The MX 5 Miata it is...

*
Well, I finally decided upon driving the V6 Mustang and the MX 5 Miata back to back at a number of dealers.
The MX 5 it is!
I know it's not a practical car. I know it's small and only seats two...
But it's so damn much fun to drive.
Besides driving it makes me smile and it's been a long time since a car made me laugh out loud.

I got the Power Retractable Hard Top Grand Touring MX 5 Miata in Stormy Blue Mica with a manual tranny of course!!!
I agonized a bit over the extra expense of the hard top when the soft would be perfectly fine but I will be using the car pretty much all year round except in snow (we don't get that much) and no garage for now. So the hard top looks like the better choice. Gives it that true coupe look I have to say.

I pick it up tomorrow around noon.
Can't wait to take it away and kick it out a bit.

*******

I haven't been keeping my thoughts up here the way I was before my mom passed away the end of May.
I've been completely out of sorts. Aside from my husband and kids I only have my brother left from my immediate family (we were a very small clan indeed). Very sad still. Very off center.
There hasn't been a day that I don't go to the phone to call my mom. Hate being in the house without her there.
I don't like going through her things and we have no idea what we're going to do with the house.
Certainly not a good time to sell a house and it's in disrepair. My brother is living there for now. Sigh.
I want my mother back, I miss her every day. I want to talk to her, make her laugh, hear her voice.

Can't seem to pull my thoughts together at all and just don't have much to say it seems.
But I'm going to try to write more here again. Get back to politics and things on my mind.

Maybe the MX 5 will help clear a little fog away from my mind at least while I'm driving anyway.

I'll have someone here take a picture or two of me in the car to post.
Windy, bendy, curvy road here I come.

G'night,

Laura

*

Somebody help me figure out this car thing…

*
Okay ideally in some alternative universe I would actually own a Porsche 911 GT2 in Aqua Blue Metallic but that alas is out of my lifetime budget in this dimension.

But man oh man would I love to drive one of those puppies.
I’d never get out of the damn thing I assure you, because I absolutely love to drive.
Did I mention I only drive manual? Auto trannys are for babies.
Anyone can put a car in drive…
Stick is the only way to go. And getting harder to routinely find.
531 hp, 0 to 60 in 3.6, 0 to 100 in 7.4 seconds.
Oh, Oh, Oh, My God, Oh my God.
But hey it only starts at around $194,000. Sigh.
Know any wealthy folk that don’t want their sports cars anymore?

Anyway, I married well, but not that well, and for love which these days is saying something.
Four kids and 35 years later we’re still together and my youngest son graduated High School yesterday.
YAY! Hallelujah and Happy Days.
Don’t have to be driving everyone around anymore.

So here’s my dilemma and for me it’s a huge one:

I’m going to buy a new car this coming month…

I’ve always bought a conservative car with good gas mileage and all that stuff.
I’ve owned one Plymouth Duster, one Chevy Nova, a Rambler (yup push button with tail fins and all) which were followed by an assortment of eight various Toyotas of different size and shape that I commuted to college and transported kids in.
My current Toyota Corolla Sport has around 165,000 miles on it.

But now everyone’s all growed up and getting around in their own cars for the most part.
And we do have a van if everyone absolutely had to go somewhere at once (hasn’t happened in quite a long time now).
Now mommy gets to buy something FUN to drive around. FINALLY.
While I’m still relatively sane too!

This is the bottom line:

I can afford either a Mustang V-6 (don’t need the power of the GT V-8 though it is pretty awesome) I’ve driven four different Mustangs now. By the way women that drive only manual really confuse car salesmen. It either seems to surprise them, amuse them or annoy them.

The Premium V-6 is sweet, powerful and fun to shift… but gas mileage is a bit sucky (17/26).
Nice body, smoother, has far more space, really can move when you kick it in.

or my second choice:

The Mazda MX 5, yea, that would be the Miata. (I always loved the little MG’s when they ran that is) The MX 5 is fairly dependable and incredibly fun to drive in a totally different way from the Mustang.

Feels like I’m part of the car not just a driver.
Drove a Hardtop MX 5 Grand Touring model and they handed me the keys and said drive it.
This surprised jaded, cynical me. They didn’t question that I really did know how to drive manual.
Top down, sunny day, absolutely delightful. Not as powerful as the Mustang but sticks to the road and the clutch is a beauty. The Miata is a gorgeous car but perfectly impractical.
Two seater, not much storage space, blah… blah… blah… Sigh.

The power of the Mustang and gorgeousness of the exterior/interior is inspiring. Nice ride.
The drivability of the MX 5 in tight turns makes me laugh out loud.

How the hell do you make that kind of decision?

I could just go buy yet another Toyota, or for that matter a Civic, G 3, or something comparable and conservative… and responsible… and… and… yes… Boring.

It’s been a very long time.
Help!

Laura
*

A house full of memories and even more stuff...

*
I've been helping my brother go through my mother's things at the house.
There is a lot of cleaning to do and she kept old bills and other papers from the past 20 years it seems.
Then there's clothing, canned goods and a lifetime of mismatched items in the house.
Which is oddly very much like my house where after 4 kids, my husband and I the house is full of choice items
acquired through thrift shops, yardsales, friends and family's discards and purchased from exclusive stores like Ikea, Sears and Target. Mostly scratched, dented, chipped, nicked, glued or missing some part...

At any rate I still can't seem to come to terms with this whole thing.
I'd rather not do anything at all in a way but it's not possible.
I don't like going through all her stuff. Honestly I hate it.
Yes, there's sentimental value to some of it but the rest were the things she collected over a lifetime.

Someday my life will be put into boxes and sifted through, boxed donated and yardsaled. Sigh.
And perhaps some well worn item of mine will be bought by someone else and end up another day in another box.
Circle of life my friend.

All this rain in NY isn't helping my dark mood today.
When exactly is summer coming? Windy, pouring, damp and unpleasant all day AGAIN.
Need some sun, need a lot of sun.

Picking out a picture of a Lotus Flower (Water or Pond Lily) from the images and drawings I have collected to place in the empty space between my mother and father's names on the stone we picked out. It will take around five or six weeks for the stone to come at least that's what I think they said. Then I guess they carve the names and dates on it.

I'm kinda forgetful, scattered in thought, discouraged and tired of everyone right about now.
I feel very unsettled about this whole thing still.
Still just numb...
I miss my mother very, very much.

Going to bed to hopefully catch some of that elusive sleep thing.
Doubtful on a normal night... tonight wind is whipping around house and still raining.
Yay.

G'night,

Laura
*

Last mention of the Letterman-Palin Feud (unless they actually fire him which would be ridiculous)

*
I find it hard to believe that a joke clearly about Bristol Palin by David Letterman has gotten so much media attention.
The joke wouldn't have made any sense if it was about anyone other than Bristol Palin but then it's not as sensational a story.

Today there's pressure to fire Letterman... seriously?
I would not be happy if someone made such a joke about one of my children and I would likely have complained about it...
BUT this is totally blown out of proportion.
Sarah Palin parades her children out when it suits her and then attacks when people comment on it.
I feel sorry for the younger Palin girls who now have been made a spectacle of again.
Someone asked if the joke was made about one of the Obama's kids if all hell wouldn't have broken loose.
Yea, sure- especially since they're both under 18 and neither one is a single parent.

