An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 10 August 2007
This is Just Too Much!
I will proclaim that I am a Christian, with all the flaws and idiosyncrasies of a human being. This guy just takes the cake…..fruit cake, that is. There is nothing of the Christian faith in his actions or words, at all!
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
The church and its pastor, the Rev. Fred Phelps, have become notorious over recent years for their claim that the attack of 9/11 was an act of God’s vengeance and their determination to make that case at the funerals of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq.
In a press release issued the day after the bridge collapse, the church called for protests at the funerals and outlined its feelings about the relationship between God’s plan and the sins of Minneapolis and Minnesota, which it calls the “land of the Sodomite damned.”
Reached at the church, Shirley Phelps Roper, who is both the daughter of the pastor and one of the attorneys for the church, said that America, and Minnesota especially, have alienated God by its tolerance for homosexuality, and that the bridge collapse was an act of God’s vengeance. She said:
“The bridge stood in place by the word of God and it fell by the word of God…Each of these little events is just a harbinger of the coming destruction of this American experiment. We are delivering the final call of the doomed nation.”
She said, as they have done for years, members of the church would stand “lawfully and peacefully on the public right of way” near the funerals and “put in the air words of praying and instruction and warning.”
The signs that the protesters will wave will read:
“God cast down the bridge… Thank God for 9/11… America is doomed… God hates fags… God hates fag enablers… God hates Minnesota.”
Can this waste of oxygen really believe the trash he and his followers spout? I can’t imagine being in the same room with them for longer than 30 seconds. Not only would I feel the need to smack the crap out of ever signal one of them, I’m afraid my delicate sensibilities would be overwhelmed by the venom. Hatred takes a lot of energy and I don’t think they are getting theirs from G-d. I think it’s coming from a much warmer place.
Excuse Me??????
Mexico to help sponsor Nashville learning center
A Spanish-language education program sponsored in part by the Mexican government will soon come to Nashville.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Catholic Charities have agreed to offer a “Plaza Comunitaria,” or meeting place, for Mexicans in Nashville looking to continue their education, according to a press release issued Thursday.
The program, which will be administered by the Mexican consulate in Atlanta, announced it would add 15 chapters Thursday.
Nashville will be the second city in Tennessee to host a learning center behind Chattanooga.
Plazas Comunitarias offer Spanish-language classes for elementary, middle and high school students, with an opportunity to earn a GED through the Mexican government.
The centers also offer online courses, including English as a Second Language.
There are 370 Plazas Comunitarias in the United States, according to the release.
WTF?????? I can’t even begin to express my disgust! If your citizens to ‘earn’ Mexican GED, teach them in Mexico! We speak English here, and opening schools that teach in Spanish is NOT a real good idea. Where will the English speaking schools be opening in Mexico?
And people are wondering why more and more Americans are showing a bit of bigotry? PFFT! I’ve never been bigoted in my life…..until recently! I don’t hate Mexicans, but I’m none too fond of said Mexicans, or any other nationality sneaking into MY home, eating up MY food, stealing MY money, pushing up the cost of MY health care, and any number of things I’m too angry to even think of right now. And I don’t want to hear the lame excuse of “they’re doing the jobs Americans won’t do”! BULLSHIT! Which jobs would those be? Maids? Hey, I cleaned houses for a while. Fast food? Did that too. Pick produce? Never lived in an area that such a job would have been available, but I damn sure would have done it if it meant putting food on the table for my daughter.
You here illegally? Go your ass home! Legal? Learn the f’ing language!
Where There’s a Will….
Texas Man Rigs Car With Household Air Conditioner
Faced with exorbitant costs to fix a car air conditioner, Scott Dawson was literally left to his own devices.
After finding out he would have to pay $1,200 to fix his car’s AC, Dawson, 26, rigged a common household air conditioner to fit on top of his car. The crafty civil engineering graduate from the University of Houston cut a hole in the sunroof to allow the cool air to get in, MyFoxHouston reported.
“I’ll probably stick with this until I get rid of it,†Dawson said.
Heh! Oh, those wacky Texans! 
Well, a window unit is quite a bit cheaper than $1200. If I had the know how, I’d probably do the same thing!
Political Knee Jerk – Raise Taxes!
The Gas Tax
Fred Thompson
Whoa now. Let’s hold our horses a minute and think about the calls for new tax increases to fix our infrastructure problems. The Minneapolis bridge collapse is a tragedy, but we can’t let it be used to compound other problems – which is what will happen if we’re scared into raising gas taxes.
