Politicians, as I have often said, are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Everything on the Republican contract is a problem created by Congress. Too much bureaucracy? Blame Congress. Too many rules?
Blame Congress. Unjust tax laws? Congress wrote them.
Out-of-control bureaucracy? Congress authorizes everything bureaucracies do. Americans dying in Third World rat holes on stupid U.N. missions? Congress allows it. The annual deficits?
Congress votes for them. The $4 trillion plus debt? Congress created it.
To put it into perspective just remember that 100 percent of the power of the federal government comes from the U.S. Constitution. If it's not in the Constitution, it's not authorized.
Then read your Constitution. All 100 percent of the power of the federal government is invested solely in 545 individual human beings. That's all. Of 260 million Americans, only 545 of them wield 100 percent of the power of the federal government.
That's 435 members of the U.S. House, 100 senators, one president and nine Supreme Court justices. Anything involving government that is wrong is 100 percent their fault.
I exclude the vice president because constitutionally he has no power except to preside over the Senate and to vote only in the case of a tie. I exclude the Federal Reserve because Congress created it and all its power is power Congress delegated to it and could withdraw anytime it chooses to do so. In fact, all the power exercised by the 3 million or so other federal employees is power delegated from the 545.
All bureaucracies are created by Congress or by executive order of the president. All are financed and staffed by Congress. All enforce laws passed by Congress. All operate under procedures authorized by Congress. That's why all complaints and protests should be properly directed at Congress, not at the individual agencies.
You don't like the IRS? Go see Congress. You think the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency is running amok? Go see Congress.
Congress is the originator of all government problems and is also the only remedy available. That's why, of course, politicians go to such extraordinary lengths and employ world-class sophistry to make you think they are not responsible. Anytime a congressman pretends to be outraged by something a federal bureaucrat does, he is in fact engaging in one big massive con job. No federal employee can act at all except to enforce laws passed by Congress and to employ procedures authorized by Congress either explicitly or implicitly.
Partisans on both sides like to blame presidents for deficits, but all deficits are congressional deficits. The president may, by custom, recommend a budget, but it carries no legal weight. Only Congress is authorized by the Constitution to authorize and appropriate and to levy taxes. That's what the federal budget consists of: expenditures authorized, funds appropriated and taxes levied.
Both Democrats and Republicans mislead the public. For 40 years Democrats had majorities and could have at any time balanced the budget if they had chosen to do so. Republicans now have majorities and could, if they choose, pass a balanced budget this year. Every president, Democrat or Republican, could have vetoed appropriations bills that did not make up a balanced budget. Every president could have recommended a balanced budget. None has done either.
We have annual deficits and a huge federal debt because that's what majorities in Congress and presidents in the White House wanted. We have troops in various Third World rat holes because Congress and the president want them there.
Don't be conned. Don't let them escape responsibility. We simply have to sort through 260 million people until we find 545 who will act responsibly.
“As an only parent, I wanted my little girl to see that sometimes what seems like a bad situation is actually an opportunity for change! So I filed for unemployment benefits and for my business license right behind it! After that I started just walking up to women with children and giving them my phone number and telling them my plan for a consignment/resale store for children.”With the economy reeling, her idea took off. Within a month she was in her own store, which is run by her and her three year old daughter. Hug Bug Children’s Boutique
sells name brand children's and maternity apparel, toys, furniture and anything else that applies. On the shelves and racks are tutus, pillow case dresses, bows, organize zebra baking kits, Tatari jewelry, musical instruments and more. The shop is now carrying new, as well as gently used items. At this great new shop that was built with the spirit of a pioneer - breaking new ground and not giving up - there are special discounts given on top of the already discounted prices, like 10% off every day for military families. Grandparents Day at Hug Bug is every first and third Tuesday of the month, and all grandparents get 10% off.
About the Declaration of Independence• Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks.
• Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them.
• Avoid buying fireworks that come in brown paper packaging, as this can often be a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and could pose a danger to consumers.
• Adults should always supervise fireworks activities. Parents often don't realize that there are many injuries from sparklers to children under five. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees - hot enough to melt some metals.
• Never have any portion of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Move back to a safe distance immediately after lighting.
• Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not fully functioned.
• Never point or throw fireworks at another person.
• Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap.
• Light one item at a time then move back quickly.
• Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers.
• After fireworks fully complete their functioning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding to prevent a trash fire.
To all Mothers and those who have been like a Mother to someone, USCITY.NET wishes you a very Happy Mother's Day!
May is National Deck Safety Month as sponsored by NADRA (North American Deck and Railing Association). The concept is to promote awareness of deck safety and to provide consumer information in order to assist in inspecting their deck prior to the outdoor entertaining season. It is important to take the time to inspect and review due to potential aging of the structures and deterioration over time.
