I am so glad I took the trip back to my hometown this past weekend. I walked away with a renewed sense of purpose in many areas, as well as getting refreshed by "getting away", if only for a few precious hours. But I also walked away BEYOND furious at the "system" for one very compelling reason. For those of you who read my article "Revisiting the Foster Farm" ( Link ), you will pretty easily understand why. Probably the greatest sense of outrage I have at the Child Protective Services se...

This article's going to be a bit of a ramble, but those who know me should appreciate it. We all have places where we think better. Places where we are at home, where we can engage in introspection and think about life in general. While there's a strong tendency to want to stay in those places, I have found that those places are best to visit, so that we don't get too comfortable or too complacent. For me, one of those places is the place where I grew up. There's something inside of me tha...

I used to be a "causehead", giving to absolutely every cause I could afford to. I still try to be generous, but I'm more selective with my money as time goes by. One cause I don't intend to give another penny to until/unless they change their marketing techniques, is breast cancer. The reason? Because the marketing in breast cancer is predominantly sexist in nature. Probably one person out of 100 actually knows that men can get breast cancer as well, and that 460 men a year die from it ( Link...

"What about the children?" is the most common response I get from apologists for CPS, who demand that CPS should act with impunity to strike terror in the hearts of families because the good they may do to two or three children somehow justifies the bad they do to 100. Here is my response on a message board to a foster parent who asked precisely that question: What ABOUT the kids, XXXXXXXXXXX? Let me start my response by stating that I will extend to you the benefit of the doubt. Wh...

The title of this article is an homage to the signature line of Dave Neihaus, who was the voice of the Seattle Mariners for many years. As most of you know, I am a die hard Mariners fan. What you may not know is that the Mariners are dangerously close to not sucking, something that was DEFINITELY not among the forecasts in the crystal ball of the "pros". They're a game under .500, true, but well above the 90 loss season that was pretty much forecast for them, and within a few games of the top...

(Tip for bloggers: when words fail you, take a road trip. I've NEVER come home from a road trip completely uninspired). As many of you know, we took a trip back to the community where I grew up this weekend to catch up with some old friends and make a few new ones. We left at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday, because I've found that leaving at such hours virtually guarantees 4+ hours of sleep from your children (especially the younger ones, who complain the most and take the most potty breaks). ...

As I found myself back in my hometown this weekend, we had some minor problems. My *new* tires from Walmart were in dangerous shape, something I hadn't bothered to check before leaving home (separate blog; I'll hit that later). So I found myself needing to replace not one, but two tires, and not having the money to have WalMart replace them both (we eventually had to replace one and risk it with the other). Because few stores are open in that area on Sunday, I needed to find someone who could te...

I've covered the problems with CPS over the years. I've detailed how the mortality rate among foster children is substantially higher than among the general population, and how foster children have been used as medical guinea pigs for dangerous drugs in the past. Hardly the stuff of conspiracy theorists, I have pulled my material from credible, established sources. Now it appears that other voices are hearing the message we've been spreading, and that the issue will be entering the Texas governo...

I have a stepmother whose heritage is German. So proud are they of their heritage that she actually gave my half brother two middle names...one of those being "Adolph", after Hitler, because she prided herself on the apocryphal story that her family was distantly related to Hitler. A few years ago, she "discovered" (most likely through some online sham genealogy service...she's not savvy enough to do the research herself) that she had some Indian blood in her family. Instead of dashing her ho...

This is an interesting link. Might want to follow it if you have the time: Link According to opensecrets.org, John Kerry raised over $326 million for his 2004 Presidential campaign, of which $310 million was spent. $74,620,000 of that came from federal funds. California was the top state contributor, contributing over $31 million, and lawyers/law firms were the top industry contributing, contributing over $22 million. The top contributors were the University of California at $627,000,...

Liberals intrigue me. For years, they have demanded that the government should be out of our bedrooms (when it comes to sexual behaviour, at least), but they advocate strongly for government control of our medicine cabinets and our minds. They place a pollyannish trust in the government to not abuse the extensive powers they would bestow on the government, despite empirical evidence that would indicate that every single government in history has abused its power. In all fairness to the left, ...

For over a year and a half, the sign has beckoned me, and called to me. East of town, on the main highway, the road sign sings out the name of the community I've always considered my hometown, despite the fact that I wasn't born there, and didn't spend the majority of my life there. It is my hometown, though, because we moved there when I was a toddler, and, despite shuttling between my father, mother, and various foster homes throughout my childhood years, it was the place where we always retur...

Ok, this is too rich. Our community has a single marshall, and this guy's pretty much ready for a walker. Apparently, the good citizens of Lefors have determined that I am enough of a danger to put the marshall on guard watching myself and a couple of other select citizens and ready to pounce (well, perhaps with this guy, "pounce" isn't the right verb choice) on us for the slightest infraction. One of the complaints of one individual is that I speed up our street. Problem is: 1) children unde...

Picture this scenario: Little Katie comes home with a piece of paper from school. According to the note, on last month's mandatory mental health evaluations, Katie was found to be bipolar, and she is to see a psychiatrist immediately. The note contains the name and numbers of several school appointed psychiatrists. You snicker. Katie's been moping around the house, sure, but there's nothing about her that's atypical for that age. You ignore the letter and put it in the round file, thinking no...

I was reading another blogger's article about some of the personal struggles of her family, and it got me to thinking. About the war, about the protestors, and about the families. And it has me questioning if, indeed, some of the protestors who demand they are "supporting the troops, but opposing our actions" really are doing what they say. In my two years on JU, I've watched from afar as several military relationships have veered precipitously close to collapse. And while it would be rath...