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Meme: Passion Quilt

I’ve been tagged by Cookie for the Passion Quilt. I had never heard of this thing, but its concept is interesting.

The way it goes:

A PASSION QUILT

THE RULES:

1. Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for students to learn about.
2. Give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt.”
4. Link back to this blog entry.
5. Include links to 5 (or more) educators.

Ok, so here’s my picture, and its title is Find Your Voice

Photo courtesy of Hagit

Here are my educator picks that I think today’s young people could learn a lot from:

• Teresa
• John and Miranda
• White Trash Mom
• Beth of My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• Conservative Belle
• Greta of Kiss My Gumbo and Hooah Wife
• Jules of Everyday Mommy

Cookie gets honorable mention — he would have been in my list, but he’s already done this meme … and he’s the one who tagged me in the first place!

Weird deliveries come by email

I got all kinds of weird things via email. Hell, half of them are from Uncle Monster. ;P hehehe… But he’s not the only one … I have a friend in CA who owns a little San Diego carpet cleaning company. He sent me a whole slew of stuff today (bored are we, George? ), including two pieces in the animal kingdom that caught my eye: apparently it’s not the feathers that makes a bird, and scientists work on fishing for the lazy. The first one kind of surprised me … I always thought peacock feathers were the ultimate end-all-be-all of sexy costumes of the animal world.

Shows what I know. :lol:

Senate says ‘no’ to guns on campus

Several local ‘Bama blogs are already steaming over news the proposed campus gun bill has been blocked by the Senate. A shame really, because personally I thought that was a pretty good damned idea! Per Erwin, it was “designed to discourage gunmen by making them aware someone could shoot back quickly.”

Ya damned skippy.

Something a little lighter

Want a good laugh? Check out this SondraK post.

Very cute. :mrgreen:

Spice of Sci-Fi

And last but not least … because I have GOT to have something sci-fi every day, here’s a list of the six most brilliant “bite your head” dragons from science fiction.

Because dragons are cool, mmmkay?

Insurance swindlers

As I indicated in a previous post, it really burns my hide to see senior citizens get taken advantage of. A friend of mine who works in the insurance industry in Georgia sent me a link from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with an article about a shady insurance agent who swindled some folks out of their Medicare coverage and/or Medicare supplemental coverage:

The sales agent said he worked for Medicare. He really worked for a private insurer. And, after he came to Dorothy Consalvo’s Stockbridge home and signed her to a new insurance plan, one she thought would enhance her existing benefits, the 81-year-old said she was shocked to find she had inadvertently given up her longtime Medicare coverage.

Up the road in Norcross, another agent talked Violet and Carroll Cox into signing up for a private Medicare plan at the low cost of $7 a month. They say they were told it would give them the same coverage as their supplemental insurance. It didn’t. “This agent lied all the way,” Violet Cox contends.

It’s a crying shame! If you have loved ones who are “a little on in years,” I would suggest keeping a printout tucked away somewhere with their coverage plan details and any uncovered or out-of-pocket expenses (if any) listed. Most insurance companies have this information accessible via a website, or a quick call. Handy information to have, not just in times of (medical) need …

Obama’s blind spots and Vote for mom!

Lately I’ve been inundated with comments, articles, and general STUFF about Obama. I said it once, and I’ll say it again … the more I read about that man, the more he scares me. A couple people sent me this link, a post on ZardozZ detailing a very well put together article by the National Black Republican Association detailing some little known facts about the man.

Go. Click. Read … now!!!

Put down the bagel. Go read those web comics later. Stop surfing for auto insurance online or whatever it is you’re Googling … seriously. It never ceases to amaze me how many people who are planning to vote for that man, but no absolutely NOTHING about him, his views, or where he stands on which issues … but I digress.

Vote for Mom!

Anyways, after you go read that article, go vote for America’s Favorite Mom: Patti Bader, founder of Soldiers’ Angels!!! (also posted to SA of AL site!)

[ Note: voting requires registration ... might I suggest a disposable email address? ]

Calling for help for a beloved ‘birdie’

She’ll probably want to smack me for calling her that.

