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Now, I thought Carly Fiorina outdid herself with the Demon Sheep video.  I was horrified, as sheep are my favorite animal, so sweet and cuddly looking.  However, this video was totally absurd, causing quite a stir on the internet, but not necessarily a positive stir for Fiorina.

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 Now Fiorina creates the video:  Hot Air: The Movie.  Although her portrayal of Boxer is stop on, and it is quite hilarious and entertaining, I still do not feel that she gives me a reason to vote for her.  I still stand behind Chuck Devore.  All that I have seen on the internet, in written articles, or interviews on radio or TV shows tells me that what California and America needs is Chuck Devore.  He has proven himself as a strong fiscal conservative in the California state government.  He has stated that he would not be a yes vote for ObamaCare, nor was he for the stimulus and would not back Cap and Trade.  He has worked hard for the people of California throughout our “lack of a budget mess” as well.  I also feel confident that he would stand up for the Constitutional rights of us little people.  It has been way too long that Barbara (and I will not call her Senator) Boxer has been in Washington, and I feel the right person to replace Boxer will be Chuck Devore, not Carly Fiorina.

Most of us know that California’s central valley is hurting due to a lack of water allowed to be used, because of the delta smelt.  In addition to the central valley most Californians are asked to conserve water usage.  My town’s water rates have been increased an approximate 39% just this past year alone.  We have been asked to conserve an additional 10% over what we have already been asked to conserve in the past. Most are outraged at the fact that the State of California, year after year, cannot provide adequate water for California residence. 

I moved to California 30 years ago, and I remember then that there were often years where we were told we must conserve our water usage.  Here in California, we have this saying “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.”  Real funny, huh.  We have low flow showers, low capacity toilets.  We have learned years ago which plants are native to the areas to be used in landscaping so we use less water.  In the 30 years of my being a California resident, I have seen no improvement in the water issues, yet we have close to a 40% increase in our bill and are told to use less.  We have water police that turn residence in if they are found to be watering on a day not allocated, or have their sprinklers on for longer than 10 minutes.    Lawns that were once showcases, are now covered with brown spots where grass once grew.

As far as the poor farmers in the Central Valley, I cannot even imagine the hardships they have gone through.  Unemployment rates are as high as 40% in the Central Valley.  I fear that many have lost everything, and even if water was available tomorrow, many will not be able to plant the crops they once did.  If prices have not yet increased in the grocery stores, they are certain to in the near future as the central valley is the primary source for many of the crops grown there. 

I am sorry, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that we need to make some changes to what California is doing.  First of all, Dianne Feinstein states the lack of water to be due to GLOBAL WARMING, (I wonder what she is saying now that the global warming hoax has been uncovered).  She also states that she has worked on water issues since 1993, and as far as I am concerned, as a Senator, she, along with California government should have figured out a solution by now. 

I am not at all saying that we need to totally disregard the delta smelt.  I don’t really care about the law-suits concerning these fish, but we do need to come up with a plan for the future, and one that doesn’t hope that we get more rain next year.  Whether it be larger holding areas, more water reclamation, use of increased amounts of gray water for landscape use, desalinization plants, etc., we of California need to look at ways to increase water now, not 30 years from now. 

Despite all these water issue, I now hear rumors that there is an increased allocation of water for the farmers, and California Democrats Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa are a yes vote for Obama’s health care bill.  Many are saying this is a payoff for their yes vote.  Is it now okay for the delta smelt to suffer so that us humans get the water, even though yesterday that was unthinkable? If this is indeed true, is there no end to the pay-offs for the corrupt progressive liberals in Washington to get their way.  I for one would gladly give up catsup and almonds to keep liberty and freedom.  I’m paying my extra 40% for water, and have little in way of landscaping still alive, but with all the bail-outs and take overs of banks, car companies, payoff to unions, etc., enough is enough.  America is screaming for Washington to hear our voice, but they deem us too stupid to understand just how much we need this health care plan.  Yes, I know we need this health care plan, because you need to control our country, and this is your last step in creating a nanny state which will require us to be managed by government from this point on.  I, for one, will continue to fight you to prevent this from happening.  Now, instead of gardening, I spend my free time campaigning for candidates that believe in the Constitution, and want to work for the people they represent, not control them.  My vote come this November will be to vote in people who plan on listening to “We the People” (a definite NO vote for Boxer & Feinstein).  America is screaming to be heard, screaming to retain our LIBERTY and FREEDOM.

