What Will Shrubs handlers do now?

It goes with out saying that Shrub himself is not in control of the presidency. He's not very bright and hardly equipped to handle the job. He's a figure head. A big wooden head of state strapped to front of the boat while the actual captain makes sure the aim the ship at the shore or in the case of this administration, the off shore banks.

Now with Ridge out of the way leafing through Pell grant applications and all the other newbies in the office,there must be some question as to whom will be next? Rumsfeld? Hardly. He's the most flawlessly on message of any of them , but he does carry Abu Greb around with him and people don't like him. Shrubs handlers have worked hard this time around to make them all seem more likeable. So far they have placed both an African American woman and an Hispanic man to posts, who ever fills Tom Ridges office will probably have be in a wheelchair. Its all about the inclusiveness the GOP is so well known for.

But.

The PTB are going to need to start filling in the holes. Do they go with a Himmler/Hess model or with a taste great less flamingly evil model such as Erhlichman/Halderman to surround the big wooden head of state. How about Buchcannan? He was a Nixon man and is used to parroting crazy/paranoid into policy. There are a lot of the old guard around, waiting, does the fact that they did federal time keep them from holding federal office? They all ready made the world safe for Tom Delay. How low will the admin go? Who is too sleazy to work in the Bush White House?

Coming as no surprise...

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will announce his resignation today.



from Cnn.com

Moral Issues

For Bushites end justify means hell is for people who aren't like us.


from Atrios

Ghost of Christmas Cards past

I was watching a thoroughly mediocre Christmas Carol and I thought “hey! I could be working on my Christmas cards right now! How seasonal! How appropriate!” As it turned out, How frustrating!

Last year I think I remember being all efficient and forward thinking, and putting my venerable Christmas card list in with the left over cards – the idea being that I really didn’t need to have the pages long list folded up in my address book all year long and wouldn’t it be a good idea to have the cards and the list all together so that when the time came I could just do my thing and… the last years cards are all together, and the this years cards are all together. The list is no where to be found.

This can’t be happening! That list has survived at least four separate moves and multiple opportunities for loss and now in the space of one moveless year it disappears. Then I started to think that maybe what I did was not put the list with the cards and I left it in the address book but then I kind of remember cleaning out the address book before it went on vacation with me last summer and after searching through the sundry piles of paper I have stacked up in my kitchen shelves, shut up, I still can’t find it. And its not like these are people I regularly correspond with and I’m not going to call my entire extended family to say “hey, what’s your address?” because I really don’t have much to say to most of them past “Merry Christmas” and they, I would think, since I only hear from them at Christmas don’t have much to say past “Merry Christmas” to me.

If I did end up calling all of them it would sort of defeat the whole card sending anyway, because once I have said “Hi, 2004, Diana’s still here”, why bother reminding them of it again a few weeks later? I don’t want them to call me, I want them to send me cards and the only way to get cards is to send cards. I spent all that cash after Christmas last year buying cards; I am going to send cards. Damn it. (Yay! Blog Mom saved me!)

Back to the mediocre Christmas Carol, I like the guy from Law and Order as much as the next guy and I know he has a strong theatre background, but dayum, did they really need to have him singing on stage with the Rockettes at the end? I mean did they really think that what Christmas Carol really, really needed was more Rockettes? Did the PTB say “Hey, that whole power of redemption and love of mankind thing really needs the Rockettes to make it more Christmas-y! People today just can’t grasp the whole redemption thing, we need to add some Rockette to the show, to you know, and make it more redemption-y”. Were they trying to make us think of Scrooged? I mean, you could practically see the network suits huddled around the set trying to think of new ways to cock up Christmas Carol to their own ends, were the Rockettes not actual Rockettes but the suits model/actress girl friends? Would it surprise you if they were? Was it some sort of cross promotional tie in thing? I guess I should have been thankful that they didn’t use an Olsen for Tiny Tim but maybe the Olsen’s are a little too urchiny for network TV. The urchins in CC were very clean, healthy, well fed urchins. Everyone had very good teeth and shiny hair. Even Want and Ignorance, who should have a least looked a little scabby and toothless and vaguely Victorian in nature, looked like they were on their way to a play date although Ignorance did seem to be a little walleyed and I think he was also wearing a Bush/Cheney button but I may have been mistaken.

Speaking of Scrooged is it available on DVD yet? Oh, and while we are thinking about DVD availability, I finally got my copy of F911.

Big Brother says "No Smiles"

Because a smiling terrorist is a warm and fuzzy terrorist? They have higher Q ratings? because when they splash your mug shot on TV and call you a terrorist they don't want you to be pleasant?. I would guess that frowning makes the bad guys look more like Bad Guys. But what if you're really a Good Guy? how is making everybody look sullen and guilty making us safer?

When I read stuff that at first inspection must be facetious in nature, and they turn out to be real? it makes me start to follow the weather in Canada and wonder how bad could 10 months of winter really be?.

Bush's social security thing confuse you?

Join the club. But, go here, it has graphs, it has text, it 'plains it all. Short version? Shrub hates 'Murica, especially the unborn 'muricans that he is so fond of, but really he ain't real fond of anybody even the borned 'muricans. When you are old, Bush's plan will make sure you are also poor. Bush must have really liked having all those elderly pan handlers around. Maybe he has friends in the dog food industry who are looking for new markets.

from Atrios

Heee!

Mr. Kitty is so getting one of these pages! I wonder how much he's going to hate the light up jingle bell Reindeer head band I bought today? he's going to hate it but he will wear it, if I have to tape it to his head. Dogger isn't getting out of this, she will have her own page too. If you can't torment your pets with seasonal head gear, when can you? I knew when I saw the pet sized santa hat at the mall I should have bought it. I love Dogster and Catster.

Like They care

GOP warned of over reaching

But, hey, why not. Just start calling any bad news about the party "Liberal Media Bias" and your moronic followers will ignore it all. At this point I think Frist could be caught with his pants down at a NAMBLA meeting and the Admin would spin the whole thing so that what Dr. Frist was really there for was to teach self exam's for testicular cancer.



from Yahoo News

Insert Title Here


So, how was your Thanksgiving? Get enough to eat?

How are you supposed top answer that questions? I mean unless you’re homeless or poverty stricken or an Olsin twin? I mean, and then isn’t that a really rude question to ask in the first place? No, I chewed an old shoe and then I got mugged. I’ve always wanted to answer that with , “No, actually, I woke up at dawn and had a cup of luke warm broth and then I went to Church and kneeled on concrete for five hours to pray for the starving in the world. After that I went to a homeless shelter and served dinner”.

Yeah. But then I would actually have to get up at dawn and drink broth and kneel for hours and then be all selfless and stuff and frankly, I would rather eat myself into a coma and watch football.

So. I did.

I had well past the recommended daily allowance of turkey, ham, stuffing, broccoli, dinner rolls, blueberry pie and key lime pie. Frankly, I ate like a pig.

Then I went shopping.

I shopped like a pig too. I saw something I wanted and I bought it. I didn’t need whatever it was I saw, I’m sure the eventual owners don’t need the stuff I saw but damn it I was going to take whatever I saw home. I saw it first and it was going to be mine. I hope everybody I know really wants a their own individual tube of glow in the dark chapstick and radio controlled underwater flashlights with G.P.S., because everyone is getting one. It was me or a lady in a hand painted RUDOLPH LIVES sweatshirt, I and everybody I know needed those flashlights! I don’t care how many of her nephews are SEALS or how many of her kids are part of under water rescue teams, those radio controlled under water flashlights with G.P.S. were going to me mine.


In honor of Thanksgiving, I actually made food for real live people. It was a shock to my kitchen. I stood there and worked on food I could eat and enjoy. I haven’t put effort into people food in so long I had to control the urge to slather the mess onto the table and cut it into dog cookies. I don’t think Dogger would like Key Lime flavored dog cookies, but it would be worth a shot. Fortunately though, I changed my mind and made pies. Good pies. I haven’t made home made people food in a long time. My stove didn’t know what to think. My refrigerator was in shock.

I took an inventory of all the food I ate over the long weekend and did not see a single mention of sand paper. Which is odd, since when I woke up this morning, it was clear that I had done a great job sanding down the interior of my throat . I kept checking through out the predawn hours and drank hot tea to make it go away, but like my annual holiday weight gain, its still there.

Yay.

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!

HAPPY "OH MY GAWD I SLEPT 'TILL WHEN?!" SATURDAY !!!!!

