I know, this is 3 days late, but it's just too weird. Just when you think the world can't get any fricking stranger Dick Cheney shoots a 78 year old man in the face. And he was a friend of his. Then he has a heart attack (the victim, not Cheney), but it's just a minor heart attack (caused by the buckshot in his chest).
And then Cheney runs away back to his bunker. The first thing I thought when I heard that was that all of the hunters I used to know when I lived in Austin really liked to drink when hunting, somehow it made killing the little animals more fun. Listening to Randi Rhodes' show tonight, she and some callers actually suggested the idea that maybe that's why Tricky Dick went missing for like 18 hours afterwards. Either that or they were waiting a few hours to see if he was going to live before letting anyone know.
I have to admit I'm enjoying the (liberal) media's take on this. Jon Stewart actually took an International Foods Flavored Coffee break to 'celebrate the moment' (remember those commercials?), and David Letterman is on a big roll.
Honestly, what the hell else do we need to hear from these psychos before we turn on them? Brownie has been squirming and whining about being a scapegoat... Scott McClellan (another proud Texan, yea!) has been dodging reporters questions and actually walked out of the briefing Tuesday. Why do they think they can just not answer questions, ignore us and deny everything and they can get away with it?
Oh yeah, because it's been working for six years? I'd say I give up, but that's what they want us to do.
But it's hard to ignore 11,000 FEMA trailers all sitting together in a swamp in Arkansas rotting while the Katrina victims were all kicked out of their hotels this week. Especially when my very stable friend in New Orleans is mentioning asking her doctor for antidepressants because the daily hassle of fighting her mother's insurance company, the government inspectors, contractors and more is driving her crazy.
Speaking of the most depressing day of the year, what did Oprah choose to show that day - what you need to know about Bird Flu. Ok, I had my pencil and notepad nearby to take notes, and the only thing I wrote down was 'have five weeks of food and medicine stockpiled'.
Soooo... the expert she interviewed basically said in a nutshell:
a. This epidemic (or a similar one) is eventually going to spread all over the world
b. There will be no effective vaccine available in time to help anyone
c. The vaccines we have today are useless
and
d. There's nothing we can do about it and thousands, possibly millions of people are going to die.
Well crap, I guess that's actually an appropriate show for the Most Depressing Day. Poor Oprah, she honestly thought the guy was going to tell us something useful or slightly hopeful, even she looked depressed by the end of the show.
The show the day before was What You Need to Know About Terrorism, which was surprisingly more upbeat and hopeful. The three experts on that show actually saw a light at the end of the tunnel (and more eventual attacks), but living in America was actually estimated to be safer than living elsewhere in the world due to the fact that most Americans are still really defensive and pissed off about 9/11 and will beat the crap out of anyone that tries to light his shoe on fire in an airplane.
And personally, I haven't flown in years, I don't hang out in large crowds or particularly popular places, so my own chances of being blown up by a suicide bomber are pretty low. My husband and I are hermits, we like our home, it's a hassle to leave it, and we'd rather stay in most nights.
But the whole health scare, global pandemic thing does sort of freak me out because my immune system is shot already, and my doctors can't solve the seemingly simple problems (like reflux and allergy) that are making my life a living hell already, can you imagine what would happen in a real health crisis? Like New Orleans, only much bigger?
The only useful thing the Bird Flu guy did say is that we need to harrass the govenment and ask them to do something. I guess the 2006 elections will be a good start. I'd like to ask them to leave and let someone else try and fix their mess, anyone, my cat could do a better job...
A normal day in the French Quarter...
I spoke with my poor gypsy friend today, she only had a cell phone to communicate with and last time I spoke with her she was trying to conserve power because they had no electricity so I haven't called her in a few days. Turns out they were only out of power for like half a day, and Rita didn't damage her grandmother's house, which is where she, her husband, her baby, three cats, two cousins and now her brother and grandmother are all currently staying. Her mom and her aunt and uncle are still holed up in Shreveport with no word on whether their Beaumont home survived the storm or not. She's hearing that it may be possible for them to return to New Orleans soon, another brother of her's is actually going to fly in from Germany to help repair her mother's flooded house, he's an all around handyman guy also, which will be much needed because getting a contractor to do anything in New Orleans in 'normal' times is difficult enough.
On a good note, her baby is getting used to being driven all over the state and sleeping in different places constantly, so she apparently has her mommy's adaptability genes. For some reason my dad always marveled over how "adaptable" I was as a child when things went differently than expected, but I think I was just the peacemaker and hated to see anyone argue. I'm not at all adaptable compared to my friend Mary, she has so much stamina and has that Creole "life goes on" trait to the max, I really admire her for it. She's been learning to be a mom while having to travel with a newborn across two states. She and her husband are great travelers, though, Sparky and I are not. There are a lot of places I want to see... but the comfort of my home is very hard to leave. We both love our home, just give us our electricity, cable TV/internet, AC and running water and it's hard to find a reason to leave.
Some friend of ours in North Houston lost their power for four days, and got a lot of tree damage from the winds, they live in a heavily wooded area. They said it got so hot in their home that five of their fish died. We had actually anticipated losing our power at the very least, possibly the water also, but our neighborhood was virtually unscathed. There are rolling blackouts around the Houston area, which combined with an abnormal heat wave, is making life hell for a lot of people here.
I ventured out of the house tonight to drive to the ATM and make a deposit and took a quick tour of our area to see what was open. It looked like most businesses had opened back up, but I know a lot of them are still very understocked and understaffed. My dad is buddies with the manager of our local Kroger's and he told him that they tried opening up on Sunday for part of the day but had to close the store early because they were basically mobbed and ran out of food. I'm very glad I managed to get at least the basics (which thankfully didn't spoil from a power outage) so we still have milk, eggs, bread and way too many cocktail croissants (from Sam's Club). I noticed people were still driving semi-hysterically, and there were a lot of people walking (people won't walk here) so that was a little weird.
But we're already making our list of things to still get for the next storm, and there is a brand spanking new one brewing already. Can this one please go somewhere else, maybe to Mexico? Just give us a chance to pick up a little, get everyone back home and drain New Orleans again?
A disturbing theory about the New Orleans levee break had been rattling around my head, nothing is too strange to be true these days, and I did a Google search and apparently I'm not the only one who this grotesque idea occurred to.
After listening to the horsie man testify today, I'm about ready to believe anything about these evil bastards.
And I also heard tonight that for some strange reason that even though Governor Blanco asked for emergency assistance for the entire state, that Orleans and Jefferson Parishes (i.e. New Orleans proper) were not included on the President's emergency declaration, curiouser and curiouser...
One more note, FEMA ran a Hurricane exercise (Hurricane Pam) last summer anticipating a storm surge topping the New Orleans levees and their own report says they would have the situation all under control.
Some real horror stories from people stranded in New Orleans by FEMA... um, by Hurricane Katrina...
Escape from New Orleans, the harrowing tale of two San Francisco EMS workers in town for a convention
How We Survived the Flood by Charmaine Neville (yes, of the Neville family)
Rescue worker and evacuee diaries:
The Blog of a Socialist Worker's journey through the storm damaged areas
Dispatches from Tanganyika, New Orleans author Poppy Z. Brite's journal including her ongoing efforts to save her menagerie of 26 pets that had to be left behind at her house (14 recovered so far)
The Shattered Prayer, a very literate weblog of another displaced New Orleanian
Truth in Media... finally?
