Stand Up for Your Fourth Amendment Rights

Got this email today:

"At this point it seems that all is lost on FISA. It looks like in the process of negotiating a compromise with the Senate, the House will be forced to have an up-or-down vote on retroactive immunity. We shouldn't expect that vote to go our way.

But rather than getting mad while we watch the Fourth Amendment go up in flames, we're going to start getting even.

We've picked out some of most reactionary Democrats, and are turning it over to progressive activists like you to decide who the worst offenders are. We'll then run ads and robo-calls in their congressional districts to let their constituents know how poorly their Representative is representing their rights.

Go here to cast your vote and chip in to the effort to hold Congress accountable:
http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/getevenforfisa

We're starting our effort to get even on several of the Blue Dog Democrats: John Barrow (GA-12), Leonard Boswell (IA-3), Chris Carney (PA-10), Brad Ellworth (IN-8), Zack Space (OH-18), and Heath Shuler (NC-11). This pack of conservatives may caucus the right way, but they actively work to undermine progressive values, including sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi last week encouraging her to grant the telecom companies retroactive immunity.

Since the final votes haven't been cast yet on FISA, hopefully we can shame some of them into righting their moral compass and voting against retroactive immunity. If not, we'll make sure that each one of their constituents knows about it.

Vote on your least favorite here:
http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/getevenforfisa

Hopefully when it comes down to the wire, things will go our way, and the House Democrats will stand up for the rule of law. In the meantime, however, we would be naive not to start taking action to hold them accountable if they don't.

Thank you for taking action,

Jane Hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, Howie Klein, and the Firedoglake Team

P.S. This is just the first part of this effort. You can rest assured that we'll hold Republicans accountable for their role too."

I know they are being serious here, but...

I know they are being serious here and I would expect no less but this article reminded me of that strange girl in college... you know the one. The one with the blue-tinged skin, that ate only vegetables and not very many of them. The one with the hollowed out eyes, vehemently telling you about how the drinking water had all kinds of bad stuff in it. The one that was one step away from covering her room in tin foil.... I could go on, but you get the picture and I know wherever you went to college you knew a person like that :)
Maybe it was the writing style and not the content but this article just cracked me up, so if you need a dose of laughter this morning click the title of this post to go to the article. I think it was the serious comment that they found sex hormones in San Francisco's water :)

A Very Interesting Site Discovery

Start by clicking the title link. This will take you to the Government Printing Office. Then click A-Z Resources. Scroll down to "information by topic." This will take you to USA.gov. Scroll down to "Reference and General Government." Scroll down and click "Topic Specific Research." this will take you to USAspending.gov click on "assistance." type in "mental health" this will take you to one of the greatest pages I've found in a long time. Go take a real good look at this page, then think long and hard about whether or not we can afford another republican in the White House. In fact, bookmark USAspending.gov and go back often. ok, I am officially off the soapbox for today :)

...and if this doesn't bother you then...

.....I hate to be harsh but you might as well crawl back into your hole and not come out again until after the election, because your uninformed vote won't help anyway...

The President's Budget Fiscal Year 2009: Impact on the States

The administration released its fiscal year 2009 $3 trillion budget request on Monday, February 5. An overview of the budget proposal along with state-level breakdowns on selected programs are available.

Budget Cuts Continue in 2009

Domestic programs intended for needy communities and families suffer the biggest cuts under the President's proposed budget for fiscal year 2009, including Low-income Home Energy
Assistance, Community Development Block Grants, Housing Vouchers, and Child Care Assistance. Discretionary Grants to state and local governments would also be cut by 10 percent. Overall, the budget proposal for fiscal year 2009 cuts discretionary domestic programs not related to security by $2.4 billion.

War Spending Continues to Increase

Meanwhile, the President's fiscal year 2009 budget proposes an additional $70 billion in war-related spending, on top of the $102.4 billion the Administration continues to pursue for fiscal year 2008. The amount requested for fiscal year 2009 is merely a placeholder for the first few months of next fiscal year, vastly underestimating what would be required to continue the war in Iraq at the current level of involvement. The administration plans to seek additional funding for fiscal year 2009 in the Spring. The Iraq war has thus far cost $522 billion.

In addition to proposed war funding, the non-war military budget will increase by nearly 5% over that of fiscal year 2008 under this proposal, reaching $541 billion in fiscal year 2009. This includes funding for nuclear weapons under the Department of Energy budget.

Tax Cuts for Wealthy Made Permanent

The budget request makes permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, the benefits of which will accrue to the wealthy. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the wealthiest 1 percent would receive 31 percent of the windfall over the next 10 years, the top 20 percent would receive 74 percent, and those in the lowest 60 percent of households would receive only 12 percent.

Large Deficits Continue

The combination of increases in military spending and tax cuts will contribute to deficits of $407 billion in 2009, and $410 billion in fiscal year 2008.

State-Level Tables

The tables below show the real cuts to each state for selected programs. The consumer price index (urban) as published in U.S. Budget of the Government, Analytical Perspectives, FY2009, Table 12-1, has been used to adjust the 2008 amount for inflation so that the dollar amounts are in 2009 dollars.

• Child Care and Development Block Grant
• Community Development Block Grants
• Improving Teacher Quality State Grants
• Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program
• Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers
• Social Services Block Grant

What has the War in Iraq Cost your Town?

Yesterday I scrolled down to the Cost of War counter I have at the bottom of this page and noticed that it was $508 billion and counting. I thought I had been watching it closely waiting for the time it would flip over to $500 billion so I could have my raving, ranting bitch about it. For some reason it flipped back to $500 and some odd billion today, so I'm not really to late. If you click on the counter at the bottom of this page it will take you to the site. From there you can plug in where you are and it will tell you the actual costs of the war for your specific community...in other words what your community could have had instead. Here's what my community could have had and will have to do without for the rest of 2008:

Taxpayers in Jackson, Mississippi have paid $127.8 million for the Iraq War thus far. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

28,754 People with Health Care OR

94,637 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

4,089 Public Safety Officers OR

2,527 Music and Arts Teachers OR

27,779 Scholarships for University Students OR

9 New Elementary Schools OR

1,883 Affordable Housing Units OR

75,352 Children with Health Care OR

21,310 Head Start Places for Children OR

2,623 Elementary School Teachers OR

2,297 Port Container Inspectors

Notes and Sources
Go to Cost of War Counter
Copyright 2007 National Priorities Project
info@nationalpriorities.org

Taxpayers in Jackson, Mississippi will pay $16.3 million for additional proposed Iraq War spending for FY 2008. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

3,656 People with Health Care OR

12,034 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

520 Public Safety Officers OR

321 Music and Arts Teachers OR

3,532 Scholarships for University Students OR

1 New Elementary Schools OR

239 Affordable Housing Units OR

9,582 Children with Health Care OR

2,710 Head Start Places for Children OR

334 Elementary School Teachers OR

292 Port Container Inspectors

Notes and Sources
Go to Cost of War Counter
Copyright 2007 National Priorities Project
info@nationalpriorities.org


So, no, I'm not in the mood to talk about Hillary and her "southern drawl" speech last night.....

Hillary is Visiting Mississippi Today! Big Whoop!

Ms. Clinton is arriving in Mississippi today to attend a Democratic fundraiser being held in Canton this evening. I can't wait to see what happens. Of coarse all the Madison County people are just peeing all over themselves with nicey, nice comments about "Senator Clinton." Then...it gets better...Senator Obama's campaign is gearing up to make her answer for what she said in Iowa. Like I said...I can not wait for this day to draw to a close. :) So much live entertainment...so little time :)

This is what she said:

"I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here," she said, theorizing it may be the risk-averse nature of a state built around agriculture.

"I think not only do I have to bring people to me, I have to maybe reassure people here maybe more than I do in New Hampshire, which has had a woman governor," she said.

"I think Iowa poses a special burden, or a special obstacle to me because when you look at the numbers, how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism, that's not the openness I see in Iowa."

This is the best reply (he's much nicer than I could ever be to her) to it that I can find:

Chip Pickering, a Mississippi congressman and one of McCain's Southern co-chairs, offered lengthy outrage:

"Sen.Clinton clearly doesn't know the people of Mississippi, the people I represent. Her comments were inappropriate, inaccurate, and unnecessary. A candidate for President of the United States should not use stereotypes to define a region of the country. It is sad that a leader like Clinton doesn't understand a state and neighbor, or she simply believes the south is close-minded and lacking in community and quality. Those who seek to lead the entire country should be strong and confident in themselves and in our people."

