Considering deleting this.....

Yep, I'm considering deleting this blog. Too many jerks are posting crap on some very sensitive posts...how to get rich by contacting them...pornography links...and the such on notices of people who were close to me and have passed away. this is sick. i don't want to have to make friends and family have their posts approved by me when they want to post something, yet, at the same time I am tired of having to delete all those unwanted comments to these posts. Let me know if you would mind having all your messages approved before they are posted.

Root of all evil

If money is the root of all evil, then why do we have in God we trust on all our currency? And why do Christians fight so hard to keep it there, when basically we are saying God is the root of all evil? Just my thought for the day.

A sad way to start the year

My sister-in-law, Susan Rivas, passed away yesterday at the age of 56. Although I knew she had been ill, not being in Erie with the family, I didn't realize how ill she had become so her death was a bit of a shock to me. There is an online obituary and guest book for anyone who would like to send Vinny and her son Chas a message.

Susan B. Rivas, 56, of Erie, passed on to a greater place on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at St. Vincent Hospital. She was born February 23, 1953, in Erie. She graduated from East High School. She was employed at Twinbrook Nursing Home and did private duty nursing care for 25 years. She loved and enjoyed flowers and plants. Susan was a loving and dedicated wife and mother. Preceded in death by her mother, Kathryn Schuster Bojack, and father, John Bojack. Survivors include her husband, Vincent L. Rivas, and son, Charles V. Rivas, both of Erie; brother, John Bojack and wife, Beth, of Richlands, N.C.; half-sisters, Kathy Sanguliano, of New York, N.Y., and Shirley Marchal, of Erie; and many nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to call at the John J. Quinn Funeral Home, West 9th & Liberty St., Friday, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. only, and are invited to attend Prayer Services there Saturday at 9:30 a.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Andrew Catholic Church. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Memorials may be made to St. Andrew Catholic Church, 1116 West 7th St., Erie, PA 16502.

For my husband :-)

My husband has been complaining I haven't posted anything new here for the past couple months. Here I was trying to spend less time on the computer and more time cleaning the house and doing things for him. Oh well... so what's new....

The bitter cold weather here in the south for one thing. Generally my northern friends get to gloat in the summer when we are roasting in 100 degree temps, but I get to gloat in the winter when they are freezing their asses off and we are having temps in the the 60's. HA!! it's been in the teens in the morning here and up to the 30's and maybe 40's by afternoon. So dang! not fair! we are going to get a bit warmer come mid week though and get temps in the 50's.

The cats! We have a new saying. For those who saw the movie Jaws there's a line where on character says that's some bad hat Harry. Well, we now say, that's some bad cat Harry. I wrote a poem that I will post today called Homage (From a Cats Point of View). It will be on gotpoetry.com

On Jan 20th I go apply for my social security!!! Yikes! While I'm glad that we will be getting a little more income, it doesn't seem possible that in a few weeks I will be 62!

Okay, enough updates for now. I'll try to post at least once a week, but dang, I also enjoy having the house clean..well, cleaner that it was when I spent a lot of time on this computer.

trying a rate this poem link

Rate this Poem @ GotPoetry.com

The Cowardly Terrorist of Fort Hood

I wasn't going to write anything about this because I figured the media would be all over it and it would be a 24/7 update on all the news stations. Instead they are molly coddling this cowardly terrorist who opened fire on a roomful of UNARMED people. Some are even trying to make him the victim and not even mentioning the 31 he injured and 13 he killed. Does anyone know their names? It's poor Nidal Malik Hasan. He was so upset over the thought of being deployed to Afghanistan and posted on the web he could not kill fellow Muslims. That he believed in their cause and felt the suicide bombers were doing the right thing.

He purchased the guns days in advance. He gave away all his belongings to a neighbor saying he would no longer need them. He passed out the Koran and preached Muslims as in the right. He entered the base with his military identification and carried unauthorized weapons with him. He stood up from his desk and proclaimed Allah is good and opened fire. This is not a random act of a man who suddenly cracked as some are trying to say, but the planned act of a terrorist who knew what he was doing and planned on dying a hero in the eyes of fellow Muslims.

Thank goodness for the bravery and forethought of a young female police officer, who even after having been wounded herself by this coward, had the guts to fire back and wound him to put him out of commission.

U.S. News "Cone also said that a female officer who was thought to be the first responder shot Hasan and was herself wounded and had undergone surgery at a hospital. It was not clear if the officer was a military policewoman or a civilian officer."

