Sequester Fall Out

What exactly is Sequester? "It’s a package of automatic spending cuts that’s part of the Budget Control Act (BCA), which was passed in August 2011. The cuts, which are projected to total $1.2 trillion, are scheduled to begin in 2013 and end in 2021, evenly divided over the nine-year period. The cuts are also evenly split between defense spending — with spending on wars exempt — and discretionary domestic spending, which exempts most spending on entitlements like Social Security and Medicaid, as the Bipartisan Policy Center explains. The total cuts for 2013 will be $109 billion."(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/14/the-sequester-explained/)

Today, a friend of mine, who is a veteran, found out that because of the sequester in Washington, he was going to lose it all. His income, his health insurance and his home. They denied his disability for disability that was received while in the military. Totally unacceptable!  Is this the way we treat our Veterans who served our country and put their life on the line?

My son was not allowed to reenlist in the Marines. They disbanded his Battalion. It was the oldest Battalion in this country. This is unacceptable. They are having to cut another 8,000 Marines. The Marine Corps plans to reduce the size of the active-duty corps to about 182,000 as part of overall reductions in defense spending. It is about 194,000 now, down from a peak of more than 200,000. The Army announces Tuesday that it was eliminating 12 Brigade combat teams as it shrinks the size of the services to 490,00- soldiers by 2017, down from a wartime high of 570,00.  Again, is this they way we treat our Veterans who served our country and put their life on the line?
(http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/26/commandant-amos-helmand-afghanistan-odierno/2460619/)

Locally a senior center not far from me quit transporting patients to needed medical appointments because their funding was cut because of the sequester. This is unacceptable.  Is this the death camp idea circulating already starting? Some of these seniors will die without medication, dialysis, breathing treatments, etc.  Is this how we treat the people who helped to build roads, buildings, planes, etc., and helped our economy grow?

Personally myself and many others I know that are on unemployment are losing $320 a month in Missouri through September all because of the sequester. This is unacceptable. I cannot live on $900 a month and pay bills. I do not get those funds back. They are deducted from my total income allowed by unemployment. So I did not get the money but I lose it completely. Is this how you treat those of us who cannot find a job because the economy is so bad?

According to CNN Money the worst is yet to come. "The blunt, across-the-board cuts to government spending designed to deliver an austerity blast fell out of mind for most Americans back in April when Congress patched FAA funding to stave off an impending air travel nightmare. Planes kept taking off, more or less on time, and the broader predictions of economic cataclysm failed to materialize.

But the program is wreaking quiet havoc by boring into all sorts of other critical federal programs -- clinical trials for cancer patients, Head Start help for low-income kids, in-home assistance for seniors, Western fire-prevention efforts, the post-Benghazi push to beef up embassy security, not to mention cuts to unemployment benefits, housing programs, public defenders, national parks, and on and on. The changes have been relatively small and diffuse enough to stay off the front pages, especially as the nation enjoys unexpectedly brisk economic growth.

That may be about to change. The first sequester cuts that could rattle the recovery are due to start hitting next week, as the Pentagon begins furloughing roughly 650,000 of its civilian employees across the country without pay for up to 11-day stretches, through September. Measuring any ripple effects from all those unpaid vacations could be tricky, since sequestration choked off funding for the Mass Layoff Statistics program, which the federal government uses to track and explain what happened whenever a company fires more than 50 people at a time."  (http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/26/sequester-spending/)

This is just the cuts scheduled for 2013:

The 2013 sequester includes:

$42.7 billion in defense cuts (a 7.9 percent cut).

$28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts (a 5.3 percent cut).

$9.9 billion in Medicare cuts (a 2 percent cut).

$4 billion in other mandatory cuts (a 5.8 percent cut to nondefense programs, and a 7.8 percent cut to mandatory defense programs).

The cuts are only going to get worse of the next 8 years. Cuts to social security means cuts for the elderly and disabled. Medicare which all of us who have ever had a job paid into is going to have cuts.  

