I finished a list of things to do for June today, in between taking the kids to the park and making deviled eggs and grillin' chicken, and finally watching the season finale of CSI with KC and Kenny (the episode directed by Quentin T., I'd worked the night it was on so Kenny taped it. ) The list has 21 main things on it, with a dozen more semi-important things on it. Some of the stuff I can do two or three a day... other items on the list will take a good portion of the day to just complete one. June is going to be busy as heck!
Kenny said he can help with painting the trim on the windows and door areas. Although he's changed his mind about moving this year to a bigger house (which I'm relieved about, but also shocked... he's usually the kind of guy that just makes up his mind, it was strange to hear him say he'd changed it) , we are still spending this year finishing up the details from last year's kitchen renovation. It's a fact of life that once you redo one room in the house, you usually end up fixing up the rest of the areas to better fit the new and improved sections. Most of what we've been doing is painting, and as I'm home most days, I got this great paint sprayer to try out on the hallway walls that lead to the family room.
We also got some great paints for just five bucks a bucket (in the OOPS! section at Home Depot, colors that didn't come out right for customers purchasing made-to-order colored paints.) Some nice light grays and soft faded browns. Once all the painting is done, we're going to just have a calm, peaceful summer. About the only house *work* projects we'll have to do is weed the garden and mow the lawn, and the kids are pretty good about helping with the mowing.
I thought the Main Street festival on Thursdays in Hyannis was going to happen this year, but I'm being told through the grapevine that it has been cancelled. :( I'm going to see if I can find a weekly destination that is cheap and fun so that the kids have something that sorta ties their whole week together and gives their summer that kind of magic that the street festival did last year. One alternative I've thought of is the drivein theatre on Route Six. It's a nice drive and cheaper than going to the mall theatres.
Kenny heard that Foreigner is playing at the Barnstable Fair this summer... which is nice and ironic, as they are the band that has been consistently spotlighted throughout the story I've been writing (and having a hard time keeping up with monthly posts to it, nevermind the planned 'daily to weekly installments') called Billboard Sky. It will be so great to see the band if they do play this summer, considering I listen to them often when I'm writing that story.
While we were all outside today, I came across something fantastic... my strawberry patch... it's got a bucketload of baby strawberries already showing (still white, not red, and very little still.) A grubworm got to one of my cornstalks, but the other 3 are going ok. (I planted about two dozen corn seeds, but only 4 made it.) I don't seem to have much success with corn, yet. My snowpeas are going WILD! :) I have to put up string this week, and also get out there and weed a bit. Everything else is growing pretty good, the carrots look like they are going to be the size of elephant tusks! :eek:
It's midnight and I gotta get some sleep... how in the heck I'm still awake right now is beyond me. I'm usually hitting bed at nine or ten, but tonight... wide awake. I must be closing in on another one of those little-sleep-needed phases, which will be great for doing all those things on the list in June!
Monday, May 30, 2005
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
What a whacky week and a half it has been! An amazingly calm span, considering how jam-packed it was. KC got 2 flu bug strains which had him out of school Monday and Thursday, I finished painting the ceilings in the main part of the house on the days he wasn't home, Winter got part of his cast off and now only has a half-cast on the lower part of his arm, Kenny and I caught one of the flus KC had (wasn't both of them, because KC was far sicker than we were), and somehow we still managed to throw Winter 2 birthday parties back to back on Saturday... one with his friends at Bonkerz (overpriced but fun party), and one with family and friends here for a bbq that ended up indoors as Cape Cod experienced it's 5th weekend of rain. The grill has a cover-top, so the food was cooking and steaming up the backporch as the rain came down upon it.