My daughter is a senior in high school.  I have to admit, that until seeing reports of what was actually being taught in school, when shown one night on Glenn Beck, I had no idea just how twisted the curriculum was.  I was shocked when I saw portions of “The Story of Stuff”, and even more shocked when my daughter told me she had seen it at least twice in school over the years.  I questioned my daughter about the movie, and her thought about it.  Her response was “Mom, I do have a brain, and I hear what the teachers say, and I see stuff on TV and I hear what you and dad have to say and I make up my own mind.”  I then asked her what she thought about much of what was in the movie.  She stated that she know a lot of it was garbage, and she just didn’t accept it as true. 

Now, I would say my daughter is not at all a push-over.  She is quite stubborn, and I am also glad to say, she is swayed little by peer pressure, which I think is fabulous.  For this reason, she is not afraid to speak her mind in class even when she know everyone else may be fighting her views.  She is strong enough to stand firm, and to give reasons as to why she views things the way she does, despite negative responses from her classmates.   She tells me she is amazed at how many people take a stand on the liberal side, but do so only because it is what most others are doing, but when pressed, she tells me, they don’t have a clue – no facts – nothing.

I talk to her about what is happening in Washington, and even at the State of California level.  I do realized I am stating things from an extremely conservative point of view, but I do try to tone things down a bit as to not lose her altogether.  My daughter informed me the other day that she was going to be given a quiz in school to determine whether she was considered a liberal or conservative.  I was nervous she was going to come home and tell me the test gave her a liberal rating, but hoped for the best.  I am glad to say she tested moderate with strong right leanings, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  She had given me hints in the past of a conservative side when last year, Obama stated that he was allowing Americans to send items to family in Cuba, to my dismay, my daughter quickly said “that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.  Cuba is so corrupt, the people will never get what is sent them.”  Wow, not at all what I expected, but exactly what I was thinking.  One can only hope that things get to their intended recipients, but I am a skeptic. 

While American’s are struggling with our fight against ObamaCare, which in my opinion is not a Bill for Health Care, but a means to create Government control and a “nanny state”, I was listening to my daughter as she was talking to her boyfriend.  He made a comment about how great it will be when Health Care passes.  She quickly snapped, “are you crazy?, WHY would you want Government Health Care?”  He told her that it would make his medications cheaper, as he has a few he has to take each day.  She was very quick to inform him that: #1, if he thought he wouldn’t be paying more for those meds in one way or another, he was crazy, and #2, why does he want to work hard to have to pay for all the people out there that don’t want to have to work to pay for it!  She went on to tell him that although there are some out there that really need the help, and changes needed to be made in Health Care, that Obama’s plan was not a good thing.  I think it shocked the hell out of him, but he thought about it for a while and eventually responded “WOW, I guess you’re right.”  I guess she is watching, digesting, thinking and determining what was good and what was not.  I think she is headed in the right direction.

I am in total amazement at just how much the death of Chelsea King has affected me.  I find myself breaking down every time I am reminded of her murder.  This is quite often seeing that my daughter is a senior at Poway High.  I have tried to analyse just why it is that I haven’t been able to hold it together.  Could it be that I hate the fact that my daughter has to go through the pain of the death of a classmate.  Someone she may not have known well, but just the same, a student in her graduating class.  She had commented to me that the day of her disappearance she was listening to Chelsea comment about modeling for her friend, and not knowing what to wear for the photo shoot, she decided to bring a whole bag of clothes so she knew she could change into the perfect outfit.  My daughter commented to me that she would have done the same thing Chelsea did, and couldn’t believe just how sweet Chelsea was to want to have things be just right.  She said she left class that day thinking that Chelsea seemed like the type of girl she would love to be friends with. 

