After yesterday’s blog-war with people closely aligned sniping at each other instead of taking potshots at the liberals, I though we could all use a chuckle, courtesy of my cousin:

Engineering Question of the Day

Q: How much does a house weigh?

A: Just a tad more than a rural two-lane bridge can support, apparently:

“Nice view of the creek, there, Cletus.”

“Tough approach to the garage, though.”

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Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

But first, let me catch you up, since I know you all are dying to know what I’ve been up to since I last posted.

Actually, I need to start back a bit, like Monday night. I was supposed to put the small box dolly in the trunk of the car for TMBWitW. In between Rodolfo and other projects on line and off, making sure TMBWitW’s ice pack didn’t freeze her or stay on her too long as she slept, and Logan not quite sure whether he wanted in, out, or to just move from room to room, I managed to forget. I lost big time husband points there. (TMBWitW uses an ice pack on her back since the accident; it keep some of the inflammation to a minimum).

So – this deficiency was not discovered until Tuesday morning, when she got to work and expected to grab the dolly out of the trunk to take up to her desk, so she could load files at the end of the day for working at home on Wednesday.

Phone call – my phone rings:
“This is Cary.”

TMBWitW: “Hi honey. Guess what wasn’t in the trunk today?”

“That leaves it pretty wide open, but I imagine you were looking for the dolly that’s in the garage.”

“Uh-huh. So, guess what you get to do?”

I got to drive downtown and pick up her and the box of files, leaving the SUV in the parking garage. No problem, since I don’t do a lot of driving anyway.

Wednesday passed, with her working from home; I did manage to check my e-mail after she went to bed.

Today I went to the doctor. Helpful hint – if you don’t like long waits in the doctor’s office, see about getting one of the earliest appointments possible. There hasn’t been any delays yet, and you’ll be in and out in a timely manner. My appointment was at 0800. I saw the doctor at 0805, we had a nice chat, yadda yadda yadda, I was out the door by 0830.

I know what you’re thinking – “Cary, don’t yadda yadda yadda the visit – we want DETAILS!”

OK. We discussed the migraines that hit me two Mondays ago, and the one from Sunday. We reviewed my meals prior to the attacks, and sleep patterns; he asked about work-related stress, I asked him “What stress? I haven’t had a wood order in months!” and we both chuckled, then he asked “Isn’t that kind of stressful, not having orders?” Well, yes, but I have a 17 month old to keep me happy and well adjusted. He couldn’t tell if there was a pattern, or any specific triggers, I couldn’t help him with that either, since I know what to look out for and I have been eating less, but not not eating, which could be a trigger; I’ve been getting my usual four and a half to six hours of sleep every night (not straight through – dogs, especially Logan, make that hard to happen), and I’ve been engaging in moderate levels of exercise. In the end, he gave me some samples for migraine meds (one, Frova (frovatriptan succinate), I’ve had before, and it works OK if you take it early enough in the process; the other is new to me, Axert (almotriptan malate), and I’ll be carrying two tabs in my pocket just in case).

To seal the deal (and this is the best part) he prayed for my healing. Yes, my doctor is a Christian. He had prayed for TMBWitW to have a healthy pregnancy before she was pregnant, and she conceived shortly after; with a track record like that you don’t turn down this man’s offer for a healing prayer. So – after all is said and done, with the grace of God I will not have any more migraines, there is medicine in my pocket if one does break through; my faith will be the barrier to any more incidents. After a month, if there are no more frequent attacks, then fine; otherwise more stringent tracking and recording will be needed. If, in fact, there is a physical reason for the migraines, it will be outed over the next few months. No neurologist yet, but if it’s necessary, then one will be consulted.

TMBWitW thinks I should have gone to one now. She also mumbled something about “stubborn”, “old”, and “Marine” but that could have been my imagination.

Thank you to everyone who has been worrying about me since I mentioned the first migraine, and thank you for the prayers and support leading up to the appointment. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer, and with your prayers backing me up I have faith that I’ve seen the last of the migraines.

I know what you’re thinking now – “Cary, how do you find time to squeeze all this in?”

