There has been a lot of interest in companies meeting at hotels and resorts. It seems that it’s not okay for them especially those who taken bailout money to hold any kind of conferences or meetings. The media has made a sport of finding out what companies are going where or doing what. I don’t think they give a second thought to the people that work in the travel industry. According to a Politco.com article, luxury or upscale hotels and cruises are at the top of the venues the firms are avoiding, and Roger Dow, president of U.S. Travel Association says news reporters have been found staking out hotel lobbies in search of fresh targets. While I understand that some may be upset that taxpayer money might be used for these trips, I don’t think that people including the President, are looking at the whole picture. According to the U.S. Travel Association, business travel sustains 2.4 million jobs, injects $240 billion a year into the national economy and generates $39 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue. Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the employees than the companies? What are the employees going to do if no one is meeting or traveling? Hours will be scaled back and potentially jobs could be lost. This is not fair. I really don’t care if a bank or any other company has a meeting at a ritzy hotel or resort. What I care about are the employees that the ritzy hotel or resort employs. I urge you to visit www.keepamericameeting.org When America meets, America works.
My testimony
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so thankful for this membership. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. I am thankful for the Atonement. Sometimes we don’t always do what we are suppose to do or be the people we should be, but we can repent and know that Jesus Christ loves us and cares for us no matter what. I know that Jospeh Smith was a prophet and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. I am thankful for the knowledge that families can be together forever. It is hard to put into words how I feel, but I know I am a happier person because of this knowledge.
100 Calories x 2
I am disgusted this week with what’s happening in Washington so I decided to take refuge in my room with the latest edition of The Weekly Standard and a package of chocolate covered cakes. So as I settled in to read, I broke out a package of the 100 calorie cakes. Obviously the cakes are enlarged on the package because they are teeny tiny. They are bite sized. Three bites and I am done. I don’t normally watch my calories, but instead of eating 100 calories I ate 200. I would much rather eat two regular sized cakes and be done. I had to exert more energy by going and getting another package of these 100 calorie cakes. I guess I should be glad that I only ate two packages, I could have continued to eat all six packages while I was reading about the new Treasury Secretary’s failed attempt at explaining the bailout situation or Obama’s newest addition to the Faith Based Initiative Board who has very close ties to the infamous Rev. Wright. By the way, the cakes were delicious and could only be enhanced by a Dr. Pepper.
WWJD
Okay so in this context it’s What would Jana do, but it works. The Pioneer asked in my last post what I would do if I could build a stimulus package that would work. So this is my challenge. I have been thinking about this and doing some research. I have looked at many different points of view on both sides. I think the one thing that will best help our economy is putting money back into the pockets of hard working Americans. Instead of one lump sum payment, the payroll tax should be cut. This will put money back into paychecks. It will help stimulate the economy by getting the public to spend. A lump sum payment especially now will probably go toward paying down debt or putting it into a savings account. I am sure there will be some that will spend it on something new, but not much. We saw this happen with the last round of Bush tax cuts. The object was to stimuate the economy by putting money in people’s pockets, that didn’t happen. Not only will a cut in payroll tax help out the worker, it will help the employer. It would reduce the cost of labor for employers and make it easier to hire new employees or avoid layoffs. I would cut all pork projects. However, I would like to see an increase in spending for education. We have to make sure our kids our getting the best education available. We owe it to our children to give them as many resources as possible so they will be prepared when they take over. We lag behind countries such as South Korea in secondary education. We need more emphasis on the basics –reading, math and science. Any ideas on how to get our economy moving? What would you do?
Seriously Folks…
What the heck is going on? Do the people that have been elected or in some cases appointed to Congress even know what they are doing? According to Nancy Pelosi, every month that a stimulus bill is not passed 500 million Americans (yes, 500,000,000) will lose their jobs. The last time I checked there are only 140 million workers so we will now have minus 360 million workers. How could that be? According to the Census Bureau’s PopClock as I write this there are 305,758,335 Americans. Is Nancy Pelosi insane? I want to say yes. The stimulus bill that is currently in the Senate is not a stimulus bill. It is a spending bill with every thing that the Democrats wanted to do over the last eight years, but didn’t get to do. There are doorbells for $100,000 in Laurel, Mississippi, there is a proposed shelter for prostitutes in Ohio for $1.5 million along with a dog park in Chula Vista, California for $600,000. These projects are just some of the pork that is going into the bill. How about $400,000 for prevention and treatment of STDs. Isn’t that already happening? Aren’t there already programs that address this? What about money for a no smoking campaign? Wait, didn’t the tobacco companies get sued and the money paid out was to be used to help people stop smoking? The majority of restaurants, malls, etc… are non smoking areas. Many states, cities, counties have a no smoking ban. I don’t think we need to give, I think it’s $7 million, for this. Plus in this bill many of the government buildings like the Department of Commerce need some renovating so let’s do that too. What kind of stimulus is this? None of these projects and there are a lot more like them are going to do anything to help the person that just got laid off or may be facing foreclosure. A wise Pioneer told me that this is a stimulus bill because it has stimulated me to write to my elected officials and say What the ….? Please, please let your voice be heard and write, email or call your elected officials. Let them know how you feel. We don’t answer to the government. They answer to us — the American people.
