Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Okay, I know this is kind of gross but friends (and siblings) wanted to see exactly what a shark bite looks like. As my 19 readers already know, my brother was bitten by a shark about ten days ago. He goes in for his skin graft tomorrow. They take skin off his thigh. Yikes.



------
From: "Michael " <;

Attached is a picture of the bite one week later.  Don’t open the attachment if you do not want to be grossed out.  I am doing great and will get a skin graft a week from Wednesday.  Aloha mike



the Alenuihaha Channel

 

It has been almost a week since I made headlines by being the only human bitten by a cookie cutter shark. They are a weird creature living at depths of 3000 feet in the day and feeding on the surface at night.  They attach themselves on to their prey and sink their very sharp teeth into the skin of fish and twist out a piece of skin and flesh like a melon scoop.  I was first hit in the sternum area see picture but it did not get a good penetration and a few seconds later made the bite on my leg that ended my swim and has me into this relaxing mode waiting for healing.  I have been released from the hospital as of Friday and will most likely be back Wednesday for a skin graft.  I am doing good but not liking being inactive keeping my leg up in the air and having to crutch around.  Can’t help be thankful that I am healthy and will be fully recovered.  I have had many calls and visits from friends and well wishers some who I do not even know.  I am a great believer in thinking positive and know the power of friendship in making our lives richer.  I hope to be back in the water in short order enjoying swimming and water sports which

our whole family thrives on.  Sending you aloha from Kula Maui.  Hope to see you in the water soon.  Mike





http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200903180838/BREAKING01/90318048



 

Ie
Check this one out and tell me this is not a real : Spider - Flash 3D-OneMotion.com"> on your screen. He changes sizes, height, color, dances and feeds. One 15 year old I know turned the whole thing into an art piece using the bugs. I'm of having as much fun as you can slacking away as we seem to be headed into the Marxist mind set of: "From each according to his need to each according to his ability".
What, me worry?
That cyber warrior Mary Belle Snow has a great political website as well as her blog where she makes an old slacker like me's life a lot easier so go here to see what's happening here this weekend:
Santa Barbara Tea Party April 4, Lloyd Marcus to appear Snow Report Blog

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Here is a blog spot bite of the finale of Part One of VDH's series. Save time to read it all followed by the link to Part 2.

VDH's Private Papers::The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Part One

"The result in the modern Western world is the end of the old standards: no one any longer thinks that admission to the Ivy League or Stanford is based entirely on merit, or, its corollary, that completion of a blue-chip degree means that the recipient is really educated. I don’t necessarily associate excellence in ethics with a Nobel Peace Prize, journalistic excellence with a Pulitzer Prize, or academic excellence with an endowed professorship at Princeton.

How odd that the World Series or the Super bowl is a far more honest arbiter of excellence than the current academic and intellectual industries.

When the NBA begins to demand diversity — one Asian center per team, 30% so-called “white” guys on the team, 20% Latino coaches — or the Tour de France demands 10% African-American participation — shudder (or is all that already happening?). Why then do pure merit-based considerations seem to count in things like (the more trivial) sports or (vital) brain surgery and aircraft piloting, but not in the manner in which we train our youth, write our news, or conduct our intellectual life?

We could be even more reductionist about the therapeutic mind — and think that our penal system would improve should we build prisons next to universities (easier for professors to rehabilitate prisoners, better to have an informed nearby community to nurture parolees.) Think of the possibilities of matching word with deed: the Obamas’ children go to the D.C. public schools; the Harvard humanities Dean is put in charge of hiring for all the nuclear power plants of New England; Chris Dodd and Barney Frank submit their expense budgets instantly to thumbs up/down, on-line public approval; Nancy Pelosi flies commercial…"

©2009 Victor Davis Hanson

VDH's Private Papers::The Ugly - Part Two
These ten items should be the New Conservative’s Contract with America.