Comment on yesterday's post:
Eek -- that article about the Pope chilled me to the bone. I'm sure it's because the idea of it is in itself a revelation, so to speak; it rings so true, makes so much sense -- despite all rational thought to the contrary.The time has come, perhaps, to abandon all rational thought.
That's what we have come to... this is one of those situations that the emotional and illogical James T. Kirk must solve... Spock's logic is obviously not working. Maybe there is a great vampiric monster that feeds off of chaos and despair, just sucking up the emotions of the world. But so many in this world, especially in America, have just become emotionally dead instead of panicked and paranoid. Your mind and body can't stay on high alert forever, eventually you just go numb. I didn't use to be a conspiracy theorist but I've even wondered if maybe they put something in the Viagra, or the Prozac to numb us all, muddle our thinking and keep us quiet while they raped and looted the world right in front of us, and told us not to believe our own eyes and ears. That everything they're doing is "for our own good" and is necessary.
I'm a very literal, logical person.. I'm a Capricorn. I've always been that way. I'm not comfortable with high emotions, they fray my nerves and drain my energy. When someone does something seemingly irrational, I can almost always think of some motivation to explain "why" from their warped perspective. A lot of violence is motivated by anger, which often comes from fear. One of many reasons I thought I'd be good at law enforcement was because I could view things very objectively - dissect the emotions from the action and see past the immediate distractions. My Aquarian husband sees things through his emotions first, and always from his own point of view. He takes everything personally, and thinks other people react the way he does. Not a lot of grey in between. His perspective is actually the norm for most people, and is usually not the best way to deal with problems. I've spent my life seeking out the grey areas, but now I'm beginning to focus on the black and white ends of the spectrum, it's the only way I think I'm going to remain sane.
Sorry... I'm rambling. But the more I analyze the world of today, the more I'm realizing that the mess we're in right now really is a matter of black and white. And not skin color, but just basically good and bad. And the bad is going to destroy the white and all of the shades of grey if we don't do something to stop it. And it's so obvious what is going on. We need to believe our eyes and hearts and shut off the nagging voice in our heads that says "no one would let people starve... let people die... kill people... just for money and power". Yes, apparently they would.
The German people thought "no one would commit genocide in these modern times", but they did. As long as we keep believing "they wouldn't really do that" they'll keep doing it. As long as we let them. What have they got to lose? We need to refind our sense of righteous indignation and self-worth and learn to just say NO, you can't do that. And ignore all the distractions they are throwing at us to confuse and disorient us, just focus on the elephant behind the curtain.
And stop believing just because someone on TV says something is right, it must be (they must be smarter than us - they're on TV), when we KNOW it's wrong. We need to stand up for ourselves and not just nod and say nothing when we disagree. We still know what is right and what is wrong, and if we keep saying nothing and "going along" it won't make it better, it will just keep getting worse.
I've spent the night editing the scans I did the other night of my extra New Orleans postcards, I have over 50 of them... this one brings back memories of visiting with my parents, looking at it fullscreen just made me want to cry...
And the only logical theory I can think of to explain the insanity that's going on in our country is...
...the Neocons are actually evil cyborgs from Mars that are here to take over the planet.
No actual human being could behave like this during a time of such crisis, even accidentally.
Excerpts from today's New York Times op-ed article:
Almost as soon as the cameras began panning over the rooftops, and the helicopters began chopping free those trapped in their attics, a chorus of voices rose. "Why didn't they leave?" people asked both on and off camera. "Why did they stay there when they knew a storm was coming?" One reporter even asked me, "Why do people live in such a place?"Well, here's an answer. Thousands didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the vehicles. They didn't have any place to go. They are the poor, black and white, who dwell in any city in great numbers; and they did what they felt they could do - they huddled together in the strongest houses they could find. There was no way to up and leave and check into the nearest Ramada Inn.
I know that New Orleans will win its fight in the end. I was born in the city and lived there for many years. It shaped who and what I am. Never have I experienced a place where people knew more about love, about family, about loyalty and about getting along than the people of New Orleans. It is perhaps their very gentleness that gives them their endurance.
They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.
But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.
Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.
Royal Street at night.. click on the image to see the larger photo in a new window
I have lots of photos of New Orleans (B.K.) that I've taken over the last few years that I've been meaning to put up on the New Orleans page of my main website, so I'm going to post some here just to give myself something positive to do. I've also been meaning to change the focus of the page away from Anne Rice and more towards New Orleans in general. I haven't read an Anne Rice book in years (nothing personal, too busy), and the annual parties are (were) mostly very small private affairs that I did not attend. And Ms. Rice has finally moved away from her beloved NOLA (did she know something we didn't?).
People write me occasionally to ask me what to do, where to go in New Orleans, and want details on the disbanded fan club, but alas, I don't live there, I'm just one of the many people who worship the city. I grew up going on vacations there with my family, went there many times as an adult to visit, attended quite a few of the ARVLFC balls, and my best friend (who grew up in the area) moved back there at the turn of the century.
It's always been my dream to live there, I figured I'd probably move there when I was older and my family in Houston no longer needed me. I even considered joining the police department back during a solo 1989 trip, but the salary was so low it wasn't really a practical option.
To those of us who grew up on the Gulf Coast, this is our 9/11. Except imagine the buildings burning for days on end, instead of hours. People stood in the gaping, broken windows for five days, pleading and screaming for help... At least they have finally cleared the Superdome and Convention Center, that was just too heartbreaking to watch. Especially when celebrities and news crews didn't seem to have any problems getting in, but the government seemed to be completely baffled, as if they had never seen water before.
I've been listening to Cassandra Wilson's Belly of the Sun on repeat this evening, Songs like "You Gotta Move", "Darkness on the Delta" and "Shelter From the Storm" are even more poignant and moving than usual.
And an added note, before Sparky went to bed he was flipping channels and we saw Celine Dion's hysterical outburst on Larry King (I think she was also one of the few that spoke off script in the 9/11 concert, I'm not a fan, but I admire her heart), and Kanye West's complete comments from the Friday night Hurricane Concert. (Poor Mike Myers) But I must disagree, Dubya doesn't just hate black people, he hates all Americans (except the very elite, and those in the Federalist Society I suppose).
Latest hurricane Katrina news from my friends (I would have written last night, but I got deathly ill to my stomach, another story... bad food or just nerves?):
The hospital my friend's husband had gone back to work at decided with no electricity or water to evacuate the patients and close down. Her husband had been told that there was nothing left but rice and tomato sauce before he arrived, but when he got there the local police had gotten into a grocery store and they were having barbecues in the parking lot instead, so at least they had food to get by with. Armed guards patrolled the perimeters to keep away looters that were after drugs, he said several were persuaded to "turn back, and walk away" at gunpoint. Apparently, people were being allowed to walk across the Mississippi River bridge at first, but after a mall near the bridge was set on fire, through traffic was stopped.
So her husband has been reassigned to another hospital near the Louisiana/Texas border, and he was given an armed escort to their home in Uptown to retrieve his car, which had been left behind. There was no flood damage to their home, thank goodness, though the upstairs french doors had blown open during the storm and gotten some water had gotten in the master bedroom and dripped down to the kitchen below. The other side of the house had just been hand painted and stenciled, so fortunately it was undamaged. He secured the house once more, and headed his Land Rover back to Texas. After another nightmarishly long drive, 18 wheelers had run into each other on I10 in one of the wetland "no exit" areas in East Texas, he finally made it back to his wife and child and the safety of Beaumont. My friend Mary feels she is so incredibly lucky to have escaped the wrath of the storm without harm to her family or her home.
