I bring you a useless public service announcement:
My daughter is a chocolate fiend, and an addict of Kit-Kats and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. She comes by her addiction honestly.
Thatisall.
“I don’t eat vegetables. At least, not the really vegetably ones.” - Helen of DramaQueen
I’m going to start a new category and new feature - Puzzlements. These are not all going to be serious, or even important. Mostly they will be random thoughts that cross my mind (usually when I’m vainly trying to fall asleep) and I can’t find the answers to. Maybe some of youw ill have some insight into the puzzlements. So, without further ado:
When a President leaves office, do they change all the private numbers? Or does, say, Clinton know the direct line to Bush? Does he ever use it? And is there a BigBookOfPhoneNumbersForForeignImportantPeople? Say Bush wants to call Tony Blair on his first day in office. How does his secretary know what number to call? I know there’s a whole transition team; is this covered in their work?
A note to software developers - if you are going to have audio help files as part of your product, for God’s sake do not choose someone with a lisp to narrate the help.
Yeah, this post is politically incorrect. So?
In response to a recent post about “the scream”, reader Jon comments:
An open comment to all of the media and everyone else that contributed to making this the most important occurrence in the early primaries: Good work, and thanks for doing irreparable damage to perhaps the best Democratic candidate for President. (How much did the Bush administration pay you?) Why can’t you morons concentrate on issues instead of childish idiocy. You’re worse than useless.
My first inclination was to delete this post (I generally don’t take kindly to being called a “moron” or “childish"), but decided a good, old-fashioned fisking would be better instead.
An open comment to all of the media and everyone else that contributed to making this the most important occurrence in the early primaries: Good work,
Well, we thought so. Though I'd have to say that, judging by the numbers, the single most important occurrence of the early primaries was the capture of Saddam Hussein, after which your boy "you're no safer" just couldn't seem to recover.
and thanks for doing irreparable damage to perhaps the best Democratic candidate for President.
Ooooh, now that had to hurt. If Dean is the best the Dems could do, you've all got some serious problems ahead of you. For what it's worth, the man did this to himself. It wasn't ONLY the scream; that was just the single most dramatic indication of how completely off-balance he really is. As for doing "irreparable damage," nobody in politics gets treated with kid gloves, not even your golden boy. You step into the ring, you better be ready to take your punches like a man.
(How much did the Bush administration pay you?)
I dunno; it takes awhile for the checks to clear the White House accounts payable department, you see. How much did they pay Dean to howl like a wounded muskox?
Why can't you morons concentrate on issues instead of childish idiocy. You're worse than useless.
We have plenty to say about the issues. A candidate's mental state IS an issue in an election, though. As for all this personal insult stuff - it doesn't really phase me. I understand it's borne out of frustration at seeing St. Dean go down in the flames fueled by his own rage. And we're not nearly useless - some of us can make quite entertaining use of Howie's antics.
(Hat tip to Ed of Late Final)
My Kayla is eighteen months old today. She’s quite a different person today than she was when I first pushed her, wriggling and screaming, into the waiting (but just barely) hands of our family physician. She’s smart and feisty and beautiful and arrogant and persistent and pushy and sweet and nurturing and completely irresponsible. Some of these are traits I hope to help her tame over time. :)
It occurs to me that, probably all too quickly, the months will become years, and my little girl will become a woman. Odds are, she’ll eventually decide to share her life with someone. I find this hard to imagine right now - so far she’s only fallen in love with her brother and her babydoll - but I realize I’ll have to prepare myself for the possibility. To that end, I’ve decided to write a letter to her future spouse/partner/whatever-they’ll-be-calling-it-then. It’s in the extended entry.
Dearest Whomever You Are -
Congratulations. I understand that you have been chosen by my daughter to share her life. I want to take this chance to welcome you into our family. I've no idea who you are, nor anything about you, since as this letter is being written Kayla is 18 months old, and is busy playing with her Dr. Seuss ABC CD. At this moment in time, she hasn't the faintest clue you - nor anyone outside this house and her preschool - even exist. But by the time you read this, that will have all changed.
My Kayla is becoming your Kayla. My Kayla, at 18 months, is a handful. She's loving, but she's also very territorial. She's kind, but she's also selfish. She's smart, but she's pigheaded. I will spend her entire childhood helping to guide her to become the woman you now love. In the intervening years between my writing this letter and your reading it, I will have taught her many things. Among them will be a very serious sense of her self, and of her worth. I will have taught her to love who she is. I will have opened her eyes to the possibilities the world has to offer her. I will have admonished her to never settle. Therefore, I can only conclude that you meet her expectations, and that she deems you worthy of her love, and of loving the person she has become.
No doubt I, like every mother to ever come before me, will believe in the back of my mind that you are not good enough for My Baby. Please do not take this personally. We Mothers will never be truly convinced that anyone is completely worthy. We're not objective. We can't be. All I can do is to trust Kayla's judgment. If she believes you worthy of her, then I must believe the same.
I do not intend to meddle. I cannot say - at this point in my life - that I will not. I can only hope that I can remember where my appropriate place in Kayla's life (and, now, yours) will be. That's another thing difficult for me to imagine right now, since Kayla relies on me and her father for every aspect of her livelihood, but I know that is another thing that will change.
However, you should know that I have certain expectations of you. I expect you to love my Kayla in the same way she loves you. I expect you to honor and respect her, and to treat her with dignity. I expect you to encourage her in her pursuits, and to be a partner with her in choosing the direction your life together will take. I expect you to cherish her person, and to tell her often that she is loved. I expect that you will never willfully cause her injury of any kind.
I will have spent her lifetime teaching her that the same is due to you.
I am not so naive as to believe that any union is always blissful, or that the road is always easy. Knowing her now, I promise you that she will not always be easy to live with. People being what they are, you will inevitably say things to hurt one another, without even realizing it or meaning it. Apologies have their place.
But if you ever lay a hurtful finger on my little girl...
... if she ever incurs a single bruise, cut, or scrape from you out of anger ...
... if you ever threaten her person, or that of any children you may have together ...
... if you ever deny her medical treatment ...
... or if you ever deny her access to her family if she wants it ...
... you will have me to answer to. You will not know when. Or where. Or how it
will happen. You will not ward it off. You will not recover.
Kayla is giving you the most precious thing she will ever have to give any person - herself. Treat such a gift with the care it deserves, and you and I will get along just fine.
Welcome to the family. :)
I have nothing to add to this:
Four years of President Lieberman I could live with, but he’s not getting the nomination. Among the more realistic options, we have John Kerry, who voted in 1991 to let Saddam Hussein’s Iraq hold onto Kuwait, at a time when his WMD program was very extensive and nukes were just around the corner. Then we have Wesley Clark, who is so damned nuts he shouldn’t be trusted with his finger on the button for four minutes, let alone four years. And then there’s Howard Dean, who is both.
Adam and I had a mommy-son day out yesterday. First we stopped at the office of the real estate lawyer we're retaining to draw up the final papers on part of our property (it's being paid off this spring). Then we went to the bank to make a deposit, and went through the Arby's drive-thru for lunch. Then I drove Adam into Moscow while we munched our roast beef sandwiches and fries, stopping at the hair salon. At the end of that drive, Adam remarked that, "All this driving is makin' me sleepy." I had to agree. :) We went inside, and Adam got a haircut. He protested at first, running back to the front door. Once he was in the chair and the clipping started, however, he settled for just making a vinegar face throughout the whole thing, and refusing to answer questions. He didn't squirm around, though, and he didn't scream, so all in all it was the easiest haircut he's ever had. He was rewarded with two quarters to buy vending machine candy with. From then on, he was a very happy boy.
