Blogging For Kicks

It seems to just give me heartburn, more than anything else. I mean, I think and think, wonder about what’s going on and why, and just when I think I have it all figured out, the truth comes up and slaps me in the face. I just don’t get it, you know? The world seems to have begun spinning backwards for some reason, and nothing works as it should anymore.

I mean, when this whole CIA thing started, no one knew what was going on, except those on the inside. The word we kept getting from them was that Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s right-hand man, his assassin, so to speak, was behind it. They whispered it here and there, and even spoke it out loud, and it seemed to have the ring of truth to it. Then, when the Times reporter came out and said that Rove was the one who gave him the info on Ms. Plame, it was almost a done deal. Here was the proof the dude did the deed.

He was called to testify before the Grand Jury, then again, and yet again. And finally, for the fourth time, he was called back in, and we all knew he was on his last legs. No more mud slinging, no more political assassinations of those who dared to run against W at any point, and no more fat, smug little turd, smirking at the world because he can get away with anything. The word came out that up to five - count ‘em, five - indictments were going to be served by Thursday or Friday of this last full week of October, and we waited with bated breath for it to happen.

But Thursday came and went, and nothing. Friday came, and we got the news Scooter Libby had been indicted, Karl Rove had not, although he was still under investigation, and knew at that point that it will probably never happen. He has gotten away with it again. I tell you, that man is slicker than sh*t, everything just slides right off him as if it had never been there. It makes me sick, you know? I just simply can’t fathom how this little turd can do whatever he wants to, to anyone he wants to, and never has to pay for it.

I know, those famous words “…still under investigation…” are hanging out there, but come on. Do you really think they will ever make him pay for what he does? Seeing him, Cheney, and Bush in the Oval Office after it became apparent only Scooter was being indicted, smiling those self-satisfied smiles as if they had just put another over on us, are burned into my mind, popping up whenever the news is repeated. I want to believe Justice really does work in this country, but every time something like this happens, it really seems to show that it only works for those without enough power, or ties to those who have that power. It’s sickening.

I have heard Mr. Fitzgerald, the head of the investigation, is a good lawyer, that he’s fair, unbending, and bound to get to the bottom of this mess no matter where it leads, but at this point I’m left wondering. I watched him speaking yesterday, seeming as if he was this close to crying the whole time, and wondered if that’s how he normally talks or if he was holding back emotions of some kind. Yes, I know, that’s highly unlikely, but you see what happens when I think too much.

I guess all I can do is wait to see if justice is done, or forget the whole thing because it will never happen. All I know is, if I have to keep seeing that filthy, lying, pudgy little pile of horse poop with that smirk all over his face, I’m going to be losing a lot of weight, because I’m going to be losing a whole lot of meals along the way. Honestly, you’ve got to be kidding!

Scooter didn’t scoot away fast enough. Mr. Fitzgerald caught him in his lies and zapped him with the first indictment of the CIA leak investigation. Let’s hope it’s not the last. Karl Rove deserves to be served, also, but at this point I’m not sure if that’s possible. I think this President’s armor might be just big enough for the K-Boy to slide into for safety.

I saw a shot taken by a network camera aimed at the Oval Office window/door area this morning that sent chills up my spine. It was taken after the indictment against Libby had been announced in the news, so you would think the good friends and employers of the guy might be a little downhearted, but they certainly didn’t look like it was bothering them any. First Cheney walked past, and the smile on his face was unmistakable. W followed, also smiling, and Rove came behind him, smirking as usual, but very self-assured-looking. One must ask oneself why that might be.

Could it be the Scoot took the fall for all of them? Did he throw himself in front of the fatal bullet that should have struck one of his bosses, or…….was he pushed? I guess we’ll never really know, but at the same time, if no more indictments are handed down, we’ll be left never really knowing the extent of the involvement of the others in the whole mess. One thing I feel sure of, Mr. Libby didn’t decide on his own to do something so stupid. He got his orders, or maybe suggestions, from someone, cleared it with someone, or else he’d never have gone to the reporters as he did. You just simply don’t do that.

No, there are others, of that I’m sure, but the question is, will he be the scapegoat for all of them, or will Mr. Fitzgerald keep digging until he gets the goods on the others? I guess we’ll know in a few months. Maybe.

