How to destroy a summer in one second

I am not a happy camper...quite literally and in ever sense of those words!!!  To begin with, I think you can all be extremely happy with the fact that I DIDN'T CUSS!! That might be a first for me. 
I'll set the stage.
It is June 21, 7pm at Lake Five and I am the only living person tough enough to brave the water.  It has been raining for 5 days but tonight it is warm with that wonderful heavy air that keep the glassy lake as still as death.  I have already skied around the lake twice and have swam 4 laps.  The lake is just so calm that I think- hey, I could ski again!  I don my gloves and life jacket, and grab my ski.  Stewart has backed the boat up and is swinging the rope around and around, just as he's done a million and 3 times before, preparing to let it go so it can fly to either side of me- almost always within arms reach- yeah, he's that good.   I usually don't even bother to watch because he can throw that rope to the side of me with amazing accuracy- like I said we've done this dance for years and years. For some reason I stood up straight and watched him this time... first mistake.  So there he is- a sort of cowboy rodeo slash water skiing rope twirler of the first order whipping that rope into an eye blurring frenzy-  he let's it go and before I can even react, the thing is headed straight at my head.  In my own defense, you have to realize it takes the rope exactly .00578 seconds to crack my skull open- I realize this too, so also in that split second of time I say to myself holy shizolah, that thing is coming right at me, well, that stinks, so what am I going to do about it.  I could duck but actually I don't think I have time for that. No, there must be a better option.  I do need the rope to be in my hands at some point, may as well kill (no pun intended) two birds with one stone and save a millionth of a second.  It takes more time and energy to bend over and pick up the rope so yeah, that's the solution, I'll just catch the rope that is coming at me with the speed and force of super sonic jet.  So I fling my hands up...second mistake... and BAM! Ouch and no I didn't cuss- honest! Oh ouch ouchie ouch!!! By the way, and be impressed- I did catch the rope- but I didn't hold on to it long.  I could feel huge pain in my left little finger- the same one I broke catching a very short low bad basketball pass.  (stupid girl) I look at it and it's not sticking out at a weird angle like the last time- I don't need to pop it back into place like the last time.  So because I have vasts amounts of knowledge and medical expertise and those are definitely the medical criteria for determining a broken bone, I thinks pfff- well that's good, it's not broken- I've got my stuff on so I'm ski-en!  It's a bit painful trying to put the ski on but I manage.  I hold the rope in my right hand and for a fleeting instant wonder if I could get up one handed...  don't let's be silly! So I firmly grasp the ski handle in both hands- ouch ouchie ouch shoot ouch.  I definitely felt something pop in my hand- right under my little finger. So like the practical careful person I am, I let up on two fingers and yell hit it. More ouchy shoot ouchness but I am up  and I am skiing.  Not my best efforts to cut some rooster tail! This thing is hurting.  I only go around once, darn it.  Back at the trailer I gingerly get dressed, and sit down to put ice on this bad boy.  After a half hour of that I look at it and feel around a bit.  I do not want it to be broken, so in my mind it's not.  Kurt and Stewart think differently- so off to the ER we go- at 9 pm.  Short story long, I show it to the Doc, he takes a few ex-rays and sure enough I have a boxers fracture.  Stangely the doctor walks back in the room and says "I can't believe it, you really did break it."  Hmm really?- that's why I'm here??  Shucks, I just thought we'd spend quality some time together talking about the crappy weather! No shizzzz Sherlock!  5th metacarpal bone broken horizontally under the knuckle.  He want's to know if I want something for pain.  nope.  Just tell me how long before I can ski again.  Six weeks.......SIX WEEKS!!!??? seriously?? I didn't swear-  I did say an F word- but fart is much better than that other word which actually I have only uttered twice in my life and really I don't know where it came from in those instances because I HATE that word!  So fart it was.  And fart it remains.  That Dr. made the mistake of not casing this broken hand.  He half cast it and wrapped it with a tensor bandage with velcro.  hehehe- pfff.... VELCRO! As if I can't escape from velcro!  I am giving it 3 weeks- 19 days to be exact.  Then I shall be skiing again.  Stewart is trying to conjure up and manufacture some kind of harness for one handed skiers that he saw on the internet.  Yeah,  like I want that thing hurtling at me! Nope- I'll just ski like an Englishman drinking tea..pinkies up and very proper and dainty like............NOT!
So yes- Camping this summer will see me with one eyebrow and Stewart will be doing the dishes!  Serves him right!
Here is a picture of the offending hand.  This is at the 1 week mark and counting.  The back of my hand is just yellow- so not as impressive.  I also have a rope handle shaped bruise on my arm.  Stewie may be doing dishes for a long time!

