SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT THIS WEEKEND…

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence, but it’s not often that we hear about what they endured because of their mutual pledge to stand up for our Independence from Britain.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War, another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and his properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his Headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart of New Jersey was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Lewis Morris and Philip Livingston suffered similar fates.

What kind of sacrifices do we see from those in our present Congress and Senate? They rarely take the time to read legislation before they vote on it, because after all…that would mean they couldn’t deny that they knew about the tax breaks they gave their favorite campaign contributor. Many of them line their pockets with money from special interest groups such as credit card companies, mortgage companies, or big oil companies. Some use taxpayer money so they can go on boondoggle trips with their families or they “investigate” golf courses all over the world.

How often does our Congress actually work? Below, Uncle Jay will explain ….

Many citizens of today take their liberties for granted and for some reason, are not opposed to having their rights and freedoms taken away from them, as long as it’s being taken away from the political party they are affiliated with. Isn’t it about time we start holding our elected officials accountable for their actions…whether they be Republican, Democrat or Independent?

“We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” -Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT–THINK BEFORE YOU DUMP THOSE COALS!

The Fourth of July weekend often conjures up wonderful memories of past barbecues, fantastic  firework displays, family gatherings and a feeling that all is right with the world.  For me,  that’s also true,  except for a few fleeting moments as I remember the nightmare which my family went through, all due to the senseless act of  one person…one very lazy, irresponsible person.

Anyway, today I want to use my very small blog as a venue for a public safety announcement and if this will help even one child, I’ll be happy.  John Kass,  a columnist for the Chicago Tribune agreed with me when I called him four years ago as my grandchild lay in a hospital bed at the University of Chicago Children’s Hospital.   I’m putting up his entire column because he, in his usual fashion,  was much more eloquent than I could ever be.

So,  this is my story, as told by John Kass…..

Liana is a toddler with blue eyes and light brown hair. She sat in a hospital chair, playing with two helium balloons. She didn’t grab the strings with her hands. Instead, she grabbed at the strings with her toes.

Her mother explained, telling her story about a picnic at the lake the other evening.

“It was one of those perfect nights,” said Lisa ( XXXX)  of Hyde Park, a teacher.
“There were people everywhere, and children, families, we were sitting on our blanket waiting for the fireworks to begin. People were grilling their food. It was wonderful.”

On July 3, she’d put the kids and blanket and some snacks into a wagon, then pulled them to Promontory Point, on the South Side of 55th Street, a peninsula awash in cool breezes that justs into Lake Michigan.

“It was getting dark, and we were excited because the fireworks downtown were going to beign, “she said. “My son, he’s 9, and Liana were playing. Another family had some jazz music on the radio. She was dancing to the jazz, and everyone was saying, ‘What a cute little girl.’”

As her mother told their story, the toddler kept pulling at the balloon strings with her toes.

“Balloon,” the child said. “Balloon.”

During their picnic, Lisa and her children had gone for a short stroll around the point. When they returned to their blanket, they sat down, but Liana being a fidgety toddler, just had to get up and toddle around. “She was right there, she was only 10 or 15 feet away, but it was dark then, and that’s when she fell. Her hands were out in front of her on the ground.”

If you know toddlers, you can picture it, hands down, head up, trying to right herself. She’d fallen into what looked like a pile of dust. Only, dust doesn’t give off a shower of sparks when a child falls in.

It was a pile of hot charcoals.

Some thoughtless barbarian had dumped out a portable grill on the ground rather than walk the 30 feet to the large red disposal containers.

“The sparks were flying and she was screaming,” Lisa said, her breath catching. “She couldn’t move because if she did, she’d get further into them, and I ran and grabbed her, and she was screaming.

“Her wrist’s,” Lisa said, sobbing now, in the quiet of the hospital room at the University of Chicaog Children’s Hospital. “Her wrists melted. And her stomach was burned.”