More information about Deck Safety Month, a ten point Consumer Safety Checklist and a Deck Evaluation Checklist are available for download at www.nadra.org. Make your summer season safe by participating in NADRA’s "Check Your Deck" program.
Looking back over the last 15+ years that Casa Decks has been building decks and screen rooms in Suffolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach; we have noticed a distinct evolving of screen porches to true outdoor living rooms (screen porches to screen rooms).
When we first started building, the standard screen room had open rafters, was constructed using pressure treated wood with stretched screen, and had a ceiling fan centered over a patio table. Often they were low pitch shed roofs without gutters. If the interior ceilings were finished, they were normally without insulation and covered with plywood or T-111.
Fast forward to today and the patio furniture has given way to padded wicker furniture with accent rugs. Ceilings are now cathedral, insulated, and covered with t&g; wood or vinyl. The ceiling fan has remained, but may now be remote controlled with recessed lights on a dimmer circuit replacing the schoolhouse light fixture on the fan.
Ease of maintenance has become standard with no exposed wood, use of aluminum or vinyl tracked screening systems, and the ceiling insulated for both sound and heat factors. Care is now taken to match the architectural style of the home and matching the trim (soffit, fascia, gutters, etc.). This trend has continued, in that a large percentage now has matching brick skirting and use tongue and groove porch flooring
The trend as we have seen it is from the porch to a true outdoor living room. More photos of screen rooms can be seen at www.casadecks.com.
Ordinary Americans, like me, are deeply saddened today by the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. I consider myself a middle class ordinary American. I have never known government without a Kennedy.
He's amazing. Besides my daughter, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. He and his family are a major blessing in my life. In the future I hope to go back to school. I'd like to get my nursing degree someday.
I am just back from a spur of the moment trip to New Orleans I took with my husband, who was seeing about an out of state job. We had a terrific time. We ate red beans and rice, jambalaya, muffalatos, po'boys, seafood and of course, beignets (a fried French pastry we ate at the world famous Café Du Mond). Food is a very important part of New Orleans (also something I am way to fond of!) and we tried our best to taste all we could in the three days we were there. To visit some of the websites of the many restaurants in New Orleans, click here. We rode the streetcars everywhere and it was FREEZING. We walked along the Mississippi, hung out in Jackson Square (photo above) and window shopped in the antique/gift/voodoo stores. They have great old bookstores too.
One of the really cool things about this trip was how the streetcars took us everywhere we wanted to go. This is me all bundled up on the streetcar.
We were just walking down the street and listening to all the bands - sometimes dancing in the street (mostly me dancing, and George holding me - LOL) and we did stop in one blues bar on our last night there - before we could get to our seats, the singer grabbed me and started whirling me around the dance floor while he sang to me, George didn't even know and he kept on walking to his seat, it was really funny. After their set, the bass player came over and sat with us for a while and we heard his Katrina and the aftermath story. Sadly, he had lost an uncle, the uncle who started him out playing his music. Our hearts went out to him and to all these people affected by Katrina and its’ aftermath and we felt honored to meet them, share their memories with them and learn their stories.
many residents of lower-income areas like the 9th Ward, are permanently displaced because they have no money to rebuild. Some of these people had homeowners insurance, but because of loopholes and laws which allowed insurance companies to NOT pay them, they will not be able to rebuild and some not even able to come “home”.
and walked around, enjoying the live oaks and swans. On our way to New Orleans, we stopped in Biloxi and went into our first casino. We liked the Hard Rock the best. We stayed across the street and lost $6.00, gambling, decided to go get some snacks at the bar in the hotel and I found $50.00 on the floor. So I guess I will take my luck where I find it. Lucky is what I feel for getting to know the good people of New Orleans and I wish for them only the best and hope that we get a chance to meet again. 
and ate some muffalatos we had gotten in New Orleans. Mmmmmmmmmuffalatos - what a sandwich!
Her roof had been repaired by a friend, but has been leaking for two years. We were joined by 35 youth from United Church of Christ Churches from all over Florida. She was living in a suburb of Immokalee. The trip into Immokalee was an eye-opener for me; 
we saw terrible living conditions - the farm- workers were living together in very old, small, sometimes rusting trailers and paying $50 a week each. There were reports of some trailers housing up to 12 men at a time. Some of the workers are documented and some are not. All the workers I talked to were here to work and they are not afraid of hard labor. Almost every one of the single men were working here to send money back home to their families. Hearing their stories was heartbreaking. Most were not aware of what they would find once they got here. Some saved up for years to pay someone to bring them across the border. One lady who had paid to come to America, tells of once getting here, being sold. Some came, went back and then went through proper channels to become citizens. One man I talked with told the story of coming to Florida for a vacation after graduating high school. He was able to attend school because of the money his father was sending home. While visiting his father, he came and worked a week (since that was the only way to spend time with him), went back home – found conditions in his village worse than here and came back. 