There is actually a name for this?? Go figure!!

Disclaimer- Some parts of this post may be gross- stop here if you don't like gross.  I am not kidding.

AND I AM NOT ALONE?  Oh my good gosh Miss Molly- I am stunned. Vindicated, amused and horrified- all in the same breath.  After years of being perplexed and aggravated, ashamed and weird, the light has been turned on and I am no longer alone in the darkness.  I am-are you ready for it-drum roll- an Emetophobe.  I have Emetophobia.  There I said it- I am out of the closet- or bathroom as may be more apropos.  For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about,  here is wonderful wikki's definition of my malady.  Pay special attention to the last sentence-

Emetophobia (from the Greek εμετός, to vomit, and φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear") is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting. This specific phobia can also include subcategories of what causes the anxiety, including a fear of vomiting in public, a fear of seeing vomit, a fear of watching the action of vomiting or fear of being nauseated.^[1] Emetophobia is clinically considered an “elusive predicament” because limited research has been done pertaining to it.^[2] It is considered to be one of the most common phobias in the world.<sup>[3]

For clarification, I think I fall into a sub category.  Fear of watching and or hearing the act of said chunk blowing.  I don't particularly love being sick myself but I don't freak out about it.  I wouldn't want to throw up in front of people either-  I have done that once,  when I was pregnant- couldn't be helped-  but it was Stewart and nothing seems to bother him.  He was raised on a farm- nuf said.</sup>

 One of the most common phobias in the WORLD!  Well isn't that special.  I was reading a fellow Emetophobes blog today (quite by accident) and something he said pricked my interest-  He said when ever his kids say "I have a stomach ache", he goes into fits of anxiety.  I mused to myself, "hhmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar."
I have always wondered why I get like this- why the flying part of flying doesn't scare me or really bother me- in fact I think blowing up in an airplane wouldn't be a bad way to go- but being in that confined tube with people who may or may not puke is more than I can handle and I have to take drugs-lot's of them- so that I am so hopped up on Adivan that I could care less what anyone does on the plane.   Why when someone says I feel sick do I get a buzzing in my ears and feel the need to run.  Why when my poor niece got sick in the back seat of a car did I scream for my sister in law to STOP THE CAR and frantically jump out of the front seat and walk briskly down Mayor Magrath drive to parts unknown. Like Wikki said- irrational!

I am remembering back to my wedding shower, when my pregnant sister in law got sick and had to throw up in the gutter beside the car while all the ladies at the shower stood watching her.  I couldn't believe that they all stood there so calmly nodding their heads and smiling like this was the most natural thing in the world.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I thought if this is what being married and pregnant means, that you hunker down in a gutter,  hurling your tiny shower sandwiches, cookies  and pink punch up for all the world to see, I want no part of it.  I almost called the wedding off right then and there-  Riding home in the car with that poisoned woman, who could at any moment, unleash this monster all down my back, was shear agony.  I turned my head to the window and tried desperately not to cry or hyperventilate.

