Prez Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize: What Would Alfred Nobel Think

A very good friend of mine just loathes the very thought of President Obama having won the Nobel Peace Prize. In defending her point of view, she went on to blog about it on Friday night and made referrence to Obama's support of many negative organizations. Organizations such as Acorn which have recently been "called-out" after he won the Presidency. I was not too concerned about blogging about it until today when several other ppl, who are not so happy with Obama's win of the Peace Prize, starting bringing it up. I cannot stand Acorn, never have. Not sure all organizations are ever on the "up and up". I believe any org can be negatively represented because it just takes one or a few ignorant people to do something bad to taint it. Many Laureates of the Prize had their windfall orgs. World leaders as well; Geroge "W" had his windfall organizations. To add, he actually had the worst admin in U.S. history and I am personally glad he is gone. Now Americans have to regroup and make sure our great country is back on the right track to improve and to fix what the previous" regime" completely ruined for the previous 8 grueling years (before Obama). I still want the Patriot Act abolished & war crime charges enacted against respective offenders under the previous "regime". Far worse actions than what Acorn is alleged with, and as I certainly don't condone what Acorn has done, I just do not see how their (Acorn’s) actions were as detrimental to the safety & reputation of our country as what we had under “W”. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter/delegate but am behind this President, and I personally challenge him to do better. As for what President Obama has positively done to date - what makes him just a little bit deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize? I will go out on a limb to acknowledge and maybe even to remind people that he has made the world look at America - the good ole U.S.A. - in a positive light again and brought a little more safety & respect back into our corner versus how we were viewed under "W's" watch. America is stronger for extending out a hand rather than calling out the "axis of evil" and defining who was part of that axis whether our country stood alone or not. Let us continue to share the peace and not worry about who wins what prize. Thanks for your time. Best to ALL!

Bigot at Sam's Club in Midland, Texas

As soon as I get my membership approved via the MRT open forums, I will be sure to blog there as well. To tell my story about this woman who tried in vain to make my family and I feel like second-class citizens by sounding off a racist remark - and she did it under her breath - which was not just wrong but very cowardly of her.

The scary thing right now is that a lot of racial terms are being spewed out by certain types of ppl all in the name of something else. Whether ppl are really upset over big government (not as big as when "W" and his cronies were holding the White House hostage for 8 long, miserable years), health care reform, the "birthers" who claim Prez Obama is not a U.S. citizen (poor, ignorant ppl), or those who are now voicing regret at having a black man for president, the fact is that racial tensions are getting bad. Last bit of proof when Prez Obama was called a liar by Joe Wilson the other day in the House Chamber. We fret and are saddened by the way ppl like Joe blame health-care reform when we know it is not reform which bugs Joe. Had it been "W" who was called a liar by a Dem (esp a black Dem), the GOP would have cried "bloody-murder" and started some form of radical punishment of would-be offender.

Anyway, back to this ignoramus of a woman at Sam's. The incident occurred on Saturday 09-05-09 between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM. She was pushing a shopping cart which had space for her two kids (a male & a female probably between 4 and 6 years of age). Her husband was following her around. My sister Josie, my brother-in-law Jabier, Sara and I had arrived at Sam's to pick up a birthday cake for our 75 year old Mom whose surprise birthday party we were hosting for her later that evening. The 4 of us had lunch first before we went to the bakery dept to get the cake. As is more often usual than not, no employees were to be found so we waited around. There were two ladies ahead of us, both Hispanic like us, which will later be an important part of this story. Because we were second in line, we were standing a little bit outside the area but not too far into the main aisle where other customers could not easily pass by us. Well, apparently that one lady thought she owned the entire store (probably cited eminent domain as her reasoning) and she blatantly ran her shopping cart, with two kids in tow and all, into my sisters side. Her and her husband must have known they did this and probably thought they had just cause because unknowing to what they had just done to my sister, I happened to look up ahead to where the couple was heading (veggie dept) and the lady gave me a really wicked look and asked if I had a problem. My sister had just mentioned to us what they did so I replied to the couple that they hit my sister. They denied it and started saying some stupid things. They were yelling at us. I told them they should be ashamed as they had their children with them and they were obviously setting a negative example. They kept yelling and acting very foolishly so I added that may God bless them. It was ridiculous, upsetting and embarrassing for us. The couple (who was white in case I forgot to mention it before) looked really ticked off and as if it was no big deal that they were acting this way. My guess would be that they probably get into arguments with others all the time and probably with one another as well. Their children looked scared. They walked further away towards the meat dept so I thought all was done until I saw my sister move a little ways from where we were still standing near the bakery dept and she said (and I quote)...'Ma'am, you did not have to say that'...I asked Josie what had the couple said or done. My sister Josie said that the lady had called us a bunch of "damned Mexicans". Like I wrote in the paragraph above, the lady said it in a manner in which she may have thought we would not hear, but my sister has excellent hearing and she did indeed hear it. Josie, for those who know her, is very friendly, peaceful, lovable, law-abiding, and as close to a true Christian one could hope to be. She is not one to look for trouble, she is the one who tries to bring solutions to a table and one who tries to keep others from fighting or such. For her to have to defend her family and herself in such a manner is really sad - it is sad for that one ignorant woman and her own family who heard those words come out of her mouth. It was quite evident that this woman and her husband knew that they had done something really awful as they hurried away to some other part of the store. Josie did not follow them because it is not her character. I did not follow them either as I normally would because of the children they had with them and because I was not going to allow anyone to ruin that day that we had planned for so many weeks to celebrate our beloved Mother's 75th birthday. A day that we wanted to honor Mom and give thanks to the Lord for keeping her with us on this earth. For letting us find the right Dr. and the right treatment for Mom after months of not knowing what was plaguing her health that we almost lost her. We had too much to celebrate and too much to be grateful for and this one foolish woman and her husband were not going to rob us of that so we let it go. Now remember the two Hispanic ladies ahead of us in the bakery line, they also heard all of this and were shocked by such actions of the white couple and that the woman had allowed such trash to leave her mouth. They were as disgusted as we were and hopefully as others in the store were that day who heard that woman's comments.