Could it be the horror of knowing that at any moment a parent could lose one of their children.  A child you spend all your waking minutes loving, teaching, and protecting, and it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye.  I sit and think about Kelly King, and cannot even imagine how she can function, as I am a basket case, and I never even met Chelsea.  Just the thought of how easy it is for evil to creep into our worlds is so devastating to me.  It might even be the fact that at age 14, a classmate of mine was murdered.  Her murder has always haunted me.  The murder case was never solved, therefore I felt her murderer was never made to pay for the crime he committed, which made it harder for me to put things to rest. Possibly it is the fact that no child should ever have to suffer what this poor girl did.  The thought of any child, Chelsea, Amber, or a child abused at home by a parent, any crime against a child is just so horrible a thought that I just want to protect each and every child. It could even be the fact that my little town of Poway has been thrown into this horrible event, and that I know so many of us in Poway, in San Diego, in California, and in our great country have been hurt by this heinous murder as well a countless numbers of rapes and murders that happen each day.  Chelsea King happened to die in my world, my hometown.  It made it more personal, as it was an attack to the community as well. I actually think that it was all of the above that just breaks my heart, and causes me to find it hard to function.  I couldn’t go to the memorial today, although I wear Chelsea’s bracelet.  I drove by, but knew that I would not be able to keep my composure, so instead of pulling into the school parking lot, I drove home and watched online.  How brave Chelsea’s brother Tyler was to speak of his sister, saying that he was not alright as the most important thing in his life is now gone.  Chelsea’s mom Kelly stated that she has to remind herself to breathe each breath each day, saying that Chelsea is telling her “Come on mom, we have important things to do.”  Her father Brent stated that he would channel his rage to make certain no one else has to ever go through the pain her and his family are going through, and stated that the laws needed to be changed as he feels that sexual predators are not curable.  In listening to all three of the Kings, I found a little more strength to get through each day.  Each time I begin to think of this tragedy, I take a deep breath and begin to channel this sadness into a determination for two things.  The first to vow to be a better person to others and to myself.  If Chelsea is not here to live her life, each and every one of us need to live a bit extra for her.  She seems to have gotten so much of a thrill to living each and every day.  I am stopping myself when things get tough or even boring and telling myself that I have the power to make things different, and am taking baby steps to do so.  The second is to keep an eye on the work that I am sure Chelsea’s and even Amber’s parents will be doing to crafting and passing a law that will keep these sexual predators away from our precious children, and that gives me the strength to end the tears.  It doesn’t have to be my child taken to feel the pain from this heinous crime, as each and every child is just so spectacular.  How is it that everyone cannot see that. 

Never to be forgotten

 The day that she came up missing, I had learned a stitch in tatting that I had so long wanted to learn.  My daughter told me the students at the high school would wear a different color each day until Chelsea was found.  I decided I would craft a simple bracelet using this stitch, and tat a new one each day in that days color to wear for Chelsea.  Now, along with the orange bracelet given out for her memorial, I wear all to remind me to make the above mentioned changes in my life.  I will wear them until there comes a time that I don’t need to look down at my wrist and remind myself at all, at just how precious and wonderful life is, and how we have to make the most of it, while we are here on this earth, as it can all be taken away from us at any moment.

INNOCENCE LOST

I grew up in a small town in Connecticut.  I had a childhood that was magical, the type of childhood that causes me to wonder how it could be that I was so lucky to be living it.  I lived in the country, with dozens of neighborhood kids to play with in the afternoons.  We had woods to hide in, fields to run in, streams to jump in, and would be off in the neighborhood each afternoon until dark.  When you are a kid, you don’t ever think bad things will happen to you.  You never have a care in the world.  The worst things that could happen would be a skinned knee from falling off a bike, or a fight with a friend over nothing at all, a fight that would be over almost before it started.  

