Deborah Woehr

Last year, I listened to a radio segment about Mexican immigrants and how they should be loyal to the US if they were to live here. That means not touting the Mexican flag or demanding that our National Anthem be sung in Spanish. Many people called into the radio station that morning, including Hispanics, to agree.

If an American were to immigrate to Mexico or China, do you think they’d give us free health care, a free house, free education and change their way of life so their culture won’t offend ours? Oh, hell no.

It’s no wonder they’re coming over here in droves! Can anyone say “Sucker!” in Spanish?

My eyes filled up when I saw the look on this little boy’s face. I hear about Iraq all the time and have talked with adults who have either spent time there or have children who are deployed there. None of those conversations had nearly as much impact as this short video. Even my husband was emotional when he showed it to me, and he had already watched it.

Please, no Bush bashing or political commentary. Just appreciate what this soldier and his family (and others in the same boat) are sacrificing so we can be safe.

Lynne was known as the “Ann Landers” of her group of friends. “They were always calling to ask advice, from clothes to boyfriends to whatever,” said her mother, Pat Morris. “I used to joke that the phone was glued to her ear.”

She had an infectious smile that drew people and animals toward her. At 22, she had an equally bright future ahead of her as a stock trader or a teacher. She couldn’t decide which she wanted to do because she enjoyed both. A year after she graduated SUNY Oneonta, she landed a job with Cantor Fitzgerald as a P&S Clerk in the Equities Department.

Lynne wanted to move up in the corporate world, but she didn’t want her career to rule her whole life. Raising a family was very important to her. Several months prior to 9/11, she rekindled her romance with Mark Chabus and was planning to announce their engagement.

But instead of going to her wedding, her friends and family had to say goodbye. If there is a God and a Heaven, she would be there with that glowing smile.

I never got the chance to meet Lynne, but she sounded like a sweetheart and someone who was loved very much by everyone she knew.

Heather Hartman:

“I have known Lynne since we were babies; she was my neighbor and my friend. My favorite memories of Lynne include sleeping over at her house, with our friends Sarah and Jaime, and playing truth or dare. Another one is how she hated when I called her “Lynnie pig” just because it rhymed with “guinea pig”. . . that still makes me smile, as Lynne always could.

“Lynne has touched so many lives, and since we grew apart as we got older, I’m not sure if she ever knew how much she touched mine. But she is a part of many of my childhood memories and I will always love her. I misse you Lynne!”

Her mom, Pat:

“She was probably helping someone right to the end.”

Her older sister, Chrissy:

“She always worried about everyone else’s feelings more than her own, and she said it sometimes got her in trouble.”

Marti posted about this effort on her blog, and I thought I would pass this along. This effort was created by D. Challener Roe in an effort to pay tribute to the individual victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

Once you sign up, you will be assigned to write a tribute to an individual on your blog on the anniversary. I hope you’ll join us in this project.

This morning I was glued to Fox News, listening to the coverage about the foiled terrorist attack and the ongoing struggle between Israel and the Hezbollah. The identity of those terrorists made my head spin and changed my opinion about the airport security procedures in a big hurry. I cannot fathom why a pregnant woman would want to blow herself up.

I was very nervous about boarding that plane. Yesterday and this morning, I made sure to leave my liquid toiletries at my parents’ house. I didn’t expect any problems boarding the plane.

When my carry-on bag went through the screening, the techie immediately called for a physical search. What did I forget to remove? As it turns out, I had packed a bottle of onion marinade for my husband on Wednesday and forgot all about it.

I voluntarily gave it up and proceeded past the checkpoint. As passengers began boarding the plane, TSA officers performed a random search. For once, I wasn’t one of the passengers who were singled out.

The plane was packed with people, and the flight attendants were very abrupt. I’d hate to be them right now. My oldest and I heard a funny noise after the plane took off and looked at one another. When nothing happened, we relaxed a little.

Three hours later, we arrived in San Jose without incident. I’ll post about my vacation tomorrow, after I’ve calmed down a bit.

This morning started out fine. I worked on a scene for GLT while I had the laundry going. The kids were frolicking/fighting. Everything was fine until my cell phone rang.

It was my husband. He called to ask me if I knew about the terrorist plot that was foiled in London this morning. No. We were oblivious.

He’s nervous as hell about us getting home safely, especially after his father got stuck in Philadelphia for a week after the 9/11 attack. After I ended the call, I walked into my mother’s office, where my parents were sitting and talking. I told them what my husband told me.