I almost NEVER visit sick friends or relatives in the hospital. You can guess why- there are sick people in there.  Only when I absolutely have to visit- and even then I come and go, in and out of the room and watch them and the other patients like a hawk for any signs of stomach unrest, the entire time I am 2 shades away from a full blown panic attack.   I have been in the elevator with patients on gurneys who look pale and sickly, and I have almost had to tell them to move over, because I am having a heart attack.  When I was in the recovery room after having one of my kids- a lady in there was sick-  I got up yanking the IV tubes along with me and walked out of there- nurses trailing behind me yelling at me to get back in bed. Not happening! I attended the birth of my first grandchild-  I did fine until Whitney said she was nauseated.  FREAK!  Kudos to Whit for holding it in!  Whitney should know how much I love her because I stayed there, all the time wanting to run screaming from that room.   It was one of the hardest thing I have ever done.  I am proud of myself for doing it, but not ever going to do it again.  EVER.


What did you do when your kids got sick? You are all wondering that, I know (along with who blogs about this kind of thing? My blog, my rules...  I did warn you!)  Well God protects crazies in all kinds of wonderful ways.  For some reason,  I was able to deal with them.  I am chalking that up to God, because no other person place or thing has been able to fix this phobia.  With my kids,  maybe it's because they started out just spitting up, they started out as little tiny hurlers.  As they grew into large man sized, bring it from their toenails, the sounds reverberating off the bathroom walls pukers- well they know me and they try very hard to be discreet, quite, and they try not to announce that they are sick.  The strange thing is they were really good, at a very early age, at hitting the john or the supplied ice-cream bucket.  And if they didn't it was Stewart's problem.  One of the many reasons I love that man! Oh by the by- Stewart almost never throws up- and somehow, if he does, he is pretty darn quite about it. 


I hesitate to share this with the blogging world, because there are some who may use this against me- tell me they feel like they are going to be sick just to watch the freak out show-  ( if any of you DO try that, trust me, I will hurt you- I will find out what makes you crazy and I will use it to make your life a living hell)  But man it's kind of good to know you're not alone in your "elusive predicament."
This particular phobia raises it's ugly head in all types of circumstances.  Couple it with claustrophobia and yes, Erma Jean, you've got a walking talking freak show on your hands. That would be me!  I am wondering if there is a cure for this, but then I think- I've heard about people who are terrified of spiders or snakes being exposed to hundreds of spiders or snakes to "cure" them...  I just can't see myself sitting in a room full if helpful but sick folk, all throwing up to cure me of MY ills.  The thought of that is so utterly appalling and insane, I can not even go there in my mind.  Nope, probably just going to have to live with it, like so many phobia ridden people do.  My biggest fear is that someone I need to take care of, a child or a husband, a mother or father will get cancer and kimo therapy.  I will be utterly useless.  My hope is that if that happens, God will intervene somehow, like he did with my 3 kids.  I know that would be the only way I could be of any help to a sick person.

So there you have it, my fine peeps- the real and truly strange me.  I am apparently joined by many in the world in my fear.  We are a strange lot, human beings, are we not? If you are ever in my presence and you feel sick, please keep it to yourself- in every way!!!

Wow I was a Terrible Mother!!!

