The same questions - over and over again

I guess I don't understand something. I've been watching FOXNews reporting
about the hikers on Mt. Hood, and every newsperson keeps asking the *same*
questions of each guest. Do they think when one person says "I don't know"
or, "I can't say" that the next *will*????

Good grief! I know they need some excuse to keep the news channels going
24/7, but really!

It's not just FNC, either. The others are just as bad.

I took journalism in college, seriously considered it as a career path at
one time. Print journalism. Not TV.

Now, I'm glad that I decided to go another route instead. I'd be ashamed to
be lumped in with the current group of so-called 'reporters'.

Move on to something else. We don't need to keep hearing the same thing over
and over ad nauseum. We don't need to hear you ask fifteen different people
who the dead climber is and get the same answer every time. We don't need to
hear you ask those same fifteen people what the plan is for tomorrow - we
know the plan --- Go out and keep looking for some sign of the other two
men.

My heart goes out to the families of those men. God be with you and your
loved ones.

And Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate the holiday.

NASCAR and NBC

Good riddance NBC/TNT coverage of the NASCAR Cup races. For the last half of this season, I've had to grit my teeth to listen to the coverage of what is my favorite spectator sport.

 

Bill Webber is a total jerk. He seems full of himself, and a know it all.

 

But Wally Dallenback (who I never remembered seeing actually race in NASCAR before his Busch starts last season) takes the real prize for being full of himself.  His "Wally's World" segments are a joke. The fans don't learn anything about the *track*. It's simply a way to promote an NBC/TNT show or star or program as Wally tries to make whoever is in the truck scream. But today --- today he really showed his true colors.  His guest was -- wait for it --- himself! I muted the sound as always. Guess they couldn't find anything else to promote.

 

Benny Parsons was okay. He was never my favorite driver, but you have to give the guy credit for being there after his struggle with lung cancer this year.

 

And then we come to today's final race at Homestead. For the last ten races, unless you were one of the ten drivers in the Chase (or Tony Stewart), anyone else was practically ignored. And today was worse. They ignored almost every driver except for the top five, and mostly the top two, Jimmy Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

 

Okay, the Chase is important --- but so are the other drivers to their fans.   Spread it around, already!

As soon as JJ won the Championship, I turned the channel. One more mention of the "Hendrick Tragedy" and I would have lost my dinner. Yes, it was tragic that Ricky Hendrick and the others died in that plane crash, but it seems to be brought up every week!  Give me a break already!!!!

 

Well, starting in January, we're back with FOX coverage (YAY! "Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let's go racin' boys!") I love their broadcast team. And then we get ABC/ESPN. Yes, TNT will be back midseason for something like 8 Busch races. But I'll have NASCAR on Sirius then, and hopefully will be able to listen to it and watch the TV with the sound muted. LOL!

 

I'll miss Mark Martin in the No 6 car next season. Or watching him win truck races. I still think he could win a championship there if he wanted to go for it.

 

Next year, I hope that Dale Jr will be atop the standings and start on his own record of Championships.

 

Til next time....

John Kerry

John Kerry is an idiot!

"Failed joke" or not, what he said was inappropriate, and he *should*
apologize to the troops. And going after Bush in retaliation isn't right
either. It's the old "you attack me, and I'll attack you".

My son is in the Army --- and I resent his words.

John Kerry should have been tried for treason after his return from
Vietnam -- and this is simply proof of that, imho.

Again, these thoughts are mine --- if you don't agree, get your own blog.

I hate birthdays

Yes, I really do. Today was my 51st birthday. Over half a century, and I haven't done anything with my life.

The only thing I've accomplished that I set out to do was get a novel published. I did that. For what little it's worth. Two novels. Neither of which can be found in a bookstore - only online. I'll never get rich from them. And I don't even *feel* like writing these days. My muse must be as depressed as I am.

I'm still struggling to make a living - barely able to make ends meet. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Working in a BBQ restaurant - a job that was supposed to be temporary when I started doing it 20 years ago. I hate the job. Working on my feet ten hours at a time is getting more and more difficult for me.

I can do so many other things - but since I'm 51 and have no *verifiable* experience doing those things, no one will hire me. No one will even *look* at me for another job. I feel trapped and that's making me depressed.

*Very* depressed. On a day when I should have been happy, all I could think about was that someone I work with finally got the nerve to say 'enough' and find something else to do. I wish him well. He's a great guy with a young family to support - something he wasn't going to be able to do working in a BBQ restaurant.

