Brown Chicken, Brown Cow: October 2009

Today is your birthday, you know it is here.

The day you were born…its your 39^th year!

You ask, “Thirty-nine years? Where have the days went?

How can it be that my youth is all spent?”

Let me remind you that “youth” is inside.

Its not how you look, but what’s in your mind.

Forget about wrinkles or a gray hair or two,

Age is irrelevant for a young guy like you!

And you of all people are far from being old.

You laugh and you joke and you still Rock and Roll!

You remind me that “youth” is found everyday,

When we sing and we dance and watch the kids play.

You are the reason our daughter smiles and laughs;

And the reason our son sometimes pees in the bath!

Your family is proud of you and your friends love you too.

We can’t imagine this world without a great guy like you.

And for me, dear husband, you light up my life;

I thank God everyday for being your wife!

So today, let’s celebrate thirty-nine years “young”!

I’ve ran out of words and this poem is done.

Happy
Birthday
Clay!

We love you!

I have never really been one to voice my opinion on politics.

Yeah right, who am I kidding. Over the past few years, I have started becoming of those fear-mongering, flag-waving, right-wing extremists you hear about. Well, I don't really consider myself to be extreme, rather informed. I listen to Glenn Beck most mornings and watch his television show most evenings. (I'm currently reading Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government). And yes, I have attended a Tea Party. I am (*gasp*) a conservative!

Since moving to Raleigh, I have found myself surrounded by a bunch of I-voted-for-Obama-bumper-sticker-wearing liberals. Some days, I feel like running into the back of their car, so they have to remove his mug from looking at me at every stoplight. I'd never actually act on that urge, but I wish they wouldn't make me look at his face...if they like him so much, they should put it on their dashboard where they can look at him daily. There isn't even a conservative radio station here in Raleigh. I have to listen online or through my iphone app. I am officially in the "Land of Change".

I've heard that we have the highest sales taxes in the Southeast and that there are businesses moving away from NC because it is not as equitable for big businesses. I decided to take a look at my local representatives and see what they believe in and if they in any way represent ME. I wanted to see why the Smartest City in America could be having so many problems?

I found that Congressman David Price is my (District 4) representative. It is obvious that he loves Obama and any plan that Obama supports. I think he actually wants Obama to be more liberal and spend more money. He believes that all problems stem from Bush and that the current economic downturn is only survivable by spending more money and devaluing the dollar.

Rep. Price does not represent me and does not even represent sensible solutions for a broken & corrupt system. If anything, Rep. Price represents corruption. Recently, he was accused of wasting $10 million that was earmarked for our National Guard & Army Reserve. Instead he spent it on his friends, paying them 6-figure salaries and reimbursing one friend over $76,000 for food, travel & lodging....with nothing to show for it. Disgraceful.

Recently I was on one of his staged* "Town Hall" phone calls and listened to him go on & on about how we can pay for everything without spending any money. What?
How he equates universal healthcare to having liability car insurance. Liability car insurance doesn't cost us a trillion dollars when our government is already broke!
How we can help pay for healthcare for everyone (including 7-20 million illegals) and somehow actually save money through it all. Does he understand basic math?
How he says tort reform shouldn't be a part of the health care debate. Lawsuits and malpractice insurance are the bulk of the rising healthcare costs!
How we can use universal healthcare as a gateway to regulate and socialize MORE programs. Can you say path to communism?

*I say "staged" because they had screeners take your question, then they picked the softball questions & prompted him with canned answers without taking any rebuttal or follow-up questions. That's not an open discussion.

So, I have decided to get more involved with my local government. I recently attended a luncheon with the GOP leaders for North Carolina. I learned that the democratic party has had control in NC for 111 years! WHAT!? They say that "this may be the year to change the power". God, I hope so.

They talked about our Governor's recent increase in sales taxes. She said that she will not make the working class carry the burden of the budget deficit...but that's exactly what an increase in sales taxes does.

I was sort of disappointed in the lack of turn out at the luncheon. More importantly, I was disappointed in the passion for leading the people out of a dem-ran government. Where is the enthusiasm? Where is the turn-red-in-the-face determination to defeat the democrats? Isn't this the Bible Belt? Pretend that you are a southern baptist preacher and start spitting and screaming a little when you talk about the corruption and misrepresentation....get mad, I sure am!

In a way, I can see why so many people supported Obama...he was a charasmatic orator that moved people to believe in something that was so vague (hope & change), but it didn't matter....because he was convincing everyone that we needed it. And he would deliver it. He was a great salesman.

Where is that kind of leader now? We need one. BUT we need one with a real vision and real values & principles. No more half-truths and winks to the Unions and special interests. It's time for WE THE PEOPLE to be the special interest. We should be the only interest for our elected representatives.

While I was at the GOP Headquarters, I noticed a picture of Nancy Reagan on the wall. It makes me sad to look back and remember where we were in the 80s and how we (or at least I did) believed in our President. That he was good and decent and had our best interest in mind when making tough decisions. I don't believe that anymore. I don't believe that our President has surrounded himself with people who love America. I don't believe that he will make decisions based on what's best for the People, rather than what's best for the big unions and specials interests who paid for him to get into office. Its obvious that this administration is all about payback time for all of Obama's financial supporters.

Now, I am not going to stand on this soap box and say that the Republicans are blameless. I believe that they are all have their hands in each others pockets (Dems and Reps) and they're all pulling us down further and further. We need to pay attention to what they are doing and call them on it.

I'm sick of all the "change"...its too much of the same thing for me.

Basically, I'm fed up with them all! So...don't be surprised if you see this in a few years:

Who will join me in taking back our country and making a better future for our children and grandchildren?

Brown Chicken, Brown Cow

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Happy Birthday Clay!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Celebrating 6 Years Together at the Derby! (10-11-09)

Jim's Spaghetti

Cody Boy

Sweet Abby

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Politically (In)Correct