Are the New Girl's LEGO's Politically Correct?

This politically correct nonsense has to be reined in.

It is has gone overboard.

It has gone too far and "jumped the shark!"

Now what happened you may ask?

Recently, various protest groups object that the new Girl's LEGOs "promote an overt form of sexism." They scream being pretty is more important than what you can do.

They have fashionable hair styles discriminating against the poor.

The Girl LEGOs are too slim therefore ostracizing overweight little girls and they dress at a middle to upper class level so the poor cannot relate or feel improper pressure.

Really?

Probably somehow the pegs and the holes on the bottom of the pieces symbolize something too!

This is HOGWASH!

These are toys and only twisted adults with too much time on their hands could think like this!

Personally I can't believe this is even making the news!

Did you hear that Barbie wears too much expensive jewelry?

Plastic surgeons also want Barbie to go back to her original bust size because now she doesn't reflect all the enhancements that millions are spent on enhancements each and every year. With an average bust on Barbie, millions maybe billions of dollars are being lost by these poor doctors.

Is this fair??

GI Joe carried a gun so he must be in favor of killing and violence!

Train sets have locomotives that bellow smoke and pollute the environment. They are not "green!"

Rock 'em Sock 'em robots are in favor of bullying and just want to fight! They are the cause of all violence in our schools!

Sorry is a game that doesn't apologize in a polite and full manor - it's apologies are way too terse!

Monopoly?-Nope they are illegal and only played in Washington DC and in election years when BIG donations are sought.

Tinker Toys-they did not pull all necessary permits to begin construction and are structurally unsafe.

Lincoln Logs-they have to be renamed as all other past and current Presidents are offended that the logs aren't named after them. (Roosevelt Logs?)

Baby Dolls can't be sold as the pro-life people think they should have been aborted before they hit the shelves!!

Blah, blah, blah.

My God, let the kids play!

Let them have fun.

Let them grow up.

Let them use their imaginations and play over,and around any objections they may find.

Forget the objections found by Mom, found by Dad!

I can't believe the junk our media picks up and endorses.

Where does it stop?

When does it stop?

I'm worried for kids today and the children of the future.

Please, let children be children.

My hope, my wish is that by the time the kids playing with LEGOs grow up, we will fix the silly laws, the silly rules, the silly thinking that has polluted our everyday lives.

It's time to speak up and let the goof balls out there know they are goof balls.

Be assertive, take a stance, get involved and reclaim America for the land that MOST of us love!

Doug Evans is a business/life coach who has helped many people locate where they are "stuck" and move in the direction of their dreams. Doug is available to work with individuals, small groups or corporate staff. Watch for his speaking schedule in your area. Reestablishing dreaming, goal setting, goal accomplishment, master minding, marketing and embracing change all are favorite topics to speak on or help with.

For more information, please visit our website http://discoveryourmissingpower.com/

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They Call This a Public Library

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Who Is Policing the Police?

Traffic Tickets: The Truth Will Shock You

From: Retired Arizona State Trooper:

Did you know that police departments are partially funded by their own ticket enforcement program? In case you haven't paid close attention to the news, were are in the worst economic shape since the depression. Included in this recession are state and local governments that are looking for ways to cut back. One of the suggested ways is job cuts and demotions. Police are part of local government and being on this bandwagon are no exception to the rule. They have been faced with budget cuts and are looking to also lay off officers as a result of budget cuts.

It should come as no surprise that one way to counteract the layoffs is to generate more revenue for the departments. Departments looked at new ways to generate revenue but the tried and true method for departments has been citations. This is a billion dollar industry country wide and has nothing to do with public safety. Sure citations deter some behavior, but that can be accomplished through other means. Driver education and safety programs could solve some of the safety issues but that will not generate the money as quick cash from the public's pockets. This comes from the public's wallet and is easily converted to instant asset generation.

Police officer's have what is called "officer's discretion". Officer's discretion means an officer has a right to enforce the spirit of the law or the letter of the law using his judgment. Traffic enforcement should be at the discretion of the officer to enforce the law but the officer's discretion is being taken away from him. Other officers are being told by their respective agencies to write more tickets so a squad averages can be achieved. You see, was once called a quota is now called squad averages. As a former Arizona State Trooper of 20 years, we were told keep up with our weekly averages or we would be written up for poor performance. We would be compared to the rest of the squad and our weekly performance evaluations were compared to the rest of the squad. The commander would set the weekly ticket quota for an acceptable number and the officer would be required to write that amount of tickets. On my particular squad, we were to stop 40 cars per week and write a minimum of 20 tickets. If you wrote under the 20 tickets, you would be red flagged on your weekly performance evaluation. There would be a note in red on the evaluation to pick up the pace because your performance is substandard. If you continued to get substandard evaluations, the next step would be probation. They would put you on a six month probationary period that could result in termination. If you didn't start writing 20 tickets a week, you would be fired for substandard performance. Oh, yeah, the officers would be required to also, take required emergency calls in performance of his duties in addition to filling his quota.

