Valley of Fire-sharing with Doris

I took this picture one year after my foster mom, Doris, died. Her ashes are scattered here.

This was one of our favorite places to-do nothing-but think.

She was a complicated woman. Bright, loyal, contradictory, a natural teacher, tyrannical at times,

and she left an indelible mark on my soul.

I admired her Independence. I find myself repeating some of her phrases to my own daughter.

Lately it is the one about boyfriends.

Her mantra was-"If you like him, I like him-if you stop liking him, so do I".

I love that one. Her loyalty was so incredibly important to me . The value of loyalty in our society has taken some big hits recently. I am not sure it is considered a value anymore -maybe thought of as foolish? It is still important to me.

Nevada's Gov. New Education Plan...

Thank-you Jim Gibbons for supporting Nevada's children. You are a visionary-with this budget-we can all see your vision clearly...

From "Liberal" to disallusioned

For many years the core of my a/vocational quests has been underpinned by my belief that the government, for the people, has been  a good and honest, compassionate framework. Laws can seem to make sense and this is why people will overwhelmingly support them

Today I am having a funeral for that system-no burial- a cremation. 

Perhaps philosophically true democracy is the golden orb, the mega watt sun, the highest honors of humanity.

Unfortunately the human race does not operate on an altruistic plane.  Government is run by people.Government by the people for the people has become an oxymoron

These are the words I would now use to describe government;

Unreliable, incompetent, overbearing, intrusive and unresponsive.

I am not writing about the Federal Government in isolation. We have too much government-city, county, state, federal-a deleterious group of humanity-delusionally experted(excuse my creative adjectives), sadly removed, and  mean spirited.Governments make laws, translate laws into   "policies", develop huge   bureaucracies to translate and implement these policies-which create more rules and regulations on "how" to implement policy.

Examples:

- to wear a seat belt or be punished.

-school policies and laws which make enrollment incredibly difficult.

-New driver's license and registration policies which force citizens to jump through hoops and pay large sums for what is supposed to be a right and a privilege-deterring marginally working adults from obtaining these because they cannot afford the fees-which in turn force them to maintain the marginal employment.

-Applying for any government controlled but taxpayer supported service, meant to enhance lives-eg. parks and recreational facilities, the library card, health department services, boating, hunting and fishing licenses-etc. 

-Teen drivers license-no longer a right of passage-preempted with so many caveats teenagers are not even ready for adulthood at graduation..

-Laws which punish parents and students for various school behaviors and  do not hold school districts.accountable for behaviors impeding student learning and success..

Cameras mounted to "safeguard" drivers.

Unemployment compensation policies made so impossible many hardworking citizens are excluded.

Tax laws and policies so complicated and convoluted most people cannot complete the tax form and need to hire "professionals" . Pay others to fill out a form after layers of government already have your money.

It is in the best interest of all citizens to avoid declaring a party. All parties are lost in a quagmire of corruption, confusion, and  intellectual challenges - led by smarter, slicker, slimier lobbyists and policy makers, leading politicians to the "trough of truth" spun with cotton candy dollar bills and Disneyland rides through  a cross between "Small Small World" and Pirates of the Caribbean".

I am not writing to provide "proof". Each citizen in this country who spends countless hours dealing with the mazes of  convoluted bureaucracies during times of need can attest to the failure of "democracy" in America.

The message to American citizens?

"Keep Out" "Keep Out" "Keep Out"

And thank-you for your taxes which support our ongoing efforts to keep you out.

Nevada citizens display their schizophrenia-again

Looking at the front page of the RJ this morning almost fooled me.

I saw this picture-

Oh! The hope surged through me! Has Nevada turned the corner? A shred of compassion, a sense of humanity oozing from citizens? A recognition that all are in this together?

Nope. Fooled again!

Further down the page is the usual hate filled vituperative , or "screw you" if laid off, dying of cancer, etc,-ain't my problem" more predictable of Nevada's "mad dogs".

Oh! Those sign carriers must be "them lazy, overpaid, on-the dole, retirement rich state workers and teachers"-now required to sign up for thirty years of indentured servitude, give up most of their social security, and now pay for their health insurance at retirement, compliments of the powerful Teacher's Union-anyone asked to forfeit their firstborn as collateral?

Ah! Foolish me! Foolish but reassured! Consistency is paramount to arguing sanity-or insanity, I suppose.

The recent letter from Donna West, calling it ridiculous for Gov. Jim Gibbons' to try to cap the Nevada Check Up plan for low-income children, gives me pause every time I read this liberal bleeding heart blather. I really wonder how many of these 23,000 to 32,000 children are just in "temporary need"? Doesn't Ms. West realize that these types of plans were designed to merely be a "safety net" for those in sudden need of assistance -- much like welfare and food stamps? All of these programs were designed to be for "temporary assistance," not a way of life.

But because so many people decide to shirk their own responsibility in taking care of their financial problems, children, etc., they expect the government to do it for them -- and have no qualms at all. After all, they can't afford it. Period.

So why is that my responsibility? Does everyone realize that when they make the conscious decision to have children they should be responsible for all of that child's care until his is grown? That includes, but is not limited to food, clothing, shelter and, yes, medical insurance.

