Soapbox etc.

Ok first of all, the Iranian president has been all over the news here because of his appearance today at an Ivy League college. A lot of people were screaming fits (and rightfully so) that he was being given a venue to spew his hate at the college. He has his venue - media and the UN. But here's the other side of the coin. Wasn't the US media doing the same damn thing when they broadcast his speech live on TV? All three cable networks did it, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox (CNN Headline News only showed brief clips). Yes we have freedom of speech here - to a point. We must balance it - you can't scream "fire" in a movie theatre, you can't threaten to kill the president (much as some of us want him out of office). That man shouldn't even be allowed on US soil, much as he threatens us and our allies. We're letting a known terrorist into our country. But, NYC hosts the UN, so we must allow him in. Just remember, as always folks, when listening to someone, whether it be a politician, friend, news media, or world leader, consider the source while you listen to them.

Man I had me a good scare. I was running my maintenance (which I kept putting off), and after running Spybot and AdAware, I got to running a2. YOUCH... TROJAN!!!!! A dropper at that! Worse yet, I ran scan twice and it came back up - but stupid me didn't shut down and reboot before running the second scan. Yes, for all you who are wondering, a2 got rid of it. Please people, download all three if you can, but especially a2. The three together compliment each other greatly. I can only tell you I haven't sent anything out for any of you as an attachment, and IF I do, you will know it before I do.

I am taking this week easy, though today I took a bit TOO easy. But I got done the one thing I had to get done - dishes. So I'm happy. Now to my late lunch!! Peace folks!

Out of my inbox to all of my American readers

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with
seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds
started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table,
and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on
the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere. Then some of the
birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even
though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were
boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed
at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it
got low on food. After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back
porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds
were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they
had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to
be...... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free
meal.
Now lets see....... our government gives out free food, subsidized
housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here
to be an automatic citizen.
Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes
went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5
families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room
doctor, your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because
over half the class doesn't speak English, Corn Flakes now comes in a
bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in
English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking
and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free
liberties. Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird
feeder.

What a busy week!

Yikes, so much for me enjoying some extra time and space this week... not happening! I spent monday tearing apart, cleaning, and rearranging the kitchen, along with my extended monday errands. I spent yesterday doing 3 loads of laundry and digging out all of my winter clothes (since it seems like it's either summer or winter, not nice fall) and getting all that hung up PLUS hanging up a couple DOZEN shirts that were folded up on the closet shelf, rearranging things in the bedroom (finding an extra square foot or two of much-needed space), a grocery store run for the heavy stuff (cat food, cat litter, and stuff to bake a chicken this weekend) thanks to the roommate, and a bunch of little stuff - including extra dishes from cleaning out the fridge even though you can't tell anymore *sigh*. And today is dusting day (and this place needs it) along with cleaning the bedroom the rest of the way, cleaning the bathroom, and remopping the floors (since monday's mop water was so disgusting). I got the living room straightened finally (been too busy, yesterday was a 9am to 2am task... ugh), and am looking forward to taking tomorrow easy - sorta. I got 2 loads of laundry that need to get done, and friday or saturday I'll have another (yes, that'll make 6 loads in one week, 8 in a week and a half). So this is why I'm still silent, even though I was hoping to be able to kick back and relax and enjoy the r&r that I so desparately need. Next week maybe?!? haha! So, off I go back to the housework... jamming some Godsmack... glad no one's home in this entire section yet :) Peace folks!

Tagged *yelp*!

So, Shimmy hadta go and do it, I got tagged... geez... LOL. So much for my nap! LOL jk

 

Rules for the meme:
 

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Write some facts about yourself: some random, some weird, some just plain fun.
3. Tag 7 cats (or whatever) at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let those 7 know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Ok 'bout me:

I hate spiders! They're one of the few things that'll get me to scream like a lil girl.

I will eat anything anytime - pizza for breakky, cereal for dinner... just no sleep for a couple hours after cereal or talk about stomach aches!

I'm partially lactose intolerant - especially to cheese and ice cream *pout* - thank God for frozen yogurt! All the yum of ice cream without the yuck of yogurt.

