PoliticalQuestioning

The MX 5 Miata it is...

2009-07-07T23:29:00.003-04:00

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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

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Somebody help me figure out this car thing…

2009-06-30T01:11:00.007-04:00

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

2009-06-19T02:58:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-16T00:21:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-14T02:01:00.004-04:00

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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
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On Losing My Mom...

2009-06-06T15:26:00.006-04:00

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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.

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Missing my mom...

2009-06-03T01:05:00.002-04:00

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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...

2009-05-11T09:50:00.000-04:00

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?

2009-05-01T00:59:00.003-04:00

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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.

2009-04-30T02:15:00.006-04:00

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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…

2009-04-24T02:25:00.005-04:00

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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?

2009-04-21T15:36:00.003-04:00

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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.

2009-04-19T00:37:00.004-04:00

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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?

2009-04-17T01:54:00.003-04:00

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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?

2009-04-15T22:00:00.004-04:00

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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...

2009-04-15T02:01:00.005-04:00

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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?

2009-04-14T19:51:00.005-04:00

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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...

2009-04-14T01:03:00.006-04:00

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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!

2009-04-10T01:20:00.007-04:00

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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?

2009-04-09T02:08:00.006-04:00

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.

2009-04-08T22:05:00.007-04:00

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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...

2009-04-07T01:43:00.003-04:00

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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

2009-04-05T22:57:00.006-04:00

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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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Washington DC day two of the adventure

2009-03-28T23:47:00.005-04:00

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Was exhausted last night so I didn't get to post anything about trip but boy did I walk around DC.
Went to the National Museum of Natural History and walked around and walked the whole trip around to all the monuments, Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean and WW I and II memorials.
I took the long walk and sat along the way just enjoying the water and gorgeous views you can't get by bus when you only stop at each thing but don't wander around enough.

The Vietnam War Memorial is so amazing and moving I will do a complete post on it when I return home in order to do it justice...

The spider is a sculpture by the Natural History Museum next to where I stopped to get a soda I was so parched from walking.
I thought it was kinda interesting.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Newseum with Collin.

Watched an IMAX movie today that was called Deep Sea 3D. It was outrageous. Jellyfish, coral reefs, seaweed, water, sharks, starfish, whales and schools of fish came right out to you in great detail. If you get a chance to see something like that do it!!! Really awesome experience. (yes, I realize I said awesome)

Well, feet hurt and I'm going to go to bed now really could use some sleep.

G'night

Laura
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Day One: US Capitol and the Botanical Gardens…

2009-03-26T22:49:00.010-04:00

Day one of the adventure: Thursday.
Rainy but surprisingly warm day in DC spent today getting used to the Metro again and wandering the Capitol and Botanical Gardens.
I have to say that the DC Metro is much cleaner than NYC’s Subways but the stairs up can be killers since the escalators don’t always work and my knees don’t like that many stairs.
Today I had the interesting experience of being half way up on a long escalator when it quit. Weird sensation.

I always go to the Botanical Gardens whenever I get to DC.
If I lived here I would go there all the time to sit and write or read.
Humans are around so much man-made things all the time we forget that we really are part of a much larger ecosystem. Humbling and peaceful.
My son cooked me dinner of Lemon/garlic chicken breasts.

Well, off to bed, busy day tomorrow.
G’night,
Laura

Planes, Trains & Automobiles... Greetings from the nation’s capitol.

2009-03-26T00:40:00.002-04:00

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My day was rather like the Steve Martin/John Candy movie “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.”
I set out early by truck, then moved on to train and then bus, but no planes Though I’m going to Reagan National Airport to rent a car for a side trip over to Virginia next week. I’m going to visit an old friend I haven’t seen in person for over 15 years.

The adventure begins…

Tomorrow I’m going out to play tourist and take photos along the way.
Catching up on the news right now, the bus had internet but not always consistent enough to watch video.

Tired.
G’night

Obama’s sentiment about sediment on 60 minutes…

2009-03-24T23:21:00.002-04:00

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Chalk this post up to my interest in how the English language is used (and misused). I thought college linguistics was fascinating. I guess my fascination with presidential speech patterns is somewhat understandable.

Bear in mind that the last president particularly drove me to distraction with his misusing or mispronouncing about every thirteenth word that he uttered. I suppose I’m used to being hyper sensitive to listening to the chronic mistakes GW made.

I’m guessing most folk probably didn’t even notice this and if they did wouldn’t care but the other night (Sunday to be exact) on 60 minutes President Obama interchanged two words. He was talking about Guantanamo, Cheney and the creation of more anti American “sediment.” He clearly had meant to say “sentiment.” Many people mix those two words without realizing it, just take a look at the internet.
For the record: sediment is the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid, while sentiment is a feeling, emotion, attitude or opinion towards something.

However, that wasn’t the interesting thing… everybody makes mistakes and the rest of the interview was pretty coherent. Afterwards I listened to what the different station’s pundits had to say about the 60 Minutes segment and they varied from “it was awful he laughed inappropriately at the economic crisis” to “he was informative, sincere and spoke directly to the issues.” Of course no one mentioned the mistake because it’s not a very important one in the scope of a speech.

I had to laugh though because when I got to Rachel Maddow afterwards they had shown the clip where Obama misstated as part of a story on Cheney. When Rachel spoke about it she very clearly enunciated the word “sentiment” with a smile. I’m pretty sure she noticed the switch. So is that the jaws of the liberal/socialist/left leaning media monster that we keep hearing about being too gentle on Obama? So she’s mean to that nice, sweet hearted old Dick Cheney while she’s indulgent towards that contemptible, nasty Barack Obama. Mildly amusing. And not to be soft on Rachel but she was a Rhodes Scholar and has a doctorate in political science. I think she can take it.

If it had been Bush it would have just been simply another day, another speech, another mangled word, because after all George W was certainly our most “misunderestimated” president.
Wait what’d he say?

G’night,

Laura

Obama laughs too much: quick get Rahm to pass that pissy look down.

2009-03-24T02:05:00.005-04:00

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I watched President Obama on 60 Minutes last night and thought it went okay.
He seems to understand the issues and is willing to talk to the press and public about what’s going on.
This is something we haven’t seen in a president in a very long time.
And after eight years of a president that couldn’t seem to answer a question without confusing whatever it was he was trying to say (and sometimes we never quite knew what he was going for) it’s nice to have a president that can complete a thought without a teleprompter.

However when I got up all I heard about was how Obama laughed too much, it’s inappropriate, he’s not serious enough, and spending too much time talking to the public.
It seems absolutely impossible to please anyone these days.

There are so many things going on in the world and all that you could find were various clips of Obama laughing that were showing up everywhere all day and into the night. Discouraging.
I guess he needs to practice looking serious and pissy in the mirror more. Surely Rahm could help with that.

Far more interesting is the underwater volcano near Tonga in the Pacific. Amazing photos.

Also now Alaska’s Mount Redoubt, 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, erupted.
I bet Bobby Jindal wishes he hadn’t criticized money going towards volcano monitoring in his republican rebuttal speech now.

Some of AIG’s folk gave their bonus money back, but not all of them.

Bernie Madoff’s accountant David Friehling was charged with securities fraud… now how about that bookkeeping wife of his?

My thought of the day: Perhaps Dick Cheney would shut up and stop fear-mongering to deliberately undermine the President of the USA if he was being prosecuted on the criminal charges warranted for torture as he should be under our laws. Why after the Clinton debacle do we turn our eyes from true crimes?

On the lighter side: two marriages:
Bruce Willis (54) married a thirty-two year old model what a surprise… Hmm.
The interesting one is David Letterman. He finally married his long term mate Regina Lasko. They began dating in 1986 and have a five year old son.
Congrats and good luck!
And speaking of marriage: Politico reported that Senator Chuck Schumer of NY has changed his mind on same sex marriage. This might mark a broader change in thought towards equality and human rights. We shall see.

G’night,

Laura

Pope Benedict XVI what possessed you to say that using condoms increases the AIDS problem?

2009-03-23T01:51:00.008-04:00

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I actually didn’t believe this when I first heard it because it seemed so outrageous like something the Onion would make up as a spoof but turns out it is real. I find this very discouraging.

Pope Benedict XVI according to all accounts when visiting of all places Africa where AIDS is a huge problem rejected the distribution of condoms as a means of fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. According to msnbc Benedict said that “distributing condoms “increases the AIDS problem.” This is simply irresponsible coming from the official leader of the Catholic Church. Either life is sacred or it isn’t, you can’t pick and choose who lives and dies. So how dies the pro-life 81 year old pope make a statement that may condemn millions to illness and death while passing the disease on to others along the way?

According to Times online Benedict said the “traditional teaching of the Church” on chastity outside marriage and fidelity within it had proved to be “the only sure way of preventing the spread of HIV and Aids”.
*

So those that have sex outside of marriage or are raped deserve to be condemned to HIV infection because the church thinks abstinence is the answer instead of protection? Because birth control is a no-no to the church? When a condom is being used to prevent a deadly disease from being spread to a partner or to prevent an innocent child that might be born with HIV doesn’t that trump the stance against condoms as birth control alone? Apparently not.

I’m not Catholic and I’m not religious though I was brought up Christian. I do not practice any organized religion. I do not rule out a God but no one religion can be proven to be the “right” one. Pope Benedict’s proclamation is an irresponsible, downright dangerous, uninformed stance that could condemn people to a disease that they might otherwise have prevented by using a condom. The Catholic Church has never been able to admit that every time even a married couple have sex they aren’t trying to conceive a child. This is outdated and irrational thinking. It’s simple not true, condoms used right can do a lot to prevent the spread of HIV. Sir this is a fact. This is the church that says they put the innocent children’s lives before anything?

Yes, Pope Benedict if only people practiced abstinence there would be less HIV infection but in the real world abstinence doesn’t happen that often. How many marriages has your church performed on all ready pregnant women because of the anti-birth control stance you advocate? How many have contracted HIV because condoms are not sanctioned by the Vatican and you actually actively discourage their use at all?

Unbelievable. Unconscionable. Is there such a thing as unintentional genocide? I can’t understand saying “AIDS is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”. Let me get this straight: you can be absolved of your sins by going to confession and every thing’s fine but you can’t use a condom because you say so?

This saddens me that such a powerful man of the cloth would make such a callous mistake. I don’t remember any commandments saying Thou shall not have safe sex…
I must have missed it.

G’night,

Laura
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Alan Moore's "Watchmen" in a movie: not fantastic but not bad either

2009-03-22T10:55:00.010-04:00

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Finally decided to see “Watchmen” in the movies tonight.
I wasn’t at all sure that I really wanted to see it.
You see I was one of the few people out there that wasn’t crazy over the “V for Vendetta” movie though I really liked the graphic/comic series. The story and actors were good, and the movie wasn’t bad but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
Alan Moore wasn’t at all behind the Hollywood production of “Watchmen” so…
By the way Alan Moore is really rather odd but damn good at writing interesting series and being himself I suppose. He’s in “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve been a long time “graphic (for lack of any better term) novel” reader, though not a fanatic.
Couldn’t afford to be one. Started with comics, and underground comics, Heavy Metal before it turned into well… whatever. I still have the first 3 years worth saved around here somewhere and a few Fat Freddy’s Cat too. Began reading comics and graphic novels early on (Once upon a time I wanted to be an illustrator and went to college for Advertising Art and Design) and never stopped loving the comic/graphic medium to this day.

Unfortunately I got rid of all my comic books (girls weren’t supposed to read them: grow up and all) so when I moved out of parents house they were all given away.
Based on my reaction to the comic book tables at a few I-Con/Otacon visits I’ll never go to a comic-con I’d just sit and cry. Sadly, I had just about everything all the original stuff.
It’s not their monetary value that I get upset about it’s just that it makes me want them back to read and have. I loved comic books with a passion. It would have been better if I realized my interests were mine before I tried to “grow up” and be someone that I wasn’t as comfortable with.
Ah well, water under the bridge.

Back to Watchmen: I had mixed feelings about this movie. Yes, I enjoyed it and it followed the story all right… It wasn’t as gory as it could have been, yet not too watered down either.
Full frontal male nudity sort of (it’s CGI of course). Though Dr. Manhattan was done fairly well and the other characters were fine, I found something lacking in the movie. Maybe it’s because I enjoyed the comic series? I think I’ll have to see it again to fully decide if I really liked it or not, sometimes I have an attitude towards a movie and it effects the viewing. Certainly entertaining enough.

The distraction problem I had with the movie was that I couldn’t get Zena Warrior Princess out of my head (not that Laurie/Silk Spectre was anything like zena really I think it was her haircut, dark with bangs, or something)
Now Zena alone wasn’t too bad if it wasn’t coupled with a strange association in my mind between the unmasked Night Owl (Dan Dreiberg) and Chevy Chase of SNL/Fletch era. I know that’s weird and I seriously don’t get it myself but it took me more than half the movie before I wasn’t distracted by it. Don’t know why Chase got in my head but it definitely wouldn’t have even occurred to anyone young anyway. It’s just weird, maybe it was the glasses, or his mannerisms, no clue.

I’ll watch it again at some point, to give it a fairer chance.
Thumbs up I guess… but with reservations. Btw: semi-gratuitous comic book sex is thankfully far shorter than the silly Night Owl/Silk Spectre scene in Watchmen (seriously hitting the fire button… really lame) Don’t listen to me however, go see it whether you read the comics or not, you’ll probably like it… It was reasonably violent though so if you don’t like blood, etc., you might not. Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian were pretty good castings.

Some comic/graphic novels make better cross overs for movies than others especially if you’ve read them previously: for instance I loved Sin City and thought The Crow was absolutely stunning.
Pretty hard to compare with The Crow, at least in my mind.

I’ve said before that I have odd taste in movies and reading materials for a female it seems.

G’night,

Laura

Obama's Special Olympics Gaffe, fantasy flying cars and paperweights.

2009-03-21T01:35:00.009-04:00

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I heard on the news that President Obama was on the phone apologizing for his Special Olympics bowling gaffe on Jay Leno the other night even before the show aired. Well, at least he admits when he messed up. Bush never could say he screwed up, though he did it regularly.

I thought the best news clip today was the answer to President Obama from the best bowler from the Special Olympics. He said that he’d love to bowl a game with President Obama. Adding that while it would be great, he warned the president that he’d better get in some practice before hand. A great response.