On Sunday, I took the kids to an incredible art show. I'd only intended to go with Nikki and some of her friends, but it ended up that Kenny had band practice that day, so we took the boys, too. I'm so glad we took the boys... they loved the artwork, and Winter even bought a shell with part of his own money he'd gotten for his birthday. He signed the shell "Be Strong, From Winter" and hung it up with the other small signed shells that travel with the art display, dangling from a yarn-clothesline that borders the exhibit. The artist's name is Amy Kinney, and she is about to embark on something wonderful... her goal is to take the stigmas of mental illness, usually something people don't want to talk about, and air it out, talk about it without shame or fear. A confrontation of not only mental illness and all the complexities of it, but also of society's somewhat hidden acceptance of it in shame and fear. If anybody can succeed in explaining the confusing aspects that torment those who suffer from any of the mental illnesses out there, it's Amy. She also inspires hope... her artwork is a testament to her journey out of her depression, battling the unknowns that plagued her and eventually those around her (who were confused as to what exactly what was going on with Amy), getting to a point where she figured out the why, what and how of it all. The pictures and words are both vulnerable and so very, very strong... it's a paradox that frequently is seen in those who suffer from mental illness. Amy put into words and pictures exactly what it's like, exactly how it feels, exactly what to do when everything around a person is *right* but the person inside feels *nothing*, *destructive* or *unable to connect to the reality*. It was a powerful message, and Amy's work certainly will be making a wonderful impact on those who go to see it. Now out of her depression, she works on the other aspects of her illness that have created this struggle for her, some of which caused some of her depression or kept it continuing on the downward spiral. It's a cycle that once you recognize exactly what you're up against, the ability to change it gets more and more doable. And a new cycle of positive reinforcements, beginning chains of events and responses that better influence your world and your goals, all leading to the healing and control over the baffling elements that lead to so much confusion.
Yesterday, after we visited family down in Dartmouth, Winter bought 21 colorful big rubber balls with the remainder of his birthday money. I tried to talk him out of it, as any parent would when a kid walks up to you in the fish-filter section with a large carriage full of balls, but he kept insisting that it was what he most wanted and because it was his money... I figured, what the heck, and let him proceed to the checkout with the over-stuffed metal carriage of bouncy balls. He's been filling each room of the house with the balls and him and his cat Blacky/Spaz run around like little goofballs, chasing the balls. His main plan is to put them on the trampoline, he told me, and although at first I was a little concerned about the idea, I've seen them do that with the basketballs and soccer balls, and nobody got hurt. The balls just basically bounce around while the kids jump, which I guess, for a kid, is an amazingly funny thing, because all we hear from out there is laughing.
I'm gearing up to paint the ceilings in the bedrooms now, and then the walls of most of the rooms. There's at least another 3 weeks of painting to do here, but I may get it done in 2 if things stay as calm as they have been. Our house hunting goes into full mode next week. The real-estate agent that found us this house is in California right now but is due back on Thursday, so we'll be spending Kenny's day off looking at places to consider. In the back of our minds is the house just a block away from us, but we wanted to get out there and see what else is around this area before we make any big decisions. The house one block away is pretty much everything we need, except that the yard isn't a good garden yard (not enough sunshine... and kind of slopey and uneven.) Still, it could be made workable out there, but I'd need to spend a good 2 months doing nothing but yardwork. Having a smaller yard doesn't appeal to me, but because it is situated right near a great fishing pond and pine-filled woods, it's almost worth the sacrifice of more land. I spent an hour last week reading up on the pond, and it's one of the best places for swimming, fishing, iceskating and canoeing (which means if we get that house, we're going to get a small boat and lifejackets, with the pond right there behind our house we'd be silly not to!)
I can picture Kenny and the kids fishing on a Sunday afternoon, me out back weeding the garden and getting the grill ready for fish. Although I hardly have or remember my dreams anymore, there have been a few times this past week that I have had dreams that we live in that house... just small, short dreams that are those kind you wonder to yourself 'is this a dream of things to come or just some sweet wishes that could happen anywhere?' I dreamed I was following KC upstairs so he could show me how he'd set up his rock collection on the wall-shelf. I dreamed I was helping Nikki set up her bathroom and I'd gotten her some extremely pink towels that she loved. I dreamed I found a large spider's web on the side of the house near the sunporch and as I took a picture of it, the spider then began to write LOVE in the web. Or at least I think it was the word LOVE, it may have said LOOP or LOOK. I woke up wondering about my fear of spiders and how I had none in the dream. If the LOVE spider had jumped off the web and landed on my shoulder, I wouldn't have been afraid. I've been trying to overcome my fear of spiders the past few years, and I think that's probably what that dream was about. I used to be so fascinated by spiders when I was a kid, it was only after I got bitten by one in my sleep, all up and down my leg, that I became afraid around them.
