Explicitly Ambiguous

Having an Aunt who while visiting in England bought one, to use on the plane back home, telling me she liked hers I decided to try one. If you don’t know what one is I’ll try and describe it. Mine is a little bigger than a real cig, it’s black, and it has a blue LED light at the end. (They use blue lights so people won’t freak out and think they’re real cigs in bars, etc) It’s made up of a battery, atomizer, and a cartridge. The cartridge contains batting that you place drops of juice on… nicotine or flavored (you can get coffee, chocolate, grape, the list is endless). The wet batting is heated up in the atomizer and vapor is created. That’s what you exhale when you take a drag. Vapor. It’s called “vaping”. Although they aren’t called a stop-smoking aid a lot of people are using it for that. The only thing in it is nicotine. No tar or other crap and chemicals so it’s a really clean taste. You can really tell the difference if you smoke a reg (or analog as they call it) cig after trying it. Analogs taste heavier or dirtier.

The basic kit I bought was around $40. With all the accessories I bought it ended up being around $120. (Extra batteries, cartridges, etc) The juice can go from $10 to $30 bucks a bottle. I got a charger for the car and a really cool USB pass thru that you connect to your computer so you don’t have to worry about a battery!

I have 6 packs of regular cigs left. When I get down to one, keeping it to hold off the “oh my god I don’t have any cigs” panic, I’m going to go strictly with the ecig.

I have one problem. I can’t figure out what to do with it when I’m not taking a drag. I guess put it down on something. It’s not like you need an ashtray! lol

So I’ll be reporting on my experience with it. IF I can quit smoking with it I will have given up my two vices… Dr Pepper AND cigarettes.

You will miss out.

It explains why so many of us are terrified of the government taking control of medical care:

From Start Thinking Right blog:

Health Care Debate: As Charges of Nazism Abound, Which Side Is Right? By Michael Eden

Oh and you’ll get to see those swastikas they’ve been whining about… swastikas with lines drawn through them….

Just saw this over there:

Health Care: Mainstream Media Demagogues ‘Organized’ Conservatives, Ignores PAID Liberal Activists By Michael Eden

My Mother was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma after fracturing her arm in an office game at work. After the tests were done and it was diagnosed and she had surgery on her arm we had a visit in her hospital room that was something I hope you don’t have to experience. A person came to speak to her about her situation. This person suggested biofeedback, thinking good thoughts, inane garbage like that as options for her situation. We were shocked and we were angry and we told the person to get out of her room.

We found out that her case had gone before a board of physicians, unnamed of course, who made the decision that she shouldn’t receive surgery. She was in her 50’s, she had two new grand babies, and she wanted to live. I know what it feels like to sit there while you find out that some unnamed person has sentenced your loved one to death instead of giving them a chance to live.

You don’t want to go through that. Trust me.

When she was diagnosed she was transferred to an Oncologist. Bless her heart she gave my Mother hope while letting her know the odds. She talked to my Mother for a long time and told her about different experimental treatments they could try. Then she paused and asked my Mother what she wanted to do. My Mother said she would try anything that would give her more time with the people she loved. That she wanted to live for as long as she could. My Mother had health insurance through her employer and it covered the experimental treatments. She went through I don’t know how many radiation treatments. Then the Doctor suggested trying Interleuken 2. At that time it was given in the hospital, by vein, 24 bags worth. It was so rough that they broke it up into two weeks of treatments. The side effects were horrendous. Nightmares, daymares, diarrhea, vomiting, extremely high temperatures, high heart rates, and much more. It took a whole lot of courage to sign that piece of paper warning of the side effects. The first week was horrible. I don’t even want to talk about it. When she came out she looked like she’d been beaten to death. But she didn’t give up.. she went back. The next week was even worse. Her heart rate was so high they were very worried. It finally went back down. She made it through 23 bags and then asked to see me. She looked at me with tears streaming down her white face and told me she didn’t think she could do any more. Our positions had switched. I was in a sense her Mother. I reached down and took her hand, worked up a smile, and told her she’d done enough. I touched her cheek gently and told her it was time to rest.
She relaxed and went to sleep. She came home and recovered over a long period. Then her Doc did tests to see if the treatment had made any change in her condition.

It had. Because she’d gone through that living hell she was given a year. A year to get to know her grandchildren so they would have memories of her. After a year the cancer progressed and she again tried an experimental treatment. Interferon combined with some other drugs. It didn’t work that well, and unfortunately, her time ran out and she died.

It was bad enough knowing a group of Doctors had decided she wouldn’t have surgery. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have some faceless group of bean counters from the government make that decision. And unlike my Mother’s situation if that decision was made there would be NO MORE options given. There would be no experimental treatments offered. You.would.DIE.

Every case is different, every patient is different, every patient should make the decisions about their treatment and care.

