Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Jan 24, 2017
The Votes
Donald Trump received 62,979,879 total votes. The total number of Americans registered to vote is 146,311,000. That means only 43% of the people voted for him. If you voted for Trump you are in the minority.
Feb 2, 2016
Make America Great Again
Lead pipes to replace
Potholes to fill
Potholes to fill
Condemned houses to tear down
Schools to repair
Schools to repair
Kids to mentor
People to help
Energy solutions to invent
Solar panels to install
Wind farms to plant
Litter to pick up
Garbage to recycle
Organic food to be grown
Let's put some people back to work and re-invest in our United States.
Let's put some people back to work and re-invest in our United States.
***
I really get riled up during these big election cycles.
Jan 31, 2016
Idealogues a List
Equality for all despite, gender, race, ability, and wealth.
Livable minimum wage.
Livable minimum wage.
Tax the rich.
Feed the poor.
Feed the poor.
Health care for everyone.
Pay teachers.
Gun control.
Reinvest in these United States by rebuilding infrastructure.
Stop trashing our planet.
Don't hit.
Make peace.
Include.
Jan 12, 2015
Slow on the Draw
"GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN 6) — A man practicing his open carry right was robbed of the gun he was openly carrying.
William Coleman III was robbed of his Walter- brand P22 just after 2:00 a.m. October 4 in Gresham by a young man who asked him for it — and flashed his own weapon as persuasion.
Coleman, 21, was talking to his cousin in the 17200 block of NE Glisan St., after purchasing the handgun earlier that day, when a young man asked him for a cigarette, police said.
The man then asked about the gun, pulled a gun from his own waistband and said “”I like your gun. Give it to me.”
Coleman handed over the gun and the man fled on foot.
The suspect is thin a black male, between 19 and 23 years old, clean cut with a small patch of facial hair on his chin, and short black wavy hair.
He is roughly six feet tall, wearing grey sweatpants, a white T-Shirt and flip-flop sandals.
The weapon he used in the robbery was described as a possibly semi-automatic, black gun, Gresham Police said."
***
William Coleman III was robbed of his Walter- brand P22 just after 2:00 a.m. October 4 in Gresham by a young man who asked him for it — and flashed his own weapon as persuasion.
Coleman, 21, was talking to his cousin in the 17200 block of NE Glisan St., after purchasing the handgun earlier that day, when a young man asked him for a cigarette, police said.
The man then asked about the gun, pulled a gun from his own waistband and said “”I like your gun. Give it to me.”
Coleman handed over the gun and the man fled on foot.
The suspect is thin a black male, between 19 and 23 years old, clean cut with a small patch of facial hair on his chin, and short black wavy hair.
He is roughly six feet tall, wearing grey sweatpants, a white T-Shirt and flip-flop sandals.
The weapon he used in the robbery was described as a possibly semi-automatic, black gun, Gresham Police said."
***
Nov 18, 2014
Sep 23, 2014
We don't want a hand up, or a hand out, we just need to be paid a fair wage for this hole we've been digging for you.
You've read the story... struggling adult doesn't know how she's going to make it until random stranger tips her $1,000.00 / until football player pays for the kid's operation / until anonymous angel buys her groceries / until undercover boss pays her house off and sends all the kids to college and gives her the first vacation in her life. It's a story that's supposed to warm your heart and make you feel great about humanity and inspire you to maybe pay it forward. Get out there and give, change a life by throwing a couple hundred dollars at a poor person, save someone from the brink of ruin.
I can't help it every time I read one of these stories I get seriously pissed off. What about the millions of people who didn't get that magic windfall?
People should be able to work hard and pay for their own. A bartender should be able to afford a few appliances, a waitress should be able to buy Christmas presents, but we now live in a society where basic needs can't be met by people who work their asses off. People we see every day, the cashier, the gardener, the lady wiping the snot of your kid's nose at preschool. I'm supposed to be all choked up at the sudden un-freezing of Scrooge's tiny cold heart at the end of Undercover Boss - instead I am pissed that we are in a place where folks can't afford to buy their own house any more or afford to pay for schooling.
