Another Helpful Soul

My latest battle for sanity appears to be with a pseudo government branch called Right Relations, Inc. This is where you go if you are in the middle of a divorce dispute and they want to punish you into submission. That is to say, they think it will be helpful in your day to day relationships. I am not allowed to record anything while I am in there. I am not allowed to make any notes, and, even though this is America, I am not allowed to discuss anything that is said in there. As if the world is waiting with bated breath to hear what a bunch of people arm twisted into a class have to say. I finally head from Congressman Souder's office. I hope that I can get him involved in finding the bottom line for this Right Relations, Inc. I just want to know where the money is going, and how they got to be in such a position of authority. This is America, right? We should have the right to ask any question like this that we want to and get an answer reasonably soon, don't you think? I calculate this "branch" of local government is making $400-$800 dollars a week in tax free money. That's a nice little fund raiser for any county government, don't you think? I wouldn't mind making that kind of money for an hour's time, anyway. But before I get off on another rant, let me just say that I am thankful to all of the people who have sent me emails to offer encouragement. It helps to make up for the crank pots who have managed to master their keyboards. If Mark Souder's office is the least bit helpful with this latest round of bureaucracy, I'll let you know. If they aren't, I'll let you know that also. Either way, you can thank me later.

Raking Leaves

I spent a large part of today raking leaves. I'm not complaining, believe it or not, I like to rake leaves. It's one of the few things that you can do and actually see the good that you have done. There is no guessing if you need to do it again, just take a look at what's left. Any person with sense can see if they are finished. Or if it's good enough. I wish that everything in this world was as clear cut as that. Unfortunately, that's almost never the case, is it? I've got several things going on in my life and to be honest, I don't know where I am with them. I've been working on one project for about three months now, and I can't tell if I've made any progress at all. I guess life is like that. When you couple that with the fact that I am not what you would call a patient woman, and you can see why I like the instant gratification of raking. I guess now it's time to wait and see when the city gets around to picking them up. (The leaves, that is.) It seems to me that they could have been going around removing the piles that have been gathering, but what do I know? Maybe they are waiting on a special signal. See what I mean about not being patient? The other problem that I have this time of year is that the cold weather is coming. There is no way to kid myself that it isn't. Yesterday when I woke up, there was a thin layer of ice on the dish of water that I keep out for birds and other thirsty creatures. It broke my heart to see that ice. I'm not a winter person. My idea of cold weather is watching the snowing scene from A Christmas Story. That is just about as much snow as I need on any given year. Back home in Florida, cold weather starts at fifty degrees. I am still that way, even though I've been forced to live in the North for a long time now. But back to raking leaves-as I was raking them, I thought about just last week when I saw a tall hill covered in trees with leaves starting to turn. The person that I was with commented on the pretty colors. I never see that part of it. I guess that I would rather have green pine needles all year than leaves, colored leaves, or dead leaves to rake. Maybe someday I'll be a fall person, but I don't think so. If it weren't for college football, I wouldn't like the season at all. Oh, well. What are you going to do? I guess I'm going to put on an old Elvis movie-Blue Hawaii, I think, and pretend it's eighty degrees and summer time. If that helps you get through the fall, you can thank me later.

