WOW!

Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede 


He who dies with the most toys, still dies.

Let's be careful out there!

What does your DNA say about your current and future health?

                                                                Photo By: MASH DnArt

Do we really want to know?

Isn't there enough discrimination around over things that you can see?

Do we really need discrimination over things that *may* or *may not* happen?

I really think that some people just don't have enough to do...

Don't say that I didn't warn you... 

                                                   Photo By: buba69 


The Gift Card Comes Wrapped in Growing Risk

Jesus Diaz is sounding the call for revolution against Beta culture. 


The choir sings "Amen!"


http://tinyurl.com/nobeta 

I went and voted first thing this morning, and the polling place was packed... double lines 12 people deep coming out of the building. I have lived in this town for 8 years, and voted in every election since I moved here, and I've never seen such crowds. In fact, when you see that many people in public, it's a safe bet that it is the annual Christmas parade!

It was fabulous. People (of all political persuasions) were laughing and pleasant, and the polls workers were experienced, knowledgeable and efficient. In and out in about 30 minutes, and the electronic machines worked fine (I overheard no complaints; but we've had the electronic machines for a few years now, so everyone is pretty familiar with them).

And so, I got the sticker:

From LaVeda

and I took a pic of my ballot:

From LaVeda

And now I get to sit back, and see what's going to happen...

Yes, I know that it is less than two days before the election, but it is never too early to begin thinking about the next one...

Not to mention, those lovely phone calls from those wonderful people who have very important information about your credit card debt, or your car warranty, etc.

So, here are some links to get you on your way to stopping the harassment:

National Do Not Call List

The National Do Not Call Registry is open for business, putting consumers in charge of the telemarketing calls they get at home. The Federal government created the national registry to make it easier and more efficient for you to stop getting telemarketing calls you don’t want. You can register online at WWW.DONOTCALL.GOV or call toll-free, 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236), from the number you wish to register. Registration is free.

The Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the states are enforcing the National Do Not Call Registry. Placing your number on the registry will stop most, but not all, telemarketing calls.

State Do Not Call Lists

Since the launch of the federal Do Not Call List in 2003 (http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall), some states have discontinued individual do-not-call programs, merging their information with the federal list. Other states continue to maintain separate do-not-call lists, whose registrants may or may not be shared with the federal list.

The links provide information about do-not-call laws and list programs in each state.

National Political Do Not Call Registry

The National Political Do Not Contact Registry is modeled on the incredible success of the Federal Do Not Call Registry.   Unfortunately for American voters, political calls are excluded from the Federal DNC Registry.  That means politicians can call you whenever and however they feel like it, even cell phone numbers!

Who we are:  The National Political Do Not Contact Registry is a program of Citizens for Civil Discourse (CCD), a non-partisan and non-profit group of ordinary citizens dedicated to raising the level of political discourse in the United States.   CCD believes Americans are tired of partisan posturing and a phony division between red states and blue states.  We are fed up with negative campaigning and Washington grid lock.

We believe that this country wants leaders who will rise above party labels and tackle the difficult problems facing our nation and the world.   And as a start, Americans are stepping forward to take back control of our public discussion from the political spin masters.

That's why we have created the National Political Do Not Contact Registry as a way for all US voters to send the political campaigns a message:  Stop unwanted Political Phone Calls and dinner time interruptions!  You can register your contact information today for FREE and tell the politicians loud and clear that you have had enough of their business-as-usual campaigning!

Register now for Free -- let your representatives know that you won't vote for them if they won't listen to you.

The Top 11 Ways To Stop Politicians And Others From Contacting You At Home

With the election season now hitting us like a Hurricane, particularly in battle ground states, The National Political Do Not Contact Registry presents the top 11 ways to stop politicians, vendors candidates, unions, PACs, 527's, and local, state, and national party groups from contacting you at home either by phone or via the Internet.

The bottom line?  With days to go until election day there is little that you can do nowto stop John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Megan Fox, Jack Nicholson, Jay Z or some other celebrity from calling you at home.   

However, there are some things you can do now that will help as well as preparing for the next election cycle as well as stopping commercial marketers from invading your privacy.

