Did any of you groovy Voxtars catch the return of The Bitter Linguist?
She's back with her inimitable rants. Cover your children's' ears. Keep your husband's off the computer. No one is safe.
(She will probably kill me for the shout out. But do I care?! Hell no!).
I'm planning a trip to London with husband and two teenage boys. Does anyone out there have ideas of a great and affordable place to stay? Looking at the first week in July. Wimbledon time.
Thanks in advance, neighbors.
As I watched, all I could think of was what a shitty job this guy was doing of washing the windows.
oh, oh... the press conference is about to start...
I woke this morning with a renewed sense of hope and faith in our ability to correct a system that has so alienated everything healthy and good.
Our win has been grand and a bit difficult to completely take in. As the man said, "it's been a long time coming". Yesterday we stood up and turned toward the light of a bright and healthy future, walking away from a past of fear and disconnection.
And, while these victories are sweet, -- it's the narrow races-- ones too close to call, that really repudiate 'business as usual'. It is the possibility of a 'long shot' that sends us the greatest hope. (It was sweet to see Kay Hagan, and Jeanne Shaheen win!).
Our losses have been great: Leibham in SoCal, Linda Ketner in S. Carolina, Kratovil in Maryland. All protectors of the ocean and residing in precarious regions. While I'm sad about losing these Ocean Champions, yesterday's voting demonstrated that we are putting elected candidates on notice. We are watching them. And, we are counting on them to walk with us toward that healthier future. Because if they bail on us--- well, we all know what will happen.
As a polling clerk, what got to me most, were the first time voters. They kept me going.
--- aw, hell. It meant a lot to me.
Earlier, my dear friend, took time out of her day to walk to the polls and bring me a dark chocolate bar because she was "proud of me". Another lady came in with a basket of fruit and baked goods with a note of "hope for a better tomorrow". Can you believe that?
One would think we'd just want to revel in these victories, for a while. Surprisingly, this is not where we find ourselves. We look around at our co-workers, friends and family and what we see is a community of people rolling up their shirt sleeves. Standing a little taller. Wanting to get to work rebuilding our country.
Just when you thought there was little else to say on the topic, my good friend Pepper sends this to me. It nicely sums up my feelings on the whole topic--- with the exception of "really, really hoping (she) gets in".
And, we begin:
"Send a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name. She'll get a Thank You notice from them?.
Welcome to this year's blockbuster - Catherine Deveny
The US VP candidate is gun-toting, God-fearing proof that we are at the mercy of morons.
I'M OBSESSED with Sarah Palin. She's the first thing I think about when I wake and the last thing I think of before I go to sleep. I google her a dozen times a day and manage to bring her up in every conversation I have.
"You have hair. Sarah Palin has hair. What a coincidence! She has big hair and it's brown. Her kids have hair too. Their names are Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. Would you like to see a photo of Sarah's hair? Or her kids' hair? Or her husband the First Dude's hair? She's a great mother, she went back to work three days after giving birth to a disabled child. Of course, she didn't have to. She chose to. She and the First Dude had little Trig's best interests at heart. Never too early to instil independence. It toughens 'em up. Next stop? A bloody good war."
I found myself checking out Palin Facebook groups last night. The ones that amused me included: Excuse Me, But Has Anyone Else Noticed That Sarah Palin Is Insane? My Dog Is More Qualified To Be Vice-President Than Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin Is A Bona Fide Whack Job. Librarians Against Sarah Palin. I Would Have Sex With, But Not Vote For, Sarah Palin. And: I Would Rather Have A Mentally Challenged Goat As VP Than Sarah Palin.
I'd been thinking the US election campaign was dragging on endlessly until I read the headline "McCain chooses woman for running mate." I loved that, "woman". Sums the whole thing up. She's the closest thing Republican strategists could find to a man with a vagina. No political party in the world would have had the genius to dream up Sarah Palin. She's a social experiment with lipstick.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd likened the Sarah Palin story to the chick flick Miss Congeniality. I think of it more as an in-flight movie. Like Dumb and Dumber. If you're after a laugh, check out the campaign poster for McCain and Palin. The slogan is "The Ticket For America". The running mates look like an old rich bloke with erectile dysfunction and his white trash trophy wife wearing glasses so she looks intellectual and that.
McCain strikes me as "a bit of a fall" away from stewed prunes and dribbling, and she looks as hungry and deranged as Anna Nicole Smith. "Hey, Johnny, why don't y'all take up smoking! It's not too late. Have another spoon of cholesterol. Where's that special button you done talked about that blows up countries? Bristol's boyfriend's Xbox isn't working and he's bored."
I'm not proud of it but to be honest, the comedy writer in me really, really hopes Palin gets in. Shooting, hunting, God-fearing, anti-abortion, book-banning, homophobic, white trash moron. I'd love to see the White House lawn covered in cars up on blocks. Male, female, goat or goldfish, Palin is a writer's dream. I wish I had the imagination to invent her.