Two Down, Fourteen to Go

I went to my second installment of divorce tax tonight. I spent almost ninety minutes of my life (that I will never ever get back) It wasn't ninety whole minutes because I was asked to leave because I did not answer enthusiastically enough. You heard me right. I did not go to an evening class after being up and working since four a.m. with the proper enthusiasm. I sat in a classroom with Eva Braun as she spent over forty minutes asking us to list things that were asinine in the least, and what we used to call busy work at best. Why didn't she just have us color pictures of happy divorced couples instead? It would have been the same thing, and I would be able to spend four hundred dollars for something good-say groceries, heating oil and gasoline. Instead, I came home and started trying to find information,any information on Right Relations, Inc. I've googled them, I've gone through all the links, and the only thing I can find so far is a link telling me how wonderfully helpful they are. Oh and a place that begs for "donations." I was calculating the profits this "not for profit" corporation made tonight, and the way I figure it, there were twelve of us in there. That seems to be four thousand, eight hundred dollars to me. We were given a booklet to read out of- the sort of high quality tract published by only your finest cults. That we were to leave behind. We were also given a piece of paper with a few things copied onto it. A paragraph at best, poorly printed. The booklet probably retails for sixty eight cents, (and I am being generous here) and the piece of paper must have set them back one penny, tops. So I am now looking at sixty nine cents worth of material, all but one penny of that is reused. For this, I have shelled out twenty five dollars. The net profit looks to be about twenty four ninety nine times twelve. I come up with two hundred ninety nine dollars and eighty eight cents. That is what this place makes every week for an hour and thirty minutes of your life that you will never get back. Ever. I have to wonder if this is the way that counties raise funds now. Kind of like the way that they ticket people more to raise revenue, I think they must send people who have the misfortune of marrying an adulterous odometer tampering thug-but well connected, mind you to this divorce tax class. I had an amateur psychologist send me an insightful comment last week. I gave it the consideration it deserved with my delete button. But back to the latest round of, karma, higher spiritual power, and recognition of anger values-whatever the hell that means- I am going to make some more phone calls tomorrow and see if there is one elected official in this state who can answer my question for me. My guess is no, but if I can get one straight answer on this, you can thank me later.

Oh, Yeah, That Will Help

I am attending that divorce seminar that I told you about. It promised to be helpful. So far, the only thing that I see it has helped is the state of Indiana to about three thousand two hundred dollars. That is the price I have calculated the state is making on this thing. It cost four hundred dollars a pop, and there are eight of us stuck in there. I have been given instructions on not discussing what is talked about in these meetings. Um, yep, okay then. Also, I am not to take any notes or remove anything from the area. Nor can I have any sort of recording device while I am in there. I am looking at 30 more hours of this crap before I am finished. I call it my divorce tax. The person who lectured me last week is on his third marriage. Yes, first, second, third marriage. My confidence is over flowing. The rest of the time that I was there, I listened to new age crap, mangled ideas about philosophy, and the idea that a "Faith based" plan might help. When did it become wrong to say that having faith in God is the answer? The "faith based" crap was when I had proof positive that I was wasting my time. I cannot understand how the people who run these things got themselves into a position of authority. The first woman that I spoke with wanted my social security number. I told her no. I said that I would give her he last four of it, and if she wanted another number to identify me with, I would be happy to give her that. She got snippy. She asked me what I thought she was going to do with the information. I wanted very badly to tell her what she could do with it, but I didn't think that would help. Instead, I asked her some personal information about herself. She did not want to give it to me, asking me why I would need it. I asked her the same. I asked once, and was told that only the government can request your social security number, anyone else can ask, but you don't have to give it to them. With identity theft as out of control as it is, why would you help the thieves out by putting your vital information in the hands of some self important government lackey? I only have fifteen more of these to go, I will keep you posted if anything of value comes out of it. Don't hold your breath, you'll thank me later.

How Do You Like to Serve Your Weasel, Anyway?

