Friday, November 6, 2009

Richfields Finest

Nothing says good morning like a mind bending alarm going off, the alarm service speaking to you through the panel, messing up the password and having one of Richfield's finest at your door less than two minutes later.

All I can say is, DH messed up this morning! then I messed up a minute later. A nice gift certificate from Linden Hills Yarn would make it all better.

This morning I was jolted out of a peaceful slumber and RUDELY awakened by The alarm telling me that it was armed and there was an alarm at the back door, before I could get to the panel, the hideous beeeeeeeeeeeeeep went off, the next thing I knew I was standing at the panel and the alarm company was talking through it, saying there had been an alarm and they were checking on it.
(Really? I'm not quite awake enough, was that the horrible sound I heard? Huh.) I said that yeah, DH had forgot to un-arm the door and went through it to go to work. The person on the other end at APX asked me for the password, which I do know, but, yeah, said the wrong dumb word. I did not make it to my cell phone in time for their back up call, after I messed up the password and in less than five minutes from the time the alarm first sounded, I am greeting one of Richfield's finest, who was of course called by the alarm company to check and make sure I was okay.
AAARGGHHH! Yes, me in my nightgown, traffic on the street and greeting the officer at my door. Good morning to me!

The first lesson learned is, of course turn off the alarm. Second, DO NOT mess up the password and then of course there is always the act of waking up looking perfect like they do on TV (ha ha).
I know believe there should be an instant coffee dispenser on the wall by the alarm panel. A few caffeine depth charges would have been nice too.

Now the day is at a close, the panel is completely reset and I I told DH not to touch, I would arm it for tonight! He is more than capable, but after this morning, I really just need to do it myself tonight.

The happy ending to this is that I do feel secure and after a few years of having the system I now know the Richfield Police will be here before I know it if I ever do need them.

In knitting I am working on a cashmere magenta lace crop top and a scarf, which I am going to work on now.

Happy Stitches!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Commentary

In a world with over six billion people, who are all so different in all the ways of diversity and perhaps beyond, it is not to wonder how there can be such conflicts and disparity of emotions and beliefs. What brings us above the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to reason, negotiate and compromise.

Honestly, there is no easy out in this war, it began years ago and now we need to not only stand in it for the short term, but negotiate and work our way out. In the last two Presidential terms, it was Un-American to do and say a lot of things our founding fathers in their infinite wisdom, stated to be truly American. But history is unfortunately destined t repeat itself if we in our modern day wisdom do not learn from all that has gone before us. Look at every war we have had on this planet, what were they about? What did we learn? What came back to bite later?
To comment on that topic would take a book, not something I will do here!

One thing that is burning in my mind, that is not new to America, but seemed to become more pronounced in the last Presidential term, is the use of propaganda, or maybe some of us just noticed it more?
Did we not learn anything from WWII? How fantastically perfect did the propaganda machine work for the SS and the Third Reich? Look how it helped them to persecute so many groups of people up to and into the real goal of eliminating the Jewish population, it worked very well, millions dead, families ripped apart, horrible atrocities committed and sometimes with the help of the everyday people that had been brainwashed by same said propaganda.

Far too few people really investigate what they see read and hear in all forms of media in our lives. News flash people, News medias can be and are slanted in what they put out. You have to know where you can get accurate information and check it at more than one place.

With all the social networking out there, temperatures and emotions run hot with all the information floating around, and humans, such as we are do feel strongly about what we believe in. I have seen so many causes, using so many forms of media and even the ones we believe the most in can and do get caught up in the propaganda wheel. What most people do not realize is that those causes we add our names to, under the guise of petitions, go nowhere, they continue to circulate and circulate, the scary thing is if addresses are added, hm-mm, the possibilities for criminals there.

If someone sends me a video for a cause, I check out the whole story and all sides, I may believe in blind faith at times, but I do not want to be a victim to it. I will not pass on causes, I delete forward emails without reading; if you want to communicate with me, do not do it with a forward email. Nothing in a forwarded email tells me you are really thinking of me.

Propagating viral emails, videos, etc. is not doing the right thing for your cause, sometimes they are put out by other groups with hidden agendas. Now you are probably thinking I am in to conspiracy theories; let us be clear, I am not a follower of conspiracy theories, however, not all of those theories are far from wrong. Check your facts!

A few places you could go is to
http://www.politico.com/
http://factcheck.com/
and
http://snopes.com/
The first two are the places the professionals go and they are regulated for accuracy the third one debunks urban legends and is quite good as well.

I cannot stress enough, that no matter how much you are for a cause, and a video or some other form of media give you the spin you want, "To thine own self be true" check you facts before passing it on, unless you and you cause prefer to pass on lies.

If you really want to make a difference, regardless of how you and your elected public officials differ politically, you are still their constituent, be that small squeaky wheel in the wilderness! Call their office, set a meeting, be even more squeaky if they do not respond. They work for their constituents and making a solid rational case never hurts. Talk to all of them, go to the town meetings talk in a rational adult manner.

Remember, Rome was not built in a day, nor was any other city or cause worth standing for. If you live in Minnesota and yo do not know who your elected officials are, or how to contact them, hold on to your hats, because the State of Minnesota has a web site.

Here is the home page.

http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/jsp/home.do?agency=NorthStar

Here is the legislative district finder page, fill in the information and it will show you who represents you. Talk to these people, they have to know who is in their district and what those individuals believe!

http://www.gis.leg.mn/mapserver/districts/

This morning I found my own bit of information to investigate, why don't you see what you come up with as well.

In a commentary on Meet the Nation, it was said that the president of Afghanistan is on the CIA payroll so he will help us, Is it true? if so, when did it start? What if anything can or should be done about it?
And what was the relationship between Binladen and the US in the 70"s

Here is the Commentary from Face the Nation Today.

Watch CBS News Videos Online


I have been writing to elected officials and investigating the truth.
Would this money not be better spent here at home, keeping our roads and schools safe? How about that mounting deficit? Health care? Poverty? Children in our own southern states living in horrid conditions and going hungry due to joblessness.

Do NOT take my word for it, investigate all the things I have said!

I always do my utmost to be truthful and accurate, but I am human.

Presently I am knitting a lace top and a Fair Isle coat, pictures to come when I make more progress and speak of them more.

Bu the way, Keep knitting our worlds together and Happy Stitches.