Dawn Cave

 

When I was 14, a girl in one of my classes didn’t show up, and rumors were going around school that she had run away from home after a fight she had with her sister.  Days went by and still no Dawn.  I use to wonder why she felt she had to run away from home.  I had never been real close to Dawn, but she was always one of those people who you wished you could be more like.  She was painfully quiet, but quite popular.  She was nothing like most of the other popular girls that would tend to me mean to you if you were not in their click.  I looked up to her, and wished we were friends. She had a special quality that I wished I had, a quiet grace about her.  She seldom spoke – in fact the quietest girl in class.  

To everyone’s horror, weeks later, Dawn’s body was found in a field in a field, about a mile from her home.  Cause of death, a fractured skull.  This reality left me numb.  I found it so hard to believe someone so vibrant could be gone.  So sweet a young girl.  I found it so hard to image that she would never grow up, go to college, get married, have children, and fulfill the dreams we all have when starting out in life, because a monster saw fit to end her life. Although there were almost always kids around when I played, I now thought twice when alone, wondering if there was some monster out there lurking.  I was not a easy-go-lucky as I had always been.  The innocence of my childhood was shattered, never to be repaired. 

Many people believe the man who killed this young classmate of mine was a serial killer.  Many believe that he killed four young girls in about a years time in the New Haven area.   All killed from blunt trauma to the head.  Soon after the four young girls had been killed, a man was arrested and convicted of killing three mentally disabled women.  And although the judge in the case sentenced him to life in prison, because he felt he was too dangerous to ever be let out again, 13 years later, this murderer would be allowed day furloughs and weekends leaves where he was allowed freedom amongst unsuspecting people.  On one of these weekend, near a cabin he was renting, a 43 year old woman was bludgeoned to death.  Although never arrested for this crime, many feel that he may have been responsible for a 5th death in addition to the 3 he was convicted of.  He often taunted police, telling them if they had evidence, they would be arresting him.  In my opinion, the law failed to protect the innocent people.  A life sentence should be a lift sentence.  It shouldn’t mean you get weekends off.  Prison is suppose to protect us from these bad people always, not just during the weeks.  This is unimaginable.  

I often think about Dawn.  I know that this incident has changed my life in the sense that it causes me to realize that evil can be anywhere, from the heart of the city, to the quiet of the country.  We are never safe from evil.  

My daughter, at 17 gives me a hard time when I tell her she can’t take walks in our quiet neighborhood after dark, or that she must always hike with someone, and I tell her how nervous I get when she tells me she is going to a secluded country park even though she is going with a friend.  I don’t want to mention the death of Dawn, and how no one would have ever thought that would happen, but it did.  I do tell her things can happen, and leave it at that.  I am thankful that kids these days at least have cell phones, but I am still always nervous until I hear her voice on the phone when she calls me to tell me she is home. 

The end of February of this year her life has now been impacted as mine had been so many year ago.  I came home late from work to find out from my daughter that a classmate of hers, Chelsea King, had not come home from a jog, and everyone was out looking for her.  Asking her how she knew, she said it was all over facebook.  She went on to tell me that the police had found her car with phone locked inside, and she was nowhere to be found.  She said that helicopters were out looking as well.  She told me she had just seen her hours before when she came into her photography class to help  out a classmate of hers by being her model for a photo shoot.  

One of these photos is now being used on one of many posters circulating southern California.  She had gone for a jog in Rancho Bernardo Community Park, and no one has heard from her since.  A beautiful setting near Lake Hodges, but in many parts remote in its surroundings. The high school sent emails to all the parents stating that they would have counselors on hand to speak with students.  My daughter said she would volunteer this coming weekend to help search the Lake Hodges area, except they would not allow her to as she had to be 18.  She asked if I would place flyers in my car windows to help get the word out.  Every corner in Poway now has one of many posters made, asking for help in finding Chelsea.  Every store has them posted at each and every counter, on the doors coming into and out of the stores.  People are stopping shoppers to hand them flyers.  So many people have been going to the park to volunteer that they have had to turn away 100’s.  Everyone in Poway is holding their breaths, hoping the next thing they hear on the news is that they have found Chelsea and that she is safe at home again.  There isn’t a street in Poway where you don’t see blue ribbons tied around trees and street posts.  Kids turned away from the search were told to line the streets with the blue ribbons, and they did just that. 