I'm a notorious coupon clipper - but not much of a coupon user - they never seem to bring the price under the generics

I'm a packrat - but luckily I'm an e-packrat lmao

I've saved more than a few mice from the torture of being thrown to death by a young Jadzia, and almost was bitten by one ungrateful rodent!

I'm the most shy person IRL ever... I'd much rather be in bed playing a game than out at a party

And my famous line - 27 feeling closer to 72 every day!

 

So, who do I tag...

I tag Walter, Jeannine, Jeremy, Cheryl, Kahless, Shella, and Dgn! They're all on my roll, so find em, read em, and let me nap! lol!!

PROOF!

Someone (she shall remain nameless) asked me why I thought it was going to be a harsh winter. I pointed out that usually things tend to mirror the weather down under, and Aussieland had some very weird weather this go 'round. Also, our summer was mild (we didn't have but a couple 100 degree days I don't think), and now the worst of it. IT'S WINTER ALREADY! Ok I'm being a little overdramatic, but dangnabit, it's too dang early to be nearing frost already! It's only 17 days into September, and the lows have already dipped into the 30s! WTF?!? It's too early for the heater! *gag* Never mind that awful first-use heater smell! Luckily, since we still had the AC on (it wasn't supposed to get THIS chilly), it wasn't freezing in here. I only switched over to heat to take the nip out of the air as it was probably somewhere between 68-70 inside. That's a wee chilly for a not-even-100lb woman LMAO. Cats love it for sure - Maine Coons are built for the cold, and even if they aren't coons (and we know Nimbus is at least half-mutt), they weigh enough to keep themselves warm! Now if you will excuse me folks, today seems to be pick on Jadzia day already and so I feel I must step in and love up on her as I head in for a long hot soak. I want to apologize also for my quite extended silence, I've kept up with a few of you, but not like I should. Heck there's quite a few other things online I normally check daily that I haven't checked on recently. So just be patient, and sorry to concern some of you... it's been a chaotic week, and I can only hope this week won't be so bad, though today is sure to be!

WTF?!?

What the fuck? Who in their insanity at MSNBC decided an appropriate
way to mark the anniversary of September 11 was to rebroadcast their
coverage of the attacks? Who in their right mind...???? Did they not
think of all the people getting up in the morning turning on the tv
hearing that weren't going to panic first then come to the realization
that they were just rebroadcasting the tapes? Ok fine, rebroadcast
them. But not in the morning, when it happened... and have a voice
every time you break for advertisements or every 10 minutes remind
people that it's just a rebroadcast. Did they not understand the
trauma they could cause? Much less some of us NEVER want to see that
again. There are those of us who can't even look at old pictures of
NYC and not cry. There are those of us who look at an empty field in
PA and cry. Thousands of people lost friends, sons, daughters,
spouses, or coworkers on that dreadful day? I am about to quit
watching MSNBC altogether, except for two shows I still want to watch.
I cannot believe someone in the heirarchy decided this was a good way
to commemorate such a horrific tragedy on American soil. I doubt the
same will be done in England or Spain. Have we lost all sensibility?
I'm not one for censorship, we all know this. But this is just plain
stupidity. Sell the tapes for $20 and send all of the money to the
victims' fund or to the memorial in PA. But please, do NOT broadcast
those tapes ever again on tv. The next time there's tragedy as such, I
don't want to have the "is it real or a rebroadcast of another event"
slowing my reaction if there needs to be one. God please, there isn't
much more some of us can take. Please don't make this last much
longer. Some of us are ready to just fight it out and be done. I for
one am ready, let's just get this over with so we can either go back
to a more peaceful existence as humans and focus on other important
issues like finding the cure for cancer or rid this planet of all the
humans, separate the souls, and let the angels do the fighting. I am
wary, Lord, let me rest. Enough of the terror and people claiming to
be Your children using their faith in Your name to commit L*****'s
bidding. Let Gabriel blow that trumpet... I'm not afraid. I know
you'll welcome ALL Your children home with open arms.

In Memory...