My father immediately got online and went to the airline website. Thanks to these assholes, the privilege of taking a carry-on bag will end eventually because these guys insist upon being more creative with their explosive devices. This might not be such a bad thing because people seem to have a difficult time figuring out where to place their carry-on luggage.

I’m very thankful that England was able to stop these guys from blowing up any more planes. The media stated that if they had been able to go forward with this plot, it would have rivalled 9/11. It didn’t end there, however.

Passengers on a JetBlue airplane were detained in Austin for three hours because of a suspicious note, written in middle eastern language, that was found. None of the passengers (many of them elderly) I saw on the news footage looked middle eastern. They were as American as you can get.

Yet they were held outside in 100+ degree heat with no food and water for three hours. There were no reports of anyone suffering from heat-related illness, but several people missed their connecting flights and had to scramble for a hotel.

It’s gotten to the point where I hate flying. I told my father this evening that I’m very mixed about airport security measures. Although I see these measures as a necessary evil, I can’t help feeling that they’re targeting the wrong people.

A plane full of elderly people and young breast feeding mothers is hardly a danger. But maybe I’m being naive. All I know is that I’ll be glad when I walk through my front door tomorrow.

My mother-in-law found this in our paper, the San Jose Mercury News last weekend. Our media is very slanted towards the liberal side.

Headlines of 2026, if Merc has its way

If the Merc’s political agenda were really adopted, we could expect to see the following headlines within 20 years:

Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped.

Couple petitions Supreme Court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.

U.S. Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the 7th-largest economy in the world, Mexifornia, formerly as California.

White minorities still trying to have English formally recognized as Mexifornia’s 3rd language.

State Court rules requirements for a Ph.D degree discriminates against stupid people.

Congress authorizes direct deposit of illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.

Congress sets 90% tax rate for “rich people” and defines “rich people” as anyone making above the minimum wage.

The big, yellow smiley face has been around since the late 60s and was thought of as public domain. Not anymore. Walmart began using this logo on their employee uniforms and marketing materials in 1996 and now wants to trademark the image.

Frank Loufrani (one of the number of people who claim to have invented the image) and his company, SmileyWorld, are disputing the trademark before the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Loufrani has been marketing this image since the early 70s and owns the rights in 80 countries, but not in the US.

How many of our tax dollars are going to be wasted on this snafu? Walmart is worth $500 billion (according to Donald Trump). Surely they have enough money to create a new mascot/logo. Why give the world one more reason to hate us, and over a stupid smiley face that was placed in the public domain over thirty years ago?

Sources: BBC and Scott-o-Rama

I woke up nearly two hours later than I normally do, due to a bad night’s sleep. That’s not a big deal because I had nothing earthshattering planned. Just writing and sitting around all day in my nightshirt. God, I love Sundays!

My husband is outside right now, performing a much-needed tune-up on my car. My kids are behaving themselves. I’ll take this over flowers and cards. They’ve become too commercialized anyway.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms (and single dads) out there. I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Quoted from South Dakota Bans Most Types of Abortion

BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

Oh, give me a break! What woman wouldn’t be physically or psychologically messed up from rape? Here’s another point: 99.99% of the women I’ve met in my life had lost their virginity by the time they were 15.

The girl has to be religious? Excuse me, but rapists don’t care what religion their victims are.

Married women will be forced to carry a rapist’s child? Oh, that will go over real well with their husbands. Here’s his second idiotic statement.

BILL NAPOLI: When I was growing up here in the wild west, if a young man got a girl pregnant out of wedlock, they got married, and the whole darned neighborhood was involved in that wedding. I mean, you just didn’t allow that sort of thing to happen, you know? I mean, they wanted that child to be brought up in a home with two parents, you know, that whole story. And so I happen to believe that can happen again.

Yeah, they had a shotgun wedding, most likely. Then the asshole probably beat her half to death before he left her. If she and the kid were lucky. Either way, the kid(s) paid the price. This guy is living in a fantasy world.

The only thing he said that I agreed with is that most abortions are performed out of convenience. Although I don’t like this fact, it’s none of my business. It’s none of the government’s business, either. This is a private matter between a woman and her lover, or the families if minors are involved.

What Napoli and his followers are trying to do is unconstitutional. Roe vs. Wade has little chance of being overturned by the Supreme Court. But these crazy zealots will certainly try their best.