Candle light Vigil for Chelsea

 

They arrested John Albert Gardner III, a convicted child molester, on suspicion of first degree murder and forcible rape.  Rumor has it that he had muddy pants on at the time of his arrest.  The police say that have evidence linking him to Chelsea.  A woman attacked in December, in this same park, ID’d Gardner as the man that attacked her.  She was lucky to have gotten away.  Trained in martial arts, she said she broke his nose in the process, and the blood on her from his broken nose is DNA evidence.  Gardner is not talking, so volunteers show up each day to search the miles of shoreline of Lake Hodges in hopes of finding something.  Search warrants were issued for both his parents home her in town, and his residence in Lake Elsinore.  They have been working day and night, even in heavy rain, searching for Chelsea.  Her body was found in a shallow grave, close to the water’s edge, about a mile from where she had parked her car, 5 days after she went missing.  Thousands, including my daughter, attended a candlelight vigil that night, also attended by Chelsea’s parents Brent and Kelly, although I don’t know how they had the strength to attend.  On March 6th, after a tip came in from an anonymous caller, the body of 14 year old Amber Dubois was found a little more than a year after she went missing in Escondido, just miles away from where Chelsea was killed.  At the time of Amber’s disappearance, Gardner lived about a mile from where she went missing.  I doubt they will have evidence to link him to Amber’s murder, but pray that they do.  

Chelsea King

 

Amber Dubois

 

Poway has been brought to its knees.  The high school has had classes, but no work is being done.  They have pushed back the grading schedule by a week, as the students are just going through the motions of attending each day.  My daughter cries each day, and I just don’t know what to tell her.  She is so afraid that people will forget Chelsea, and I tell her that will not be the case, as I remember Dawn, and she has been gone for decades.  She lives on in my heart just as Chelsea will in both our hearts.  

What would have happened had the people convicted of crimes such as murder, rape and molestation were given longer sentences.  In the case of Dawn, where a murderer given a life sentence can be let out for weekend furlough.  How could this be.  In the case of Gardner, he served only 5 years, and it was said that the doctor on his case stated that he showed no remorse for what he did, and felt he would be a danger if let out of jail.  How is it that we have situations were a child is molested, raped, or murdered, and the people convicted of these crimes are let out to commit these crimes again.   Everyone in Southern California is now analyzing everything having to do with Gardner’s past conviction, her parole violations, each of which they say should have put him back in jail.  What will it take until we rise up and prevent this from happening to any child again.  It is one thing when an adult is murdered, but never a child.  It seems so much harder for me to bear when a child is battered, or molested, or murdered.  It seems that sentences seem to be less for that of a crime against a child, but that should not be the case.  Shouldn’t it be that we tell society that any rape/murder of a child means life in prison.  Wouldn’t self-preservation of a murderer cause him to think twice if he knew he would never see the light of day if ever caught.  Are we not tired of looking over our shoulders to see if we are in danger.  

In California, we have Megan’s Law which is that all sex offenders are listed on a website with address and photo.  There are currently over 63,000 offenders listed, and an additional 22,000 others not listed on the site, but known to law enforcement personnel only.  There are currently 25 listed in Poway, but I must say it seems odd that each listing states that the registrants may have subsequently relocated.  Shouldn’t it be mandatory that the police be notified, and shouldn’t the police periodically check the registrants as well.  

 

Tomorrow, Poway High School will have a memorial to Chelsea.  So many people are expected to attend that they had to hand out passes to high school students which allow them to enter the stadium prior to everyone else.  The sidewalks around the school are totally covered with flowers, and photos of Chelsea are fastened to the fences.  Everyone has been asked to wear orange, as it was Chelsea’s favorite color.  I have a pass to go, but break into tears each time I think about attending.  I don’t know if it is trauma left over from Dawn’s death so many year ago, or the thought of my daughter having to live with the pain of this loss, or just the thought that each and every one of us could lose someone precious in the blink of an eye.  I just don’t have the strength to be there, although I will be tying a few more blue ribbons around Poway in the morning, and will be watching the live online streaming tribute, with a box of kleenex by my side.  I try to gather the strength to get though the next day without tear.  Each day I am sure I will cry less.  In orange marker, was a note taped to Chelsea’s bathroom mirror that her father carried with him while they searched for her.  It read “They can because they think they can” ~Virgil.  That note alone tells me just how remarkable Chelsea was.  