 I was reading a friends blog today about how she helps her kids be creative.  Hmmm... It started me thinking about 2 things- 1- my own childhood creative endeavors and 2- my children's creative exploits- or lack there of.  Being an old poop means you really do forget a lot of the past day to day stuff, but try as I might, I can only remember a few times I "crafted" with my kids.  I am ashamed to admit that when my kids were little they seemed to just play with toys and watch Mr. Rogers (I hated that show- that sickly sweet simpering man with his slippers and sweater made me want to gouge my eyes out, or his!) But the kids liked it and they liked Sesame Street too. ( OOOO that's a great "S" sentence-  sickly sweet simpering sweater-ed and slipper-ed man!! I must have osmosis-ed that from Sesame Street!) They never just sat like frozen lumps with their eyes glazed over and their mouths hanging open with drool threatening to spill out, hypnotized by the TV.  They were always playing with their toys and each other.  What was I doing?  Painting.  Every spare moment I got I used to watercolor and oil paint. SO now I am feeling like the worst mother alive.  I watch how my daughter makes crafts with her kids and feel guilty I didn't do that.  I did provide scissors, glue, crayons and play dough (home made play dough no less...does that count for anything??) and I think I even played with the dough with my kids on occasions.   Once I was really ambitious and bought a set of wood block tools and some linoleum blocks and we made block prints.  Did I teach MY kids how to paint?  Nope. I guess if they would have shown an interest I might have.  My only excuse is that I think I might have been a product of my own upbringing.  My Mom cooked and ironed and sewed and cleaned and my brothers and I were kind of on our own.  I don't hold that against my mom, (and I hope my kids don't hold it against me.) I kind of just thought up my own creative things to do, like drawing, making doll houses out of a shoe or kleenex box and junk laying around, making troll doll clothes by the hundreds, which is really funny because they were all the same...a rectangle piece of fabric with 2 holes cut in it for arms- a doughnut for a skirt and a "T" for pants.  LOVED IT!  I used to sit for hours drawing an A-framed house with all the furniture in it. But I was always playing at a friends house or playing outside, rain or shine, with the 50 kids who lived in our neighborhood.  Maybe it's too cold in Canada for that, and Moms need to figure out a way to keep their kids occupied.  We didn't watch TV during the day because all that was on was soap operas. No DVD's, no videos, but come 4 o clock we watched cartoons until dinner time.  When I got older, my Mom had me take a few art classes and one horrific modern dance class I can't even think about without dissolving into fits of laughter -hehehe- me and Becky Cannon, oh my good giddy aunt we were bad, but we had so much fun.  They actually, honest and truly, no word of a lie, had us pretend to be trees!! Can you see it- pre- teen/adolescent girls in training bras we didn't have any need for if you get my drift and leotards "willow-ing" our way across the floor. BWAHAHAHAH! oh this brings a chortling induced tear to my eye even as we speak.
My brothers were put in sports a bit- Scott played baseball, Wayne played football, and I can't remember what Cory did,  I got to go to tennis camp and I did become a fairly decent tennis player. But it was hot and I don't like hot, so it didn't last long.  I kind of think kids gravitate to what they like.  My kids didn't ask to craft.  Maybe I shouldn't have been waiting on them to ask- thus the guilt trip. But Whitney is one of the most creative people I know- she is awesome at so many things- sewing, cooking, taking literal crap from the dump or a garage sale and making them into incredible treasures.  She has an imagination and an eye.  She came with it.   I came with the artist in me.  It was fostered a bit by my parents but I seemed to come to it on my own. Kurt was amazing at sports.   He doesn't have a creative bone in his body, and that's ok.  Paige is a writer, singer and actress and when she want to she can draw very well.  I didn't make these kids- they made themselves.  I can't take much credit for them.  But they are all amazing adults, no thanks to me.  One thing they did get from me and that was a cheerleader.  When they did stuff, when they picked something to try, I was there.  Maybe that's ok too.  But try as I might, I can't shake the feeling that I should have done better.  Moms these days utterly impress me with the things they do with their kids.  Better moms?- probably.  Does that mean they love their kids more?  Nope, just means they have a different set of circumstances and different challenges to meet.  Does that mean I was a terrible Mom?  Jury is still out on that one.

And I am spent!!!

