My Weekend Trip and a Trip Around the Internets

My trip this weekend was for my uncle. He is 84 and is a veteran of World War II. He served proudly in the United States Navy, aboard what he calls a baby flat top.

He was on the USS Prairie first, then he was on the USS Saginaw Bay. During his time on the Saginaw Bay, he had such a wonderful fun filled time. You can check out the fun time he had by clicking the link if you would like. As an 18 year old boy, fresh from his upbringing in middle America, (Indiana, West Virgina, Kentucky and Tennessee) this was eyeopening.

He left school after the 8th grade to join a thrill show. He was a dare devil driver. He drove a car while another guy rode the fender through a burning wall.. of course it was green wood, so the sparks would fly and it looked pretty, but normally there wasn't much danger. Once someone used the wrong lumber and it didn't splinter like it should and it knocked the riders teeth out. The owners name was Crash Davis and the show was just Crash Davis and the Hell Drivers.

But, back to my story of the war...on the Saginaw Bay he was all over the Pacific Ocean, he was at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Leyte Gulf, Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the Philippines campaign.

I tell you this, only to say.. it is my honor and my pleasure to give back to him, just a small part of my time.. any time and every time he needs me or asks me for anything. He gave us all so much, as did my dad in WWII and as did all of our veterans.

We may not all agree on the wars and on the efforts of our fighting men and women, but when asked they served, and they sacrificed, it is the least we can do to give back to them in some small way.

My aunt is buried here in the Chicago suburbs, which is where they settled after the war, he too will be buried here when it is his time. That's why he wanted to come up here, to visit her grave on her birthday and make sure everything was still ready for his arrival sometime in the future, whenever that may be.

Now, change the subject...

I have found some new blogs and some old ones that are well worth visiting or re-visiting.

Some of the new ones..or maybe I should say newer..at least new to me and maybe to you...lol This one is called All the good names were taken.. and it is great. She writes about a variety of things, including politics and just life in general. Yesterday, her post was about, Garbage in her inbox..and it summed up what I feel some days... I think most of us can relate in one way or another.. let me quote a bit of what she said:

I do know, however, that it is truly bizarre that I am getting these e-mails from (and there's no polite way to put this) dumbfuck cousins who don't see just how incredibly stupid it is for them to fear a theoretical government-run health plan when the family tree is full of relatives who have struggled with medical bills for many years. My idiot cousin Wayne, for example, got to watch his sister totally stress out over her inability to pay her bills while she was dying of breast cancer. On what planet is it more acceptable for a dying woman to have to beg friends to put on spaghetti feeds and hold bake sales to raise money to pay her bills than it would be for her to have access to a system that would eliminate the bills to begin with? And this was a woman who had a decent job (school teacher) and the health insurance that came with it. So much for the private sector always doing a better job than the government.

One of the other people who sent me the anti-government health plan propaganda is a woman who's also dealing with cancer -- and she's past 70 now so her bills are all being paid by Medicare.

As I said, we all have relatives and friends like this, the RWNJ's who send us the emails about Government take over of Health Care and such...while they get Medicare..lol Yeah, I know... Like my daughter, avid Fox listener, believes everything they say and it doesn't seem to matter how far out it is.. She told my uncle the other day that he was going to start being charged for his health care at the VA.. yeah.. remember..that was discussed back in what March..well that has resurfaced..

Now you see the tie in with my uncle..lol What a lot of people don't realize is that VA does charge the veterans for their medicine copays. So, when the president asked about the VA charging the insurance companies for their health care.. it was a reasonable request..they do charge Medicare already.. Bet a lot of people didn't know that either. My uncle gets a bill from VA for anywhere from $16.00 to $64.00 a month from the Veterans Administration for his Prescriptions every month.. always has..and will until and unless he gets 30% disability service connected.

Ok, back to the blogs..

The next "New" one in my list is Helloooo Mr President, and again she speaks her mind...lol An example:

For those conservatives who will say "oh yea right, like we can believe MoveOn.org", this same question was asked in a poll by NBC news and the Wall Street Journal,
If you have something smart to say about them then tough shit!

Mr. President I sure hope you are on board with this, Your job is on the line, the people are speaking loud and clear!
The progressives are banding together, Pelosi is bargaining, and I know this bill will happen, it will have a public option!