As we all know, there are few things more permanent than a temporary tax. Just ask the folks who footed the cost of the Spanish-American War for the past 108 years via a federal excise tax on our phone bills. Congress is contemplating a new “temporary†5-cent increase in the federal gas tax –(already at 18.3 cents a gallon), which is on top of the state and local gas taxes that have been in place over the years – to finance a “trust fund†for infrastructure repairs.
The cause of our infrastructure troubles is not a lack of money; but the politics and bureaucracy that have built up around the funding process. Now, the people who have done their best to micromanage local infrastructure spending from their Washington D.C. offices are exploiting tragedy to further federalize our transportation system. Why don’t we let states determine which infrastructure problems are their priority? Are bridge repairs a priority in Arizona? Alaska? Hawaii? Maybe, but let’s let the people decide what needs fixing, when, and how they want to pay for it—taxes, bonds, or tolls, for example.
Real improvements in infrastructure, to promote safety and reduce congestion and traffic delays, are possible. But it can only be done by giving the control of construction and funding decisions to those who use the roads and bridges, not through higher taxes and more federal mandates.
Only in government is it even possible to think that you could be rewarded with a bigger budget for totally messing things up in the first place. Why can’t we leave infrastructure issues to the people closest to where the rubber literally hits the road?
Just when I think those clowns in D.C. couldn’t be any more out of touch with reality…… sigh…..
Proof…
….that alcohol can make ya stupid! 
Happy Birthday E! Â
Awwww….
Texas Fred, being the warped individual he is, saw something completely different in this adorable picture of two tiny critters. 
Now What!
To say I’m overwhelmed is an understatement! While watching the guys tote stuff in, I started questioning Mr. Ol’ Broad’s sanity. I know I said that needs to go to the thrift store, at least twice. And that over there? Well, where am I going to put that thing! Criminy! I know I said this before, but…..NEVER AGAIN! I’m going to die in my tub if need be, I am NOT ever moving again!
Nothing seems to go where I had imagined it in my head, especially in the living room. I’m going to have to rethink a lot of stuff.
I know there are a lot of books in those boxes, which is ok. What I can’t figure out is what is in the rest of ‘em.
I wonder how much it would cost to crawl into one of those boxes, and ship myself to Jamaica? I’m thinking some fruity adult beverage(s) and beach!
Illegal Trash
Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in New Jersey Students’ Execution-Style Deaths
A Peruvian national in the U.S. illegally and who was previously charged with raping a 5-year-old pleaded not guilty Friday in the execution-style slayings of three young college students a day after surrendering to Mayor Cory Booker.
Jose Carranza, 28, who also goes by the alias Jose La Chira, entered his plea before Essex County Superior Court Judge Michael Casale. A second suspect, a 15-year-old boy, has been held pending a detention hearing. Authorities were seeking to have him tried as an adult.
How many innocent children have to be murdered, sexually assaulted, or killed in drunk driving incidents before the ‘powers that be’ start taking border security seriously? Yes, innocent until proven guilty and all that, but he is already guilty, just by being here!
Carranza, of Peru, was being held on $1 million bail. He turned himself in to Booker after his fingerprints were lifted from a bottle in connection with the shootings of four college students on Saturday. Three were killed but a fourth survived and was hospitalized after the shootings in a Newark schoolyard
Turning himself in is a plus, but …….
On Wednesday night, police arrested the 15-year-old boy who along with Carranza is accused of murder, attempted murder, robbery, weapons offenses and conspiracy to commit the crime of robbery, Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said.
Dow said she doesn’t believe there is any familial relationship between the two in custody.
The teen, who is Hispanic, is an American citizen with a Newark address, Booker said.
15. A 15 year old hanging out with a 28 year old illegal? What is wrong with this picture!
The sole survivor of Saturday night’s shootings, 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, provided information from her hospital bed after being shot in the head.
Will this poor girl ever be able to get her life back? NO! She may physically recover, to a degree, but the emotional scars are going to be a permanent fixture.
Aeriel was with her brother, Terrance Aeriel, 18; Dashon Harvey, 20; and Iofemi Hightower, 20, who were forced to kneel against a wall and were shot execution-style outside a Newark school.
The students had been planning to attend Delaware State University.
I pray for these families. Their pain must be more than any of us will ever be able to imagine. I pray none of us have to go through what they’ve had to endure.
Honestly, I try not to hate, but sometimes, I just can’t prevent that strong emotion.
