Goodbye 2009!!!

As you read this, I am preparing for our annual New Year's Eve party for those who would otherwise sit at home on New Year's Eve. If you recall from last year, this is our annual geriatric party with several widows and widowers present, octogenarians abound, and this year, I believe the age range will be 18 months to 88 years!

We will eat, sit and talk, and I am sure that there will be discussions of the economy, health care, Medicare changes and the direction of the country. While I am not advocating that our party become a political free for all, I am sure that this year, unlike years before, there will be discussions of this kind.

There has been a change in the tenor of the country and the willingness of ordinary people to be engaged in political discussions and actions. This year, my husband and I stopped for lunch at a Hardee's while we were Christmas shopping. There were only about 5 people there when we arrived and took our seat to eat our meal. There were two men next to us who engaged us (total strangers) in a discussion of the wrong track that our country is taking. This happened without our saying anything to these gentlemen and without my husband and I having any conversation in that vein that would have sent them a clue that we were of a like mind. Last year at this time, I am pretty sure that this would not have happened. Or at least before engaging a perfect stranger in conversation about the government, there would at least have been an overture to let them know that the topic was "safe."

But then, last year I would not have been standing on a street corner holding up signs on Sunday afternoons. I would not have been emceeing a health care reform protest rally, and I would not have even heard of a Tea Party. 2009 has indeed been a year that finds many of us in roles and situations that seemed impossible only a year ago. I have to say that I am not sorry to see 2009 close and the possibilities of 2010 are very appealing. Those of us who have found ourselves more politically active than we could ever have imagined can relish the prospect of a chance to change the direction that the current administration has taken our country and perhaps right the ship of state, or at least block the legislative tsunami that has swept over our country.

So here's to a better and brighter 2010, or at least a New Year that begins to show us the promise of a return to the values and principles on which our country was founded.

Walking in a Bomber's Underwear

After listening to all of the banter about the underwear bomb and seeing the pictures all over the internet and news of the remains of his under pants, I could not help myself, so with apologies to Felix Bernard, composer of Winter Wonderland, I offer this parody.

Walking in a Bomber's Underwear

Sleigh bells ring are you listening?

In the plane someone's blist'ring.

An absolute fright

En route to Detroit

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Gone away are his privates

Here to stay is Al Qaeda.

Now he's singing a song

As he goes along

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Back in Yemen there are lots of others.

But we pretend that he is all alone.

We'll say: Are you Jihadi?

He'll say: No man,

But I can do the job

When I'm in town.

Later on, he'll conspire

As he dreams by the fire

To face unafraid

the plans that he's made

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

In his panties he can build explosives

And pretend he has a tummy ache

He'll have lots of fun with his explosives

Until the irate travellers take him out.

When it blows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nuts get a grilling.

He'll frolic and play the Jihadi way,

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Christmas Wish List to Congress

A tip of the hat to The Water Cooler for this great post!

A Christmas Wish List from the American Taxpayer
All We Want for Christmas is…

Support and respect for our troops in harm’s way
Military tribunals for war criminals
J-O-B-S
Common sense, practical domestic policy
Respectable, consistent foreign policy
Intellectual honesty about the child in the womb of every pregnant woman
Sound environmental policy that doesn’t use fear to force an agenda
Respect for life at all stages from the developing child to the elderly
Respect for and adherence to the U.S. Constitution
Firing of radical Czars—starting with “unsafe” Kevin Jennings
Economic recovery that doesn’t involve government takeover
Health care reform that doesn’t involve fiscal and moral bankruptcy
Protection of our conscientious rights
Transparency, transparency, transparency
A responsible and humble governing body in the U.S.
An end to corruption, bullying & closed door deals
Our employees to uphold their oath of office
Respect for what “We the People” have to say
NEW FACES in certain congressional seats next year


“Government is not reason, it is not eloquent—it is a force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” - George Washington