As someone who’s been victim to identity theft, my heart goes out to Raven and her family. She recently posted about her family’s findings about her grandfather (now deceased) who was being abused by his caretaker. That in itself is heinous, but to add insult to injury, his caretaker had also stolen his identity and depleted his savings, writing checks and using his credit cards. Reading her story infuriated me, not only bringing back my personal memories dealing with FuckHead, but also in thinking about how I would feel if my beloved Gramps had been treated that way by one of his caretakers.

An open call for help

Those who have been keeping up with this journal over the past week or so are already familiar with the situation I am in, for the most part. For anyone else, here is an overview. I did not put in a cut, as I really need everyone to see this.

My grandfather died at the age of 94 about 8 days ago. This followed an emergency trip to the hospital, where it was found that he had bled out through an intestinal tear. My parents decided to put him in hospice care rather than subject him to radical or invasive procedures, which was in accordance with his wishes. He died about 18 hours later.

At this point my parents started trying to put his affairs in order. As they filled out the death certificate, a nurse took my mother and her sister, my aunt, aside to tell them that she believed my grandfather had been severely abused by his caretaker, and if they had been able to save him, she would have personally intervened to keep him from being sent back to his caretaker to spare him a great deal of pain. He had bruises in several stages of healing all over his body, and possibly worse injuries as well.

The hospital records, over 100 pages corroborated this abuse pattern over the past few years. However, Texas, the state where he resides does not have a mandatory abuse reporting policy apparently, so no one bothered to report it to adult protective services. Then, as my mother tried to continue putting his affairs in order, she was stunned to realize that this same caretaker had used my grandfather’s credit cards to make purchases and drained his entire life savings to the point where he did not even have any money to live on. Even two days after his death, this woman was still writing checks in his name, obvious forgeries of his signature on each.

This explained to us several references in his letters about being tired of living and wishing God would take him away from his pain. None of us knew this was going on, and apparently even my grandfather’s financial advisors noticed the pattern but did not see fit to notify the rest of the family for whatever reason.

My family contacted the Lubbock, Texas police and were told flatly that they refused to get involved at all and would not pursue the case or try and find the caretaker. They contacted adult protective services and found out that the police should have suggested an autopsy to prove abuse, but it was too late as my grandfather had been cremated. Apparently they can only intervene if there is a live person to question or an intact body. The attorney they found also basically told my mother that this was not a winnable case. After contacting the credit card companies about the theft of my grandfather’s identities, one company told my mother that they too refused to get involved at all.

At this point, we just want to see the caretaker prosecuted for her fraud, have the bills in my grandfather’s name cleared and make sure the woman does not do this to anyone else’s loved ones. The money, my grandfather’s savings that he had been building since just after the Depression, when he first started building his accounting firm is probably not retrievable, though it would be wonderful if it was.

This is an open request for help from me and my family. If you have any suggestions at all of how we can at least get someone to help us on this, we would be very grateful. Please re-post this to lists and pass it along, as any help at this point would be welcome. We are drowning in bills that were run up by this caretaker, and the police, lawyers, and credit company will not help us. The only people who have aided us are the hospital staff, who have come forward with statements. However, this does not really help since the police will not listen and my family does not know where else to turn.

I can’t pretend to know how Raven is feeling. I know it has got to be frustrating as hell when local authorities, credit companies, and legal venues are not helping in even pursuing possible prosecution of the caretaker! That woman took the old man for everything he had (and physically abused him on top of that!!) and left a mountain of bills in her financially destructive wake for the family to sort out.

Anyone with ideas or advice for Raven and her family, please take a moment to leave a comment on her post.

Catching wild pigs

Uncle Monster sent me something very thought provoking that I wanted to share…

Catching Wild Pigs

A Chemistry professor in a large college had exchange students in the class.

One day in class, the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.

They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to people in the United States.

The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops , welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms – just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free Lunch!

Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government ‘help’ is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

In this “very important” election year, listen closely to what the candidates are promising you – just maybe you will be able to tell who is about to slam the gate on America.