"Mississippi has a diversity of culture, politics, life, and business — we have leaders across a vast spectrum of backgrounds. Currently Dr. Martha Saunders serves as president of the University of Southern Mississippi and we have elected outstanding female mayors, supervisors, and supreme court justices as well as two lieutenant governors, Amy Tuck and Evelyn Gandy. We lead the nation in the number of African American elected officials."

"This is a state whose generosity, according to the IRS, is consistently higher, per capita, than any other state in the nation with charitable contributions. A state who had the first ever heart transplant, lung transplant, and kidney autotransplant. A state who has produced more awarded and honored writers than any other. Mississippi is the birthplace of the blues, of famous athletes, and entertainers."

"After Katrina, we proved the strength and quality of our communities as a unified, strong, and resilient people. You would think that old stereotypes and myths should be put aside after such an event. This shows the difficulty Democrats will have in Mississippi when a leader like Clinton shows no understanding and no respect for the region."

"To overcome this misunderstanding and prejudice, we invite Sen. Clinton to visit anytime. We are the hospitality state. I'm sure she'll be impressed with our spirit, resilience, generosity, and strong communities. We weathered Katrina with those character traits. We will forgive her old thinking and give her generous grace. We only ask for her to give us an open mind in return."

Southern Politics at it's Finest--Impeach Bush Now!

The business of Southern Politics has been on my mind a great deal lately. The reason this one is worth mentioning is that it goes all the way to the top and he should have been impeached when they did not find any weapons of mass destruction, even though Sadam was given plenty of time to get rid of, hide, move what he did have.

It is, after all, an election year....I can not wait until Summer when things really heat up. While it is shameful and disgraceful, we have been living with it for so long that it is just plain live entertainment to those of us that follow it. Please click the title of this post for the link....and if you are so inclined, while you are reading the story, substitute Bubba, Joe Bob, Linda Sue and Essie Mae for the main characters and imagine the conversations in southern-speak. I guarantee you will be entertained.

Title IX

This post is primarily for my younger readers, a bit of the history of Title IX. You can get all these links and other relevant links whenever they become available, delivered to your inbox by signing up with the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Fall Issue of Ms. Magazine Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Title IX

The Handbook for Achieving Gender Equity through Education

Title IX at 35: Beyond the Headlines, a report by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education

Feminist Daily News Wire

Fall 2007 Issue of "On Campus with Women"

Barriers to Fair Play. National Women's Law Center, 2007

Feminist Majority Foundation "Title IX Defined" Resources

Title IX Questions and Answers

Have fun reading :) and remember "those that forget history are doomed to repeat it" George Santayana

American Healthcare--How Many of You Out There Can Relate?

Today I am directing you to a post written by my friend KAK over at Mad Mad World dated February 23, 2008. Every time I feel myself getting a little complacent I go read the article again and know there are so many others out there taking matters into their own hands so I will once again feel passionately (get pissed off) about it. Also read Stroke with No Insurance for another example. I am wondering just how many of us have done the same things and feel the same way... It is just a pitiful shame that we can no longer afford basic health care in this country. Even if you are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid you have to jump through so many hoops to get treatment and your medications it is almost preferable to just suffer and die. Oh, and you can forget about dental care... Is it just impossible for big business to understand that a healthy workforce is a productive workforce?

What Has John Edwards Been Up To?

Lately I've been so uninspired. I don't know if it's Spring fever because it's 75-80 degrees and raining here or the drudgery of studying for the licensure exam or the fact that the entire household had the flu...seemingly, even the cats....

Anyway I thought you might be interested to find out what John Edwards has been up to lately. If so click the title of this post for the link.

I am also thinking about shutting this site down. If I did not need all the links here I would. It seems as though I am the only one that needs the links to the information here. I am only getting about 6 visitors a day, no comments and no adsense clicks...what's the point? So what I will probably do is just post enough to keep the scammers away and keep it alive for those that do find it interesting and worthy. Other than that I think I am over it. I think I was over it when my own school implied that all my hard work promoted plagiarism. I still don't understand that comment and never will, but it still hurt.

But then, you never know...I might regain my optimism and sense of humor when I feel better. Anyway, I hope you all are well and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Say No to Violence Against Women

Click the title link to go to Unifem's website. Unifem's Say No To Violence Campaign has been issued a challenge: Get 100,000 signatures in your guest book showing support and receive $100,000.00 from the United Nations Foundation. Please go add you signature now. This challenge must be met by International Women's Day, March 8th, 2008. So far they are up to just over 48,000 signatures.
If you would like to list your organization send an email to saynotoviolence@unifem.org including your organization's name, website address, contact name and email address. Thank you.

A Force More Powerful--198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

Over at Social Work/Social Action there is a great link I can't believe I forgot to tell you about. The link to the site A Force More Powerful. Lots of great stuff on this site! 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action being one of many.

Cranky Doc also has a great post linking you today to a Tax Policy Center Briefing Book--A Citizen's Guide to the 2008 Election and Beyond.

Don't have much else to say yet...printing out stuff to study and studying.....

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare is a new blog that is shaping up very nicely and decidedly deserves mention here. As a social work student I so wish there were more blogs out there describing what it is like in the real working world of social workers. I want to hear it all....blood, guts, gorey and/or success stories, just all of it written from a worker's point of view. Trench Warfare is poised to do just that and I applaud the idea and the effort. It is written anonymously, as it should be. All I have to say about that is...You Go, Girl!

A Blog Well Worth Your Time...Really!

It is my duty in keeping up with this blog to inform you of other blogs that will enlighten your continuation into social work.

Written by Daniel Little, Michigan, United States, Understanding Society is a blog "aimed at scholars, students and other professionals who share interests in the foundations of the social sciences and the philosophy of history."

Mr. Little's work is by far the most intellectual and extensive I've found in the blogworld to date. Please go spend some time with him, reading and absorbing all that he has to say. Be sure to check out his archives, interviews and podcasts also. I think you will learn and understand more here than you could ever get from a social work textbook...imho :)

Thanks and have a great day!

Woo Hoo!!!

Checked the MySpace page today to see if I had been accepted as one of KoKo Taylor's friends yet. Yep, you guessed it...I've been accepted! I'll be flyin' high today...all day! Woo Hoo!!!!!

Value Your Privacy? Our Fourth Amendment Rights Are Being Deleted!

If you value this statement taken from the Constitution then go here immediately and sign this petition!

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The Senate has already passed this legislation. The House is now our only hope in preserving this freedom allowed us by the Constitution. An article on what has happened can be found here.

The petition can be found again here.

Barack Obama '08

Here is the best page for finding Barack Obama's speeches, stand on issues, pdf version of "The Blueprint for Change," donation links, videos, etc. that I have found so far.

Upon reading the speech he gave in Wisconsin yesterday, it brought tears to my eyes. It made me believe in the process again. It made me believe that here is a man like we have not seen since Kennedy, only better because he did not grow up with the Kennedy privilege. It made me want to believe that he can handle the resistance he will find when he gets to Washington. Most of all it made me remember the dream and think that maybe through him we can once again be proud of our nation and what it once stood for.

K, so maybe I should go read the reviews first before I post :)

Seems as though Amy Winehouse is in rehab...yes, yes, yes. If you ask me, judging by her performance, her almost inability to stand, her inability to recall the words to the song...methinks she just substituted an illegal drug for a legal one. I truly hope she gets herself straight.

The Winehouse Grammys

Normally I just don't watch the Grammy anymore. Last night I wanted to see the cirque de solie performance which I missed watching an I Love Lucy episode. :) This morning I wish I had never left Nickelodean for Grammy. I tell you I had nightmares....realistic, gorey nightmares...the kind that make you wake up in a cold, clammy sweat, thinking you are somewhere or someone else.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have no sympathy for alcoholics and/or junkies. I'm sorry if that offends the politically correct of you out there but, hey walk a mile in my shoes, k? I feel that if I can beat my demons then anyone can do it and an organization such as Grammy glorifying a junkie ...is that really going to help her? Didn't her own mother beg us not to buy her records anymore so she wouldn't have the money to buy drugs with?

