I had two calls today asking me to give money to one of those police organizations. I told them I am not currently working and can’t give anything right now.

The first one said, “Well, thank you anyway.” and politely ended the call.

The second (for a different organization) said, “Well, we’re not asking for a lot. $25 could make a big difference for our cause.”

I told him that $25 makes a big difference in my grocery budget too. Then I thanked him and hung up. Don’t know why I thanked him.

By the way, if you want to give a donation that you can guarantee will be 100% used by your local police or fire department, give it directly to your local police or fire department. Mail it or bring it in.

Yesterday afternoon I took my almost five-year-old son in for preschool screening. It was set up in the gym at a local elementary school. Near the door was the check-in table, then there were several stations set up for testing communication skills, cognitive skills and motor skills. Each child was sent through with an aide. Mom or Dad just waited. My area has a large Hispanic population and bilingual classes, so there were plenty of bilingual aides available.

There were three parents and children ahead of me in line. The first needed a bilingual aide. The second was asked if she needed a bilingual aide. She said that they spoke English, but her child also spoke Spanish at home. She was given a bilingual aide anyway (I don’t think she was really happy with that, but accepted it).

This is where the story gets good:

The lady at the desk, hearing an accent from mother number 3, asked if she needed a bilingual aide.

Mom said, “We speak English. We are from Romania.”

Our area also has a good sized population of Former Soviet Bloc and Indian immigrants too. There aren’t any bilingual aides for those immigrants.

I just think it’s telling.

Oh, by the way, the little guy did extremely well with his testing. The expected scores were 10, 12 and 12. I’m not sure which score went with each test though. His scores were 18, 23 and 22. They told me that he’s “more than ready” for school. He’s gifted and there’s no gifted programs in the district.

The cut-off date for kindergarden is September 1st (you have to be five by that date). His birthday is in November. He can’t go to kindergarden until next school year. Now what do I do?

Have you ever had the feeling of complete peace and contentment. You see, I have all that I want. I’ll repeat that: I have all that I want. There is always more, always. If you have X, you can always have X + 1. However, you know you are happy when there can be no more to make you happy than what you already have. That is where I am, and I thank god for that.

Just thinkin bout my wonderful family and new baby I guess.

I posted this late last night and I have some more thoughts about it now.

Right after 9/11, shots of the World Trade Center, shot before the attacks, were deleted from many movies. The one that comes to mind immediately was a scene, shown in the original trailer, from Spiderman. The scene showed a helicopter caught in a giant web strung between the Towers. This scene was deleted from the movie. I thought, perhaps, they’d include it as a deleted scene on the DVD, but they didn’t. Wikipedia has a list of movies and and some TV shows that were affected by 9/11 here.

In some movies the Towers were digitally removed from scenes.

This has always bothered me. Why remove them? The Towers stood until a group of religious zealots, out to take over the world, destroyed them and thousands of people inside. Removing the Towers from the films made it seem as if they had never existed. That just wasn’t right.

That was why I was so glad to see the Towers in the Lost Episode.

How do you feel about this? Please leave comments, I’m really very interested in other’s opinions on this subject.

Cindy Sheehan has signed up with a speaker’s bureau to get speaker’s fees. She sure needs the money. She lost her job because she was spending too much time away from it. She told Cybercast News Service the other day:

‘cause Casey’s insurance money’s going to run out pretty soon.

Not only is this woman denigrating her adult son’s memory and service to this country (which is worth fighting for by the way) she’s using the proceeds from his very sacrifice to do it.

Mrs. Sheehan, I’m sorry for your loss.

I’m so glad you are not my mother.

See Angry in the Great White North and The Anchoress for more.

It was yesterday. One year blogging. I started this out on my own, then February 11th Jeff joined me here. So we have another blogiversary coming up…

One Year, over 50,000 visitors. Large Mammal in the TTLB Ecosystem.

Thanks to Chris at A Large Regular (owner of blogshares in this blog), Lorie at PoliPundit and Byrd Droppings, Betsy Newmark, Michelle Malkin, Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report, Ideazione (The Right Nation), The Anchoress, Jeanette and Newton at Oh How I Love Jesus, Matt Margolis at Blogs for Bush, Lady Jane at A Lady’s Ruminations, Laura Lee at The Wide Awake Cafe, Hugh Hewitt, LaShawn Barber, Mover Mike, and all the others who have linked to us.

Notice anything about this picture?

It’s a screen shot from tonight’s episode of Lost. Just a few seconds, but there.

Yes, that’s the World Trade Center you can see out of the window.

This is a flashback scene that takes place prior to 9/11/01.

Thank you Lost.

Welcome Byrd Droppings Readers! Thanks Lorie.

More thoughts here.

Via Ankle Biting Pundits

The International Freedom Center has been ousted from the 9/11 Memorial site.

Governor Pataki said:

“Freedom should unify us. This center has not,” Pataki said. “Today there remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the IFC and we must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world.”

Pataki said the Freedom Center could not occupy space in a cultural building located near the proposed trade center memorial, but left open the possibility that the center could find a home elsewhere on the 16-acre site.

The governor said he would direct the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. — the agency he created to rebuild the site — to explore alternate locations for the center.

The Freedom Center said:

“We are deeply disappointed that the will could not be found to continue the development of the International Freedom Center at this hallowed site,” the Freedom Center said in a statement. “We do not believe there is a viable alternative place for the IFC at the World Trade Center site.”

“We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end.”

Translation: If we can’t play with the toys we want, we don’t want to play at all.

Congratulations to Debra Burlingame and the Take Back The Memorial Foundation!

Welcome PoliPundit and Anchoress Readers! Please look around if you haven’t already…

There’s lots of stuff over at Michelle Malkin about the DeLay indictment. I’m under the weather so I won’t be digging deep on this for a few days, but here’s my first thought: If I’m running the DA’s office and I’ve got a solid case against one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, I’d want the prosecutor handling the file to be about as politically clean as humanly possible. I’d also make sure every aspect of my case was solid, and I mean solid, starting with a clearly written, unequivocal and highly persuasive indictment. It seems that the opposite is the case here, on both counts.

Time will tell whether DeLay’s charges of abuse of office against the DA turn out to be true, but at this point the prima facie case against the DA appears stronger than the DA’s case against DeLay.
Also, check out Lorie at PoliPundit, she’s on a roll……again.

Welcome PoliPundit and Memeorandum Readers!

has a new look...

I like it, I like it.