I don't have the money to get training to do anything else - and I'm not sure that I would qualify for any help to *get* the training. And even if I were to try to take some courses, I'd need some way to support myself and the family - and right now, I can't count on my hubby to do that. Of course, I've *never* been able to do that. That's how a 'temporary' job ended up lasting twenty plus years.

Damn. I hate my life. My *only* hope is that my daughter will get back on SSI and I'll have a *tiny* bit of wiggle room. But that's still at least another two months away.

Wish I knew which way to turn. And why I keep trying.

No cops

Well, the police never got there last night before they went to bed. Figures. I read this morning at CNN that they're going to keep the state police and Natl. Guard on duty to patrol NOLA through December because of the murders that have occurred there since Katrina.

 

My boss found out this morning that they also stole his two way radios when they broke in. ::Shakes head in sad frustration::

 

When they left, my boss said, "Let's get the hell out of this God-forsaken hell-hole."

 

I second that.

 

He and Frank have shaken the dust of NOLA off and are heading home. If another hurricane hits somewhere, they'll be there to help with the clean up. But not if it's in NOLA again...

 

New Orleans

I've had it with the place.

Really. My boss and his son have been trying to make money down there with
debris removal. My husband worked for them and someone else for awhile - saw
the mess that's going on.

They can't get the houses torn down because of paperwork required by the
city (for a huge fee). And when my boss and husband went down there to
retrieve their trucks and trailers to bring them home, they found out that
while they were going down there to get them, someone broke into his house
trailer and several others in the area, stealing TVs and other items.

They've called the police, but after almost an hour, they still haven't seen
a police car. I told Frank that if they contacted the local media about it,
maybe then someone would take note of what's going on down there.

I really don't think that city will *ever* be rebuilt, with the way things
are going. Too much corruption and local politics involved. I'm wondering
if the best thing that could happen would be for another hurricane/flood to
hit and simply wash everything out to sea.

Sorry if that upsets people, but from where I sit, having heard the horror
stories of people who have been down there *trying* to help get things ready
to *start* rebuilding - it's the way *I* feel.

Wal-mart layaway to end

http://www.walmartfacts.com/articles/4438.aspx

This is a disgrace! Wal-Mart is getting rid of it's layaway program. So I
guess that means poor people who can't get credit cards or don't want to get
them are just out of luck for getting things.

My mother uses layaway all the time at our local Wally's World. She doesn't
like using her credit card for things - would rather pay it out at Wal-Mart.
Not sure how this is going to affect her - except that she'll end up
incurring a higher credit card bill with high interest fees.

It's a bunch of bull. Wal-Mart has moved into every small town in the US,
and run smaller mom and pop stores out of business - so now they're the only
game in town. Now, they're going to hurt the very people who keep them
open.

Sam Walton is probably whirling in his grave at what's been done to his
company since his death.

frustration

I recently acquired a new cellphone from Sprint. It's an Audiovox/UTStarcom
CDM120. It's not net compatible, which is okay with me. I have my computer.

But because I can't get online with the darn thing, I can't download any
ringtones other than the ones at the Sprint website. (and they're not worth
the money that Sprint wants me to pay and keep paying).

**sigh**

New Orleans - do they really WANT it cleaned up????

A lot of people in my area got rooked into spending money to go down to NOLA for clean up after Katrina. Most of them have lost their shirts because either the money isn't being paid to the contractors, or the contractors aren't paying the money to the people below them.

 

And that means the little guys who are working for those people aren't making any money, either.

 

I've heard horror stories from my husband about the houses in the 9th Ward that are still sitting there, but can't be torn down because the owners haven't applied --- for a hefty fee --- for permission to tear them down . At the rate they are going, the only thing that will clean the city up is another Cat 5 hurricane - and another levee break.

 

I really have to wonder about the 'leadership' down there. They scream and yell about 'failures' by FEMA and the Feds. But their leadership since hasn't been anything to brag about, imho.

 

Come on, Nagin, stop campaigning in other cities for whatever - and stop opening your mouth to prove that you're an idiot!

 

More later.

 

---yeah, I'm back. And as usual, this is my opinion. If you disagree, fine. That's your right.

Sad news

I just got word that one of my online friends, Michael Bledsoe, died today from a massive heart attack. I've known Michael for many years through the Remington Steele fandom, and while I was aware that his health wasn't the best in the world, he seemed fine last night when a group of us where chatting.

