Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Trouble in a Multiculturalist Utopia

There is a great article in Front Page Magazine: Trouble in a Multiculturalist Utopia . As the Dutch now realize, tolerance for the intolerant is suicide.

For the full article by Michael Radu a Senior Fellow and Co - Chair, Center on Terrorism and Counterterrorism, at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia click on More>

The following is an excerpt:

"No one has ever suggested that Dutch filmmaker, columnist and self-described “buffoon” Theo van Gogh, who was murdered this month, was a particularly nice person. His libertine views were ecumenically anti-religious: He had bad words for Jesus, made fun of the Jews sent to Auschwitz, and called Muslims “goat-kissers.” Yet it was not a follower of Pat Robertson or a Hassidic Jew who shot him repeatedly and cut his throat in the center of Amsterdam on November 2, but a fanatical follower of what President Bush and others continue to call, without nuances, a “religion of peace”: Islam. ...........

As the Dutch seem now to realize, tolerance for the intolerant is suicide. The post-van Gogh Dutch awakening may be the beginning of a more general awakening in Europe and Canada, because what has suffered is not some “fascistic, right-wing conspiracy” to create a “xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic” state, but a way of life tailored by and for the “progressives.” There are some encouraging signs already, especially in neighboring Germany, where the left-wing government exhibits a new awareness of the problems raised by its 3.5 million Muslims and—a new development—admits that such problems are not the result of German “racism” but may have something to do with the immigrants themselves. "

Now if only the US would wake up and smell the coffee!

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Monday, November 29, 2004

Nothing is free in life...

After work today I took the train home and had my husband pick me up at the station. Our toadies and frogs were out of crickets so we decided to stop at the local Petsmart. I just love the place, its a great big supermarket for your pets!

A friend of mine at work had given us a 150 gallon fish tank and stand that her family wanted to get rid of. (long sad story which I won't get into) Since we love all kinds of animals including fish, and one of our placastamis, (Piggy), has outgrown his 29 gallon tank, (he's aprox 18 inches long, we raised him from a small fish of about 1 1/2 inches) we thought to ourselves, why not?

Well this evening I started to put together all the items needed to actually set up the tank. Apparently a 150 gallon tank is not a very common setup. We were lucky enough to purchase the one and only 60" by 18" underground filter that they had. Then there's the tubing, special air pump, heater , drum filter, etc.... Needless to say , the FREE tank and stand for "Piggy" and friends is costing a small fortune! But we love our pets, so Piggy will be residing in his new home some time next week.

Baltic Waves

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Glad to be an only child!

I was talking to a friend yesterday who was telling me about her Thanksgiving day. It seems that her brother and his wife were there for the family get together at her mothers. There are three kids in the family two sisters and one brother . All three are adults in there 30's and 40's. Her mother is recently widowed , retired and has a pension that she is receiving. Apparently the sons wife demanded that my friends mother pay for a down payment on a new house as all their friends are getting their own houses. All three "kids " are working as are their spouses. After the mother explained that she couldn't do that, the wife of the brother had a fit and stormed out!

Needless to say, the two sisters see a potential nighmare when their mother passes away (hopefully, that won't be for a long time) with the brothers wife ! When I hear stories like that I am grateful that I am able bodied and that my husband and I both are able bodied and take enough pride in ourselves that we would never assume to demand that someone else pay for our wants. I'm also glad that I am an only child from my parents marriage!
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Sunday, November 28, 2004

Christmas of Yester Year celebration

Friday was a wonderful day, even though it was misting most of the day people were out , the shop was busy and everyone was having a lovely time. The village was decorated, and we even had a tree lighting ceremony and luminary lights light up the sidewalks throughout the town. All in all a really nice day after Thanksgiving.

Saturday on the other hand was a rainy miserable day out side and there weren't too many people out for the holiday in Richmond, it was a real shame . The town had hired for the day a small herd of live reindeer and of course Santa was there for the children, the horse drawn wagon was giving free rides through the village, etc..

Today, Sunday is looking to be a bright, sunny day, so while the reindeer won't be available, people will still be able to partake of the horse drawn wagon rides, Santa, carolers etc. Most of the shops are doing special promotions, taste testings and special events. Bye for now.

Baltic Waves
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Thursday, November 25, 2004

The Polar Express-Go See It!