Today I've got to situate some bills and make some appointments, measure the room walls and ceilings to get some paint and a paint-sprayer (the only way to do the rest of this house), tackle the bins down cellar to prep for the yardsale next month, and probably toss in a load of laundry. I'll need to navigate around the 21 balls, which currently are all hanging out in the hallway looking ready to play. I may just have to put on some socks and music and take a five minute break at some point, because those balls do look like they'd be fun to jump around with. :D
On Sunday, I took the kids to an incredible art show. I'd only intended to go with Nikki and some of her friends, but it ended up that Kenny had band practice that day, so we took the boys, too. I'm so glad we took the boys... they loved the artwork, and Winter even bought a shell with part of his own money he'd gotten for his birthday. He signed the shell "Be Strong, From Winter" and hung it up with the other small signed shells that travel with the art display, dangling from a yarn-clothesline that borders the exhibit. The artist's name is Amy Kinney, and she is about to embark on something wonderful... her goal is to take the stigmas of mental illness, usually something people don't want to talk about, and air it out, talk about it without shame or fear. A confrontation of not only mental illness and all the complexities of it, but also of society's somewhat hidden acceptance of it in shame and fear. If anybody can succeed in explaining the confusing aspects that torment those who suffer from any of the mental illnesses out there, it's Amy. She also inspires hope... her artwork is a testament to her journey out of her depression, battling the unknowns that plagued her and eventually those around her (who were confused as to what exactly what was going on with Amy), getting to a point where she figured out the why, what and how of it all. The pictures and words are both vulnerable and so very, very strong... it's a paradox that frequently is seen in those who suffer from mental illness. Amy put into words and pictures exactly what it's like, exactly how it feels, exactly what to do when everything around a person is *right* but the person inside feels *nothing*, *destructive* or *unable to connect to the reality*. It was a powerful message, and Amy's work certainly will be making a wonderful impact on those who go to see it. Now out of her depression, she works on the other aspects of her illness that have created this struggle for her, some of which caused some of her depression or kept it continuing on the downward spiral. It's a cycle that once you recognize exactly what you're up against, the ability to change it gets more and more doable. And a new cycle of positive reinforcements, beginning chains of events and responses that better influence your world and your goals, all leading to the healing and control over the baffling elements that lead to so much confusion.
Yesterday, after we visited family down in Dartmouth, Winter bought 21 colorful big rubber balls with the remainder of his birthday money. I tried to talk him out of it, as any parent would when a kid walks up to you in the fish-filter section with a large carriage full of balls, but he kept insisting that it was what he most wanted and because it was his money... I figured, what the heck, and let him proceed to the checkout with the over-stuffed metal carriage of bouncy balls. He's been filling each room of the house with the balls and him and his cat Blacky/Spaz run around like little goofballs, chasing the balls. His main plan is to put them on the trampoline, he told me, and although at first I was a little concerned about the idea, I've seen them do that with the basketballs and soccer balls, and nobody got hurt. The balls just basically bounce around while the kids jump, which I guess, for a kid, is an amazingly funny thing, because all we hear from out there is laughing.
I'm gearing up to paint the ceilings in the bedrooms now, and then the walls of most of the rooms. There's at least another 3 weeks of painting to do here, but I may get it done in 2 if things stay as calm as they have been. Our house hunting goes into full mode next week. The real-estate agent that found us this house is in California right now but is due back on Thursday, so we'll be spending Kenny's day off looking at places to consider. In the back of our minds is the house just a block away from us, but we wanted to get out there and see what else is around this area before we make any big decisions. The house one block away is pretty much everything we need, except that the yard isn't a good garden yard (not enough sunshine... and kind of slopey and uneven.) Still, it could be made workable out there, but I'd need to spend a good 2 months doing nothing but yardwork. Having a smaller yard doesn't appeal to me, but because it is situated right near a great fishing pond and pine-filled woods, it's almost worth the sacrifice of more land. I spent an hour last week reading up on the pond, and it's one of the best places for swimming, fishing, iceskating and canoeing (which means if we get that house, we're going to get a small boat and lifejackets, with the pond right there behind our house we'd be silly not to!)
I can picture Kenny and the kids fishing on a Sunday afternoon, me out back weeding the garden and getting the grill ready for fish. Although I hardly have or remember my dreams anymore, there have been a few times this past week that I have had dreams that we live in that house... just small, short dreams that are those kind you wonder to yourself 'is this a dream of things to come or just some sweet wishes that could happen anywhere?' I dreamed I was following KC upstairs so he could show me how he'd set up his rock collection on the wall-shelf. I dreamed I was helping Nikki set up her bathroom and I'd gotten her some extremely pink towels that she loved. I dreamed I found a large spider's web on the side of the house near the sunporch and as I took a picture of it, the spider then began to write LOVE in the web. Or at least I think it was the word LOVE, it may have said LOOP or LOOK. I woke up wondering about my fear of spiders and how I had none in the dream. If the LOVE spider had jumped off the web and landed on my shoulder, I wouldn't have been afraid. I've been trying to overcome my fear of spiders the past few years, and I think that's probably what that dream was about. I used to be so fascinated by spiders when I was a kid, it was only after I got bitten by one in my sleep, all up and down my leg, that I became afraid around them.