Oh, and what was resident Obama's response to this horrible tragedy? To this massacre of brave American military personnel, on American soil, on an American base?
Don't jump to conclusions. Oh wow! gee... like he didn't when Sgt. James Crowley (a white cop) was forced to arrest Professor Gates (a black man) because Gates himself made such a scene when the officers responded to a call by a neighbor of a possible break in at his home. The snippet is he was new to the neighborhood, had been away, returned home late, the lock didn't work so he broke in. When asked for identification he threatened the officer asking do you know who I am? Screaming actually and calling the cop a racist. Okay... so Obama immediately sides with the black professor and when he find he was in the wrong does he apologize? No, he calls a beer conference. HUH???

So, what are you going to do now mr. don't jump to conclusions obama. call a beer conference between this cowardly murderer, if he survives, and the brave people he killed...oh wait...their dead...I guess it would have to be the grieving familes of the brave people he killed. And what? Ask them to understand this poor misunderstood muslim coward and forgive him for the cold blooded murders of their children?

Addendum: I wanted to respond to Victoria stating that the majority of news stations were reporting this as a terrorist act and stating this coward was a muslim here so I could post the link showing this is not true. Of the networks reporting 85% never mentioned the word terror or called it a terrorist act and only 28% mentioned the muslim connection. We heard this on the news last night and I also found a link here on the internet. We watch many different news reports and were shocked to find out how little coverage this actually got.

Yeah, yeah, yeah....

I know, I know! I haven't posted here in a long long while. Not because things haven't been going on, but just nothing worth writing about.

I did record one of my poems on dvd and am now trying to see how to get it up on youtube.

Tomorrow I take two more cats to the vet for their annual shots and then later take my husband to another doctor appt.

Let's see...what other exciting things are going on... somehow October got past me and I never saw it coming or going!

Well, I'll try to live a more exciting life. Actually my previous years have been exciting enough and it's about time I had some time that isn't all thrills and chills.

until something exciting happens... zbird

OUCH!!!!! That hurt!

My husband has hundreds and hundreds of vhs movies and even though we've given boxes full to goodwill we still have way too many. As they are replaced with dvd's we pass the vhs tapes on. But, we also don't have enough wood bookcases to hold them all, so some were stacked on metal utility shelves. So, picture this....

In the room where I pay bills, etc, I have a table in the middle of the room. On the wall to the right was (not the word was) a metal shelving unit with vhs tapes 3 deep on each of the four shelves. Behind my chair was another metal utility shelf also with vhs tapes 3 deep on each shelf. So, I sit down at the table to pay bills yesterday and our 25 pound cat follows me. Not paying attention to what he is doing I am not able to stop him when he decides he needs to get up on the shelf to the left of me.

Creak!!!! Rumble!!!! Crash!!!! It falls over partially on me and I am buried in video tapes, but it also manages to crash into the one behind me and it is now skewed to the left. The only thing holding it up right now are the boxes of videos I have stacked next to it.

To say I was a bit sore is an understatement, but I did survive. Today I went out looking for sturdy wooden bookcases. Yikes! the prices! None at the thrift stores, so after a break I will be boxing up more tapes and finding homes for them until I can replace the old shelving units. Needless to say the metal utility shelves will not be on the list.

One of those days!

Last night my plans for today were to go do laundry and then since it was to be a nice day outside take a nice walk! Yep! those were my plans. When I got up this morning I found water on the back bathroom floor. Thought nothing of it and wiped it up. Went back later and dang! more water! Well, the kitchen sink was clogging up which meant I would have to call our favorite plumber and I do mean favorite. This guy is the sweetest old guy who loves his work!

My day went like this. Did laundry but got a call from Keith that he had left his cell phone at home. Would I look for it and would I mind bringing it to the school for him. Nope! no problem. Did that and then came back home and called the plumber. Left a message with his wife and two hours later he was at the door! Fixed the leak in the bathroom, unplugged the kitchen sink and checked out why the garbage disposal never worked to see if he could fix it today, too. Had to leave to pick up Keith, but plumber was gone when we got back. He called to check to make sure we got in because he had locked the door when he left. And yes, we do trust this guy alone in the house. He also informed us the garbage disposal unit didn't work because it was rusted out. He can either replace it or exchange it out for a regular pipe and drain. Probably should ask the landlady about that one!

In the meantime we've been here four years without a garbage disposal so probably don't need it.

Somehow I did manage to get a lot of housework done as well so the day wasn't entirely wasted.

Tomorrow - I get that walk!!