An interesting image he saw that hadn't made it to the AP newswire - a woman walking through the floodwaters in a full-length mink coat carrying an automatic rifle (apparently Sak's was looted before it was burned down). Also the story that guns were stolen from a Walmart by looters is untrue, the police actually removed the guns before the store was looted.
Also per my friend, while Dubya was getting his photo op at the New Orleans airport, all other (i.e. rescue) activity was brought to a halt. People were dying stuck on the runway while he chatted and waxed nostalgic about the Big Easy.
From the truly horrifying end of the spectrum - a friend of my husband's had called and left a message last Sunday that he had gone to the Superdome to wait out the storm. He is unfortunately (fortunate in retrospect?) basically homeless and was actually planning to come back to Houston over the last few weeks because of the difficulty of keeping a job in New Orleans. He called this afternoon to report that he was now in Fort Worth, where he was ironically evacuated to after spending what he describes as a week in Hell inside the dark, damp and violent Superdome. He said (these are his words alone) he had seen people killed in fights right in front of him, seen people urinating on the dead bodies that were strewn about, he said he'd never really been around dead people before, but they were everywhere. He hadn't eaten or slept in may days, but he had helped out when the rescuers did come, and had been finally put on a bus to Texas, where he stated they "were treating him very well" now. My husband and I had been seriously wondering about his fate, because he is also one of those people who tends to say the first thing that comes out of his head, and had gotten in arguments and fights regularly here in Houston. But he is also a NOLA native, so apparently some survival instinct to keep his mouth shut must have kicked in.
Today's news (OK technically yesterday)...
Word came early this morning that my friend's house in New Orleans seems to still be OK. A co-worker of her husband drove through the area and said it looked like the house had not sustained any water or major storm damage. Her husband has been unable to actually get to the house himself, he is currently staying at the hospital he works at in Gretna.
At 11 pm Thursday the Astrodome had apparently reached capacity and the emergency management people decided they weren't going to let any more of the waiting bus passengers in. Somehow they had not counted correctly and realized they were over their fire code limit (which is nuts because the stadium has held over 75,000 people). Bad move, people started freaking out. The local news stations came back on the air, their poor hapless reporters wandering the parking lot, asking the poor police officers what was going on. Cameras were no longer allowed inside because of the chaos, already one person has died (of natural causes supposedely), and several were arrested (men sneaking into the women's shower areas).
Then they decided 'OK, they can come in, we'll figure something out' and began slowly letting the evacuees in again... after searching them and sending them through a mock triage. One of the doctors that was volunteering grabbed one of the newspeople and begged for more medical help, he says many of the doctors who were supposed to be there had not shown up, but there were some Baylor medical students there. It was announced that part of the precious new Reliant exhibition hall would be opened up for the overflow. And I guess the rest of the people will go on to San Antonio and Dallas. What a mess...
Dubya flew over the hurricane devastation (and waved?) from a plane (don't blink) and pointed out that a church was still standing. Down on the ground it was Escape from New York, oops, New Orleans. Groups of stranded NOLA residents were actually chanting on TV tonight "Help Us, Help Us"! But he did have to finish up his golf before leaving for Washington. Speaking of "Escape" maybe someone could toss him into the melee like in the movie, see if he loses more than an ear.
Meanwhile, Condi is actually out buying new Ferragamo's (I guess she's not planning on going anywhere damp anytime soon). And U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) was quoted by the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., saying it makes no sense to rebuild New Orleans where it is. "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." he said. Yeah, that's the spirit, bulldoze it and build condos! Or maybe Walmarts and Starbucks cafes. To hell with all that history and beauty. And the beautiful people who have lived there for many, many generations.
I can't think of those idiots anymore... they make my head hurt with their complete lack of empathy. My husband was asking aloud why the government hadn't done anything more to help... because THEY DON'T CARE! Maybe if it was a bunch of young blonde, upper class white girls. (Quick, somebody toss one in... then they'll have to go find her)
Last thing, a charity called Noah's Wish is in Louisiana trying to save some of the lost and injured pets that were left behind and misplaced from the storm. So next time you pet your dog or kitty, think of all the homeless ones on the Gulf Coast and give them a couple of bucks. And be glad you're warm and clean and dry.
Wow, here's a quick little flash movie that tells it like it is, good work!
I had so many things I was going to write this week, it's my vacation, my birthday in a few days, my brother's birthday is New Year's Day, and my dad turned 76 last weekend. But then all thoughts of Christmas cheer and birthday shopping frenzy were overshadowed by the Asian Tsunami, it's so unbelievably tragic it's hard to think of anything else. Everything else seems so superficial and selfish when you consider what millions of people on the other side of the world are going through right now. The projected death toll crossed the 135,000 mark today.
Please at least give a donation to one of the groups trying to provide relief to survivors and families of the victims, I gave to Oxfam, which is not getting an Amazon plug like the Red Cross. Here's MoveOn.org's synopsis of their efforts:
Click here to donate, or here to read more about their organization. But please give to at least one of the groups, it's the very least we can do.
Also see Careusa.org and RedCross.org to help. And beware in advance of the soon to come spam emails claiming to be collecting for this disaster, you know they're coming. Never click on an email link, you can double check reputable organizations through the media websites, CNN has a long list here of places to safely donate.
OK, I must have just listened to (from my office where I can hear but not see the TV, I do that when I have to actually go right back to work after dinner) Friday's Countdown on MSNBC so I didn't catch the joke that he was going on vacation this week. Really, he should have made an announcement and said "I won't be here next week so please don't flip out, I'll be right back". It freaked me out when a woman started doing the voiceover for his show tonight, Sparky and I were both like "Where's Keith?". But early in the show there was an inserted video of Keith saying "I swear, I'm just on vacation", which was a smart thing to do. And when you think about it from business terms, he's been working his ass off all year with the election, so logically (had everything turned out correctly) this would have been a perfect week to take a vacation. But he is still dutifully doing his blog (or at least we're told it's him, hmmmm).
But of course, things didn't work out correctly, and now all the rats are jumping off the Neocon ship, and even nastier rats are climbing on. Randi Rhodes was gone two days last week also, for female problems and a one day vacation herself, so it does make one a little nervous. Especially after Phil Donahue just disappeared into thin air last year (Phil, where are you now?).
Speaking of Phil's, I also missed all but the last glimpse of the clip on Jon Stewart tonight with Dr. Phil's patronizing platitudes about how well democracy is working now (I was in the garage doing laundry, oh well). He's from Texas, and apparently much more of an optimist than he pretends to be. Or high, or just part of the whole rght wing takeover of the media. I haven't been watching him much this season, one dysfunctional family after another, and I've been to the little Texas town he's focusing on this season as being one of the worst places to live, it's a few miles outside of Houston. I went there for a fireman's benefit picnic in the 80's, got to help direct traffic, and ended up with a bunch of fire ants in my car (discovered the hard way on the drive back).
