I have to think now.
10.) Five things I would never wear again
Never say never
11.) Five favorite toys
3 balls on a string that you play with kinda like a yo-yo-I don't know the name.
My computer
My Cell Phone Camera
My sword collection
The stuffed Halloween cat in a witch's hat that when you push the button has it's head spin and it yowls. I got it for $.25 at the thrift shop.

Advice to a Failed Man

My advice to the President....

Go before the American people in a spirit of humility and APOLOGIZE. Then, if your faith is truly the faith of a Christian, not the mouthings of a cynical politician, get on your knees and truly pray-don't look for voices in your head, look within and decide how the gentle Christ would set up a government infrastructure to truly reflect "Christian Values". He said that how one treats the least among us will be counted as how they treat Him. Mr. President, if you permit children to live in poverty when a tiny % of the wealthiest's income would feed them, if you permit the poor and underpriveleged to go without basic health care, if you spend millions on campaigns instead of spending that money on quality pre-school and childcare, then you are showing God that you do not value His Son, that you would starve Him, leave Him prey to illness, leave Him ignorant, then blame Him for not succeeding as an adult.

Mr. Bush, apologize to the people you have lied to-the lies being that you would unite the country, the lies being that you are a compassionate conservative, the lies being that you walk with Christ. Other lies are less important-they would not have happened if you had told the truth on these three things. Next, to make your apology truly have any meaning, reinvent yourself into a man who can truly be said to be compassionate, to be a uniter, to walk with Christ.

Begin with cleaning your own house-remove those who are corrupt, those who lie and twist the truth, those who steal, those whose advice has led you to this point. The hypocrits who claim to be pro-life, yet favor war and executions. The hypocrites who claim to revere family and marrige, yet cast out their children, divorce their spouses, fight to keep their own same sex relationships unrecognized and unsanctioned. Cast out these from your administration, from your circle of advisors, from your supporters. Look for advisors from all sources. Look for men and women whose driving goal is to raise the least of Americans up, to return the US to it's place as a beacon of hope and freedom. Look for those that abhor destruction without over riding purpose- be that destruction that of war, or the taking of a life, or the destruction of a person's self respect and livelihood.

Or resign and let someone who can fix the mess you've made.