If you ever had a child hurt, you know that helpless feeling, the chaos and fear and guilt. And though she was in a crowd, this mother was alone.

“Most people are kind. The great majority of people are so kind,” she said, still crying, not wanting to tell this part of the story. “But then, right there, no one helped, or called an ambulance, or brought water. One woman said, ‘Oh, put some ice on it and she’ll be fine.’ I was alone and put the kids into the wagon and started pulling them, running home.”

Lisa pulled her children running through the tunnel that leads to the point, down 55th Street and past the apartments there, past Orly’s Cafe and Morry’s Deli and the train viaduct at 55th Street and Lake Park with that mural that shows people helping other people.

It’s a 15 minute walk, but she made it in in less time. Then she got her car and drove to the University of Chicago Hospital emergency room, knowing about the doctors there, and the famous burn unit.

After treatment and surgery, Liana was sitting in her hospital room with me and her mom and my young friend Ben Berg, who had the smarts to bring the balloons.

She pulled the strings with her toes because her arms were heavily bandaged. Surgeons had also taken skin from her hip and grafted it onto her burned wrists. Doctors told Lisa that her daughter will heal just fine, lucky that her face and eyes wand fingertips weren’t burned.

The mom called me with a simple request, hoping a public reminder might save another child, save their hands, faces, eyes. She doesn’t want to outlaw casual barbecue in the park. She just hopes people will use their heads.

“Its so simple,” she said. “If you’re grilling in the park, don’t dump your live coals on the ground. Deposit them in receptacles marked for that purpose. And there should be more signs so people will know where to dump their coals.”

Such thoughtlessness happens everywhere, not just in the city of Chicago. But at the point after talking with Lisa, we found 32 piles of burnt coals dumped on the ground. Many were only a few feet from red coal bins. So what burned that child was selfishness. It was just too much trouble for the barbarian to walk a few paces to take care of a fire.

When Lisa called the Park District, they told her to contact their “risk assessment” department.

“I know what that means. It means lawyers,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking about a lawsuit. I was hoping they’d listen and post more signs so it wouldn’t happen again to another baby.”

Liana played with her balloons.

“Balloon,” she said.

As I was typing this story, I still feel the same hurt, anger, and panic I did when my daughter called us from the emergency room, sobbing as she told us what happened. We made it to the hospital in record time, trying to concentrate on the road as fear and panic filled my heart and trying to hold back the tears as we tried to put on a brave front as we walked to Liana’s bed to assure her that everything will be alright.

Liana is now 6 years old but still remembers the burns and the hospital stay. Along with the scars on her wrists, stomach and arms–although faded, will always remain with my granddaughter…all because of the thoughtlessness of one person who may have not realized that his laziness has caused a lifetime of memories that no child should endure every July 4th.

UPDATE: For those who commented that they hoped Liana was doing fine now…here is a picture taken of her last summer. She’s doing great, thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses at the University of Chicago Hospital Burn Unit.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Sometimes it’s just makes a gal feel good to make a little change in her life to spice things up. Today I did just that by having my long locks cut off and sporting a brand new short hairstyle.

And I love it!!!!!!!

No more Wonder Woman hair, no more time wasted in front of a mirror while drying hair that went down past the middle of my back. No more pony tail and baseball cap to deal with those bad hair days. I’m free!

Maybe I’ll just go take a walk along the Appalachian Trail….you know, do something erotic exotic.

HEY LADIES—GET THE MESSAGE?

I knew when I had to make the choice of cutting back on my blogging in order to deal with a heavy schedule at home that I would miss out on a lot of news. After all, the world doesn’t stop turning just because I have work to do….although I think it should.

Anyway—I’m back on my soapbox, here goes…..

THIS IS PURE FREAKIN’ BULLSHIT!