Here we are, 6 years after the fact, and not really any safer in the
grand scheme of things. Thousands of families and survivors are still
grieving, and Osama is still alive to taunt and torment us. I don't
know how many of you will be watching the tv like a hawk fearing
another attack, but I promise you a prayer will go out this morning at
least here that there isn't - especially with the recent word that
they are planning attacks on "targets" we would never even consider.
So on this day of remembrance, I ask all of you to say a prayer for
the victims of the terrorist attacks in NYC, DC, and VA as well as
those in London and Madrid, and pray our governments never let their
guard down and allow another tragedy as such to EVER happen again.
On lighter news, the boys still haven't learned to play nice. I'm
sitting here typing this on my PDA, and Curzon comes darting back with
a mouth full of fur - and it's NOT Jadzia's... But considering the
mouth full of fur, I don't think he got Nimbus' injured ear. Nimbus is
stunting the healing enough on his own, he doesn't need any help.
I saw this really cute old AM/FM portable radio at the thrift store
yesterday and am considering snatching it up today. It would be nice
if it worked, and usually they won't sell anything that doesn't, but
at $2, with money as tight as it is right now, I'm debating - that's
if it's even still there. I've got some money coming in the next week
or so, but I'd rather save it for a more necessary purchase down the
road. We shall see.
I've not heard but one comment on my new layout so far, I'm gathering
because no one's seen it yet. PFT!! Hehe just razzing ya'll. I just
had to put up a baby picture of Nimbus, he was just too cute of a
kitten to not show him off. I had no idea he was going to be such a
big cat, heck for the first year at least we thought he was going to
be the runt of the litter! Then all of a suddenly, it seemed like
every time he slept he grew an inch or two. And we all know how much
cats sleep. When they say that Coons take 4-5 years to mature, they're
not kidding. Curzon was still growing at 4 and I think Nimbus (who
just turned 5) has just finally stopped growing. There's still a lot
of mellowing left in the boys, but they're both definitely adults.
Unfortunately for them, they learned (I think) not to pick so many
fights with Jadzia as they can't catch her. But that leaves a lot of
boxing matches between the boys, and neither knows how to play nice.
Curzon whacks heads and Nimbus kicks everywhere his paws can reach.
But sometimes you just gotta get it out, I'd just much rather they
leave with a mouth full of fur than scrapes and blood on the head!
Anyways, if I'm up for it, I'll write more later... It's not even
630am yet and I really need to either get motivated or take a nap... I
haven't decided which yet! Peace!

Thoughts...

You know, I have to say I've been very heavy in the heart the last two days or so. The anniversary of 9/11/01 being tomorrow doesn't help. One must look back and ask if we learned anything from that tragic day, if we learned our lessons, if we're any safer. Sadly, I don't think we learned enough. We're still war-hungry, now more than ever it seems. We're still sticking our noses where it doesn't need to be. We still can't secure our borders, much less our ports. Hell, it's been proven so many times that things that SHOULDN'T ever be allowed on planes can still get through. And now there's rumors that the terrorists' next target is our schools. SCHOOLS folks. They no longer apparently are happy just killing us. They now want our kids dead too. What the fuck are we doing in Iraq? We need to have every available boot we got in Afghanistan hunting down these @ssholes. We need to dedicate the funds we're not spending in Iraq then to bolster our domestic protections. We need to snatch up all these illegals and pay them minimum wage or whatever to build our fence. I hate to say it, but it's time we start rounding up all of these extremists and make it a federal offense punnishable by a minimum 30 year sentence to threaten violence upon this country, its citizens, or interests abroad. We need to get our heads out of our @sses and get down to business. But at the same time we must not cough up our rights that have been continuously stripped away unecessarily by the Patriot Act. We must show ourselves to be better than these terrorists. We must light our beacon even brighter, to show the world we are truly the nation where dreams come true and you are truly free to be whoever you want to be. We must get back to our morals. We've become too egotistical, "greater than thou" attitudes will only be our demise. We must mobilize folks. I don't care if you're Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. We free-spirited folks must unite against extremists within our own sects and outside of them as well. We MUST gather our armies - spiritual and physical - to combat these legions of evil. We MUST defeat them, or they will not stop until we're all either radicalized or dead, men, women, and children. Now I'm all worked up and locked out of the other things I wanted to talk about. Get my point folks, we MUST get back to God, gather our armies regardless of sect (we're ALL God's children), and win this war before it goes nuclear. Peace folks.

