From Golden State to Golden Haze—Or is it Daze?

I was unfriended today on Facebook. I know, you’ve been there. Today, I once again tried to counter another political diatribe from the left, state an alternative position to the same folks who publish never ending attacks on the tea party, ridicule powerful female political leaders, and of course, everyone’s usual favorite whipping network Fox News, which my past friend and his faithful followers love to call “Faux News.” That must have come from Keith Olbermann. They also like to call names. Favorite words I have been called indirectly or directly from this side when addressing just the ISSUES, are a “right wing nutjob,” “ignorant,” “uninformed,” “racist,” “bubble headed blonde,” “homophobe,” “comedienne” and of course, the all enduring “corporate and insurance company loving Republican.” Editors Note: I have no health insurance and I’m not employed by a corporation. I should be so lucky. Someone does need to remind these “progressives” who are for progress, except when, of course, it involves Sam Walton, that corporations were once mom and pop and grew because they were successful and able to hire more—you guessed it—people! And those people HIRE more people, create jobs, provide 401(k)s and if not overtaxed, create wealth in America and donate money to charity too. But now I’m sounding far too reasonable so I’ll stop.

On Facebook, I mostly confine my dine and dash visits to esoteric banter surrounding my day. Occasionally, I put out something cryptic (which those in the “know” will understand and others will wonder about). I have recently even published some photos of my creative work. On a serious note though, Facebook has been my only outlet sometimes to scream out in pain when a phonecall isn’t possible. Once again, it is always interesting who responds and who posts about their grand lobster dinner or vacation as another life is crumbling on the previous line. A lot of people would rather use social media to talk about how “great” their life is” while never commenting on anything too “heavy” unless, of course, it involves them. And then again, if you only get on once in a while, people are offended that you haven't responded. Everyone makes assumptions on Facebook. It is a grand experiment and, I love every moment there—the good, the bad and the ugly. I LOVE to communicate. And I am unafraid to do so.

So this dear friend, who writes an amazing amount of hateful comments regarding anything remotely conservative, often posts videos from his favorite network “MSNBC” and/or my other favorite The Huffington Post. I don’t think his biggest worry should be what Sarah Palin is reading or how authentic Glenn Beck may be. (I have yet to see any network counter the facts that Beck puts out by the way). Maybe that's why so many showed up on the D.C. mall on 8/28. Can't wait to see who Colbert and Stewart pull in. I think someone needs to tell my friend that the only people who still cling to MSNBC can’t handle the truth, which is why that network spends all of its time giving Fox News even more publicity with its “worst person of the week” feature with hysterically unflattering photos —predictably, always conservatives or pundits from Fox News. Perhaps someone should tell MSNBC that it might be driving more and more dumb people to Fox News. We wouldn’t want that, would we? Doh!

In his last post talking about the glorification of legalizing pot in California (my home state), I decided to challenge him by asserting that I was sad to see the marijuana signs all over Los Angeles the last time I visited. I mentioned that I didn’t want California to become Amsterdam and it was beginning to look a bit like Bladerunner. I didn’t call him a name. I just made my point as I always do, to counter his exhuberance over the Colbert/Prop #19 fervor. I even mentioned personal experience with the sign sightings. He denied any existed so I went to a link and posted it urging him to check it out. I was sincere. I hear they have cracked down on this practice but believe me, when I went there in May, they were everywhere. It's really easy to SEE things when you've stepped away from them. Remember Mary Poppins? "Sometimes people can't see past the end of their own nose?" Since moving to Texas, I have visited California nine times and every time I go back, I see the decline of western civilization. I feel the potholes more, see the traffic more, see the yellow air more, see the rude drivers more and, yep, see a lot of self absorption that I was told we had, but didn't see when I lived there because it was my only experience. He accused conservatives of being “ethnocentric” in his post. Now I know this once again refers to the “racist” issue. But I consider people who are this thin skinned about their own cultural issues while they lash out at others, the true ethnocentrics.

They want to believe that their viewpoint is superior to others and that they are living an ideal life as their city and their economy crumbles around them. They want their children in private school and dine at the finest restaurants while they want YOU to limit your showers, use less power and drive smaller cars. They travel first class. They cut in line. They get free swag but decry the unfairness of life for the "little people." They would never let their children near drugs but want to legalize them for yours. In many cases, the average Californian's mindset is that life just doesn’t exist anywhere else. I know. I am a native. I observed this attitude my whole life. New Yorkers hated California but tolerated it. Californians thought all southerner's were racist—thanks public education system. And midwesterners were boring. When I was a tour guide at Universal Studios, one of our trainers constantly emphasized that we taylor our spiel so the "Iowa" guest could understand us. It's funny now that I spend a lot of time these days arguing with people who weren’t even born in California, who want to marginalize me for MY views on my own state. I think I have earned the right to express my perspective—especially when the intent is to motivate others to get angry enough about it too so they will fix it instead of bury their heads in the sand. I also wonder if I were writing about California while still LIVING there, if I would be called a “California basher” or a modern day “Paul Revere.”

It’s hard to say. Here’s what I DO know. There are three types of Californians as I see it today. 1. Progressives—I’m talking the hardcore Haight/Ashbury, Cloward and Piven, dope smoking hippies who never grew up. This is the group that the democrat legislature is now wooing with the pot vote in order not to lose their seats this November–wake up and smell the hash! 2. The fingers in their ears saying “la la la la la” Californian who is so busy holding down a job, putting their kid in a lottery system for a charter school and enduring the 4 hour daily commute that you cannot blame them for self medicating with Dancing with the Stars and The Kardashians at night. Someone needs to let these people know that they must disconnect from the matrix and can no longer ignore the crumbling walls of Rome around them. 3. Finally, there is the “waiting for Superman” Californian, native or not, who has watched their state slip from the Golden State into a Golden haze but doesn’t really believe that they can make a difference. After all, every time they vote, the courts overturn their will and call them names in the process. It's not easy being a Californian today.

