It's been a long time since I've come here. It's not because I don't have any more strong opinions about things. I am just afflicted with attention deficit disorder. When the novelty wears off, I am usually long gone....

Let's see. We still don't have healthcare reform. Terribly aggravating. Unemployment is growing and I don't see any jobs being created. Same sex marriage hasn't been truly addresses (at least on the federal level). Yet, I still support our president. Despite my affection for his intellect, poise and political philosophy, I can't imagine our having elected the alternative!

My cat, Cleo, one of two I own, is using her feminine and feline wiles to get my attention. I write "feminine" as I have done similar things to men for their attention. She is moving about this room in a slinky manner, rubbing up against a box where we put paper to be recycled. The noise from this is purely intentional on her part. Of this I am convinced! I dare not catch her eye as she will think she has won!

What does she want? Food....FOOD!!! She is an eating machine. Of course she is the fatter of the two cats I have. Cleo is round. She is black, gray, white and tint of beige striped with crystal blue eyes. She's gorgeous, if plump. Her sister, Angel, is sleek, gangly even and white, 99.9% white. She has a black dot on the hairless part of the tip of her nose. I don't notice it anymore but it was distracting at the beginning (for some odd reason....odd reason being I am an odd person).

Angel is fed on top of our kitchen table. Reason being, if her dish is on the floor, Cleo will eat it all up. Cleo is the dominant cat. Angel also naps on the kitchen table. We have deduced it is because that is where she can let her guard down. You see, Cleo will sometimes go over to a reclining Angel and start licking her head and then just when you think she might be feeling maternal, she bites her neck as if going for the kill!

So, the kitchen table has white car hair on it. We usually eat on TV tables in the living room anyway. Don't worry, though, I do clean the table regularly. If you are to have a meal with us, it would be cleaned and polished and you might just get a table cloth (or a placemat at least).

Well, this felt good. I typed a lot of the minutia which rambles through my brain. The cable guy is supposed to be here within the next 2 hours (Internet troubles, but of course, it's working fine now). I really wish I could cancel the appointment. My head is acting up and I don't feel like having a stranger in the house.

Thanks for reading.

Mish Mash

It's been a while since I've come here to let off steam. Let's see, first irritation is the town hall nonsense. I certainly hope this garbage will soon be over. What is wrong with people that they are so willing to go along with things which are so obviously against their better interests?

We need healthcare reform. The Repubs might claim they want it too but they didn't do anything about it when they were in power. So I tend to not believe them.

I've just gone out for my snail mail. There's some stuff in there I wish to peruse so I will have to continue this at a later time.

And on a different note...

I just finished watching HBO's "Grey Gardens". It is a movie based on the life and documentary of Edith Beale Sr and Jr. They're aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

It takes place in the very expensive area of East Hampton and Manhattan from the 1930s through the 1970s. It was more entertaining to me because of its location, I think. Although, eccentric people fascinate me.

Seeing Long Island in its splendor, albeit just some glimpses with the outdoor shots (which could've very well been photographed somewhere else completely) made me yearn for home.

Anyway, I've not the energy to complain about political issues today. So I just felt like expounding on this.

Sarah Palin, Redux

So she's given her 2 week notice. As of the end of this month, Sarah Palin will no longer be the governor of Alaska. From what I could extrude from the glop of goo coming out of her mouth, she cannot tolerate the "attacks" anymore. Plus, she is a lame duck (which must not be her style) and the media and bloggers were mean to her.

Lame duck, huh? I think this is very telling. If she were to run for another term as governor in 2010, then she'd not be considered a lame duck, would she? Of course, I'd like to bet Alaskans have seen the error of electing her and would never place her back in the governor's office. Yet, I can't imagine SP has this opinion.

So, calling herself a lame duck means she would not be pursuing a second term as governor. We all know how much she loved running for VP. Once you get a taste of the lower 48 it's hard to imagine retreating back to the frozen tundra.