Next stop was the Wal-Mart. We prowled around and bought various odds and ends - new shoes, an action figure, and a Monsters Inc. read-along CD for Adam; a water-filled 101 Dalmations babydoll for Kayla; a flannel shirt and some candy for Mike; some bath products for a basket I have to take to the next BETA club meeting; and a Care Bears video for the kids. After that, we went to Applebee's for dessert, then came home. It was a nice, relaxing time.
My back is improving, albeit slowly. I can do some household chores now, though I'm careful not to do too much, and to take lying-down breaks frequently. I need to get an appointment with a doctor in my local practice to have an adjustment done on my back.
We had an ultrasound last Friday. Baby's doing well, and healthy, and measuring fine, but didn't cooperate with efforts to see the sex. We go back in a month; maybe we'll have better luck then.
… it makes you look like a small, petty, childish little ass to correct someone’s spelling in the comments of their blog. If you’re really so concerned about grammatical integrity on a weblog, send the person an email. And no, I’m not saying it because it happened here. I see it on lots of blogs, and it’s always annoying. For those who do it - it’s not the blogger who comes off looking like a shit.
Some time ago, I posted a link to a piece from Boots & Sabers about a teenager who killed himself, because (1) he was not observing proper gun safety rules, and (2) his father failed to properly secure the weapon, instead leaving it in a camera case, loaded.
Lina commented on that message thusly: “My cousins think that guns are such a horrible thing and that just by having them, someone’s gonna get hurt. It’s not like it’s going to jump up and shoot itself. My english teacher says “It’s not guns that kill people, it’s people that kill people". Isn’t that so true?“
Lina’s cousin, Maria, follows up: “I’m the cousin that she’s talking about. Hey, Li! Anyway, yea, I think that guns are bad…what if little kids use them?“
Lina - you're partly right. Guns don't kill people. In most cases, it's the bullets that do that. And in all cases, bullets are launched by people. It's possible to bludgeon someone to death with a gun, but then the gun is no different from a hammer, crowbar, or rolling pin.
Maria - "Bad" and "dangerous" are not the same thing. Many things are dangerous in the hands of children, but are not bad. Scissors, knives, medication, household cleaners, and electrical outlets, for example. All can cause injury or death, but have legitimate uses. I doubt people would suggest that we outlaw these items in homes with children simply because they're dangerous. Rather, we take the far saner approach of limiting children's access to them until they can be educated on their risks and appropriate uses. That's the same approach I believe we should take toward handguns.
No one should own a gun until they can afford a locking gun safe. Period. Even if you do not have children of your own, even if you never have children visit your home, there will be times and places that you have to go (courthouses, post offices, etc.) where you will not be able to carry your gun on your person. In those cases, you need to have a safe place to store your gun. This doesn't just mean to guard your safety, but to guard the safety of others who might gain access to the gun without your knowledge or permission.
I read of stories - even here in my tiny little county - about guns that are taken from the walls of unlocked garages. That's ludicrous, illegal, and demonstrates and ignorance of appropriate gun-handling procedures. Guns should be safely stored at all times - either in a gun safe, or in a secure holster on your person, or possibly (depending on your circumstances) on a bedstand while you're sleeping. Period.
The second part - after securing your gun - is education. Just as you teach your children not to run with scissors, not to drink the floor wax, and not to open the bottles with the little skull-and-crossbones on them, you need to teach your children proper gun handling techniques. Until about ten or so, this can be as simple as,"Stop. Don't touch. Go tell an adult." It is both naive and unreasonable to expect that your kids will not find your guns, or that your kids' friends' parents will properly secure their guns. You cannot trust to Fate that way. You shirk your own responsibility by so doing, even if you choose not to own a gun, yourself.
Babies are Terrorists. Think of all the lives that have been destroyed, all the dreams that have been crushed by unwanted pregnancies. Terrorists have only killed 3,000 Americans, but millions of women suffer the “living death” of unwanted pregnancy every year. While Bushy is off chasing people with towels on their heads, he should be here stopping terrorists with towels on their butts. - Larry of BlameBush
Yay!!! Teresa got a blog! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with after she gets a full head of steam. She’s had some very funny, and very insightful comments both here and at other blogs, so I’m sure she’ll be one to watch.
Court has a quick visual explanation of why this is the greatest manufacturing economy there ever was. [/snark]
Got this one via Blackfive - I must warn you, it’s a definite tear-jerker. I really hope the story is true, and I wish Lori Kimble and her husband and children the absolute best.
Sliding out of my booth, I walked around to the adjoining booth and placed my hands flat on their table. Lowering myself to eye level with them, I smilingly said, “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. You see, I’m sitting here trying to enjoy my dinner alone. And, do you know why? Because my husband, whom I love with all my heart, is halfway around the world defending your right to say rotten things about him…Freedom is an expensive commodity, ladies. Don’t let your actions cheapen
it.”[…]
As I returned to my booth applause broke out. I was embarrassed for making a scene, and went back to my half-eaten steak. The women picked up their check and scurried away. After finishing my meal, and while waiting for my check, the manager returned with a huge apple cobbler alamode. “Compliments of those soldiers,” he said. He also smiled and said the ladies tried to pay for my dinner, but that another couple had beaten them to it. When I asked who, the manager said they had already left, but that the gentleman was a veteran, and wanted to take care of the wife of “one of our boys.”
For that moment, for that single enduring period of time that may well become the caricature of Dean’s candidacy, I apologize to my fellow citizens. I apologize for ever having promoted Howard Dean as a moderate, level-headed, centrist Democratic governor. I apologize for ever arguing that he has a number of positions besides antipathy for George W. Bush and that folks should look at his record as governor. I am sorry to have helped bring this fellow along, albeit in my small way.
[…]
Lose in Iowa, Howard, and I will stand with you. Be more brazen than my taste in your attack on the war, and I still have your back. Scream like you are a 13-year-old girl at a Justin Timberlake concert, and you’ve lost me.
Another day, another ultrasound. Baby’s doing well, and growing at a good rate. Weighs about 3/4 pound now. Still no good, clear look at the sex, though the doctor thought he “may have seen a member,” but reiterates that he’s not sure.
By now, everyone has heard the infamous scream/roar/growl/howl/what-have-you that Howard Dean used in his Iowa concession speech, and no doubt many have heard Lileks’ remix. It even made it onto the LA Times website! But did you know there are lots and lots more remixes floating around out there? Caner Ozdemir, a self-professed Dean supporter, has gathered them all for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!
I’m so glad we’ve got grownups in Congress.[/sarcasm]
Reader Kevin Morgan posts a comment in response to the “permission slips” line from this week’s State of the Union address. I thought his comment, and my response to it, ought to be in a post of their own, since I think it represents the fundamental differences between those who will ultimately vote Republican this fall, and those who will ultimately vote Democrat. Kevin’s comments are indented.
The issue is about getting cooperation from the world not permission.
I’m pretty certain that the use of the term “permission” was a direct response to a Dean statement criticizing the decision to invade Iraq in terms of us not having gotten “permission from the U.N.” The fact of the matter is that we spent a great deal of time and effort in getting the U.N. on board with a decision to enforce the numerous resolutions Saddam Hussein flounted (what else do you suppose “serious consequences” means?). When it came down to the wire, most of the U.N. member nations supported a resolution in favor of invasion, but Germany, Russia, and particularly France threatened the veto. With the way the U.N. works, this essentially amounts to needing those countries’ permission - in the form of their vote in favor, or at least abstinence from voting - to act with U.N. mandate. Since that clearly wasn’t going to happen, we had to act without U.N. sanction, but with the support of dozens of other countries who are also members of the United Nations.
