Gratitude

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” –Melody Beattie

Jennifer at the Blue Bird Cafe

Here we are at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville after Jennifer's performance last night.  Video to be posted soon.  Watch for it.

On the flight home I was reading a book and I ran across the following paragraph about flying – we’ve probably all had these thoughts:

“ When the captain announces we’re beginning our descent, and we’re still pretty high above the city, I’ll think.  If the plane went down now, we would definitely not be okay.  A bit lower, and no, we still wouldn’t be okay. Maybe now, now we might be low enough that if it crashed, we might be okay.” Amy Krouse Rosenthal

She made another observation about travelling that I found thought provoking:

“You Say:                                                        How It Sounds:

I’m going overseas                                          Sounds like you’re going to the Orient, or

                                                                        Somewhere really far away.

I’m going abroad                                            Has junior-year-in-college undertones

I’ll be out of the country                                  Sounds like you’re a spy. Mysterious,

                                                                        Ambiguous.

I’m going to Europe                                        Well, la-di-da, good for you. Pretentious

I’m going to France                                        Fine, but compels people to say, ‘I see

                                                                        London, I see France, I see___’s underpants.’”                    

Apparently you can’t win.  I guess you’re not supposed to tell people when you go overseas/abroad/Europe…. ‘cause you’ll tick them off.  So if I ever go again, I’ll just say I’m going on vacation.

Nashville Rental

This is the house Jen is renting.  Cute huh?

I'm Thankful for GUILT

I love guilt. I wanted my kids to feel guilty when they lied, or disobeyed. Guilt is a good thing. It keeps you on the track to doing what you should be doing, and becoming who you should become.

Where I draw the line is feeling guilty about everything I’m not doing. I refuse to feel guilty if I miss visiting teaching for a month or two. But if I don’t go for a year, yes, I feel guilty and I deserve to feel guilty. I do genealogy, but I don’t do it all the time. I go in spurts. I don’t feel guilty when I’m not doing it, because I know I have done a good job and will continue to do so. There are bigger things to feel guilty about.

My kids happen to be perfect (in my unbiased opinion), but if they weren’t, I wouldn’t feel guilty about it. You can’t feel guilty for things you can’t completely control. When there are other forces working against you, and free agency in the mix, you have to do your best and hope for the best, but the cards will fall where they may and you are not to blame.

The good thing about feeling guilty is that it validates your belief system. If you don’t believe what you’re doing is wrong, you don’t feel guilty. So when you do feel guilty, do something about it.

"No Cigars or Giorgio perfume!"

I’m almost finished with my Christmas shopping and I’m down to buying perfumes.  There are sooo many to choose from.  But someone suggested that you think about who your favorite designer is, and pick their fragrance – if you admire their taste in clothes, there is a good chance you’ll like their fragrance.  I immediately thought, “yes, I’ve always admired Chanel and Chanel No. 5 was my favorite fragrance for years.”  The trouble is, nobody I know buys designer clothes.  So I started thinking about what designer clothes my friends would look best in.  The problem, I discovered, was that designers don’t design for normal people.   The clothes we actually wear would look ridiculous on a catwalk – and the last time I checked,  Coldwater Creek and Marshall’s don’t have signature scents.  So I went to Sephora and just started sniffing the bottles I thought looked attractive and would like to see on my own vanity.  I was drawn to “The One” by Dolce and Gabbana.  One sniff and I felt like I was on my way to Heaven.  Would I ever wear Dolce and Gabbana? (fat chance – even if they designed a plus size line they are too too out there for my taste.) I finally just pictured the person I was shopping for, and imagined them smelling like the fragrance I was testing.  That was fun.

One thing I kept in mind was that the fragrance shouldn't be too overpowering.  It wasn't long ago that there were actually signs posted in fine restaurants saying, "No cigars or Giorgio perfume!" (and I'm sure we've all been in an elevator with someone who was on perfume overload).

Faith, Hope, & Charity

November is here and I start thinking seriously about things of the spirit, and things I am thankful for. Today I'm thankful for the blessings that come from "faith," "hope," and "charity."

