I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

What about raising the taxes on the Rich especially since you all have convinced me "I'm" poor now!

Seriously, they need to quit bankrupting us with all their wars and spending money they don't have.  That must be one heck of a great printing machine Washington has which keeps popping out all that play money!  If I could find a cheap Chinese language course, I think it would behove me to take it!

I would say "Happy Valentine's Day" but I don't celebrate anything to do with being happy.  Bad for my nasty disposition and I didn't get that crummy 35 cent candy bar I asked for anyway!  I think I will buy the factory and make all the chocolate I want!  To those who got their chocolate, have an extra piece for me!

Shirley:  Why can't you answer the questions I ask you on here about your posts?  If you have me on "Ignoranmous" please let me know so I will stop wasteing my time trying to communicate with you.  I took the time to read your links but had a couple of questions.  It doesn't matter any more.  Thanks to Arimidex, I forgot what I wanted to know!

Talking about cards we have received which were "extra" special to us reminds me of one I will keep forever and it certainly wasn't from DP!  I worked for a company for several years and had a great relationship with all the employees I grew to love and they loved me back.  When I had to leave due to DP being laid off and wanting me home to continue our travels, at the end of the day I was leaving I saw this magnificent bouquet of gorgeous roses on my desk.  It was from two of the men I worked for and when I read the card it has stayed in my heart forever:

"Others may miss you, but "we'll" never "forget" you!"  

This is not something two men usually say but I knew why they felt this way and that one card has made up for all the thousands of other cards I never got from the person I left to return home to.  The roses ended up dying after a while as flowers do but to this day, I still have their card and when I am sad like on this Valentine's Day, I remember that many times we are loved in special ways by people we touch in our life's journey and they aren't always the ones we get to travel to the end with.  But travel we must!

Interesting list, Athena . . . I will try to weigh in later.  Right now, my news flash is that I find myself in wholehearted agreement with conservative commentator Michael Medved!  (Not sure that has EVER happened before.)  He has a short piece in today's online Wall Street Journal making the point that Obama Derangement Syndrome (or whatever you want to call it) isn't just unbecoming, and the conspiracy theories associated with it aren't just nutty - they're also profoundly dysfunctional for *conservatives.*  The WSJ is subscription only, so I don't know if the link will work, but here are some representative snippets:

"None of the attacks on Mr. Obama's intentions offers an even vaguely plausible explanation of how the evil genius, once he has ruined our "strength, influence and standard of living," hopes to get himself re-elected. In a sense, the president's most paranoid critics pay him a perverse compliment in maintaining that his idealism burns with such pure, all-consuming heat that he remains blissfully unconcerned with minor matters like his electoral future. They label Mr. Obama as the political equivalent of a suicide bomber: so overcome with hatred (or "rage") that he's perfectly willing to blow himself up in order to inflict casualties on a society he loathes.

. . .  

Regardless of the questionable pop psychology of this analysis, as a political strategy it qualifies as almost perfectly imbecilic. Republicans already face a formidable challenge in convincing a closely divided electorate that the president pursues wrong-headed policies. They will never succeed in arguing that those initiatives have been cunningly and purposefully designed to wound the republic. In Mr. Obama's case, it's particularly unhelpful to focus on alleged bad intentions and rotten character when every survey shows more favorable views of his personality than his policies."

And here's a link to try:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132631175113322.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion

L

A lot of people who voted for Tea Party candidates did it because they were fed up with the staus quo. I think it will be interesting to see how long it will be before they are fed up with the Tea Party. I do believe it will be just a matter of time. The "middle "in this country keeps us on course even if there are a few corrections to that course from time to time. Maybe that's why wingnuts on both sides do not like the middle.

Lie to and trick your children?  That may work once or twice, but the cost of your child's trust is far too high.  That is not cute, that is deceitful.  Children learn by example and at the most inopportune moments.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/michelle-obamas-cute-parenting-tip-lie-and-trick-your-kids-so-they-are-not-fat/

When are these spots going to air that she thinks parents will see them and not children?  Does she think that kids are not going to know what is going on after seeing the commercial themselves?

I bet you're glad now that turned out to be a lie, KK!

L

Oh Konakat you are SOOOOO WRONG, you liberal apologist you!  ;-)

---Michele O has invented lying to children......until her and this Presidency No one, I mean No one, ever ever ever lied to their child about anything. . . .

Because we all know:

there is too a Santa Claus and he sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you are bad or good

not to mention a tooth fairy--who came to our house last night to deliver a dollar coin to youngest. . . .

and that Easter Bunny guy will be making rounds soon enough. . . .

this kind of thing is why it is often VERY hard for me to take some people seriously. . . .

.. 