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.” – Thomas Jefferson

What lessons are we teaching our children?

Yesterday, Jim and I spent a good part of the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese — better known as “Hell on Earth for adults.” My nephew, David, was celebrating his 5th birthday. I managed to snap off a few shots with my cell, or rather I tried. (it’s hard to snap still shots of sugared up kids, LOL!)

Zooomr seems to be “mostly up” and I was able to upload them and create a photo set:

Isn’t Jessie charming?

Anyone who has ever visited one of these establishments can attest that it could be best summed up as “kiddie chaos.” It’s loud, there’s always bright/flashing lights, and add kids running wild all over the place: et voila, instant migraine! Ugh. So yeah, yesterday was hell. Honestly though, what really struck me most was not the aforementioned mayhem, it was the over all lack of manners and common courtesy that I observed. Not only did I witness children of all ages running amok as if they were raised by wolves, but also adults who behaved this way.

For example, Jessie came to me and told me that some kids pushed her away when she was trying to play one of the basketball games. I followed her to where she had been playing. There were two kids who were still playing (apparently using Jessie’s tokens). I asked one of them if that was their game (meaning did they put in tokens to play), he said he didn’t know he was just watching his sister. The game ended and they moved to the side. Jessie stepped up and put in a token and started to play. The little girl pushed her away and grabbed the basketball from her hands. I took it from her and told her that it was my daughter’s token and therefore it was her turn. She bared her teeth at me and made the meanest face she could and said, “Mine!” I told her “No. It’s our turn now.” Well, that girl SCREAMED her little head off, which of course caused her mother to come running. I explained what had happened and told her that her daughter was shoving my child and kept stealing her tokens and trying to take over her games. Her mother yelled at me saying that I had “no right” to deny her daughter to “do whatever she wants.” She had the gall to tell me that she didn’t believe me (or any of the other parents standing around who witnessed this!) and that I should be ashamed of myself for picking on her poor little girl, and causing her “grief and emotional trauma”. :roll:

Oh give me a fucking break. Do me a favor, lady. How about you teach your kids some manners and common courtesy?

I know I can’t be the only one who’s noticing this disturbing trend and is concerned by it. I was reading an article in the Selma Times-Journal Friday talking about children’s behavior and the increase in bad behavior seen in area schools:

Parents have a responsibility to teach their children to behave themselves from the moment those children are born. Children do not learn manners by osmosis, although little ones do imitate their parents or other adults they are around.

I think what worries me most is that the parents of these kids either don’t know or don’t care about the harm they are ultimately causing.

Good job, Jeff Co sheriffs!

On the way home from the gun show in Bessemer Saturday, we were coming up on the I-65 Walker Chapel exit. We were starved and wanted to grab a quick bite to take home with us. There was an 18-wheeler pulled over with a couple of Jefferson County sheriff cars. The truck driver was outside the back end of the truck, with the doors open and one of the sheriffs climbing inside.

I mentioned to Jim, “Looks like a drug search.” We went on and I didn’t think anything else about it, other than I had almost snapped off a few pics as we drove by.

This was just posted to the MyFoxAL feeds:

Breaking News: Record Cocaine Bust

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (WBRC-TV MyFoxAL.com) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has announced that they have conducted what could be one of the largest cocaine seizures in the state of Alabama and probably the largest in Jefferson County.

On January 26, the Highway Safety Unity stopped a tractor trailer traveling North on I-65 near Walker’s Chapel Rd.

Upon inspection of the trailer, 265 pounds of cocaine was discovered.

The shipment was believed to be heading to the North-East of the country to be turned into crack-cocaine. The value of the drugs was approximately 7.2 million dollars.

Resident Mexican Alien Jose Luis Magana of Edinburg, Texas was arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking. He is being held under a 1 million dollar bond.

Edit: And this was just posted to the Birmingham News feeds:

265 pounds of cocaine seized in highway bust

Investigators confiscated 265 pounds of cocaine being smuggled in a truck traveling Saturday on Interstate 65 near Walker’s Chapel Road, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department announced.

The bust is believed to be one of the largest cocaine seizures in state history and the largest ever in Jefferson County, according to the department.