Faith: “Faith is defined as, ‘an attitude of confidence in the reality and trustworthiness of something that cannot be absolutely proved; as faith in the victory of a righteous cause or in the existence of God.’ Faith is not the same as knowledge, else it would not be faith. One of the great definitions of faith is in the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (Hebrews 11:1) In this Epistle, faith is conceived as ‘…a vision of the eternal realities of the unseen world – God, His righteousness, His salvation, the better country' – the vision of these realities and the conviction that they are more enduring than the things we see and touch.”
(from Christ’s Ideals for Living by Obert C. Tanner)
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Hope: “Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity. These three stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or uneven surfaces we might encounter at the time. The scriptures are clear and certain about the importance of hope. The Apostle Paul taught that the scriptures were written to the end that we ‘might have hope’….Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity.” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency
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Charity: Charity and service are often used interchangeably, however there are differences. Charity is a noun. It is described in the Bible as “the pure love of Christ.” Service is a verb. It requires action. Service is the natural consequence of charity. When you love someone, you have a natural desire to serve them.

Happy Halloween!

Another Sneak Peek:

Emmy (20 months old) is Tinkerbell by day ...

and Minnie Mouse by night - Trick or Treating at Disneyland!

First Halloween party of the season. Lincoln (3-1/2 yrs old) is Buzz Lightyear, Kyle is Woody, Amy  (8 months pregnant) is a bee keeper, and Emmy is a bee.

How Much Obamacare Costs the Average Family

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Monday, October 19, 2009

"Whether or not you now have health insurance, Obama’s health care bill will cost you dearly.

If you don’t have insurance, you will be required to buy it. The legislation specifies how much you will have to pay for the coverage before any subsidy kicks in. All during the campaign, Obama kept speaking about affordable coverage. Now it appears that his definition of “affordable” might be a bit elastic.

If your household income is $66,000 a year, slightly above the national average, Obama’s health care bill will require you to spend 12 percent of your income -- about $8,000 a year or almost $700 a month -- to buy health insurance before you get any federal subsidy.

Even those making less will have to reach deep into their meager resources to satisfy Obama’s statutory requirement. Families scraping by on only $44,0000 a year will have to pay 7 percent of their income (about $3,000) on insurance. Even those making just $33,000 will have to ante up 4.5 percent of their income (about $1,500) for health insurance. The required payments reach so far down the scale that those who are living at the federal poverty level of $22,000 will have to shell out 2 percent of their totally inadequate incomes ($440) for insurance.

That Obama is charging premiums to those living at or on the border of poverty is absolutely incredible! And this from a candidate who pledged that he would not tax the middle class!

If you have insurance, you will get hit by his proposed 40 percent tax on insurance premiums.

When the tax -- and the legislation -- takes effect in 2013, all families making about $120,000 or more in combined household income (14 percent of all families or one in seven) will have to pay the tax.

By the next year, 2014, the tax will hit every family making more than $100,000 (about 18 percent of all families or one in six).

By 2019, 10 years hence, the tax will reach down to affect every family making more than $75,000 a year (31 percent of families or one in three).

The tax will take 40 percent of all premiums above $21,000.

So if you don’t have insurance, you will be socked with a mandate to buy coverage and pay a hefty proportion of your income to do it; and if you have insurance, you will be hit with an excise tax on the coverage.

(In theory, it is the insurance companies that have to pay the tax, but the Senate Finance Committee “assumes” that they will pass the tax along to their policyholders).

These costs make a mockery of Obama’s oft-repeated pledge to avoid any tax increase that would impact those making under $250,000 a year. He finances about half of his health care plan on the backs of the elderly by cutting Medicare and inducing scarcity and the other half by premium taxes and insurance purchasing mandates on the middle and lower middle class."

Just thought you might be interested!!!!!   What can you do to STOP Obamacare?  Donate to the League of Voters to support their ad campaign.  Donate as little as $25 HERE

Halloween Sneak Peek:

Do I have the cutest grandkids on the planet, or what?

Jennifer Performing at the Tin Roof in Nashville

Jennifer's Twitter:  "I'm beginning to think that the same fairy who lives in my dryer and steals all my socks also has a collection of guitar picks".

Jennifer is performing at the Bluebird Cafe!

Hey friends, Jennifer will be performing at the legendary Bluebird Cafe on Friday, November 6th ( 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.). If you happen to be in Nashville, stop by. (I'm going!). I'll be posting a video when I get back so watch for it.

 P. S.   I'm not sending out Christmas cards this year.  I'm sending out Jen's CD's - so if you're not on my Christmas card list, and you want her CD's, email me your address and I'll send them to you.
Jeri10@aol.com

The Nobel Peace Prize

Up until last Friday, there had only been three U.S. Presidents who had won the Nobel Peace Prize:

Theodore Roosevelt  (Republican : 1901-1907) in 1906 for his efforts in mediating the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Woodrow Wilson  (Democrat : 1913-1921) in 1919 "in recognition of his Fourteen Points peace program and his work in achieving inclusion of the Covenant of the League of Nations in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles."