The government should NOT make treatment decisions for citizens.

My Mother died in 1995. 14 years later they now do surgery in cases like hers. Interleuken 2 is given in a completely different form, I believe in a series of injections. My Mother went through hell with the hope that in the end it would help others. She said it was worth it if it helped other people.

She believed everyone should have a choice when it came to treatment.

If Obamacare is passed there will be no choice for the poor. They will not have the options my Mother had. The poor and those without health insurance are being lied to. They are being used by people who don’t give a damn about them. They lie to them in order to gain their votes.

This is extremely dangerous. This is about life and death.

Do NOT let them pass this horrendous monster. For the love of God fight this thing!

Jacob Hesse (Came with Rochambeau to fight in the Revolution)
Benjamin Ray
William Collum
Clark Burlingame
David Morehouse (and the many other descendants of Thomas Morehouse that took part in some way in the revolution. From actually fighting the British to the women defending their homes from night time raids, including my Husband’s 4th Great Grandmother, Susannah (Nash) Morehouse. During the war the British burnt Danbury and New Haven Connecticut. Eventually Morehouse descendants moved from Connecticut to the “Firelands”, lands given to them as reparations for what the British destroyed. The area his ancestors settled in was Ohio.)

Independence Day isn’t about hot dogs, fireworks, etc. It’s about what these people endured so that we CAN celebrate in that way today.

I’m going to tell you a story. There was a couple waiting for the birth of a child. Last week the Mother was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. The only treatment for her condition is abortion or delivery (by induction or c-section). For some reason, and I would be willing to bet it had to do with the expense of a c-section, the Doctors decided to wait.

Last night they thought the Mother was in labor.

The baby died today. Placental abruption probably related to the pre-eclampsia.

The mother had to endure a delivery after finding out her baby had died.

This isn’t fiction. This is the truth. This happened to my family today. The Father of the child is my cousin. He lives in England. My Aunt, the baby’s Grandmother and also a nurse, said the baby would have been old enough to have survived being induced or delivered by c-section last week. What is so heartbreaking is that if they’d been in the states they probably would have delivered the baby last week.

Do you really think that we in the states will be better off with government health care? If you do you’re worse than a fool!

If we allow those bastards in DC to create government health care they will end up limiting treatments and you’ll start hearing this kind of horror story repeatedly.

Do you really want this to happen to your daughter? Or you son? Do you want your Mother, Father, or Grandparents denied treatment because of their age?

For the love of GOD don’t be fooled into accepting what you’re being told by liars, thieves, and so-called social engineers.

My Father-in-law was on the USS Silverstein during WWII. This past week I was sent photos of his time on the ship to scan. There was included a ship’s newsletter, the Jam Handy, that I also scanned. It was the last newsletter because they were heading home. This poem was included in the newsletter.

(As printed in the USS Silverstein newsletter Jam Handy November 1945.)

Loving A Sailor

Loving a sailor is not all gay
For with your heart is the price you pay.
It’s mostly having and not to hold,
Being young, but feeling old.
It’s sending a letter with an upside-down stamp
To a special lover in a far away camp.
Being in love with merely your dreams
Brings thoughts of heaven where lovelight gleams.
You wish it were possible for him to phone,
You want to hear, “I’m on my way home.”
And, if it comes, it’s laughter together,
Unconscious of people, of time, and of weather.
It’s having him whisper his love for you,
It’s whispering that you love him, too.
And then comes a kiss, a promise of love,
And knowing you’re watched by the Father above.
It’s waving a sailor good-bye at the train
And wondering, “When will I see him again?”
And reluctantly, painfully, telling him go
When inside you’re crying for wanting him so.
You watch for the word that he is well,
You wait for months — a no-letter spell.
And when the mail comes you bubble with joy
And act like a child with a shiny new toy.
Loving a sailor is unfounded fears,
Crying until there are no more tears.
Hating the world, yourself, and the war
Because it took the man you adore.
Then going to church, to have faith and pray
And really meaning the things that you say.
And though you know he is far away
You keep on loving him more each day.
You are proud of the job he’s helping get done,
He’s doing his part as Uncle Sam’s son.
You know for his country he’s doing his best,
He’s fighting for you — like all the rest.
You’re tired, you’re weary, you’re doing your share,
You’re helping you sailor to win over there.
Loving a sailor is bitterness, tears,
It’s loneliness, sadness, unfounded fears –
No, loving a sailor is really no fun,
But it’s worth the price when the battle is won!

———- Walter C. Holloway

(Walter Holloway was the Father of one of the men on the ship. He had passed away
a few weeks before and the poem was sent to the editor of the newsletter as a
tribute .)

Arlington ‘Flags In’ Tribute Begins Memorial Day Commemoration

this article should scare the crap out of you.