Our government's entitlement programs have vastly become a way of support for those who choose not to take care of themselves or their offspring. Compassionate forms of temporary assistance have been so overly abused that it is a sickening decay on this society -- and nobody cares.

I personally know of several families who continue to manipulate the system so their children have this "temporary" health care.

If placing caps on programs such as the Nevada Check Up eventually makes people become more independent, then it needs to be done.

In response to an letter from Harry Reid-honestly! The most powerful man in Congress and Nevadans hate him-is this for real??? 

Cherie S. W  Common Sense wrote on May 30, 2009 06:29 AM:"Hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery funding are flowing to Nevada, creating jobs where they are so desperately needed." Yeah, the "funding" creates make-work jobs for politicians, like the 12-hour-per-week gig that the R-J exposed. 

Senator, your letter is a day late and a trillion dollars short. But, hey, what do you care? You got your visit from the campaign finance fairy this week. It's all good. 

Discouraged Nevadan wrote on May 30, 2009 06:26 AM:There's going to be an opportunity to vote out some of the do-nothing state politicians in 2010. I recently applied for a job in Secretary of State Ross Miller's office and was treated so incredibly disrespectfully, I still can't believe my tax money goes to fund such an operation.

wade wrote on May 30, 2009 06:06 AM:Reid is a lying, corrupt pig, period.

Mike26 wrote on May 30, 2009 06:02 AM:Harry Reid, a good example of what is wrong with Congress

t wrote on May 30, 2009 04:59 AM:Hey Harry Reid, do you "smell" us coming to the polls to vote for you?

ted wrote on May 30, 2009 04:57 AM:HARRY REID.... 

wasn't the solar panels at nellis built in 2007, long before anyone ever heard the name "Barack Obama?" 
Wasn't stumping for you Obama's only reason for coming to vegas, with Nellis an afterthought to take the heat off you and him? 
Will you publish here in the letters what it cost US citizens for Obama to come here and try to help you? 
Your assumption people will come to vegas to look at Nellis solar panels is smoke and mirrors, or another "the war is lost Reid"? 
Is it true Nevada is the lowest state in US for stimulus funding? 
Did you have a hand in ACORN coming to Nevada to implement their fraudulent voting practices? 
Can you name just one job, (with the exception of your buddie weekly to get a "green job he was not qualified for" that Nevada has gotten, just one job Harry? 
Want me to go on Harry? Do you really think you are fooling anyone? 

How we reframe the precipice

We all live on a  precipice. It is just a matter of definition.

Today my mind is hanging out on that rocky cliff, looking down, wondering if the precipice is really up  here, looking down, or  (in here), walking upright, my  brain limited to the input of my five senses, and a tiny little corner, isolated (but at times powerful), whispering, "there is more, Connie, there is more than the daily civilities of life, the repeat patterns, the selfish tailgater, the banalities of daily living."

We re frame so much in our lives to fit the images projected by various mediums of what is normal.

Normal is banalities. Normal is mediocre. Normal is what people do when they follow-normal is comfortable, acceptable, likable and fluffy.

Humans crave likeness. Humans cringe at different. The toothless, homeless man begging on the street. The wheel chaired young woman with twisted, disfigured legs. Those humans creating conflict by asking hard questions about subjects which have no easy answers. We squirm, we apple pie a la mode the issue and burn the conflicted, questioning, human at the emotional stake, using nice methods of course.

Our own precipice hides in our mind as fears. Fear of losing a job, a loved one, status, money, reputation,-we all own something. 

Today, my precipice is in sight. I am hanging on the rock asking myself uncomfortable questions-which have no easy answers-or solutions. I am looking over that rock and wondering if it so easy to re frame one's precipice, or are we, at some point, required to face it?

War and the big "little people" who fight it

Face it, war is fought on the backs of our brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, babysitters, high school sweethearts, moms, dads, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, ...with courage, with conviction, with loyalty and dedication and faith in our country.

I was a US Army soldier during the Vietnam War. A time when the draft compelled men to service in Vietnam for a year based on a magic number. So many men, sent to die, in a country which did not invite us to intervene-my cousin, a boyfriend, classmates, -

On Memorial Day I remember all the men I worked with in Europe,  boy  soldiers, sent to Vietnam, good boys not always believing in the war but believing in our country.

It is what compels young men and women to join today-believing in the United States. Young adults fight our wars for us. Mostly young and poor, or without the means to pay for college or learn a trade-these are the hopeful -signing up to have a shot at something more than a job at Wal-Mart or 7-11.

It is not the rich, educated, politically connected fighting our wars for us. Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush-never saw a day of service to our country-let alone immersion in a foreign country where the very citizens help plant bombs to kills those who believe they are there to protect them.

From a woman's perspective war seems like such a waste. Killing other humans? I wonder when we might have a world that the very idea is so barbaric, so uncivilized, so repulsive, it is only referred to in historic terms?

I think I can speak for women when I say those who go to war are not anonymous bodies-trained and decked out by a political system who considers "casualties" a term, one not to be shown  as tangible and physically real-on TV or in the media.