Jimmy Carter  (Democrat-: 1977-1981) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

Now Barack Obama has been added to the list for his…..what?  He’s only been in office nine months.  What exactly has he done that deserves this kind of recognition? “A little less conversation, a little more action please”.   What about Ronald Reagan? I seem to remember the Berlin Wall coming down during his term of office, and um, Russia no longer being a threat to the planet.  Those were kinda big deals.  He never won the Nobel Peace Prize and here stands Obama, whose presidency began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline for the prize and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.  What's going on?

Best Ways to Ward off H1N1:

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications)..

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. Gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc/bioflavonoids to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

7.  Get at least 7-1/2 hours of sleep a night.

All these are simple ways to prevent, within means of most households, and certainly much less painful than to wait in long queues outside public hospitals.

(Don't go to urgent care unless you have a fever.  If you have difficulty breathing, call an ambulance)

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

 Here's an email I got from my daughter telling a story about what Lincoln, her son (my grandson) has been saying recently ( he's 3 years and 3 months old):

A car pulled out in front of Kyle and Lincoln asked, “Daddy, is that man a douche?”  Kyle said “no” and Lincoln asked, “does he know how to drive?”  Later, Kyle passed a Porsche that had an ugly paint job and was mocking the owner of the vehicle when Lincoln asked, “Is that man a douche?” 

A few days later, we were in Utah and Kyle was complaining that he hates Utah drivers. Lincoln asked again, “dad, are they a douche? Do they not know how to drive?”

Because Kyle is the one to blame for our 3-year-old calling drivers douches/ douche bags, I got back at him.   Kyle went over a curb and the car bounced violently from the impact. He apologized for throwing us all around and I asked Lincoln, “does daddy know how to drive?” to which he replied, “No, he’s a douche bag!”  I laughed for an hour!

I call and raise you one...

Now these guys are die hard poker players! (This is my mom’s idea of “storing” Jennifer’s Halloween skeletons for her. She set this up in her driveway so her visitors would have a good laugh. I told you “tacky” is an inherited trait. She’s over 80 and still has an awesome sense of humor).

Click on the photo to get a good look at all the details.
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Computer Geek

This scares me because it could be me someday!

Halloween is coming!

At my age, I don't have to worry about what to wear for Halloween. I don't go anywhere. But I like to dress up, so I look for excuses to look ridiculous. The last two years I went to my daughter's house to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters in her neighborhood. I was a witch.
Why is it that when we are young, we want to be something glamorous (a Princess, a French maid, etc.), but as we age, we don't care. (That's a rhetorical question - don't e-mail me with the obvious answer - I don't want to hear it ). I think I'll be Snow White this year.
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Good luck on your search for the perfect costume.

KISS

I was having lunch with my two daughters (who have both been married for over five years now) and the youngest one (who has no children yet) said, "Wouldn't it be fun to have four kids and dress them up for Halloween like KISS?"
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(Was she serious?)
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Helping Others

I know - you'd love to help other people, but you have No time and No money.

Do you have a "desire" to serve?  That's all you need.  If you do, I promise you that you will find something on this website that you are able and willing to do. You can donate as little as $2 and make a difference. If you can drive to the post office, you can make a difference. If you have 15 minutes, you can make a difference.  If you can install a toolbar, you can make a difference.  You can play an online game, and make a difference.  You can just be a good example, and make a difference.  Check it out.

Youngmothersservingothers.blogspot.com   is not just for young mothers.  It is for anyone who wants to help others, and/or just make the world a little better.

Cafe Rio Style Pork

to serve 6 people:

3 lb. pork shoulder roast (or boneless tenderloin pork roast)
1 cup Pace Picante sauce (medium hot)
2 cups brown sugar

Place in a crock pot and cook 6 to 8 hours (until pork can be "shredded" with two forks.)
(If you like a thicker sauce, don't add the Pace Picante and brown sugar in the beginning. Just cook the roast for about 3 hours, drain off the liquid and THEN add the Pace Picante sauce and brown sugar  - OR, take lid off crock pot and let sauce reduce)

We use this for burritos (Put pork, rice, beans and cheese on a flour torilla and wrap) Yum!

"Happy Turtle Day!"