Go see the Polar Express movie! It has got to be the best Christmas movie to have come out in years! We all loved it, and the kids in the theater were mesmerized by it. I can't believe that it had gotten bad reviews. I had a feeling that it might be good when co-workers last week who had seen it were raving about it. The story line is nice, with the children's characters learning about them selves and helping each other, and the animation/special effects are fantastic. I will be taking my nieces and nephew to see it sometime in the next two weeks. I'm hoping to take them to an IMAX theater . We saw it on a regular screen and it was great, but the IMAX version should be really fantastic!

It was so nice not to have to cook, clean, etc. The restaurant we went to today is called Duke's in Wauconda. They were excellent. They had roast turkey, stuffing etc, and roast port, Chicken cordon blue, Salmon, Ham, Roast beef, and all kinds of side dishes and deserts. By the time I was finished trying a little bit of each I was too full for desert! The Chicken Cordon Blue was the best I had ever tasted. Everything is freshly made and it shows. We all agreed that we are doing the same next year.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Baltic Waves

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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

SNOW!!! It's Here, we officially have our first snow/sleet storm of the season outside! We're supposed to get out of work early today, 3:00 pm, but at this rate I doubt that that will be much help in getting home. On a good day it can take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to drive the 40 miles from work to our house. On the first bad storm day of the season, God only knows! I'd take the Metra Train , but that would mean leaving my car overnight at the station 5 nights, not something I feel comfortable doing. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and drive home.

It's going to be a busy Holiday weekend. Tomorrow should be laid back, everyone gets together a 1:00 at the restaurant, then we're off to see a movie, The Polar Express. We're all adults , but we felt that it would be a nice holiday movie to start the season with.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be at the store, we've got a Christmas of Yesteryear Celebration in Town that brings in lots of shoppers.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Baltic Waves




Tuesday, November 23, 2004

It's Hump Day! (Sort of....)

I love the week of Thanksgiving. We have both Thursday and Friday off, and tomorrow is a shortened workday, Yaaah!!!!! It's supposed to be in the 50's today, the sun is shining, and of course they are predicting lower temps and possibly snow on Thursday and Friday!

I still haven't had the time to make reservations for Thursday, that will be my project during lunch today. Hopefully I will be able to find someplace close by that will serve a traditional Thanksgiving lunch/Dinner and not have it cost an arm and a leg.

Well I found a place close by, it will have the traditional fixings plus Roast beef, Pasta, ect.. $19.95 per person. Since there will only be four of us it still beats having to do the cooking, cleaning, etc... I know , I know, I could do it cheaper at home, but I really don't want to.

I am excited about being able to finish up my fall projects for the outside this weekend. The icicle Pansies have been planted, the ponds have been winterized , we just need to get the lights up on the roof , deck, and evergreen shrubs to get them ready for Christmas. Of course none of the lights or other decorations actually are lit up until after Thanksgiving!

Speaking of icicle Pansies, they are the neatest flowers. They actually bloom throughout the winter, even in the snow. We have terraces of flower beds in front of the house and it looks so pretty in the winter to see them blooming when everything else is dead and covered with snow! They are really nice in the springtime, we have Pansies in the front of the terraces and Tulips, daffodils, and Crocuses throughout the rest of the flowerbeds and throughout the lawn.

It seems almost as if everyone is slowing down for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, even the news seems to be slow today. Two things I'd like to mention.....On a positive note, Dan Rather is stepping down (about time).

On the other hand (not so positive) , it seems that Palestinian Terror is on the rise on Campus's here in the United States. The latest... Death threats against College Republicans at SFSU. More> The link is to an article by Lee Kaplan at FrontPageMagazine.com November 23, 2004.

Well that's it for today,

Baltic Waves







Monday, November 22, 2004

Furry Weekend, snipers , Burnings and other things!

Sorry about the long hiatus. This weekend I attended a Furry Convention as a vendor . My family has a Celtic Store in the Northern Suburbs and one of the lines we carry is Folkmanis Puppets. (The Large and Small Sea Serpent puppets are great Nessies) Anyway, We were set up as merchants in the Dealers room selling Folkmanis Puppets and Celtic Jewelry.

