GO FIND SOMETHING TO DO, MOMMY IS VERY BUSY

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!  2010 starts today.  Really.  This year I’m trying something a little different with my resolutions, forming them based on the success of past resolutions.  Here are my top 10 resolutions for 2010.

1. Gain 20 pounds.

2. Broadcast my every thought on the internet.

3. Ignore my family and responsibilities.

4. Lose stuff.

5. Dwell on the negative.

6. Laugh at you behind your back.

7. Run my mouth.

8. Spend money on cheap junk from China.

9. Start stuff.

10. In every situation, ask myself “What would Jesus do?” then just do nothing.

I really think with a little focus and Valerie Bertinelli’s help 2010 will be the year I finally get my act together.  Have a great 2010 everyone.

JOY TO THE WORLD

I defy you to find a more beautiful and true blog today. Hot Air’s Doctor Zero, “If you believe Christmas is a superstition, you can at least wish that all of humanity’s superstitions were as beautiful.”  Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.

Continuing the theme of highlighting my heroes, visit Doctor Zero’s new blog.

TREACHABLE MOMENTS

The new year is bringing new awesomeness for the right side of the blogosphere!  The news aggregate whatchamadoodle Tucker Carlson has been working on since 1964 is due to launch on 1/11/10, like seriously this time!  And since it now promises to be the right’s answer to HuffPo I already intended to, cautiously, give it my full support.  (That means I would make it my homepage and not publicly say it sucked.) 

Well throw cautious out the window, Becky, because “Jim Treacher” is on board.  Everything will be just fine, especially the satire part which is the most important (no, it’s not).

Two years ago I’d never read a blog.  I knew about HuffPo, and I knew they stank.  When I finally discovered the right side of the blogosphere I felt like I’d come home to momma, and frankly, ”Jim Treacher” is kind of my momma.

Except it turns out “Jim Treacher” is Sean Medlock.  Yeah, I know, it seems like he should be bringing your dad a new oxygen tank huh?  Not so much, Treacher has been plugging away in blog hell for 8 years.

In all seriousness, this whole site is often just a bad ”Jim Treacher” impersonation.  Everything I know about digging your heals in like a dog with a bone when you undoubtedly know YOU ARE RIGHT I learned from Treach (and my dad).  For example, my current crusade against this dreadful soul.  The Playboy hate-f*** list also comes to mind.  Treacher is hilarious, intelligent and most of all a gentleman, and I can add him to the short list of people I would follow into cyber/political hell.

I know I speak for like at least 5 other pissant bloggers of my caliber when I say, “When I grow up I want to be “Jim Treacher”… or Iowahawk.”  Politics can be a cynical, depressing place, so it’s nice to see a deserving soul finally get his due.  From the bottom of my electronic heart, congratulations Whatshisname.

MY JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

This is the deal.  I was asked to write a devotion for the advent booklet for my mother’s church.  (Yes, I have a mother.  The views expressed on this site are not necessarilly those of her, the rest of our collective gene pool or major league baseball.  Go Cubs!)  I usually try to leave Jesus out of this blog for the same reasons I don’t have Christian bumper stickers on my car.  I’m not remotely the best representative.  The Biblical figure I relate the most to is Mary Magdalene (or Judas depends on the day).  However, I can’t imagine going through life without the undeserved strength I get from Jesus Christ.  Frankly, I’d be dead or at the very least wish I was dead. 

My relationship with Christ has wavered a lot in my life, but one thing I have always understood is that every life, no matter how it looks from the outside is plagued with challenges, tribulations and circumstances that just aren’t fair.  Everyone has a cross to bear, EVERYONE.  Our hearts break to see a cancer patient, disabled person or anyone with an obvious physical challenge in the grocery store, for example.  They receive instant compassion, and rightly so.  But we should remember the “normal looking” person right next to them may be bearing an equally devastating burden we can’t see.  Addiction, mental illness, abuse or a million other things.  Sometimes the invisible crosses are just as heavy as the ones we can see. 

