Re: Charlie Reese

Got this in an email today...I've been saying stuff like this for years........................

Charley Reese (now retired) has been a journalist for 49 years.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees..

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it.......... Is up to you.

My Newest

SNOWDANCER

from Mamawolf Creations

On a cold and snowy winter’s eve, Mama sat at her window, imagining her pond coming alive in the spring. Movement caught her eye and she saw a fairy dancing in the snow... SnowDancer

This OOAK original artdoll sculpture is completely hand-sculpted from professional quality polymer clay. No molds were used.

SnowDancer is detailed to the best of my ability. She measures 9 inches tall, with lovely hand-painted features. Her hair is hand-carded, hand-washed and hand-combed angora.

Her clothing is also hand-made from iridescent fabric and her boots are trimmed with real rabbit fur. Her wings are made with blue fantasy fiber and fantasy film. They are gently posable, but not recommended as they are fragile.

A beautiful addition to any fairy collection.

THIS IS NOT A TOY AND IS NOT MEANT FOR

CHILDREN UNDER AGE 12 !

Stressful week

Wednesday was my granddaughter's 13th birthday. She is now officially a teenager! Tonight was supposed to be her birthday dinner, but 2 days before her birthday her great grandmother died and the funeral was today. Her dinner is re-scheduled for Sunday, which means PopPop can't go because he'll be sleeping so he can go to work Sunday night. THENNNNN I get a phone call yesterday that a friend of the family for forever died and his funeral is Monday...... And then I find out another friend of ours spent her vacation in the hospital with heart problems. What next?? The weather fits the general mood..... cold and rainy.

Got my ire up!

Most people who know me are aware that I'm usually, according to my husband, "lost in clayland". They also know I'm super pickey and a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm always on the lookout, or searching for sculpting tutorials, for help or just ideas. So, the other day I'm searching and found a site..... went to check it out because it belonged to someone who was a member of a group I belong to. First of all, it was irritating because it's made for a wide screen. How many of us can really afford a wide screen monitor? I can deal with that (barely), and she has a tab for "free tutorials". I click on the tab..... and the page says "for free tutorials go to my forums". Kinda weird, but okay, I'll go check out her forums. So, I click on her forums tab. Now, let me tell you.... I'll be 58 years old in a couple weeks, been married more than once, tended bar in a biker bar for 5 years, drove a big truck long-haul ........ so I'll admit to having gone around the block a few times..... BUT!!!!!!!!! I've never had an interest in porn, no matter if it's soft porn, hard porn.... I'm not interested. Sooooo imagine my dismay when the forum page opens and all I find there are ........ well, as far as I'm concerned, porn! Now, this is a fellow doll-artist. She does have some of her dolls on her site, but her quality of work has gone from pretty good to, well, in my opinion, crap! Must be the porn has affected her brain????? I don't know what this woman's problem is, but it's sites like hers that make sales difficult for the rest of us.

I am a Smoker

Yes, I am. So is John. Been smoking for over 40 years. Know what really bites my ass? People who have never smoked who tell you that you should quit and that all you have to do is make up your mind and do it. I say this because an acquaintance (we've seen him all of three times and the longest was about 15 minutes) heard me coughing yesterday and informed me I need to quit smoking. WHAT THE ????????????????? What makes him think he has the right to tell me what I need to do???? I believe I'm quite old enough to know what I do or don't NEED to do. I damn sure don't need someone who has spent a total of less than an hour with me to tell me. I know I need to quit..... my doctor has been telling me often enough. I also know I have tried the fake cigarettes, the gum, the patches, sucking on hard candy, Wellbutrin........ I'm still smoking. Got a perscription for that new stuff, Chantix..... by the time we had enough money to get the script filled, it was too old. Be that as it may..... what I'm here to tell you is this:

QUITTING SMOKING IS NOT A MATTER OF JUST MAKING UP YOUR MIND!!!!!!! Telling me I could quit if I wanted to means you don't have a clue. I do not enjoy hacking my head off day after day. I also would not enjoy spending the rest of my life in jail for knocking the living crap out of someone who blinks cross-eyed at me, after I've gone about 6 hours without a cigarette. I'm not a violent person, but I do not handle withdrawal well AT ALL. So people, if you've never been a smoker, don't presume to tell someone who has smoked most of their life, that they could quit "if they wanted to". You've never been there, you have no idea how difficult it is.

