Viva La Revolution!

I am not normally political on my blog. But I believe that this involves us all...
I got this "Happy Thanksgiving" email from Michael Moore and thought I'd share it with y'all. Whether you like or hate MM. Whether you have lovely health insurance or none. Whether you sit to the left or right of party lines. This is an interesting read. I know that I, for one, am sick of the insurance scams. We are battling with Aetna right now...something stupid with the words "preexisting condition" in them. Jerks! Power and big money corrupts. And insurance companies get their power and money from standing on the backs of folks like me. And you. Well...here you go. Mr. Moore says it better than me:

Last Thoughts Before the Turkey Comes Calling ...a letter from Michael Moore

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Friends,

As I head off for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a final thought with you about this past week's news regarding the health care executives who sat around that table in Philadelphia four years ago and decided on a course of action to, if need be, "push Michael Moore off a cliff."

Having spent the week reading all their secret documents (and the book "Deadly Spin"), it's clear that there was something far more scary to these companies than me.

They were, in fact, scared of you. They were afraid YOU would end up pushing them over their own greedy cliff.

Yes, they spied on me and my family in the hopes of finding something with which to smear me and my film, "Sicko." Finding nothing (sorry, guys, I live a pretty boring life), they then resorted to the old chestnuts that have been hurled at me by General Motors, the Bush White House, the National Rifle Association and others since my first film 20 years ago, and they essentially boil down to this:

"Don't listen to him! He hates America! He hates our way of life! He's not telling you the truth! He plays fast and loose with it! Patriots, don't waste your good money to see his movie!"

And it's that last message that's at the epicenter of their biggest fear. Back in 2007, these health insurance companies believed that if you strolled inside a theater showing "Sicko", their golden goose would be cooked.

They knew, according to former health care exec and whistleblower Wendell Potter, that the truth was up there on that screen -- and the LAST thing they wanted was for millions of Americans to be exposed to it.

Why? Well, we need look no further than the document containing their own secret directive on how they should deal with the movie:

"[We Must] Prepare for the Worst Case...SiCKO evolves into a sustained populist movement."

There it is. Their biggest fear. Their "worst case" scenario. That YOU, the American public, would rise up against them. I wasn't their worst nightmare -- you were. Their own research and private polling showed that you were getting fed up with how they were screwing you, gouging you, ripping you off, denying you coverage and flat out just kicking you off the insurance. They knew, according to Potter, that they were killing 45,000 of you every year simply by denying you coverage.

We Americans don't like people who kill us. We're the kind of people who will throw billions of dollars and the mightiest military on earth at just one guy because he killed just 2,977 people. What would we do if we discovered who's killing 45,000 of us every year? How fast would we act to sever the head of that beast?

You don't need to answer that question because the executives of the country's health insurance conglomerates already know it -- it's their big "What If", followed by an even bigger "Holy Shit." "What If the millions of average Joes and Janes ever got it together enough to bring us all down, to end our profiting off the misery of others? What If the citizenry one day begin electing representatives who couldn't be bought and who would end our for-profit health insurance racket?" Holy shit, indeed.

Yes, they feared that day more than anything else, and a movie coming out before a big election year with two popular Democrats pushing for some vague version of universal heath care was all that was needed to get Big Insurance to spend millions of dollars to attack me. These corporate kingpins knew they had pushed their luck too far and now they were worried that a movie -- a movie! -- could ignite a "populist movement."

All that money spent smearing me because they thought you would get up from your theater seat and start a revolution.

It's a great compliment to you. They fear the power you have. But that's 'cause they're good at math. They know there will always be more of us than there are of them. And unless they can repeal "one person, one vote," they know they are doomed. In the meantime they will try to maintain the power they have by buying off politicians, dumbing us down, distracting us with Dancing/Ice Skating/Drinking with the Stars and getting us so scared we'll acquiesce to having naked pictures taken of us at airports this Thanksgiving weekend. Over the river and through the body scan, to grandmother's house we go...

So let us give thanks today that the richest 1% begrudgingly know that we are still, on paper at least, in charge. It is, I believe, a glimmer of hope of what we could possibly accomplish in the coming new year.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Michael Moore

Let's grant some holiday wishes!

Wanna do something good over the holidays for some kids who will really need the help? Read on!

Most of you know that I have a big soft spot for children in the foster care system and do what I can to help raise money for one of my favorite charities, Kid's Charity of Tampa Bay. Through my great friends at Whim So Doodle we have participated in luggage drives, school supply drives and help to make the Kid's Krop a grand success in raising all kinds of crazy money for A Kid's Place, a special and unique foster facility in Brandon, FL. Well, this year our goal is to try to grant some holiday wishes of some of the kids who have "aged out" of the system. These are the 18-22 year old young adults who have spent a great deal of time in the foster care system and once they reach age 18, they are sent off into the world with little assistance. Can you imagine not having parents in your life to borrow money from, get advice from, borrow their car, go to in times of trouble...just basic "get through these first years on your own" kind of things? And I'm sure it is especially rough at this time of year to have no one to spend the holidays with or get a gift from? It just makes my heart break.