American Thinker Blog: The New Contract with America
"The list:
1.) Taxation – Eliminate the “progressive income tax and withholding.
2.) The Environment – Eliminate special statutory granting “Standing” to environmental groups.
3.) Judges – Limit the Supreme Courts judicial review power – eliminate “lifetime tenure” for all federal judges.
4.) Sunset all “independent” federal agencies – reduce the civilian federal workforce by 20% or more.
5.) Government education – Eliminate the government’s monopoly of our education system by applying antitrust laws to the NEA.
6.) Immigration – Secure the nations borders by enforcing the immigration laws.
7.) Entitlements – Eliminate them and resist all efforts to nationalize the healthcare system.
8.) Foreign Policy and Security – Ensure that all foreign policy decisions are made for the purpose of preserving and improving American Society.
9.) Faith – Oppose all efforts to remove the nation’s founding justification – that is, God-given unalienable, natural rights that the government can neither confer on the individual nor deny him.
10.) The Constitution – Eliminate limits on and rationing of political free speech."
Andrew Klavan taking the culture back. Do read it all:
Take the Limbaugh Challenge - Los Angeles Times

"...By lifting some typically Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context, the distortion gang knows full well it can get you to widen your eyes and open your mouth in the universal sign of Liberal Outrage. Your scrawny chest swelling with a warm sense of completely unearned righteousness, you will turn to your second spouse and say, "I'm not a liberal, I'm a moderate, and I'm tolerant of a wide range of differing views -- but this goes too far!"

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Obama’s False Choice by Mark Steyn on National Review Online...it’s not about bookkeeping, it’s about government annexation of the economy, and thus of life: government supervision, government regulation, government control. No matter how small your small business is — plumbing, hairdressing, maple sugaring — the state will be burdening you with more permits, more paperwork, more bureaucracy."

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

YouTube - Jake Shimabukuro LIVE Concert: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Check our this amazing young musician.
YouTube - Jake Shimabukuro LIVE Concert: While My Guitar Gently Weeps
More Klavan: read it all. I'm so thrilled he will be speaking at the Santa Barbara County Tea Party on April 4. Sure hope you can make it.

"It must be difficult to be a mainstream journalist. The world is so full of mysteries. Why do crime rates go down when more people own guns? Why do HIV-infection rates go up when you distribute free condoms? Why does tax revenue decrease when you raise tax rates? And hey, why do people keep saying there’s a liberal bias in the news? To the mainstream media, it’s all just one big riddle..."
"Klavan On The Culture Our Clueless Critics

YouTube - American Tea Party Anthem by Lloyd Marcus

In case you haven't heard this, or can't remember where to find it here is Lloyd Marcus:

YouTube - American Tea Party Anthem by Lloyd Marcus
More of what is called "The Give Act" and "The Serve Act" from Michelle Malkin via FSM: Read it all.
Family Security Matters Publications To GIVE and To SERVE: The $6 Billion National Service Boondoggle: "Maybe it's just me, but I find federal legislation titled 'The GIVE Act' and 'The SERVE Act' downright creepy. Even more troubling: the $6 billion price tag on these bipartisan bills to expand government-funded national service efforts.

Volunteerism is a wonderful thing, which is why millions of Americans do it every day without a cent of taxpayer money. But the volunteerism packages on the Hill are less about promoting effective charity than about creating make-work, permanent bureaucracies and left-wing slush funds.

The House passed the 'Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act' -- or the GIVE Act -- last week. The Senate took up the companion SERVE Act Tuesday afternoon. According to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate bill (S.277), it would cost '$418 million in 2010 and about $5.7 billion over the 2010-2014 period.'"

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thanks to QP for emailing me this which I had missed at:
Gateway Pundit: House Passes Hitler Youth Bill I think it was passed last week. Lots of strategic distractions by the Obamameister but unless you want to see this country continue down this socialist path you must make your senators know your outrage. This is the same mindset that got rid of the ROTC on campuses, organizations such as the Coalition Against Militarism or CAM in our schools.
This was in the comments at Gateway Pundit. Read them.
"The only ones who "see" what's happening are those who's heart is sealed in Truth!
dc
YouTube - Tomorrow Belongs to Me
and there is this one.
Barack Obama Kids and Hitler Youth Sing for Their Leader - Video

Wed. UPDATE FROM GATEWAY PUNDiT VIA QP:
SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS: BIG BROTHER'S PROHIBI
TIONS:

(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

(1) Attempting to influence legislation.