Never in my 43 years of life had I ever been victim to a racial slur. Being a cleft-palate, I had endured much taunting about that, but never because of the color of my skin. Not to my face (or as close to my face as the cowardly woman said it under her breath). It offended me and it upset me. Those kind of feelings were new to me and it took every ounce of bravery to denounce the woman's actions and indeed turn the other cheek.

I felt bad for my sister because I knew she felt all of these things if not more as she was the one to hear those foolish words of belligerence. She is too smart and too classy to succumb to the kind of actions that are the apparent nature and character of that woman.

If that woman ever reads this blog posting or one I will surely place on a Midland, Texas forum, she should know that she did not break us. She did not shame us. She did not scare us. She did not make us cry. She made us stronger and more tolerant of her kind. We went home and had a fantastic party. Later that evening, I am as certain as the fact that taxes will never end, that my sister, my brother-in-law, that my entire family who showed up for our Mom's party and were appalled and taken aback by the actions of such a woman, that everyone went to their respective homes and prayed for this woman just as I did.

Shame on her, her husband and may the Lord have mercy on her going forward and may her children remember that day and their parent's actions and their mother's words and one day refrain from ever acting as such or from saying such demeaning words. Those kind of words never demean the ppl they are shouted at, they demean they very person who stupidly allows the words to flow so freely from their mouths.

In the end, my family and I came out ahead of all of this and are the better ppl for it. But as the mighty Edward Bulwer-Lytton said in his play, "the pen is mightier than the sword"...I promised myself to blog about the incident so that the woman remembers it and maybe will be regretful of it. So that she reads it and maybe accepts blame and shame - the same kind of shame she tried to throw our way on that fateful day at Sam's Club in Midland, Texas.

Shame on you whomever you are...GBY.

Poor ole Pat Buchanan...the misogynist, racist "wanna be" political pundit.

His interview on tonight's episode of the Rachel Maddow Show just made me cringe with shame that a white man could say such things without batting an eye. Plus, it made me an indignant Hispanic female seeing first-hand his disregard for minorities in general especially women. I hope many people saw this and if not, that it makes the news elsewhere. I urge everyone who reads this blog, to find it on the web or I am sure it will make youtube.com.

Yes, she can...go Sonia Sotomayor - we are proud of you!

Read Sonia Sotomayor's bio as she makes women and Latinos everywhere very proud.
She makes Congress crazy because she is not naive like the Emperor who saw himself without a robe after having listened to everyone else instead of to himself. She defines the law as it should be and does not divulge personal data or beliefs which would one day come back and bite her as is true of Washington and its bad boys.
Sonia is an altruist; she clearly is NOT apathetic. To herself, she does remain true.
We all know who she is, she is one of us.

A DAY OUT WITH MURPHY!

With Murphy's Law - that is!

