Occupy Support Photos

Occupy Support Photos

God and Dads agree (see pic)

God and Dads agree (see pic)

Single Parent Quote

"The worst day with my children easily beats the best day without them!"

Single Parent Quote

Thank you-my fellow Veterans!

Thank you-my fellow Veterans!

Winston!!!!

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.     - Winston Churchhill

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchhill

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.   - Winston Churchhill

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.   - Winston Churchhill

If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchhill

Never, never, never give up.   - Winston Churchhill

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.  - Winston Churchhill

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.  - Winston Churchhill

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchhill

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.  - Winston Churchhill

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.  - Winston Churchhill

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.  - Winston Churchhill

I am easily satisfied with the very best.   - Winston Churchhill

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.  - Winston Churchhill

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.  - Winston Churchhill

Winston!!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words

...and a picture with words is even more valuable.

A picture is worth a thousand words

What is Halloween?

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is considered by most in the United States as a fun holiday, mostly for children, but it has roots in ancient religions and folklore, including paganism, ancient Roman religions, early Catholic Christianity, Irish folklore, and even British politics! Children and adults alike enjoy this holiday today, with funny costumes, candy, and parties, while some countries observe this time as a remembrance of departed loved ones and religious saints.

Here is a short history of this holiday: History

Halloween is a holiday with ancient roots that had a much greater meaning than the boisterous, costume-filled holiday that we know today. Around 2,000 years ago, the Celts, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northern France, had a festival commemorating the end of the year. Their New Year was November 1, and this festival was called Samhain, pronounced sow-en. The end of their year signaled the end of summer, the end of the harvest season, and the beginning of a long, hard winter that often caused many deaths of animals and people. Weaker livestock were often killed and eaten during this holiday, since most likely, they would not survive the winter anyway. Because of this, and the cruel winter to come, this time of year signified death to the Pagan Celtics. They believed the night before the New Year, that the wall between the living and the dead was open, allowing spirits of the dead, both good and bad, to mingle among the living. Some of these spirits were thought to possess living people, cause trouble, ruin crops, or to search for passage to the afterlife.

Samhain was considered a magical holiday, and there are many stories about what the Celtics practiced and believed during this festival. Some say the spirits that were unleashed were those that had died in that year, and offerings of food and drink were left to aid the spirits, or to ward them away. Other versions say the Celts dressed up in outlandish costumes and roamed the neighborhoods making noise to scare the spirits away. Many thought they could predict the future and communicate with spirits as well during this time. Some think the heavily structured life of the Pagan Celtics was abandoned during Samhain, and people did unusual things, such as moving horses to different fields, moving gates and fences, women dressing as men, and vice versa, and other trickeries now associated with Halloween. Another belief is that the Celtics honoured, celebrated, and feasted the dead during Samhain. A sacred, central bonfire was always lit to honor the Pagan gods, and some accounts say that individual home fires were extinguished during Samhain, either to make their homes unattractive to roving spirits, or for their home fires to be lit following the festival from the sacred bonfire. Fortunes were told, and marked stones thrown into the fire. If a person's stone was not found after the bonfire went out, it was believed that person would die during the next year. Some Celts wore costumes of animal skulls and skins during Samhain. Faeries were believed to roam the land during Samhain, dressed as beggars asking for food door to door. Those that gave food to the faeries were rewarded, while those that did not were punished by the faeries. This is reported to be the first origin of the modern "trick or treat" practice. (If you're looking for halloween costumes, check out discount halloween costumes for great deals.)

In the First century A.D., the Roman Empire had taken over most of the Celtic lands. The Romans had two festivals also celebrated at the same time of year as Samhain. One was Feralia, also in late October, was the Roman day honouring the dead. The second festival was for Pomona, the Roman goddess of trees and fruit. Pomona's symbol was the apple. These two festivals were combined with Samhain in the Celtic lands during the four hundred years the Roman Empire ruled over the Celts. The goddess Pomona's apple might be the root of the Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples.