Well, it’s official. If you ever had any doubt about it, you can now step over to the side of the convinced. The Far Right “Christian” Wing of the Republican Party have now officially taken over. How do I know this, you ask? Because W’s agreeing to drop Harriet Miers name from consideration as Supreme Court Justice shows the Neo-Crusaders have enforced their will through them. And why, you ask? Because she hadn’t come out in a forthright way and stated unequivocally that she hates abortion and will do everything she can to overturn Roe v. Wade at the earliest opportunity that presents itself.

Well, good for them, I guess. They worked hard to bully their way into positions of control in all levels of government so they could get to the point where they could take over and make this a Christian Theocracy, and they’ve made it. I’m just wondering how that can possibly make us different than the extremist Muslim governments we have been fighting so hard to overturn. I have to say, I sure don’t see much of a difference at all.

You only need to look as far back as the Crusades to know where a determined policy to enforce the “Christian” philosophy on those who don’t believe in it will lead us. Or even back to the conquering of the New World. How many native aboriginals died because they were unwilling to forsake their own beliefs and commit themselve totally to Jesus? I don’t have the number, I don’t think anyone does for sure, but I know it was an awful lot. And, thanks to the Crusades, a lot of Jews and Muslims paid the same price.

You may wonder why, when I use the word “Christian”, I enclose it in quotation marks. Well, I’ll tell you. I simply do not consider what passes for Christianity today has anything whatsoever to do with the actual, original, God-given Church we learn about in the New Testament. Nowhere in there do I see any of the apostles, or Jesus himself, advocating taking over governments and forcing the people to accept Jesus as their savior. Nowhere. And I’ve looked really hard for it.

No, especially in this country where religious freedom is supposed to be the way, there is no room for one religion to force it’s views on everyone else. And yet, that’s where we find ourselves today, thanks to our Wimp in Chief who can’t stand up to the bullies and actually follow the American Way. So now we have followers of these bullies all over the country rejoicing in their “great victory over evil”, screeching their “Hallelujahs” and “Thank you, Jesus’ ” to high heaven. I have to wonder, however, just how happy Jesus is to be thanked for what these people have done on their own? Because honest to God, I don’t see anything of Him or His Son in what has been going on in this country for over twenty years, at least.

Now, at the risk of being called a sinner, a spawn of Satan, or worse, I am here to tell you that what has happened today is NOT of God, at least not Yahweh. And if anyone can find anything in the New Testament, Jesus Word to the world, that says we are to actually fight to take over countries I’d love to see it.

I know there are the whole “Armor of God” scriptures that talk of arming ourselves and putting on His armor, etc, but that isn’t in regard to what is happening here. He specifically tells us to live as aliens in a strange land, and aliens have no right to make policy for any country. They have no right to criticize the country they are in, they have no say-so in what goes on there, and they certainly don’t rise up and try to take their new country over.

Ask yourself what we would do if all the aliens living in the United States from Mexico, just as an example, were to start pushing for the overthrow of our government so they could install their own? Would you sit still for it? They are “Christians”, after all, so why not? Because they do not have the right to make decisions like that, that’s why. And as Christians, living as aliens in a strange land, neither do we!!

So no, I don’t call these people true Christians, for this and many other reasons as shown when comparing them to the actual criteria Christians are supposed to exhibit as laid out in God’s word. And if you do, maybe you need to pull the Bible off your shelf, dust it off, and start reading. Start with Romans. It’s quite enlightening.

Meanwhile, all we can do at this point is sit back and watch these bullies take over and hope that once they do, God’s form of Christianity isn’t banished and/or killed off, and us along with it. Although if the price of living is to have to follow the teachings of these guys, I’d prefer going home to be with Jesus. So maybe it won’t be such a bad thing after all, you think?

Ok, I’m just sitting here wondering about something, so I thought I’d share my thoughts with you all. See, here’s the problem. They have been investigating the CIA leak - you know the one, where Joe Wilson’s wife’s name was given to reporters along with the fact she worked for the CIA as apparent retaliation for his report and later remarks calling the Bush administration liars for fudging the information about what Saddam did and didn’t have in the way of WMD’s. Everyone has been denying being the leaker, but the longer it goes on, the more we begin to see that yes, they did.