 

Michael lived in Biloxi, MS, in Katrina's line of fire. He was forced to evacuate with his son Patrick last fall, but returned home a month ago to be with his wife Ellen and young daughter, Katrina. Over the last year or so, he lost two brothers. His wife is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. He loved Remington Steele, Star Trek, and Dr. Who. I had taped the second series of a British mystery series "Rosemary and Thyme" for him, and never got it to him because I had to move.

 

He was part of the committee for a major sci-fi convention held in the Biloxi area, and we worked together on a book for a role playing game that was never sold.

 

I'm in shock. And saddened for his family, particularly for his young daughter, who's gone through so much over the last few years, only to lose her devoted and loving father.

 

God Bless you, Michael. You're in a much better place now.

 

Texas School Finance Lunacy

After reading an article about the proposed $1 per pack increase in cigarette
taxes, I have to wonder: what is going to happen when people are *forced* to cut
way back or quit smoking because of the higher prices? Where will the money come
from then? Taxing something like that is just silly, in my opinion. The higher
you set the tax, the fewer of the item will be sold, lowering the expected tax
"benefit".

I don't smoke. I never have. But I get very tired of all the anti-tobacco
rhetoric. Has there ever been another industry that was basically being forced
to put itself out of business the way the tobacco companies are being forced to
do.

And before someone asks where we should get the money for education, here's my
answer: If the state lottery had been used for education the way that it was
sold to the public that it would be when then Gov. Richards was trying to
convince the public to approve it, then there wouldn't be the money problems for
schools in this state. Why should I believe that any of the money they plan to
take now will go for schools anymore than the money went there from the lottery?
And yes, I know that recent lottery commercials say that it *supports* school
funding, but the way I understood Gov. Richards and others, the entire lottery
fund was supposed to have been used for education.

Til next time

The opinions expressed in this message are mine. If you don't agree, start your own blog.-ne

I never fails to amaze me

I'm not a smoker. The few times I tried to smoke, I got a sore throat and laryngitis.

 

I grew up in a home where my father and mother both smoked. I married a man who smokes. I've never had a problem with my lungs, don't get colds. I've only had pneumonia one time in my life, and I wasn't hospitalized for it.

 

I don't scream when I smell cigarette smoke, in fact, I usually don't even notice it.

 

I fail to understand how a company that has sold a product for years, a product that people *know* is bad for them, and that they are risking their lives by using, can be *forced* to put itself out of business and be made to pay medical costs for any physical damage their product might cause.

 

Smoking is a personal decision. Anyone who smokes is aware that it's bad for them, that it could cause medical problems at some point. But they *choose* to continue using the product.

 

Now, a group of people are trying to force the courts to make the tobacco companies pay for the money Medicare has paid for smoking related injuries.

 

While watching Fox News today, I heard someone mention that it was like a person being hit with a hammer while walking past a construction site.

 

Come on. If that person were to accidentally be hit with that hammer, yeah, I'd agree. But smoking isn't something that's forced on anyone. If you want to continue the hammer analogy, it's like a person walking past a construction site and picking up the hammer, then, knowing that it's going to hurt, hitting *himself* on the head with the hammer.

 

Asking the construction company to pay for the person's injuries under those conditions are as stupid as asking the mower company to pay for the injuries of a man who uses a lawn mower as a hedge trimmer.

 

It's called self-responsibility. Something that is apparently lacking in this country of late.

 

I feel sorry for the tobacco companies, being forced to practically put themselves out of business in the name of 'public health'.

 

 

As always the ideas and comments are my own. If you disagree, start your own blog.

 

 

Energy squeeze and bad landlords

I'm not sure how many people will be able to identify with this one - where we live, we use propane for heating and cooking. It's a rental house that's in *very* bad shape. To see pictures of the house, go here.

 

I've uploaded some pics of the damage to the house caused by termite damage that my landlord was aware of and didn't treat. He tried to rebuild the bathroom floor three years ago, and it's worse now than it was before. He tried to rebuild the back corner bedroom floor (which was about to fall through) and it's now at a major slant downward, as is all of the rear of the house. The toilet won't flush half the time, and has to be plunged.