Saw a clip on an car-slash-airplane that has collapsible wings so it can go in a garage. I’m sure that this is a novelty because I for one hope we never have flying cars!!! It’s bad enough that you have to drive super defensively every day on the road looking out for idiots that don’t blink, run lights, speed, and cut you off. Being responsible for watching to your right, left, front, back and the road itself almost simultaneously is enough of a juggling act for a driver no matter how good they are. Who the hell wants to have to worry about someone crashing into you from above? Not me that’s for sure. Don’t want people running out of gas in the air or flying into things like wires, birds, other cars and tumbling out of the sky down onto me from above. No, no, no! Nor do I want them to take short cuts over my house. Bad enough we have road rage, don’t even want to think about air rage.

It’s cute as far as novelties go and probably satisfies a flying fantasy (ooh, ahh), but it obviously wouldn’t work on any mass scale. The estimated ticket price of $194,000 would be beyond the reach of most folk. This begs the question: do we really want the rich flying around above us? I surely don’t. Would it be too much to ask that we invest our time and money to work on things that would realistically help us right now, like solar, recyclable battery, wind and water power! Though these things may present a problem for car design we can figure it out if we really wanted to. Now that would actually help free us from our obscene oil dependency while being relatively cheap and either low or pollution free.

Flying cars, seriously? We just don’t really need them. Move on. Please.

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On a personal note I’m shortly going to visit my eldest son in Washington DC and then swinging over to Virginia to visit a good friend I haven’t seen in person in around 15 years. So I spent today finishing one of the gifts I’m bringing down with me. I made sunshine paperweights using 3-4 inch diameter beach stones picked up during my regular walks along the shoreline. I used my acrylic paint and triple thick finishing spray. Came out reasonable well. I’m really hoping they’ll like them. (I’ve also make door stops from interesting larger rocks).

Off to bed early. I’m tired, and longing for some of that elusive sleep thing I get so little of…

G’night,
Laura
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President Obama on Jay Leno mostly good but for one gaffe.

2009-03-20T01:12:00.005-04:00

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I have to give President Obama credit. He has been one of the most visible (and talkative) presidents in my memory. He tried to explain the AIG and banking problem, why it happened and what we might be able to do. It does help, we're so used to the government being secretive, manipulative and treating us like we're dumb children.

Leno asked some good questions like is it fair to target one group with high taxes and does that mean other groups can be taxed for a "good" reason? I was wondering about this myself. It seemed he assured us that no that wouldn't happen, this was a special case but at the same time he didn't exactly seem behind that 90% tax. Hmm.

Obama backed Timothy Geitner once again stating he has faith in him and pointed out again that he takes responsibility for being the president and for his cabinet. Refreshing, it's been a while (taking responsibility that is). Obama stated that the pattern in Washington is that everybody's always trying to find someone to else to blame for things and he wants to end that.

They talked about electric cars and wind power which I hope bodes well for getting into the doing rather than talking stage. Solar too.

Said Air Force One is cool... yup, already knew that from Harrison Ford.

The only gaffe seemed to be that when Leno asked him if he would be taking out the bowling lanes and Obama said he'd been practicing: "I bowled a 129." He said it was a bit special olympics but he was making progress. Though many reporters or talk show hosts have said things like this, because it was the President people will be fussing about it tomorrow I imagine. Obviously he didn't mean to disparage anyone that takes part in the Special Olympics but he should have been a little less free with his candor, though we all have said things that don't sound right but we don't have the whole country picking at everything we say. (Thank God right?) Might be he's been spending too much time around Vice President Biden. Gotta watch those gaffes they might be contagious.

Obama stated that he'd be getting "roll on hoops" for the tennis courts so there would most definitely be basketball going on.

Then came the important question: When's the dog coming? Very soon, it's coming very soon and then quipped:
"They say if you want a friend in Washington- get a dog."

Ah, how true, how true.

I thought by now I might be tired of seeing Obama talking everywhere or that it would get repetitive if he talked too often, but so far it's been okay. At least he talks to us, otherwise we'd only have the constant barrage 24-7 of pundits and Lord knows they do get repetitive and predictable. lol.

G'night,

Laura
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The 90% Tax on AIG bonuses… Tragicomedy.

2009-03-19T23:54:00.003-04:00

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Today the House passed a 90% tax on bonuses that would apply to those that take federal bailout money like AIG (and others) which apparently would also be retroactive. Passed House by 328 to 93 (two-thirds) vote.

Well of course this makes people feel better and maybe that’s what they were going for. Makes the reps in Washington look like they’re doing something effective. If you think about this a bit however I seriously doubt it can actually be done. Symbolically I suppose it’s a great public pleaser (addresses the outrage) but as a “law, bill or even a rule” it won’t work in this form.

Even though it's approved by the House, it likely won’t be approved by the senate, and even if it was approved by the senate it’s likely unconstitutional and won’t ever be put into effect.

It targets one group’s (even though they took money from the government) taxes to 90% (rather unprecedented) which though perhaps desirable or fair in this case, I don’t see how it could be enacted. If the government decided that in order to raise funds for the government they were going to create new 90% taxes or raise existing taxes like alcohol/tobacco 90% many people would be up in arms. Or how about if the government decided to repeal the tax exempt status of churches to raise money and be fair to all taxpayers… well, I expect all hell would break loose (pardon the expression) wouldn’t it? Whether it’s a good idea or not doesn’t matter because it wouldn’t happen. As far as I can see this 90% tax won’t hold up even if it gets through the Senate.

The Keystone Kops in charge of a national disaster. It doesn’t seem like anyone knows what they’re doing. Timmy G wanna weigh in on this?

The big question is whether Geitner should resign, or Obama should fire him, or maybe he should come up with some comprehensive plans that can be explained thoroughly to the public. The latter being the best idea.

Tragicomic.
Funny in a decidedly unfunny rather tragic way.

Off to watch Obama on Leno which I have mixed feelings about. I’ll decide after I see how it goes and what is said.

Later,

Laura
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Senator Chuck Grassley on AIG bonus checks.

2009-03-19T01:37:00.003-04:00

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The great sound bites from our representatives just keep on coming. Look at the bright side if there wasn't an economic crisis we'd never really know half of the things most of them ever said. Though sometimes I think I felt better without all the noise from all sides.
So Senator Chuck Grassley republican from Iowa states:
"The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they'd follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things--resign, or go commit suicide."

He did later back down from saying he really didn't want them to kill themselves... likely after someone said, "Uh Chuck Ole Boy, you can't recommend suicide as policy and you might just be offending some Americans out there. Please put out one of those disclaimers stating that what you said isn't exactly what you meant."

Awful lot of those disclaimers going around out there on all sides.
Not helping.
Not helping at all.

Then we move on and get this beauty of a Grassley clip about AIG-

Thanks Chuck for putting that image in the minds of everyone that heard it.
Eeewww, I feel like I need a shower.

Intriguingly Rush Limbaugh doesn't seem to be bothered by this extreme capitalism and the bonus checks. He turns the whole crisis into an attack on capitalism and the basic tenets of our country.

I'm beginning to think no one really knows what to do, the rules just keep changing and people like Barney Frank and John Boehner keep talking ad nauseam.
Makes my head hurt.
Martha Stewart goes to jail, Madoff finally goes to jail, and AIG folk get bonuses for f**king everything up. Awesome.
Wow, I bet lots of small businesses would have loved to get bailed out when they were failing.
I still would have rather they bailed out the taxpayers rather than the banks and wall street.
Sigh.

G'night,

Laura
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Meghan McCain of the McCain Dynasty says “kiss my fat ass.”

2009-03-18T07:23:00.004-04:00

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I got a real kick out of Meghan’s response to Laura Ingraham’s comment about her being a plus size: “Kiss my fat ass” (which is something model Tyra Banks said previously). I find it disturbing that such a personal comment aimed at Meghan was made about her weight and even more pissed off that it came from a woman. She should be ashamed to perpetuate the image that you shouldn’t take seriously someone that’s not skinny. Meghan’s an attractive young woman who is entitled to her opinion, she didn’t belittle anyone. Meghan had criticized Ann Coulter’s political beliefs not her dress size. What is with conservative talk show hosts anyway? At least Meghan has her own mind and refreshing spunk!
To quote many others: You go girl.

I’ve seen Meghan McCain turn up on so many shows recently that I’m beginning to wonder if she’s being groomed to be part of a new improved future McCain political dynasty. She has stated repeatedly recently that she’s uninterested in ever running for any political office, but there she is on Fox and Friends, The View, Rachel Maddow, etc. I think I might have just disproved the idea that only the republican right wingers can spin a conspiracy theory behind every tree (hugger). I’m a little suspicious when she states that this mantle of “the new face of the young republicans” somehow “falls on her shoulders.” She seems to be representing herself as a member (or spokesperson) of the new improved younger (though not close to achieved) republican party. I’m not sure how 24 year old moderates fit into the broader party picture.

Meghan isn’t the mainstream republican party, perhaps she (and others of different views of what the party should or shouldn’t be right now) are more like the “independent party” or maybe what should be called the “moderate party.” I call them the Indemoderatarians… because I believe that if you siphoned off the moderates from both the democrat and the republican party (and that’s where you are Meghan) there would be a pretty good size middle of the road more interesting and appealing party. I doubt either party would be happy if the general population found less extreme beliefs in a new party, one that all age groups, backgrounds, income levels and ethnicity felt welcome in.

However the republican party still identifies with and caters to the religious right’s very conservative base. As long as they feel it necessary to do that there’s no real place for people like Meghan. I believe the republicans themselves have a term for them: RINO (Republican’s In Name Only) which they call the likes of Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. I guess ostracism doesn’t only happen in Nathaniel Hawthorne stories but at least they don’t want them to wear red letters of identification. On the other hand maybe they would make them if they could…

If the republican party keeps stuck to the extreme conservative base they will bleed off the moderates and will have to deal with the fact that they won’t win elections without pulling moderates back in from both sides.
I keep hearing that Meghan’s more moderate but I’m unsure where she stands on the right to chose for women, gay rights, universal health care, religion’s place in policy and government, global warming, stem cell research and many other issues. Honestly I’d rather see the answers polled from all those under 25 that are out there in the population than from the daughter of a republican presidential candidate who’s been exposed to politics since she was very young.

The fiscally conservative and socially liberal (though not necessarily young) moderates that would vote republican if given the chance will have to wrest the control of the party from the die hard extreme conservative right’s “cold, dead hands” which won’t be an easy task since the base is a very vocal one that absolutely hates to be challenged or criticized.
Good luck Meghan.

G’night,

Laura
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The threat of domestic terrorism. James Cummings in Belfast, Maine

2009-03-15T23:03:00.007-04:00

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The story of a Belfast, Maine man, James Cummings, that was shot by his wife Amber (who alleges years of sexual and physical abuse) was found online a while ago. Surprisingly it hasn’t gotten the attention that you would have expected from the media. I kept waiting. Much more time and effort was spent on the recent Cramer/Stewart feud (I’m guilty too) and whether Ann Coulter’s book sales are down and what that means (and who cares?) then this more disturbing story.

Bangor Daily News, Maine Feb 2009

What bothers me is that James was a white supremacist Hitler fan that as it came out over the course of a few months time (he was shot Dec. 9) had the makings of a dirty bomb in his home, including radioactive material and instructions. Now since this story has come out (without all that much ado) people tripped all over themselves to state that the radioactive material wasn’t all that dangerous, perhaps, but the real point is that he was serious about putting together a bomb. Pair this with the fact that if his wife hadn’t shot him (thank you) he might have actually harmed people in his OWN country, in his own state or town. What we don’t know was what was inside his head. A home grown domestic terrorist, perhaps not as capable in carrying out a plot as Tim McVeigh turned out to be but just as dangerous to innocent people. Was he a lone gunman type wing nut or was he in contact with others? Apparently he was upset with his cherished democracy having elected Barack Obama as our nations first black president by both popular and electoral consensus. This fact is repeated about his not liking Obama while his danger to people is consistently downplayed. Seriously, not that dangerous? Yeah. Only because he’s dead.

I’m fairly sure that if he was of Muslim faith or probably even just of middle eastern ancestry we would have heard far more about the whole thing. It barely made the public discourse. What I worry about is how many other wing nuts are out there plotting. We worry about “foreigners” so much we miss the fact that we do have our own home grown anti government factions and yes, plenty racists too. Political correctness would like us to believe we’ve gotten past racism but for many we haven’t.

All the nonsense ranging from the amusing if not stupid statement Chuck Norris said about how tough Texas should succeed from the nation rather than go the way of socialism (and that he could be president of Texas) to Limbaugh’s “I want Obama to fail” really isn’t helping bring this country together at a time when we need to work hard to unite and have faith in our country, not tear it apart from the inside out. The key word here is WORK HARD to heal and compromise not divide.

Senator Jim DeMint, of South Carolina (who opposes any real government expansion) said “conservatives might have to take to the streets to stop America’s slide into socialism.” What exactly does that mean? During the election Rep. Michele Bachmann urged investigation into which members of congress were “pro-America or anti-America.” (and do what with them?) Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean they are Anti-American. I would think that even though they disagree all the time our representatives are all pro-American and were freely elected by pro-American voters.

I appreciate everyone’s free speech but frankly I despised GW Bush right from the start, which is my prerogative in a free country but I never wanted him to fail or wished him any harm. Never would I disparage American soldiers though I can be against a war. Never would I want my government to fail because I didn’t agree with a policy. I am proud to be an American from New York. We must report on all possible acts of terrorism equally and denounce it whenever we find it.

Chuck Norris's article text. Black Belts and Succession?

I wonder would Chuck Norris be President of Texas, King or dictator?

G’night,

Laura
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The Talking Ann Coulter doll… everyone should have at least one.

2009-03-15T22:48:00.005-04:00

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Can you believe there is a talking Ann Coulter doll? I’m not sure why you would you want one, but there it is.
The Ann Coulter an “America’s Real Action Heroes” figure clothed in her trademark minuscule black dress.

Ann Coulter talking right wing barbie doll

Now I realize that you might be saying to yourself “so what, it’s not surprising that Ann has a doll” and you would be right except for what this amazing little talking doll actually says…
You have to go to the site where they sell it to listen, and I recommend doing just that right here:

And she talks too, listen up…

I think it would be far better if it was a talking bobble head doll.