Over the next several hundred years, Christianity had spread to include the lands inhabited by the Celtics and the Romans, but the festival of Samhain was still celebrated by the people. The Christian church reportedly did not like a festival with Pagan roots practiced by Christians, so a replacement was needed. Pope Boniface IV designated May 13 as All Saints Day to honour dead church saints and martyrs. Samhain continued to be celebrated, so in 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV moved the holiday to November 1, probably to take attention away from the Pagan Samhain festival and replace it. Since All Saints Day was sanctioned by the church, and related to the dead, the church was happy, but many Pagan traditions of Samhain continued to be practiced, including bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costume. All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows, or All Hallowmas (Hallowmas is Old English for All Saints Day). Since Samhain was celebrated the night before November 1, the celebration was known as All Hallows Eve, and later called Halloween. In the year 1000 A.D., the church designated November 2 as All Souls Day, to honour the dead who were not saints, and they eventually became combined and celebrated as Hallowmas.

On All Souls Day in England, the poor would "go a-souling". They would go door to door asking for food, and in return, would pray for the souls of their dead relatives. It was widely believed at the time that the souls of the dead would await passage into heaven until enough people prayed for their souls. The Christian church encouraged this practice to replace the old Pagan tradition of leaving cakes and wine out for the spirits of the dead. The poor would be given "soul cakes", which were pastries made for those who promised to pray for their dead relatives. In some cultures, soul cakes would be given in exchange for a performance or song as well. Children eventually adopted this practice, and were given food, ale, or money.

Jack o'lanterns are a Halloween staple today, with at least two historical roots. The early Pagan Celtic peoples used hollowed out turnips, gourds, or rutabagas to hold an ember from the sacred bonfire, so they could light their home fires from the sacred bonfire. Another tale from folklore gives jack o'lanterns their name. In Irish myth, a man known as "Stingy Jack", who was a swindler and a drunk, who asked the devil to have drink with him. Jack convinced the devil to change himself into a coin so he could pay for the drink, but Jack put the coin in his pocket next to a silver cross, which trapped the devil, preventing him from changing himself back. Jack agreed to free the devil on the condition that the devil would not bother Jack for a year. Next year, Jack tricks the devil into climbing a tree to fetch a piece of fruit. While the devil is up the tree, Jack carves a cross into the trunk, preventing him from climbing back down the tree. In order to get out of the tree, the devil promised Jack not to seek his soul any more. When Jack died, he was not allowed into heaven, because of his drunken and swindling ways, but he was not allowed into hell either, because the devil kept his word. Taking pity on Jack, the devil gave him an ember to light his way in the dark, putting it into a hollowed out turnip for Jack to carry on his lonely, everlasting roamings around the Earth. People from Ireland and Scotland would make "Jack o'lanterns" during this season to scare away Stingy Jack and other evil spirits wandering about.

Over the next several centuries, superstitions about witches and black cats were added to to the folklore and legends of Halloween. Cats were thought of as evil, especially black cats, and were killed by the thousands in Medieval times, possibly contributing to the Black Plague, due to the shortage of the rat's natural enemy, the cat. During this time, the church created the belief that evil witches existed.

In the 1500's, Martin Luther created the Protestant Church, which had no saints, so no All Hallows Day was allowed. On November 5, 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed for attempting to blow up England's Parliament. Fawkes, along with an extremist Catholic organization he belonged to, wanted to remove the Protestant King James from his throne. The English wasted no time to have a celebration to replace All Hallows Day, so Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated from then on. Many traditions of All Hallows Day were practiced, such as bonfires, and children asking for money, but the reasons why were different. Bonfires were known as "bone fires" originally, because they were lit in order to burn an effigy of the Catholic pope, burning his "bones". Two hundred years later, the effigy of the pope was replaced by an effigy of Guy Fawkes, prompting children to go door to door, asking for a "penny for Guy", so they could make their effigy to burn. In the New World, the colonists celebrated Guy Fawkes Day for a while, but as the colonies became the United States of America, Guy Fawkes Day fell by the wayside.