Watching her performance was just pitiful. As much as I have no sympathy, it still makes me want to scream, cry and tear my hair out to watch the self-destruction of an otherwise talented human being. There were times when she was getting into the groove a bit much for her tired body and I found myself praying that she would not fall. Then when she got the award she just lost it and had to be brought back to reality and told what to say by her mother. I really think it would have been better if Grammy had just let us remember her from the video when she was healthier. It would have been healthier for me anyway. I may have nightmares about this for weeks. Maybe they did it for her mother because she so obviously loves her daughter despite her problems. I just know that I could have done without that much anticipated performance. Hell why didn't they glorify Britney, with all her problems too? Didn't she have an album come out last year? I guess hers is not a heroin addiction...not glamorous enough...but then we don't really know for sure what her addiction is, do we?

Then there was Tina and Beyonce's performance. This is the first time I can remember Tina not showing those fabulous legs, but hey, she will be 70 next year and I just hope I'm still walking at 70 much less shaking the groove thang :) It appears that steroid use has surely transformed Tina's face, just as it has Cher's. When I see this it makes me wonder what is really going on with them.

When I watch Grammy, I want to see what is new. I want to see fresh faces and know what's going on now. It's great to recognize past accomplishments but geez, stop with all the old geezers already....makes me feel older than I already do.

Target and Kroger Getting on the Bandwagon with $4 Generic Prescriptions

WOO! HOO! Finally! I don't have to drive 20 minutes and fight the crowds. From what I can tell by just glancing at the list Target and Kroger have the same generic medications on their list as
Wal-Mart. To Wal-Mart's credit, I think I do remember them saying when they first came out with it that they hoped others would follow their lead. Thank-you Kroger, especially, and Target for doing so. Now if you could see your way to including an Albuterol inhaler, a Combivent inhaler and Prevacid or Nexium then I'd be set.... I know, I'm a camel :)

I Will Rush No More!

You all know I live to share what I find :) Today, I want to share the blog, I Will Rush No More! I stumbled on it's lusciousness this morning. We have the flu, got steroid shots and haven't slept in 3 days, so you can imagine just how profound these words were to me in my particular state, hopefully they will be as profound to others as well, especially our presidential hopefuls...

I Will Rush No More--Intro

If you really want to make a change, then select one behavior which infiltrates every aspect of your life, reverse it, and then apply that as an antidote. Then expand on that in a way that carries its own sense of grace and ease. Let that then become your style of living, extend it to others, and find those of a similar mind and enjoy their company. Go Slow, Mon.

The steps to mindfulness:

Here's the process in some detail and in an approximate sequence. But remember that this is simply an outline which can create an experience of mindfulness. Once you have practised it 5 or 10 or 150 or 1500 times it will become second nature and then you can invent and explore your own pathways and explorations to keep the flywheel of mindfulness going across time and across situations.

1. Set the intent to do it.
2. It may be helpful in the beginning to say: "this is a good time to take a break."
3. Clear a "space" so you can shift gears into being more aware and present. Typically the universal way of doing that is to bring your attention to your breath. Watch your breath; really become aware of it.
4. There is no effort to change anything about your breathing. It may want to spontaneously shift, and if so, bring mindful awareness to that, and let it happen - or not; either way be aware of the experience. Keep it fresh.
5. Whatever you become aware of bring your awareness to it. The second learned reflex during the mindfulness minutes is to not make any judgements about what you are aware of or experiencing. The strategy is one of watching and being aware without the need to label and differentiate. Even when you notice events being judged, evaluated, sliced and diced into favorite or unusual categories, "simply" let mindfulness be aware of the process without judging, labeling and differentiating.
6. You will probably become aware of events in your mind (images, thoughts, conversations) and your body (sensations, feelilngs) or in your environment. In every instance let yourself become aware of what is presently in, or coming into, your awareness. Let it be. Any effort to bring it forth or to push it away is not part of this exercise - except an yet again another opportunity to let mindfulness "be and do" its thing.
7. As you become aware of something, notice it, and let it go. It's like you are encouraging impermanance.
8. The "letting go" is without effort. The easiest way I have found to do this is to both bring attention to the event in experience and let the awareness bring you further into the experience and if you are not trying to hold on to it, it will naturally morph across time. Or, when you notice the sensation or the image, notice it and then on your exhale let your mindful attention go to the experience of exhaling.
9. Do this for a few minutes and then move back into whatever you had been doing or whatever the next thing is that you want to do.
10. Now that you have set the intent to do it, and have practised it, the next step is to set up some sort of feedback loop that reminds you at random times throughout the day to take that break. Whenever I walk in a particular corridor I take it as a cue to practise. I have done it when I walk through a door way, i.e., I take that as a reminder of the opportunity. I take a cue from a muscle in my neck; it it gets too tight, I use it as a reminder. The best is to come up with your own.

Please be sure to read the comments for the post when you go over to I Will Rush No More!

Economic Stimulus-Schmimulus Package--If you really want to stimulate the economy....

--Allow adults living in the same household to file income taxes jointly, reaping the same benefits as a married couple or head of household.
--Allow an adult child over 18 that is the sole breadwinner in the home to claim a dependent parent and qualify for the earned income tax credit.
--Change the dependent child tax credit to dependent child/parent/significant other tax credit. A dependent is a dependent.
If you do these things then other things like insurance companies not allowing any dependents on an insured's policy but a child, hospital's allowing only "immediate family at the bedside of a dying patient, etc. will follow suit or at least one would have some recourse.
If your "religion" won't allow you to conceive of the notion of gay marriage then at the very least do these things.....

The Horrific State of Dental Decay in America

Yes, it bothers me very much that Obama and Edwards declined to comment on this article. Speaking as one who has had an abscess and had to pull it herself (I won't give you the gory details, luckily I do have training in sterile technique) because of lack of affordable or accessible dental care. I respectfully ask that you read this article: Dental Decay: the Hidden Health Crisis

These are the kinds of issues I want to see addressed by our candidates. These are the kinds of issues I want to see solutions to and funding for. I'm tired of the important issues for the basic survival of people in this country being ignored or watered down beyond recognition. Hell, Wal-Mart has single-handedly done more for the poor with their $4 prescription drug list, by providing them with affordable medications, than any recent watered down legislation. Granted, the list should be longer and more comprehensive and I wonder how much their sales have escalated overall with this list, even so it is a massive undertaking and I applaud them for their effort. In fact I'm headed over there this morning with a handful for prescriptions for us :) It is flu season, after all and Tamiflu is not available here at the moment.

Now, one last bitch about the major drug company's supposed "help" for people who cannot afford their high-priced medications and I'll stop :) I will provide you with links to each one that I have tried but know this...I have been trying to get an answer from each of them for 6 months or longer to no avail. Try it, if you want, but don't put much faith in it. I was so excited when I began this process right after my son started working and we lost all our benefits. Now, I just feel like it is a marketing ploy and I feel abused.
Here are the links:
Xubex (Proventil/Albuteral), Boehringer (Combivent/Albuterol/Ipratropium), TAP (Previcid/Lansoprasole).

K, that's it for my soapbox rave for the day :)

Social Work/Social Action blog

Found a new awesome blog today. Social Work Students please go have a look-see and subscribe :) Social Work/SocialAction.

Through Google, I subscribe to a feed called "social work blogspot" which I assume is a listing of every blog Google has listed on blogger with "social work, social, networking, social action, etc" in the title. Today must be "bash a social worker" day because most of them are doing just that. I, quite frankly, am sick of hearing how a social worker just "swooped in and stole" someone's child. I'm sick of hearing how an accused abuser must now live with the stigma of being labeled an abuser, even though his partner has now recanted and even though he has been awarded custody of the minor children.

I will not go into the makeup of an abuser, I have provided you links on the sidebar where you can read for yourself. I will not go into what all must happen before a child is taken from a parent, because I am not officially a social worker yet.

What I do know and what I will say is that the very first thing a new social worker is required to do before seeing his or her first client is commit to the code of ethics and learn the policies and procedures manual that governs any actions taken for the agency where they work. We can only do what the government, the NASW and our agency of employment allow us to do. These policies and procedures manuals have strict guidelines that we must adhere to. We do not, I repeat, do not, just run around willy-nilly snatching children and accusing perpetrators of violence without a complaint that must be investigated and proven. The very last resort is removing the child from the home.