Barbara Boxer and Maxine Waters must go. California, do you really want Jerry Brown (Linda Ronstadt’s ex) to be your governor? Really, California. The nation’s future is in your hands. You were the 5^th largest economy when I left. Now, you’re 7^th. Your schools are teaching English as a second language and want all children to believe that illegal immigration is a-okay. I hope you don't believe that year round school is the solution as Arnie Duncan would have you believe. If you think your kids are endoctrinated now, just wait until the family has little or no influence over what they children are taught. The state will be happy to educate them to be "green citizens of tomorrow" so they can tell their parents "who don't know what they know" (thank you Al Gore) how many garbage bags they can use and what lightbulbs to buy." Please remember in November that your current governor (yeah, I voted for him) wanted to sell state landmarks to make money. He’s not a true conservative. We were all fleeced.

You don’t have “perfect” leaders running in this November race either. But they're all you've got. You MUST choose the ones with the most cost conscious conservative values possible regardless of their personal quirks and once and for all oust these corrupt politicians who have kept their own backsides warm, their pockets lined with your money, and who just cannot take enough from you as you serve them, for years! And remember that no Californian should ever call Barbara Boxer, ma’am. It is much too honorable a title for this senator. Remember Nancy Pelosi just a few weeks ago? She said that unemployment benefits were the best stimulous for job creation. Nancy Pelosi is worth 50 million dollars. Now, if this doesn’t give you hope that if someone this dumb can grow up to be speaker of the house, then surely, Californians are capable of saving their state. Send Nancy Pelosi back to San Francisco. Keep Gavin Newsome at home. If you want to call someone a racist, call out Maxine Waters, who on national television, used the word “tea bagger” repeatedly to talk about the tea party movement and mentions color every time she is in front of a camera. And never forget Nancy Pelosi’s giant gavel and “astroturf” comments in the infancy of the emerging grass roots movement that has so threatened Washington, D.C., that an angry and frustrated electorate are considered threats to national security. Can you see what is happening?

It is time for Mr. Smith to go to Washington—or at least to Sacramento. If you believe the sun rises and sets in your Golden State, then put your money where your mouth is and get involved. It MUST begin in California and work all the way across this great country. So as I ponder being unfriended over my friend’s offense that I saw a lot of marijuana signs in California that saddened me as “California bashing,” I say this. I didn’t leave California. California left me. I SAW where it was going. I was waiting for Superman to fix it too. I wasn’t that Superman. I hope someone there will step up and save this state. So please don’t hate when someone has the courage to point out the flaws of California, not because they hate the STATE but because they hate what the statists have DONE to it. My intent in anything I write about California is to squeeze some Visine into the bloodshot eyes of the dazed and confused public so they’ll wake up in time to clear the air. The politicians and progressives are blowing smoke up your behind. If Californans keep electing the same corrupt leaders (I use that term loosely) to rule in Sacramento, then Californians will not only get the government they deserve, but they just might finally need that marijuana for medicinal purposes. And between you and me, I think it’s exactly what this government wants. A medicated public is easier to manipulate. After all, there’s a reason it’s called dope.

Christmas in July!

I've neglected my blog. When I began in earnest a few months ago, I couldn't keep my hands off the keyboard. I experienced swells of inspiration that interrupted my daily routine—heck, I don't even have a routine—they just interrupted the heavily distracted "mom, can you get me this and that" responsibilities of my day and I was disciplined enough to heed their call. Life can change on a dime.

Today is July 3rd and I want to write about the 4th. And I will. But first, a story that will weave as always and then come back to the point. The hero in the story is my dad. He was supposed to come visit last Christmas and then, as life would cruelly intervene, he received the news that none of us could comprehend. After a toothache wouldn't heal, it was discovered that he had a rare form of cancer. This diagnosis occurred the first week in October just after he and my mom had finally committed to come and had booked their flight.

The blow was crushing on every level. There was the immediate shock, then sadness and anger towards this dread disease getting in the way of us finally having two weeks together (my parents have never spent two weeks with me). Then, there was the realization that "this was it." There wouldn't BE a next time, another Christmas together. It was the fear of this loss of the future that might not ever be. It sucked the joy out of last Christmas as we travelled there for the "last" this and that before his surgery. After he survived that, we came home to our own problems—mainly the new and ongoing saga of my husband ending up jobless AND owed 1/5 of his annual salary for 2009 by a company that "ran out of venture capital" and neglected to tell him as he continued to work there out of state at the beginning of 2010—you can see I have a lot to write about. But that is for another day.

I have experienced some loss and pain in my life, more than some and much less than others. In trying to have a family, I lost four of those little "human becomings" and each one presented me with a slap upside the head that felt like a robber had seized an unfulfilled dream, stolen a future that would never be. There is an emptiness that comes from this type of loss that cannot be described. It has to be experienced to be understood. When I look back on some of the sadness and struggles I've had in my life, it has been an unwelcome blessing. I never would have developed the empathy I have for others would it not have been for them. And, though I have always appreciated life more than most that I see—meaning that I do stop to smell the roses—literally—my husband and kids have seen me do it.