Past tx: BMX, TAMOX, ZOMETA. Future Tx: deity creation, sheep sacrifice and rain dances.
Diagnosis: 3/2009, IDC, 3cm, Stage IIb, Grade 3, 3/8 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

i am sorry if it came off as snarky....it wasn't meant to be serious, it was a gut reaction to the idea that parents have never lied to their children. . . .

didn't someone make a lot of money selling a cookbook on how to hide veggies in things?

Ok, L, you said you would give my little exercise a shot....I'd be interested to hear what you and others think - Notself - much more thoughfully put together than my quick notes - very impressive.

Congratulations Bren!!!!

No worries, 3monst. All is good.

Athena, Thanks for the pot stirring pix. I am taking a stab at the list. Interestingly, I am in agreement with notself on many points.

Federal and state budget and tax policy - Libertarian

Foreign affairs - Almost isolationist

Education - I believe in a standardized curriculum

Abortion - Pro choice

Poverty - Sorry we have so much of it but believe that much of it is welfare-state-induced.

Immigration - Enforce the existing laws

Healthcare - I do not know what the answer is but the current bill is not the answer.

Trade - Tax imports heavily. Incentivize US businesses to move manufacturing back to our shores.

Law enforcement - I am glad we have them.

Drugs policy - no tolerance

Non traditional marriage - Whatever floats your boat.

The role of religion in public life - sepration of church and state

Respect for science- and evidence-based practices in pertinent areas such as medicine and the environment - I respect evidence-based pratices but do not think they and religion are mutually exclusive.

Very interesting.....(I love your drugs policy!!!)

Anyone else??

I bet by the end of this we will see just how hard it is to assign labels, as Medigal has often reminded us.

I am trying to be open-minded -- really, I am.

Run your daughter all over the house looking for your purse, when all the while it's sitting there next to you on the countertop?  And, smirk at your daughter when she finally gives up and you're forced to admit that the purse has been right there the whole time?

That's cute and creative?  According to whom?  How many times could a mother get away with that, before the daughter realized she was being deceived and it was all a silly game?  And, then what? (Are the Obama girls really that, um, ... okay, really that naïve?)

Sorry.  Somebody needs to do better than that, if kids (and adults) are going to be motivated to get up off their butts and be active.

Who else here is old enough to remember, first-hand, President Kennedy's "Council on Physical Fitness"?:  http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Physical-Fitness.aspx

I am pretty sure the school system in my home town was involved in the pilot study for that fitness program (http://christinasorbit.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-happened-to-president-kennedys.html).  It was sort of like PE in the military -- each child got tested at the beginning of the school year, to determine his/her baseline fitness level.  There was a standard series of exercises, including sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, "shuttle run", rope-climbing... ?; some were modified for girls because of their body structure (i.e., pull-ups became the "bent-arm hang,", push-ups were done with knees on the floor). 

Each PE class during the school year included stuff that would improve strength, endurance, agility, etc.  The test was re-administered at intervals throughout the year, the goal being to demonstrate an improvement in individual performance over the baseline result.  Better yet was the ability to reach the performance standards that had been set for that age group by the Council on Physical Fitness:

"Although the council did not have the authority to impose a national program, it developed and promoted a curriculum to improve fitness. The council's fitness curriculum was devised with the cooperation of nineteen major U.S. educational and medical organizations."

[time out while I look for more stuff... ]

Now I am feeling discouraged.  The scope of the Fitness Council was expanded by President Johnson, who re-named it the "Council on Physical Fitness and Sports."  So far, so good.

Last summer, Ms. Obama took over the program.  Its scope has been broadened (diluted?) further, to include "healthy eating" as well as physical fitness.  The group's new name is the "Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition."  And, the membership of the Council now consists of several current and past NFL football players, a couple of NBA players, a NASCAR driver, the owner and chef of a NYC restaurant, some retired olympic athletes, a "fitness consultant" who happens to be Ms. Obama's personal trainer, a talk-show guest who's written some books on nutrition, a (retired?) pediatrician who works for the Health Department in North Dakota ...  you get the picture.  Here are details: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/first-lady-launches-president-s-council-fitness-sports-and-nutrition

I am not so impressed.  But, this might explain why mothers are being encouraged to mislead their daughters about where their purses are located, as a way to get them to exercise.

otter

[Edited to add: I know, I know ... the purse-hiding thing was supposed to be cute.  I understand that, and I realize I'm taking it way too seriously.  But, aren't we supposed to be taking all this seriously?  I mean, isn't obesity a real problem in this country?  Isn't the lack of physical fitness among our children going to affect them, and society, for many decades to come?  I'm having a hard time thinking "cuteness" is a way to solve those problems.  The strategy in that video was just silly.]