Students’ Confusion About Capitalism

Some high school graduates were asked to “Define capitalism in 10 to 20 words,”

A few of the responses:

“Capitalism is making the most money for the government and having the government control the people.”

“Capitalism is the money that is in the government. It is when the government controls all the money.”

Hopefully you’ve been talking to your kids but it might be time to find out exactly what they’ve been taught in their time in the Government schools.

John Galt Gifts.com

Richard and I watched “Taking Chance” on HBO the other night. We’d seen the postings about it at Blackfive before so we knew what it was.

Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn’t know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him. — LtCol M.R. Strobl USMC

Strobl escorted Phelps body on the trip home to his family.

It was sad yet beautiful. Watching the respect shown as they prepared his body moved me the most. Because of the damage to his body they were unable to have an open casket at the funeral. No one was going to see his body. It didn’t matter. They dressed him and prepared him as if his family would see him.

Just thinking about it is making me cry.

There’s only one word that describes it.

Love.

Watch it. Just watch it. For once Hollywood didn’t screw something up. Kevin Bacon is perfect in it. If you can’t catch it as it runs normally on HBO if you have On Demand they’re running it there too.

Hmm… you don’t know what that means do you? Going back in time when Richard was applying for the job he was recently laid off from a friend and her husband annointed him with oil in the hopes that it would help him get a job. He got the job.

Well when he went for an interview the other day I asked if he’d like to try it again. He said sure. I came out of the kitchen wielding my olive oil bottle. I think he was concerned that I was preparing to mix a salad. I told him I would only put it on my finger. Well we did it and we prayed. He went for the interview and said it went well. We kinda let it go and went on worrying. As Richard says “it’s not the despair so much, it’s the hope”. I think we’d decided that instead of getting our hopes up we’d go straight to despair. lol

Yesterday he slept later than usual and we were both sitting at the computers and all of a sudden he said woah, woah, WOAH! I thought oh crap it must be bad. (just call me Mrs. negativity lol)

He was offered the job!

I was gobsmacked (love that word) which seems to be happening alot lately.. nother story.

Since then we’ve been filling out paperwork and faxing things back and forth. He goes to pee in a cup today (drug test) and tomorrow goes to be fingerprinted. He has to pass the drug test and pass the security screening (it’s a gubmnt job).

We’re just hoping his time in that Bolivian prison doesn’t cause a problem…

JUST KIDDING! lol

Of course this also means we’re going to have to move. The job is at the airport on the ass end of space a long waaaay from here.

I lurrrve cardboard.

Richard Sr. enlisted after Pearl Harbor. He was 16 or 17. His parents were divorced. His Father gave permission for him to join up. His Mother was furious. He was on the USS Silverstein in the Pacific.

Richard is on the right.

USS Silverstein

Richard Sr. has alzheimers. He has trouble remembering anything recent. Conversations on the phone can be interesting, bless his heart. But he can remember his time in the Navy. When my husband, Richard Jr., went to visit they went to see the National World War 2 museum in New Orleans. They treated him like he was royalty and he enjoyed every minute of it. lol

It makes me sad to think that soon the veterans of WW2 will no longer be with us. It will be a loss that those of us who are older will feel deeply. The younger among us unfortunately, IMO, don’t realize what they did for our world.

It’s up to us to make sure they’re remembered with respect.

Leland was my Husband’s maternal Grandfather. He was in the Navy from 1914 - 1921. He was on the USS Denver. We have a digital copy of his logbook and it’s very interesting. They were all over the pacific. Up and down the coast of North America.

USS Denver

Sometimes e-mail is impersonal. So we sent a thank you card.

I have yet to find a “Fuck You” card to send to McCain. I am still looking though.

When Lincoln went to DC they didn’t care for him much either. They thought he was, what we’d call now, a redneck, hick, or hillbilly. They didn’t like his jokes or his country ways.

You’re in damned good company, girl.

Thank you. We voted for you. You represent what is best about this country. You were abused and you never cried. You have my respect and I hope that you will be back.

To the media and the left:

We will never forget what you did to her. How you treated her. How you treated her family. How your candidate didn’t run against McCain.. he ran against her.

We.know.she.scares.you.

And we won’t forget.

Sooo cute! LOL!

R. Lee Ermey on FOX (Video)

Especially what he says about Murtha. hehe

For all the crap the media monkeys are flinging about the $150,000 of clothing the RNC bought for Palin she comes out and talks like this about what she’s wearing:

Just like those of us out here she shops like we do. We don’t buy our clothing from designers. We buy our clothing at discount stores. We don’t buy expensive jewelry, etc. Hell, most of us bought what she did while shopping for diapers at Walmart… their store brand because it was cheaper. This woman is great.

I will say that I have her beat on the $35 wedding ring. My wedding ring cost a whopping $15.00. Gotta love silver. LOL