Obama IS our POTUS

Lemme pose a quextion. (Misspelled on purpose, FYI.)

So, were your parents born in 'merica?

Were your grandparents born here in the good old U. S. of A.?

Oh, they weren't? 

Hmmm. Well that makes them IMMIGRANTS.

NoBODY has had their entire family line BORN in 'Merica except The NATIVE people. NATIVES. The people you subordinate and claim to be genetically lesser. 

The people who respect our lands and waters and air and who are the TRUE Americans.

So, guess what, jerk face? If you think for ONE moment that you somehow have laid claim to the opportunity and beauty of this great land? Nope. Columbus was a jerk. He didn't "discover" America! It existed well before he mistakenly arrived here thinking it was the East Indies! (Do your research, people! Get informed!)

That "Columbus Day" is celebrated in several states (embarrassingly even in Massachusetts) is a travesty. Ridiculous. Columbus came, he conquered, brought disease and plight to the Native Americans. 

Ridiculous.

When's the last time you read the Constitution? Or learned about your varied ancestral history? Do you think, because you were lucky enough for your ancestors to venture all the way to America that somehow NOW you have the right to refuse anyone else who deems to come here? 

Where do you get off telling others they can't exist here?

What do you think would have happened if your parents or grandparents or great-grandparents had been met with the same disdain and shitty attitude? 

You, my friend, would be up shit creek without a proverbial paddle. 

STOP with the claims of criminality, job-stealing, Ebola-carrying bullshit. 

Our immigrants are just people. Like you and I are just people. There are good ones and there are bad ones. But you cannot justify blaming an entire population because of a few bad seeds. So just stop it

Job-stealing? Really? How many of you wanna pick apples or cherries, one by one by one by one, in the blazing hot sun of summer? Oh, not you? Or you or you? So again, just stop it.

And the Ebola thing? Shut the hell up. You're being ridiculous and probably watching Fox News. A bunch of alarmist, DUMB, ignorant fools. They do NOT know what they're talking about and they CERTAINLY know nothing about science. So just stop it. STOP it. Idiotas.

So, what I'm saying is that unless you've DONE YOUR HOMEWORK, you gotta stop complaining and following the idiots who say they're helping you, but in reality, THEY are only helping themselves. 

Read about the 98%. 

Read about the top .01% who now have 99% of the wealth in this country.

They're not trying to help the average American. Only each other. 

Google that shit!

"INSCRIPTION ON THE STATUE OF LIBERTY"

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Author: Emma Lazarus


Just sayin'...

Homeless Students in the United States

Well, between the news this morning about what happened in Jerusalem and then the ISIS attacks, I'm feeling pretty grim about now.

It sort of makes my fluff about flowers and cooking seem ridiculous.

I was listening to NPR this morning as I was making breakfast and feeding the puppies. A journalist was asking a question about how the people in this certain country view America, as the United States has not responded to help many people who have been under attack recently.

The man being interviewed said that most of his country, at this point, see Americans as stupid and selfish. Stupid and selfish because they seem ignorant to the plight of other people and the government doesn't seem to care about certain countries unless there's oil or some other natural resource at stake.

The interviewer then went on to ask if there was any sense of a normal life for the other people in his country - and the man said "What is that?" and then sort of laughed a sad laugh...

Then the interviewer asked further, "Do people go to work, do the kids go to school?"

And the man being interviewed explained that, of course, there's still "life" there, and makeshift schools when people are able to leave their homes. But then he also explained that when there's no food to eat and you're going hungry, school is about the last thing on your mind.

So, there I was in my nice, warm kitchen, overflowing with food, feeding the dogs their kibble and reindeer sausage.

My dogs, I realized, eat better than probably millions of people in the world.

There is so much suffering elsewhere. We have the luxury of bitching about phone service or the internet being slow.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of suffering right here, too. There was an article I read yesterday about the issues facing the homeless here in the United States. The recent recession and policies by our lawmakers have forced thousands of families out of their homes.

I was really saddened when I went to our local homeless shelter to find out they feed thousands in Anchorage per day.

It's called Bean's Cafe and they do an amazing job. There were lots of families there. Little kids. There were older people, middle-aged, too, but I was shocked and disheartened to see the sheer number of families who are clearly living out of their cars or vans.

The stats are all just shocking and expected to get worse:

Here's a link to a piece by PBS about it.

Here's a recent Huffington Post article about the alarming rise in homeless students throughout our country.

