Saturday, March 17, 2007

Gun Lobby

Can someone please explain to me how a country with a population of 298.5 million can allow a gun lobby whose membership is 4.3 million (that is ONLY 1.4% of our population) to influence the government's decisions on gun control? I find it abhorent that "MONEY TALKS". Does that mean that I, who has no money or influence, also has NO VOICE?

I think if you hunt for food to put on your table, by all means, have a rifle for hunting, but what is the true necessity, the sole purpose of a handgun? Of a semiautomatic 45? One surely doesn't use THAT to bring down a deer or moose or bear, do they? Aren't they weapons used to hunt human beings? To terrorize and violently influence decisions and actions of others? Can someone please convince me that I need one and why? And can you also convince me that by allowing MORE guns on the street will make me and my family safer? Are there numbers out there that prove if I have a gun to defend myself and my family against a "bad guy" with a gun, neither of us will be killed? In my mind, if two people have guns, both are scared, the guns are pointed at the other, someone is going to get hurt.

I can understand "the right to bear arms" especially if trying to free your country from tyranny and persecution...hey wait a second....are you thinking what I'm thinking???

Friday, March 16, 2007

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Spills the Beans

So he has admitted, on tape and in front God and everyone, that he was the mastermind of EVERYTHING! What a man! What a hero in the eyes of his radical followers! What a clever minded leader!...and what a crock of bull! I think if you hold him under water long enough he may admit to masterminding the War between the States as well as the Imperial battles on StarWars. Do you think if we waterboarded Shrub he'd admit to being an idiot???

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

R2D2 takes a new job!


"I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit."


I was surfing today, not really looking for anything in particular, but clicking on whatever happened to catch my interest at the time and I found this...what a fantastic use for our blue mailboxes. It will have StarWars fans flocking to mail anything that will hold a stamp. There may even be a run at the post office. Has a StarWars stamp been done yet? It should probably be next to promote these new mail storage units. Anyway, I found these as well as some more interesting Jedi stuff at the following websites:

From what I can surmise, these are being launched for the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars release. It had to be pretty expensive to implement and I wonder how much George Lucas gave to the United States Post Office in order to have this done. It would be really great if people could buy them as I've a feeling they will be stolen right and left.

How did the whole StarWars search begin? My daughter asked me where I found "the Star Wars Cantina", a fun parody that hit the radio sometime in the early 90's when the original series was being rereleased. Mark Jonathan Davis wrote it but I don't know if it was really ever for sale in stores. I found the lyrics as well as the music at the Star Wars Cantina Site: http://members.aol.com/manitsas/
Click on cantina.wav and download the music, it's a hoot.

I'm supposed to be doing research on B&B's in Virginia, pricing rooms, seeing what amenities are available, etc., but this was a fun diversion that I wanted to share with all. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did...!




Monday, March 12, 2007

Blogger: Inside the Artists Studio

Found this blog while taking a random walk through various posts. Love her art and wanted to share it with the rest of you. She has a cute cat as well! Please enjoy!

Another fallen soldier taken way too early in his life

A good friend, the wife of a retired Marine Colonel, emailed this post to me....a blog by someone whose views I strongly disagree with but who wanted to honor and remember one of our many, many fallen children. Please take the time to read Michelle Malkin's post so that this young man will not be forgotten.

Thank you,
Caroline

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006723.htm

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Another embarassing administrative cover-up

So Scooter Libby was found guilty, but of what? There were four felony counts which included making false statements to the FBI, lying to a grand jury and obstructing a probe into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. I guess my question is what was the crime? It seems to me these are smaller crimes in direct relation to the real crime. So, when do we find out about the first and real crime.

It is my understanding the crime first happened way back when proof/support was needed for beginning the war in Iraq. At this time Cheney approached the CIA and requested they find information regarding Iraq's purchase of certain materials used to produce non-conventional weapons from an African country. The CIA approached Valerie Plame's husband, Ambassador Wilson, to go on a fact finding mission. Now, it is this writer's understanding that he was asked to do this NOT because his wife was a CIA operative, but because of his background in Niger, his background as an Ambassador and his ability to ask questions in a diplomatic manner yet still get to the heart of the issue and collect facts. Once Wilson returned to the US with NO evidence to support the White House claim, they then took a new route in order to find "facts" to further their false claims, at this point pulling the UK into the foray and using their "intelligence" to justify our "need". I suppose if the Ambassador Wilson had found true evidence that backed the White House's claim, none of this would have happened. As it was, he seemed truly surprised by what the White House insisted, did a bit more research after hearing the speeches aired to all of us, and needed, in good conscience, to let the American populace know what he knew, first hand. So he submitted his report to the New York Times.