Other “talking action figures” include:
George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Donald Rumsfeld, Dr. Laura, Kinky Friedman and Elvis Presley.

Now I understand Bush, Clinton, and Reagan but a talking Donald Rumsfeld? Why? Bad enough the real one talks.
Here’s another odd one. Though I would think if it was true to the real Dennis Miller’s character the doll should be called a “ranting” rather than a “talking” doll. I don’t think it looks much like Dennis, actually it’s just a little scary, get that smile.

Wait, shouldn’t there be a Rush Limbaugh doll if there’s one of Dennis Miller? Rush probably controls his franchise and wouldn’t approve of it. Should be one dressed in black that flaps it’s arms, and hops up and down while it talks.
You can view and listen to all of them here:

Talking Action Figures

Absolutely amazing what one can not only find but actually buy out in cyberspace.
Not quite sure what these dolls say culturally about us or as a society. Hmm.

G’night,

Laura
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Bernie Madoff’s going to jail. Hallelujah finally.

2009-03-13T14:44:00.002-04:00

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Bernie Madoff is off to jail.
I don’t suppose anyone will see much of their money again.
He’ll go to a “FedMedPen” where he can trade stories with other “white collar” criminals.

Personally I hope they drag him off to Riker’s and strategically place him in a cell between warring gang members and the likes of Joel David Rifkin and other criminals. Where he’d have to worry about violence, rape, illness and eat the same food as everyone else with no “perks” of any kind.
Of course this won’t happen.
But for the lower classes, even non violent offenders are housed with more violent crimimals in many prisons. Not Bernie though, that’s “white collar crime” and he’s not in the same class.
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Says he’s “deeply sorry and ashamed” and pled guilty.
No sympathy from me for old Bernie. Sorry. No, actually I’m not sorry at all.
I suppose he’ll write a book or some other family member will.
Even criminals are afforded celebrity in this society.

I’d like to know who helped Bernie with the house of cards that he built.
Can it really be his scheme alone?
Will they really go after his family? His wife that did book keeping?
Of course they didn’t know anything about the ponzi scheme at all. *wink,wink*

Now maybe a few top choice (as in where’s the beef?) SEC folk will be brought in to explain how they failed to notice the red flags of the “biggest ponzi scheme ever.” I wonder if anyone would be held accountable and receive more than a slap on the wrist. They even had a whistle blower that tried to point the scam out to them (Harry Markopolis) and expose Madoff as early as 1999-2000. And now it’s 2009. Amazing.

Madoff Whistle Blower is Finally Heard (CBS)

Just further proves to me that the question isn’t actually for or against deregulation it’s what ~~the hell~~ in the world were the regulators that we supposedly do have doing?
*

It seems like accountability is unnecessarily slow or sometimes nonexistent for powerful or rich people. It’s no better in the government itself.
Just like the Bush-Cheney crew won’t be held to task for the actual illegal activities they engaged in… before, during and after the Iraq war.
While Clinton was dragged through the mud while still president and impeached by the house, then acquitted by the senate for basically ~~getting a blow job~~ having oral sex outside of marriage and then lying about it. Duh.
An example of that great left-wing conspiracy, liberal media biased coverage that Limbaugh, O’Rielly, Hannity and Coulter… keep ranting about.

Well at least Bernie’s in jail.
So I ask you justice department… Where’s the beef?

But then again, everyone knows Justice is blind and equal for all… right?
I’m jus’ sayin’

Laura
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Jon Stewart's Daily Show: The all Jim Cramer edition... not exactly a battle.

2009-03-13T14:36:00.004-04:00

Wow, watching last night’s Daily Show was like the complete discomfort of having to sit through a six course dinner with a dysfunctional married couple who in two days are going to announce they are getting divorced or one of them is a pedophile. I never expected the whole show to be dedicated to the Cramer/Stewart dispute.
Jon truly tore into Cramer and it was more like a bizarre talk show exposé-slash-beatdown than a regular Daily Show installment. There were a few jokes made at CNBC and Cramer’s Mad Money’s expense as you would have expected. It just didn’t have any realistic aura of good natured humor or comedy.
It was fairly harsh, now maybe Cramer deserved it, but it was almost unsettling to me to watch as it unfolded.

Cramer was rather subdued, nervous, and looked almost like he wanted to cry once or twice.
He was so totally not wild or even “mad.” A decaffeinated toned down quieter version of himself.
To give him credit he sat through it all and short of the cross, he was crucified but not set on fire. Ouch.
It surely won’t help his Mad Money career at all.

Jon took Jim to task for things he said in the past and pretty much for not exposing the banks/stock market’s greed. Which isn’t completely fair (and it doesn’t have to be) but it’s based in a valid point of fact. It felt as if it went on for way too long. We got it (the point) after segment one and if not, most assuredly by segment two… but then there was segment three. So, I guess it was good um, investigative reporting by a entertainer/comedian, which is an odd forum for that sort of thing.
*
Stranger than fiction.

At the site http://www.thedailyshow.com/ They’ll post the episode if you missed it, or if you want to watch it again because you still are wondering wtf exactly happened.

They shook hands and Jim was contrite but damn… he apologized numerous times over different things looking a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. A tranquilized deer at that.

It will be interesting to see how NBC reports on this and I wonder what FOX will have to say (because FOX always has something to say).
I don’t know why Cramer went on the Daily Show, he really didn’t have to.
If it was to show he was a good sport or could admit a mistake, he did do that I suppose but-
it was in a far more submissive way than I really wanted to see.

Let’s go back to the regular, less bitter tasting, usually very funny Daily Show now for a bit. Please?

Jon’s clip of Cramer on the Martha Stewart Show beating up dough with a rolling pin talking about Jon Stewart was amusing since she was convicted and jailed for her false statements, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in relation to a stock sale.

Again just stranger than fiction!!!

G’night,

Laura
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Jim Cramer vs Jon Stewart: The Smackdown

2009-03-12T22:08:00.006-04:00

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I have to admit the news recently has been fun to behold.
We had Octomom, Limbaugh, and Bill Maher vs Ann Coulter at Radio City Music Hall.
But the Jon Stewart vs Jim Cramer feud is completely engaging, I can’t stop watching (and laughing).

It boils down to this: The Bull Vs the Bear.
Cramer’s the Bull of course and Stewart’s the Bear.
If you picture a leathery Jim Kramer with a ring through his nose and smoke coming out of his flared nostrils next to Stewart’s big cow eyes in a fuzzy koala suit right here: then you’ve successfully channelled my sad, sorry little mind. Congrats!
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Background as I see it: It’s easy in a stock market bubble to recommend buying stocks especially strong stock. Cramer’s show is in the “business” of “stock market entertainment” whether he sees it that way or not. However CNBC gives it’s stamp of approval on it with the slogan “In Cramer we trust.” Why they do I don’t know. I don’t trust anyone trying to sell me on parting with any of my money, especially on tv shows with gongs, horns, music and exceptionally angry wild people telling me what to do while looking like they should be taking xanax or valium by the barrel full. If I wanted “crazed” advice I can go down to the street corner in almost any city and find that format. I still wouldn’t listen, but I could find it.

As anyone that recently follows the stock market knows, it’s even easier to predict the rise or fall of stocks when you have insider information. Of course that’s illegal, just ask Cupcake Stewart and while she makes you a wreath made from old socks and walnuts she’ll tell you all about it. No one in the field will admit to inside info but they sure do have miraculously strong gut instincts based on extensive research and years of stock market experience (wink, wink) that they pass on with the devotion attributed to any good evangelical minister.
*

Jon Stewart on the other hand is a comedian. He’s also a news junkie with a rather sarcastic viewpoint that shows clearly through in the social commentary of what he finds in the news stories. I completely sympathize with the sarcasm and enjoy it. Jon likes to show videos of what people say or do and take them to task for it using humor. Often these clips speak for themselves even without Jon’s commentary and visual effects. I understand Cramer himself is going to be on the show tonight. It will be interesting to see how that goes- if it happens. (Same Bat time, same Bat channel)

This is the last clip on Cramer from Jon’s Comedy Central show:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

Enter Cramer who clearly over time has made mistakes… especially the past year in particular, so it’s not surprising at all that Stewart took him to task for his very visual and repeated recommendations of Bear Sterns. It was almost too easy and he was fair game. Cramer’s righteous indignation is almost as amusing as Stewart’s skits. He should have tried to quietly take his lumps, admitted a “mistake” while hoping the story would fade away and be forgotten. Better men than Cramer have taken Stewart’s jabs with either anger, humor, or they didn’t care at all. But for the most part they didn’t go on a celebrity tv tour bleating about the unfairness of it all. At some point mad seems like whining when, um, how to say this nicely Jim… you were wrong. How dare Jon Stewart pick on you? Seriously Jim, let it go, pack up your tent, go back to your show and maybe toot a few less horns for a while. A long while.
*

Mix into this brewing stew of video clips and words NBC’s Scarbourough, Vieira, and anyone who else will listen and put Cramer on the tv and you realize that it’s all entertainment and boy does celebrity rule!

Any normal Stock Broker has backpedalled away from this market mess, minced their words and taken losses along with their clientelle (unless of course they’re running huge ponzi schemes). But they did it quietly not with a tv show that’s glitzy, revved up hype that runs on hopefully just caffeination and the personality of a crazed stock man.

Cramer's Book

I rest my case.
*

Stewart keep up the good work.
It’s sometimes a dirty job but someone has to do it.
By the way, anyone that can talk directly to Dora the Explorer is a God in my mind.
Jon, I’d buy you lunch any day of the week in a New York minute, it’d be a really cheap lunch but hey…
I bought Bear Sterns stock.

G'night

Laura
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To twitter or not to twitter… Is that the question?

2009-03-10T23:31:00.004-04:00

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Twitter seems to be all the vogue right now. I was asked recently “Do you twitter?”
Nope. I don’t twitter and don’t particularly want to twitter.

Basically there are a couple of reasons why I don’t:

Reason #1:

I don’t think my life is interesting enough hour to hour, day to day to twitter.
Wait, that didn’t sound right. My life is fine for me. It’s not interesting enough for anyone else to follow what I’m doing or thinking at any given time. Yes, I exist in a world where it was far better not to know how distractible, rude and narcissistic our congressmen’s thoughts are during presidential speeches and important legislative meetings.

Reason #2:

I can’t say or type anything meaningful in less than one paragraph, okay so maybe it’s two, three or ten paragraphs, who’s counting anyway? Apparently twitter is with its 140 character limit (a near impossible feat for me to accomplish without acquiring a nasty twitch and smoke pouring out of both ears). I could write a six page paper on virtually any topic without a problem. Any topic… even twittering. Don’t worry, I won’t and yes, I heard that sigh of relief (along with the curses).
*

How is twittering really that different from texting on my cell phone or messaging online? Both are things I do often, but those messages are tailored to specific people that I assume care to know the information I’m sending. Perhaps if you asked them, they might feel my messages aren’t all that relevant but nobody’s complained (yet anyway).

I put unlimited texting on my cell solely because I have to type whole words out, and I mean it: I have to. No omg, lmao, b4, or 2morrow’s 4 me… My e-mails look more like letters in structure though less formal.
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English has been my favorite subject next to art since I was around four (scary right?) I read and write a lot. I’ve taken graduate English classes for fun. I know the value of research and I’m not bad at it. If I misspell a word and it gets by me: I HATE IT. My kids always had me proof read their many, many papers. My oldest son called me a Nazi with a pen with an odd pride but always had me proofread regardless. I guess somehow that was a compliment. Grammar is important to me. I love writing complete sentences that make sense, linking the thoughts together and if I’m really lucky it turns into something interesting that’s worth reading.

Perhaps if I found a legitimate use for twitter I might consider it, but honestly I haven’t found one yet that makes it in any way essential for me.
“Because it’s there” never was a reason to do something in my mind… Why? “Because I don’t want to” works far better for me.
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A week ago I dropped my cell phone into a cup of water, if I understand twitter my entry would have looked like this: “Dropped phone in half cup of water, doesn’t work now, OMG I’m a complete idiot.”
I think that’s acceptable but it doesn’t say how it happened, where I was or why I think I’m an idiot (which is a choice few pages worth right there).
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Ode to Twitter

Twitter, twitter
Little star
No longer wonder
What you are
Typing furiously from up high
Dropping diamonds from the sky

Twitter, twitter
Little star
I preferred to wonder
From afar

©L Hazel 2009

G’night,

Laura
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Ann Coulter and Bill Maher lecture series at RAdio City Music Hall.

2009-03-10T02:36:00.007-04:00

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This was fun. Of course in NYC the audience was a bit more balanced to the more liberal Obama crowd than Coulter’s group but it was nice. A little too much shouting out of audience members thoughts but not too bad as long as they weren’t too near to you. Happy to see shushing taking place on both sides.

Here are some photos that I took along the way.
The weather was perfect, missed the rain totally in city. Fairly warm and comfortable didn’t seem like March.

Not great photos only taken with my rather simple cell phone but gives the feel of it.

Bill was in reasonably good form, subjects ranged from Limbaugh, Iraq and Afghanistan, Liberals, science, religion, Bush, Obama, Economy, Madoff, 2012 elections, Palin… and more. Ann was not as loud as she often is, made a few good points but sometimes her facts are a bit off and she gets a bit confusing compared to others. Of course they’re both rather opinionated!

Was quite interesting and entertaining. I think the only other place this pairing in the lecture/debate series can be seen is in Chicago. So fun can’t be had by everyone. Glad I got to see it.
I enjoy trekking around the city alone, good exercise and plenty of things to do!
I think I fell asleep on the train home...

Karl Rove and James Carville debate moderated by Charlie Rose… that should be a good one. ha.

Well, G’night,
And have a pleasant tomorrow, er, today!

Laura

Perhaps Tonya Harding is what's wrong with the economy?

2009-03-08T19:40:00.006-04:00

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As I've said before, I relax on Sundays and catch up on the news both written and video that I've missed.

And tucked between the endless "news" tales of the "villainous" Octomom and Rush Limbore's emphatic ill-spoken rantings...
was a little jem that was like a visit from an unwelcome ghost of winter's past.

The clip most definitely inspired a SNL Seth Meyers "REALLY!?!" moment for me... but to quote her own phrase "What the hell was she thinking?"

The only person pulling a Harding there is Tonya herself.
Ain't "celebrity" amazing?