(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.


(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Even Victor Davis Hanson is depressed and disgusted along with the rest of us. Read it all.
Works and Days Thoughts About Depressed Americans


3.) A Certain Coarseness. We also are wearied by a certain crassness in American society in ways we have not seen before—or at least since the mid-19th century. Sorry, I don’t want my President joshing about the Special Olympics on Leno. I don’t want him on Leno at all in his perpetual PR mode. I don’t want him drawing out his picks for the final four on TV. I don’t want him paid for rewriting/revising/ condensing/whatever his earlier book while he’s supposed to be President, or ribbing Gordon Brown about his tennis game in patronizing fashion, or giving the British a pack of un-viewable DVDs after they, in exchange, offered a tasteful gift of historic importance.

I was always an advocate of informality, of casualness, but now when on a plane, in a restaurant, at Starbucks, I am struck by the rare well-dressed person who does not crowd. How odd the extra-polite woman, who conducts herself with charm and grace at the counter, or the gentleman who opens doors, says excuse me, and whose intelligent conversation I enjoy listening in on—like a dew drop to someone thirsting in the desert. In contrast, when the punk walks by, with radio blaring, mumbling obscenities, flashing the ‘I’ll kill you’ stare,” it all leaves me in depression.

Worse still, on the opposite end of the scale, is the master of the universe who elbows his way onto a plane while he blares on the telephone and blocks the aisle. I feel creepy after walking through an electronics store and seeing some of the video game titles and covers.

In short, I don’t want to hear any more Viagra or Cialis ads, no more douche commercials—please no more talking heads about penises that are enlarging, hardening, stimulated on the public air waves.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

ACORN Behind ‘Protests’ At AIG Homes | Sweetness & Light

Are we surprised that ACORN, the far left community organizers, are in charge of this threatening protest. Most of my few readers probably already know that some of the ear-marked tax funds are going to this organization.

ACORN Behind ‘Protests’ At AIG Homes | Sweetness & Light

Friday, March 20, 2009

For sanity I often lurk in the the soul reviving raccoonistas' dens and here is a little gem from Ricky Raccoon

"Skiff, or Not" posted at Listening Now on Thursday, March 5
*
"…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security… "
She cries to the very day! …this little skiff of ours. Birthed and carried a growing nation she did, she does. Freely governed by her own people, this vessel and her passengers share the watch, as one serves simultaneously as the other’s steward and precious cargo. For two hundred years does she give birth toward unprecedented prosperity in the free world, and to countless generations, who would build greater vessels while still aboard, her sides held. And through all this she remains, nothing more nothing less, than flimsy pulp and ink between human fingers. She who separates us still from the chaos lapping at her sides never does she forget the bottomless depth which boils around her, and only a fiber from us. Some days it grows closer than others, but always present the potential disaster.

Or she is not such a skiff to her present owners, and they not worthy of her."
Here is what the unworthys are up to:

It seems that this so called
Civilian security force on agenda again
Do you suppose there is a connection with House adopts plan for 'volunteer' corps
Last time I checked there was a police force pretty much every place in the US, and a fine volunteer National Guard. Why on earth do we need to fund yet another government program unless it is so that when the Saul (Rules For Radicals) Alinsky's created crisis comes to revolution they will be there to "assist" in our National emergency at which point they have access to our churches, schools etc.
Or is it my mind parasites?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

It's Tea Party time is SB April 4!

Gecko requests the pleasure of your company at:

Santa Barbara County Tea Party
WASHINGTON, DC - "Charles Freeman has withdrawn from consideration as National Intelligence Chair. Another appointee is claimed by the Obama Curse.