Today I've got to situate some bills and make some appointments, measure the room walls and ceilings to get some paint and a paint-sprayer (the only way to do the rest of this house), tackle the bins down cellar to prep for the yardsale next month, and probably toss in a load of laundry. I'll need to navigate around the 21 balls, which currently are all hanging out in the hallway looking ready to play. I may just have to put on some socks and music and take a five minute break at some point, because those balls do look like they'd be fun to jump around with. :D
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
One additional post to my blog this morning, before I get to the painting of the ceilings...
this is an email I sent out to an email group I belong to, after watching the news last night in a segment that spotlighted some more corruption found in the Department of Social Services:
Harry Spence, as usual, begged for more funding. Only in America can you request federal and state increases for NOT doing your job. With a four year old dead boy and a horrible audit that clearly outlines nobody is doing their jobs correctly, it's stunning to hear these pleas for more money when it's obvious the problems would increase if these agencies got another dime to further torment the families they proclaim they want to help keep united. I hope society has caught on to this blatant heart-strings tactic, and I hope they do not support any increases in funding when these agencies could do themselves a favor and stop targetting innocent parents in order to steal children and up their agency quotas, agendas and profits.
The use of 'private agencies' mentioned in the news piece was, in my opinion, one of the most damning aspects for Harry Spence... it's part of the blame-game these agencies like to play. They can shift the blame to everybody but themselves, point fingers, and create enough confusion about 'who is responsible', but the bottom line is a four year old kid is dead, money is unaccounted for, and paperwork is fraudulent and mishandled, lies and deception are snowballing, and the child protection racket is clearly getting a glaring spotlight that it so desperately needed. I hope the overhaul is quick and brutal... the sooner the better. Get rid of every unliscenced "social worker" (your work is neither social nor 'work', get a new title while you're at it), get rid of every unliscenced "therapist", and get rid of every single false attack on families that are more than capable of raising their own children.
To every 'child protection agency' member out there, lurking on this email group to get your 'gossip fill', to get a sadistic chuckle out of these families working so hard to figure out how to get their own children back in a system you have geared to work against them: your 'foster homes' foster nothing but addictions to medications, anxiety, fear and tremendous abuse, and sometimes DEATH. Your 'therapy' is fraud. Your 'services' aren't needed by the majority of those you coerce them upon. You think about that tonight when you're driving home with your ear pressed to your phone listening to the voice mails you never call back, of families begging to know what they should do to get their kids back, as you drive home to your own who look at you through eyes that say it all: 'how come your agency is all over the newspaper and news, and why didn't you let Dontel Jeffers go home with his grandmother?"
You think about every family you have ripped apart, and you keep in mind that your own children may one day meet and fall in love with one of these victims of your 'system'. Your own children will hear the truth about how your system operates. You keep in mind that your own children will one day come to YOU and ask YOU for the justification for the theft of other people's children. Your children read the newspaper, your children watch the news, your own children have eyes and will know what you have done. They will become adults, with their own children, and they will question your motives, your agency's agendas, and you may be able to ignore the media's questions, but you will not be able to ignore your own children asking those same questions. How are you, as a social worker, going to explain why 3/4 of children in foster care are on medications? How are you, as a social worker, going to explain the death of Dontel Jeffers? How are you, as a social worker, going to explain AIDS trial drugs, sexual and physical abuse in foster homes at higher rates than biological families, fraudulent paperwork and all of the other FACTS about your 'agency'? How are you going to convince your own child that you love and care for society's children when your own child will clearly see the levels of abusive, destructive and crippling 'services' your agency forced upon so many innocent families?
Do I sound a bit angry? You bet I am. And as a voter, I will be voting against any pay raises to any agency that professes one thing but consistently demonstrates another. Family reunfication? Your stats clearly show that is NOT your agenda.
If anything from this email group sticks to your mind and heart, I hope it is this: by the very fact you are reading this email in this email group shows you are underhanded and desire nothing more but to take pleasure in other people's suffering. This is an email group dedicated to getting the families to know their rights, and you better start questioning why you'd want to keep tabs on what they find out about THEIR RIGHTS. You better start questioning yourself, or have your own families disown you down the line, right around the time the families you pulled apart regroup and reunify once those you stole become adults themselves and can clearly see they were taken from their families for no good reasons. When the recognize they were just pawns in a scramble for federal and state funding. When the see the medications they were slammed with did harm to them.