Speaking of Seth Meyers this is the SNL Michael Phelps clip: REALLY!?!

I fell behind on this week's news, so I'm spending the evening digging. Putting on my hip boots, work gloves and grabbing the shovel... or maybe the pitch fork- to get through the endless loops of same s**t different day news stories... sifting for truth.

Can't watch another economy based show or my head will explode today. I just can't. My mind is in a full blown recession that hopefully won't turn into a depression anytime in the near future. Will rejuvenate my mood tomorrow night at the Bill Maher/Ann Coulter speaker series at Radio City Music Hall in the city. Probably sold out now. Should be a real pip.

G'night all,

Laura
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Would someone in the republican party please step forward and tell Limbaugh to stop running off at the mouth…

2009-03-06T22:15:00.003-05:00

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So now Rush has stuck his foot in his mouth once again.
Sensationalism and self promotion or sheer stupidity I have no idea which (though I have an opinion).
Would someone in the republican party please step forward and tell Rush to stop talking like he’s in charge of the party before he totally destroys any credibility you have with swing voters, moderates and independent voters.

He’s an overblown bigoted gadfly. And you all praise the intolerant ~~bullshit~~ crap that comes out of his mouth each and every day?
In this clip Limbaugh states on health care legislation: "Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill"

Your spokesperson Rush keeps saying things that if the so called “evil, liberal, socialist, elitists” made equally outrageous statements and then the democratic party praised and called it smart and true you would all be screaming bloody murder.
Instead you defend him and call the other side the morally corrupt group. Amazing.

The more power you give him, the worse he seems so get.
Pick a conservative with a brain next time around.

I don’t represent any party and speak only for myself but I do find you repugnant Rush.
You are a windbag with a microphone.
And he’ll huff and he’ll puff and blow your house down...

February 2009 saw 650,000 more jobs lost. I suppose that’s somehow Obama’s fault. What a mess.
Now it seems Madoff is going to get some sort of a deal? Outrageous.
How is he any different from a crack cocaine or crystal meth dealer?
Bastard should be in jail all ready… a real jail.
And justice for all indeed.

G’night,

Laura

Rush Limbaugh, you have a soap box not a party platform…

2009-03-06T02:47:00.003-05:00

Rush Limbaugh…
I know you have the same inalienable rights and civil rights that apply to everyone.
And I’ll be the first to defend people’s right to free speech…
But do you really believe some of the things that you say?
Do you listen to how you contradict yourself depending on who you’re criticizing?

Drug addicts are bad and the book should be thrown at them, well, unless it’s you, in which case it was a mistake a error of judgement. Your drug trial was interesting, and of course you blamed the charges on people out to get you because of who you are. (The vast left wing conspiracy?)

It seems to me that you dislike anyone and everyone that disagrees with you, and will go after them with a vengeance. It also appears by many of the things you have stated about women that you are a bit the misogynist.

You are a talk show host, an entertainer… You are no more the legitimate spokesperson for the “conservative” republican party than Jon Stewart is for the “liberal” democratic party. Most people in both parties are moderates Rush not extremists. You have a soap box not a party platform. It’s about power for you isn’t it? Throwing one’s weight around (and getting very rich off it.)

You talk of conservative family values yet you have been married and divorced three times. So the moral value of marriage is cumulative I’m supposing? The standard of behavior to strive for isn’t being in one marriage over time, it’s being monogamous (one assumes) over multiple marriages?
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It is an interesting side of many people’s personality that when others (especially people we don’t like or identify with) do something we consider bad it’s seen as reflecting an inherent evil character flaw a particular person or group has. This serves to devalue what that person says from that point on and subjects them to ridicule as a “fair game” target.
When this very same “bad behavior” is found in oneself or someone that we like, well, then it’s considered a “mistake, error or lapse in judgement” that you can “repent and recover” from with sympathy. You’re still of course one of the good people not one of “them” even though “they” have done exactly the same thing you yourself did.

When it became apparent that you engaged in “do as I say but not as I do” behavior you lost any credibility with me. Then I was further dismayed (no more like disgusted) by your gross parody of Michael J Fox who has Early Onset Parkinson’s disease… something that you should never have done. Your idea of disagreeing with someone’s beliefs means personally belittling them and ignoring the relevant facts that don’t suit you. Michael J Fox is a good man and deserved better.
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Obviously you never paid attention to the rules of debate… many don’t. It’s not about he who can ridicule the other side the most, it’s not about who squawks the loudest drowning out the opposing view. It’s not about browbeating someone into submission. It’s not about threats, veiled or obvious.
It’s about intelligence and something you don’t like that much- compromise. You know what that is right? Taking two different ideas and taking the best of both to create a satisfactory resolution.
Kinda like, well, um, let’s see now… bipartisanship in politics, yup that’s it.
The rare and elusive commodity that is truly needed at this point in time.
There’s an abundance of hypocrisy to go around, however.
That’s sure as hell not what we need now.

You bring nothing helpful to the table for the republican party and no one seems willing to take you on or upset you. I wonder if anyone will have the guts to challenge you. Freedom of speech isn’t what it appears to be at times… I find it hard to believe that all republicans find you so cute and cuddly.

G'night,

Laura
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The Octomom and our obsession with her (finally gave in)...

2009-03-04T23:43:00.008-05:00

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So far I've only mentioned in passing the story of the Octomom.
I've resisted going off into the right or wrongness of her decision to have more than 6 children.

It sounds more like a personal disaster story than a personal interest story to me.

I have to admit to cringing at the photo of Nadya pregnant with that huge belly... I actually shuddered.
Probably like men do when they see another man hit in the crotch and drop to the ground.
It doesn't actually hurt you but you can't seem to avoid that instinctive flinch.

This will be the first and only post solely on Nadya Suleman that I will ever type.
Everyone has an opinion and suggestion for what should happen or not happen. I worry about the 14 children getting enough care and attention.
There are some unanswered questions that I still have that I'm somewhat curious to know the answers to...
(or put another way questions that I would like to know the "real" answers to).

1) Why did Nadya Suleman decide being single to have more children? Yea, she likes kids but...
2) If she's unemployed and living in a tiny house that was cramped for 6 kids where was she planning to put them?
3) How the hell did she afford In Vitro Fertilization? I know a few women that have gone that route and it's quite costly.
4) What were the doctor's motives in implanting 8 fertilized eggs into Ms. Suleman? If I have the facts straight she has had successful In Vitro births before, which means that the doctor didn't need to implant 8 eggs at all. It put her and her babies at risk.
5) Ethically, wasn't the doctor wrong to have done the procedure? Is he liable in some way? First do no harm...
6) Was this deliberately done for publicity, financial gain or some other reason?
7) Wouldn't any legitimate fertility clinic screen their clients to be sure they were using sound judgement, ascertain their situation and refuse any procedures that were sketchy to say the least?
8) Did the public response surprise her and her doctor?

On the other hand-

1) This is the United States not China and it is all right to have as many children as you can "create." But usually they are one at a time... with enough time in between them that one can feed itself cheerios, talk a bit and walk holding a helping hand while the next child requires the more intensive care of a newborn.
2) She's been criticized by many for being irresponsible and the babies might not be sent home with her. Yes, it would seem irresponsible but that's the case in many instances. Many children go home to two parents that are toxic, but have a far nicer house.
3) Can they get her counseling, she will need it, she will need help, we shouldn't punish the children.
4) In this country many believe women should be married when they have children. Many are against abortion and/or contraception. So while having children is celebrated even for single women (for doing the right thing and having the baby) they are criticized for being single. A single woman, by design or divorce with children (other than widows) are almost always criticized sometimes quite harshly.
5) This is an oddity as far as having children goes, I doubt there will be a run for the fertility clinic by women that want the notoriety or responsibility of having 8 babies all at once. Quite the contrary I would imagine. Most folk don't want a total of 14 children. The average number of children in a family is two I think.
6) Even if she had second thoughts now, it's too late and she needs help and so do the children to survive.

Is there no answer in this country other than to say that she is unfit as a mother and that the children should be taken away from her? Criticizing her, threatening her, isn't going to help anyone. I might question her and her doctor's motives but children in the USA should be taken care of.
She will have way more than her 15 minutes of fame, already has, along with her friends, family, newsreporters and any one else that can get a scoop or photo or... talk. Britney Spears on steroids and they both got ole Dr. Phil's attention (not sure if that's a good thing really).

Personally, I have four children and all were wanted, planned for and taken care of the best we could. I'm pretty sure I would not have done well with twins or triplets which can naturally occur (there are twins in my family which always worried me just a wee bit). For me octuplets is honestly a nightmare scenario. I can't imagine it and I honestly don't want to.

The story annoys me but I don't hate Nadya in any way. What a firestorm she finds herself in the middle of.
This story should be put in the place it merits. An oddity, not mainstream, not what most people would imagine or want for themselves. The children should be taken care of adequately somehow. It won't be an easy one to figure out legally.

The hypocrisy of it all is that many families have lost their homes, women and children are among the homeless and everyone's talking about the "Octomom."
It sounds more like a Marvel Spiderman comic villain than a woman with octuplets.

There are more important things out there than Octomom going on and since I'll likely never get honest answers to my questions that's it. I hope it works out for her children, truly I do.

G'night,

Laura
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No cussing club, lottery budget bail outs and Bernie Madoff.

2009-03-03T23:30:00.007-05:00

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I was watching Connecticut news tonight and saw a story about one of their plans to help raise money for their state budget deficit. Special lotteries with higher payoffs two or three times a month. Hmm. I suppose it could work but is "state gambling" a great way to fund a state budget?
In NY at least the lottery money is supposed to go to education. Now for all the money collected in NY I don't know how it's accounted for (or what the accountability is) but I've watched our schools go down in quality especially over the past 10 years.
Where's all that money anyway? Seems we should have terrific or at least all above average schools given all those lottery tickets sold each and every week (and that's not including the scratch offs).

Madoff was in the news again today. He's still sitting in his Manhattan apt with an ankle bracelet on complaining that he should be allowed to keep his apt and other assets because after all "they're unrelated to his arrest." Uh, let me think for a second- NO! NO! NO! There are hard working, honest people that have lost their pensions, jobs, ins, and are out on the street homeless while this truly sleazy bastard is still ordering out food from NY restaurants?

And I'm pretty sure when he gets convicted he won't go to a real prison he'll go where ole "cupcake" Stewart went or somewhere like it. Certainly not where they would put me that's for sure.
Interesting how we can confiscate the belongings of convicted major drug dealers and they auction them off. But... apparently we don't do this for billion dollar Ponzi scheme perps. Equal justice for all? Nope.

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Now here's a story that really bothers me. It upsets me not because of the story itself, it was the reaction of a certain amount of people to the story that was upsetting.

This fourteen year old boy from CA started a "No Cussing Club." McKay Hatch asked people for a week to clean up their language for a "No cussing week." Fine so far. Not in any way going to hurt anyone and nothing says you have to participate in any way. Well, he started to get some press notice (which again is fine and doesn't hurt anyone).
But then here's where it gets upsetting and weird. He and his family are getting phone messages that are threatening him. One said they would kill him, others threatened him, others called him and cursed obscenely at him or called him names.

Now being that he's fourteen I just don't understand this reaction. Actually I don't even understand the reaction if a no cussing week was proposed by an "adult." It's not an appropriate response no matter how you look at it. There's nothing wrong with a "No cussing club" or a "no cussing week."

I was trying to think of what would upset me enough to leave a death threat to anyone. I couldn't really think of what... There are people I don't like, or even despise. People that I think aren't worth the "powder to blow them to hell" to quote something my dad used to say. But a death threat? To a fourteen year old boy? Where in the world does that come from?

I know I can curse up a blue streak myself so a no cussing week would be admittedly difficult for me. But I try not to be inappropriate in public situations or to deliberately offend anyone.

If you believe life is precious as most people do or at least they state that they do: then stop threatening people.
Death threats are unseemly in "noble" instances (and I'm not sure what that case would be) but over a fourteen year olds desire to clean up people's language with a no cussing week... No way in the world.

Why does this issue even bother anyone that much that they care enough to leave such messages at all?
I truly don't get it.

G'night,

Laura
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Wet cell phones don't work well and to quote an old phrase "Where's the beef?"

2009-03-03T02:07:00.008-05:00

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Well, it finally happened.
I’ve had a cell phone for around 10 years and always took care of it and they lasted forever it seemed.
Everyone else replaced their phones on whim with fancy phones & I stuck to cheap basic phones without anything I didn’t need.

So after only 3 phones in all that time (and one had to be replaced because some functions wouldn’t even work with upgraded service package… does that count?) it seems that I finally trashed one. I think I've only dropped a phone twice in the past no less into water...

I dropped my phone in a half filled cup of water. So needless to say it isn’t doing that well at the moment.
My son took it apart and dried it but the battery won’t work at all. He put a new “old” battery in it and now it’s charging.
Will see if it works tomorrow. If I’m lucky I won’t need a new phone.

Got my ticket to see Bill Maher and Ann Coulter part of the 2009 Speaker Series at Radio City Music Hall next week.
Should be a lively debate/discussion. Will be good to be in the city again, been a while as money’s short right now.

And get this: I purchased a $10 bus ticket to DC from NYC to visit son Collin. Bolt Bus. Amazing price. Visiting for a few days. Also going to visit a dear friend I grew up with in Virginia. Haven’t seen her in person in over 10 years.
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So Rush Limbaugh is still talking as if he is in charge of the republican party. Seriously?
The party can’t decide whether they love him or want to distance themselves from him because of what he keeps saying.
Creating a bit of a problem for those that disagree with Rush and state it because then Rush goes after them too (like Michael Steele).
Golly Gee with a friend like that who needs enemies?

What’s with the Back in Black outfit Rush was wearing and the open collar? Sunglasses and he’d be Roy Orbison, or was he going for Johnny Cash? Maybe if he added gold chains. I just don’t know. You a bad boy Rush, you be bad. (Meant only in a good way of course…)

If people put as much effort into doing constructive things and finding common ground instead of calling each other names, pointing fingers and wishing each other ill, we would have a far better climate to debate in.
(Just look at the comment sections of any article on politics and you’ll see the vehemence on both sides)

Also we could use a president that called everyone to action. Unified us against the economic mess.
Said something other than “buy stuff” a la Bush.
We need to help each other because by the time the government sorts anything out so many will be out of work, home and health insurance. An economic readjustment indeed.
We should be helping each other and being more proactive about what America needs to not only get through this “recession” but to improve our standing here and throughout the world.