While doing press for ”Passion of the Christ”,  Jim Caviezel was asked if he was concerned the controversial role would ruin his career in secular Hollywood (paraphrasing).  His response was simple and has stuck with me.  He said, “In life everyone has a cross to bear, and you can either pick it up and carry it or be crushed by the weight of it.”  I’ve shared this with non-believers on several occasions as well, and even they could see the truth in it.  Lucky for believers, we take comfort in the knowledge we never bear our cross alone.  The greatest Christmas gift was the first one. 

Clearly, the core message of Christmas is that out of God’s unconditional love for us he sent compassion, forgiveness, mercy, hope and most importantly, salvation in the form of a truly perfect little baby.  God invented symbolism, and he is really, really good at it.  I love that He used the international symbol of innocence, a child, to conquer sin. 

There can be no greater gift than salvation, but Christ also comes with another gift.  A gift I can’t imagine walking through this world without.  Strength.  With Christ we have the strength to bear ANY burden that is placed on us.  We also have the assurance that no burden will ever compare with the one He bore for us.  I don’t know about you, but that knowledge gives me truckloads of peace.  That peace everyone is looking for is right underneath our noses.  It’s in our hearts.

How can we begin to thank God for the greatest gift of all?  I think by picking up our crosses and carrying them, and maybe opening our eyes to the burdens our brothers and sisters are bearing as well.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. _John 1:12-14

BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GOES MADISON MCGRAW

Madison McGraw is a former paramedic turned fledgling novelist who lives in a giant house made of glass, bitterness and judgement.  And pouring salt in the wounds of a grieving mother has made her more popular than ever!  So funny how things work out like that.

On the evening of December 14 I, like many others, was horrified to learn via twitter of the tragic drowning death of a 2-year-old boy from a military family in Florida.  I skimmed the twitter account of the child’s mother, then felt creepy about gawking at the tragedy of a stranger, despite the fact that she made it public.  I did think it was weird she would be tweeting about something like that, but to each his own.  There was a tweet asking for prayers for her son who fell in the pool and later on a twitpic of the child who was, at this point, clearly and sadly deceased.  I checked on my own children, literally nestled snug in their beds and counted my blessings.  I then went to bed disturbed and wanting to pray for this family I didn’t know, but not knowing what to pray for.  While, “God grant them peace and strength” was probably the most appropriate, it seemed empty.

Meanwhile, Madison McGraw was already calling the whole thing a hoax.  Since she clearly enjoys drawing conclusions from complete strangers twitter timelines let’s have a gander at her’s. 

@Florida_Today are there any reports of 2 year old drownings in FL? @military_mom claims her son died yesterday & is tweeting it 5:54 AM Dec 15th from web

@jessiesmom8 I called FL paper and reported “story” – hate to see people on Twitter being used for donations/publicity 5:58 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to jessiesmom8

@AmyB11569 Remember the Balloon Boy Hoax? Who would be tweeting the death of their child? Where is the news story? Re: @military_mom 6:02 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to AmyB11569

I do remember the balloon boy hoax.  I remember holding my judgement until law enforcement reported it as a hoax.  I remember thinking I’d rather err on the side of compassion over cynicism.

@crazyadventures Uh, @military_mom isn’t keeping her story PRIVATE by giving a Twitter play by play. 6:04 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to crazyadventures

That’s very true.  I reckon she’s learned her lesson.

@brandibest Wait, you don’t call announcing your child’s death on TWITTER callous? Hope no one is sending donations w/o verifying. 6:07 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to brandibest

@chrisbrogan no one has been able to verify @military_mom story. Do you have actual news verification or is this viral unconfirmed story? 6:13 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to chrisbrogan

No one is attacking @military_mom. Asking for verification is not attacking. Read my blog http://tinyurl.com/miltarymom 6:51 AM Dec 15th from web

Remember, no one is attacking military_mom. 