Grow up. Bad taste. Unfunny joke. Not the cause of all that is ill in the country.
Could we go back to REAL news now...?
You know the stuff that REALLY matters!

Apparently freedom of speech only applies to "some" people. Interesting.
I remember McCain making quite a few off color in very bad taste jokes over the years-
(the Chelsea Clinton joke "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." was from 1998.)
Talk about insensitivity to young women's self esteem. Yet Sarah had no problem running with him as VP.

********
I have no idea where this country is. This is what masquerades as news these days?

Important stuff out there in case the media has forgotten:
Home grown terrorism waiting in the wings (anti-government pro-gun: always a great combination) like James von Brunn.
Iran's election results and aftermath.
The economy. Bank Bailouts. Automotive industry. Mortgage and foreclosure disasters.
War in Iraq/Afghanistan.
Health care reform.
Gas prices going up yet again even though...

Well you get the idea.

There must have been a collective cringe amongst all comedians and talk show hosts this past week.
Though not many of them stepped forward to defend David though they have all done equally awful jokes.
David did apologize. He seemed to mean it.
We've all heard far worse on the air but I guess it wasn't about the Palins.

This is not news. Stop all ready.

Interesting CBS fired Don Imus (who I'm no fan of) for his rude and in bad taste comments about a women's basketball team but who was truly surprised by them? I thought he was known for being offensive almost every day of the year. Ooops.
Letterman's track record stands up. Been watching him for what seems like forever. Sorry Sarah your complaint has been heard, it's gotten more air time than it deserved and you need to back AWAY from the video feeds now.

We get it: Tasteless joke/Bad David/Sarah Angry/Dave sorry/World goes on bleeding...

G'night.

Laura
*

Espada Jr., Monserrate, Palin, Letterman... back to the news and this is it?

*
Finally starting to watch the news again and am very upset with NY State Legislators:

Most notably: Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx and Hiram Monserrate of Queens.
The control of the state senate has moved over to the republicans for all intents and purposes right now.

Now of course as with what seems like all our politicians these days both men have legal troubles as the NY Times reported. "Highlighting the often elastic nature of ethical stands and alliances in Albany, Republicans who earlier this year were calling on Mr. Monserrate to resign after his indictment on felony charges that he stabbed his companion with a broken glass are now welcoming him as part of their power-sharing coalition.
While Mr. Espada has been fined tens of thousands of dollars over several years for flouting state law by not disclosing political contributions."

"Democrats were pushing bills to give tenants more rights, strengthen abortion rights and legalize same-sex marriage this session. And the move underscores the continuing tumult of New York politics, where there have been three governors in less than three years and four Senate presidents since last summer."

Gov. David A. Paterson, at a news conference Monday evening, called the move “an outrage” and said Albany had become a “dysfunctional wreck."
Well, I don't know about a dysfunctional wreck but maybe a complete joke. Oh yea surely.

All right NY State get your act together. I'm so sick of the infighting.
Sick of the corruption on both sides of the fence.
Sick of pretending that we are progressive leaders in the USA anymore.

Sick of believing that our government is really on our side when so often it's only in the interest of money brokers, wealthy special interest lobbyists and big business.

While we all exist on the crumbs you throw our way and why the hell can't we behave and be thankful anyway?
Greedy corrupt bastards all around.

I've been proud to be from NY all my life but recently I can honestly say I'm not happy at all.
I seriously don't know if I even want to be here anymore.
And if you knew me at all you'd know that says a lot.

Good luck Barack Obama seems like you might need a lot of it.

*************

Sarah Palin: Please shut up about David Letterman.

Enough. You had our sympathy the first thousand times you mentioned it. Everywhere.
You're sounding shrill and just as offensive at this point as he was.
But you can't see it can you?
It's too bad he made the joke. He's a comedian with a talk show...
How about you play fair dearest damsel in distress (or was it a lipstick smeared pit bull I forget) and take Limbaugh or O'Reilly to task for the hateful ugly things they say about people:
Oh wait I know why you won't: I forgot.
YOU agree with them so that makes it different. Oh you betcha.
Won't 2012 be fun guys and gals?

The candle of freedom of speech burns hot and fast from both ends.
Just wondering sometimes what the hell we're gonna be left with.

***********
On June 3rd I wrote this about the recent loss of my mother on May 30:
"I don’t know exactly what I feel right now.
Just incredibly weird.
Like something’s horribly wrong but I can’t wrap my mind around it.
I’m not numb at least not yet. I’m not angry either.
But I know myself well enough to know both are coming.
I hope I’ll be ready."

Nothing has changed. I still reach for the phone to call her every day. I still feel basically the same.
My world is way off kilter but not enough for me to come to terms with where I am in time and place.
I can't go back to where I was before.
I can't realistically stay where I am now and I can't move towards where I've never been before.
Not yet anyway.

I realize this makes no sense except maybe to me.
I completely get where I am now, I've known this day would come.
It's just that I'm not sure what to do with myself. Don't want to upset anyone unduly but...
And I have a lifetime worth of anger I couldn't express because I would never hurt my mother...
Not that we never disagreed but I felt my mother had enough to deal with without my adding to it.
Do I need grief counseling? Maybe.
Oddly enough right now I have little to nothing to say.
Don't have the words.

G'night,

Laura
*

On Losing My Mom...

*


On a few of the many nights I was staying with my mom this past month I brought my computer along.
I found for the most part this wrote itself over the course of a few very quiet periods in the wee hours of the night.
I'm still trying to get used to sleeping at night again. I keep picking up the phone to call my mom and talk then realize I can't.

Writing is the one way I express myself, though mostly unpublished someday I hope I will finish one of the books I've got on my computer. I tried to upload a word document but gave up after a while. So this is a very long post as it is the word document.

If you want to read my feelings and thoughts they follow this here.
It is personal and I hope it brings her to life for just a moment in your mind.
I doubt I'll ever stop missing my mother.

Laura

On Losing My Mom

I have the night shift with my mom because she can’t be left alone anymore.
Her cancer has spread. I stay awake all night.
Set up in the kitchen at the end of the table where as a family we laughed, fought, cried and ate. Where my grade school projects were planned and finished.
Where I did endless homework and set up the typewriter for countless papers.
Almost everything was done at our only table large enough to work at.
Where my friends sat and played board games and ate dinner over. I learned to cook and sew at this scarred wooden table. I listened to words of wisdom right here in this chair that I didn’t always take.

Later each of four grandchildren played and finger-painted at this old table. But it’s so very quiet here now. I can’t even imagine this table without my mother sitting across from me and I don’t want to.

It’s hard to listen to her coughing and see her getting frail from losing so much weight.
A woman that worked five days a week to raise 3 children when most other women stayed at home. A “get it done, do what you have to” original tough cookie with a heart the size of Texas. It is her heart that will give out before the cancer claims her. I guess it’ll be a small consolation but it seems so unfair to see this process happening.

Long before there was a term “super-mom” and all those people saying how stressful it is to be one, my mother already was doing it. However she didn’t complain: she just did. She did what was necessary at the time and what she had to do. She didn’t whine and complain about her lot in life because she was too busy living it.