If we don’t have money to help and a large portion of us are simply trying to live within our means and take care of our family-what can we do, what would help and where do we start?

Now there’s a million dollar, er trillion dollar, question.
G'night for now.

Laura
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Snow day and endless news loops of Democrats and Republicans bitching...

2009-03-02T01:15:00.006-05:00

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Snow, snow everywhere!
No school tomorrow finally a snow day.
It's supposed to snow tomorrow too. Maybe I'll get a nice walk in the snow before it turns into sleet or rain.

The first two segments on 60 minutes were really worth watching.
The first was on Bernie Madoff and Harry Markopolos who was the man that tried to blow the whistle on Madoff to the SEC in 2000 and numerous times thereafter.
Neither the democrats or the republicans are effective. Government should have done something about this scheme and it didn't. Seems regulation and deregulation have the same effect with our piss poor system.
::sigh::
Watch the 60 minute segment on Madoff here it was interesting (and frustrating at the same time).

The second segment was on the Mexican drug cartel and it's effect on Mexico and the United States.
I agree that serious drug use is bad (as is cancer from cigarettes and "legal" alcoholism) but the War on Drugs isn't a battle that can be "won." Illegal drugs coming in from all over (and from within) create the black market high risk high gain dangerous situations and Mexico is having significant trouble handling it.
You can see that segment at the same place as above.

I normally don't watch 60 minutes but I caught it tonight.
The economic stimulus package has me reeling a bit. Gives me a headache if I listen to too much debate about it.

And as far as the health insurance issue, we HAVE to do something to get ins to every American.

Everyone talks about the predatory banks and lying or unqualified borrowers as if they are the only reason for the housing crisis but they don't talk much about how many people have gotten sick or been injured and lost their home because of the bills they couldn't afford without health ins... It's an embarrassment to the country.
It's happening a lot and it's very sad in a country that considers itself the "best country that there is."

G'night,

Yet, another week to cycle through begins with snow in NY.

Laura
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Bobby Jindal and Kenneth the Page...

2009-02-27T01:13:00.006-05:00

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This is hysterical, it's from Jimmy Fallon the replacement for Conan O'Brien's late night show.
I don't watch 30 Rock but I got a real kick out of it anyway!!!
There are definite similarities in the speech patterns of Jindal with Kenneth the Page surely.
But maybe Bobby should be imitating Kenneth he's a more kindly and lively sort.

If you've had children in grade school you know about Flat Stanley.
Kids send him off to distant friends or relatives to be sent on eventually making it's way back to the original child with tales of his travel. Today I saw a story about one such Stanley that made his way to Paris and eventually NYC and was in one man's briefcase that he carried off the plane that Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger so skillfully landed flight 1549 on the Hudson River safely.
What a terrific tale for that child to be able to tell classmates.
Rock on Flat Stanley!!!

G'night,

Laura
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Bobby Jindal was speaking for...? Himself more than giving the republican rebuttal.

2009-02-26T00:19:00.003-05:00

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Guys and Gals that are thinking of running for the presidency in 2012 and we all know who you are (though I'm sure there will be more as we go) please stop campaigning. We're sooo tired of your campaigning. 2012 is too far away for us to have to listen to you jockeying for media attention constantly, incessantly. Stop talking all the time. Please. Just stop.

Having had some time to think about it now, I appreciated the tone of Obama's speech last night.
He really seemed to try to explain how the stimulus would be implemented and what it was trying to do.
I thought it was a good speech, making strong points. I might not agree with everything but it's taking us forward.
The republicans seem to think that government should stay out of this. Ouch. Who else is going to help everyone? The wealthy CEO's out of the goodness of their hearts?

Now I have no idea how the republicans pick what rep will be the rebuttal speaker to represent them after the president's address, but it should have been someone other than Bobby Jindal. I understand that it's the "other side's" time and that they don't agree on many points but seriously is there any doubt that Bobby sees himself as presidential candidate in 2012. What the hell did we need those personal stories from him? This wasn't supposed to be Bobby's time to make his own case for HIS political future, it was to give the rebuttal to what Obama said in his speech. To make good alternative points, to make sense which he really didn't.

In contrast:
Obama seemed presidential, straightforward, informative and serious. He was lively, thoughtful and made very clear some of the things he is trying to accomplish and how. Other than certain folk like Limbaugh we want Obama to succeed and appreciate being treated as adults once again. Not the secretive, furtive, closed door politics we've gotten used to.

Jindal did not seem all that ready for the large public stage. He stares at the camera without looking around or hardly blinking and seems oddly uncomfortable for someone that believes in what he's saying. Grandstanding plain and simple at the wrong time and place I'd say. I've noticed in all the videos I've seen of Jindal recently he has two modes: he either talks fast and furious or slow like he's explaining something to a child. Tonight seemed to be in the condescending parental tone. Ugh. A little too patronizing for me.

Jindal: "We also need to address the crisis in health care. Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage - period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. We oppose universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients - not by government bureaucrats. We believe Americans can do anything - and if we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens."

Um, what exactly is "universal access" to "affordable health care" like what? Not one single concept was offered that made sense. The only health care decisions being made by doctor's and patients are ones that are specifically "allowed" by your plan, which just so you know Bobby: care get's approved or turned down by the plan NOW. Not to mention that people without insurance, or a job, get turned away or receive lesser care in emergencies. Yay. If the republicans want people to turn to them they better come up with realistic alternative plans that can be explained as to why they are better.

American's need their government now more than ever.
Extreme unregulated capitalism has not been working.

Still not happy with politicians but at least this group is trying to help the middle class (or what's left of it.)
G'night,

Laura
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Rupert apologizes, Obama rallies the public and Bristol is criticized... endless barrage of news loops.

2009-02-25T00:22:00.010-05:00

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Watched Obama's speech in congress tonight and Jindal's "rebuttal" afterward... (we should support the president but...)
Need to absorb it a bit, maybe tomorrow I'll have a better feel for what I really think.
It was indeed a good rousing speech. I imagine the republicans wish Obama wasn't as good at communication.
The lines are being drawn in the sand and the country be damned... question is what do we all do?
We back our president just like we backed GW even if we didn't really like him.
Still I need to absorb all the information and rhetoric. It made my head hurt tonight.
*

Also saw Bristol Palin's interview with Greta Van Susteren where she states that she thinks that abstinence only isn't realistic at all for teenagers... Coming from a young person in her situation it would seem a reasonable enough statement. She is speaking from her own experience. However, the National Abstinence Education Association takes exception to that. They are far more fundamental in their abstinence beliefs. So we're once again on the debate of abstinence vs birth control availability to teens (or hell even information never mind available contraception)
If teens have sex (and they have throughout the generations, not just this one) before marriage then I want them to avoid unwanted pregnancies and especially potentially life changing, life threatening diseases. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway I was thinking that if there's a National Abstinence Education Association out there that espouses no sex until marriage (or death if you don't get married?) then is there somewhere out there a National Masturbation Education Association that promotes the safe release of sexual tension without actual sex to avoid pregnancy, etc.? (doubtful anyone actually needs this education in reality but you never know.)
I don't know if there is or not because I didn't really want to google masturbation groups... but to even things out there should be one, eh? Like, Ying and Yang or Matter and Anti-Matter.
I doubt the anti-abortion/anti-contraception/pro "just say no" abstinence groups would approve of it anyway but-

Hey just wondering...
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That cartoon I saw in the NY Post and mentioned here previously got picked up and created quite an uproar the last few days.
The first response from the paper which was totally inadequate to say the least, wasn't really an apology or any admittance of a mistake in printing the cartoon. So today, days later, Mr. Murdoch tried to make amends to their readers and everyone else that saw it and thought it was horrible.
He stated, "Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted." There's more but that's the important part. Is it sincere? Well who knows.
So what is the word of the day for Mr. Murdoch? I'd say FEAR...
The written word in newspaper format is under duress as it is. There's question whether some papers will go out of production over the next few years. In this climate a threatened boycott and very bad press for a paper that represents a city as diverse as NYC could be a game changer for the Post. Bad press at a bad time.
Hence, we get a more adequate apology from the person ultimately responsible for the paper, the owner.
Still, I can't figure out what the hell they were thinking in the first place.
How could one be so dumb as to not find that tasteless, racist and violent? I hope they chastised the editor.

*
On that note-
G'night,

Laura
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Are you sick of the 2012 potential candidates strutting around yet? I am...

2009-02-23T19:16:00.010-05:00

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Well we're hearing a lot from certain republicans now. All jockying for a possible 2012 presidential race.
For instance Senator Eric Cantor (Va) who has his political "problems." Anti union videos with lovely language... wife an official in a bank that got stimulus money... but hey they're better than democrats right?

Or Bobby Jindal from Louisiana who we are seeing way too much of as of late. Everyone's "testing the 2012 waters" apparently. Jindal wants to turn down money from the stimulus. I wonder how his state constituents feel about that. They got a bit of a raw deal from the republicans (Bush) after Katrina. How much of it is principle and how much is grandstanding for name recognition? Let's not forget Sarah Palin either.

Meet The Press this past weekend had both Charlie Crist (Fla) and Bobby Jindal on (separately) talking about the stimulus.
I find it hard to listen to Mr. Jindal because he starts out slower and works into warp speed talking.
Slow down, cut back on coffee or what ever it is that makes you talk faster as you go. Doesn't sound as thoughtful as it would if you slowed down a bit. Were you nervous or mostly annoyed? I'm not sure but I saw you a few times today on tv and you talked almost as fast there too. Has an interesting set to his face when he thinks he's being pushed and answers with about as little accuracy as most politicians.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Republican Gov. of CA) is getting a lot of harsh criticism from his own party because he wants to work with Obama and wants to do what's best for his state as governer. He is behind the stimulus package. Which is nice since I'm pretty sure that at least he isn't making a run for the 2012 republican presidential candidacy.

Now the three republicans that voted for the stimulus package in senate are now referred to as "so-called republicans" I guess there's no getting along if you don't tow the party line anywhere these days... to hell with those constituents!

This is going to be a very odd 4 years. We have the economy to worry about (including the global economy).
We have recession/depression and job losses to worry about.
And throughout it all, we'll have to listen the whole next four years to back and forth political ~~bullshit~~ nonsense.
Not even based in facts half the time.
Say something enough times over and over repetitively with finger pointing indignation and it's magically true???
These people couldn't come up with bipartisanship if it was ordered by God.

Still talking about those "glorious" Reagan years (demagoguery) and glorifying them: trickle down didn't work, the only stuff that trickled down was what wasn't taken by the top. I think we can clearly see that now yes?
"Just say 'no'" Nancy's answer to the drug problem isn't an answer to the republican party for fixing our country either.
You have to deal with people not just the outcomes.

Unfettered, unrestricted extreme capitalism doesn't work for anyone especially the working classes that struggle to make a living. Our representatives for the most part don't always do what is best for us or the country, they do what's best for them (and often their pals).

Madoff shouldn't have happened: think about it. Really think about it. And then think some more...
Eight years and nothing.

The truth about our political and financial systems is becoming more and more apparent every day.
Starting to wonder about our food supply? I am.
But then what does the FDA have for inspectors now anyway, like three?

Amazing.

G'night,

Laura
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The Sarah Palin Calendar for 2009...

2009-02-22T02:30:00.007-05:00

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The perfect gift for, uh, somebody other than me.

Nothing more to say, not sure what photos are inside you can probably find them out there.
I'm not motivated to do so, though somewhat amused by the cover and idea of a Palin cheesecake calender...
American flag, guns, smile and a *wink*
Oh, probably shouldn't say that, just ignore it.
Of course it's only meant to show how cute and wonderfully wholesome she is, to reflect her intelligence, and highlight her pro-American, anti-elitist charm.
Or perhaps it will help raise money to pay taxes and a run for president in 2012??
I'm guessing we can look forward to three more yearlys (at least.)

Speaking of taxes apparently that's a truly bipartisan issue: tax avoidance amongst our representatives.

That’s called tax evasion if it was you or me or tax “forgetfulness” for elected officials.
Somehow I don’t imagine they’re in danger of their assets being frozen until they pay up.
Do they pay late payment fines? I wonder.

Enjoy.
Seems we started the 2012 election hype around two days after the 2008 election.
What fun.

G'night,

Laura
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The New York Post reaches for new ground... tasteless. Wait did I just say new? I meant they're at it again.

2009-02-19T00:46:00.008-05:00

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There were other things on my mind from the last few days but then this morning this took over.
What do you think about this cartoon, appeared in the NY Post today.
The artist and the paper deny any inference to Barack Obama, violence against anyone, or racial overtones.

This is my take: Either they are in denial, delusional or just completely stupid.
Sorry but this is in bad taste, implies violence against those that wrote the stimulus package, racism, you can deny it if you want to but it's there and everybody with half a brain knows it.

I'm still very bothered by the fear and intentional devisiveness and intolerance that this election was fueled by.
Seriously Rush "I hope you fail, um, at whatever the hell it is exactly that you do" oh, wait you actually have failed at things many, many times all ready, but hey you're just a sweet misunderstood "common" man.
And the republican that sent out the cd with that cute "Barack the magic negro" on it... stupidity. Bipartisanship indeed.

If you get a chance hunt up the text of the latest Michele Bachmann of Minnesota's nonsensical rant... She's at it again.
Remember the rant before the election that she thought congress should be investigated for anti-American members?
In this one she says things that just simply aren't true.
She has no clue as to the facts... where the hell does she get them. Cute she call's our president the "community organizer and chief." Respect, none.

I used to say you can't buy the truth. But it doesn't matter all that much anymore because even if you could buy it, you damn well will have a really hard time finding any in the first place.
Oh, and I was wrong anyway, because I now realize that truth certainly can be bought, repackaged and resold.

Spin it's all spin, where is the line that makes something a LIE???
Gone.

G'night,
I'm fed up with most of our representatives at this point.

Laura

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Finally back... politics hasn't changed in a few days.

2009-02-18T00:37:00.006-05:00

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I spent the last few days listening basically to the same news over and over again.
Same S**t different day it seemed (well at least in politics.)