The lot of you agency workers may think the parents you unfairly target are your hardest "opponents", but we are nothing compared to the backlash you are going to get from the children you hurt along the way. And more and more of them are speaking out.
And more and more of them are registering to vote. You might want to invest in more college courses at night class, as your jobs are on thinner ice than the families you force to iceskate for years through the court system.
And the entire lake is cracking. You hear it? That's the sound of justice. That's the sound of society warming up to the facts that your agencies are corrupt.
That's the sound of America. The truth is going to set America free from your criminal and unAmerican tactics. Society is getting smarter, society no longer falls for your propaganda. Society is going to see to it this stops.
Keep sending people like Harry Spence to speak for you on television; he is doing a great job of rhetoric. "We need more funding!" You don't need more funding. And you won't be getting any, either.
Unrespectfully,
Renee Camille
this is an email I sent out to an email group I belong to, after watching the news last night in a segment that spotlighted some more corruption found in the Department of Social Services:
Harry Spence, as usual, begged for more funding. Only in America can you request federal and state increases for NOT doing your job. With a four year old dead boy and a horrible audit that clearly outlines nobody is doing their jobs correctly, it's stunning to hear these pleas for more money when it's obvious the problems would increase if these agencies got another dime to further torment the families they proclaim they want to help keep united. I hope society has caught on to this blatant heart-strings tactic, and I hope they do not support any increases in funding when these agencies could do themselves a favor and stop targetting innocent parents in order to steal children and up their agency quotas, agendas and profits.
The use of 'private agencies' mentioned in the news piece was, in my opinion, one of the most damning aspects for Harry Spence... it's part of the blame-game these agencies like to play. They can shift the blame to everybody but themselves, point fingers, and create enough confusion about 'who is responsible', but the bottom line is a four year old kid is dead, money is unaccounted for, and paperwork is fraudulent and mishandled, lies and deception are snowballing, and the child protection racket is clearly getting a glaring spotlight that it so desperately needed. I hope the overhaul is quick and brutal... the sooner the better. Get rid of every unliscenced "social worker" (your work is neither social nor 'work', get a new title while you're at it), get rid of every unliscenced "therapist", and get rid of every single false attack on families that are more than capable of raising their own children.
To every 'child protection agency' member out there, lurking on this email group to get your 'gossip fill', to get a sadistic chuckle out of these families working so hard to figure out how to get their own children back in a system you have geared to work against them: your 'foster homes' foster nothing but addictions to medications, anxiety, fear and tremendous abuse, and sometimes DEATH. Your 'therapy' is fraud. Your 'services' aren't needed by the majority of those you coerce them upon. You think about that tonight when you're driving home with your ear pressed to your phone listening to the voice mails you never call back, of families begging to know what they should do to get their kids back, as you drive home to your own who look at you through eyes that say it all: 'how come your agency is all over the newspaper and news, and why didn't you let Dontel Jeffers go home with his grandmother?"
You think about every family you have ripped apart, and you keep in mind that your own children may one day meet and fall in love with one of these victims of your 'system'. Your own children will hear the truth about how your system operates. You keep in mind that your own children will one day come to YOU and ask YOU for the justification for the theft of other people's children. Your children read the newspaper, your children watch the news, your own children have eyes and will know what you have done. They will become adults, with their own children, and they will question your motives, your agency's agendas, and you may be able to ignore the media's questions, but you will not be able to ignore your own children asking those same questions. How are you, as a social worker, going to explain why 3/4 of children in foster care are on medications? How are you, as a social worker, going to explain the death of Dontel Jeffers? How are you, as a social worker, going to explain AIDS trial drugs, sexual and physical abuse in foster homes at higher rates than biological families, fraudulent paperwork and all of the other FACTS about your 'agency'? How are you going to convince your own child that you love and care for society's children when your own child will clearly see the levels of abusive, destructive and crippling 'services' your agency forced upon so many innocent families?
Do I sound a bit angry? You bet I am. And as a voter, I will be voting against any pay raises to any agency that professes one thing but consistently demonstrates another. Family reunfication? Your stats clearly show that is NOT your agenda.
If anything from this email group sticks to your mind and heart, I hope it is this: by the very fact you are reading this email in this email group shows you are underhanded and desire nothing more but to take pleasure in other people's suffering. This is an email group dedicated to getting the families to know their rights, and you better start questioning why you'd want to keep tabs on what they find out about THEIR RIGHTS. You better start questioning yourself, or have your own families disown you down the line, right around the time the families you pulled apart regroup and reunify once those you stole become adults themselves and can clearly see they were taken from their families for no good reasons. When the recognize they were just pawns in a scramble for federal and state funding. When the see the medications they were slammed with did harm to them.
