Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Every word makes me mad

Bush flies over disaster area

- Bush, who may visit the area later in the week (lame ducks don't have to run for reelection)

- Vice President Dick Cheney participated in the video conference from Wyoming (still on vaca, Dick?)

- On his way to Washington, Bush had Air Force One fly low over the hurricane-ravaged area. His plane flew over New Orleans at about 2,500, and it descended even further, to about 1,700 feet, over Mississippi. Bush surveyed the damage from a couch near the left front of the plane (glad he had a good seat).The plane flew over New Orleans and saw the Superdome, downtown areas and outlying neighborhoods, then traveled along the coast to Mobile before turning north toward Washington.

- McClellan said the government was declaring the hurricane an "incident of national significance," a designation that triggers a recently developed national emergency plan for the first time and will allow better coordination among government agencies. McClellan said he expects the administration will request a supplemental appropriation to pay for disaster relief and recovery efforts. Under the national response plan, which was finalized in January, the federal government intervenes only when emergencies exceed what state and local capabilities can handle. Though state and local officials have not formally declared that they can no longer manage the disaster on their own, that is the case, said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke. (Now? They are doing this NOW? This wasn't done yet This didn't happen automatically?!)

- The president decided he should be in the nation's capital given the magnitude of destruction and death caused by Katrina, one of the most severe storms to ever hit the United States.("The Critics" said this since, what, Sunday?)

- The president, upon his return to Washington, planned to chair a meeting of a White House task force set up to coordinate the federal efforts to assist hurricane victims across more than a dozen agencies. (again with the YET! This hasn't happened YET!!!?)

- Bush was expected to visit the ravaged region by week's end, but details on that trip were in flux as the White House worked to make sure a presidential tour would not disrupt the relief and response efforts.
( he has heard that its yucky and isn't sure he wants to see it up close ( see "lame duck") he had no problem disrupting the relief and response efforts at Ground Zero)


From CNN.com
Federal officials declare public health emergency for entire Gulf Coast. Details soon. CNN.com

New Orleans mayor says Katrina killed hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of people
in city, Associated Press reports.
Kitties!

A brief respite from the endless reasons to want to sit in a corner and weep, I present Cats In Sinks!

( Thanks to Alert Reader Tony)
The Neo-Con Nero


Fiddleling around while NOLA drowns.




from America Blog and Daily Kos
Hot, Hot, Hot


It’s hot. We have no air conditioning and I’m sitting here sweating. I file all day, I should not sweat. Filing is not a sweaty business – do you know how much filing you have to do under normal circumstances to work up a sweat? The Library of Congress. That’s right, to work up a sweat filing under normal circumstances as defined by the department of labor, you would have to refile the entire Library of Congress to officially work up a sweat filing

We have no A/C. I can hear you, don’t think I can’t - But the people of NOLA and Biloxi and Gulf Port don’t have A/C either and they are hot too, hot and homeless! Suck it up you big spoiled baby and make a donation to the relief organization of choice! Shame on you for being such a princess about a little discomfort at a time like this!.

I know! I totally belong to the Offer It Up school of suffering. There is no way that my piddly little” suffering” holds a candle to the suffering of others. I get that. For you that may not know what The Offer It Up school of suffering is about - in my understanding when you are feeling pain, discomfort, prickly heat, whathaveyou – you say “God, I know my pain, discomfort, prickly heat is nothing compared to the suffering Your Son endured for us. But still… OW!” and then you soldier on knowing that you are a big pussy and that everyone in the world is suffering more than you and you should be grateful that whatever you are suffering from is as minor as it is. For example:

My stomach hurts! – Women in Labor
My ankle hurts! – Soldiers with compound fractures.
My Head Hurts! – Migraine Sufferers
I don’t feel well – Children with Cancer.
My sunburn is killing me! – Burn victims.

See. I get it. I also get that my discomfort is real. I am hot. It is hot. Everyone in the building is hot. I am not alone in my suffering, however minor. I hate people who whine about shit like this, because for the most part, I am cold all the time and I whine about that. It is never hot in my office, and I normally welcome the days when the temperature in my office rises above 60 degrees – when everyone else in the office is bitching and moaning about the office tempreture, I say “Wow. I can take off my parka! Yay!” So today, I should be happy my pants are sticking to my legs and my shirt is wet. I could be cold. It is hard to file while wearing gloves. It is very easy to file right now, I am not wearing gloves. I should be grateful for that.


To – ALL
From – XXX
Re: Lack of Air-conditioning


2:38 - I just received an update from XXX on the status of the air conditioning problem. The compressor went out this morning and a replacement has been ordered. We will have to bear with the problem until it is fixed.



The People of NOLA and surrounding areas are homeless there is no electricity and they are plagued with poisoned water, lack of food, the specters of floating fire ant beds and electrocuted house pets and dead bodies.. I can deal with this.

I will think about this image and remind myself how little I know about being hot.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Pray for them

August 30, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco ordered the complete evacuation of the city of New Orleans, including the thousands of people seeking shelter in the Superdome.

There are no words. Imagine. The whole city empty and closed, and it's a big city, bigger then most places. It's under 20 feet of water. Think of being loaded into a truck or a bus or a boat and sent north to live in a refugee camp and later tent cities and after that new towns of portable buildings - and having this be a good thing. Friday after they left to work they had friends over for dinner or washed their cars, just like we did.

On Saturday they were told to get out. Today those who left were told not to come back, not now, not soon. Those that could not, are being evacuated (which begs the question, if they can be removed now why could they not be evacuated before?). They escape the snakes and the fire ants, the poisoned water, the bodies and the malaria and the typhoid. This is happening here, in our day.
Destroying FEMA


By Eric Holdeman
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A17
stolen wholesale from The Washington Post.Com online here

(I’m copy and pasting the whole artical as I believe this is a registration site and I think we should all be able read it )

SEATTLE -- In the days to come, as the nation and the people along the Gulf Coast work to cope with the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we will be reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal agency capable of dealing with natural catastrophes of this sort. This is an immense human tragedy, one that will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond the capabilities of state and local government to deal with. It requires a national response.

Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why, at this moment, the country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being, in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security.

Apparently homeland security now consists almost entirely of protection against terrorist acts. How else to explain why the Federal Emergency Management Agency will no longer be responsible for disaster preparedness? Given our country's long record of natural disasters, how much sense does this make?

What follows is an obituary for what was once considered the preeminent example of a federal agency doing good for the American public in times of trouble, such as the present.

FEMA was born in 1979, the offspring of a number of federal agencies that had been functioning in an independent and uncoordinated manner to protect the country against natural disasters and nuclear holocaust. In its early years FEMA grew and matured, with formal programs being developed to respond to large-scale disasters and with extensive planning for what is called "continuity of government."
The creation of the federal agency encouraged states, counties and cities to convert from their civil defense organizations and also to establish emergency management agencies to do the requisite planning for disasters. Over time, a philosophy of "all-hazards disaster preparedness" was developed that sought to conserve resources by producing single plans that were applicable to many types of events.

But it was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992, that really energized FEMA. The year after that catastrophic storm, President Bill Clinton appointed James Lee Witt to be director of the agency. Witt was the first professional emergency manager to run the agency. Showing a serious regard for the cost of natural disasters in both economic impact and lives lost or disrupted, Witt reoriented FEMA from civil defense preparations to a focus on natural disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation. In an effort to reduce the repeated loss of property and lives every time a disaster struck, he started a disaster mitigation effort called "Project Impact." FEMA was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, in recognition of its important responsibilities coordinating efforts across departmental and governmental lines.

Witt fought for federal funding to support the new program. At its height, only $20 million was allocated to the national effort, but it worked wonders. One of the best examples of the impact the program had here in the central Puget Sound area and in western Washington state was in protecting people at the time of the Nisqually earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001. Homes had been retrofitted for earthquakes and schools were protected from high-impact structural hazards. Those involved with Project Impact thought it ironic that the day of that quake was also the day that the then-new president chose to announce that Project Impact would be discontinued.

Indeed, the advent of the Bush administration in January 2001 signaled the beginning of the end for FEMA. The newly appointed leadership of the agency showed little interest in its work or in the missions pursued by the departed Witt. Then came the Sept. 11 attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Soon FEMA was being absorbed into the "homeland security borg."

This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that mission.

FEMA will be survived by state and local emergency management offices, which are confused about how they fit into the national picture. That's because the focus of the national effort remains terrorism, even if the Department of Homeland Security still talks about "all-hazards preparedness." Those of us in the business of dealing with emergencies find ourselves with no national leadership and no mentors. We are being forced to fend for ourselves, making do with the "homeland security" mission. Our "all-hazards" approaches have been decimated by the administration's preoccupation with terrorism.