Freeman has faced great opposition to being considered as Chairman of the National Intelligence Committee, usually in regards to his criticism of Israel’s policies. However it wasn’t until a recent string of bad luck-a flat tire, his cat ran away, and his grandmother absconded to Tahiti with the bulk of his checking account-that he decided to withdraw his consideration for the position..."

OBAMA APPOINTEE CURSE|Weekly World News
Good grief, what next? Now we are going to have the "America Scouts"?
Jumping in Pools: Obama to Launch "America Scouts"
What is wrong with the Boy Scouts? What is wrong with the National Guard? In case you've forgotten, here is the Boy Scout Oath.

Boy Scout Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan
Scout Oath (or Promise)

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law

TRUSTWORTHY
A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him.

LOYAL
A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation.

HELPFUL
A Scout is concerned about other people. He does things willingly for others without pay or reward.

FRIENDLY
A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own.

COURTEOUS
A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows good manners make it easier for people to get along together.

KIND
A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. He does not hurt or kill harmless things without reason.

OBEDIENT
A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobey them.

CHEERFUL
A Scout looks for the bright side of things. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

THRIFTY
A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

BRAVE
A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him.

CLEAN
A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He goes around with those who believe in living by these same ideals. He helps keep his home and community clean.

REVERENT
A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

Scout Motto

Be Prepared

Scout Slogan

Do a Good Turn Daily

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ho hum, just another day in the life of my awesome, ALIVE brother( who was bitten by a SHARK last night swimming the channel from the Big Island to Maui.

RE: swimming the Alenuihaha Channel
"Ten hours into my swim at 8:03 pm, I felt a fish take a bite out of my stomach area. It was a sharp pain and stopped me in my tracks. I immediately started swimming towards Bubba who was in the escort kayak and as I was pulling myself out of the water, I felt a bite on my left calf. I reached down to see what the damage was and felt a 3” x 1-1/4” hole in the middle of my calf. I immediately pulled myself onto the kayak with Bubba and got the bleeding leg out of the water. Bubba radioed for the escort boat to come in and pick us up.
At this point, we were 4-1/2 hours into the swim, having ridden the out flowing tide taking us approximately 10-1/2 miles from shore. Everything was going according to plan. The water was 72-1/2 degrees but I was not feeling the chill. My shoulders were working good. No sign of cramps. The liquid replenishment, basically Hammer Gel, Hammer perpetuem and Hammer electrolyte tablets, mixed together in a water bottle were taken every half an hour. The fluid replenishments were working and I felt well hydrated and nourished.
It didn’t hit me until 15 minutes after I was in the boat that my goal to cross the Alenuihaha Channel in a solo swim had been postponed. It was a great disappointment to have all the dots lined up and have a freak incident abort the swim. The bite was definitely from a cookie cutter shark which rarely interacts with humans, but at the same time humans are rarely in the middle of the Alenuihaha Channel in the pitch black . . . . swimming.

I am sitting at Maui Memorial Hospital waiting for Dr. Galpin (plastic surgeon) to visit me and give me my options. Last night, they gave me a spinal tap to numb my lower body and clean the wound. My two options are to (1) let it heal from the inside out or (2) to have a skin graft. Hoping to make this decision this afternoon when the plastic surgeon comes and visits.

In the meantime, many of my friends and supporters have called or stopped by to visit and your kind wishes and thoughts are greatly appreciated. As I said earlier, this is a slight deflection and I plan on coming back and gettin’er done."


Aloha,

Mike

Monday, March 16, 2009

Getting a bit nervous as this obombing bunch in power sure is slipping through lots of special little grabs of power by the state. Though, like Liberty Girl, I have no special love(or hate) for the Catholic Church, there is a whole lot to be said for separation of church and state.