HAPPY $HOPPING !!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!!!

Mr. Pot this is Mr. Kettle

U.S. Rejects Ukraine Election Results


"We cannot accept this result as legitimate, because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse."


People who live in glass elections shouldn’t throw chads.



From Atrios

In Print

The donation was $5.2 Million worth of ocean front property. The School in question is a public, state supported university with no Church connections...

He hopes the money will help restore the idea that school is an extension of church and family and also keep environmental regulations from hamstringing development... "Our country was founded on the core values, he said "we've seen a drifting away from that. its been misinterpreted by the courts. The Ten Commandments tell it all"

The Eleventh Commandment "Thou Shall Not Let Beach Front Property Lie Fallow yay, ye shall get rid of unprofitable, poorly located property by gifting it to a public university and taketh the tax write off." Amen

Raleigh News and Observer 11-24-04

Due to circumstances beyond my control… when you work in a 60 plus year old building you learn to be grateful for the little things like power and water and when you don’t have one or the other or both all morning, you learn to be patient…


Wet, Wet. Wet

It’s raining. Dogger and I are going to have to take a walk in the rain after I get home from work and neither of us really wants to do that.

Me – Come on Dogger! Let’s go pee!

Dogger – You’re home! Yay! Let’s go out and Pee! Yay!

Me – Okay Dogger! Outside!

Dogger – Pee! Let’s go pee! Let’s go pee! Yay! Outside! Wait. It’s wet.

Me – its not wet, its not dry! Okay! Out the door! Yay! Pee!

Dogger – Can we talk about this? I don’t really have to go right now. I could wait, till, say after it stops being wet.

Me – Come on! Outside, outside, outside! Let’s Go!

Dogger – No. I’m fine. Really. I want to go watch TV or chew on my bone or bring about a detente’ The Not Dog.

Me – No detente’! Let’s go!

Dogger – All right. ( takes two steps outside, squats and prepares to go back inside)

Me – No! not inside! We have to go on our walk! Go walky now! Yay!

Dogger – No. We don’t. I’ve peed; I want to go back inside.

Me – We have to go. You know how cranky I get when you don’t get a walk. Do you really want to have to stay in your crate because you annoyed me?

Dogger – I swear to Gawd. I will not annoy you. Let’s go inside!

Me – You say that now but we both know that you lie.

Dogger - Really. Totally. I will lay there at your feet and, you know, purr or something. I will not annoy you.

Me – Let me define “annoy” to you. Annoying Mama means that you are taking things off the table tops and shredding them, it means that you are chewing on Kitty’s baby, it means playing keep away with Mama’s things, it means you are barking inside… do you think if you don’t get a walk that you will be able to not do any of those things tonight?

Dogger – As long as it’s a short walk.

I also never realized how much of our conversations include frivolous abuse of explanation marks on my part. Dogger doesn’t even know what the words “walk, pee, outside, cookie, chewy” mean, she has learned “toy” and she can “get” her toy. Up talking means nothing to this dog.


I hate the winter, even with out the rain I have to run home, change clothes and drag Dogger outside all within about five minutes of arriving home. This is not restful. Dogger doesn’t even get a real walk in the dark part of the winter. We go in the car to the ball field at the rec center and I throw the ball for her. It’s good for her to run and I hope that a little running is about equal to some walking; and it does remind her of the whole Fetch idea that she forgets after not doing it for months and months. It’s a lot more fun for me when she finally remembers that “Go get it! Get the ball!” does not mean “Grab the ball and go to far corner of field to eat it” or “snarl at Mama and snap at her when she tries to get the ball back” or my favorite, “lose interest in the ball and make Mama search around in the dark for it.

It will be spring again when?

Interesting...

GAO to investigate election complaints dont' let the the boring "General Accounting Office" part of it put you to sleep. The GAO is a nonpartison pain in the ass. They have no friends and they fear no one.

from Cnn. Com

Never Give Up

Never Surrender

lifted from Blondesense

The same polling, two different headlines

From NYT online (registration req.), New York Times/CBS News Poll:

Americans Show Clear Concerns on Bush Agenda

From Cnn.Com, U.S Today/CNN poll

Majority gives Bush good job approval mark

Have you considered investing in the banana market?

First we have this:

Republican budget writers say they may have found a way to cut the federal deficit even if they borrow hundreds of billions more to overhaul the Social Security system: Don't count all that new borrowing.

As they lay the groundwork for what will probably be a controversial fight over Social Security, Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration are examining a number of accounting strategies that would allow the expensive transition to a partially privatized Social Security system without -- at least on paper -- expanding the country's record annual budget deficits. The strategies include, for example, moving the costs of Social Security reform "off-budget" so they are not counted against the government's yearly shortfall.

from NYT

So, if they don't have to count it, it doesn't count! now, where in math class did you learn that was the right thing to do?


and then we have this from Yahoo news: The GOPs plan to privatize Social Security is a bad idea picture if you will in the future, economists in the streets with signs with "I told You so! crudely drawn with red marker

Clear Channel Clears it up for us


Our Leader, Dear Leader tomato, tahmoto...


from The Raw Story

Christmas ShoSnowjobw

Among other things (leaf raking, dog washing, getting stung by a wasp while inside my house!, laundry doing, social conscience raising, dog cookie making, going into work on Sunday to finish little tasks) damn, no wonder I was tired this morning. I need to hire an assistant. Anyway, other then working my fingers to the bone, I went to the annual Christmas Show extravaganza they have downtown at the convention center every year. It coincides with the Annual Christmas Parade Extravaganza as well – this year with 100% less Clay Aiken! If this is as extravagant Raleigh gets, we suck.

Last year I merely made fun of the show.

a Christmas Show thing they have booked at the convention center. I thought that they were doing all this so it would be easier for the people to park so they could go to the Christmas Show and buy sequined incrusted crèche sets with bonus Red White and Blue™ glitter Uncle Sam ™ Santa, now!with! singing I’m Proud to Be An American™ (Holiday Mix) action. I don’t think people who would want to buy sequin incrusted crèche sets with bonus Red White and Blue™ glitter Uncle Sam™ Santa, now!with! singing I’m Proud To Be An American™ (Holiday Mix) action need things to be easier for them. I think they should suffer for their glitter incrusted crèche sets with bonus Red White and Blue™ glitter Uncle Sam™ Santa, now!with! singing I’m Proud to be An American™ (Holiday Mix) action.

This year I went.

There was no Christmas Show. I wasn’t expecting A Christmas Carol on Ice or anything, I mean, the ice show is next week, but I was expecting some Christmas. I even more expected some show after they charged me to enter. Once I have an actual ticket in my hand, I expect Show of some sort.

When I walked in with my newly deflated wallet, there was a store set up with Christmas decorations. I should have seen this as a bad sign. Stores with boxed Christmas decorations right when I walked into the Show should have been a sign. Marabou feathers are going to be big this year, by the way. But I pressed on, there were other little store things set up and they all had Christmas-y things in them. Christmas Crap is what they had on closer inspection. And not very interesting Christmas Crap at that. I went in the first place because I wanted to find interesting, North Carolina themed Christmas ornaments for my friends at home, so at least once a year they would have to remember I exist. Sigh. Anyway. I’m wandering through the marabou feathers looking for something interesting or original or if it got down to it, one of a kind. I thought they would have craft things there. No, they did not. This was not some half assed Christmas Bazaar down at the Church; thank you very much! this was the Annual Christmas Show! Don’t be looking for anything creative or original or Gawd Forbid one of a kind. You come here for the marabou damn it.

I was kind of hoping there would be sequined incrusted crèche sets with bonus Red White and Blue™ glitter Uncle Sam ™ Santa, now!with! singing I’m Proud to Be An American™ (Holiday Mix) action. . I mean, damn. I paid to get in and there aren’t any sequin encrusted anything’s. I’m not even sure I saw any crèche sets, red white and blue or otherwise.

What people were really there for was the Gift Ideas. Row after row of tables littered with crap. Some of this crap looked to me to be the same crap they were selling on the street in New York. I mean, very low end, bad gift level crap. The stuff you buy in bulk at the Family Dollar and unload on the people at work you don’t really care about but you have to buy something for – blocks of Plexiglas with kittens or light houses or scripture lazer-ed into them and mounted on a light bulb, level of crap gifts. People paid to park for this thing and plexiglass crap is what they get for their investment? I was shocked.

I did score about a quarter cup of free peppermint flavored Starbucks hot chocolate, but even that wasn’t worth the price of entry.

