Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Importance of Remembering 9/11


Mike recommended a show that was on the National Geographic channel last night. Inside 9/11 is by far one of the best comprehensive documentaries on 9/11. It is a four hour program and the first 2 hours are dedicated to what lead up to 9/11 and the last two hours detail the day of 9/11 and the aftermath. My 10 yr. old son watched it with me and learned a lot. I realized he was only 5 when it happened and probably wasn't aware of much during that time except that it was a big deal and his mom cried a lot.


I think it is so important to remember 9/11 and it seems like so many liberals have forgotten already. Darryl Worley's song, Have You Forgotten? has never been more true than it is today. Why do you think the liberals are screaming about the patriot act? They have already forgotten that if we had had that in place pre-9/11 the terror of that day may very well have been prevented. The main cause of 9/11 was lack of communication between agencies that weren't allowed to share information with each other. Which is exactly what the patriot act allows. The patriot act tears down that wall that kept the agencies from communicating with each other. It would be a tragedy if the liberals ever got their way and got rid of the patriot act. A man on the documentary said that FBI officials realized that not enough people died during the 93 bombing and so people wouldn't take terrorism seriously until more died. Now people are saying that we might need another 9/11 for people to realize how serious the threat is that we face. It saddens me that people don't understand the seriousness of the threat.


My friend that went to see World Trade Center with me mentioned that she thought the movie's timing might have been part of what helped Bush's poll numbers going back up. I thought about that and I thought the movie and the recent thwarted attack probably both helped a lot. When the American people remember what we're facing they realize what an awesome job W is doing by protecting our country from terror. Michael Barone makes that exact point with his recent column entitled: As election looms, GOP seeing ‘terrorist factor’ bounce in polls

Here are some excerpts:
"When asked what would affect the future, the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously said: "Events, dear boy. Events." The event this month that I think has done most to shape opinion was the arrest in London on Aug. 9 of 23 Muslims suspected of plotting to blow up American airliners over the Atlantic.

The arrests were a reminder that there still are lots of people in the world — and quite possibly in this country, too — who are trying to kill as many of us as they can and to destroy our way of life.

The political acrimony of 2004 and 2005 and this year made it seem remote. The London arrests reminded us it's still there.

We've had other reminders, too. For four years, Hollywood has seemed mostly uninterested in the war on terrorism — in vivid contrast to its enlistment in World War II.

But this year, we've seen the release of "United 93," and, in "World Trade Center," Oliver Stone presents us not with one of his conspiracy theories but, instead, a story of heroism. On Sept. 10 and 11, ABC will devote six hours of prime time to "The Path to 9-11," a fast-paced, bracing docudrama that tells the story of the terrorists and the people who tried to stop them, from the first WTC bombing in 1993 to 9-11 itself. And this will be only one of many commemorations of the fifth anniversary.

Earlier this summer, I thought that voters had decided that the Republicans deserved to lose but were not sure that the Democrats deserved to win, and that they were going to wait, as they did in the 1980 presidential and the 1994 congressional elections, to see if the opposition was an acceptable alternative. Events seem to have made that a harder sell for Democrats. A change in the winds."


And believe it or not I waited so long to sign up for the 2,996 9/11 blogger tribute that they have over 2,996 people assigned already. But thankfully they are now assigning people twice so I got my name and will blog about her on 9/11. I encourage all of you that haven't signed up already to go here to sign up.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Carrie Underwood & the Missouri State Fair


Last night was an awesome night. My oldest daughter and I along with a bunch of friends went to hear Carrie Underwood in concert at the Missouri State Fair. I can't tell you how much I love State Fairs. There is just something about summer, carnival rides, caramel apples, animals and great music. Last week the kids and I and some friends went on the first day of the fair. Every year they have $1 day on the first day where you only have to pay a $1 to get in and then they have special deals on food and rides for a $1.

Tonight we drove the 2 hours back out there again for the concert. The rain quit just in time for the concert and the weather was perfect. Warm (not hot) with a perfect breeze and not one drop of rain during the concert.