Today I am stopping to smell the roses again. It is 6:30am and everyone is asleep. I felt that familiar overwhelming urge to write. No interruptions today. I'm about to ice two cakes for some customers in my new found part time career as The Cupcake Queen. One will be an American flag cake for my neighbor; the other, a little luau themed hibiscus "smash" cake for a little girl's first birthday. Both celebrate a beginning, a hope, a remembrance. In a few minutes, my husband and eldest son will wake up. They will then dutifully post the American Flag in front yards all over our neighborhood to honor our flag and the 4th of July. My son has been doing this for the past several months for all national holidays. He also posts the flags at the entrance to our subdivision outside of Austin, Texas. I'm proud of him. He reminds me of someone—my dad. I only wish my former boy scout dad could be here this morning to join him.

But not to worry. Dad will only be about five hours too late. I'll take that. Because after a few more glorious hours of anticipation, a long awaited dream will finally come true. My dad, ten months after being diagnosed with a cancer that we thought would take him within a few months, will be here with us for a week. I've had his room ready for two years. It is stocked with robes, slippers, teapot, towels, and photos of him and mom are everywhere. Our home smells like the Grand Floridian on the day of our honeymoon—yes, you'd have to have been there to know! Our family will be complete today. Tomorrow, we celebrate America. Today, I celebrate my dad! You might say it's Christmas in July!

Let them eat cake?

It's funny how a blog can seemingly be about one thing and a topic can crop up that seemingly does not relate. Like this sudden collection of cakes on my "no tread thread." What on earth do they have to do with anything?

Let me connect some buttercream dots! Years ago, when I was in high school, my "dream" was to be an entertainer. I grew up watching Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and my favorite dancer was Vera Ellen (White Christmas–oh, that nerve tap!). I, of course, also loved Danny Kaye who looked so much like my grandfather and was just as silly. When I entered college, there wasn't a major for me so I chose Psychology with a Dance minor and rapidly switched to Radio-TV-Film which was the "hard to get into" department at my school. I figured that if I got into television production, perhaps I could work my way around and yet still have that "safe, fall back position behind the scenes if things didn't work out."

During this time, musicals weren't in vogue, Donny and Marie were passé and there was no American Idol. I don't even think the Gong Show was on anymore. It was a virtual vacuum of theatrical culture (even before we sunk into the much higher brow "reality series" format (jest) in my world at the time. I quickly gave up on my dreams of being that multi-talented singing, dancing, acting "star" and eventually did work in the television and post production world.

But, here's the rub. When I was in high school, I went to a job counselor, who gave me a test of what I "should be" when I graduated. The test said I should be an "interior designer," a vocation which I dismissed as nonsense, laughed off and quickly forgot. I don't remember if "baker" was on that list of the three top professions. But all these years later, this is what I've learned. Who you are at 8 or 9, is probably who you are meant to be. When I was young, I didn't play with Barbie dolls as much as I designed elaborate HOMES for them with stacked books and gauzy curtains. I remember creating fascinating scenarios of what they would DO in those homes.

During my early childhood, I wrote plays and I made stuff and sold it at school. I once baked and painted at least 50 clay pins in shapes including milkshakes with striped straws, french fries, cherry pies, even a tap shoe—you may not remember this but pins were VERY popular during this time and many young kids wore them as accessories. I sold them for a dollar or so each. Later, I learned to crochet from my great grandmother and made holiday bell pins, ice skate pins—you name it—I sold it! I was a born marketer and entrepreneur and didn't know it.

My parents didn't identify this in me. They didn't educate me on what they saw. They were young. They did the sensible thing, got jobs and to this day are in the same field. My mother has worked for the same company since the age of 19. She is so accustomed to the golden handcuffs, that she has zero tolerance for uncertainty and has lived her life in constant fear of losing her job all of my childhood and into my adult years. I, too, became fearful and sacrificed my BIG dreams in search of the "safe job" that would be more "secure." But as it turned out, my generation did not have the same chances of finding lifelong employment with one company that my parents' generation did. I wish someone had coached me to be in business for myself when I was 20 instead of at 40.

So what of all this baking? As a young girl, being raised in the 70s and 80s, I was literally conditioned and led to BELIEVE that girls were the "same" as boys and needed to have the same "opportunities" as boys and that we were in a "war" of "equal rights" with boys. This was so emblazoned in me that I vowed if I ever had kids, I would NEVER stop working. In fact, I never even thought of BEING a mother or enjoyed being around young children (no contempt; I just didn't fawn over babies the way some of my female counterparts did) until I was already married and suddenly my maternal desire just kicked in. I remember liking Home Economics and learning to cook and sew but it wasn't "cool" to like this class if you were a girl. It was "predictable," "pedestrian," and "old fashioned." You were supposed to "want" to do woodshop and athletics—which I did not enjoy at all.

And so while I actually "liked" baking, making things with my own hands and designing beautiful environments in which to live, I looked for a "job" instead of a career that I would love for life. I dismissed the fact that I could love a domestic career in interior design. This relates completely to the social agenda of the public school's primary agenda to socialize girls to "not be feminine" and instead aspire to be more like "men." In my day (yep, I'm old), girls and boys have been conditioned to be the "same" on some education expert's slow road to hell paved with good intentions. Boys are now "not allowed to be boys" in school—i.e. run, play tag, play chase, get skinned knees and certainly not raise their voices. And girls are supposed to love math, engineering, science and all of those fields once not "encouraged" in girls in the dark ages of my generation—funny, I thought it was the generation before mine that was in the dark ages. May you live long enough to learn that you just don't know what you don't know.

