Michelle Bachmann - another revolting move

Making my calls today to the Congress and Senate and I needed to find Bachmann's phone number. Hey - calling her out on her "shut it down" bullshit was necessary. I was horrified to see on her badly set out website, a picture of her shaking hands with a young woman in uniform, on their return from deployment. That really set me off, told the twit who answered her phone in no uncertain terms that she was a disgrace! How DARE she use the military in that fashion, when she's perfectly ok with shutting down the government and making sure we don't get paid. I hope she rots. I'm so mad, I'm shaking.

LAW

BROWNIES!!!!

Ha! got your attention, right? Confessions - I have been known to eat an entire pan of brownies, warm from the oven and chewy... ['scuse me, need a napkin] Anyway... Since we are hurtling towards another deployment, I'm gathering ideas for care packages. After 4 deployments, you really think I'd know exactly what to bake to put in those white flat rate boxes, but I get tired of making snickerdoodles (no melting, don't get inedible too quickly and if stale will crumble nicely over anything) and chocolate chip during the winter (melt into sticky goo with crumbs in the summer and turn rancid) I don't like sending package brownies - chemicals and sodium levels are too too high for my liking.

I got an email a few weeks ago - promising me a great brownie recipe for carepackage brownies. Curiosity and hope led me here. A baker actually downloaded and deciphered the MRE brownie recipe... the description is hysterical and horrifying! then the expert took over. As he says, they needed to be close to indestructible, but tasty!

Eventually I turned out what I consider to be epic care-package brownies—dense, with an intense chocolate flavor. Even better, they had a sturdy crumb that didn’t crumble. These brownie weren’t just tasty; they were tough as soldiers.

His taste testers pronounced them good, they lasted for days without getting hard as rocks or rancid. So, I think I'll head to the store and get some of the ingredients and see what's what. Go to the site and read the post - it's funny. And here's the recipe. Now some of the comments show that some substitutions are easily done - cocoa nibs are expensive and while our care package recipients are worth it... let's face it, it's not always affordable. The espresso powder is available, but in a pinch instant coffee will do as well.

Now then - how about some of our loyal readers do a little experimenting and let us know how it goes? As soon as I get some homework, shopping, laundry, work... done, I'll bake and report!

LAW

Stunning week

So - yeah. pretty stunning week. Last weeks horrendous earthquake, tsunami and threatening nuclear meltdown..hard to fathom, isn't it? sitting, watching BBC reporting and remembering why I do watch them when I tried switching to some network news and seeing the twinkie factor (male or female, didn't seem to matter) in all it's glory as they asked some fatuous questions about radiation. The calm demeanor of the Beeb folks, even in the middle of total destruction and alarms, the quiet facts. FACTS, not speculation or hysteria. The facts are devastating enough, the flailing hysterics of some of the other "news" services are offensive.

I cannot imagine the terrible conditions those heroic men and women at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant are working in. This story from the Daily Mail tells it all. They know they are basically committing suicide by staying and doing their jobs. That level of courage floors me. My heart goes out to their families too.. what pride mixed with such sorrow they must be feeling right now.

Then yesterday - we started enforcing the no fly zone - bombing Libya. Now... I have such mixed feelings here. Qaddafi is insane - completely nucking futs.. and having lived there I have that personal link (tenuous, but still..) and I understand that Qaddafi only understands, in his twisted reality, force and strength. I understand what he was doing in Benghazi and the rest of the rebel held areas was genocidal. but. But. Bombing a country with all the "collateral damage" of the civilian casualties hurts the soul. Of course the thought of how are we going to do all this with what our military already has on their plate - are we getting ourselves into something else that can turn into a mess? I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.

LAW

Imaginary friends - the best!

When I think back on the last two weeks of February and first week in March of 2011, I may end up on a closet floor mumbling and chewing on my nails.. To say it sucked - an understatement.

As most of us know, its that time of year: PCS Orders! We've been here for 3 years, so we knew something was going to come down. Of course it was - I'm getting established here, I may have the opportunity to work in a family support position... so yeah, time to move! It's a joy and a heartbreak of military life - we get to see new places, but we tear up our lives to do it. Chief would rather do another individual assignment downrange and let me stay here, with a good support structure and we honestly didn't think that would be a hard thing!

