Mar 07 2010

administrator

One Million $$$$ PowerBall Ticket

Filed under Community Issues

Sold in Bonneville County, apparently on Saturday night.  It matched all 5 white balls but not the red PowerBall.  In addition, the person who played it selected the “PowerPlay” option, which costs an extra dollar per set of numbers, but in the case of 2nd largest prize (normally $200,000.00) it multiplies it to ONE MILLION $$$$.

Check your tickets, people!  If you’re savvy enough to play the PowerPlay option, you probably already have checked your tickets.  But just in case…do it now!

The most important thing I found out today….

It wasn’t me. 

Maybe it was one of YOU, my dearest and most wonderful of friends?  And you’re feeling especially generous about all the hard work your humble webmaster does?  I thought so, how kind of you!

;-)

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Mar 04 2010

Liz

ACORN Should Sue Breitbart and O’Keefe

Filed under WTF?

I have never been so disgusted as when I saw this video.  Oh, wait, that’s not totally true, come to think of it I’ve been disgusted plenty of times when I’ve seen videos of and read transcripts of conversations with Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh.  Out and out garbage, hysterical lies and coverups.  And yet the conservative sheeple are taking the bait, hook-line-and-sinker.  Stupid sheeple.

I thought the accompanying article with this video was very poignant.  It laid out the good that government workers can do, that groups such as ACORN can accomplish, for those citizens of our country who are in need.  The commenters at the end said everything that was going through my mind. 

The group ACORN should sue Breitbart and his lame-0 henchman O’Keefe for everything they own.  It’s because of them, their lies and their distortions, that ACORN has been effectively neutered and millions of poor people have been once again left without compassionate assistance in this rich-dog-eat-poor-dog world.  

The collateral damage of the doctored ACORN video also has far-reaching impacts on citizen journalists.  Everyone’s motives will be suspect, everyone’s agenda will be questioned, and independent thought will be assumed to be a fantasy.  Per Mike Stark:

And what of the damage that disreputable propagandists like Breitbart and O’Keefe bring to the real citizen journalists in the new media — those of us striving not to sell a political agenda under false pretenses, but rather, hoping to document facts, truth, and on-the-record positions of those who would corrupt our system through disingenuousness, self-enrichment and lies?

Stupid sheeple.

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Mar 03 2010

kymberly

It’s Citizens’ Arrest Time!

Filed under Community Issues

or as I am now fond of saying, “Let the internet be the horse you ride in to town, and let your signature be the six-shooter that returns the place to order.”
 
It’s time to deputize yourself and prepare to fight for a healthy, sexy America that’s free like a unbridled Mustang, not one that’s held at gunpoint by an evil band of insurance lobbyists. 
 
The scoop…
 
Blue Cross (and others) has the “right to vote”.
 
That means We The People have the right to demand accountability for the crimes commited by your bad asses.  
 
 
Join today.  
 
Day of action - next Tuesday.
 
PS - dugski and I have (so far) received amazing response to the story about us in yesterday’s Post Register (front page, above-the-fold - we’re famous!). Thanks to Dan Henry for leading us to Clark Corbin who did a wonderful job of condensing my emotive verbosity into something resembling cohesive thought.  (Hug a writer today, because the good ones really do deserve it.)
 

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Feb 28 2010

kymberly

And Lo, the Lord Did Sendeth Sarah Palin……… to Idaho Falls

Filed under This Gem's 4 U

First we had Glenn Beck (last July), and now - He Who Loves Us All Well Enough To Kill His Own Son For Our Own Eternal Guilt and Damnation has once again graced us with merciful nibbles of oratory glee. 
 
From The Onion.  Even Crybaby-Beck didn’t manage to pull off an Onion article dedicated to this fine city.  
 
With this kind of coverage, Idaho Falls will finally be on the map!  Maybe we can even rise to the fame of Wasilla (minus the freakishly high rape rates).
 
I hereby offer up a condescending “sorry” to my friends who are not lucky enough to live in the Idaho Falls area, but alas!  May the Lard bestow upon you the sin of evy, that you may properly revel in the afterburner glow of our obvious superiority.
 
I still adore you even if you don’t live here (but perhaps I find you more worthy of my affections if you do).

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Feb 24 2010

kymberly

Maybe the Best Group for Patriotic Americans

Filed under Politics

“The Coffee Party”.
coffee-party-usa
 
From their Facebook page -
 
We recognize that the federal gov’t is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will…As voters & volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, & hold accountable those who obstruct them.
 
- beats the snot out of obtusely fighting AGAINST oneself, like the Teabaggers do.  (Does anybody else inadvertantly spell it “Teagagger” then have to go back and fix it?…or it is just me?)
 
And remember to remind your Teabagger (I did it again) friends that unless they make enough to buy their own island, they just got a tax cut under Obama’s rein.  (The mainstream “news” isn’t advertising this too damned much…gee I wonder why.)  Let’s do what we can to educate the Teabaggers with actual facts, shall we?
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Join on Facebook -
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Thanks for alerting me to the existence of this site, Darlene.

