It's Not Hard To Do Better Than Nothing

The Bush Administration should be known and remembered as not only the most stubborn administration in history, but also as the "do nothing" administration.

First of all let's begin with the revolving door at the U.S.-Mexico border. For years people have been raped, killed, and just plain dumped into shallow graves in Cludad Juarez, the Mexican city across the border from El Paso, TX.

These perpetrators have gone unpunished by an inept Mexican justice system.

The law enforcement records in Texas and New Mexico reveal that Jose Francisco Granados de la Paz was repeatedly jailed in the U.S. What happened? He was sent back to Mexico time after time. Only to return to the United States and commit more crimes.

On Monday, the U.S. Border Patrol discovered a secret tunnel that I am sure has been used to transport drugs into the United States.

Why am I so sure? Not so surprisingly a Border Patrol agent heard noise Monday from a 30-foot trailer that had been parked 360 yards north of Tecate, California.

What was in the trailer? It was half-full of packages containing marijuana.

There have been dozens of tunnels found along the U.S.-Mexican border yet the border still remains open to this day.


What kind of country are we leaving for our children?

What has the Bush Administration and Congress done about this? NOTHING!!

Decent American families are losing their homes to foreclosure. What has been done so far?
NOTHING!

Credit card companies are raising interest rates even if you've been a good customer and paid your bills on time. What is being done so far? NOTHING!

Dangerous imports of food and toys come into this country consistently. What has been done thus far? NOTHING!

Detroit public school graduation rate is 24.9 percent. Nationwide, 1.23 million high school seniors will not graduate this year. What is being done? NOTHING!

The Michigan jobless rate in May was 6.9 percent, which by the way is the highest in the nation. Michigan lost 28,700 jobs from March through May alone. What has been done? NOTHING!

Detroit has the highest poverty rate among 20 of the largest American cities. The average household income in Detroit is $28,069 and is the lowest among those 20 cities. Can you live on that? No, of course not. What is being done? NOTHING!

Medical care for illegal immigrants in 2004 was $2.2 billion and for their children $2.5 billion, which can only have increased over the past several years. What is being done? Oh gee, let's see -- leave the borders open. So what's been done? NOTHING!

Our wonderful men and women in the front lines are losing their lives every day. What is being done? NOTHING!

Big business and special interest groups are enriching themselves at our expense. What is being done? NOTHING!

We, the middle class, are at the mercy of individuals and companies that provide goods and services and control jobs. What is being done? NOTHING!

The American people are drowning and no one is lifting a finger to help. The country is on a one-way trip downward and not one person in the government is doing a thing to help.

There needs to be changes and quick. Not many of us can hang on much longer.

What can you do? For one thing write your Congressman. Also write the Senate. Let them know we as Americans aren't taking this any longer! We deserve better and we need to fight harder to make change.

Here is where to go and speak up for your rights as an American citizen:

www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

www.house.gov/writerep/

Give em' hell America. OUR FAMILIES DESERVE BETTER!!!!!

Again, Bush Tries To Disguise Stubbornness, Incompetence As Strong Leadership

My father fought in WWII to allow me and every American to speak when things aren't going in the right direction in our country.

Well, not only are they not going in the right direction this country is falling apart.

All headed by a president who I refer to as Dictator Bush. He is an embarrassment and has the nerve to speak out against dictatorship, but HE is the epitome of a dictator. What more do I have to say except impeachment!

Yesterday in Washington was classic Bush at his best. As usual this embarrassment we are forced to call president won't back down even when he is clearly in the wrong.

He was confronted yesterday with new facts from the National Intelligence Estimate, clearly stating that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program four years ago. This information comes from his own administration. Yet again in his usual stubborn dictatorship, Bush style, he replies: "Look, Iran was dangerous," he said. "Iran is dangerous. And Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."


Bush: Who needs accuracy, when you can formulate your own truths?

The president was hit with a multitude of questions from reporters about the U.S. and how our credibility was damaged by hyped intelligence before. He was confronted with whether he made the same mistake with Iran in October, when he warned about the possibility of a "WWIII" at a press conference.

However, instead of admitting a mistake, in his usual Bush manner he made a comment before he learned of the new NIE. Although he did acknowledge that Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, gave him a heads up that something was up last summer.