The Convention participants had some wonderful costumes, it was fantastic to see! The most interesting person that we meet there was someone I will call the tiger man. He has been featured on Riply's Believe It or Not a number of times. He has his body tattooed to look like a cat and his face surgically altered also. At first glance he looks a bit scary, but after talking to him abit, he seems like a really nice person.

I got some great photos of the costumes, if I ever learn how to post pictures I will try to post them. The weekend sales were good and the event was fun although I really did not get a chance to see anything outside of the sales area. I really think that this group of Sci- Fi fans are misunderstood and have gotten some unfair press . This was a very nice group with lots of different people and families.

On another note , I just read about a family that found a burning cross on their front yard , somewhere on the East Coast. Apparently some idiot disapproved of the couple living there being interracial. It's hard to believe that even now their are some narrow minded idiots out there that do this kind of sh_t! I hope they catch whoever did it, lock them up and throw away the keys! Who cares about the couples skin color, get over it folks!

I've put up a link to an interesting site called Adopt a Sniper http://www.adoptasniper.org/index.html An article By Lisa Burgess, of Stars and Stripes http://www.stripesonline.com/ Pacific edition, Monday, May 17, 2004 states:

A group of police and military snipers has started Adopt a Sniper to donate equipment to deployed military members. It's the brainchild of Brian Sain, a police SWAT member for 15 years who works as a detective in the Port Arthur (Texas) Police Department.
Sain said he was inspired by the close-knit sniper fraternity, whose military and civilian police members are unusually interwoven. A lot of SWAT [members] are former military, and a lot of them are reservists who are now going over to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sain said. And even if you're not military, getting shot at is getting shot at, no matter where you are.
Sain said he knows what it's like not to have the equipment you need. In 1994, Sain said, I watched a guy hold a baby out a door through my sniper scope. I couldn't see [well enough to shoot the man]; it was dark and I didn't have night-vision equipment. As Sain watched helplessly, the man shot the baby in the back.
Sain said he is determined to make sure no deployed military sniper will ever be in that spot unable to do his mission or worse yet, in danger, because he doesn't have the right gear. In the six months since he started, Sain estimates that he's sent at least $10,000 worth of sniper supplies to troops overseas.
Sain’s rules for who gets the goods are simple: deployed American servicemembers with a sniper military occupational specialty, regardless of branch of service. If they need [anything], they don't have to do nothing but e-mail me. It takes about two weeks for me to get it to them in the mail.
E-mails requesting equipment have come from all over Iraq, Afghanistan and places Sain won't name for security reasons.
Gear requests range from long cotton-tipped swabs for cleaning weapons to ultra-high-tech electronics that only an expert could use. Among the most requested items are specialized batteries, any and all kinds of Surefire (a line of tactical flashlights), and S.T.R.I.K.E. (Soldier Tactical Retro Integrated Kit Enhanced) Commando Recon chest harnesses.
Almost all of the gear Sain ships has one thing in common, he said: It's specific to the very specialized sniper community and thus often very hard for civilian family and friends to supply to deployed servicemembers.
It's easy for [snipers] to write home and say, I want a can of shaving cream, Sain said. But trying to explain a Gen 4 Molle gear to Mom is a lot harder. She'd gladly spend the money, but she doesn't know where to get it.
There is one problem with getting gear to military snipers: They move around a lot, especially special forces, Sain said. In fact, he has six huge boxes of expensive gear, including spotting scopes and binoculars, packed and ready to ship at the request of a SEAL team whose last known address was Bahrain.
But the team appears to have moved on, and now the donation is just waiting for a mailing label and a customs stamp, Sain said.
So drop him a line, SEALs.
You know who you are, Sain said.


So there you are folks, go ahead , check out the link, and if you can please donate to this group. Our Men in uniform could realy use your suport.

Have a great Monday,

Baltic Waves



Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Another dark, damp, dreary, day here in Chi Town! I've got a splitting headache and I'm ready to just scream at the next person that even looks at me the wrong way. (I know, that is not a good thing, especially at work)

Maybe I'm one of these persons that needs the sunlight to be able to function properly. It would be a great excuse to move away from this region. .... Florida is too miserable during the summer and full of older senior citizens, I'm not quite there yet.... California , no way! ..... New Mexico ... Possibly... I lived there for a year as a part of the National Student Exchange Program when I was a collage student. Of course that was a lifetime ago, and I'm sure that both I and the state have changed since then. .... But still, it is a nice daydream on a day like today.