Update to Yesterday's Blog

Ok folks, I'm back home, honestly have been for a good half hour. Jeremy, I'm so sorry I left you off my blogroll so long, why didn't you tell me you weren't there? I feel like smacking myself upside the head for not noticing my obi-wan nerd isn't on my list! :) Lemme tell ya folks, he's bout as a techie nerd as you can get - but without the nerd-ittude! Sht, we all know I don't deal with attitudes too well... ROFL
Checked my mail on my way in from the errands, there's a "card" from my bank... Man I was hoping that they were giving me money! But noooo.. just a "thank you" for being with them for a year. Where's the thank you gift? How bout that $25 OD charge back for being less than a dollar under a few months back? Or even a $5 Wawa gift card? That'd buy a few days' newspapers at least! For being such a huge corporate conglomerate, they sure are cheap - unless they're TAKING! But could be worse... some banks charge double that for OD's nowadays, and some charge extra for every DAY you're under.
I've decided I need to redo my mobile mp3 list. It hasn't changed in months and it's starting to get boring. Yes I know I should probably just get an ipod, but I don't need any more gadgets! What I NEED is a bigger CF card!
So anyways folks, here's the list of the rest of the blogs and Jeremy's first of course, since I've been so stupid apparently the last few months.
http://wingmanjdg.blogspot.com
http://todays-joke.blogspot.com
http://nodeepthoughts.blogspot.com
http://weeklypetpeeves.blogspot.com
http://kahlessnoise.blogspot.com
http://shimmykat.blogspot.com

I also wanna send out another big congrat to cuz for getting that house wrapped up, and a TY to my roommate (who isn't even online but who cares!) for taking care of the straightening and dishes for me yesterday while I was out hauling cat litter home. Those cats weren't very happy with me, but I made it up to them, them... rotten spoiled brats! Not only did they get a whole box full of fresh cat litter, they got 2 cans of canned food AND a little cow milk! Spoiled brats! lol Yes I give my cats an occasional dip into the cow milk, but it's rarely more than once a month, often several months inbetween. They get canned food more often than cow milk - cept during the big pet food recall. Even still, though I know Purina's all good, you can still catch me in front of the canned food reading labels! Watch out folks, some companies are still using glutens in their canned food and treats! And some of the recalled brands of dry dog food are still being sold. I don't care if they've changed formulations of glutens, I don't want ANY glutens in my animals' food. I don't know about you but I don't trust them.
Speaking about coming home from errands too... I want to know which one of these furballs left me a "present" at the door!! It's grey, so I'm going to bet Nimbus finally got that hairball up but I'm not putting any bets against either of the twins. What a way to ruin my lunch ya furballs! Anywho, I really should go, I still have to do some light housework (pick up in the bathroom, make the bed, finish dishes) and haul up laundry when its done drying, and after that haul yesterday, I feel like doing NONE of it!
I hope everyone is well and please stop by all of my readers' blogs and say hi, or at least wave!

Changes

I've had to make a few changes, and I apologize. First of all, soon I'll be changing the colors... I've GOT to have something different, this blue is annoying! Secondly, I've put up a counter on the right side showing how much $ we're spending/wasting in Iraq (depending on your views). Thirdly, it seems I've missed a blog on my roll and I need to add a few more too! So I'll do that soon (Sorry I missed ya somehow pal, we talked so much I just always assumed you were up there). So let me go run my errands and get my housework done, and I'll get back to the work at hand LOL.

New Friends, New Blogs

Here goes, folks, here's the list of new blogs I've found... if I've already listed you before, sorry!!

Enola
Ben and Holly's
Cat Guideline
Confessions of a Psychotherapist
Dgn's views on life
Full of BS
Grace, too
her indoors
Jokes by Jim
Kat's Cat of the Day
Learning Politics
Lick into shape
lifes spacings
lite kahless
PocketPC Freeware
Politics Plus
Prada Pixie
Spilling Ink in Public

Please let me know if I got a link wrong too, I was trying to be quiet when I did this list. Please share the love, give them a visit, and say hi!