The Branch Manager [off stage right -hissing, booing from the audience] had other plans. First this fort, then that one. one close to the family! OK, lets go... what do you mean that's been pulled, it was on the table last night? oh, ok, the other one is in the middle of nowhere and not much decent housing off post... wait.. wait.... Nope - there's a short notice IA downrange...

Wound in and around this insanity - is a family issue that I'm not going to discuss- it's not mine to do so, but it's hard on everyone in the family, causing stress and worry. Add in Chief being sick, deadlines and family strife - it was just a stew of emotion, stress, lack of sleep and migraine.

Throughout all this, my online friends were there. I got emails, if they saw me on gmail chat or on FB chat, they were there. One afternoon, in the middle of the worst of the uncertainty and stress a knock on the door ushered in a vase of sunshine yellow tulips, from an online friend - sending me her love and support. They let me rant, let me talk it through, kicked me in the butt to get off it, go outside, take a walk and clear my head. **today, the mailbox had a funny looking package in it.. Yarnlove from another knitting "imaginary friend" who knows how to make me smile.

For everyone who says that online relationships aren't "real"... I'll beg to differ! Yesterday, after many years of emails, blogging and commenting on each other's blog - I met with an online friend in person while she's here for a conference. It was marvelous, we knew so much about each other already and I felt entirely comfortable sitting and talking with her, she brought another blogger with her...and again it was so much fun meeting with a person who writes online.

Looking at the destruction of Japan, reading the pain that another online friend is going through because of a recent casualty - my own problems seem minor now. Plans are firm now, the uncertainty is gone. I'm a planner, uncertainty makes me nervous and stresses me, I'm not good at "just let it all roll". My friends helped me through it. I couldn't be more grateful. I hope I can be there for them when they need it - I better be, because that's what a friend is, what a friend does.

Anyone else still have a copy of the TIME Magazine, with the three servicemembers in uniform - that proclaimed servicemembers as the TIME Person of the Year?


I do, my son and husband were both deployed that year, and I thought it was a fitting tribute to them and all the others in uniform.

This year, Kristen Tsetsi, who wrote the book Homefront, is spearheading the effort to get TIME to declare the military FAMILY as the Person of the Year. She's called it LIFT - Like It For TIME. On February 28th, Kristen will be posting a letter that she'll be sending to TIME Magazine , not by email or posting on line - but a paper and ink letter. The plan is, we all print it out, sign it (add something personal) and buy a stamp, put it in the post.

The goal is to overwhelm TIME Magazine with letters from across the country. The letters will introduce the editors to the idea, and with luck, they’ll get so many of them it will attract media attention.

Media attention is key to the effort. If the military family community and its supporters make enough of an impact to be addressed by the media, people will have to take an interest.

The date for this flooding? March 4th (March FORTH) I'll be interviewing her soon, but I wanted to make sure that all our readers have the website, and the Facebook link - we need to LIFT the awareness of military families. The White House has been doing it, The Oprahness happened, now it's up to us to get this additional word out. So - get ready.

Here's the Facebook page. And here's the website.

I'll be printing and sending, I'll send copies to my family - how about you? Can we count on you too? If you are a journalist, if you know a journalist, will you send them the notice to get the word out? We may be only 1% of the population, but we can make some noise!

LAW

Xposted from Left Face

NASCAR v. Planned Parenthood - guess who won!

Ok, so I seem to be shrieking bad news everywhere - if I'm not careful I'll sound like Bachmann {fui, fui... spitting away the evil curse} Well she and her ilk really came up with a moronic idea!

Defunding Planned Parenthood. As we all know, or those of us who can read above the level of Run Spot Run, one of the "platforms" of the tea party movement is that of being anti choice. They want to make sure there is never an abortion ever again in this country, no matter if it saves the life of the mother, whether it's a result of incest or rape, or if the mother is 13 years old. No More Abortion EVER is their constant shriek - usually from a bunch of middle aged MEN. so - in their never ending quest to make sure they are as foolish as possible - they vote to defund a group that has provided health care including contraception to MILLIONS of lower income women; to women whose health insurance didn't include contraception (but usually included Viagra); to college students; low income women; women who needed good quality health care of all kinds. THAT's who they decided shouldn't get any more federal tax money.