@military_mom Are we so Twitter addicted that tweeting about immediate death of child is acceptable? blog http://tinyurl.com/miltarymom 7:12 AM Dec 15th from web

This is when Ms. McGraw becomes obsessed with a complete stranger’s alleged obsession with twitter.

@SpecialReport Could u please have someone verify the story of a 2 year old drowning & the mother reporting it on Twitter? @military_mom 7:19 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to SpecialReport

@GMA Could u please have someone verify the story of a 2 year old drowning & the mother reporting it on Twitter? @military_mom 7:22 AM Dec 15th from web in reply to GMA

No one is attacking @military_mom, asking for verification of story is not attacking. Do u teach ur kids to follow blindly or ask ?’s. 7:54 AM Dec 15th from web

If by “attacking” you mean spending your day questioning the actions of someone in the grips of unimaginable grief, then yeah, you’re attacking her.

If u r read @military_mom Tweets it recaps like this: 4 back 2 back Tweets about her roosters, hour later, she tweets her child has drowned 8:00 AM Dec 15th from web

I know, who could talk about roosters the day their child is going to drown?  How could she not know?  Except that you couldn’t possibly know something like that.

@military_mom story confirmed (no names mentioned). I have no reason to apologize 4 wanting story verified http://tinyurl.com/yacwejq 11:42 AM Dec 15th from web

For verification? No.  For being an uninformed judgement monger? Yes.

Wondering why military_mom removed the tweets right before son drowned & tweet about drowning. There are copies & pictures those tweets. 9:51 AM Dec 16th from web

God, I can’t imagine why either.

I’m not accusing.  I read her twitter time line & wonder if it could have been prevented & shocked that she would tweet sons death so soon. 5:36 PM Dec 16th from web

I have 3 kids. They have all survived past the age of 2. Perhaps that’s b/c I didn’t have chickens, Twitter, or the iPhone @ the time 11:16 AM Dec 17th from web

As my best friend I’ve never met, Lori, would say, Meow. I would add by the grace of God.  She seems pretty defensive for someone who has nothing to apologize for.

Well. I will defend Bryson Ross & say that I bet he wishes mom wasn’t twittering & posting pic’s of roosters the last minutes of his life. 11:42 AM Dec 17th from web

Baby drowns while mother shops online – mother charged – there may be justice for Bryson Ross http://tinyurl.com/ygb62vf 7:19 PM Dec 17th from web

I clicked the link in the above tweet because I thought it was about the case in question and might validate McGraw’s allegations (because that’s what the tweet implies).  It’s about a completely unrelated case of a woman who left her 11 month old alone in the bath.

Military Mom tweeted over 74 times day her son drowned. Last 5 tweets 5:17 – 5:22. 911 called @ 5:23 ABC NEWS:http://tinyurl.com/ylbm74g 7:34 PM Dec 17th from web

The integrity of twitter timestamps has since been called into question. 

On my way to MSNBC to discuss if Bryson Ross would still be alive if mother wasn’t tweeting. 8:04 AM Dec 18th from Twitterrific

Ch-ching, ch-ching, ch-ching

Up early. No snow. Caught CNN Katie Linendoll talked about Shellie Ross saying “If u don’t want people to judge, don’t POST.” No Snow YET. 1:51 AM Dec 19th from web

Very true.  Also a 2 way street.

I talked to Florida States Attorney Office yesterday morning. Don’t count out them bringing up charges. 1:56 AM Dec 19th from web

I will keep my eye on case, but am letting it go – it’s upsetting 2 think of all the people that see nothing wrong w/ Ross’s actions. WTF 1:58 AM Dec 19th from web

She’s “letting it go” because she’s been back into a corner and is too proud to apologize.  This is what really happened according to Florida Today  via law enforcement.