Liberty Girl Blog Archive Just Not Getting It
In case any of you out there have friends or family dealing with a critical illness and don't know about Caring Bridge check it out. Here is an entry from a very special woman,
Jane Tormey,and any raccoon prayer offerings for this extraordinary woman are appreciated. Here is today's post:
TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE
Well, it feels as though its been forever since I last connected with you. I finished my very last round of chemotherapy one week ago. We decided to change the drugs this time to carboplatin and navlebine and although I have been tired and nauseous, it has been nothing like being on the cysplatin. I do have the pain in my bones as I did before, but I will take this any day over the horrible sick feeling of the cysplatin. I actually called the Dr. and told him I was concerned that I wasn't sick enough and wondered if he was hitting me with is best shot. He said that the regimen we chose is highly effective and not to worry about not being sick enough. Geez, I'm tough to please aren’t I? One minute, I'm too sick and want to change and the next minute Im asking for more. I just want to do everything in my power to kill the caca!!
I have continued to read your entries and as always, am so grateful for them as it really does give me the strength and courage to go on. It is hard to explain, but especially when I am sick from the chemo I feel as though I am in an altered reality, a bad dream, and don’t really have a sense of how do to this, how to show up for what life is asking of me. No one has written a manual on how to face stage 3 lung cancer, be a single mom of 5, deal with a busy household with 2 gigantic labradoodles (what was I thinking?) run a nonprofit in Africa and face your mortality, all whilst heaving over the toilet….HOW DO I DO THIS FOR GODSAKES? I realize there are lots of choices as to how to cope. For instance, the pity party gang is always at the front door wanting to be let in and take over. They’re standing there incessantly ringing the door bell, with all the makings for a great party. They’ve got the chilled drinks of death and dying, the hot hors d’oeuvres of financial loss and impending bankruptcy, then there’s whoa is me toothpick nibbles of loss in several different flavors; hair, body image, activity, lifestyle, etc.... but the best of all is the flaming sweet soufflé of victimhood that they have lit and blazing and is screaming “eat me!” “ eat me first and everything else will taste even better!!!” Ohhh, is it tempting, oh how Id love to stuff myself with that that sweet dessert with all the sticky gooo around my month and fingers……“why me what did I do wrong?” “I have always tried to be a good person, I have been a good mom, I have always tried to do the right thing, I have eaten right, exercised, gone to church on Sunday and given up sugar for lent!” Well why not me??? I think I am finally learning that even peeking out the window at the pity party gang is just asking for a hang over. All I have to do is look at them and the suffering starts…. Ive let them in a lot over the years, and let them barge right in even against my better judgement while going thru this caca. Ive done my straight shots with them, Ive devoured their hors d’oeuvres and eaten their fancy desserts, (one too many times Ill have to admit), but I'm realizing I'm getting too old (or too wise) for this kind of partying, or at least my tolerance has gone down…. I just can't pity party like I used to, it isn’t worth it in the morning. I recognize in every moment I have a choice to look at life in all it forms as inherently hostile or inherently benevolent as Einstein asked us to remember, which one we choose determines our destiny. Well, I choose benevolent, I'm sick of hangovers.
But, as I sit to write to you, my beloved angels, my soul confidents, I will admit that I have been in a bit of avoidance around journaling again. I think because there is so much going on for me on so many levels, that there is a part of me that would just like to forget it all and pretend like none of it is happening, (especially as I start to come out of the chemo fog), as though none of it actually exists, and that I really don’t have caca. As I write it all becomes real again and the reality of the situation is right here in the words I am typing. Maybe it isn’t real, maybe it is all a dream? Maybe the bad dream is a dream and the good dream is a dream?
There is a part of me that keeps wanting to slip in and out of denial of what appears to be here, preferring avoidance to facing it. I have really enjoyed this avoidance actually. I have been savoring life in a new found way now that I don’t feel as though I have to run to toilet every 20 minutes…. I cant tell you how much joy I have been getting out of the little things in life- watching my dogs wrestle in the living room, having coherent conversations with people now that my brain is working again, acting like a normal mom again, playing with the boys, walks with my girls and my friends, driving to basketball, helping with homework, dinners around the table, singing the kids lullabies, on and on.…..I have been so much more present, telling the mind to just be quiet and choosing not to believe its' stories…… These are the hors d’oeurves and drinks I have been enjoying and although there isn’t all the ruckus of a wild party, its sooo much more satisfying, the tastes are so much sweeter, the enjoyment so much more sublime. OH MY GOD did I take life for granted!!!!!! Why is the Joni Mitchell song always so true- “you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone”….we get so complacent and move out of gratitude so easily when everything is going our way. Then when its suddenly pulled out from under us, we go, “wait a minute”, “ this cant be happening, I really do love everything about my life, the good and the “bad”, please don’t take it away!!!! I love being with my kids, my dogs, my friends, my family, walks by the river, the snow flakes falling…… and I also really do love doing dishes, and the laundry, dealing with financial issues, getting stuck it traffic, cleaning up the dog barf, and if I admit it, I even love being able to get chemotherapy- what a gift!!! Everything in life, the good the bad and the ugly is a gift and I get to choose how I respond to it. I get to decide what kind of story I am going to tell. Whether I see life as malevolent or benevolent…
