Time to Simplify my Life

After taking a good hard look at my life I realize its time to simplify, get rid of things, possession's, and even people...

Therefore my resolution for the rest of my life is to do just that.... If I haven't used some thing or missed something for at least the last 2-3 years, time to evaluate and get rid of it if it is no longer of value to me.

I am a pack rat, there are still boxes in the attic that haven't been touched since we moved into this house 10 years ago..... I am fairly certain that I can get rid of most of those items. We are constantly getting calls from various organizations asking for donations of items, off it goes to be used by someone else.....

The same holds true of people in our lives, I feel that if after a number of years I am the only one that is making an effort, maybe its time to move on. This is even true of family members.... I have half brothers and half sisters that I have been trying my whole life to have relationships with. (I am an only child from my parents marriage, my father remarried and had 5 more kids) I call, try to make an effort to get together with them, send presents to their kids, etc... and after all these years I realize that there is only one brother who does the same. Another brother sometimes will keep in touch , if I call first, the third brother and two sisters do not even attempt to , nor do their kids.

My youngest half sister who has never invited me to her kids birthdays etc.... posted a comment on a Facebook picture I had of myself with a friends child about a month ago. Her comment was " I thought you don't like kids", my response was , "I do like the kids that I get to know". So here it is , I'm looking at Facebook this weekend, and there she is, going on about a Christmas party for her two sons and how much fun it was for the family to be there...
as usual , I am not family as far as she is concerned....

The other sister was in town for 3 weeks earlier this summer, constantly posting about all the get togethers with family, and never responded to a number of calls and emails from myself, so to both of them, I am finally saying , no more ... I am writing them off as apparently they have of myself. Same is true of the nieces and nephews, after all , if I never get a thank you , a call or anything, well, enough is enough...

That's a start.... more to come.....one step at a time.....


free hit counter

Could it be....The net is abuzz Palin as VP pick for McCain?

Well - the net seems to be abuzzz.... I'm hoping it's true, if it is I will be 100 % behind the ticket... and will even volunteer to support the candidacy, something I haven't done since I was in collage and I helped get Mayor Washington elected in Chicago!

Now if truth be known , as VP choices go , I believe the McCain "dream ticket" would be with him and Condi Rice as VP, but hey, this would still be good! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! (We won't go into how I am still disapointed that Rudi did not get the nomination... oh well..)

free hit counter

Chinese Islamic Group Threatens Attack at Beijing Olympics -Here we go again! The muslims are at it once more- what else is new!

.......

An up date about this post... from earlier today... Muslims warned to keep their children away from the games....

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080807171647.58r598sd&show_article=1

Thanks to Breitbart.com

A Muslim separatist group in China has made a new video threat against the Beijing Olympics, warning Muslims to keep their children away from the games, a US group that monitors extremists said Thursday.
The nearly six-minute video shows flames consuming a Beijing Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the competition, and features a masked, turbaned speaker clutching what appears to be an assault rifle.

The IntelCenter released a copy of the recording, attributed to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an ethnic Uighur and Muslim organization seeking to create an independent state out of China's heavily Muslim Xinjiang province.

The SITE Intelligence Group, meanwhile, translated some of the message, which was delivered in the language of the Uighurs, and said that the speaker identified himself as a TIP member and issued a threat against the Games.

The speaker urges Muslims to keep their children from the competition, and warns "Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are," SITE said.

Since when to the muslims give a shit about their children? Oh yeah... that's right, gotta keep em alive just long enought to have them blow up others on a mision from their satonic rock god allah.... grrrr.....





Wouldn't it be a nice fantasy to NOT HAVE MUSLIMS THREATENING VIOLENCE! No it's not those pesky Episcopalians, or those darn Mormons, it's the religion of pieces muslims again!

BEIJING, China — A U.S. group that monitors extremist Web sites says that a Chinese Islamic group has posted a new video that shows a burning Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the Beijing Games.

The video, reported Thursday by the IntelCenter, follows the posting of a similar video dated July 23. Both are attributed to the Turkistan Islamic Party, which experts say is an offshoot of a secessionist group from China's Central Asian frontier with ties to Al Qaeda.