So knock it off and go get a life...I'm pretty sure you would not want to be the one, given all the facts, having to make these decisions.

Edwards has My Vote! Take the Pledge Today!

Please go here to take the pledge! Maybe through a grassroots effort we won't lose our only viable candidate! Please post about this effort on your own blog also :) Please go to the campaign site for Mr. Edwards positions on the issues. John Edwards '08

The A A D D is in Overdrive this Morning!

During times of stress I've noticed my AADD kicks into overdrive, so this post will be a testament to that. Please be kind. :)

Did you notice the Finetune player has a new look? I think I need to make another playlist and separate the blues from the other "50-something" music I have on there.

Well, it looks as though John McCain will be our next president. Once again, the Democrats have not only started the infighting but have not provided us with a viable, electable candidate. crap. The only one they had that might have gotten a crossover or undecided vote in my opinion was John Edwards. So what if he spent $400 on a haircut. I never saw a problem with that and thought it was really pitiful the media picked up on it instead of his message about poverty in the United States. Please go here to read a very good article on what we lost when John Edwards decided to no longer run. Out of all the candidates he was the only one to give me any kind of warm and fuzzy feeling...the kind that makes you feel relief and feel like maybe it will be alright, after all. The rest of them just make me cringe to think who they will sell out to or have already sold out to.

Everyone should go here and sign up for AlterNet, a great source of information without the usual media slant.

I think I forgot to tell all of you blues lovers out there, Alex over at A Copywriter's Blues has posted several YouTube Videos of KoKo Taylor. Awesome!!! You rock Alex! I'm trying to get KoKo to accept me as a friend on MySpace and told her about you too. She's probably pretty busy so it might be awhile before I hear anything. I'll let you all know when it happens...it would be such an honor!

Most of my readers know I live with ten cats...yep that's me, the cat lady. :) I don't know what it is about me, my son, or our home that attracts animals but it's always been that way and ever since my son was born it's almost like there is a double dose of animal whammy surrounding us. We have had as many as 13 dogs, 5 cats, 3 raccoons, 2 armadillos and countless squirrels at one time. I feel somewhat blessed to only have ten cats and a couple of raccoons in the attic now. :) Anyway today it is raining and they are ALL(except the raccoons) inside! Geez, can't even take a step without running into a cat. God, I wish they would take a nap. :)

I don't remember if I posted about my longtime online friend Keltic. We met years ago when we were both trying to make a living autosurfing. That was a bust for me but anyway we stayed friends and now she has recently started two blogs of her own. KelticKaos that cracks me up and KelticCron that chronicles her finds as she starts her weight loss journey. Both of these are worth your perusal.

Besides the blues, I love Southern rock...probably because it is so influenced by the blues and I am, after all, Southern :) The reason this comes to mind is that Little Feat/Dixie Chicken is playing on the Finetune player as I'm writing this post. I sure miss them. I also miss The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Delaney and Bonnie and Commander Cody. Imagine my surprise when I went searching for links and found that most of them are all still around, doing their thing! Cool! Now if they would only come on down South and pay us a visit! Wouldn't that be an awesome concert!!!

Oh, almost forgot, thanks Ron, Keltic, Alex and Dolphin for getting me through it with the many daily emails! They were much appreciated!

K, that's about it for today. Ya think I need to go dig out the Straterra? :)

Have a Great Day and as always Happy Searching!!!

Yet Another Miracle :)

Since the day I found out I was pregnant with my beautiful and wonderful son I've known that I was forgiven for my worst sins, having abortions, and from that point on I would get my miracles when I really needed them. The child has been my greatest miracle since the day he was born. I don't know why I doubt that they will come and do doubting stuff like post about my situation and throw it out into cyberspace.
I am sorry for worrying my readers, but I am truly grateful for all the warmth and support that has been shown to me over this past week. Thanks also for taking the time to post on your own blogs to try to get us the help we needed. That was a wonderful thing to see and gave me the warm and fuzzies like I haven't felt in quite some time. :)
This post will be short, as I am still a bit drained by court and running around like crazy trying to get everything together. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have a bank check in my purse this morning that is going to the management company as soon as they open that will pay my rent through February. Oh, and there is enough money in the bank to allow me to take my test as soon as I can get the application process done. There is even some left over. :)
My son got his W-2 early (the miracle) so we were able to file and go for the RAL (refund anticipation loan) thus allowing us to have the money in time to tell the judge that we would have it in two to fourteen days, which he was fine with.
It never ceases to amaze me how people change their entire attitude when they get in front of a judge. The woman from the management company that had been such a bitch to me in November was all nicey nice and cooperative when she was in front of the judge....
Court was a hoot by the way. I recommend it to anyone that needs a laugh. Any court in the south is a hoot, except maybe criminal prosecutions. Traffic court is especially funny. Traffic court in Atlanta is the most fun you will ever have! At least for those of us that love to people watch :)
Have a great day and as always Happy Searching!

Ok, Here It Is...We've Known It Was Coming...

Oh, God, this is hard to do....

Please see the post from December 1st for more details.

The court date for the eviction notice is set for Monday. We will probably have 5 days after that before we are on the street. Since I don't have a clue what else to do, I'm throwing it out there to cyberspace. If you have any spare change in your PayPpal account you don't need please consider sending it through PayPal to rm5000@hotmail.com . We need, according to the landlord, $1650.00. This is not right but how do you argue with a management company that has filed the court papers? Or a judge? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We would even consider a $2000 reasonable loan arrangement. Half could be paid back in less than a month, the rest monthly over the course of 6 months.

Also, if anyone knows of a social work related position that might consider a social work student that has finished her coursework but not taken the test ($220) or actually received her degree (June '08) in Jackson, MS, then this information would be greatly appreciated since I've already been everywhere I can think of. I will take secretarial work, hell, even janitorial work, to be in the social work environment...

OK, that's it. Thanks for the consideration..... If you wish to contact me please do so at the prinpronisse@gmail address. Thanks again.

The 30th Anniversary of Roe v Wade!

Richard Knerr

It is 3 am and I am awake, watching the overnight news when I heard the co-creator of Wham-O Toys died from complications of a stroke on Monday. Richard Knerr is credited with bringing such toys as the Hula Hoop, the Superball( 50,000lbs of compressed energy), Silly String, the Slip-N-Slide , the "Pluto Platter" also affectionately known as the Frisbee and my favorite SuperElasticBubblePlastic to the public light. To this day my almost 19 year old son can not pass a vending machine full of "superballs" that he does not plug quarters into it. :) Thanks for the memories Mr. Knerr!

The Social Work Podcast

Sometimes I stumble upon the coolest things! As always, I like to share them with you :) The Social Work Podcast widget is one of the greatest sources of information I've run across in a good while. It is full of many mini-lectures. You can turn it on and walk around doing other things. Having ADD, this is a good thing :) Have a listen, then let me know if you like it. Have a great day and happy searching!

A Social Work Student's Job Search

Most of you know that I have finished my coursework and have begun the job search process. Certainly, I have found links to share with you to help you with your own search. I will leave it on top for now as it is a work in progress, but will probably move it later. Happy Searching!

John McCain

Lately, it has been bothering me that the similarities between President Bush and John McCain seem to be getting closer and closer. I just don't understand how anyone in their right mind can honestly want four to eight more years of the same crap. I don't understand why any presidential candidate in his right mind would want to emulate such complete arrogance and failure. It has also been bothering me that when asked "knowing what you know now, would you still vote to go to war with Iraq?" To which McCain answered "Yes". If you look at the bottom of this page you can see I have a counter that keeps track of the cost of the Iraq war. 484 trillion dollars! I can-not-even-get-my-head-around-that-much-money! But I do know that Social Services has suffered greatly because of this war, as has the entire country.

In my search for the reasons and for explanations for John McCain I ran across this article on AlterNet that pretty much hits the highlights, here is an excerpt/summary:

"It is rare to see a popular politician mimicking a president with much lower approval ratings. (Bush has crashed into the 30s in several major polls.) Yet as McCain continues his Bushification to win the Republican base, he may alienate the very Americans he needs to win a general election.

Moderate voters were supposedly attracted to McCain's reputation for integrity and independence. If they discover that independence is nothing but a disposable sales pitch from another politician, they may oppose him. McCain must stop pandering to the radical right if he wants to hold the center.

