Yeay for Big Oil Companies!!!

I just wanted to share this AMAZING news with everyone!!!
ExxonMoblie just broke another profit record. AWWWW! How awesome is that?


Mccain Has Taken At Least $720,613 From The Oil & Gas Industry. According to a Public Campaign Action Fund analysis of campaign finance data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics Center, John McCain accepted at least $720,613 from the oil and gas industry since 1989. [Center for Responsive Politics via Campaign Action Fund]

At Least 15 Top McCain Advisers & Fundraisers Have Lobbied For Big OilJohn McCain has at least 15 people working for his campaign, either as top fundraisers or as senior campaign staff, that have lobbied for Big Oil. Here are a handful


Wayne Berman
National Finance Co-Chairman
Ogilvy Government Relations
Amerada Hess Chevron Texaco American Petroleum Institute

Charlie Black
Senior Political Adviser
BKSH
Occidental Petroleum Corp. Yukos Oil Chinese National Off-Shore Oil Corp.

Eric Burgeson
Fundraiser
Barbour Griffith & Rogers
BP *Burgeson resigned from McCain's campaign because of his lobbying ties

Kerry Cammack
Fundraiser
Cammack and Strong
Exxon Mobil

Frank Donatelli
McCain Pick as Deputy RNC Chair
McGuire Woods
Exxon Mobil


McCain's Tax Plan Gives Top Five Oil Companies $3.8 Billion A Year In Tax Breaks. According to a study conducted by the Center for American Progress, "The McCain plan would deliver approximately $170 billion a year in tax cuts to corporations, including some corporations that are very large and profitable. Just one of the proposals-cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent-would cut taxes for five largest U.S. oil companies by $3.8 billion a year." [Center for American Progress, 3/27/08]

McCain Voted Against Reducing Dependence On Foreign Oil. In 2005, McCain voted against legislation calling on the President to submit a plan to reduce foreign petroleum imports by 40 percent. [Senate Roll Call Vote #140, 6/16/05]

McCain Voted Against Renewable Energy Technology. In 2001, McCain voted against establishing tax credits for investments in renewable energy technologies, incentives for new energy efficient residential construction and tax deductions for increased energy efficiency in commercial buildings. The motion failed 43-56. [H.R. 1836, Vote #125, 5/21/2001]

McCain Voted Against Funding for Renewable Energy Programs. In 1999, McCain opposed an amendment that would increase funding for energy supply and research & development activities for renewable energy sources by reducing unnecessary Energy Department contractor travel expenses. McCain voted to kill an appeal made by the chair that this amendment was out of order, effectively voting to kill the amendment. The motion to kill the appeal (and thus the amendment) passed 60-39. [S. 1186, Vote #171, 6/16/1999]

Let's Talk Socialism

Perhaps people who claim to be qualified for the Presidency should take a class on the theories of government. Most semi-educated people know that all theories look good on paper, but clearly have their flaws, including democracy and capitalism.

“He wants to quote ‘spread the wealth around,’” McCain said “He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans. Sen. Obama is more interested in controlling who gets your piece of the pie than he is in growing the pie.”

To put it in context, Senator Obama said when questioned by Joe the Plumber:
“It’s not that I want to punish your success, I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success too. My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s going be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody, and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."

Socialism refers to a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls the capital, and creates an unequal society. All socialists advocate the creation of an egalitarian society, in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly.

My point is, nowhere did he say that he planned on nationalizing his plumbing business, controlling the land that his business is on nor the capital that is accumulated and spreading that around to everyone. He is simply pointing out that business is bad for everyone right now and EVERYONE could benefit from having a little MORE. Let's think about the reasons why small business is suffering. Is it because of the banks on Wall Street? Well, it is now that it's messing with people's retirement funds and investments. People aren't CONSUMING, they are not shopping, the are saving and conserving. Don't you find it odd that Campbell's Soup stock is rising during these poor economic times but major retailes like Circuit City are on the brink of liquidation? Small businesses are closing their doors because nobody is walking through them, not because the government nationalized their wealth.

Election Dissection

So - I have to thank the good folks at CNN for giving us a football like play by play of every single thing that goes on during the election. I know listen to talk radio every morning, noon and night that I am in my car and I last week I fell asleep watching Wolf Blitzer on Friday night.

I am forced to ask myself this. What happened to my youth?

