One of my headlines reads, 'Bricklayers back Clinton for President'. Now I really haven't read up on my candidates yet so I'm not going to say anything about who I back becasue frankley and honestly, I don't know who I will vote for. It caught my eye because my dad is a bricklayer and I thought that there would be some industrial reason why they would single out bricklayers instead of saying 'construction workers' or 'manual laborers' or something like that. I found out tho that they back her because they believe she has the best chances of winning.
That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! ...Much dumber than the UAW Strike (which is now settled, no metion in the settlement of job security which is their reasoning for striking, the settlement revolves around health care...again...big surprise...all that is full of sarcasm).
Why would you back a candidate, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green, just because they have 'the best chances of winning'? What about 'I'm/we're backing this person because I/we believe he/she is the best candidate to lead our country'? Or what about, 'I/we believe that his/her views on ... can really move the country forward and its what we need'.
Now, I hate politics because I get so wound up. We all know, if Obama wins it will be the greatest racial achievement since the dawn of our country. If Clinton wins, it will be the greatest advancement for women's rights and the feminist movement. If a Republican male wins, it will be because thats the way its always been and Presidents of this country are neither female nor black.
BUT if Obama looses it will be because he's black. If Clinton looses it was because she was a woman up for man's job. If a Republican male looses it will be because Bush was apparently the worst president ever.
All of this will have nothing to do with health care, economics, foreign plans or the war in Iraq. It will have nothing to do with plans to educate the poor, feed the hungry, the UN issue, the floods in Africa, the Drought in most of the country, or global warming and going green. All of the reason they do or do not get elected will be based on the superficial: the color of their skin, their 'x' or 'y' genetics, their conservative nature, etc...
These candidates, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green, will win or loose not on merit: what they have to offer those without health insurance, what they will offer to boost the housing market in Florida, California, Michigan and other such states, it will not be about whether or not they can educate the poorest, give jobs to hopeless, stand for those who cannot stand on their own. These candidates, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green will win or loose based on the color of the skin, the 'x' or 'y' gene they have, or because they 'have the best chance to win'.
Why will it be this way? Because most Americans feel oppressed. We have created a culture in which we celebrate the victim and minority, not the best qualified. We reward those who do not work or contribute to a productive society, and tax the hell out of those who do in order to support those who don't. We don't help the poor but we keep them poor by giving them enough handouts where they are content with their poverty and dream and work for nothing better. We look at all of our problems and identify them, and yet do nothing to really help and solve the problem. Instead we put bandaids on fatal wounds and cover up the dead with a pretty garden because we're afraid of cutting out the fat and getting rid of the unnecessary. We aim to please everyone when in reality this is impossible.
After all, since the dawn of televised presidential races, that is the way it has been: all superficial, band-wagon, politically correct, insult-and-embarrass-your-opponent-publicly, presidential races.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Misery
So this morning I woke up with a slight head issue. My head was a little stuffy, my brain a little dizzy, my mind still quite co-hearant but I could tell that was about to go. Well, as the day went on, it just went from bad to worse, to...misery.
At one point, a co-worker of mine walked over to my cub and said, "Are you the one sneezing, and coughing, and choking, and dying?"
"Yes." He then gently spoke his lack of sympathy and ended with something like, "We perfer your germs stay at home."
Yay!! Sick day tomorrow!!
I feel like crap and the best part is, I haven't thought about that stupid UAW issue. I've canceled my after school plans and am going to go home in an hour and a half. Yay!
P.S. I'm on my second box of Kleenex
At one point, a co-worker of mine walked over to my cub and said, "Are you the one sneezing, and coughing, and choking, and dying?"
"Yes." He then gently spoke his lack of sympathy and ended with something like, "We perfer your germs stay at home."
Yay!! Sick day tomorrow!!
I feel like crap and the best part is, I haven't thought about that stupid UAW issue. I've canceled my after school plans and am going to go home in an hour and a half. Yay!
P.S. I'm on my second box of Kleenex
Monday, September 24, 2007
Go back to work UAW!
The UAW (United Auto Workers) have once again gone on strike.
Let me pre-empt what I'm about to say otherwise it will sound unmerciful and hoity-toity. Unions were definitely needed in the day they started. The working man needed to stand up for their rights and to do so they had to stand together. I believe that we wouldn't have sane and healthy working conditions we have today if it weren't for them. I believe that today we have greater balance in life and family because of them. But they have overstayed their welcome. To stay competetive, employers offer health care, paid vacation, set amounts of hours and overtime pay. We no longer need to all stand together and walk out of our work and stand in a picket line to get fair, humane, and decent treatment. We have balance, we have rights.