It seems to me that my mother has always been a caregiver. Maybe not when she was a child, somewhat of a tomboy, carefree, curious and wild but certainly after she got married. She took care of her family all those years and then when the time came she took care of her own mother and husband.

I set up my computer in the kitchen so she can have some privacy and not feel that I’m hovering or interfering. She spent a lifetime being independent and gets angry when she feels she is being told what she can or can’t do. I don’t blame her at all for feeling that way. Sometimes her stubborn streak is hard to work with. She doesn’t like being a patient at all with people “fussing around her or at her.”

The hospital bed that hospice sent when she was unable even with our help to get up any longer helped. She could breathe better with the bed upraised. Even so she still coughs and really can’t swallow anything much. It’s a diet of mostly liquids: broth soup, Italian ices and thin puddings. Along with the tons of ice chips, which she loves because they make her throat feel better. Suddenly the icemaker in our new refrigerator that I thought at the time was an unnecessary luxury seemed a wonderful Godsend.

As she rests her breathing creates sounds that almost sound like she is singing to herself. A rhythmic and light melody. Recently when she’s asleep now she softly talks to herself or to others that share her dreams.

There are good nights where she reminisces and bad nights when she is exhausted and you can see the pain and the inevitableness of her fight. This one might be the only one she will lose.

I lightly rub her back when she coughs and gasps to gain her breath. When it passes and she lays back I place my hand on her forehead and talk to her. I massage her feet every night. I talk about my favorite memory from when I was little and she would read to me. I can picture the book and clearly hear her voice if I close my eyes. She sat on the edge of my bed and read from a well-worn copy of “Alice in Wonderland” to me. I was very young maybe all of five or six but I remember it well. I ask if she remembers how I endlessly, relentlessly asked her to read that book over and over again. She looks in my eyes for a moment and smiles at me. “Yes” she whispers “the tiny little book” and I answer, “Yes, with the tiny pictures.” She smiles again. “I loved the Jabberwocky poem and…” but she’s turned her mind elsewhere and is far away from me again.

Other times she’s just restless and angry with me no matter what I do. Swatting at me and fearful that we’re putting medicine in her ice chips. We’re not, but at that time she doesn’t believe me at all. The next day she smiles when I tell her I’ll try to freeze vodka in her chips if she wants me too and promise I wouldn’t tell anyone. “No,” she says quietly “white wine” smiling with just a hint of the humorous light in her eyes.

Sometimes she’s thankful and alert but not as much anymore. She talks to herself late in the night and dreams of trains, horses, people and places that only she understands or sees. Mostly she’s exhausted.

Very slowly the dawn comes. The sun rising in perpetual cycle while I sit alone and wonder what today will bring. Soon the birds are chirping and raising a clatter of different sounds that mix in with the gentle harmonic sounds of my mother’s labored breathing.

It’s very hard to see her like this. I already miss my mother, her former self. The one that cooked, cleaned and bustled about after losing her husband of 50 years. The proud grandmother that enjoyed her grandchildren’s visits and laughed along with them. She had a stubborn quality to her when she made up her mind and an incredible ability to make entire dinners out of nothing. She was thrifty and saved money. She didn’t have a credit card and never lived above her means. She could sew up a storm and often did. She made my prom dress and her office clothing. I learned a lot from her and owe so much of myself to her.

They don’t make them like my mom anymore. She took care of others without the narcissistic malaise that has seemed to wrap around later generations. She rarely complained though very often she would have had the complete right to.

As it gets lighter I sit wrapped in a blanket, with just the light of my computer in front of me. Another day beginning that I won’t really see. I’ll be sleeping until it’s time to get up and figure out what I absolutely have to do versus everything else that I won’t get to. For the most part people are opening a lot of canned soups in my home for dinner. The kitchen counter is scattered with the cans. It seems like ages ago that I was rearranging the upstairs. Now it looks like a scene from Pompei where I left everything exactly where it was when I simply vanished weeks ago. It strikes me that this is what would be left of me if I were to die tomorrow. Piles of disorganized boxes around the chair I’d been sitting in. A sobering thought and one that I decide to put out of my mind as best I can.

It’s important to me that my mother is comfortable. Later on I’ll take care of the tremor I’ve acquired from coffee, tea, stress, poor diet and lack of adequate sleep. I tell myself I’ll take care of myself, when I get the chance and put off self-caregiving for another day another time. My mother will come first. Of course someone else always comes first it seems that’s one of the few things I wish I didn’t learn so well from my mother’s example. Though I’ll never quite make as efficient a martyr as she could sometimes be.

My father died a tidy death. He got up one morning had breakfast then said he didn’t feel great and was going to rest for a little while longer. He had a massive heart attack and passed in his sleep. My mother found him. They had recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a small group of friends and family. My father was no piece of cake to live with by far and I have no idea how she did it. She should be nominated for sainthood for the day-to-day miracles she created from a sometimes very hard life. It’s so very unfair that she has to endure this illness. Unjust as life often seems to be that she must fail and give up so much of herself as she struggles each day and into the night.

I listen throughout the night to the many sounds this old house has. There’s a mouse that like clockwork every night around 3am rattles things around in the wall behind me. I find it strangely comforting. I caught sight of him once running towards the pantry. There’s a raccoon that makes odd noises just beyond the back porch. I hear the last few cars pass by around 2am and after that it stays quiet on the road until 4:30 when a very few early bird drivers make their way by the house. I know my husband is one of those that pass by Monday to Friday while it’s still night to most people. By 6am the traffic moves from a trickle to a more steady commute.

Mom’s refrigerator clicks when it runs and vibrates and hums until it finally stops. I never noticed it before. There’s a drip drip drip from the kitchen faucet no matter how forcefully I turn it off. The oil burner sounds like a hammer dropped into a metal barrel when it kicks on and then makes it’s hurricane like noise when the blower sends the heat out into the rooms before it clanks to a stop again.

Even with all the extraneous sounds I’m tuned into my mothers breathing and sounds of movement. I get up from the chair to check on her, every time I hear her moving. I tip toe quietly to make sure she’s all right. Sometimes she’ll rouse a bit and be aware I’m standing in the room and attempt to send me “off on my way” again with a wave of her hand and other times she gestures me over to talk, ask for tea, ice chips or to tell me she can’t seem to sleep.

The world is as oblivious to me and my troubles as I am to them right now. My mother always said no one is irreplaceable in life except in someone else’s heart. She is of course right. People come and go, the faces change and the world barely notices.

My mother was the glue that held our family together. It wasn’t a perfect life, but it was a life to be proud of and I know that she is satisfied now at the end from listening to the stories she’s been telling about her past to her children and grandchildren. She is tired now and mostly sleeps, the stories got further apart as she got weaker until they disappeared all together. That mischievous light in her eyes and any sign of laughter has all but vanished now into the night.

I know dying is a natural process of life. My mind realizes we all face our own deaths sooner or later and that my mother has had a full life in her 89 years, Amazingly she accomplished it all mostly on her own. But emotionally it’s a different story; my heart still feels like it’s being torn out through my nose piece by piece. I celebrate her life while facing her passing. I fear her leaving with every fiber in my body though I realize that’s a selfish thought. Even though our relationship wasn’t perfect I can’t imagine not having her around. My world will seem the same to everyone for all intent and purpose but for me it will have drastically and permanently altered.
I look over at my mom as she stirs. She’s wakened from a bout of pain and I realize I’m holding my breath once again. I help her turn onto her side and she settles back into the covers. She looks so small and helpless to me.