I just hope the Chantix works as well for me as it did for my son...... when we're finally able to get a new script and get it filled. Until then mister, ya better leave me alone, cause it's none of your business.

Musings

Told ya'll in the beginning, I'm not much for blogging. Guess I've proved it, but will attempt to put some thoughts down..........

My van is still at "the mechanic's"..... guy John works with. Hopefully when he comes home from work in the morning he'll say, 'let's go pick up your van'. He got a loan to buy another..... we won't talk about that one except to say, it needs some work. Ummmmm....... our real estate agent "GUARANTEES" he can get enough for our house to get the one we want without having to come up with extra money. We'll see. Can't wait to get out of this place and away from the mold.

Found a number for an old friend from school..... called and we talked and talked and talked.. Gonna do it again too! Funny how years go by, you lose touch, life goes on, things change, but one phone call and everything is right back on track. Won't be long and we'll be able to keep all our kids' and grandkids' names straight. Maybe if we ever get to take a real vacation, we can go visit her in NC. Like I tell my family.... if it's meant to be, it will.

Hummmm...... what else? OH YEAH!!!!!!!! The BEST!!!!!! I finally got to go to Healthcare for Women...... they deal with bio-identicals!!!!!!!!! Been on them for only 3 weeks, but the change in the way I feel is wonderful! No more hot flashes and the "depression" isn't half as bad as it was. I'm even sleeping a bit better. Knock on wood! We got the results for my hormone levels and they were WAAAAY down, as expected. Good news, thyroid levels are just fine. Now back to the regular doc to get him working on the neck, back and leg problems.

I've been putting the finishing touches on one of my little guys.. the chubby elf. Gotta make a base for him, just haven't seen it in my mind yet. I did finish SnowDancer's 'snowscape'..... Haven't talked myself into putting her up for sale yet. More attached to this sculpt than any of the others. Going to be hard to let her go. My heat gun stopped working a couple weeks ago and I'm lost without it. The oldest son surprised us with a visit last week... This boy can fix ANYTHING!!! If he can't fix it, nobody can. He took it apart..... said he could bypass something or other and make it work, but it would be a fire hazard. Not in this 100 year old house! Threw it away and bought a new one on ebay last night. Not only was it cheaper than the first... this one is PINK! I love pink.

Also while he was here, my son fixed my PC. Not that I'll give up my Mac.... but there's shitloads of genealogy and pictures and music on the PC that I was really afraid I'd lost forever. Can't do much to get it off until after we get moved. We've pretty much turned that room into a storage room since we started packing up. It's difficult to get to it and not enough room to work. Once we get moved I can get all that stuff off and onto this Mac, then we can put the phone back on that PC and off the slooooowwwwwww one it's on now.

Guess I'll go clean up my kitchen and get ready to get to bed. It's been a long day. Goodnight!

New Artdoll

I've been working on "SnowDancer" for over a month now and she is finally finished. (except for eyebrows) I started working on her 'snowscape' Sunday..... we'll see how that turns out. Not much in the mood for working on anything.

John told the dr. about my headaches, so instead of concentrating on my back and problems standing and walking... he jumped on the head and now I have to go for a brain MRI. Being a bit claustrophobic, I really really HATE those things. Have to get bloodwork done too..... fasting..... don't these people realize I'm a total bitch in the morning until I have my coffee??????????? How John puts up with me ???????? must be love. I know what I need...... a ride down to the point.... Turkey Point... Watch the eagles for awhile. Send some smoke to creator. Sounds like a plan........ as soon as I get motivated.

