Happy Mother's Day!

My Mom Kathy!

May 13, 2012, the second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day in the following countries: Canada, United States, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Taiwan, and Turkey. Other countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day on different dates in May or in other months.

What all the countries have in common is the celebration of Mother’s and I am so glad for mine. This year, my mom will have celebrated Mother’s Day fifty times, as my mom. Her first one was spent away from her mom, as she was the wife of a sailor.

I call her, the married “single parent”. My dad would be aboard ship for months at a time, so she had to raise me on her own when he was at sea. This was definitely not an easy task when her family was far away.

It is a wonderful gift that we women are given when we become mother’s ourselves. For some women, it is baptism by fire, becoming a step-mom, or for a grandmother to become a mom again raising their grandchild(ren). I remember my mom visiting with me shortly after my son was born and sharing an “arrowroot cookie” tradition – Arrowroot cookies, tea and some wonderful conversations.

Becoming a mom myself took my relationship with my mom to another level we had never experienced before. I understood on deeper level all that my mom had done for me and those that she didn’t do so that I could learn from my own mistakes.

That is the true testament of a loving parent, knowing that as much as she wanted to stop me from erring, I needed to grow up and learn how to pick myself up. But no matter what, I knew that my mom was never far away and she would always be there to help when I asked for it. These are the lessons that I learned from my mom and are they are priceless gifts.

I remember when my son turned 18 and I was talking with my mom joking around with her saying “I feel so old my son is 18” and she said “what are you complaining about; I have a daughter who is 40”.

So on Mother’s Day, spend time with your mom, call your mom if you can’t and share your favorite memory of her. Do you know a mom, who is on her own for Mother’s Day, invite her to join your family time. Do you know a family who is without their mom for Mother’s Day, invite them to join in your family time

So Mom, Happy Mother’s Day and thank you for being my best friend!

Review: Lenny's Sub Shop

If you're looking for a really good sandwich, I've a place for you to go.

Lenny's Sub Shop at 3299 South Broadway Englewood, Colorado is worth the stop.

For a little bit more than you would pay at Subway or such, and you'll get a much better tasting one, that's a tad bigger as well.

You can watch them slice the meat and cheese, for each sandwich they make.

Not in the mood for a sub? How about one of their soups? They're made fresh daily.

Lenny's is as clean as can be for a food place, and the staff is also really friendly and fun.

Remembering: King George VI

On May 12, 1937 King George VI is crowned king of the United Kingdom.

His brother King Edward VIII abdicated on December 11, 1936, so that he could marry a divorced American woman.

Edward was the first English monarch to ever give up the throne voluntarily.

George had a speech impediment that he worked hard on to overcome. And overcome he did.

During World War II, George and his wife stayed in bomb damaged London, so show solidity with the people. He gave regular radio broadcasts to boost morale throughout the war.

In 1939, King George became the first English monarch to visit the United States and Canada, and after World War II, South Africa. Planned visits to Australia and New Zealand had to be canceled in 1949, when he became ill.

His illness did not keep him from his duties, and he kept doing them until his death in 1952.

Colorado Prom Broken Up With Lysol

Two moms who were chaperoning a high school dance are accused of spraying Lysol at students who were 'dirty dancing'.

The Manitou Springs High School prom was being held at the City Hall, April 22.

Police were notified when one of the students walked across the hall to the police desk and filed a complaint.

Students say that the spray got into their mouth and eyes, and that some of them were forced to leave.

The incident is under going further investigation to determine what actually happened. None of the students were injured, and only one of the eight is pressing charges.

Mayan Calendar Goes to 2012 and Beyond

A recently discovered dig in Guatemala shows that the Mayan calendar goes well beyond December 21, 2012.

Archaeologists believe the site to have been the home of a scribe or possibly even one of the Mayan astronomers.

On one wall, was painted a calendar. What made this specifically significant was that it didn't end with Baktun 13, but with Baktun 17. Four more Baktuns would add nearly 1600 years.

It is worth noting that the calendar does seem to put special significance to the end of Baktun 13.

National Geographic will be releasing more information on the dig in a future publication. So far they believe they've only uncovered less than a percent of what's there.

Worst Attacks in Syria Since Uprising Began

Thursday saw the worst attacks in Syria since the uprising began in March 2011.

At least fifty-five people were killed, and over 400 injured in dual suicide bombings in Damascus. Aleppo also saw a deadly explosion.

The Syrian government was quick to blame international agents for backing the bombings. Russia also suggested that foreign powers had a hand in it.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar responded by demanding that the rebels be armed. And the rebels blamed the Assad regime for planning the bombings to make the opposition look bad.

Some opposition groups have accused the government of planting bodies at the scene of the explosions.

Illegal Immigrants Found on Florida's Voting Rolls

Florida may remove as many as 2,600 (and counting) illegal immigrants from their voter rolls. It’s a slightly different situation here than what’s being fought by the U.S. Justice Department, who is trying to fight a bill being pushed by the GOP to require state issued ID’s in order to vote. GOP legislators said they pushed some of the changes in order to crack down on potential voter fraud.