To be sure, America may well be hit by another major terrorist attack, and we must be prepared for such an event. But I can guarantee you that hurricanes like the one that ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi yesterday, along with tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, windstorms, mudslides, power outages, fires and perhaps a pandemic flu will have to be dealt with on a weekly and daily basis throughout this country. They are coming for sure, sooner or later, even as we are, to an unconscionable degree, weakening our ability to respond to them.

The writer is director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
North Carolina just passed the lottery. Let the taxing of the stupid begin!
The tourist in chief returns to work

CORONADO, California (AP) -- President Bush will cut short his vacation to return to Washington on Wednesday, two days earlier than planned, to help monitor federal efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Tuesday.

"The good folks in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and other affected areas are going to need the help and compassion and prayers of our fellow citizens," Bush said

The president asked individual Americans to get involved with the relief effort, suggesting anyone who wishes to help could call 1-800-HELPNOW, log on to the Red Cross Web site at or to get in touch with the Salvation Army.


from CNN.com

Yeah, he feels real bad now that he cut funds to the Corp of Engineers and sent all those National Guard troops and their amphibious vehicles to the desert, now he wants us to help fill in the blanks. There is nothing like Private Citizens opening up their wallets or wading into to help to make the loss of federal disaster funds so much less noticeable.


From America Blog He eats cake while the gulf coast drowns.

The man is still playing golf!

Houston Chronicle 12/01/01 New Orleans could be a catastrophe waiting to happen.

With this in mind, Shrub cuts their budget!

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.
This day in history

I don’t know about you but I’ve spent the day watching the gulf coast get smacked around. Gawd, it looks awful. I keep making the mistake of going to Fark.com and reading the hurricane threads. They are addictive. I’ve done that in the past with the hurricanes that went to Florida and there were a lot of first person accounts, but not with this one. There aren’t any, the only first person reports are from people recounting how they fled.

I guess that if you could not flee you are at the stadium and I bet they didn’t think to get wi-fi before the rush began. I recognize that is a stupid thing to think about. It really wouldn’t matter if they had wi-fi if everyone only brought the stuff they wanted to not lose forever with them, I guess if it was a choice between baby pictures and lap top, I would go with the baby pictures too.

It must be surreal. Imagine if for real you were told “grab only what is the most important, take only what you can carry – you have an hour, go!” Its one thing to think about it theoretically, it would be quite another to live it. Walk around your house, perhaps for the last time and try to decide what is coming with you. The TV would be too big. The stereo would be useless and the cords would make you trip, the good china would slow you down and be breakable, paper things would be ruined in the rain, photos would be toast, framed work would be heavy and unwieldy. I don’t know what would the best plan just to take all your negatives? Bring your favorite pillow? And hope for the best? Ultimatly you have to be ready to leave everything.

Everything. How about everyone? What about your pets? Or is it best to lock them in the attic and hope for the best? I’m glad I haven’t had to face this choice with them. I don’t know where I would flee to.

What else have I been doing today? I’ve received birthday greetings from spammers and a forum I stopped going to three years ago. I also heard from my two best friends. One of whom I share a birthday with, it was great hearing from her, she never checks her email and since her two kids started school and other activities, I think she spends her waking hours behind the wheel. It was really nice that she took a minute from her more important duties to email me; it was nice to hear from her. I was mulling over the idea of renting a Dallas area under grad and having them sit by the side of the road at an intersection near her house with a sign that reads “Happy Birthday Kristin!./, it may have worked, fortunately I didn’t need to get Operation Happy Birthday underway.

Kitty got out momentarily on Sunday. I think he was really disappointed that there he did not find the forest or the nice beach that he explored the last time he got out of the house. He was clearly shocked to find nothing but Minnie and some not as palatable weeds. He spent the rest of the afternoon inside, begging for food and being annoyed with me. He got even more annoyed when I put his furry butt in the bathroom because his begging was getting on my nerves – he was even more pissed off once he got to the bathroom because I rubber banded the cupboard doors shut and he couldn’t get them open.

Speaking of frustration. I finally found a local group going up to DC for the rally, but they won’t answer their damn email. If we were all right wingers you can be sure they would have answered their email and offered me a scholarship for the bus fare. We are never going to win if we can’t organize ourselves sufficiently to bring others aboard. That is the problem with the left – a whole lot of talk, almost no action, almost no organization. The grass roots need to be landscaped.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Another thing that happened on August 29

On Aug. 29, 1991, the Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the U.S.S.R., suspended all activities of the Communist Party, bringing an end to the institution.

I did not know that. Wow, talk about getting trumped by the news. I spent that birthday at the movies, I took myself to see Doc Hollywood and watched it in a completely empty theater. Now I know why.


How old am I? Lets just say I get as many people asking me what my major is as I get missives from AARP telling me its not too early to sign up for a pre-need funeral plan. So that puts me somewhere between undergrad and underground.

I decided to treat myself to a movie this weekend and caught Broken Flowers before it left the art house - and why have I lived here all this time and not known that there was an art house within driving distance of my house? I mean I knew it was there, but I didn’t know it was that close to where I live, I could have been going there all this time! Or that it was surrounded by this cute little shopping district? True, everything there closes at 4pm, but still, cute stores full of things I can’t afford and have no where to put even if I could, how could I have missed this? There was a consignment shop that I am going to have to go back and look at the next time I’m free Monday-Saturday 11-4 and all these antique stores and an old fashioned drug store with a lunch counter. How cute is that?

Next week at the art house, they start showing The Aristocrats and I really want to see that. I would much rather go see it while it is in the theatres then wait and have to go rent it and have the rental guy judge me for watching a movie that is made up of many people telling different versions of the same filthy joke. When you go to the cinema to see a film about people tell jokes about screwing kittens, its Art, when you go rent a movie that tells jokes about screwing kittens its pervy. In the past I’ve used that logic as an excuse and I ended up buying a ticket to see Show Girls when I should have waited for it to pick up some Cult appeal and then watched it on tape. I saw it because I wanted to see what a NC17 movie would look like. I should have gone to see a real porno, less story but better acting. My logic isn’t always fool poof.

I did like Broken Flowers but it isn’t going to be named the Feel Good Movie Of The Summer or the fall or even the winter, unless it gets released in Scandinavia and then it will look like a comedy. It seemed a little dry. The over all lesson being that under no circumstances no matter what winds upin your mail box - should you go visit anyone you once upon a time dated because you’ll find out why you haven’t seen them since you stopped seeing each other and then for added fun, at the same time discover why they haven’t made the effort to look you up eather. The acting was top notch but I think the script would have done better served if had been performed on stage in a black box theatre - but if that were the case, I would never have gotten to see it and neither would anyone else, and that would be a shame because it is so good and the performances so spot on, that I will forgive the stagey-ness and suggest you go see it.


Happy Birthday To Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday, dear Meeeeeee!
Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Hurricane Could Leave 1 Million Homeless

Monday morning when you wake up , be glad you are not waking up in New Orleans. They are going to have a much worse Monday than we are. Read the following and say a prayer for them. Full story here

When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans on Monday, it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.

Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.
That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 165 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.

"All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.

Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless. "We're talking about in essence having - in the continental United States - having a refugee camp of a million people," van Heerden said.


There is no good news for these people. Pray for the wind to shift back out to sea.
HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!

Saturday, August 27, 2005

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!

Friday, August 26, 2005

There ain’t no crow like Jim Crow, Georgia welcomes back an old friend.

"...Democrats had argued the idea was a political move by the GOP to depress voting among minorities, the elderly and the poor - all traditional bases for Democrats...

...The Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said he was disturbed by the federal decision "My fear is that this will spread across the country like a virus," he said. "This just shows how the anti-civil rights' machinery is in motion."...

...The new Georgia law also allows people to vote absentee without an excuse, and for a longer period. Those votes by mail would not require a picture ID. Political observers say Republicans tend to benefit the most from absentee balloting...

..."Requiring valid, photographic identification is a common sense step to ensure voter integrity and sound elections," Gov. Sonny Perdue said Friday in a written statement. Perdue, like other Republicans, has said the measure is aimed at preventing voter fraud. "It will not be a hardship on any voter," Perdue said when he signed the bill...

...Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a veteran of the civil rights movement, said, "It is unbelievable, it is unreal the Department of Justice - an agency who is supposed to protect the American public by enforcing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - is now involved in attempts to weaken the act.
"...


Full story here.
Friday Cat Blogging

The Republican Culture of Corruption

They have FAUX they have much of the rest of the media and now they have the college papers as well. Read this, and then go and read these and then go and throw up when you have cleaned up, go and read this.