I am looking for a good recipe for weasel. Nothing too fried, I have to watch my cholesterol, you know. The reason that I ask is because I have found a perfectly good weasel, and I don't know what to do with it. You can follow this link and see for yourself. Let me know what you think. http://johnziegler.sitenewsonline.com/inc/rdr.asp?8138___091018202512___http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-david-keene-threatened-to-punch-me-at-wcpac/ I love John Zeigler. He asks the questions that any person with a half an ounce of sense would ask. He also asks it in a clever way that drips with irony. I watched the video of his Constitutional Rights being trampled outside Katie Couric's "award" for being so unbiased in her interview with Sarah Palin. I saw the interview, and it was to journalism as Jeffrey Dahmer was to cooking shows. Answer: a disgusting exercise, that should be illegal. I hope that by following this, you can see the way that his rights were blatantly tossed aside. I love the double speak when the Nazi-esque rent-a cop tells him that he cannot do it because he isn't a journalist, then makes him stand in the area designated for journalists! I am certain the ACLU will be attending to his violated rights, also. Any minute now. Yep. Here they come. Just you wait and see. In. your. dreams. So anyway, after watching a person's basic rights get trampled in the name of journalistic integrity,my irony meter was off the charts. I am officially boggled. Can you imagine the uproar if say-Micheal Moore- was pseudo arrested, assaulted, and generally frog-marched away like John Zeigler was? Of course they would have to be stout to drag Mr. Moore any where, but you get the idea. At what point in your life does all common sense leave the building? I learned this when I was working for the happiest retailer on the planet- some people should never ever be in charge of anything. Speaking of weasel and tasty recipes for them, near where I live we have had a couple of police officers who have been terminated for having sex with an eighteen year old female. Not at the same time, of course, but the same woman. The newspaper was full of stories about the Officer pleading for his job, and asking for leniency. These are the same officers who are supposed to uphold the law? Fire them, do it quickly, then sue them for the money they were paid from the time they had sex with this woman. And speaking of which, I have no idea who this person is, but I can't help but think there should be a warning label printed on her somewhere. Seriously. Too bad Slick Willie doesn't need a member in his secret service detail. It sounds like these two would fit right in there without missing a beat, what do you think? Click on the link I have to Mr. Zeigler, and give some serious thought to your Constitutional Rights. You'll thank me later.

Demonize the Word, Maybe THAT will Make it Untrue

I muddled my way through an interview of B.O.'s. He is not too fast on the answers when it isn't scripted, is he? As he tried not to make too big a mess of things (good luck with that) I listened to the talking points that he tried to reiterate. The only clear thing that I took away from his "off the cuff" remarks is that he doesn't like FOX because they have an agenda. When I picked my jaw up from my feet, I laughed at the hypocrisy of his statement. So is our first foreign born President in over one hundred years trying to insinuate that CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC do not have an agenda? Seriously? Don't pee on my feet and tell me it's raining, okay? Wasn't it those other stellar media outlets that broke the fake service records of President Bush with un-abandoned glee? And how long did they wait until they were forced to retract the story? There you go. I am reminded of a line from Die Hard 2 when John Amos's character tells John McClain that he is an A**hole, he's just John McClain's kind of A**hole. I get the feeling that any time now, B.O. will be stamping his feet in irritation because the folks over at FOX just won't seem to realize and acknowledge that this guy knows much more than any of us ever will, and we should just rely on him to make all of our decisions for us. Socialism, anyone? I also enjoy listening to the liberal rebuttal. No one made more of a spectacle about George W. Bush's slim margin of victory than every liberal media outlet in America. Yet, when the State of Florida allowed the media access to the ballots through their Sunshine Laws, and the vote was in fact not hijacked by the left, you never heard a peep about it, did you? Nope, not one. I guess the truth didn't fit in with their plans, did it? I keep looking at the definition of Socialism. I don't like the direction that this guy is taking us, and I look forward to the next National Election with unchecked glee. Register to vote. Do it now, before you forget. You'll thank me later.

Jimmy Carter Was the Worst President in Modern Times, and Other Random Observations

