Girls,

Keeping these babies will not be like babysitting. You won’t be able to give these children back to their mothers after a certain period of time.

Babies need constant attention. They are not puppies or kittens who can be left alone. Feeding them involves a lot more than putting some food and water in bowls on the floor.

Your life is no longer your own. It’s all about the baby. The baby is hungry, the baby is poopy, the baby has a wet diaper, the baby has a tummy ache, the baby needs to burp. Sure the baby will sleep, but almost never when it’s convenient for you.

While it may be technically possible, it’s not easy to play a video game or text your friends and feed a baby at the same time (breast or bottle).

You won’t be able to run to the mall, or a friend’s house, the movies, or the library without making arrangements for that little person who is totally dependent on you. No more spur of the moment fun.

You must either find a babysitter or take the child with you. Baby sitters may cost money (if not a relative or friend willing to sit for free). Taking a baby with you requires much more than just the baby. You need the diaper bag with diapers, a change of clothes, burp rags, baby wipes, toys, a heavy infant car seat (just wait until that little 7-8 pound baby becomes a 20+ pounder nearer a year old and you still need that infant seat by law), and bottles and formula. Then there’s the playpen you might need to lug around to others’ houses so the baby can nap, and the stroller.

Babies aren’t cheap. Formula costs an arm and a leg. Diapers cost an arm and a leg. You could use cloth diapers and plastic pants and wash the diapers yourself to save money. Diaper services cost as much or more than disposable diapers do. Even when the baby is eating cereals and jarred baby food (blueberry buckle dessert – 3rd stage is quite good), the baby still needs breast milk or formula until a year old. Cow’s milk isn’t cheap anymore either. Yesterday the grocery store was selling gallons of “organic” (in a plastic jug) for nearly $7 a gallon!

Please consider that there are many couples who have established themselves and their households that can’t have children. Consider offering your child to one of these couples for adoption into their loving home. Give yourself time to earn a diploma and perhaps a college degree. Be able to take care of yourself first. Get married. Establish a household and then bring in a child.

I was watching Fox this morning and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that the oil companies are making obscene profits and they are paying their CEO’s too much and they aren’t investing in sustainable energy. Later on he said that the oil companies are buying back their stock raise dividends and not use the money for oil exploration.

When you use only the dollar amounts of profit to discuss the oil companies’ profits it sure sounds obscene. $5 Billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. $5 thousand, not so much. But both those numbers can represent 10% profits. The small business with only $5 thousand in profits has, of course, a much smaller revenue stream.

Congress may set minimum wages in law, but what makes them think that they can set maximum wages?

What gives Congress the right to tell any company what they should be investing in? And on that note, why is it the oil industry’s responsibility to develop alternative fuels and energy? Why not offer incentives for anyone to come up with viable alternates? Solar and wind are good, but they can’t run my car. Hydrogen fuel cells sound great, but they need to be more reliable and the price needs to come down.

Congress wants to improve CAFE standards. That’s all well and good, but it only affects new vehicles, those built to meet those new standards. Changing the CAFE standards doesn’t magically make all the current vehicles more fuel efficient. The older vehicles are still on the road, not as efficient as the newer models. Will the government do something to get all the older vehicles off the road? Will the government buy everyone a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle?

Passenger vehicles that are more fuel efficient don’t do much to reduce the need for petroleum based fuels in this country. Trucks and trains need those fuels too. Trucks and trains transport just about everything we buy, to include the gasoline at the gas station.

Mr. Sanders also doesn’t seem to realize that the oil companies are publicly owned companies. Paying dividends therefore, is putting money in their investors’ pockets. Investors that include many “average Joes” who have money in 401(k)s and other investments. Mr. Sanders, dividends are not only for the rich or the company honchos.

There are those who say we can’t drill our way out of this. They say drilling won’t bear fruit for years.

If we had started drilling years ago, we would have the oil availability now.

The solutions they are throwing out; solar, wind, bio diesels, hydrogen – to become real solutions, these will also take years.

There is no magic button that will solve our need for oil in the short term. We do have to look at long term solutions, but we can’t have tunnel vision and look only at everything but oil.

In order to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, we need to keep all our options open. Exploit our own resources. If we can lessen our dependence on oil, foreign and domestic, then we can sell our domestic oil to others in the world.

It’s my birthday, but no cake for me today because I can’t eat anything today. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow. I’m anemic and we’re trying to find out where I might be bleeding from. An upper GI didn’t show any indications of ulcers, so we’ll see if the colonoscopy will give any information.

I posted the full photo that this is a part of on Sunday – a picture of my Dad and me. I asked Mom about it and she said it could have been my first birthday. Looking at the picture again, I see that I am holding a mixer beater with what looks like frosting on it. Perhaps it was from my birthday cake.

There are rumors that IL Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) might want to appoint himself to finish out Barack Obama’s senate term, should he become President. But, he might also be angling for the Vice Presidental post. While perfectly legal – both presidential and vice-presidential candidates can be from the same state, electors in the Electoral College can only vote for one from the same state as themselves. (Snopes)

So – Barack Obama could pick any of several different Illinoisians to be his VP; Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL5), Governor Rod Blajojevich (D-IL), Rod’s father-in-law Alderman Dick Mell (D-Chicago), Mayor Daley (D-Chicago), House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-IL), his daughter the Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D-IL),  the Illinois Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorsen (D-IL), Rev. James Meeks (D-IL15), Melissa Bean (D-IL8), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL2), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL9), Bobby Rush (D-IL1), or Luis Gutierrez (D-IL4).

So Illinois’ 21 electoral votes could all go to Barack Obama, they just wouldn’t go to the VP nominee. But that shouldn’t be a problem.

Dad as a young man:

Dad with baby me:

I was a mess. And so was Dad’s pants’ leg.

I miss you Daddy.

We have two old flags that we will take to our local VFW hall for proper disposal.

Happy 233^rd birthday Army!

The view to the east this evening was beautiful. Pink cotton candy clouds on a sky of flawless blue.

It should be a beautiful day tomorrow, perfect for getting some yard work done and getting the gutters cleaned out.

Tim Russert has died of a heart attack. He was 58 years old. He had just returned from a vacation in Italy to celebrate his son’s graduation from Boston College.

Our condolences and prayers are with his friends and family.

Before the seas boil away!

This is the real mayor of Ocean City and it’s a real commercial. Love it!