These men and women are our babies. They are our first and second graders, missing teeth, learning to ride a bike-

they are our  young adults holding that high school diploma-knowing parents pride float their way to the podium to pick it up.

Those bodies, hidden from the TV cameras, caskets, not acknowledged in the media anymore, as if the killings don't exist, perhaps alluding to the "death toll" as if it were some byproduct of war-

those bodies of dead soldiers-those bodies are still our babies, our family members, those we love so much the hole left in our hearts feels unbearable to carry-

Vietnam was honest.

No the war was a lie-as this war is-predicated on lies from leaders we so badly want to believe have some form of goodness in them for the sake of our children-

but the media was ruthless about ensuring every American knew and could  see the price we were paying for the war, Bombings, napalm, body bags, massacres-the media laid it out-bare naked-and it is what shook us-like rag dolls-from our stupor-to say NO MORE-

Today, as we honor the death of so many of our babies, no media, no tv, no newspaper is the conscience of our nation-

none 

Americans don't see and  feel the pain of war-like a video game-it  all seems   so pretend-so men and women die each day they die, and thousands of Americans go about their business-did you think about the war yesterday?-last week?. A month ago?

This is not a courageous war-from American citizens at home--almost as if it doesn't exist-unless the death call is at your front door-ringing the bell, standing in uniform-for the last and final news of the your baby-and I  am shamed we do not pay attention

to the deaths of our babies-ashamed and anguished.

Gov. Gibbons mowed down by citizens caustic wit

Gibbons Insulted by President Obama's refusal to meet with him. hahaha

I have to hand it to you, Nevadans, when it comes to sarcasm, acerbic wit and go for the throat comments, you are the best! There is something about that libertarian bent from the southern portion of the dry wilderness that cuts anyone's nonsense off at the Hoover Dam Pass-

once again, in response to the not-wit- of the nit-wit  Gov. Gibbons , your comments had me laughing so loud my cats ran for cover.

Here are the best of the best

you're kidding, right? wrote on May 18, 2009 04:03 PM:Gibbons is a bad on Nevada the same way Bush was a bad joke on the country.
He should just lay low until his term ends and then scurry out of town like a lost rat. 

LuvGuv meeting with the most important man on the planet? Yeah, rightdan wrote on May 18, 2009 03:58 PM:Gibbons better stick to married Reno women for his 'meetings'. 

President Obama has more important things to attend to than helping to prop up a failed governor with 15% approval ratings.

GOP wrote on May 18, 2009 03:47 PM:Well even Bush and McCain wouldn't meet with Gibbons last year. The top Republicans in the state and nation want nothing to do with him. Gibbons must be very lonely if he wants to meet President Obama.

Hopefully the GOP can oust the lame duck in the primary.

Waste of... wrote on May 18, 2009 03:43 PM:...time for President Obama to meet with a dog. Didn't he just get one

scary jim wrote on May 18, 2009 03:32 PM:Jim Gibbons is a creep. Why would anyone want to "meet" with him

ames wrote on May 18, 2009 03:14 PM:Of course President Obama won't meet with our embarrassing governor. 
Jimmy a low-life misfit while the president is the most popular person in the worldD

an wrote on May 18, 2009 03:08 PM:If Gibbons wasn't such a complete idiot Obama would meet with him. 

Think of it this way, if you were president would you want to meet with "I'llTextUAtMidnite" Gibbons? 
'Nuf said.

Same Gibbons wrote on May 18, 2009 02:34 PM:"Gibbons said he was disappointed that Obama isn't making an effort to "repair the damage" done by his comment in February that corporations shouldn't use bailout funds for trips to Las Vegas or the Super Bowl or to get corporate jets." 
Is this the same Gibbons that refused the FED money for unemployment benefits? 
So Gibbons is all for spending the money supplied by other tax payers of the USA. 
The real reason Obama will not meet with Gibbons is because he would be unable to control his laughter at the luv guv.hannon wrote on May 18, 2009 02:23 PM:Oh, please. Gibbons knows darn well that Obama has nothing to do with the drop in tourism. He also shouldn't be surprised by the fact that Obama doesn't have time for him, particularly after his "invitation" to come talk to him. 

1. President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments." ????Wake up ZERO, he does not want to meet with YOU! Very few would waste their time and energy to meet with you. This has nothing to do with his care for those in Las Vegas or Nevada being out of work.

   You played games with the stimulus money - said you did not want it and then took it. You are the one who brought negative change to Nevada, you have lied to us over and over again.Resign please.

2. 1. By VegasbikeCan someone remind who this Jim Gibbons is?I thought sum zero only met with cocktail waitresses, when he was not texting his girlfriends on state time.Have to say he is the most entertaining gov. in the country. Rather listen to him that watch the Grand old Opera.

He really is a country song. And a bad one at that.

1.  Ms Kate5/18/09 at 3:59 p.m.Gibbons has no credibility as a governor or even as a human. He is an embarrassment to the State of Nevada; how he was elected is anyones' guess.

1. If anything, the President shows good taste and common sense in not meeting with Gibbons. Gibbons makes Blago look like a rank amateur

   Thank-you, "Have no mercy, take no prisoners". Las Vegans!