And the Spinning Begins....

Except, of course, each side is spinning in a different direction so perhaps we won't all go flinging out into space.

Jon Stewart has called for a Rally to Restore Sanity.

Here is why it is desperately needed: Fox anchors discussing whether or not as an "entertainer", Mr. Stewart was getting too involved in politics.

Um. Glen Beck? Fox? They didn't know their chief entertainer was out dabbling in politics?

Insanity.

The right is already scooping up bags of feces for hurling. "Inciting the youth" (the right's biggest fear).

They say it will be nothing more than a bunch of partying college kids, drunk and/or high looking to get laid.

They say all those liberal global warming elitist environmentalists are just going to leave a big huge mess on the National Mall.

The left is ignoring it as hard as they can.

Here is the thing. I think they are in for a surprise. Will the rally be youthful? Yes. But I've been peeking in on their facebook page (160,000+ already saying they will attend) and there is a wide age range. College kids, young adults, middle age people bringing their kids, older people. One woman wrote asking about handicap access because her 84 year old mother wanted to attend.

If this was only the hard core Stewart/Colbert fans, it wouldn't be this large. They have touched on a nerve. They have given we the people who have become completely disgusted with political discourse an option other than turning off our televisions.

There are far, far more of us who want people to STFU with the hyperbole and the meaningless phrases being thrown about without an ounce of thought behind them.

We want our politicians to stop doing nothing but waiting for an opportunity to say something nasty about the "other side" so their base will hear them and think something is being done.

We want SOLUTIONS not SOUND BITES!

We want our media to spend time investigating and reporting on issues, not telling us about Lindsay Lohan going to jail or who the new judges on American Idol will be.

America is falling further and further behind the rest of the world in education, in health care, in livability, the gap between rich and poor is growing horribly wide and the middle class is barely hanging on. We are stagnant in our manufacturing and completely dropping the ball on developing new technology in energy.

We need to stop listening to the vocal fringe on either side and start holding our leaders accountable for NOT working together. When a candidate brags that one of their goals is to fight against the other side, that candidate should never make it to the primaries.

I'll be at the rally. I think it is one of the most important mass statements our country will make at this juncture in our history. I'm also composing an email to send to all my representatives, telling them why I am attending this rally and what behavior I expect from them in the future.

Thor sez: You say it's a rally for everyone, but I can't go.

Loki Sunday

Brand new Loki, pictures that is.

Thor's Day!

Brand spanking new Thor, pictures that is.

Wildlife Wednesday

Momma Deer jumping the fence. The babies jump it too, but were too quick for me.
Ez the Golden Orb spider is gone. Don't know what happened. She just disappeared from her perfectly intact web. Sadness. But just saw another, much smaller one outside me bathroom window.


Loki sez: Oh no you didn't just put me in with the wildlife.

The Boyz Are No Longer Banditos

Sometimes my schedule and my paychecks just don't align with annual rabies shot day. And so, after three post cards from my so super fantastic awesome vet - Chad Reynolds and Central Vet Clinic in Summerville, SC (go there!!!) - I managed to find a day for the wonderful event known as stuffing the cats into their carriers and driving them 20 miles each way for their check ups.

Oy. Now, Loki gave me some serious trouble a few vet visits ago. Actually, he ended up staying home and I went to the human doc to have my wounds cleaned and one butterflied (doc thought about a couple of stitches, but didn't want to close off a cat inflicted wound, so if you see me, ask me to show you the scar).

So, next visit super awesome vet called in a sedative to a closer vet so I wouldn't have to drive to his office to pick it up. It worked a bit, but I still had to crawl under the bed, drag out a hissing and growling Loki-fur and stuff him in a carrier.

This time, I managed to completely fool Loki. Huh, what, wait! I'm in a carrier, how'd that happen?

It was Thor who gave me the trouble. No blood this time, so minor trouble. I'd forgotten, but he hadn't - his last vet trips involved enemas and fluids and pooping in front of dogs. So I had to lure him with some catnip and wrap him up in a towel to stuff him in the carrier. Ever try to do that? Not a easy as it sounds as cats can magically have no bones in their bodies at will.

As I said, no blood shed, so it was a successful trip. Loki has lost weight like he was supposed to, down to 12 pounds from 13+. His giant fangs are not causing any problems, his giant nipple is still a "normal abnormality".

Thor has gained a bit of weight. He is also 12 pounds, but he'd lost over a pound with the blocked intestine thing, so he is back at his normal weight. And Chad can't hear his heart murmur anymore either, so we are considering him grown out of it.