I’m sure most bloggers know all the news about Rhianna and Chris Brown. Personally, I’m not one to follow the Hollywood gossip news shit, my life has enough drama in it, I don’t need watch it on TV. Anyway, there is a point to my commenting on this story. So, it looks like Chris Brown struck a “plea bargain” and managed to get away with beating Rhianna severely about the face and threatening to kill her, with just five years probation. Of course, anyone who isn’t brain dead could see that justice was not served in this case. But then again…when it comes to women being beaten and threatened by men, is it ever served? I’m beginning to wonder….

On the front page of the Chicago Tribune this morning, the headline of the day…

“HE GETS PROBATION–SHE FEARS THE POLICE”

As the story goes, a woman named Karolin Obrycka was a bartender who had a run in with a Chicago off duty police officer, Anthony Abbate, who was drunk and went after her because she refused to serve him any more liquor. Apparently he took offense at that so he hurled her to the floor and started kicking and punching her. Mind you, Karolin is a petite young woman and Anthony Abbate is a burly guy who looks like he could snap a tree trunk in half without much effort.

Karolin had her day in court, and as is often the case, the our court system let her down. Karolin no longer works in a bar because she fears that something like this will happen again. She said, “If I ever go back to bartending, the owners would have to be there all the time.” Karolin was also affected by this beating in other ways, she’s afraid of the police because they might be friends of Abbate’s who want to take out retribution on her for having the nerve to press charges against him. She realizes that fearing all police is “not rational” but as she stated, “I know they don’t want to hurt me, but I have fear.”

The judge in this case, Circuit Judge John Flemming, decided that Abbate shouldn’t get time because Obryka didn’t suffer “serious injury”. During the trial, Abbate’s lawyer, Peter Hickey, blamed Karolin for the incident. Of course! It’s all her fault that she was following the law by not serving someone who is already drunk, more liquor! So…Abbate get’s off virtually scott-free and Karolin Obryka gets to live in fear of the police and fear working as a bartender. Circuit Judge John Flemming feels that Abbate has already “been punished enough for his act of stupidity”. Judge Flemming also opined, “He went out and got himself so drunk that he got into this position and ruined his life.” I guess the fact that the woman he beat up is living a care-free life now, eh?

The Chicago Police are just as guilty of adding to the unfair treatment of women who are abused by men…they tried to charge Abbate with only a misdemeanor…that is until the video of the beating came to light.

Moral of the story: It’s ok to beat a woman, just don’t punish the guy for doing it…it’s not his fault he did something “stupid”.

OH, BUT IT DOESN’T END THERE!

Another story in the Chicago Tribune (hidden away on page 10), shows what happens when guys like Abbate are given a pat on the back and sent back to the good ol’ boys club.

NAPERVILLE: “MAN ACCUSED OF BEATING GIRLFRIEND”

For those who aren’t familiar with the Chicago metropolitan area, Naperville is a suburb of Chicago and happens to be the town I live. It seems that a man, Darron Richard who is 38 years old has been charged with “domestic battery” for, as the paper states it…”striking a 42 year old woman”. That’s putting it mildly, believe me. The woman is now in a coma and on a ventillator and has a 50-50 chance of living. If she does live, the chances are that she is so brain damaged, she will not live any type of a quality life. This whole thing came about when she and Richard had an argument and he “beat her with his fist, knocking her to the ground, unconscious.” Afterwards, instead of calling an ambulance, he picked her up and put her in bed where she remained unconscious until Sunday when a family member “convinced him to take her to the hospital.” I guess the family member didin’t think it was necessary to call the police or to call an ambulance themselves…because, you know…this was just another one of those “stupid” things that happens in society. No big deal, she’s just another woman who needed to be put in her place.

Is Darron Richard in jail? Nah…bail was set at $750,000. Believe me, if you live in Naperville, that’s not a lot of money to dig up. Oh…and just another note to add to this story. Richard had previously been in prison on a battery charge before being released in April. So, of course! Give him bail on another battery charge!!!

