I have had it with the idiots at the NRA.  Their ad that claims the president doesn't care about protecting our children, while his daughters are protected at their school is completely offensive.  They Suck! 

I am so proud of President Obama for finally taking a stand on gun control.  It is one of those organizations that are very difficult to make a stand against because the idiots that are on the fringe will probably try some crazy action.  Also the lobby is so strong that most congressmen wouldn't ever have the balls to stand up to them or they would not get re-elected.

Thank you Mr. President for having the guts to at least START a conversation about gun control.  I am worried about you and your family because these NRA crazies are not even able to start a conversation that is coherent, let alone intelligent.

Is there a difference between a militia from the early 1800's and today? Oh duh- muskets were not very "rapid" fire.  ( by the way the 2nd amendment calls for the right to arm a militia- not teens or twenty-somethings that have nothing better to do then shoot defenseless children in their kindergarten class.)  Lets get real here- way too many innocent people have been killed in mass shootings.  Something has to be done to make weapons less accessible and the dip shits at the NRA don't want to even admit that we need better background checks or less access to assault weapons. 





 

silver linings-go see it!

I was so happy to hear that this movie received 8 nominations for the Oscars.  If you haven't seen it- I highly recommend that you do. We saw it after a bad week and it really helped us to heal.  It seems as though it would be a sad, tragic story.  Bradley Cooper has just been released from a mental hospital and he has been cast out of almost everything in his life.  The actors are all great.  They are completely believable as Philly style folks.  Jennifer Lawrence has also faced a life tragedy and is also a little nutty.  The interaction between them is very raw.  Robert De Niro plays Bradley's Eagles fanatic father.  I mean I think he reminds me of quite a few Philly natives.  Even Julia Stiles and the actor who plays her husband are totally believable in their perspectives roles.

I was sorry that Ben Affleck didn't receive any personal nominations, but his movie Argo was a great movie.  We knew the outcome because it was a true story and it was still very intense.  Alan Arkin and John Goodman made that movie.  John Goodman also injected a left into the Flight movie.  I think Denzel was perfect in his self-destructive role.  I was also happy to hear that Quvenzhane' Wallis was nominated fro Beasts of the Southern Wild.  She was spectacular in that role and I loved the movie. 

This was a great year for movies.  There were so many interesting stories out there.  I loved Life of Pi,Perks of a Wallflower and Robot and Frank.  Many of the movies didn't have a completely happy ending, but there was always a silver lining!

Our Little Angel

We lost our little baby- Hunter two weeks ago.  He was truly my baby and our family will miss him.  He had the best personality and he always made me smile.  When he was puppy he was given the nickname "El Diablo Blanco".  He was a terrier, so he did bark and attack the door when someone was outside, but he was the sweetest dog and we all loved him like our son. 

Hunter had cancer.  We thought that he had an injury to his back and it turned out to be a tumor.  He was in a great deal of pain and he lost the use of his back legs.  Fortunately the downhill slide came quickly and only lasted one week.  He went in for back surgery and never woke up.

Our family was devastated.  It was the week before Christmas so while getting a dog as a present might have been a possible idea, there wasn't any time to search.  Enter my buddy Heather at work.  Her sister-in-law had just discovered a dog that had been living in a drain pipe and they couldn't keep her.  She was a mess.  she smelled like a sewer and her fur was all matted.  She basically looked like Chibcha from Star Wars.  She was afraid to use the bathroom outside.  She was afraid to use the leash.  She was very afraid of men. 

So here is our little Christmas miracle.  She is the most loving little girl.  Her name is Lulu.  She has really become a part of our family quickly. She has the cutest little face.  She hardly ever barks.  She is coming along fantastically with potty training and she also goes into her crate when we leave the house. We are so fortunate that we had Heather looking out for us.  Lulu is the best present we have ever received and we our definitely blessed!

The tragedy in Sandy Hook

I have tried to avoid watching too much of the news this weekend.  I can't express the sadness that I feel for the families and all the people in the town of Sandy Hook.  I can't believe the audacity of the shooter -killing little children.  This just shows that the shooter was mentally unstable.

Folks- mental illnesses and guns do not mix.  We are going to have to do a better job identifying and treating people with mental illnesses.  I am a teacher and I know that I frequently find out about students with mental illness quite far into the school year and I am am certain that many pass through my class room with no diagnosis.

I am the child of a parent with schizophrenia.  I can tell you that if we had a gun in our home when I was a child the chances that I would be writing this today would have been  slim to none.  There is no stopping someone when they are off their meds and their adrenaline is pumping.  My father could hardly stop her when she was attacking him. I think the weight difference was about 150 pounds.  She was very scary when she was off her medicine and she hurt both my sister and I on several occasions.  Today she takes her medicine and she can have some sharp-tongued verbal insults but the physical abuse has stopped. 

When someone is over 18 and they have a mental illness their family can not force them to go to the doctor. They are free to be as crazy as they want to be. the treatment often makes these people very fuzzy and sleepy and they don't like this.  When they start to feel better and hear less voices in their heads they tend to stop taking the medicine and that is when the trouble starts.

