Do a Guy (or Gal) a Favor?

Now that the Holiday Season is here, we need to think about the enlisted men and women in our armed forces. These folks don't make enough money to be able to fly home with their families. All too often, the people who need it the most, can afford it the least.

I have a nephew who is in the Marine Corps (Semper Fi!). And while he has been able to save money for his trip home, others haven't.

Enter Ernie Stewart, over at Let's Bring 'Em Home. He collects money for plane tickets, and service men and women wanting a ticket, and matches them up.

I see those little magnetic, yellow ribbons on cars all over the place. Why not show your support in a more tangible way? LBEH is tax deductible. What better support can you give than by helping send one of our enlisted personnel a ticket for a plane ride home?

Thanks, and tell the folks at LBEH where you heard about them.

I have the day off, but I won't be able to spend it doing anything fun. Ever since we moved Grandmother into the house, my days off have been spent on walking stick round ups. She keeps leaving in the last place she was, and then forgets where it is. Then I have to get up and take her to it.

Last weekend, Mom, Dad, Grandmother and I went to Kerrville for some shopping. We spent five hours in Kerrville, even having lunch at *shudder* Cracker Barrel. When we got home, we spread the results of modern-day hunting and gathering on the floor. Grandmother asked, "Are we going to go anywhere today?" When Mom told her we had just gotten back from Kerrville, she didn't beleive us.

Right now, Dad is keeping her entertained so I can do my stuff. When everyone goes back to work at 2 pm, it's back to the living room and keeping Grandmother company.

Well, it's December 1st. It's the first day on the slippery slope to Chri$tma$. It's the first day to panic that I haven't bought gifts yet. And it's the first day to worry about what my credit card balances will be like come January.

It's no wonder that a low of people kill themselves around the holidays. It's no that their lonely; rather, they've spent all their money on tranistory material items. It's like those horrible moments on Chri$tma$ day, when you notice that the pile of wrapping paper and bows is larger the pile of presents.

Today is also the first day that everyone in the office will want to play that stupid Michael Bolton CD and that inane one from Celine Dion. I thought I hid them last year!

I just watched a news story where both sides of the Parental notification issue expressed their stands. One man, whose daughter died as the result of an illegal, back alley abortion back in 1988, said that he opposed Parental Notification. If that law hadn't been on the books, his daughter would still be alive because she would have been able to go to a real doctor.

The a woman from a Pro-Family group came on and said, basically, parental involvement in shildren's lives is a good thing.

Please.

In 1954, Frederic Wertham published a lighthearted little tome entitled Seduction of the Innocent. In it, he blamed the problem of juvenile deliquency at the feet of comic books. This forced the comic publishers to create a self-regulating body called the COmics Code Authority. Mr. and Mrs. B could relax, and send Joanie and Richie off to their rooms, after checking for the Comics Code Seal.

Back in the early 80s, Tipper Gore started the Parents Music Resource Center when she heard her 12 year old listen to Prince's "Darling Nikki." She lobbied for, and got (through a voluntary system used by the record companies) ratings on albums. Today, parents no longer have to listen to the music their kids listen to, they just have to look at a little label and send the little monsters off to their room.

President Clinton somehow managed to get a law passed requiring V-chips in all televisions manufactured after January 1, 2000. No longer do mommy and daddy have to watch what their kids are watching. Set the V-chip and pack the little monsters off to their rooms and let the TV set determine what they can watch.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board puts ratings on video games. Parents don't have to do any research now. When the little curtain climbers get too annoying, give them their X-Box and pack them off to their room, safe in the knowledge that the software won't warp their tiny little brains.

And wasn't it Hillary who wrote a book called It Takes a Village to Raise a Child?

Americans have been trying to get their little domesticated yard apes out of their hair for the last 50 years. "It's not our fault little Johnnie shot up the school. It's the NRA!"

Austin's new smoking ban has taken effect. It's working like a charm. No one is smoking in any club anywhere in town. However, questions are being raised about who is going to clean up all the cigarette butts in the street.

Well, the ban was the City's idea!

Look! If somoking in Austin is sooo bad, here's what you have to do: BAN IT! Ban the sale of cigarettes! Ban the consumption of cigarettes! BAN THE POSSESSION OF CIGARETTES!

OR, since it was a city ordinance that inspired the ban, the city should provide ashtrays outside every public building in the city.

Congratulations to the New York Jets!

It's about time that someone broke the cycle of evil, hate and oppression. The New York Jets deserve a Presidential Medal of Freedom! If only the rest of the nation had their courage and compassion, the Saints would be undefeated. The sins of the Bush Administration's response to Katrina would be partially forgiven. But, no!

Bush, and, by extension Cheney, and the NFL have a new foe, today. The New York Jets (along with Carolina and Buffalo) stand beside me as we resist the New Axis of Evil's oppression of the helpless, homeless victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Give the Saints Super Bowl XL!

God bless the New York Jets!

Who stands with us?

I recently signed up for Chitika mini malls. I put them on another site, just to see what would happen. So far, in for weeks, I've had four clicks for $.59. What I like about Chitika, is that they will send a payment via PayPal when your balance reaches $25.00.

I had signed up for Bidvertiser. But in two months I had zero clicks. So it was "Bye-Bye, Bidvertiser."

So far, Adsense is still the champ. I've been using AdSense since September 2004, and once I launched this blog in December, I have accumlated $84.63. It's not much, but it's more than I have collected on Amazon or PayPal during that time.