While I applauded President Obama for giving up a months paycheck at the time to show his support of the Air Traffic Controllers losing their jobs and closing of control towers, his giving himself a raise recently was unacceptable. If he can have his raise and congress can have their raise,  I can have my unemployment. My friend can keep his benefits and the seniors can get their rides.

Without those clinical trials for cancer drugs, I would not be alive. Many will die without those trials. While I agree many will die even with the trials because they are on placebos, the point is, without funding research moves out of this country and overseas which takes jobs.

"The last few years have seen a remarkable number of American companies moving overseas, resulting in the loss of many jobs in the US economy. While manufacturing companies have taken their operations overseas for decades, the trend is now happening in the service industry.

The spate of U.S. companies moving overseas has been given subtle terms including the most famous one, "overseas outsourcing." A majority of economists has wished away the worry of a grand negative effect to the overall economy but some have been more cautious in their sentiments.

The U.S. economy depends largely on consumer spending. The increasing numbers of unemployed have meant that employed persons are fast surrendering the clout required to demand pay raises. With lower wages, the masses have less to spend, and this low spending power becomes counterproductive for consumer spending. There is a healthy reason for concern, therefore, even as the exodus of American companies overseas continues."
(http://www.ehow.com/about_6403114_american-companies-moving-overseas.html)
Wake up! Those people you elected and re-elected every year have caused this problem. Special interest groups have caused this problem. We cannot drill for our own oil without some group getting up in arms. We have the largest oil deposit on our own soil. Why let OPEC control our gas prices? We can control our own.

Depression is defined as: A period of drastic decline in a national or international economy, characterized by decreasing business activity, falling prices, and unemployment.

It is time to remove every member of Congress and put people in there that care what we are doing to the people of our country. Can it be fixed over night? No. But we have to start somewhere.

An Open Letter

Dear ex daughter-in-law,

Selfish  is defined as "devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others; characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives."

Faithful is defined as "true to one's word, promises, vows; steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; reliable, trusted, or believed."

User is defined as " a person or thing that uses something or uses others"

Self-centered  is defined as "concerned solely or chiefly with one's own interests, welfare, etc.; engrossed in self; selfish; egotistical; centered in oneself or itself" The archaic meaning is " fixed; unchanging."

I give these definitions in the hopes that you will see yourself in them and try to correct your actions and thinking.

When I met you, I liked you. I thought you were a good and kind person. I always look for the good in people. It is one of my biggest flaws. Even when it is evil looking me in the face, I still look for the good. I suppose that is where Star Wars influenced me. Even Darth Vader had good in him.

 You were staying with your best friend. That is how you met my son. While you were dating my son you also dated others and slept with them.  Your best friend warned my son and I about you. You denied it all of course.  What you never understood was that your best friend was in our lives long before you ever came along.  My son of course accepted your denial  and you moved into my home.

While you lived in my home, I got your respect and we talked about everything under the sun.   We even discussed your best friend. You even had me convinced that she was crazy. This continued until you and my son moved out into your own apartment.  Then the real you appeared.

You will never understand how I felt when he moved out. He is my oldest. He is my friend.  I never expected a daily phone call and I still don't expect them but you hindered my even seeing him. He never understood your anger when he did talk to me or see me.

You got married in a lovely ceremony performed by one my oldest friends in your parents home. I told you then, that you had my son's heart and that if you ever broke it, you would answer to me.

"For this cause, a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh, and the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:24-25)"  This is what you expected. He would never have anything else to do with his family.

I hate to break it to you but The word “leave” from the biblical text means to “forsake dependence upon.” It means to turn your allegiance away from your parents toward your spouse.  My son was never dependent  upon his parents when he married you. He had a job and supported you. That does not mean for him to stop loving his family.

As time went on you pushed me away even more. You divided what could have been a good relationship between both families. Your parents and our family. Instead you said I was trying to run your life. If I ever gave you any advice at all, it was just that. advice.  I rarely called and can count on one hand how many times I was ever at your house.  It is kind of hard to run your life when I do not see you or talk to you. I think in your mind you have me mixed up with your mother who does run your life.

When I found out you were pregnant, I was very happy. I thought it might calm you down about life in general and understand what it really meant to be mother. Boy was I ever wrong.