The family will be working on passing tougher laws so that no other child has to suffer what Chelsea and Amber did.  www.chelseaslight.org

I have to be honest with you.  Although I do not live in Massachusetts, I supported Scott Brown’s senate run by talking to people I knew in Massachusetts, and by donating to his campaign.  I saw a win for Scott Brown as the downfall of the current Health Care bill and as little else.  Although I am a believer that although most United States Senators only want to do what is right for their constituents, and not for people outside of their state, much of what is done in the Senate, outside of earmarks, has a good chance of affecting the entire country.  We see this in the case of Scott Browns one vote possibly ending the life of the current Health Care bill.  The entire country hinges on Senator Brown’s vote. 

Now I do understand that the senate can pull a fast one on the people and use reconciliation, requiring only 51 votes.  In addition, they could probably buy a vote from a republican who is left leaning, but I am hoping that few in the Senate will allow their votes to be bought after the outrage of the people after Senators Nelson and Landrieu’s votes were bought.  Any Senate member that wishes to keep their jobs come Election Day should be considering what it is that the people want, not just their own personal agenda.

Many people say that no one knows much about Scott Brown, and they are correct.  He may not vote the way I would like him to on many issues in the future.  He was simply a means to an end concerning Health Care.  He seems to be going in with idealistic hopes and dreams of making a difference for the people.  I believe that once seated, we will find that little of what he says will be heard by the progressives currently in control.  Time will tell us once he gets seated, and begins voting on future issues.   My ideal is to have an extremely conservative Senator, one who believes in keeping the size of government small, wants to allow people their freedoms, and is someone who is fiscally conservative, and believes in keeping this country safe from its enemies.   Even if this is not the case, my objective was simply to stop the Health Care, and beyond that, I feel that Scott Brown will be much better for the conservative movement than Ted Kennedy ever was, or than Martha Coakley would have ever been.

When it was announced that President Obama would fly to Massachusetts the Sunday prior to Election Day to stump for Coakley everyone was hoping that Obama’s presence in Massachusetts would result in a repeat of his last two recommendations of New Jersey and Virginia.  In listening to his speech, I kept waiting for something to be said that would hurt Scott Brown, and hoped I would hear nothing to hurt Brown’s chances.  I felt that all of Martha Coakley’s negative ads had back-fired and hurt her, and wondered just what Obama’s approach would be to insure a win for Coakley.  Then it happened.  Amongst all his “fired up” statements, and his “you alls”, and his many shout-outs, Obama, I’m sure speaking without thinking, made the statement that could very well have insured Scott Brown his seat in the Senate.   From Obama came the statement  “Look, forget the ads, everybody can run slick ads, forget the truck, everybody can buy a truck”.  I immediately gasp, and thought, I can’t buy a truck, what is he thinking.  I’m lucky to have a job right now, and I’m holding on by a thread.  Many people do not have a job, and have nothing but an unemployment check coming in to feed their families.  No Mr. President, everybody cannot buy a truck!  In my anger, I breathed a sigh of relief thinking to myself that the great people of Massachusetts would too be angered by that statement, especially since Obama chose to slight a GM (a Government Motors) truck.  Inside, deep down, I was chuckling as such a statement having come from Obama, and how out of touch he must be with the poor people, who in some cases wish they had a car they could sleep in.

Scott Brown's GM Pickup Truck

Everyone seems hinged on the race between Scott Brown (R) and Martha Coakley (D).  This is the seat, currently vacant due to Ted Kennedy’s death last year.  Everyone understands that the winner of this January 19th race will either make or break the future of the current health care bill now being reviewed and modified behind closed doors in Washington.  Of course, being the conservative that I am, I am on pins and needles hoping that Scott Brown is victorious come Tuesday. 