The decision to go to war is only a small part of the extensive responsibilities that accompany having done so.
I agree. And I think we’re shouldering our responsibility there. Witness the thousands of reconstruction projects, improvements to infrastructure and economy, promotion of a democratic government, and ongoing efforts to stabilize security. Peace is not won nearly as easily as a war.
It is apparent from Bushs appeal to the UN for assistance in settling the election dispute that cooperation is important.
No one is saying that cooperation isn’t important. There are dozens of nations already cooperating in Iraq. If the U.N. wants a role there, then Bush is offering that to them. You might see it as us asking the U.N. to clean up the “mess” we’ve gotten ourselves into, but I see it in this way: “You failed to do the right thing the first time, so we’re giving you a chance to do the right thing now, when much of the danger has been removed.” Whether the U.N. (read France, since Germany and Russia seem to have largely backed down from their stances of outright objection) chooses to shoulder part of the burden or not, we will continue to do what’s right. That is, as long as we have a President in office able to distinguish what that is.
Many of the outcomes of the administrations poor planning for settling Iraq reflect this truth.
“Settling"? Iraq was the birthplace of mankind; we didn’t need to settle it. And like I said earlier, it’s a lot easier to win a war than to win the peace. Bush never promised it would be easy or neat, so it’s a little naive to now blame him for it being tough and messy.
In last years SOTU the president made many claims (none of which have proven to be true) about Iraq and their threat to our nations security. Whatever the administration has decided they want Iraq to be about now, the “national security” part of this simply doesn’t apply.
The “Bush Lied” meme. It’s been refuted on so many places and in so many ways, I’m not sure it’s even worth a response. The nature of military intelligence is that you necessarily rely on incomplete or faulty information. Especially with a regime as secretive and oppressive as Hussein’s Iraq, it’s impossible to have all the answers at the outset. You make the best decisions you can with the information you have at hand. And the notion of Saddam as being dangerous and needing ousting isn’t something Bush dreamed up; regime change was a policy instituted under the Clinton administration. I wish it had happened in 91, when we were there the first time, but that’s a failing of George H. W. Bush, and not of our current President.
If you cheer this statement at least take a look at how it squares up with reality.
This isn’t a matter of recognizing reality, but of asserting that something “hasn’t been proven true” has been proven false. Time will tell what happened to Saddam’s WMD programs, but there is no doubt that they existed, and they’ve yet to be accounted for.
America is paying for most of the Iraq war, and most of its reconstruction alone.
Freedom isn’t cheap. Where would we be if France hadn’t taken a chance on us 230 years ago? They paid for most of OUR Reconstruction costs, at least in the immediate term.
David Kay has packed his bags and headed home without finding any WMD.
Time will tell. He did find evidence of weapons programs, but except for a few old mustard-gas tipped warheads from 91 (which were illegal under U.N. resolutions, by the way, and in and of themselves constitute WMD) we’ve not found much. It was just about a month ago that we found Saddam, and where do you suppose he was? Not sitting in a palace, on a throne, with a big neon sign pointing at his head reading “Maniacal Dictator HERE” in big, flashing bulbs. Things don’t work like that there. I’m not willing to say there were no WMDs in Iraq just because we haven’t yet found them.
Our credibility and image of fairness in the world is seriously damaged because our president turns his wrath on any country that disagrees with his policies.
Oh, really? We threatened war if the resolutions weren’t followed. The resolutions weren’t followed. Saddam and his troops met war. How is that not being credible? Libya’s voluntarily ending its WMD program is testament to the notion that our threats of enforcement are perfectly credible. I don’t see how you can even begin to imply we were “unfair.” Merciless, maybe, but only a fool gives his enemy mercy when the enemy is pointing a gun at you and has his finger on the trigger. In point of fact reformed soldiers in Iraq have expressed amazement at how well we treat our prisoners of war and how fair we really are. And we’ve invaded exactly two countries so far, one of whom is known to have perpetrated a terrorist attack on us, and another who is known to have supported terrorism and terrorists. Both were given warnings and chances to surrender peacefully. Let’s make a list of countries who don’t agree with us, but whom we’ve not invaded. Well, there’s North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Germany, and France. Those, just off the top of my head.
The threat to our national security is that we have a president who lies to his own people about his reasons for going to war, while spitting in the worlds face in the process.
This is a repeat. I’ll let it go.
My life experience is that bullies eventually find out they don’t own the playground.
See, this is the argument that I really just don’t get. Hussein had mass graves, full of an estimated 300,000 men, women, and children. Hussein had gas and torture chambers. Hussein used wood chippers, rape, beatings, and murder either to punish dissidents, extract information, to otherwise get his way, or even just for personal amusement. But it’s GEORGE BUSH that is the bully? Sorry, but that does not compute.
We are being isolated by Bushs policies at the same time that we are increasing our military activity in the world. Someone please explain to me where they think this will benefit America in the long run.?
I’ll repeat - dozens of countries (and 1/3 of the troops currently in Iraq) are participating in the Iraqi reconstruction. How exactly are we being isolated?
And also what the cost to us will be if we stay on this irresponsible path?
I can tell you what the cost will be if we DON’T stay the course of the war on terror. Another one of these.
Just when I thought things were getting better, they got worse. Tuesday, I woke up actually feeling almost normal (after a week of being more or less incapacitated), so I decided to do a couple loads of dishes, and sweep the floor. These chores were spread out over the whole day, with lots of breaks and plenty of resting in between. Yesterday, I woke up with a back as bad as it had been on Monday. So I did nothing but rest, and do some computer work. Today was preschool day, so I took the kids into school even though I was in some degree of pain. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I finally decided to step down from my position as chairman of the crafts committee. I'm not going to be at all reliable, and if I can't be counted on to get my own house cleaned, I shouldn't be counted on to organize a monthly craft for preschool.
By the time I got the kids home, I was back to about a Saturday level of pain. I'm friggin sick of this. If I do any housework at all, it puts me out of commission for a few days. It's just not worth it. But then, the house gets to be worse and worse of a disaster. *sigh* Don't get me wrong, Mike does the basic daily maintenance - cooking dinner, getting lunches for the kids (and sometimes me), feeding cats and dogs, cleaning catboxes, and of course dealing with the outside animals. He also washes at least one load of diapers every day, and sometimes a few extra loads of other diapers, but there's always more to do, and he still has to get his paying work done.
I guess I'm just ranting.
Scrappleface may have a run for his money on the political satire frontier. “Liberal Larry” of BlameBush has got the same biting, straight-faced wit, and the same mastery of the tongue-in-cheek. Here’s an example:
Now we plunge headlong into the New Hampshire caucus, and polls are already showing Kerry in the lead, with Bush not even on the boards. In fact, a recent poll shows that 9 out of 10 people voting in the caucus last night would vote for a democrat over Bush in November.
[…]
In a plot smacking of desperation, Bush tried to save his neck and steal some of the spotlight away from John Kerry by suddenly giving a State-of-the-Union speech tonight. All whole year goes without a single State-of-the-Union address, and suddenly, out of the clear blue, he decides that tonight’s the night to toot his horn? Sorry folks, I’m not buying it. The timing reeks of politics.
Now, if he’d just get off of Blogspot and get himself an RSS feed, all would be right with the world. :)
Everyone else in the blogosphere, so it seems,
is weighing in on last night’s Presidential State of the Union address.
