People across the globe have boiled over with the lack of action that BP and the United States Government have taken to contain the largest oil spill in our history. As wildlife is seemingly being destructed and marshes are becoming over run with oil the only answers being given is “we are trying our best”.

Jamie Hilton, the chief of the volunteer fire department in Magnolia Springs, Alabama has taken action and rallied his community to stop the oil from infiltrating the beautiful Magnolia River. The problem is it took over three weeks of jumping through hoops to get a simple plan approved to bring in barges and oil-blocking booms to protect an area that is precious to everyone.

BP will not take care of the issue so why would a community that wants to help preserve what has not been touched yet get so much flack and frustration? Hilton was told that people are blowing this thing out of proportion and blocking the waterway is illegal. Then the buck started to pass, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said it was an issue for Mobile to address and the Coast Guard states that it’s an issue the state has to address.

Government red tape is what got us in this mess to begin with! The government either afraid or ignorant to take immediate action has left the containment and clean up to an incompetent company that has continued to pollute our coastal water ways because they can figure out how to stop the leak. This is insane and makes our blood boil as we read of BP’s new plans on a daily basis on what to do to solve this problem, none of which have worked.

Now a community trying to save their river has to jump through hoops. BP should be thankful that common citizens want to step in with ideas to help keep the oil away. Hilton was able to get his plan approved and the State of Alabama has allocated a portion of the money that BP gave them to help with the clean up efforts.

Someone has to step in and say BP you are idiots that tried to cut corners! Reports are that the company knew this could be an issue as early as March and did nothing to avoid it! As millions of barrels of oil kill our environment and seep into the Gulf waters, BP CEO Tony Hayward says he will stay on the job. Are you kidding me? This man should be in jail, not collecting a paycheck from a company that had skyrocketing profits in the last few years and did nothing to prevent such a major catastrophe that will have lingering effects for years to come.

Today was the hardest day we’ve had in four years, graduation day. Four years ago we lost our son to a tragic accident on his way to school and today he would have graduated with the class of 2010.

The senior class of Bridgeport High School did an outstanding job at honoring his memory. Principal LeClair said to me tonight…” gone but never forgotten”

I have to commend and congratulate “Our Boys”, that’s what we call them. Dustin’s best friends for many years before he past away, our sons. Nick, Brandon, Johny and Marc… they all graduated tonight and with the help of a very special teacher, Mrs. Michelle Tolles they did an incredible job honoring his memory.

The senior class did a fundraiser to purchase a bench in Dustin’s memory and it was placed in the courtyard of the high school today. The best part is, they had $500 left over from the fundraiser in which they placed as a scholarship in Dustin’s name. A young man that was one of Dustin’s best friends received the scholarship to pursuer his goal of being a pediatrician. Nick received the scholarship and he also released the balloons in his honor for graduation.

You see, the school actually went above and beyond much more than we expected. At commencements tonight they placed a chair where Dustin would have sat with a ribbon on it and they called his name as they would have if he would’ve been there. When his name was called, Nick released two balloons in Dustin’s memory…incredible.

This was bitter sweet for us because as much as we loved seeing “Our Boys” receive their diploma in their cap and gown, it was heartbreaking to see that empty chair with a simple bow instead of seeing our son sitting there.

As much as I love those boys and as happy as we were, we waited to go down on the field after graduation. We wanted to take the bow as our memory but in no way did I want to spoil their happy day, considering the fact that I was not happy like they were.

Bitter Sweet…we could never thank anyone enough for the tremendous support of remembering Dustin, yet we could not be as happy as they were that they had a whole life ahead of them.

We miss you Dustin and we thank the Bridgeport High School Senior Class for giving us that little minute of glory in our son’s memory. We wouldn’t have had that without Nick, Brandon, Johny, Marc and Michelle…Thank you.

I now understand the amount of suicides and murder suicides. When life gets to hard to handle the promise of a bigger better place just seems so sweet. I believe that is what pushes people over the edge…to do things that you normally wouldn’t do. Why would you live in a world of stress and hate when you could live in a world of eternal bliss? That is what religion teaches. I’m not sure that eternal life is bliss but the mere promise of it sometimes seems so real why would you live in a world of misery when you could have what “heaven” offers.

Think about it, why would you continue in misery? Bills, kids, unemployment, losing your house you’ve work so hard for, essentially losing everything that you have ever worked for in your life, just because you are living. Technically in heaven as every religion says is a “better” place, a place where you feel no pain, a place where happiness is forever…

The question is, do you believe, do you believe in a place where there is no hurt, no pain , no stress, just love and happiness? If you do and you’re down and out why would you not consider suicide or murder suicide a real answer to what is ailing you?