After being hit with a storm of (huge) hail this past April and hoping our roof would have sustained no damage, we were proven wrong. That lone discovery by the inspector would begin a series of events that few or none would believe unless one personally experienced it all like we have. Sara and I agreed that we may not believed it ourselves had it happened to someone else. Perhaps, more than not, this will remind us both to be more accepting & lenient with other people when they tell us stories that would almost seem too fallacious in reasoning for us to believe.

Let's start with said eventful "storm of hail" back in April.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009: The city of Midland was surprised by an ominous thunderstorm which also included some pretty big hail. Some were the size of golf balls and a few were the size of baseballs. Sara picked some up and stored them in freezer bags and stored them away to freeze. All of which would have made for a good story with "show and tell" antics to display except our fridge of 5 years happened to die on us right when the warranty ran out. So - our tangible part of the hail storm story did thus die as well leaving nothing but water droplets on our kitchen floor and just the semantics to mention in occasions to follow.

The next day we reviewed the damage to the yard and saw signs of probable damage to the roof. So come Monday, we placed a call to our insurance company. An Indepedent Inspector was scheduled and he came over quite promptly in the next few days to follow. My Mom was here during that particular week to keep appts with her Rheumatoid Arthritis Specialists whom has been treating her dermatomyositis. I clearly remember her stay with us because I was being pulled so many different ways in trying to set my own schedule for interviewing roofing contractors, interviewing with recruiters for jobs I had applied for, and in trying to keep my own dr's appts. After interviewing with over 5 roofing contractors, I did narrow it down to three. A good choice I thought until I saw how much more $$$ they each wanted to further obtain from my insurance provider. Not unusual for them to do, but it did worry me a little because of premiums which might increase. Long story short with interviewing & deciding on one roofing company...I chose the one that other family members had picked. The owner was a nice gentleman.

The problems began when my insurance company issued out the checks to both me, as the home owner, and to my mortgage company. BTW - the roofing company was not able to acquire more $$$ for the roof, but I do feel that the amount they (insurance) sent was a good sum as did others when I investigated the matter further. It was actually two amounts to cover 1) the replacement of the roof on our home along with the shutters & some siding on the eaves and on the facade above the brick line and 2) the roof of the storage building/workshop in the back yard.

The mortgage company sent me paperwork and I endorsed the checks to them to place in an escrow acct to begin work. All of this occurred within a span of 60 days. Yes, 60 long days! Our mortgage company was a royal pain in the neck to work with; I believe it was because they had just merged with the mortgage company who had just taken over for the original mortgage company. That's right, this was the third mortgage company to handle our note. To add, they are the worse ones in ways I will not blog about right now.

We are now in mid-June and the roofing contractor has still been unsuccessful in negotiating with anyone at the insurance company (or the mortgage company). I have been in contact with the contractor on a regular basis, and I never did feel nervous about our deal as a contract had been signed so obligations going forward between us were pretty much set in stone. The mortgage company had still failed to send me back more paperwork until we (Sara & I) called and they say that no escrow acct needed to be set up and that they would just issue me out new checks to place in my own personal banking acct so that work could begin. Duh...

Almost a week into the month of July, the mortgage company-issued checks arrive. But to my chagrin, the checks are issued out to not just me, but to the roofing contractor. The checks were underwritten by Chase Bank, but they refused to cash them unless me and my contractor were both in attendance and one of us had an acct with them. I had to wait a couple of days to try our own bank (Bank of America - BOA). In the meantime, I made contact with the roofing contractor and he decided to begin work on Friday (07-10-09) since he would not charge until the jobs were finished. That would give me time to deposit the checks and for them to clear.

Nope...that arrangement went wayward because...

Thursday, July 9th, 2009: "the fateful day does begin with Murphy laughing his ass off at me the entire day"...

1) My bank stated that the way the checks were issued out to me and to a company, we needed the owner to verify things in person along with a rubber stamp to denote his company name. Both of us showed up at the main branch and still "no go" even after the teller took the situation to two big wigs (I will refrain from writing down what I really think they should be called) . They further added that since Chase was the bank on the check, we needed to take it to them. Even though I replied with a rather lengthy & detailed account of what had already happened when I tried doing that a couple of days earlier, they said they could not help me out. I called my mortgage company as well hoping that maybe they had messed up by placing both parties on the checks and maybe they would re-issue them to just me or to the contractor. "No GO" - again! The mortgage company said it was pretty routine to issue checks like that to a homeowner and to the contractor, and for me to try cahsing them again at another BOA or a Chase branch or another bank. I said to the lady (the very, very, very ignorant & sometimes condescending & gleeful witch)...I have already tried that.