I love anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays.  Makes you wish every day was a day to celebrate.  My 3 year old grandson has the right idea.  Every day is a holiday to him.  Every time he leaves our house he says, "Happy Turtle Day."  It all started last Thanksgiving when everyone left, they said, "Happy Turkey Day" and he thought that was great.  He said it for a week or two then one day decided to change Turkey to Turtle.  It's been Turtle ever since.

Maxine tells it like it is

She's obviously been married 50 years - see previous post

(Did Grampa call it or what.)

Thanks kids

It's so great to have thoughtful children.  Amy and Kyle sent flowers, Adam and Jen sent candy. Both arrived on our anniversary.  I've been enjoying both :)

Our 39th Wedding Anniversary

My grandfather used to say that when a man and woman gets married, she has 50 angels on her shoulders and he has 50 devils on his shoulders. For every year they are married, he gets one of her angels and she gets one of his devils. So by the time they are married 50 years, she has all the devils and he has all the angels. (That explains why women get so crabby in their old age and why old men are so sweet).

In our early married years Alan used to keep telling me not to let people walk all over me. He kept saying things like, "you need to learn to stand up to people" and "you need to learn how to say 'No' once in a while." Now he complains when I stand up to him. So I remind him that he's the one who always said that I should speak my mind. But he answers, "Yeah, but not to ME." I guess I've just gotten way too many devils on my shoulders. Maybe after 50 years we'll start trading back again ...you think?

New Weight Loss Tip:

Self-Check your way to saving money and losing weight! Use the self-checkout line at the super-market. Your impulse buys will drop by 17 to 32 percent. (Not incidentally, this translates to an annual weight loss of 3.1 pounds for men and 4.1 pounds for women.) --Source: Consumer Reports

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Who knew? (If I cut MY impulse buying, I'd lose 4.1 pounds a MONTH!)

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Never Forget

Remember all who were affected by September 11th - those who died, and those who live.

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The people who say that the U.S. Government is behind this attack, in any way, are just as crazy as the skinheads who say the holocaust is a hoax. There are people who just like to jump onto "conspiracy" theories. Just recently there was a newspaper article quoting a Neil Armstrong interview saying that the moon landing was a hoax. The paper apologized for running the story without checking the facts. there was no such interview and Neil Armstrong was very upset to see his name attached to such a ridiculous claim.

If anyone out there is wondering where God was during this attack, read this!

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Are you Fabulous?

Bazaar Magazine is currently running a contest and is asking women to write in and tell them, in 50 words or less, how “Fabulous” they are. They are going to pick someone in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and do an article on them (the winners also get $5,000 each and some prizes).
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I thought to myself, “Hey, I’m pretty fabulous” so I started writing. Ha! There is NO WAY anyone can tell someone how fabulous they are in 50 words or less. Come on – try it. I double dog dare you.
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All I could say was, “I’ve been married 40 years to a man who thinks I’m fabulous. I have two married daughters who say I’m their best friend. And my two grandchildren run through my front door saying, ‘hey, hey, hey Gramma’ and jump in my arms. That’s pretty fabulous.” - I win.

(Now my husband thinks I'm obnoxious - but I say, "Hey, if I don't like me, who else will??")

Sham Wow!

"I never thought I'd see the day when an infomercial could sell a product with the word SHAM in it and still be a huge success. I mean, wow!" Jennifer Zuffinetti (my daughter - she gets it from me.)

Definitions:

(Definitions form Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)

Marxism: the political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Marx; especially : a theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society

Socialism: 1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Communism: a: a theory advocating elimination of private property b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

As I read these definitions, one name came to mind...Obama.

Is Obama a Marxist? A Socialist? A Communist?

I must admit that I was concerned about Obama even before he was elected. But since January those concerns have been proven to be warranted. As more people are delving into his associations, there is more reason to be concerned. Here's what we know so far:

Obama's mother was a Marxist (as was his biological father). Obama was a member of the Democratic Socialists Party.

You can tell a lot about a person by the friends he has. Who are Obama's friends?

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Frank Marshal Davis, a communist, was his childhood mentor.

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Jeremiah Wright was Obama's pastor for 20 years. You remember him. He's the one who said blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but rather "God Damn America." Obama's comment was, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial."

Bill Ayers, the founder of the Weathermen Terrorists group is a Marxist: And he held a fundraiser for Obama at his (Ayers) home.

Carol Browner, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a Marxist. She recently was heard praising Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Hilda Solis, Obama's Labor Secretary is not only a Marxist, she has ties to the Communist Party.