I don’t know. I just do. I also try to keep up with the growing piles of fur in every corner (five dogs and five cats generate a lot of loose fur), keep a seventeen month old entertained, stay on top of the laundry (most days), post here, have a talk show on Friday mornings, play TradeWars to keep my mind sharp (oo – that reminds me. i found another trader last night, he was almost as good-aligned as i was – took him out, stole his planet from him, and in the process became one bad dude – i am now an evil trader, and i had to park my imperial starship – only goody-two-shoes traders can fly those. on the upside, i can now trade at a port, and turn around and steal everything back. i’m so evil.)

How is your Thursday going?

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I don’t know where to start.

Yesterday afternoon (as TMBWitW was working from home, right before a Very Important Conference Call/Online Meeting) the connection was lost to the Internet. Where’s Al Gore when you need him? Several hours and many, many reboots and conversations with Cox later, and we are back online.

What a time frame to not have access – Shrillary basically hands the DemocRAT nomination to the Obamanation and then begs for the Veep slot. (I don’t know about BHO, but I would be remembering Vincent Foster when considering any dealings with Her Royal Pantsuit)

Ann Coulter has a lovely little piece on the whole affair, with some commentary about hypocrisy, in her weekly article.

I’ve added a link to my blogroll – her name is Samantha West, and she stores her thoughts here. She is very pro-military. I like her already.

I have three cats that need to find a new home – they are picking on the older two, and TMBWitW is not going to put up with that for much longer. Adopting them out is going to be much more humane than putting them on the street.

Speaking of pets – Logan is not doing real well. I introduced you to him here and for comparison purposes, here’s a recent photo:

Well, his polyneuropathy is starting to affect his bladder control. He has left a couple of puddles this week, and last week there was a bit of a BM issue by the back door. (when I went to help him stand up, it happened. I think he already needed to go, and my lifting him kind of added to the pressure.) We were told he would live between three and five years, and he just turned three. We might be losing him sooner than later. I am not looking forward to this stage of his life with us.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Remember back last week when I posted this?

No, that’s all right – go ahead and read it while the rest of us wait here…

OK, are you back?

The weekend following that posting, I received this e-mail:

Hello Mr.Cartter,
I do not believe that you are a bad American, only a little self centered because you are appear to be unable to see things from someone else’s point of view. I believe that you were totally correct about your entire ” Bad American” post. I am a young black woman who is a U.S. Army Combat Medic. I love this country and will kick the ass proudly of anyone who opposes what is morally right. I do not believe in reparations or illegal immigration. There were a few things that I did see that, maybe you should look at from a different point of view. The police statement, I have never been so much as pulled over. I drove from Texas to Georgia, 17 hours to see my family for the first time in years because I was serving my country and as you know medics are constantly needed. We were pulled over in a small town by the police shortly after crossing a 4-way stop. He asked where I was coming from what I was doing in his town with Texas plates. He claimed that my fiance looks like he smokes drugs. He said we were speeding -a lie- but we complied everything checked out but it wasn’t enough for him. he got out with his dogs to check my car then claimed they alerted him to cocaine inside. I knew this was a lie I complied. He tore my car apart, my black hawk bags, he broke the latches on my door handles tore through my bags while I stood there and did nothing. All he found was an asthma pump which belonged to my fiance who has lung disease. He claimed the pump was the reason for his dog alerting him. Then wrote a false ticket claiming he’d clocked us at 65 in a 30. I was due back to go to court in a month just one more thing they had no courthouse for me to dispute it in. The officers father was the sheriff and refused to allow me to file a grievance. I drove all the way back to this town for court and the said that the building they usually have it in was closed so they’d have it behind someones house the directions they gave me to get there led me to on old dirt road and no one was there so I drove back to the office but the police station was closed. I met a man a black man claiming the exact same story who was looking for the place they hold court so I took his name and number and got on the road to head back home. They told me the ticket was over half a grand and wanted me to pay it in cash at the police station or their judge would suspend my fiance’s license. The clerk also refused to give me documentation of the ticket and why it was so high…Long story short I never went back but I was hurt deeply to know this is what I fight for what I risk my life for. On a good day I had 500 brothers of all races. I went to III Corps NCO Academy at Fort Hood Texas you may remember last summer a soldier died in training. We were taught to keep an open mind to what another person is going through always! We all go through our struggles and have a reason for what we believe in. Thats what I would like you to understand. Can you see things from another person’s point of view before you pass judgement now that would make you a Great American!