Long story short on trying to cash the checks, my contractor went ahead and agreed to open up an acct over at Chase. That seemed to have appeased all the vulture-like, bottom-feeders at Chase. Things were going well except that my contractor did not have his DBA papers. So, that put things in my corner to open up a lone acct which I hesistated in doing since I have been a 12 year member of the banking community over at BOA; a happy and satisfied member -might I add- regardless of current events with the mortgage checks which was the fault of my insurance company and of the mortgage company and not of BOA. Besides, I cringed at the credit check and what it does to one's FICO score. All went well and I was on my way to opening up a "temp" checking acct with Chase so my contractor left me there in anticipation of all things going well with said checks. Before he left, the new accts banker informed me that my Texas D.L. had expired, and he could not do anything until I returned with a renewal document. It was 3 PM so I had 2 hours to drive over to the DMV to renew my dl and to return to Chase.

I stood in line at the local DMV for the required time that the DMV jerks at some point in time - in some secluded meeting somewhere decided would be long enough to drive a sane person mad and a nice person bad! When my time arrived, I was informed that after having my dl data scanned, there was a problem with it. I was denied my dl renewal and only given some screwed up phone number to call to find out what the problem was. After calling the number the DMV person gave me - all the while Sara & I are sitting outside the DMV office under the hot, blazing sun - I get referred to several other offices all located in San Antonio, Texas. Yes, SA, the city I used to adore and to yearn for, yes, they duped me into not just one charge of "FTA" (failure to appear) but two FTA's. Both some sort of traffic ticket dating all the way back to 1993. I did not officially change my address until 1995 so there were at the least 18 months for the city to inform me of said tickets. Not to mention that I was never that negligent to ignore one ticket much less two. I do admit I did get at least 2 tickets (3 at the very most) the entire 7 or more years I lived there, but I always took care to settle them in court as instructed, and I always had the option of traffic school to waive them off for insurance reasons. I deny that they were never settled; I would never have left town knowing of such pending offenses. I know 100% that I took care of business in that regard. As a law abiding and law fearing person, I would never do such a thing.

Now I only have two options. 1) Hire an attorney, which I do plan on interviewing with sometime this week at the earliest time possible, probably one I have worked with in the past. 2) Drive to SA and meet a judge in person and either make him believe that it was their office that screwed up and incorrectly cited me with such unpaid offenses or he will unjustly make me pay the fines. I never do mind paying my debts, but they need to be valid ones and these two traffic tickets are not valid to me. 16 years later they (city of SA) wants to charge me with FTA of two tickets which by law in Texas, makes me guilty because of failure to appear. How stupid. Even if they are not mine or if some drunken city worker accidentally hit the wrong key on some stupid computer keyboard making them go from "paid" to "unpaid", it is going to be difficult for me to prove otherwise. I have no tangible documentation of paying such tickets. It is too long ago for me to have kept any kind of proof. I do usually keep up to 10 years worth of data for obvious reasons but 16 years...come on, give me a freakin' break. Also in the retarded state of Texas, there is no statute of limitations for traffic tickets and it has been noted on various legal web sites and on several blogs that the city of SA has made it a point to go all the way back to the year 1988 to recup money due on unpaid tix.

At the end of this stupid on-going game with the city I used to love, I will either get thrown in jail (as I have more time on my hands lately than $$$-ha,ha) or pay a couple of fines for tix I do not owe on because no judge ever believes a defendant esp when said defendant's fines total to over $400 or $500. Yep, that is how much I am being required to unfairly pay. In a time when money is rather scarce and jobs even more rare, I am being hung out to dry by a city that seems unable to get their act together. Nevermind that in the 16 years prior to this wrongful accusation, I have been able to renew my dl at least 4 times with no problem. I have undergone extensive background checks at least 5 times in my life 1) for the privilege to become a volunteer for Special Olympics 2) for major insurance coverage 3) for my district manager position 4) for the honor of being accepted into the Adopt-a-Highway program to get my family the route in honor of my nephew Philip 5) for obtaining my Texas Insurance License. How in the world did this mess get overlooked that entire time (rhetorical question). Seems nightmarish in reviewing it, but I will get through this. Tougher times have plagued me and my family and through the odds, we have always endured and come out better than okay. Maybe this is another one of those quirky tests which life tends to throw our way from time to time. I have never run away from these kind of tests. Usually they come my way every 10 years. I have only to tighten my belt buckle, grit my teeth, and meet the issues face to face and give it everything I have. I aim to have things settled soon so that my dl can be renewed and so that I can have a clearer picture of where I am supposed to be and doing what the karma gods chose for me to do some 43 years ago - because apparently - I have merely been coasting by on someone else's ship. It's time to climb aboard my own ship for to be at the helm of it so that when rough tides do once again hit the waters of my life, this captain will always be at the ready.

