Turkeys Voting for Christmas

"Why is it that people so often vote against their own interests? Are pragmatic politics patronising or simply a turn off? David Runciman investigates the unpopularity of President Obama's healthcare reforms and he asks why so many Americans seem angry about efforts to make them better off."

Why do people often vote against their own interests?

It is cold out this morning -1 degrees. That is cold I am glad that I am not in the weather at the dam.
The snow is sliding off our roof slowly we are waiting for the big slide.

Best Football Comeback

There is no need to do more than you have.
Good Show.
Congratulations.

U.S. Supreme Court

If a corporation has offices in France can they still influence our elections. Does the Supreme Court think they can?

"What was the resolution: The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the restrictions on corporate electioneering did violate the free speech protections of the First Amendment, and removed them. The ruling is also expected to apply to labor unions.

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After the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling last week that struck down several laws dealing with how much influence corporations and unions can have in the electoral process, many political observers are asking if it was a victory for the First Amendment, or if the doors have been opened for corporate interference in politics."

***
If a corporation has offices in France can they still influence our elections. Does the Supreme Court think they can?

Ice Storm

We have 4 inches of snow on the ground with drifts to 8 inches and still blowing and swirling.

Very chilly at 6:30 AM with a temperature of 20 degrees. No snow this morning as I look out side our windows. A heavy truck just rolled by in this darkness.
Last night the Tom cats had a fight in our living room as I slept. Mom heard the disturbance and investigated. She also cleaned up the mess they made near our doorway.
1:40PM and it is just starting to leave a trace, mom is home.

We are expecting 3 to 6 inches of snow in Marion and south of us in Murray only 6 inches (no variable).
The news hour had a survey and asked how much snow should we get and all the answers said, "Let it snow, but keep the electricity on and keep the ice away ."

I am going to read my book today. In an hour or so I will rise and do some cleaning in the kitchen. Hopefully my back will feel better in an hour.

Rico Dibrivell

Rico Dibrivell, 35, is treated for a broken leg and severe dehydration. Dibrivell said he had been trapped under the building since the Jan. 12 quake.

Love Stories

Love

There is a wonderful emotion called love. I said, "Emotion!" It has a definition which is only words.
Sometimes we see a movie or read a book and that emotion comes flooding back into being. It is an emotion that is whole body, whole being and not just a memory. That is love.
Sometimes I explain to the world that I love life and every being on the planet. Folks always say how could you love a being that has performed an evil thing to the planet or narrowed it down to just a single being. How is that possible? It is the planet and it's relationship to the sun that warms our hearts. Life flows into all fluids, what a spectrum of light/life that is.

My mind did get a Silver Lining from the Stimulus Package at the 1st of the year. My conservative friend says that the government wasted all that money to put a Silver Lining into my mind. What good could a Silver Lining do, " It only stimulates the mind and that is something that can not be see?" What a waste.

Aren't there any good guys with white hats in the middle east.

I do not know what did but my back is stiff and sore. Getting old in body with a good mind is difficult.
Mom's knee is bothering her today it must be the rain. That is it the rain.

Mom was Giddy

We were off to Paducah to get mom a battery for her cell phone. We stopped at the book store and got a couple of books (A is forand Pet's Smart for some bird seed and Fish Food.
We got home and I watched Kentucky Basketball while mom played a computer game and laughed out loud.
Mom is wearing a patch to help her with her back problem and it works. It worked so well that mom felt giddy while talking to her daughter which is very rare these days because her back was always on her mind and it hurt her.

Good Morning.
A little prayer to those in need and think of that lady that prayed for five days in darkness in Haiti on her knees (she could not move).
A saw a man removing steel from the concrete to salvage - just doing what he could just as every human being there in Haiti was doing. Surviving.

China plays hardball

Eat our crap and enjoy it.
Theft is a law in your country.

It is raining outside pretty hard.
8:00AM and it is still raining.
The starling learned to dump the bird food out of the feeders by putting their weight (as a team) on one side of the feeder as the seeds came out of the feeder as in a waterfall. Yesterday I fastened a bungee cord at the bottom of the feeder to our deck rail to keep it from tipping or blowing in the wind. We have cracked corn and thistle/Niger seeds in the feeders plus a block for the woodpecker.

Happy Birthday
Gil

Federal Holidays

Good morning. 30 degrees and fog that means icy spots on the bridges and overpasses.
Mom is off today.
***
The Untied States Military can build roads, hospitals, communications system, water system and toilets in a matter of days in emergencies if asked to do so. With gene technology they can identify human remains.
What we cannot do is simultaneously lift concrete off of all sights in a day or week in a an earthquake of the magnitude that devastated Haiti. In a small community as we have here in town it would be a simple task with our tools in the neighborhood.
On a island it is another matter.
Could you imagine what happened to those lost continents a 1,000 years ago.

41 degrees and raining this cloudy day in January. I took down my colorful lights and did watch Kentucky play basketball and taped two football games.
I am seeing on a black screen a movie, pretty remarkable eh. It is called, " 7 Pounds."
The more I watch the more it gets a little more troubling. It is well acted and certainly not recommended.
Today I may watch football and mom has the day off.

Google Search Haiti

I reinstalled MS Vista this morning because this computer started not working.

Good Morning.
I awoke and mom had put on CNN at 4:00AM 360 was on and they were talking to the lady who was trapped in the store next to the ketchup in Haiti. I had heard her relative outside the store yesterday asking god for help. There a thousand such stories some end well and some do not end well.
I saw my sisters post and my daughters posts and they were overwhelmed with concern. We can understand. I set out on a journey in 2000 to tell everyone that I loved them before it was too late to tell them.

