Deborah Woehr

I supported Bush’s decision on the war initially and was tolerant of his handling of domestic issues (i.e., unemployment). But I thought this was one of the stupidest moves of his entire presidency. Why in the hell would he think we would support his decision to allow Arab companies to run six of our ports.

Here, I thought it was just one. But no, it’s six. Can anybody spell K-A-B-O-O-M? I’m hoping that the guy in the article below will be able to stop this idiocy ASAP.

Republican Will Try to Squash Ports Deal

SD Gov. ‘Inclined’ to Sign Abortion Ban: The ban will make abortions illegal except when the woman’s life is at stake. The ban includes cases of rape or incest. It’s this last that I don’t agree with. Yes, they can give the child up for adoption. But why inflict the woman (in most cases, girls) with more trauma than she’s already been through?

Abortion Rights Activists Threaten to Boycott SD: The boycotters are threatening the tourism industry. It remains to be seen whether this intimidation tactic will work. It did with Idaho.

Could This Be the End of Roe vs. Wade?: I doubt it, but it’s possible. To be perfectly honest, I’m sick of this issue, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. I think the government should stay the hell out of this unless a crime has been committed. Their energies would be better spent going after all those single mothers who keep pumping out kids in order to receive a bigger welfare check.

My views on abortion have changed as I’ve gotten older. At 20, I was totally pro-choice. If I had gotten pregnant back then, I would have gotten an abortion simply because I wasn’t financially able to raise a child. My parents’ reaction was another factor, but the financial would have been the deciding point.

As I approach 40, my outlook has changed. I’ve seen too many women (and men) use the “pro-choice right” as a cover-up for their promiscuity and stupidity. Yes, accidents happen. But five times??

1. Psycho Path: Traverse City, Mich.
2. Divorce Court: Heather Highlands, Pa.
3. Farfrompoopen Road in Tennessee: the only road to Constipation Ridge
4. The intersection of Lonesome and Hardup: Albany, Ga.
5. The intersection of Clinton and Fidelity: Houston, TX
6. Bucket of Blood Street: Holbrook, Ariz.
7. Unexpected Road: Buena, N.J.
8. Shades of Death Road: Warren County, N.J.
9. The intersection of Count and Basie: Richmond, Va.
10. Tater Peeler Road: Lebanon, Texas

Can you imagine writing these addresses on the envelopes of your Christmas cards?

Source: Yahoo! News

There is a great discussion going on over at Fred’s Sentenced to Write, where he talks about how people perceive famous actors, writers, and musicians. When I first started writing, all I could think about was becoming a best selling novelist. While I still have that ambition, there is the price to consider.

Quoted from Some Students Prefer Classes Online

In fact, the distinction between online and “face-to-face” courses is blurring rapidly. Many if not most traditional classes now use online components — message boards, chat rooms, electronic filing of papers. Students can increasingly “attend” lectures by downloading a video or a podcast.

One of the arguments presented in the article were the motivations of the students. Some are too lazy (or hung over) to get out of bed and go to class, yes. But there are the rest, who either can’t get into a required class because it’s full or don’t have time during the day because they work.

I’ve taken classes traditionally, online, and through correspondence. The latter two methods weren’t any more difficult academic-wise. However, there were days where I had to force myself to sit down and complete an assignment. Self-discipline and motivation are key components to succeeding with the distant learning method.

The one thing I liked the best about distant learning was that I can go at my own pace. There were some subjects that I zoomed through, while others needed more time and attention. There are some subjects that I would rather take in a traditional classroom. Math has always been my worst subject, for instance.

If you were forced to change careers and needed a degree, which route would you take?

My husband and his friends find some of the weirdest things on the Internet. Last night, he told me about this pic that his friend found of some guy who tattooed his penis to look like a snake. We sat there and discussed how that could be possible, given the dynamics of male genitalia. But we couldn’t come up with any definitive conclusions.