Update

I must admit I've not been in the best of mood lately. It's not
necessarily anything anyone's done or said, it's more of little stuff
here and there that's dragging me down. Add in the fact that summer's
almost over, leading into the dreaded winter freeze. I seriously
believe this winter will be colder than normal, which I dread, hating
the cold as much as I do. I wish it could be 75 all the time and just
the perfect little breeze. But that just don't happen, and I am well
aware of that. I guess I will just have to get a sleeping bag and camp
out in my front room all winter, where hopefully I will be able to at
least stay warm enough to not hurt all over from the arthritis which
seems to seep deeper and deeper into my joints every winter. But we
will cross this bridge later... The heat isn't QUITE over yet.
I took Curzon out this evening, and he got to see his first cadydid,
you know one of them noisy summer bugs (not cicadas). Well this feller
was big, the biggest bug Curzon's EVER laid eyes on. No he didn't kill
it, much to my disappointment. He did take me on a sprint when it flew
off on him though! Luckily he had 6' of lead so I didn't get tugged
too hard. For those of you who've never experienced getting pulled by
a cat, I pity you. It's an experience like nothing before, especially
considering you're talking human vs CAT. But when you're scrawny and
own one of the largest breeds of domestic cat, it happens. I'm just
glad that Curzon didn't torture the bug, though he was quite curious.
I'm sure he was thinking in his ever-working head, "What the fuck is
this big flying bug?" LOL
Nimbus is doing well, though I'm still trying to figure out how we're
going to come up with the $ for his checkup in November. Hopefully
we'll be in better standing financially then, and it won't be such an
issue. I just worry about the guy's heart. He's the sweetest cat I've
ever known, and I want him alive and well as long as possible. And by
the way, his scratched up ear is doing well, healing quite fast.
Within another week or so I am hopeful he will be healed up completely
and we can see how much of a scar he will have. But the cat seems to
be making a big shagrin out of it, as if he's proud of it! His mother
went to whack him today and he just lifted his head and his chest and
she just ended up grazing past him, only ruffling up his fur slightly!
I want to send out a big congratulations to my cousin and his wife.
They were FINALLY able to close on the house they've been trying to
lock up for what seems to be ages now. The drama, none of it their own
doing, was getting annoying, especially to them, who had to scale down
their little girl's birthday party. Luckily, little Em won't remember
this in a few years, when she's had several big parties in their new
house. I wish them all the best and I hope you all find something to
do with all that newly found space you suddenly have! LOL
I want to thank all of my new readers again for the friendly comments
and making me feel important. Please pardon me if I go off on a
political rant from h***, it's something I'm very good at doing, and
being American, I feel it's my duty as such too! Lol...
So off I go...
Does anyone in their right mind think Hillary Clinton can win the
presidential election? She's a retard! I have no idea what Bill saw in
that woman, she surely doesn't come off as a bright, intelligent woman
to me. She comes off as just another political puppet to me. That's
kind of the draw of Giulliani, sadly as he's Republican. He doesn't
seem to mind standing where he stands, even if it means standing toe
to toe with his own party. However, I really just don't like some of
his policies either, but considering the pool, I fear that I'm truly
going to have to settle for the lesser of the evils. I hate this too
as I'm always trying to be the eternal optimist. But if we're going to
see real true change, we must first start by fixing the electoral
college, as its intent is good, but it's been screwed up lately. ONE
state should not be enough to decide the presidency, especially when
we're talking a state that can't seem to even operate their voting
machines or a state who can't seem to see past labels to see the
damage being done by their party.
My PocketPC rebooted itself again today as I went to switch batteries,
so I lost the last two blog ideas I had, but it'll be ok. I'll come
across them again in the news and rant then. Luckily I didn't loose
the whole blog, just the title. WHEW. Otherwise I'd be furious. And
I'd just backed up not but a couple days ago so I didn't lose much,
just a couple birthdays in my contact list. Oh well. I fixed them.
So much for me having the bed to myself as I get ready to wrap this
up, send it along, and go to sleep. There WAS just enough room between
Jadzia and Nimbus to slip my legs in and go to sleep, but now Curzon's
decided to join us, and there goes my leg room. Someone's going to
have to move... Which cat, we shall see... So off I go for the night,
be well folks... Peace! And I know this is going to say Saturday on
it, but it's Friday night's blog, it just took me almost an hour to
type it, so it got sent out Saturday morning!