Normally, I don’t follow the crowd this way, but I wanted to let my
voice be heard read on this one. I’ll break it down to bullet points.
Incidentally, I’m using the text as printed at Scrappleface.
In conclusion, the President and I seem to share little in the way of domestic agenda, except w here (for me) it counts: taxes. If I had my druthers, he'd get out of marriage, out of education, and out of increasing entitlement programs. Thing is, he won't, and none of the Democratic candidates will, either. He's still right on the war, and right on taxes (though how he'll manage to keep increasing spending while cutting taxes remains a mystery to me). So he's still got my vote.
Too much playing with too many babies.
From time to time, I’ll see an entry from a blogger*, pontificating on the opposite sex. I can’t tell you how much it grates on my nerves for some guy to say he’s got women (ALL women) all figured out, especially when it paints us girls as emotional, irrational, unpredictable hellions. Now, don’t get me wrong… sometimes I *am* emotional; I’m usually unpredictable; and get me in the right mood, make sure the kids are asleep, and press the right buttons and I guarantee you’ll find a hellcat on your hands. Hey, sometimes I’m even irrational! But I am like no other woman on this earth. We are all unique, we are all individual, and you will NEVER get us figured out. We don’t even have it figured out ourselves, so don’t presume, mm’k?
*No, I won’t link them, because this is not an attempt to start a flame-war. If you haven’t read that kind of message before, you will sooner or later.
This from the President’s State of the Union address:
America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.
Oo-rah!
Blackfive raises an interesting question, one that I’m sure has been debated ad nauseum in other places and at other times: how much information should a person reveal about themselves online? He invites reader response, and this is what I posted:
I think you should only reveal as much as you and your family are comfortable revealing. When I started on the Net ten years ago, I used a pseudonym and never revealed anything more personal than the state I lived in (Texas, at the time). Now that I’m self-employed and don’t have to worry about repercussions from that part of my life, and my family and I live out in the middle of nowhere (where risk of stalking is relatively low), I’m very open about who I am. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out where I live and what my phone number is. For that matter, if someone is determined enough to find out who a blogger is (anonymous or not), they can. No one is truly anonymous on the web, but you can make it harder for lay people to figure it out. I don’t think there’s any “right” or “wrong” answer to how much is too much, though; it’s all dependent on your own situation.
There have been lots of interesting comments (and, to Blackfive’s readers’ credit, no flaming yet). I thought I’d take my thoughts a little further on the subject, since I’ve been asked the question before (at least as it relates to my kids).
Anyone with half a brain and a Net connection could find everything they need to know about me without too much trouble. Obviously, I post pictures of myself (and occasionally my kids and husband) here. There are even more pictures on my personal site, and on my husband's site. With only minimal clicking around, you could get our address and phone number. This has been the case for over five years, and I've yet to have a stalker or a death threat.
Now, as to my personal situation: we live in a fairly remote part of the country. Our nearest neighbor is over a mile away. We don't have a "neighborhood", everyone in town knows everyone else, and it would be virtually impossible for anyone to stalk us for any length of time without us knowing it. I've made no secret of the fact that we (legally) own many (legal) guns and much ammunition, and will not hesitate to use them if threatened. We have two very skittish dogs that live in the house. One is half-blind, and her hearing is accordingly even more keen. She barks at the UPS man, and he comes here EVERY day. I'm sure if the Navy Seals wanted to sneak up on us, they could, but I doubt your average, everyday netizen could do the same.
Would I be this open if we lived in a city? No. Would I be this open if our children were public-schooled and/or rode buses or public transportation? No. Would I be this open if I worked for someone else and my job could be in jeopardy? Probably not. Would I be this open if Mike or I worked in or for the military? Hell no.
The fact of the matter is that I cannot conceive of a situation that would be MORE low-risk than ours for some kind of backlash through Internet retaliation. But everyone has to consider their own situations in making their own choices about security. But to make a blanket statements such as "anonymous bloggers are untrustworthy" or "known bloggers are taking unnecessary risks" are naive.
I generally like to comment on the things I mention here, but for some stories, there are no words.
A husband and wife have been charged with murdering a 6-year-old girl whose back was broken in what police said may have been an exorcism gone wrong.
The couple was arrested Monday after being spotted on the street naked in the freezing cold along with two other children.
Police said the dead girl, whose body was discovered in a motel room, had been strangled and stabbed, and her back was broken. An autopsy was planned.
Jon of Q and O has moved off Blogspot, and now has his own comfy little MT-powered domain. Righteous!
Mike at miniluv posts a hilarious clip from Howard Dean’s Iowa um… victory (?) speech. Use the chair!!! Use the chairrrrr!!!
(If you have Windows Media already installed, it won’t take but a minute.)
I was thinking of trying to teach myself to play the violin. Has anyone out there done it? Can it be done? I don’t consider myself to be especially musical, and never really learned to play any other instruments, but I’ve always loved the violin. So… is it possible? Any texts to recommend?
I threw my back out Wednesday, and have been trying to recover ever since. Wednesday and Thursday, and most of Friday were AWFUL. There were times when I couldn't even walk, and had to crawl from the bedroom to the bathroom. Since Saturday it's been getting better, albeit slowly. I'm still not back to even 80%, and have to take frequent lying-down breaks. Sitting in a chair or standing up for any time at all just hurts too much. Because of that, I haven't been anywhere, and therefore have nothing of interest to report. Bah.
I got my order yesterday from Hook’s Central Issue Facility. As you may recall, this is part of Sgt. Hook’s effort to raise a morale fund for his troops, which are about to be deployed to Afghanistan. I decided to try part of it on. Want a look-see?
(Mom. Dad. You should probably skip this one.)
In his second angry outburst during his Iowa campaign, Democrat presidential contender Howard Dean told an errant flapjack to “sit down on the griddle and stay there.”
[…]
“Imagine if he had been flipping that flapjack at the U.N. or a W.T.O. conference,” said an unnamed aide of an unnamed candidate. “I don’t think Iowans want to take the risk of having Howard Dean’s hand on the spatula of power.”
Hee.
My back has mostly healed now, though I still have to take frequent breaks to lie down and let the tension recede to a more tolerable level. Now I’m trying to catch up on work and blog-reading. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and signed my sympathy card. I couldn’t respond to each message (when I was at my computer the last few days, it was usually only for 15 minutes at a time), but I was generally doing what most of you suggested - resting, taking pregnancy-safe pain pills (hydrocodone), and using a heating pad from time to time.
In trying to catch up on my blog-reading, I realized I have too many blogs that I read daily, which detracts somewhat from my ability to get paying work done, and to spend time with my kids, so I’ve had to pare that down a little (and probably will do more so as time goes on). No offense to anyone; it’s just something I had to do from a logistical standpoint.
I hope everyone’s having a nice weekend, and that this week is profitable for you all.
Blackfive likes the title of this story (Paratroopers out-shoot assassins), but I rather liked this bit:
As the paratroopers moved in to secure the area, one of their attackers threw a hand grenade. As the task force members quickly got out of the blast radius, a well-placed shot ensured that the man was no longer a threat.
Now, how’s THAT for sayin it, without sayin’ it? Go Paratroopers!
Threw my back out yesterday, doing nothing at all interesting. I’ve been laid up in bed (nothing interesting) ever since. Not sure when I’ll be back; I’m only here now because I had to send out a mailing today. All sympathy welcome.