IntelCenter said the latest video was dated Aug. 1 and features "graphics showing a burning Olympics logo and an explosion imposed over one of the venues."

Comments on the video were in the language of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China with a long history of tense relations with the central government. No translation was immediately available.







free hit counter

Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day For Muslim Holiday for union employees- Time to boycott Tyson Foods!

As an update to the earlier post, in addition to sending an e-mail - I called the customer service phone number for Tyson to register a complant. Tyson's customer service was abrupt and kept trying to whitewash the whole thing by stating over and over that they were only doing this with the union employees. When I finally was able to get in a few words I let the rep know that my family was no longer going to buy Tysen products and before I could finish the rep cut me off and stated , that's fine, and hung up! I was calm and profesional through out the mostly one sided conversation, and was very surprised by the hang up! ... For any one else intrested in calling Tyson's customer relations ... the number is 800-643-3410. Call now and register your complaint... If enough people do , they cannot ignore this......

The following is an article in the Nashville News.... (Thanks to the Drudge Report)

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons.Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant.Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays -- the same number as the old contract.

Eid al-Fitr -- which falls on Oct. 1 this year -- marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Union leaders said implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people.

Nineteen-year plant veteran William Pentecost doesn’t agree with the decision.

"I don’t think it's right. I really don't think it's right," he said.

Tyson company spokeswoman Libby Lawson said by phone that, "This isn't a religious accommodation, this is a contractual agreement. The majority asked for it."

The change didn’t bother some workers.

"I think it's fine. I don’t have any problem with it. There's a whole bunch of them here, so they've got to do something for them," said worker John Smith.

"It shouldn't happen. I mean, I think, we're in America, you're in America, I think that they should go with our holidays," Pentecost said.

Channel 4's Cynthia Williams could not reach any of the plant’s Muslim workers, because Channel 4 News' crew was not permitted on the property.

Former employee and Shelbyville resident Anthony Proctor said he thinks what's happening is wrong.

He said he helped build a special Muslim prayer room that's located inside the plant and that no other Tyson facility has been that accommodating for any other religion.

"If we want to go pray, we don’t have one for Christians," he said.

Tyson is headquartered in Arkansas.

Lawson said they consider religious accommodations on a case-by-case basis. She said that so far, no one has asked for any other type of religious prayer room.

No one at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s regional office answered phone calls placed by Williams on Friday.

A representative in New York said that no one there knew specifics about the new contract with the workers, but a person in research told Williams that holidays aren't usually replaced and are more likely to be added on.

The decision will only apply to workers at the plant who are union members. All other employees at the plant will still have their normal Labor Day holiday.


My family and I will be boycotting Tyson Foods. I've already contacted their corporate office to voice our objection to this. You too, can contact Tyson at

Contact Information
Mail: Tyson Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 2020
Springdale, AR 72764-6999 Telephone: 1-800-643-3410
Consumer Relations CP631
2210 West Oaklawn Drive
Springdale, AR 72764-6999




free hit counter

Muslim day at Great America park in Gurnee IL....

I first heard about this muslim day at Great America in Gurnee, this morning as I awoke to WGN Newsradio. I was shocked and made a comment about it to my husband. How the hell is it that the "muslames" always demand these things. ( I know, I know, that is the standard mode of operation...)

Then latter this morning I checked the Chicago Tribune, and sure enough, there was this headline on the front page....

Muslim Day at Six Flags a time to relax and connect with others
Gurnee park expects about 1,200 Muslims to attend Saturday
By Deborah Horan Chicago Tribune reporter
12:29 AM CDT, July 25, 2008

Well of course I checked the comments section for the article and added mine also, the interesting part was that the general consensus on the comments in the Chicago Tribune was that people were not pleased....

Then just now, I was checking the Tribune again on line and it seems that the Trib has decided to close the comments section..... Apparently they do not want to upset the muslims with a show of what regular people are thinking about the demands and concessions that are being made by the likes of Great America, etc....

At Dhimmiwatch.org at http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/021944.php there is a great article on this....

Magic Mountain to become "Muslim Magic Mountain" for a day

Can't help but wonder if on "Muslim Day" the theme park's "six flags" will depict swords with the words "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah" -- you know, to better help foster a sense of Muslim community.