I actually feel sorry for the woman that had the octuplets.
Between the death threats, unwanted publicity that came along with the wanted publicity, now a psychologist that has filed a complaint against her that was very critical of "octomom's" number of children. Wow.
I think 14 children are around 10 too many for most folk (psychologically and financially) but this isn't China and you can have as many children as you want. I can't imagine it but seems that having live multiple births gets you notoriety, fame and financial help. At least it has in the past, so unless she does something wrong, leave her alone.

The economic package was passed, no republican support really. Success for Obama but not exactly bipartisan.
I already grow weary of this constant barrage of "he said," "she said" schoolyard nonsense.
"Did too!" "No I didn't!" AAAAAaaaarrrggggggggghhhhhhh!
Makes me want to take an extended vacation to Canada, England, or somewhere they aren't obsessed with US politics.
I probably couldn't stand being away from news that long but I'd be willing to try really, really hard. Cold turkey.
I think this is going to go on until 2012 elections and beyond which is more than any of us should have to tolerate.

Loved the drunk Finance Minister of Japan. Yes, their economy sucks too so I guess it makes sense but...
Of course his version of it was that he had taken some medication (wink, wink?)

Will be back to regular posts. Was cleaning house for company coming tomorrow (staying for a week.)

G'night,

Laura
*

Happy Valentine's Day. Hope it went okay.

2009-02-14T23:09:00.003-05:00

*

Happy Valentine's Day!

Quiet day here.
Didn't get a lot done.
Out of sorts and hoping I'm not getting sick.
Achy all over.
Glad we celebrated St. Valentine's yesterday.

Kids off for a week now.

Going to bed.
Exhausted for no apparent reason.

G'night

*

Happy Valentine's Day (and don't buy candy with peanut butter in it for your sweetheart)

2009-02-13T23:59:00.007-05:00

*
Lots going on in the news but I'm a bit hot and bothered by the peanut butter salmonella outbreak.

First off how dare they put their product before people's health.
Secondly: Now the company is declaring bankruptcy...
CNN peanut butter bankruptcy story

My first reaction was good that's the way it's supposed to go. Shut 'em down. You screw up: you pay the price.

Then, I started to think about it. There are people dead because of this, and many others sick.
So, the question is do you just get to say "Oops, we're in trouble, declare bankruptcy and get out with something?

No. This is wrong. This must be illegal and someone is responsible. Whether it's the inspectors, Company heads, someone.

All these crimes, so called white collar crimes, cause pain, loss of jobs and even death... they are no better than those who sell crack cocaine knowing it's effect on people, no better than people that plan to kill someone.

If you know that salmonella is there and you knowingly send the product out into the population and it causes havok then:
there should be repercussions for your irresponsibility that caused harm to others!
And what of the inspectors?
Beginning to wonder if we are nearly as safe as we think we are.
But by all means get the government out of our lives.
I wonder if those that sue the peanut company will even get compensated. What more can you lose besides your life and health?
It's all about protecting themselves, bankruptcy indeed.

Bernie Madoff's scheme is no less evil. White collar crime indeed. Take everything he has, and find what he has hidden.

When will we clean up our act?
We put kids in jail for smoking marijuana... but why are these people still walking around?
Bastards.

I'm just sayin'

G'night,

Laura

PS: Happy Valentine's Day...
I know it's a fake capitalistic holiday, but we went out for dinner, a few drinks and actually (I think anyway for I never speak for someone else) enjoyed relaxing, sitting and talking to each other for the evening.
No roses, cards, silly sappy stuff, just respect for each other for 35 years all told together.

*

News, news, and yet more news... good news in scarce supply.

2009-02-12T23:43:00.004-05:00

*
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew his name from the position of commerce secretary for President Obama.
Not all that sorry to see him go, never thought it would be a great fit and apparently neither did he.
Wonder if there was any pressure on him to withdraw from his party... yea, I think so.

The Octomom now is asking for money. Really?
What a surprise there. What was she thinking, ah, besides the notoriety?
A single mom, with little or no money, with six kids all ready, having even two more.
Sounds rational to me (not). Poster child for "doing the right thing?"
I was disturbed by one thing I read today though, she is receiving death threats- come on opinion is one thing folks and you/we are entitled to opinion but this isn't something that warrants threatening the woman. Seriously.

Vote on the stimulus package tomorrow.
Well, you know I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting.
Who knows some of that money might trickle down to us mere folk out here.

How about the PA judges that put kids in jail and took kickbacks?
Article on the corrupt judges (the ones they caught)
You have to read it to believe it. Amazing we're talking judges here, great caliber they must have been.
Judge Judy to the rescue anyone? Even our justice system is broken... does anything here work anymore?

Two satellites collide in space one Russian, one from the United States.
Could pose a danger to space station and other satellites.
Great the people on Earth are turning space into a garbage dump... how um, human of us. Space junk they call it.

Salmonella infested peanut butter and now they find rats there. Great. Yummy. think I'll do without peanut butter for a while.
Thanks inspection people, thanks FDA, thanks company that put peanut butter profits before people's health.

Are there any organizations, companies, politicians, or people in general that care more for people's well being than profits out there? If there are and I do believe there are... there certainly aren't enough of them.

I was watching Late Night TV last night flipping back and forth between Night Line, Leno and Letterman to see if anything was worth watching when I was struck by Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman. I couldn't believe it. Watched the whole thing, couldn't help it and I really don't know much about him at all. What odd tension in the interview. Whew. Just a real head shaker.
Got up and found people talking about the train wreck that was Joaquin. Hope he was just out of sorts or something.
If you didn't see it it's here:

Too much going on for my tired mind...
From the sublime to the unbelievable to the outrageous to the depressing to the corrupt, it's all there.
What the hell happened to GOOD NEWS???

Going to bed,
Need some of that elusive sleep thing.
G'night,

Laura
*

...and we have a new 790 billion dollar stimulus package.

2009-02-11T23:16:00.009-05:00

*

Watching the members of congress grilling the bankers was fascinating. These guys are real noble bastards. Yup.
Can someone tell me why these questions didn't come up before any TARP money was given to them?

Then next we get to Bernie Madoff (and I suspect numerous others like him we'll find out about as we go on).
These scandals are going to make Enron look like chicken feed.
Bernie's wife apparently withdrew 15 million dollars before he was "arrested" (ten million days before).
A whistle blower named Harry Markopolos tried to turn in Madoff to the SEC and offered to help catch him years before this broke, but he was ignored. Apparently Bernie had a protective bubble that covered extreme corruption.
Wall Street is only about money, money and getting more money.

It's obviously not the American worker or borrower that caused this mess, it really is the fat cats.
Insurance companies, banks, major corporations are not there for our health and happiness, they are there to own, work and take advantage of us.
Oh, crap I sound somewhat Marxist. Damn it. Sorry about that... not really.

Speaking of... Today's Sarah Palin's birthday, not a National Holiday (at least not yet). She shudders and moves on.

So today we have a 790 billion dollar stimulus package. I hope it lends a hand to the real everyday people out there, the ones who need some help.

I hope it's worth every single dollar: It won't be, but baby I still can dream.

G'night,
Have to catch up on computer work tomorrow.

Laura

*

President Obama I appreciate your frankness... fifth printing for the Obama Spiderman comic.

2009-02-11T00:10:00.007-05:00

*
Watched Obama's town hall and his prime time speech/explanation of the stimulus package...

Now I know many are screeching about the amount being too much (or too little) but I'm struck by the way Obama's answering questions and at least trying to make it clearer what he is trying to do.
What a wonderful change from Bush doing much in secret and ramming things through if he could.

We need to do something and there's no way to know whether everything will work out the way we want it to.

But politics as usual prevents people from working together to MAKE it work even if they don't agree with it.
Such a shame. No respect for the president of the USA anymore. Thanks GW, it started before you but, you took it to a new level.

Now republicans here's the deal: You should (after the dust clears and we have a passed package) stop whining, stop the drama queen speeches, stop criticizing. You have had your say now get with the program and try to make it work.
If you're going to whine, moan and undermine for the next two (or four) years constantly you will make us all SICK.
Step up and work for the country you were "hired" to represent. Make it work.

Democrats: take the high road, but don't expect support. Do what you have to but don't be caught up in this no win fighting.

Obama: keep doing what you are doing. Most of us appreciate being treated like we're intelligent enough to understand the workings of government. I at least appreciate you taking the time to talk to us: after all you are OUR president.
It feels better, time will tell how everything will turn out. Everyone forgets that there's a global economic problem not just us.

Don't forget President Obama you are in charge of both the democrats and the republicans be fair and strong.
Let those (buffalo) chips fall where they may.

I got my Obama/Spiderman comics a while ago. The different printings had different covers.
The comic book store did me a nice favor and got me the second printing also. Out of print now.
They're on the fifth printing has the Lincoln Memorial on the cover.
I hate to use this word but: Awesome.

G'night,

Laura

*

Weary be the working class. Yes, it still is the economy stupid.

2009-02-08T23:30:00.002-05:00

*
I’m a bit overwhelmed by the constant discussion of the economy woes and Obama’s economic stimulus package.
Every show today. Everyone talking, everyone has an opinion and no absolute solutions.
Not terribly helpful at this point… Too much money or not enough, too much spending or too little, too much tax break or too little. Too partisan or… AAAaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh!!!

Just do something okay? Stop with the party politics.
Stop secretly (or not so secretly) hoping that it fails and you can jockey it into a republican battle cry to get some people elected. We were sick to death of the presidential election and it only just ended!

WE and by we I mean the working class (remember us, you give us lots of lip service) with families to take care of, with mortgages, bills and jobs that we worry about, don’t give a rat’s ass which party you’re part of. We’re fairly sick of you both at this point. We (well, at least I ) would like a viable third party that isn’t either of you that would get rid of both outer fringes of liberals and conservatives. Good God we hardly get a break and you guys are fighting away happily.

You’re all hypocrites, tax evaders, liars… you make laws for us to follow and you break them all the time. Makes me sick at this point. Looks like we’re going to owe taxes this year.
Yay. Not sure where that money is coming from.

So, I’m a bit annoyed tonight as you can tell, so here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a break tomorrow and then listen to Obama’s speech at night and see how I feel then.

This is a photo of one of the people I love!
My son, who takes after my husband, will sleep through Armageddon if it ever happens.
He sleeps through the sun shining in his window and mom taking a flash photo.
Me? I wake up when someone sneezes lightly downstairs behind a closed door on the opposite end of the house.

Eighteen year olds look like angels when they’re asleep don’t they?

G’night,
All will be well
(at least that’s what I keep telling myself)

Laura

*

And on the seventh day she rests...

2009-02-08T00:47:00.003-05:00

*
I know Sunday is supposed to be the traditional day of rest but I take Saturday if I can.
I mean that I take a day of rest from the news.
Well, I do watch some news on Saturdays especially if something is going on but I keep it to a minimum otherwise.
Sunday has "Meet the Press," "Hardball," "This Week," and "Face the Nation" to start with...

So on this day of rest I clean or go shopping, write, read or some other pastime.
Okay so maybe rest is a misnomer...
Today it was Lasagna dinner, and movie with son #2 along with two of his friends.
We saw "Taken." Really enjoyed it too.
I've said before that I love action adventure movies and this was a good one.
Liam Neeson was great, the dialog was all right and it kept fairly suspenseful all the way through.

If you don't like action, violence, car chases, things shattering, guns, things blowing up, etc.- you won't like it.
Needless to say I loved it. Oh sure it was a little unrealistic but I really liked it, then again I loved "Live Free or Die Hard" so don't take my word for it. I do know what I like anyway.

We were lucky it wasn't a really long movie and that I have a new battery in my car because we were running late and I left my headlights on low the whole show. Which is odd because I never leave my headlights on. Oh well. Turned out fine.
We walked in only a minute after the show started and nothing happened early in the movie it was all mostly set up.

Want to see "Push" next and eventually "Star Trek" (of course), "Land of the Lost," and maybe "Inkheart." I've all ready seen "Underworld: rise of the Lycans" not a surprise right? lol.

So g'night,
I'm just finishing up Cross Country by James Patterson and I believe it's technically Sunday now.

Laura

*

Yes, maybe we have a stimulus package, well, so "they" say, we shall see.

2009-02-06T23:50:00.006-05:00

*
News said that the senate has come to an agreement on Obama's stimulus package with a few republican senators on board.
We'll see shortly I suppose. I'm interested in what the final adjusted product will turn out to be and what comes back from the conference committee. Won't help those that all ready lost their homes, or jobs but it seems something would be better than nothing for some people.
::sigh::

I'm a little bit confused however, if the government helping it's people, providing services for them or regulating those that have failed is socialism and bad. Then what the hell do we need a government for? Are they suggesting some kind of anarchy or perhaps we could divide the USA into independent "country states" that would OF COURSE have their own governments...
Now there's a nightmare situation.

What in the world is the fascination with Joe the Plumber? (well, the almost plumber and not exactly Joe either)
He's sent to Israel to "report on the war or the people or something I never really understood."
Now he's gone to Washington, DC to participate in a political strategy session as "The Conservative Working Group's" guest speaker. It's a group of Capital Hill GOP staffers. Politico's Joe the Plumber article

Why? That's the only question I can think of. I don't know why anyone would want his opinion of the economic stimulus package or any kind of strategy. Can we disapprove his nomination for speaking for anyone, especially the GOPers?
Seems he has tax issues and is unemployed. Is there no one else out there to listen to?
Oh wait, yea, I remember now there's Rush.
Not seeing any change in the republican party.

McCain sounds angry yet again.

Cheney just sounds scary and evil... another "Why?" there.
We never see or hear from him when he's in office and now he starts talking.
Sleep well my dearies, precious will take care of you.

G'night,

Laura

*

Sarah Main Street and Joe the Six Pack just won't go away.

2009-02-05T22:50:00.009-05:00

*

When McCain chose Sarah Palin for his running mate and then ultimately they lost the election, many gave a sigh of relief.
I didn't. I kept saying she's not going to go away, the conservative right will co-opt the republicans again, they will run Palin again. We haven't seen the last of her.

No I was told, let them run her, we'd love that, let them run her again, the democrats will easily win again if they do.
The Republican party must change with the times in order to win and they don't want to.

However, I disagree. Although Obama won by approximately 10,000,000 votes in the popular vote, which does seem like a lot for a presidential election and he slammed them in electoral votes 365 to 173, a damn strong showing, there is one thing everyone keeps forgetting. The race in many of the states was close, very close. They could have swung a different way and then the results would have been quite different.