You know who they decided should continue to be funded, to the tune of $6 million dollars? The US Army NASCAR team. Yup - your tax dollars at work, y'all! NASCAR team over low income women.. I think I see the priority, staring me in the face.

Does this piss me off? OH HELL YEAH! I've been fighting this for decades. I'm sick of that way of thinking. Sick of the prattling fools who piously tell me that it's "god's will" if a woman gets pregnant; sick of the morons like that military chaplain who told a woman that it was "god's will" that she was raped and she should go to church more often; sick of the indescribable barbarity of a proposed law that no abortion could be performed in the most exigent of circumstances - when a woman is bleeding to death and the only way to save her is to abort; sick of MEN deciding that procreation on THEIR terms, on THEIR schedule, is how WE live our lives. If they want to go back to the "good old days" when a woman bore children yearly, or miscarried, or found a back alley abortionist; when women's sole purpose on earth was to procreate, stay home and keep his house clean, slippers at the door - I suggest they toddle their misogynistic little selves off and find a good fundamentalist state where the man rules, the women stay in purdah and wear the burka outdoors.... Anyone else know where this bastion of male superiority can be found - oh yeah, try heading to Kabul, then head south, into the Hindu Kush..

LAW

Bad Idea - such a BAD Idea

X posted at Left Face:


In the previously discussed vein of reunion pron*, the latest "reality" show to be floated is this one.

Coming Home will feature U.S. soldiers reuniting with loved ones after serving long tours of duty. The show will be paired with Lifetime’s hit drama Army Wives.

Now - my own two cents? you want reality? then follow along with these military spouses while they try to function for a year; thrill to the deployment gremlins as they strike the unsuspecting family right in the wallet; feel the tension as the phone calls get cut short or the internet connection is turned off after "an incident"; sit with that spouse at an FRG meeting or briefing; control your excitement when that dark sedan comes down the street and stops on your block! Now that show - will never happen. And I'm damned if I want a happy tense exciting time to be voyeuristically watched by anyone else. Will they follow us when we have that first post deployment fight? NO. They want to watch us ride off into that pink sunset on a white steed and live happily ever after. Until the next deployment of course... and then they want to greedily watch as we say goodbye... tears are great for ratings!

Here's the website for the show announcement - go on over and make your voice heard.

LAW

*no, didn't misspell, just hate the creepy traffic I get when I use the word!

Michelle Bachmann - plans to cut Veterans Benefits

After the REAL support we saw on Oprah for military families and veterans yesterday, the very real support for military families and veterans shown by the 16 different agencies as announced on January 23 at the White House – may we present the latest in “wave the flag but don’t support veterans”. As reported, Representative Michelle Bachmann (R. Minn) is proposing her “plan” to cut $400 billion in federal spending which includes a freeze in Veterans Affairs Department health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits.

Here is part of her plan, directly from her website (no, I won’t link to it, it's bad enough I actually went to it!)

Veterans:

$4.5 Billion Cap increases in Department of Veterans Affairs health care spending, and reduce disability compensation to account for SS disability payments. Reduce Veterans’ Disability Compensation to account for Social Security Disability Insurance payments

Supposedly, Ms. Bachmann has made a statement that this is designed for “discussion purposes”. Really? Discussion? How do you discuss screwing over an entire generation of men and women who have been injured in the defense of their country? How do you “discuss” trying to cut the benefits of men and women and making them even more dependent on Social Security – which many of the “shining lights” of the Tea Party movement have been trying to privatize?

I’ve been looking around for any discussion of this “proposal” or “discussion topic” anywhere and except for various “liberal leaning” FB posts – silence. I found one supporter saying “it’s just a discussion” on Army Times… but other than that? Crickets. Why do I get the feeling that her supporters are whirling and trying to figure out what the hell to say?

I know what I say. SHAME! Shame on you, Ms. Bachmann for even bringing this up! Your other “proposals” are equally ridiculous, but this one is offensive and an affront to the men and women of the United States who are disabled due to their service to the country YOU profess to love. It’s a slap at my father, my son, my daughter in law, who have been injured while serving in the Armed Forces. It’s an affront to the men and women still serving, who risk their lives in the service of their country. It’s an affront to common decency. I wish I could say I’m surprised by your disrespect to the military and veterans, but I’m not.

