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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And my final thoughts:

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

G'night,

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

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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,

Thirty-two days till the bail out bail's out Bush.

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So it took GW until Friday to decide to give the loan to the auto makers to attempt to bail them out.
Even without a shoe whack upside of his head...
Well I don't think it's going to help all that much when people aren't thinking of buying new cars in the near future.
But I'm hoping that I'm totally wrong.

Mixed feelings about the possibility of Caroline Kennedy (isn't her name Schlossberg?) being appointed as Senator from NY.
Could certainly do worse, might do better. Wish she had more of her brother John Jr. She seems far more serious.

For now Al Franken seems to be ahead in the count in Minnesota. What a joke. Don't like either one of them. Get it done.

I may be nuts but I'm not sure that Rod Blagojevich is going to have much happen to him. He may be forced from his office but so far I'm not sure I heard anything that puts him in jail... Hmm. Like I said our political system is getting weirder and weirder.

It seems that the Prop 8 supporters have brought in Kenneth Starr as council to "protect marriage" (ie between a man and a woman. So there will be a few challenges to Prop 8... let's hope that we move away from govt. sanctioned discrimination (and it shouldn't matter what side you are on, pro gay or not). This is a civil rights issue.Prop 8 article

And the best news: Paulson wants the second half of the 700 billion dollars now... nevermind that wait until Obama is president in Jan. Me wants me cookiieeeessss. Nope. Can't we get rid of Mr. ex CEO of Goldman Sachs?
He hasn't fixed anything, let's try a new approach. Seriously let's try.

Non political:
Why is it that Drew Peterson is engaged again? Wife # 5 to be and young too (23ish).
I don't get it. Is there something appealing about someone who may have killed at least one of his prior wives?

Snowing in NY. My rosemary on the steps was blanketed with snow. It's so pretty outside right now, but it's starting to turn more into sleet and rain as usual here. Like as not tomorrow all snow will be washed away for the most part.








Don't hold your breath waiting for me to "grow up."
If growing up means I can't take walks in the snow, enjoy crunching ice coated mud puddles, throwing snowballs and building snowmen... I don't really want to. Isn't much fun then. And yes, I built a small snowman I usually do every year.
The kids have "outgrown" snowmen it seems and I used to get snowball fight takers but not so far this year.
Oh well, I love snow and if there was a hill nearby I'd be sleigh riding too.
Well to all of you out there that think adults don't build snowmen by themselves, I don't care, it makes me smile and that's okay with me. Children just gave me more of an excuse... ha.

The jar of cookies are chocolate covered coconut macaroons. Not bad. Done with baking cookies (before christmas anyway).

Tired and have some things to do. Time is rapidly running out on my holiday preparations.
Probably won't relax in any way again until after Christmas.
I am still looking forward to New Year's Eve and 2009.
It's a good time to reevaluate, I for one plan to take the whole year to do just that.

G'night,

Hope you're safe, warm and near to those you care about.

Laura

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Thirty-nine days till George W retires to the dude ranch... is there light at the end of this tunnel?

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Will the auto industry get money or not? That's still the question, and folks it's truly a million dollar question.
Will the exceedingly lame duck (or something like that) step in, will our new heroes make it in out of the blizzard before they die of the cold?
Seems to me no matter what they do, dealerships will close and jobs will be downsized. Just a matter of how many and when.
Seems like people have more pressing concerns than replacing the family car right now and the properties of math tell me that...
I really don't see an upswing in car sales in the near future, but hey one could be wrong and um, one hopes they are wrong actually.

The Al Franken/Norm Coleman senate battle in Minnesota wages on.
Now Al is supposedly ahead but it still can be challenged in court. As I've said before I don't like either of them.
I heard on TV that Coleman was being investigated by the FBI over house renovations (how some of it was paid for).
Are there no shameless politicians out there? How can you NOT be cynical at this point?
I swear our political stage is more like a three ring circus, tell me with all the people that are out there we couldn't do better?
And dambit stop saying that we all want leaders that we can sit down with and shoot the breeze.
Stop saying that we want to have a beer with the president of the United States.
No. I don't. I'm hoping he would have far more crucial and important things to so with his time.
I truly don't personally know anyone that I would actually want to nominate to handle the top job in the country.
The one who represents us as a nation. The best leader possible. The cream of the crop. The nothing like George W. Bush.
By the way I wouldn't want to have a beer with GWBush at all. I will have one to toast his leaving the office however. You betcha.
I want someone honest, hard working, reasonable, intelligent that is good at solving problems and working with people.
The words "highly competent" pop into my mind.

And why is Blagojevich still there... hit the road Ron. Find legitimate employment for that money you lust after.

And speaking of important news relating to the shape of the world:
How about the Jennifer Aniston GQ magazine nearly bare photos? Now there's REAL news right?
Gorgeous pictures, she's very pretty and photogenic. So tell me again why getting naked makes you "more sure of yourself" as they said on the CNN Showbiz Tonight that they applaud her for doing this. ::sigh:: I give up. At least I'm sure she got a lot of money for that "article." Yes, indeedy and if she didn't then that would be... it'd be... actually... indecent. (wink, wink)
Hey, maybe they'll pay me lots of money to not take off my clothes. Yes, I'm pretty sure of that too...
It's just the difference between getting naked and drawing a huge crowd or causing them to run away.

So I'm done early tonight. Only got around 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night and had one hell of a day.
Psychological black hole that it was and now the physical side is telling me I'm about to crash...


G'night all
Hope you have a good day tomorrow for today is almost over.
We get a do-over tomorrow don't we? We do right?

Laura

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....zzzz
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Forty-two days left of George W Bush... and I'm baking pies while listening to the news.

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Well, today's news story on constant re-play is of course the governor from Chicago Rod Blagojevich who was arrested on federal corruption charges. Supposedly he wanted to sell off the senate seat that was left open by Barack Obama for his own financial gain. Of course I'm a bit of a cynic (oh all right I'm a huge cynic) and I think many politicians use their political positions for their own gain (travel, trinkets, influence, donations) but seriously this doesn't even really make sense to me. How stupid can you be? Obviously though the governor makes the decision a lot of input comes from the party and elsewhere.
And having phone conversations about the fact... didn't anyone learn from Monica Lewinski's Linda Tripp recorded conversations?
Did John Edwards really think he could have had an affair (and a child?) and win the nomination for the presidency without anyone finding out about it? What a mess THAT would have been. People talk... Think of Clinton, Gary Hart, even Gingrich's behavior.
I'm starting to think politicians are a dumb lot, not all of them of course but... seriously idiotic behavior considering.
Jeeze, don't they get the concept of "being in the public eye?"

If there's a special election to fill Obama's seat instead of an appointment I wonder if there's a strong democrat to win it.
Not familiar with Illinois politicians and I'm sure the republicans would love to gain that seat. We'll see how they handle it.

Steve Colbert was on Conan O'Brien last night and did the "In the year 2000" piece with him. Funny.

Tonight I've been very busy. The next few days I'm baking things for early Christmas gifts and to try out a couple of recipes.
So, here's a few photos to explain why this post is not all that long.
One pie is for us, one for my mom. Was disappointed by how the crusts cracked but house smelled so yummy.
Had a piece with my hot tea just now and it was good. Apple Raspberry!
All that stuff taking up residence on my kitchen table until tomorrow night will turn into Christmas cookies tomorrow...







So forgive me if I have a few short posts here and there but holiday cheer requires me to put in some time baking!

G'night
Doesn't seem like 2009 will bring peace on earth and good will to all.
But you could say that I'm a dreamer, and I'm not the only one : )

Laura

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