I once read that Colonel Sanders didn't create Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was in his 70s. In the past week, at the age of 44, I have found myself almost locked in the kitchen making cupcake after cupcake and ultimately, a custom fairy princess cake that I took on for an excited and supportive client—simply by just DOING and teaching myself what I had a passion for but never got paid or professionally trained to do. It wasn't even that intentional. I just started "doing it."

The same goes for my unofficial "interior design" passion. My home looks like a million bucks but it is all design on a dime. I wouldn't know a designer label piece of furniture if you showed me but I can make $5,000 look like $20,000 any day of the week and I NEVER pay retail—except for a really good cupcake book! Because it is effortless and intuitive for me, I don't generally think my gifts for design, baking and organization (yep, I've got that gene too) are "marketable" skills because they are EASY for me. But as I get older and more people gently encourage me and say "you missed your calling," I realize that I am more like my grandmother and great grandmother than I ever realized and rather than run away in fear, I am running to my kitchen, my garden and my Ballard catalogs. I'm loving every domestic minute. I've got 4 boys (5 if you count my husband) and I let them eat cake (as long as I'm the one baking it!)

Drop off the Cupcakes and no one gets hurt!

Sit back and fasten your seatbelts everyone. I'm back! Six weeks ago, I turned off the tube, put the books down and had to take care of some personal business that kept me from truly "caring" about the world imploding—as mine was imploding instead. Not that it's resolved, but it is under control for the moment. So I wondered if the inspiration to write would hit again and IF I would write at all on the topic of this blog, which is centered around the trampling of American liberty from every angle. My inspiration came today. Life never fails to present situations where I can either lie down and take it or stand up and fight. As a bullied teen, I can tell you that NOTHING gets my ire up like being bullied by a policy-packing, fake law citing bureaucrat.

As many of you who follow my blog or just "know me" know, I am the mother of four boys, ages 12, 8, 5 and recently turned 4. I, who attended private school for elementary education (and had a wonderful experience) and public school for middle school (and had a dreadful experience) and public high school (and had a mixed but mostly favorable experience) have become a home schooling mother in the past year. To prove to anyone who would write me off as an "uneducated nutjob," I put myself through graduate school at the Marshall School of Business at U.S.C. at a personal cost of $50,000, bought my own BMW convertible while there at the age of 28, have a an M.B.A. with an emphasis in marketing and entrepreneurial leadership and have never had student debt. I have also worked in some capacity since the age of 15—up until I began home schooling full time. Okay, credentials out of the way. If someone had told me I would be home schooling my children when I gave birth 12 years ago, I would have said they said they were nucking futs—I've never used that euphemism but hopefully the implications are that no one who knows me would have EVER seen this coming.

That being said, I still keep my toes in the public school system with my kindergartner—mostly because I don't think I could take on home schooling for the first year, three out of my four children, without jumping into an empty Austin lake. I naively told one of my very wise mentors in the home schooling world that I didn't think a child could be "screwed up" too badly in kindergarten and was okay with him learning to "walk the line" as long as it ended before they knocked his critical thinking skills and creativity out of him. (Last week, I met a home schooling mom who begged to differ—she told me her son learned to steal in kindergarten.)

Alas, I was willing to walk in both worlds. I was willing to still have "hope" that my beautiful neighborhood public school STILL had the "Texas" handle on common sense so long ago lost in my former state of California. After all, kindergartners were still allowed to dress up for Halloween here—(well they were until this past year), and I could still bring in homemade cupcakes for his birthday—(well, the homemade part is still okay). I could visit my child with the cupcakes for his birthday, set them out and even get a photo of my child with the cupcake. (Dare I mention that recently, parents did all of the above and read a story to the class—especially if it involved donating the birthday child's book to the public school?) Apparently, this is okay for some parents. But today, even though I was just bringing the cupcakes TO the classroom, it wasn't okay for ME. Let me explain.

My son's birthday is in the summer so his teacher decided to celebrate all summer birthdays in these last two weeks of school—the kids are doing so much work this week between class parties every other day (yes, that's sarcasm). I was given the date of May 26th to participate in this "unbirthday." Did I mention I have four children? Um, I have had much personal experience with the birthday protocols, rules, expectations, time limitations and any nuance you can think of surrounding "celebrations" in schools—which is precisely why I ONLY brought the cupcakes, no milk, no birthday plates, no goody bags—just the cupcakes, napkins and a camera for a quick snapshot to document the moment. The point was to be PRESENT with my son. It was important to HIM that I be there today. The school had other plans for me.

So there I am in the lobby this morning with my cupcakes all ready to go. Did I mention they were Cookie Monster? My son was so proud that he had personally stuffed the mini Chips-Ahoy cookies into his mouth as I decorated them with eyeballs and blue hair. They were red velvet too—truly, they were a sight to behold but I digress! Warning, run on sentence ahead—After the line of parents waiting for their approved badges to be printed after showing their driver's licenses to the administrative staff who KNOW them but are still "required by policy" to "check" their legitimacy to be present for the very teacher conferences they were invited to, I had waited about 10 minutes. So, I approached the front desk to inquire of the Vice Principal when my son's teacher's class had recess so I could deliver the cupcakes to the classroom and set them out for the kids to have upon their return.