I am really depressed over, again, another barbaric islamic murder of a woman that for the last 30 years was trying to help the vermin scum that live in Iraq. Hassan was an aid worker in her 50s, an Irish-born woman married to an Iraqi man. She had worked selflessly in Iraq for 30 years, all through the terrors of the Saddam years. When other aid workers took advice and left, she stayed at her job until she was kidnapped from work in Baghdad in October.

It's reported that her body was found disembowled, a particularly horrible death visited on her explicitly because she was a woman. With their typical eye for the news, the valiant so-called "freedom fighters" recorded their handiwork. But even Al Jazeera have refused to air it.

I am at the point where I feel that there is almost no humanity anywhere in the world where muslims live. They seem to be subhuman, lower then the lowest dung beatles. They see nothing wrong with disemboweling a human being while screaming that their moon god allah is great! (P-ss be upon him!)

Their whole creed is based upon violence, and their murdering, child molester prophet ,mohamid is their source for inspiration!

I agree with www.faithfreedom.org The only way to confront Islamic terrorism is to eradicate the ideology behind it. As long as this reality is overlooked more lives will be lost and the world will not know peace. We will not achieve peace by upholding lies.

Enough for now,

Baltic Waves





Monday, November 15, 2004

Frog Songs and Toady Barks....

This weekend was busy and productive, yet relaxing.

Saturday morning we woke up to the sounds of a chorus from our fire bellied toads in their vivarium, followed up by the tree frogs in theirs. Interestingly enough, the toadies have a very soft, pretty, song like croak , whereas the tree frogs make a very loud, almost bark like sound. We love the songs, that is unless it's 4:00 AM, then it's just a wee bit annoying!

We still need to consolidate the outdoor ponds, bringing the fish from the back yard pond to the front pond. Our front pond has some really pretty koi (3 large and about 17 medium) that seem to have lost most of their appetite now that the cold is here. Our back pond has medium sized common feeder type Goldfish that have lived their lives outdoors and they still seem to have an appetite. As the days and nights getter colder, even the goldfish will go into their winter metabolism. It will soon be time to put the pond heater in the water.

My husband installed some pond lights in the front pond and we now have red , blue and green underwater lights for the pond during the evening hours. I just love going out onto the front deck and watching the pond with all the fish. It's amazing how relaxing watching flowing water and fish swimming can be. With the pond heater, we can even enjoy the fish in the middle of winter.

This past February, we had a couple of sunny days, and although the snow was still on the ground, the sun helped warm the front pond enough that some of our hibernating frogs came up for a look see. It was hilarious watching these confused frogs floating around the pond, looking out at all the white snow surrounding them. Needless to say, they soon decided that it was better to go back down to the bottom of the pond and continue their hibernation.

Still no word from the bank on the offer submitted 2 weeks ago! I'll try our real estate agent latter this afternoon. Happy Monday!

Baltic Waves


Friday, November 12, 2004

It's Friday!

I'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetic. I was reading the usual news sites... Drudge , Front Page, etc.. when I ran across an article that sited a palistinian official telling people not to show a mob scene as the world was watching... What a stupid idiot. Like the palistinians ever cared about their atrocities against innocents! Now they worry?

On a happier note Scott Peterson was found guilty! He deserves the death penalty, but he is in California, I can't see those people having the guts to ask for that. What a scum bag!

Still no word on the house we're trying to purchase . The latest, as of this morning, is that the bank is still deliberating and that the listing broker is out of town. I jokingly stated that maybe the bank needed to sequester the committee that makes the decision and not allow them to go home for the weekend until a decision is made. I'm thinking that the broker and bank keep hoping that another offer might come in.

Lots to do this weekend, hopefully I'll accomplish at least half.

Baltic Waves


Thursday, November 11, 2004

Veterans Day November 11, 2004 reflections.....

Today is Veterans Day, a day to pause and reflect on the sacrifices that our Veterans have made to make our wonderful country free for you and I to be able to voice our opinions and live our lives in freedom. There is a wonderful Cartoon on Cox and Forkum's website http://www.coxandforkum.com that sums it up well.

The Ayn Rand Institute has also reissued the excellent editorial by Edwin A. Locke: Giving Real Meaning to Veterans Day.