In Michigan's struggling economy, the UAW is not only shooting themselves in the foot but they're killing our state! They went on strike. I don't know why but this is the result: the people that supply them parts to put cars and engines together (or whatever they do with them) will now be laid off. These UAW have benefits that provide them money of some sort so they can stand on the sidewalk and hold their signs but the people who are laid off will now go home without that. If the UAW wins, the Automobile manufacturers will no longer be able to afford to make a car in the US and will have to outsource their work to foreign countries or the result will be cars too expensive for people to buy. Then the UAW people will no longer have a job to strike for, the laid off people will have no hope for employment, and the saddest part is probably the fact that these people are not college educated for the most part and they will be unable to find adequate work to feed their families, pay their morgages, and pay their bills.
Michigan's primary industry will be the cause of death for everyone. Once the Automakers leave, there will be much less people buying christmas presents at our malls, food at our grocery stores and eateries, trinkets at our tourist stops. People will move out of our dear state to find better work somewhere else. That means less revenue for the state through income taxes, sales tax, and traffic violations. So less people will be needed to file, bill, and work stores. So more people will leave to find work in other places.
You think it won't be that way? Let's see what's happened in recent years from lay-offs and plant closings: Michigan is #1 or #2 for the worst economy, the state budget for 2007 still has no resolution and 2008 is far from the books, our school system is in the bottom ten of the nation, and we are in the top five for home foreclosures in the nation. This is all aside from the fact that poverty, bad education, and crime are all on the rise.
I would think that with all the factory jobs that once kept our economy steaming forward, getting fewer and fewer these UAW people would feel grateful for the fact that they have jobs that are contracted and they have payouts if the contract falls through. I would think they would feel lucky to have a job at all, not to mention one that allows them to retire after 30 years of work with full health care, fat pensions, and other financial benefits. I would think they would be happy. I would think that they would be extremely grateful knowing that it would cost their company less than half to give someone else the same sort of lifestyle in another country.
The Unions gave us a lot in their day and without them I'm sure our working conditions would be vastly different but they have over stayed they're welcome and they need to go. UAW get off the picket lines and go back to work. You hold us all back.
Let me pre-empt what I'm about to say otherwise it will sound unmerciful and hoity-toity. Unions were definitely needed in the day they started. The working man needed to stand up for their rights and to do so they had to stand together. I believe that we wouldn't have sane and healthy working conditions we have today if it weren't for them. I believe that today we have greater balance in life and family because of them. But they have overstayed their welcome. To stay competetive, employers offer health care, paid vacation, set amounts of hours and overtime pay. We no longer need to all stand together and walk out of our work and stand in a picket line to get fair, humane, and decent treatment. We have balance, we have rights.
In Michigan's struggling economy, the UAW is not only shooting themselves in the foot but they're killing our state! They went on strike. I don't know why but this is the result: the people that supply them parts to put cars and engines together (or whatever they do with them) will now be laid off. These UAW have benefits that provide them money of some sort so they can stand on the sidewalk and hold their signs but the people who are laid off will now go home without that. If the UAW wins, the Automobile manufacturers will no longer be able to afford to make a car in the US and will have to outsource their work to foreign countries or the result will be cars too expensive for people to buy. Then the UAW people will no longer have a job to strike for, the laid off people will have no hope for employment, and the saddest part is probably the fact that these people are not college educated for the most part and they will be unable to find adequate work to feed their families, pay their morgages, and pay their bills.
Michigan's primary industry will be the cause of death for everyone. Once the Automakers leave, there will be much less people buying christmas presents at our malls, food at our grocery stores and eateries, trinkets at our tourist stops. People will move out of our dear state to find better work somewhere else. That means less revenue for the state through income taxes, sales tax, and traffic violations. So less people will be needed to file, bill, and work stores. So more people will leave to find work in other places.
You think it won't be that way? Let's see what's happened in recent years from lay-offs and plant closings: Michigan is #1 or #2 for the worst economy, the state budget for 2007 still has no resolution and 2008 is far from the books, our school system is in the bottom ten of the nation, and we are in the top five for home foreclosures in the nation. This is all aside from the fact that poverty, bad education, and crime are all on the rise.
