When I was a little girl, I spent my summers in North Carolina.   Summers were hard for my single dad so he packed us up and took us to North Carolina to be around all our relatives.  They were farmers and some lived in the “city” of about 2,000 people.

I was there when watermelons were picked.  I was my Uncle Went’s favorite niece and he always let me sit in his lap and “drive” the truck through the fields.  The boys would walk behind the truck and throw the watermelons to a handler who would then place them down easily so they would not break open.  Sometimes they missed and watermelon juice would splatter along the sideboard of the truck.  Uncle Went was a gentle soul and I felt like a princess around him.

When the watermelons were picked, we would then begin canning vegetables.  That was the job of the women and my grandmother’s kitchen would be filled with my aunts and girl cousins as we sterilized the mason jars and prepared to fill them with pickles, stewed tomatoes and other farm-grown vegetables from out back.

A favorite memory was sitting on my grandma’s front porch with the women of the family.  This is where we would prepare the fresh-picked vegetables for the next day of canning.  Green peas were the most exciting  because you had to “shuck” them out of their covering.  There was a skill to this and it took me many summers before I could do them like my grandmother.  The peas are contained in a pea pocket.  Once the green peas were removed from the pocket, the pocket was tossed in a pail for the chickens pecking pleasure.  (Nothing goes to waste on a farm!) 

In order to get the small peas out of the pocket, you had to open up the “zipper” with your thumb and push it open from one end to the other.  Sometimes the “zipper” would be easy to open and others were stubborn.  I would take the stubborn ones and throw them in the pail and my grandmother would scold me for wasting them.  She would take them in her rugged, grandmotherly hands and zip those peas quickly into a bowl on her lap.

I love peas because they remind me good times sitting on a porch in the hot summer heat with my family around me and America safe in the arms of Liberty.

Yesterday, President Obama ruined my memories of a great America again.  He already made fun of “tea baggers” – ruined a perfectly good beer in his beer summit and now is using peas as a weapon against the American public who want to cut spending, cap the debt ceiling and balance a budget.    Remember the statement – “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.”

Here’s how we say it in America – “Don’t let a good pea go in the chicken pail.”

The leaders in DC need to spend some time on grandma’s porch in North Carolina and I’m sure I could make that happen.  The talk on the porch would go something like this:

“Stop messing around with politics and do your job.  There is no more money in the cookie jar and the mattress is cleaned out too.  We have no more credit at the small grocery store down the way.  The tab is already too high and Mr. Smith, the owner, can’t lend us any more money.  He has his bills to pay too, you know so he is capping the tab to keep it from going higher.  First things first.  Stop spending.  Tighten your belt and do away with the things we don’t need.  That would mean looking at all those danged departments regulating us to death.  Stop flying around on that airplane and wasting all that gas.  Golf fees are a no go too!  Eating out – forget it!  Call in the debts people owe you and start paying down your own debt.  Stop hanging out with those crooks who want to steal from other people so they can buy expensive diamonds and things like that!  Make a promise to never get in this situation again and come up with a budget and live within it.  Take care of the elderly like you promised and do away with programs that send our money overseas.  We have work to do at home so they will have to figure things out for themselves like we are.  In other words, stop putting good peas in the chicken pail!”

Mr. Obama made two gaffs last night:

One where he said – “eat our peas” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qHVSZM7CX0 – I’m sure he meant we need to eat peas while he continues to live the good life.

The other where he said – “Professional Politicians understand better than the Public”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64yhiih53F4&feature=player_embedded  

If Grandma were alive today, she would snatch him up by his ear (that would be easy to do) and take him out back where a nice green switch would be used on his backside.   We can’t do that but we can show the Professional Politicians that the Public is paying attention and we know what’s going on.

Here’s how:  TAKE ACTION

There will be a vote on the BBA (Balanced Budget Amendment) the week of July 18^th in the House.  We are also expecting a vote the same week in the Senate. 

In order for the vote to pass the House, 290 votes are needed.  At this time we need to be sure that ALL Republicans are on board with balancing the budget as well as 50 additional Democrats.

This Thursday, July 14, at 12 noon EDT we are asking activists across the country to go to their district offices and express your support for balancing the US budget through a Balanced Budget Amendment. We need to continue to pressure these Members of Congress and Senators to let them know how we expect them to vote on these issues.

We are proud to be working with a huge coalition of leaders, including Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks and others across the country to let our elected officials know we expect them to sign the Cut, Cap, and Balance Pledge and support and VOTE for a Balanced Budget Amendment.

If you can’t physically go, then call or email them and ask them to sign the Pledge and VOTE for a Balance Budget.  If they will not sign the pledge – ask them “Why?”  If they will not vote NO on the Balanced Budget  -- ask them “Why?”

Our local tea party will show up at Bill Nelson’s office at 1301 Riverplace Blvd, Suite 2010 in Jacksonville at noon.  After that we will walk to Marco Rubio’s office at 1650 Prudential Drive, Suite 220.  Let us know if you can make it.

Let’s show the “Professional Politicians” that the Public is in charge and they work for us!