"There is no more precious possession than one's own life. But without political freedom, human life is empty. Man cannot exist in any meaningful sense as a serf. The New Hampshire motto says it perfectly: "Live Free or Die."
Because human life is so precious, war should never be undertaken unless our rights are threatened. It is often said that our soldiers must sacrifice themselves for our country. This is precisely what we must not ask them to do. A sacrifice entails the surrender of a greater value for a lesser one. But if a man loses his life on the premise, "I would rather die than live in slavery," it is a tragic loss -- but it is not a sacrifice. Such a man is acting in his own interests, to protect his most precious values."

Today I personally reflect back on my visit to Arlington cemetery and the tomb of the unknowns, back in September 2001, just before 9/11. I remember standing there looking on and thinking about the ultimate sacrifice these brave people made so that I and everyone else could live here, in the USA, in freedom, today. Thank you to all our brave military men and woman!

Baltic Waves




Ding Dong Arafats Dead, the terrorists Dead! (Sing to the Tune of "Ding Dong the Witch IS Dead " from the Wizard of OZ)

Finally the Monster, Arafat, is Dead. Good riddance to that murdering Piece of Sh_it! May he rot in Hell, and all those that follow his teachings. For a great article on the lying piece of dung go to this link... http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15921

"It's ironic that the man who personified the Palestinian movement was neither born in the region it claims, nor conforms to his own organization's definition of Palestinian identity. Yassir Arafat, whose real name is Abdel-Rahman Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, was born in August 1929 in Cairo, son of an Egyptian textile merchant....... ..... Yet beyond the terrorism, extortion, embezzlement and intimidation lies Arafat's most unfortunate ongoing impact: The inculcation of murderous values in an entire generation of Palestinians, who have been educated ¯ under Arafat's direction ¯ to continue the fight of jihad against Israel, rather than compromise to end the decades-long conflict.
How many generations will it take to undo Arafat's dark legacy? "

I'd love to see the free world dancing in the streets , throwing candy to children, celebrating the death of this Pond Scum of an excuse for a human that was known as Arafat, Just as he and the muslim world danced after 9/11. May you forever roast in Hell for all your murder, terrorism, and torture that you inflicted on innocent persons!

Baltic Waves




Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Highs and Lows of life's little game

It's hard to believe that it's Wednesday already! The weekend went by quickly. While I did get some things accomplished, as usual, it was nowhere close to everything that needed to get done!

I can't believe my husband, without talking to me, has already invited people over for Thanksgiving Diner. I have exactly One Day ,Thanksgiving day off, no pre-Holidays off, and no days after Thanksgiving. Our House is a wreak, and mind you my husband insists that he is the only one that can touch the Living Room, and he still has piles of Paper and other items strewn throughout that area! ARRAAAGGGGHHHH!

It wouldn't be bad if he was the one who had to clean, cook, etc, but of course that's not the case! I'm the one who has to get everything ready for the Holiday!

I received a call from our realtor yesterday afternoon telling us that the bank was finally considering our latest offer. Supposedly they would be getting back to us latter that afternoon. While our realtor meant well by telling us this , it actually just makes it more tense to wait around. He assured us that we had the only offer etc... Well 5:00 PM came and went and still nothing. We finely got a call about 6:00 PM from our realtor stating that the bank was still deliberating (that was the good news, the bad news was that there had been two showing that same day) We are supposed to hear something latter today! I would have preferred not to know anything until a decision is made one way or another! Maybe it's just me, but I really don't need the extra stress.

We are getting down to the wire as we have until Friday to identify another property if this one does not go through. I just am not in the mood to have to deal with another monkeywrench in the plan. It's out of my hands and hopefully we will know one way or another.

..........Just got a call from our realtor and it seems that the bank is still playing around, and who knows if they will even get back with an actual answer or even a counter offer. Supposedly there have been other offers around the same price but asking for a conventional mortgage. The bank doesn't seem to be motivated, and doesn't seem to care about getting this property off their books. I would think that if indeed they have had other offers in the same range that would tell them that they are overpriced. And from their prospective a cash deal with a quick closing and fewer seller costs would be preferable. But hey, what do I know!

Maybe, possibly , we might hear something back latter today.......

Baltic Waves




Thursday, November 04, 2004

A chill in the air.....