Do you need a ladies saddle if you are going to ride a lobby horse?


On Saturday I got up bright and early to attend the NC Women?s United, County Women?s Agenda Assembly . Try saying that fast at 8:30am on a Saturday.

I got lost again. But this time the directions while wildly wrong I at least knew the area well enough to point myself in the right direction. The online site I used, I?m not going to be using again, I?m looking at you Rand McNally! How could you! The directions did not seem to take into account that many downtowns have one way streets and that no matter what time you are on them, you can?t just make a one way street go both ways. You also are not going to turn right onto a street that does not intersect the street you are on right now. If its three blocks away and going the wrong direction, you aren?t going to get anywhere by turning the wrong way on it. The directions they gave me had nine separate things for me to do. None of which would have gotten me to my destination. Losers.

Anyway. The reason for the NC Women?s United, My County Women?s Agenda Assembly was to show us this agenda and get our input as well as seeing if there was anything else we felt needed to be included. They broke us up into discussion groups and] asked us what items on the agenda were of the most import to us individually. The issue categories were as follows

Access to Health Care
Civic Participation
Economic Self Sufficiency
Violence Against Women

We all agreed that Economic Self Sufficiency was the most important category to us. We also felt that education was vital to self sufficiency and ultimately, all the other categories. The more you learn the more you can earn. We talked about it and said that there should be more job training for women for fields outside the traditional fields of study open to us. The example used was that more women should be trained to be welders and electricians and fewer as CNAs or daycare workers. True, those jobs are important, but other non traditional jobs have a higher wage and can offer a better life. Not every woman might want to be an electrician or a welder or a construction worker, but that those opportunities must be made available to them.

I totally agree. Why should so many young women just be funneled into CNA training or plugged into day care work? These are very low paying and mostly offer no room for advancement. I saw a feature on this on 60 Minutes years ago and the idea of training women for jobs in male dominated fields was working brilliantly. You don?t have to be a man to put up wallboard or be an electrician or a roofer. I think this should be the next thing we as women strive for - to get more of us out of scrubs and into hard hats.



We also learned the best ways to lobby your reps. You need to:

Decide how - email, snail mail, telephone, or schedule a meeting

When talking or writing to your representative you should be identify yourself and what ever group or groups you are a member of, and let them know you are also a constituent this gives what you are saying more weight with your rep. You should be organized and informed but don?t be afraid to admit you don?t know an answer. Keep in mind that nothing is black or white there is a lot of gray in any issue. Be polite and dress appropriately.

Keep your message wither, writing, emailing, or visiting in person , to one page, use color if possible and include charts or grafts if you can. Make your message stand out from the rest of the paper on their desks. But most importantly, Keep it simple.

You should keep in contact with your rep. Let him or her know when they have done something you approve of as well as when they do something you do not! These people work for you, you hired them and you can ?fire? them. Now, go out there and annoy your elected officials. They wanted the job in the first place, show them what they got themselves into.

Also, today is November 22, anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, this is another example of how under the Bush administration our society going to hell.

Republicans Soft On Terrorism

From a New York Times Headline

House Leadership Blocks Vote on Intelligence Bill

By PHILIP SHENON and CARL HULSE

A core of highly conservative Republicans aligned with the
Pentagon moved to block a vote on a bill that would have
enacted the recommendations of the 9/11 panel.

Cause, ya know, there's nothing the rethuglicans like more then not stopping another attack. The Republican Party is supporting terrorism. You heard it here first, Republican Party = Friend of Terrorists.

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!

Wanna look at some pictures?

I got my pics back from the New York trip. My scanner and computer aren't speaking to each other at the moment so I had to get creative. Go here and the magic email addy it is asking for is: nyc.pix@gmail.com

Just type in nyc.pix@gmail.com and you can see them, if you wanna. Please wanna? If you do go and see them, warning, a lot of them are on their sides and rotating option doesn't seem to be available, so you'll have to turn your head sideways to see them, but ya'll are big girls and boys and I think you can handle it. Remember: nyc.pix@gmail.com! If you go, leave a comment here, I would love to know what you thought of them.

Book’em Diana-o

I hear about this book club thing through the Young Democrats. Super. I said, but what if I don’t really want to read Al Frankens’ ourve? Shockingly, the club wasn’t reading that. The clubs first selection was Skipping Christmas. I never heard of it.

Before we left for NYC. I had to pick up a few things at the grocery and as I walked in the door I walked past the stores paperback display. Lo and behold, SC was front and center! Its just a little book and I did need something to read in the car so I bought it.

I enjoyed it. It’s a nice book. Despite being by John Grisham its short and to the point. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I was loking forward to going to the Book Club to talk about it.

Going being the operative word. I would have to go to the meeting. I looked up the address online and printed it out and put it my purse. I was good to go. Was.

But see, then I had to get there. My directions turned out to be faulty. Very faulty. I did get a tour of the campus of St. Augs, which is great. In the daytime. I don’t want to be wandering around there in the dark. A college campus is never the best place to wander around and I did not want to wander around. I ended up driving around and around and around. The street I was looking for never materialized since it was on the other side of town and I was losing what little patience I had with this driving around in circles in the dark thing, as well as becoming later and later to the meeting. I am never late. I hate late. I followed my little directions and got nowhere. I finally got pissed enough that I drove home and called the girl.

It turned out I wasn’t anywhere near her house. She offered to give me directions but I was not feeling it by then. I asked what the next book was going to be and she didn’t know, probably something by Ormound? The financial woman? Yeah, thrilling. I think I missed my first, last and only meeting of the book club.

I can not think of anything less worthy of what little free time I have to read then a stifling financial treatise authored by the woman PBS gives air time to instead of informaertials about exercise machines or kitchen cleaners. Maybe after the holidays they’ll settle down and choose something I want to read.


Keen eyed readers may have noticed I grew an ad. Yes, after telling Blogger to get their ads off my page or face my terrible bloggy wrath, I have an ad. I am a total blogwhore now, the shark has jumped... but my house payment jumped first so I don’t feel like as much of a sell out.

See, the payment went up and my income didn’t. Its amazing how that happens. Back when I first bought the house and signed all those papers it was one amount and then about a year later I got a check from my mortgage company and a mea culpa explaining that I had paid too much! And here was my check! Yeah. I should have seen that this was too easy. So now it turns out I wasn’t actually paying enough all this time and now I have to pay it back. They made a mistake and I get to pay for it. It was either stop eating or find ways of earning money that do not involve me getting a second job or selling plasma... so enter, Ad-man. Click that ad!

Hmmmmmm

Interesting Porter Goss CIA memo

from The Raw Story

What. A. Shock.

Some question the voracity of Powells' Iran Nuke info. Somebody has gotten on the wrong side of the popular kids and now they're spreading rumors about his informa-tion...


CNN.com

Boat dealerships everywhere are happy

Eat one of these a day your cardiologist will have his new boat paid for in no time!

Ask and ye shall receive

And its those tax and spend democrats that make the deficit go up?

from CNN.com

Ooopps!

Due to my incompetence, I some how managed to not mail today's entry to myself when I wrote it last night, you would think that I would know my own email addy. I also skillfully managed to not mail it to my work addy, or my home or my gmail and it hasn't bounced back yet so who knows where it ended up or if I even mailed it begin with. Go Me!, so it will get posted, um, later. I suck.

So much for your Capital

The Bush administration is eyeing an overhaul of the tax code that would drastically cut, if not eliminate, taxes on savings and investment, but it is unlikely to try to replace the existing tax code with a single flat income tax rate or a national sales tax, according to several sources familiar with ongoing tax deliberations?

?.The changes are meant to be revenue-neutral. To pay for them, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, the advisers said

This is going to RAISE YOUR TAXES and ELIMINATE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE!!! All of you hanging on to your crappy job because at least it provided insurance, well, guess what? Some of them ain?t even gonna do that anymore. Call, write,email, visit, whatever, get your reps attention and start screaming- and remember to refer to it always as the "proposed Republican changes in the tax code".

If the Democrats don?t cause a shit storm over this and stop it in its tracks, they are completely useless and stupid and no better then the rethuglicans.

From Atrios

And from The New York Times registration required.

And away we go

Did you see where we are talking to mysterious Iranians about alleged nuke fuel sites? And while we seem happy to talk to these fun guys, we won’t at the same time talk to any official Iranians like the Europeans are? Gosh. Who are you going to believe? A possible whack job with an axe to grind or the actual government of the country in question? You know someone on the inside who actually knows something and can make official statements and stuff.