To you, supporting the troops means sticking a sticker on your car, wearing an oversized flag on your lapel, and all the other empty gestures you and the rest of your ilk utilize to show your patriotism. Want to REALLY show your patriotism? Then stop trying to screw over Veterans!

Monday - so what's the diff?

Since I started working from home, I thought Monday-itis wouldn't be a factor in my life anymore. You know Monday-itis: symptoms include groaning at the alarm clock with an alternative of heaving it across the room; shuffling dazed into the bathroom to blearily climb into the shower; sitting in traffic trying to remember all the "to do's" on the list left on the kitchen counter (damn.. my lunch is there too). I envisioned Monday mornings spent lazying in bed, gently waking to the rhythm of nature, sitting on the deck with a cup of good coffee and a book.

Enter reality: Monday-itis in my new world. Up with the husband anyway, I need the car today, it's due for servicing. I forgot, I still need to scoop litter boxes, don't I. sit in traffic to get in the gate (did I remember my ID card?) drive back; get online/on phone. make appointments. Do all those errands we used to split up - get the car worked on, call the plumber (yes, I'll be here.. of course I'll be here). Look for online jobs, don't forget to get on conferences at school - get graded on responses. juggle chequebook (that paycheque is missed....)

OK, so I don't have to brave the Metro - and yes I'm saving money there... and I'm not facing the horrific traffic (especially when part of the beltway is closed due to a water main break and ice!) and I'm not sitting at a desk in the office. I am sitting at a desk at home, as tied to this computer as I ever was at the law firm, but for a lot less $$! Today, I'm wondering if the trade was really worth it. The trade of a great paycheque for school. The trade of working in a professional office doing work that I didn't care about; for trying to find work and studying.

Monday-itis is a state of mind. After so many decades of hating Monday- it's a hard habit to break. So maybe that's why I'm hating today!

LAW

Threats are NOT ok.

On another blog - I was told I should kill myself. I am a disgrace or something like that. No military family can be liberals, we are all traitors. blah blah... I've heard that before, but to be told that I should kill myself - that is NOT ok. We talk, we argue, we discuss, we disagree. But that is carrying this to a point that is NOT OK! this "patriot" did not identify her/himself. big surprise.

LAW

yeah - yeah... I know... I KNOW!

I've been AWOL here. writing over at LeftFace and the "out there" blog... but no blog love for this faithful old hound of a blog. I'm sorry [petting blog... have a cookie]

Here's some link love. Left Face on the Bullshit from JP Morgan Chase - Big Bidness support the troops lacking where it counts (no, not the yellow ribbons on the corporate car, or the flag waving showing up at the local VA jobs fair) but where it COUNTS. Then a followup - with some info on a couple of Senators - DEMOCRATS, Y'all, not the flag waving Repubs too busy wasting time "repealing" the Health Care Act - who are asking for investigations against the Big Bidness who is screwing over troops and the SCRA extension of protections for servicemembers by.... drum roll.... a DEMOCRAT. I guess protecting servicemembers from Big Bidness creates a problem for the Rs? why?

So - what's going on with LAW? well, she's busy starting another school semester and wishing she could reach through the telephone and smack the morons at the college! No, not the profs (this set seem great!) it's the folks in accounts. Bear with me, this takes a while to tell. OK. So Chief gave me 2 years of his Post 9/11 GI Bill (thanks, dear...) since MyCAA went bye bye [yes I AM still pissed about that, how can you tell] When I finally got my letter from the VA, I called the school - was told to just fax it to this certain person and she'd get back to me. Weeks passed... I called, left messages. emailed... NADA. After weeks, I finally got an email - oh, you also need to fill THIS out online (no link anywhere else on their site... I looked!) so I did that, and refaxed the letter. Finally they sent it in - and the VA got it processed in it's due time (not over 4 weeks) Now the school is sending me nasty grams. I call, fax letters that I got from the VA saying they sent the $$. The school keeps telling me it takes this much time to apply it to the account - and then they send me another nasty gram. No, it's not the VA... it's the college. And they market themselves as Military/Veteran friendly. riiiiiiiggggght!

Work - well, trying to build a business. Lots of networking, lots of giving out cards, talking to people, and not much happening! I know it takes time .... sigh....