You may have noticed I haven't 10 on Tuesday-ed for three week.  This time every year I sort of hibernate in the art studio, and pray for rain, or snow!  Why you ask?  Well if it rains or snows then I don't want to go outside and it's way easier to make myself work. 
I just received the last email from my art director stating that she has all my photo shop files and original artwork, all safely in New York.  I have been photo shopping and painting for two months- Halloween, Valentines(yuck) Christmas and all sorts of everyday hang it on your wall stuff.  Flowers and abstracts and even people.  If there's nothing the buyers like in this package- they can go pound sand!! Today I am going to do what ever I want to do-  And I am starting the day off with a blog. Not sure what said blog will be about but being the natural born BS-er that I am - I'm sure I can come up with something. This Surtex show is a licensing show-  That means manufacturers of just about anything and everything you ever see in stores come to buy artwork to go on their products. Thus the Christmas and Halloween and Valentines images. One of my favorite things to see my art on is gift bags.  Why that is I don't know, but it always gives me a little thrill to see them.  Also I like it when they use it on plates and cups and rugs.  Some of the most lucrative manufacturers are the wallpaper companies. And of course greeting cards.  There... you just had a lesson in art licensing.

On Wednesday, Finn got his tonsils and adenoids out and had a bit more tongue clipping.  Poor little guy!   He seems to be recovering quickly and even wanted to go outside and play with the kids yesterday.  We had Roman and Oscar for part of the day and it was so hot outside we filled up the blow up pool and played in the water.  I just gave Oscar a bucket of water and a little cup and he was happy.  Works every time!

My art director wanted me to try yet another new thing-  Personalized prints.  I am not thinking this will catch on but we will have to see what the buyers say.  Personally I think it's kind of cheesy but I guess there are lots of people out there who like their names on artwork on their walls.   I can't imagine the headache of photo shopping names onto the image and shipping them one at a time!  Who is going to do that?  Certainly not me! BUT whilst discussing this adventure, said art director showed me sites on line devoted to just this kind of thing- tons of them.  Really?  All righty then.  So here are a couple of the images. Note I put Paige and Eric's names in there.  Not my cup o tea but we'll see.
                                    

I guess I'm just not the lovey dovey type so this doesn't appeal to me-  I could see this as a wedding present.  Young couples just getting married and having nothing better to put on their walls? reh- the jury is still out.  I'll let you know how it goes over with the buyers.  Usually the stuff I don' t like they love and the stuff I love they don't like.  It's been that way for 22 years!  I also did some for boys rooms- This one dedicated to my son in law Bradley Edward Davis. heheheh- maybe I'll give it to him for Christmas.  BWAHAHAHAH! Hey.... and Paige and Eric... here's your Christmas present- HEHEHEH- oh I am making myself chortle!!

 Here is one of the Halloween ones I did.  These tags have been a hit.  I did religious ones, Christmas and Valentines ones, and welcome and family subjects.  Fingers crossed the customers like them as much as my publisher seemed to . 
                                     
Enough of that.  But guess what just popped into my brain- personalized tags!! hmmm I'll have to discuss with the art director!  So yes- today I may just sit on my big broad bottom and read a book- I earned it.  So why, may I ask, is it cold and rainy today?? poop!

10 on Tuesday

1. I know I complained about not loving spring- SOOOO we went straight into summer!  It was 29 degrees yesterday- that would be Celsius for you Canadians- and about 87 for you Fahrenheit  foreigners.  It was darn hot! I swear I could watch the leaves growing on the trees-  There were no buds on the Apple tree in the morning and by last night there were little leaves. Not sure what the Aspen trees are waiting for- maybe they are the smart ones and know there is still a sneaky spring snowstorm yet to come.

2. A friend of mine facebooked yesterday that he was sitting in the airport waiting for his flight with his Ipod in his ears- He was so into the music and his Ipad that when he looked up and saw everyone staring at him, he realized he had been singing out loud.  BWAHAHAH! ok I have never done this because I don't Ipad or pod- techno challenged as I am, but I am sure that if I did have all those gadgets, at some point this would be me!

3. I am looking at my computer keyboard and wondering how it got so dirty-  I see lots of colors on those white keys, so I think I must have paint on my hands and then type and yeah, it's a yucky mess.  How does one clean this thing?

4. Today starts the annual dreaded painting of Christmas crap.  I know it's coming every year and still I put it off until the last second.  How many ways can you paint Christmas stuff??  When will it be enough? grrrrrr!