If the second amendment allows for you to protect your home with a weapon-why would you really need a gun  that was semi-automatic?  Couldn't you protect yourself with a handgun that holds 6 bullets?  We have got to do a better job with gun control.  Like Chris Rock says- tax the bullets. If you had to pay $2000 per bullet you wouldn't waste your money on drive by shootings.  I know that humor is not what is needed right now-but he has a good point.  Bullets and weapons should not be so easy to attain.

Another Gun Tragedy- Hello NRA- time to wake up!

I won't even bother to pontificate- When will we learn that when guns are available to the general public-the result will never be what a moral society should expect? 20 children died- wake up  you fucking stupid people!

Now that the endless campaign is over and the election is over let me send a plea to our president to please try to accomplish a few key issues to save our legislative process. 

Mr. Obama-
I gladly donated $500 to your campaign last June.  I believe that you are the person to get us through the financial debacle that we have been in since 2008.  I am a teacher and believe me, that sum of money was difficult to part with.  When I believe in a cause, I think that you have to give until it hurts in order to be a part of the solution to the problem.  I don't have anything to do with religion so therefore I tithe for charity and social causes.  I want to see this country take positive steps towards social issues-which I believe was the reason you won the election.  I also want us to move congress into the 21st century.

Here is a simple list of issues that I would see as important in order to move us Forward!

1. Stop some of the outdated laws that control our election process.  Get rid of the electoral college. Now is the time to get rid of it.  It helped you win the election this this round,but it is an outdated relic of the 1700-1800's.
 
2. Stop Gerrymandering- look at this district in your home state of Illinois.  Does this look like a fair district?  We know that the basic difference in the house and the senate is states have 2 senators, so that Alaska has as much power as California in the senate, but the gerrymandering to gain house seats needs to be stopped.

3.  Put a real limit on money spent on campaigns.  Who wins in the ad spending- the networks!  I will make an analogy to the nuclear arms race.  Why did the US need 30,000 nuclear weapons when 20-30 would annihilate the whole human population? Because we had to have more the "evil empire".  The same is true of campaign spending.  If you have a budget and get rid of super pack spending, money could be saved for running this country.

4. Invest in education.  Currently public schools are battlefields.  We are allowed to have 36 students per class in Georgia. No child left behind did some serious damage to our public schools.  We couldn't make progress unless we kept all students in school. The truth is that if there isn't a fear of being expelled from school, there really isn't discipline.  Without discipline, the students have too much control of the school. I am not saying that that a majority of the students are like this.  I love the diversity in our high school, but a small portion of "thugs" can really stop us moving in a positive direction. I have been teaching for 31 years and I can't handle a class size this large every day.  So many important programs are being cut and this is our future.  I realize the federal government can't get involved in every state-but something has to be done to save our schools.

I believe that this election proved that a majority of people want equality in gay rights, women's rights, minority rights.  I think the republicans now realize that they can't stomp on the will of the minorities, because they are now a majority of our country. I approve of the the way that you handled many of the social issues.  Hopefully, we can now focus on fairness for everyone. I am scared of the debt crisis. I hope the congress will now work together with you to lead us over the "fiscal cliff".

Mr. Obama- I wish you the best and I admire your tenacity. Keep us on track and move us forward as a country!

Frankensandy

I grew up on Long Beach Island in NJ.  I remember hurricanes. We used to have at least one per year when I was in high school.  Sandy only registered a 1 on the hurricane scale, but she packed a punch. This beach is now gone.  The rocks on the jetty are God knows where and who knows when things will ever be back to "normal".

I love this picture because it has my Daddy in it.  He passed away four years ago and I miss him.  He would be devastated by this week's events. He was a terrific role model. He worked diligently at m high school.  He was a guidance counselor and he really cared about the students.  He helped a whole generation of students pick the right college.  He was knowledgeable, he ran the SAT tests and he made certain that everyone had a schedule in the age prior to computers.  He arranged the schedules for every student at Southern Regional High School (over 2000) by hand.

I have worked as a teacher for the past 31 years in Dekalb county Georgia and I have only met one counselor that even came close to my Dad.

I am sorry that I strayed from my original point.  I really wanted to thank the people in charge of LBI for having the foresight to turn off the gas and to have mandatory evacuations. They saved a lot of human lives.  The island can be rebuilt.  When I was two we had the only storm that came close to Sandy. The storm of 62 wasn't a hurricane and it devastated the island.  I grew up knowing several kids that had lost their dads in this storm.   Their dads were policemen or firemen and they lost their lives trying to save the others that tried to weather the storm.  I don't remember that storm, but I do remember my dad bought our house because it was on a street that didn't flood in 1962.  Good thing he didn't have to be around to see a storm that was actually worse.

If you read this, please consider donating to the Red Cross Relief Fund. There is not much we can do to help physically.  The causeway bridge is closed and who knows when cars will be allowed on the island.  At least your money will be channeled directly to shelters and people who really need it.