Just a few beatings…no harm, no foul. Except…another headline in the Chicago Tribune this morning:

LIFE IN PRISON FOR BRUTAL KILLING OF WIFE

In the Chicago metropolitan area of Harwood Heights, a man, James Pender, will spend the rest of his life in jail (not the death penalty) after bludgeoning his estranged wife to death with a large hammer on a River Forest sidewalk. Therese Pender, the victim, had filed for divorce and had an order of protection against James Pender (which we all know is nothing but a piece of paper that gives a false sense of security).

James Pender didn’t care about the order of protection, he took a Metra train to River Forest and waited in Keystone Park with a brief-case containing knives, a large hammer, a ski mask and other items. When he saw Therese walking down the sidewalk, he took the hammer and grabbed her arm and “tapped” her on the head. When she screamed, he hit her multiple times in the head. Moments later, she lay on the ground with her head surrounded by “wounded brain tissue”.

The reason that the Judge gave this guy life instead of a death sentence….Pender had “a long history of having narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder.” According to the Assistant Public Defender, Preston Jones, “The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst, James Pender is not that.” “He is a 57 year old pathetic man….it doesn’t mean you kill him.” Just a pathetic old man….no problem.

The Court System in this country continues to give guys like Chris Brown, Anthony Abbate, and Darron Richard all the breaks they need, until they kill someone…a woman, and then they will be sent away because they aren’t “the worst of the worst”. What is the message that is being sent to women in this country? Answer: Women don’t deserve justice until they are killed…and even then, justice is not guaranteed.

MEET THE NEW BOSS…

SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Oh yes…Obama is looking more and more like his predecessor, George W. Bush, everyday. Can you see the resemblance?

In the news today….President Barack Obama’s administration is adhering to a Bush administration policy that White House visitor logs are presidential records that the public has no right to see. What????? I thought that Obama said he was going to have a “transparent” administration? Of course, Obama’s trusty little media monkey, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, came out to try to explain this decision–which he hopes will placate the staunchest Obama supporters who have been crying in their kool-aid for some days now. Gibbs said, “I think there are obviously occasions in which the president is going to meet privately with advisers on topics that are of great national importance,”.

But wait!! Didn’t Obama say, while campaigning “The White House is the people’s house and the people have a right to know who visits,”. The thing about Obama is, his supporters never really figured out that Obama speaks in “small print”. He would throw out a statement like the one I just showed you and while the crowd was cheering, crying, fainting, slobbering, crapping their pants….he continued to speak just under the noise and confusion and said this: “The Obama White House would invoke its executive privilege to protect the confidentiality of communications concerning national security and similar traditionally sensitive matters, not to withhold information about private interests’ communication on regulatory policy,” — “There are communications that should be kept private because disclosure could endanger the public.”

There ya go! Obama would always leave open a back door so he could later say, “You just weren’t listening to me!”

I remember when Obama was campaigning, someone asked him if he would overturn the executive orders that Bush put in place, orders like the ability to eavesdrop on our phone calls, mail, e-mail, etc. Obama said the first thing he would do as President of the United States, he would “review” those policies. As soon as he said it, I thought to myself…he just left the back door open. The crowd didn’t pick up on that little word, “review”, they were busy going into a state of ecstasy and couldn’t be bothered with the details.

Some of the other Bush policies that Obama has “reviewed” are as follows….for effect, you can listen to a little music while you read them:

Rendition:   Obama reviewed it, liked it, and will continue it.

War:    Obama reviewed it, decided to keep the combat troops longer in Iraq and expand the war in Afghanistan. Not much different than what Bush would have done.

Military Tribunals for terror suspects:     Obama reviewed it, decided to go a step further than Bush and decided that it was ok to hold terror suspect indefinitely without a trial.

Photos depicting prisoner abuse:    Obama said he would release them, but reviewed it, decided to do as Bush and withhold them.