I just read SP is threatening to sue an Alaskan for libel. This Alaskan is a blogger, a Huffington Post contributor and frequent source for MSNBC. Yup, she's a liberal. That's definitely the enemy camp. Those darn liberals can see things SP just can't. They have a remarkable ability to notice how many times SP has quit things (colleges, boards, and now a governorship). When things get tough, Sarah gives up!

I must say I am very disappointed. I enjoyed the superiority I felt to those who supported this woman. There are people who believe SP should be our next president! I can't imagine why. They claim she brings in crowds. Uh, yeah, but so does Britney Spears. Do you want her to be president, too? (I lifted that sentiment from another blog. I just can't remember which one).

Governor Mark Sanford

I've read and heard all the ups and downs of Gov. Sanford's disappearance and eventual return to South Carolina. He held a press conference and I watched it. Then I saw it in parts on many different shows the rest of the day.

Yes, he did wrong. What's worse, he's one of those holier than thou Republicans who has demanded that others, in similar situations, resign! And I agree to a certain point. If a political representative is whoring around I don't want him representing me. If he's managing his office and can keep his peccadilloes out of the public eye, then I guess I'm none the wiser.

What I saw yesterday was a man who was ill prepared for the press. That, along with the emails that were made public (between him and his lover) leads me to believe he is in love with this Argentinian woman.

Yes, his wife has stood beside him for 20 years. She doesn't deserve this. Yet, no one knows the condition of their marriage. It looks like he's planning on remaining the governor and trying to repair his marriage. That seems dishonest to me. I'd feel much better about him if he was honest. Told everyone that he loves this other woman and resigns from his office.

Yes, he has children. That is always the lynch pin in these matters. Perhaps he could arrange for his lover to move to the US (possibly with her children)? It's difficult, I know. After all, his wife knew about the affair, they split up with the idea that he'd get straight with his feelings. Why did he spend so long in Argentina or better yet, why did he go at all? I know I wouldn't trust he was over his affair if he just HAD to go there to break it off. No. I just detest forced reconciliations. They make me so uncomfortable.

Waaah, Waaah

What is wrong with Sarah Palin? No, I don't mean "I'm a liberal and she is my antithesis". I am serious. What the heck is wrong with her?

I just read about a satirical picture of her. It was originally of her holding her baby, Trig (lest you ever forget what one of her children's names is). The picture has been doctored so that a local conservative talk show host's face appears instead of Trig's.

It is obviously, to those of us with evolved brains, a commentary on how much this talk show host would love to be "cuddled" by the governor. It's called satire.

Well, as usual, Palin is whining. She claims the image is an iconic one showing the love between a mother and special needs child. She calls what was done DESECRATION! Isn't that word only used for sacred items and places?

This woman is a poor excuse for an adult. She doesn't understand satire. She blames President Obama for this "desecration" because it was done by a Democratic National Committee's official blogger in Alaska.

Just imagine. There was a chance, however slight, that this woman could've been our Vice President and, gulp, possibly our President. We dodged a bullet, a great big beehive hairdo bullet on that one folks.

The Right Wing Mentality

I have not been quick witted enough to put it into words. Glenn Greenwald, at Salon.com has done it for me. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/12/self_absorption/index.html

I agree profusely. The Right Wing is black or white, never any shades of gray. They don't empathize at all. They're just not right, I mean, correct.

This is why they're called 'Right' (gag)

Did you know that President Obama has failed? Yup, just 4½ short months after taking office, he has managed to ruin our economy, ruin our standing in the world by "apologizing" for the foreign policy mistakes made before he was inaugurated ('cause we know there weren't any mistakes), is currently ruining healthcare and what was he thinking by selecting Judge Sotomayor for the SCOTUS?

Former President Bush didn't send out tons of money to the financial sector. Obama did...and did so as quickly as possible. He must have made some promises to some bad actors on Wall Street. Our economy was swimming along just fine until President Obama lied to us and claimed that we needed to spend trillions and trillions of dollars to shore up our economy. He even had the audacity to claim we might fall into a depression similar to the one back in the 1930s! As if that could ever possibly happen again, LOL.