I would think that with all the factory jobs that once kept our economy steaming forward, getting fewer and fewer these UAW people would feel grateful for the fact that they have jobs that are contracted and they have payouts if the contract falls through. I would think they would feel lucky to have a job at all, not to mention one that allows them to retire after 30 years of work with full health care, fat pensions, and other financial benefits. I would think they would be happy. I would think that they would be extremely grateful knowing that it would cost their company less than half to give someone else the same sort of lifestyle in another country.
The Unions gave us a lot in their day and without them I'm sure our working conditions would be vastly different but they have over stayed they're welcome and they need to go. UAW get off the picket lines and go back to work. You hold us all back.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Oh what to write...that is my only battle today
Yeah, I've been slacking. Apartment 9 now has new occupants. Apartment 11 must work third shift. Apartment 5 (which I think I've been wrong on the number...I think I've been calling it Apartment 8...its the guy with the flowers and who I think is gay). He never picked his peppers.
Okay, do you see how much is not happening in life right now?
So Don and I had a fight. I think it was something that had been lingering for a while...it would come up here and there. It was probably one of the best things that has happened to us in recent months! The root cause of all this tension was that I was saying one thing...thinking I was being beyond abudantly clear...and he totally missed what I was saying. It was so great because we finally broke thru all the confusion and it was my fault...I wasn't being clear enough. We got it sorted out and it lifted SO much pressure on us, on me, and now we're much better off!
I remember when we had our first major fight (the one over the laundry didn't really count). I remember a distinct moment just before I opened my mouth I thought, "If I don't get this out and start this fight, we are going to brush things under the rug always. I trust him to have this fight and I trust that it will move our relationship forward and not backwards." I was committed to that. And granted there have been times I have been more committed to that than other times but I am committed to the fact that conflict will bring our relationship and our marriage foward and not backward.
I think this doesn't happen in a lot of relationships and marriages because people are afraid of conflict. People think that conflict is always negative. Its just the opposite...much of the time. Conflict brings out problems and issues that need to be addressed and if you can work thru them and commit to something more and better than the problem then it can only move forward. The problem people have with conflict is that they engage without trusting all the people involved...including themselves. When there is conflict, everyone has to trust and commit to the better of everyone, of the team...not thru compromise but thru win-win solutions.
When this happens, when it happened with Don and I, it makes everything MUCH better. I trust him enough to fight with him and to know that he still loves me and that what we have is making what we will have better. Don't be afraid to fight, be afraid of brushing it under the rug.
Oh yeah, my car is finally getting fixed on Monday. HOPEFULLY the part will not spring another leak between now and then because I'll loose almost all my oil. So far so good and its been 11 days and I checked my oil yesterday and It's still got the exact same amount! PTL!!
Okay, do you see how much is not happening in life right now?
So Don and I had a fight. I think it was something that had been lingering for a while...it would come up here and there. It was probably one of the best things that has happened to us in recent months! The root cause of all this tension was that I was saying one thing...thinking I was being beyond abudantly clear...and he totally missed what I was saying. It was so great because we finally broke thru all the confusion and it was my fault...I wasn't being clear enough. We got it sorted out and it lifted SO much pressure on us, on me, and now we're much better off!
I remember when we had our first major fight (the one over the laundry didn't really count). I remember a distinct moment just before I opened my mouth I thought, "If I don't get this out and start this fight, we are going to brush things under the rug always. I trust him to have this fight and I trust that it will move our relationship forward and not backwards." I was committed to that. And granted there have been times I have been more committed to that than other times but I am committed to the fact that conflict will bring our relationship and our marriage foward and not backward.
I think this doesn't happen in a lot of relationships and marriages because people are afraid of conflict. People think that conflict is always negative. Its just the opposite...much of the time. Conflict brings out problems and issues that need to be addressed and if you can work thru them and commit to something more and better than the problem then it can only move forward. The problem people have with conflict is that they engage without trusting all the people involved...including themselves. When there is conflict, everyone has to trust and commit to the better of everyone, of the team...not thru compromise but thru win-win solutions.
When this happens, when it happened with Don and I, it makes everything MUCH better. I trust him enough to fight with him and to know that he still loves me and that what we have is making what we will have better. Don't be afraid to fight, be afraid of brushing it under the rug.
Oh yeah, my car is finally getting fixed on Monday. HOPEFULLY the part will not spring another leak between now and then because I'll loose almost all my oil. So far so good and its been 11 days and I checked my oil yesterday and It's still got the exact same amount! PTL!!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Body Shop from Heck
So I told you about my recent car issues. I got a second opinion which is really rare that I do because I don't know anything about anything but I didn't really know the people who told me about that coolant and oil pan leak and there were a few things I was concerned about in connection with that: how does an oil pan cost $300-$400?