5. I have been riding my bike a bit when it's not windy- which is not very often, but I am remembering a few things...a. I am getting old, b. what goes out to the red barn must come back, c. farmer blowing on a bike is a tricky endeavor!

6. I am thinking spring in Vancouver is a must do!  I shall take more pictures this time though!

7. Does anyone know if you can find a list of keyboard commands for photo shop? I am thinking it would be nice to have them all in one place instead of going through a book and hunting them down.

8.  We started the annual cleaning and getting the trailer ready for the lake-  WHOOO  AHHHHH!

9. I am not as ready for the Surtex art show in New York as I would like to be- (refer to #4)  I had a hard time figuring out what to paint this year.  I usually have a better idea, but the creativity just wasn't there.  AND all I want to do is photo shop- but I made myself paint with real paint and canvas and brushes... until today...HUZZAH! 

10. Saw a good quote the other day and thought I would end with it...  

ixnay on the oloticspay-eh!

Well all righty then- I get it -nobody has the stomach to talk politics here. My, my... aren't we a bit lily livered? But I get it, folks- we'll stay away from controversy and world events. Not fond of the chirping crickets all week, so here you go, 10 totally safe subjects on this gray Tuesday.

1. Been spring cleaning and organizing the house. We used to move every 3 or 4 years, so there was always a forced dunging out, but we have been here for 22 years-wow great big stuff can multiply and replenish when you aren't watching!! Wish my food storage did that!!!

2. Speaking of food storage- does anyone else wish they could just buy a bunch of stuff and put it in the basement and never have to think about it again! That was the first of the de-junking rooms, and now it looks awesome and hopefully there isn't any food on the shelves that would kill us or give us some weird disease if we actually ate it. BUT, says I, if you ate something and it killed you, then you'd be out of here and you wouldn't have to worry about food storage. hmmm winner winner, canned chicken and boiled wheat dinner!

3. Can you tell I rather dislike the food storage process? I am going to buy some of the flash frozen fruits and vegetables- it lasts for 25 years if you don't open it. They even have flash frozen butter- UMM NUMMM! If I am still here after 25 years, I will then buy Ensure and live forever!!!

4. Stewart built me another shelf in my closet for shoes and it is a little piece of heaven- all my shoes are side by each and they all have a home AND there is even room for 2 more pair! WHOOT WHOOT. I am not really one of those people who lives for or love shoes- it's just your feet don't get fat and floppy like the rest of you so they always fit and they last forever and it's hard to throw them out, even when they house dead birds or you wear the same 3 or 4 pairs all the time. Am I right?

5. Been photo shopping again- I think I am addicted. But I promise, no more until May. I vill paint vid real paint and brushes on za real canvas and I vill like it!! grrrrrr.

6. True confession- I think I have adult onset attention deficit disorder. Not sure what else it could be, but 3 hours of church is starting to make me wiggly in my seat and I look at the clock a whoooole lot!!! By the time RS rolls around, I am ready to blow this popsicle stand. Does anyone else have this problem and is there a pill you can take?

7. I figured out another reason I detest spring- it's that in between, no mans land time of year. You can't really snow ski cause it's to warm and slushy, and you can't hike because it's muddy and slippery, the ice is gone so hockey is out, but you can't water ski yet or you would freeze your nay nays off, although I have skied in May. Once. Holy frostbite stupidity, Batman!! I rode my bike a few times, but you have to wait for unseasonably warm days or you freeze stuff like ears and fingers and riding by the thawing cow pastures can knock you clean off your bike seat. So yes, least favorite time of year.

8. Having dissed spring, I do like that the flowers get silly brave... stupid, but optimistically brave. They grow at the first taste of warmth but inevitably snow comes back and wacks them all to a pulp. Take that you eager beavers!!