Then Obama proceeds to travel to foreign nations to apologize for our foreign policy of late. Doesn't he realize that Europe is permanently indebted to us for our aid in WWII? We saved their butts and they should be damn glad to be affected by anything our country does, such as starting wars or contributing to the economic condition of the world.

The Middle East should also be damn glad we stepped in to wrestle those weapons of mass destruction, er, um, to bring democracy to Iraq. We made a strategic point to ramp up our involvement in Iraq to make sure Saddam Hussein was removed from power and the citizens could bring him to justice. We'll get bin Laden, eventually. Our plan to allow enough time to pass that capturing bin Laden would be anticlimactic has worked out marvelously!

And this healthcare idea of his, what is he thinking? The people in this country, who have insurance, work darn hard for it. It's not our problem if some lazy people don't have it. They should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. We can't be expected to provide healthcare to all of our citizens! What first world country does that? The Constitution doesn't mention healthcare as one of our rights in this nation. It doesn't matter that health insurance was not even a concept when the Constitution was written. We should only do those things that our Founding Fathers deemed correct. After all, there's nothing more important that being a stagnant, unmoving country, which doesn't consider things outside the box. It's not like we have any people in place to ponder what really is suitable for our government to consider or implement.

And what's the deal with this racist, militant, vitriolic woman he has selected to be our next justice on the Supreme Court? She is a radical racist with aggressive tactics who obviously fooled people on her way through the educational system because she certainly couldn't have earned her Ivy League education and her position in her graduating class (not to mention her position on the Yale Law Review). Oh yes, there is something fishy going on there, for sure!

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Well, my tongue is now spasming for being in my cheek for this length of time. I am not a GOP admirer, duh. I am not a Democratic Storm Trooper, either (Star Wars reference, I do see the Dems' faults).

What I don't understand is how RW television and radio fans can really believe the tripe that is pumped into their ears. No one is as bad as they purport our president to be. Gosh, I hate to even type this but even GWB wasn't as bad as they claim our current president to be....well, he was close, but not quite.....

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President Obama was just on television explaining that he is trying to resurrect Pay as you Go. This plan worked for Clinton in the '90s and was dismantled. There are a number of financial institutions, which are prepared to repay taxpayers the bail out money they received, plus interest.

Good news!

Strange People

Maybe I am the strange one? There's a poster at the migraine discussion forum I frequent who, to me, seemed to lash out strangely about a doctor who posts at the forum. Then he lashed out at those who called him on it. Later he lashed out at most everyone, telling them they weren't as intelligent as him.

I took it upon myself to start a new thread to lambaste this guy. It was similar to a mother grabbing her toddler who was having a tantrum and smacking him on the bottom. This guy needed to be taken to task for the irresponsible comments he made.

Luckily, most of the other posters agreed with my take on things. I saw some later posts by this guy which seemed to be more rational and then out of nowhere, he seemed to blow a gasket again!

I'm done with this. He's obviously not a rational person but there's nothing I can do about it. I have stuck my nose in it enough. If someone else gets fed up with him, maybe the moderator will be contacted. Until then, I'm staying away from this guy. I will cross the cyber street to avoid being within ear shot of his nonsense.

Oh No! I Agree (somewhat) with Dick Cheney!!!

Dick Cheney supports same-sex marriage. There, I posted it. I wish that was all I had to do but my conscience forces me to examine this further.

It seems that this man may be human after all. I am not clearing him of a multitude of crimes against humanity but in this case, I think he's come to a fairly logical conclusion.

The only place I disagree is Cheney believes this is a states' issue; that marriage has always been regulated by the state. I feel this is a national issue. Marriage equality should be mandated in all states, at the same time. Whatever the rules are for hetero marriage in each state will be the rules for same-sex marriage. Now why don't people just ask me how things should be done (set up). I always have the right answers! LOL

In fact, we shouldn't call it same-sex marriage once it becomes legal. It will just be marriage like hetero-sexual marriage is just plain marriage.

Now, onto why Dick Cheney has come out (pardon the pun) with this opinion. I think he's felt this way for a very long time. It just wasn't politically expedient for him to express it.