That is why the Bushification strategy is doomed to fail -- you cannot posture a firm ideology for political advantage. You either have one or you don't. And Americans can tell."

I also ran across this article in the Washington Post that is quite long but explains why McCain feels the way he does about the war and after having read it I understand his view but I still agree with AlterNet's statement about the Bushification of John McCain.

Link to My Site...Correctly, Please!

If you want to put a link to my site on yours, please do. It is a great honor to me and I appreciate it very much. My only request is that you link with the proper name of this site, Prin's Links for Social Work Students. If you rename the site it does not help my search engine optimization or my page rank and these things are important to me.

I understand that some of you are just getting started with your own blogs and might not know about such things and they are not important to you...yet. Believe me they will be. It is a wonderful thing to watch your little labor of love rise in the search engines, watch your Technorati authority rise from 6 to 17, and to discover that you have a page rank of 3 :) These things are important to me not because I have ever made a dime from this site but because it lets me know what the cyber-world thinks of my blog. Besides if you are a social work student then it borders on the big P word if it isn't documented/linked to correctly and I've already had issues with that word. (see archives, November, 24, 2007)

Again, please feel free to link here, I am honored that you think highly enough of Prin's Links to do so. As always, Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Dear God....

Thank you for letting me have my sense of humor back..... :)

Today I found a site that I am so impressed with I have asked it's owner to marry me :) It is a site dedicated to the blues, of coarse! If I was going to dedicate a site totally to the blues I could only hope that it would come out as great as this one. It is not only informative but it is also beautiful! I mention this because it is a blogger site and it amazes me that anyone could make a blogger layout turn out so well. Please go here to Crossroads Club 27 to check it out. There are many links on the right hand side of the blog that are worth your while. The widgets with pictures of the old bluesmen are great! The only thing that disappointed me a bit was that he didn't include KoKo Taylor in his lineup...but that's forgivable :) Oh, and if you would like some awesome blues art to go with your music check out the totally awesome Grayart's page!

Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Me and My Hoopdee....

Today I want to talk about drivers, their cars, the environment and me and my hoopdee. I found this hilarious and very informative article in the Washington City Paper Archives this morning when I was searching for how to spell hoopdee :) If you want a laugh with your morning coffee go check it out!

Every morning I take my son to work in rush hour traffic. Every morning I come back home pissed off at some stupid driver that almost cost us our lives. Inevitably it is a black female on a cell phone driving something like a Ford Excursion or something equally as insane for the environment. Apparently, I have pissed them off because I, in my 1988 Nova, am not going fast enough for them, so they must floor it to go around me, using an untold amount of gas in the process, only to get to the next light right in front of me, never missing a beat on the phone.

I have driven all of my life. I think I learned how when I was eight or nine on an old 1960 Datsun pickup truck that my uncle used for the farm. I think all of us kids learned how to drive on that truck. I have driven standard shift cars and trucks for the most part all of my life. That is until I got a job as a courier in Atlanta. All day long, sometimes 12 hours in Atlanta traffic will quickly wear out the wrists with a standard shift vehicle. The happiest day of my life was when I traded in my 1993 Toyota extended cab truck for a 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon. Not only was it automatic but it also had all wheel drive. If you have never driven a vehicle with all wheel drive then you have never really driven, period. I would be going 70 or better in the pouring rain on the interstate with 18-wheelers passing me or me passing them...not one shimmy, sway or anything else scary. That sucker held the road like nothing I had ever driven before or have driven since. I felt like a god. I think it was in that car that I really learned how to drive, drive fast and drive fast and safe. I credit Atlanta and my courier job for preparing me for my next crap job here in Mississippi as a cab driver. It was the only job I could find here that would pay me anything near what I was used to in Atlanta. Of course, no one told me at the outset that I would have to drive 20 hours a day, as fast and as well as I could, to make that money. :)

Anyway I digress as usual. My point is that this morning I am pissed at all drivers out there that intend to drive the biggest vehicle they can find as fast as they can. The next time you find yourself frying during a Mississippi July you can thank yourself for contributing to the fact that we don't have an ozone layer anymore to protect us. Me and my hoopdee will just keep plugging along, knowing that on any given day we can out-drive you... should we so choose :)

I took a break...so shoot me :)

Finally I passed algebra! Now I can study for the licensure test and after 5 years of struggle and deprivation maybe I can go do what God put me on this earth to do...serve. I have to pass the test first :) I hope all of you had and continue to have a great holiday season and didn't let the commercialism get to you. :)

I've told you all about my friend Amerah before. She sends me stuff from time to time. Some of it makes me cry, some makes me laugh, some make me think and some of it is just plain worth sharing. This one is worth sharing. Click here.

Also my friend Alex over at A Copywriter's Blues has paid me the highest form of a compliment on his site and has given me one of the greatest Christmas presents I have ever received. If you are into the blues go check out his site. It is an awesome video collection of all the greats...even some international greats you might not know about :) While I was on his site I started wondering if there was a site that compared blues styles so you know me I started looking for links and found a great one, The Sutton Blues Collective. It has much information that I've never seen on a site before. The information is also written in a short and to the point manner. The link is for the homepage, just scroll down and click on Blues Styles to find out about all the different types and styles of the blues.

The next two (maybe more) posts will be me trying to make some money with this blog before I get evicted and don't have a place to write anymore...so please bear with me. I don't intend to get away from the original focus of this blog but...oh, well sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do :) Have a great day and as always Happy Searching!!

It's Saturday Night and I Have the House to Myself!

The first thing I did was turn the blaring football game OFF! Next, I turned the finetune player up fullblast. The Yardbirds "Train Kept A Rollin" came on first, then George Thorogood "Bad To The Bone". WOO HOO I'm liking this!
The boy went to spend the night with a friend of his and from there will go to mass and then to youth group. This means I have the house to myself until three or four tomorrow afternoon. Whatever shall I do??? The hot water is already running...complete with bubbles and all the smell good stuff I can find :) Might even shave my legs :) Once I soak for an hour or so then I think I'll put on clean sweats and make my plan for tomorrow.
Because the economy is so bad and groceries and gas are so high I think I must revert back to doing the sale paper Wal-Mart thing. Usually it doesn't pay me to do that because we live a good way from Wal-Mart and I hate the crowds and the fact that it is merchandised to make me purchase things that I normally wouldn't. If I stick to my list and don't look up I think I'll be alright. It's like a test of wills when you go to that place. Besides my theory is if you just pick a store, any store and learn it really well (like when they have sales on what you use) you can do as well there as at Wal-Mart. Plus if you shop there all the time then at this time of year they send you little thank you incentives. Mostly, I shop at Kroger. It's the right size...I don't have to walk the equivalent of two football fields to get what I need, then another to get to my car pushing the loaded buggy. Last year, Kroger sent me several coupons for money off my entire grocery order. It seems like it was $16. It seems like the total for the entire holiday season was around $60. Now, to me, that's pretty good. This year it's not so much. I guess the economy has hit everywhere. But it is still substantial with the other coupons they send and the regular double coupons.
Some of my friends freaked when I told them I was moving to this part of town. I moved here because at the time I was on foot. In fact, I found this duplex complete with laundry room, two bedrooms, a yard for the boy and the cats and a covered carport when we were two days from the sheriff coming to throw our stuff out of where we were living. I thought God had directed me to this place. This apartment is a block from a bus line that is as frequent as any in town. There are two grocery stores, a drugstore, a convenience store, a Fred's, a Roses, a cleaners, a laundromat and many fast food places right within walking distance. I thought I had moved to heaven when we first moved in.
It was a real fluke finding this place. It was November and still hot. I had taken the bus over to check on a complex type apartment and the jerk that was the manager condescendingly told me that they would check my credit. A foreclosure, I assumed, would not allow me to get that slum apartment, so I just started walking back up to the bus stop when I noticed what seemed to be a neighborhood much like where were living and even had "circle" in it's address...it was too much of a coincidence so I decided to go see if there were any vacant houses that might be for rent. I walked around the entire circle and only saw one that looked like it was in the process of being renovated and not finished. So I kept walking. The circle has two cut through streets and I had already been through one of them and was starting to get really tired, not to mention really sweaty. The little voice said "go on and check out the other cut through street". I had to force myself to do it. I got to the end of the street and there it was. It looked like it might be a duplex and I've always liked duplexes...only one close neighbor :) It was a really pretty blue and it looked well-kept and best of all the carport looked empty. I remember thinking...now if someone lived there surely something would be in the carport, pack rat that I am. I went up to the front apartment and knocked on the door. A surprised black man came to the door...even more surprised when he saw me, a big 'ole red-faced sweaty white woman :) I asked him a bunch of questions and he stopped me and said if I could wait about 30 minutes or so that the landlord was on his way over and I could ask him all that.
Hughey, the landlord was sent to me directly from God and I know that to be fact :) He let me rent the apartment without a credit check, he let me have my cats "I'm not going to tell it and if you don't mention it, the owner will never know", wink, wink. Hughey did so much for me and I will be forever grateful to him for it. He let me slide on the rent until I got my first financial aid check from school. He gave me rides when I needed to go to DHS. He would even consider property in lieu of rent sometimes, if he could use it :) I could not have asked for a better apartment manager. Then he had a falling out with the owner over the owner not paying him for work he had done to the owner's other houses. The owner got another manager, Sandy... another Godsend. He was just the sweetest man, in fact his entire family was that way. They all took care of me with whatever this old house needed.
Now, I tell you all that to tell you this...about two years ago the owner decided to get out of the rental housing business and he sold all his properties. WOE IS ME :) It has been s**t ever since. But the last management company was pretty good. At least they understood that I was a single female with cats and a kid and they were careful who they rented the front apartment to. Now the new owner has changed management companies because he wanted to consolidate all his properties into a management company that could handle all his properties. To make a long story short, we might get evicted right here at Christmas. I could tell when I went to talk to the woman that she wasn't going to lift her hand to help me and she didn't. Even though the former management company told me that the owner was pretty easy to get along with and would probably cut me some slack since I had to put $1300 worth of new steel doors on this house so we would be safe in here. That's another story for another day though. When she called me back to tell me that he said to go on and start the eviction proceedings I could tell by her voice that she was taking some delight in telling me that. I doubt she even told him about the doors. I know it is time to move away from here but we can't do that until I get out of school and get a job. Hopefully this will happen soon :)
Anyway, I said all of that to tell you why you now see the Smorty widget on here. It was never my intent to make money from this blog. I just wanted to make a contribution to the field of social work and help my fellow students. From time to time I will be reviewing non-socialwork related sites to try to bring in some money from this site. I ask for your tolerance and your prayers :) We'll be alright...I know God did not bring us this far to let us fall now. :)
It is always very draining for me to write about my personal stuff so I think I will go enjoy my bubbles now :) Have a great weekend and as always Happy Searching!