You never know what you're going to get!

Last weekend I told my mom I was making meatloaf this weekend. The first thing she said was don't forget the egg. My mom is 88! You'd think she would forget my meatloaf fiasco of 40 some years ago when I made my first one and it fell apart as I took it out of the pan. I had followed the recipe exactly! I knew I had. Until we found the egg still sitting on the kitchen counter. It was the egg, my mother informed me, that kept the meatloaf together. So, today, I did not forget the egg.

But, it did bring to mind another meatloaf fiasco for me. I was in the middle of making one when I realized I didn't have any tomato paste of ketchup. Well, I did have a can of tomato soup and figured that would be the same. Wrong! But I did invent meatloaf soup!

While talking with my current husband about these mishaps he commented on my experimenting with cooking and said, 'yes, sometimes you invent some real gems and other times you come up with entirely new life forms.' He's such a sweetheart.

Husband number 2 used to say he knew dinner was ready when the smoke alarm went off. So, I have never been a great cook, but I do get industrious every once in awhile amd come up with some really good concoctions. Some husband number 3 names Zephry goop. He likes my goop experiments! But as he says sometimes ... well, you just never know what you're going to get.

Poor Joe Wilson!

When (p)Resident Obama was giving his fairy tale story of how the health care plan would work, our representative, Joe Wilson (R), did the dumbest thing he could have done. He stood up and spoke the truth and said Obama lied when he said the health care plan would not cover illegal aliens. Should he have done it? NO! But to call him a racist for saying Obama lied is just as stupid as him breaking protocol and calling Obama a liar in a public forum.

I ask, where are the racist remarks here? Did he use the 'N" word? Did he make any reference to race, color or religion? Let's listen and hear.


One of the teachers at the college where my husband works went as far as to say Joe Wilson proved he was a Ku Klux Klan member with his racist remarks. Again, I ask where are the racist remarks. It is one man calling another man a liar. So, every time a white person questions the integrity of another who is black, regardless of the legitimacy of the charge, then that person is a racist? Then why doesn't it work the other way around? If you ask a black person why Joe Wilson's remark is considered racist the only answer I get is because he's white and he called a black man a liar. So, if he had called Bush a liar, which happened many times during his (P)residency then what would we call the white people who called him a liar? And better yet, wouldn't that make all the black people who called Bush a liar racists? Interesting concept and if you think about it at all to call a man a racist for calling another man a liar is ridiculous. The word racist is used so liberally these days it is losing it's power and it's meaning.

So, let's see how the dictionary defines racist.

One online dictionary gives this definition: racist: a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others.

Answers.com gives this definition:
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

The urban dictionary has a great definition and really goes into depth of how ridiculous it is to call someone a racist just because they are white. Here is the first paragraph but it is really worth going to the link and reading it all.

If you're a white man, this is what you are. It doesn't even matter if your wife is black and you have an adopted child from India, or how many black friends you have, somehow you're going to end up being a racist according to how the media portrays the white man as "racist whities".

Gone 500 Miles

Yesterday another important person from my coming of age period passed away. Mary Travers, of Peter Paul and Mary left this world, but left it a better place for having been here. She may not have left on a Jet Plane and is more than 500 miles away from home, but her leaving left a big hole in my heart.

Peter Paul and Mary were very politically active. They performed If I Had a Hammer in 1963 during the march on Washington. They were big promoters of Bob Dylan and one of their biggest hits was his Blowin' in the Wind. They also performed other songs of his including The Times They Are a Changin' and Don't Think Twice.

Don't think twice it's alright, Mary. You did a lot of good with your time on this earth, touched a lot of lives, and you made a difference.

So, now we must say goodbye to another great person who made more than a small impact on the world around her. Good bye Mary Travers. Sing Autumn to May sing tarrry-o-day.

The facts ma'm, just the facts

New York Times, June 18, 2009

Each day, the New York Police Department announces major crimes, including most homicides, in the five boroughs. This data is compiled from those reports, in addition to news accounts, court records and additional reporting. The map will be updated as new information becomes available.



And per the U.S. Census bureau the races break down to:

Whites make up 73.4% of NYC population
Blacks 17.3%
Asians 7%
Hispanic 16.7%

Serena Williams acts out at the U.S. Open

It’s time for me to put my two cents in on the Serena Williams outburst during the U.S. Open semi-finals. There are those who compare her to John McEnroe and claim he was never fined or penalized so why should Serena pay a fine. First, of all, that’s like comparing apples to oranges. As angry as John McEnroe got he never threatened a line judge with bodily harm. And yes, indeed! He was penalized, fined, and lost games, sets, and even matches due to penalties.