In the United States

Halloween was not a popular observance in early United States history, as most of the early settlers were Protestant. At the time, Halloween was considered mostly a Catholic, Episcopalian, and Pagan holiday, and therefore largely ignored. In the southern colonies, such as Virginia and Maryland, there were some Halloween customs observed. The first common events were called "play parties". These parties got neighborhoods together to celebrate the harvest, dance, sing, tell stories of the dead, tell fortunes, and have pageants for children in costume. By the mid 1800's, immigration increased, and many Irish immigrants, mostly Catholics fleeing the potato famine, brought many Halloween traditions with them. Jack o'lanterns found a new face, the pumpkin, which was very plentiful in the New World. Catholics and Episcopalians sought to preserve their traditions, so started an effort in the late 1800's to popularize and make their holidays known to the general population. By campaigning to put these holidays (Halloween and All Saints Day) on public calendars, magazines and newspapers started to publicize these holidays, and soon became popular in the United States more as a community and family holiday, rather than one of great religious and supernatural importance.

What is Halloween?

John F. Kennedy is missed!

What is the American dream?  To own a house, free healthcare, destroy the rich?  I thought is was simply Liberty.

JFK apparently thought so as well.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home, and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

                      -John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy is missed!

Global diversity and our kids

Recently Yum Brands, Inc., which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, was pointed out to me.  Apparently Yum Brands feels so strongly about Global Diversity and Inclusion that they have an official position titled, "Sr. Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion".  Everyone wants to be included and diversity or variety is a good thing...right?.

From Yum Brands website:
"We are also increasing the representation of African Americans, Hispanics, and women among our key talent/decision makers, and growing the pipeline of diversity in our mid-level manager ranks.

James Fripp
Yum! Brands Sr. Director of
Global Diversity and Inclusion"

Hmmm, funny when you take a lot of the initiatives being promoted lately like tax the rich and global diversity and apply it to your children's classroom the results are often appalling.  Picture your kids class during an exam and based on historical trends and skin color, you award who in the class gets an A, B, or C.  Makes a whole lot of sense, well okay not really, but why is this same logic being pushed by a major corporation?  If this global diversity and inclusion does make sense, why not cover the spectrum?  What about including the Irish, Italian, Scottish, and Middle Eastern?  Then again wouldn't it be easier for those promoting this global diversity and inclusion to just call this what it appears to be, "NO WHITE MALES".  You can change James title to, "Sr. Director of Global Get Whitey and Exclusion".

What kind of world are we leaving to our children when we have programs that give special consideration to those based on skin color and/or gender?  Not a good one and I'll be skipping Pizza Hut from now on and I sure hope Domino's doesn't follow suit.

See page

http://www.yum.com/responsibility/diversity.asp

Global diversity and our kids

Peeing on a tree quote

One of my early blog posts involved an incident that left me scatching my head.  Working from home I see my son in the backyard peeing on the fence.  Upon asking my son why he was peeing on the fence, he replied, "Well, I peed on the tree and I figured the fence needed some pee too.". 

I couldn't argue with kid logic this powerful....  I hope he's not peeing on a tree at his school right now though.  Just a great parenting moment.

Peeing on a tree quote

Rest In Peace Brother!

Navy Seal Jon Tumilson's "man's best friend  "Hawkeye" led the funeral profession into the gym and then laid in front of his master during the service. Tear jerking. 
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Rest In Peace Brother!

Are student loans the next bubble?

Many would argue that higher education in this country is the best in the world. France has some of the best culinary schools, and Oxford and Cambridge have rivaling histories of literary renown, but only in the United States will you find comparable culinary and literary prowess as well as thousands of virtually every other topic one could imagine -- only to the United States do more than half a million students come every year to study.

Here's a question or two for you:  If our public K-12 educational system is such a mess, then how do we have world class leading higher education?  Is higher education only the best because the universities and colleges claim it to be?  Do our top colleges and universities actually suck?

Then add in the ever increasing crushing debt burden upon our students: Student Loans.  Is it time to rethink not only what college, but how students go about getting a college degree?  I would say yes.

According to a recent study by the college board, I am in plenty of good (or was in unlucky) company as almost one-out-of-five graduates with bachelor degrees will not be able to make payments on the average undergraduate loan debt, which now stands at a whopping $30,500 before interest. If that’s not disheartening enough, consider that for the first time ever, student loan debt now outranks credit card debt.