My brother comes up the sidewalk promptly at 8:30am carrying a hot pot of brewed coffee and his mug. My nightly shift is now over. I stay until the nurse visits at 9:30 and then I tuck my mom in and say goodbye with a kiss on the forehead. My brother and I talk quietly for a few moments in passing. The changing of the guard. I’ll be back again in the evening.

I step out into the day’s blinding light and all I can really think of is crawling into bed to try and sleep for a few hours. But even sleep seems elusive these days.

******
My mother passed away quietly early one morning. I was there with her at the time. The time afterwards is a complete blur to me as I pushed myself through a wake, friends and family gathering and a small graveside service. Somewhere in the middle of all that was going on there was a Senior Class trip and a prom. I have no idea how I got through this past month but somehow I did. Maybe I’m far more like my mother than I realize.

There is still a lot to do and I dread going through her things. Today my son was home sick with a fever and I picked up the phone at least four or five times to call my mom to talk. I miss her so very much and know I always will.

Mostly I’m very glad we were able to keep my mother at home where she was comfortable. Where the last fifty-two years of her life unfolded around her. The around the clock attention and care we were able to give her along with the daily check in by the hospice nurse was better than any hospital or nursing home could have provided. I know that wherever my mother is now she is at peace. I am very proud to be her daughter.

*

Missing my mom...

*
My mom passed away this Saturday morning.
We did the wake and a brief graveside tribute.

My brother and I have been taking shifts for about a month (his daytime, mine the over night hours since I'm a night owl anyway)
It took me a bit to get used to being awake all night but I got used to it.
Now I'm trying to get back to my normal sleep patterns.


Mom had terminal cancer and up until this past month could get around on her own with only a little help.
The month of May was different, she got very weak and unable to do the things she always could before.
It was very hard to watch her fail so quickly.
A Hospice nurse came in once a day for a few hours to check on her and we did everything else.
We were determined to keep her in her own home in peace with constant care instead of in a hospital or nursing home.
I feel very proud that we were able to do that for her and give her the attention and complete care that she deserved.
She was 89 years old and I miss her very much all ready.

I was there when she passed quietly in the early morning.
Now her house feels so odd to me. I want her to be there in her chair.
I don't want to go through her things.


I rarely got more than 2-3 hours a day sleep which creates interesting havoc on your state of mind but I sort of got used to it.
I have a family and a son graduating high school this June.
All this in the middle of proms and class trips just for the one son.
I have one other son at home (he's 20) and a daughter who for now is staying here too.
Our oldest son came in from Washington DC where he lives and just went back today.
Ours is a very small clan.
I realized this week that my husband who lost both his parents by twenty was very upset by my mom's passing too.
He's known her for over 40 years now.

I'm tired. Worn out, weary and just want to hide out for a while, but it never works out that way around here.
I don't know exactly what I feel right now.
Just incredibly weird.
Like something's horribly wrong but I can't wrap my mind around it.
I'm not numb at least not yet. I'm not angry either.
But I know myself well enough to know both are coming.
I hope I'll be ready.


I have some thoughts I wrote on my laptop very late one night that I want to share.
I will post them tomorrow night.
For now I could really use some sleep.

G'night,

Laura

No news is bad news...

This post really has nothing at all to do with the actual news today.
As an incurable news junkie I feel remiss because I can't seem to watch any news right now.
I can't seem to care.
Hard pressed to watch even the entertaining things like Jon Stewart, Colbert or even Bill Maher.
I can't get angry at Obama, Limbaugh, or Dick Cheney. I truly want to but I can't.
Haven't watched the news consistently since about a week ago. Not at all in the past few days.
I miss it too. But when I put the news on my mind seems to wander off or shut down.
Who are all these people, what the hell is wrong with everyone and everything?
Where is the good news?

Back when I was hot and bothered by waterboarding, Congresswoman Foxx, swine flu, the economy, health care, bank bail outs and Pakistan I could talk for hours, now I have trouble concentrating on getting the mail or what I'm going to do about my car without any money. Just doesn't matter.

What has happened that's different this past week?
My mother is very sick and it looks serious this time.
Which I was dealing with as best I could until a few days ago.
Now I'm just numb.
And as far as I can see the world and it's news will go on just fine without me as it always has regardless of my opinions.
Leaders will go on screwing big things up and fixing little things happily without me caring or watching.
It really doesn't matter.

Maybe what I'm feeling isn't really numbness, it's the sheer utter terror of a child afraid of the dark disguised as numb.
Because somehow an "adult" can deal with numb.
Or can we?

I guess I'll find out over the next few days.

I'll leave O'Reilly and Olbermann to duke it out over the what they call the news these days.

A morning post that isn't at 2am... an oddity for me.
Not sleeping all that well anyhow and yes, I do realize I'm tired, overwhelmed and probably depressed.
A very odd Mother' Day for me.
And yet another long, long day on Long Island starts.

They say no news is good news but that really isn't all that true is it?

Laura

Congresswoman Foxx's statements about Matthew Shepard's death were a hoax! Wait: you mean it wasn't... she actually did said that?

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Yet once again I find myself astounded by the fact that our representatives don't think before they speak. I'm talking about the North Carolina Republican Congresswoman that said that Matthew Shepard's death in 1998 wasn't a hate crime. It shouldn't be used as an example in support of a bill to expand on the definition of hate crimes to include violence motivated by sexual orientation.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx states:
"We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said during debate. "The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."


After the shit hit the fan, Ms. Foxx stated: "The term 'hoax' was a poor choice of words used in the discussion of the hate crimes bill," "Mr. Shepard's death was nothing less than a tragedy, and those responsible for his death certainly deserved the punishment they received."
Um, yea no doubt about it.

I'm so sick of people making such cavalier statements... so callous and thoughtless. Hate crimes are hate crimes. Civil rights are due to all across our nation and freedom from fear for their safety should be too. Hatred breeds hatred.
But then again the way death threats are thrown around whenever someone disagrees with someone else on an emotional issue (or almost any issue it seems) these days I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever accomplish the tolerance and acceptance our forefathers had hoped we would towards all our people in this nation.


In the age of news clips on rotation 24-7, You Tube and other media you would think that people would be more aware of what they say. It's too late when you've made such an asinine statement to retract it. The damage is done.

Think about it Ms. Foxx: What exactly did you mean to say?
Do you think there are no hate crimes against gay or lesbian Americans? Do you believe that expanding a hate crime bill is somehow a bad idea? Do you believe that even if Matthew Shepard's death wasn't a hate crime (and I do NOT believe that for a second) that violent crimes against gay citizens shouldn't be carry the same weight as other hate crime victims? Do you believe that Matthew's death wasn't a hate crime? Because you somehow KNOW better? Really what did you want to say? Please elaborate because I can't begin to fathom it out. Enlighten us.

According to ABC News Foxx spokesman Aaron Groen said the congresswoman relied on articles that she later realized were faulty and especially regrets upsetting the Shepard family. He said she declined further comment.