But, Serena went too far. When a 5’10”. 185 pound woman charges at a line judge, waving her racquet at her and shoving a ball out at her with her other hand screaming, “swear to God I’m f*cking going to shove this f*cking ball down your f*cking throat, that my friends is a threat to do bodily harm. To give the line judge credit she sat there and said nothing to instigate the situation further. (BTW this was all because the line judge called her on a foot fault, which if Serena truly believed she didn’t do she could have issued a player challenge). Serena then walked back to serve her second serve and then suddenly turned and charged at the line judge again screaming obscenities at her. This caught the attention of the chair umpire who called the line judge over and asked what Serena was saying to her. When she heard what had transpired she called out the tournament referee. Serena lost one point for the foot fault and then lost the match point on a penalty for her abusive language. She found nothing wrong with what she did and later stated she didn’t understand why the woman felt threatened. As one news person stated, did Serena watch the tape and still have to ask that question? It was a scary moment for those of us watching as it did look as if she was going to go after the line judge physically.

There have been many arguments on both sides, but my all time favorite in defense of Serena was on a discussion site. The person stated we were all racists for expecting Serena to act white. That the f-word is a part of the black culture and is used liberally and accepted and anyone who thought she was wrong is a racist. Hmmmmm…..

Okay, personally, I have no issues with the use of the word, but when you play a sport you abide by the rules of that sport, tournament, etc. and Serena knew the rules before she started the match. Yes, she should have been fined and yes, she should be suspended. So far all she got was a $10,000 fine and when compared to the $250,000 she got for making it to the semi-finals that’s chicken feed. She and Venus were allowed to play in the doubles and by the tournament rules they could have suspended her from playing.

My take on this is that this woman who when she loses always has an excuse – I sprained my ankle, hurt my back, broke a fingernail…. Knew she was losing and losing badly and rather than allow Kim Clisters the victory she took that away and put the attention on herself. As Kim said later she never got to experience the thrill you get when you serve that final ball for the win. So, Serena, got what she wanted. Even though she lost in the semi-finals she denied Kim her victory. But, Kim Clisters did go on to win the finals and take home the U.S. Open trophy.

Where have I been?

I was reminded today that I haven't posted here for awhile. There is really no excuse except I've been busy on gotpoetry.com, bookcrossing.com and various other sites that take the little time I have to be online. Scrabble calls me and entices me away from my duties to my blog. So, I am hereby making an announcement and pronouncement and whatever else you may call it that I will loyally come here and post once a week even if I have nothing say. Oh heck, especially if I have nothing to say.

The problem is lately I have had too much to say but am trying to be good and not post my opinions on what is happening in Washington, DC these days. It's too scary for one thing and more than ever I fear for the future of our once great country.

But, I won't go there... in fact I have to leave in a few minutes to pick up my husband at work and bring him home. We will watch more of the U.S. Open. For me all other news is moot right now anyway.

Good luck and good night.

Before you go to cash for clunkers....

...you want to watch this. Basically you are giving the govt. the right to access everything on your computer and your computer becomes govt. property by agreeing to their terms. Watch before you act!

Healthcare in plain English?

As I listen to all the debates and questions and answers regarding this so-called healt care reform bill what is most blatant is it seems none of the govt. officials involved have any idea what this bill is all about.

Take the question on illegal aliens, for example. When asked if the new bill would cover illegal aliens the speaker of the house gave this response.

KING: What about illegal immigrants, what should happen to them if we have national health care reform? Should they be able...
PELOSI: I'm sorry?
KING: Illegal immigrants.
PELOSI: Illegal immigrants?
KING: If you're in this country illegally, should you be able to get health care?
PELOSI: No, illegal immigrants are not covered by this plan.

Pelosi knew just what the interviewer meant—her questions made a subliminal statement. Like other politicos from both parties, Pelosi refuses to uphold laws governing immigration.

and then went on to say the following:

KING: And so what happens to a public hospital then if they walk into the emergency room? Again, the hospital I was at this week, they said, you know, they do 6,000 births a year there and 70 percent of them are for undocumented.
PELOSI: I don't know about that. But I do know that the law requires that if somebody comes in off the street and needs care, that it is extended. What we see in this legislation is that people will have access to affordable health care, and it will diminish the number of people going into those private -- public hospitals in the manner in which you described.

