Been a wildly busy day, bought groceries and had to fight a crowd. Looks like the mad rush for last minute Christmas shopping is underway! But also, DH and I went to get some paint, so he could paint the ceiling in our den before putting down the new flooring. I am about to start cleaning the cedar paneled walls, which will be quite a task. So this entry has to be short.

Here's a few things in the news, the first a report about how we Americans see ourselves compared to how foreigners see us. An excerpt:

IHT INSIGHT How the World Sees the U.S. and Sept. 11
Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune

Asked if many or most ordinary people consider U.S. policies to be "a major cause" of the Sept. 11 attacks, fewer than 1 in 5 respondents from America said they do. But in the rest of the world, nearly 3 out of 5 agreed that they would.

You can read the entire article HERE

Seems the Oklahoma City bombing victims are starting to whine about not getting any charity money after their ordeal now. Gee, I wonder if it's becoming the 'American Way' to pay off all victims of terrorist? If so, why not also pay off crime victims, abuse victims, on and on, ad nauseam? And hey, I'll sign up for some monetary compensation for all the trauma I went through as the victim of a terrorist alcoholic father in childhood! Americans are such whiners, no wonder the world sees us as spoiled! Just think what some of the people in the poorest countries go through on a daily basis, just to survive and have enough to eat. Makes you wonder about Americans, doesn't it?

Here's the excerpt:

Oklahoma City Victims Feel Slighted

By Jennifer L. Brown
Associated Press Writer
Friday, December 21, 2001; 2:37 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Some of those who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing are feeling hurt and slighted by the federal government over its decision to dispense an average of $1.65 million apiece to the families of the Sept. 11 dead.

No such federal fund was ever set up for the Oklahoma City victims.

"I don't want to do a hierarchy on terrorism here, but that's kind of minimizing what happened to the people of Oklahoma City," said Marsha Kight, whose daughter Frankie Merrell was killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people and wounded more than 500. "The individual loss was just as great for us."

That's it for today!