At this time, without flinching, the Vice Principal said these words to me. "Mrs. Kirschner, you are not permitted to deliver cupcakes to the classroom per Texas state law which prohibits birthday parties. If you do, we will lose our funding." She went on to add that "Parents just leave them here and we take them for you." At this moment, what I WANTED to say was "show me the law." But what I said instead, to avoid conflict, was a feeble attempt at reason—like, "I'm not here for a birthday party; it's just a snack since he won't be here in the summer." And of course, I cited several examples of having "broken the law" in the past, having brought in cupcakes for every occasion one can think of during public school hours. She would have none of it and swiftly sent me on my way, taking my cupcake container like the Wicked Witch of the West took Toto. I calmly and respectfully walked out of the front office burning to get to the bottom of this "new law" that, with the Obama administration, I wouldn't have been surprised had passed, but had NOT heard of at all—I guess it could have passed while I was learning to read at home (more sarcasm).

I went home and found NOTHING in the Texas school law on bringing in cupcakes or treats for birthdays. However, I did find "Lauren's Law" which specifically SUPPORTED a parent's and/or grandparent's right to bring in foods that fall outside the nutritional guidelines on any birthdays or celebrations for their child. It stated that no school shall make policy that conflicts with that right.

I wrote back immediately to the principal and to my son's teacher. I requested that the teacher please take pictures of my son since I was not "allowed" to be there pursuant to a new "law" that I was waiting to get clarification on from the front office. My son's teacher did not write back. Teachers know not to challenge policy. The principal did not call and I spent the whole day waiting for a response either by phone or email. I called once mid-day and left a message too.

No call, no response. What came just an hour or so before school ended (and obviously by then, I had MISSED the occasion with my son) was a pat little paragraph from the Principal, quoting SquareMeals.com which uses lots of fancy acronyms to tell you what TYPES of foods are not allowed in public schools along with a nice little policy statement of "no more than 3 celebrations" being held during a school year. Did I miss something? That is policy, not law! And remember that little part in Lauren's Law, which is all about the parent's role in providing their child with an acknowledgement of a special day? Since I was simply bringing the "cupcakes" DURING snacktime, I wasn't even interfering or interrupting class instruction time.

It is now 6:37pm central Texas time. I have not been contacted by phone from either the principal or the vp. In light of the many grievances I have witnessed parents go through when they challenge the public schools on anything, I expect I will be told that "I must have misunderstood something." Here is what I have to say tonight. Whenever my or any other child commits ANY grievance against the school, whether it be a tardy, an absence, a playground altercation, I have to explain myself. I have to prove who I am to get into the school, to take my child out of school, to pick him up from school. I get paperwork requiring me to sign, affirm and acknowledge MY responsibility in any mishap.

So, in keeping with school policy since the public school technically works for ME, I am requiring that they be held accountable for causing me to miss a special day in my child's life, and further, for misrepresenting and falsely citing a Texas law that does not exist, for quoting a policy which is not consistently upheld, enforced nor reasonable, as stated in Lauren's Law, does not supercede my rights as a parent. Further, as it is a mere five days before "school's out for summer," I believe I am owed an apology for the proposterous timing of a pompous peacock puffing out her policy packed chest and thinking that I would quietly sulk away in patronized defeat.

Finally, I challenge anyone reading this blog to ask yourself how I might have been treated if I were in a business suit, having obviously taken a 1/2 day off work to come be with my child to honor his birthday "moment." I know the answer to this question. I look the part of a "stay at home" mom, wearing simple jeans, and a t-shirt, hair usually in a clip. I look like I've got "all the time in the world." We (stay-at-homes) get a lot of empty "lip service" about how noble we are, but are truly the last group in America that are a prime target for belittling, intimidation and bullying by an out of control school system that believes they know "better than us." They are wrong.

Moms rule, stupid policies drool and I'm too cool for public school!

Editor's Note: It is important for me to note that I am not a typical "public school hating" home schooler. I am an advocate for education and common sense. I am a concerned parent's best ally and stand beside anyone, public school parent or not, who recognizes and resists the ever increasing policies that are enacted in the school's (not our children's) best interest, separate them from and/or diminish the role of the parent and/or encourage a parent to defer to the expertise of the statist. With that, I hope my comments above do not offend. I recognize that most Americans do not feel that they could capably home school their child, cannot afford private school, didn't get the vouchers they wanted and are "stuck" trying to find the "best" public schools that they can. Progressives have masterfully manipulated parents into believing "they are not qualified to teach their own children" by design and by the ever growing power of the school boards and PTA to decide for our children what is best for them. I hope this changes but for now, I will remain vigilant in looking out for what is in my child's best interest. He is not a number. He is as individual as I am and in America (at least for now), the right of the individual still trumps the tyranny of the socialist collective. Period.

The Face of the Tea Party and Civil War II

I’ve said to myself, but not here until today, that we are going to have a civil war in this country.

I believe the shot heard ‘round the world came on the Monday after health"care" passed. Americans—including those who innocently trusted and believed that our president’s campaign promise to “fundamentally change America” meant that the “old” way of doing business, hiding things from the people, having lobbyists make policy, spending exhorbitant amounts of money and taxing unfairly and corruption—believed that things were going to change for the better. It was all so carefully packaged in a man who looked like the perfect candidate. The election of this dynamic handsome, married, young father of two who just happened to be black and was voted in not because of the color of his skin but because of his extraordinairy power to use the English language to at one time say exactly what he was going to do but make it look to the average American like it was all so moderate, was brilliantly executed. I did not vote for this president. But my no vote for him had nothing to do with the color of his skin. My no vote came from paying close attention to what he said along with his voting record and, for me, cemented in is relationships, of which there were far too many, to ever make me believe that he was the best choice for our country. I didn’t feel John McCain, was the best choice either. But as usual, when faced with only two choices in recent years, you go with the one that will do less harm to the country.

