Think about it . . .

Lincoln's $5 bill gets a colorful makeover

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Honest Abe will become Colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray livening up the $5 bill.

The government showed off the new bill Thursday in an Internet news conference - a high-tech unveiling that officials say is entirely appropriate for a 21st century redesign of the bill featuring the Civil War president, Abraham Lincoln.

The changes are similar to those already made, starting in 2003, to the $10, $20 and $50 bills. In those redesigns, pastel colors were added as part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters and their ever-more-sophisticated copying machines.

Click here to see the full story.

The Reaper

I'm pretty sure I'd need to change my shorts after this:

FASD Awareness Day

Posted yesterday over at my blog, thought it worthy to post here as well . . .

Yesterday I had a wicked headache. I spent most of the day covering my head with a pillow and snoozing on the couch. I missed posting about FASD Awareness Day which is on the ninth day of the nine month, Sept. 9th.

On this day back in 1999 some families got together to raise their voices and educate people about the dangers in drinking during the 9 months of pregnancy. It also served to educate the public on children who have been afflicted with FASD and how their lives have been changed simply by their birth mother partaking in alcohol during those precious 9 months in utero. NINE MONTHS. Such a short time in the life of that mother has changed my son's life forever. I sometimes sit and mourn the life he could be living. The life that he would have without alcohol pervading his little body in the womb. The life that he could've had without the brain damage that he has due to those drinks. . .

Then I get angry. I get angry at the selfishness of birth mother's who should know better. I get mad at birth mother's who have access to birth control if they are choosing to drink or suffering from alcoholism. I get angry that I have to see the frustration and the struggles he goes through on a minute by minute basis. I get frustrated that his brain doesn't function in the way most people's do. I get livid that she still doesn't understand she has affeected him for life and created a child who can NEVER be fully functional on an independant level.

Then I get motivated. Motivated to educate every woman of child bearing age that you SHOULD NOT drink one drop of alcohol during those precious months. You should not drink if there is any possiblitiy of conceiving. I want to educate them that you can mess up a life in the same way that drunk drivers destroy a family by killing someone on the road. I want to grab them, shake them and make them understand what this child deals with on a daily basis. I want to educate people in restaurants, the grocery and my child's school that FASD is not a "made-up" disorder or a "fabricated" reason for my child's behaviors. I want them to realize that just because a child looks "normal" they still can have brain damage. I want them o stop looking at me like my parenting has caused this behavior. I want to make FASD a part of everyone's vocabulary.

I want to shout from the rooftops, "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is the ONLY birth defect that can be 100% preventable!" It is up to all of us! Raise your voice, educate someone today! (even though it is a day late) Heck, educate someone everyday!

Gen. David Petraeus talks to Congress

Today General Petraeus spoke to Congress. He had a lot to say and yet little to say. I wasn't able to hear the entire hearing, but from what I have heard, it doesn't sound like he had anything to say that wasn't already expected.

Someone brought up a good point. Isn't this about the war on terror? If so, then why would the General be willing to reduce the number of troops once the sectarian violence diminishes. It would seem that we are in Iraq to assist with the sectarian violence and not really because of the war on terror.

Democrats went into the rare joint hearing raising questions about the figures Petraeus would be presenting and putting the focus on the White House, not the general or the ambassador. "The fact remains that the administration has sent you here today to convince the members of these committees and the Congress that victory is at hand," said Rep. Tom Lantos, D-California, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. "With all respect to you, I don't buy it."

I trust the General more than Congress or the President, but I still think we are in Iraq for the wrong reason(s).

Size Doesn't Matter

Now. . .back off of Dennis Kucinich:

You know you're in trouble when. . .

. . .as a forty-something political candidate, you have to call in Mommy to plead your case:



Of course, the first signs of trouble would have been the complete lack of understanding of campaign finance laws and the utter disregard for the members of the grand jury that you testified before lied to. . .