Brown, Coakley, Kennedy MA 41 Debate

Beyond this Senate race, what I cannot understand, is how it is that there is not one of the 60 Democrat/Independents who voted on this bill that will not, in the end, have the integrity to vote against this nightmare of a health care bill.  Everyone has stated that with all the support that Scott Brown is getting in his current race for the Senate, that even if he loses, the Democrats will be running scared with the thought that it will be a tough battle for them to be victorious in their bid to keep their Seat come November 2010.  What better way to secure their seat than to stand up for the American people, and against the corrupt ways of Washington, and vote against this bill.  Just think what a hero they would become.  Of course, everyone says they can’t stand the pressure from Obama, Reid and Pelosi, but all that tells me is that he who cannot stand up for what is right is apparently not a leader.  I understand that Obama, Reid and Pelosi are currently making modifications to retain of the Senate and House votes necessary.  I am sure that with what the American people have already seen in way of shady deals, there are more to come, especially with this most recent modifications exempting Unions from the Cadillac Tax.  Is there no one who will stand with the people?

To my surprise, I received an email from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) stating that I was to register on their website.  The email has been pasted below:

Subject: State Vaccination Program

You have received this e-mail because of the launching of State Vaccination H1N1 Program.

You need to create your personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov website. The Vaccination is not obligatory, but every person that has reached the age of 18 has to have his personal Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov site. This profile has to be created both for the vaccinated people and the not-vaccinated ones. This profile is used for the registering system of vaccinated and not-vaccinated people.

Create your Personal H1N1 Vaccination Profile using the link:

 Create Personal Profile

 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) · 1600 Clifton Rd · Atlanta GA 30333 · 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)

I was taken aback by this email.  Suspicious, I chose not to click on the “Create Personal Profile” link.  Instead I went directly to the CDC website to investigate.  The address shown at the bottom of the email I received was identical to that found on the CDC website, however, I saw no link on their homepage concerning any required registration.  I did, however, see a link to the website Flu.gov.  Upon going to that website, I found a statement concerning Fraudulent Emails Referencing CDC-sponsored State Vaccination Program.  First off, I would not even consider registering for anything of this sort, whether I planned to get the vaccine or not, but knowing what kind of malicious people are out there trying to send viruses through email links, I chose not to click on the link.  Please beware of any similar emails, regardless of how authentic they look.  

THANKFUL FOR:

I did not have the oppotunity to see any of the Thanksgiving Day Parade today on TV, but had heard that there was an Obama balloon.  Curious to see what it looked like, I did a quick online search, but only came up with this old photo from a parade in Germany earlier this year.  Hilarious, if I may say so myself. 

Hillary and Obama

What is Hillary holding onto? His stimulus package.

Not doing much this Thanksgiving as both my husband and I are very sick with a nasty stomach virus.  We are sacked out on the couch and am planning a thanksgiving feast of Ritz Crackers, Gatorade or Ginerale, and if we are lucky, jello for dessert – YUM.  I am thankful, all the same.   My daughter has escaped being sick, and is spending her day with her boyfriend – the first Thanksgiving meal they have made by themselves, and for each other, and to make it even tougher – it is totally Vegan, if you can believe it – NO TURKEY. 

Dispite all that is going on in America at the present time, in thinking about this past year we should all admit that we are so very lucky to be living in America.  We have so very much to be thankful for.  We do, however, need to be strong and tough out the next year until the 2010 election when we can start voting some real conservatives into office.  I am not talking Republicans, necessarily, as I feel we need to send a clear message to all running that we are looking for conservatives to represent us and to HEAR OUR VOICE.  We are tired of being ignored.  Beyond that, the 2012 election should get us back on track.  Outside of my family, my health, my friends and my job, I have to say that one of the things I am most Thankful for is the fact that I have opened myself to the world of politics and have become active in where our country is going.  We have to be tough, stand strong, stand together, and make the changes to our country that will really make a difference, not the hollow changes that Obama promised so many prior to the election.