Jimmy Carter was to the United States Presidency as duct tape is to vegetable soup: useless. I got a hair splitting email from someone who actually defended him. Yikes. This person also tried to tell me that B.O. was not foreign born. You have heard this word before. Whatever. Until someone shows me a birth certificate that matches the issue numbers for his date of birth, I still know where his sister was born, but not so much the President that ACORN fraud bought. I am too cynical to believe that the furor made over John McCain being born in the Panama Canal wasn't the early conditioning to get sheep used to the idea of a President who is Constitutionally barred from holding the office. But then, what does it matter where the socialist came from, the problem is what to do with him now that we are stuck with him? I have been watching him as he goes about the business of paying for the political favors he bought. With four out of five brothers and a brother in law or two in the military, you can imagine the enthusiasm for the assault on the "don't ask, don't tell" policies. Having B.O. as Commander-in- Chief is something like having a pig run a butcher shop. The pig's first instinct would be to disable the shop wouldn't it? Well, get ready, because with all of the asinine rules of engagement the military is forced to use, the shop is being disabled. Do not engage in military action that you do not intend to win. You would think that is a no-brainer, wouldn't you? But Johnson was the first that I saw engage in this particular suicide, and I haven't been disappointed by a democrat since then. Who can forget slick willie's "wag the dog" moment when the testimony from his received "she had sex with me, I didn't have sex with her" was released. We shelled some stupid ineffectual country for about two minutes, then went back to wondering how someone could get away with being so stupid and still be in office. Of course, I was told that it was 1) untrue-which turned out to be a lie, thanks to a bizarre desire to hang on to the evidence 2) not a big deal, because it was only perjury about sex-which is still perjury the last time that I checked. Imagine if a Republican tried to get away with that. Oh wait, wasn't there a Senator who was ridden out on a rail for that very thing, by the media? Now, what was his name.......? At any rate, perjury is perjury, which may explain why slick willie has the proud distinction of being one of the few disbarred ex-presidents we have. 3) is my all time favorite-Europeans laugh at us and think it is no big deal. Sex is sex over there, we should be as open minded as they are. Uh huh. They also have a different idea of hygiene and need the United States' Military every time something bad happens to them. But hey, why not use them as a role model? I can only hope that B.O. won't be the worst President we've ever been saddled with, but it looks like he's giving it the old college try. I have a countdown on this blog for the next National election. Register now, so we can overcome the voter fraud and wrong direction this country is in. As a personal hero-Ronald Reagan -asked "Are you better off now then when he took office?" Record high unemployment and other internal mismanagements of the economy point to no for many in this country. Remember that in the next election, and don't let another one get stolen. You'll thank me later.

Leave My Insurance Alone Until You Fix AMTRAK

I was considering taking a trip to visit my good friend in Chicago last week. I didn't want to drive so I took a look at the train schedule, since AMTRAK has a station close to here. I ended up not going because of all the double speak at AMTRAK. Now, had I known a month ago that I would be interested in taking a spur of the moment trip, I would be all set. But to just get on a train and ride for a little while to see my friend was -in the words of one of my favorite people- cost prohibitive. In English, that means it was way too flippin' expensive to even consider. I stayed home. Not only was the trip ridiculously over priced, but the train was 90 minutes late on every stop until it arrived in Chicago almost four hours late. And these are the people who want to take charge of my insurance? No thank you. I think they should leave it be until they can make the train show up when they say it will, and not charge me the arm of my first born to go somewhere. But back to health care. I have read the proposal that B.O. endorses. That alone is like having Ted Bundy do ads for your dating service. It took me two days to muck through it, and they still won't give me all the answers to my questions. When I called Senator Bayh's office about it, they never got back to me. He must still be in a snit over not getting the Veep nod. Oh well. But no one has contacted me, by phone or otherwise, and I don't like it when the government won't let me see what they are talking about. If it smells crooked, and sounds crooked, chances are, I better stock up on condoms by the time this thing is ready, because I bet I am about to be screwed. Call your elected officials. Demand to see the plan that they are working on with real numbers and figures. Don't let them get away with another flim-flam job, remember, they work for us. And if you are planning on a trip and don't want to drive, reconsider the whole train idea; you'll thank me later.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Why is it that the biggest private employer in the United States of America cannot offer decent insurance to its employees? Would it cut into the millions that it makes every week? Or would it just be the right thing to do and therefore impossible? In recent months the retail giant-that-cares has received gobs of unflattering publicity for the insurance that it offers to its associates. I have seen this insurance up close and can tell you that it isn't that good. How many people can afford to have three thousand dollars just sitting around waiting for the deductible to be met? Not many making Walmart wages, I can tell you that. Why doesn't Walmart shop their insurance to local insurance companies? Why don't they take bids from the people in their own communities that sell insurance and see what the best deal is for their 100+ associates? Does it make too much sense? Would it really benefit the local businesses that receive the and then benefit the rest of the community? It seems to me that instead of handing out one thousand dollars here, and five hundred dollars there, Walmart could do something that would benefit everyone. The associates would have people fighting to give them the best deal on insurance, and some lucky company would have an instant pool of over one hundred clients. Sounds like a win-win to me. But the odds of this happening are slightly more than MSNBC admitting that they have a bias, so I'm not holding my breath. Speaking of holding my breath, I am still waiting on someone to get back to me on why there is never anyone in the section of the store that I am shopping that can help me. I have gone so far as to step behind the counter to mix my own paint. No one stopped me. Heck, no one even passed by me, much less asked me what I was doing. I just took my paint up to the counter and paid for it. Come to think of it, I should have gotten an employee discount, huh? At any rate, remember this when you have to make a decision to shop somewhere. Ask yourself if this is this the sort of company that you want to support with your money? You'll thank me later.

