Dear Republicans:

Let it go. You misjudged the American people and what they want. The President of the United States is a Democrat. Get over it. Do you want a Republican President in 2016? Okay, here are a few suggestions.

1. Practice what you preach. You want less government? Then stay out of my gynecologist's office. You are not a doctor. Your opinion on abortion should not be law. It is not the government's concern either. Get your transvaginal ultrasound wands out of women's vaginas. Forcing women to endure a medical rape is wrong, stop it. Of course you have a right to state your opposition to abortion. You do not have a right to stop a pregnant woman from having one. Let it go.

2. If you oppose Gay marriage because of  the teachings of your church, realize those are your beliefs not mine. Just as you believe Gay marriage is wrong, I believe it is right. You and I were born heterosexual, just like some people are born gay. Neither side made a lifestyle change, we are what we are. Your religion teaches that God is all powerful so recognize s/he had a powerful reason for making some of us gay. Stop the conversation about gay marriage just grant equal rights to all and move on.

3. The country is changing, please change with it. Many of you are smart, brilliant, creative, wonderful people with a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. Share it with everyone, white, black, Hispanic, Asian and every other citizen in this country. Do you care about others besides middle class white men? I think you do, show it.  Talk to women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. ask us questions and listen to our answers. You can't be inclusive if you don't talk to us.

4. Helllllloooo! Republican men need to recognize that rape is an act of violence, women do not choose to get raped, they don't enjoy it, they aren't looking for it, they can rarely prevent a stronger, determined man from committing it. Women do not have some secret secretion in their bodies that will prevent a pregnancy occurring from a rape. Recognize rape is a crime of violence and support the victims of rape. When a Republican politician refers to "legitimate" rape, or indicates a woman's body will reject pregnancy when they are raped, or makes other equally ignorant statements stop backing and supporting those politicians. There is no excuse for such attitudes in the 21st Century.  Run, do not walk, away from those people. Republicans everywhere need to educate themselves on rape and then drum the "war on women fools" out of the party. You will not lose anything important. 

5. You could solve the immigration problem. Some of the smartest people in this country are Republicans. Stop fighting and find a solution. The majority of Americans will not agree to deport American children born in this country of illegal aliens. If their parents are good citizens, find a workable way for the children to be naturalized and the parents to become citizens. You want to deport the low life and criminals? No problem, so do the Democrats.  Fair immigration reform will win more than the Hispanic vote, you'll win many Democrats too.   

6. Disavow the extremists. Michelle Bachman, Eric Cantor, Grover Norquist and others of the same ilk need to go. Bachman is incredibly ignorant on so many subjects that she brings down the collective IQ of the entire Republican party by at least 50 points. Cantor grandstands but has no real economic comprehension. America can not afford rigid, arrogant, self serving politicians anymore. Norquist highjacks and intimidates elected Republicans by bullying them to sign a no new taxes pledge. Get rid of the fools who sign the pledge along with Norquist. Elected officials need to be able to negotiate on issues and follow the directive of the voters who put them in office not blindly follow other politicians such as Norquist. If a new tax is out of line, any politician, Republican or Democrat should vote against it without a pledge forcing them to vote it down and if the tax is beneficial, they also have an obligation to vote in support of it. Rush Limbaugh, ugh. He is not enhancing the Republican party. Dump him.

7. Find an honorable, strong leader to put forth as a candidate for 2016. No more Bachman, Gingrich, Santorum, Romney, Ryan types. While they each may have had some value, overall each was not a strong, honorable leader. Americans are not simpletons, we know fools when we see them. Find a candidate with a strong belief in the people of this country. Someone who wants to work with 100% of Americans and does not write off  47% of the population or think of us as "you people."  The next candidate should be willing to release at least 5 yrs of tax returns and should recognize the difference between personal beliefs and political issues.If the next candidate can run a campaign without trashing their opponent, they will have my vote and a lot of others as well. We want to know what the candidate believes, not what they don't like about their opponent. (This goes for Democrats too but I'm trying to help the Republicans right now.)

8. Last, but not least, understand the majority of this country, regardless of race, color, religion, sexual orientation or gender is moderate. There are always going to be crackpots on both sides of the aisle. Ignore them. Crazy liberals and extreme conservatives don't have enough support to put anyone in office so stop catering to them. You don't have to insult them or anger them but you also don't have to agree with them. Moderation, bipartisanship, willingness to work toward the middle, knowing when to stand strong and when to compromise ~ those are what we are looking for in a leader. All Americans, regardless of party, want a leader. You give us that, we'll support you.


Everything else. . . let it go.  

A Lesson Too Valuable to Ignore. . . .

See this little guy? His name is Punkin and he came from a rescue group based out of Canton, Ohio. The founder, Robin Aufderheide has a 17 year old son named Zack.