Please take the poll on the left hand side of the blog

Some of you might be wondering why I never posted about the meeting I went to where I was invited to represent the underclass for the new website design of my university's social work website. Before I get to it...yes, I am the queen of the run-on sentence :) I went to the meeting the day after we got back from the blues trail excursion...which was great, by the way. So I was kind of dogged out and admittedly not very coherent. It seemed to me that they were not at all interested in or impressed with what I spent the entire summer working on. It seemed to me they were only interested in getting it done the easiest and quickest way possible, even though I offered to go sit with the IT people and learn how to do the coding. In all fairness I can understand the mindset...not having an on staff programmer would make you opt for the quick, easy and simple route. But the reason why I haven't posted about it until now is that in the course of the discussion one of the instructors from the PhD program said that my site promoted plagiarism. Ouch! Punch me in the gut why don't ya :) Now, I cannot for the life of me see how providing links to valuable resources promotes plagiarism so I have stewed on it and gone through all the grief stages about it and have finally decided to put up a poll to see what my readers think. According to sitemeter there are about a thousand or so of you out there. It would be great if I could get a few of you in here to respond to the poll before I lose my mind over this :) Thanks so much!

Yeah!! A Cold Snap! Finally We Can Move Again, Here in the Deep South!

Finally the first cold snap! I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. Here in the south one of the things we think about doing when the weather turns cold is cooking. We love to cook and we love to eat. I thought it would be interesting to find out what other people like to cook. I started a thread last year in a forum I visit regularly and got many great recipes from it for holiday dinners. So I will start it off on my blog this year. Anyone is welcome to post their recipes here in the comments. This recipe also makes great cupcakes, just put a hershey's caramel kiss on top while still warm for the topping. :)

Better Than Sex Cake

1 butter recipe yellow cake mix
4 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/3 cup water
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 bar german chocolate
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Topping

1 large bag Rolo's candy
1 - 2 tablespoons milk

preheat oven to 350. grease and flour large bundt pan. In large bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil and water. mix until well blended. add eggs one at a time blending well after each. place german chocolate in small nonstick skillet and heat on low until in a soft melt state. mix into cake batter. fold in sour cream. fold in chips, coconut and pecans just until evenly distributed. pour evenly into bundt pan. bake for approximately 55 minutes. check at 45. may take longer. cake is done when inserted knife comes out clean. allow to cool in pan for 15 to 20 minutes. invert onto coverable cake plate and allow to cool completely. cover tightly and let sit for at least two days, if you can wait. if not, it's great warm. but the waiting allows the flavors to mellow some. in a large nonstick skillet unwrap rolos and place the candies big side down add 1 tablespoon milk. heat on very low heat stirring occasionally. add milk until just able to stir and no more. if it's too thin it will run right off the cake. allow to cool then pour evenly over cake. i usually use a 2 cup glass measuring cup to do this. makes it easier.

I was about 25 when I discovered this recipe and was experiencing a particularly long "dry spell" and at that time I had a really hard time trying to say that it was not better than sex

Today I Want to Talk About---Billary....

You cannot imagine the weariness that overcomes me whenever I hear yet another person making my home state the butt-end of a point they are trying to make. It used to make me violently angry in my youth. Seems that it is so easy to just use Mississippi for any analogy from taking a dump over the state to proving your point about backwardness. I just wish people would realize that it was only a select few that sealed our fate many years ago. It was not me. I come from a long line of people on the other side. People that did not agree with the politics of the day and stood up against them. Newt Knight was my great grandfather on my mother's side. If you want to read a glorified, fictionalized account...the one I grew up believing, read Oh, Promised Land and then Tap Roots by James Street. There are three more in the set but these two give you the gist of it. Mr. Street died of a heart attack the year I was born. I wish I could have met him to thank him for giving a little girl something to be proud of in a world that hated her on many levels.
The first hatred I experienced was because my mother was a single parent in the fifties. I had to be a bastard and she had to be a whore. We were neither. My mother was a voracious reader, devouring everything she could get her hands on until the day she died after finishing the New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle, an award winning critical care nurse and made more than most men of that time. My father was a bohemian artist too free to be held to the responsibilities of family life. Ventana Abierta gives a very good description of the bohemian artist on her blog. I understand my mother more than I ever did, now that I have raised my own child alone.
The second hatred of me was because I was an overweight child. People could be so cruel back then. It's funny now...you don't get that so much, now that everyone else seems to be catching up in the weight department. :)
The third hatred I experienced was because I was caucasion. Until I was seven or so I lived in ignorant bliss, happily playing with whomever I pleased. I was never told I could not socialize with people of different races. Maybe I should have been. I know it would have saved me quite a bit of heartache if I could have remained forever blissfully ignorant. That was not to be the case.
The Freedom Riders (the short version), for a more complete history (the legacy of the Freedom Riders) came to town when I was seven and for the first time in my young life I saw fear in my mother's eyes. Can you imagine being barely 30, a single parent, working nights so you can get your child to school and not knowing if the place you lived was going to go up in flames like what was happening in Alabama? If you've never lived under Marshall Law then how can you understand?
From that point on, how I approached my life changed. I sought out people of other races to talk to and learn from and learn I did. I've been very fortunate to have known and been understood by many people of other races. I've always thought that I was born with an old bluesman's soul because that is where I am most comfortable and people that really know me understand that and relate to it on that level.
Getting back to "Billary." Speaking of "backward" just the very idea that she would use Mississippi in the context that she did shows the world her very own backwardness. I think she should go here and answer the questions posted in the comments. When she can give reasonable and creditable answers to the questions posed in the comments of this article I might reconsider her as a candidate. Yes, I was considering her as a candidate, as I think a lot of women voters were here in Mississippi. More apparently than her numbers were telling her, but she probably cured us of that consideration by her comments.
I am so tired of being called "backward" I could just scream.... so for my readers that aren't from here and can only judge by what they've read I have found some links for you that will tell you some good stuff about Mississippi, if you're willin' :) They can be found on the left sidebar as always.