"Muslim Day at Six Flags a time to relax and connect with others," by Deborah Horan, for the Chicago Tribune, July 25:

On any other day, Sobia Ahmed would opt to forgo many of the snacks on offer at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. To perform the Islamic prayers she recites five times a day, she likely would slip onto a secluded path at the amusement park or look for solace under a shady tree for a few furtive minutes.

"Furtive"? Thought "pious" better characterizes the minutes one spends praying?

This Saturday Ahmed and her family will eat and pray at their leisure in the park with hundreds of other Muslims from the Chicago area who plan to visit the sprawling entertainment center for a day catered especially to them.

For the fourth time since 2004, Six Flags in Gurnee is sponsoring Muslim Day, bringing in outside caterers to provide halal food and turning an amphitheater into a makeshift mosque to accommodate Muslims who observe dietary laws and strict prayer schedules. Muslims who plan to go say they appreciate the sense of community the event creates as well as the opportunity to talk about Islam with curious non-Muslims at the park.

"If you go on regular days, it's kind of tough to find a place to pray," said Ahmed, a stay-at-home mom from Bolingbrook who has attended previous Muslim Days at Six Flags with her husband and five children. "Usually we can't eat the food, but now we can."
Started in New Jersey by an interethnic Muslim organization called the Islamic Circle of North America.

This, of course, is the same organization that is "listed in the infamous 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memo as participating in a 'grand Jihad' aimed at 'eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.'" See here for more.

[...]

For the Muslims' prayer needs, the park chose an amphitheater near the restrooms so worshipers can perform ablutions beforehand. Two outside caterers will provide food that complies with Islamic standards of preparation.

Posted by Raymond at July 25, 2008 10:48 AM

ARRRRGGGGGGGG..........

free hit counter

Looking Back at a post on Dec 11, 2007....an Alcoholic Friend....

Looking back to a post I did back in December of 2007 I see that I mentioned then how I hoped that my friend had hit bottom with her drinking. Who knew that breaking her neck was just the beginning.

Last night we went over to her house to check on her and her dog. ( We have been taking care of her dog off and on for the last year and a half as her drinking got worse and worse) She was again in a drunken stupor sitting at the kitchen table. We again dumped the vodka she was drinking, and seached for the rest of the bottle. We found another empty 1.75 ltr bottle in a kitchen cabinet.

I asked her if she liked doing this to herself, she slurred... nooo..... Then I asked who was supplying her with the vodka? She eventually managed to say a name, Pete, from the local bar. ( Or at least that is what it sounded like) .

I had been told by her counselor that being blunt with her was good maybe it would shake her up enough to realize that she needed to stop, get help. I told her that she was an end stag alcoholic. What that meant , and that if she didn't stop drinking and get help she would die. Her response was that she would rather continue drinking and die.

So there you have it, if she doesn't want to change her life around , that is what will happen. I'm just disappointed again at her, but it is her choice. Looks like we will have a new dog permanently in a short time.

End-stage alcoholism is a horrible way to die. Alcohol is a cumulative poison that damages the skin, brain, liver, heart, and other parts of the body. As the damage to these organs progresses with continued use, the body systems needed for life begin to fail.

The heart weakens and becomes enlarged.

The liver becomes scarred, shrunken, and hardened (cirrhosis). It stops functioning, causing blood dysfunctions and esophageal varices, and hemorrhoids that can rupture suddenly, causing the person to bleed to death.

The brain's internal spaces are enlarged, and the fissures in the cortex are widened. This general loss of brain tissue is associated with alcoholic dementia (wet brain), a decline in the capacity for thinking or learning. Other symptoms of organic brain disorders are mental confusion, impaired coordination while walking, impaired vision, and memory loss.

The skin's vascular systems are damaged. The skin's ability to retain heat is compromised. Abnormally enlarged capillary groups, with blue and red spider-like capillaries, appear primarily on the upper body. Unexplained bruising, redness of the skin especially on the face, fluid retention under the eyes, and a "whiskey nose" can develop.

Direct tissue irritation and/or induction of enzymes that activate other carcinogens can cause cancers of the mouth, tongue, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, liver, lung, pancreas, colon and rectum.