Before President Obama began systematically dismantling our republic a little more than one year ago, I held my children out of school on election day. I had no idea what was coming. But I accepted that if this is what the American people wanted, let’s give him a shot. And, regardless of disagreeing with his policies, I watched the entire inauguration with my children to show them the only good thing that I could say about the day. I told them, that with the election of this first black president, there will be no way that anyone can ever call America a racist nation. He was overwhelmingly elected by the American people. Of course, I was wrong—not about the legitimacy of his election. I was wrong that racism would end in America.

Americans can argue what taxing unfairly is and we can argue what things NEED to be kept from the public to protect our national security—such as our military strategy, but any American this week, who cannot now see what our president meant to do to our country, is not colorblind, they are just blind.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American hero. If I were alive during his time, I would have joined hands and walked with those who supported him. I would have not eaten in a restaurant that didn’t allow a fellow American to join me in. I wouldn’t’ have taken a segregated bus. I have spent my whole life being respectful to people of all colors, all faiths, all beliefs, even when they differ from mine. However, when they differ from mine, I have asked “why?” Sometimes they can explain. Sometimes, they can’t. And sometimes, they just don’t respond at all. Today, when I ask or challenge anyone, I am called every name in the book. I never could have imagined that half a century later, the very beneficiaries of the civil rights movement would turn their ire towards people who believed in and who supported its original mission. People like me.

I never imagined in our “colorblind” society that it would be my family who would be fighting for the same civil rights Martin Luther King, Jr. championed. And worse, as we were fighting for them, be called the names from all of the groups I sought to uplift, help, support and respect my entire life.

I am a caucasion, blonde haired, blue eyed, married mother of four young boys. Recently, on Facebook, I came across one of my former entertainment industry associates, whom I admired, promoted, championed, praised, adored, respected and revered. He happens to look like me. Actually, he resembles and sounds like Anderson Cooper but without the white hair. I hadn’t seen his posts in quite a while. I gave up responding last year when I, as a brand new Facebook member, dared to get involved in a discussion about the town hall meetings and Joe Lieberman, etc. Within minutes, my comments were drawn and quartered and I was called the same tired names that pass as proper language in every circle but mine.

I folded and just began to take the safe route and talk about my son’s latest pair of shoes or talk about what movie I had just seen. After many months went on and I saw more and more discussions, I began to argue with facts again. Each time, I was usually the only voice of dissention. I was labeled a name caller for using political terms to label policy while their name calling focused on a presumed party, color of my skin, or worse a sexual practice I must engage in for having these views.

As I reflect on this tumultuous time we are living in, I see so clearly now what is going to happen in America. I can’t believe I’m going to say this. I can hear them calling me a white supremacist already—and by “they” I do not mean people of color. I mean they as the radicals of all colors, including mine, who seek to extinguish me, my family and my culture forever.

Because of the color of my skin, what I have to say about what is happening to my country is meritless, I have no civil rights. I have to prove every day that I am NOT a racist, NOT a homophobe, NOT a radical. Look at what the media does to the tea party? They show the overweight men and women with the oversized t-shirts and black socks. They show the handmade signs, with crudely written (and often misspelled) exclamations—which by the way should be used as proof of grass roots to counter Nancy Pelosi’s despicable “astroturf” slur. Most of these patriots, whether they be silly looking, dressed like Paul Revere, have bad hair or be sitting in a fold up chair, holding a constitution, are American patriots. They DO look like me, my mom and dad, But it isn’t the point. It shouldn’t MATTER what color any American’s skin is who seeks to have their voice heard. We are supposed to be living in the afterglow of Martin Luthur King’s dream . We are, in fact, living in a culturally divided nightmare. And it has been brought on by those who protest the loudes—the far left, who wants to “care” for the “meek” as long as the meek don’t say “NO” to the handouts.

It is one year after the historic tea party movement began. This movement continues to grow as more and more Americans see where our country is headed. Our first black president was duly elected by a majority of ALL Americans. The problem is, he wasn’t the RIGHT president for America. Perhaps our next president will be both conservative AND black. I don’t need to wonder how that victory would be celebrated. We all know. He would be labeled another pejorative term by the far left. They’ve called Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and others the same name.

My argument prior to today when someone called the tea party “an all white group” would be to knee jerk defend against it. I have come to realize BECAUSE of what the left has done, that I was indoctrinated into becoming an apologist for the color of my own skin from the time I entered grade school until now. As a true colorblind American, I don’t count how many of each KIND of human beings are outraged at what is happening in our country. I’m just glad they’re outraged.

This disgusting assault on my culture, my race and my American heritage is not what Martin Luthur King wanted. The progressives on facebook today in my friends lists who have comment after comment applauded that literally CALL for me (meaning anyone in the tea party or who is conservative) to be killed, and at the same time talks about how violent I am is evil.

To close this topic today, I want to go on record with a very sincere statement. I watch Glenn Beck almost daily. I wish I had every one of his broadcasts on dvd. They are a history lesson and I am so thankful that he is alive to be the Paul Revere of broadcasting. He is a modern day hero to me. He has helped wake people up to what is happening with facts, data, history lessons, documentaries and whenever he can, the very words for all of us to SEE uttered and used by those who work in and around our government., and most notably, the White House. People who don’t watch Glenn Beck don’t have the faintest idea who he is and how brave he is. The burden he must be under in doing what he does every day is tremendous. I cannot imagine being so articulate and passionate with so little anger day in and day out with what he must go through off the air, May I not hear the words “fairness doctrine” ever again. God bless Glenn Beck and keep him safe so he may continue to remind us who we are.