Trail of the Hellhound

Tomorrow my son and I will be heading up old Hwy 61 in search of The Hellhound and the Blues Trail
The plan is to leave Jackson about 10 am(snerk :)), drive over to Vicksburg and head north on Hwy 61 from there. We are going to stop at the Onward store about 30 miles north of Vicksburg, where Teddy Roosevelt did not kill the bear, for one of those awesome cheeseburgers and some conversation. Then we are heading on up to Clarksdale. We will wander around Clarksdale all day searching for the crossroads where Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil for his dazzling guitar technique. Once we leave Onward we should be able to tune into 1450 AM WROX and rock on out to some blues on the way up. In Clarksdale we'll go to the Delta Blues Museum where we can see Muddy Water's cabin and interesting photo exhibits. Then we'll eat at Madidi, Morgan Freeman's restaurant that's supposed to be fancy smancy. Hope they'll let us in without a tie and dress up clothes :) (just called for a reservation, the lady that answered said "just wear some clothes...we'll be good" :)) After the meal, to wake me up enough to drive out to the woods I think we better go over to Ground Zero Blues Club for an hour or so. I want to try to find the authentic rural juke joint Po Monkey's Lounge *near* Merigold reportedly after turning left on the main road immediately there is a fork in the road take the left fork and then take the first gravel road on the left and it's on down in there somewhere. If I'm never heard from again just know that I died happy....wallowing in the blues. Hopefully we'll make it on into Memphis following old Hwy 61 so we can visit Sun Records, BBKing's Blues Club, the Orpheum and the Peabody to watch the march of the ducks on Saturday.
This is the first "vacation" my son and I have ever had and hopefully all of you will have as great a weekend as we are going to have! I still can't believe my 18 year old son suggested that we do this :) I guess raising him on gospel, spirituals and the blues from the cradle did some good. I always hoped it wouldn't warp him and of coarse it didn't. :)

The Busiest Time of the Year for a Student :)

Today I have added yet another blog linking to this main page. It is not complete so please bear with me. This one includes criminal justice, juvenile justice and child welfare links to resources. With the addition of this one there are now six separate blogs that link to this main page. Cool, huh?
Because of my work on this blog I have been nominated to be the undergrad representative to work on the committee that will re-invent my own university's School of Social Work page. More about that later, when I know more. I have also been asked to create one for the Criminal Justice Department. So much to do..so little time....I'm lovin' it :) Have a great day!! Happy Searching!!

Abortion

Tough subject to take on, right? Today I saw the man that spearheads the anti-abortion protests of the one abortion clinic we have left here in Hades where I live. He was overseeing the "worker" landscapers and from what I could hear, was being very respectful to them. I felt as if I was in a parallel universe...a place where everyone treated everyone else with respect and courtesy. This has not been my experience with this man and I do believe he recognized me but could not remember from where. While waiting on my son to get off from work I had about 15 minutes to observe him and observe him I did. You see, I truly despise this man and everything he stands for. As I watched him I could not believe what I was seeing....a seemingly gentle, caring human being. I almost felt as if I were being transported back to when I used to disassociate to block the sexual abuse I suffered most of my life. It felt as if I needed to leave reality to comprehend that this very same man that had harassed me and every other woman in this town who had made the excruciating decision to end their pregnancy, could possibly be a nice man. The lengths he would go to, the tactics, the language were some of the most horrible forms of abuse I have ever witnessed.
I have never understood how a man can justify taking up the fight against abortion. It is my belief that if 100% of men were to accept 100% of their responsibility for the children they father then there would be no need for abortion, except in cases of rape or for medical reasons. I would be willing to take a guess that 80% of abortions would be eliminated. Yet, you see them out there, protesting with such vehemence. They stand outside abortion clinics yelling terrible things to women who are about to go through one of the most traumatic events of their lives. What purpose does this serve? Don't they know that they cannot say anything to us that we have not already said to ourselves? Does showing us gruesome, blood and guts, pictures of partially birthed fetuses really serve a purpose? If so, I want to know what purpose that is. Is the purpose to make us never, ever have another good night's sleep? Is it to make sure that we carry guilt with us about the decision we had to make until the day we die? We already do that. Rest assured you can not punish us or make us feel any more guilty than we already do. Again I ask, what is the purpose? Who gives you the right to abuse us in that manner? Certainly not my God. My Father loves his children and when we are ready to be forgiven will open His arms and welcome us to be forgiven.

So I was Wrong :)

In the spirit of professionalism...the music player will not start automatically from now on. You can still play it by hitting the play button. I want my readers to come here to discover the wealth of information I have uncovered on the web. If the music offends them or scares them away before they have time to do this then I have not truly done my job. So, for those of us that can not live without music to work by, it is still there to enjoy. Now the reader has a choice as to whether or not they want to listen. :) Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

I'm Wondering....

The sitemeter widget at the bottom of this page tells me hourly who has been to my site, where they came from, how they came in and what they clicked to go out. The MyBlogLog one gives a different set of details but not until the next day. I don't know which one I like the best but the one thing that they both tell me is that most people are only visiting my first page.

If you come here for the links to the information that you need and don't see them, I'm sorry about that. There are five (soon to be six) other blogs attached to this first page. The links to them are done by category and are listed under the music player on the left-hand side. Click the link that says, for instance, University Archives...this will take you to the page of all the wonderful university sites I have found for my readers. Most of the time it will take you directly to the page you need for social work related material. My sole reason for doing this was to save future students of social work time. I have tried to keep this in mind with every link listed for you. Rest assured I have been all over every site I have listed for you. This is why you rarely have to go to a website's homepage and figure out how to navigate from there to get to what you need. I have also searched at least 10 search engine pages, sometimes 20 or more, so you won't have to waste your time searching. As always suggestions for improvement are always welcome!

The music can be turned off by clicking the green button on the bottom left corner of the player. I am leaving it at the top of the column so this will be easy for you to do. The main reason it is on the page is that there have been many requests for me to expand my profile. There are 120 songs on the player and I think it is a pretty accurate representation of who I am and where I've been. I could write you my story about every song in the player, but neither of us has the time. In case you haven't noticed I am not a blogger that likes to tell you all the gory personal details of my life. I guess I just think if you want to be a social worker or you already are then you know the understanding of human nature that it takes to be a social worker. You can not have understanding without experience. IMO "Nuff said. Thanks to years of therapy I got rid of the baggage years ago and don't intend to pick it up and start carrying it again. If I think it is relevant then I will bite the bullet and write it. Don't look for it very often though.

Have a Great Evening and Happy Searching!

A Heartfelt Thank You!

This morning before I head off to be taught how to access the dreaded online algebra course I'm taking this semester, I want to take a little time to acknowledge the people who have helped me the most. I have gone from staring at a blank page and not having a clue as to how to put anything on it, to being able to enter information and widgets with ease. This was beyond the realm of my comprehension just two short months ago.
First, I must thank Optional and Cathangela over at the ACC forum for their invaluable and ongoing support. Were it not for these two I would have given up within the first week. It was their encouragement and expertise with coding and the like that kept me sane :) Thanks guys for letting me pick your brain! Thanks also to all my buddies over at ACC for the support and especially for not laughing at me when I began this endeavor :) I am also adding a link to one of Matt's sites here because I left him out when I did these thank you's...I'm so sorry Matt...If it were not for you working with me I would have thrown my computer through a window or something....thank you for all the countless hours you spent with me helping me keep this ole piece of junk working :) I hope you know I just plain forgot about you because you weren't involved in the set up of this blog...again I'm sorry...I should have thanked you first because if it were not for your expertise I wouldn't even have had a computer to blog with...sorry I was such an idiot...
Next, I must thank Tobi Shane webmistress of The Social Work Cafe for the ongoing, almost daily (sometimes two and three times daily) support. She has listened to me, provided me with exact, in real time, technical support for problems, made suggestions, provided uplifting conversations and provided my first place for outside exposure! For this I will be eternally grateful. I am truly proud to call Tobi my friend now and hopefully for many years to come!
Thank you also to Dr. Rob for letting me have the healthcare blogger widget, thereby validating my belief that social workers are indeed a viable resource in the healthcare field. Thank you also for having a blog that provides me countless hours of enlightened entertainment.
I believe that all my readers are well aware of my feelings about Andrew, webmaster of Mutual Aid Based Groupwork. He has changed my view of social work completely and made me finally understand the importance of all those dreaded "group assignments" in my courses at school.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the sites that have considered my little blog worthy enough to be added as a resource to their site. It makes me proud to be a part of the social work online community.

