Keep On Truckin'

I'm sure this isn't going to go over well. I'm going to start out by correcting you on your celebrity gossip, my good friend, and then go into my own crazy rant about vaccines.

McCarthy and Carey never married. She was married to some other guy, they had a son, Evan, and Evan seemed to have autism quite badly. That marriage ended, then McCarthy and Carey hooked up and were together for a few years, while she was crusading against vaccinations. I know because I read her stupid book, "Louder Than Words." The latest on her is that her son was not autistic, but had Landau-Kleffner syndrome, “a rare childhood neurological disorder that can also result in speech impairment and possible long-term neurological damage." She has recanted her stance on the MMR vaccine but says that vaccines should be better researched.

I know a bit about this from doing research and trying to find way to help my own son. You see him now and outside of acting a bit squirrely at times, he mostly blends in with the rest of us. When he was younger, that wasn't the case. As a parent, you cling to anything that makes sense or can explain why your child won't look at you or talk to you. Why your child spends most of his waking hours screaming and crying, banging his head and flapping his hands, and communicating using only phrases you've read to him from books. Some parents look to vaccines as the culprit because we are SO heavily vaccinated now-a-days. There's somewhere between 60 to 70 vaccinations that little kids will receive in their first three years of life if parents follow the vaccination schedule created by the states.

You mentioned Wakefield skewing his research for profits. Well, drug companies (as you are well aware of) are HIGHLY motivated to nab as many of our dollars as they can--just like any other successful business out there. I believe if you looked through some of Glaxo-Smith-Cline's research, you'd need a fun house mirror to even attempt to make it look straight. There are vaccinations on the state recommended list that make no sense to give to kids, but they're there because some drug company lobbiest got their agenda pushed through thanks to a lot of mutual back scratching between congressmen, senators, and drug reps.

I know I'm marking myself for a crazy-tin-foil-hat-wearin' kind of image here. BUT, can it be denied that certain people have profited TREMENDOUSLY by pushing vaccines onto the public? My problem lies in being told I have to shoot up a bunch of untested crap into my children, and that if I don't, they won't be allowed to go to school. When you ask for the research at the dr's office, they don't have it. For some of the vaccines, the reason they don't have any trail studies for you to look at is because there are none. It seems like parents are just expected to hand their kids over, not ask any questions, and assume that because someone is wearing a white coat they know better.

I didn't go to med school. I don't presume to think I know more about medicine and how the body works than someone who studied those subjects for years and years. What I do think I know a bit about is common sense. If I don't have Hepatitis B, and I keep my new born infant away from having unprotected sex, sharing drug needles, and smearing infected poop and blood into open wounds--I am positive my brand new baby will be safe from the disease. Yet, it is a state mandated vaccination for all new born infants. My 11 year old son just had a physical, and it was strongly recommended he get his first dose of Guardisil--which is the cervical cancer/human papilloma virus vaccine. That particular vaccination is riddled with documented adverse reactions. Also, the death rate from cervical cancer is LOWER than reports of serious adverse reactions, INCLUDING DEATH, from Guardisil. Also, last time I checked, my son didn't have a cervix*. No. Common. Sense.

It's crazy, but some parents end up not trusting the drug companies over stuff like that. It's hard to feel like our precious poopsies are safe. If one shot isn't safe, how can we be guaranteed the rest of them are? We can't. So we do what we think is best. Some parents go the route of no vaccinations at all. I am fighting for being able to do only the vaccinations that make sense for my kids to get. It feels more and more like a losing fight.

I'm sorry your friend has whooping cough, but I don't think it's fair to put the blame on Jenny. Jenny McCarthy was a desperate mom, who thought she'd found the right thing to blame for her son's health problems. She was careless in how she got her message out, and failed to take into account that many Americans sadly have below average intelligence. (Just watch an episode of "Repo Games." It'll make you so ashamed of your fellow Americans you'll want to move to Canada.) So many in this country aren't thinking for themselves and don't realize it. When pretty famous lady with nice tits says vaccines are bad, America listens!

What was my point here?

I don't remember.

Know any good fart jokes?
* Guardisil is marketed to little boys starting at age 9 since they can be carriers of HPV and spread it through SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. Again--recommended at age 9. No. Common. Sense.

I loved Soupy Sales and wondered why he was so suddenly taken away from me as a child. Now I know.

What a great way to go, though.

Is the 17th okay?

You brat. I don't laugh at you. Go soak your giant head.