When my granddaughter was born, I was so happy. I know you did not want me in the delivery room and I really was ok with that until my other daughter-in-law was allowed in there. My son put his foot down and I watched my granddaughter being born. It was one of the happiest days of my life.   It brought both families closer. At least I thought so. Everyone hugged after she was born and we all got to hold her.

Then it came time for godparents to be picked. While it was your decision to make, I had one trepidation on the godfather you chose.  I am also confused as to why you picked him.  It was your choice.  Yours and my sons.  I am thankful for his involvement early on though. He talked some sense into you. Looking back I figured you only went along with it though because you were not allowed to drive. You used him and me.  I went with you to the pediatrician. Our family pediatrician. The same one my sons went to. It was a good sign I thought.

For a few months life was good for everyone. We enjoyed the new bundle of joy.  You went to work and had a free baby sitter in my mom. She watched her other granddaughter so you figured she could watch your child.   I saw my granddaughter when I visited my mom. I never came to your house to see her except when it was her first birthday.  I spoke to you briefly when I saw you at my mothers. I rarely talked to my son.

You continually used the free babysitting even when you were not working anymore.  You never told my mother that though. You continued using your free babysitter every day.  Apparently being a mother was not all cracked up to be what you thought it was going to be. Some of the comments you made to a crying baby were just shocking to me. You smacked her bottom when she was crying and made her cry even more. I took her from you and walked to the kitchen at my mothers to get her calmed down. When my son was around you were the loving mother.  I think it is all for show.  

I had heard rumors that you were sleeping with someone else. I was also told that my son was not the father of his firstborn.  I did not want to believe it. I truly thought you loved my son. 

Then I found out that you lost your job because you could  not keep your mouth shut and swore at a customer without muting the phone. They fired you and rightfully so.  I told my mother that you were not working.  You quit using her because you had been found out. The look on your face when we confronted you was priceless

The world ended for me when my son joined the Marines. I was proud of him and fearful at the same time. He got through boot camp and school. Then the dreadful news came that he was heading to Afghanistan.  

You moved to Rolla. Taking my granddaughter with you. You moved in with your parents instead of being the adult and raising your daughter, you let your parents take over. So within the space of six months I lost both of them.  The only time I saw my granddaughter was when you came to St. Louis and wanted something.

Once he joined the military though, you never made a house payment.  You did not care if you ever moved back into that house.  You expected to live with your parents for the rest of your life or at least have my son live in Rolla.

When I heard from my son or got a phone call from the base phone tree, I sent an email to everyone. You got mad because I did this. It included your parents. You said it made you look like a bad person because you should be the one to tell everyone. So I removed you and your parents from the email list and continued on. You never once told his friends or family what was going on. 

I know how you felt when he left. I know because his father was in the Navy. I was happy that he talked to his family. If he only had one call he could make, I was not upset that he called his parents. They called me to let me know he was ok. We wrote letters and I sent packages and he sent home gifts.  They have deployment classes that you never took advantage of. You could have done them at Fort Leonard Wood. They had them because their soldiers were heading over there too.

When my son returned home, you moved to California. My son called me more from there than he ever did the rest of your marriage.

In the meantime, the rumor mill continued about you and your sleeping around . I started paying attention and asking questions about when this happened. What I discovered was that you cheated on my son before and during the marriage while you lived in St. Louis.  The evidence was mounting. I still kept my mouth shut.

You found out you were pregnant before his last deployment. I was happy for both of you. I kept thinking that perhaps two kids would stop your idiocy. I was still wrong.  I heard rumors again about this deployment and your actions.  Military wives are vicious. They do not condone someone cheating. You had your parents move you back to Rolla.

When my son was gone on the last deployment, you made sure I was not on the phone tree anymore. You NEVER once emailed, called or talked to anyone about what was going on with my son. I only knew about where he was because of the Marine Battalion website, his phone calls and our Skype time. At least I had that. I watched him sleep when we were finished with Skype because he left it on.  

