Amer-Asian, Amer-Italian, Amer-African

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I just heard this phrase in a recent movie or TV show.   I love it.   Amer-Asian.  It’s pronounced a-murr-asian, with that first “a” being a soft “a” ().    A very nice blend of America and Asia.  And why not for all of our nations – why not for America and Italy (Amer-Italian), or America and Africa (Amer-African).

I love it because it sounds beautiful, and it just rolls off the tongue so smoothly.  And it is a big plus that it puts being an American first, while honoring one’s roots.
With Amer-(country of origin), instead of each of us putting the country of our roots first, which is more divisive, we put our home country first, which can serve to unite us.
I hope it catches on.

We are an exhausted nation

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It started a week ago, listening to Tim Conway Jr’s talk show – had to be Sept. 11th.  He took calls from people living off the government, and one thing he said really caught my attention.  He said “We are all tired.”  He went on to say something to the effect of: We work hard all day long doing too many jobs at once, we come home, grab a bite, see the kids, see the spouse, and drop into bed just to get up and start it all over again.  And it never stops.  We think nothing of calling or emailing colleagues at all hours – and they answer!  Because we can’t stop because we have too much work to do, but can’t hire anyone because no one can afford it.

I thought, “Man, that’s how I feel!”  and it was good to hear someone say it on the public airways.
I kept meaning to email him, or call his show, but never did.
Then Sunday, Sept. 29th, there was this:

First, there was Ben Stein on taxes on the Sunday Morning show asking the administration why he was being punished for earning 35 cents on the dollar.   Then, there was Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, calling out Robert Gibbs for his “snarky response” to House Republican Leader John Boehner’s previous week’s carefully worded statement that he would reluctantly vote for just the lower and middle income tax cuts, if that was all he had in front of him.
Bob Schieffer said:

“Blame it on a long memory, but I can remember when the first move by a president like Lyndon Johnson or maybe a smart aide in the Eisenhower White House would not have been a snarky press release. 

I’m guessing LBJ would have been on the phone to Boehner in five minutes after seeing him on TV, saying something like, “If you’re serious, why don’t you come over here quietly and we’ll try to work out something good for both of us and the folks out there?”

Call me a romantic, but I believe that might have happened.

As we saw, no chance it could happen today.

And we’re right back to the partisan war. Too bad, really. “

I just about jumped out of my chair.  NOW we are going to get somewhere, I thought.  And we did.
True to form, along came Velma R. Hart at Obama’s “Investing in America” townhall.  She used the “E” word – exhausted.  She said she was an exhausted woman, and asked the President if this was “her new reality”.
Michelle Malkin’s column made reference to the Obama administration as being called the “let them eat cake” presidency.
So it’s not just me.  It is not the fact that I have been burdened with the passing of my father, who was also my business partner and very close friend.  I work very long hours, and I am tired.    There isn’t enough business to go around, and everyone is fighting for something.  With steel prices set to rise again, we are faced with a price increase, and Lord only knows what this will cause.
Sometimes I think Dad got out just in time.

Freebies – are we too broke for common sense?

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Can you believe this?  Can we really debate the need for available drinking water?  For the full L.A. Times article, click here.

You just don’t imagine in our country in 2010 that there isn’t free water to drink while you are having a meal. But there isn’t,” said Kenneth Hecht, executive director of California Food Policy Advocates, an Oakland-based organization that supported the legislation. Leno’s Senate Bill 1413 requires schools by next July to make fresh drinking water available where students get their meals. The bill provides no funding, and districts can make the case that they cannot afford to comply.

But the solutions can be inexpensive, advocates say. In small schools, that can mean putting water pitchers and cups on lunch tables.

Montclair Elementary School in Oakland has a “hydration system,” basically a faucet that students use to fill their own bottles with cold drinking water, said George Manalo-LeClair, a parent at the school and senior director of legislation at California Food Policy Advocates.”

Seems simple enough, given buildings have potable water.  And when you think about the staff you are paying to manage drinking water, and the associated costs, think about the staff (and insurance)  to transport children to school, or feed children at school.  These services are what parents should be directly billed for –  everyone needs to step up and take responsibility for their own family’s daily expenses – food and transportation.  And if the family can help out by sending a thermos of water with that packed lunch, all the better.  

Water is a fundamental right for human preservation.  Ditch the other freebies – water is a legitimate one.  For more on this topic, click here.

First Gaga, Now this?

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Are you joking me? This is unbelievable.

The “reporter” who wore skin-tight clothing to a football practice…..
She dresses in tight tight jeans, and says “it’s not her fault” because those jeans are “her size”. Excuse me?
Since when does a real woman blame her style (or lack of it) on the manufacturer? As if she has no choice in the matter!
Someone needs to educate this young gal on basic professionalism, basic business etiquette, and how your presentation of yourself sets the stage for the message you send out when you dress yourself in sexually explicit attire. She needs to understand she is not only being disrespectful to the people she is working with by being a distraction, but that she is also being disresptful of the wives and girlfriends of the men she was dressing :oh-so-suggestively” around.  She needs a dose of common sense – because while there is a time and place for that kind of attire (and that kind of fun), it is not in the professional field of journalism.   On the field, you expect to see that in dancers or cheerleaders, but not in journalists.

After Life

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I have given up on the ability of those in the after life to come back and visit us mere mortals.

Dad died February 8th, 2010.  I thought for  sure he would find a way to come back and, if nothing else, give me a thumbs up.  Nothing, nada.  Yet I KNOW he would have if he could have.
So it must be that death really is final (yes, I know how dumb that sounds).  And now, I appreciate every living thing so much more, because there is no second chance, no ‘reaching out”, no “message” we get to send.
I know some people swear they see loved ones that have passed, but right now, I think it is their imagination.  I did see dad in some dreams, but it was nothing that was compelling – it was just a dream.
I will know if that moment ever comes, and I will let you know if it does.
But for right now, I think we do our work here on earth, and return home to much greater things, such that we never even look back, knowing we will greet our loved ones as their time comes.  And, I think we never look back because by the time we make it to the other side, we realize how insignificant most of the earthly life is, so what is the point of coming back?  To say what?  Everyone already knows what you would want to say to them, so what is the point of trying to overcome what must be an enormous amount of energy to try and deliver some obscure message?
So I say, go in peace, dad.  I know you would come back if you could, and I am good with that.
post note, added July 23, 2012:  dad has returned once to me, twice to his beloved Louise.  And once to my cousin, whom seems to attract the souls from the other side.  Her “channel” is more open than the rest of ours, and people who have crossed over seek her out to get their message into our world.