Oh yes, that makes everything better. She was ignorant of the actual circumstances under which Matthew Shepard died and spoke anyway or she relied on someone's research that said what exactly about his death...? Certainly not what most people believe.
Next time Congresswoman do the research yourself, take five seconds online.
As a matter of fact Virginia dear, I would have expected a government representative to know more about a most jarring case that caught the nation's attention because of it's nature.


Matthew Shepard's death was horrible. That is not the way most robberies end, it went far above and beyond.
Ms. Foxx's statements are outrageous. Please find a better representative North Carolina, or demand more from this one that you have.
And her explanation: weak and mind numbingly lame... It was just "a poor choice of words?" or "I didn't have the facts."

Yet again I suggest people think before they open their mouths to speak. Think. Please.
I also suggest people take more of an active interest in those they elect (and therefore hire) to represent them in government.
Some of the things Senators and Congresspeople have said recently are downright shocking.
I don't want to have a beer with any of them and I hope they only drink on their own time.
I want them to be intelligent, well informed and educated enough to run this country somewhere other than into the ground.

The House did pass the bill: The Matthew Shepard Act officially: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.
Now it has to go through the Senate. Let's hope it passes. If you read up on this- it's an important update to The 1969 federal hate-crime law for numerous reasons.

Nothing more to say.

G'night,

Laura

Now I know I'm not supposed to like "The Spirit" but... aw hell I'll go ahead and do it anyway.

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Finally got around to watching "The Spirit" on dvd. Though it was roundly panned as a bad movie because of lousy acting, too many characters not enough plot, Miller directing, etc... I actually liked it.

First off: It was gorgeous to watch if you like that style of mixing Black/White graphic novel like shots with gritty real action. If you liked Sin city it's more of the same with similar effects but stood on it's own. It didn't seem quite as violent (or at least violent in a different less graphic way somehow) than Sin City. I actually did think Sin City was great.

Second: I didn't take the movie too seriously going in. So it was all a pleasant surprise when it did work well. There were laughable parts by design and then others that I just found amusing or funny by myself. But then I sometimes laugh at the damnedest things. I found this movie entertaining. Not the first or last time I will like something others don't. Reviews don't really tell me if I'll like it or not. They just don't pay folk like me to review movies... (now there's a surprise right?)

Third: No one in this movie is hard at all to watch. Eva Mendes as Sand Saref was a knockout (all the women in this movie were lookers...) Spirit was okay and Samuel Jackson (Octopus) was good. Yes, the characters were a bit shallow but pleasing to watch. They had to work with the lopsided dialog they were given and sometimes it was well... silly while angling for that dark noir, detective, thriller, angsty action pulp process.

If you like graphic novels, gritty stuff like the first Batman movie and thought the way they shot (and pieced together) Sin City was amazing then go ahead and buy or rent The Spirit. It won't knock your socks off by a long shot and I wouldn't skip anything truly important to watch it but... you likely will enjoy it. Perhaps a guilty pleasure to be had whilst complaining of all those reasons to not like it so you don't have to say "Yup. I liked it" to anyone.

And yes, I admit the running moody narrative of the Spirit himself got mildly annoying at times and didn't add much really to the, er, plot but oh well. Trying to add to the overall picture of the pained psyche I suppose.

I doubt Eisner would have been exactly crazy about The Spirit but most movies aren't perfect or even remotely perfect.
The artist in me that would love to put some of her stories into graphic novel format likes watching these movies a lot.
I can understand however why many people wouldn't have liked it. It isn't a fantastic movie but it's definitely watch-able.

Don't go by me though, I loved The Crow, Sin City, Pulp Fiction and thought Kill Bill was somewhat amusing.
Hopeless eh?

G'night,

Laura

Hannity interviews Cheney part 2: Yes, Virginia the ends justify the means…

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Again the interview seemed rather scripted and realistically nothing really new was added to the discourse.
The economy: The dangerous trillion dollars of debt that will be devastating to our country economically. It puts us all in harms way.
Terrorists: Obama has made it more dangerous for us. Cheney's afraid the next terrorist attack will be a nuclear bomb or a biologic agent set in an American city.



Which led us right back to what seems the main Cheney point yet again: The ends justify the means.
Waterboarding isn't torture and besides if only they'd release the other memos that he's aware of... it would prove that the "enhanced interrogation" of the detainees brought helpful results in pertinent information on ongoing terrorism that saved lives. Therefore it was both necessary and a good thing... whether you like it or not.

Obama spoke the other day and left the door open to prosecution of those who ordered the torture and said it was legal to do so. Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton were held nationally accountable for issues that came up during their terms and probably now Bush will need to answer some pertinent questions also. Cheney would almost certainly be called in if there's actually an investigation, perhaps underneath that exterior he's worried about how that would go.



Cheney was followed on Hannity by Karl Rove. Rove said that we might be setting a precedent that if you disagree with the previous administration you get investigated. Why oh why do people listen to Karl Rove at all? He's a wolf in weasel's clothing.
Seriously Karl do you mean like Bill Clinton? That fiasco was surely unbiased. Let's rewrite more history while we're at it.


We violated the Geneva Conference plain and simple. Whether we got results (and there's conflicting information) doesn't matter, we can't violate human rights and international law that we signed off on.

Hannity stated he would agree to be waterboarded for charity and for the troops' families. Would he really and what does that prove exactly? Would we waterboard suspected domestic terrorists for information? Mass murderers for confessions?
I hear if you're not a witch you drown after being tied up and thrown into the water, but if you manage to somehow to resurface you are a witch and therefore must die anyway. Good luck Sean.


I have to try and catch Michele Bachman and Al Sharpton on the FOX news panel Monday... that ought to be interesting.
I'm beginning to wonder what the true content of the news is lately. It seems that it's just opinion and spin with little fact. Actually it's getting harder to tell fact from fiction on the so called "news" these days. Entertainment and "talk" shows aren't the news.

G'night,

Laura
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Yes, Virginia we do torture... but now what?

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I wanted to catch Dick Cheney on the Hannity Show last night.
We don't have cable (by choice) so I braved the thunderstorm at midnight to visit someone that did.

I thought the "interview" was fairly subdued for Hannity who is always trying to make his "points" through the somewhat loud leading questions he asks.
The whole thing which lasted around 20 or so minutes seemed scripted in it's lack of passion on both parts. I wondered what was going on, since neither of these people usually put me to sleep.
I also found that there is a part two tonight, don't know if it'll be any better.

Cheney stated:
"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort,"
and then he followed with:
"I haven't talked about it, but I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw, that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country," Cheney said. "I've now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was."

That was the meat and potatoes of the first part of the interview. Defending torture (or at least his definition of it) as good because it got results...
Perhaps Cheney is right the results should be made public, then we could judge more accurately if Cheney is still redefining or not.
Regardless if there were any results or not... It doesn't let people off for torture.
Should police coerce and beat information and confessions out of their detainees?

Cheney gathered up the stormclouds outside the house and sent them towards the rest of the country. It will be of course be Obama's fault if we have problems now because he's weakened our country... This is 100% Cheney no doubt about that.
Let's just rewrite history: Bush greatest president ever. Obama evil in 95 days...
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Jon Stewart weighs in on torture:
The same night the Daily Show was of course more animated. He started out with a segment that was funny while addressing serious material about our torturing prisoners.
"No one is upset about the fact that America tortures, they're just upset that they now know about it." He referred to the Obama suporters like Chris Mattnews as the "Yes, we can McChange a hope" crowd. Watch the segment it's relevant satire.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
We Don't Torture
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Geneva Convention:
There seems to be enough banter about the definition of torture going on.
Is waterboarding torture? Of course it is.
Should we have done it? Not if we honor the Geneva Convention which we were a major part in.