9. Another hate on spring...It's birds in the house time again. Our mental pigmy, sorry excuse for a cat has captured and brought in 3 so far...2 she killed before I could get to her, so I just had to clean up the leftovers, but she nabbed a blue jay the other day. It was huge! She couldn't kill it and it buzzed around the living room like a jet fighter on crack. It came to rest in the pussy willow wreath that I have over my fireplace. It's probably out of date on the home decor front but I keep it for the birds...gives them a little taste of the outdoors whilst they are being hunted, and they have a place to rest before I catch them in the fishing net. Did I mention it was enormous!!! On the plus side, I did appreciate the blue feathers. Very pretty. Nice touch.

10. Ok my head is going to explode. I saw this on a girls blog and it made me laugh- Laughing is good, especially in these trying times. (Not sure why she gets away with political stuff on her blog but oh well, sour grapes) If you don't get the shirt, you need to get out more.
GO MITT!!!!

Deep Tuesday Thoughts

Thoughts on this Tuesday Morning are vast and deep. Mostly I got nuthin! I did read something that completely blew my mind and made me mad as a crazed hornet and I am not sure about sharing it, but it's been on my mind ever since I read it and as I watch things unfold through this new found knowledge, I finally see clearly. I thought it might interest a few readers- so here goes.
DISCLAIMER: my blog, my thoughts, my rules- remember?...proceed at your own risk.

I have always wondered why everyone thinks Obama is so intelligent when it seems virtually everything he has done had made things worse economically and divisively speaking. I finally understand that he is dumb like a fox. Read this and see if you don't recognize some patterns and validity here.

THE CLOWARD AND PIVN PLAN-

Using borrowed money for a band-aid bailout of the economy should seem backwards to most people. However, it likely is a planned strategy to promote radical change. Those naively believing that President Obama is simply rewarding his far-left base, and will then move to the political center, must wise up.

The assumption that Obama will need the nation to prosper in order to protect the election incorrectly assumes that he esteems free market capitalism. He does not. Rather than win through superior ideas and policies, the Democrat plan for success in the elections is to win by destroying political opposition.

Obama adheres to the Saul Alinksy Rules for Radicals method of politics, which teaches the dark art of destroying political adversaries. However, that text reveals only one front in the radical left's war against America. The Cloward/Piven Strategy is another method employed by the radical Left to create and manage crisis. This strategy explains Rahm Emanuel's ominous statement, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

The Cloward/Piven Strategy is named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Their goal is to overthrow capitalism by overwhelming the government bureaucracy with entitlement demands. The created crisis provides the impetus to bring about radical political change.

According to Discover the Networks.org:

Rather than placating the poor with government hand-outs, wrote Cloward and Piven, activists should work to sabotage and destroy the welfare system; the collapse of the welfare state would ignite a political and financial crisis that would rock the nation... [Emphasis added.]

Making an already weak economy even worse is the intent of the Cloward/Piven Strategy. It is imperative that we view the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan's spending on items like food stamps, jobless benefits, and health care through this end goal. This strategy explains why the Democrat plan to "stimulate" the economy involves massive deficit spending projects.

If Congress were to allow a robust economy, parents would be able to provide for their children themselves by earning and keeping more of their own money. Democrats, quick to not waste a crisis, would consider that a lost opportunity.

The Cato Institute reports that the plan will harm a faltering economy, intentionally causing increased job losses leading to increased demands for the aforementioned programs. Even the jobs to be created are set apart to render social justice, not economic revival. Robert Reich believes new infrastructure jobs should not go to white construction workers. Meanwhile, workers at Microsoft, IBM, Texas Instruments, and the retail market find themselves experiencing the life of the welfare poor.

If highly educated and trained workers continue to lose jobs and business falters as a whole, where will these jobless workers go? Could this be construed as revolutionary social reorganization that puts the underachiever above the achiever? Where is the future economic strength when jobless professionals collect welfare and unemployment?