For those who don’t regularly read Quibbles ‘N Bits, Josh occasionally writes about the afterlife of some well-known person. He’s cast Michael Moore, Michael Jackson, Osama bin Laden, and even poor Susie (among many others) into Hell. This time, however, he sends our favorite reverend/politican - your friend and mine! - to redneck Hell. Oh, well; at least he’s surrounded by friends!
Well, now angry, reborn Dean has become poor, mistreated, pouty Dean.
“I’m going after everybody because I’m tired of being the pin cushion here and so you do that to me long enough, eventually I’m going to respond and I am now,” Dean vowed.
Eventually? Oh, I guess you’ve just been a pussycat up to now, huh? Hey, quit yer bitchin! You signed up for this, Mack, and sad to say ripping into each other is part of what primaries are all about. You’re not exactly guiltless when it comes to character assassination, either, so you’ll get no sympathy from me.
In addition, Dean criticized Edwards, Kerry and Gephardt for having voted for the war.
“They made a decision that I think was the wrong decision, and not only was it the wrong decision, it was based on information that appears now to have been simply a justification for an attack, a unilateral pre-emptive attack on another country, albeit a country run by a dreadful individual,” he said.
Hasn’t anybody in your campaign clued you in to the fact that the majority of Americans support this war (and don’t forget, these are the people you claim to want to represent)? Or do you think most Americans are “misled” and have failed to “apply their critical faculties.” Keep this line up, Mister; people don’t elect you by your telling them they’re stupid.
I don’t know if anyone besides Harvey has ever read any of my other sites, but I have been journaling online for over five years. Writing the blog kind of got me out of the habit, but now I’m trying to do a better job of keeping it up. Mind, my entries over there are much longer, and are usually centered around the comings and goings of my family, and my pregnancy, but I thought a few of you might be interested.
I’m going home to visit family in mid-March. Anybody live in the DFW area want to try to hook up for lunch or something, email me.
I was driving through Pullman today - home of Washington State University, the Cougar Cafe, and my quilt guild - and happened by After Dark, an adult store. It’s right on Grand, the main street through town, so I’ve passed by there dozens of times but never stopped. Today I almost did - there are a few things I’ve been thinking of… looking into. Anyway, I slowed down, was starting to make the left-hand turn, when I saw it: “Howard Dean for President,” right on After Dark’s front door.
I narrowed my eyes in fury, turned off my blinker, and drove on.
If I have any choice at all, I refuse to support any business who is such a vocal proponent of Howard Dean. I think the man is spiteful, petty, and dangerous for this country, and I question the judgment of anyone who supports him. Now, I’m not saying After Dark should be legally required to take down their sign. On the contrary, I think they should be protected by the state from any criminal repercussions of their political statement. The First Amendment is a glorious thing. Individuals and (to a certain extent*) businesses ought to be able to voice their political opinions without fear of state reprisal. Economic reprisal, however, is an entirely different matter. They will have to do without my business. I’m voicing my own First Amendment right and will shop elsewhere instead.
* I say “to a certain extent” since businesses’ rights are limited by such things as equal employment protection and more stringent slander and libel laws.
miniluv has a funny Photoshop’d image of Howard Dean as… some other Dean.
“Please tone down the garbage, the mean mouthing, the tearing down of your neighbor and being so pompous,” Ungerer told the former Vermont governor and Democratic front-runner. “You should help your neighbor and not tear him down.”
“George Bush is not my neighbor,” Dean replied.
“Yes, he is,” Ungerer said, to which Dean responded: “You sit down. You’ve had your say and now I’m going to have my say.”
[…]
Ungerer, who said he was a registered Republican who voted for Bush but sometimes supports Democratic candidates, left after the exchange.
“He put me down definitely because he is who he is,” Ungerer said.
[sarcasm] Now there’s a baby-kissing politician for you… “You sit down.” Wonder if that’s what Andree Dean (Howard’s mother) meant when she said she “didn’t even treat the servants like servants.” Of course, Ungerer probably never belonged to the exclusive (as in, whites-only) Maidstone Club, the way Governor Dean did, so it’s only natural Dean would look down his nose at the retired Iowan, no?[/sarcasm]
It's usually about this time of day - 6:30 or so in the evening - that I start getting tired. I still sleep a fairly good amount each night/morning (usually waking for good around 11AM or noon), but for some reason my energy flags in the middle of the evening. Nevertheless, work has to get done, diapers have to get changed, and other things have to happen, so I usually just ignore it. If the fatigue is too overwhelming, I might take a little nap (or a big nap - couple hours). I'm a lucky girl, with both Mike and I working from home - gives me SO much freedom.
Friday night, Kayla and I had a girls' night out. Nothing too exciting; clothes shopping (sweats and socks - thrill!!), then had dinner at Winger's. I got chicken wings (best I've ever had), and a chicken Caesar salad. I've had the same thing there before, but this time they put some weird sauce on the chicken. I was NOT pleased. Kayla munched on popcorn (they serve it like tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant) and had a TON of lettuce and tomatoes from my salad. Today, I had a quilt guild meeting in Pullman, and Adam came along. He was perfectly well-behaved: eating his lunch relatively quietly, and playing with the toys they had in the church nursery. He came out a few times to bring me a play muffin, or just to check in, and was always reasonably quiet and well-behaved. Many women remarked on how polite and well-mannered he was. 'at's mah boy! Afterward, I rewarded him with a dipped ice cream from Dairy Queen which (for the first time) he completely gobbled up! I tried to interest him in a movie, but he just wanted to come home, so we did.
The Left is so busy saying John Ashcroft is Hitler, and President Bush is Hitler, and Rudy Giuliani is Hitler that the only guy they wouldn t call Hitler was the foreign guy with the mustache who was throwing people who disagreed with him into the wood-chipper. - Dennis Miller
Via Viking Pundit
Wesley, who apparently is not a long-time reader of this blog, has commented on a very old post about why I support President Bush for re-election this year. Since the topic is still relevant, I decided to post my response to Wesley as a new post, rather than burying it in a four-month-old post.
Conservative has come to be respected. If I like my life, then why should I change it? Conservative has also come to mean religious and belieiving in God.
I don't think conservatives, or conservativism, has gained any more respect recently, though it may have gained more adherents. I also refute the notion that conservative = religious. I'm a conservative (fiscal conservative, anyway) and am areligious. I know of lots of other bloggers who feel the same way.
Abortion--God gave Man dominion over the earth. Man means human beings. Therefore, God within his covenant gave women the right over her body. In fact, abortions have been done by the priests or medical type people for thousands of years. Until recently, it was accepted as a women's right. I think God is clear on this matter.
Well, that's rich. Bonus points for creativity. Except that (as I understand it) Man was given dominion over the earth, the beasts, AND Woman. If I recall correctly, Eve was to be Adam's "helpmate", not his partner. At any rate, I don't think you'll find any justification that giving Man dominion over the fishes and the fowl equates to giving man dominion over everything that can be done to or with his body. The body is capable of lust; that's forbidden. The body is capable of murder; that's forbidden. The body is capable of idolatry; that's forbidden. This argument sounds a lot like Dean's assertion that homosexuality CAN'T be sinful, because God made gay people. The conclusion just does not follow the argument.
Affirmative action - Unfortunately, the white race has some real issue with color. Maybe us whites are jealous or insecure, I am not sure. People of other races should be allowed the same opportunity as white people. Affirmative action is a way to solve this problem.