 

The landlords are elderly (upper 70s) and own a ranch, and they refuse to hire out any work done on the place, and opt to do it themselves since they're such penny pinchers. I admit that we're behind in the rent, and they're making noises about eviction. They are even trying to claim that *we* caused the damage because of a water leak that we failed to notify them about in time. I told them about it as soon as *I* knew about it, and the only reason they fixed that was because of the water bill, which they have to pay and dun me for my part at $25 a month. I've *seen* termites swarming out of this place for the last four years (we've been here for six years). But they don't seem to want to believe it's termites and not water damage. I guess they'll find out when the house collapses. Hopefully, that won't happen til *after* we find a way to move out of here. Since we're in Texas, we have little recourse as tenants. Texas isn't a very tenant friendly state.

 

We were paying $450 a month (including the $25 for water) until about three years ago, and they upped the rent by $50, even though they *knew* it's not worth that much.

 

The problem is that we don't have the funds to move anywhere else right now. It's not just a month's rent. It's a deposit. And moving utilities, and in some cases, deposits for utilities.

 

And that's where we come to the real crux of the problem. The aforementioned propane.

 

Around here, none of the propane delivery people will sell and deliver less than 100 gals of propane. At a price of $2.10 a gallon (and that's the *cheapest* I can find), that's $210. Right now, I could barely manage half that. We're down to 10%, which, if we get a cold spell, won't last long at all. And that's running only a hot water heater and one Dearborn space heater with a pilot.

 

It really sucks when people have to decide whether to get propane or eat. Or to get propane or pay their rent. Add to that the rising price of gasoline for me to get to work, and you have a whole new set of problems.

 

Right now, life really *does* seem pretty dark and unyielding. I fully expect that the landlord will start eviction very soon. They said the end of the month. My son can't help me til the end of *next* month at the earliest.

 

But I have a surprise for them. I will make *very* sure that they don't try to rent this place out again. I'll get copies of those photos to the county building inspector to get it declared condemned, forcing them to either tear it down or burn it down. It's not worth repairing it would take rebuilding the entire back half of the house - and the wiring's not the best in the world either.

 

That's *another* story.

 

Keep us in your thoughts, please.

Miners, miscommunication, and media with egg on their faces

When I went to bed last night, it was to the news that the 12 missing miners in
West Virginia had been found alive, and they were awaiting official word from
the command center. A local hospital claimed to have one survivor, but could not
release any information about him to the media - nor could they answer any
questions about other possible survivors.

This morning, I woke to discover that the news was wrong: that, in fact, of the
12 still missing, only one had survived, and the rest were dead.

Tragic news.

Twelve miners lost their lives doing a job that they knew to be dangerous. They
went down there every day knowing that something could happen, because mining
has always been dangerous. The only way to make it *not* dangerous would be to
totally remove the human element of the equation.

But that's not possible as of this moment. The technology isn't there and proven
to allow machines to do all the mining without endangering people.

I don't blame the families for being angry about the miscommunication that
resulted in their believing that 12 of the miners had been found alive, only to
be told three hours later that in fact 11 of them were dead and only one had
been brought out of the mine still alive.

But at the same time, I can understand the corporate reps position as well. They
were so hoping for a miracle, that they thought an early communication from the
mine had given them that miracle. Cell phones were used to contact family at the
church, spreading the 'news' like wildfire.

Now, as anyone who's ever dealt with a wildfire knows that once it's started,
putting it out is damned difficult if not impossible. Once those in the control
center realized that the people waiting in the church thought the miners were
alive, they tried to get word out that those people needed to remember that the
reports were preliminary. That they didn't know all the facts at that time.

Time went by, and they were told that the rescuers were bringing a survivor to
the surface, and the people in the command center thought that it was only the
first survivor. Once they discovered that a 27 y/o miner was the *only*
survivor, they began to search for a way to get the word out to the people that
contrary to previous reports, there was only the one survivor instead of 12.

No one wanted to be the bearer of bad news. I know that, in their place, I
wouldn't have wanted to do it.

What gets me is that the media, in their search for a 'scoop', in their quest to
be the first one to report, never questioned the early reports. As a result,
newspapers, both online and print and broadcast media reported the news as fact,
extrapolating with theories of how the miners might have miraculously survived
the blast. They *should* have contacted the media center at the mine - or waited
for *official* confirmation before running with the story. Those on the scene
should have found out exactly *who* had given the families the news instead of
simply taking their word for it. A good reporter would have done so.

Now, they look like fools, when they should have been the ones with cooler,
calmer heads.

My heart and thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were lost -
and with the family of the young man who lies in the hospital.

There will be time to try and figure out what happened (if we ever find out),
and to affix any blame (if there is any to affix). Right now is the time to
grieve.

Let that happen, please.