Shellie (the mother), Kris (11) and Bryson (2) Ross were in their backyard working on the family’s chicken coop.  While McGraw has generalized that mommybloggers like Ross park their children in front of the tv because of their social media addiction, one should note that the GRIEVING MOTHER in this situation had her child with her.  There was a heavy fog.  Shellie Ross instructed Kris to shut off a hose and take his brother in the house while she finished up.  Remember the fog limited visibility.  When Shellie went inside she realized Bryson wasn’t there.  Without stopping to tweet, she found him floating in the pool.  Kris dialed 911 while Shellie did CPR, this is confirmed because Shellie can be overheard yelling on the 911 tape.  She clearly wasn’t tweeting while her son died.  She was desperately trying to save his life.

The tweet that Ms. McGraw claims happened as Ross watched her child die, was in fact from the hospital waiting room after Bryson had passed away, but before Ross had been notified.

Later on that evening, Ross posted a kind of memorial twitpic of her son which essentially announced his death.  It seems to me this was an update to the earlier prayer request.

Now after a slew of hypocritical tweets and 3 vicious blog posts, Madison McGraw has now decided to “let it go” rather than just apologize.  I hope this self-proclaimed foodie’s next post is on the proper preparation of crow.

Cross-posted at POWIP, which you should be reading daily.

 

SMALL SACRIFICES MEAN THE MOST

While many parents would shield their children from disturbing news stories (mine will never be that lucky) a 6 year old Kingston, WA boy was so moved by the Lakewood ambush he offered what to him was the biggest sacrifice he could muster.  The story is told through the Christmas letter of a heart broken, but now uplifted member of the Lakewood PD.

…It is hard not to remain bleak and jaded with these events so fresh in our minds. But something happened today, just 20 minutes ago, which made me want to send out a Christmas letter. I’m here at work and was just out in our secure parking lot helping another officer load collection bins into his car to take to a local Lakewood Police Independent Guild fundraiser event. I heard a woman, standing with a boy who couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old, calling, “Excuse me….” through our locked gate. She had apparently been trying to get to our front counter but found no one there, it being Sunday, and had just happened to see us in the parking lot. I walked over to her and saw that the little boy was holding a plastic baggy containing a dollar and some change, and was clutching a well-worn stuffed dinosaur.

The woman told me that her son, AJ, had seen the stories on tv about our 4 slain officers. She said that they had driven to our station all the way from Kingston because her son was so intent on helping the children of these officers. I opened the gate and the boy handed me the plastic baggy containing all the money from his piggybank and a note on which he had written “AJ….From me to Pleec. I Love You.” And then, with tears in his eyes, he handed me his stuffed dinosaur. AJ’s mom explained that he wanted to give the children of the slain officers the most precious thing that he owned, and that was his dinosaur, Bruno. Read the entire letter and full story here.

Meet AJ. 

What would AJ do?

I COULD NEVER DO WHAT YOU DO, BUT I CAN TELL YOU HOW!

 

It’s poetic justice! A cop’s shift starts with roll call at the police station, not at the god damn donut shop! And it’s perfectly alright for law enforcement as a whole, to remain silent about our joke of a judicial system as long as it’s a bunch of civilian schmucks getting killed and maimed! God forbid you upset the apple cart and jeopardize your job security! Maybe now you’ll finally speak out about all the bail, probation, parole, etc., etc. that keeps letting violent, repeat offenders back on the streets to offend again and again! You cops see it day in and day out and never say a damn thing about it because it might jeopardize your job security! It’s the epitome of hypocrisy and sweet revenge too! Better you than us for a change! The way cops treat suspects and people in general led to this shooting! The only question is if the large-in-charge has the balls to do anything about this besides making excuses and throwing out a bunch of overused cliches!