The Republicans and their ilk have no shame . This crap makes the story of that reporter and her made up crack addicted child look like something out of a Disney production.

from Outside the Box.
A Woman needs her voters registration card like a fish needs her gills


Blondesense totally scooped me on this. I suck hard. But, to make up for my suckage, read the full , really interesting story here of the day we got our vote on.

Colby Proclaims Woman Suffrage
Signs Certificate of Ratification at His Home Without Women Witnesses
Militants Vexed at Privacy
Wanted Movies of Ceremony but Both Factions Are Elated -- Wilson Sends Message


Washington, Aug. 26 -- The half-century struggle for woman suffrage in the United States reached its climax at 8 o'clock this morning, when Bainbridge Colby, as Secretary of State, issued his proclamation announcing that the Nineteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution of the United States.
The signing of the proclamation took place at that hour at Secretary Colby's residence, 1507 K Street Northwest, without ceremony of any kind, and the issuance of the proclamation was unaccompanied by the taking of movies or other pictures, despite the fact that the National Woman's Party, or militant branch of the general suffrage movement, had been anxious to be represented by a delegation of women and to have the historic event filmed for public display and permanent record.

Secretary Colby late this afternoon was asked by newspaper men to picture the scene that took place at his home when the final chapter of the story of ratification was reached.


from The New Yorks Times
The worm turns

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An evangelical group has begun a weeklong advertising campaign in Iowa criticizing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for backing expanded embryonic stem cell research.

The wheel turns

They have the House and the Senete and the White House. And now that they have everything they ever wanted - they are attacking each other.
Tailor Made


Well. So, that’s what going to a tailor is like. Hmmmmm. As I was standing there waiting I noticed that the Tailor unlike say, my office does not subscribe to the adage “Your crises is not a reason to panic on my part. If you knew needed this now you should have requested it earlier”, the woman ahead of me casually said she would be back Friday afternoon and she fully expects her pants to be hemmed by then”. I asked them when it would be done. I didn’t tell themwhen it would be done. They can fix the tear in my winter coat but fixing the zipper for the liner on my rain coat might present more of a challenge. So.

Tailors Maid – We don’t carry this zipper. You go buy at store.
Me – What?
Tailors’ Maid – You go to Joann’s and buy it. We no carry. It costs too much.
Me – I brought it to you because I’m don't want to make a trip to Joannes! I'm going to pay you to do that.
Tailors’ Maid – I call Boss and ask.


She turned around and called the boss and then reported back that there was no answer.

Tailors’ Maid – I go ask sewer.
Me – Do that.


She comes back

Tailors Maid – She said $28.
Me – To fix it?
Tailors Maid – We no carry zipper.
Me – So, how much for the zipper from Joann’s and the labor?
Tailors’ Maid – The boss call you.


They have to fix it. It’s a nice coat and it’s supposed to go on indefinitely. I don’t think something as minor as bad lining zipper needs to be cause for alarm. Now I know I absolutely should have bought that fabulous black trench I saw at the Junior League store last spring, even though I all ready had a fabulous trench at home. Grrrr

The winter coat can come off the injured reserve as soon as next Wednesday and I could have it sooner but I don’t need it and told them not to sweat it. The rain coat is an issue though. I mean if it is going to run enormous dollars to get it fixed, I saw one online the other day and it was great and on sale, I wonder... or I could a couple of days ago, Damn it! I want the internets all to myself.

I did have some joy this week though. I got a card from my great aunt and she sent me a check. Yay! Now I can replace the cordless in the kitchen and I can afford to get a snazzy off white model that will match the color scheme in there and not pretend to be a remote when it is away from its charger.

I’m going to cash that check and by this weekend I will be happily cruising the Target to find a nice off white phone. Hopefully, I will be able to score one and then I will have a nice new phone and a “designer” look for my kitchen – isn’t that all it takes? All the appliances and whatnot all one color? Or at least not having the phone look like a huge cock roach perched on the wall? ‘Cause ya know, there is Divine Design and there is Design on a Dime. The next big design change for the kitchen is going to be new tile squares for the floor. I think it would be easier to put nice new, clean tile squares down then trying to get the old floor to look clean. Sad but true.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Gawd

Dogger and I didn't go for our walk today. Today "somebody" took themselves for a walk, really more of a run. "Somebody" thought it would be a good day to take up jogging. And me with out my jogging shoes. That meant that "someone else", me for instance, had to run all up and down the street and through front yards and back yards BAREFOOT and subsequently, cut the bottom of their, my foot. I did learn however that if I ever really need to get The Drug Dealers attention, all I need to do is stand out in my yard and scream. Which I did. When Dogger was just about under the wheels of a passing car, it gets him off the porch. The drug dealer corralled "somebody" - but of course, not before "somebody" ran out into traffic and played chicken with oncoming cars.

"Somebody" is now curled into a ball in the dirt in the dark,in the backyard. Alone. "Someone else", me, now has to go to the store alone in the dark to buy band aids.
Tell Greta to stay in Aruba

Missing White Woman found
Here we go again

Its another missing white woman, sadly, for the 24 hour news folks, she's most likely a run away.

found
Doggers Claim to Fame

This is the story from The Indy about the Cindy Sheehan vigil, that Doggers Picture was included in.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

In my ongoing plan to pretend that it is almost winter, I decided it was time to talk to a tailor about repairing my winter coat in preparation for the daily wear and tear of winter.

I don’t know anything about local tailors or really, tailors in general as my normal practice is to wear a garment until it becomes threadbare and ultimately falls apart, I don’t get the garment fixed, I buy a new one. But, winter coats are not engineered to fall apart after repeated wearings. Winter coats are kind of like the life time sport of outer wear, the clothing industries Tennis , because once you have a winter coat, you are always going to have that winter coat; you can wear them forever and the whole winter coat industry is set up for irregular buying and price them accordingly. Unless you are a fashion victim, people who have stopped growing do not need to replace their coats every year, buying a new winter coat is an investment in your future.

So. I enter in the wide world of garment repair.

I did a sizable amount of research into the local tailors, well, I tried to think if dry cleaners offered that kind of service and if there was one near my house, then I remembered I have used dry cleaners in the past about as frequently as I have used tailors and much of what I know about both come from TV or books so what I think I know may not accurately reflect the realities either industry. Its not that I'm cheap, its just that I've always been a kind of a off the rack, ready to wear, machine wash, tumble dry kind of girl.

I went to the tailor that has a um, store? Office? Place of business? A tailory? next door to my McDonalds. And then I waited. And Waited And Waited while a crazy woman verbally bitch slapped the Korean seamstress because the lady decided that when the seamstress had pinned up her slacks, she had made one leg shorter then the other. The seamstress tried very hard in broken English to explain that most people have legs of slightly different length and that was why one leg looked longer. The lady pulled out a measuring tape and demanded that both legs be 39 inches long and then went behind the counter, filled out a slip and announced to the seamstress that she would be in on Friday to pick up her pants. All the while the seamstress was trying to fit a skirt on another customer. That woman had to go to the back while the crazy woman tried on another pair of slacks and bitched and moaned about how she would not wear pants that dragged the dirt! She didn’t care what the style was! I had hoped the man standing in front of me belonged to the crazy woman and was not standing in line, but sadly he did not and he was. He was waiting to get his pants hemmed.

I had been there for freaking ever and wanted to leave. I heard a door open somewhere in the back and a sewing machine start but no one was helping the seamstress and I had a very simple question about whether they did coat repair and I really needed to get back to work but I didn’t want to leave because after standing there listening to the woman ranting and then watching as the seamstress hemmed the mans pants “I want you to cut the fabric, I don’t want a big hem. No more then an inch of hem!” I felt like we had bonded.

Finally she freed herself up and answered my coat question. Happily, they do fix coats and I will get my pocket repaired and possibly the lining of my good rain coat fixed too. I can make winter come damn it. I will be with out proper outer wear; it will get cold and rainy.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Squeeeeeeee!!!

Dogger made the paper!

Robertson: Chavez remarks misinterpreted


August 24, 2005
"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP [Associated Press], but that happens all the time," Robertson said on "The 700 Club" program.

August 22, 2005
“If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson on Monday's program. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." (Watch video of Robertson's comments)
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," he said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."


Yeah…. And, as I have seen pointed out elsewhere, so far the admin has not said “We don’t agree with what he said”, we hear “He’s a public citizen, he can feel free to state his opinion”. This admin has in the past made life difficult for public citizens who express opinions – see The Dixie Chicks for an example. The Admin only allows public citizens to have the opinions that The Admin agrees with. Look at how the The Admin is treating Cindy Sheehan, she has an opinion too and The Admin set the dogs on her – because her opinion is different from his.