The people on the top get to feel good for throwing a few scraps to the people at the bottom and the people at the bottom are supposed to thank them and be ever so grateful for that angel who paid for their coffee and we area all supposed to clap and cheer about this heart-warming scene when instead we should ALL be outraged that not every American can afford coffee.
Please understand, I'm not trying to discourage charity or paying it forward, or big tippers, I'm just saying we should all be ashamed that are so many opportunities in this country to rescue. We should stop feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside when we read these stories and instead opt for frustration and outrage that the relief was needed at all. A thousand dollars here, eighty thousand there... it's pennies barely missed falling from the top earners' wallets, into a vast bucket of need. Working Americans need a bigger more permanent rescue than a nice tip or a tax credit, we need a living wage.
I can't help it every time I read one of these stories I get seriously pissed off. What about the millions of people who didn't get that magic windfall?
People should be able to work hard and pay for their own. A bartender should be able to afford a few appliances, a waitress should be able to buy Christmas presents, but we now live in a society where basic needs can't be met by people who work their asses off. People we see every day, the cashier, the gardener, the lady wiping the snot of your kid's nose at preschool. I'm supposed to be all choked up at the sudden un-freezing of Scrooge's tiny cold heart at the end of Undercover Boss - instead I am pissed that we are in a place where folks can't afford to buy their own house any more or afford to pay for schooling.
The people on the top get to feel good for throwing a few scraps to the people at the bottom and the people at the bottom are supposed to thank them and be ever so grateful for that angel who paid for their coffee and we area all supposed to clap and cheer about this heart-warming scene when instead we should ALL be outraged that not every American can afford coffee.
Please understand, I'm not trying to discourage charity or paying it forward, or big tippers, I'm just saying we should all be ashamed that are so many opportunities in this country to rescue. We should stop feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside when we read these stories and instead opt for frustration and outrage that the relief was needed at all. A thousand dollars here, eighty thousand there... it's pennies barely missed falling from the top earners' wallets, into a vast bucket of need. Working Americans need a bigger more permanent rescue than a nice tip or a tax credit, we need a living wage.
Sep 18, 2014
Fight for 15
Whomever said don't cry over spilt milk obviously never had to make that milk, work thirty minutes minutes to buy it, or put a hungry baby to bed.
*As of 9/18/14 Gallon of Milk $4.05/Minimum Wage $8.25
*As of 9/18/14 Gallon of Milk $4.05/Minimum Wage $8.25
Sep 8, 2014
The Sugars
One of the things I'm trying to do lately is give up some of the sugar in our lives. Or at the very least be aware of when we are using it. Like buying cereal with no sugar but then spooning some right onto it. It seems less processed and less sneaky. I've been reading labels like mad at the store and sugar or some other form of it
(corn syrup,
beat sugar,
agave nectar,
barley malt,
brown rice syrup,
cane juice,
caramel,
corn sweetener,
crystalline fructose,
dextran,
diastatic malt powder,
ethyl moltol,
fructose,
glucose,
high fructose corn syrup,
maltodextrin,
maltose,
muscovado,
raspadura,
rice bran syrup,
sorghum,
sucrose,
glucomalt...)
is in EVERYTHING. So I'm just shopping for things with one or two ingredients. Not including bread and a few treat type things for the kids. It's hard. The kids aren't happy. But they aren't going to starve. There is plenty of food in there, just not what they want. It's been a crabby week and the Nutella is gone already. Hopefully in a few more weeks, we'll all feel better.
(corn syrup,
beat sugar,
agave nectar,
barley malt,
brown rice syrup,
cane juice,
caramel,
corn sweetener,
crystalline fructose,
dextran,
diastatic malt powder,
ethyl moltol,
fructose,
glucose,
high fructose corn syrup,
maltodextrin,
maltose,
muscovado,
raspadura,
rice bran syrup,
sorghum,
sucrose,
glucomalt...)
is in EVERYTHING. So I'm just shopping for things with one or two ingredients. Not including bread and a few treat type things for the kids. It's hard. The kids aren't happy. But they aren't going to starve. There is plenty of food in there, just not what they want. It's been a crabby week and the Nutella is gone already. Hopefully in a few more weeks, we'll all feel better.