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Feb 23 2010

Grizz Gurl

Yearbook Class

Filed under GrizzGurl Growls

Yearbook is more than what it seems to the people outside the yearbook room. When I first stepped into the class… I had this thought that all it was… is just people who take photos and write down a few sentences about the photo but I was surely wrong.

In yearbook you are divided into two groups of two or maybe three depending on how many kids. You each have tocollaboration work on pages that are called DPS’s also known as double page spread which is two pages that have boxes where you have to place photos and spots by the photos to write a caption and sometimes a story. The pages have a certain theme you must have unless on index and closing then you do the entire school.  On the sports pages its the same layout except now there are scoreboards where you have to write down a certain amount of scores.

There are also deadlines and they must be shipped by a certain day or your book will come out later than the date they you had planned. The advisor sends it to the company and we come back with proofs that the advisor and editor look at for mistakes and if so they send it back or they will have you correct them.

In yearbook, you can’t slack off.. You must be on track or ahead.

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Feb 19 2010

kymberly

The Secret to Happiness (Seriously)

Filed under This Gem's 4 U

Go out to dinner often with friends / family.
Have a strong social backbone.
Give of yourself.
 
Friends, really, it’s THAT simple.  And it might seem strange, unless you’re like me and you already do all of the above and therefore already feel like the happiest person on earth - even when life throws you suck-balls (which it will do). 
 
Here is the expanded explanation, my opinion derived from the video link to this story (I cannot find the actual video yet, maybe tomorrow it will be up).
 
Churches - the ones in this city seem to be “integrated”, meaning, they work together.  Those of you who work at the Idaho Falls soup kitchen know a bit about this.  The kitchen itself is owned by a church, and they have reached out to the entire community (spiritual and secular) to find groups who will share in the responsibility to running the kitchen.
 
Charities - who here volunteers for a cause they feel strongly about?  If you do, then I don’t need to tell you how THAT fact alone can help you feel happier all on its own.  For those of you who don’t volunteer, this is why volunteering is a habit you owe to yourself and to the world.  The act of taking yourself out of yourself and becoming a part of the social fabric around you - is one of the most strengthening gifts you can give TO yourself.  You know the cliche about how it’s better to give than receive?  Well, when you find a volunteer effort that fits you like a glove, your very DNA will respond to giving as if it’s oxygen.  Truly.
 
Friends / family - You don’t need to be a social butterfly, but every attempt you make to get outside of yourself and break into your community - I PROMISE you, it will make a WORLD of difference on your outlook. 
 
Personal side note.  I have some of the world’s most thoughtful friends, hands down EVER.  I won’t mention them by name, but you guys know who you are.  Most of them live close by, though not all of them do.  My eyes are watering up as I write this, that’s how deeply I love these friends.  They do really cool things like mail or drop by with goodies, gifts, and they even email just to say “hi”.  A couple of the most courageous are slogging through a first-ever book writing attempt I’m involved with, which cannot be easy for them (lol - you’re all my heroes).  A few friends put together the fund raiser for my arm.  It’s not the gifts and goodies or even the IMMENSE work of putting together a fund raiser or editing a five hundred page fledgling book that make them the best people on earth, it’s the fact that they stop, think about who might need or want validation / assistance / appreciation, then they act on that.  Words cannot describe the importance of that.  Call up your friends or family (whoever you’re lucky enough to live close to) and invite them over, or invite yourself over to their house.  Or go to the dive-diner around the corner for a shared basket of greasy fries.  It really doesn’t matter.  Just get outside of yourself, engage in your loved ones’ lives.  They deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The secret to happiness IS a simple one.  Put yourself out there, even (especially) if your natural tendancy is to keep to yourself. 
 
Yes, I sound like an idealist, and yes I know life frequently sucks (trust me, I know this).  We all have our bad days or even our bad years…so in a way you owe it to yourself.  Do the three things listed at the beginning of this email and I PROMISE that no matter what - you WILL feel happier in your life.  So if you’re already pretty happy - you’ll be skyrocketing toward happiness-heaven.  And if you’re not particularly happy, then being charitable, friendly, and networked-in will improve your outlook (probably a million percent).
 
Life is a journey that begins all over again every day…making the best of whatever lot you got is in your hands.  And it all starts with looking outside of yourself and asking the simple question, “What can I do for somebody else to make their day brighter?”  Ask that often enough, and it becomes a habit.  You help make people happier EVERYWHERE you go…and then it’s reflected back to you.  I promise, it works like magic. 

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Feb 17 2010

darlene

Why Nothing Gets Done

Filed under Politics

Dan Henry as the local host of Drinking Liberally sends out a weekly email newsletter.  This man is tremendously talented, smart, funny, and makes you think.