I didn't know much about Carrie before last night. But I must say I came away very impressed with her. She is beautiful, talented and still humble at this stage of the game. There were several songs that were awesome and ofcourse all the moms cried when she sang "Jesus Take the Wheel". Here is a great excerpt from that wonderful song:
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel

Another song that she sang that really spoke to me was "Wasted". It talks about not wasting your life by wishing for things and yet missing out on them. That has been the theme of my life for the past 5 yrs. I don't want to sit back and miss out on life because I was too afraid to risk something or wasn't brave enough to try something. I want to grab the bull by the horns and embrace life.

She also amazingly sang 2 Guns N' Roses songs and totally pulled them off :-). I was extremely impressed and would've never thought it possible. A great night was had by all!!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Justice For Jon Benet Ramsey


I tell ya I think I was just as shocked about the arrest in the Jon Benet Ramsey case as I was when I first heard that they had found Elizabeth Smart alive. It had been so long that I had given up on them ever solving the case. And to be honest I had studied this case and concluded that the parents were probably somehow involved. So my first reaction today was a little bit of guilt in realizing that here they had been innocent this entire time.

I am very happy for the family though. They will finally have some justice and closure. And for the father even though it is 10 years late he will finally have some vindication about his innocence. It saddens me though that the mother died without being able to see this day. At least the reports are that she knew they finally had a suspect before she died.

It also sounds pretty convincing to me that they indeed have the right man. He is reported to have known details about the crime that no one besides the police knew. I know it doesn't bring her back but I'm a big believer in justice and closure for parents who lose their children. So I'm thank-ful that the Ramsey family will finally have at least that.


UPDATE: John Mark Karr makes my skin crawl but it is hard to tell whether he is just a nutjob wanting attention or the real perpetrator. I would hope the prosecution had some hard evidence before they decided to arrest him and have him transported all the way here from Thailand. DNA looks like it may be the key to all of this. I hope they do have DNA evidence otherwise they may have gotten everyone's hopes up for nothing.

Wyatt brings up some good points about all of us feeling guilt about this case.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Greenfield Village & The Henry Ford Museum


While I was in Michigan my mom and I and my two boys joined up with some friends for a weekend trip. Linda picked out Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum near Detroit which was only about a 3 hr. trip from my parents' house. It was a very fun history place to visit and I loved it. Linda posted on the trip and all of my pics are ones I snagged from her since she has the digital camera :-). The above pic was of me standing in front of the presidential car that Reagan took cover in when he was shot by John Hinckley.


Since I am a huge history buff I was very excited about all the authentic things Henry Ford had moved to this one location. This picture is of The Wright Brother's actual house that was moved here from Dayton, Ohio. Henry Ford was also good friends with Thomas Edison and had his actual workshop moved here from Menlo Park, New Jersey. The man in the Edison workshop told a neat story. He said that Ford asked Edison if they had re-created the materials inside the shop to look exactly the way Edison had had them 50 years ago. Edison said 98% and so Ford asked what 2% of it was wrong. Edison said that he had never kept his workshop that clean. I loved it.


This is a picture of my boys inside a hat shop. Some other highlights that we saw at Greenfield Village were George Washington Carver's cabin, the Logan County Courthouse where Abraham Lincoln had practiced as a lawyer, Noah Webster's home and many other sites. We also got to ride in an authentic Model T, an Omnibus Shuttle pulled by horses, an old bus, a 1913 Herschell-Spillman Carousel and a train.


My other friend, Kelli that came brought her 2 daughters. Her oldest daughter is the same age as Matthew, in fact they are only 4 days apart. This is a pic of them waiting for their food at a restaurant.



At the Henry Ford Museum there were a bunch of highlights also. Besides the Reagan presidential car and the JFK presidential car that he was shot in there was the actual bus that Rosa Parks took her stand in. There was also the actual chair that Lincoln sat in at Ford's theater when he was shot.