Hmmm. Random pissed off guy with axe to grind and no real inside knowledge that reflects the current state of the countries nuke program and may possibly be lying and who “just happened” to have tripped over a suspicious nukey fuel thingy, you know, on accident, on his way to Bible study and then came here and told Unka George all about it – for the good of ya know, The U.S and not so much because what good things might happen for say, his own political/religious group back home in Tehran… oh, wait he isn’t from Tehran, he’s from some distant outpost way, way out, like far away from where his counties leadership is and so he knows all this top secret nukey fuel stuff, cause you know, that kind of thing is broadcast all the time out in the desert, on the internets.

Nah! Let’s go with him and his guys. Those Frenchy losers and those other Old Europe people are just trying to make us look bad by sitting down with the actual leadership of the country and discussing things and being all Diplomatic. They just do that to make us look bad. We know who our friends are, Poland! For instance! Don’t forget Poland! And um, you know, The Collation of the Willing to let our troops die because they can’t really send more then you know, a handful of training folks and maybe a hummer or something…

The collation and us, we are all about the acting not the sitting around and the talking. Talky, Talky, Talky! How does that help? You can’t change things like that! How are you supposed to bring about regime change that way! You have to be on the ground, you have to be bombing things! Regime change starts with us, damn it! On our terms! We won’t have any of this pansy ass diplomacying around when there is killing and maiming and regime changing to be done! We want to get our war on damn it! Why do those people hate Murrica? Why don’t they want us to make over these sad little desert countries...?

That’s it! We can sell the whole thing as a Make Over! people like those! It’ll be like What Not To Wear only with lots of cammo and anti-aircraft! and casualties and war crimes. We’ll call it What Not to Worship or oh, wait! Even better! Extreme Make Over: Country Edition! We’ll use Ty Pennington as the host! And we’ll get those What Not To Wear folks in to show the natives how to dress! We’ll get their gals into really nice western style things – fashionable, yet modest! And talk to the fellahs about facial hair choices and baseball caps! Man, people really love those shows. We could sell it like a reality show! Where is that Mark Burnett guy? We need him pronto! Survivor: Iran! Think of it!

Those Iranians need to be freed. That’s all. We need to go there and slap a fresh coat of freedom up on the walls and tear up those dusty carpets and give them all zip codes! And Starbucks! Well, first we have to knock down the walls, and destroy the carpets, but right after that, boy howdy! We’ll be slapping freedom and Starbucks up all over the place. Freedom from their culture, freedom from their religion and freedom from there old way of life! What more could they want! We’ll be heroes! There is nothing a poor sad little desert culture like theirs wants more then to have some American Style freedom dropped on them. They’ll love us! They’ll great us with flowers and candy and cheap crude oil! Man, it will be bey-u-tiful! Tell you what!

Tell me this is not what is happening and I’ll sell you some ocean front property in Des Moines.

Whatever

Couldn't this guy just get laid all ready? we can tell he's miserable. He's sure that Uncle Walt would be really sad...

from CNN.com

Here We Go Again...

How many double dealing low lives will lie to us and "discover" hidden "caches" of dangerous "weapons" this time before we kindly start another war to suit their purposes. If you don't remember this was how we got started on the current war.

from CNN.com

Support The Troops

1209

Back on the chain gang

Wow. I was in NYC and it was so exciting and different and kewl and now I’m home, where it’s not very exciting, not at all different and not at all kewl. I do however still have a job, which is my number 1 fear when ever I come back from a trip. I’m always afraid that while I was gone something I over looked would have come back to bite me in the ass and there will be a scary “See Me!” sticky notes stuck to my door. I really stress about this, I over prepare before I leave in hopes that I can stamp out any fires before I leave. This has proven greatly effective, the last time I found something smoldering and was able to put it out before it caught on fire and made a huge embarrassing mess for me. I would much prefer I find the things that I have messed up, myself, hopefully before anyone else finds them.

I over think things sometimes.

Right now I am avoiding checking the messages on my phone. The little red light is sitting there, glaring at me with its one eye. I know there is something on the machine that I should have all ready taken care of, like last Thursday, and I don’t want to hear about it now. I will check it soon because it just sitting there is making me nervous. There may be nothing on it, it may be just a hang up… or it may be a huge issue and a very angry person who wanted me to call them back say Friday and now are on the phone with my Boss and… I really don’t even want to check.( nine calls! my phone doesn't ring nine times in most months! Arrggghhh! and they all need something from me)

The good thing about being so caught up before I left is that if I really get off my ass right now I could get myself caught up again. In just one day!

Somehow, though, I don’t see this happening. I get all worky and motivated before I go somewhere and then when I come back I’m tired and not up to the same level of output. I should take more time off; I would never get behind again. But then, I would be tired a lot more too and I don’t like that and besides, where would I go? And I would run out of vacation time in April and not be able to go on a real vacation, and by the time that time of the year rolls around when I need a long vacation… but maybe if I took more short vacations over the year I wouldn’t need the long vacation in the summer.

Or not. I mean I might just be crazed enough by the summer that no matter how many three day weekends I end up taking over the course of a year I’ll still need to get away for an extended amount of time. I don’t think this job offers sabbaticals and I know they don’t let us take sick time for vacation days. I think the odd mental health day should come out of our sick time hours, because by the time I need a mental health day, I am really sick and tired and I don’t think I should be docked vacation days because I am doing my best not to have to go postal on my coworkers.

I think that if The State were smarter, they would be handing mental health days out like candy:

Oh! You are concerned about getting your yard raked and the gutters cleaned out? But have two soccer games, a soft ball tourney, a bake sale, a pot luck and a baby shower all on the same weekend? take a Mental Health Day! You want to paint your entry way before the holidays? but all ready have too much else to do and can’t think of when you’ll find the time to get it painted? Take a Mental Health Day! If you have to go to one more three year olds birthday party or have to watch My Little Pony Saves The World even one more time or you’ll lose your mind? take a Mental Health Day! Did someone ask you for something you don’t have yet because they haven’t turned it in and the thing in question is buried on their desk yet they insist you go through everything you own to find it? take a Mental Health Day!

Right, that’ll happen.

National Field Director for Republican Party sought unsafe sex, multiple partners online:

details here

Man, as a breeder I don't stand a chance in the GOP. I guess all that hate speech and fear mongering isn't really about instilling fear and hatred of the party apparachicks. Gay democrats are the gay people who are to be feared and loathed! They are the gays who are supposed to keep it in their pants and think about Jesus - Gay Rethugs do what? Think about each others bottom lines?

How are the people who the GOP taught to fear and loath supposed to know which gays are the "bad" fags and which are the "good" fags? Is it a "yours" vs. "ours" thing? Do gays have to work for the GOP to find acceptance? Do they issue little GOP-GAY cards to "their" gays? Hmmmm, little "Get Out Of Hell Free" cards? Its a puzzler.


from The Raw Story

Home ,Sick, Home!


I decided to call Brosky and Alphagal to tell them how fabulous New York is.

Me - NYC! OMG!

Brosky/Alphagal - Something is wrong with Dogger. What is the name of your vet?

Me - WTF!


Before I left for my trip, like the night before I noticed that Dogger had a sore spot under her ear. I got all Diana, Girl Veterinarian! and cleaned it up. Applied some triple antibiotic ointment and toped it off with some anti-itch cream for good measure. Problem solved, Dogger cured. I packed up Dogger and her crate, food, toys, leash, sweater, treats,two different bowls and my Dogger first aid kit and dropped them all off at Brosky and Alphagals - but not before I patted myself on the back for my amazing Dog Mothering skills and my awesome powers of observation.

Within two days they thought she was dieing.

She didn’t have a “sore spot” under her ear. She had a festering ear infection that was discharging and what I had been “treating” was the ooze stain on her fur. Awesome powers of observation my ass. If left in my care the dog would have died with anti-bacterial fur.

Yeah. So while I was having a fabulous time in The City, Broskey and Alphagal were sweating a sick neicdog and trying to find time to take her to her vet while worrying that she wasn’t going to live long enough to get to the vet. The dog couldn’t even stand up to eat, she wouldn’t come out of her crate and she just lay there. Dogger doesn’t just lay there in her sleep. She is a Mexican jumping bean of a dog. She is wild. So when this wild dog suddenly just lays there and won’t get up, it’s a worrisome thing.

So.