The lot of you agency workers may think the parents you unfairly target are your hardest "opponents", but we are nothing compared to the backlash you are going to get from the children you hurt along the way. And more and more of them are speaking out.
And more and more of them are registering to vote. You might want to invest in more college courses at night class, as your jobs are on thinner ice than the families you force to iceskate for years through the court system.
And the entire lake is cracking. You hear it? That's the sound of justice. That's the sound of society warming up to the facts that your agencies are corrupt.
That's the sound of America. The truth is going to set America free from your criminal and unAmerican tactics. Society is getting smarter, society no longer falls for your propaganda. Society is going to see to it this stops.
Keep sending people like Harry Spence to speak for you on television; he is doing a great job of rhetoric. "We need more funding!" You don't need more funding. And you won't be getting any, either.
Unrespectfully,
Renee Camille
The last triops died last week, followed by the arrival of a moth that KC had gotten from the farm in caterpillar state. Winter's broken arm led to the arrival of a black kitten which Winter has named Blacky, but then nicknamed 'Spaz'. He explained it like this: "Mom, you know how my name is Winter but my nickname is Taz? My cat is named Blacky, but I want his nickname to be Spaz."
KC's moth laid a bunch of eggs, which resulted in the arrival of a dozen caterpillars. Sometimes when I am picking up the house in the morning, I hear inside my mind Elton John's "The Circle of Life" as the kitten scampers at my feet and the very tiny caterpillars wiggle themselves out of the airholes of their clear bowl home lid.
Nikki-chick dyed her hair black, which looks very Betty Boopish. The short length and bangs, with her huge blue eyes, along with her polka-dotted glasses, gives her a sorta emo-goth-punk kinda look. I got tickets to the MSI concert next month in Rhode Island; KC, Nikki and I will go, Winter said he wasn't into the music but would have gone to the concert if it wasn't for his broken arm.
Kenny's promotion is slated to take place within the next few weeks, so I'm working on painting the ceilings, walls and doorframes this week to prep this house for selling. There's a bigger house for sale only a block away, and Kenny has pretty much insisted we need a larger home. By June, I should have things situated enough to look into putting this house on the market. With everything else going on, it feels somewhat goofy to be adding moving to the list of changes, but the positives of getting more space for the assorted collectors in this house should make it more of a relief to move rather than stressful. I've pretty much given up on quitting smoking at this time, with everything going on at once, but I have cut down on the habit and hope this next week of painting cuts the habit down even more. My goal now is to focus on quitting in the late summer or autumn. I'd at least like to quit, again, by the end of this year.
Found somebody who is researching the fraud and corruption within government services and will be mailing them my findings to add to their own. Noticing a lot more news coverage, which leads me to believe that change is soon to come. It's funny, now, to hear the same cries for more funding, it used to enrage me, but now I realize that the more these agencies whine for money, the better case they make against themselves. Citizens are tired of throwing money into systems that don't work (re: schools, war on drugs, etc), so the more those who speak for these agencies beg for more funding, the more society will want to know what exactly they were doing with the money they did have. Which, of course, is part of the reason for their failures: bad financial planning, suspect spending, and fraudulent claims.
I was trying to figure out a way to go to the Freedom Summit, but for now I think I should plan something like that for next year. I just don't see how I'd be able to find the time to get away for an entire weekend this year. With my favorite anarchist, Amanda Phillips, speaking at this year's event, it was hard to come to the conclusion that I could not logically do everything we've got going on here in Cape Cod right now and also leave for a weekend. I am going to drive up to New Hampshire this month, but only for a one day/night. I'm hoping to find out more about the Milly's Tavern meeting a group of Free Staters have every month.