I'll try not to be so long again. but life keeps getting in the way!

LAW

Lousy day

I was feeling great earlier this week - got my grades (except for one) and was celebrating that I didn't tank the psych exam that I was sure I blew. Then I got the news that a friend is having some serious medical problems, she's young and I just can't handle that she's going to have to go through this. then found out that a member of our family has just been diagnosed with something else serious - and after what that branch went through at the beginning of the year - it's so NOT FAIR.

Add to these serious problems, then, the asshattery, self serving SHIT that our elected officials in the Senate and Congress are exhibiting, and I'm so done with them all. I can see the meanness, the nasty "fuck you" attitude we are going to be subjected to over the next two years. I see the actual possibility that Palin and her crew may be seen as a real honest to the gods candidate, and I want to beat my head against the wall and truly consider my options to visit a different country for a few years.

Yup. lousy day.

LAW

Veterans Day - we owe a debt. We aren't paying up.

X posted on Left Face

For those of us in the military community, today isn't just an excuse for a day off, or another sale at the local store. It's a day we remember our veterans. In my case, it's to remember and thank my dad, my uncles and aunts, my father in law, my husband, son and daughter in law. There are the veterans I know outside my family as well, Sharon, Kim, Vivian, Steve, Patrick, Nick, Ashley, Charles, Deak, Bill, Shawn, Lyn, Al, Todd, Larry, Paul, Genevieve, Taylor - all of you, thank you.

To those Veterans who are cold and homeless, our country owes a deep debt and we aren't paying up. To those Veterans who are suffering with PTS or TBI and aren't getting the help, our country owes a debt, we aren't paying up. For those Veterans we ignored for years, we tried to shove under the rug, our country owes a debt, we aren't paying up. We need, we must in all good conscience do more, do better.

LAW

What a crappy way to wake up

Bachmann, still in. Tell me, seriously WHY??? the woman is an IDIOT! a screeching, anti choice, anti regulation moron. Why? why are we going so far to the right, with fools who will wave their little flags at us and tell us how much they love the military, as long as it means giving LOTS of $$ to their supporters from the corporations and buying crap we don't need, but cutting family programs left and right.

Deregulation will be back on the agenda - we all saw how well that worked, didn't we? Enron ran hogwild, jacking up the power costs and causing havoc in California, while they racked up huge profits and then imploded. The big guys (other than a few scapegoats) did really well, the little guys are crushed. Wall Street - oh, yeah, that was SUCH a success, wasn't it? and did anyone else read that Bush's biggest downer was he didn't manage to PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY? That would have been just the cherry on the cake, wouldn't it? Social Security money in wall street... the big companies would have drooled, the ones who did such a wonderful job with bundling all those high risk mortgages - the ones that drove the housing marked into the toilet with their greed and gave people who had no qualifications for mortgages those insane balloon mortgages... YEAH Momma, we just gave the same ones the keys to the safe again!

Damn, how DUMB are some people? Well, look at the results this morning. THATS how dumb.

AUSA

I attended AUSA on Monday - and while it was interesting (more on that on my "other" blog) I was left with a feeling that we've heard it all before. I heard, again, that family support programs aren't going to be cut. Then on Wednesday, I get a call from the Education Center on our post - I am scheduled to take 2 exams there - but they need to reschedule because all the contractors have been let go, and the permanent staff? they are cut to 15 hours a week, down from 40! They can't proctor exams, they can't do the CLEP exams, they can barely do anything for family members and not much for the soldiers either! They have cut all but one of the counselors, and soldiers wait for hours to see him. FORGET getting counseling about future jobs/schools if you are a family member.

Appalling! absolutely Appalling.

What on EARTH has been going on

From the amount of time I spend with a computer, you'd think this poor little blog would get some love, right? But (yeah, making excuses now) between work blogging and Facebooking, school - taking 3 classes and one that is almost over - and a bunch of other stuff... I've neglected my old friend

It's been an interesting few weeks in the military blogosphere. I'm not afraid to say I've protected myself from the nastiness of the elections - the teabaggers are so ridiculous and illogical and in some cases so viciously nasty - I don't need the aggro! I read the news, but refuse to respond to some of the BS from anyone I know. I'll jump in on a Huff Po or Legion post though!