My son came home and missed his daughter's birth by 10 days because he could not get leave until the entire unit came home. That was his job.  You did not care though.  In your mind the marriage was already over. What I did not know until he came home was that a bullet missed his head by inches. He brought it home. You didn't even know that. You would have been happier if he was dead because you would have gotten his social security for the rest of your life and your daughters would each get money. You would never have to work again.  You would never have to deal with anyone in his family. Unless you needed to use them for something.

I picked him up at the airport. I came with him and his friends to see my new granddaughter.   I fell in love at first site. She looks just like David. So I just knew all the people who said you cheated were wrong.  You found an apartment for David to move into. A 3 bedroom.  He moved in and the rest of the furniture and boxes were delivered there.  We all assumed you were moving back in together.  You never lived there.

Then the bombshell hit. You asked him for a divorce.  Your reason was because he got out of the military. Excuse me? What the hell kind of reason is that? Did he beat you? Did he belittle you? Did he hurt the kids? Those are reasons if they happened. Getting out of the military is not a reason. That is an excuse.  I hate to break the news to you but, my son was not allowed to reenlist.  I saw the paperwork.  When you finally showed up to go through the boxes and to take what you wanted you saw it too. Did it change your mind? No. So your reason for wanting a divorce is not that at all. You have found someone else. We all know it. Your daughter let that slip out.

During this entire divorce you have been unbelievably antagonistic towards my son. You have tried to withhold his children from him. Oh he could only have one of them but not both. But he said he made an agreement with you that until she turned one, then youngest would stay with you and he would see her there in Rolla. This still does not happen. She is almost 2. We were able to see her there. And we did. When you came to St. Louis we had to endure your presence as a supervisor because you never let my son have his youngest daughter alone. You got mad because both of your daughters love me and their dad.

There are some people who do not understand what it means to be a parent. You are one of these people.  You may not love the father  or mother of your children and that is ok. That does not make him any less of a father. It does not make you any less of a mother. That fierceness that will make you protect your child is within both of you.

I have a website for you. Since you never took the parenting class required by the courts during your divorce. It is about putting kids in the middle and you being selfish.

 http://helpguide.org/mental/coparenting_shared_parenting_divorce.htm

It took a year. But your are finally divorced. Now we do not have to endure your presence anymore where either grandchild is involved. We can just enjoy them. I am not sorry that the judgment did not go your way and that the judge felt that my son has rights. I am  also not sorry that you will not be able to see your daughters except on weekends during the summer and that their father has them all summer including the oldest grandchild's birthday every year. Pity that you only get 2 weeks exclusively during the summer.  Here is a news flash for you. The world does  not revolve around you anymore. It revolves around your children. I suggest that you grow up and figure this out. 

I suggest you remember what I told you when you married my son. If you break his heart you will answer to me. This will be my revenge to you.  Your children already love me. I intend to spend as much time as I can with them.  They will always remember me. Even when I am gone. You will know that I am special in their eyes when they say they miss me. You will know that I was loved by them.  You will know that they had a relationship with their grandmother that you cannot stand. They even will have one with my mother. The one who you cannot stand either but had no problem using. 

Know this, if you or anyone else ever touches my granddaughters in any way that is unacceptable or inappropriate, I will come for you and even though I will not look good in prison orange, please know that it would be worth it in the end.  

In the end, I know you are just a Cannot Understand Normal Thinking type of person. Read the letter of those capitalized words. I cannot stress it enough. That is how you are listed in my phone. That is the only name I can call you. You have earned the title. Your lying, cheating ways can continue with someone else.

Save Early Save Often

This is a cautionary tale of the mantra Save Early Save Often

Today I spent hours working on research and editing a couple of documents with the research in it. I was just getting ready to finally save it all and my desktop decided to reboot itself. It does this frequently. I am sure it is getting too hot and probably needs cleaned out. I lost everything I just worked on. 2 documents back to their original state. Can I scream now? please? just once? REALLY LOUDLY????? sigh.

So tomorrow I will attempt to do this all over again. Hopefully Bing saved my research pages in my Bing history. At least I will not have to reinvent the wheel. 