I am constantly looking for a rush of words that will bring my emotions to a heightened state of euphoria.
So I read a book, go out and view the early morning, scan the Internet.
I am chasing a dream.
I am constantly finding that peace, that state of being, that euphoria.
Every morning I awake, every morning I search.
Sometimes there is a moment where I just see like a child lost in a dream,
Tomas did you hear me?
The teacher comes by and says,
Tomas did you hear the question?
Someone please tap my shoulder.
Awaken me from this moment of peace.

Nothing would be done if we all found that moment of peace.
No wars could be fought if we all found that moment of peace.
Some of us can carry that moment throughout the day.
An aura of bliss carried on our shoulders like a comforting knapsack.
We can dig the weeds, assemble the work, draw the painting, and write the word.
All we need is the awakening moment, the reminder, the warm chill that emanates deep in our being to come forward like the blood that flows to our brain.
We are constantly showing others our moment hoping that they will see it.
Share it be part of it.
It is a good vibration; a warm movement of blood; a good state of mind; it is peace.

It is a very nice morning in Western Kentucky. It is nice that the world closest to Haiti are helping as they can, which is very difficult as we can see. Moving swiftly with caution is the best word and that is difficult at best.

Google and China

"Though Google has not disclosed the exact nature of the attacks, Drummond wrote: "In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google." He added that the company has gathered evidence that 20 other large Internet, finance, technology, media, and chemical companies were also attacked."

Monsanto Corn

"A new study claims to have uncovered new health effects caused by genetically-modified corn from the agricultural giant Monsanto. The International Journal of Biological Sciences says GM corn helped cause organ damage in rats. The study’s author called Monsanto’s GM methods E “a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health.”

"And We Have the Seeds"
Monsanto Purchases World’s Largest Vegetable Seed Company
http://www.seedalliance.org/Seed_News/SeminisMonsanto/

Nice

RFID Spy Chips

RFID

25 degrees this morning outside and a comfortable 70 degrees inside.
Kentucky plays basketball this evening (at Florida).

Well I can't believe it is 23 degrees this morning. That is quite a change 21 degrees warmer at this time yesterday.
The temperature swings are all right if we are prepared and with heat. Unprepared and without heat are a different matter. Last year at the end of January and into February we were without a furnace and electricity and water. We did have gas on our cook-top and our water heater. Which was more than all electric homes in the area.

2 degrees outside our front door and heavy frost on the wind shields of our vehicles. In twenty minutes I will go out and start mom's van.
Some of the dusting snow has blown away and melted by the sun.
Living in comfort is being warm on a frigid day.
I do have the luxury of typing letters to just about everyone in town without going into any ones private world. That is the world of Facebook.
At this blog I can post my feelings and at Facebook I can post my friendly side plus share with my family all our photos.

10 degrees and snowing here in Marion. Mom's van started well yesterday. I defrosted the windows on the van for 30 minutes before she left for work and it took 10 miles before her feet warmed. That is cold. I will start her van again 30 minutes before she leaves. Mom has got the lowest possible job at Walmart and she making it into an executive PR position. If you know mom you understand, "Walmart! May I help you?"

New approach to fighting Alzheimer’s shows potential in clinical trial

"In a clinical trial of 225 Alzheimer’s patients, researchers found that a cocktail of three naturally occurring nutrients believed to promote growth of those connections, known as synapses, plus other ingredients (B vitamins, phosopholipids and antioxidants), improved verbal memory in patients with mild Alzheimer's."

I have been here 599,352 hours on this planet and those before me have placed their mark on society. Some have posted signs and planted trees and flowers. I got paid for my services and continue with a modest income.
Today I post and tomorrow I see.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, victim of Japan’s two atomic bombs, dies aged 93

Seitan

I did not wake up until almost 8:00AM. It must be the chill in the air surrounding us.

Wheat gluten, also called seitan

Snug Wow Commercial

Today I rest. It is 10 degrees out with a wind chill. Mom is off today and tomorrow so I will let my body rest. I pushed myself yesterday and I feel it.
The link above is a parody of the Snug Blanket and the Sham Wow pictured at left.

The temperature dropped to 8 degrees at daybreak.

My pay check arrived at the bank on the first day of the month and today is the first day that they will post it to my account. That means that our bank used that money as credit for 3 days. That is my money and they used it to make money plus they used those days to insure more penalties on the poor, that is me.
I left the Holy Day lights on outside.

My older computer received a Trojan Horse virus and I had to replace the operating system with a new one.
I rearranged our living area to its old self. But now I have a computer table so that I can practice using the Wacom tablet and pen.

I say hello to this new day.

It is 11 degrees this morning in Marion Kentucky. It is cloudy and we have daylight.
I did a little maintenance on the NARFE website yesterday. I have been practicing every day using my new drawing tablet. I can sign my name but drawing is a little tougher than I thought it would be. At the moment I am trying to touch the first letter in each word in this paragraph. With a mouse I slide to each letter but with the drawing tablet I lift the pen and go to each letter.

Good Morning

12 degrees with a dusting of snow on the ground. Snow is still falling but you have to look close. Football and basketball are on my agenda. Mom asked me why the colorful lights are off and I said, "I pulled the plug." That question said to me why pull the plug? Winters are hard on the mind and colorful lights are a way of giving color to the mind.
My back is better thanks to the doctor and my daughter. The doctor prescribed a muscles relaxant and my daughter did some heavy duty chores while here during the holidays relieving me of the heavy lifting.
I am taking the lights off the Christmas/Solstice tree. The ornaments are in their container ready for our next winter solstice with our traditional meetings and songs.

Chances Are (1957)
Johnny Mathis

Elvis Presley I Want You, I Need You, I Love You

Calendars

Do we know why this is the beginning of a new year? I know if I go the the web site above then maybe I'll understand why this is the day of the new year 2010.