But I've got to go to bed early today, Sparky was talking to his mom the other day about his making a will and how I had to legally change my name to be on it. I don't, BTW, we really did get married. I want to keep both my last names, but I don't want a hyphen, I did the hyphen thing with my last husband, it's annoying. So I get to drive down to the local Social Security office this afternoon with all of the proper paperwork and try and add a fourth name to the end of my name. Should my maiden name be a middle name? I've changed most of my things like doctors and prescriptions over to my married name anyway, I don't want to confuse them even more by having a hyphen in my name. And Sparky's last name is much easier to tell people and spell. My maiden name has, gasp... an X in the middle of it, just freaks people out. Seriously, it's two syllables but it might as well be in Greek letters, they cannot pronounce or spell it. But I want to keep it, there's only a few of us left.
But speaking of rats, hasn't this last week or so been a whirlwind of weirdness? Arafat drops dead ("I'm not dead yet!", Monty Python reference), oops, not, then he's in a coma... OK, now he's gone. No official cause of death given (someone hinted he might have been poisoned, the timing sure makes sense, I dunno. All of Dubya's people (either in fear of prison or of burning in hell) have been fleeing. And Condi's getting a promotion?? WTF?? At least they found Scott Peterson guilty, maybe we can stop hearing about him on an hourly basis now. At least until he's found beaten to death in a prison bathroom...
Off to bed, crap - I've got wet clothes in the dryer I've got to hang in the bathroom still... I want one of those big $1000 dryers with the cabinet on top for hanging and folded clothes, I've got too many cotton things.
Lots of things you can do to help stop the madness without even having to get out of your chair...
More urgent news relating to the voter fraud investigation (yeah! MoveOn.org is finally getting involved!)
Questions are swirling around whether the election was conducted honestly or not. We need to know -- was it or wasn't it?
If people were wrongly prevented from voting, or if legitimate votes were mis-counted or not counted at all, we need to know so the wrongdoers can be held accountable, and to help prevent this from happening again. That's why we believe that:
"Congress must investigate the integrity of the voting process in the 2004 election."
In the news today Kerry and his people have also been taking an interest in Ohio, and the New Hampshire investigation is under way. (I'll take back everything I ever said about Ralph Nader if he can use his position as a candidate to force the states to investigate this mess).
Almost singlehandedly keeping the ball rolling in the media:
Organizations in need of urgent help to keep the investigations going:
And there's a huge and very simple "to write to" list here with links and everything, all you've got to do is click and email :-)
When I woke up yesterday, I had this really bright idea... I was going to take a little image of the US and superimpose a black mourning ribbon that said "2004" on it and make a little JPG that people could put on their websites to represent how most of the US really feels. And make a little page they could link to explaining what it meant. But the more the day went on, the more I realized that instead of mourning, we need to act. Do something right now before all of this Enron accounting we call our Presidential election has been run through the shredders.
So instead, I've been trying to think of ways to get involved in trying to fix, or at least expose the truth about this election. If you watch the mainstream "liberal" media, they're all trying to cover their own asses and say that the exit polls must have been wrong, and that the majority of Americans really don't want a chance at health insurance, jobs and peace. No, they're more concerned with whether two gays can get married. That is just SO wrong, on so many levels. I know there is a little cult of Bushies out there that would kill for him in the name of God, but I really don't think the majority of Christians in America are mindless robots.
And for some reason even intelligent, educated people are completely thrown by the fact that computers counted the votes, and computers can't be wrong.... NOT!! It's like the OJ DNA thing, "whoa, science...". That's crazy, even if you have had just casual contact with computers you should know they screw up all the time. And if you've ever gotten a computer virus from an email or a shared disc (does anyone use floppies anymore?) you know easy it is for even one idiot to screw up the system. Imagine what a group of computer savvy corporate jerks could do with millions of dollars and giant corporations behind them.
So I'm with Randi Rhodes, I don't care if people think I'm nuts, I want all of these damned machines examined. There is a group dedicated to doing this already and they are trying hard right now, starting with challenging the election results in New Hampshire, where the variance in the exit poll and the electronic voting tallies are so opposite that it will make your head hurt (click here to see an example graphic comparing exit polls in states with paper ballots compared to those with electronic ballots)
We really don't have to just lower our heads and concede that intelligent Americans are outnumbered by brainless cult members. And we don't need to move to Canada. What makes you think you'd be safe in another country when the US is on an Empire-buuilding rampage? And we can't wait another four years to start thinking about the next election. If they fixed the last two elections, don't you think they already have 2008 all planned out? We don't have to be polite, we need to be demanding AND constructive. So if you can't do anything else, at least go to Black Box Voting.org (the .org NOT the .com people, they're some sort of lookalike scam) and give them the couple of bucks that you might spend on latte or a magazine today to help them with their cause. They've been tracking electronic voting problems since the last "election". The discussions I've heard today even state that some of the voting machines were programmed to start counting BACKWARDS when Kerry's totals reached 50%. I live in Houston, I had friends that worked for Enron, we've seen what can be done to deceive us before, especially if we don't expect people to answer our questions.
And while you're in a mood for justice, sign the petition at Impeach Bush.org (Crap! I just clicked this to check my links, and it says "Site Temporarily Unavailable", here comes Big Brother...)
P.S. The masks are coming off of some of the extreme Neo Cons (and just conservative bullies in general), they seem to feel like they don't even have to pretend to be nice to us anymore. If you don't believe it, watch the re-broadcasts of Bill Maher's last show for the season on HBO this week. He did a live satellite interview with Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson (R - Wyoming) who went off on him like Zell Miller before he could get two words out. (Interesting threads here and here. It was really quite scary, reminds me of stories my dad told me about growing up in small town Texas during the Depression and how his mom would beat the crap out of him every day for his own good (to make him a better person, my dad is a saint, BTW), and let any of the neighbors beat him too if they thought he needed it.
So if you don't mind old coots and pumped up religious fundamentalists going off on you and whacking you with a stick for "your own good", do nothing. Or move to Canada...
More proof:
Glitch gave Bush extra votes in Ohio
I was a big student of Weimar Germany growing up, and as a psychology buff was fascinated with how the people "let" Hitler rise to power and get as far as he did so quickly. A large part of it was that no one believed that a "civilized person" would actually do the things he did, but we've seen in the last four years how fast a "civilized country" can be deceived. At least Hitler did not do it under the guise of religion, but instead preyed on the anger and frustration of a once proud country who had gotten their asses kicked in WWI and were now destitute and had been forcibly humbled by the winners. So Hitler promised, pride, prosperity and power to the embittered German people. Then when he got the ball rolling, he relied on fear and threats to keep people in line.
My parents had lived in Germany while my dad was in the service during the occupation after WWII and I grew up with their stories of the people (and bitter cold, frozen toilets). And for the last 40 or so years there has been a picture frame collage full of discarded Nazi coins hanging in my parents den over the TV. They picked them up literally out of the streets because they were worthless after the war and had been discarded in disgust by the German people.
A really well known psychic once told me (without knowing my fascination with WWII era Europe) that my last past life ended in the 1930's in France when the Nazis invaded and I was targeted because I was a loud-mouthed opponent of the Nazi party who worked somewhere in the entertainment or media field and apparently people listened to me so I was one of the first to be taken out. (The Randi Rhodes of WWII, perhaps ;-) I don't know if I believe it, but when she told me it made me cry because it really rang true. And I've spent a large portion of my life trying to protect and warn people, and honestly speak my mind. Now I just do it from the internet instead of in a uniform with a patrol car...
When I was studying German language in high school, our teacher also worked a lot of history into the lessons. One of the things that stuck in my mind was a short verse by Martin Niemoller, which seems really appropriate for this bizarre mindset we're sinking even deeper into now. I was worried that after the election (and a Kerry victory) that the country would go back to being apathetic instead of vigilent, but we don't have that luxury anymore...
