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

*
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
.

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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Iowa has beaten California and New York...

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Can’t believe that the Supreme Court in Iowa of all places has passed the same sex marriage law. Iowa has addressed a law that more “liberal” states still can’t seem to realize?
The thing that bothered me about the recent California constitutional ban of same sex marriages is that quotes are often used to state that 60% (or more or less) of the people polled in the state are against same sex marriages so therefore they shouldn’t have them.

This on an emotional level perhaps works for people but on a legal level should be a civil rights issue. Do gay people have the same rights as straight people in this country?
If not, why not? Are they lesser citizens, inferior to others and therefore not to be afforded the same rights to be happily/unhappily married as everyone else, to live and work where they choose?
This very discrimination has been used in the past to segregate other groups to prevent them from exerting their rights in this country.
Even if it’s an unpopular legal issue in some quarters that doesn’t make it right or appropriate to discriminate against a group of people then sanction against them with laws.

If public opinion of some states or the federal government was that there should be no civil rights for blacks, children, elderly or women in this country would we have ever passed the necessary laws to protect their respective rights as a nation? Even the right to practice different religions is upheld and protected by the laws and government.

I’m sorry but whatever I personally think on the subject doesn’t matter in the sense that the group consensus is not always right legally. We cannot allow prejudice to rule the laws of our land any more than we can condone a mob with pitchforks that takes justice into its own hands.

So come on California, New York and elsewhere, the issue isn’t really the definition of marriage, if gay people are allowed the right to get married it won’t lessen my marriage or anyone else’s.
It’s about civil rights and who controls or gets to have them over others.

G’night.
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The Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC

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Finally made it back from DC and Virginia! Had a wonderful time just over a week.
Didn't get much time online in DC because I ran myself ragged all day then was exhausted at night.
In Virginia I was in the mountains and didn't get cell or internet for the most part.

The Nightly News Withdrawal was hard at first then settled down after a bit.
Symptoms included: twitching, trying to read papers over people's shoulders on the Metro, mumbling to oneself over headlines and trying to watch internet news late at night when it was possible but falling asleep soon as I sat still or lay down.

Now I'm still playing catch up, a lot happens in just over a week... locally and nationally.

On Friday in DC I walked the whole memorial pathway taking my time and most of the day.


The walk is reasonably long but there are plenty places to sit and rest along the way.
The Cherry Blossom Festival started the next day and the blossoms were opening all over and very pretty!
I chose to walk along the water's edge as much as I could there were higher paths too.

First stop was the Jefferson Memorial on a gorgeous day.





I have a lot of photos that I'll try to upload over the next few days.
I want to do the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial separately and with the care it deserves.

Glad to be back though I love to travel... wish I could do more.

G'night,

Laura
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