Tomorrow also brings me to the point of opening my computer to clean it out of all the dust, dirt, cat hair and dog hair that has accumulated over the last couple of years.   Hopefully that will take care of this rebooting problem. If it doesn't I will have to resort to copying off documents that I have and reformat the hard drive and re install windows 7. Sounds like fun yes?? NOT! 

Free Food Friday

For the first time in years I have gone to a food bank. (Last Friday). I actually went to two. That was an experience. Let me see. What did I get? Steak, Chicken Breast, 2 hamburger patties, seriously days old bread that went moldy within 2 days, weird noodles,  another mixed bag of noodles, dozen of eggs, one onion, 10 potatoes (could have had more but had no room, can of peas, can of green beans, 6 cans of sparkling water, an orange, chips ahoy cookies, peanut butter cream cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, small jar of peanut butter, 6 individual off brand fruit loops, 2 packages of soft tacos, 1 large soft burrito shell package 4 pineapple yogurts, baby Bella mushrooms, seriously black bananas, cherries, one package of macaroni and cheese, snowmen marshmallows, pretzel m&ms and soft cheese sauce that was repackaged in a plastic container with black marker on it. Oh and 2 Gerber toddler peaches.(Why they gave those to me, I have no idea. I have no kids)

Now I understand it is all about who donates what to the pantries in the area. Let us see how this will work for the week on meals. Got plenty of snacks! Have no one to give the toddler peaches to. But.. hey.. I might eat them if I get hungry enough I suppose.

Day 1 Friday

dinner: Steak, potato with mushrooms and onion

snack: cookies, cherries, pretzel m&ms throughout the day and watching TV

Day 2 Saturday

breakfast left over steak, fried potatoes, mushrooms and onion with eggs 6 eggs (had to make extra to share with roommate)

lunch and dinner were at a friends

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

Day 3 Sunday

breakfast omlet in a bag with my last hotdog in it (2 eggs)

lunch: fried potatoes and mushrooms

dinner: PBJ sandwich on weird bread that has poppy seeds on it 

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

Day 4 Monday

Breakfast 2 egg fried potato, last of the mushrooms  (made extra to share with roommate)

lunch pbj sandwich

dinner: Hamburger patties and potatoes

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

Day 5 Tuesday

Breakfast last  2 eggs fried potato

Lunch PBJ

Dinner Last ground meat from the freezer and fried potatoes

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

I have been mostly drinking water until today when I made iced tea. I had two cans of Ginger Ale left and drank those.  

What I currently have left is chicken breast, cherries, some of that poppy seed bread, taco and burrito shells, 3 yogurts, potatoes, macaroni and cheese (no milk or margarine), some of the soft cheese sauce (might put that in the mac and cheese tomorrow), weird noodles, other package of noodles, peas and green beans, bananas that will be frozen for bread when I can get the ingredients and cookies and pretzel m&ms and santa marshmallows.

So after tomorrow the meat will be gone. I received no butter, no milk and no real cheese or lunch meat. 

So this is the plan for the rest of the week:

Day 6 Wednesday

Breakfast - Yogurt (roommate had one yesterday) and dry cereal

Lunch - PBJ on the last piece of that weird bread

Dinner Chicken Breast, Green beans and maybe potatoes

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

Day 7 Thursday

Breakfast: yogurt and dry cereal

Lunch PBJ on a taco shell (2)

Dinner: Macaroni and Cheese Sauce

Snack: cherries mostly (they are good) couple of cookies and pretzel m&ms

So there ya have it. My week of menus from the trip to the food pantries. 

Here is my suggestion for those of you that donate to places like this: Give them food that YOU would eat. While I appreciate the snacks, I would have rather had filling meals that I could make all week.  Make sure the food is not expired when you donate it or soon to be expired. The bread that gets donated by the Bread Company really needs picked up the same day it is given out. Donate food coupons to local restaurants. Doesn't have to be much. Even $5.00 at McDonald's gets you stuff off the $1.00 menu. That includes a drink so really for $3.00 and change you can get a meal.  

Friday, I will play Russian Roulette and see what I get again from the food pantry. Expect me to report in again on this subject.