Well, I couldn’t help but notice a few things about this e-mail. First, and I’m sure you noticed it too, is the lack of detail. Little things – like which state, exactly, this supposedly took place in. The name of the town. The “highway” they were traveling on. Kind of reminded me (and a couple of trusted advisers) of a certain movie plot.

In today’s political environment, not reporting this to people higher in the chain than the local sheriff or justice of the peace is a form of enabling the crime. By not reporting the treatment received, the “victims” become an implicit part of the crime, making their actions criminal in nature also. Not being able to file a grievance in the jurisdiction in which the action took place sure shouldn’t have kept this person from filing a grievance at the state level – whatever state in took place in. Also by not reporting it the “victims” have allowed the crimes to continue – by not blowing the whistle, they have told the people who are responsible for this activity that it’s OK, they won’t tell anyone…

To top it off, if it had been me, I would have been talking to the media folks as soon as I got to where I was going. The media types love to jump all over this kind of story – perceived mistreatment of the black folks, over-reaching Johnny Law types, keeping the law in the family, that sort of thing – in fact, it tends to lead on certain newscasts.

The physical evidence alone should have been enough to take to somebody who could do something. Gosh, I would think that broken door handles and damaged personal belongings would draw some pretty good fines, fees, and reparations to the victims, wouldn’t you?

I sent the person a reply, and have yet to hear back from her:

Good morning:

Thank you for your service. It is the spirit of those who serve that embodies what I stand for.

The posting stands – I am a “Bad American” because, unlike a very vocal liberal left group, I don’t believe that the United States is guilty of anything but being a free country.

I am not a lawyer. I do, however, have the nasty little habit of applying common sense and critical thinking to a situation.

Now, as for your episode: I sure hope you have more notes and details than what you provided me. And, I hope you took pictures of the damages incurred by this rogue lawman. Beyond that, I certainly hope you have filed charges in that state’s supreme court, and I hope you have been very vocal about the incident both in that state’s papers and your home state’s papers and other media outlets as well.

Without some basic information (the name of the officer, the date(s) involved, the name of the town, the name of the state, the time of day, the names of the people you spoke to/with) you have allowed yourself to become victimized. If you have all this information, you need to be sharing it with that state’s prosecuting attorney. If you believe that whole state to be involved in this very “Deliverance” -like scam, then the next level is the national Attorney General.

By standing by and not resisting at the time, you did the right thing. By standing by and not doing anything NOW you are allowing a crime to continue. If you continue to stand by and do nothing NOW, you move out of the realm of victim and into the realm of enabler – enabling this scenario to be repeated on others.

My prayers are with you as you continue to serve. My prayers are also with you as you move to resolve this injustice.

Cary

Let’s see how this develops, shall we? I get the feeling that it will be much like the time I tried to engage the “moderate muslim” a while back – no response, because there was nothing to stand on. I’m not calling you a liar, Ms. Nayas, I’m just saying there seems to be more to the story and I would love to see it resolved with you coming out on top, so to speak.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Well – here it is Thursday.

Last Friday, if you recall, I didn’t have a BlogTalkRadio show – I took the day off to enjoy time with TMBWitW and MEG. This Friday, I will be continuing the theme from the previous show, talking about my blogroll links on The O Word. Click here or on the blue BlogTalkRadio box in the sidebar to listen. Better yet, tune in on Friday morning at 0700 Pacific Daylight/Mountain Standard, join the chat room (you need an account at BlogTalkRadio to actually chat – it’s free to sign up for one), or call in at (347) 838-9573 and let me know what YOUR blogroll looks like. If I get enough participation in this, I might be able to milk use this subject for another week or so…

Be sure to visit my blogrolls – on the tabs at the top of the page, just under that beautiful picture of a sunset over the White Tank Mountains, click on the one that says “All Blogrolls Here” and you will, believe it or not, find all my blogrolls listed there.

Last night we had a good service – Pastor talked about Romans 9 in relation to witnessing or evangelizing. God will have mercy on those He will choose, and God will harden the hearts of those He will harden. Basically, it means that if you evangelize or witness to someone, and they receive the word, then the seed you have planted will take root and grow; if the person you are talking to doesn’t want to believe, then God has already made that person’s heart hard to His word, and no amount of work by man will change that. In other words, don’t beat your head against the wall of devout unbelief!

I’ll remember that the next time I try to talk to elroy…

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!