Although the recognition of the gift of life is right here on the surface, what is lurking the back round is the lion. Sometimes he’s by my side, sometimes he stalks me from behind where I can't see him and sometimes he chases me in my dreams. He has a name and I know it, its fear of death. I'll call him “FOD”, the lion. I just don’t want to have to tame him. I don’t want to look in his eyes. I don’t want to admit that he really is not going to leave me… Whats kind of sweet about him though is that Fod seems to be fairly tame already. He hasn’t devoured me yet and he sometimes he just shows up laying next to me purring. This actually happened just a couple of nights ago. Some of you may know the song “Danny Boy” an old Irish Ballad that my kids have always loved as one of their lullabies. Its actually quite a sad song and Im not quite sure how I ever choose it as as a lullaby but in the lyrics it’s a being sung by a mother to her young son who goes off to war. The other night when I was tucking Michael in, rubbing his back, I was singin away just fine til I got to the second verse. Those of you that are familiar with it will know there is a stanza that says; “if you come back (from war) when all the leaves have fallen and I am dead as dead I may will be,( I look down and see Fod laying next to me purring) I will hear you softly tread above me and kneel and say and say ave’ there for me. (my voice starts cracking…) And though I hear you softly tread above me, and all my dreams will warm and sweeter be, if you’ll not fail to tell me that you love me, (tears start rolling and I pretend like Ive got to cough) Oh Danny Boy, ( I usually substitute Ellie girl, Maddie girl, Towner boy, John-Brian boy, Michael boy) I love you soooooo…..” I pretended like I thought Michael was asleep and got up off the bed, tip toeing out of the room til I heard him say “Night mom” and I choked hard and swallowed and said, “Night honey, I love you” without turning around because I didn’t want him to see that I was actually balling. , “I love you too” he said from his bed. I shut his door and tip toed into my room and starting sobbing. Yes, it is a reality, I really might die and leave my kids kneeling above my grave. It seems as though life always seems to bring you back “what is” as Byron Katie says and “what is” is really always grace, sometimes its sweet gentle purring grace and, sometimes its fierce grace…. Fod, I know your there and I am going to pet you and look into your eyes, I promise. I have been giving you the occasional glance and am happy you haven’t attacked me yet.
I was telling my sister Mary the other day that the place I am in right now is very different having finished chemo. The dr. has done what he can do to eradicate the cancer. If it were to come back or grow the goal would no longer be to cure, it would be to prolong life or to be palliative. There is a part of me that wants to keep doing chemotherapy so I know that I am doing something to kill this damn caca. But there is another part of me that wants to start living my life again, even with the mangy dog hair, the swollen face and arms, and bruised belly. The chemo is over and TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE!! I want to bring Fod into the living room with the labradoodles and start playing with him, wrestle with him, throw the ball for him, stare into his eyes and snuggle him. I know the time will come, we’re just getting to know each other, and I think I just need learn as I go that Fod really safe, that he is a gentle as these giant labradoodles, I just need to spend a little more time with him.
As soon as I am feeling better I am going to start the drug Tarceva. It is a long term preventative drug that looks very promising. I am also planning to go visit my mommy in Spokane and thanks to our angel Aunt Cookie the kids and I are going to stay with her and the cousins in Sun Valley for part of spring break. I am also considering visiting Mary and Geri in California and seeing the doctors at Stanford and UCLA. I am trying to let spirit guide me and not be overwhelmed by the choices or let them be run by fear. LIFE IS BENEVOLENT!! So, as of this moment, I am choosing to savor every little bite of life. I am choosing to stay present and not worry about the non-existent past and future. As I touch in with the presence of the holy spirit in this body I know that all is well.
I want to extend a special thanks to Matt Sweeney for offering his novena for me at St Joe’s. Thank you so much pumpkin, words cant express how grateful I am for your offering. You inspire me and humble me with your faith.
So that’s whats up with what is for Jane Tormey. Actually, there’s a lot more, but Im going to take a nap and go to coag.
The energy, encouragement, support and love that I get from all of you is so incredible. I hope you know that I send energy to and pray for all of you as well. I hold you so deeply in this little heart of mine. You ARE my angels and I am held up to the love and light of God constantly in your precious, holy wings.
I love you more than words can say,
Janie