And to my president. Barack Obama. I did not vote for you. But I do not hate you. You are an intelligent, handsome, well spoken, unflappable man with an unbelievable smile. You have a beautiful wife, a loving mother in law and two beautiful daughters. You are an example to the black community of fidelity and good parenting from everything I have seen. I commend you for all of these things. The first lady, regardless of her views, has also exhibited grace and dignity in office. I believe you are both sincere. But as an American, I also believe that through your own actions and because of those who have influenced you and continue to surround you, that your views are the antithesis of American ideals and that your desire is to erode and eventually extinguish the constitution upon which our nation was founded. It makes me extremely sad for I was filled with hope too. I was hoping that you might do what the majority of people who elected you thought you would do—change Washington—not the country. You will be an important part of American history. You will be remembered but it won’t be for the healthcare bill. You will be remembered as the president who took America too far left and became the very catalyst for our need to restore the republic and drastically reform the government. I sincerely wish that you and your family are safe from harm. My fear is that those who want to harm you will come not from the right as the far left media would like to perpetuate but actually from the left who feel you haven’t gone far enough. Editors Note: As I publish this blog today, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, in an extensive promo campaign that seeks to compare the tea party movement to Timothy McVeigh, is airing this week on April 19th—it is just one example in a long line of disgusting attempts to frighten peaceful, liberty loving, fiscally conservative people into staying inside and shutting up. It will fail.

Finally, I know that it is the desire of the far left in this country to either incite and or orchestrate someone on the right to commit an act of violence. This would discredit the angry electorate and create the very “crisis” government needs to push for total control of America. And for that, my prayers are with the people. Don’t fall for it. Don’t do it. Think of Martin Luthur King, Jr. Think of Abraham Lincoln. Think of Ghandi. Weather permitting, I will attend my 2^nd tea party demonstration today on the capitol steps in Austin, Texas. I am proud to attend with my husband and children as we watch freedom loving people get off of the couch, and stand up to the endless bullying we have faced since the silent, tolerant majority said loudly “Enough” and “Don’t tread on me!”

The Awakening

Having been absent from blog and broadcast media for a few weeks, I am grateful for the inspiration to write today. After a bout with insomnia this past week, and futile attempts to bring on drowsiness (instead of outrage) while flipping through various media sources on computer and cathode ray screen, I am still awake, but strangely not fatigued.

Today, as I dropped my son off at kindergarten, I pondered a few things in the quiet solitude of the morning. This time, when three out of our four children are still asleep and the grey skies above provided a calming and contemplative mood, I contemplated this.

The more I live, the more I learn, the less I know, and the more I wish I had more time to learn!

A couple of years ago, having uprooted our family from one state to another and living in complete uncertainty, we followed Oprah Winfrey’s book recommendation and read with great understanding and resonance, Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. We also took the 10 week course she pioneered on Skype, which was groundbreaking at the time. Without going too “deep” into the mind of Eckhart Tolle, we both loved this book.

I don’t think Oprah Winfrey would agree with the kind of awakening we are experiencing now. But there is certainly not only an awakening of the spirit but also of the very depth of soul, which lay so dormant in so many of us for so long. My once mute voice now literally cries out to be free again. It is a palpable shout of “let freedom ring!” I remember well, the wonderful analogy Eckhart Tolle shared of two ducks in the water. They have a squabble and they flap their wings ferociously and then settle back down to continue swimming in the water. He used this analogy to show that with “presence” we can disagree and separate the person from the problem and not malign them in the process–for they “know not what they do.”

When I think of what I see on television in regards to Americans, who in growing number are reconnecting to the idea of what America IS, I think of this story. The tea party movement is perhaps one of the most pure examples of the duck story. It isn’t a monolithic group. It isn’t a group at all. It is a random and synchronous awakening of a spirit that flies in formation, yes, but does not seek to eliminate any bird. United on a direction, but with diverse ideas on how to get there, the more they flap their wings, the more hunters below try to single them out and pick them off one by one.

As we go forward, the flaps will get louder and louder and the other birds will peck, pluck and bite. But if we remain present, calm and resolute, perhaps one day we will all swim together again in a pristine pool without getting caught in the weeds.

From Log Cabin to Muddy Waters

I hope that anyone paying attention appreciates this little diddy.


Abraham Lincoln was a poor, motherless (at the age of 9) grandson of a murdered (by an Indian—excuse me “native American”) grandfather and the son of a father who raised himself. Lincoln received no formal education and taught himself through books. Oh the unfairness of life! By all accounts, Lincoln shouldn’t have survived. There was no free healthcare, no compulsory school, no parents to love him through his development from child into a man and no national Honor society scholarship (which is now going to be awarded on the basis of economic status OVER scholarly achievement). Someone from CPS should have rescued him. He was such a victim. This is just one example of the mindless drivel Lincoln was able to write with a substandard home school education.


Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.


Oh, but those scholarly people in Washington, D. C. today! So noble, so evolved, so civilized, so full of honor. Just look at how far we’ve come—from Reagan not removing his jacket in the Oval office to Clinton removing his pants. From a government designed to have its powers lended by us to a government who seizes power from us. And from brief stays in office to now employ for decades (inexplicably) by Californians, a representative like Maxine Waters who said some very interesting things just three days ago.


I don't remember the show and I don't remember the exact quote. What I remember is this. Waters wore a patriotic robin's egg blue jacket over a black silk shirt. With the capitol steps behind her, aided by an ever willing MSNBC anchor, she decried the racist, homophobic epithets hurled at our dignified congressional representatives as an aggregious assault on our honorable public servants.