And the hits just keep on coming. Each day there's another titbit that draws me in. "She what? Not only believes that abstinence should be the only form of contraception taught in schools and she slashed funding to a program for teenage mothers but she charged victims of sexual assault for their own rape kits. I don't even know what rape kits are but I sure as hell know you don't charge people for them." And how does that whole guns and God thing work? "Say a prayer and the merciful Lord will protect us. And if he doesn't, pass me the Uzi."
The only problem with Sarah Palin is that she's real. And, like it or not, she'll be used as an example of a female politician. Regardless of the fact she should be filed under dangerous white trash fuelled by fear, propelled by power and supported by halfwits.
I have two long-held beliefs. First, people should have to pass an intelligence test before they're allowed to vote and second, that the rest of the world should be able to vote in the US elections because the outcome affects us as much as them. If not more.
Like most people, I believe in democracy. As long as everybody else votes the same way I do. The problems with democracy are that a) not everyone makes an informed choice and b) if they do, what informs that choice. We're at the mercy of the morons. People who vote for race, gender, class and politicians who massage people's prejudices and reinforce beliefs fertilised by fear.
Sarah Palin personifies the cockiness of ignorance. Bertrand Russell said: "Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Pass me the popcorn, I can't wait to see how this movie ends. "
Catherine Deveny The Age September 17, 2008
I LOVE THIS STUFF! Check it out.
I think we could all use a Druid Blessing 'bout now.
... "This is revolutionary stuff, and it comes from a reinterpretation of the stones of the henge and the bones buried nearby. Darvill and Wainwright believe the smaller bluestones in the centre of the circle, rather than the huge sarsen stones on the perimeter, hold the key to the purpose of Stonehenge. The bluestones were dragged 250km from the mountains of southwest Wales using Stone Age technology. That's some journey, and there must have been a very good reason for attempting it. Darvill and Wainwright believe the reason was the magical, healing powers imbued in the stones by their proximity to traditional healing springs.
The bones that have been excavated from around Stonehenge appear to back the theory up. "There's an amazing and unnatural concentration of skeletal trauma in the bones that were dug up around Stonehenge," says Darvill. "This was a place of pilgrimage for people...coming to get healed."
Oh how I wish I could see this, first hand.
This morning's listening pleasure:
" Cyclical Nature"... ? CYCLE THIS!
Frankly, I can't believe we haven't all taken to the streets, by now. (What would that look like?)
Meanwhile, looks like the stocks rally. Hmmm...?
Why do I get the feeling we're being thrown a bone? In fact, the news feels like one big diversion from the body bags we DO NOT see.
This evenings listening pleasure:
Usage: Their combined verbal and nonverbal IQs make hands our most expressive body parts. Hands have more to say even than faces, for not only do fingers show emotion, depict ideas, and point to butterflies on the wing--they can also read Braille, speak in sign languages, and write poetry. Our hands are such incredibly gifted communicators that they always bear watching.
Observation. So connected are hands to our nervous system
that we rarely keep them still. Indeed, the First Law of Nonverbal
Dynamics could well be, "A hand tends to stay in
motion even while at rest." When a hand is not moving or handling an
object, it is busy scratching, holding, or massaging its partner. This
peculiar tendency of the digits to fuss and fidget intensified as our
fingers became major tools used to explore and shape the material
world. The more gifted they
became, the more we waved them about as sensory feelers. ...
...Which 'splain's why you're always waving your hands about, Pep.
Anatomy. Hands are the tactile antennae we throw out to assay the material world and palpate its moods. Most of the 20 kinds of nerve fiber in each hand fire off simultaneously, sending orders to muscles and glands--or receiving tactile, motion, and position information from sense organs embedded in tendons, muscles, and skin (Amato 1992). With a total of 100 bones, muscles, joints, and types of nerve, our hand is uniquely crafted to shape thousands of signs.
Watching a hand move is rather like peering into the brain itself. ...
A shout out to my co-conspirator: Sending Healing Waves to Pepper who is undergoing hand surgery tomorrow a.m.
This Morning's Listening Pleasure:
This mornings listening pleasure:
Recent Comments
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thebitterlinguist said:
[this is good]yea, yea, yea....who you gonna call? Me that's who. I am feeling stabby too. read more
on Even BOLDER & Rantier Than Evah-- -
It's Come To This... said:
Yep, RP--- definitely lots to do. (All this 'bail out' crap is minor relative to the climate crisis we face).... read more
on A New Creed -
Red Pen said:
[this is good]There is a lot of hard work ahead, it's true, but that better tomorrow is out there. read more
on A New Creed -
Okay, this is getting over the top in navel gazing. The only people who actually vox with us ... is... read more
on Even BOLDER & Rantier Than Evah--