Sparky woke me up this morning to tell me Kerry was about to give his "concession speech". I honestly got the same feeling I did when he woke me up to tell me an airplane had flown into the World Trade Center. Really. I'm not exaggerating. And yes it's a fair analogy, thousands of people have died because of the insane group of people that are running our country.
And poor Sparky. OMG, he's been so fatalistic all day. He actually believes that the country actually agrees with the fundamentalist psycho fear mentality that we are living under. He almost made me believe it. But I don't, I can't, I honestly don't believe the majority of America is that stupid and superstitious. I can't believe people stood in the rain for seven hours to keep the country exactly the way it is. No jobs, no healthcare, people dying daily in a fake war, a fascist monarch regime... I'd lose my mind it I actually believed that. I'm the one who can't watch movies without questioning "how could they do that?" "why would they react that way?". I'm too logical, it drives Sparky nuts, I just have a great deal of difficulty turning my brain off, even to watch a movie.
I'm not a conspiracy nut, it's just so fricking obvious from the results THAT THEY CHEATED! If you know ANYTHING about computers, you know it's not hard to do rig the stupid things. And they would do anything, including starting a war for no good reason, to stay in power. I'm even wondering if they had something to do with the Osama video ('you won't be safe no matter who wins') I worked in the middle of the corporate greed and power trip in the 90's so I saw it all up close and personal. And it scared the crap out of me.
I'm listening to the rebroadcast of Randi Rhodes on Air America right now and she is expressing the righteous anger and disbelief that I know a huge portion of the country is feeling. She really is a goddess, she's been fighting for our rights since the 2000, she lived in Florida in 2000 and experienced the voter fraud personally. She gives me hope and keeps my brain focused. I'm looking at the little sticker I put on the side of my scanner, which I pulled off my tee shirt when I got home yesterday that says "My vote counted", it's making me nauseous. Sparky pulled our yard sign down and ripped all of the stickers off of both of our cars before I woke up today. I really wanted to keep mine. I still have an unused one, thankfully it's still on my desk...
There is already so much evidence of vote tampering it's making my head spin:
More purging of voters in Florida
25 million NEGATIVE votes pop up in Youngstown, Ohio
We've got to do something to change this screwed up system. Now. They knew that it was almost all going to be untraceable, as did John Kerry apparently when he gave up. My father was speculating on the potential for future civil unrest and violence because of the frustrations of this mess. If we thought it was bad before, we ain't seen nothing yet. And the intelligent MAJORITY of this country now has to spend another four years fighting apathy, stupidity and fear.
And I was really, really looking forward to just the POSSIBILITY of things like health insurance, the return of common sense, a decent economy and possibly world peace.
One last attempt to help this mess before bed, I was reading the thread of fired up, frustrated and pissed off Dems on Democratic Underground and one of the ideas listed was to donate to Kerry's Legal fund so I forked over some more money. I'm self-employed with bad health and no insurance so if I can donate something towards this cause a lot of you kids can too. I've been giving since the Dean days whether I could afford it or not, despite my husband's comments that I was "wasting my money" and I haven't regretted a dime of it. And I'm VERY glad both of our boys are lawyers, it can't hurt.
Now another attempt at going to bed, Ambien take me away...
Well, after a completely sleepless night/morning, Sparky woke me up at 9:30 in hopes we could hit our voting place in between rushes. And we did, it was like 20 minutes total, as opposed to most of our friends who voted early and faced long, slow lines (one friend was over 90 minutes). We actually stopped by our early voting station last Thursday and decided to wait and vote on election day because of the slew of people that were waiting. But then I'm in Texas, where no one cares enough about our vote to bother with us (hopefully), and in other states people are spending 6 and 7 hours waiting.
But alas, patience is going to be a huge factor again it seems. Here we go again, hopefully with different results this time, this time perhaps ALL of the ballots will actually be counted. There are already allegations of voter fraud in, of course, Ohio and Florida, which is really apparent because those are the only two states where the results of the exit polls are way off (in Dubya's favor, imagine that).
Black Box Voting also issued a warning on 11/1 for polling places to disconnect their modems and manually bring the boxes in to be counted because they had evidence of hackers targeting the central computers counting our votes.
There's definitely something fishy going on, all of the millions of new voters did not register to keep Dubya in office. That goes against logic, though the Neocons whole campagn is completely at odds with logic. But here at 2am, Ohio voters are STILL standing in line to vote (yes, really), so everyone hang in there. As John Edwards said this evening, we've waited four years, we can wait another day. Or eleven...
I'm still up listening to Air America, which is helping to keep me sane. Sparky is passed out and snoring thankfully. It's been really hard trying to keep both his and my spirits up for the last four years, and he spent most of the evening watching MSNBC, who like Fox, are calling states early in favor of Dubya again. On the other hand Dan Rather is being the cautious, pragmatic one (he actually learns from experience unlike our current administration who proudly repeat their mistakes).
I'm glad I decided to take a semi-break from eBay this week, it's going to be difficult to concentrate until this is all sorted out. And somehow I don't see hordes of people shopping this week, unless it's out of manic depression (I've binged financially that way myself, especially after 9/11). But I've got lots of little mindless, comforting things I can do this week... take photos of things to get ready to list, I've got a whole file cabinet worth of stuff to sort and two new boxes of pretty colored files and my new Brother P-Touch to make legible labels (my handwriting is anything but legible). Unfortunately, Phoebe thinks an open file cabinet is an invitation to explore, I've actually closed her inside twice now which scares the crap out of me. She's been sensing the rising tension the last few days and has been extra snuggly and attentive.
Just heard of a website set up to keep everyone updated on the misadventures of this election and to help frustrated voters take action. Thank Al Gore for the internet, to give us immediate access to this constantly changing world and not making us slaves to the networks...
Double check your polling place, look in your local newspaper or click here
And courtesy of the Democratic National Committee:
VOTER BILL OF RIGHTS Know Your Rights | Exercise Your Right to Vote
Voting is the most direct way for you to affect your government - don't let anyone deprive you of this precious right! Read through the list below and be aware of your rights before you go to the polls, and use the information below if you encounter any harassment or intimidation.
:: You are entitled to vote without being harassed or intimidated by anyone.
:: Bring personal identification with you to the polls (driver's license, government ID, bank statement or utility bill).
:: If you forget your ID, you can still vote. In some states, all you need to do is sign an affidavit. In others, you can vote by provisional ballot.
:: If records show you have moved, you can vote by signing an address confirmation.
:: If you are in line at the polling place before the polls close, you can vote.
:: You have the right to receive a demonstration of voting equipment before voting.
:: If you are disabled or are over the age of 65, you have the right to an accessible polling place and help in voting.
:: If anyone challenges your right to vote :
Ask for the name of the person who is denying you the right to vote and write it down.
Ask to talk to a supervisor and lodge a complaint.
OK, quick catch up for all the stunning news of the past few weeks I've been too busy to blog:
Ann Coulter attacked by two men armed with custard pies (hee hee)
Minnesota woman writes the names of all of the coalition soldiers killed in Iraq on her car
Oh, that's why Dubya looked odd from behind in the first debate... was he hearing voices?
Iran endorses Dubya (hint, hint...)
Or... trade crack for new voters (?)
The Red Sox win, fan killed accidentally during celebration
And, oh yeah, Bill O'Reilly is a pervert (who knew?)