Expect any day now for the droids on FAUX news to start repeating “Some people are saying that Hugo Chavez needs to go, that we should go to the aid of the people of Venezuela.”…..

From CNN.com
Mail Call


Dear SWT/Texas State Ex-Student,
(Obliviously, at a better school we would be addressed as “alumni or alumnae”.)

The rumors on the grapevine and the internet are true. (Yes, the internets are abuzz. Hmm. I did get an email from a stranger asking if “I was coming?” but I deleted it as an email version of an obscene phone call…)

Its time for our first ever on-campus SWT/Texas State Theatre Reunion! (So, on campus? no booze? A theatre party with out drunks?).It doesn’t matter whether you were a major or not. (I bet it would help though,) of you were ever involved with the Theatre Department, then you and your guests are invited to attended (So, like does that include anyone who dated a theatre major? Went to a show? Was one of those people who stuck around for a semester had a break down and never came back? Came to the green room one time, looked around and decided that maybe it might be easier to get their MRS as a Business major? Throw a wide net why don’t you). what we hope will be the largest departmental ex-students ( We're called ALUMNI! damn it!) gathering ever held on this campus.

The theatre department has a long history of high quality and good times, (Yes, my adviser was good and high for five years).This “Then and Now” Reunion aims to honor that tradition by remembering the past (If you can remember it, you weren’t really there) Celebrating the present and building the future (by picking the pockets of “the past” and boring “the present”). The $80 cost per ticket (What! to come to campus and walk around The Building?) includes all listed events, meals, complimentary drinks (They know us real well) and parking privileges , (read “shuttle bus to and from stadium lot”) After costs are met, any balance of funds will be applied to scholarships.

Our alumni lists (Finally!) go back over 40 years, from those still living in the area (and most certainly not working “in the field”) to alums working on both coasts (At Burger Kings and temp agencies).Some former students come back regularly (sorry bastards) while for others it has been decades since they have been back on campus. As such, we have tried to craft an itinerary that will appeal across generations (by provideing many, many opportunities to drink).But the most important thing is simply the opportunity to renew old friendships and make new acquaintances (Network with other people who don’t work in theatre/film/TV either? Piss and moan about the 1% who do?)

Regardless of the degree (I would assume that this didn’t go out to say, Business majors?) or year, the one thing that binds us together is our rightful pride in having been a part of the “Best Damn Theatre program in the State of Texas!”.


Hope You can Join Us in October!.

It went on to list a whole weekend of “fun”. Starting with a roast of my old adviser, who is, shockingly, still alive!, MC-ed by another prof who once told me that I must have very low self esteem because I did not love his class, and later on in the semester, because I had an ear infection and couldn’t hear him, he told me, my lack of involvement in his class meant I was “depressed”. Whatever.

I think I’ll save my $80 and call one of my friends from school and have a reunion with out having to spend a weekend sucking in my stomach and explaining why I don't work "in the feild" any longer - short answer? living with my parents indefinitely wasn't doing it for me and I got tired of having to drop a stage weight on my foot every time I needed to see a doctor, because working in the arts means no pay and no insurance beyond what you can get out of workers comp. The idea is that just being there is supposed to be enough reward! you tell yourself its not really exploitation if you are loving every minute of it!. In the arts you either make a good living or you die trying.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Make it stop

ARLINGTON, Va. - Traditionally, gravestones for Americans killed in combat have included the minimum information necessary to identify the fallen soldier, sailor, airman or Marine. Almost all the headstones for the more than 2,000 troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, however, are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts. Families are being told they have the option to have the government-supplied headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether their family members are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

Former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia said "Most of the headstones out there at Arlington and around the nation just say World War II or Korea or Vietnam, one simple statement," he said. "It's not, shall we say, a designated theme or a designated operation by somebody in the Pentagon. It is what it is. And I think there's power in simplicity."


full story here

So. The admin hides them from us when they come home, denies them every step of the way, but tarts up their grave stones with "Operation Bushco"? They didn't do that with the graves at the National Cematary I walk past every day. The stones are dignified and starkly honor the soldiers sacrifice. The markers say just Name, Rank and dates. They don't say "I was killed protecting the world from Nazis" or "I was killed stopping The Japs March Across The Pacific!" or "I was killed fighting Fascists in Italy!". I don't get it, why is George Bush doing this? Is this so the sheeple attending the 911 Rawks! Pro-War Rally and Concert will be able to pick out the graves as they walk through Arlington National Cemetary on their way to the Clint Black concert? Tell me that isn't why.

Red Mom - See there Tiffani, that there soldier died in Iraq, for our Freedom.
Red Kid - How about that one there Mama? he died in 1943.
Red Mom - Oh. I don't know, he died to protect Europe. The other soldier died to protect our Freedom.
Red Kid - There sure are a lot of graves here. Not very many say Iraq though.
Red Mom - it's because so few of our soldiers have died there, hardly any at all. You can see that here. That librul media makes it sound like more then it is.
Bush : Early withdrawal from Iraq would weaken him as a man and possibly, make him look "gay" to other heads of state

Or "Weaken the U.S". Whatever.

DONNELLY, Idaho - President Bush took on the California mother who has been defiantly protesting outside his Texas home, saying Tuesday that Cindy Sheehan doesn't represent the views of most military families and that fulfilling demands like hers for withdrawal from Iraq would weaken the United States

"I think those who advocate immediate withdrawal from not only Iraq but the Middle East are advocating a policy that would weaken the United States," Bush said.

Yeah. The British feel so much safer then they did before. And for us, using our troops as fly paper is what is making this country strong.

The president said U.S. troops in Iraq are keeping Americans safe and that Iraqis are making progress toward democracy. He urged patience as officials in Baghdad struggle to complete a constitution.

Again, troops as flypaper. Hostile Islamic State as Democracy.

"The fact that they're even writing a constitution is vastly different from living under the iron hand of a dictator," Bush said.

Yes, living under the iron hand of a secular Islamic mad man is much, much worse then living under the iron hand of an Fundy Islamic dictator - so the fact that you have no rights, is a constitutionally protected right!

Bush spoke once before about Sheehan, during a foreign policy summit at his ranch on Aug. 11. He said then, too, that he sympathized with her but disagreed with her call to bring the troops home immediately. He said Tuesday, "She doesn't represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with."

She doesn't sound like the carefully handpicked groups you spoke to? she says things you don't agree with? The majority of the people in the The united States agree with her!

from Yahoo.com
Look Busy

How popular is your first name? The Baby Name Wizard will let you see how popular your first name has been through the decades.
W.W.J.A?

Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Hugo Chavez


We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's The 700 Club.

Alleged follower of Jesus and key player for Hugo Chavez' publicists, "Rev". Pat Robertson called for the U.S to validate Chavez' megalomaniacal attention whore status and his mis-directed Daddy issues by demanding that the U.S assassinate the wacky Banana Republic strongman.

from USA Today

edited to add email to my local FAUX affilate:

To Whom It May Concern,

It has come to my attention that your station carries The 700 Club. On a recent broadcast Rev. Robertson called for the assassination of a democratically elected foreign head of state. This was a call for terrorism and I think it is an appropriate time for your station to discontinue airing episodes of this television show. You can read more about the Reverends outburst here http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-22-robertson-_x.htm.



Sincerely,

Diana
Summer Bummer

I saw school supplies on sale at Poverty Barn and the last time I was at the mall there were sweaters out. It must be fall! I think since the retail establishment has declared summer over that Mother Nature needs to join the bandwagon and make it happen.

And if the retail establishment wants to help me out, the retail establishment would send a new fall/winter wardrobe to my house post haste. I’m tired of my winter clothes all ready and I haven’t seen them since March. This year absence is not making the heart grow fonder. It may be just because its so hot but the thought of having to wear those clothes again fills me with a deep sense of meh, but I do agree that the heat is making me a bit bleary and the thought of anything with sleeves does not make it better.

Over the weekend the kids from across the street came over the play with Dogger. Their dog got picked up by the pound and they haven’t seen him since. I also couldn’t find him at the human society site either, so I think the Dog Catcher story is just a cover. Anyway, the kids came over and wanted to see Dogger and I grudgingly took her out. The kids were so happy to see her and Dogger was so thrilled with the attention I hardly minded my new Cajon style blackened legs while we were out there sitting on the sidewalk.

One of the little girls said something about looking forward to Halloween and said she liked the Wendy’s coupons I handed out last year. I was like “Halloween? Um. Tomorrow is Monday, I’m looking forward to Friday. I have a pretty good idea of some plans in September but I’m not even thinking about October yet.

Because once I do start thinking about October I have to start thinking about Thanksgiving and then Christmas and New Years and… Everything just moves so fast after Halloween and by the time you have past Thanksgiving it’s almost Christmas and the year is almost over!