Has is come to you yet? Did you see anywhere that "public safety" was the main concern for writing more tickets. Of course you did not see it. Nowhere was it mentioned to any officer that the reason we write tickets is for public safety. We were to be ticket writing robots and absolutely had no officer discretion when it came to ticket writing ratios. You see, I would personally write 5 tickets a week out of 40 stops and I was told numerous times this was unacceptable. We were given written warning books but sometimes that would be taken away from us leaving the individual officer only the option to write the public tickets. I believed giving Joe citizen a warning versus writing a ticket would increase public safety and improve community relationships. I like helping people and educating them also about traffic safety. To further take away police discretion, the patrol cars and the officers were wired up to record the traffic encounter.

We were told that was to protect us and in some cases it did. But the main untold reason was to give big brother more ways to monitor our performance.

Your see, less officer discretion and strained police budgets result in more ticket revenue generation. It come in a guise of public safety but really does not save lives. This does not include the court's involvement who are also dependent of ticket revenue generation. Why do you think there is traffic court? To streamline revenue generation. The point I'm trying to make is sometimes it isn't the officer's fault writing the public a traffic ticket. The public should be on guard and drive safely. They should not be dependent on the watch guards to keep us safe, but reliant on them own selves to drive safely and avoid tickets. Furthermore, the police should be given back more discretion in applying the law and not dictated by budget restraints resulting in a higher ticket ratio.

Traffic law should be enforced with absolute officers discretion and no quotas should dictate officer's performance. Who's policing the police to make sure citizens are not subjected to this type of law enforcement. There are some internal affairs investigations, but usually the good officer's get burned by this. Civilian review boards are good but the do not have the training and background to really evaluate an officer's performance.

These problems stated above are not going to be resolved anytime soon so what should the public do to defend themselves. Educate yourself with traffic laws and criminal laws. This does not mean you have to get a law degree or the like. It means know your rights as a citizen! Read civil rights journals and law enforcement bulletins at your public library. Ask local law enforcement for help if you have any questions about your particular situation. Most good officers would love to share their knowledge with you as I have with many people. Lastly, find books that specially cover traffic enforcement and how to beat traffic tickets. There are many of them out there but I have found a great one that covers many areas of speeding and other moving violations. You see, knowledge restores the balance of power back to the public. Don't go unprotected in this day of bad economic times. You will fall prey to budget restrained police departments and courts dependent on your hard earned cash to get them out of the hole.

May god bless and enlighten you to seek the way, the truth and bring happiness in your life. Take back control and power in your life and never accept what is unacceptable!

Best Wishes,

Retired State Trooper,

Gabe Gaona

If you would like more helpful information, feel free to visit my website at: gaonagetu@gmail.com

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Revisiting a Dialysis Center After 11 Years of Transplant Living

I didn't expect it-the smell. The extreme smell of disinfectant and bleach, the quiet coming and going of staff and patients. The dialysis center. I hadn't been inside a dialysis center for nearly 11 years, when I was on peritoneal dialysis or PD as those of us in the "Kidney World" call it. I agreed to participate in a study for the National Kidney Foundation as a peer mentor talking with dialysis patients. I am a certified peer mentor, however this study required additional training and all through the training I was excited to participate. The study's hypothesis is something I believe in and feel strongly will be successful. Even though I am a peer mentor, much of my work promoting organ donation has been at speaking engagements, church functions and during book signings. So I really hadn't been back to a dialysis center until today.

I was glad that the social worker and National Kidney Foundation representative met with me in the conference room first. I needed a minute to collect myself. It is not that I was afraid or changed my mind about volunteering; I just didn't anticipate the reaction of a negative déjà vu.

After our discussion about how the day would go, I gowned up to meet my patients. I remember that when I was on dialysis, I was afraid of what would happen next... after dialysis. And if I didn't do anything today, I wanted the people that I met to know that there can be a successful life after dialysis. With that mantra, my nervousness about the bleach that I smelled turned into eagerness to meet new friends.

My afternoon was spent meeting very interesting people. I interrupted one lady from her portable DVD player that she brought to watch a movie. We talked about how smart that idea was to pass the time away. I even suggested to her that bringing a laptop if possible, would allow her to write-either to chronicle her experiences or to dream up a fantastic work of fiction. Another gentleman took me through all four of his children, where they went to school, their majors, where they now work, whether they were married and if they gave him grandchildren!

Sometimes when we get caught up with disease, illness and chronic conditions, we forget about the interesting and complex lives that people live. I shared and they shared. I think we had a good day. I'll be back in a couple weeks and look forward to building the relationships I created today. Although I'm the mentor presumably offering information and ways to make it successfully through dialysis, I feel like I'm the one who benefited from today's activities.