Zack is growing his hair to 10 inches so he can donate it to another charity called Locks of Love. They take the hair and have it made into wigs and hair pieces for children with cancer and other diseases that cause them to lose their hair.

Zack currently came under fire at school because the dress code states boys hair can not be in a ponytail, fall below the collar or cause a disruption. He was told to follow the rules and get his hair cut. When Zack explained why he was growing his hair the principal suggested he go to a board meeting and ask for an exemption until his hair was long enough to donate. Zack did, the board listened to him, it appeared a member or two empathized with him and at the next board meeting, they voted and determined he had to cut his hair or suffer the consequences.

So far the consequences have been an in-school suspension and way more attention from the media than Zack ever wanted. Rules are important, they hold havoc at bay. But sometimes, the really responsible thing to do is to respectfully break the rules. I've known Zack's Mom for years through the rescue community and I've known Zack as the youngster who used to ride shotgun with his mom on many a transport.

I don't know the school officials that believe the rules are there for a reason and can not be broken, I don't understand their thought process but I do know this:

Robin is a good Mom who started a rescue group and has fought to save small breed dogs whether they are strays, owner surrenders or come from puppy mills. Her son learned kindness and caring and that sometimes it is important, even responsible to break a rule for the greater good. Now would be a teachable moment for the Canton High School Zack attends.  Teach the students that rules are important but sometimes, the greater good is more important. 

Lead by example and show the students that sometimes Principals, Superintendents, even School Board Members will stand up and break the rules because it is the right thing to do. Teaching the student body that adults can recognize an error and fix it, is a lesson much too valuable to let pass. I support Zack and I hope the Principal, Superintendent and School Board will too.

https://www.facebook.com/onemoreinch

Goodbye Lennox

 Lennox, a Labrador/American Bull Dog mix was killed today in Belfast, Ireland.

Lennox didn't bite anyone, he wasn't vicious, he caused no harm, in fact he was a friendly, happy go lucky dog.  Hard to believe that a a city council would sanction, no demand, a harmless, loveable dog be killed? Believe it, Lennox's troubles started as a  victim of a BSL (Breed Specific Law) and his life ended because of arrogance, ignorance and egos.

When you take away all the drama and tempers, here is what happen: a little over two years ago three members of Belfast City Council had the dog warden seize Lennox, after these inexperienced, non-experts declared he was a pit bull mix and therefore a dangerous dog.

This quickly spiraled into a horror show. The family appealed to the animal warden but were repeatedly ignored, they appealed to city council for help and were turned down. They retained an attorney and took their case to the press and the public and that's when the real nightmare began.

Animal advocates denounced the Belfast City Council members, they posted angry remarks on Facebook, Twitter and various websites demanding the release of Lennox and some suggested vile and destructive actions be taken against the council members.  The Belfast City Council members dug in their heels, how dare these crazy animal activists stick their nose in "our" business? How dare they tell us what to do?

Of course there were also reasonable, problem solving animal activists that were calmly and kindly offering solutions to save Lennox (remember, Lennox never did anything wrong ~ never) and allow the members of Belfast City Council and the court system ~ as the case went to an appeals court ~ to save face and let Lennox live.

Sadly, both sides dug in, by golly the council was not going to be threatened, yelled at, pushed around or bullied by a bunch of dog loving busy bodies. They could legally kill that dog and by God they were going to do it. No one was going to tell them they couldn't carry out their God Given Duty!

The animal activists were angry, frustrated and at a loss. How could the Belfast Council members choose to kill a dog based on incorrect information? Hundreds of thousands of animal lovers worldwide signed petitions to save Lennox. Hundreds of people protested the laws, wrote letters to the editor, called and emailed the council members. Rescue groups offered to take Lennox into their organizations, Victoria Stillwell offered to place Lennox in a sanctuary to live out his life in safety.

At any point the members of the Belfast City Council knew they could legally allow Lennox to go home to his family, or release him to a rescue or give him to Victoria Stillwell who agreed to pay for all costs associated with taking him to a sanctuary.

Instead, they let their anger, arrogance, ignorance and egos reign supreme and earlier today they killed this handsome, loveable dog who never growled, bit, or harmed anyone. They killed Lennox because they could.



While I would like to ask the Belfast council members "What exactly is it that you think you won?"  Maybe the more important question to ask them is "Do you have any idea what you lost?"


God Speed precious boy, I'm sorry we couldn't save you.

Goodbye Nora

Nora Ephron died yesterday.  I didn't know her personally but I feel as though I did.  That was part of her amazing talent. She wrote about life as she saw it and we saw ourselves in her descriptions. She made me smile with her appreciation of life.