Sep 5, 2014
Fight for 15
I support the fight for 15.
Not only are the fast food workers trying to strike and raise wages but the home health care workers have joined in and are trying to be a part of the union too.
52% of the families of front-line fast-food workers are enrolled in one or more public programs, (compared to 25% of the workforce as a whole.) The cost of public assistance to families of workers in the fast-food industry is nearly $7 billion per year.
96% of restaurant workers do not earn paid sick days, forcing 76% to work WHILE SICK.
57.4% of low wage workers are over age 30
|***
I don't care what you're doing at your job - if you think it's worth more and you want to band together and bargain for more... I am not you supervisor, I don't know what you do at work... I say good on you! You get more! Because when you fight for the rights of the worker, you fight for us all.
***
Jul 15, 2014
Immigrant Children in the Heartland
In direct contradiction to Davenport IA, Mayor Gluba's efforts to coalesce local agencies to welcome the fleeing immigrant children to the Quad Cities, Catholic Governer Terry Branstad (R) says "I do not want to house immigrant children in my state." Seems Pope Francis who called for tens of thousands of unaccompanied child migrants to be "welcomed and protected," is yet again in opposition to the GOP platform.
Despite Senator Mark Kirk's (R) of IL implication that the refugees are gang members and other tiny unaccompanied criminals, Illinois has welcomed 429 unaccompanied children under her wings. Senator Durbin (D) of IL says we "would want to adopt these children if you spent five minutes in the room with them,....They are lovely, beautiful little kids." Heartland Alliance in Chicago is in charge of placing and overseeing the care of the kids placed in IL. I'm checking to see if there is anything even more local for people right here to do, I'll update when I know more.
Can you imagine sending your kid out into the dessert by themselves in hopes they find something better? How bad does something have to be before you'd do that? We can't send these kids back to whatever it was. This isn't what America is about.
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Despite Senator Mark Kirk's (R) of IL implication that the refugees are gang members and other tiny unaccompanied criminals, Illinois has welcomed 429 unaccompanied children under her wings. Senator Durbin (D) of IL says we "would want to adopt these children if you spent five minutes in the room with them,....They are lovely, beautiful little kids." Heartland Alliance in Chicago is in charge of placing and overseeing the care of the kids placed in IL. I'm checking to see if there is anything even more local for people right here to do, I'll update when I know more.
Can you imagine sending your kid out into the dessert by themselves in hopes they find something better? How bad does something have to be before you'd do that? We can't send these kids back to whatever it was. This isn't what America is about.
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Mar 7, 2012
Just Words
It is believed if you know the name of a demon, you have the power to summon it with a simple utterance. We wait with tender hearts over our babies singing and cooing until they call upon us with one sweet word.
We pledge our allegiance; we pray; we vow; we debate, sway, teach and command; we change the world with words.
Mr. Limbaugh let slip his loathing of women by flinging around the word "slut", with such ease that he mistakenly used it. He assigned this word such little importance, it accidentally fell from his face, as if he, who makes a living on the backs of words, didn't understand its power.
The ease of which profanity slips from swirling frothy hate filled mouths like fouled laundry slopping out the front of a broken washing machine door, offends humanity.
Some words come with a history, they are sacred or profane and if your business is words, then you should know which are what, like any decent preacher, legislator, poet, or tattoo artist.
We pledge our allegiance; we pray; we vow; we debate, sway, teach and command; we change the world with words.
Mr. Limbaugh let slip his loathing of women by flinging around the word "slut", with such ease that he mistakenly used it. He assigned this word such little importance, it accidentally fell from his face, as if he, who makes a living on the backs of words, didn't understand its power.
The ease of which profanity slips from swirling frothy hate filled mouths like fouled laundry slopping out the front of a broken washing machine door, offends humanity.
Some words come with a history, they are sacred or profane and if your business is words, then you should know which are what, like any decent preacher, legislator, poet, or tattoo artist.
Feb 7, 2012
Where I'm from
Forbes Magazine: Rockford is the 9th Most Miserable Place to Live
Rockford in the Top 20 Most Dangerous Cities
Rockford 15th Highest Jobless Rate in the Nation
Rockford Register Star Responds: More Than a Set of Statistics
Our City Our Story - Rockford, IL
When I was fifteen, I went to the hospital for my appendix, upon release the next morning I discovered someone had stolen my boots.