Authorities believe the cocaine was destined for the northeast where it would have been converted to crack cocaine with a street value of about $7.2 million.

The driver of the truck, Jose Luis Magana of Edinburg, Texas, was taken into custody and is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on a $1 million bond on charges of trafficking in cocaine.

The Sheriff’s Highway Safety Unit found the drugs and made the arrest.

Birmingham News staff

A Mexican immigrant. I’d guess illegal, but the media never reports that kind of thing anymore. Anyone surprised? That’s a prime example of the kind of element we DON’T want coming here. (Wishing more of the outspoken pro-immigration community would denounce these kind of lowlifes that seem to keep sneaking up here!)

Anyway … I knew should’ve snagged those pics. Oh well, ’tis a cool catch for the local sheriffs dept! :cool:

Please do not elect this ghastly orc

This was posted by Cookie earlier today. Now, I’ve always known that the HilldaBeast held a lot of contempt for our fine men and women in uniform. I remember hearing all kinds of stories about her and her husband when he was governor of Arkansas, but this truly takes the cake. To think that some people want to elect HER as our President is truly horrifying!

Cookie’s NOTE:…having been in Law Enforcement for many years, and having attended various seminars and symposiums over the years with other folks in Law Enforcement, I had heard some of these stories from brother LEO’s long before this E-mail started circulating the Internet and Cyber-Space….

Subject: NICE TALK…

Please do not be offended by these ridiculously malicious and hate filled tirades and please forgive me for forwarding this trash. But… we should all realize the vicious part ‘she’ so cleverly hides, and the slanted media never mentions. Snopes says its so….. Quotations from the woman who WILL be the next President if enough of us don’t challenge the media-soft peddling. …and I shouldn’t have to use this “Foul Language” (gif warning) when quoting a perspective Presidential Candidate….

—————————–

WHAT A SWEET LADY

“Where is the G-dam f***ing flag? I want the G-dam f***ing flag up every f***ing morning at f***ing sunrise.”

–From the book “Inside The White House” by Ronald Kessler, p. 244 (Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor’s mansion on Labor Day, 1991)
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“You sold out, you m***er f***er! You sold out!”

-From the book “Inside” by Joseph Califano, p. 213 – (Hillary yelling at a Democrat lawyer.)
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“F*** off! It’s enough that I have to see you sh**-kickers every day, I’m not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G*dam job and keep your mouth shut.”

-From the book “American Evita” by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 – (Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with “Good Morning.”)

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“You f** *ing idiot”

-From the book “Crossfire” p. 84 – (Hillary to a State Trooper who was driving her to an event.)
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“If you want to remain on this detail, get your f***ing ass over here and grab those bags!”

–From the book “The First Partner” p. 259 – (Hillary to a Secret Service Agent who was reluctant to carry her luggage because he wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident.)
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“Get f***ed! Get the f*** out of my way!!! Get out of my face!!!”

–From the book “Hillary’s Scheme” p. 89 – (Hillary’s various comments to her Secret Service detail agents.)
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“Stay the f*** back, stay the f*** away from me! Don’t come within ten yards of me, or else! Just f***ing do as I say, Okay!!!?”

-From the book “Unlimited Access”, by Clinton FBI Agent in Charge, Gary Aldrige, p. 139 – (Hillary screaming at her Secret Serv ice detail)
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“Where’s the miserable c**k sucker?”

-From the book “The Truth About Hillary” by Edward Klein, p. 5 – (Hillary shouting at a Secret Service officer)
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“Put this on the ground! I left my sunglasses in the limo. I need those sunglasses. We need to go back!”

-From the book “Dereliction of Duty” p. 71-72 – (Hillary to Marine One helicopter pilot to turn back while en route to Air Force One.)
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“Son of a bitch.”

-From the book “American Evita” by Christopher Anderson, p. 259 – (Hillary’s opinion of President George W. Bush when she found out he secretly visited Iraq just days before her highly publicized trip to Iraq)
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“What are you doing inviting these people into my home? These people are our enemies! They are trying to destroy us!”