He has a daughter, Mary, who is in a stable relationship with a woman and they have a child (I believe only one). I remember the very uncomfortable Vice Presidential debate in 2004 between Cheney and John Edwards. The topic was brought up. Dick didn't appreciate his daughter's life being discussed on national television. If only someone had told him that was likely to happen. He might have opted not to run for VP (wouldn't that have been wonderful?).

It was very obvious that Cheney didn't want to make any claims about rights for homosexual citizens. If he truly felt the same way the GOP has established their opinion on such matters, he would've said so. I am sure of it. He showed his hand there.

So, now, halfway into the year 2009, Dick Cheney has expressed a progressive opinion as his own. Is there hope for him? I doubt it. Is there hope for those people on the 'Right'? Yes, most definitely. If Dick can do it, so can they!

Right Wing Terror

No, it's not the Taliban but in some ways, it is worse. Here in the United States of America, we allow the Right Wing to bandy about phrases which hit the ears of fringe elements of our society. Then those fringe elements believe they are being called to take action.

Of course what I am speaking about is the heinous assassination of Dr. George Tiller on May 31st, as he was attending his church. What is so bizarre is the crime was committed by a man who purports to be a Pro-Life believer. What utter nonsense!

And what bastion of Right Wing criminality do I blame for some of this? Fox News. Bill O'Reilly has broadcast his opinion of Dr. Tiller's perfectly legal medical practice. He said the doctor had 'blood on his hands' amongst other trigger speech.

Randall Terry said George R. Tiller "was a mass murderer and, horrifically, he reaped what he sowed."

All of this rhetoric fuels the fire in the minds of the weak minded. The people who believe they are singled out to do something about it. We live in a land of free speech but it must be done with care and concern for the consequences. In fact, my "speech" here might fuel the fire of someone on the left to take action towards those who I deem responsible for this.

Alas, I don't have an audience of thousands listening to me as if I know all the answers. I do, but that is another topic for another day ;-)

Sonia Sotomayor

President Obama selected a self-made, Ivy League educated, highly experienced woman to the soon to-be-open position on the Supreme Court of the United States. What a responsible choice he made!

Of course, the GOP is bending over backwards trying to make political hay out of this decision. It would be much too much to ask them to admit our president made a fantastic choice. No, they can't do that. What would the "right" think?

There is a problem for the GOP, though. Ms. Sotomayor is a Latina and Hispanics are a large constituency the Republicans don't want to alienate. So the elected people of that party are not making any derogatory comments. They're allowing their almighty leader, Jabba the ..... oops, I mean Rush Limbaugh and his ilk to make them.

The Republicans are not man/woman enough to stand up and make negative claims against Ms. Sotomayor themselves. They're pretending to be upstanding, reasoned people while the loony bin of the Right shoots off their mouths.

In the end, it will all be for naught. Ms. Sotomayor, barring any unforeseen problems, will become a Supreme Court Justice. The Right will claim to have done due diligence in their interrogation of her. Then we can all hope for an additional SCOTUS retirement during Obama's tenure (preferably, a conservative's retirement).

Proposition 8

So California has determined that Prop 8 will remain in effect. Yet, the marriages which occurred prior to Prop 8 (I believe there are 18000 of them) will remain in effect. What the heck?

California has determined that same-sex marriage is not legal but the 18000 same sex couples, who married during the period of time CA did permit same-sex marriage, are legal. This is crazy.

I don't believe you can say no to one and yes to the other. It makes no sense. But go right ahead, California. I am sure this legal maneuver will make it much easier for someone to take this fight to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Then, hopefully, most assuredly (because nothing else makes sense) same-sex marriage will become legal in the United States of America for anyone who wishes to enter into it. Sanity will rule! Small minded, Bronze Age superstition will be put in its place!

I can't wait!

Abortion

Gallup has released a poll claiming a slight edge to the Pro-Life opinion. It's pretty much 51/49 give or take a few decimal points.

Why are we still posing this question? Roe V Wade was decided in 1973, a full 36 years ago. What other Supreme Court decisions are bandied about, decades later?