One of my greatest enemies - liberal guilt - again rears its ugly head. Look, maybe you personally are jealous or insecure, but you should not presume to speak for the entire "white race," whatever that term even means. I feel neither guilt nor animosity toward people of any color of the rainbow. I form independent judgments on individuals, and their race has nothing to do with it. It is those people - largely Democrats - who insist that Blacks and other minorities must be seen differently who have the racial issue - not me. Affirmative action is racism. Period.
Tax Cuts-- I do not understand why people who earn a lot of money believe they do not have to pay for what they get. Roads allow transportation and movement of goods. Courts allow putting people away who are going to take their goods. Courts also allow for disagreements to be settled and protect those who have riches. Banks and securities laws have oversight to protect investments. As a poor person,the only government service I use is the schools. Yet, it benefits the rich to have educated people.
I see. So you don't use roads? Buses? Sidewalks? Courts? Traffic signs? Police and fire protection? I find that very difficult to believe. I've never advocated rescinding all taxes; that's a stupid position to take, and I'm not stupid. But there are scads of "services" that the government provides which are, in my view, unnecessary. I think we could get by with fewer taxes - and fewer services. That's why I think that tax cuts are generally a good idea in our bloated bureaucratic times. And just so we're clear, it's not only people who "make a lot of money" who advocate tax cuts, just like it's not only poor people who advocate tax increases.
Conservative believe that the environment can never be detroyed. All people have the opportunity to improve themselves. If a poor person contracts a disease, then it was their fault. If it was their fault then why should I pay for it.
*blink* Conservatives believe what? I've never heard ANYONE try to argue the (indefensible) notion that the environment "can never be destroyed." Rather, the breakdown between liberal and conservative thinking on the environment seems to be in the degrees. Conservatives place industry and employment on a more level playing field with environmental concerns than do liberals. Tree-huggers want to think (as an example) we should preserve some minuscule population of yet another breed of butterfly, at the expense of legitimate logging, mining, and other industries, and the loss of the corresponding thousands of jobs. For most conservatives, issues are not so black and white as "Save the Butterflies, Damn the Humans."
Health Insurance - Health insurance was created during World War II to provide additional compensaiton to workers. (Wages had been frozen.) This benefit went to large corporations. It is no wonder that small business cannot afford it.
Lots of small businesses (including the one wholly owned and staffed by my husband and I) manage to afford health coverage. I'm not sure what your point is here. Maybe if they didn't have to pay so damn much in unemployment insurance, and business taxes, more of them could afford coverage.
In conclusion, conservatives are not religious. What did Jesus say about those who did not practice their religious teachings. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.
As I said earlier, I'm not a Christian. You're not going to convince me of anything by (mis-)quoting a single verse from the Bible - a book I do not believe in. If you want to castigate everyone with conservative leanings because they manage to amass any amount of wealth, then you probably have much bigger issues than I can deal with in a lowly weblog post. Good day.
I got my first email marriage proposal today! Here it is, verbatim:
SUBJECT: Marry Me!
Here are some good reasons… (If you like them, I have more, especially about my conservative credentials.)
1. I am an admirer of your blog and your writing.
2. I have no prior convictions or restraining orders. That I know of.
3. I am a card-carrying, founding member of the VRWC, and the first person to call WJC a psychopath in print – in 1992, no less – in a newspaper column I used to write.
4. Speaking of which, I’m a writer and communications consultant, happily, successfully, and gainfully self-employed for many years, serving as a sacred cow slaughterhouse for those who cannot laugh. I work for myself due in no small part to the fact that every boss I ever had always told me the same two things:
A. I’m ingenious.
B. I’m fired.
5. I no longer bite when startled.
6. I have a killer sense of humor. But not “killer” in the OJ sense.
7. I will worship and adore you. Especially your, well, you know.
8. And buy you things, if that’s what it takes. (Key fact: I have good credit.)
9. I have nothing else to do.
So whaddya say?
- The Gentleman Caller from Hell
It seems The Gentleman is a bit impulsive. It was less than a month ago that he told another blogger he loved her. Now, either TGCFH is very fickle, or he’s into polygamy. I’m not cool with the “one man, many women” notion of polygamy, but if we’re talking line marriage a la Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, I could be down with that.
A couple of months ago, TGCFH displayed a marked interest in a well-known celebrity.
On the plus side, he claims to feed the homeless on a weekly basis, and civic giving is a sexy, sexy thing in a person.
I think it all comes down to the offer itself. Let’s analyze:
1. I am an admirer of your blog and your writing.
Well, he can't go wrong there! After all, flattery will get you everywhere.
2. I have no prior convictions or restraining orders. That I know of.
But... have you ever been charged with anything?
3. I am a card-carrying, founding member of the VRWC, and the first
person to call WJC a psychopath in print -- in 1992, no less -- in a newspaper column I used to write.
Wife of a conspiracy member. Hmmm... that kinda has an interesting ring to it....
kinda like a Mafia Don's wife, without having to clean up all the messy blood spills.
Plus I'm sure there are perks to being part of the VRWC, like those free "The Man"
t-shirts, and never having to say you're sorry.
4. Speaking of which, I'm a writer and communications consultant, happily, successfully, and gainfully self-employed for many years, serving as a sacred cow slaughterhouse for those who cannot laugh. I work for myself due in no small part to the fact that every boss I ever had always told me the same two things:
A. I'm ingenious.
B. I'm fired.
Employment is good. Self-employment is even better. But, are we talking "telecommuting from my home office" self-employment, or "on the road 50 weeks out of the year, but don't worry, honey, I'll call you when I land in Phoenix" self-employment? Cuz I'm a girl who has needs.
5. I no longer bite when startled.
Damn. Pity, that.
6. I have a killer sense of humor. But not "killer" in the OJ sense.
Hee. This is the line that started me giggling.
7. I will worship and adore you. Especially your, well, you know.
No, I don't know. Clarify? *batting eyelashes innocently*
8. And buy you things, if that's what it takes. (Key fact: I have good credit.)
I must say, I'm far more impressed at a man who pays cash. You buy me things on credit, then
kick the bucket in a year or two, and who gets stuck with the bills? That's right, Mrs. TGCFH
9. I have nothing else to do.
*blink*
...
*blink*
...
You have nothing else to do?
...
You have nothing else to do???
...
Color me NOT swept off my feet. And you were doing so well up to that point.
They’re not all impressive, but most are. Especially “Rotating Snakes.”
Gee, and I thought we were doing so well!
“This latest wrong guess at least demonstrates that economists are not politically biased,” said a spokesman for the American Society of Oft-Quoted Unnamed Economists (ASOQUE). “We’re just plain wrong most of the time. But it’s fun for us to see investors making huge financial decisions based on our predictions, and politicians hacking at each other based on whether an indicator met expectations.”
I just love that acronym. ASOQUE. “a-sock,” get it? Blows in the wind?
I completely agree with Alex on this one:
Look, heaven knows I don’t agree with everything Bush as done, but this silly meme that Bush took an easy term and screwed it up is an absurd denial of the facts. Being President at a time when the country faces both a recession and is subjected to a major terrorist attack in New York and Washington, D.C. is not an easy task, and while Bush certainly may have done a lot better, he certainly could have done a lot worse, too. And to say that he was dealt a “strong hand” is just nuts. The only incoming Presidents I can think of facing worse circumstances are FDR, who had to handle both the Great Depression and the rise of fascism, and Abraham Lincoln, who had to handle the secession of the Southern states.
That about says it all.
Readers of this site might remember when I suggested that Howard Dean may suffer from some kind of mental disorder. Well, it looks like there’s additional evidence that Dean may have multiple-personality disorder:
Democrat Howard Dean, engaged in a fierce fight to win Iowa’s presidential caucuses, said four years ago that caucuses are dominated by special interests, words that could haunt him with less than two weeks before the Jan. 19 contest.