You are invited over for beers, dinner, and a movie over at our place. When you wanna do it? Chris'll make something awesome.

I was having the same struggle this year. It felt like going through the motions, trying to fake it till I could make it. Having kids helps, because you do it for them. But it was my first Christmas with no family around--my sister's in Utah, my parents in Missouri, my cousins and most of the rest of my family are there, too. Chris seemed to take offense when I'd get sad that it would be just my boys and him. But, I'm used to great, big family gatherings. And, I'm used to my Grandma being there, even if I'm not. So, this year is also the first year that I don't get a Christmas card from my Grandma, with one of her funny letters in it. With the people that I usually spent the holidays with scattered around the country or gone, it's hard to forge ahead and make it on my own without them--because I haven't figured out how yet.

Wanting to do nice things for other people for no reason doesn't make me an overly liberal hippie. It just means I'm NICE. Or maybe it makes me incredibly selfish because I feel so good when I do nice things for other people when I don't have to. (Which--if I'm being selfish, wouldn't it make me Republican? Yeah--I can generalize, too, to back up my unfounded statements.) You can be a nice person with out it implying your political persuasion. So, there.

There are an equal number of uninformed people on both sides, Chris. And for you to claim that one side has more than the other shows your own lack of objectivity. You accuse Democrats of being outraged at Republicans simply for being Republicans, when it looks like you are becoming outraged at Democrats for being "Dem." In your brain you have lumped all Democrats into this fish-with-spotted-asses-saving group of self-righteous fart smellers, and that's no more true than your own assumption that ALL Democrats think that ALL Republicans are evil money grubbing self-preservationists that don't give a crap about anyone but themselves and keep their youthful glow by moisturizing with Mexican baby tears. Take a step back and look at the three fingers pointing back at you.

And don't refer to me as "overly liberal." I know that in your mind what that translates to is "self-righteous dumbass." Don't lump me in with your inaccurate and biased take on what it means to be liberal or Democrat. I'm uninformed, and I know it, and I tell you. I can never hold my own with you in a political discussion, nor do I have any delusions that I will ever be able to. (I guess I'm not OUTRAGED enough to care and therefore educate myself.) Also, during this past election, I never adopted the platform of My Obama, Right or Wrong--and you seemed to come at me with the assumption that I did.

You most always have valid, reasonable points when you talk about his, but you lose ground when you generalize. You've been able to get me to see things differently and to check my own prejudices when it comes to politics. You did it logically and rationally without name calling. If you'd come at me a few years ago sounding like this--I'd have just thought you were cranky because your shipment of Baby-Tear cream was late.

Aw, babe. You gotta speak up when you feel this way. I'll put on my heels and stand on a chair so you don't have to crane your head so low kiss me-- and, I'll hand you a beer down from high.

I can't explain to you the mechanics of how it works. I only know it does. If you just try it ONCE you would see-make that smell--No--NOT smell, that I am-as I am in most things-right.

And I would like you print a correction. It is not my #### that does not stink. Merely my farts (when released through my patent-pending method) that don't stink.

P.S. Boo-yah.

How is it that MaryEllen got mud on her face and you didn't? (That is my favorite one, by the way.)

That must have been so hard to sit back and let him fall. But, you did the right thing. If you tried to give him council and all he was looking for was a hand out--not much you could do. You're a strong man, Jim.

One thing I'll miss about the show--comfiest costume EVER. I didn't have to wear pantyhose! What a treat! And I guess I'll miss the people and the what-not and the yadda yadda. Yeah, yeah. Sure.

And, you and M.E. are what the rest of us aspire to. It's good to know that that kind of love is out there between two people.

So-when can Chris and I come over and fart in your hot tub?

Here's a link to that "two dudes and a lion" reunion. It's extremely cheesy. Corny. Hokey. And. . . I get little choked up every time I see it.
https://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=10849410

I just recently tried to revive dry beans with soaking, but failed. They still ended up a tad crunchy. I made the kids eat them anyway and put on a happy face while I crunched away with big a smile and a loud "Mmmmm!" It was only only my second attempt at soaking beans, and I haven't tried the crock pot yet. I alway forget about the crock pot. It will be used next time. Thanks for the reminder/tip!

I wrinkled my nose at first when he said he was going to fry it. Then, I thought, "as long as I don't have to cook it . . ." Also, everyone I talked to said it's the best turkey you'll ever have. I ended up being sad we couldn't do it this year. We'll budget for it next time!