He sent me the pics this morning, and I have to say that I’m just floored by the incredible detail that went into this tattoo. Even his testicles are tatted. I’m tempted to post them up here, but I don’t want to shock anyone. If you’d like to see the pics, reply with your email and I’ll forward them to you.

As a horror writer, these shots gave me some ideas.

The Four Candles burned slowly.
Their ambiance was so soft you could hear them speak…

The first candle said, “I Am Peace, but these days, nobody wants to keep me lit.”
Then Peace’s flame slowly diminished and went out completely.

The second candle said, “I Am Faith, but these days, I am no longer indispensable.”
Then Faith’s flame slowly diminished and went out completely.

Sadly the third candle spoke, “I Am Love and I haven’t the strength to stay lit any longer.”
“People put me aside and don’t understand my importance.

They even forget to love those who are nearest to them.”
And waiting no longer, Love went out completely.

Suddenly…

A child entered the room and saw the three candles no longer burning.

The child began to cry,
“Why are you not burning? You are supposed to stay lit until the end.”

Then the Fourth Candle spoke gently to the little boy,

“Don’t be afraid, for I Am Hope, and while I still burn,

we can re-light the other candles.”

With shining eyes, the child took the Candle of Hope

and lit the other three candles.

Never let the Flame of Hope go out.

With Hope in your life, no matter how bad things may be,

Peace, Faith and Love may shine brightly once again.

from jsmagic.net

I hope this next year brings you further into realizing your dreams. Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Last weekend, I read Scot Cunningham’s post about the latest PC campaign and rolled my eyes at our government’s idiocy. You can read Scot’s post here. Last night, I walked out of my office and into my living room, where my husband was watching his news show. The topic discussed was whether or not we have the right to say “Merry Christmas”. What a stupid load of crap!

The last time I checked, at least two-thirds of the US population believes in the Christian faith in some shape or form. Before I start ranting, the lady went on to say that one town is rebelling against the mighty Thought Police by creating signs that say “Merry Christmas” for the businesses as well as the regular folk. Good for them!

The news segment ended with the female guest shrugging and saying, “We can say Merry Christmas if we want to. It’s our First Amendment right.” Yet, the deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face and the hesitant tone of her voice told me something quite different.

This issue has been gearing up for at least three years. I had the pleasure of watching my youngest son sing in the school Christmas concert. They called it the Winter Concert, but whatever. The kids sang all kinds of Christmas songs, throwing in a couple of Jewish and Hispanic songs in for a well-rounded program. Several days later, I stopped by the school’s office and overheard the teacher’s talking about how a couple parents complained. That was the end of the Winter Concert.

I found this headline on Yahoo! and immediately recalled the harsh criticism Singapore received when they caned two boys for vandalism. This time, an Australian was executed for drug traffiking, despite many appeals from the Aussie government. The young man got to visit with his family, which I felt was very generous of the Singaporean government.

There are many bleeding hearts out there that are crying for him right now, as they did for those boys who got caned. I’m not one of them. In fact, I feel relieved to know that there is one less scumbag in the world. You know the old saying: Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

I received this in an email from my husband, who lost his father a year and a half ago. At first, we didn’t know what was happening because he didn’t have the “classic” symptoms (severe headache, blurred vision, falling to one side). He was vomiting profusely and complaining of dizziness.

We thought he might have been suffering from a heart attack. As it turned out, he had suffered a massive stroke and had to undergo five hours of surgery to remove a clot the size of a golf ball from his brainstem. He never fully recovered, but he was able to come home after ten months.

We’re not asking for sympathy, but we would like you to pass this along to educate your friends and families about strokes. Just knowing what to look for when something like this happens can make all the difference.

During a BBQ a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ - had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

It only takes a minute to read this-

—–A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed an getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough.

Recognizing a Stroke in 3 Steps

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. *Ask the individual to SMILE.

2. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

3. *Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today) If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association’s annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.