Remember that Al Gore won the popular vote, not by a lot, but he did indeed win it. He lost the electoral vote 266 to 271.

Many states though they mostly vote red or blue aren't really that big a majority... they are close in elections.
2012 will be a bloodbath if we're not careful. If you thought 2008 was divisive and nasty just wait.
We're seeing the differences in politics now in this fight over the stimulus plan.
Anyone else have the sensation of drowning in the sea while the powers that be fight over the life savers on the deck where we aren't allowed? Bipartisanship my ~~ass~~ foot.

Yes, I thought Obama was naive thinking he could get a thoughtful majority of republicans, but I was hoping I was wrong.
I wasn't. Which by the way makes me feel like crap, I wanted to be wrong.

And what do you think of the first "African-American" RNC chairman?
Remember when the news folk were babbling about how Obama might not be black enough to get the black vote out for him?
Or that he could be too black for the white folk?
Well the republican party found Mr. Michael Steele... Yes, they could use a token black leader at this point in time (yes, I'm cynical) but where did they find him? Good God even Sean Hannity seems to like him.
He sounds more like Bush and Cheney than McCain did which I find disturbing.
The more I read about him and listen to him the more I realize moderate republicans either don't exist or are letting this conservative, hard line, right wing people speak for them.

Steele compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust. Are you GD serious?
Sigh, yes, I'm afraid they are.
So dig in and enjoy the downslide, I'm afraid it might be closer than any of them care.
Sick of all the politics as usual. They both regularly blow it and are steeped in pure unadulterated hypocrisy.

Grab a shovel folks it's really starting to stink and we're mostly on our own...
Do I qualify for money if I'm the CEO of my household?
Yea, didn't think so...

G'night,

Laura

*

Christian Bale isn't that good an actor to be so obnoxious... let's get the Goodfellas to teach him a lesson eh?

2009-02-04T22:22:00.004-05:00

*
Wow, I listened to the short version of the Christian Bale tirade... what a jerk.
Needs to get over himself. He should have been apologizing after the first minute and yet on and on he went.
I wonder if he would ream out a producer or sponsor of the movie like that or is a mere working man beneath his greatness?
The Terminator actor apparently needs some Salvation!

The Today Show did an audio of his rambling (bleeped out of course) and brought their staff out and talked to them, it was nice.
They seem to get along and treat each other rather well. they showed a clip of their own where a woman from their staff walked through a live taping and no one screamed or misbehaved. They laughed it off and she even got to wave.

Demanding proper behavior of people is getting harder and harder these days.
It feels like you're swimming against the tide.
It's not just children either, the worst are adults. And it's startling to see unbecoming downright rude behavior from parents.

*****

This will be a short entry, because I'm trying to set up a way to do short video clips each day just talking instead of all this damnable typing. Though I can type at a fairly respectable speed, I actually really dislike it.
So I'm hoping to move over to video with short typed notations like links and short comments.

Still pretty discouraged with both the democrats and the republicans. Party politics as usual.
Our representatives fiddle faddle while the economy burns.
Great guys thanks a bunch.

Back tomorrow.

Laura

*

The Super Bowl Commercials are far more fun than the news.

2009-02-02T23:33:00.005-05:00

*

Everybody’s still ~~fighting~~ discussing the economic stimulus and of course making it the best package it can be. (cough, cough)

I still have problems about giving money to the people that were in charge of failing banks, businesses, and companies… no less giving them bonuses.

Bonuses for what exactly?

One of our representatives wanted to limit the CEO’s pay to the same amount our president gets for running the country. Well, these guys live in a different world… one where they get millions of dollars in bonuses. Imagine that, cause I can’t. And if you screw things up too much you get a severance package and move on to another company, kinda like unwanted teachers, priests, administrators and other professionals. Great. Free market enterprising.

So maybe if they could make a top cap on the wages of the CEO’s if they accepted money from the government, these pompous overpaid jerks would quit and the taxpayers could hire someone that could actually run a company better and for less pay. Hey, just thinkin’

Macy’s going to bleed out 7000 jobs. ::sigh::

The republicans do realize tax cuts alone won’t save us right?

Anyway the Super Bowl was great, ended the way I thought it would but there were some great plays along the way. What a run down the field James Harrison made, pretty cool eh?

The Boss is still the Boss!!! And I noticed that Max Weinberg brought along the rest of the band from Conan O’Brien’s show. That must have been a lot of fun for them all!

I recommend taking a bit of time out bypassing the depressing political news to watch the Super Bowl commercials. My favorite were: Both Doritos ads, Hulu.com, Pepsi’s refresh anthem, Sprint Roadies, Career Builder.com and the silly Conan O’Brien Bud Light ad.

Enjoy!

Watch all the Super Bowl commercials here!

Very much looking forward to snow tomorrow, maybe enough for a great soothing walk!

G'night,

Laura

*

Finally restrictions for the rest of the "stimulus/bailout" money.

2009-01-31T22:06:00.004-05:00

*
It seems like our representatives are finally looking to formally place restrictions on how the taxpayer money can be spent by the banks/companies that get some of it.

It was sheer insanity to just hand over money to businesses that ran their own companies into the ground.
Self regulation indeed. "We thought they would exhibit restraint and use the money wisely."
Now why the hell would they do that when they hadn't done it before they got in the mess they're in?
The legislators in their infinite wisdom decided they should have "faith" in companies that were going under?
Seriously.

So we have a new RNC head and after all the drop out they picked one of the few token black men they had in the party.
Guess it figures since it worked for the Democrats. With Limbaugh babbling, Palin crouched in the wings...
2012 should be a very interesting to watch presidential election, that is if we can all still afford electricity and cable.
*

A few days ago we came upon a seagull that had somehow gotten it's one foot caught in the stockade fence.
I have no idea how that happened because with their flatter feet they dont roost on fences but somehow this one managed to snag it's foot down into the crack between two slats in the fence. Unlucky I guess.
We managed to get it free but it's one foot was rather mangled, the other one was fine.
I don't know if it managed to survive but it seemed alert and able to fly off. I hope it made it I've seen one legged gulls before.
At least it has a chance to make it. I had my little video camera with me so I filmed it.
Sons did the actual saving of the seagull. Odd way to start a day. It was nice to try to save something, since not much "saving" is getting done otherwise.

Now I know I'm not the only New Yorker that doesn't like Rudy Gulliani, but I'm beginning to think he's lost it. Read a story today about an interview where he stated that he gauged the city's budget by the size of the Wall Street bonuses.
He pointed out that when wall street had 1-2 billion in bonuses the city had a deficit. When they had 15-20 billion the dity had a surplus "because the money gets spent."
Okay guys... It gets spent on high end stuff that doesn't trickle down. That's just nonsense.
Besides the more important point is this:
Wall Street was failing because of it's own policies/excesses and the bailout money is the TAXPAYERS, not theirs'.

*

Off the topic of politics: Did you see the story on the tv news about the Florida couple that paid a small fortune for a cloned puppy of their deceased labrador. A pet, the family dog. Jobless, homeless people out there and they had to clone "Sir Lancelot" who died a natural death as all creatures eventually do. I'm sorry for your loss, but that's just ridiculous.

I said when Obama was elected that he wouldn't get the bipartisan support he was looking for and now the stimulus package is looking to be a slightly bloody battle. We shall see. It feels rather helpless out here in the real world as far as what we can do about this mess. Still hearing people saying that it would be better to just let the system adjust itself without bailing it out... better for who exactly?

Well, at least we saved a seagull. Maybe anyway.

G'night,

Laura
*

Not a single vote for Obama's stimulus package by a republican. Not even one?

2009-01-29T22:09:00.008-05:00

*
I know it's mostly a political ~~pissing contest~~ power posturing conflict and that the republicans are trying to recoup it's lost authority but... seriously not one vote for Obama's stimulus package?
I don't pretend to understand the complexities of the economic mess we're in but I do know what I believe-

It doesn't matter what economic theory you believe will work because on paper many of them sound pretty good.
Terms like trickle down, trickle up, self regulating market adjustments, Keynesian, Micro, Macro, Supply-side, Marxist, on and on and on...

The problem is that the adjustments in economics is counted in effects on real people, not theoretical people.
The other problem is that the greed and corruption that is either allowed to exist in the system or just creeps in on it's own isn't accounted for. This screws up what might be a workable otherwise benign economy and more of those non-theoretical people.

So "Welcome" to the readjustment.

I'm struggling to understand why either party, democrats or republicans think they have any realistic answer to our problems.
It's been a long time since I took any economics classes in both history and anthropology (very interesting) but I'm behind the current administration just as I begrudgingly was behind the past few administrations because I believe they didn't want the country to fail and were doing what they felt was the right thing.

It didn't always turn out to be the right thing unfortunately but I have to believe our leaders are at least on the right side for the United States of America. I'm beginning to lose faith in a lot of the political arenas.
We are waist deep in corruption, greed, failing schools, skyrocketing health care costs, mortgage defaults, unemployment-
There's no point to go on because there are too many problems to fix in any realistically quick fashion.
So republicans and democrats have to get their ~~shit~~ act together and behave like adults.

And John Boehner if you want to be taken seriously don't say "Oh My God!" as a reaction to a serious stimulus package-
You're not a valley girl talking about the prom are you? How about some constructive criticism, of course neither party is great at that. Change that.
Oh, and before you accuse me of being unfair: I often can't listen to Barney Frank, Pelosi or Harry Reid so don't bother.

And everyone wants a simple answer? Get the hell up and do something. Everybody. If this isn't the time what the hell is?
The American people have gotten soft, let others make our decisions and sat by while our power has been frittered away.

How about requiring any agency, business or bank that gets a stimulus check stops sending jobs overseas?
But that won't ever happen would it?

Buh Bye Blagojevich, removed from office. That was a given. Won't miss you at all either. Let's see now if he'll he actually go to jail? Hmm.

G'night,

Reasonably disgusted with congress... but what else is new.

2009-01-29T01:07:00.007-05:00

*

I absolutely hate to be right when it's something that I was hoping I was just too cynical about and was really wrong...
But- So much for the bipartisianship. No, I didn't think in a million years it would happen but I figured I could hope anyway.

Rush Limbaugh hopes Obama fails because he disagrees with his policies...
Sarah Palin is drooling at the chance to have the repubs run her in 2012.
Everyone's got their motives and designs, no one wants to cooperate and make things work.

More of the same old shit.

Why?
Because they can?
Because they're ALL children? Obnoxious children that MUST get their own way or no way at all.

Don't they believe there's a real economic disaster on the horizon?

At this point I'd rather they gave everyone money to pay off existing debt then play this game. Hey, show me the money!

I'm sick of it. Both parties do it. Obama has really tried and a few weeks in and nothing but criticism.
Golly gee, if only we could vote for the economic stimulus... we would, but of course we can't because we just don't like it.
So the repubs say nay and the dems vote it in so if something goes wrong then the republicans will harp on it for 2012 starting, well, right about now I'd say.
Limbaugh is at least honest this time, I'm pretty sure he and many others would like to see Obama fail.
Because it's not the country that comes first with them... it's saying outrageous things to keep people listening to them.
Money, money, money. That's what it's really about. if suddenly they became reasonable no one would listen.

Our elected officials can't even agree on extending the digital signal for the tv... nope, because damn that's really important.

Fine. Interesting situation we find ourselves in. What exactly are we (the working class backbone of this country) supposed to do? Sigh. Patience dear Laura, they know what's best for us, right? Um, right?

Obviously if it was left to the republicans and they had the majority, NOTHING would be getting done just for spite.
So I guess the majority of people that voted Obama in don't count for anything.

I'm feeling really, really frustrated and angry.

Or as Stealers Wheel put it:

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with ~~you~~. ~~the working class~~.
everybody struggling to get through.

Yay.

G'night

*

Boy I hope the Obama stimulus package fixes something in the ecomomy...

2009-01-26T21:55:00.007-05:00

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On the heels of CEO's getting bonuses as their companies failed...
On the wake of Madoff's "undiscovered until it was too late" Ponzi scheme that ripped off so very many.
I hope he understands what a corrupt capitalist weasel he is sitting in his penthouse with help, food and drink and a ankle bracelet but I doubt he gets it. None of them really seem to.

John Thain resigned under pressure from Bank of America after reports he rushed out billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees in his final days as CEO there, while the brokerage was suffering huge losses and just before Bank of America took it over. CNBC said Thursday that Thain spent $1.22 million redesigning his office. Bank of America later received an additional $20 billion from the government, in part to offset the unexpected Merrill losses.
How does this ~~shit~~ outrageous disregard for the hard working taxpayers of this country happen? Over and over again. We need to rethink the consequences for so called "white collar" crimes, these aren't victimless crimes.

Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld sold his $13.3 million mansion to his wife for just $100 last November, according to Florida real estate records. He left after the Chapter 11 of Lehman. Yea, white collar crime. The rest of us just lose everything, out on the street. They protect it. Great.

Now there's the guy from Agape World in Hauppauge that newsday says is suspected in a scheme that cost investors some $370 million...

Why would we trust any investor, any bank, any CEO, any politician at this point?
It's so very hard to put this all together while so many Americans are hurting, and congress fights over a stimulus package that might or might not fix the mess we're in. I surely hope it does. But so far the bail outs have been steeped in excess and because of the lack of oversight money was given out and frittered away.

I hope the stimulus package works, I hope Obama succeeds in turning this country around or at least getting us on the right road. I don't think that the goal should be to go back to the way it was before. NO way.
I'm not sure where we should go exactly but we need to really take charge of our future.

Remember the saying "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention" Guess our attention is upon the system now!
And the system stinks to high heaven and probably always has.

You know all those people that think the government shouldn't control capitalism in any way...
Those that scream "liberal" "socialism" and spread fear of anything that they perceive of as un American because the market and capitalism should be unbridled with no government involvement whatsoever. The ones that believe capitalsim will always prevail: for it has in the past, well, sort of anyway. It will simply self adjust. Well, welcome to the readjustment.
People that believe businesses can regulate themselves. Sure and I've got swampland in Florida you should buy unseen.

Honesty is not a valued enough commodity these days. Ethical behavior is lacking and the anything goes mentality must stop.
Money is valued more than people it seems these days. It's a very sad situation we are in.

I wish you well President Barack Obama. I want you to succeed. I want all of us to succeed which is hard when we are bleeding jobs, 40,000 jobs lost on Monday.