Case in point: Dick Cheney. A grandfatherly man with heart problems, said to be the REAL President, the one who makes the REAL decisions and policy decisions, right? The guy who is a heartbeat away from actually wearing the title of the job he seems to do. The one who swore he knew nothing about Ms. Plame or her job since the start of all this. Well, apparently he was having a major senior moment all this time, since the testimony of his right hand man and the reporter he leaked the info to both apparently point to him as their source, well before when he states he found out the surprising news. What a shock, eh?

So, the thing I’m wondering about now is, this: just when, in the minds of these people, does a lie really become a lie? Is it only when a man, facing a camera he knows is recording every word to be played around the world as soon as he’s through answering questions lies about having had an extra-marital affair? If so, why?

Why is lying about getting something on the side, something millions of men and women do every day across this country, so much worse than lying to start a war that ends up killing 2,000 plus Americans and untold thousands of Iraqui’s, along with Allied combatants from other countries who are there backing us up? And when does lying under oath about something thousands of people do every day in divorce courts around the country with impunity rise to the level of a possible career-ending act of perjury, when the lies I mentioned above don’t seem to bother the same people that were so upset over the sex lie?

True, all the judicial avenues haven’t been completely traveled yet, but if the past is any indicator, these guys will have excuses up the wazoo, and they will be swallowed whole by the same people who choked so badly on the sex lie, and they’ll continue doing the same thing over and over until the people have had enough and vote others in. But who knows when that will be. We have seen in the last election cycle that lies work wonders for those just waiting to be led around by the rings in their noses.

I don’t ask this question expecting to get an answer from anyone. As I said, there are answers enough flying around, but not any that suffice. At least not for those of us who can think for ourselves and realize that when a person says they know nothing about a subject, never told anyone about that subject, and yet it turns out that not only did they know about it, they purposely told those who could get the message out the fastest, that means they LIED!!! Pure and simple.

I guess the better question would be “Why on earth do the very people who swore that lying to the people was the worst thing a person in power could do now willingly turn a blind eye to lying that hurts a lot more than just the liar’s personal relationships?” Now, that’s the real stumper, isn’t it?

“They told us that when we invaded, we’d be greeted with sweets and flowers. They left out the crucial modifier: ‘exploding.’ ” - Al Franken, on Iraq.

Mr. Franken, while considered a very good comic, has a wonderful way of getting right to the heart of the matter when it comes to politics, in my opinion. He has shown over the years how quick-witted he is, and yet at the bottom of the “joke” lies a truth that might not have been see otherwise. Too many people are too willing to turn their heads and not see what is right in front of their face, but couching it in “humor” seems to do the trick. Oh, they still pooh-pooh anything that doesn’t square with the party line, and if they see Al Franken’s name first, his words won’t even be read, but if it’s just a quote with no advance notice of the person who said it, it will be read.

2,000 Americans dead now. For a war in a country that did nothing to us, had no means to harm us, and held no terrorists at the time we entered, although since that time, the number of them has increased by the thousands. One American dies, 10 terrorists come into Iraq just for the chance of killing more Americans. I find that a truly futile and wholly uncalled for circumstance. As of today, it seems more Americans are realizing that now, and I have to say that’s a good thing. (Sorry, Martha)

2,000 young Americans dead now. Saddam Hussein is going on trial for crimes against his own people, yet who will be held accountable for crimes done on our own? Bush? Not likely. Cheney? Very doubtful. Rumsfeld? I don’t think so. Condie? Not a chance - she’s a woman. Who’s left? No one worth the time, trouble, and expense of a jury trial. No, there will be no legal remedy for the crimes committed by our President, his buddies, and our government against out young people who only did what they signed up to do, as all good patriots do.

2,000 loving and beloved Americans are dead now. 2,000 American families greiving for the loss of a son, daughter, husband, father, brother or sister, fiance, or best friend. Why? I’ve been waiting since before the first death for a clear, concise answer to that question that makes sense and justifies sending our young men and women to a foreign land to fight and die. No answer yet. Just more lame yammering, piss-poor excuses, and outright lies. See, there is no answer. Not a real, honest one, anyway. Not one the instigators of all this will admit to.