Divorce Is Big Business

I am attending a divorce seminar that will "vastly improve my day to day relationship with my former marital partner." Sure it will. And in the meantime, it makes the company running it about $400 bucks. I am looking at the other people paying this "divorce tax" along with me. There looks to be about a dozen of us, and at four hundred a throw, that is a pretty nice chunk of change. Wouldn't you like to make five thousand dollars every three months for an hours' time? I would love to know what the overhead is on this and how they split up what can only be pure profit. I cannot wait to see what the pearls of wisdom that will drip from this forced lecture series. I can only hope that some of the life wisdom will explain to me what I should do about the over four thousand dollars that my ex stole from my children's savings account. I know it isn't any Jon and Kate sort of numbers, but considering what all I went without to make sure that my children had money for their education, it kind of irritates me to think that I only financed some one's adulterous lifestyle for a few months, instead. Of course, in the town that I live in, the ex used to roll odometers at his job. I thought it was a felony until his attorney explained that it isn't-not that he ever did it, of course. But if you want to see the copies that he made so he could blackmail his former employer, let me know and I'll be happy to email them to you. I have sent them to the Chief of Police, the Indiana Attorney General's Office, and several others. And the responses to this have been none, nada, zip. Probably because so many of the Officers in this town were busy having sex with a teenager while they were on duty. Nice huh? And not that I don't have a stack of copies that the ex used to make sure he got a "severance" package when he left his old job. But again, odometer tampering is not a crime in Indiana. The chief of Police even took copies of the information, and as of today, no charges have been filed. For those of you keeping score at home, that's small town bs 1-justice 0. There is a company that also does business here in Indiana. It's called the Northeastern Center, and try as I might. I cannot find out how much this private company made last year in profits. If anyone has that information, do please send it on to me. I would love to know. it seems to me that any company that is the right hand of a small town government is dwarfed into being a part of that small town government. I'll give an example. Let's say that a couple raise their children in the Catholic Church, even sending their children to Catholic school. Would it be a stretch then to think that the couple agrees with the teachings of that particular church? Or is one of the parents obsessed with manifestations of right and wrong? What does that mean? If you ever wonder why our society is going to hell, look no further than a court system that allows a man to steal every penny from his children to finance his affair with a coworker, then does nothing to protect the children or their assets. Ask your elected officials why this is, if you get an answer you can thank me later. ***** This is for the "person" who sent me an anonymous email, telling me that I sounded bitter, irrational, and that was probably why these things had happened to me. I thank you for taking the time out of what must be a thriving psychiatry practice to diagnose me from the several paragraphs that I wrote. It must be incredibly rewarding to help so many people with your astounding gifts. My Only question would be why you haven't been awarded some sort of prize for your ability to read a few hundred words and instantly be able to sum up an entire situation. You are an amazing person, whose talents are being wasted. Thank you so much for your opinion, I only wish I had been able to give it the proper respect it deserved. Alas, I just bought some Charmin this week, and I don't need anything else to wipe my behind with. But, Thanks!!!!*******