Don’t you just feel the teeniest bit sorry for Dean’s handlers? I mean, they’ve already muzzled him as best they could, but there’s not much they can do about things that are already on the record. Kerry, of course, never misses an opportunity to criticize Dean.
“Which Howard Dean are Iowans going to vote for – the one who insults them, or the one who will soon be releasing yet another clarifying statement?”
That would be funny, if it weren’t so true. As it is, it’s kind of a sad statement of truth.
The Dean campaign did not have immediate comment.
Ohhhh, but they will.
UPDATE: And they do!
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, trying to limit the fallout from negative comments he made four years ago, said Friday he “really didn’t understand the Iowa caucuses” when he said they were dominated by extremist special interests.
I see. He “didn’t really understand” the caucuses, so it was ok four short years ago to smear them as being dominated by special interests. What a prick.
Adam got his truck the day after Kayla got her baby doll, and they both love both toys. I ended up ordering Adam an identical baby doll of his own, since they're both so enamored of it, and are having a hard time doing the time-share thing. It should be here in a week or so, assuming we're able to get out our driveway to meet the Fedex truck, or that it's able to get in here. We've had a shitload of snow here lately, and so we've been stuck in the house for over a week. Mike seems to be handling it ok, but the kids and I are both starting to go stir-crazy.
Having a due date 6 weeks before the last one, and a body that starts expanding sooner with each pregnancy (and whose doesn't?), I'm finding my maternity wardrobe inadequate. Before, I didn't start getting big until the weather was getting a bit warmer, and I could get by with regular clothes until the spring. This time is different; here it is January, and I'm down to only two pairs of jeans and two pairs of sweats that I can comfortably wear. It's far too cold (we got down to -21 the other night) for dresses yet, so the next time I'm able to make it into town I'm going to have to do some clothes shopping (which, on my "list of fun things to do" rates somewhere between "dental cleaning" and "empty the RV's black water tank"). Mostly, I think I'm going to try to find sweats. They're comfy, and versatile, and I won't have to waste any time cutting bows off of them like too many regular "maternity" clothes. I also find it very hard to find maternity clothes for a woman my height; it's like the clothing manufacturers forget that tall women get pregnant, too, and they don't suddenly shrink down to 5'7" when it happens. Ah, well, I'll work it out. We need other things, too; Adam's rapidly outgrowing his current stock of socks, Kayla needs some longer shirts as her torso elongates, Mike and I need more socks.
I had a weird dream this morning. I dreamed I gave birth to the new baby - a boy - at the hospital, but no one was around to help with it. The delivery went smoothly, with no problems, but then I had this naked, wet, slimy baby in my arms, and nothing to cover it with! No blanket, no towel, no nothing. So I took him (it was a boy), and started padding around the hospital, dripping blood as I went, looking for a nurse who would help me get my baby covered. Three nurse-interns finally figured out how to get me a blanket, newborn onesie, and hat, and I dressed him. Then I asked if Dr. Parsons was around. They checked their schedule, and told me he was. I said, "Good, then tell him to come see me; he's my doctor." They checked again, and said, "Oh, Joe only works in the mornings anymore." (Dr. P's first name is Mark, not Joe.) At that point, I lost it and started screaming at them. This upset the baby, so I just took the poor thing back to my room. Dunno where Mike was, either. I woke up and told him about the dream (the Cliff's Notes version: "I dreamed I had the baby and no one was around - I couldn't get a blanket!") and he assured me that he would, in fact, be there. Damn well better!
I just thought I should let it be known that right now, at this very moment, I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life.
Wanted to share that. :)
UPDATE: Harvey has a few theories on why I’m so happy. I think if all of those things happened in one day, I’d pass beyond “happy", through “blissful", and into “nirvana.” Especially #1. Here’s a couple of teasers, but don’t forget to read them all:
9) She kicked Heather’s ass in a shelf-reaching contest
3) After a series of particularly shrewd wagers, she’s managed to obligate her entire dream harem to a night of servitude
My dearly beloved, in discussing the upcoming delivery of our third baby:
“If I laugh at 8Cm you will rise up from the bed and smite me.”
Probably funnier for the gestating portion of my readership.
Three Army soldiers - a Master Sargeant, Staff Sargeant, and Private First-Class - were disciplined and removed from active duty for abusing Iraqi detainees. Two received loss of rank, and all three lost pay. I’m sad and disappointed to see that the abuse occurred, but gratified that punishment was swift and severe, and that this kind of misbehavior seems to be very isolated. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of tension and pressure soldiers in Iraq are under, and frankly am surprised we don’t hear of this kind of thing more often. I think that is a testament to the U.S. armed forces.
(for this week, anyway) My 18-month-old and I were just dancing to this song, so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s called “Everyday Girl” by Roxie Dean.
I can cook in French
I can darn and stitch
I can work a wrench
And if it is so required
I can change a tire
I sweat when I do it
Put my heart into it
I’ve really fine tuned it
I don’t even have to be asked
Yeah, I can mow me some grass
And I can plow a field
Wearing high heels if I wanted
Yeah I think a tractor’s sexy
If I’m on it
I’m a twenty-first century
Nothing ever gets to me
Lipstick modern chick
Little bit of country hick
Millenium mama do anything I wanna do girl
I’m just an everyday girl
I’m still a little old fashioned
I believe in passion
But just because he’s asking
Don’t mean I’m giving it up
No it’s got to be love
I’m a head first jumping in
Do or die sink or swim lover
And there isn’t any reason
Why he couldn’t take me home
To meet his mother
(Repeat Chorus)
But I’m a woman
I’m a strong one
Don’t want no one
Who doesn’t understand
(Repeat Chorus)
… about ME!! Jen has posted my interview over at her place. It was lots of fun, and if you’ve never been interviewed by her before, I encourage you to sign up! Here’s a little taste to get you to read the rest:
Which Democratic candidate do you like the most of all and why?
That’s like asking do you prefer a root canal or an enema. Neither one is really high on my list of “fun things to do.” So I guess this is more a “lesser of all evils” kind of thing. I could most live with a Lieberman presidency, because he’s least likely to back down from the war on terrorism, and he’s not as inclined to tax-and-spend, not being of the socialist persuasion like most of the rest of the Democratic persuasion. Sadly, he’ll almost certainly not get the nomination. Wait, come to think of it, that’s not so sad, since everyone expects Bush to trounce Dean. Yay, Dean! Nominate Dean! Dean is the man! Dean for 2004!
Today, Kayla received a new doll. This one was a "You & Me Baby Darling", courtesy of a gift certificate from Uncle Steve. She ADORES this thing. She about had a fit when it took me a little while to get it out of the box, and kept saying, "Baby! Baby! Baby!" I finally got it open, and she giggled, hugged, and kissed the little plastic plush thing. She then proceeded to carry it all over the office, offering it sips of her water, some unknown food from an empty plastic spice bottle, and hundreds of hugs and kisses. She also insisted that Mommy and Daddy give the baby copious kisses, and she spent some time gouging at the eyes (they're the kind that open and close as the doll lies down or sits up). Definitely a win for Mommy's little nurturer. Adam's Tonka truck should be along any day now, and I've been nibbling my truffles for a few days. Yay, presents!