November is definitely here. This morning was another damp , chilly fall morning. Not cold enough for frost on the pumpkins but cold enough to consider bringing out the linner on the fall coat.

As I headed down the driveway to get into the car this morning I was reflecting on how quickly these days are going by. We had already changed the lawn decorations from an Inflatable Halloween pumpkin with ghosts to a Large Thanksgiving Turkey. The straw and Pumpkins are doing double duty transitioning from Halloween to Thanksgiving. The leaves are almost all fallen and the time to plant the fall bulbs is here. Unfortunately I am constantly fighting what seems to be a loosing battle with the squirrels and chipmunks for my tulip, crocus and daffodil bulbs. Every fall I go to Sam's Club, purchase somewhere between 300 to 800 bulbs, plant them in the flowerbeds and throughout the lawn only to have the darling little critters dig them up . Arrrggggghhhh!
Any suggestions on how to prevent the little buggers from digging up the bulbs?

I was able to stop at JOANN Fabrics yesterday and I picked up some wonderful Silk floral pieces at 70% Off! These are perfect for the rest of November and then they'll be put away until next fall. My husband is a train collector and we have a number of different gage tracks around our house including a 7 1/2 " railway and a
G gage railway. While at JOANN's I picked up some ceramic Halloween themed houses that that should work well with one of his model railway towns in the back yard for next Halloween. At 70% off, I thought it would be a nice present for him! Unfortunately they had sold out of the scarecrows and their Halloween patterns were still at full price. Oh well, can't always get what we want, but I still feel good about the bargins I did get!

Baltic Waves








Wednesday, November 03, 2004

An Update on the Day After

Apparently Kerry has conceded and phoned the president, the official concession is to happen this afternoon. Strange how if feels peaceful knowing that we have a strong leader in the white house. I may not agree with everything he does but he is the right person for this time period!

Now on to the mundane things in life. I'm going to try to pick up some post Halloween decorations during lunch today. I've got my eye on a couple of those cute scarecrows, maybe a few other items. We have a Joanne fabric's not to far from work that usually has some great deals after the holidays.

With what free time I can manage I like to sew and enjoy costuming. ( I try to participate in the local costumers guild and attend Sci-Fi and costuming conventions when I can find the time.) I'm looking forward to finding Halloween costume patterns on sale. As anyone who sews an tell you, you never have enough patterns or fabrics! Gotta Go!

Baltic Waves

The Day After....

Well here it is Wednesday November 3rd , the day after the presidential elections. It "appears" that Bush won the Popular vote and the electoral collage vote, although it is not official. It will be interesting to see if the Kerry tries to dispute the results....... I wrote to soon, it seems as though Kerry is indeed trying to contest the results.

It's a bright sunny day out there and I'm sure the terrorists are mad as hell that they won't be dancing around in their streets celebrating Kerry!

that's all for now, have a wonderful day!

Baltic Waves


Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Election Day! It's finely here!

I feel so much better today after having voted. Let me explain that statement, I feel as if a weight has been lifted after all the things that have been happening these last few days.

While yesterday was a gloomy, dark, rainy day, today, while still wet, is bright outside and it was encouraging seeing all the people lined up to vote at the polling place. We got there about 6:15 AM and there was already a line of about 20 people in front of us. It seems that there is going to be a large turnout this year. There is no excuse for anyone to not vote!

There was also some very sad news this morning from Holland. Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, who made a controversial film about Islamic culture recently, has been shot dead in Amsterdam. (See BBC link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3974179.stm )

In free societies, religions are attacked rhetorically all the time. Their adherents fight back with reasoned arguments, not with bullets. Islamic society cannot stand to be questioned, reasoning with Islam is not an option it seems.

How much longer will Holland be in any significant way a free society?

To quote a person on Dhimmi Watch : ( http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/003757.php#comments ) "How do you reconcile a civilization based on tolerance, the freedom of the individual and equality of the sexes, democracy and free speech, with a belief system that spits in the face of all of those things, holds you and your civilization in contempt, and seeks to usurp and supplant your civilization by various means, to make you "submit" to the religion of the "submitters", or at least to cringe in fear and curtail those aspects of your civilization that "he" is offended by. (Which is practically everything. The mere sight of a woman not treated as a chattel is like an enraging blasphemy to them. But hey, its OK, because the left must fight for the right of Muslim women to wear burqa's and hijab's)
What I find truly audacious is how they have adapted the language of the left to further their cause. They don't really believe in human rights, pluralism and tolerance, but advance their doctrine under its name. "

If a Dutch filmmaker was shot to death for his daring to show a film questioning Islam, how much longer do you suppose it will be before we start seeing the same in the United States? As it is, Bin Laden has already shown us that he prefers Kerry, why do you think that would be the case?