Can you believe that Americans now have accrued more debt by pursuing higher education that by using credit cards.  To be exact – $805.9 billion in federal student loans outstanding and $237.3 billion in outstanding private student loans. The news is even more troubling for both the African American and Latino communities, who borrow disproportionately to pay for private nonprofit or for-profit college than a public four-year college.

Do parents need to save and pay more or is it time to completely rethink higher education?  Do I even bring up how much of our tax dollars are used to fund higher education, thus we are paying twice and condemning our children to monster student loans. 

Are student loans the next bubble?

Mom of the year!!!!

In this age of political correctness, I'll throw my two cents in on the Government feeling up our children this way. "Hey dirtbags, keep your hands off our children!".  What am I talking about?  A Nashville mom stands up to the TSA to protect her daughter.

Mom takes on TSA, read story:
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/13/mom-arrested-for-yelling-at-tsa-over-daughters-patdown/

Mom of the year!!!!

Tax the evil rich!!!!

What

When did hate become so popular?  Tax the rich, also known as take/steal/confiscate, and give it to another person is alive and well.  Unfortunately.  Funny that taxing the rich doesn't seem to necessarily go to another, but rather it disappears into a big sucking black hole called government spending.  Why don't we just give "the poor" the freedom to take from the rich directly.  It would be great and just imagine someone driving a car you like and being able to go whack them over the head and steal it.  Did I say steal?  I meant to say tax it from them.  See a house you like, well just give "the poor" the "right" to go kick in the front door and confiscate the home.  Did I say confiscate?  I meant to say tax if from them.  Well you get the idea....

To get our kids on board with this type of thinking we should make all children who get A's, B's, and C's in school "give" points to any kids with F's.  We can call it taxing the evil smart kids.

Or we could just move to a flat tax system that treats all of us equal..is that hateful?....

Tax the evil rich!!!!

Notable Quote

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing. -Thomas Jefferson

Notable Quote

Too shocking for adults, but it's taught to 3rd graders

I love that the school board doesn't like the language used, but the mom is literally reading from her kids 3rd grade text book. If the language is inappropriate for a school board meeting, wouldn't someone think it would be inappropriate for 3rd graders? How did this text book get into the classroom?

Too shocking for adults, but it's taught to 3rd graders

You have got to be kidding me

nice

2 High School students are suspended and arrested for having a
leatherman (multi-tool) and a lighter (explosive device). Is this
really how far we have sunk as a nation?
I used to trade Old Timer Knives in school with my teachers, at the
same time half the students in my school had a hunting rifle in their
trucks. Funny that we didn't have the school violence issues then
that we enjoy so much today. I commented on this subject in the past
that we should be going the opposite direction with students today.
Add in shooting classes, gun safety, proper care and maintenence of
firearms, knives 101, and so on. Guns have been part of students
lives for hundreds of years with almost no problems. Agree or
disagree, but what we are doing today is not working.
Read full story here:
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/05/10/2-md-students-punished-after-bag-search/

You have got to be kidding me

I hope that it was a good one.

mom

I hope that it was a good one.

Quote

I firmly believe that parenting is one part motivational speaker to
help our children face life's many obstacles. In our home the word
"can't" is treated as harshly as any other four letter word. I will
be in a world of trouble if my children find out that I would would
welcome traditional four letter words over the word "can't".
Another great quote:
"We will either find a way, or make one." -Hannibal

Quote

InHouston Charity of the month (Eye Care for Kids)

InHouston, an InCity Netowrk, is proud to announce the upcoming charity for the month of May. Each months featured charity will have personel available to you at the InHouston flagship mixer at the UpTown Park Tasting Room on May 11th. I hope you will join us in supporting this outstanding organization by attending InHouston events and spreading the word to others.

About Eye Care for Kids:

Eye Care for Kids Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, formed in 1998 that provides free eye examinations and glasses for low-income, uninsured children in the greater Houston area.

Learn more: http://www.eyecareforkids.org/

InHouston Charity of the month (Eye Care for Kids)