Oh wait, I am forgetting, this is the Right Wing we're discussing. They've been grasping at straws ever since an intelligent, well thought, reasoned person was inaugurated 4 months ago.

Roe V Wade should never have had to happen in the first place. The government doesn't belong in the decision making process between a woman and her doctor. Yet, they had to ram rod their opinion into the collective dialog. So now it is the law of the land. Be careful what you wish for, GOP.

Your followers need you to come up with some important, real opinions which help them and help to get you out of your exile. Rehashing the past is lame. Start proposing intelligent opinions for 21st Century situations.

Here are some suggested topics: Health Care, Equal Rights for All (same-sex marriage), The Economy. Now get on it. Time is a wasting!

Bad, Bad Atheists!

Archbishop of Westminster attacks atheism but says nothing on child abuse
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6334837.ece

<At the installation of the Most Rev Vincent Nichols at Westminster Cathedral, his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, described a lack of faith as “the greatest of evils” and blamed atheism for war and destruction, implying that it was a greater evil even than sin itself. After receiving the crozier marking the office, Archbishop Nichols, glitteringly vested in newly minted gold mitre and chasuble, also defended faith against the secular agenda.>>

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Atheists are evil doers. It's so blatantly obvious. (Just sweep that misunderstanding about Irish Catholic schools and their child abuse right under that carpet over there). Yes, that's better.....now back to those evil doing atheists.....

Pelosi

So now the Republicans are snickering with glee. They're pointing fingers at Nancy Pelosi, saying she didn't do anything to stop the torture! Isn't that an outright admission of torture right there? If I broke your window and denied it then Tommy chimed in claiming Nancy knew I had done it, does that make me less guilty? Yes, a tortured example but the best I can come up with off the top of my head (where my pain resides).

Dick Cheney

What's the deal with former Vice President Richard Cheney? He's all over the place! During the Bush administration, he kept a low profile. He was very secretive about his office and who visited him there. Now, we can't get him to shut up!

His latest foray was on Face the Nation (CBS) this morning. I didn't watch the entire interview. There's only so much crap a person can tolerate before changing the channel.

I did hear him proclaim that Colin Powell is a Democrat. He also wants the release of the memos which prove torture (particularly water-boarding) provided a benefit to our country (yeah, all 183 or some odd times, I suppose).

I have heard that the Republicans wish he would just shut up. He seems to be planting a bug in our ears so if we are ever attacked again, he can say "I told you so. We were much safer under the Bush years".

The man has a severe heart condition. He's a senior citizen. The terrorists are extremely patient. It will be a very long time before we have a Republican in the White House again. The Bush Administration made sure of that. Barack Obama is doing the right things to protect our country. Cheney won't be around if we are ever attacked again. I won't be around and I'm at least 25 years younger than him.

He's a burr in our collective saddle.

Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards has written a book, Resilience, and was recently interviewed by Oprah for her television show. I watched the interview but have not read the book (nor do I expect I will in the future).

What struck me as odd was the comment Mrs. Edwards made about her husband's possible paternity of the baby Rielle Hunter (the other woman) has. Mrs. Edwards stated even if her husband is the father, it will have no affect on her life.

Perhaps Mrs. Edwards is coming at this from the POV of not letting this baby's existence enter her mind or her life at this time. After all, she is battling a terminal case of cancer. She needs to concentrate her energy toward taking care of herself and her children.

Personally, I think she is fooling herself. If it turns out to be so, this baby will be the ½ sister of Mrs. Edwards' children. They will probably want to know their sister and she, them.

I fervently believe her comment might just come back to bite her. Rielle Hunter might decide a paternity test is worthwhile and she might want John involved in the baby's life. All this because of Elizabeth's comment that this won't affect her life in any way. Never say never.

My second problem with this family is how Mrs. Edwards stood up in front of the country whenever she could and professed the good character of her husband. All while knowing he had cheated on her on numerous occasions with a videographer who thought he was "hot".

He is not hot. A hot man doesn't go out behind his wife's back, especially a wife who is fighting cancer. There's no accounting for taste.