Making New Friends

It's wonderful how one person's blog can introduce you to someone else whose blog introduces you to a few other people... that's what's happened today if ya'll haven't noticed. So I just wanted to take a moment to thank my new friends, I shall post all of your blog links soon (I have one or two on the PDA I need to move over to the PC as well as move all the new ones on the PC onto the PDA). Thank you and welcome to my little dark corner of the world.

By the way, Nimbus' scratched up ear is healing nicely already, tho I fear the battle scar he will have. But at least he didn't lose his ear!

Peace folks!

Grocery Store Stupidity

Some grocery stores make no sense to me. I never understood why cheese is so far away from milk, both usually require being cold, both are made out of the same stuff - at least usually. And then there's the carbonated water - two aisles away from the sodas. And then you have the toilet bowl cleaner - an aisle away from the toilet paper, yet the trash bags are in the same aisle as the toilet paper. Wegmans makes no sense to me. If it wasn't for their meat and cheese selection, I think Giant would've put them out of business by now. The cheeses are right next to or near the milk, even the parmo. Stuffing is at the end of an aisle near the poultry. They actually STOCK Bisquick. And Giant is as cheap if not cheaper than Wegmans, and its sad that here, Wegmans is actually reasonably priced! Almost everything is cheaper than at Wegmans, but not by far. It's not like Acme, where a small bag of cat food costs as much as a big one does elsewhere. Let's see, 7lb for 10 at Acme, or 18lb for 10 or so at either Wegmans or Giant. Give me a break. A 7lb bag should not cost more than 5. Proportionally, it should be 4 or so. But oh well. And you ever try to get a Wegmans Shoppers Card? They don't make it easy, its like opening a bank account almost! I'd venture to say that 995 get the cards only so the store isn't ripping them off with the "price without card" prices. Anyways, enough of my Wegmans rant. My Aussie readers are lost.
So what's going on in your corner of the world? Read anything interesting today? Or even better, change someone's life, or at least lighten it? I've been accused of over pampering before, but I don't think that's possible. Whether it's a software developer who truly cares about making the users happy and putting out the finest product (shouldn't he be complimented a time or two at least?) or a friend who stands by you when you're not exactly good company or are having a blonde moment and can't seem to figure out the simplest tasks, we all need words of encouragment now and then. I'm just more than happy to do it, that's all.
On the cat front, Nimbus must've gotten in a good boxing match with Uncle Curzon, as he has a good gash on the outside of his right ear. Luckily it didn't QUITE go all the way through, but it's liable to leave a scar. But as I was giving him his morning scritchies today, I noticed there's a little nip missing out of his left ear! How did the both of us miss THAT injury!?! And why does my prince have more battle scars than my alpha cat? It seems like the worst that happens to my boy is some fur gets pulled out. So either he's a good defensive boxer or Nimbus just hasn't learned how to protect his head yet. In either case, a cat doesn't learn and hone their skills without using them! Well, except my girl... She'll run from most boxing matches, but when Curzon doesn't get the point that she's not in the mood, watch out! She's the bad@ss with the fishhook claws!
Anyways folks, off I go for now, I've got two more blogs in the wings but I'm suddenly not in the mood to write much. See ya'll on the flip.