2,000 American soldiers dead. If that’s not a crime, then what is? Oh, yeah, right. Adultery. I tell you, I simply will never understand the way these people’s minds work, and I don’t see that as a bad thing.

God, I love chocolate! I always have. I loved anything chocolate, but for some reason my mother thought that was a bad thing. Whenever she bought ice cream for my brother and me, I always begged for chocolate, even just chocolate chip, but she wouldn’t hear of it. It would be vanilla, or maybe Butter Pecan, but never chocolate. She told us once that when they made ice cream, if they dropped it on the floor they’d just pick it up and put it in the carton anyway, since you couldn’t see the dirt on it.

Look, my Mom wasn’t a stupid person, she was pretty smart, actually. She just had some really strange ideas about things. Now, I understand how that could happen, since I carried the beleif with me up into high school that my eyes were actually bigger than my stomach. After all, Mom told me so, and Moms know all, right? Anyway, I believed mine did, right up to the time I mentioned that little known “fact” to a teacher in the middle of class. Yep, there’s not a better way for a kid to find out Mom is fallable, after all. Now, actually, it was my young brain that took a silly saying and gave it the varnish of truth, but at the time I was humiliated and that made it all her fault.

But, back to the chocolate ice cream remark. Now, I have no idea, based on my experience with the eye/stomach thing, whether she was serious about it or not, but it sure seemed to me that she was. I finally understood her aversion to the Nectar of the Gods, anyway. But, it didn’t make me stop wanting it. I didn’t care, figuring if I couldn’t taste the dirt it wouldn’t hurt me, and I just kept wishing she would give in just once. But, she never did.

I was left having to get my chocolate ice cream fix when I was with my Dad, since he wasn’t worried about dirt in there, either. His favorite ice cream was vanilla, but if chocolate was what I wanted, chocolate was what I would get. I loved going shopping with Daddy!

The reason I’m bringing this subject up now is quite simple, really. Last year they came out with the news I’d been wishing for all my life - chocolate is really very good for you! Yes, it is better for your heart than the ever popular red wine, better than broccoli, better by far than vanilla or Butter Pecan. Yes, those wonderful scientists had come up with a finding I could really get behind full force. My one regret was that they hadn’t found this out when I was a kid so I could have let my Mom know that it was actually a good thing to eat chocolate.

But here’s the kicker. Barely six months after learning this wonderful, marvelous news-of-all-news, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic!! Yes, my mother got her way again. She was always a very tough, determined woman, and you either did it her way or paid dearly, so she pretty much always got what she wanted, and now she wanted to not be seen as having been wrong. Yes, all those years she told me how bad chocolate was for me could not be all for naught. Oh, no. She had to be right, I tell you. Now, as it was when I was a child, chocolate is again a no-no for me.

Do you have any idea how many new kinds of chocolate delights they’ve come out with over the last year or so, since I became unable to enjoy them? More than I care to remember, that’s all I can tell you. I have to sit here and watch beautiful people on my tv screen obviously enjoying the soothing, sensuous, scentillating chocolate cookies, candies, ice cream, cakes, pies, and pudding treats, knowing I can never be one of them. Oh, sure, I could take a small bite every once in a blue moon, but come on, who but my Mom could be satisfied with one bite of a chocolate treat like that?

I’m sorry, all, but today seemed to be a particularly heavy chocolate commercial day, and I feel like an addict who can see her drug of choice sitting right there in front of her, but she can’t get to it because her arms are tied to the chair. That’s really harsh, I tell you, and as I sit here reliving those wonderful chocolate splurges of old I can’t help but remember all the chances I could have had to eat my favorite thing in the world, if only my mother would have known what we all know now. Isn’t that just the way my luck runs, tho?

Well, he’s scraping the bottom now, folks. He’s so desperate to get his positives up that he’s willing to do anything, even use members of the Armed Forces in a staged Q & A session via a link to Iraq. He sends them to face death for a year, then another, and now he’s treating them like stage props. Really classy, George.

Number one, these weren’t rank and file servicemen. These were officers, hand picked. Number two, the Q & A was staged, with at least one run through, telling them who got to answer what questions, etc. Now, they are swearing up and down the questions were real and the officers had no idea what they would be, but if that’s true, why was the handler at the White House quizzing them on who got the mic for which questions, in what order, etc? Anyone who beleives those people didn’t have prior knowledge of what they were going to be asked and had approved their remarks beforehand needs to think again.