In the advanced stage, damage to the liver, heart, brain and other body tissues may be irreversible. Severe physical damage often leads to life-threatening illnesses that result in premature death. Brain damage from years of excessive drinking or drug use may be permanent. As brain cells die from chronic alcohol intake, they are generally not regenerated, and the tissue of the brain itself begins to deteriorate.

Even if sobriety is achieved in this advanced state of alcoholism, the quality of life may be significantly impacted and the physical damage may be so great that it becomes difficult to treat. It is however, never too late to start recovery from alcohol addiction. Persons suffering from irreversible damage caused by chronic drinking can still begin and successfully continue recovery. Obviously, the earlier, the better.

Shes already showing allot of the signs.... I do not believe that she will be around much longer, either her heart and liver will give out shortly due to the drinking, or she will pass out and drown in her own vomit or die from passing out and hitting her head again on the toilet/sink/tub... etc.... Any way you look at it , it is a horrible way to go.

End Stage Alcoholism...watching a person slowly kill themselves.....

If you have ever know anyone close to you that is or was an alcoholic then you know how frustrating it is to see the person throw their life away.

My maid of honor at my wedding used to be an IT genius. To quote another friend of hers that used to work for her, "she could make a computer dance". On all accounts she was bright, sociable and was running a thriving business up until a few years ago. Just like most people I know , she would be a social drinker, and yes , just like allot of the other Scandinavians she could hold her liquor.

She did have issues through out the years, as we all do, but one of the things she always struggled with was her weight. I still remember having to tell her when we were looking for dresses for the bridesmaids and her maid of honor dress, that the dress size we had to order for her wasn't the true size as stated on the tag, that all bridesmaid dress are smaller then the size stated.... She needed to hear that as she was devastated in having to order a size 28 and then having the seamstress add fabric to the dress to make it fit. That was over 11 years ago....

About 6 years ago , she decided that the only solution to her weight problems was to have gastric bypass surgery. ( The reality is that food can be an addiction , just as much as drugs or alcoholism. If you do not address the root of the problem, you are going to replace the food addiction with something else. ) She did not want to discuss this surgery with her family and friends, we all found out about it a few days before the surgery was to take place. She would not listen to those of us that were concerned about taking such a drastic step.

There were complications and the long and short of it was that she almost died 2 times , and was in the hospital, and then a nursing home, for almost a year after the initial surgery.

Well she lost the weight , but over the last 4 years she started drinking more and more. Looking back now, the signs were there but we all just kept chalking it up to stress, running her own business, keeping things afloat after her surgery and recovery, etc...

There was always an excuse why things were not going right, her losing customers , etc.... in these last two years, she started getting in trouble with the law, was arrested a number of times, but her sales skills kept her from having all but the closest of us friends really see what was happening.

It was never her fault, etc... There was the constant denial, finally, she got a DUI ( I'm surprised it took so long) , the first one was 4 months ago, the last one was 2 months ago. Her house is in foreclosure , she has the final sale the first week of August, all her utilities except for the electrical are shut off, and she still refuses to stop drinking!

Since mid June, she spent 6 weeks in the county jail , got out 4 weeks ago, had a court date that she blew off because she was drunk, got jailed again over the 4th of July weekend because of the missed court date, got out after 10 days, and then she wasn't out of jail 24 hours before she went on a drinking bender again!

She lives just down the street from us so here it is 5 days latter and every day we check on her , and every day she is either passed out or in a drunken stupor. We keep taking away and dumping the vodka, but apparently she has someone in the neighborhood who keeps buying it for her.

We've contacted her church and counselor, the counselor confirmed that the reality is that unless she wants to stop drinking, no one can make her! She is an "end stage alcoholic" and there is a good chance we may end up finding her dead one of these days when we check up on her.

Our final step is trying to get the police to come out and do a wellness check on her, and hopefully when they find her unresponsive in a drunken stupor , they would take her to a hospital where they could evaluate her and get her into a state run/mandated program.... if that doesn't happen, I know in my heart that I will be attending a funeral soon....

Please say a prayer, if your are so inclined for her... and all those like her... they need all the prayers possible....











free hit counter