"Opus" Backlash

You know what really gets me, is how insensitive we have become towards Islam that we don't dare poke a little fun - or even appear to - at their culture or traditions, yet we do it freely and often to both Jewish and Christian culture. Are we that afraid that we are going to trigger another terrorist attack? I got news, folks... If they're going to attack us again, they will regardless of what some comic strip writer prints. They have enough reasons to, they don't really care, except as to act as a reason to drive more fear into our hearts.
For those of you who aren't aware of what's going on, the last two Sunday's "Opus" comic strip has focused on one of the featured character's journey, this time exploring Islam and its clothing. She decides to don the traditional clothing because it's suddenly "cool" to wear it. But in this last week's strip you see her changing slightly as she suddenly decided that she was more mature than to be so subject to "fads" which change so quickly. But you also see her not willing to go to the beach in the yellow polka dot bikini.
I'm not condoning poking fun at people based on such trivial stuff as clothing or other features. But if it opens up the dialog to help us understand other people, then perhaps its needed. And in all honesty, if you can't laugh a little bit, and see a little bit of yourself in a strip once in a while, then you need a reality check.
Both Walter and I have ventured into this area before, as have other blogger friends of mine. How often do we find ourselves forced to rethink everything we once believed or thought we knew, yet we're so stuck in our rut we can't just jump out and explore the world? We waste time, experience, and sometimes money because we only take baby steps out because we do not have the bravery and/or confidence to go out and change the world with one giant step.
So what is your deicision today? Will you be like the newspapers that stopped running the "Opus" strip out of fear of reprisal or controversy? Or will you put aside what other people MIGHT say or think and set out to change the world - or at least understand it - better?

Break time

Ok, three of five issues tackled... Not as detailed as I'd liked, but it's out there in the blogosphere. Perhaps one day I'll sit back down in front of the tv and actually write about more current events. But for right now I need a break. My fingers are a little tired! I've done much more writing than is visible here, but none of which I can post publicly. Be well my friends, and hope everyone enjoyed the summer... And you Aussies can keep winter, we're not ready for it yet! Haha, peace folks, and be well!

Fast Food Absurdity

I'm not one for sticking up for big business, but this time I feel I must. I'm so sick and fkn tired of people suing fast food restaurants like McDonald's because you're so stupid. It's not like big tobacco, they're not adding stuff to their food to make it so addictive you can't STOP eating. Let's be serious. We ALL know that fast food isn't healthy in most cases, and surely McDonald's isn't. So to sue them because you got fat is just absurd. You know its not healthy, and therefore liable to make you fat. They didn't force you to eat their food, take some responsibility for your own actions! It's just as rediculous as the person who sued McDonald's because he/she got burned when they spilled their coffee... COFFEE IS BY NATURE HOT! You HAVE to know when you're buying that coffee that it's hot enough to burn your tongue if you drink too much too soon, and therefore is liable to burn other areas of your skin. Grow up... and take responsibility!

Private Life vs. Public Life

After the Senator Craig bathroom bust scandal, I've been thinking about where a public figure's private life becomes public knowledge. It happens to anyone in the spotlight - whether you're amongst the famous in business, politics, or entertainment. If you live in the public spotlight, you automatically lose a measure of your privacy. But, especially for politicians, why is it so important what your sexual preferences are? If it's not affecting your job, then is it any of MY business what you do after you clock out? I would get upset if you were soliciting prostitutes on taxpayers' time or missing important votes because you were having a secret rondevoux with your partner. In Senator Craig's example, though, there is a catch. He's a conservative, family values, pro life, anti gay-rights senator. So if he's so hypocritical to be voting against gay marriage yet he, himself, is gay, I must wonder where his values truly lay and whether it's affecting his job. If he'd just come out and say "I'm gay, but I don't think we need the 'married' label. I think we need to find a compromise," I'd be willing to let this go. But he denies being gay to this day and denies that anything illegal or illicit happened in that bathroom stall. The question is then, why would a police officer from another state, who likely had never even heard of him, and had nothing to gain by setting this man up, risk his job and reputation? One has to assume, through logical reasoning, therefore, that something was implied in that bathroom. All I ask is for honesty, and right now we're not getting it. Then again, if you're rich, famous, and young (being female helps too), you can go out drinking and driving all you want and you'll have a very high chance of not spending more than a few hours in jail. Yet if us ordinary folks did such a thing, we'd be in jail for at least a month, depending on where you got busted. HONESTY.... What a novel concept!!

Blog-o-mania

Are ya'll ready for me to hit the soapbox? You better be, because I'm building it! No one is safe, no company is safe, nothing at all is safe! If only ya'll could see what I'm planning... *evil laugh* I will abstain from religion though, I think, as I've already pounded that topic into the ground enough. Enjoy folks, & Happy Labor Day, my fellow Americans!