There was also an Imax theater there and the boys, my mom and I all watched Superman Returns with some of it in 3D. All in all it was a great history weekend and I was glad to see that especially Calvin seemed to have learned a lot from it.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

A Fun TV Meme


I found this over at Juanita's blog and it looked like fun!! I don't usually tag specific people so anyone who wants to do this consider yourself tagged. I used the pic of Prison Break since I spent the day recouping from my trip by watching some of the episodes of season 1 that I had missed.

Instructions: Bold all of the following TV shows which you’ve ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and italicize a show if you’re positive you’ve seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

24
3rd Rock from the Sun
7th Heaven
Adam-12
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
Amazing Race
American Idol /Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol
America’s Next Top Model/Germany’s Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
The Ben Stiller Show
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched

The Bob Newhart Show
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle’s Show
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
China Beach
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci’s Inquest
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (series 1-26)
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Eight is Enough
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Falcon Beach
Family Ties
Fantasy Island

Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Fear Factor
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Green Wing
Grey’s Anatomy
Grounded for Life
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Head of the Class
Highlander
Hill Street Blues
Hogan’s Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invasion
Iron Chef (Japan)
Iron Chef (USA)
Hell’s Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Jeopardy
Joey
John Doe
Kath and Kim
LA Law
Laugh-In
Laverne and Shirley
Law and Order
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Leave it to Beaver

Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum P.I.
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Mary Tyler Moore
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Family
My Favorite Martian
My Life as a Dog
My Mother the Car
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mysterious Cities of Gold
NCIS
Newhart
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psyche
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Samurai Jack
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
Spaced
Sports Night
Square Pegs
St. Elsewhere
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis — New season
Stargate SG-1 — New season
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teletubbies
That Girl
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams
Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Brady Bunch

The Colbert Report
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flying Nun
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls

The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Prisoner
The Real World
ROAR
The Shield
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
thirtysomething
Three’s Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Upstairs, Downstairs
Veronica Mars
Wildfire
Wings
What Not To Wear (US)
What Not To Wear (UK)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Witchblade
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls
Xena: Warrior Princess
Young Hercules

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

I am Back!!


The kids and I made it safely back from Michigan. I have lots of things to post on but will just do a short one tonight on the highlights and share about the Abraham Lincoln Museum we visited on the way home. Mapquest had me take a different way this time and the route took me right past Lincoln's Museum in Springfield, Illinois. My goal is to eventually visit all the presidential museums and homes so I visit one every chance I get.

I have been to the museums/historic sites and/or homes of Harry Truman, Herbert Hoover and Ulysses S. Grant. I've only been to these 4 but the Lincoln one is definitely the best one I've been to yet. The kids and I had an hour to make it thru. We didn't get to watch any of the movies but otherwise we got to see everything else. One of the most striking things to me was all the political cartoons slamming Lincoln as an idiot and an awful president. When you consider how Lincoln was hated by many during his time in office and is now often considered the greatest of all presidents you see how doing the right thing pays off. I think history is going to view George W. Bush in a much more favorable light than many view him now. And it was a big encouragement to me to see those cartoons today.


We spent most of the week at my parents' house in a small town in Michigan. I got caught up on sleep, ate fresh blueberries, peaches and sweet corn. My dad grows the best sweet corn ever!! We went to the sand dunes at Lake Michigan, had a water balloon fight, made ice cream popsicles with a Baskin Robbins kit and played many games of dominoes and phase 10.

Some of us went with friends to Greenfield Village over the weekend but I will post on that later.

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

I am reading this awesome book "102 Minutes" that a friend lent to me. I haven't been able to put it down and I'm almost done. I will do a full review on it later but it is a breathtaking account of things that happened to 365 people that were in the twin towers on 9/11. Some of the people they talk about survived and some didn't. I have been brought to tears and have learned a lot. Amazingly it is pretty objective even though it is written by 2 men who have written for the NY Times.

Prison Break was released on DVD today. If you haven't gotten addicted to this show yet, check it out. Season 2 starts early this year on August 21st (my birthday). How cool is that??