We've been spending a lot of weekends at the Renn Faire - with our favourite group - The Rogues. The fundraiser for Operation Ward57 raised $6,000, which was great. I'm trying to come up with some more ideas for the next one. My friend Britt has designed a great card for me to hand out this weekend to some of the artisans there- who might be interested in Facebook or website stuff from me.

Cats - JJ and Emma are getting along better, although there are days when there is some pissy hissy crankiness. JJ is getting old, and it's hard to think that my buddy is changing, and slowing down. We're watching him carefully, he's losing weight even with the hyperthyroid meds.

Fall is approaching, some trees here are changing, and I'm wearing sweat shirts - time to take out the winter stuff and pack up the shorts. I'm glad, the heat here is punishing - we've had a lot of over 95 degree days, and those just slay me! I'm looking forward to crisp days and cool nights, with a fire in the gas fire and lots of soups and stews.

Take care. Talk to you soon (promise)

LAW

PTS & Domestic Violence

Xposted on LeftFace

Stacy Bannerman has been a guest blogger on LeftFace before. She wrote a piece on The Daily Beast about PTS and Domestic Violence that you really really need to read. She told the story of a friend of hers, who was the target of an incident of domestic abuse from her husband. Stacy has some very sobering statistics and projections -

About 63,000 soldiers will return from combat tours between July and December. According to military statistics, nearly half of active-duty National Guard members, 38 percent of Army soldiers, and 31 percent of Marines report mental health problems upon return from Middle East deployments. If just 20 percent of them have post-combat stress, then it can reasonably be projected that roughly half of those veterans will commit at least one act of severe domestic abuse or interpersonal violence in the coming year. That's approximately 6,300 veterans' wives and kids who are at risk.

As she also says - our community has been hearing much more about PTS and domestic violence from within our own ranks. The hurdles flung in the path of her friend who was trying to find counseling, some help in dealing with her situation with the understanding of military families and deployments, are daunting - as are those that her husband is encountering. He knows he has a problem with PTS, but finding help is difficult.

We've been hearing from the highest echelons that they understand, that they get it.. so why are we not seeing results? We need counselors who understand that very specific world, who have experience with the military family, with deployments and the results, understanding how the military works and how difficult it is to admit to a problem in our own little community. My own worry, with the insistence on reducing costs and savings, are we going to see funding for mental health counseling and treatment reduced?

No solutions, just questions. Lots of questions.

LAW

A nice resource - discount list

I got a lovely email yesterday - from a group called Bradsdeals. They write a blog that has all sorts of useful links and posts. One post lists 175 (so far) groups, stores, chains that give military discounts. Good to use, and if you know any that aren't on the list - go ahead and leave a comment on there!

Now, before anyone decides to have one of those hissy fits that I keep hearing - the ones that say "why do you whiny women demand special treatment" etc... Stuff it. Don't bother leaving that kind of comment - I refuse to put up with that crap.

LAW

Civilian NOT understanding

Ok, this annoys the hell out of me! This is the question from "This Emotional Life" on Facebook.

For those of you who have a loved one in the military right now, what are you doing to prepare for their return home?

Now.. this is so damned typical of the ignorance that civilians show for military life - they mean well, they just don't GET IT! I told them (being the bitch that I am) that they needed to add something - ..... loved one Deployed in the military ..... DEPLOYED being the operative word. Why the hell do they think that everyone in the military is downrange? do they not look around? is the disconnect so complete that someone in the media can ask such a stupid question? GAAAH.

LAW

Oh, F(*^ a Duck

Picture in your mind - lying on an xray table, twisted into what resembles a pretzel and admonished to keep still. Picture in your mind, a person who has a deathly stupid fear of needles used to deliver medications, or vaccines (knitting types are ok) Picture in your mind this person lying in this tortuous position whilst a very pleasant doctor (who might be 30.. might be) sticks 3 needles into the neck, into three facet joints at level C3-4, 4-5, 5-6 and injects steroids into the inflamed nerves and muscles in spasm. Yes, my children, I spent a wonderful afternoon in an exam room yesterday turning into a quivering mass of jello and I will confess to whimpering like a whipped puppy.

Today, it all aches. I keep hoping it's going to help, but thinking about doing it again? Jello, whimpering bowl of, one each.

LAW