And they both got rabies shots so they are no longer outlaw banditos, although I think Thor liked being a rebel.

Next trip will be in February for teeth cleaning. Volunteers?

Loki sez: That was not an enjoyable experience.

Thor sez: Eh, better than my last trip.

Trying to Be Nice

Apparently, it is Pray for Christopher Hitchens Day. If you don't know, Mr. Hitchens is a very vocal atheist who has written a couple of books denouncing Christianity. He has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and someone came up with the idea to pray for him.

Isn't that sweet? But it isn't. It has at it's core a smugness that Christians don't even recognize.

Most of them are probably sitting on pins and needles hoping for some sort of miracle conversion from Mr. Hitchens. So they can say, uh, huh, see I'm right and you are wrong.

Some are probably getting some sort of ego boost by feeling that they are being the better person and having pity and compassion for this man despite his "deluded" beliefs.

Some are probably sincere in praying for his recovery.

(Although when I was a Christian, I was taught that the only proper thing to pray for was strength and God's guidance.)

Now I will say that Mr. Hitchens is the kind of atheist I shy away from. My belief system, my moral path, is my own choosing. If you choose a different pathway, great, I will not tell you that you are wrong.

I think standing on sides, pointing fingers and meting out blame for wrongs on either side is not helpful.

Live and let live. Judge a person by how he or she acts and treats others.

Atheism and agnosticism are just another belief system. Like Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Wiccan, Neo-paganism are belief systems. Just different ways of looking at the world we live in. Different ways of walking our journey through life.

If you are praying for Mr. Hitchens or even for me, just make sure you are not doing it for any type of personal satisfaction, because to me, placing yourself spiritually above another because they don't share your beliefs is morally wrong.

Thor sez: Yeah, well, shoving me in a carrier and driving me to the vet is against my beliefs, but that didn't stop you.

Loki Sunday

It used to be that if you told Loki to "be reasonable", he would lie down.

Yeah, right. Like that was going to work after he realized it was what I wanted. He's a cat.

Party on the Mall!

Oh, you know I am so there!

So there that I've already booked our hotel room. Had to book it quick, it's perfect, just off a metro stop, just a few blocks from the White House and the Mall.

Gonna try to hit the Museum of Natural History and a few others while there.

The last time we went to DC, we were on the ground less than 20 hours. Hoping this trip will be a little less time compressed.

Going to take my camera with me.

This is going to be freaking awesome!

Loki sez: I see nothing awesome about missing two meals!

Thor's Day

Attack of the killer spaghetti noodle:

Monday Wrestle Mania

Enough of all this serious stuff, that isn't why you come here, you come here for the Boyz.

And CAKW! Charleston Area Kitten Wrestling.

Victory or Failure?

It's been a while since I felt the need for a jantrum. But here ya go.

The irritant: People who are against the community center two blocks from Ground Zero calling the site where the twin towers once stood "the site of Islam's (some say terrorist's) greatest victory."

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as well as the attempt to use Flight 93 in an attack were not terrorism's greatest victory.

It was their greatest FAILURE.

Yes, failure.

You see, I vividly remember that morning. I remember sitting on the edge of the coffee table, holding my cat The Boo and watching the reporters on NBC scurry from place to place as they tried to figure out what was happening.

When they announced that the Pentagon had been hit and they were evacuating the White House, I woke my son up with the words, "I don't know what is happening, but you need to get up."

I sat side by side with him, watching in stunned disbelief. Watching the people stream out of the area, dazed, bleeding, covered in ash, supporting each other.

I watched as people began to rush to hospitals to offer the blood from their bodies. To offer whatever assistance might be needed.

I watched white help black, brown help yellow, rich help poor, right help left, Jew help Christian, Christian help Muslim.

I watched as every difference between us collapsed as those towers collapsed. I watched us become simply AMERICANS.

The acts against our nation on 9/11 were not the terrorist's greatest victory.

What has become of our nation since that day, that is the terrorist's greatest victory.

The anger and venom. The divisions. The finger pointing and blame. The use of the day so many lost their lives as a political weapon by both sides. The line-in-the-sand mentality that refuses to even consider cooperation and compromise.

That we've lost our ultimate vision of ourselves as the United States of America, that is the terrorist's greatest victory and we have no-one to blame but ourselves.

Tomorrow during whatever memorial you participate, please try to remember the way we came together during those days.

That their deaths drew us together as a nation would be a far more fitting tribute to those who died that day.