Perhaps I am a late bloomer when it comes to idealism and wanting to save the world from disaster. That probably should have come ten years ago when I first started college. Ah well. I am thankful that I care enough about this country to pay attention to what is going on and I am a strong enough individual to not vote strictly down party lines. While I am a fierce Obama/Biden ticket supporter, I am choosing to vote for a moderate Republican for a House seat and plan to re-elect a Lake County District Board member who voted exactly how I would have. I find that people get so hung up on one, two or many irrelevant facts when it comes to picking candidates. I also find that people are only ever concerned with the Presidential picks, but could care less about Congress - BIG MISTAKE!

But, since we are on the topic of Presidential politics, I have a few opinions that I would like to share with my 3 readers:

• It is no surprise to anyone that Fox News likes to pretend like the roll down the middle, but they lean ( I mean lay down) to the right. Bill O'Reilly decided that since so many people in the country aren't "real Americans" that we would just start telling the terrorists who it was OK to bomb. That's right. He said that it would be OK to eradicate San Francisco because it wasn't part of the "real America". And they have the nerve to call Obama a terrorist? W.O.W. What's more frightening is that there are those out there who agree with this.
• I am tired of Republican VP candidates pretty much telling me that I am Anti-American because I am not voting for their ticket. Does anyone read history?? Republican government has historically catered to the rich and big business. Clearly giving tax breaks to those large corporations has not helped them create U.S. jobs, but it has helped their CEO's line their pockets. And to call someone who wants to spread tax breaks among the middle-class Americans a socialist. Ummmm.....Your President and Secretary of the Treasury just unleashed a nearly $1 Trillion bailout of Wall Street. Is that not socialism? Spreading OUR taxpayer wealth to the......oh yes. Wealthy. Gotcha.
• I applaud John McCain for removing the microphone from folks who call Obama an Arab and those that are "terrified" of him becoming President. (I think that is the real McCain. I do think that he is an honest and decent person, I just think he has horrible advisors and campaign managers and made a catastrophic mistake in Sarah Palin). HOWEVER, he denounced the fact that Obama is an Arab, which he is not, but did so by saying he's a "good family man" as if being Muslim or Arab is a bad thing. Is there nobody who has a problem with this? What if Muslims ran this country and were talking nonsense about Christians on a national stage (I'm talking to you Rush Limbaugh)? Oh, but that could never happen right? Tell that to Jesus. He was a minority believer once too.
• Taxes. Stop talking about them. We live a life of luxury here in America no matter how you slice it. Somebody has to pay for it. I think those that live in more luxury should have to pay more for it. If you are wealthy enough to own multiple homes, have private jets and spend $25k night for a private island vacation, then you can afford to chip in a little more for our national infrastructure. Nobody is telling the wealthy to make less money or taking away something that they can't live with out.
• Last but not least. I certainly hope, that no matter who anyone votes for, that they are doing so because they think that person is the best hope for getting this country out of the colossal craphole that we are in. Not because they are black, old, a woman, Arab, a Christian, pro-life, pro-choice, or because they like the tie they wore at the last debate. Focus on the issues at hand. Too bad there wasn't a decent third party candidate....
• Ron Paul '08

Thanks for reading my rants. I am just feeding into the negativity that I see out there every day. One word misspoken and everyone erupts! This has become a world where we have to Fact Check every single comment made. Truly guilty until proven innocent. I imagine our forefathers are rolling around in their graves at the moment.

Please vote. It's your right that was so hard fought for. Have some respect for our predecessors.

Peace.

What now?

I actually shed a tear last night when the US Men's Volleyball Team cruised to a gold medal victory at the Beijing Olympics. Was it in response to the tragedy to triumph story? Perhaps a little. But more than that, my tears fell because it was the final event I watched in the 2008 Summer Olympic games. I have spent the last 2.5 weeks glued to NBC watching countless hours of competition. From swimming and divings to double skulls and rowing, my dedication to cheering on Team USA from my couch never wavered. I was up until 12:45am watching Nastia Lukin win the Women's Gymnastics All-Around and cursing the terrible over-judging of the Chinese gymnasts. Empathizing with Shawn Johnson's parents after she won the Gold on Beam. I felt like I was actually IN the water cube for every single race that Michael Phelps swam in - cheering and jumping up and down in my living room or local bar - getting teary-eyed when I watched his Mom fall into her seat after his amazing finish in the 100m Fly. Rocking back adn forth like I was rowing to gold with the US 8 Women Team. I never went to bed before the sign off of my beloved Bob Costas. Now, what am I to do with my time? Probably get more sleep and accomplish more around the house. Post-Olympic life will be boring I'm sure. Here's to London 2012.