Brosky/Alphagal - So. Um. We looked on your fridge and there was couple of magnets from vets. Which vet are you using now?

Me - What?!

B/A - She’s sick.

Me - I put anti stuff on the scratch...

B/A - She doesn’t have a scratch. It’s her ear.

Me - Her ear?

B/A - Her ear.

Me - She scratched herself.

B/A - she scratched herself because her ear hurt. She tried to scratch whatever was HURTING her. She’s a dog. She did what she could.

Me - I put ointment on it. (I did what I could)

B/A - Tell us the name of your vet.

Alphagal had her suspicions about Doggers condition. Winston has had ear issues in the past and, shockingly, she didn’t treat those issues by dabbing cream on Winstons fur. She had actual, real life medicine and a flashlight. She went spelunking in Doggers ear and came back with a bucket full of dog earyeast infection. Blech.

Blech, yes. But, she fixed Dogger’s ear and made her not die.

What do you get some one who makes your dog not die? I went to Chinatown and found a paper chain of pretty flowers.

“Thank you Alphagal for saving my dog, here, have some paper flowers.”

Sigh.


Oh, I had a wonderful time in New York! It was everything I imagined it would be but even bigger and taller and more lighted up. I took five rolls of film and still needed to buy 22 post cards! I’ll post the pixs when I get them back. I’ve missed you guys.

Three Things I Learned in NYC

Obvious personal wealth is not an indicator of taste or breeding.

There are no fat people in Manhattan.

The laws of physics do not apply to cabs.

Wandering around Bergdorf Goodman will make you feel fatter and poorer then you were before you wandered into Bergdorf Goodman.

Avoid the minibar.

The Whole World In It's Hands

Have you ever thought about all the languages there are in th world and ow few you would recognize if you heard them on the street?

NYSeeing it!

Hello! the amazing things they will let you pay them for!

Greetings!

Made it to Pennsylvania! Tomorrow on the train to NYC! Yay! The Kitty and Dogger are safely being looked after by Brosky and Alphagal. The Kitty is bravely staying at the house to protect it from any attacking forces or wasps, whatever comes. Dogger is maintaining an outpost in Broskey and Alphagals garage. I'll update from The City if I can. You should be spending this time reading back entries or just popping in six or nine times a day to keep my hit count up.

Wheeeee!

John Ashcroft resigned! I feel safer all ready! I'll check in when I can. HAve a good week!

Iraq, Iran, Iowa?

Today Iraq tomorrow Iran? where will Bushit get the troops for another ill thought out,poorly concieved, Go It Alone war? The Anatomy Of A Draft

from The Raw Story and Iraq Draft dot com

Why does the environment hate America?

Global Warming is an ”anti-American plot”

From No Capital

Chimpy visits wounded troops

Taking a break from his willful indifference to the troops and his busy schedule of vacationing, mocking the press, and casual bigotry, Bushit and the First Beyotch visit for the first time since LAST MARCH some carefully hand picked wounded vets.


from CNN.com

FYI New MYdoom worm making the rounds



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Anti-virus software manufacturer McAfee Inc. is warning about a new version of the Mydoom worm that infects computers of people who click on a link of an e-mail they receive.

The new version is a mass-mailing worm that does not contain an attachment, as some earlier versions of the worm program have done. A worm is a self-replicating computer program that -- like a computer virus -- can cause damage to a computer's software by attaching itself to programs.
The new Mydoom e-mail messages direct users to click on a link, directing them to an infected machine. Following the hyperlink results in an infection occurring on the target victim's system.

Some of the e-mail transmissions appear to be from PayPal, the online payment system that is part of eBay. The text of the e-mail includes the following:
"Congratulations! PayPal has successfully charged $175 to your credit card. Your order tracking number is A866DEC0, and your item will be shipped within three business days.

"To see details please click this link."
The program also harvests addresses from local files and then uses the harvested addresses in the "from" field to send itself. Some of those e-mail messages contain the following:

"Hi! I am looking for new friends.
"My name is Jane, I am from Miami, FL.
"See my homepage with my weblog and last webcam photos!
See you!"

McAfee says so far it has received approximately 100 reports of the virus being stopped or infecting users. It raised its risk assessment on the new Mydoom virus to medium.


From CNN.Com

What. A. Surprise

Red States = Slave States shocking, just shocking.

They Called themselves "Christian" and abused The Bible to back up their hate and bigotry back then too. The White Trash Nation has to hate and fear they just changed who they hate and fear.

from Sensory Overload

Rummy not a member of the Reality-Based Community

Rummy doesn't expect many civilian casualties in Falluja . Which is odd, seeing that there are 10,15 thousand troops there not to mention the local fighters, what could go wrong?

from The Raw Story

Happy, Happy

I took The Kitty to the vet on Saturday. Kitty was of course thrilled. If there is anything he likes more then fasting, its being stuffed into a box and dragged to the vets to be anally probed and called fat.

He was on a fast because the vet wanted to an unpleasant test and the vet felt that if he was starving and miserable that it would go better. Kitty doesn’t like being hungry. If Kitty doesn’t like stale food in his bowl he is expressly unhappy about no food in his bowl.

At about 2 A.M he walked all the way up my leg and onto my chest

Kitty – Wakey, wakey!

Me – Zzzzzzzzzz

Kitty – We can do this the easy way or the hard way. WAKEY WAKEY! head butt, head butt

Me – Arrrrgghhhzzzzzzzz

Kitty – Don’t make me suck the breath from your body. I can you, suck it right out. Do you want a mouth full of fur? I mean, I’m right here. All furry. Your mouth is just sitting there… lick, lick, lick

Me - rolling over Zzzzzzzzz.

Kitty – Wait! Wait! No she didn’t! You think that’s all you have to do to get rid of me? They put cats on shipboard for a reason! Rolling over! Try submerged! Okay. The easy way didn’t work. jumps down off bed

crinkle, crinkly

Me – WHAT! What is that! Where are you!

Kitty – I could be chewing an old receipt, I could be chewing your VISA bill. I could be chewing a family photograph….

Me – Okay! (I sleep walk into the kitchen and find his food bowl as empty as I left it. )

Kitty bounds onto the table and purrs.

Me - No food for you. You are fasting.

Kitty – Food for me! Feed the kitty. Poor hungry kitty. Look at the poor hungry kitty. I’m so sad. I can’t be fast, I’m too hungry. Poor Kitty!

Me – lets go (picking up kitty)

Kitty – Are you taking me to the food? Poor kitty! Poor hungry baby!

Me - (Deposited kitty in bathroom, shut door) cackles Night, Night kitty.

Kitty – Meow? Sad Kitty? FEED ME!

Me – HA.

Kitty – FEED ME.

Me – Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Kitty – Feed? me?

Me – Zzzzzzzz

Kitty - I AM THE SADDEST HUNGRIEST BABY KITTY IN THE WHOLE WORLD! I WILL DISTROY YOU.

Me – Arrrggghh, Zzzzzzzzzzz

Kitty – I Hate You.

Me – Zzzzzzzzz.

Kitty – I’ll dig my way out and then I’ll destroy you. Feeeeeeeeeddddddd Meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Lather, Rinse, repeat.

Saturday Morning

We both survived. I let Kitty out of the bathroom and he goes straight for his bowl. It is still empty. We both look at it. While he is looking at it, I Take Dogger out to pee.

I come back with Dogger.

Dogger - I’m going to eat now, what are you going to do?

Kitty – I’m going to DISTROY YOU

Dogger - From entryway, behind safety of closed door I’m eeaaattttttinnnggggg Nooooowwwwwww! Eating, eating, eating. Foood! I was hungry, but not any more!…..

Kitty – HsssssssDis-troyYoussssssssss.

Later on Saturday

After I got back from work,I grabbed up Kitty and took him to the vet. The vet did nasty things to Kitty and because of the advanced state of hunger he was suffering from, Kitty didn’t draw any blood. After doing nasty things to him, The Vet declared otherwise healthy and not handing out free rides in his lower GI tract. She did call him “a little on the soft side” and asked what I was feeding him. Suggesting that I fattened him up on table scraps and kitty snacks. I’m not and I don't. I don’t feed him anything extra. He gets kibble and he gets the water from tuna cans. Nothing else. She said he has very strong lungs, so strong that he was making it hard to listen to his heart over his yelping and carrying on.

Anyway.

I went to the counter and pulled out my wallet, expecting a huge bill. $29! I hurried up and left before they noticed their mistake. $29! For an office visit and a nasty test? I love my vet.