I am kind of working on Halloween plans though. I have a costume for Dogger and what I want to do is tie her in the entry way and lock the screen door and let her greet the kiddies. I think if I tie her leash to the door into the house that she will be back far enough away from the door as to not be too on top of the door, but close enough that the little kiddies will be able to see her and the big kiddies will be too scared to bother ringing my bell. Because I’m old now, my Halloween plans now include ways to thwart teenagers.

But, for the time being, it’s still August. I decided that I needed to water my few remaining outdoor plants before they all stop speaking to me and turn into the rest of my outdoor plants. I could practically see the water evaporating as it touched the leaves. I stood there for a good while and the pavement was dry before I turned off the hose. It’s just not right.

Dogger kept asking to go outside and despite my warnings of heat indexes and heat poisoning and how hot the ground is and how little I wanted to open the doors, Dogger insisted and so she went outside – to collapse under the shrubbery and stare balefully at me through the window until I let her back in. Kitty hasn’t even been asking to go outside the last few days, when he not begging for food he is splayed out on the fireplace tiles. I’ve been keeping the curtains drawn and the house dark but it isn’t really doing much for the room temperature. The A/C is running like a hamster on a wheel and is just about as effective.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Shrub just sucks

Bush plans Sept. 11 Reminders Sure, that will make me fall back in lurve with the big lug. I think celebrating his biggest failure would be great, had it not been the slaughter of 2900 American civilans! I just think its tasteless to use that tragedy for political gain. What is he going to do? stand up on a a podium and say "Whoo-Hoo Ya'll! Dayum! Proud to be a Murrican! wOO-hOO 9/11!! We've got those Islamafacists on the run! Misson Accomplished!". I'm sure that the whole "reminder" thing has nothing to do with George W. Bush's Aproval Rateings Drop Its down to 36%!

from American Research Group and Yahoo News
Yay Kitty!

Catster wanted you to know that Tex is one of today's featured diaries and it will be displayed all day on our Diary Central page under 'Today's Picks'
Feeding an addiction

I’m trying to figure out what Kitty does during the week when I am at work. I noticed that over the weekend Kitty dedicates 23 and 2/3 hours of the day to begging me for food. I can’t imagine what he fills his time with when I am not there.

For example. This is how he spent Saturday and with some minor changes, Sunday as well.

6:45a - Nibbled on a copy of New Yorker on bedside table until I rolled over.

6:50 - Propelled glasses case and deodorant off of bed side table and tapped clock.

6:51 - I wake up enough to be all proactive and remove clock from bed side table before he does.

6:52 - Kitty is annoyed that I removed the clock before he had a chance to. He feels thwarted and goes under bed to shred paper as revenge.

6:55 - Went back to kitchen and bumped recycling into the sink.

7:00 - Took a nap

7:24 - Awoke with a start! Realized that I had been sleeping with out interruption for 24 whole minutes! Quickly corrected his over sight by returning to my bedroom where he climbed the dresser so he could launch himself onto the bed and startle me awake. His mission accomplished, he remembered he was hungry and visited the kitchen.

7:26 - Checked food dish. In protest, slid phone book to the floor.

7:27 - Woke up Dogger so that Dogger could be awake too.

7:30 - Took nap.

8:15 - Woke up hungry and checked bowl. Came back to hallway to tease Dogger and make Dogger whine. Having accomplished this, went to check bowl again . Still protesting his empty bowl, dropped my house keys to the floor.

8:17 - Came back to hallway and played stare down with Dogger.

8:19 - Won stare down. Came back to my bedroom to take victory lap around my head, ate more of The New Yorker. Woke me up to ask question about Cat themed cartoon - laughed, curled up on my face. Dogger now whining full time.

At this point I finally got out of bed and went to tell Dogger to shut up and take her to pee. Fed Dogger. Since I was all ready up, I went to the kitchen and found Kitty watching his bowl. I took this chance and pilled Kitty. Kitty did not think this was the same as being fed and tipped over the knife rack while my back was turned.

Fed Kitty.

From that minute on, Kitty begged for food about every twenty minutes for the rest of the day. He didn’t do this over vacation even before he got sick. He got his morning meal and that was it until dinner. He never asked for a five ‘o clock snack.

But. But now he’s at home and bored and all he can think about all day is when is he going to eat next. I understand this. I start thinking about lunch by about 9am. I get it. But I don’t spend the rest of the day begging my co-workers to fed me. I think Kitty in a former life was a squirrel. A very, very industrious squirrel. The kid of squirrel who spread forests across the land. A real Johnny Appleseed squirrel. Poor little guy just never adjusted to life as a house cat.

All day he asks for food! Even with food in his dish. He begs for more.He has become so used to begging he doesn’t even always bother to see if he has any food. He just assumes he doesn’t. Over the weekend he never stopped begging for food. He sat by his bowel all day and whenever I came through the kitchen he acted out selected scenes from Oliver Twist. All I can guess is during the work week when I am out of the house most of the time he practices his pitch to Dogger. He doesn’t tip things over when I am not there. I could be gone for 12 hours and I do not come home to find the kitchen taken apart. He knows it won’t help. He doesn’t behave in the same way when he is somewhere with out me. He has me trained and he knows it.

His weekend schedule.

8:00 : Eat Breakfast.
8:15 - Beg to be fed
8:35 - Beg to be fed
8:36 - 9:00 - Sleep
9:00-11:00 - Beg to be fed
11:00-12:45p - Sleep
12:45 - 4:30 - Beg to be fed
4:30 - Eat Dinner.
4:30-5:45 - Sleep
5:45-9:00 - Beg to be fed
9:00 - Before bed snack.
9:00 - 6:00a - Beg to be fed

6:15a - Eat Breakfast
6:15-7:00 - Beg to be fed
7:00 -4:45p - Sleep
4:45 - Eat Dinner
4:45-9:00 - Beg to be fed
9:00 - Bed time snack
9:00 -6:00a - Beg to be fed

Do you think Betty Ford takes cats?

Sunday, August 21, 2005

HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!

Saturday, August 20, 2005

HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!!

Friday, August 19, 2005

Friday Cat Blogging

Good Site

With the holidays coming up, yes, yes they are and the thought of the mall makes you ill - you might be tempted to start hitting craft shows for interesting, less expensive, one of a kind gifts , but craft fairs can make you equally ill and with out the benefits of covered parking or Mrs. Fields.

What to do what to do. You could go to an online craft fair! One with really, really nice things, one with high quality items, one with a plethora of different hand made goodies and enough choices to suit just about anybody on your list.

Where is this magical place?

Etsy.Com
Current Events Quiz!

How alert are you? Take this quiz from the New York Times and test yourself. I got 8 out of 10.
Yeah, "they" are on the run all right

A rocket attack apparently targeting U.S. ships in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba killed a Jordanian soldier and wounded another, officials said. "A suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and USS Kearsarge," according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. No U.S. military personnel were injured.

Three Katyusha rockets were fired from a warehouse in Aqaba close to the port, a Jordanian government statement said.

CNN.com

Ceder South Lebanon

The Katyusha were originally developeded by the Soviets in the late 30s. They were nicknamed "Stalens (tee hee) Organ". They are a popular rocket in the middle eastand have been used by many armies of the region for years, most recently by the Palestinians against the Israel. The first joint weapons project between the U.S and Israel was a laser guided ant-missile system developed specifically to fight this kind of short range missile.
Candles in the wind

I am asking XXX of the Street Maintenance Division to investigate your concern. George will respond to you once he has completed his investigation. South Saunders Street is a part of the State Maintained Highway System. It is likely that City crews and contractors were not involved in this work.


Public Works Director




I actually got a response. I’m impressed. I guess my decision not to go with referring to the absent crew as a bunch of red neck meth freaks – but that was before he pointed the finger at state employees. So, yeah, if I had known they were State Employees blowing off work and wasting my time, then I would have definitely gone with the “red neck meth freaks” line. I hope I’m not the only person who was annoyed and put out who bothered to complain.

I took Dogger to the candle light vigil. Note to self, explore mini- oil lamp avenue, candle wax is messy! Unlike my treacherous candle/plastic cup combo, because I’ve been to one of these before, I’m no candle light vigil newbie; I brought something to catch the wax. Sadly, as it turned out, it couldn’t catch a cold and the shorts I was wearing are now wax covered. Dogger was a real champ. She wore her little “Dogs for Cindy” sign with pride and resisted the urge to eat the tasty paper treat so close to her mouth. She got her picture taken and everyone who walked past commented on what a good little protestor she was. We were helped with the photo ops because we were sitting next to the cutest child ever who wrote “Pece” on the pavement in front of him using used matches. Dogger must think freckles are the new dog treat because, much to the little boys delight, she licked him like a snow cone. The photogs loved him. Dogger and he got photographed together as well.