Peace.

Hmmmm.....

I figured it was about time I wrote about something useful, but I am not feeling that deep this evening. I'm watching the news and listening to them babble on about the bad storms we had last night. And guess what everyone???!! You can go to cltv.com and BLOG about it! WOW! Are you kidding me? I have to say, that while I have a blog of my own, I'm not taking up someone else's space. It kills me all of these people who post comments on news stories, sports stories, the latest tragedies of our beloved Hollywood starlets. I'm not sure about you, but I work. While I take the normal liberties of checking email, IM'ing friends, checking in on Facebook and reading random newsstories throughout the day - it does not consume my day. Well, it doesn't consume most days. How on Earth do these people find the time to post messages on every single freaking story. Better than that - they have actual conversations and arguments with one another. Most people posting comments are stupid. Not joking - read the comments some time. There is usually one or two normal people in there, but the rest resort to using improper grammar, poor spelling and writing cuss words to effectively get across their point in the written word. You stay classy message board posters. You stay classy.

OMG....if I have to watch one more stupid Luna carpet commercial, I think I'm going to chuck my remote at the 50"er 15 feet in front of me. This last commerical makes me wish the advertising team would be re-evaluated. It also makes me wish we would have gone with Empire. But that FREE ROOM is just unbeatable!

Anywho, like I said. Nothing really to blog about that is of any importance whatsoever. So, I will finish with a wedding well with for my friend Stephanie who is getting married on Saturday. Love you much and thank you for honoring our nearly 20 year friendship by allowing me to hold a special position in your wedding. I can't wait for the beautiful day!

Peace.

A show nobody watches but should.

Ok, so Jeff and I started watching a show last year on USA called Burn Notice. It is freaking hilarious. If you haven't seen it, it's about this spy who has been "burned" by the CIA. They essentially dump him in Miami with no money, destroy his credit, and sort of erase his existence. While he is trying to find out who 'burned' him, he does these odds and ends PI jobs. And it's funny as hell. He has two quircky side-kicks, Fiona and Mike who also provide great entertainment. He is like Hortaio from CSI Miami, but more awesome. Instead of tilting his sunglasses down and saying something stupid, he flashes a cute smile and says something hilarious. A line that made me laugh last night:

"So, you've never written a bad check, huh? Didn't they used to call you Bad Check Barry?"

It's a show for everyone. Beatiful people, intelligent storyline, good lines, guns, bombs, spies and more. It's worth a shot on USA Thursday nights.

Have a great weekend. I'll wave to you from the bleachers tomorrow at Wrigley.

Word.

GAVIN DEGRAW R.U.L.E.S.

Oh my gosh!
So, as I was tooling around the Summerfest site the other day, seeing if there was anyone worth checking out before my super awesome Tom Petty/Steve Winwood concert starts and what do I find? What is it that I find? That is right.....THE Gavin DeGraw is playing a general admission show tonight.

So, natrually, I have to prepare myself. I know every single word to his Chariot CD and I am proud of it. But, he had a new CD come out on May 6th that I forgot to buy, so I'm currently listening to Rhapsody online learning all of his newer songs so that I'm ready for my "I'm the biggest Gavin fan" contest that I will be holding with the other people at the show. I should actually say that I am the 2nd biggest Gavin fan because truth be told, my good friend Melissa turned me on to him in 2004. Nonetheless, I will be number one fan in the Midwest :)

T-Bone

Word!!!!! :)

Sorry for the delay - Kind of

So, I know it's been over a month since I have posted to this blog, and I sincerely apologize to my 4 fans. So, I suppose it's time to get caught up on the latest happenings. I will do some bullet points and then move on:

• I have bursitis in both of my hips adn I haven't been able to run in 8 weeks. Which sucks because I'm supposed to be doing the marathon in October.
• On a happy note, I have been cleared to start using the elliptical trainer, so I will gladly be indulging in that at lunch today. God help me.
• Work is improving on a daily basis. I'm starting to feel a bit more secure in my role here, so I do hope that it's not temporary.
• I won a trifecta at Arlingon Racetrack on June 14th only to turn around and lose it all. But, it was the best $57.40 I have ever spent.
• June went by so fast that I still feel like it's May.