Saturday, March 14, 2009

God help us all, it's book burning time. What is the matter with these people?
"The CPSC put up some new “helpful” power point slides for their staff today (you can read them all here).
You’ll get my heirloom tomatoes when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers
Here’s the line that’s got me ready to move to Australia. Or, better yet, ready to make Congress move to Australia and let the country start fresh. Page 6 has the guidance on children’s books (ordinary books safe if published after 1985, limited staff analysis has shown some lead in older books, blah, blah). And then this line:
Children’s books have limited useful life
(approx 20 years)
… coupled with a singular lack of interest in Congress to ameliorate the devastation of thrift stores, small businesses, home businesses and charities, that malice should be considered."

Will someone please wake me up from this nightmare, or sing me a lullaby so I can get some sleep?
Read this:
Klavan On The Culture Believe in God or Die!
Then, listen up to one of the best renditions ever of this and convince me you're an atheist. Be sure to hang in for the bagpipes!
Thanks to QP in the comments section at One Cosmos .

Friday, March 13, 2009

Tea Party Events this weekend from Pajamas Media:

Pajamas TV - View Events
The Dalai Lama is in town and the stars are out. I remember Gateway Pundit posted something he had said a couple of months ago:"The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.

"It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence," the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.

He also termed terrorism as the worst kind of violence which is not carried by a few mad people but by those who are very brilliant and educated.

"They (terrorists) are very brilliant and educated...but a strong ill feeling is bred in them. Their minds are closed," the Dalai Lama said.

He said that the only way to tackle terrorism is through prevention. The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said "I love President George W Bush." He went on to add how he and the US President instantly struck a chord in their first meeting unlike politicians who take a while to develop close ties.
Stars support Dalai Lama - Los Angeles Times Perhaps these stars missed his comments about George Bush.
Newsmax.com - Homeland Security Has Plan for Border Chaos, War
"Ever since 9/11, patriotic Americans of all stripes watched in bewilderment as the political Left defended, rationalized and praised the very people and ideology responsible for the atrocities of that fateful day."
American Thinker: Inside the enemy's mind
Read FrontPage Magazineabout the indoctrination happening at our colleges."One Party Classroom" by David Horowitz is a must read.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

"George Bernard Shaw warned “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” The major overhaul of American health care pursued by President Obama and his supporters is based on many false premises and is excessive and likely to do more harm than good. Tuning up and improvements already always dynamically occurs. Instead, ObamaCare is aimed at dramatically changing one-sixth of the US economy in ways that are untested or tested and found wanting, primarily involving huge increases in government direction of health care."
Top Ten Reasons For ObamaCare Are Based On False Information - Maggie's Farm
If you have the stomach for it read about Move On.Org's war on private health care at
JammieWearingFool