Republicans are supporting the insurance companies, not Americans. Their scare tactics will not work this time. Election after election we have listened to their fearmongering, we have looked at their ugly faces on commercial after commercial, NOT THIS TIME! Your death panels aren't believeable, we aren't listening to you when you say money will fund abortions, we aren't listening to you when you say illegals will have free coverage! We aren't afraid of you when you come to townhalls with your precious guns strapped to your legs. We don't read your stupid signs, ya know the ones that say NO PUBIC OPTION! Yes that was how the sign was printed, not my spelling mistake! LMAO!!! These wingnuts are stupid and we will never back down and let the likes of Palin and co. get the upper hand. Not as long as we have Barack Obama in the White House!!! Go get 'em Mr. President!!!

This is a newer blog.. and I think she has a bright future ahead of her.

Now, another one that I found, well actually was referred to me by one of my older blogs I read..TheMom.. You should check her out too.. she is pretty good.. Well her son has a new blog, check him out.. it is funny and pretty good.

He calls it Past the Velvet Rope and it includes Guest Lists ... it is funny and wonderful. I love his insight..and he is looking at it from the outside.. He is in Egypt. They are just getting started and only have a few posted so far..but with all the nonsense out there.. they have plenty of stupid to choose from.

Of course they are all in my blog roll off to the left.

One of my oldies but goodies is Talking to Tango.. if you really want the truth about Canadian Health Care.. that's a great place to check out.. He told his story a few posts back.. Tango's Daddy is a great man and a wonderful writer.. He has been blogging our story and our situation here for a long time.. Worth the time to read and read again..

One of the best new finds is Frank Schaeffer, I am sure most of you remember him from Rachel Maddow's show... He wrote the book Crazy for God and has exposed the so called Religious Right as the hypocrites they are..

Well, I hope that gives you some food for thought.. some things to look at and an idea as to what I have been up to this weekend.

As I said, it is my honor to help my uncle, just as it was to help my dad. WWII was a different time and I guess a different war than what we are in now, I don't know.. I still feel that we have to help and serve our veterans no matter what.. They and their families sacrifice and give what others can't and don't. We may not always agree with it, and we may not think it is correct, but we can still give to them after they serve.

I don't think anything that is done for or given to the Veterans is a waste or too great of an expense..that's just my opinion. When I see what they have given up and given to us.. what they have to go through to get what little they can get, for all they have done.. it is worth it.

My uncle still fights the war, at night in his sleep, in the day in his mind sometimes. Yet he can get nothing from the VA, we are still fighting them for compensation. I think 60 plus years is long enough to fight for what you were promised.

My Reading List and Some Interesting Things You Might Like

I haven't been doing this blogging thing all that long.. lol But I do have several I love to read. I have my list there on the lower left... But there are some new ones I have been pointed to that are just wonderful and I wanted to share some of them with you.

The first one is on my list over there, I got to is from BobCesca's GDAB and I read them both every day. It is called BroadwayCarls Blog O Mania and today he has a great post up about the "real deficit" which talks about the fact that Bush never told us the truth about spending. The Iraq War was never figured into the budget, so all the money that has been spent there was never counted. So we don't know where we are really.. but we are going to find out.

Get ready to hear the rethuglicans roar over this...lol But, guess what, we have a grown up in charge and he isn't going to lie to us anymore. Thank you very much.

Next is a couple of new ones that I have stumbled onto, through Carl's blog. Consortiumnews is great and lets you know some things you might be surprised about. They have some great posts up about the Bush years, and have written some books about them and talk about the fact that there is a movement afoot to keep Pres. Obama from being re-elected to a second term.

It is a very interesting read and very informative. I found it quite intriguing and very believable. I see so much of it happening already and even see it playing out in the news and in day to day life as we go along.

The last one I wanted to share is along the same lines but is more newsy than blogger type.. but still interesting. It is a different perspective anyway. Lets you know that we really do have a grown up in charge and not a yes man like we had for 8 years.

They have a story about how Pres. Obama stood up to the commanders about troop deployment and didn't let them back him down. Which makes me feel better. It is called IPSNews.net and they will send you daily emails if you want or you can just go to them.

Well, that is my sharing for the day... Just wanted to let you into my head for a little bit.. see what I read and how I form some of my thoughts.

I don't like the fact that we are in any war, but at least I feel we are focusing where we need to be. Iraq was a wrong war from the start.. no there is never a right war, but we have to stand up to the people who attacked us, we can't let them think they have won anything. If we just walk away and let them regroup to attack us again.

I don't blindly support everything that our president has done or will do, like the republicans seem to think we "liberals" do, but I will support our troops and support the fight they are in, whether I agree with the war or not.

Pres. Obama is doing a great job so far, for the most part. There are a few things I wish he had done differently, but I am not ready to kick him out yet. It is early, he has only been in for just barely a month... and already he has done a lot more than most and more than Bush did in the last 3 or 4 years.