On to the next. I had a very enlightening conversation with both my brother and one of my very closest friends. It felt like for the first time in a very long time, people were being very frank and very honest about the type of person I am and the way that I approach life. It hit me like a ton of bricks - even in a terrible state of mind - and I have spent the last 48+ hours contemplating every word that was spoken. I have come to some very big conclusions that most of you had come to a long time ago. Sorry for being so slow on the uptake everyone.

1. Life is not perfect. No person on this Earth is perfect. The media and magazines like to portray what a perfect family looks like, how to cook the perfect meal, how to be the perfect Mom, how to look your best, be the best wife/partner, how to be the perfect friend, etc. Essentially creating unattainable standards that nobody will ever be able to live up to, and therefore, nobody, including myself, should be held to that standard. Nobody should be judged for any reason -ever. I apologize to all of those I have judged, intentionally and unintentionally.
2. Spending the last 15 years worrying about what other people think of me has warped me into becoming a 'follower' and succombing to the whims of others. I am usually headstrong in my opinions and beliefs, but I am easily walked all over by people as to not upset them. True friends stick by your side through good and bad, so it's ok to have a voice.
3. I easily become jealous of those that have things that I don't. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps I am the one who feels that they are owed a break in life - leaving me to be nothing more than a hypocrite. Maybe I have felt like the better I was, or more perfect I was, the more I was owed something for good behavior. You would think that after 20 years I would realize that is not the case.
4. Most of things that have happened in my life have occured because I have created them. The ones that I am not responsible for, I need to acknowledge and move passed. I need to stop being resentful and start being more grateful for all of the great people and things I do have in my life.
5. I need to grow up and start acting like I am an adult. No late night partying, no complaining about other people's issues, no searching for approval I may or may not get. I need to stop worrying so much about what other people think, what my family thinks, what my friends think. It doesn't matter at all in the scheme of things. At all. I will respect opinions, but no more fear about making the right/wrong decision. I want to live a life without fear or regrets for the first time. I think this alone will change my life.

So, while this might be a slow going process, I am hoping that I am taking steps to become the person that I want to be and have the life I have always dreamed of having wiith all the inevitable missteps along the way. The destination is not worth the journey without some hard work. See you there.

Word :)

The best way you can help others is to first live your own life with integrity.

Ugh....Life Sometimes

I wish I had lots of wonderful things to say about how grand life is at the moment, but alas, I have nothing. I am very appreciative of my husband, our health, our families and our friends, but I could do with a little less stress in my life. It is very possible I will lose my job fairly soon, which means I have to start looking asap or we won't be able to afford to live in our home - just our cars. Which might not be too bad, but start to smell after awhile. I'd love to rant about something good - but I haven't the energy. Maybe tomorrow.....

Pray for some goodness :)

Word y'all.

Just Say No to $4/Gallon

There seems to be no limit to what this nation is willing to pay for gasoline and I think it's sick. The housing market is in decline more from the result of high gas prices than anything else. Two years ago, prices were about half of where they are now. Where will it stop? There seems to be no end to corporate greed these days. As long as US citizens are keeping their demand for gas stagnant or worse yet, increasing the demand, do you think that the gas prices will go down? Are you 100% sure that Exxon would like to see a dip in their multi-billion dollar quarterly profits? Hmmm.......doubtful.

On this note, my good friend Ted and I have decided that we think $4/gal for gas is ridiculous and refuse to pay for it (unless completely necessary). While our two-person boycott might seem like a futile attempt to get the message out about the need for alternative fuels, we feel that it has to start somewhere. Therefore, you can look for us everyday, starting Monday April 28th, as we ride our bikes to and from work. Each of us is anticipating an approx. 10+ miles each way. We are also going to drop in to a local Lake County Bike Club meeting and try to get more cyclists on board to start biking to work from Spring to Fall. Bike commuting is not only saving our wallets, but improving our health and is better for the environment. I sincerely hope that some of you at least appreciate the message that we are trying to get across. Maybe it will catch on.....

Word!

Do you believe in ghosts?