My heart sinks every time I hear a story of someone taking a family member’s life and then their own or a person that simply took a drug overdose in the hopes that it would make the pain go away. Then when times are tough I think why would you not want to be in that wonderful place called heaven where the promise of eternal bliss is everlasting?

I know that in some religions it’s wrong to take your own life and they tell you that you “will go to hell”. I really don’t think that people believe that as much as religious leaders would hope. I believe that people simply think that life after death is a much better place.

I’m not saying that suicide or murder suicide is right…not at all! I’m just saying that I can now understand that people in a down and out situation could rationalize it to make it right in their own minds. They simply want to make life better for themselves and their families.

So obviously our government has a huge set of blinders on or they simply just don’t care. It seems that Congress has decided to go on vacation for Easter instead of hashing out a plan for the temporary extension for unemployment benefits. That means as of April 5^th people that have been out of work more than 6 months will temporarily lose their benefits plus people with new jobless claims will not be able to apply for the health insurance subsides (great health care reform). This will affect many middle class American families like ours who are receiving an unemployment check on emergency extended time.

Did they not think about the consequences to those of us who are receiving these benefits that equal a quarter of our normal wages? They have a paycheck to go home to, food on the table, a nice comfy house that isn’t being taken back from the bank, they simply have no clue.

Families are scraping by barely making ends meet and they are going to temporarily stop what little money they have coming because they can’t “find” the money to pay for it. Well maybe if they actually looked at reality and seen the truth things might go in the right direction for once.

Fact: Collecting the maximum unemployment benefits in the State of Michigan will give you approximately $19,800 a year….Wow that’s under federal poverty level for the average American family!

Fact: In February Michigan’s unemployment rate was at 7% and people were getting nervous…As of February 2010 the rate is now doubled, sitting at 14.1%

It was Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that stopped the measure from being passed. He much like Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky last month, wants to know where the money will come from to pay for this without adding to the nation’s $12.7 trillion debt.

Well I have a couple of suggestions…

For one, we are the people that make this country run. Without the hard working middle class the “rich guys” wouldn’t be rich…how would they like to go build their own cars or pack their own products.

For two, Obama just request from Congress this week for $2.8 million dollars to help Haiti. Excuse me Mr. Obama we have to feed our kids too, find another way to help Haiti. Request that $2.8 million be placed to help with the unemployment extensions.

This is what Sen. John Kerry , D- Mass. , the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , had to say:

“It’s a non-negotiable measurement of how the United States responds to a humanitarian emergency,”

I wonder how many of the Americans that are about to lose their only income will feel about that?

This administration is mismanaging our money at the worse possible time. They spout change and new programs to help with job growth, foreclosures and health care but in reality a lot of money is being spent and none of it is working.

For example, this morning I read this quote form an article titled: Obama’s Weatherizing Program Off to Stormy Start

“After a year of crippling delays, President Obama’s $5 billion program to install weather-tight windows and doors has retrofitted a fraction of homes and created far fewer construction jobs than expected.”

The article goes on to say that of the 37 million people in the state of California this program created 84 jobs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME….84 JOBS!

This money could have been spent for unemployment. The issue is keeping companies from moving their work to other countries not creating a new sector of employment. The country has heard many promises from President Obama and yet have I seen one fulfilled. We are much worse off than we were two years ago and many American families are in the same situation we are.

When will they start listening to us, the people they are suppose to be representing instead of doing what they do best, spend money on worthless programs and live the lavish life?

Over Thanksgiving weekend Boiled Over reached the two year mark!  I haven’t been posting much over the last year (I’ll get to that later) and we’ve still reached almost 13,000 visitors. That may not seem like many people when you compare it to other websites but it amazes me how many people are interested in the topics on our site.

Boiled Over means everything to us, we came up with the idea while grieving and being angry over Dustin’s death. We personally needed a place to Boil Over about anything that made our blood boil. You see, the anger we hold over losing our son can be very powerful at times so when you read or deal with any other injustice it amplifies the feeling. Boiled Over to us is a way to vent that anger. Sometimes all it takes to let it to feel better is to voice your opinion and that’s what we encourage you to do here.

Every morning when I read the news, I find at least one article that should be a Boiled Over post. The problem is I’ve been working at home for a real paycheck and find it hard to fit in writing a post on this site.  With times so tough financially I tend to spend all my time working BUT I’m setting a goal to post at least once a week…maybe a Furious Friday theme. 🙂

There are so many injustices lately and they need to be discussed…

• Unemployment Rate
• Foreclosure Rate
• Health Care Crisis
• Big Business Still Taking Advantage
• Criminals Released Early to Kill Innocent People

We encourage you to participate in venting on Boiled Over, trust me it makes you feel much better. If more people voiced their frustration in words maybe…just maybe…the acts of violence around the country would slow down!