We cannot change US laws or international laws by blatently ignoring them or redefining torture.
We cannot criticize and call for sanctions of others because of their disregard for such law and not seem hypocritically sanctimonious to the world.

It is sad to see our country willing to:
1) engage in torture and then try to redefine torture and international law.
2) let our engagement in torture go without prosecution and no accountability.
3) be willing to have the whole world see us as the "do as I say but not as I do" nation.

Obama said:we won't prosecute the lowly folk that engaged in torture because they were ordered to by higher ups... now it seems we won't prosecute the higher ups because we are "looking towards the future" not the past. What?


The president has the power to pardon those convicted of the crime of torture... but does he have the power to derail any investigation and criminal prosecution of those involved? Is that even legal?
I seem to remember president Clinton being impeached by congress and a special prosecutor (and Ken Starr was indeed "special") for lying about a blow job. You were willing to tear the country apart over that gleefully, but not over real crime against humanity?
Where exactly are our ethics and morals these days?

Law should not become a laughing stock.
We put young people in jail for smoking pot.
We talk of harsher illegal immigration laws.
But we allow torture to take place and then ignore the laws for prosecution?

How do we expect any of our own nations detainees abroad to be treated when charged with crimes if we pick and choose how we treat those we detained without regard to their human rights?

Way to go Obama/Biden, Way to go Cheney/Bush, I expected a big difference on this one.
I temporarily forgot my working definition of Politician: One who speaks with a forked tongue out of both sides of the mouth.
Most sadly disappointed.
There should be a special prosecutor and committee to look into how the torture happened and on what US authority was it carried out. It's that simple. Obama should stay out of it until the truth is known. If people are convicted then perhaps Obama in his infinite wisdom can convert their sentence or pardon those involved.

I know reading and education isn't necessarily the vogue these days... it apparently makes you either a liberal, cosmopolitan or even worse an "elitist" but please go to the library (they keep books there) or google the Geneva Convention there are summaries and read the damn thing.

I'm wondering if the same folk that are seeking to redefine "torture" are the ones that redefined "informed" to read "elitist?" Oh you betcha.

Does anyone care?

A very tired Laura

How good is The World of Goo? Pretty darn good.

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I'm not much of a computer/game platform player, I'm more a logic puzzle person. The last games I completely finished on my own were Myst, Riven, and I loved Time Lapse.

My sons tried to get me to play Gran Turismo but I kept running into things, spinning around, driving off cliffs and into oncoming traffic. I wasn't doing it on purpose either, I just couldn't race. I would start laughing so hard while trying to play I had tears streaming down my face and then I'd just get worse. I wouldn't even be able to see the screen clearly which would make me laugh even more. Needless to say they gave up on me.

I also tried to play Tomb Raider because along with the action there are problems and puzzles to solve as you progress through the game. Alas right in the beginning you have to defeat wolves in order to actually get into the tomb to explore and I was killed every single time (I laugh a lot trying to play things like that). Once I got inside but then I was continually killed by a very angry bear. I gave up. I'll never make a quick enough shooter for those types of games. I did get to help on the puzzles parts though which I enjoyed.


My favorite interactive game of all time is still The Neverhood put out by Dreamworks with clay scenery and creatures.




I loved every minute of that game and Klaymen rocked! As I said before I love puzzles. Neverhood's claymation was wonderful and there hasn't been any other games that could come close to it. The background music was fantastic and refreshingly different too. I think there's actually a Neverhood cd of the music.


At best I sit watching others play through things like Silent Hill, Diablo, Halo and whatever game is the current one being played around the house in marathon fashion.

I stick to CSI type games where speed and dexterity isn't necessarily going to win the game it's thinking and piecing things together that saves (or solves) the day so to speak.

At any rate, I was given this game "The World of Goo" by 2d Boy for my mac and told I'd probably like it. It won a number of awards for best game so figured I'd see what it was like. I tentatively poked at it and found it became rather addicting. Some of the "levels" are hard and require some trial and error before you figure it out and I'm not great at physics of building bridges and things but it was fun and kept changing as you went. It's fun and doesn't hate you when you fail... you can redo, skip a little around, and there's no time run down to stress you out.

The creatures (Goo) are unique and make little noises. There really isn't any dialogue. The attributes of the Goo changes in different places and it's fun to figure out what you have to do to progress along. Even I wished it was a much longer game so I imagine a real gamer who spends hours playing something would be done with it much faster than I was. I only worked on one or at most two puzzles at a time. This is a great interactive, people friendly game and quite interesting. It's rated E for everyone though I don't know that really young folk would be able to do some of the levels. The background music/ambience grows on you and the goo well it kind of giggles for lack of a better word. My only complaint was that the end came too soon and was a bit anti climatic but I still liked it.






Again I'm not a gamer by a long shot but "World of Goo" was a lot of fun and not terribly expensive at all. Kindof like a wild version of living tinkertoys. You can download a free level or two online if you want to check it out at:
World of Goo game

I'm working on a game now on the Nintendo DS I borrow from Charl sometimes called "Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars." It will likely take me a while since I rarely have the time or desire to play for longer than an hour here or there.
Try the World of Goo, it's worth the time!

G'night,

Laura

What the heck is going on with the news these days… and how can we stop it?

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Texas secession. I've mentioned before how Chuck Norris has stated numerous times that Texas might be better off as it's own country. Seems that the Teabagging parties brought Texas Governor Rick Perry out into the limelight again. It's a joke when he says Texans could get so fed up that they would want to secede from the union, right? Look ya'll if Texas was going to secede from the United States then why, oh why, couldn't they have done it prior to the year 2000? Then GW could have been the President of Texas with good ol' Walker Texas Ranger as VP.
Governor Rick Perry says

Sarah Palin's father is getting in the act against Levi Johnston. A lot of "he said-she said" nonsense going on in Alaska. Drop it, it's a family matter. Both families seem to have issues. Sarah is starting to sound a bit shrill. The hoopla would go away if you let it, or maybe you like the attention. Do you need to get the last word in always? How about we keep our dirty laundry hung out on our own Alaskan porch across from Russia. Most politicians let things die out on their own, perhaps Sarah you should stop worrying so much about Levi and what he does or doesn't say... You could find other important things to do like, oh you know, like governing Alaska.

Rush Limbaugh the Oxy-moron. How is it possible that Rushie now is defending the poor teenage Somali Pirates that were shot in the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips? Does he sometimes forget what side he's on, or who he is? Forget the Oxycontin Rush, find something that calms you down and allows you to think rationally again. Oh and you haven't left NY yet... get moving on that would you?

Ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich is going to be on reality tv? A survivor-like knock-off show on NBC called: "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" What a joke. You can't make this stuff up. Well he'd be on the show if he's not in jail that is... wait a second maybe it would qualify as probation, we could call it public service to deter bad behavior in others with the threat of complete public humiliation.
I think they should call the show "Are You F*%#ing Serious?"