Hey. I’m off to NYC. I’ll see you next Wednesday!

Monday


And here we are again. Remember last Monday when the world was still full of hope? Yeah, that was nice. That was then this is now. Deep Breaths.

I finally had to let go of the dream. I had to make myself move forwards and find new reasons to live. I need to reassess and re-evaluate where my head was and where it was going. I had to give up the dream - the dream of being the next Madam Curie. I had to clean out my refrigerator.

When the cheese sause has been in there long enough to reform itself into an entirely new kind of cheese and as developed a mold so moldy that it got the attention of the CDC? Those people will not take No for an answer! It’s always with the “Get Out. Leave the building. Its dangerous” or “its for the good of mankind. Think of the chillrin, Curing of disease, selflessness”, nothing about big money or huge profits from my cheese thing, blah, blah, blah. If I was Glaxo, and I had this cheese thing on hand you know they would be a lot nicer to me and be handing over the really big money.

But anyway, despite the fact I’ll be making no money off of anything I find in there, its time to clean out the refrigerator. Its was kind of like going on a journey back through time. Remember when I made that icing? Remember when I made those sausages? Those were the days. Mostly it was about, remember when you had all those useful coriander? And now you don’t? Where is all that nice useful coriander now? Oh, that’s’ right they are huddled in the back of the refrigerator creating life. I hope the Bushit admin doesn’t find out! They love that whole primate life thing. Maybe I should have sent the cheese thing to the White House, or Mel Gibson. They would appreciate its rough beauty. They would probably name it. Mel could put it in his next revisionist New Testament movie and make the cheese thing a right wing action adventure star like Kurt Cameron.

I also had to say my goodbys to the pumpkins. That made me sad. Not as sad as they were, because, wow, time is not kind to pumpkins. They don’t age well at all. I thought with it being cooler and all, they might hang on for at least a little bit longer. Totally not happening. It was getting sticky and the sticky was getting the attention of tiny winged things that were not cute, happy tiny winged things. The pumpkins had to go and I was going to have to touch them. Gross. Bygones. They went quietly. The front is a less seasonal but also less sticky place with their absence.

What else did I do while I was trying to avoid cleaning my house? I raked the front yard, did a lot of laundry and cleaned out the refrigerator. I also went into work.

I also went shopping!

I know own my first pair of Kenneth Coles! Yay me. As I was wandering the store, I found a pair of the pointyest shoes ever. I really thought about buying them, because, 1), They fit, and 2) they looked really cool and if they weren’t currently in style they had just been. I could use them as a weapon in NYC. I’d like to see the mugger who would keep going once I turned his shins into spaghetti strainers. Injured and beat up by a girl! They would take his mugger licence away. I also thought what an excellent means of poisoning someone, I should write for Alias. I know that pointy is/was in, but this pair of shoes with pointy toes so pointy, that while I liked them, they appeared to have ended up at the shoe store on accident. So pointy were these shoes, I feared a gay elf somewhere in Elfland was left shoeless. How pointy is too pointy? These puppies were wearable pencils, I could have used these shoes to write home with.

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!

Happy Sunday! Sunday! damn it. I blame George Bush.

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!

Their Government at work

Air Force report calls for $7.5M to study psychic teleportation

What to do what to do

The lefty blogs are of two minds. They are either still under their desks in fetal positions sobbing


Waaaahhhhhhh! We lost! We're all gonna die! I hate the rest of America they are all stupid and baddddddd!wahhhhhhhhhh!We loooossssttt! Everybody hates me, nobody loves me I think I'll go eat worms! Waaaaahhhhhhhhhh! We're all gonna get drafted and dieeeeeeeeee! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Hateful, hateful bigots! Mean people suck! waahhhhhhhhhhhh! sooooobbbbbbbbbb! Everything is lost, lost I tell you! The world is coming to an end! wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! What's going to happen to ussssssssssss! sooooobbbbbbbbb waaahhhhh!!!Waaaahhhhhhh! We lost! We're all gonna die! I hate the rest of America they are all stupid and baddddddd!wahhhhhhhhhh!we loooossssttt! Everybody hates me, nobody loves me I think I'll go eat worms! Waaaaahhhhhhhhhh! We're all gonna get drafted and dieeeeeeeeee! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! hateful, hateful bigots! mean people suck! waahhhhhhhhhhhh! sooooobbbbbbbbbb! Everything is lost, lost I tell you! the world is coming to an end! wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! What's going to happen to ussssssssssss! sooooobbbbbbbbb waaahhhhh!!!

which I feel, totally. Crying is good, sobbing is good. Crawling under your desk or into your dogs crate are okay. Its natural to feel this way and the only way through it is to do it. Experience the emotion and let it all out. The sobbing alone is good for you, painful and not pretty - but still, good for you. Its important to let it all out. Do it, be sad.

On the other hand there are the lefty sites that have embraced the hate


Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate George Bush is the antichrist! He is the spawn of the devil and he is going to take this county to hell! Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Conspiracy theories! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Conspiracy theories! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation! Armed revolt!Conspiracy theory! Vote fraud! Voter intimidation Hate, Hate, Hate,Hate

I feel this too. If I had opened my wallet as wide as some people I would be even more furious than I am now and I'm mad as hell. I hate Shrub with the fire of a thousand suns. He is the anti-Christ. But, this is not helpful either. It's exhausting and it leads to burn out. You can't and shouldn't keep up this level of ire. It doesn't help and it doesn't heal.

Nothing has changed. literally, nothing. It's the same place as it was Tuesday morning. If you were all hot to change things, go forth and change things. The same shit is still going on, there is no need to regroup, rethink, redo - keep on doing what you were doing before if you believed in the cause then keep believing. Keep up the phone calls, and emails and petition signing. Just keep moving. Not a damn thing is different today then it was last week at this time. Bad guys doing bad things, stop them! Keep being the good guy, keep up the pressure. We have to stop crying, stop shrieking and get back to working.

White House to work on issues important to Muslims

Translation ,The White House wants to introduce you to a concept we call Freedom Camps!

from Cnn.com

TGIF

Well. That was the week that was. Wasn’t that fun, don’t you wish you could go through that again?

I’m excited. I get to go shopping this weekend and buy things. Yay. And not just “things”, stuff for me! Like new shoes and maybe some slacks and a blazer and maybe a dinner outfit… I also have to take The Kitty to the vet on Saturday and that should be fun. That’s going to be a busy day. I have to go into work in the morning to get things tidied up before I leave so I can spend Monday and Tuesday doing requests and cleaning my desk off. I wonder how much he would hate coming to work with me on Saturday? I don’t know though, his last experience with being in his box for several hours wasn’t a good one, so maybe I’ll just leave him at home.

Taking Dogger to the vet is a much less stressful proposition, she likes the vet, she likes driving to the vet. Everything vet related is okay with her. She doesn’t even mind getting her temp taken. She goes to the office and gets all kind of love from everybody there, all kinds of compliments and attention. I did get a letter from the vet about Doggers heartworm med, I don't want to hear anything negitive about my boyfriend, the heartworm med, I love it. Twice a year she gets shot and it costs way less then having to buy a monthly heartworm solution and I don’t have to remember anything. It also cuts out the monthly “Where did I put that and why did I move it from where it was before” aspect of her flea meds that I have such a great time with. Anyway. The letter said that the medication was just pulled by the veterinary arm of the FDA and removed from shelves. Damn. So, I called the vet and asked about this and asked what their solution to this little problem was. I would have asked what this stuff may have done to my dog but I don’t want to know, If anything goes wrong with her, its their fault anyway – they told me there was another drug that could be used that is administered the same way and is just as effective – Good! I said, sign me up. Well, they said. We don’t have it in the office yet, Okay, I said. I’m not due back there until January, will you have it then? Well, they said, Maybe…

Grrr.

While I had them on the phone I casually mentioned that the Kitty was having some rather delicate lower GI problems and was there anything they could suggest OTC for me to give him to, um, firm up the situation… cheaply because the fact that I spend more money on my pets healthcare then I spend on my own, galls me. Well, they said, we can’t really suggest you do that, you have to bring him in. Dayum.That was the the meme I was going for, what I meant to say was I do not want to spend the extra money to take him to you, what can I do that does not include a pricy office visit?. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. Kitty hates every minute of the vet. He hates the vet, the vet’s technician, the desk help, the smell of the building, the look of the parking lot and the other animals that are there. Getting is temperature is a nasty job and so far, no one has been able to do it successfully. I would think they would remember what a hellion he is and maybe rethink this whole office visit thing. They also said something about not feeding him twelve hours before his appointment… that will be fun. I mean, he gets cranky when his food is a little stale, he’ll just love it when there isn’t any food at all.