I read many, many statements from other participants in other cities and they all talked about singing and reading out loud passages and praying and all these really earnest activities... My group chatted amoungst ourselves comparing and contrasting past protests and networking. The people to the other side of me spent the whole time talking about Poodle/Golden retriever breeders. We did have a cop show up early on and be all Cop-y, but he went away, but not far, two cop cars there the whole time “for our protection”. We didn’t need it. It was just us, no other groups and not a lot of traffic went past. It’s not a well traveled bridge. We did have a lovely view of downtown though and we got to wave at an Amtrak train.

There was a little singing but the handful of singers didn’t know more then the chorus of most of what they tried to sing so that kind of petered out. The signs at the Moveon site were very well represented. I was surprised how many people carried them. My dog was the only dog there with one. I remembered to wear a shirt with a flag on it. In the paper this morning they said there were only 80 people there but the count they gave us was higher. The reporter didn’t stay long, she had other vigils to cover and I think what she might have done is just gone to the site to see how many signed up and got her number from there.

It doesn’t matter how many were “officially” there. It was a great event and everyone went away feeling like they had been a part of something.

To read accounts of vigils across the country go here

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Show your charactor

A group of American authors has decided to auction names of characters in their forthcoming novels, in a bid to raise funds for the First Amendment Project. Using eBay, the authors will auction the character names using the auction portal's charity listings, Giving Works. People can submit bids on behalf of their own name or any other name they choose during the auction series, which is scheduled to run between Sept. 1 and Sept. 25. The money raised will be donated to the FAP, a nonprofit organization promoting freedom of information and expression.

Full story here

Man, that is really clever. Wouldn't this be an awesome gift for the person who has everything? or wants nothing? This is a great idea.
The best laid plans

My plan for my lunch hour was deceptively easy. I was going to go to the Sam’s Club gas station and put gas in the car then I was going to the actual Sam’s and pick up some vitamins and eat whatever pizza they had available at their canteen. I was going to read my book and go back to work, probably early. I thought this was a modest plan for the lunch hour. Nothing there that should prove outside the scope of the reasonable – I mean how badly can you mess up: Fill up tank, buy vitamins, eat lunch, and go back to work? I should also mention that all of this happens one exit down from where I work. Traffic permitting I can be there and back in 15 minutes.

That is the detail I failed to think about, the traffic I would encounter. And really, it wasn’t the traffics fault per say. It was the city of Raleigh’s fault for starting road work on Fayetteville and then leaving it there during the lunch hour.

But I didn’t know that when I set off. I was chugging along, minding my own business and I got into my lane and, and… Sat there. Just sat there. It was too late to get out and there was nowhere to go once I was there. I couldn’t look around the car in front of me and I couldn’t see if the traffic lights were out at the intersection. I looked at the clock- 11:31. I was a real rebel and left for lunch at11:26. Yeah, I’m all hardcore like that. So I waited. Gas is $2.50 a gallon, waiting in traffic has suddenly taken on an unpleasant, very expensive air to it and this sitting in traffic was not making me happy.

So when I got back, I wrote an email.

Dear So and So,

Today at lunch I waited in traffic for thirty minutes and did not know why. I chalked it up to an accident but as I got closer to the front of the line, I didn’t see any flashing lights. I and dozens of others sat there and wasted $2.50 a gallon gas because we were not held up by an accident or other defensible reason, but as it turned out, for a huge number of pylons and an abandoned road project. Where were the workers? Why was traffic stalled for nothing? Why was the street prepped for work during the lunch hour? And then left like that!? This was absolutely ridiculous. I have only an hour for lunch and having to waste half of it not to mention the gas I wasted sitting there, was infuriating to say the least.

Signed,


So. Instead of my neat and tidy lunch agenda I sat in traffic. I finally got to the Sam’s where I spent $2.49 per gallon to gas up. When I got into the store I was able to find what I needed and thought there was still a chance I was going to get some lunch. They had three lines open and I got into line behind a woman doing to monthly shopping for her cult - No one family needs that much toilet paper.

I ended up having to get a to go order from Subway – which added to my general displeasure. My goal had been to boycott them because of their sponsorship of the Department of Defenses Up With War concert in September to mark the 9/11/01 attacks.

SIGH. I ended up eating at my desk and getting bothered the whole time.

edited for wishful thinking

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Vigils

Did any one else go to one of the vigils for Cindy Sheehan? I went to one of the four!! in my area and it was truly rewarding experience. Its easy to get depressed about the Bushco and the endless war, and the media’s' capitulation to the RNC... and to begin to feel very alone. Its one thing to go online and read lefty bloggers and sign the petitions but it’s a very solitary pursuit, you can feel like it doesn't matter. It matters.

I get very excited when I watch Jon Stewart and hear his audience roar in solidarity when he or a guest calls Bull Shit on Bushco, but they are very far away and I don't run into them when I'm out and about. My work place is not full of Air America fans.

But.

I went to the vigil with my candle and my dog and there were 108 people there with their candles and their kids and their dogs and we were all reading from the same page and singing from the same hymnal and It mattered, we mattered and we were not alone.

On September 24, in Washington there is going to be another mass demonstration to protest the war and the Bush Administration. It is one thing to yell at the TV news and bitch with your friends and sign petitions here and there... Its not enough. Talking the Talk is not enough. You must walk the walk as well. You must be seen. You must be counted. You must be in the streets. The time for yelling at your television is over. Be on your television.

And it is not “too late”. It is never too late. It is important that Bushco, curled up with their hubris and the depressed Democrats curled up with their Prozac - know that we have not given up or given in. We are still here. Nothing has changed. We didn’t go hide in a corner. We didn’t throw the towel in or give in the pressure to assimilate. We can not be frightened away, we will not be scared into submission and you can not stop us. Now, more then ever we must be heard. We must continue to fight. Not all of us have been a vigilant as we had been, (me, for instance) But we and I have never given up. September 24. Goggle it. Find a ride.
Ouch. What would Alex Keaton think?

Gov. Bob Taft is expected to be charged this afternoon in Franklin County Municipal Court with four criminal misdemeanors for failing to disclose golf outings and possibly other favors. The charges are being outlined at a press conference this afternoon with Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. If convicted on the first-degree misdemeanor charges, Taft faces a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail on each count.

Taft, 63, the great-grandson of William Howard Taft, the only American to serve as president and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, made history on his own: He is the first Ohio governor to face criminal charges while in office.
The charges were the outgrowth of a two-month investigation by a task force consisting of the Inspector General Thomas P. Charles, the Ohio Ethics Commission and the State Highway Patrol.

The commission last week referred the matter to prosecutors who discussed it this morning.

Full story here

True, all he did was fail to disclose some “golf outings” and the charges are bull shit misdemeanor garbage – But. He is a REPUBLICAN from OHIO.
Kittens, because kittens are...

Fluffy

Tiny

Cute
At least one person has been killed and 50 others injured in a series of small bomb blasts across Bangladesh.

Officials say more than 300 explosions took place simultaneously in 50 cities and towns across the country including the capital Dhaka. An outlawed Islamic group, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, says it carried out the attacks. Police say that more than 50 people have been arrested in connection with the blasts. BBC.com

Blasts in Bangladesh

In the first such attack in politically volatile Bangladesh, a series of near simultaneous explosions today rocked cities and towns across the country, including the capital Dhaka, injuring over 100 people and prompting a security alert.

At least 61 of Bangladesh's 64 districts were hit by the bombings, suspected to have been carried out by a banned Islamic militant group, targeting government offices, courts and press clubs. Almost all the explosions occurred between 11:00 am and 11:30 am (local time). More than 100 people were injured in nearly 400 explosions of crude bombs, the private NTV television channel reported.
Outlook India

WHY isn't this news? WHY did I find this on Fark? What is the matter with our news media?

Okay. It is news on CNN.com, but just not as big of news as say, a former Power Ranger getting arrested.Hundreds of bombs go off in one the most populous cities in the world - tiny referencee under International. Former Power Ranger? Above the fold, one of lead stories. Great.
Bits and Pieces V. 2.0


Kitty held off waking me up until 5:15 this morning! Unfortunately he also woke up Dogger who joined him in a round of “Feed Me. I’m starving and you hate me”. Kitty didn’t sit still until I was getting dressed at which time he lay himself like a rug across the foot of the bed. I guess all the running around he did finally caught up with him.