McConnell came to the president and said, "We have some new information," Bush recalled. "He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze."

Democratic Senator Joe Biden said he can't believe the president got tipped off in August to a change and didn't follow-up with questions until last week.

"If that's true," Biden told reporters, "he's one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history."

I believe not only is Bush incompetent, but he is an outright liar. This man doesn't even have the words "back down" in his vocabulary. Again, not even the slightest admission that he was wrong.

Classic Bush at his best -- no surrender or retreat. He's done more damage to our country than any president in history. What a legacy!

Good Communication With Your Kids Includes Talking About Scary Things -- Like The News

I'm one of those people who watches the news on a regular basis. I like to keep up with what is going on in the world.

I love to watch CNN, and Lou Dobbs happens to be one of my favorites. Anderson Cooper and his show "360" is also one I like to tune into on a daily basis. I suppose I watch both of them because I usually agree with what they're saying. As stressed as I can get, I really don't need to watch people I disagree with.

Which is probably why I don't like to watch Fox News. They're usually saying things I don't agree with and have guests such as Ann Coulter, who I won't even bother to watch. If I see her I can't change the channel fast enough. Bill O'Reilly is another show I just simply can't and won't watch. Now this is just my opinion.

This entry isn't to bash Fox and promote CNN. I just think it's good to know what's going on in the world. If you like Fox more than CNN by all means watch it, but even if you're a homemaker you should keep up with current events.

I think it keeps your mind alert. Even though the news is depressing at times and very sensationalistic, it makes you feel smarter and informed. Especially if you're at home a lot.

My daughter Nicole, now 14, is very interested in what is happening in the world. She comes home after school and talks about current events. Nicole's social studies teacher happens to talk about current events in class quite often. My daughter thinks her teacher is wonderful and she is so interested in his class.

As violent as the news can be my daughter seems to be able to handle it. I attribute this to her having a safe haven to come home to. You can't hide the violence from your kids no matter how hard you try.

Several months back we had a case in Michigan where a wife and mother went missing. Her name was Tara Grant. It was just a horrific crime. As usual the husband claimed he had nothing to do with her disappearance. He of course later confessed to killing her.


Tara Grant (above), whose husband, Steven (below), confessed to killing



Now we have a current case which is Stacy Peterson. Another wife and mother missing. This time from the state of Illinois. Again, the husband is claiming he has nothing to do with her disappearance. We'll see; however, I highly doubt it. Most mothers just don't leave their children.

How about the highly publicized Laci Peterson case? Again, another husband claiming he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance. Not only did this monster kill his wife, but also his unborn baby. Unless you live in a cave you've heard about this case, and so have your children.

I think it's important as a parent to be able to talk to your kids about current events. They talk about them in school, and we need them to be well informed.

No, you can't make sense of these types of murder cases. Thankfully most of us, not even in our wildest dreams, could ever hurt another human being let alone someone we are supposed to love.

How do you explain this type of violent crime to your kids? You can't. However, you can sit down and talk to them about it. Especially if they bring up the subject, which my daughter has done on numerous occasions.

We live in a very violent society. However, it's up to us to make our children feel safe. Talking about it is one way to make them feel better.

These monsters that kill their wives not only affect their children and family, but they affect all of us. Let's take back some of the power that these monsters have taken away from all of us! Especially the innocence of our children, of which they've robbed some.

By talking about it with your children it will relieve some of the fright they may be feeling. It's important to let our kids know that they can talk to us, even about the most unspeakable things.

Maybe we don't have the answers as to why these terrible things occur. If we talk about them it may prevent it from happening in the future. Let's teach our kids that violence is not the answer. Because chances are, they've heard about it, and not talking about it won't make it go away.

By talking about these types of terrible crimes and current events with our children it may prevent it from happening in the future. One way is to make sure they feel safe and secure at home. When you talk to your kids you get to know them better. The only way to be able to talk to your kids about these types of crimes is for you to know what is going on yourself. Maybe if some of these monsters had a person to talk to they would have thought twice before doing what they did.

Hopefully by talking to our children it will prevent future violence. If we do our job as parents, maybe in some small way these poor people haven't died in vain.