Saturday, March 07, 2009

When and if you ever have time watch this poignant nine minute artistry shared by Gerald Vanderleun:
World Builder: Sad, Beautiful,Wonderful, Magical @ AMERICAN DIGEST
A great racoonmendeation by Joan of Argghh:
Skidboot the Dog

YouTube - A Well Trained Dog

Clearly a man's best friend.
YouTube - A Well Trained Dog

Friday, March 06, 2009

One of the few friends that I retained after my recovery from my stint as a liberal sent me a blank map to fill in those countries that we don't have to live in. It was fun to do though I had to cheat a bit with the map on my wall especially on those countries above Afghanastan. Then I checked out this rethinking our schools site and found materials such as how to teach the war to kids. Go check it out. We wonder at the ignorance of our young people but it starts young.This morning I came across this link over at LGF. Most busy mothers stick their kids in front of the tube and think nothing about it as the TV is their baby sitter and do not realize that it is brainwashing our children as are misinformed teachers and textbooks. Obama wants to get rid of homeschooling and vouchers.
Nickelodeon Broadcasts Cartoon Homage to 'Dear Leader' Obama | NewsBusters.org

Thursday, March 05, 2009

>What a cooninkydink that the email from Christine whose son and nephew are preparing to go to Afghanastan, came the morning after I was perusing The Anchoress
and reading about Fatima who I've heard mentioned here and there. When said email arrived I realized I had skimmed the Fatima part of the blog and went back to refresh my memory and entered a compelling world I knew nothing about being an old type Episcopalian that barely mentions the saints.
Subject: Service flags
>" We are ordering a two star flag (one for each G!) to fly while they
> are gone....sucks but even my mom is getting into it, ordering up,
> putting up the pole, ordering a Marine Corps Aviation sweatshirt,
> and several decals for her car...trust me a FIRST. She gave Graham
> a gold hand of Fatima (wards off the evil eye) that she had years
> ago in N. Africa, presented it to him for his 18th birthday. She
> asked him if he could wear it on a chain and he said absolutely,
> the guys wear all kinds of stuff. She is so pleased and is
> tracking one down for herself to wear while he is gone. Eric said
> he would get me the small David Yurman dogtag, silver, tiny
> diamonds around the border and have it engraved with his hame for
> my birthday. Everyone is getting on board!"
Pile on good thoughts and prayers for these young men and an extra one as well considering
their Commander in Chief

>
>
>

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Check out the ads on zomblog for Islam, sponsored by CAIR aand ICNA which it would seem is part of the push for worldwide caliphate in which the jihadis use our system to destroy us.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

FrontPageMagazine.com | 3/2/2009

Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro, written at the close of the 18th century, included this freedom of speech monologue in Act V, Scene 3,

I cobble together a verse comedy about the customs of the harem, assuming that, as a Spanish writer, I can say what I like about Mohammed without drawing hostile fire. Next thing, some envoy from God knows where turns up and complains that in my play I have offended the Ottoman empire, Persia, a large slice of the Indian peninsula, the whole of Egypt, and the kingdoms of Barca [Ethiopia], Tripoli, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. And so my play sinks without trace, all to placate a bunch of Muslim princes, not one of whom, as far as I know, can read but who beat the living daylights out of us and say we are “Christian dogs.” Since they can't stop a man thinking, they take it out on his hide instead.

Sadly, today, over two centuries later, Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders’ free speech rights are under attack in an effort to appease the same irredentist Muslim attitudes—attitudes which are devoid of self-criticism, and violently opposed to any criticism of Islam by non-Muslim “infidels.”
Article
In case you missed Michael Steele speaking of Rush as just an entertainer, here is the transcript of Rush's response.

A Few Words for Michael Steele

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Joan of Argghh's pep talk for true blues. Read it all.

"But more than anything, I know that Liberty is unafraid of the Night. Let come what may, the darkness has never overcome the Light. It is enough that someone is still holding the torch aloft."
Primordial Slack: Michael Steele, PJTV, and The Corner can all kiss my ass.