 

 

This is an email that was sent to the state lodge of the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police.  I have the email address of this jackass, but I can’t seem to reach my husband to ask if I should publish it or not.  Which brings me to my preview of tomorrow’s cop blog: “Where in the world is my husband?  Hell if I know!”.  This bozo didn’t just shoot his mouth of on twitter or give his local police station the finger as his mom drove him by.  He took the time to track down the fallen officer’s state lodge and compose his version of a complete, rational and intentionally hurtful thought.  He wasn’t local either.  I tracked his address to Dulles, VA.  He’s probably calling 911 right now because his pizza’s is over 30 minutes late, which will be really awkward when he goes into work later. (Because he works at the pizza joint!)

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund,  a cop is killed in the line of duty every 53 hours in the United States.  That is obviously the most tragic aspect to a life in law enforcement, but today’s politically correct, litigious atmosphere has created other unnecessary risks and just plain nuisances.

The Monday morning quarterback who can’t commit to a salad dressing at a restaurant is by far the most obnoxious.  Often masquerading as lawyers and journalists, these impotent bleeding hearts spend hours, days, even weeks second guessing the split second life and death decisions of a public servant.  A lot of police work is routine, but when situations like the following happen without warning things get really serious really fast, and there is no room for error. 

 

And now, on top of merely having the nerve to go into situations like these, police have to consider the legal aftermath.  My husband had to purchase extra liability insurance in the event of a civil suit.  I wonder if D-Train’s momma worries about me suing her if the unthinkable happens.  Nah, not as long as she keeps her neighborhood community organizer on speed dial.

Donate to the trust for the children of the Lakewood fallen

TINA GRISWOLD

 

“Years ago I asked my sister ‘What’s going to happen if something happens to you?’ And she said ‘Tiffany, I want you to know that if anything ever happens that I went out doing what I loved the most’ and I know she meant that…  There was a car in the water and the victims were in there and she took off her belt. The other officer didn’t want to get in at that time and she said ‘Then watch my gun’. She went in that water and even though they weren’t alive, she brought them up,” – Tiffany Ryan, Griswold’s sister

“She was a little ball of fire,” said Matt Brown, a fellow Lakewood officer. “As small as she was, she was one of the biggest cops I knew. She would go into anything, anywhere.”

 ”The fastest way to break up a bar fight was to throw Tina in the middle of it,” said Pamela Battersby, Griswold’s friend

Tina Griswold earned the nickname, “Tinkerbell”, for her 4′11″ frame, but those that knew her describe her as tough as nails, hard working and with a heart of gold. 

Griswold’s father is a retired Shelton police officer, and her sister, Tiffany Ryan (quoted above) works in the records department at the Spokane Police Department.  She leaves behind widower, Paul, a 2 tour Iraq war veteran.  They would have celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary on January 28th, it also would have been her 41st birthday.  She is also survived by a 21 year old daughter and a 7 year old son.

Griswold had a 14 year career in law enforcement and was awarded a lifesaving award just this year.  Like something out of a movie, when she was going through training at the beginning of her career her fellow recruits were skeptical of her slight frame.  She eventually won them over.  At the beginning of a push up test she was teased about whether she would be doing girly push ups.  She didn’t.  She did the 30 required and kept going until her naysayers were clapping and cheering her on. Griswold was also known as a good cook and active in the Tea Party movement according to LPIG.

photo credit Lacey Police Department

Donate to the trust for the fallen officers’ children

GREGORY RICHARDS

 ”I could die tomorrow, I’d be happy. I have everything I want.”

Gregory Richards, 42, was the “glass half full guy”.  He leaves behind wife of 18 tears Kelly and their 3 children.  Just like the other fallen Lakewood heroes he was a family man first, cop second.

After a long search the family had finally found a house and community they loved in Graham.  They just moved in about a year ago and had been busy fixing up the yard.  Richards even poured a concrete slab on which to park his cruiser which he kept immaculate. 

Richards was from Lynwood, California.  He learned to play the drums at 8 years old and was currently the drummer for the all police rock band, Locked Down. Richards served in the U.S. Army from 1985-89.  He also got off the shot that wounded Clemmons.

Donate to the trust for the fallen officers’ children