Draft! Draft!Draft!

They said they wouldn't but it looks like the wheels are in motion. Thank your rethuglican neighbor when your kid gets shipped off.

from The Raw Story

On "getting behind" Bushit

Bush works to convince the 55 million people who voted againts him to "get behind" his next administration. I am not going to "get behind" anything for him. I'm going to work like hell to slow down, embarress and defeat everything he wants to do. I don't care if he wants to go to the bathroom, I'm going to work to make him pee in his pants instead.

The Day After The Day After

I’m sitting here trying to think what to write. There is nothing I can write to make it better. I can’t kiss the boo boo and make it go away. I have to keep moving.

So, what else can I talk about? I emphatically told Lunch Buddy while we were on the way to watch her eat lunch as I have no appetite whatsoever that we would not be talking about the election. We had quite time instead.

I could talk at length about Mr. Kitty’s lower GI problem, but I doubt you really want to talk about the consistency of his, um. I do have a question; can you give a cat Imodium?

How about Dogger. I can talk about Dogger! Let’s see, Dogger is feeling much better. She had a sour tummy too and was out of sorts for a couple of days. Question for the smart people - Can animals get the stomach flu and if so can it be spread cross species? Dogger and I had a nice walk yesterday and she seemed back to her old self, I knew she was back to her old self when she tried to climb her leash. I found her flea and tick meds where I had hidden them last month when I couldn’t find them either - so she can again spend quality time in the backyard again. The yard looks terrible, but with all the dead leaves it almost looks less awful then it really is, almost it looks awful in a seasonal way. The leaves are great, they cover all that nasty dirt and patchy grass and if you squint, it almost looks not all that bad. I think not raking the leaves is the first step to helping it staying like that.

My pumpkins looked great. I am very pleased with them. I think they have until the end of the week before they are officially out of season and thrown away. I stopped lighting them last night – well, the candles wimped out on me and unlit themselves. I choose to see that as a sign... I still have three small un-carved pumpkins left and they lend a suitably autumnal air the front porch. Last weekend I finally replanted my little plants and then somebody tipped one of the pots over last night and left a mess. Oh. Goody. ‘Somebody” may have actually been me while I was taking Dogger out this morning, but I prefer to think of it as an outside agitator.

I’m going to New York City next week! I’m so excited. I haven’t been there since I was a little girl and I have been really wanting to go back there as an Adult. A lot of the joys of New York City are lost on children. I want to see all that stuff. I think it will be good to get away for a few days, away to a Blue State. I’m trying really hard… anyway its going to be fun. I want to see all the tourist stuff. I want to see if NYC looks like it does on TV or if the cameras really add ten pounds like they say. If I go there and find that NYC is actually an Anorexic instead of just thin, I’ll let you know.

I have friends from school that live in NYC, or to be painfully honest and in the interests of total disclosure, (this is a blog and isn’t painful honesty and total disclosure a hallmark of bloggery?) I’m defining “friends from school” as “people-who-didn’t-really-talk-to-me-unless-they-had-to-but-I’m-pretty-sure-they-did-know-my-name”, who live in NYC and I would like to see how they turned out – although I’m sure they turned out richer and thinner than I did so I think on second thought, I really don’t know anyone in NYC after all.

But anyway. I’m looking forward to it.

How Angry is Diana?

- Carrie wasn't this angry?.
- Thinking about life in a yurt, in Canada angry?.
-Thinking how conveniant it is that Bush supporters have those handy "Key Me" stickers on their cars, angry?.
-Seeing a car with a Bush sticker on it and hysterically screaming and flailing in the car?
-Watching HGTV in a catatonic daze, angry.
-Wondering if the parental controls on TV will block channels that do not actually air boobies, angry.
-realizing that if Lunch Buddy ever complains about a Bushit policy as it affects her that, I will shove it down her throat so far that she will choke on it for the rest of her life, angry?

Lets see. Its been 24 hours. I've been through the Carrie phase, the yurt phase, and sadly, momentarily the keying phase but I didn't act on it!, I did lose my shit in traffic when a Bushit sticker drove by. Hopefully the other drivers thought I was having a seizure, but I hope the Bushit driver felt threatened, I am planning on watching HGTV for all my TV watching needs for the immediate future, I plan to investigate the blocking thing, so I'm kind of in that place now and I as have yet to put into practice the Choking - but I will!.

Okay, still pretty angry.

Make your anger work

Margart Cho rallies the troops try to read this and not feel better.

It’s Mourning In America!

I wrote this earlier today but Blogger was down. I really needed to get this off my chest. I feel better, but not about the outcome of the election - I will never feel better about that. I just don't want to kill people as much as I did when I wrote this.

Woke up this morning to find America in the toilet, soon to be joined by the cat bomb Mr. Kitty left in his box last night after I locked him up in there for waking me up again at 4:30 in the morning. Couldn’t he understand that I did not want to wake up to what I was to be waking up to? At least in my dreams I could be in a happier place?! America and cat shite swirling down the drain together. Such a lovely way to greet the day. Hate, hate, hate the world.

Dogger was kind enough to write an entry for me but not kind enough to go back to her box last night when I didn’t have the strength to put her there myself. She finally did but not until after I sat in the hallway and cried. Some days I really wish she was small enough for me to pick up and move. But if she was that small she would have all ready mastered hiding under things, at least now all she can do is run around and infuriate me.

I took my flag in last night when I came home last night; I don’t think it will be seeing the light of day for sometime, if ever again. The White Trash Nation has shit on it and it may never be clean again. The country has been taken over by the Fascists and nothing we did stopped them. It’s going to get so bad. It was intolerable before, it’s going to get even worse. I hope when The White Trash Nation that voted for GWB end up drafted and killed that their white trash families they think about their votes. Will they even notice their civil rights are gone? Will it bother them? Will they think about what their hate has wrought? Never those people don’t think and they certainly wouldn’t blame Shrub for their pain. I hope they get the government they wanted. Gays will be marginalized and tormented, the only Christian point of view will be the Khristian point of view and no others will be tolerated. Women will lose all rights to their bodies, their fertility and their futures, the environment will be destroyed, the deficit will climb to yet unknown heights, even more jobs will be sent overseas, - will that piss the white trash off? When all three of their remaining jobs are taking away? Nah, when we will lose the rest of our allies and gas is $5.00 a gallon, Nah. They will have their guy in office. I hope it’s worth it for them.

I hate the White Trash Nation.

It’s going to be lunch soon and Lunch Buddy will be wondering what I want to eat for lunch. I’ve lost my appetite and I don’t want to eat with a Bush Voter, I hope she understands that. I can’t look at her, knowing she did this to us.

I hope when her son and daughter get drafted or whatever phrase the rethugs will call it instead of The Draft - that she thinks about her vote. I hope they all think about their vote when we find another country to invade, and even more of our servicemen and women die or God forbid, the other country decides to bring the war to us. The Neocons aren’t through invading, they have lists, it will come. I have no doubt that we will see another massive attack soon on our soil. The terrorists were waiting for a Bush win. They can’t wait to kill more of us and now they will. A Kerry win might have changed their tune, but thanks to the White Trash Nation , they will sing the same Death to America song they have sung all along.

Lunch Buddy just called me, she can’t understand why I am crying.

Whimper


Dear Reader People,

Hi! This is Dogger. I am writing this because Mommy asked me to. She is sad. Very sad. She came back from somewhere with “results” and she came straight for my box. I was very happy because I thought this meant we were going to go somewhere! But we didn’t. Mommy crawled into my box and made sad sounds. Poor Mommy. My box is not made for two! Mommy needs to find another place. Mommy told me “to get the hell out, she bought his box, its her box and she’ll spend as much time in it as she pleases!” She told me to “Go! Go! Go!”. Where? I love to go! Can we go in the car! Lets go to the store! I love the store! Mommy said to just leave her alone and let her die in peace. Mommy just wants to make it all go away. She is very sad. She is also mad at North Carolina for electing a Nazi like Burr instead of the really nice Mr. Bowles. It makes her sad. I still want to Go! Mommy says we are all going to go to hell for this. What this? What did I do? Did Dogger make Mommy this sad?! I want to make Mommy happy! She says we’re going to be punished for this - who is going to be punished! Me?! I hope not! Mommy says she wants to live in my box where its safe.