OK, so I normally wouldn't write about this stuff, but I think we have a ghost in my house and just typing those words make me feel like a crazy person. As some of you know, I had my first 'home alone' night last night in a long time. Since we moved into the house, I have never felt totally alone if you know what I mean. I have seen what looks like a transparent person walking down my hallway towards our bedroom and disappear before. It's like a flash, so I always think that the shadows are playing tricks on me. Anyway, it happened again last night, but it looked as though it floated towards the kitchen. Then Zoe, my cat, started going nuts in the kitchen and meowing at something that didn't exist above her - I was in the kitchen with her and saw/felt nothing. I also saw (twice) a flash of light out our back door. If you've been to my house during the day, you konw that nobody lives behind us and there are no streets. It looked like it flashed on the deck. And, this is the strangest thing, about 5 minutes after Jeff and I laid down to go to bed and I heard a voice - like a whisper. It was a woman's voice and it sounded like it was in the hallway outside of our bedroom door. It's the voice that scares me the most! It didn't sound familiar and I can't remember what it said - it hapened fast and sounded like it started with an S - perhaps "shut". I knew what she said last night, but then I forgot while sleeping terrified. Jeff said he has heard things but assumes it is just the cats. One time, he got up in the middle of the night and because he heard what he though was glass breaking, but found nothing. I feel like a crazy person.

Going to the Big D and don't mean Dallas

That's right folks - in less than 12 hours, Jeff and I will be crawling (I mean falling) out of bed to get in the car and head to O'Hare for what I hope is a nice, relaxing, sleep-filled flght to Denver. As I menioned in my About Me section, we are considering a move out there and this is our first 'trial' weekend. We are going to ski tomorrow (naturally) which rocks because Loveland just got dumped on with 18" of snow and six more expected by tomorrow. All that powder realy sucks, doesn't it?So, the plan is to ski tomorrow and perhaps go check out George Clinton at Copper Mtn. We have some plans to look around the area and meet with some people to see a few potential rentals out there. We are really just trying to scope out the area and pick out the neighborhoods we'd like to live in. We are back and forth on that right now from our online searching. I can't wait for the day when we have teleportation available. Random thought. Anyway, I will update this weekend on any new developments from our lovely little getaway.

Wordness bitches :)

(That was for you Sar)

Understanding the Title of My Swindle Sheet

So, for those of you who do not know where The Chroni-what-cles of Pastorino comes from, please watch this video. I thank my dear friend Gretchen for enlightening me....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4663910085219139603

Worrrrrrrrd.

Some Things That Annoy Me - Volume 1

I was inspired to write this post after seeing a truth commercial called "The Magical Amount" with dancing leprechauns, unicorns and morons dancing around singing an annoying song. I'm cool with the message that smoking is bad, but come on.....

So, I have decided to mention just a couple of other things that annoy me:

1) Talking insanely loud on your cell phone while you are in the office. Lower your voice, I'm sure they can hear you, if not, use the office line.

2) People who can't drive while talking on their cell phones. Learn how to do it safely or pull off the road. Where I'm going is more important than what is distracting you. Most of the time.

3) The insanse sense of entitlement that plagues the children of central Lake County. You reside in Libertyville, not Buckingham Palace. You drive a VW Bug, not a Bentley. You have not earned any form of wealth, you parents did, so nobody owes you a thing. Thanks for being born though.

4) When people don't change the toilet paper roll. Seriously.

5) Judgements. I hate that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but have some respect for others situations and how they have arrived at where they are if you don't approve of it. I am guilty of this at times, and it annoys me even more when I do it.

Ok, time for bed. Check back later for more :)

Word.

My 1st Blog

Ok, I guess I should say - "Welcome to my Blog" - but to be honest, I'm not even sure what a blog is or how it got it's very lame moniker. How about a cooler name than blog? Anything? Who thought up the term "weblog" anyways and decided to shorten it? Was there a vote? Things like this should really be voted on. I'm sure there are much more creative and appealing ways to describe these little online journals. In an effort to figure out the true definition of a blog, I went to http://www.dictionary.com/. This is great. Definition of web log is "see blog" and the definition of blog is "see weblog". Hmmmm......So, knowing that a blog is simply on online journal, I decided to look up "journal" in the thesaurus and came up with the most awesome synonym ever: swindle sheet. It was better than toilet paper (which was also a synonym) and more importantly, made me laugh out loud. Therefore, I will forever refer to my blog as my swindle sheet or 'Mr. Swindles' for short.

Continuing on, I'm not really sure what else I can post about at this time. I have no news, I do not have children yet (and don't plan on it until I figure what I want out of life), I have a half crazy family, I have a half crazy group of friends (sorry but it's true, but don't worry, you aren't the ones I'm talking about. Or are you?) and I coach diving in my "spare time". Anyway, I like to have a good time and I try not to take things too seriously all of the time.

So, welcome to my little world. I will try to keep it interesting!

Word.