Some of these kids have asked for the basic stuff like iPods & Docking Stations, Digital Cameras, Jewelry, Bath & Body Sets, CD's, Games, Sports Clothing & Equipment, etc. But some have asked for life essentials like Bedding, Home Goods, Towels and Cleaning Supplies. If you would like to help in any way that you can, there are many options!
1-You can go directly to the Kid's Charity website and donate by using a major credit card.
2-You can purchase a gift card and send to Kid's Charity at the address listed on their website. Please mark it for the age group listed and put it to the attention of Head Elf, Nanci March.
3-You can pick up your items and if you are in the Tampa Bay area, you can drop them off at Whim So Doodle located in downtown St. Petersburg.
4-You can order items on-line and have them shipped directly to Whim So Doodle or to Kid's Charity at either addresses listed on their websites.

The Kid's Charity is a beloved and trusted charity that is VERY dear to my heart!! Whatever is donated to them goes directly to the kids. It doesn't pass go. It doesn't collect $200. It goes directly to the kids, who deserve in every way possible the love and caring we can show them!

Toss Ten Tuesdays

Holy Moly, but I have been a HUGH slacker! Not on the Toss Ten Tuesday project itself, but just about posting updates, photos and inspiration! I have remained on the path and my closets, cupboards and basement call all confirm this! After I had gotten rid of almost all of what needed to be weeded out in the main part of the house and all it's closets, I set my sights on the basement and some of the unopened boxes from the move. I figured if I hadn't opened them in a year, now was a good time to get rid of some more stuff. I was ruthless! It got ugly a few days down in the basement, but I got rid of at least 5 full boxes of stuff. Some books went to our church's fundraiser, some counted cross stitched works are now hanging in the church's nursery and some of the girls at work all have new bottles of nail polish. And of course, the Goodwill drive-through drop off site and I are grand friends!

I would like to tell you all how sorry I am that I have not kept up with posting about all the things I am getting rid of! I know and I've heard from some of y'all that you, too are still hard at work purging-purging-purging. For me, all it takes to get re-motivated is watching an episode of Hoarders. God bless those people, but thank goodness that this show is on the air to help people like me! It is always like a dose of cold water in the face, huh?!

I will share a couple of photos from the last few months that I've been secretly tossing ten! Lemme know how you are doing!


OK, this month might have been cheating a bit, because I tossed (more than) 10 bottles of nail polish. Normally I would count multiples like this as ONE item, but this month I was pretty sick with a cold, so this was as good as I could get! But, I will say this: I have looked at these bottles of OPI nail polish for months cursing myself for buying so many. See, the OPI brand of nail polish, while having a fantastic reputation, is terrible for my nails. The polish itself will wear off on the tips in a matter of hours and then my nails will get snags and tears in them in the days after. Don't know if it is me and my nails alone, but OPI just stinks for me and I continued to buy them because I LOVE their colors. Finally I had enough, piled them all into a container and made all the girls at work happy with a "free nail polish day"!


This month I concentrated on framed art work. Some were pieces were ones that I had hanging in my home a decade ago and I will never want them hanging on my walls again. Some were slightly sentimental and hard to part with, but are not something I will use anymore. Some went to Goodwill and the sentimental ones went to my niece and her sigo for their new home.


In this pile was a couple of lamps that I loved, but I figured that I haven't loved them in over a year, so to Goodwill they went. Also was some stuff for Kayla's room that never made it to the walls. Good bye to some totes (I have WAY too many!), a second blender, some rubber stamps, a really cool eggplant/bird ornament from Regan that I never knew where to hang, a corner shelf, some tubes of paint, a kitchen container that Charles got for something he couldn't remember and misc. stuff from the bathroom.

This "journey" stills feels good. Still feels like I am doing something that is good for my soul. And it has not once yet, never, been something I've regretted. I have not looked back over these photos and thought, "Oh, I wish that I still had that lamp." Or, "Where are those cake pans when I really need them?" Nope. Instead I feel a sense of lightness when I toss my ten things. I feel happy. I enjoy my space and the organization that has deeply rooted itself in my mind and home. And with only one more month in 2010 in which to enjoy Toss Ten Tuesday I am gonna make the most of my December "toss".

What will 2011 bring? I am thinking my next big tackling idea will be "De-Clutter Sunday". Every Sunday I'm gonna devote 1/2 of an hour to just de-cluttering those pesky spots in the house that seem to attract and hold onto junk mail, old keys, "notes to self", things to be filed that never get filed, recipes to be tried, brochures of places to visit, clippings from the Penny Saver, etc. Maybe if I openly devote a year to De-Clutter Sunday, then that too will enmesh itself into my routine and viola, I will be a de-clutterer. Who's with me?!

Rockin' in November

To this southern girl there is nothing quite like rocking on a rocking chair. My love affair with rockin' started on my Great Aunt A's porch. I can remember many hours spent rocking (or swingin') there and for me an hour spent with my hind end parked on some wooden slats are equal for most folks to an hour on a thearapist's couch. Nothing eases my soul more. So it is hard luck for me that I cannot sit on my front porch rocker for so many months of they year without risk of frostbite. I actually look out with yearning to my rockers and wait for sunshine. Well, lo and behold, today we had some good 'ole sunshine and I wasn't long to take advantage of it. I took the dogs out 'cause they'll soon be missing the sunshine too and we just soaked it all in this afternoon. The temprature was around 56 degrees with a very slight breeze, so it was perfect for sitting outside. I was amazed that here we are in mid November in Pennsylvania and here was the perfect day for front porch sittin'! The sun was just above the mountian tops and at it's warmest around 3pm and we sat outside for almost a full hour! It was amazing! The afternoon was mostly quiet with only the sound of the stream, Luna purring on my lap and an occasional truck headed up the road. Bliss!