After our first day of work, there was rainstorm that evening and Margarita, the mother, told me that her little girl (going into 3rd grade), got out her Barbie doll and waited for the bowl in the living room to fill up so she could play with Barbie in the pool – she was disappointed but Margarita was ecstatic. It felt good to help someone who was in need. Margarita works at a nursing home and her husband was on the road picking. She has five children, three of them live at home and after work each day, she baby-sits her grandson so her son and daughter-in-law can go to work at night.
the farms are using pesticides - some that are illegal. We picked oranges off of the ground and tried to lift the bags the workers carry up and down 10-20 foot ladders – very few could lift the “medium” bag which holds up to 90 pounds.
The workers who picked the oranges and grapefruit were very proud of their skill at picking the right fruit, knowing how to hold the bags, their strength and their abilities to climb a ladder, pick the fruit and place it in the bins so that they will not get bruised. It was heartbreaking to think of the lack of pride so many Americans have in their jobs and see these people making less than $10,000 a year so proud of their work.
As bad as conditions were here, most of the immigrants I talked to said it was better here than in their villages and back home, where there were no jobs available. I went around the room to ask these people what we could do as Americans for them. And some of the answers I got were: “pray for us”, “vote for immigration reform”, “tell people about us”. I was changed, I had always been aware that we needed to help the immigrants, but was more of a “let’s help the workers who come here legally and send the others back with instructions on how to get here legally”. Not any more! I am convinced after meeting the wonderful people of Immokalee that we are in dire need of a pathway to citizenship or some kind of legal status for the farmworkers. They do not report employee abuses for fear of being deported – and this is not just the undocumented workers who live in fear. Those who are American citizens, fear for their grandparents or parents or friends and are afraid to draw any attention from authorities to their families. 
“trailer park” where the men were crammed in like sardines, there had been a conviction of human slavery just two weeks ago. 10 men were chained to their trailers at night and only let loose to pick. And all of this goes on one exit away from Naples, the richest city in America. I asked why people in Naples didn’t help and was told that while there are several from there who are involved with the farmworkers plight, most of Naples wanted Immokalee gone – they wanted the farmlands for developing and expansion for the multi-million dollar homes and stores that are so desperately needed by the richest among us.
we dug ditches, landscaped, helped in the food pantry and gave out 275 bags of staples, organized a huge tool shed and painted playgrounds and office buildings. Beth-El is a huge ministry - besides the food pantry, they hold classes on computer use; GED classes; Bible classes in Spanish; sponsor a K-8 school with private funds so that anyone can attend; they ride out to area towns and cities to minister to the migrant communities by bringing food and coffee to the workers who get up at 4:30 a.m. to get the parking lots where the busses come to load workers up and take them to the fields; they provide hot meals, respect and love.
water party for the children of the La Estanzia Apartments – the kids attend a day care center in the community. 
This is provided by Redlands Christian Migrant Association. The day care center is staffed by volunteers and most children go home around 1 p.m. 
We bought two kiddie pools, one with a slide and numerous water guns – 
we let the kids chase us and get us wet and they were sooo happy. These kids are precious – giggling and running around, hollering "more water,
more water”. We worked there last year and it was wonderful to see how some had grown and many had learned to speak better English. We can all be proud of the teens and how they loved, cared for and played with the children.
It was very moving and uplifting. I am so proud of all ten of our teens for their hard work, their best behavior and their hearts full of love.
The cruise was a Christmas present from my grand-mother (with me in photo to the right) that she gave to everyone in my extended family. We had 20 family members, and like many, my family is loud, kind of “out there”, and crazy; but crazy fun! We had a great time. Everyone got involved in the “Fun Ship” Festivities. We had a representative for every game: Survivor, Fear Factor, the Pool Games, the Staged Trivia Games, etc. I was the proud winner of Survivor (second year in a row)! The games were fun, but that is only part of it.
We also five of us rented 15 minutes of the banana boat ride; it was the most pain-filled fun amusement I have ever encountered. Note: If you ever get the chance to ride on of these, know that you will tip over at 20 to 30 mph and when you hit the water, it WILL HURT. It felt as if I had run full speed into a concrete wall.
We are hoping that Annie and Rocket will survive us humans and maybe join with their own kind next year. And for now, back to work - I hope everyone gets to have a little time off this year to refresh and re-energize!