And then, this “dignified” pillar of moral propriety used the words “Tea Baggers” to attribute the blame to the Tea Party movement. There was no follow up question challenging Ms. Waters language. (Kids, this is a really good time to major in journalism!)


I wonder, I just wonder, what would Lincoln say?


I also wonder this. Having had to turn off the television today as the stories and myths grow so predictably surrounding the most grass roots group in America in modern day history, I have become almost this cynical. I would like to pose a question to the media. But first, some facts.


Our current government is staffed and surrounded with, not only radicals, but corruption—Barney Frank (who still has a job despite bankrupting Fannie Mae), Chris Dodd (but at least he’s leaving), Tim Geitner (who can’t compute his taxes but may now control the entire U.S. economy), Charlie Rangel (tax fraud), Nancy Pelosi (fraud on every level from her accusations of the CIA to “we need to pass the bill to know what’s in it” to her “let them eat cake” stroll through the protestors to show them her power), ACORN, SEIU, Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Van Jones (self-avowed communist) Anita “I most often turn to Mao” Dunn, Valerie Jarrett (Van Jones watcher and admirer) and Eric Holder, who in my view, is dangerous to our country in ways that we will sustain for years to come because of his belief that America is, "for the most part, a nation of cowards." And then there are David Axelrod and Rom Emmanuel. No words needed to qualify their many attributes. The American people know their tactics.


Here’s the question. Is it conceivable that with all of the above people surrounding our president that our president, “who always has a plan” instructed anyone to pay off some poor SEIU or former ACORN schlubs to get to the front of the line where the cameras were to scream comments out to set up the tea party? As I write this (and as I have shut off the television, I'm going with what I've seen SO FAR). I see a lot of video from a congressman's POV. But I see no footage or interviews of the witnesses of these perpetrators who have caused two of the three major news channels to perpetuate as truth a sudden pattern exclusively on the RIGHT to react to last weekend's vote with violence.

In the day of video cell phones, where is the audio or video? Where are the interviews right after it happened of bystanders who were next to these people? After all, the cameras were there, right? Having been to the first (modern day) tea party in San Antonio, Texas on April 15th 2009, I am certain that if someone would have done this then, the deafening boos and shouts to “shut up” would have overpowered anyone who did this. So I'm just sayin'—where are the interviews of those in the crowd who WITNESSED what happened?


As for the brick with a note being hurled through a window with “conservative” quotes scrawled on a piece of paper, is it not conceivable that the same thing COULD be happening in this type of ditch and run attack? If you want to discredit a movement, just write a note that neatly packages that it's a crazy RIGHT wing radical, right? It all seems so Murder She Wrote. Again, NOT saying it CAN'T happen but I want to know MORE.


And here is the third thing which I have not heard anyone suggest—of course I thought of this after I wrote this blog yesterday afternoon and then awoke in the middle of the night kicking myself for not mentioning it before I hit the "publish" button—what IF these attacks are actually being perpetrated by the far LEFT who believes the bill didn't go far ENOUGH? Has anyone pondered this possibility?


The above is all so cynical but we are living in times where we are not being told the truth on any level in our government and for the most part, our media. To me, this all smacks of a political distortion to distract the American people from keeping their eye on the ball.


Here is what I’m saying before anyone labels me a conspiracy theorist or apologist for kooks! I do NOT believe that there are NOT random kooks who attend and infiltrate ANY good group. I do not condone violence of any kind. The crazies exist on the bell curve of the human behavior spectrum. However, the recent fervor of "threats" without substantial proof that automatically assumes that it is exclusively from the RIGHT warrants some sort of investigation. The sudden overnight wall to wall coverage immediately after THIS vote vexes me.


Ronald Reagan (a conservative!) was the president in my lifetime who was actually almost assassinated. President Bush received constant death threats, impeachment threats and calls for imprisonment for war crimes for almost his entire presidency. I received a Chinese Menu Christmas card one year insulting President Bush from a former, well known producer friends who I once viewed as a mentor—it just made my heart sink. The media NEVER gave so much of actual death threats, protests and parades the coverage a few nasty phonecalls and stupid people hurling WORDS, not bombs are getting. Where is the investigative reporting? Joe “the plumber,” upon innocently being thrust into an impromptu encounter with candidate Obama, was investigated and maligned by the media as to whether he was even a plumber simply for illustrating that President Obama was a wealth redistribution advocate because of Obama’s OWN answer to his question.


Fair and balanced means that if the media is going to investigate an innocent American citizen, then I expect an investigation into these "allegedly" crazy people who hurl rocks and shout at congressmen. The camera’s POV ONLY showed the congressman’s reaction and NOT the person who did it that he was pointing his finger at. It also didn’t show any protestors “booing” which is inconceivable to me, knowing FIRST HAND what the tea party stands for. So WHO are they? Show me. What groups do these random hecklers and hurlers really belong to and how did they find themselves at the front of the line at this particular tea party march? It's too convenient for me to just buy it. Isn’t that a fair question? At the same time, if these people are for real and growing in number, then a responsible journalist needs to get to the bottom of it. As proponents of free speech rights, shouldn't the media seek to protect the free speech of expose these people so we can prevent them from dragging down a a patriotic, pro America group? I don't see it, but in my lifetime, I have certainly seen the media do the same for those who are against the country.


Journlism is dead in America. Corruption is alive and well. Americans have a right to know the WHOLE truth and as Paul Harvey always said—“the rest of the story.”