I find it sickening that a President would stoop this low, but then we are talking about Georgie Boy, so it shouldn’t really be that surprising. The man is sinking into a pool of quicksand, further and further with each new tack he tries to pull himself out. I don’t see why he’s so worried, since, once he gets to the point only his head is above ground, so to speak, it will continue to float for quite a while. Empty things do float, you know.

I wish everyone would log on to the White House website and leave a message for the Confounder in Chief, letting him know what we think of his tactics and his blatant exploitation of our service members for his own agrandizement. Maybe it would actually get through to someone in charge and they will think twice before trying anything like that again. Then again, they probably don’t let bad news get through to him too often, and with their egotistic thinking they won’t take it to heart anyway.

But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I’m going to leave my message when I get through here. I hope everyone who reads this will too, and if you do, leave me a note to let me know about it. Either put it in the comments section or my guestbook, but if it’s the guestbook, don’t forget to enter the verification number in the box beside it before you submit. Tell everyone you know who values our troops above using them for publicity stunts during war time to do the same. Thanks to one and all.

Well, it was a nice dream, but it’s over now. America’s best baseball team, bar none, fell tonight, and the hopes of another World Series Championship to add to their already long list are gone. But, we may be beaten and bloody now, but you just wait until next year!

Ok, it’s true, they didn’t do so well this year, anyway, but they came on like gangbusters at the end and won the AL East Championship again. You can never count the Bronx Bombers out, not until the last out of the last inning has been posted. They just keep on ticking, those Pinstriped Boys of October. They beat themselves this year, as usually happens. Very few teams that beat them actually play better than they do. The problem comes when they don’t take advantage of the opportunities they are offered.

How many times can you strand one, two, even three men on base because the batters just don’t get it done? Apparently with these guys the number is infinitesimal. IT is my belief, based on my observations, that had all the men left on base during each of the first three games had been brought home by those batting behind them, there would have been no need for games four and five, because the Yanks would have swept the series. Again. It just wasn’t to be, however.

And tonight, one play in the outfield buried them. Sure, there were other things done wrong after that, but nothing that would have mattered if either Sheffield or Crosby had called the ball in right center field. That collision and the resulting runs that scored instead of the final out of the inning would have made the difference. But, nothing can be done about it now.

So, the baseball season is over for we Yankee fans for this year, but once again you can hear the murmurs from East Coast to West - “Wait ’til next year.” So we will.

How do you prove the unprovable? How do you prove you love your spouse? You do everything you can to make them happy, you are there when they need you, you buy them gifts and take romantic trips, and show your love to everyone who comes around, right? You would think so, but we’ve been shown numerous times that those things don’t really mean much at all. I mean, look at the recently convicted wife-and-unborn-baby murderer, Scott Peterson.

To the outside world, and probably even to Laci herself, he seemed like the ideal husband, by all accounts. Yet, he was carrying on at least one illicit affair, and he killed his “beloved” wife and unborn son, and showed not the least sorrow, grief, or remorse for it. So, how do you prove something like love? It seems to me it just has to be something in the way you live your life, year after year, and once you’re dead and gone, or your spouse is, people can look back and see that yes, you really did love him/her. Unless you’re really good at hiding your sins.

So, how do you prove your love for your country? Sound like a strange question, and I guess it is, but in this day and age, when some people are demanding some form of proof about it, I think it’s a fair question. You see, I’ve been on the receiving end of those kinds of statements, and I know very well how hard it is to make people see they are wrong.

I am a Democrat living in a very Republican area, and I’ve spent a lot of time since making my choice knowing I am looked at with mistrust by some people who don’t even know me. Let me give you a few examples of things I’ve had to deal with. Now, I am sure there are people on the other side who have had such things happen to them, also, but I can assure you, it hasn’t been done by me.

A lot of my problems began when I stuck a “Flush Rush” sticker on my rear bumper. Now, I’d been driving at least 30 years by that time, and I’d gotten two tickets in my life - once when I first started driving and got stopped for speeding down a road with no speed limit signs, and once about 10 years later for driving on tires that were too worn. I never got another one until I put the bumper sticker on. And since I traded up to a new car, I haven’t had another one. Isn’t that funny?