Nadya Suleman: Octomom now wants to own the word "Octomom" and has filed an application with the Patent and Trademark Office so she can control it's use and sell stuff for her own gain. What a surprise eh? This woman is either batshit crazy or a smart, calculating, self-serving bitch or maybe both and more. Hey, copyright that honey. I do however wish her children all the luck in the world they might need it.

Tax Day: I realized two things on April 15, 2009 while I was watching some of the teabagging parties on the television (and no it wasn't on adult pay for view). 1) There are a lot of people extremely angry about taxes, that don't understand the tax bills or what they will actually pay at all... but they do understand being very angry. 2) Grown men and women wearing hats with numerous tea bags dangling off the brim, bobbing and swirling, knocking into each other with every movement actually scare the hell out of me for oh so many reasons.

And my final thoughts:

Single sex marriage is bad.
Young teens sexting is child pornography.
Waterboarding isn't necessarily bad.
Oh civil rights be damned.

G'night,

Laura
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Can you contain your excitement now that Teabagging Day is finally here... Wait what did I say?

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If you don't understand by now why the term teabagging has most of the news commentators hard pressed (sorry) to try and keep a straight face while reporting on conservative teabaggers planning teabagging parties, then please look it up in Wikipedia or something.

I was surprised by how many newsfolk (and others) didn't know the double-entendre value early on while they blissfully encouraged teabagging across the nation in tax protest. The news suddenly became a hysterically risqué fun house to many people.

One such humorous report from MSNBC did a segment that just cracked me up. It was deliberate of course, tongue in cheek so to speak.
It was titled: GOP's taste for teabagging
While the anti-tax "tea parties" are officially toothless, conservative teabaggers are full-throated about their goals. They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending; spending they did not oppose when they were under Presidents Bush and Reagan.

If that doesn't at least make you crack a smile, listen to Rachel Maddow report after she totally gave up on trying to report for days without laughing. Most reporters as the days went on gave up trying to hide the linguistic challenge.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I found myself these last few weeks reveling in the hormone fueled sexual humor of a teenage boy, which is an amazing feat since I've never been a teenage boy. I found myself laughing out loud at accidental and deliberate statements like:
April 15: The teabaggers' seminal moment. The GOP bones up on teabagging the nation. We even have Dick Armey teabagging. Tea bag Obama and Pelosi. The conservatives are hoping the government feels the full thrust of the bottom up grass root teabagging campaign.

Ah, comeon, I know it's juvenile, I really do but...
All I can find myself saying is "Happy teabagging on tax day... but why stop there? Seems to me teabagging is a great new way to protest the government. Wait, not that new, I hear it went on during the Boston Tea Party. You are partaking in a great national tradition.

Knowing the alternative definition of teabagging turned even the more serious newscasts into political satire of sorts. It made such easy sport of Glen Beck and others. I guess teabagging was seen as an innocuous enough word that there couldn't be anything wrong with using it. There really should be a lot more vetting going on before choosing terms and people it would seem.

Yes, I'm smiling.
But now I'm leaving before I get in even deeper hot water...
Gulp.

G'night.

Laura
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NASA jumps on the Stephen Colbert treadmill...

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Sunita "Suni" Williams NASA's Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, an amazing woman who has accomplished so much was chosen as the spokesperson for NASA to appear on "The Colbert Report" Tuesday April 14. She made the announcement just a short time ago what the results of the contest to name the space node by voting for several names or writing in a suggestion were. Stephen had urged his "Colbert Nation" to write in "Colbert" and they did en mass.

It has been decided by NASA the space node won't be named Cobert after all.
It will be named Tranquility even though Colbert clearly won the contest with the most votes (230,000.) Tranquility was the eighth most popular name.

But wait...
NASA is naming the treadmill used for exercise inside the space station after Colbert which Stephen seemed very happy with. It'll be called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).

Another NASA spokesman Mike Curie said that the COLBERT treadmill is a new version that will be operational in August.

"We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said, adding: "We have invited Stephen to Florida for the launch of COLBERT and to Houston to try out a version of the treadmill that astronauts train on."

Not too shabby Stephen Colbert. I do understand why perhaps it would have set an odd precedent to name a node after you but please let the members of the Colbert Nation know this is a great step for Colbertkind! Pretty cool compromise I'd say. Congrats!

One last thought for this early morning hour: Sunita is a strong role model for girls, there aren't enough of them and she's definitely good one!

G'night,

Laura
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Why did Jon Stewart allow Jason Jones to go quite so far to create laughter at the expense of the elderly?

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Jon Stewart is usually laugh out loud funny. I don’t get my news commentary from him as he picks his stories along different interests than I do. In all fairness I’m not a die-hard fan like many are. It’s only recently that I’ve been watching him more consistently though I rarely get to every episode. Jon is clever, intelligent, sarcastic and reasonably liberal from what I can tell and usually he’s a pretty funny comedian. I wasn’t crazy about the Mad Money Jim Cramer show as most were. Yes, I’m upset about the banks and stock market like everyone else but I didn’t think Stewart was an investigative reporter and the venue made me uncomfortable. Oh yes, Jon got ‘im and he deserved it, but as far as I could tell that was about as hard as shooting fish in a barrel and was way too long.

I for one was happy when Jon went back to being the funny guy that keeps track of the nonsense in politics that we all know and really appreciate. Then there was the show on April 9, 2009 where Jason Jones took an awkward and not all that terribly funny look at the rise in STDs among Florida's senior citizens in his segment. I rolled my eyes a bit and was annoyed by the blatant stereotyping that went on throughout the bit. I’m fairly tolerant of things that I don’t agree with but I found this skit relatively condescending and unfair though I’m sure many people would disagree with me (including Jon I expect). Did the elderly somehow deserve a takedown like Cramer or Carlson? I suppose everyone is fair game eh?


This country doesn’t place a great value on the elderly. They are often portrayed as ditsy or angry people that are tolerated rather than valued for being wise. They are made fun of because of failing health. Punch lines for erectile dysfunction, memory loss or bladder control jokes. They are portrayed often as less useful as the younger, prettier, healthier, smarter, more tolerant folk. (Complete balderdash)

All of which is simply a complaint of mine with a lot of television: so I didn’t like the skit and that’s fine. I knew it would be over soon and the show would move on. Unfortunately The Daily Show closed with Jason Jones doing an obnoxious parody of the seduction scene from “The Graduate”

Jon:
You chose to end the show with Jason Jones filmed through the leg of what we are to assume is an elderly woman similar to that famous shot from "The Graduate." Not the typical moments of zen you normally end the show with. Jason Jones, your stooping that low was disappointing but Jon, it’s your show and your approval stamp. The skit was enough without the last thing we were to hear on your show:
"Mrs. Rubenstein you're trying to nauseate me... aren't you?" (looking ill and making a drawn out sick sound) "Oooooohhh.... What is that?"

I’m sorry Jon but it was tasteless. Maybe appropriate for a different forum but not where you want to be seen as a politically relevant man with a show that is a valuable venue as well as making important points through comedy. It seems sometimes that you have trouble deciding just where you fit in. Comedy, political satire, interviewer of interesting authors, statesmen and actors, or… something else?

Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, you owe my mother an apology and probably your own too.

Suddenly I find myself more interested in whether or not Stephen Colbert gets a space node named after him.

