Today is the first of two moving days.  Yeah!

Actually, this is something to be happy and excited about.  We are about to relocate; this should be the last time for many years, but more about that later.  It is going to be nice to move somewhere and not worry about moving until we decide to move on our own.  Why is that an issue?  Because I work for our uncle.

After 20 years, I’m retiring from the Air Force and we will be moving out west.  It is almost surreal – I’m happy about moving, happy about retiring, sad about leaving my co-workers and nervous about beginning a new way of living.  Being in the Air Force for so many years has been great, but the plan has always been to retire after 20 years so I’m leaving on my own terms.

We are blessed to have the government move us one more time.  I couldn’t imagine how I would be able to handle it if we had to pack our stuff and move it ourselves.  It would be (more) work and it would put all the liability on us.  When the government moves us the main thing we have to do is throw out old stuff and pack away the things we want to keep with us.  Somehow things don’t go as easy as that seems.

It would be nice to be able to have someone move your stuff without damaging your personal property right?  We have had things come up missing, couches broke (don’t ask) and even TVs with holes in them (the plastic cabinet).  All of this before I got my LCD TV.  I’m really going to watch how they pack my TV.

I’m going to go for now, but until tomorrw please check out our other site We Embrace.  We are going to talk more about it soon.

This is always a sticky subject to talk about because there are strong feelings about affirmative action from the people who are for it and from the people who are against it. We all know that affirmative action was implemented to try to level the playing field for minorities here in the United States. I mean, we can’t deny that in the past, minorities were denied housing, jobs, medical care, schooling, etc. due to their race and affirmative action was enacted to prevent this from happening. But has affirmative action been succesful? Personally, I think so, but there are many who disagree with me.

I remember when Clarence Thomas said he was opposed to affirmative action. The Black community was up in arms! They were like, what?!! A Black man, who, if it weren’t for affirmative action, would not be sitting on the Supreme Court, is opposed to the policy that helped get him there?!!! Oh, the travesty! And now, we have a newly-elected Black President. Now the opponents of affirmative action really say America no longer needs affirmative action because we now have a minority running the country. But is that necessarily true?

There are those who have been victims of what is called reverse affirmative action wherein a White person or non-minority, who may be more qualified, is denied a job because the company needs to hire a minority to fill their affirmative action quota. In instances such as these, I disagree. I think the company should hire the best person qualified for the job, but that’s not how the real world works, right?

So, tell me 7DayBuzz readers, do you think affirmative action is still relevant? Especially since we now have a Black President? I’m really curious to hear your thoughts.

This question stems from a story that I read in the Washington Post. It seems that in Maryland, a teacher’s aide taped several student’s mouths shut while they were in the cafeteria during lunch time. A sixth-grade-student said the teacher’s aide did this because the students disobeyed an order to stop talking. This happened at the Flintstone Elementary School in Oxon Hill, Maryland and one of the students whose mouth was taped shut is only six-years-old. Six-years-old! Now, as disturbing as this is, do you think this is an isolated event? Let me answer you – No!

Just to see how many times this has happened, I googled the phrase, “teacher tapes kids mouth shut” and received tons of stories about this happening. It happened in 2007 in Queens, New York at Flushing Fields Play School. The student was only four-years-old. It happened in 2008 in Lafayette, Indiana at Battle Ground Middle School. The student was a special-needs student. It happened in 2006 in Bakersfield, California at Bakersfield High School. It happened in February of this year in Nashville, Tennessee at the Park Avenue Elementary School. This teacher even went so far as to tape the student to their chair while they took a test!

I could go on and one about this particular incident happening at schools across the country. Because it’s happening at so many schools, in different regions of the country, it makes me seriously think that this is a common occurrence in our school system. It’s not until it becomes newsworthy that the school administrators take action! Why in the world are school administrators allowing this to happen? This is so wrong for so many reasons. One being it’s dangerous because it’s extremely difficult to breathe when your mouth is taped shut! As a parent, I cannot think of any excuse of why this would be acceptable. What about you?

Should we allow teachers to discipline our children? If so, how much leeway should we give them?