Withholding White House E-Mail Communication:     Public Interest Organization’s have sued the Bush Executive Office for withholding hundreds of e-mails which they claim “mysteriously” disappeared or were destroyed. Obama campaigned against Bush withholding these e-mails, but now that he is President, he reviewed it, and now his Justice Department is trying to snuff out the case. I guess Obama wants to be as “transparent” as Bush was.

Bush Administration was seeking to block an avenue for prisoners to get DNA evidence to prove their innocence, even if they pay for it themselves:    Obama campaigned against it, but now he has reviewed it, likes it, and supports this measure.

Faith Based Initiatives:    Oh…this was one that really pissed off the “Progressives”! But what do you know, Obama reviewed it, liked it, and expanded it.

Capital Punishment:    Obama campaigned against it. Became President, reviewed it, and now he has objected to the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the death penalty for child rapists.

There are so many more instances of Obama going back on his word. The LGBT community has been slapped down on numerous occasions with Obama’s support of DADT and DOMA and his cozying up to Rick Warren who compares gay marriage to pedophilia, marriage between siblings and polygamy.

What really disturbs me, however, is reading posts and comments from those who say that we should continue to support Obama or that we should “trust him to do the right thing”. Why? Why should anyone trust Obama? Others say that Obama is better than any Republican in office. Really? What part of that list above shows that he is any different than the Republicans?

I realize that there are many many bloggers out there who think I’m “angry” when they see me write a comment about Obama.   I can only say this…never mistake anger for passion. I am not angry… I am passionate about what is happening in the world of politics because it is the guy in the White House who is going to determine what kind of life we will be living in the future. He will decide how much money our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay to clean up his mistakes. I was equally as passionate about what was happening to our country when Bush was in office. Just because the guy in the Oval Office has a “D” next to his name or he happens to be our first black President, this  does not excuse the lies or his stabbing those who supported him and trusted him, in the back! Just because he has a “D” next to his name does not give him the right to ignore laws.

I’m also passionate about women’s rights and will defend any woman, Democrat or Republican, who I think is being bombarded with misogynistic, or sexist remarks. I abhor what seems to be the new politically correct “fair game” doctrine of the Democratic party and media who lob sexist and hateful remarks towards the children of Republican candidates. I thought the Democrats were better than that…I thought that emulating Rush Limbaugh was not something that we should support.

Why are we,  bloggers who wrote so passionately against the economic policies and national security policies of Bush,  allowing Obama to continue those policies without nary a word? Why is it that any blogger who says anything against the policies of Obama is dubbed “angry” or “bitter”? Think about it….the anti war protests have stopped, the anti war songs written by Robert Rouse have gone silent, the calls for the protection of our Constitution and our civil rights have gone quiet. Why? Where are all the angry voices from the Progressives who fought so hard to get our Democrats to stop funding this horrible war in Iraq now that they have again voted to fund the war in a tune of $100 billion? (Notice that Kucinich is one that voted against the funding).

In four more years Obama will try to run for office again.  He will campaign just as he did before…he’ll make promises that he has no intention of keeping.  He’ll say that he couldn’t get everything done (like DADT) because he was “too busy” with more pressing  matters that were “left to him by the previous administration”.  He’ll never take ownership for the Bush policies that he has continued.  Obama will give pretty speeches and he’ll dance with Ellen Degeneres.  He’ll even drag Oprah to his rallies to speak for him.

Four words….

DON’T BE FOOLED AGAIN!

(Note: My posts will begin to become less frequent for the next month or so. I will probably only post twice or three times a week, max, due to new schedule that will be taking more of my time. This isn’t permanent, but if my infrequent blogging causes me to lose most of my readers, I’ll just shut it down and take a hiatus until I can find the time to give to running a blog. I’ll continue to jump start my day with a cup of coffee and visits to my favorite blogs throughout the week, though. I need my morning blog fix. Thanks in advance to those who choose to stick around.)

I’ll be back….so don’t mess the place up.