It's a new year, it's a new time, it's a new world

I cannot believe I have not written on this blog in a year. It seemed futile. I don't think anyone was reading them anymore anyway. The main reason I stopped writing was because in the past year I went through some pretty intensive training to become an online associate professor for the University of Phoenix Axia College. Since the training, I have been teaching anywhere from 2-5 classes ALL the time! Right now I am doing 3. And besides...I forgot my password.

But here I am. No longer yearning for a grandchild, but the proud Mimi of one little darling born on December 10, 2009 named Olivia Anne McLarty. My daughter is an amazingly good mother - just as I knew she would be. Greg is a dream dad. I only wish my children would have had that when they were born. He loves his little girl!

Olivia has 2 grandmothers (so I am Mimi), 3 great- grandmothers and 3 grandfathers and 2 great grandfathers. She also has 7 uncles! SEVEN! No aunts yet as Greg is the only one married. Jeff was married so she had an aunt, but that didn't work out so she only has uncles. I feel for her when she wants to date!

I have been very politically active for the past couple of years which has alienated some of my family members, but that's ok. None of them will discuss politics with me. Perhaps because I have facts to back up what I say and the don't - well they do have Bill O'Reilly and FOX news - the most biased cable news network in the world. What we call the idiot box is their source of information. I prefer books and documentaries and actually reading the material being proposed to make my decisions. I don't let morons like O'Reilly tell me how to think. I used to be a liberal conservative, but the more right wing extremist that members of my family get, the more left wing extremist I get. Both my boys and daughter are liberals also, but more conservative than I am - can you believe it? Me and old age really have an opinion and are not afraid to use it!

So as we count down the Mayan calendar, and the New World Order events continue to fall into place, I guess I will attempt, at least from time to time, to post something here. Go into my archives for postings that might interest you. I had a better attitude about the world but then Bush killed it just like he killed all our American serviceman. Why didn't his twins go into the military and go to Iraq? I think he should have been able to do that without worry since he could send anyone else's children over there. Thank God Obama is getting us out of Iraq by August.

Until next time when I truly have something to say...

To Those Who Have A Loved One at War

Tribute to the Troops - Nickleback Double Feature

Click on the title to see this awesome collection of pictures of our troops fighting in Iraq, set to the music of two songs by Nickleback.

4th of July - Meaning lost in 2007

Frederick Douglass, the most influential African American of the 19th century, was asked to speak in New York and deliver an address regarding Independence Day in 1852. His speech is long, eloquent, but reminds his listeners that there is not freedom and independence for his own race, and, indeed, slavery lasted another 13 years after his speech. We throw the word "freedom" around way too much today. Freedom is becoming a precious and precarious concept in the 21st century.

If you read the ENTIRE Declaration of Independence numerous times and study it, you cannot help but see the irony of how far off base we are from what is set forth in that extensive document. The current Patriot Act is a direct violation of what the declaration sets forth when it declared war on Great Britian and declared that it would separate itself from a ruler when the founding fathers truly believed that man could govern himself and did not need a King. Checks and balances were put into place. The framers of the declaration - many of whom also wrote the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, looked for less government and more independent freedoms for the citizens.

Today, we are not a government by the people and for the people, but a people being dictated to as to how to live our personal lives as well as our civic lives. Our tax system is unfair, our justice system is completely out of wack, our healthcare compared to other industrial nations is inferior, and we are the only industrial and technological country without national healthcare - given to all people and free. Worldwide we have the reputation of the school bully. I find this very disheartening.

America, for all its shameful past of the slaughter of the Native American population, and the horrific institution of slavery that lasted over 200 years here, somehow became the most wonderful country in the world. We helped, and still help so many other countries. We give and give and give. At the same time, we have been at war almost non-stop since Columbus landed in the West Indies. We are a warring country and always have been and maybe that's just what it takes to become a super power. But at some point, enough is enough.

The war in Iraq was supposed to last about 3 months. Now, as we go into our 5th year at war, there seems to be no end in sight. It is looking like another Korean or Vietnam war - those wars we simply cannot win. Will we stay in it for 20 years and have the casualties we did in Vietnam?

We have a statue that invites everyone "yearning to be free" called the Statue of Liberty, yet we are building a wall to keep Mexicans out. We need to make up our mind. We are a country built by and for immigrants. We need to take down the Statue of Liberty or change the wording, or we need to solve the immigration problem and debate. We cannot have our cake and eat it, too. Eventually someone strikes back, and unfortunately, that has happened to us. I fear it will get worse as we continue to alienate more and more countries each passing year.

It seems wrong to celebrate the 4th of July when we are celebrating a document that we have defied and denied as badly as we have already. And I am afraid it is going to get worse before it gets better.

SHINEDOWN performs for the troops in Iraq

This is a great video of SHINEDOWN performing for the troops in Iraq. SHINEDOWN is one of my very favorite bands. You may think the video is over, but hang on - one of the guys does a song with the soldiers as the video fades out. I had trouble getting it to play correctly on this page, so...

Just click on the above title which will take you to my MY SPACE page and the video is there. Look for the video called "SHED SOME LIGHT" Click and play.

Definitely worth the watch to see the troops in their environment and it is a beautiful song.