Morning Coffee 8/10/07 Stressed Out Edition
Romney’s Cash Beckons Iowans To Straw Poll
One candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has assembled an unrivaled operation for the event: a statewide corps of 60 “super-volunteers,” who have been paid between $500 and $1,000 per month to talk him up; a fleet of buses; more than $2 million in television ads in Iowa; a sleek direct-mail campaign; and a consultant who has been paid nearly $200,000 to direct Romney’s straw poll production, which will include barbecue billed as the best in the state.
I understand people need to be paid for their time, but to say they are being paid to ‘talk him up”? Do they same the same about the Hildebeast’s paid workers? Or the Breck Girl? Not that I’ve seen.
House members bitterly fight over veterans’ pensions
Democrat Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Republican Steve Buyer, ranking Republican and former chairman, have been feuding since the 110th Congress convened in January with Democrats taking control.
Their feud took on new intensity in July over an issue that pits pensions for Filipino veterans who fought with Americans in World War II against additional pension dollars for a group of elderly American wartime veterans made homebound by non-service-connected disabilities.
While I’m grateful to the Filipino’s who put their lives on the line in WWII, I do believe the American vets get first priority. And I don’t care if they are ‘non-service-connected disabilities’! We should be taking care of OUR vets! Get all those able bodied yahoos who are bilking the S.S. system off their hinders and back to work! Stop the Medicare fraud! Kill the ‘pork’! And just maybe we could honor our vets by seeing their golden years in a bit of ease!
Drill Reaches Level of Trapped Utah Miners; No Sound Heard
A tiny microphone lowered deep into the earth early Friday picked up no evidence that six coal miners caught in a cave-in four days ago were still alive. But an air sample indicated there was enough oxygen to breathe in the chamber where the miners were believed to be trapped, and rescuers promised to keep digging toward them.
Maybe they were just sleeping? My heart is aching for those families. The wait must be horrible to endure.
The Cowboys’ first-team offense lasted 27 plays and scored six points. The Cowboys’ first-team defense lasted 15 plays and gave up three points.
The final – a 23-10 Cowboys’ win against Indianapolis at Texas Stadium – was almost irrelevant.
Oddly enough, I was kind of hoping they’d lose last night. Not sure why, but they seem to do better during the regular season if they have a crappy pre-season. At least that’s the way it’s always appeared to me.
Wall Street skidded further Friday as investors again succumbed to anxiety over tight credit conditions even after the Federal Reserve said it would do all it can to “facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets.”
The Dow Jones industrials dropped 146.08, or 1.10, to 13,124.60 in the opening minutes of trading, adding to a 387-point plunge on Thursday.
I’m baffled. Wall Street seems to react to things that have nothing to do with the finance type business. If a butterfly farts, does that mean it’s time to sell?
Sharp Questions for Dems on Gay Issues
Former Sen. John Edwards found himself discussing whether he is comfortable around gay people – he said he is. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appeared to struggle with a question about why people become gay or lesbian. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ended up defending the record of her husband, former President Clinton, on gay rights.
I thought Edwards said previously he wasn’t comfortable? What’s the next ‘issue oriented’ debate going to cover, which shoe they put on first? Enough already with the debates! They started too soon! We’re talking ‘political burn out’ here! Has anyone watched all of these things?
MORE Queenslanders have been struck down by influenza so far this year than during all of 2006, with experts saying the worst yet to come.
Nearly 2000 cases have been notified across the state this year – 603 cases in the last week alone, and 1200 more than at the same time last year.
Does this mean we’ll have a tough flu season? I haven’t had a major case of the flu (only mild, but still felt like crap) since the last time I got a flu shot. Thought I was going to die! No shots!
Conservative grassroots movement pushing for Keyes presidency
Supporters of two-time Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes plan to attend the Iowa Republican Party’s straw poll in Ames on Saturday in hopes of catapulting the former Reagan administration diplomat into another White House bid.
I REALLY like Alan Keyes, even voted for him in…whichever primary that was. But honestly, we have a field of candidates so big now, do we really need another one? Now, if Fred Thompson gets the nomination, how ’bout Keyes in the VP slot? Â
Too Good To Be True!
For 4 days since I got home from my extensive driving tour, I’ve been relatively peacock free. There was one up on the roof, but when he saw me, he took off in short order. I was actually starting to think someone had a BBQ without me! sigh…. Nope!
I didn’t even have to use the ‘water cannon’. One look at me, and fear kicks in! heh heh heh Sadly, the fear didn’t last cuz when I went to open the blinds in the front window….there they were. So, we did the “dance”, front, back, front, back. Right now they are near the edge of the property, next to the well traveled state highway. Hmmm…. One can only hope! No, not they’ll get squished, but they’ll make it to the other side, and forget where they came from? On second thought….. 