I can’t believe this man and his views on President Obama and the Democratic Party are still newsworthy! And look at me, writing about it too! About a month ago, I wrote I thought Rush Limbaugh was hating on President Obama because of his race. And based on what’s transpired over the last few days, I feel that even more. Here’s why:

Who has ever challenged a President to a debate AFTER he has already been elected? Can we all say no one up until now. Rush Limbaugh has challenged President Obama to a debate, as if he (Limbaugh) is running for President! Umm, Rush – if no one has told you, that job is already taken – by Barack Obama! We all know you don’t approve of him or his policies – you’ve made that plain and clear by stating you hope he fails. When have you ever wished a president to fail? Did you wish Bill Clinton to fail? No! You disagreed with him too, didn’t you? But you’re wishing President Obama fails and now you want to debate him as if he doesn’t hold the most prestigious position in the world?! If that’s not disrespectful, and as far as I’m concerned, a little bit ‘closet racial.’ I don’t know what is!

Now keep in mind that the Republican Party is loving this. In fact, it’s been said that Rush Limbaugh is the ‘real’ leader of the Republican Party, not Michael Steele (that’s another story all together). I think the Republican Party is loving all of this controversy that Rush is creating and they are more than happy to let him speak for them because they want to make it seem like they support the President! Don’t be fooled people – the line between Democrat and Republican is seriously drawn and Rush is milking this as much as he possibly can!

I’m not fooled. I truly believe Rush Limbaugh doesn’t like President Obama because of his race, no matter how much he tries to disguise it by talking about his dislike of Obama’s policies. Whatever. Just like one of 7DayBuzz reader’s said, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck there’s a good chance it’s a duck.” Rush Limbaugh, you’re a duck!

I first heard about this story from my husband. Then 30 minutes later, I saw a news report on it on Inside Edition. It’s really crazy what people are doing nowadays. Anyways, in Fort Pierce, FL, 27-year-old Latreasa L. Goodman called 911 three different times to report that after she had ordered, and paid for 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, she was informed that McDonalds had run out of the nuggets. She said she then asked for her money back but was told all sales were final and the restaurant refused to return her money to her.

Now, I would’ve understood this better if it had been a child playing on the phone. But she is 27-years-old! WTH??!! In her defense, I will say that McDonald’s should’ve given her a full refund because they did not have what she paid for. I wonder why they didn’t tell her BEFORE she paid for the nuggets that they didn’t have them. I watched Inside Edition interview Ms. Goodman and she feels she had every right to call 911 to report this. Here’s may take on it: McDonalds should’ve given the woman her money back AND the woman shouldn’t have called 911. 7DayBuzz readers, take a look at this news report and tell us your thoughts:

I’m kind of baffled about Marquis Cooper’s father.  If you didn’t know, Cooper is a NFL player and is one of the three men the Coast Guard has been unable to find.  The men, I think there were four in total, were on a fishing trip off the coast of Florida when their boat capsized.

The part I don’t understand is how Cooper’s father is handling the whole thing.  In a statement shown on ESPN he was all smiles and seemed upbeat.  Then I went to ESPN.com and there is a picture with him smiling.  I don’t understand.

I know we all handle grief differently, but this really struck me as odd.  This is a tragic accident and no matter how much at peace this young man is/was with God and his family I would expect a solemn mood concerning this unfortunate accident.  His father said something along the lines of, “Well, if he went, he went doing what he loves.”  He said this while kind of shrugging.

Dad, you are no doubt hurting inside, but we will understand if you let it all hang out.

How would you react in the same situation?  I know I would be a hot mess!

Sometimes officers must use force to calm a situation and/or make it home safely.  Sure, there are some bad police officers out there, but some of the good ones do questionable things for their own protection.  Some police officers end up with a brutality case because they go overboard to protect themselves and, like animals who’ve tasted blood, continue down the wrong path.

In the infamous words of Rodney King, “Can we all get along?”

I think many of us law-abiding citizens can understand – at least a little – when a police officer must “beat” a criminal to the punch when their life is at risk.  However, a low-flying shoe from a 15-year-old girl in a controlled environment is hardly something to get all riled up about.

The video below does not include audio, but the girl allegedly called the officers “Fat Pigs” as she flung her shoes at them.  For that, she got man-handled pretty good.

Necessary Force?  The reaction should be the force necessary to counteract the action.  Who has the upper hand when it is two police officers against one young girl?  Remember, she was already in police custody so she should have been checked for weapons.  Check it out for yourself (if you haven’t seen it).

What do you think?  Does it look like the reaction fit the action?