I called my vet to ask about getting more of the hard core prescription strength cat kibble that the vet in Marquette prescribed for Kitty. My first line of defense food wise was to go on line and see if I could find it cheaper… and I might have been able had I a copy of the doctors note and the capacity to fax it to the cat food people. The whole point of the exercise was to go around the vet, not join hands with them and allow them to turn me upside down and steal all the money that falls from my pockets! I mean I could get any number of cat vaccinations online with out any kind of note from my vet why can’t I score kibble the same way? It must be the whole veterinarian-industrial complex. The same shadowy group that wanted to charge me for an office visit when come to pick up the bag o’ food. I called them to ask if they would supply me with the cat food in question. I told them I had the card for the Marquette vet and they could call if they were going to get all Mother May I on me. I’m going to need new food soon as Kitty’s apatite is back with a vengeance.

For those of you interested in Cindy Sheehan, Moveon is sponsoring multiple candle light vigils in her honor all over the country. Go here to see if they are any in your area. These are tonight.

Of interest to my North Carolina readers,

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me Live at UNC's Memorial Hall
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, the fast-paced and irreverent quiz show from NPR, is coming to the Triangle for two special performances to benefit North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC. Join host Peter Sagal and official scorekeeper Carl Kasell for a taping of the show September 15 and 16 at UNC's Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill. Tickets are $25 and $35 and are available by calling 919-962-1449.
I really, really want to go! I listen every week regardless of the fact that not a single radio in my house will pick up WUNC. I have to go sit in the car to hear the show. I really want to be sitting in Memorial Hall.

I was putting things away in my attic last night and it was so hot upstairs that I thought I saw a couple of Nazis and Richard Nixon fondling each other behind my Christmas decorations.

Yay! We got a new refrigerator at work. Why does the old one have to go right outside my door? Can’t we just put it out on the front porch like proper red necks? Now instead of everyone at work universally referring to my office a “hole”, now people can say my office is behind the refrigerator. I wonder what kind of bennies the cock roaches union offers? I mean seeing as we are going to be officing together.

I finally got all my vacation pictures into albums, I sat on the living room floor for a good hour doing getting that finished up and that time, not a single cock roach sighting. I love my Kitty.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Slow News Day



This messages alternates with "It's been 880 days since our last invasion." The Washington Times is to print journalism what FAUX News is to network news . TWT is wholly owned by the Moonies.

from Wonkette
Just Like Old Times


Kitty came home Saturday afternoon! There was much joy and happiness across the land. I was happy, Kitty was stalking around the land with a little thought bubble over his head reading “Bored Now".

Around 3:30am Sunday, the thought bubble shifted to “Hungry Now.” It broke my heart a couple of weeks ago to see him lieing around like the lead in an all feline production of Camille. It was very sad, but... When he wasn’t eating he was also wasn't waking me up at 4:45am to fill his dish either. But that at would have been fine. I was on vacation. Why do you go on vacation other then to be able to be traipsing around 4:45am consequence free?
Sunday morning he wanted to talk about the menu at 4:15, 5:05, 6:20 and 7:30. I finally got up at 8:00 and fed him. If I had gotten up at 4:15, I would gotten to skip the 5:05, 6:20 and 7:30 shows but he also needs to recognize that I am not going to get up and feed him just because he’s hungry. Dogger no doubt gets hungry in the middle of the night too, but you don’t see her bitching about it ever 30 minutes until I get up. Dogger also does not have free reign of my house either. She can bitch all she wants but she isn’t likely to take apart my kitchen either.

I didn’t bother waiting for my conventional alarm clock to go off and got out of bed when Kitty decided it was time to bring the fight to me and curled up on my chest and purrrrrrrrrred. He fights dirty.

Speaking of taken apart kitchens. When I got up, after I resisted Kitty’s 3:15, 4:10, and 5:30 wake up calls I discovered what he had been doing to get his mind off of his hunger – everything that had been sitting upright on the kitchen counters was now either on its side or in the middle of the floor. It looked like a tornado had been through there. He had tipped over the knife rack, the sealed (thank Gawd!) sugar container, a large plastic cereal container (empty), the salt and pepper shakers, two small Ikea mirrors that never found a home and thus live in my kitchen and the basket that holds my oven mitts.

I did get even with the little bastard. I caught up to him and stuck his pred down his throat, twice. He did not love that. I think he should have been grateful I was feeding him something.
Sunday, when I went to force feed him his drugs I couldn’t find them! I remembered giving him his dose the night before but everything after that was misty. I really had to find them because he’s on too high a dose just to blow off. I searched everywhere! I even looked where they were supposed to be. I started thinking about all the running around he did the night before and where on earth a little thing like a pill bottle might have ended up. I looked everywhere. I looked under the (oh the humanity!) stove, in between (eww!) couch cushions, under the (oh dear Gawd!) couch, the dinning room table on the chairs, under the table, in with the dogs food (because, in theory, it could have ended up there, possibly, if I woke up in the middle of the night and sleep put the pill bottle there) everywhere. I finally found it more or less where it was supposed to be. It fell off the lazy susan in the cupboard and got caught progressively more under it as I was hysterically twirling the damn thing looking for them. Sigh. He got his pills on time and I went back to bed.

Monday, August 15, 2005

All the news that…?

This is an example of news:

Iraqi National Assembly members seek 7- to 10-day extension to complete talks on constitution, a member told CNN.

This is not an example of news:

Demi Moore: Ashton Kutcher is 'soul mate'
Walk on By?

After Robert Novak called a guest an Ass Hole and walked off the set, TV Newser reports that Robert Novaks' office was cleaned out last week. TV Newser links to this from the Arizona Republic to explain why Novak leaving the building is a very, very good thing. The article also praises and recounts Jon Stewarts take down of Cross Fire, something that can not be praised enough.
This American (no) Life

Dogger is now officially a Big Girl and is no longer sleeping in her crate.I had been working on her with this before I left on vacation. I put a baby gate in the door of the office and left her out of her crate to her own devises. I tried to leave her out at night as well but she would wake me up whining so she was still crate bound at night. While I was on vacation she slept in with Nephdog and didn’t use her crate at all. When I got back from vacation I decided that she was through with the crate all together.

This left Dogger with out a proper bed. The floor is carpeted and she seemed happy to sleep under the desk. I wasn’t happy with that. I tried to put some of her sheets under the desk to make it softer for her but by the time I came home she had shoved them into the middle of the floor.

Me - You can’t sleep there.

Dogger - I like it here.

Me - That is not where your bed is. You bed is over there. That is where you sleep.

Dogger - I sleep here.

Me - That is where my desk chair lives. That is my desk chairs bed.

Dogger - We can share!

Me - No.

Dogger - I like it under here! Its all cavey! It’s my den. Yay Den!

Me - Its all desky. Its my desk. Yay Desk!

It took the rest of the week but Dogger was slowly getting used to the idea that her bed was not under the desk. I decided it was time for a real bed for Dogger. Dogger loves Offically Sanctioned Dog Beds - because she thinks they are delicious. The couple of times over the years that I invested in OSDB for her, she ate them. If I wanted to buy a OSDB large enough for Dagger it would be expensive and it might turn into a big, expensive after dinner mint. I needed a bed she could not eat. I decided what she needed was a crib mattress.


I went shopping. If this was NPRs This American Life this is where the “Music of This Is Interesting” would go. It doesn’t matter how banal it was whatever the featured person said, it would suddenly through the magic of post production editing, it would be meaningful. (Insert frooffy This American Life music cue here)

First I tried my neighborhood Wal-Mart. The cheapest crib bed they had in stock was $47. I wasn’t going to pay $47 for a dog bed. I decided to use up what remained of my $2.21 a gallon gas to go on a crib mattress search. I went a discount department store with large baby section to shop for mattresses. When you are at a department store, ever just go to the baby section? Ever just kind of walk through there? No. No you haven’t. The baby department is not like the home furnishings department. You don’t casually pick up bumper pads or diaper genies(tm).If you don't have a baby there is nothing there for you. The baby section is for people with babies. it was full of new parents trying to decide if the super high end baby stroller was worth the second mortgage of if they shuld save their money for the super deluxer baby swing instead while trying to figure out if they were going to be able to put whatever they bought together before the kid started kindergarten. This is the department store version of the feminene hygene section of the grocery store. And I was in there looking for a dog bed.

I discovered travel crib mattresses. I thought I might have a chance with those. They were considerably cheaper then the other crib mattresses ( $19 v.$129.00) and I thought they might work - and they would if Dagger weighed 11 lbs and was under 28 inches long. I decamped to another store and discovered they didn’t have crib mattresses at all. There was another Wal-Mart. This store had the $30 crib mattress of my dreams. I picked up a mattress pad and took them home. Now when Dagger sleeps under the desk she is ignoring a much nicer bed then before.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

I feel safer all ready.

