Change Begins At The Local Level

Since I have been living here, I became tired of hearing the locals say, "That's the way it is here." My reply was, "That is NOT the way it has to be, change begins when you come to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen meetings and the other commission meetings. By not coming to the meetings, that is how officials get away with passing legislation not in the peoples best interest. However, you can stop what is not in the community best interest before the third and final reading."

Four years ago, two men ran for the Mayor seat after the incumbent decided to retire after being Mayor for thirty years. I had nothing against either man, but I did have reservations about the one candidate that was born and lived here all his life. Without a doubt, he was a good ole boy and the favorite to win. I took a closer look at the hometown favorite challenger and liked his campaign message, I particular like three of the statements he had on his brochure:


Quote: “I have not forgotten and will not forget my duty is to the people of our community, the people that pay the money, the taxpayers, YOU!”

Quote: “I will maintain an open door policy for every employee and citizen of Millington. I will remove any doubt that there is preferential treatment and ensure that everyone has equal consideration. I am committed to uniting the citizens of Millington and forming the best possible team that will ensure positive growth now and provide a bright and stable future for the City of Millington.”

Quote: “I am not in this for personal gain, I do not have any conflicts of interest and I can make all decisions fairly, because I am not obligated to any special interest. I will work full-time for the people of Millington and give them 110% or more if that is what is required to make Millington the best it can be! I stand on my reputation, my integrity, my experience and most importantly, on my commitment to the people of Millington.”

I knew the election four years ago was the opportunity for CHANGE how politics always been here. Therefore, I decided to get involved to help the outsider because I am considered an outsider (that is what we called ourselves here, if you were not born and lived here all your life.) A military base and military people who retired here support this small quaint town, it was time they embraced the ideas and talents of outsiders who consider this town HOME.

Therefore, many others and I who believed in the outsider campaign literature worked hard to get him elected. Yes, people were upset when the outsider won, but I was ecstatic about our victory. I do not know what others expected of him when he won, but all I wanted was for him to honor three of his campaign promises.

At his victory celebration four years ago and after witnessing all the @ss kissing people were doing who did nothing to help him win. I pulled our newly elected Mayor to the side and said the following, "All I want you to do is do what you promised in your campaign brochures, because if you do not, as hard as we worked to help you win tonight, we will work twice as hard to help you out of office."

I know those were some strong words, but I meant every word. I am one American citizen who is sick and tired of politicians who seek office and do not keep their promise to the people. We the people are the ones who put them in office and once they are in office, they forget that and cater to special interest, businesses and developers. That is exactly what our new Mayor did four years ago; it was less than a month into his term that he began working against the people.

We had to endure the Mayor's BS for four years; he had no problem taking advice when he was seeking office. However, he had a problem correcting or enforcing ordinances and disciplining certain police officers that were wrong towards the people, even when he was presented with evidence and facts.

The strong words I said to him four years ago came back to haunt him. He sold the people out and the people spoke on September 30, 2008 and kicked him out of office. He was the favorite to win because special interest, business people, and developers who were his strongest supporters, but he forgot the majority of them could not vote in the city.

I reminded the people we are the ones who put the Mayor in office and if we have to seat, a new Mayor every four years that is what we will do. Politicians need reminding they work for us not businesses, special interests, and developers. Maybe if more people watch what our Congressmen or women and Senators were doing in Washington, America would not be in the position she is in now.

We the people need to understand accountability begins at the local level. I hope that enough people are upset with what is happening on the federal level and will start holding their Congressmen or women and Senator accountable and vote them out when they seek office again if they are not for the people.

Understanding Politics

Whether Democrat or Republican, I think you'll get a kick out of this!

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, 'What is Politics?'

Dad says, 'Well son, let me try to explain it this way:

I am the head of the family, so call me The President.

Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.

We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People.

The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class.

And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.

Now think about that and see if it makes sense.

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him.

He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.

So the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother asleep.


Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny.


He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy say's to his father, 'Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.'

The father says, 'Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.'

The little boy replies, 'The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.

Author Unknown

Opened My Doors To Help...They Ended Up Helping Me

Shelly enjoyed all the extra LOVE and they wanted to take her back, but she was not having that...she immediately jumped out the trailer after the picture was taken.

My household went from two adults and a dog to a household of ten people and a dog (Shelly). My brother and sister in law with their 22-year-old adult son and three teenagers ages 17, 16, and 15, an adult niece and her ten-year-old son rounded out the evacuees living in my house for what I thought would be three to five days, but turned out to be eleven days.

Many of my friends and other family members thought I would be pulling my hair out having so many people in my house. I have to admit I wondered if I could handle it after they all arrived. Truth is I enjoyed every one of the eleven days my evacuees were here. Having them here and making sure they were comfortable did more for me than they know.

What my family, friends, associates, and blogging community did not know was for over a year, I have been silently suffering from anxiety and panic attacks every morning when I wake up to an empty house. I fight the attacks all day off and on and do not completely relax until my husband arrive home from work. Everyday I was tempted to call my husband, daughter, friend, or anyone when I was battling the anxiety and panic building in my body. The attacks started after the third time I had a serious medical problem and I was home alone with Shelly.