Rockford in the Top 20 Most Dangerous Cities
Rockford 15th Highest Jobless Rate in the Nation
Rockford Register Star Responds: More Than a Set of Statistics
Our City Our Story - Rockford, IL
When I was fifteen, I went to the hospital for my appendix, upon release the next morning I discovered someone had stolen my boots.
Jan 13, 2012
Order Now!
Ella is selling girl scout cookies. If you needed a reason to buy them beyond tasty tasty exclusive cookies, click on THIS LINK. Seriously everything I read made me say "Oh, good! I'm glad." Thank you Girl Scouts for being the kind of organization I'd always hoped for my daughter to belong in and for propelling society forward.
Jan 4, 2012
Santorum? I Barely Even Know 'Em.
Quick facts:
Budget busting tax plan
Pro foreign aid, including troops
Against gay marriage
Intelligent design
Wife and seven children
Pro life
Google rank problems
Thirty year time line:
Graduated High School 1976
BA in Political Science at Penn State in (Tau Epsilon Phi Frat) 1980
Master of Business Admin 1981
Law degree, Pennsylvania Bar, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart 1986
Married 1987
House of Representatives 1990
US Senate 1995
Re elected US Senate 2000
Google Bombed 2003
First Book 2005
Unseated 2006
Second Book 2006
Budget busting tax plan
Pro foreign aid, including troops
Against gay marriage
Intelligent design
Wife and seven children
Pro life
Google rank problems
Thirty year time line:
Graduated High School 1976
BA in Political Science at Penn State in (Tau Epsilon Phi Frat) 1980
Master of Business Admin 1981
Law degree, Pennsylvania Bar, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart 1986
Married 1987
House of Representatives 1990
US Senate 1995
Re elected US Senate 2000
Google Bombed 2003
First Book 2005
Unseated 2006
Second Book 2006
Dec 5, 2011
Nov 30, 2011
Another Cherry Vale Mall Response
Jenny - I am not clear what your intended use is. Many uses can be acceptable if cleared thru the mall management office. Feel free to contact me as the need arises.
Mark Peterson
General Manager
CherryVale Mall
815-332-2451 x.228
***
Mark, I was at the mall on Thursday, November 25th with my mother, a friend, and my two small children. I was using my iphone to record people singing an impromptu version of "This Land is Your Land" when mall security approached me and said policy was "No filming" and I must stop or leave. It was confusing because several other people were recording this event, but I was the only one with several shopping bags, strollers, coffee, phone, and children in hand. The rest of the people recording were men with nothing in hand but a camera. The video of the incident is here http://bombadee.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-cherryvale-mall-rockford-il-on.html I was unable to find any mention of this strict policy on your website in the Cherry Vale Code of Conduct, so I was looking for a clarification of your use of cameras.
Awaiting your reply,
Jenny
Houston, Texas
***
Jenny - mall security is correct in speaking to you regarding filming as prior authorization thru the mall management office would need to have been granted.
Thank you for shopping CherryVale.
***
First post here
Initial response here
Mark Peterson
General Manager
CherryVale Mall
815-332-2451 x.228
***
Mark, I was at the mall on Thursday, November 25th with my mother, a friend, and my two small children. I was using my iphone to record people singing an impromptu version of "This Land is Your Land" when mall security approached me and said policy was "No filming" and I must stop or leave. It was confusing because several other people were recording this event, but I was the only one with several shopping bags, strollers, coffee, phone, and children in hand. The rest of the people recording were men with nothing in hand but a camera. The video of the incident is here http://bombadee.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-cherryvale-mall-rockford-il-on.html I was unable to find any mention of this strict policy on your website in the Cherry Vale Code of Conduct, so I was looking for a clarification of your use of cameras.
Awaiting your reply,
Jenny
Houston, Texas
***
Jenny - mall security is correct in speaking to you regarding filming as prior authorization thru the mall management office would need to have been granted.
Thank you for shopping CherryVale.