On that happy note: Welcome Timothy Geitner to the position of Obama's Treasury Secretary and um, good luck.

G'night,

Laura
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The countdowns are over. What's the story with Paterson?

2009-01-25T00:00:00.002-05:00

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I said I wasn’t surprised that Paterson picked Kirsten Gillibrand previously.
However that doesn’t mean I agree with his choice.
First off she’s fairly conservative for a democrat, well ok so that’s not the end of the world.
But she’s not a strong backer of gay rights and is endorsed by the NRA, and quite a bit of the unknown to the rest of the state.
When Kennedy dropped out it seemed from what Patterson said that he was almost pre-determined to pick a woman to replace Hillary.

Now I may be totally off base here but if it was me was making the choice, I would have chose Cuomo so that he definitely didn’t run against me for the governership. After all Paterson is in an odd position himself being a result of the Spitzer disaster. Now he’s alienated a lot of democrats and I have no idea why he would do that intentionally. Who was advising him I wonder?
There are certainly people that don’t like Gillibrand and will run against her in 2010 and she may be a strong candidate in a more republican area of upstate running as a conservative democrat but… can she really fly in an election over the whole state? She’ll be challenged by at least one other woman and Cuomo would beat her hands down if he doesn’t decide to take out Paterson instead.

What a weird drawn out mess Paterson turned the appointing of one senator into.
Drama, drama.
Kennedy should have stayed out of it and taken time to cultivate her possible entrance into politics.
But she didn’t.
Paterson should not have taken so long and then seem to quickly pick out of a hat.
But he didn’t.

I wonder who Hillary Clinton would have picked for her successor? Hmm.

Oh well, nobody checks these things with me. lol. What the hell would I know?

G'night,

Laura

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Two days into the Obama Presidency. Can't believe Bush has finally left the building!

2009-01-22T23:41:00.004-05:00

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Looks like Geithner will be approved dispite the tax thing.
Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the likely pick for Hillary Clinton's senate seat.
He is definitely going to pick a woman I'm sure of it and I think it will be Kirsten too.
Wasn't too sure about Caroline Kennedy for many reasons.

I'm rather annoyed by something that Rush LImbaugh said (big surprise).
Rush said on air that he hopes President Obama fails. Literally that is what he said. He wants Obama to fail.
He disagrees with Obama obviously but to say such a thing at this time and place is pure bullshit.
To wish failure on Obama means that many American’s would have to suffer even more than they are now.
I despise Rush Limbaugh, what a jerk. How stupid can you get and still be listened to?
What’s the difference between him and any ex-drug addict, oh, yea, he’s not in jail. Yes, ole’ Rush’s moral character is of the finest caliber… but I guess his God forgives him those trespasses eh?

Interesting thing about Rush Limbaugh… he has a web site of course where you can go listen to his tirades.
Or at least you should be able to, but there’s just one thing: you can’t listen to anything without joining his “group.” Costs you money to do that folks. So I guess Rush is just another money grubbing creep. So many of them out there. Check Rushie’s site out:

Limbaugh's World

Very high opinion of himself it would seem. Bill O’Reilly’s site has the same thing. Ya gotsa pony up the bucks if you want your daily dose of right wing dogma.
Well, at least I can see those cute lil’ clips on CNN and You Tube even if I wouldn’t in a million years send any money to hear your constant tirades and add to your coffers. we can find you out there for free… oh lucky us.

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I want President Obama to succeed. Sane people want Obama to succeed.
All people want to avoid a depression. Most people support whoever is the president of the United States of America even if they didn’t personally vote for him/her themselves. We don’t wish our president ill we support him. The majority of people in our democracy freely of our own volition VOTED for President Obama.
I didn’t vote for George Bush but I didn’t want him to fail if it meant that our country would fail.
Shut up Rush. Just shut up. I know you won’t but it’s a free country and I’m free to dream.
Actually I don’t care if you shut up really, I just hope people start to think about some of those really inflamatory and stupid things you keep saying and simply stop listening to you. That would be better, since you share the same freedom of speech we all have.

Amazing.

G'night,

Laura

The day after inauguration... or the rocky road back to the future.

2009-01-21T23:29:00.006-05:00

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Hillary Clinton the new Secretary of State.
VP or President would have been better but I think Obama stands the best chance to get us out of some of this mess.
There will be time for a woman president (and there will be one).
Approval for new position for Hillary 94-2.

Caroline Kennedy is out of the race for the NY senate seat vacated by Hillary. Interesting.
Not sad about that because although she's certainly capable and well educated, I think her manner of speaking would have driven me crazy. I'm happy to not have to listen to GW anymore.

And speaking of people that are somewhat linguistically challenged, David Letterman did a final skit last week and I don't know how long it will be availible to view but I'm going to put it here anyway. It's funny and worth watching.

Funny that the J Crew site went down because of the Obama women's outfits at inauguration.
I think I like this new first family alot!!!
Since today is the start of a new presidency don't have much to say. So what I'm going to do is post some of the photos I took on one of my long walks in the snow a few days ago. It was the only daytime walk I took, mainly so I could take photos.

Walking in the snow is soothing and peaceful. One of my favorite things to do.
I don't think I could live somewhere that there was never any snow.

G'night,

Laura
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Inauguration Day!!! Our new President Barack Obama!

2009-01-20T22:54:00.005-05:00

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A new page in the history of the United States of America.
A new day. Let everyone work together to make this the nation it could be, it should be...
It won't be easy, it won't happen overnight. But we can make it happen if we don't lose faith in ourselves and our nation.

Everyone out there that has been whining about our moral character, our work ethic, our school systems, family values and all our major issues: time to own up to yourselves. Take stock. Start doing something to help.
Remember that old adage "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Yea well probably true!

Watched the inauguration and it went pretty much the way I expected it to.
President Obama's speech was just enough. As the pundits pointed out he said "we and us" not "I" for the most part.
It was a speech not only for Americans but for the world.
I think if this presidency doesn't work, it won't be because of Barack Obama it will be collectively all of our faults.

Eldest son was in DC and scored a ticket to the ceremony the last minute. He said it was really amazing, the spirit of everyone and the numbers of people. They were having fun afterwards skating on the pool without skates. lol.

We finally have a Leader after too many years.

One of the most powerful thoughts in a speech that I heard when I was a wee child and many replays afterwards was by JFK:

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

The statement applies today as it did back then... we must take responsibility for our country.
All countries must take responsibility for the world we all live in.

It was nice to see young children in the presidential family, the young people are the future of our country.

I feel very hopeful tonight.
We have the chance to change our destiny, I don't know if we can do it or not, but it is up to all of us.
We must hold our elected officials up to scrutiny, we must make difficult choices before it's too late.
We must work hard and fix our problems instead of business as usual which amounts to ignoring outcomes and crossing our fingers. We knew that didn't work when we were around 6 years old. We need to grow up. Quickly.

I'm proud of Barack Obama, Joe biden, and I won't forget Hillary Clinton either.
We can prevail.

G'night,

Laura
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Tomorrow!!! Finally it's tomorrow!!! Inauguration Day is finally here.

2009-01-19T22:04:00.007-05:00

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G'bye George Bush not sorry to see you go.
Hello President Barack Obama, very happy to see you and good luck with the mess we're in.

Did catch up with all the news I missed yesterday due to my playing in the snow!
I'm heartened by the changing of the guard as are most of us who are really hopeful that President Obama will be better prepared to work with the war in Iraq and our economy. I think it's going to be tough.

They keep talking about Obama's 89% approval rate and how 79% of the people just "like" him and feel he'll be a good president.
The thing that keeps bothering me about these stats (aside from the fact that I took a lot of statistics courses and realize how sketchy they can be) is that there were quite a lot of people attending McCain/Palin rallies that seemed very unhappy with Obama and even a bit scared and angry about him. Where did these people all go off to and are they actually in the count?

Didn't get that much out of the Rhom Emanuel interview (NBC) or David Axlerod's (ABC) as far as what the state of the union might actually be or if the stimulus package will truly fix things. Rather anxious about the amount of spending we don't have. Isn't that what got us all into this mess in the first place? The interviews only brought more questions into my mind.
I want to be supportive and get behind fixing the future, but I'm a bit unsure about what will end up in the plan. I know Obama says there won't be any unnecessary pork but I'm having trouble believing it. How much will creating jobs cost and what kind of jobs will they be? Construction won't work for many that need jobs... what other jobs are we talking about?

What projects will be funded? I suppose if I trusted our elected officials (and it's really hard to do that these days) I'd feel that we'd have an efficient stimulus package. Lean and mean. The problem is that I think congress can't get out of it's own way for the most part. I do believe we have a short window of effectiveness for all this though. What to do, what to do...

I wonder if Palin is sitting in Alaska hoping Obama fails and the republicans will run her to come in and ~~F things up further~~ save the day. Nasty old media made this whole economic mess up to thwart their economic plans, wait, McCain/Palin didn't seem to have one did they?

Please put Bernie Madoff in jail along with anyone else like him. Are his assets frozen like mine would've been? I hope so.
Weasel of the worst kind and he doesn't even get it.

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Okay so I'm going to stop being worried, tomorrow is the start of the Barack Obama presidency and I along with the majority of this fine country will be watching it on the tv, computer and enjoying the start of a new administration.

Went out and took some nice snowy photos today I'll post them after President Elect Barack Obama IS President Barack Obama. Sounds good to me!

G'night,

Laura
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Two days left of GW Bush I can't believe it!

2009-01-18T22:25:00.007-05:00

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Jealous of Eldest son that lives in DC... He went to the concerts at Lincoln Memorial today with friends!
Bruce Springsteen and all the others. :sigh:: Cold but it sounded like fun.

So two days left till Obama is officially the president of the USA and "Thanks for the ~~nightmares~~ memories George W. Bush. BuhBye.

Haven't found the time to watch the Meet The Press from this morning though I want to catch the Rohm Emanuel segment to hear (and see) what he says.
Reason I'm behind on the news? It's snowing on Long Island.
I love snow. I have always loved snow and I likely always will love snow!
Went shopping before the snow and then this evening it was beautiful outside so I took my long walk as I always do.

Walking in the snow soothes my soul.
When I came back later on (I'm prone to long walks in the snow) this is what I did:

Goodnight everyone,
have a pleasant tomorrow.
I'm hoping when my son comes home shortly we'll have a snowball fight.
Probably won't but not because I don't try... lol

Laura

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Three days left until the Bush administration fades into the sunset!

2009-01-18T00:14:00.003-05:00

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I understand why the incoming administration doesn't want to create a ruckus in the republican and democrat camps about the idea of looking into the Bush Administration's illegalities over the past 8 years. I really do. I get that it would create a media firestorm and has the possibility of a three ring circus-like atmosphere. I know if it was taken to congress it would tie them up inexorably in endless testimony and argument. I realize it would take money to run such proceedings, that we don't want to invest the time and cost of hearings at this point in time.

I also know that what Barack Obama said: “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law... we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.” doesn't even remotely begin to cover the issue at hand. I know that this logic is sound in the sense that in the grip of an economic meltdown he wants to keep the good will of both parties together and move the country forward towards a better time than now. Maybe he feels that an investigation into the policies and practices of the Bush administration would take necessary time and be a distraction to current pressing problems.

But I really needed a firmer condemnation of the blatent disregard the outgoing administration's towards human rights, constitutional law and overstepping of power of office. Bad enough we were sent to war under false pretense but to allow this to happen without bringing any accountability to bear is beyond wishing for bipartisanship. It is unconscionable and ignores the truth and justice that we keep being told is the American way of democracy.

At the very least set up a special commitee and create a report.

Paul Krugman article NY Times
We're talking some gross disregard for the laws, more along the possibility of Watergate, arguably in some cases even worse. There were hearings over Iran/Contra, Nixon resigned under clouds of wrongdoing, others went to jail...

For god's sake the republicans against the wishes of the majority of the people in this country spent a fortune on Kenneth Starr and his report while trying to impeach Bill Clinton because he lied about, uh, "getting a Lewinski?" Seriously. This country was dragged through the mud because of a vendetta for Clinton... over what? Not even close to the things this administration has done, and shows no remorse for doing.

It's not possible that as a country we will turn away from foul policies that caused so many deaths and trampled all over what our country is supposed to stand for???
This is the major problem with this country right now. It's always the other guy's fault. As a matter of fact Bush himself stated: "If it feels good do it, if you got a problem blame somebody else..."
No one takes responsibility for f**king up anymore straight on up to our elected officials/ People lie, cheat and steal... if it's overlooked at the top how do you expect the "average joe's" to be more noble then them?
The response to the near disaster plane in NY's Hudson River shows what our country and our people are capable of. Please Barack Obama as President: don't let this administration get away with these crimes.

Congressional hearings and further justice can be put on the back burner for a later date while you work on the economy but there must be an official record of this travesty.

The time is thankfully near to a new administration and hopefully to a better future.

G'night,

Laura

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Four days left to inauguration, can't believe it's finally so very close!

2009-01-16T23:05:00.005-05:00

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Starting with the personal tonight:
Wedding anniversary next week. First the inauguration then our aniversary. We were married during a cold snap, only two people stayed and threw rice at us because it was bitter cold. If it snows next week that will be fine as it will be snowy and cold just like it was twenty-five years ago. Yup. Actually we've been together for 35 years, hard to believe but true. Ten years together before we got married. Not bad, its been up, down, happy, sad, and everything in between. Was going to say tough/easy, but upon reflection I can't remember it ever actually being all that "easy" so I'll leave that one alone. Anyway in my early fifties, four grown children later and life is still good.

Watched some more clips of the plane landing from La Guardia, NY into the Hudson River yesterday. Absolutely incredible. So many people did their jobs so well and effectively. I wish all emergencies were handled with such dedication, ability and compassion. The pilot Chesley Sullenberger III did a fantastic job landing that plane. These are the real heros of the world not the "Joe the Plumbers" that just babble away and do nothing yet still become sad celebrities. Please give the pilot whatever the highest public service honor is for NY Governor Paterson, he deserves it.

Listened to the whole Bush speech from last night. Not impressed. But as he keeps saying History will tell... he doesn't seem to lose sleep over the mess he's made so I suppose re-writing history is the easiest way to deal with the whole mess. Hopefully with only four days left this administration can't screw anything else up.

G'night,

Laura

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