I've also been looking into Libertarian groups that are local to Cape Cod, but can't seem to find one that is organized and active. I'm going to look harder before I consider starting one myself. I'd like to join something already in progress rather than start one from the ground up. But, if a local group doesn't exist, I want one to form, so will see what I can do to make it happen. My main intent would be to stop any tax increases, of any kind, and the only way to achieve that is through voting. Sometimes all it takes is a small group of a few dozen people to literally block big government from getting bigger. Seeing our house tax double in a five year period was enough for me to recognize that something has got to change, and because it's obvious that the changes won't take place within the government agency's requests for 'more funding', the change would have to be within me, personally, to vote during every local election to stop the increases. What do any of us get for those increases, as citizens? Do schools teach better, do grades go up with each federal and state increase? Nope. Does it cost twice as much now as it did five years ago to keep *paperwork* on home owner's property tax? Nope, it doesn't. Who benefits from these tax increases? A few government workers who get their pockets lined with yearly pay raises in a time when the rest of society is paying more out of pocket for every aspect of living: gas prices, electricity, heating costs, food prices, the basics in everyday living. I think of the senior citizens in our area, those who are retired and can not count on pay raises to meet adjusted costs for tax hikes and living expenses, and my heart sinks for them. No wonder so many of them are crabby and have a bleak view of today's world. Imagine working your whole life paying taxes into a system that in the end takes more and more from you at a time in your life when you can no longer make up for the differences. It's got to be extremely frustrating.
I signed a pledge to vote for smaller government at every election. It's small steps like this that make a difference. It's not as complicated or confusing as it seems, just simply voting can make an impact in your local community, and keeping government from intruding further into our freedoms and wallets is worth the small price of a few hours each year filling out a ballot.
I also found an incredible list of Libertarians, people in the public eye, people I have admired throughout the years that I had no idea were Libertarians. Some I suspected were, but some of the others I was amazed to find out were vocal in their support of the Libertarian party:
Film & Television
Dean Cameron
Drew Carey
Dixie Carter
Tommy Chong
Clint Eastwood
Don Galloway
Edward Herrmann
Kennedy
Kenny Kramer
Leah Lail
John Larroquette
Denis Leary
Sam Longoria
Russell Means
Sean Morley
Trey Parker
Penn & Teller
David Ruprecht
Aaron Russo
Kurt Russell
Tom Selleck
Howard Stern
John Stossel
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
Wil Wheaton
Humorists / Comedians
Dave Barry
P.J. O'Rourke
Tim Slagle
Doug Stanhope
Cartoonists / Comics Creators
Peter Bagge
Rex May (Baloo)
Paul Pope
Mike Shelton
Ted Slampyak
Music
Dr. Demento
Robbie Fulks
Melanie
Mojo Nixon
Neil Peart
John Popper(Blues Traveler)
Jimmie Vaughan
Johnny Walker(Soledad Bros.)
Dwight Yoakam
Joe Young(ANTiSEEN)
The full list is at the link, and they list Matt Drudge, but Matt isn't pro-choice and he's also against drug legalization. I'm trying to find a link to any interview he has done where he explains why he is against abortion and drug legalization, as I'm sure he has an interesting justification for both of those viewpoints.
Also found this very funny, intelligent blog during my search for local Libertarian groups:
http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2005/04/batter-up.html
Getting on with my day here, got to get the ladder up here and start the painting in a few hours after the kids get off to school. Hoping to put in 5 hours of painting each day for the next 3 days, which should be enough time to get the ceilings situated. Weather looks great to keep the doors open for ventilation, mid to high 50s. Some music, some icetea, and lots and lots of reaching up, making things brighter. :)
KC's moth laid a bunch of eggs, which resulted in the arrival of a dozen caterpillars. Sometimes when I am picking up the house in the morning, I hear inside my mind Elton John's "The Circle of Life" as the kitten scampers at my feet and the very tiny caterpillars wiggle themselves out of the airholes of their clear bowl home lid.
Nikki-chick dyed her hair black, which looks very Betty Boopish. The short length and bangs, with her huge blue eyes, along with her polka-dotted glasses, gives her a sorta emo-goth-punk kinda look. I got tickets to the MSI concert next month in Rhode Island; KC, Nikki and I will go, Winter said he wasn't into the music but would have gone to the concert if it wasn't for his broken arm.
Kenny's promotion is slated to take place within the next few weeks, so I'm working on painting the ceilings, walls and doorframes this week to prep this house for selling. There's a bigger house for sale only a block away, and Kenny has pretty much insisted we need a larger home. By June, I should have things situated enough to look into putting this house on the market. With everything else going on, it feels somewhat goofy to be adding moving to the list of changes, but the positives of getting more space for the assorted collectors in this house should make it more of a relief to move rather than stressful. I've pretty much given up on quitting smoking at this time, with everything going on at once, but I have cut down on the habit and hope this next week of painting cuts the habit down even more. My goal now is to focus on quitting in the late summer or autumn. I'd at least like to quit, again, by the end of this year.