Mommy is in a ball now, like a cold dog. She tried to use me as a pillow but I didn’t like that. I am not a pillow. I am a Dog. A proud Dog. I am not a pillow. So Mommy is in the box by herself, she made me get out of my box to do this because she is too sad. She is also muttering something about “dying alone”, but I don’t know why she says that. If she dies, I’m here and the not dog is here somewhere so she won’t die alone. Silly Mommy.


Mommy went to this thing in the car and it smells like there were a lot of people there. I bet is smelled really good. Mommy went because she didn’t want to watch the results things come in by herself, again, she is not by herself! Me and the not dog are right here! Mommy didn’t stay there very long. She must have known me and the not dog really miss her when she’s not here. I can’t go outside and pee when she’s not here. I like to go outside and pee. The other night I threw up inside! Mommy was sad then too. She was mad at the flying buzzy bug things and then I made a mess in the hallway, and the room with the carpet and she was just sad. Mommy just said something about “Canada”. I don’t know what a Canada is. Is it a chewy? I’m scared of chewys now, a bad chewy made me sick and now I’m afraid that all chewys are bad sick making things.

Mommy just said something about “crushed hopes” and tried to make herself an even smaller ball in my crate. Mommy needs a hug.

Mommy is sad.

Mommy did mention that the governor won, but she doesn’t really care about that. Mommy doesn’t care about anything anymore . I love Mommy and I need to go pee! I need Mommy to care about taking me out to pee! I care about peeing.

Love,
Dogger

Newer exit poll numbers





NV CO NC PA OH FL MI NM WI

Kerry 48 46 49 54 50 50 51 50 51

Bush 50 53 51 45 49 49 47 48 46

Sorry, I don't have the codeing fu to properly make them line up. I suck. When you are looking at it, move the canidates names out of the way and that allows the numbers to line up. Its starts off with NV Kerry 48, Bush 50. Screw it, just go to Atrios and see it looking right. NC is Kerry 49 and Bush 51! that is amazing! we are making progress. Some day we will be a Blue State.




from Atrios

Early Exit Poll Numbers

Early VNS exit polling
by Jerome Armstrong

Here is some of the early VNS data, fwiw:

AZ CO LA PA OH FL MI NM MN WI IA NH
Kerry 45 48 42 60 52 51 51 50 58 52 49 57
Bush 55 51 57 40 48 48 47 48 40 43 49 41


stolen form MyDD also at Atrios, Daily Kos and Wonkette.

NC DOT GOTV?

I saw this about the Dept. of Transportation and their issues this morning and when I finally got to work this was in my email:

Dear Colleagues,

Tomorrow is Election Day. I hope everyone will choose to participate in selecting our political leaders for the next few years. Our ability to do that is a precious right that we sometimes don't appreciate as much as we should.
Many people have made great sacrifices to provide and preserve this right for us today. We owe much to those who gave their lives in wars where our survival was at stake like the Civil War and two World Wars and to those who bravely fought to expand the right to all our citizens through the women's suffrage movement and more recently the civil rights movement.

I don't mean to sermonize, but I do believe we all need to participate in the governance of the country. It is an important election and we will be served best by having the collective judgment of all of us rather than the choices of only some of the voters. Please plan to carry out his important duty tomorrow if you are not already one of the 15% or more who have already voted.

so DHHS all about the GOTV and DOT so not? why? and is the "Only some of the voters" a reference to the boost the dems get from heavy turn out? and a call for GOP faithful to hit the polls? should I be proud of my department for being so vote friendly or should I be looking at this as some backdoor Bush support from TPTB?

Odd.

While you are waiting

If you, like me are spending the day at work freaking out - here is a hint, stay away from the "smarties" Halloween candy. I did not need to eat sugar pellets. Bad Idea. Learn from my mistake.

Anyway. To take your mind off the election and to find an excuse to leave the political blogs and news sites, go here and check out the self represented artists on eBay. A lot of it is good and some of it is affordable. Art is good and there are thousands of works of art to look at. Thousands. Excellent time waste.

Also you can play the "How Many wasps has Diana killed in her livingroom since Sunday" game Post your responses and Play along, its fun!

Let Today Be Some Day

Things to do

1. VOTE.
Find your polling place --My Polling Place -- and vote. There will be lines. Bring a deck chair, the newspaper or a book.If you are really nice, bring some blank tee shirts to lend to voters with political tee shirts on, the vote you save may the vote. Be prepared to be there for a while. Leave your Kerry buttons, tee shirts, signs, George Bush voodoo dolls at home and do not behave in a partisan manner – this will get you in trouble. Think about how much you want a Bushite to talk to you about the joys of joining the Dark Side. Keep your cool and hold your tongue.

2. Bring I.D.
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. No one asked me for any proof of anything, but I’ve been registered for a while, but I did bring all of that with me, just in case. If you registered by mail, you MUST BRING ID! if you are a new voter.

3. Make Sure Your Vote is Counted.
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 anyone challenges your right to vote :

-Talk to the Voting Rights attorney at your polling place.
- 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.
- Call 1-866-OURVOTE

4. Volunteer to help others vote.
Contact your local Kerry campaign office today to help people in your community vote today..

After you have done all that. Spend the day humming this

We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day

We shall all be free, we shall all be free,
We shall all be free some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day

We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day

One day and counting

Thee last canvasses have been done, the last hand out has been handed out. It’s all over but the screaming. And the litigation. And the protests. It’s not going to be over on Tuesday. No one is going to lose this one without a fight.

So. What to do. Well, you can start out by voting, but many of you have all ready done that. The polls on Tuesday are still going to be zoos and the lines will be endless . . . but good. We like that. We do not love standing in line, but it’s all a matter on the line you are standing in, and what you are waiting for . . .

We are standing in line for our helping of Freedom From Tyranny, our share of Freedom from Threats to our Liberties, a better portion of Freedom from the Constant Fear of Fear. We want our world back. But we have to be aware that a lot of our world is gone. It won’t be back to where it was on September 10th. Those heady days of fearlessness and constitutional protections are over. The Patriot Act is not going to go away. Hopefully, it can be legislated into something that can protect us and our liberties. But the days of parking wherever you want and being able to leave for the airport on the day of your flight - that’s finished. Hopefully, we were fund all of that airport busywork and make it more about finding things instead of just looking at them. They aren’t checking the crap that gets onto the planes, your sex toy? That they’ll find, it’s a dangerous threat to national security and must be destroyed! You must be a terrorist and we need to do a cavity check Right Now! Take off your shoes and bend over, the box of explosives? Not even a problem, just load that puppy into the cargo hold and we’ll be off.

I lit a candle for John Kerrys’ election at mass today. I prayed for it all the way through mass and all the way out to my car. The huge voter tune out is good for the dems, and the Redskins lost!, But... a little prayer can’t hurt. Okay, a lot of prayer, possibly in groups. Light a candle, say a prayer, ask your deity of choice for the election to go our way, do whatever you can to make this come out a Kerry win. A second Bush administration would be a national tragedy.

Only you can prevent National Tragedy.


Okay, I know you already voted. What else can you do? You could call the Democratic Party Headquarters in your town and ask what they need, you can go to Move On and sign up to be a poll watcher in your area, or you can sign up to drive people to the polls on election day. You don’t want to get involved this close to the date? You don’t have a car? You aren’t a joiner? You can pray all day.

The woman I did my canvass with on Saturday was a recent Chinese immigrant. She became a citizen just last year. This is her first presidential election. She told me that she came to America because of what America means to the rest of the world. It is a fair place, a good place, a place of promise where anyone can go and be who they want to be. Everything is possible. She told me that she had always respected America. She felt that the U.S. treated the Japanese well and very fairly, before and after the war, despite the fact she said “as a Chinese, I hate the Japanese.” She respected America.

She is actively campaigning for John Kerry because she cannot respect America under George W. Bush. America is hurting and she wants to make it whole again. She wants to help heal America. She wants it to be the way she thought it was supposed to be. She leaves her husband and two small children every weekend to go and make America a better place. She is a religious woman. She had difficulty with Kerrys stand on Gay Marriage. So she prayed, and prayed and finally she got her response: God told her : mind her own business. So she does. She walks miles for Kerry, she knocks on strangers doors for Kerry, she drives miles out of her way for Kerry - because she wants an America she can respect. She is praying for a Kerry win.