National Coalition for the Homeless is a great organization that offers solid solutions and financial aid to help people find affordable or free shelter so that they can get on the road to feeding and clothing themselves and live in dignity instead of going to jail.

Now, on the ranty side:

How can corporations look the other way while children are suffering on a daily basis? 

How can these people fill their pockets with millions of dollars and their corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes? 

How about bailing out the banks that created these sham loans in the first place? Why do the banks get bailed out while families lose their homes? 

How can our government and law enforcement justify confiscating the meager belongings that many of our homeless people have and then send them to jail or just send them along into the cold?

More than 600,000 people are homeless in the United States on any given night. 

On average, in the winter, about 700 people will die of exposure each year.

Now, that's a lot of deaths. We would be outraged if that many people died in one winter at war or after a hurricane or earthquake...

But, because they're homeless, they don't matter. Societal discards.

Most people, I think, have a vision of homeless people as older, 

disheveled people who are dirty and many of whom are drunk. 

The truth is that it's entire families and mostly people suffering from untreated mental illness.

Well, this Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah, you might think about one less gift for each of your family members and instead contact your local homeless shelter, women's shelter, fire station or Department of Social Services office to see what you can do to help. A $20 gift to a homeless child or a $20 food donation can make a huge difference.

Peace out. Thanks for reading.

Funday Monday

I'm tired of complaining. I've got bigger fish to fry than to scold our government.

The headlines are disheartening though. Pipeline? Sure. Health care? Who cares about Americans.

See, there I go complaining again.

So, my friend of pun fame has been on a roll of late! I've gotten some doozies from him and I FINALLY have a moment to myself to post some fun stuff! I've also cooked up a storm today. I made a giant pasta and sausage marinara sauce with onion, portobello mushrooms and then a million cheeses from provolone to cheddar to mozzarella to parmesan. All layered up and cooked to perfection:

Then I made a quiche lorraine with some mild herbs - thyme, dill, paprika, celery seed, garlic - and that has a few cheeses in it as well. This has a mushroom, onion, potato flake crust! Decided to fancy it up with rounds of baby red peppers:

Went on a hike with Mr. Big and Tall yesterday - he's doing SO much better after a very tough week last week. (I think it was tougher on me because I wasn't in lala land with the pain meds.) Anywho, here are a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday. We were in a place called the Campbell Tract in the foothills of the Chugach Mountains:

This is a type of lichen called Old Man's Beard.
It's really pretty and feathery.

Beautiful sky in the afternoon.

These little guys are adorable.
Like a tiny forest at the base of many of the trees.

More lichens. Such a lovely array of color. 

Bract fungus on a birch.

After our hike we got a bite to eat and then got back home to watch the New England Patriots beat the Colts! Boy, Brady sure looks good this year!

Now, as promised, onto the funnies from our dear friend, Hank:

I  had amnesia once -- or twice.

    *****
Protons have mass?  I didn't even know they were Catholic.

    *****
I am neither for nor against apathy.

    *****
All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

    *****

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

    *****
They told me I was gullible and I believed them.

    *****
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home, and when he

grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.

    ******
Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

    *****
One nice thing about egotists ... They don't talk about other people.

    *****

I used to be indecisive. Now, I'm not sure.

    *****
The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.

    *****

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and

I'll show  you a man who can't get his pants off.

    *****

Is it just me, or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After their 11th child, an Alabama couple decided that was enough. So the husband went to the clinic and told them that he and the missus didn't want to have anymore children.

The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem, but that it was expensive.

"A less costly alternative," said the doctor, "is to go home, get a cherrybomb, (fireworks are legal in Alabama) light it, put 
it in a beer can then hold the can up to your ear and count to 10."

The Alabamian said to the doctor, "I may not be the smartest tool in the shed, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in 
a beer can next to my ear is going to help me."

"Trust me," said the doctor.

So the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count!
'1'
'2'
'3'
'4'
'5'
At which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and continued counting on his other hand.

This procedure also works in Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas,Mississippi, and parts of Georgia, Missouri, and West 
Virginia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I LOVE this one:

An elephant was drinking at a riverbank one day, when he spotted a turtle asleep on a log. The elephant ambled over and kicked the turtle across the river.

"Why did you do that?" asked a passing giraffe.

"Because I recognized it as the same turtle that took a nip out of my trunk 53 years ago."

"Wow, you have quite a memory," commented the giraffe.

"Yes," said the elephant, "I have turtle recall."

Ok. That's all for today! Hope you're having a good Monday. Ciao for now.