Update: It seems Adam's rather fond of the new baby doll as well. Here's a transcript of a conversation Adam had with the baby doll, after Kayla had gone to bed and relinquished control of it:
"Look at my bird, baby... now, just sit there and I'll sit next to you.... here's your toy, baby. You have a pouch where your baby can grow in...and Daddy brought me some grapes. Would you like to try one? OK! Here, try one. (to me) I'm giving the baby a grape! (to baby) Here you go, pouch baby. Hey, would you like a grape of your own, baby? (putting baby on the table) You sit there, and go to sleep, baby. It's naptime for you! I put the grape in your pocket. When the baby woke up, it needed to change its clothes. (starts trying to take its clothes off, but gets called off by Dad) This baby is hungry! I take care of you, baby, cuz I love you. I love you, too."
Sgt. Hook has had a brilliant idea. See, he and his men will be shipping out to Afghanistan soon, and he wants to have a morale fun set up to use for his troops. Among other things, he wants to have a BBQ each weekend, to help the guys unwind from the stress of achieving their mission. To that end, he’s set up a store where you can buy items, and the profits from it will be put into this fund. You can also donate money direct to the fund, if you want. This is an excellent cause, and a way in which you can directly contribute to support of the troops fighting the war on terrorism. Me, I’m going to get the sweatshirt, camisole, and boxer shorts. Hey, Hook, they don’t have sweatpants, too, do they? You could save me a trip to Wal-Mart. Hmmm, maybe we could do a joint Boobies for Hook promo or something…
I’m not all that certain that the title - “The Howard Dean Implosion” - of this article is accurate. It (the title) seems to imply that the Dean campaign is losing ground because of Dean’s arrogance, anger, and lies, when in fact that just seems to be fueling the fire of his core constituency. But it’s still a great overall look at the public Dean so far.
Dean’s success amongst Democrats can be largely attributed to the fact that he has been able to galvanize and energize certain factions of the Democratic Party: namely the “new age hippies” and those who are seriously desperate for either a date or a party.
…
Man, is this guy ever angry. I mean, seriously agitated. Then again, he is the poster boy for the same state (Vermont) that the Drug Enforcement Administration ranks No. 2 in the country in per-person Ritalin use, so perhaps his constant agitation is fitting.
Dean rants and raves and flings and flails so much during debates, events and appearances that I honestly don’t know how anyone could picture this guy in the Oval Office, within an arm-fling’s distance of the Big Red Button. It seems that once the blood gets flowing to Dean’s reddened face, it all gets diverted directly from his brain, since he has a tendency of getting worked up and running off at the mouth with unsubstantiated, knee-jerk claims.
…
What leverage would Dean hope to use [against North Korea] exactly? Bush has the leverage to negotiate by virtue of the fact that he’s proven to these dangerous, dictatorial regimes that he isn’t afraid to use military force if the situation requires it. It’s no coincidence that within only a handful of days of Saddam Hussein’s capture, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi volunteered to destroy his country’s nuclear and chemical arsenal, and Iran suddenly agreed to open up its nuclear facilities to inspectors.
And finally, the money quote:
The obvious lesson here is if you want a safer world and a more secure America, vote for Bush; if you want Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-Il in sensitivity training, then Howard Dean is quite clearly the guy for you.
That’s it, in a nutshell.
This is a make-believe interview with Howard Dean. All the questions were made up, but all of the responses are real-life direct quotes from Dean.
Q. So it’s interesting because it’s odd. Now about “partial-birth” abortion. Though you are a supporter of the abortion lobby, surely you must acknowledge that this is an issue that morally serious people can disagree on.
A. This is an issue about nothing. It’s an issue about extremism.
Q. I see that in Iowa you said it might not be fair to blame President Bush for the current mad cow case, but didn’t you go on to blame him anyway?
A. Ordinary farmers in Iowa can’t sell their calves right now because the president of the United States did not take the precautions that we could have easily predicted.
There’s more, of course.
I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions. I made one last year (redecorate Adam's room), and met it, but I generally don't like the pressure of "formal" promises to myself like that. I have yet another room to remodel/redecorate this year - I'm converting our den/back room into a bedroom for Mike and me. I'm hoping to have that all finished up by March, since I'm just going to get pregnanter and pregnanter. I've also decided I need to be better about writing here, if I'm going to keep this journal up at all. So, to that end, here's what's happened so far this year.
New Year's Day there was an all-day crop at Paper Pals in Pullman. Even though it was snowing pretty hard, I decided to go, taking along a change of clothes and my toothbrush/toothpaste just in case. The crop was great fun, and I met lots of women I hadn't known before. We sat four to a table, and 3 of 4 at my table were pregnant - due dates in April, May, and June. There was one other woman at the crop pregnant, also due in May. Spring on the Palouse, ha! I finished about 6 or 7 pages for my quilting scrapbook, since I decided I wanted to finish that book before working on anything else. I still have a ways to go, but that's more pages than I normally get done in any one session. About 4 PM, some of the other gals decided to start driving home - the snow was coming down very heavily, and winds were 30-35 MPH in various parts of the county. I decided to stick it out, especially hearing about how many cars and plows had gone into the ditches. Long story short, I stayed overnight in Pullman, in a room at the Holiday Inn Express. It's a nice enough little hotel. My only complaint is why do they air-puff those pillows? It's virtually impossible to get comfortable on them. Still, I got to watch Courage Under Fire and munch on the forbidden fruit (Cheetos Puffs), so all was not lost.
The next morning (yesterday), I woke up and called Mike. I decided to make the drive home, after a breakfast at Denny's. The drive was pretty uneventful from my point of view, though I saw two cars, a plow-mounted truck, and a pickup spun off into various ditches. I gave the pickup driver (an old man) a drive back to his lane in Diamond, which was right on my way anyhow. Our gravel road was my biggest worry, but it was plowed. Our driveway was a bugger-bear, though, with three-foot-high drifts in some places. Still, ol' Betsy made it through, and I was home. We were all happy to see one another, and had an uneventful evening.
Kayla is beginning to say lots of words now. Among her vocabulary are ball, book, block, bird, brother, puppy, mama, dada, up, diaper, snake, elephant, turtle, potty, night-night, die (long story), more, apple, out, foot/shoe/sock (all the same word), and dishes. She recognizes thousands of words, of course. She signs "please", and has a noise she makes when she wants you to give her some toilet paper or a Kleenex to wipe her face with; she kind of blows air out her nose as her "word." Adam's vocabulary is astounding. Sometimes he'll say phrases I had no idea he knew how to put together, like, "It's quite cold in here, maybe we should put on some warmer clothes." It's all perfectly enunciated, too. I don't think I learned how to use "quite" until I was like 12.
Well, I guess that's all the news that's fit to print, at least for now. If you are/were a regular reader here, you can check back more often now. I'll try to keep the journal more updated.
Time to announce the winner of the Caption Contest. It was a tough choice, and many of the entries had me laughing my ass off, but the ultimate winner is:
Scott Ott, with this entry:
Hillary Clinton inhales all the oxygen in the room at the start of a fundraising dinner for the nine Democrat presidential candidates. Mrs. Clinton gave the keynote address, autographed her book for eager fans and, in a freak accident, crushed the diminutive Howard Dean into the tile grout with her heel. When asked whether she would run for president in 2004, Mrs. Clinton just laughed and laughed.
Regular readers will understand that the mental image of Howard Dean being crushed into the tile grout - even by Hillary Clinton - was too good to pass up.
Second runner up, who receives .. hm.. well, this link, was Susie:
Does this smile make me look fat?
That tickled. :)
Thank you to everyone who participated. I’ll be doing this again. Oh, and Scott, please email me your mailing address, so I can get you your Bill Clinton action figure.. don’t leave home without it!