H1N1: don't blame the pig or Mexico for swine flu

It was a very interesting article I read today via Time magazine (online). Read full article via the following link: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1894703,00.html?cnn=yes

It seems some countries are panicking over this swine flu and others just don't trust their respective government and feel that they are not being told the entire truth. My question..When did any country's government ever tell their citizenry the entire truth (rhetorical). I am not sure what to make of all of this as it has gone into two weeks now that it was first reported.

Once again it appears that man is to blame as man was the one who started bringing together all types of animals for farming/ranching/breeding purposes; animals who were not usually kept together are now sharing their germs and bacterias and illnesses. They are cross-contaminating one another. There is a reason why certain animals and types of animals were found in certain parts of the world. Maybe they were supposed to remain apart. Man decided to bring them together. That is a reason why I strongly oppose cross-breeding of any domesticated animal with various species or exotic/wild animals for that matter. Like for instance, a Chihuahua who is bred with an Alaskan Huskie is just wrong. A Siamese cat cross-bred with a Jaguar is wrong. Genome factors are proving that doing this is wrong, not morally as I believe we all answer moral issues to a Higher Being, but it is wrong for reasons of health & safety. Think about the cross contamination of animals and certain illnesses which often plague them. If they are put into an area with other animals, it is only natural for them to contract one another's illnesses. It happens to humans all of the time. Ppl usually send sickly kids to school instead of keeping them at home until they get better or ppl go to work all sickly and such and because of this, more ppl become ill and it takes longer for illnesses to go away and actually makes illnesses dissipate. It is the same concept in not keeping sick ppl separate from one another and not keeping animals separate from one another whether seemingly sick or not. Seems obvious to me that humans are once again to blame for all of these flus, viruses that we are seeing. It is the "law of probability" coming to bite us in the rear. Not a pandemic of epic proportions as some are thinking and thus reverting to biblical teachings for signs of Armageddon. It is the humans, we did this. Please let's leave the Lord out of this one, He has better things to do, although He does expect us to fix it. We are guests in His domain and we need to clean up after ourselves and fast.

Being clean...the best option to avoiding certain illnesses

The best measure I believe in and have implemented in our own home is to be very well informed. There is just too much data available to us via the Net to not be informed. For instance the swine flu of late, I have spent much time researching it for myself and for my loved ones. Now whether ppl take what I say seriously is strictly up to them.

The next best thing my household and I can also do is to be cautiously clean. Keeping a clean home has always been part of my OCD so that is no problem for me (might be for Sara who lives with me - the OCD part - that is). I could write a book detailing how to thoroughly clean a home, then when you have cleaned it as such, how to merely spot clean it going forward so that you keep it safe & healthy enough for your loved ones and yourself while avoiding embarrassing moments when ppl arrive unexpectedly and/or uninvited (all the same). Being at home so much has helped me discover these things. That's just the way I run my household; I believe in keeping a clean enough home to be ready for guests - at any time, day or night.

Another excellent deterrent for avoiding certain sickness and such should come way of washing our hands. It should be a priority and something we do without second thought, but as I have witnessed and been very appalled over in public restrooms and in other locations where washing hands should be a must, many ppl do not bother with washing their hands. Or if they do, they do not use soap or do not take the 30 second rule to heart. 30 seconds of thoroughly washing one's hands with soap. No need for anti-bacterial ones either, just plain ole soap will suffice. I just read another article via the Food Safety Site that anti-bacterial soaps (or other anti-bacterial substances)are okay for occasional usage, but not for constant use as it can seriously weaken and/or kill off weaker, more susceptible bacteria, leaving tougher, more resistant bacteria in their place. The conclusions were that antibacterial products, including soaps, are not necessary for the adequate removal of bacteria.

My thoughts to that...use soap- regular soap. Dove always worked best for me as does Dial, and as for washing dishes, I keep to Dawn and maybe will begin to sway from being amiss about anti-bacterial products ($$$ could be cheaper $$$) and just buy regular products. Maybe I can hold onto my better bacteria so that the worse ones don't keep threatening my immune system and not be so fast to buy everything anti-bacterial. However, I must say that I will still buy certain anti-bacterial products at my own discretion. Bleach should also be one's friend. Yes, it is potent and there is no doubting this cleaning product's ability at all but to be used in moderation and with safety in mind.