Jacquie Lewis-Kemp
Author of Blessed Assurance: Success Despite the Odds
An inspirational story of LIVING life with diabetes and organ transplants rather than LIMITING life because of them.
Contributing author of Victorious Living for Women
Visit http://www.jlewiskemp.com/ for more information or to purchase books.
Follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/jacquie.lewiskemp

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Metal Manufacturing Industry Comes Back Strong for 2012!

2012, The best year for business in the last 4 years! That is what I have been told by numerous companies across this country. With the overwhelming talk about unemployment you may ask, which industry is this? It's the metal manufacturing industry. Any Mainer who watches the news can tell you that.

Governor LePage has been holding a number of meetings all across this state. He has been trying to find ways to help these growing companies. Me to! Have any ideas? Let's brainstorm, you can check me out on Linkedin.

The two biggest problems that we in the metal industry have are qualified people and image. A great deal of our qualified people are "baby-boomers". Over the last few years, they have stated retiring. This will increase dramatically over the next decade. So where are the qualified people to replace and replenish the industry? Who's being trained to take over? Who wants to take over the careers in metal manufacturing?

Matt Ferguson, CEO of Career Builder said on CNBC's outlook for 2012 that "21% of the biggest small businesses will he hiring". "The lack of qualified workers" is a big concern. In fact "more companies are having training at the job."

The younger generation has been taught that manufacturing is dirty. People that I talk to who aren't in the metal industry, still picture a smelly, dark, moldy, over run, dirty place that no one wants to work at. Not true, in fact most manufacturing shops are cleaner than your own bathroom.

The professionals who operate modern machinery have to be good at computers, math and engineering. Intelligent people, who want to work, can work! With so many people looking for work this is a great opportunity. That sounds like a wonderful future for our next generation.

Part of what made this great country a "power-house" was manufacturing. A few years back a lot of companies started sending manufacturing jobs overseas. They said it was to save money. How many of them forgot to add in the extra shipping costs, time, delivery time and hassle. As this happened we lost not only American Jobs, we lost our stand in the world.

How do we make America the "power-house" again? Simple, keep bringing manufacturing back. Keep training American's on the value of American Made products. Train our younger generation in the strength of manufacturing. Come network with me, Kim Daellenbach.

With Best Wishes,
Kim Daellenbach
Executive Recruiter - Metal Industry
FPC Bangor
207.778.2456
kim@fpcbangor.com
http://www.fpcbangor.com/

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Giving to Charity Trends

This article looks at some statistics regarding giving to charity in the UK. This includes the numbers giving, average donation amounts, and interesting trends.

Over half of adults in the UK donate financially to charitable causes on a regular basic. This does not include volunteering time. In 2009/2010 people in the United Kingdom were on average giving £12 a month to charity. For most people it is less than this figure but some give significantly more, therefore increasing the average figure. 8% of the total came from donations of more than £100 a month, but this does not include the very wealthy giving very large amounts. 2009/2010 statistics are not available but in 2008/2009 there were 100 donations of more than £1 million.

Impact of the Recession

The recession was expected to have a significant impact on charitable giving but this has not happened to a large extent. In 2007/2008 donations went down a little, but they have increased again since. This is shown in things such as Children in Need, where amounts raised have continued to rise despite fears that the recession would have a negative impact. Since the recession hit, both the number of donations and the average amounts have increased, although the increase could be concentrated amongst those not particular impacted by the recession.

Giving at Home or Abroad

In recent years those giving to overseas causes has increased, with around a quarter of donations having gone outside of the country in the last few years. It is difficult to judge whether this is a general trend or whether there has been more large natural disaster the last few years. These types of events attract a lot of media coverage and tend to therefore lead to large numbers of donations. The earthquake in Haiti and earthquake and tsunami in Japan are good examples of this. These are visually tragic with thousands impacted suddenly. With people emotionally involved they are more likely to donate on instinct. The increases in giving to these types of causes also suggest a higher proportion of charitable giving is through one-off donations or occasionally giving rather than it being regular, for example monthly.

Which Demographics Donate Most?

Perhaps surprisingly, the age range that donates the most to charity amongst women and amongst men are very different. The women who contribute most to good causes are those in their 40's, 50's and 60's, while men aged between 16 and 24 contribute more than any other age range.

How About Volunteering?

Around 40% of adults in the UK volunteer for a good cause at least once a year, with roughly 25% volunteering on at least a monthly basis. This has increased over the last five years. The recession has actually had a positive influence on this, with some who have been made redundant volunteering until they find suitable employment. Volunteering for a worthy cause is a good way for people to donate to charity who cannot afford to give financially. The general trend is a decrease in the numbers volunteering on a regular basis and an increase in people volunteering occasionally.

Andrew Marshall ©

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Libertarianism and Marxism

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