Because these programs are financed with deficit spending, the effect of the Cloward/Piven Strategy becomes doubly destructive. Talk about a perfect storm! The Democrat stimulus plan is a mechanism whose goal is the destruction of the traditional American way of life. It is bitter irony that the American taxpayer will actually fund the destruction of his own ability to live according to the values of our Founding Documents. It is not alarmist to identify this situation as a coup d'etat.

As the flow of money from the top of the economy dries up, job losses and mortgage busts will mount exponentially. The Democrat stimulus plan provides for welfare expansion but not for a robust economy that creates high paying jobs. Is this what Obama means when he warns, "It's going to get worse before it gets better?" If we are not bailing out corporate America so they can regain profitability, we must conclude Obama is working toward another end goal. Recognizing these attack methods reveals the only logical response -- an unwavering wall of "No!"

I started looking at the things Obama has done:
1. A huge "stimulus" package and bailouts. The money went to a lot of government jobs and to jobs who pay union dues, and to Gm and Crystler- who payed big bucks to Obama's campaign, and teachers who also pay big union dues. Expansion of government and more Americans on government assistance. That and a whole slew of meaningless crap like studying the mating habits of fish and airports to nowhere.
2. He wants to raise taxes on the top 2% who are the job creators. America now has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Redistributing the wealth and rewarding those who do nothing but vote Democrat. This expands his constituency of voters dependent on big government handouts, as well as expanding unions and government employees.
3. He concentrated all his efforts to passing socialized medicine in the middle of a depression, instead of getting Americans back to work- Healthcare workers and hospitals are union due payers.
4. He more than doubled the amount of Americans on food stamps and increased the length of time people can be on unemployment to 2 years. Who is going to vote out their meal ticket in 2012?
5. He is for amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens- more people that can be put on the doll and counted on to vote for big government. Again, increasing his voting base.
6. 5 trillion added to the national debt in 3 years. How is that going to be paid back and how will the nation who has 47% of it's citizens on government assistance going to sustain the handouts? The democrats haven't passed a budget in 3 years! Harry Reid won't even present one to the house and senate.
7. His policies are hacking away at our freedoms. He wants the government to force you to buy health care, tell you what you can and can't eat or feed your children, force every employer to pay for contraception, regardless of their religious objections or beliefs, the list goes on.

I could go on and on- but I finally understand why he does what he does. I couldn't understand why someone who was supposed to be so smart continually made things worse with his policies, and at first I thought he was just inept and dumb as dirt but now I see he has a plan. I watch how he is dividing the nations people and pitting them against each other by inciting racial hatred and intolerance for religious difference, starting a fake war on women and vilifying conservatives, turning a blind eye to voter fraud and intimidation, and even weakening Americas position in the world. Siding with the Occupiers and pitting the rich against the poor and saying that the rich aren't paying their fair share. Pouring tax dollars into green jobs that fail. Stifling any real growth America could see by producing energy at home, nixing the pipeline from Canada-do you wonder why gas prices are so high and the dollar is plummeting? And when asked why he does what he does, he blames Bush or the republicans. How convenient !Never waste a good crisis!

America is on the brink of being totally and radically altered. This election cycle will be the ugliest in history, and that is exactly what Obama wants. Divide and conquer. He can't run on his record and actions of the past 3 years precisely because they are designed to bring down the country, capitolism and free markets. My prediction is he will run a campaign on divisive social issues and paint the republicans as rich, heartless people. Give a man a fish you feed him for a night, teach a man to fish, you feed him for his life Mr POTUS! He is handing out fish to break the country and it stinks!!!

Now having gotten that out of my system, I have to remind myself that, THANK HEAVEN, there is someone with infinitely more authority than Obama in charge and we would do well to Trust in God and his will. But I don't think that means we sit back and not educate ourselves or say "well I live in Canada- who cares what happens in the US." I have even heard Canadians say the US is getting what they deserve. SERIOUSLY? In this world of an interconnected global economy, we all should care- When wicked men rule the people mourn, and when good men do nothing, evil wins.