The first thing that happened was I was pulled over one night while driving home from my daughter’s choral performance at the high school. We took her friend home, and when I pulled up to the curb at her house, flashing lights turned on behind me, and a policeman got out and came to the window. I asked what I’d done, and he simply asked where I was coming from. I told him, then asked again what I’d done wrong. He said someone matching my description, in a car the color of mine, had driven off after filling up with gas and not paying.

Before long there were several police cars around me, and I was really getting worried. My kids were scared, too, and having the people who lived around there standing out on their lawns thinking a major bust had just occurred wasn’t a great feeling, either. I sat there, on a school night, already past nine o’clock, while the police milled around, talking to each other, for at least a half hour. Finally the first cop came over and bruskly told me they’d caught the person who’d done it, and I was allowed to leave. Ok, it could happen.

Next, I had taken two of my kids to spend the night with a friend across town, and on the way back I was stopped. Again, I asked what I’d done wrong. He said he wasn’t sure he’d seen my turn signal when I turned the corner. Now, I know it was on, because I had to manually turn it off, but he began asking what I was doing, why I’d been over at the apartments, where I was going, and finally, why my passenger side window was down. I answered his questions, finally saying I had that window down because I wanted some air, but not as much as having the drivers side down would have given me.

He said nothing, but walked around the car, looking on the ground with his flashlight, as if searching for something. When he got back, he said he wanted to make sure I hadn’t tossed “evidence” out the window. Now, I’m not your typical druggie, I look nothing like one. I’m an old lady, with six kids, who’s lived a hard life, but I don’t do drugs and don’t look like someone who does. Besides, I’ve lived in this town since I was a kid, everyone knows me, and I have friends in town who are cops and I know they know everyone who’s been around a while. It’s a very small town. There was no need for the stop, except to harrass me.

There were other times I was stopped during this period, never ending in a citation of any kind, just the harrassing “stop-and-check” things that mean absolutely nothing. And again, not one single stop since the car with the bumper sticker was traded in. I’m a thinking person, I have common sense, and I can add quite well, so it’s not hard to see one plus one equals two, expecially when it’s right in front of my face. I was being targeted by every right-wing blackbooted thug in a uniform simply because they didn’t like my belief that Rush is a moron. Simple as that.

On to other examples. One morning I took my kids and went to the local grocery store to do our weekly shopping. I found a spot right in front, heading inward toward the store. We went in, bought what we needed, came out and put the groceries in the car, and were ready to stop by McDonald’s for a treat. A car full of young guys drove by and yelled something I didn’t hear, and I looked to see if it was someone I knew. They were all looking at us and grinning, but they didn’t look familiar to me, so I got in the car and got ready to pull out.

As I started to do so, the same car came back by and stopped behind me, blocking me in the spot, and started yelling that I was a Commie, I was stupid, etc. My kids got scared, wondering why they were saying things like that, and I yelled back at the guys to get out of my way so I could leave. The car pulled back a bit and I started to pull out, but when I put the car into drive and started to turn into the driving lane, the car pulled up in front of me, blocking me in again while they yelled insults and threats at me, scaring my kids even more. Then they drove off laughing like idiots. All because of a bumper sticker.

I took my son to his weekly Saturday morning city league basketball game, and while waiting for the warmups to end and the game to begin, my son talked to his coach, a young man of college age. The next thing I knew, my son yelled across the gym to me, asking what a Communist was. That was a strange thing for him to ask, so I asked him why he’d done it. He said, still yelling and in front of all the other parents and players, etc, that were there “Because coach says that’s what you are.” Everyone in there turned and looked at me, and I was so mortified I just wanted to run, but I wouldn’t let myself do that in front of my kids, so I yelled back and told him Communists aren’t anything he has to worry about since they are mostly all gone now. I was left wondering if this coach had been one of the guys in that car.