Henry Louis Gates teaches African American Studies at Harvard and is Director of the W.E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. So, what's wrong with that? 1) Du Bois was an avowed Communist and a Socialist sympathizer. 2) Henry Louis Gates has recruited radical black activists to his university department.

Anthony Van Jones was Obama's pick to make sure the $30 Billion from the stimulus earmarked for green-jobs funding attached to it gets "doled out appropriately." Who is Van Jones? He is a self-professed Communist who dreamed of a multicultural "Socialist Utopia."

Both Anita Dunn (Communications Czar) and Ron Bloom (Manufacturing Czar) praised Mao Zedong in public speeches in the last 17 months for fighting his own war and going against public policy.  Are you serious?  Mao Zedong? Leader of the Chinese Communist party from 1935 until his death in 1976.  Known as the greatest mass murderer in history? (70 million Chinese, and countless others).  That's like admiring Hitler for his "determination."

It is not just the above appointments that disturb me.  Obama consistently appoints people who have no business running the departments to which they’ve been assigned  - Kevin Jennings for example: Kevin Jennings as the Safe School Czar?  Are you kidding me?  That’s putting the fox in charge of guarding the chicken coop.  A sixteen year old boy goes to him  and admits to having sex with  a 30 year old man  and Jennings response is, “I hope you’re using a condom.”  What?  He should be reporting the abuser.  Jennings hangs with members of NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), he wrote the foreword  to a book about moving homosexuality into the schools Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling ,Curriculum, Cultures, and (Homo)Sexualities, and Obama appoints him to be the Czar of keeping schools safe?

And - Oh yeah, what about Obama's comment during an address to ACORN, "You will have a seat at my table during my administration."

Some critics have warned that "with friends like these, you not only don’t need enemies, you might actually be one."
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Are we really going to just sit back and let Obama turn our Democracy over to Communists, Marxists, and Socialists? His health care plan is just the first step. If he gets his way, what will be next? He is single handedly bankrupting America. . We’ve allowed our government to borrow $80,000 per household, a debt our children will inherit when they become adults. My grandson is 3. At the rate we are going, by the time he enters the workforce, the government debt per household will probably be two or three times what it is now. He shouldn't have to clean up our mess.
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As for me, I don't buy it when Joe Biden tells Americans that the debt we are creating is what will save America from going bankrupt - Does he really believe we are that dumb?
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Two quotes from Benjamin Franklin leap to mind: "You have a republic, madam, if you can keep it"; and, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

(p.s. If you do a Google search on "Obama's communist ties" you'll get 807,000 results)

 I liked "Northshore's" comment so much I decided to put it out here for all to read:
Harold B. Lee's Quote on America:
"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. ... Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)

Okay, in light of this quote, I'll back up just a little bit. I don't want to preach pessimism. The good news is that this is a free country and we are each entitled to our personal beliefs (including Obama). The other good news is that he can't do anything without OUR approval. The only way for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. There are a lot of good men shining bright lights on and around Obama.

Is America on its way to becoming a Communist nation?

Here is just a sampling of the 45 "Current Communist Goals" which were included in the Congressional Record on January 10, 1963 in the House of Representatives under unanimous consent. (They were identified as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen) As your jaw drops, consider how many of these goals have been achieved:
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“Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.”
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“Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.”
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“Do away with all loyalty oaths.”
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“Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.”
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“Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum.”
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“Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.”
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“Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.”
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“Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.””
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“Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis."

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"Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV."

"Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

If you want to read all 45, go to: uhu.com/nwo/communisim/comgoals.htm

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933

"…This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ...

…Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone. …

…More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return…

…Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men….

. ..Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers….

…The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men. …

…Our greatest primary task is to put people to work….

…in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency…."

Sounds eerily like today doesn't it???   Read the whole address at: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

Big Tractor Night

What is "Big Tractor Night"? Big Tractor is a publishing company owned by the Senior VP of Warner Records. Every so often they put on a showcase to show off their songwriters. My daughter Jennifer is one of their songwriters and this was her night to shine.

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I flew out to Nashville just for this performance - and I was glad I did. You Rock Baby!
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You can hear and download (for free) her music at myspace.com/zuffinetti

Barack Obama - Exposed!

We've Figured Him Out
By Ben Stein on 7.24.09 @ 9:45AM

"Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed?

Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths:

The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith.

They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright.

They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a "community organizer," Illinois state legislator, and Senator.

The American people ignored his total zero of an academic record as a student and teacher, his complete lack of scholarship when he was being touted as a scholar.

Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth. Barack Obama is a super likeable super leftist, not a fan of this country, way, way too cozy with the terrorist leaders in the Middle East, way beyond naïveté, all the way into active destruction of our interests and our allies and our future.

The American people have already awakened to the truth that the stimulus bill -- a great idea in theory -- was really an immense bribe to Democrat interest groups, and in no way an effort to help all Americans.

Now, Americans are waking up to the truth that ObamaCare basically means that every time you are sick or injured, you will have a clerk from the Department of Motor Vehicles telling your doctor what he can and cannot do.

The American people already know that Mr. Obama's plan to lower health costs while expanding coverage and bureaucracy is a myth, a promise of something that never was and never will be -- a bureaucracy lowering costs in a free society. Either the costs go up or the free society goes away.

These are perilous times. Mrs. Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State, has given Iran the go-ahead to have nuclear weapons, an unqualified betrayal of the nation. Now, we face a devastating loss of freedom at home in health care. It will be joined by controls on our lives to "protect us" from global warming, itself largely a fraud if believed to be caused by man.

Mr. Obama knows Americans are getting wise and will stop him if he delays at all in taking away our freedoms.

There is his urgency and our opportunity. Once freedom is lost, America is lost. Wake up, beloved America."

Say "Thank You" to the Military

Have you ever wanted to say thanks when you saw a service man, but didn't - then you wished you had? Watch this video to see the easy way to express your gratitude for their service:

Chick Flicks

There is nothing good to watch on TV in August so that's when I usually break out the old movies. I love chick flicks (especially mindless, ridiculous, silly, sappy, and fun ones). Here is a list of my favorites (in alphabetical order)

1. An Affair to Remember
2. Big
3. Bridget Jones Diary
4. Can’t Buy Me Love
5. Casablanca
6. Clueless
7. Confessions of a Shopoholic
8. Cutting Edge
9. Dance with Me
10. Dirty Dancing
11. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
12. Father of the Bride (I & II)
13. Ferris Bueller’s Day off
14. Four Weddings and a Funeral
15. Gidget (& Gidget goes Hawaiian)
16. Grease
17. High Society
18. Legally Blonde
19. Meet the Parents
20. Miss Congeniality
21. My Best Friend’s Wedding
22. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (LOVED it!)
23. Much Ado About Nothing
24. Overboard
25. Pillow Talk (a classic!)
26. Pretty Woman
27. Pride and Prejudice (also: An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Ernest)
28. Roman Holiday
29. Romy & Michele’s High School reunion
30. Runaway Bride
31. Sabrina (both the 1954 & 1995 versions )
32. Sleepless in Seattle
33. Some Like it Hot
34. Something’s Gotta Give
35. Strictly Ballroom
36. The American President (I LOVE this movie!)
37. The Devil Wears Prada
38. The Holiday (my all time favorite)
39. While You Were Sleeping
40. You’ve Got Mail

Live Your Dream

I have always loved fairy tales. They always ended the same way: "...and they lived happily ever after." One of the problems in life is that we are told over and over again that this happy ending is not possible in real life. But I say, "Why not?" Why can't we expect to live happily ever after. Why can't that be our goal? Just because we run into some bumps in the road, the road can still take us where we want to go. The bumps just slow us down a little. The only thing we have to worry about is making sure we are on the right road.

The Power of One

In the book called, “The Power of One” it demonstrates how one person can influence and change the lives of others. I found a quote by Catherine Oxenberg (the actress) in her review of that book that I’d like to share with you. After reading the book, she identified a person in her life who had and continued to influence her, but he was no longer there:
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“…Whom could I turn to? As soon as I asked that question, I knew the answer; I had to honor myself as my own best guide. I thought again of Peekay, who ultimately learned that ‘the power of one’ is the power to believe in yourself so deeply that you can prevail against any opposition. I saw that I had to access my own wisdom..., and connect to a higher source within to take my life to the next stage.”
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Sometimes we forget that we have the power to change our lives. We need to quit blaming our lot in life on our upbringing, or lack of education, or bad karma. We need to take control – make a plan, and start moving in a different direction. We are not victims of circumstance. Circumstances are often just consequences of the choices we have made. (But what if they are not. What if something terrible happens that was totally out of our control? - We still have to suck it up and deal with it. It is not what happens to us in life that counts - it is how we deal with what happens to us that we will be held accountable for).

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God Bless America!

18,000 men were used to create this "Human Statue of Liberty" at Camp Dodge, Iowa - 1918

Click on photo for a larger view