Clyde Peterson's eerily accurate vision of Cheney from today's Houston Chronicle
Update on bizarro world this evening when I get up, I'm tired of fighting with the computer for this evening and it's really been an "alternate universe" last week or so...
I saw this on the local news this evening, the latest scare tactic, guard your children!
What interesting timing... hmmmm...
I thought the flu vaccine thing would be the big panic for this week...
One more bragfest about my husband, yesterday Sparky got motivated and called the Harris County Democratic Party to find out where he could get a yard sign. We've literally had dozens pop up in our neighborhood after the Dubya/Kerry debate, I'm feeling better about my neighborhood. One entire street has Kerry signs (and one lone Bush sign). The Republican across the street finally put his Bush sign up (right next to his giant US flag).
So he called and found there was an office in the middle of our local gang infested mall (which we both worked at back in the 80's when kidnappings and murders were a pretty regular occurrence), which we try not to go to even though it's the closest major mall. But he waded through the ne'er-do-wells that were hanging out in the free AC and found the Dems kiosk. He got two yard signs, a couple of more stickers and their last button. We only put one sign out because I keep reading that people are rampantly stealing and defacing signs for both parties this year. So I can now sit at my desk and see the sign from the front window, I'm happy.
On a similar note, when I was flipping through the post VP debate reviews last night I decided to look for a breakdown of the truths and lies and typed in factcheck.com (I swear I didn't hear Dick say that it must have been some sort of subliminal thing), and it bounced me to George Soros.com (where the banner is "Why We Should Not Re-elect President Bush"), which I thought was strange at the time. Watching the clips today on TV I heard Cheney had actually told people to go to "factcheck.com" to verify one of his lies, which is not even the correct web address, so FactCheck.org deliberately forwarded the .com URL to George Soros' anti-Bush site after Cheney's miscomment. And they put up a rebuttal saying they did not support his statements about Halliburton.
Also apparently the RNC said something rude about Chris Matthews post-debate comments about Cheney's lies so he attacked them right back this evening. Real smart guys, attack an attack dog who had been tentatively defending you, go get 'em Chris! This is getting to be fun...
John and Teresa Kerry are on Dr. Phil today, check it out!
I wonder if Dr. Phil will bring up teenage oral sex with them? (That's the only part of the Dubya interview I would have liked to have seen ;-)
Quotes from Dr. Phil after the interview:
I wish I was perkier tonight, I'm on meds for a really bad UTI and it's been making me groggy...
Sparky and I watched the boardroom meeting from Hell tonight (shudder). If Dubya is the Anti-Christ then Cheney is obviously Satan. He just reeks evil... he can't even raise his head to look people in the eye. What's with these guys? They have terrible posture, Cheney was sitting there slumped over with no neck like Jabba the Hut, lashing out like a lizard to hiss at Edwards, ignoring any questions or comments he deemed unimportant.
Even our cat felt the evil in the air, she was going bonkers while we were watching TV, just freaking out, bouncing off the walls and attacking things. Animals can sense things, you know...
Cheney looks just like the last big corporate jerk I worked for, he creeps me out. The few boardroom meetings I had to attend were exercises in staying awake, in the big vacu-sealed, over air-conditioned, shadowy boardroom where the walls seem to absorb all the sound... in space, no one can hear you scream... sorry, I digress...
I actually dozed off twice tonight, Cheney has that corporate hypnotism chanting thing down pat. It's impossible to pay attention to what he's saying. He started to bare his fangs early in the debate, but then he went back to his dead poker face. Several times they also showed some behind shots of the interviewer leaning back in her chair staring at Cheney like he had horns growing out of his head. And I swear to God he slipped in at least two more Armageddon threats tonight.
OK, it should be painfully obvious to everyone now who is really running the country... I am looking forward to Friday night, it supposed to be a town hall format. Hopefully there won't be too many Neocon plants in the audience. I wonder if they allow applause will there be boos also? I just want to see the baffled look on Dubya's face when he doesn't get the pep rally reception he's used to.
The Washington Post has a good article on the debate and FactCheck.org has the reality breakdown. As a David vs. Goliath match, I thought David showed amazing courage and got quite a few blows in.
Still too wound up to sleep...
Is it just me or did Dubya look like he's gained some weight? Sparky noticed it too, in the shots from behind he looked awfully wide. Maybe because he was slumping so much... Hmmm, Randi Rhodes read off some of the 32 page list of rules last night and one of them was they couldn't photograph them from behind, makes sense now.
He also looked really freaked out that people weren't cheering after his every sentence. Didn't anyone tell him this audience hadn't signed an oath of loyalty? Does he even realize that a lot of people don't like him? If he doesn't read the newspapers perhaps he doesn't.
I kept waiting for him to either:walk off the stage, start choking or having a feigned heart attack, or shout out "I wanted to be baseball commissioner, dammit!".
Was he sedated? Maybe that's why he's gained weight. They're keeping him drugged like in the Nazi episode of Star Trek.
And poor Rudy Giuliani trying to defend Dubya's performance. It was just sad. How do these poor guys sleep at night?
I've seen some threads running tonight that claim the Democrats are manipulating the online polls, isn't that what the Republicans are good at? Aren't they supposed to be the masters of media manipulation? Oh, and voting manipulation? It's common knowledge that they plant people at Democratic rallies, feed the press negative stories, line up to call in to radio talk shows disguised as non-partisan types, etc. How on earth could we beat them at their own game? Are they all asleepl? Or are they busy banging their heads against the wall? Surely they've been revved up and ready for tonight. They sure were on the ball when 9/11 happened, they jumped right on that bandwagon without a pause.
But we've seen the end of the post 9/11 faux-patriotic momentum tonight. Americans are angry, we're tired of being manipulated and lied to. We want peace, education, health care. We want the truth. We want our country back.
Maybe Ralph Nader will be so shocked by tonight's debate he'll step down. Hopefully his supporters will at least see why we need a new President.
I hope Oprah's Voting Party got people to watch the debates. She made the audience cry, that's a good start.
I'm going to go flip through the debate transcript while my memory is fresh. OMG, there were so many good (and horrific) soundbites tonight. I wonder if they corrected Dubya's grammar, I hope not. Damn Jim Lehrer did a great job.
Whew, now that my initial reaction has been captured untinged, I've spent the evening basking in Air America and flipping through weblogs. And I've been checking out & voting in the online polls, please go and cast your opinion too and see what people really think before the spin doctors try and salvage their loss. I've made it through most of them and the consensus across the board here at 2am is Kerry 76% and Bush 24%. EVERYWHERE! Even here in Texas... it would be nice to think my vote might actually count this November. Some of the polls have Kerry winning by over 90%. Sparky is so happy, I actually showed him quite a few of the polls so he would actually believe that America is coming out of it's coma.
The only scary opinion expressed this evening is one I've worried about also, what are the powers currently in charge going to do to try and swing public opinion back in their favor? Perhaps another terrorist attack on US soil? I wouldn't put it past them, seriously. Or are they going to sell their stocks and try to get out before they start losing money in this corporation they've created? I've been imagining for some time that this whole evil empire was going to self-implode like Enron. They'll turn on each other, no one wanting to take the blame for the criminal and financial mess they've made. And tonight we've seen their sacrificial lamb - poor Dubya will be the one thrown to the wolves. And he's too dumb to defend himself. He's actually lucky that we still do have some semblance of Democracy left or he'd be dangling over the village square by a rope tonight like Mussolini, with the angry throwing rocks at him and beating him with sticks.