We had a couple more run ins after that, with him being a staunch Republican and me being a staunch Democrat. He just couldn’t seem to understand kid’s games and practices are not political arenas. The final straw was when he was hired to coach the Junior High basketball team, told the kids he would be making cuts the next Tuesday, then pulled me aside and told me right then, on Friday, that I had to tell my son he was being cut. Not because he couldn’t play the game, because he is very good at it and made the team during his other years in JH and high school, so I know it was because I was his mother. That didn’t make it any easier to try to explain why he was cut, and why it was done ahead of the scheduled cuts he’d announced.

So you see, I know whereof I speak here, and it’s not a fun position to be put into, especially when my kids are dragged into the middle of it. I will argue my beliefs and the reasons for them to anyone who wants to do so, but when they do things that scare and upset my kids just to “get me” for those beliefs, they really cross the line.

I am here today to state loudly and firmly I love my country as much as any other American, I don’t care their political beliefs or any other thing. I don’t feel, however, that I have to wrap myself in the American Flag at every chance, or get into a pissing contest over who has the biggest, best, or most flags and patriotic symbols on myself, my home, or my car. I also don’t think I have to agree with everything the current President, no matter who or fromwhat party, says and does. I don’t have to accept a war that is getting more and more of our sons and daughters killed every day when I totally, thoroughly disagree with it. And that doesn’t mean I don’t support the military and the troops that are over there fighting. I do, which is why I oppose having them risking their lives for something they never should have been pushed into.

I love my country, and I’ve taught my children to love and respect it, just as my parents did with me and my brother. When I go to a parade, I stand and salute as the color guard goes by, as do my kids, and my sons take their hats off while doing so. I vote in every election, no matter what it seems the outcome will be, simply because it’s my duty as an American. I go to jury duty when called, and I cry like a baby when the National Anthemn is played or sung. I am an American, body, soul, heart, and mind, and I am proud of that. That doesn’t mean I can’t be ashamed of what our leaders do in my name, and it doesn’t mean I can’t be angry when they do stupid, unneccesary things that make others hate us even more.

And just in case anyone still doesn’t get it - I LOVE THE UNITED STATES OFAMERICA!

I just finished watching my Yankees beat the Red Sox and win their 8th consecutive AL East Championship! I discussed this in a prior post, and I had hopes it could happen at that point, but now it has happened, and it is a reality. Once again The Boys from The Bronx have overcome all odds and ended up on top of the heap. They are the Undisputed Kings of American Baseball, I tell you. The record proves it, and no amount of whining and sour grapes can ever change that.

I am so happy right now I could dance a jig, and I just might do that. And here’s another thought - anyone who wants a model to look up to only needs to look as far as this team. They are a monument to teamwork, dedication to their craft, and dogged determination to never give up, to win no matter the odds, and to just keep on fighting till the very end. And once again it has paid off for them and the fans who love them so much.

Yes, they have the highest salaries as a team, but name me the one stand out player, the one that carries the team and who’s name is touted as the reason they win. You can’t. These guys are not the best in the game, they are not the darlings of the sports world, and they long ago stopped being the team of Ruth, Mantle, Maris, Ford, etc. They are now just simply The Yankees, or The Boys, and they just keep winning when they have to.

Sure, you can point to A-Rod, or Jeter, since they are the most photogenic, or whatever, and then there’s always Mariano to brag about. But all in all, every player on that team carries it at some point, and there simply is no single player you can call the backbone of the team. They all make up the backbone, and they all carry the team or drop it on it’s rear end. And I love that about them. It is so distracting when the only name connected to a team is a Bonds, or an Ortiz, a Jones, or a Sosa. Sure, those are all great players, but they can’t win by themselves.

I much prefer the Jeters, A-Rods, Williams, Sheffields, Posadas, Giambis, and Johnsons of the teams, all working together to find greatness for the group instead of making a name for themselves only. I find it much easier to root for the team instead of the player, since all players have their good days and their bad ones. When everyone pulls their weight, any one or two can play less than perfect games and the others will more than make up for them. Now, that’s the American way.

So, three cheers for America’s team, The New York Yankees. One for all and all for one, and may it always be that way. I see no reason why it shouldn’t. Go, Yankees, keep up the good work, and remember that even way out here in California, where we only get to see you play in special games or the playoffs, we love and respect you, and we’re rooting for you just as hard out here as they are in New York. Thanks for another great year, and let’s keep going all the way to the World Series win again. It’s yours for the taking at this point.