Creepie Crawlies

Came home to find Ezmerelda the Golden Orb Spider who lives next to our porch patching up her web. Wasn't until I cropped the photos that I could see the vertical was done, she was working on the horizontal. Look to the bottom leg at the top (does that make sense?) she's pulling out the threads.


A different angle, but you can see her belly tugged forward as she draws the thread. Difficult light as I am looking almost directly into the morning sun, but managed to get a few.

What Are We? A Nation of Five Year Olds?

Seriously. I feel a mom moment coming on. Don't make me pull this car over.

That some idiot crack pot is planning to burn copies of the Quran makes me shake my head. That he claims it is being done "in love" to win Muslim souls to Jesus makes me wonder if perhaps a little psych consult might not be in order.

But what makes me want to pull off the belt and start switching some legs are the reactions of some Americans.

"But they burn Bibles!" "They don't allow our churches in their countries!"

Wah wah wah. Y'all sound like five year olds crying because your brother touched you.

Yeah, and that is why they are them and we are America people.

WE DON'T DO SHIT LIKE THAT!

Go take down the flag you probably got hanging up in your yard. Take down that yellow one too. If you are pro book burning, you are NOT upholding American ideals and principles.

We do not base our moral high ground on what "they" do. It is based on what we do.

If you want to burn holy books because they do, you are no better than they are.

If you want to ban holy houses because they do, you are the same as them.

If you want to hate people based on decisions their government makes, you are no better than they are.

Seriously, stop and listen to what you are saying. What are the logical consequences of these actions you are encouraging?

What are your children hearing you say? That Christians hate? That it is okay to destroy the books of another religion?

Everyone go to your time-out corner now and just think about what you are saying!

Thor sez: All I said was I think a second breakfast isn't such a bad thing.

Building My Platform

For my yardsale/bakesale funded Independent run for US House of Representatives 2012.

The foundation is built upon the principle that you get what you pay for. And modeled on the stock market/investment market belief that what is spent now should yield a return in the future.

So, the top few issues Americans are concerned about are the economy, jobs, and education.

The first four planks on my platform will assist in all three.

1) Repeal the tax law that allows deductions to American businesses on the income tax they pay for their foreign workers. We should not be subsidizing the export of American jobs. In that same vein, any American based company that has more than 40% of its workforce employed in foreign lands, will pay a "foreign employer tax" on each of those employees.

2) Make it illegal to knowingly or unknowingly employ an illegal alien. Offer training and a decent salary to out of work Americans to become Work Force Investigators. Every county can have as many as they need to cover the territory, obviously some will need more than others. First offense would result in a $10,000 fine. Second offense (like drug dealers) confiscation of the business and all its assets, to be sold a public auction, profits split between city, county, state and federal government. (once the demand for this position dies down, the workers can be transitioned into monitoring the visa program below)

3) Provide six month migrant worker visas which would allow the current farm/harvesting crews to continue to work. At the end of the six month period, the migrant must return to where he/she got the visa and reapply. Failure to do so means he/she will never be allowed to have another visa and will be deported.

4) Provide funds for colleges to hire more and pay more salary for nursing instructors. Let's get these people on 2-4 year waiting lists into nursing school. Then expand the Nurse-Family Partnership to every county and to every mother who wants to participate (example, in this county it is limited to first time mothers on Medicaid). Once we have a previous at-risk generation pass through this program, we should see a reduction in use of social programs, child neglect and abuse, and alcohol and drug use. We should see an increase in young mothers finishing high school, delaying subsequent pregnancies, and young fathers remaining involved with their children. This will improve educational results and decrease crime rates.

Yes, I know it is expensive, but we will save much money down the road. More Americans will be employed, paying taxes, and buying goods. This is the key to a strong economy.

Thor sez: Where's the blaming? Where're the put downs? Where're the lies and half truths? You call that a political campaign?

Loki Sunday

Lokimotion:

Poor Little Neglected Blog

I'm such a bad blog mommy, huh?

Here's some awesome reading for you: Boozeland

Went out to a yummy dinner last night at Blue Rose Cafe.

Then we went to see an awesome play put on by PURE Theater, Circle Mirror Transformation. As always, with a PURE production, it was wonderful. I can't wait to go see "Waffle House Christmas" later in the season, written by Rodney Allen Rogers, one of the founders of PURE Theater.

Then I can home and slept for about 12 hours.

Now, I must do something mildly productive with my day.

Thor sez: I thought you were going to strip and paint these cabinets, that would be mildly productive, no?

Thor's Day