The last thing Sparky said before he went to sleep tonight was "now we can put our Kerry bumper stickers on our cars". So there is hope, don't let anyone tell you there isn't. Believe your own eyes and ears, let this be remembered as the day America woke up. Our country has been off course, asleep at the wheel. We can wake up and keep from hitting the brick wall, it's not too late.
Well, thank you goddess! Sparky and I watched the debate tonight, and yes, the Emperor really has no clothes! It's been proven. And thank goodness also that the networks actually showed the reaction shots (which they weren't "supposed" to per the 32 pages of rules) and we got to see Kerry taking studious notes while Dubya swigged water, rolled his eyes, slumped on the podium and flipped his piece of paper back and forth (which appeared to be covered in doodles).
And miraculously, the pundits even seemed to agree that Dubya was nervous, defensive, repetitive and completely inarticulate. Though he does seem to have practiced saying nuclear, after a pause and deep breath he even managed to say "nuclear prolification". But he did say emeny instead of enemy. Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews even agreed that Dubya was seemed the annoyed monarch who did not want to be there and is unaccustomed to being questioned. My husband was so worried, not that John Kerry would do badly, but that Dubya would beautomatically be proclaimed the winner because that mean old smart guy was picking on him. That's how he won Texas, because Ann Richards (who was a wonderful governor, BTW) picked on "poor George".
Once again, can I make a plea - can we PLEASE have the smart, well spoken guy for President?? Please??? I don't want the average Joe Blow running our country, I don't want the "everyman" in charge, I want the smart guy who is going to plan things out before he acts. Running the largest nation in the world requires a lot of knowledge, education and experience. Here's an analogy to chew on - If you were going on a car trip and were bringing your family along, do you want to ride with the guy who never passed his driver's license test, who is prone to road rage and spent the first part of his life drinking to excess and snorting coke or would you rather ride with the responsible guy who reads the maps before he goes somewhere and would never drink and drive? Because that's where we are America, we've been riding with the road raging cowboy and we're out in the middle of nowhere and the other drivers won't get near us because they're afraid of OUR driver. But now he's finally running out of gas and hopefully soon won't be able to harm anyone else. We're going to take the keys away from him.
So we're both taking sighs of relief, and I have a feeling even the propaganda masters in the GOP won't be able to salvage this disaster. I do not want to wake up tomorrow to headlines that say "Bush Won Debate". If the media does not want to lose all of their credibility they will play it straight on this debate. Kerry slaughtered Bush. And Kerry answered everything clearly, succinctly and in plain language. Meanwhile Dubya interrupted, ran over in time), and kept raising his hand to object though when called upon he often had nothing to say. Except that the country needed someone who didn't change positions. Who didn't play well with others. And who refused to learn from or even acknowledge his mistakes.
And there are two more debates left... And next week is Edwards vs. Darth Cheney. This is going to get bloody.
But seriously, I REALLY want the smart guy to win this time. Will everyone get off their butts and vote this November? We can have a peaceful, prosperous America again. We've done it before, I remember, I was there. And your vote really is anonymous. And registering to vote does not mean you're more likely tol be picked for jury duty. They don't do that anymore, they use your driver's license info. Yes, really. So if you don't want to go to jury duty, don't drive. But please vote.
I saw a house a few blocks down from ours today with not one, but two Kerry-Edwards signs proudly displayed in the front yard. I'm wondering when the guy across the street from us is going to put up his Dubya sign. Our neighborhood is pretty conservative, if we were about three miles to the east we'd be in a predominatnly liberal Jewish neighborhood. And, yes, the houses there cost more. I saw quite a few Kerry signs driving through there today (sigh).
Sparky's been really bi-polar this week about the debates this Thursday night. I hope I get my Fiorinal renewed before then, I've had a headache all week myself. At least I do have some Valium left if he gets too angry at the "liberal media". My mantra? Polls are crap and the only person I believe on TV is Jon Stewart.
I'm looking at two Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers on my desk, a pretty navy & red one and a smaller baby blue, navy and white one. I've been dying to put the red one on my car, but Sparky's too paranoid. Mostly of some idiot keying my relatively new (i.e. expensive) car. I've got nothing but a Carmax sticker on it right now. My last car had about half a dozen stickers in the window and on the bumper. Of course it was 13 years old too.
I mentioned the yard signs to Sparky today and wondered aloud where we could get one and he wondered also. So we're making progress. Or he's not afraid for the house, just my car. He also pulled out the stickers and looked at them, I told him I had two and the white one would look great on his white car. He also agreed. But his car is 16 years old...
Everyone watch Oprah's Voting Party, today's show is to convince people to register to vote. Maybe she could give a new car to anyone who votes for Kerry, I think it would work.
We really are in Nazi Germany, aren't we? This is just creepy.
I'd elaborate more on this, but I've been sick the last two days and I'm very braindead...
P.S. 9/18 - Even my 75 year old father called me and told me it's time to practice my Sieg Heil's... He should now, he was stationed in Germany soon during the post WWII occupation. Grieving mothers haled off in handcuffs... at least I studied German in school.
Seriously, though, I spent a lot of time when I was younger studying Weimar Germany and WWII, and there are too many parallels going on here, it's freaking me out...
and finally
OK, everyone exhale... It's officially September 12th throughout the US of A. Not out of fear, but out of some strange sort of morbid respect or superstition I did not want to leave the house today. We didn't watch much "real" TV today either, just the CBS evening news and Cops and part of AMW on Fox. Then I did computer stuff for a few hours and came back in and watched TLC Clean Sweep another messy couple's house. Why do people sign up for this show if they aren't willing to get rid of anything??
Sparky's been very depressed with the latest Kerry vs. Dubya polls, but he watches that crap all day on TV. I keep trying to tell him polls are bullshit (have you eve been polled? I haven't, I've been a registered voter since 1980), and most of the news he watches is biased, but he can't see past the haze of helplessness and despair that is being projected. (Cue up the loudspeakers on the streets, "Don't think, obey blindly or die...", rinse and repeat till braindead) He's trying to force himself not to watch as much and has been watching things like MST3K videos instead. The TV in the den has actually been turned OFF some during the last few days (it's never off, this is really very eerie).
We both watched some of Al Franken's show since they've been airing it on the Sundance channel this week. We don't have satellite radio and he doesn't do computers, but I actually streamed it one night after he had gone to bed and ended up catching it and Randi Rhodes, who blew me away. I'm not sure I can handle that much excitement at 5 am. I'm not a good listener, I really dislike things like books on tape and talk radio usually, but she managed to keep my attention. Honestly? I believe I have something called Central Auditory Processing Disorder, I've never been good at listening to speeches, I still think that's the reason I did so badly in college. Suddenly school consisted of sitting in huge auditoriums listening to speeches... zzzzzzz.... Reading I have no problem with, I can read for hours, as long as it's not something I have zero interest in, zzzzzz...
I can't distinguish what people are saying in large crowds, I'm the one that sit and nods blankly at people, I've always gotten song lyrics wrong, I'm really easily distracted by people talking while I'm trying to concentrate on typing, etc. I sleep better with white noise in the background (I grew up with the air conditioner humming against my bedroom wall). I used to have to be really careful when I worked nights and was driving around to keep my car radio either up where I could hear it clearly or off so I wasn't lulled into dozing off. About the only talk radio I used to listen to was Larry King back in the 80's, he actually managed to keep me awake. But I don't like to talk on the phone, I'd rather email people or see them in person. And I have severe tinnitus, which doesn't help.