If you want to track voting real-time in your area, you can take the below code, modified to your state and put it on your site:

[iframe src="http://votereport.us/reports/map?state=OH" frameborder="0" class="stream" width="535" height="500" scrolling="yes" >[/iframe]

Replace '[' and ']' with '<' and '>' on your page; and replace 'OH' with your state.

Get out and vote. You can't complain if you don't vote!  :-)

Then, sit back, break out the popcorn, and fasten your seatbelts. It's gonna be a wild ride!

Thanks to Twitter Vote Report for the code!

If you want him to win, you gotta

Check it out and pass it around ... Voting Tips 

I swear, you can't make this stuff up...

I'm talking with my eldest (at midnight), sitting on my bed, and I hear this funny noise coming from my bathroom...

I'm thinking, ehh... it's probably something knocking on the crawlspace door (which is closed and locked), so I'm cool.

Until...

My eldest says, it's probably a chicken.

Say... WHAT?

Is there something you want to tell me?!?

No... says my eldest.

At that very moment, we BOTH hear a scrabbling noise coming from behind the bathroom door (which is, thankfully, closed)

I'm like, didn't we finish with the chickens in the shower thing when we got the OUTDOOR CAGE for them?!? When they were CHICKS?!?

I look at my eldest, and I tell her to check it out. She tells me that I'm the adult. I remind her that SHE is an adult now as well, and this is her first adult assignment. (It's called 'pulling rank', lol!)

She enters the darkened bathroom, opens the shower door, and there, blinking in the sudden light, is ... a... CHICKEN.

Who was pretty pissed about being awakened, let me tell you.

So, we put her back until morning (she was recently wounded, and I THOUGHT that she was being treated OUTSIDE, but I guess that I was wrong), and closed the shower door.

Maybe I should start sleeping in the shower. Everything that lives at my house seems to like it in there.

:sigh:

I think that I'll ask for a case (or two) of Clorox for Christmas. I'm running out...

(I have no idea why I can't sleep at night...)

but it's over now.

Yesterday was my eldest daughter's eighteenth birthday (!), and I had decided to take her to DMV to get her non-driver's ID. And then do our 'lunch with Mom' thing that we do for birthdays.

So, as we are leaving DMV, I get in the van, turn the key, and ...

Nothing.

The engine is silent.

Oh. NO.

Don't panic. It's a relatively (2006) new vehicle, so it's probably something simple. Try again.

Same result.

Nothing. AND I can't get the key out (!!)

Oookay, I think... Call the dealer; he'll know what to do.

After some troubleshooting, it's decided that the van needs to be towed in.

I call AAA, and they'll be out to get us in about an hour (so much for lunch).

So, I sit.

I had put a call in to my neighbor, thinking that perhaps we could get a ride home, instead of riding with the tow truck driver. But he was out of communications range at the time, so I hung up without leaving a message.

About 20 minutes later, he calls me back and asks what's up. I explain the situation, feeling pretty certain that it is under control, as he runs me through the same basic troubleshooting that the dealer did.

Now at this point, I'm sitting in the shotgun seat, with the doors open, talking on the phone.

He asks me, 'Is the van in gear? Because if it is in anything other than Park or Neutral, it won't start.'

Knowing that it was not in gear, I look over at the dash to dutifully double-check, and from where I'm sitting, it looks like it's in REVERSE.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next thing that the poor man hears is me shouting at my daughter to get OUT of that seat!

Bless her heart, she hopped out of the seat, and out of the VAN in less time than it takes to tell about it, thinking that the car was going to catch on fire!

I dash around the van like a madwoman, climb in the driver's seat, and sure enough, it IS in reverse... I put it in park, turn the key in the ignition, and the car started right up, like nothing had ever happened.

I told my neighbor I loved him. Laughing, he said, 'So, I'm the man?'

I replied, 'You're TWO men!!!'

After I got off the phone with him, and cancelled the AAA service call, I left a message for the guy at the dealership to let him know that I wouldn't be coming in, and why (which made the guy taking the message crack up)... I'll have to re-read my auto manual again, eh? ROFLOL!!

So, my eldest and I got to go to lunch after all, and she now has a funny story to tell about a mistake her mother made :sigh: ...

But, I'll admit that I'm pleased as punch that I did NOT need repair work :-)!

So, how was YOUR day?