***
First post here
Initial response here
Nov 29, 2011
Occupy Cherry Vale Mall Response
Original Comments:
To Whom It May Concern;
re: http://bombadee.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-cherryvale-mall-rockford-il-on.html
What exactly is the policy on using my camera in your facility? Thank you.
***
from CherryVale Mall malls@shopcherryvalemall.com
Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Hi Jenny, the mall's policy is that if you are taking a picture of your family, there is not an issue, multiple pictures or trying to "sneak" a picture at Santa's set are when there are issues, either store proprietary information or the fact that the pictures are sold with Santa visits. Thanks very much for asking and have a wonderful holiday season.
***
On Friday November 25th I was singled out and asked to stop using my camera by two security guards. I was told it was "Mall Policy" and if I didn't stop I would be asked to leave, while the security guard had her hand on my iphone. I'm confused because several other people were also using their cameras, but I, having my mother, a friend and two small children in tow, one in a stroller, seemed to be an easier target for enforcing the imaginary policy. I was not trying to take a photo of Santa, nor was I stealing any proprietary information. The link to the video of the security guard claiming it is policy and putting her hand on my phone is here http://bombadee.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-cherryvale-mall-rockford-il-on.html Awaiting your response.
Sincerely,
Jenny
Houston, Texas
Nov 25, 2011
Occupy Cherryvale Mall, Rockford, IL on Black Friday
Shortly after eating lunch and taking the children to see Santa, we heard people yelling in the town square of Cherryvale Mall. We stopped just past the elevator and looked around. A few years back someone lit themselves on fire in protest at the very same mall so of course like a true American I got my camera out. I was face to face with the Occupy Rockford movement. People strolled in calling and responding "Occupy Rockford!" They hung a banner from the second floor mezzanine and read a short paragraph just feet from us. We were unable to discern much over the din of the holiday shoppers, other than "...We are your friends and neighbors!..." Next the police rushed up and confiscated the banner and stood very close to our neighbors who started to sing "This Land is Your Land." Then I raised a camera to capture what felt sort of patriotic and sweet and this is what happened.
Other full video here.
Way to welcome out of town visitors Cherryvale Mall!
UPDATE: There is nothing in Cherryvale Mall's Code of Conduct that says anything about taking a video.
Oct 27, 2011
Even When No One is Looking
It bothers me that during these protests everyone is filming things. The idea that we have to film for any story to be believed absolutely floors me. It is another way we are sapping the humanity from the world and handing it over to an impartial machine. This is scary because integrity and judgment is what makes us civilized. When we flatly legislate instead of using our best judgment, we create loopholes that allow a person to feel good beating The System, forgetting that the system is us. Laws represent the hopes we hold for society and a dollar represents a human's time and effort on the planet. Circumventing one to take the other isn't beating a system, it's beating people.
While it is easier and faster to present irrefutable video evidence, it makes me utterly sad we need it, like a giant global nanny cam. It is impossible to legislate everything, there is always a horrible way to exploit while staying within the law and always some place a camera is not. We have to put the value back into personal honor. It's what every one of those signs at Occupy Wallstreet demand.
"I can't cover all the rules for how to treat your brother. They do include; no hitting, stop poking him when he cries, don't pull him around by his arm, don't put playdoh in his hair, help him get a drink and don't let him break his neck climbing the bookcases. But I can't think of all the things you and he haven't though of yet, so lets just say this; Even when I'm not looking, I expect you to use your best judgment and be nice to your brother." - Everyone's Mom
While it is easier and faster to present irrefutable video evidence, it makes me utterly sad we need it, like a giant global nanny cam. It is impossible to legislate everything, there is always a horrible way to exploit while staying within the law and always some place a camera is not. We have to put the value back into personal honor. It's what every one of those signs at Occupy Wallstreet demand.
"I can't cover all the rules for how to treat your brother. They do include; no hitting, stop poking him when he cries, don't pull him around by his arm, don't put playdoh in his hair, help him get a drink and don't let him break his neck climbing the bookcases. But I can't think of all the things you and he haven't though of yet, so lets just say this; Even when I'm not looking, I expect you to use your best judgment and be nice to your brother." - Everyone's Mom
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