So basically the illegals will still get to drain our system by receiving free health care that we the American citizens will pay for. And how is that different from the current healthcare?

There are many other confusing issues. Abortion will be covered but not paid for by the taxpayers. But it's the taxpayers who are paying for the plan!

First, we checked a claim by Rep. John Boehner that the plan would require Americans to "subsidize abortion with their hard-earned tax dollars." While there are several versions of the health care plan floating around Congress, and it seems that full abortion coverage would be permitted in the government-sponsored program, we didn't see anything in them that would put taxpayers on the hook for subsidizing abortions. In fact, we found an amendment in a key version of the House plan that specifically seeks to ensure that federal funds are not used to subsidize abortion coverage.

So are abortions covered? if so who is paying for them? and who decides who can have an abortion? If we want to keep the government out of our wombs, as we used to say when pro-choice was born, aren't we letting them in even deeper with this health care reform? bill?

I watched the town hall meeting with Arlen Specter and he hemmed and hawed and sputtered and stammered and finally admitted there wasn't even a bill before congress right now so no one was clear on what was going to be in it in the end. No one understands it as written and no one knows what or who it will cover and yet we debate it day in and day out.

Give me the facts, not the rhetoric. Wtite the bill in plain English so even those of us who don't have college degrees can understand it. Oh, and then, let US vote on it since it will affect us...the general public...you know of the people, for the people, etc. It certainly won't affect those who are attempting to shove some garbage down our throats because they already have a great healthcare plan.

Which leads me to one final question. We are told we can choose between our current plan and the govt plan, but if we lose our current plan we must opt into the govt plan. And if you don't you will be fined. So there really is no choice. You can't choose to self insure, you can't choose a private insurer if you lose your current insurance...oh my! this is confusing! no one has given a straight answer on that one either.

According to CNN we stand to lose many freedoms under the Obama plan.

So I ask again...please write this in plain english, keep it under 25 pages, and put it out where the public can find it, read it, and then let us be the ones to decide if we want it. This is still America and we should still have freedom of choice. I want the right to choose. Why does the govt. think it knows better than I do what would be best for me?

.

R.I.P. Rich

Richard S. “Ebster” Napierkowski Richard S. Napierkowski, age 62, lost his courageous battle with cancer Sunday evening August 2, 2009. He was born in Erie September 1, 1946 son of Anna Skolnik Napierkowski and the late Stanley Napierkowski. Richard worked at Zurn Industries for over 30 years and then for ACL Laboratory. He was a U. S. Army veteran serving during the Vietnam War. Richard was a NASCAR fan and a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. He was a loving and devoted son and father. Besides his mother he is survived by his four children Mark Napierkowski and his wife Julie of Erie, Brian Napierkowski and his wife Kelly of West Springfield, Lori Lanagan and her husband John of Waterford, Arlene Falletta and her husband Craig of Lake City, his adored thirteen grandchildren, three brothers and five sisters: Bob Napierkowski, Mary Simanowski, Kathy Dylewski, Stan Napierkowski, Carol Gradler, Sue Powell, Ron Napierkowski and Lena Trojanovich. Many nieces and nephews also survive. Richard will be missed by all those who knew and loved him. He was preceded in death by two infant brothers. Friends may call at the Mark G. Razanauskas Funeral Home 701 East Avenue, Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. where a prayer service will be conducted Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at Holy Family Church at 11 a.m. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Sign the guestbook at www.GoErie.com/obits

Dying for a response

This weeks Ob-la-di meme asks.....

To dye or not to dye, that is the question. Do you dye your hair? To cover the gray or just for fun? Are you planning to stop dying it at some point, or if you don't dye it, have you ever? Tell me about how you want to dye.

The funny thing is I dyed my hair in my 30's and 40's. I stripped it wanting to go blond and ended up with the weirdest shade of red for awhile. So, I dyed it auburn over that and still it wasn't quite right. I have had my hair dark brown, ash brown, auburn, and highlighted and streaked in various shades. I stopped dying it in my 50's when I realized I liked the various shades of gray and white that were forming natural streaks in my brown hair. It looked cool! I am now 61 and while my hair gradually turns more and more gray and white I don't mind. I doubt I will ever dye it again. No, I know I will never dye it again. My hair has gotten quite long as I also tired of getting it cut. In the front it is past my shoulders and in the back it is almost to my waist. It is very fine so not thick. The long gray hairs and white hairs blending through the brown are more artistic to me than a sign of age. I like it!

Happy Birthday, Victoria!

Happy Birthday to my sister, Victoria!