G’night,

Laura

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News that doesn't have the name Obama within it...

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Did it really take 6 years to finally get a verdict to stand in Phil Spector’s murder trial?
There is an account of him pulling a gun on John Lennon and actually shooting a bullet into the ceiling. Legend has it he held a gun to Leonard Cohen’s head also. This guy is well known for his temper tantrums and paranoia.
It would be most peculiar if someone that had just met Spector took his gun put it in her mouth and commit suicide in his home. MSNBC stated: The 40-year-old Lana Clarkson, star of the 1985 cult film “Barbarian Queen,” died of a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector’s mansion in 2003. She met Spector only hours earlier at her job as a nightclub hostess.


Another long awaited ruling though not such dire consequences: Al Franken was announced as the winner in the senate race, but… not quite. Coleman is going to challenge once again and possibly tie it all up until May now.
Ultimately it’s going to go to Franken why is Coleman hanging the whole thing up? I’m so sick of both of them. If Al Gore could concede the mess he was in I think the republicans can advise Coleman to give up and save face. The republicans are starting to look like a bunch of spoiled brats (granted the Dems are just children but not quite as spoiled).



Glad that the Navy snipers were such well trained sharp shooters. Kudos.
The captain is now safe. The Somali pirates have threatened retaliation for the rescue.
Yea, honor amongst thieves that prey on people.
How about we pay the somali's that take out the pirates?
Bounty on the Pirates... Mutiny for the Bounty. Hmm.


Tomorrow I'm going to work on the photos from the Vietnam War Memorial in DC.
Hopefully I'll get enough time to finish it.

We had a great Easter Sunday. Everyone was home, plus my mother and brother.
I cooked an eleven pound ham, smashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, nice garden greens salad, asparagus and bro brought cheesecake and pineapple upside down cake.
Mmmmm, yummy.

Took son to train to go back to DC (sob) and everyone went back to daily life once again.
Very tired and need sleep desperately.
The world won't disintegrate overnight if I don't catch up on all the news...
Um, it won't right?

G'night,

Laura
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A Definite Must See: The Newseum in Washington DC!

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I didn’t think I’d find the Newseum as interesting as I did. The other museums off the mall are for the most part free such as the Smithsonian museums like Air and Space, Natural History, Portrait Gallery, the Botanical Gardens and others.
The Newseum costs $20.00 which isn’t that bad a deal because you can easily spend the day there. There are many interactive news stations, Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, and movies such as the one on the 9/11 attacks that is outstanding and emotional.

The antenna from the top of one of the twin towers is on display with the front pages from all over the world from the time.

There is a portion of the Berlin Wall, a story display and a gun tower from the wall.

There are political cartoons, tributes to journalists that have lost their lives, print presses and many displays of interest pertaining to the news.

What fascinated me however were the actual newspapers housed in glass drawers with the front pages showing that chronicled major news stories over time and first editions of many major magazines. It was hard for me to photograph the oldest newspapers/pamphlets because of the camera I had and lighting on that side.


I think I opened every drawer there was. Politely asking folk that were standing around talking to move so I could pull out the bottom drawers. Such history in that room starting from the 1500’s to present day.







And if you’re tired from all the walking around and thinking about the relationship between the past, present and the future you can go up to the top floor of the Newseum and wander outside. The view is spectacular and really brings the whole experience into perspective looking out over the Capitol (at least it did for me).

I highly recommend the Newseum. It was a lot of fun and worth the admission. “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” is taped within the Newseum. I was glad I checked it out! If you go to the Newseum website: Front Pages there are 795 front pages from 68 countries every day and archives. Absolutely awesome to the news junkie! I hope newspapers never die off. I really do.

G’night,

Laura

Obama bows to Saudi King Abdullah... Big deal or not?

So much fuss over whether a bow was a bow or not... and if it was indeed a bow then how horrible that was. Subservient, bad mistake, etc.
Looked like it was indeed a bow from the video and perhaps Obama shouldn't have appeared to bow (whether they call it a bow or not.) It doesn't seem like this is an earth shattering mistake. Bush had the foreign leader faux pas down cold, one of the few things he was good at.

But, tonight I was over someone's house while they had Fox's O'Reilly Factor on the tv and he was on a tear about how this was not a good thing and then read multiple e-mails where folk were complaining about the bow. The show was followed by Hannity which was even more vehement about the message it sends to the Saudis. Seems to me that as long as we crave big vehicles and gasoline that runs like water they all ready have us by the bal wallets anyway.

Now I can handle listening to Billy O sometimes but Hannity is a bit much. (I think Hannity is the definition of that American arrogance vs the insidious anti-Americanism Obama spoke about in Europe.) Interesting how dramatic all the right wingers have become: Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity et al. Pure drama queens, er, kings of course. And they criticize liberals.
Amusing. Not much tolerance there.

It's all balderdash... if you go back and research (yes, research) you will find that Obama certainly isn't the first American President to bow to the Saudis or to hold hands with them either. The known ties between the Bush family and the Saudis wasn't a problem then? Maybe it's all a figment of that left wing liberal media conspiracy? Or is it the Right wing conspiracy?
AAAAaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Interesting how angry the "take back our country" faction is in this country. We freely elected a new president in a democratic election (like we keep telling the rest of the world they should do) and because they lost and are pissed off about it we get this nonsense at every turn. Plenty people were upset with many of the things Bush did and downright despised him, even when Gore won the popular vote and lost the nonsense in Florida, I don't remember everyone buying guns and talking about wanting the President of the United States of America's policies to fail and taking the country back.
Taking the country back to what? Where? How? Sounds a trite treasonous, eh?
Incredibly sore losers it would seem on a relatively large scale.
Children that can't play nice in the sandbox. Grow up.

Those of you that said they would leave if Bush won last time and those of you that said they would leave if Obama won: I bet you're all still here.


I'm upset about some things Obama has said or done but so far he's not doing that bad a job. Were you all expecting miracles?
And if you were what about US Politicians in general made you expect any such wondrous things from either side? Self serving hypocrites on both sides of the fence.

Coleman step down. You've lost. Even Gore gave up.
Both you and Franken are annoying... but you have lost.
Get over yourselves. Puhleeze.

G'night,

Laura
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Highpoints of the National Museum of Natural History Washington DC.

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Went to the National Museum of Natural History to see the Butterfly Pavilion near the Insect Zoo. It was worth the short wait in line. Inside there are butterflies of many different size, color and shapes flying around freely among all the flowers and plants.

It's very humid and warm but other than that it was a lot of fun to watch them flitting about and sometimes landing on people wandering through. There were a number of people that watched to make sure the butterflies weren't injured and if you didn't want one hitching a ride around with you the caretakers would come with a paintbrush to gently shoo them off of you. When leaving you went into a small room with mirrors all around where they checked to make sure no butterflies were sneaking out with you into the museum.

Afterwards we went to the Insect Zoo. The first time I visited the Insect area of the NMNH was many, many years ago and back then they still let chosen people hold tarantulas but they don't anymore (for the safety of the spiders.) That's me holding the giant hissing cockroach and my son with the butterfly on his head.















I recommend the Smithsonian Museums to all. They are definitely a national treasure and they are free (you can leave a donation).

G'night,

Laura
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