Found somebody who is researching the fraud and corruption within government services and will be mailing them my findings to add to their own. Noticing a lot more news coverage, which leads me to believe that change is soon to come. It's funny, now, to hear the same cries for more funding, it used to enrage me, but now I realize that the more these agencies whine for money, the better case they make against themselves. Citizens are tired of throwing money into systems that don't work (re: schools, war on drugs, etc), so the more those who speak for these agencies beg for more funding, the more society will want to know what exactly they were doing with the money they did have. Which, of course, is part of the reason for their failures: bad financial planning, suspect spending, and fraudulent claims.
I was trying to figure out a way to go to the Freedom Summit, but for now I think I should plan something like that for next year. I just don't see how I'd be able to find the time to get away for an entire weekend this year. With my favorite anarchist, Amanda Phillips, speaking at this year's event, it was hard to come to the conclusion that I could not logically do everything we've got going on here in Cape Cod right now and also leave for a weekend. I am going to drive up to New Hampshire this month, but only for a one day/night. I'm hoping to find out more about the Milly's Tavern meeting a group of Free Staters have every month.
I've also been looking into Libertarian groups that are local to Cape Cod, but can't seem to find one that is organized and active. I'm going to look harder before I consider starting one myself. I'd like to join something already in progress rather than start one from the ground up. But, if a local group doesn't exist, I want one to form, so will see what I can do to make it happen. My main intent would be to stop any tax increases, of any kind, and the only way to achieve that is through voting. Sometimes all it takes is a small group of a few dozen people to literally block big government from getting bigger. Seeing our house tax double in a five year period was enough for me to recognize that something has got to change, and because it's obvious that the changes won't take place within the government agency's requests for 'more funding', the change would have to be within me, personally, to vote during every local election to stop the increases. What do any of us get for those increases, as citizens? Do schools teach better, do grades go up with each federal and state increase? Nope. Does it cost twice as much now as it did five years ago to keep *paperwork* on home owner's property tax? Nope, it doesn't. Who benefits from these tax increases? A few government workers who get their pockets lined with yearly pay raises in a time when the rest of society is paying more out of pocket for every aspect of living: gas prices, electricity, heating costs, food prices, the basics in everyday living. I think of the senior citizens in our area, those who are retired and can not count on pay raises to meet adjusted costs for tax hikes and living expenses, and my heart sinks for them. No wonder so many of them are crabby and have a bleak view of today's world. Imagine working your whole life paying taxes into a system that in the end takes more and more from you at a time in your life when you can no longer make up for the differences. It's got to be extremely frustrating.
I signed a pledge to vote for smaller government at every election. It's small steps like this that make a difference. It's not as complicated or confusing as it seems, just simply voting can make an impact in your local community, and keeping government from intruding further into our freedoms and wallets is worth the small price of a few hours each year filling out a ballot.
I also found an incredible list of Libertarians, people in the public eye, people I have admired throughout the years that I had no idea were Libertarians. Some I suspected were, but some of the others I was amazed to find out were vocal in their support of the Libertarian party:
Film & Television
Dean Cameron
Drew Carey
Dixie Carter
Tommy Chong
Clint Eastwood
Don Galloway
Edward Herrmann
Kennedy
Kenny Kramer
Leah Lail
John Larroquette
Denis Leary
Sam Longoria
Russell Means
Sean Morley
Trey Parker
Penn & Teller
David Ruprecht
Aaron Russo
Kurt Russell
Tom Selleck
Howard Stern
John Stossel
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
Wil Wheaton
Humorists / Comedians
Dave Barry
P.J. O'Rourke
Tim Slagle
Doug Stanhope
Cartoonists / Comics Creators
Peter Bagge
Rex May (Baloo)
Paul Pope
Mike Shelton
Ted Slampyak
Music
Dr. Demento
Robbie Fulks
Melanie
Mojo Nixon
Neil Peart
John Popper(Blues Traveler)
Jimmie Vaughan
Johnny Walker(Soledad Bros.)
Dwight Yoakam
Joe Young(ANTiSEEN)
The full list is at the link, and they list Matt Drudge, but Matt isn't pro-choice and he's also against drug legalization. I'm trying to find a link to any interview he has done where he explains why he is against abortion and drug legalization, as I'm sure he has an interesting justification for both of those viewpoints.
Also found this very funny, intelligent blog during my search for local Libertarian groups:
http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2005/04/batter-up.html
Getting on with my day here, got to get the ladder up here and start the painting in a few hours after the kids get off to school. Hoping to put in 5 hours of painting each day for the next 3 days, which should be enough time to get the ceilings situated. Weather looks great to keep the doors open for ventilation, mid to high 50s. Some music, some icetea, and lots and lots of reaching up, making things brighter. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