But I love music. I'd go insane without it, it works better than Prozac. It plays in my head 24/7 whether I want it to or not. But more to follow on the musical subject...
Damn, I just went to Air America to get links and what's on right now? The Best of Randi Rhodes, I'm listening now... so I'll be all fired up again tonight, glad I got my Ambien refilled.
But, regarding terrorist attacks, I'm not sure why we're uneasy anymore, Cheney actually told us the other day that THEY are the ones in charge of whether we get attacked or not, so I guess we can all rest easy until November 2nd. He knows when they'll be coming for us, he can make it happen. Cheney would really look like an idiot if something happened before the election now that's he's declared that we're basically safe until afterwards (but only if they win). So why are we afraid? Ummm.. because our own government is threatening us with a terrorist attack if we don't vote Republican? OK, yeah, that's a good reason to be scared. The corporate mafia is running our country and we're all running out of payoff money to keep them from hurting us...
I told you I can't type and listen at the same time, so I think I'll go play with Photoshop while I listen, I know I can do that safely...
P.S. Just heard this comment about how we're all getting rich on eBay. As an eBay Powerseller I can officially say - NOT!!! But at least I'm not working for someone else anymore, they're trying to take people's overtime pay away too.
I don't care what her critics say, Teresa rocks:
Well, Sparky called yesterday and ordered up HBO again because Real Time with Bill Maher is back on the air through November, the first episode of the new season was tonight. The guests were Michael Moore, Ralph Nader, Gov. Bill Owens, Rep. David Dreir, and former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell. Watch one of the rebroadcasts this week if you can, it was a slugfest. And Bill and Michael got down on their knees and begged Nader not to run for President this year which really freaked Ralph out.
The most interesting part was watching the two Republicans try and rationalize Bush's actions, especially his non-reaction to the initial announcement that the US was under attack. Dreir's face got all red and he finally lost his composure and snapped at Michael Moore saying his documentary was fiction, which was ironic because he admitted he had not even seen the film.
Bill's official website has gotten a spiffy redesign, though I'd like to suggest he add a home link and a link to his discussion boards, which appears to be a great place to go if you like to argue. I know I'm opinionated, but I try not to get into arguments on politics or religion with people who are looking for an argument, it's just an exercise in frustration.
This article in the Friday Houston Chronicle is a bit scary. I had controversial bumper stickers all over my old car and am waiting on a Kerry-Edwards sticker to arrive in the mail but haven't put anything on my "new" car yet. Not really out of fear of reprisal but more out of respect for the condition of my car. And I now have a rear window defroster grid to worry about, not that the rear window on the Maxima is very easy to see anyway. And Sparky is terrified I'm going to "junk up" my car with stickers like I did (in his opnion) with my last one. But if you can't put stickers all over a 13 year old car, where is the fun in life? I'm still looking for my extra HPD "The Badge Means We Care" sticker that I've had on all of my cars, I saw it before we moved last time, I know it's around somewhere. Besides being supportive of our local police, I actually used to work a close relative of the slain officer whose badge number is memorialized on the sticker.
Sparky has a few stickers on his old car, including a Kerry sticker he got in the mail. He used to have an "I Didn't Vote For His Daddy Either" sticker on his bumper pre 9/11, but took it off after being honked at and harrassed by local rednecks after the WTC disaster. We're both going to put the new stickers on when they arrive, though. No one ever bothered me about mine when I had the old, insignificant looking car, I wonder if they will now that I actually look like I have money?
OK, I couldn't go to bed tonight without writing something about the Democratic National Convention this week. We've watched most of it on C-SPAN, no commercials, no snotty comments and you get to see all of the speeches. While the 2000 election was very important and held our interest, this year it seemed vital that we watch and really pay attention to everything that was going on. And it's really been awe-inspiring to see the Democrats so intense and unified. For years I've been a self-proclaimed Independent, but I can really say I'm a Democrat now. There is so much hope and promise in the party, I really will be holding my breath until this whole thing is over and official.
There is so much venom and desperation coming from the Republicans (not all of them, just the ones in power) that I wouldn't put anything past them. With the combination of "divine right" and corporate greed and power this is going to be a scary next three months. But after seeing all of the speeches this week, especially John Kerry's tonight, I really believe that the Democrats are not going to back down again, and are going to be so alert for fraud and deceit that we might actually have an honest election this year. By the end of his speech tonight John Kerry was so strong & focused I think he could take on anyone. Maybe what's happened in this administration was a lesson the US needed to learn, perhaps we needed to see one moral extreme in order to propel us to fight for what's right and not just talk about it. I really do believe that after four years of madness that "Help Is On The Way".
I don't agree 100%, but you've got to give him credit for telling it like it is...
I Am Your Worst Nightmare. I am a BAD American. I am George Carlin.
I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some mid level governmental functionary be it Democratic or Republican!
I think owning a gun doesn't make you a killer, it makes you a smart American.
I think being a minority does not make you noble or victimized, and does not entitle you to anything.
I believe that if you are selling me a Big Mac, try to do it in English.
I think fireworks should be legal on the 4th of July.
I think that being a student doesn't give you any more enlightenment than working at Blockbuster! . In fact, if your parents are footing the bill to put your pansy ass through 4 years plus of college, you haven't begun to be enlightened.
I believe everyone has a right to pray to his or her God when and where they want to.
My heroes are John Wayne, Babe Ruth, Roy Rogers, and whoever canceled Jerry Springer.
I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor.
I know wrestling is fake and I don't waste my time arguing about it.
I've never owned a slave, or was a slave, I didn't wander forty years In the desert after getting chased out of Egypt. I haven't burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks and neither have you! So, shut-the-Hell-up already.
I want to know which church is it exactly where the Reverend Jesse Jackson practices, where he gets his money, and why he is always part of the problem and not the solution. Can I get an AMEN on that one?
I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you're running ! from them.
I also think they have the right to pull your ass over if you're breaking the law, regardless of what color you are.
I think if you are too stupid to know how a ballot works, I don't want you deciding who should be running the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years.
I believe that it doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes two parents.
If this makes me a BAD American, then yes, I'm a BAD American.
If you are a BAD American too, please forward this to everyone you know.
We need our country back!
Serious stuff, go to these sites today and sign the petitions:
UNITED, NOT DIVIDED - MARRIAGE VOTE
The fate of this Constitutional amendment will be decided in the next few days.
President Bush campaigned on a promise to unite us, not divide us. But now he's using the politics of hate in an attempt to distract us from the real issues - Iraq, the economy, funding for our schools. Bush wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny marriage equality to same-sex couples. This is unprecedented - never before has our Constitution been amended to take away anyone's rights. We believe:
Today we call on Congress and the states to require any electronic voting machine used in this election to produce a paper trail - one that allows voters to verify their choices and officials to conduct recounts.
And if you want to feel better about the future, watch MoveOn.org's new ad comparing Vice President Dick Cheney with John Edwards. There is hope ;-)
Been offline a few days for health reasons, been having migraines that are making focusing on anything difficult...
But OMG! July is starting off with a bang... Kerry picks John Edwards for his VP and the populus seems pleased & hopeful (much better poll numbers than Cheney). Someone described the upcoming VP debate as "Luke Skywalker v