TSA May Loosen Ban on Razorblades, Knives

Any of the changes proposed by the staff, which also would allow scissors, ice picks and bows and arrows on flights, would require Hawley's approval, this official said, requesting anonymity because there has been no final decision
"The process is designed to stimulate creative thinking and challenge conventional beliefs," said Mark Hatfield, TSA's spokesman. "In the end, it will allow us to work smarter and better as we secure America's transportation system."
The Aug. 5 memo recommends reducing patdowns by giving screeners the discretion not to search those wearing tight-fitting clothes. It also suggests exempting several categories of passengers from screening, including federal judges, members of Congress, Cabinet members, state governors, high-ranking military officers and those with high-level security clearances.

ohhhh, did pooky get searched? Did it embarrass baby? How dare they treat republicans just like everybody else?!

I understand trusting that they are tired of being sued by hot chicks in sprayed on jeans, but do we want to trust all those rethuglicans? And why does the flying public need to be allowed to carry any kind of weapon on to an airplane? Knives? wasn't that was started all this? wasn't a stewardness stabbed by a hijacker?

full story here
HAPPY SUNDAY !!!!!!!

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Gas Pri$es

$2.59! up from Friday afternoon when it was magically .03 less than Thursday night. PIRATES!!!!
HAPPY SATURDAY !!!!!!!

Friday, August 12, 2005

Friday Cat Blogging

In honor of Kittys'road trip back home.

Gas Pri$es

The pirates went to $2.49 a gallon for the cheap stuff, up from $2.29. I paid $2.21 on Tuesday. I understand that the price per barrel went up but aren't they supposed to charge what they paid for that particular shipment of gasoline not what a barrel is getting on the open market. PIRATES.
A little disturbing


First this at CNN.com: Irene nears hurricane strength

Then this comes in my email:

The Governor's Office is seeking volunteers to staff its citizen hot line in the event that Irene actually impacts North Carolina. If you are interested and/or willing, please send to me your contact information so I can pass it along to the hot line coordinators.

Staffing this hot line is strictly voluntary. If you are interested, please send your name, phone numbers (including home, office and cell) and email address (work and home). Please also indicate which day(s) and shift(s) you would be willing to serve.

Shifts begin Monday morning at 7:00 a.m and run as follow:

7:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.
1:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m..

There is an overlap to allow the on-coming shift to be briefed by out-going shift. During the height of activity, this is particularly important. The hot line phone bank is located in the Administration Building downtown, and you will need your ID card to enter the building.

At this point, we have been asked to prepare for Monday and Tuesday of next week. If you are interested, please send your information to me by 4:00 p.m. today. I'll try to confirm times with any volunteers before 4:30 today.
Bzzzzzzzzt…

I slept through my alarm yesterday. This happens. I have the time set enough a head that as long as I wake up before say, noon, I should still be able to make it to work on time. I have huge lateness issues

When I do sleep through the alarm I usually chalk it up to either me waking up before the alarm goes off and saying to myself “I’ll just lay her for a minute and then get up closer to when the alarm is supposed to go off” and then fall back asleep or the alarm does go off but I turn it off with out ever waking up totally. This is rare because my usual practice is to be half way out the door and on the way to the bathroom before it finishes its first bzzzzzz.

So when I slept through the alarm twice in two days, it was time to pay a little attention to the clock. I first checked to make sure I had the right time set on the alarm - Check. Then I made sure that I had my AM/PMs straight. Check. It just doesn’t work anymore.

I need a new clock.

I hate this. I like my alarm. I’m used to my alarm. I can turn off the alarm immediately in the dark while half asleep. I do not want to have to relearn a new alarm clock... I’m also picky about alarm sounds. I startle very easily and the last thing I want to do is to start off the morning peeling myself off the ceiling. I really need the stores to have the alarm clocks out like they have the phones, I would like to try out the alarm before I take it home and I don’t think that this is too much to ask.

If this was a perfect world there would be Alarm Clock boutiques where they would have the clocks out so that the consumer could properly check out the alarms. They could be staffed by the same pretentious over educated clerks they have at music stores and they could make the customers feel bourgeois yahoos because they want the Christina Agularaesque alarm buzz instead of the Slater-Kinneyesque alarm buzz.. They wouldn’t be pretentious music snob over educated clerks they would be pretentious alarm snob over educated clerks! Alarm clocks as wine… they could be like those wine snobs who go on about the nose of the wine or the texture of it and brag about their over developed palates. If they won’t leave the alarm clocks out for us to study they could at least have very detailed explanations on the box. I want to know if the alarm is a beeper or a buzzer or a shrill shriek. I need to know how loud it is. I think the manufactures should have the alarms arranged like hot sauces – Very loud, Moderately loud, and for light sleepers who sleep with the alarm clock two inches from their heads, a gentle click would suffice. Not everyone needs to have an alarm like an air raid siren. Everyone is different and I think they would sell more if they would let you personalize the alarm experience. If they can make teeny, tiny cell phones that come with various ring tines I do see why it would be so hard to install similar technology in an alarm clock – and I don’t mean the old Radio/Buzzer choice. Radio alarm is for people who get to sleep past 6am. If I had time to be gently roused from my slumber by selections from the Cole Porter song book or recitations of today’s pork belly futures, I wouldn’t need an alarm to get up.

Kitty will be back from vacation this weekend and starting Monday the whole broken alarm issue will be moot anyway. The first morning he was gone was the first morning in months I slept “late” enough” to be woken by my alarm. It’s amazing how much clearer you think in the morning when you are allowed to sleep through the night.

Sadly, I hear the siren call of Wal-Mart . The last few times I was there I remember seeing a huge display of alarm clocks 2 for $10.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Okla. Man Arrested for Explosive Device

At the freaking AIRPORT. Trying to get on a PLANE.

"I know Charlie Dreyling quite well," Humphreys ( his landlord) said. "I appreciate what the authorities are doing making our airlines safe. I have every confidence that they'll find out Charlie Dreyling is a fine young man and no terrorist."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Troester described the device as a carbon-dioxide cartridge with a black-powder detonator

He (Dreyling) was at the Oklahoma County jail on a federal hold and was to appear before a federal magistrate Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's office said. He could face charges related to possessing an explosive device at an airport, Johnson said.



“a fine young man and no terrorist.". I think that is exactly what they would have said about Tim McVeigh too. He didn’t look like a terrorist either

From Washington Post. Com and Wikipedia
Play Nice Kids


U.N. nuclear watchdog agency adopts resolution calling on Iran to halt nuclear fuel development. Details soon.

from CNN.com

On the up side maybe the U.N will send troops so we don't have to.
A really cute hole in my head


Is it the end of the week all ready? Thursday?.

I have so much stuff around the house I should be doing. There is sweeping and vacuuming to be done, laundry to be taking care of and the lawn still needs mowing. I would have mowed it Tuesday but it looked like rain and Dogger was having such a good time eating her new toy on the living room floor and House Hunters was on and some how the lawn didn’t get mowed. Dogger didn’t get a walk either but if it was too looked to rainy to do the lawn it was much too rainy looking to walk the dog. I did take her to the corner burger place so I could get a milk shake. She got a walk, kind of. We were outside and she was on a leash.

Speaking of dogs. Remember The Dog That Is Not Mine? While I was gone for vacation, he was up to his old tricks and there was no me there run him down and put him back in his yard. Thankfully, the dog catcher found him before a car did. His family doesn’t know how to get him back and maybe its better that he is somewhere safe. I really hope he ends up with a family and not God Forbid put down.

I just checked the county animal shelter site and Mike is not there. This dog is. I want her! I need a second dog like I need a hole in the head but, gee, where was she oh, three years ago when I really would have left work in the middle of the day to take her home with me. She wasn’t even alive yet, but , damn! .

Going to the site and looking around it does bother me that Mike is not there. I don’t know how long ago he escaped or if he ever ended up at the shelter. The little girl at the house told me the dog catcher got him, but I don’t think she is really the best reporter. It makes me kick myself that I never went and got Mike’s picture. I was going to but then he seemed okay and they wanted to keep him and I thought… well anyway. I am going to the shelter after work to see that weim and I can ask them about Mike then. He might have been there weeks ago and all ready got adopted. He did wear a collar though so it would be clear he had people some where. He had no tags as far as I can remember so maybe not. Poor Mike.

The little girl told me that she was going to get a puppy for her birthday or her Daddy was going to bring her one. I just hope they work harder to keep the next puppy in the yard.

I think Nephdog needs a new room mate. I think Nephdog would love a little 40 lb friend to share his space with. Dogger does not need a room mate and Gawd knows I couldn’t deal with another pet. I really do not need the 126 lb Great Dane with heatworms I saw there either. I’m just going to keep repeating that to myself over and over and over.