-From the book “The Survivor” by John Harris, p. 99 – (Hillary screaming to an aide, when she found out that some Republicans had been invited to the Clinton White House)
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“Come on Bill, put your d**k up! You can’t f*** her here!!”

-From the book “Inside The White House” by Ronald Kessler, p. 243 – (Hillary to Gov. Clinton when she spots him talking with an attractive female at an Arkansas political rally.)
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“You know, I’m going to start thanking the woman who cleans the restroom in the building I work in. I’m going to start thinking of her as a human being” — Hillary Clinton

-From the book “The Case Against Hillary Clinton” by Peggy Noonan, p. 55
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“We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices…. Government has to make those choices for people”

-From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 20 – (Hillary to Rep. Dennis Hasert in 1993 discussing her expensive, disastrous taxpayer-funded health care plan.)
———————–

“I am a fan of the social policies that you find in Europe” —Hillary in 1996″

-From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p.6

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This ill-tempered, violent, foul-mouthed, hateful, abusive, beastly woman wants to be your president and have total control, as your Commander-in-chief of our Military, the very Military for which she has shown incredible contempt & disdain throughout her public life.

Surely we the people of the The United States can easily do better than this.

The references given for these quotes have been confirmed by Snopes, but the publications do not always give the source of the quotes.

Where are our role models?

I have to admit, I wasn’t surprised to hear that Britney Spears’ younger sister, Jamie Lynn, announced that she was pregnant. However, what DID surprise me was that Jessie was aware of it, and seemed unphased by it. The young Spears is the leading actress in one of the shows Jessie watches on Nickelodeon, “Zoey 101.”

Why is anyone else really surprised by this?

We’ve already had the discussion several times with Jessie, explaining the difference between fantasy and real life. She’s never been big on Britney Spears and made the comment once that she was “a bad girl who made bad choices.” But now I feel a little sorry for Jessie because I know she liked Jamie Lynn Spears because of the show … and she’s now lost (what she considered) a role model.

Honestly, I don’t like her looking up to most anyone in Hollywood. There are of course a few exceptional people who I think would make good role models, but obviously they aren’t starring in the latest kid shows and movies.

Where are our role models?

I’ve always thought that the best role models aren’t someone that you see in the movies, or on TV. They should be everyday people. I was wandering around The Terminal this morning and ran across a post from a couple months back about a Birmingham native who was a fine example of what I thought a role model should be: Willie J. Perry.

Each night during the early 1980s, a pimped-out, maroon and white 1971 Ford Thunderbird with six antennas and fluorescent neon lights that illuminated over-sized tailfins cruised the streets of Birmingham. The contraption was customized to resemble the Batmobile, complete with the Caped Crusader’s bat-shaped logo. A sign on each door read: “Rescue Ship . . . Will Help Anyone In Distress.”

…The driver of this vehicle was Willie Perry, a Good Samaritan who proudly cast himself as “Batman.” Perry spent evenings and weekends (by day he was general manager of window distributor J.F. Day & Co.) cruising streets and highways for stranded motorists in need of roadside assistance. Perry would also pick up drunks and whisk them straight home (or to other bars) without accepting so much as a dollar in compensation.

(quote courtesy of Ed Reynolds’ article in Black & White)

I’ve read several things about Mr. Perry over the last few years, and he’s always stood out in my mind as “one of the good guys,” someone you would WANT your children to look up to, the kind of person that would make you want to be a better person yourself. That’s the kind of person I want my child to look up to.

So where are our role models? If you ask me, most people need open their eyes and take a good look around. Chances are, you have a superhero in your midst already.

Resources and Credits

• “Take a Moment: Remembering the original Batman of Birmingham“, The Terminal
• Willie Perry entry in the BhamWiki
• “The Batman of Birmingham” (Parts one and two), Lou Anders
• “Runaway Bridegroom,” Black & White
• Photos of the Batmobile, So It Goes Photography
• “Sad Days for Batmobile,” “Birmingham’s Batman Helped Those in Need; His ‘Rescue Ship’ Still Survives,” The Birmingham News

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