If you could do it over again
Recently I heard on the news that a 34 year old Wisconsin woman had enrolled in high school using her daughter’s name. Her daughter, who is 15, lives out of state. She said she wanted to relive her high school years. She went as far as trying out for the cheerleading squad and I think she made it. She was caught because she was truant so the school went looking for her and found her in jail. She was in jail for a forgery charge. Her scam was up. Some of the kids at the school said they thought she looked a lot older, but she acted like a high school kid. She will be spending the next three years in a mental hospital. It’s a rather sad ending, but it got me to thinking. If you could do it over again would you go back to high school? Although I enjoyed my high school years, I would not want to do them over again. There is too much drama. Plus are you wearing the right clothes, shoes, etc… Do you hang out with the “right” crowd? I was on the student council all three years of high school (my high school was 10th – 12th grade) and was active in other organizations plus was editor of the newspaper. Pretty good accomplishments, but I wouldn’t want to go back. I like where I am in my life. No do overs for me. What about you?
PBR Fan
Most weekends you will find me tuned into Versus watching the PBR — Professional Bullriding. I love it. My dad introduced me to the “Toughest Sport on Dirt”. I was home visiting my parents and my dad was watching bullriding so I started watching with him. I got hooked. Bill doesn’t quite get my adoration. He thinks it because I like to look at the cowboys in their Wrangler jeans and that is a perk, but I really watch it because it’s exciting to see if the rider can stay on the bull for eight seconds. In this sport, the rider and the bull are the athletes. The bulls garner just as much respect as the riders. The riders, although competing against one another, are really competing against the bull. These riders are friends and they root for one another. Another thing I like about the PBR is there is no shame in showing appreciation for the man upstairs. Many riders after each bull ride whether they rode or got bucked off will kneel and point towards the sky. This is their own way to say thank you for keeping me safe. It sounds funny to a lot of people especially in this part of the country that people would actually watch bullriding. It is one of the fastest growing sports, believe it or not. One thing that is funny about when I watch the PBR is the twang that I really do have comes back in full force. I guess I keep it pretty well under control, but when I watch the PBR, am in Oklahoma or my mom is around it all comes back. So if you are flipping through the channels and see bull riding listed, check it out. You might like it. Oh and thanks, Dad, for introducing me to the PBR. It’s great!
To blog or not to blog…
I have been thinking about my blogs and why I blog. I started blogging to keep our family up to date on things going on in our lives. We have lived on the east coast for almost 15 years while all of our family is out west. We sometimes feel disconnected so starting a blog was a great solution. Then I had this great idea that I needed my own blog which I just started a couple of weeks ago. I guess I just wanted a place to write because I really like writing. But now I think I have turned into a blogging monster. I want people to read my blog. I want people to comment on my blog. I know I have readers, but only a few comments. I have to admit this at times bothers me. I wonder who is really reading this blog. I think blogging has brought out this side of me that is somewhat insecure. I wonder sometimes if people are reading my blog and if so what they do think. Which leads to me comments. If you blog, do expect to receive comments on a post? If you don’t, are you disappointed? I know I have family members who read both blogs, but never comment. It makes me wonder what they think? I want comments. I think that most bloggers do. So this may be a pathetic plea, but whatever you think I want to know.
Things you might not know…
I started this blog to write about things I think about it and to rant about things that bug me. I thought it would be fun to tell you some things about me that you might not know. So here is a list of a few things…
- Life Member of the National Rifle Association
- Have one kidney
- Love baseball
- Fan of the PBR (any guesses?)
- Love Jeopardy
- Love Dr. Pepper
- Sixteen Candles is my favorite movie.
- Reluctant Debutant with Sandra Dee and Rex Harrison is my favorite old movie.
- News junkie
- Get teary eyed when the National Anthem is played.
Anything you are surprised to learn? Anything we have in common?
Roll Call
I have been noticing blogrolls lately. I have a blogroll on our other blog, but it’s more for convenience than anything. I can just click and I am there. I know that the blogroll is supposedly so others can discover your blog. Because after all that is what you want is for others to see your blog unless of course you make it private and that is whole other story. What are the rules of a blogroll? Are there any? Do you put blogs on the roll that you like even if you don’t know the person. I am assuming, yes, because that’s what all bloggers want, right? What if you were on a blogroll, but now you are not. What happens then? If it is someone you know, do you ask them about it and say hey, what’s the deal? I found this definition on a website about blogrolls – A blogroll is a listing of websites that often appear as links on weblogs. This list of links is used to relate the site owner’s interest in or affiliation with other webloggers. That sounds simple enough. Does anybody ever feel blogroll evny? Does anybody ever keep a count? I have to admit to feeling blogroll envy every once in awhile. I look at my list and then see someone else’s and I always feel my roll is smaller than their’s. I guess it’s all relative anyway. Hmm… what about comments? I guess I will save that one for another day.