Andrew's on Wikipedia!

Andrew Cicchetti has a new entry on Wikipedia
Andrew has the site Mutual Aid Based Groupwork. You can find the link under social work on the left sidebar of this page.
I cannot begin to tell you here just how invaluable this information can be to the social worker. You must go read for yourself. Andrew's writings have given me an entirely different perspective of just what social work is and what it should be. His entry on Wikipedia is a smooth, easy to read, cohesive compilation of his site. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
"Mutual aid as group work technology can be understood as an exchange of help wherein the group member is both the provider as well as the recipient of help in service of achieving common group and individual goals (Borkman, 1999; Gitterman, 2006; Lieberman, 1983; Northen & Kurland, 2001; Schwartz, 1961; Shulman, 2006, Steinberg, 2004; Toseland & Siporin, 1986). The rationale for cultivating mutual aid in the group encounter is premised on the following beliefs: 1) members have strengths, opinions, perspectives, information, and experiences that can be drawn upon to help others in the group; 2) helping others helps the helper, a concept known as the helper-therapy principle (Reissman, 1965) which has been empirically validated (Roberts et al, 1999); and 3) some types of help, such as confrontation, are better received when emanating from a peer rather than the worker (Shulman, 2006). The use of mutual aid based group work has resonance with the needs of a variety of populations. For example, in substance abuse treatment groups mutual aid has been observed to both strengthen self-esteem and affirm the value of a sober network of peers (Cicchetti, in press).
Please do go check it out when you have the time to read and absorb...it is so worth it! :)

Finished!

The changes to the site are complete...for the moment anyway :) Now I can devote my time to searching for reputable, reliable and free links. I hope you find it is easier to navigate around in here. In the future I will probably add more blogs to the list. I still want to devote time and energy to several other subjects within the social work realm, youth-at-risk and critical thinking are two that come immediately to mind. There are many areas in social work I have not covered. As you are reading through the site, thinking of areas you wish I had covered, that I have not, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best to see what I can find. I will tell you this though...except for what has already been included, criminal justice, as a stand alone subject will never be covered. I refuse to compromise my computer by clicking on criminal justice links. In case you haven't noticed every time you click a cj link you are bombarded with ads for online schools and all kinds of other c**p that you can never get off your computer. Good luck with it though! Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Changes

Today I will be making changes to the blog. It will no longer be just one. It is no secret I have never been happy with the way this blog navigates and I don't have the time, nor the inclination, to learn html coding, so I have decided to use a simple layout and have separate blogs with two categories each. This will allow for ease of navigation on this site as well as allow extensive room on the other blogs as I find more and more interesting links for you. This will be a time-consuming transition and more than likely will not happen overnight so I hope you will bear with me. I think it will be worth it in the end. :) Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

:)

Ok, I know I've been playing for a week or so. It's time to get back to business, school starts back in less than a week and I have to go face Algebra for the umpteenth time :(
I want to add links for the elderly and links for the homeless before school starts back. Then I think I will be finished with the different categories and I can just add to them as time goes along. I will try to add one or two to each, every week or so, but my main focus will be algebra and studying for the licensure exam. It is paramount that I finish in December...no more financial aid...kid's grouchy...etc. :-)
It has always been my goal to give my readers/fellow students a great stepping off point. If you've been reading since the beginning then you remember I only promised you great places to start searching. I have thrown in some obscure links that you might not think of, mainly because the very discovery of their existence excited me and I thought it might do the same for you.
I will be adding the links for the elderly today. So far I've not been happy with what I found. This is not a good thing. It tells me those working with the elderly are not publishing websites with their own resources listed. You can imagine how this irks me. I did find one that I personally plan to use...regularly :) The Elder Wisdom Circle. I've taken this excerpt from their "about us" page.
The EWC is a place for people in their teens, 20's and 30's to connect with a Cyber-Grandparent for anonymous personalized advice. Elder Wisdom Circle is organized as a IRS 501(c)3 non-profit association. Most advice-seekers are 14-35 but we reply to everyone. We are based in the San Francisco Bay Area with Elders all over North America. We are one of the largest providers of personal advice anywhere. The mission of our association is to promote and share elder know-how and accumulated wisdom. We also have a goal of elevating the perceived value and worth of our senior community. FREE Advice: Our Elders can help with most any problem providing a personalized reply to each and every request. Our service is totally confidential and easy to use. To seek advice, click [ here ].
Isn't that cool! I've been reading their advice for awhile now and feel truly blessed to have stumbled on this one!
The last category I will be adding will be links for homelessness. I add it last because I've been trying to avoid it altogether. I have so many mixed feelings about the subject, having been so very close to being homeless myself and having had a husband that preferred to live under a bridge with his alcohol over his precious and beautiful son...well, I think you understand. I understand that I would be falling short of my goal to help my fellow social work students were I not to include it. So I will.
As always Happy Searching and Have a Great Day!

LastFM

Hey, you can probably tell I added the LastFM widget today. :-) I have it set to start automatically. Most people would never guess this about me, but, I Love Me Some Blues!!! If by some weird chance, you don't and it's really getting on your nerves, you can click it off by clicking that square button in the top right corner of the widget. Happy listening to go along with your searching!!!

Affordabook.com

Today I want to tell you about a pretty cool place I found. At least it's a pretty cool place for struggling students. When I first heard of it I doubted anyone could beat Amazon for cheap, quality textbooks. I was wrong.
Affordabook.com is unique in that it gives you a comparison of up to 15 different booksellers and surprisingly Amazon was not the cheapest. I was really excited to find this site since it is my last semester and I need to re-purchase some textbooks to study for the licensure exam and don't want to spend much.
It also amazed me that Affordabooks.com had upwards of 300 entries when I typed "social work" into the search bar. I found the older version of Zastrow's Understanding Human Behavior and Social Development, which is the one I used for my class, for $7.83. Amazing! Oh and in Amazon's defense this one was at Amazon. The newer version could be found at AbeBooks for $56.17.
I mention that price at Abebooks because that was one thing I found wrong with Affordabook.com. It was not a bad thing and was probably just an Abebooks updating thing but when I got to Abebooks the price that had been listed as the lowest price was wrong. There were 2 cheaper than the listed price of $61.27 and there wasn't one for the listed price of $61.27. Like I said this was not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit surprising.
Overall I found Affordabook.com easily navigable and the only thing that bothered me other than the aforementioned price discrepancy was the way the books were listed. They were listed 10 to a page and in no particular order. If you had the ISBN number this would not be a problem. It's only a problem for those of us that like to browse and are pretty lazy about it. I would like to see an option for choosing how you want to view the list, either with all the pretty pictures or just by author/title. There are no book descriptions either. If you want a book description then you have to click the link to the site with the lowest price which is not good for a person pressed for time. I would also like to see in the future an "if you like this book then you might like these" or an "other people that purchased this book also purchased x-y-z books" section. I guess if you want that you can do it at the bookseller's site. I only mention it because my site is dedicated to saving social work students time. All-in-all it's a great time-saving site and I would recommend it to everyone out there trying to save a buck on textbooks.

Theories

OK, I know it's been nine days or so since I last posted. The last one and the birthing story were time consuming and yes, the former was traumatic. Reconstructing/reliving that time in my life just to write about it deserved some respite, so I gave it some. It's done and I'm glad it's over.
Hey, do you like my Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics widget? I'm so proud of it. I don't want to get into the "is social work a healthcare profession" debate because this post could go on for days and possibly turn into a free-for-all, just let me say that Dr. Rob agreed with me and so I have my widget :-). Please check out Dr. Rob's site "Musings of a Distractible Mind" Since I haven't figured out how to put a link into a post yet, the link for it is in the sidebar under "Other Sites/Blogs of Interest". There are great links to other valuable medical blogs on his site.
Sometime today I will be adding the links for Psychological and Social Work theories. I am adding these links because good information on theories is hard to find, especially for the beginning student. I will start with what I have right now in the bookmarks and as I go through that eternally growing stack of papers beside my desk I will add more. Happy Searching!