I saw a great bumper sticker yesterday "10 out of 10 terrorists prefer Kerry"

We need to secure our country against these terrorists, and I cannot see John Kerry having the backbone to stand up against any of these sick scum . Hopefully the election will result in Bush getting re-elected and our country will continue to defend itself against these Pigs!

whether you agree or not, please go out and vote, get involved, make a difference, stand up for what you believe!

Baltic Waves


Monday, November 01, 2004

Trying to please everyone and managing to please no one.....

I received a call from our real estate agent earlier this afternoon. We are in the process of trying to pick up a 3 unit building that is a forclosure. My family , i.e. my sister in law, and my cousin love it. If we can pick it up they would occupy 2 of the three units. ...

Unfortunately the building is in need of a lot of repairs... Since it is a forclosure the previous owners ripped out everything that didn't move and then some... Plumbing fixtures, cabinets, molding and trim around the windows , doorframes etc... , hardware fixtures, lighting fixtures, electrical outlets etc... are all gone. In addition to those things, the building structurally needs to have work done on the foundation in the basement, it needs a new roof, and the electrical needs to be updated from fuses to circuit breakers, and on and on..... Windows need to be replaced, and each apartment would need to have appliances, kitchen cabinets etc.

With winter rapidly approaching, time to fix the roof , windows, and basement to prevent further damage is dwindling away. The bank, that is located in California, apparently doesn't understand this and seems to think that they should get their full asking price ( what a property in good condition would go for) . We have submitted three different offers each being rejected. The property has been on the market for 4 months, with no other bidders, and only one other showing. You would think that the bank would be interested in getting it off their books, but apparently that is not the case. Our latest offer was again rejected. We've instructed our realtor to make a final best offer and if rejected again, we're walking away...

I know that my sister in law law and cousin won't be happy , but then again , they are not the ones that are putting their money up for the transaction...... I can't see overpaying for something that needs another $60,000 -70,000 in repairs and renovations....

The building was on the market for over a year before it went into forclosure, the owners were asking too much, and they never got any offers, the bank then foreclosed on the owners, and the building was striped by the owners . The fascinating thing is that while the building is now in far worse condition, the bank actually is asking $10,000 more then the owners were asking before the forclosure.

Maybe the bank made a really bad loan decision and they feel that they can't admit to it by adjusting the price to a fair market value, reflecting the condition of the property etc.... Time will tell........

A Cold Wet Dreary Monday on daylight savings time....

Well after an interesting weekend, here it is a cold wet dark and dreary Monday. It's raining , you can feel winter creeping up on us and in general it's just plain depressing....

Friday evening we had quite the storm complete with thunder, lighting , gusting winds and a torrential downpour. The electricity went out for a while, (not unusual for the area we live in) and we found out that the house that we had just closed on last week definitely had a roof leak! There's nothing like hearing the thunderous roar of the rain outside only to see the ceiling gushing water in the living room and bathroom. Well according to my husband and our friend that we are in partnership with, it's not as bad as it seems and can be easily patched/fixed. Well, Saturday and Sunday was spent working on the roof, trying to get the water pump to work properly and other such fun things! I guess I need to be patient and not let it bother me, but I can't help wondering if we did the right thing , purchasing this fixer-upper.... Ah well, time will tell.....

Saturday was blustery and cold, a perfectly Halloweenish day! It had the feel of, oh say .... a line that I might be misqoting here ... "Something wicked this way comes".....

Sunday was spent running around, "spinning my wheels" and not having a lot to show for anything... We didn't have very many trick or treaters, five groups with a total of about 18 kids. Our area had designated from 3:00 -7:00 pm as the official time for trick or treaters. The neighborhood we live in is an older neighborhood that has a lot of middle age to older people , not very many families with children. That and the fact that, lets face it , it's not the same as when I was a kid, the world seems to be far more dangerous. .....

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!