 

This week, he makes me want to cry.  Well, actually, not because of something he said, but something he asks us to read.  He gave a link to a really cool website called “Balloon Juice”…specifically, a John Cole blogpost from last week.  It’s a dead-on treatise that explains perfectly what many of us have noticed in the past year-that we as a society, as a country, are screwed.  It paints a grim picture that is both accurate and horrible, which is what makes me want to cry.

 

So many things are so badly out of whack, it’s overwhelming in scope.  And when something is broken so thoroughly, it’s impossible to fix because it’s impossible to know where to start, what area to focus your attention on, to effect positive change.  Usually, you need a flood of Biblical proportions to wipe it all out and start over.  The amount of energy needed to remodel would be almost the same as the amount needed to build again new…isn’t that a call for revolution? 

 

Any ideas?  Or must I be a nihilist, without hope, cynical that nothing can be done because the tides and forces of society are aloof and pitiless in their ceaseless onslaught, caring naught for the likes of puny individuals and their pipe dreams?

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Feb 15 2010

kymberly

6 Traits to Admire and Acquire

Filed under This Gem's 4 U

This link is a (short) list of 6 personality traits to ADMIRE in others. 
 
Sometimes, we focus on things we abhor in another.  This might happen more often at work or with family, because we don’t choose those people, we inherit them by circumstance.  But how often do you sit back, contemplate the people you’ve CHOSEN into your life, and enjoy the reasons for why they are there?  Maybe he has a silly sense of humor, or a broad outlook.  She has compassion, you feel energized after a conversation with her.
 
When it comes to friends, there is always at least one thing (usually more) that keeps you coming back for more, else, why would you bother?  And if you DON’T bother, you will eventually lose that person (the quickest way to kill anything - from a plant to a friendship - is to neglect it, ignore it, refuse to acknowledge it).
 
With that in mind, I contemplated about fifty of my favorite friends / family - people I look up to, even if they’re shorter than me (okay, that doesn’t happen often).   As I read through this list, I saw the “six traits” in every one of those people.  Those traits are in abundance with the kids I choose to hang out with on life’s playground.
 
One trait mentioned does focus on being appreciative, but I think “appreciation” deserves its own catagory.  To me, people who value the ideal of appreciation, are especially glorious to be around.  People who run into you at the store and share a few moments of chit-chat with before everybody goes away smiling…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
People who invite you over to help them plant their garden, then drop by the following day to help you plant yours.  People who swap tomatoes and poatotes when harvest arrives.  People who call out of the blue and say, “I haven’t seen you in a while and I miss you.  Wanna hang out?”  Little things like that.  Actions speak loud and proud - the appreciative friends instinctively do all the rest on the list. 
 
I do take issue with the word “tolerance” (it’s on the list), because it seems to me that my friends don’t “tolerate” differences so much as they accept, embrace, or at the very least “find opportunity for positive challenge” in them.  So, tolerance is out with my friends.  If they love me, then they surely deserve to be deemed more than just “tolerant”.  LOL.
 
Our chosen people will not be perfect, and sometimes they will try our understanding, but if you examine it through the right perspective, even that can be an opportunity for growth within yourself.
 
Anyhow, toast to your own good fortune in finding friends / family who possess the traits listed.  And toast also to your own good sense in attracting people with those traits.  We do attract what we express in the world.  There is NO doubt about it.  So, if you have good people in your life, then that proves you are honoring the good person within yourself.

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Feb 13 2010

kymberly

Scary

Filed under WTF?

This is a very short article, worth a read through.
 
The family being interviewed spends 400.00 a month on stay-at-home entertainment.  Now, to be fair, they are a family of four with varying degrees of what constitutes “entertainment”, but FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS?????????????????? 
“We try to be aware of it so it doesn’t get out of control,” said Mr. Anderson, who with his wife founded an advertising agency.
Um, okay then.
 
Remember back in jr. high school when you were forced to read “Farenheit 451” and you thought, “this is so lame”?  Well, some of us (like me) actually read it and thought, “I can SO see the world coming to this”, then we watched over the next twenty five years as it literally happened before our eyes. 
 
technophileThere is nothing wrong with enjoying a good bit of tv or gaming.  But it’s just like alcohol or gambling.  If you’re not mindful about exposure to the thing, you can lose your perspective and become intertwined, thus craving more and more. 
 
The difference is, with drugs and gambling, society frowns on your addiction.  With tv or gaming devices, society hops on board and joins in the fun.
 
They SAY stupid should hurt, but we all know it doesn’t.  It’s quite cozy, all wrapped up in diversion and divestment from the world around itself.  Thinking causes growing pains, ignorance is bliss.
 
Someday soon, those of us who enjoy active thinking over mindless entertainment will be relegated to the forest of the soul with Montag and Clairisse.  We’ll be the freaks.  Actually, at this point, a case can be made that if you’re not hooked up to cable tv, you already are suspected of “freakism”.  We had the cable company take their cable line from our house (it hung so low that my taller friends could actually touch it).  The cable guy was confused about why we wanted to get rid of it. 
 
After all, it’s CABLE.
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