I laugh out loud everytime I watch When Harry Met Sally. Sleepless in Seattle makes me feel warm and fuzzy and I mourn the loss of the bookstore while cheering the romance in You've Got Mail.
Her movies made me laugh and cry. 

She didn't like growing old but wrote such hilarious accounts that she made all of us feel a little better. Since growing old is better than the alternative, she not only made us laugh, she made us feel like we were all members of the same club.  I Feel Bad About My Neck is best appreciated by those over 45 and I Remember Nothing is still one of my favorites.

These are some of the movies that came from this brilliant, funny lady:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-nora-ephron-greatest-hits-video-compilation-20120626,0,3304097.story

Nora was one of those people who played a quiet, indirect role in our life. Her humor, her joy, her love of life and her talent to share all of that became a part of our culture, a part of our collective history .  Thank you for making me laugh and thank you for showing me the foolishness of taking myself too seriously. I will miss you. God Speed Nora.

Avery's Bucket List

Sometimes I think the universe whispers to us and other times I think it shouts.  I read a post earlier today about a little, 5 month old baby girl with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy.) Her name is Avery and her parents started a blog called Avery's Bucket List  http://averycan.blogspot.com/ . They (and friends) made a list of all the things Avery would like to do before she dies. Babies with SMA type 1 rarely live to the age of two. A tiny little baby should not need to make a bucket list, she should have days and days and months and months and years and years ahead of her. Alas, Avery does not. The disease is progressing. . .

She has already lost the ability to move her legs, her parents know her time is limited but they are working to put a face to SMA. Perhaps Avery's beautiful little face will be the one that inspires someone famous to take up the cause of SMA, maybe a brilliant mind will see this pretty baby and take an interest in the disease and that mind will be the one that starts the research that eventually will find a cure for SMA.  At present there are no clinical research studies looking for a cure for SMA. Avery's parents know that help can not come soon enough to save her, but by putting a face to SMA, they hope it will help a child in the future.   

 

None of us have any magic answers but we all can do something to help - please look at Avery's blog and read her bucket list. Is there anything you can help with? At the very least we can help spread her story, we can help make her the face of SMA. The universe shouted today: SHARE AVERY'S STORY! I listened, I'm sharing. I hope you will too. 

Better than yesterday. . . .

I wrote this a month or two ago and then posted to the wrong page. I have lost and gained the same two pounds several times since writing this. So this person who does not like to exercise and does like to eat has decided on a new approach. I need to lose one pound. My goal between now and Saturday is to lose a pound. I'm going to exercise, cut back on sweets and make it happen!

I think I mentioned a year ago (okay, I whined) that I quit smoking in April of 2010 and have since managed to gain 30 lbs. Last year I said, enough, I'm going to lose the weight and basically spent more time thinking about it than doing anything. 

So today is the first day of my "Stop whining and take off those pounds" program. I know I need a consistent program but first I'm just going to start moving every day. I am so out of shape that everything tires me out - walking just a short distance makes me want to take a nap. Stretching and doing exercises is awkward and uncomfortable (not to mention I hate exercising.)

Still, I need to get in shape and I need to lose weight so I am starting with ideas that work with my current physical fitness status. I typically have the TV on in the morning while I clean house so today, for one of the hour morning shows, everytime there was a commercial break - I stopped cleaning and exercised - most of the breaks are between 3 & 1/2 and 4 minutes for a total of 18-20 minutes. Okay, not the longest work out, but better than not doing anything.

Then I happened on the 5 minute workout on the Dr. Oz website todayhttp://www.doctoroz.com/videos/jorge-cruises-5-minute-workout  and decided to add that to my routine. Ouch - still, I can do 5 minutes. I then decided to do 5 minutes twice a day, once in the am & once in the pm. Okay, I can do this.

Probably should not have eaten that jelly donut for breakfast but the chicken fajita for lunch was a good choice. Hey, it's a start. It's not perfect but better than yesterday and that's how I'm going to get back in shape. Doing a little better each day - one day at a time.

2012 has certainly started with a roar. My brother-in-law passed away on the 2nd from a heart attack. The week that followed was a blur as family members reconnectd via the phone and shared a lifetime of memories.  They talked about growing into young adults, parents, then grandparents and now the shock and the inevitable surprise of losing the first sibling.

There was the whirlwind of calling hours, the funeral, meeting and greeting childhood friends, seldom seen relatives, past neighbors and reaffirming who we were, who we are and acknowledging our shared history. The loss of a sibling reminds us that more sunrises are behind us that ahead of us, it gives us pause if only for a moment.

Lew & Bob July 2010

Back home, life goes on. We go to work, to the grocery store, doctors and dentist. We take our dogs to the vet, clean house, pooper scoop the yard and remind each other to "take your meds." A beloved brother is gone but life goes on, it's just a little quieter, a little less shiny, a little more lonely. We love you Lew and we miss you.