My Husband My Life

Anyone who knows me also knows I've had a few husbands. None good matches. Until now. As my youngest daughter is fond of saying "Mom always saves the best for last". I spent many years believing all the "good ones" were either already married, or gay and there was no such thing as a soul mate. And then I got a phone call from a friend from high school. She was trying to sign up on one of those singles sites and couldn't figure it out. Being one of those people who have to "see" in order to figure out, I went to the site to see what she was trying to do.... Stupid thing wouldn't let me look at where she was unless I signed up. No biggy.... I can always delete the account once I get her on the right track. Yeah, right. She was having problems signing up, because the site was in the middle of glitches. It took the better part of an hour just to get the thing to recognize my sign up, so I could get to the place where she was having problems. Got her all sorted out and then the stupid thing wouldn't let me delete my account!!!!!! Did I also mention I wasn't a big believer in "fate" either? Anyway, being a busy woman, I forgot about the stupid thing. A few days later I was in a car accident, totaled the car, and came close to totaling myself. At the time I was living in the middle of nowhere, in a house my boss owned, with no car and only had access to the internet late at night after everyone left the shop. Then out of nowhere (remember I had forgotten about the stupid pain in the butt singles site) I get an email ........ Yep, you guessed it. So, we emailed a few times, then started chatting on instant messenger, and then my computer crashed. So I mustered up all my courage and called him and left a voicemail explaining why I wouldn't be on messenger. He actually called back!!! A couple days later we were talking on the phone shortly before he had to be at work and I cussed. My daughter had gone to the store for me but I had forgotten to have her get cigarettes. Said I'd have to make what I had last until morning. No way. Just give him directions and he would bring me some. And that was that. We've been together ever since.... 6 years and 12 days. We've now been married 2 years and 12 days. Six years without a fight. I'm not saying we haven't disagreed..... we just don't fight about it. And I'm not saying he has no faults, because we all do.... his just aren't worth pissing and moaning about. This man has one of the kindest hearts I've ever known. He would (and literally has) give you the shirt off his back, or a car, or RV. He treats my 4 kids and their 7 kids as his own. He treats me like a princess and spoils me rotten... which probably proves he's looney.... but I love him for it. He helps me take in strays, so our critter quota is sometimes busting at the seams (not always a good thing when you live in town). He even helped me and the 9 yr old granddaughter build an incubator and hatch chickens.... in the dining room! And there they stayed until they were old enough to go to a friend's nephew who wanted chicken pets. I do miss my chicks. Oh well, he says when we win the power ball we'll buy a small farm and I can have chickens, ducks, angora goats, or miniature pigs..... whatever I want. He's definately a keeper....... and he's ALLLLLL mine.

Crappy and Great Day all in one

Well, today started really crappy. We've had Shadow and Ru for 4 and 3 years.... keeping them "for a while" for my son. He finally got his own place a couple weeks ago and insisted we bring "his" dogs down. We did, with arguments. I will miss Shadow, but she's always been Jeff's and makes no bones about it. If he's around.... everyone else may as well not exist. But Ru...... Ru is my baby! He wasn't supposed to come here. He's half Pit and I wanted no parts of anything with Pit in it. I don't care for brindles....... he is one. He ended up here anyway. Not sure how that happened, but now...... he is MY baby!!!!!!!!!! And I want him back NOW!!! 

The great part of the day.... when we took the dogs we got a surprise.... oldest son was there from WV. Surprise!!! Then the youngest daughter and her whole family came in. Wouldn't have surprised me for the oldest daughter and her family to show up, but they didn't :(.  Stopped to pick up groceries on the way home and rented "Baby Mama" and that was great too. Then I put some finishing touches on my new fairy and her critter......

I still want my Ru back!!!!!!!!

Heat Wave in April??????

Yep, it's official.... an April heatwave. Today is the 4th day temps have reached the 90's. Being April we have no A/C's in yet. Fans are mostly just blowing hot air around. Thank goodness the humidity isn't up there with the heat. I've been trying to work on "Fairy with a critter" but the heat has my feet feeling like over-filled water balloons.. makes for some discomfort.  

On a happy note, I've gained a new great niece a couple weeks ago and a new great nephew today. Born to my brother's two daughters. With luck I'll get to see them before they're a year old... they both live within 20 miles from us. We were down there Saturday, but my niece wasn't home, so didn't get to see the baby.... Drat!!!  

We actually went down to grab up a couple chunks of oak out of the firewood pile. I'm going to try my hand at making some hardwood tools. Using metal tools when I sculpt leaves the clay looking dirty and it really gets aggravating. Sooooo ....... Let's see if I can pull this off.

Preparing Angora for doll hair

I've spent the last few days combing, washing, conditioning, drying and 

combing again.... the angora that I use as the hair on the artdolls I make. 

This batch started out at 7/10 of an ounce and after the final conditioning 

and drying it weighs in at 3/10 of an ounce. Lots of work, but makes 

beautiful hair and well worth the effort. This particular batch was fairly 

easy and only took about an hour and a half.