I allowed fear to engulf me when I am alone at home or driving it altered how I go about my day. I once tried taking medication and I prayed often-begging God to take away that dreadful feeling. The attacks are not as severe from when they first started, but they are scary nonetheless. After receiving the phone call from my family asking to come here to escape Hurricane Ike, I immediately dismissed my fear of having the attacks. I prayed asking God to help me keep it in control because the last thing my family needed was to worry about me, when they could possibly lose everything when Ike hit their city.

I am happy to say the entire time my evacuees (which is what I fondly call them) were here, they never seen me have an anxiety or panic attack. To ease the anxiety they were feeling wondering about the damage Hurricane Ike was doing. I made it a point to have their stay with me and mine feel like a vacation.




They had the opportunity to see what could be the last time Goat Day’s would be an event in my city.




They had the opportunity to enjoy the last Mid South Fair held in Memphis.

They went to the movies, park, and mall.

They went to Tunica

They went to Beale Street


As they were packing up to leave, it felt good knowing I accomplished what I set out to do when they said, "We felt like we were on vaction instead of evacuees. The people we been talking to who are stuck in hotels, shelters or stayed at home are jealous. Our house is the bed and breakfast, ES house is the home away from home, your house is the evacuee house."

I replied, "No, my house was your home away from home, but I will accept the title house for the evacuees. Adding, if I were you all I would not talk too much about the good time here because other family member will try to beat you here if there is another evacuation, but you all have first call since we survived eleven days together under one roof. It has been years since I had teenager in the house and I enjoyed every minute of it. Had your children been bad @ss kids…I would have shown you all the door on day one."

When they pulled off and I returned to the house I had a beautiful gift, card, and a check thanking me for the hospitality.

What they do not realize is by coming here to escape Ike they helped me..my anxiety and panic attacks are few and far between since they left and for that reason, I am grateful that Hurricane Ike sent them here to seek refuge. Their homes did not suffer major damage and they are back to their daily routine.

Regardless, at the end of the day…there is no place like home and having your house back :)

I Am BACK :)

First, let me say I am okay, problems with multiple sclerosis is not what kept me away for a month. I thank those of you who commented on my last post and all of you who emailed checking on me. I just finished mid-terms yesterday and now I can get back to blogging. My life has been a whirlwind since Hurricane Ike and I am just now getting a break...stay tune I will catch you all up by the end of the weekend.

I will be stopping by soon to visit...

Italian Kitchen Secrets and Free Turkey

Here's a link to Italian Kitchen Secrets , a blog by a member of the postcard club, which I have added to my Hobbies blog list as well. The stuffed mushrooms look really yummy !

This evening even though I was exhausted, I went shopping at the local supermarket. I wanted to use up the free grocery points I had accumulated, which I mentioned in a previous post. It was just enough to pay for all the fixings for Thanks Giving dinner this weekend. I had forgotten what an awful tiring business grocery shopping is, as I've been doing it online for years. My son came with me to help carry everything. Both of us couldn't wait to get out of the place. So many annoying people who block the aisles , stand staring at the items on the shelves, or reading the labels on tins (yeah man they're peas, are you buying them or what ?). Then you get the love birds who hold hands while they shop, smiling at each other and kissing. I can't think of anything less romantic than grocery shopping.

Now I have a turkey to cook and pumpkin pies to make. I have a couple of days to rest up before I take that on. I might even be able to get out and take a few snaps of the fall colours as it's going to be a lovely mild weekend. Today walking home from work I didn't even need a jacket and I was able to leave the screen door open when I got home. . Just hope the guy who's suppose to come over to fix the dishwasher tomorrow shows up. I had to wash dishes by hand tonight, another thing I haven't done for years.

That's what I will be Thankful for this weekend. Labour saving devices.

It Could Be Something Else

Read here about another autoimmune illness which is often misdiagnosed as MS. The common thread in all of these illnesses seems to be fatigue and depression.

I was home again today. It's getting ridiculous how much time I take off work. Can't help it, I feel like a rag doll, even too tired to play Spore ! My foot is messed up again. When I got up this morning I couldn't even stand on it it was so swollen and sore. It's better now. Have to try and limit my walking for the next couple of days, which is hard to do. On work days (when I'm there) I like going out for a walk on my breaks and lunch. It clears my head.

Time to watch World Focus, a new program on PBS . I like that they have a variety of sources for their news stories ranging from mainstream media, to Al Arabiya and The Christian Science Monitor

I find I have a better world perspective when I get news from a variety of sources. Every media has their bias and I guess I have mine, but I do try to look at different points of view.

Google Goggles could save you from making a fool of yourself. Whenever I write an angry email I save it and look at it again a few hours later. Usually I end up not sending it. Sometimes it just feels good to write it down.

Spore

Ahhh ! Totally addicted to Spore can't control myself. I did at least go for a walk to test out my foot. I'm still limping a bit, but it's much improved. Now it's time to finish my chores and get ready for work tomorrow. Not much to say about my Health Canada appointment, accept that I think I still have a long battle ahead of me. I'd love to say more only the last thing I need is to get hassled for violating confidentiality, even though it seems to be OK for everybody to violate mine

Don't worry I haven't given up .