Somehow, here in Florida, illegal immigrants are legally obtaining drivers licenses. The Division of Elections spokesman Chris Cate said:

“We're not talking about illegal immigrants who are getting on to the voter rolls. In this case, we're talking about people who have legally gone through the process with Highway Safety to obtain a driver's license, which is absolutely okay for a non-citizen to do, but they can't register to vote”.

I’m not sure if he’s referring to DMV employees handing out licenses to illegal’s against the current state’s laws, as we’ve seen in the past, or if Florida has a policy of allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a license. Either way, it’s ridiculous. Florida law requires voters to be a US citizen residing in the state.

The Duval County Supervisor of Elections, Jerry Holland, said they’ve seen indications where people who’re ineligible to vote but have voted, have been on the voting rolls for at least eight years. A spokesperson for the Department of State said a list was handed out of people with driver’s licenses that appear to be illegal aliens. If these voters are confirmed as illegals, their names will be dropped off the voter rolls. One person from Hillsborough County registered to vote in 1959.

The probing into whom is eligible to vote has been a daunting task for Florida in the past. In 2004, an attempt to remove felons from voter rolls was stopped after some saw that the state's list had problems. The database is supposed to check the names of registered voters against other databases; including people who've died, sent to prison, etc.

A spokesperson for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said that prior to last year there has been no safety-net checking if registered voters had a driver's license, let alone citizenship. Legally-visiting non-citizens are allowed to obtain a driver's license, however those who've entered here illegally or whom have allowed their visa's to expire, are not.

Almost four years ago, Barack Obama took the state of Florida with over 200,000 votes, and won 28 of 50 states (57 states, if you're an Obama '08 voter). How many other states have similar issues? As most of you who follow politics remember, the 2000 election was decided by 537 votes. This list from Florida is only a portion of a list that contains as many as 140,000 names, if not more. The investigation is still ongoing.

There needs to be a requirement for voters to have an updated ID, as the GOP suggests, but we also need to make sure we aren't handing out ID's or driver's licenses as quick and blindly as this administration hands out food stamps.

Russian Troops to Train in Colorado

In a historical first, Russian troops have been invited to the United States to hold joint anti terror drills.

Between May 24 and 31, a unit of Russian paratroopers will be at Ft. Carson, near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Russian soldiers will be trained on US weaponry, equipment, and in American tactics.

On the 27th they'll get a day off to be tourists in and around Colorado Springs, including a Sky Sox, AAA baseball, game.

Remembering: The Transcontinental Railroad

April 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah Governor Leland Stanford of California takes a golden spike, and pounds it into the rail line, uniting a rail line from sea to shining sea.

In the 1840s the United States Congress began looking into how to support the creation of an intercontinental railroad. Agreements on location always hung it up. Northern and Southern politicians argued over where it should be located

Then in 1861, the debate ended as the Civil War began. The North was quick to approve a route from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. And to help it further, Congress passed acts that rewarded companies for building the rails.

In response the Central Pacific railway began building east from Sacramento, and the Union Pacific started west out of Omaha. The Union Pacific had the easier job, with most of their route across the plains, they were able to do up to a mile a day. Building rails through the Sierra Nevada Mountains proved a much tougher job for the Central Pacific.

Strive and succeed both sides did, and in March 1869 the two sides were almost linked. They slowed down to give time for politicians to arrive, and when all was set on April 10 they were officially linked. A journey that had used to take three months, could now take a week.

Westward expansion only grew, as now millions poured across the country. America had survived the Civil War, and now was linked by easy travel. Only politics could ever divide her again.

Calm Down About Bachmann

Between writing articles today, about various things, a headline on Facebook caught my attention. "Michele Bachmann must immediately step down", with an added bit about how she took Swiss citizenship. My curiosity thus awakened, I saved it in my bookmarks, finished the article I was on, and then went to read.

What I found was an article by Lori Stacey, on the Examiner. It was a clearly angry, semi well thought, rant against Bachmann. The gist of it was that Bachmann is a traitor, and whilst I didn't see mentions of tar and feathering, I definitely got the feeling Stacey left that out because it didn't cross her mind.

Then I did a really silly thing. I continued on to look up what actually happened. You see Bachmann didn't seek out Swiss citizenship for herself. Shocker!

In reality, Marcus Bachmann (Michele's husband) filed for dual citizenship, for himself. As his parents moved to the US, from Switzerland, after getting married and then raising their family in Wisconsin, he was eligible for it. Michele and their three youngest children (the older two have to apply on their own), received dual citizenship, based on Swiss law that automatically gives it to spouses and minors.

As Bachmann spokesperson Becky Rogness said, "Congresswoman Bachmann's husband is of Swiss descent, so she has been eligible for dual-citizenship since they got married in 1978. However, recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family."

Michele Bachmann has not in any way officially switched her allegiance to Switzerland. She did not seek out Swiss citizenship for herself. That her family visits there should not be a big deal. Thoughts forbid that the Bachmann family be forbidden from visiting family, and seeing when their ancestry came from. The horror of such. Should we start an outcry if she leaves Minnesota to visit family in Wisconsin?

To Lori Stacey, and everyone else I've seen demanding Bachmann step down over this: Please! Stop being so ridiculous. This isn't even an actual issue. There are lots more things that actually matter, that are of great and significant importance.