I got my second opinion from the guy who actually sold us the car. He's great. He told me it wasn't the oil pan but intead it was the Hydrolic Motor Head or something like that...the thing that helps you change gears or whatever. Anyway, he was completely confused as to why this particular part was falling apart. He said they rarely change them and if they do its usually on a car with exorborant amount of miles on a really old car. I drive a 2002 Ford Taurus with almost 109,000 so according to him, my car isn't near old enough and it doesn't have enough miles for this part to go out. He was pretty sure it was directly related to the accident.
That is yet another thing that the Body Shop I took my car to didn't catch. This is the story: I told the tow guy to take it to this body shop because back in High School I hit a deer and they were fabulous. That day I couldn't get ahold of either my mom or my dad so I figured I'd just take it there. I knew people that worked there so I thought it would be okay, I felt I could trust them. That was my only mistake. The insurance company deemed the car totaled. The Body Shop from Heck needed work and the secretary/receptionist talked them into fixing it. I've had to take it back to them...well, this is the forth time. I am bound and determined NOT to pay this bill. If Insurance doesn't pay for it (which I'm actually hoping for) then THEY will pay for it. They wanted to fix it...they can fix it (I just wish they wouldn't have to).
I've been thinking of presenting them with two options: fixing my car or giving me $6000 so I can use it as a trade in and tack on the $6000 to by the Ford Taurus I saw with only 47,000 miles on it. I hope that will happen because then I know I won't ever see the Body Shop from Heck again.
I have to have a dependable car. It's not just a to and from work car. I'm in ministry and I have kids in my car. It has to be safe. These kids come from families that think suing is their God-given right AND responsibility. It doesn't matter to them if it was truly an accident or something done out of neglegence (in which case this would actually the latter). And the thing is, this Body Shop isn't the one getting sued from these parents. I am. YFC is. There is no way around it. If something happens while they're in the car, its MY problem, not theirs.
Honestly, if my car needs a repair, it needs a repair and generally I don't hate them. I just hate it when someone convinces someone else to fix a person's car and then doesn't fix it. Thats just wrong. What desterbs me also, is the guy I know that works there, I've known all my life and he's not the one that works on cars but it still refects badly on him in my mind as much as I tell myself he had nothing to do with it.
I got my second opinion from the guy who actually sold us the car. He's great. He told me it wasn't the oil pan but intead it was the Hydrolic Motor Head or something like that...the thing that helps you change gears or whatever. Anyway, he was completely confused as to why this particular part was falling apart. He said they rarely change them and if they do its usually on a car with exorborant amount of miles on a really old car. I drive a 2002 Ford Taurus with almost 109,000 so according to him, my car isn't near old enough and it doesn't have enough miles for this part to go out. He was pretty sure it was directly related to the accident.
That is yet another thing that the Body Shop I took my car to didn't catch. This is the story: I told the tow guy to take it to this body shop because back in High School I hit a deer and they were fabulous. That day I couldn't get ahold of either my mom or my dad so I figured I'd just take it there. I knew people that worked there so I thought it would be okay, I felt I could trust them. That was my only mistake. The insurance company deemed the car totaled. The Body Shop from Heck needed work and the secretary/receptionist talked them into fixing it. I've had to take it back to them...well, this is the forth time. I am bound and determined NOT to pay this bill. If Insurance doesn't pay for it (which I'm actually hoping for) then THEY will pay for it. They wanted to fix it...they can fix it (I just wish they wouldn't have to).
I've been thinking of presenting them with two options: fixing my car or giving me $6000 so I can use it as a trade in and tack on the $6000 to by the Ford Taurus I saw with only 47,000 miles on it. I hope that will happen because then I know I won't ever see the Body Shop from Heck again.
I have to have a dependable car. It's not just a to and from work car. I'm in ministry and I have kids in my car. It has to be safe. These kids come from families that think suing is their God-given right AND responsibility. It doesn't matter to them if it was truly an accident or something done out of neglegence (in which case this would actually the latter). And the thing is, this Body Shop isn't the one getting sued from these parents. I am. YFC is. There is no way around it. If something happens while they're in the car, its MY problem, not theirs.
Honestly, if my car needs a repair, it needs a repair and generally I don't hate them. I just hate it when someone convinces someone else to fix a person's car and then doesn't fix it. Thats just wrong. What desterbs me also, is the guy I know that works there, I've known all my life and he's not the one that works on cars but it still refects badly on him in my mind as much as I tell myself he had nothing to do with it.
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