"I thought the Niger matter was settled and went back to my life. (I did take part in the Iraq debate, arguing that a strict containment regime backed by the threat of force was preferable to an invasion.) In September 2002, however, Niger re-emerged. The British government published a "white paper" asserting that Saddam Hussein and his unconventional arms posed an immediate danger. As evidence, the report cited Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium from an African country.

Then, in January, President Bush, citing the British dossier, repeated the charges about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium from Africa.

The next day, I reminded a friend at the State Department of my trip and suggested that if the president had been referring to Niger, then his conclusion was not borne out by the facts as I understood them. He replied that perhaps the president was speaking about one of the other three African countries that produce uranium: Gabon, South Africa or Namibia. At the time, I accepted the explanation. I didn't know that in December, a month before the president's address, the State Department had published a fact sheet that mentioned the Niger case...

...Having encountered Mr. Hussein and his thugs in the run-up to the Persian Gulf war of 1991, I was only too aware of the dangers he posed.

But were these dangers the same ones the administration told us about? We have to find out. America's foreign policy depends on the sanctity of its information. For this reason, questioning the selective use of intelligence to justify the war in Iraq is neither idle sniping nor "revisionist history," as Mr. Bush has suggested. The act of war is the last option of a democracy, taken when there is a grave threat to our national security. More than 200 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq already. We have a duty to ensure that their sacrifice came for the right reasons."
(http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm)


The above paper, in it's entirety, can be read at the address posted. This New York Times article was cut out of the paper by Dick Cheney, marked up with explanations and comments, and passed on to White House personnel so they could further manipulate the mindset of the American people, begin covering the behinds of their bosses, AND start the ruination of Valerie Plame's career as a useful operative in the Central Intelligence Agency as well as attempt to besmirch the good name of one of our own honorable American Ambassadors. When things don't go the way we want them, we manipulate the information so that we can get what we wanted to begin with, and that, in a nutshell, is what I think is the mindset of our present administration.

Pretty sad that they can play with their constituents in this manner, and even sadder that we allow them the ability to do so. I am sickened by this; the cover-ups, the falsification of intelligence, the gross abuse by our government to push agenda's for personal gratification. An agenda that has done nothing, NOTHING for the Iraqi people except send them into civil war, and has done nothing for our soldiers and the soldiers of foreign countries except send them home broken and torn or in flag draped coffins.

What the hell is wrong with these people? It puts me in mind of Richard Nixon and of Iran-Contra. It makes me question the values of the Republican Party. It seems in the last two generations (with the exception of Gerald Ford who was a truly generous and morally ethical individual) once one of their representatives arrives into a seat of power, egotism and self-gratification become the core of the administrations. They seem to have become the "PIT BULL" of political parties.

What was that ugly thing that happened in the Clinton administration? Oh yea, he got a blow job by a young woman that I am still convinced was in the Republican Pocket . I mean, for God's sake, who gets sperm on their dress and doesn't send it to the cleaners (FOR TWO FREAKIN YEARS) unless she is PLANNING to blackmail or embarrass the person to whom the bodily fluid belonged to begin with? Well people, better one man get pleasure from some under the desk sexcapade than an entire population get the pain of being reamed in the hoo-haw by our own elected personnel. Not only is this uncomfortable and degrading but it is extremely expensive!

Monday, March 5, 2007

Furry Felines Find new Friends

In November, Leslie and Dick saved this little creature (and his mother) from the gutter in front of Dick's townhouse. This guy was just about the size of a minute, soaking wet, terrorized and as wild as wild could be. He and his mother remained in a huge cage for several days before we allowed them the freedom of a room. The female, who was later named Mama Cass, kept her eye out for any means of escape whist her offspring, named Buckwheat for his big black eyes and wild hairdo, hid in the corner, under the blanket, under the bed, and as far away from any human contact as possible. Both felines were terrified, hungry, filthy, and in desperate need of love and kindness from the human world.

Eventually, the mother became extremely friendly, greeting you as you came through the front door, jumping into your lap, rubbing her face and tail against anyone who would pay her attention. She had a squeaky little mew but a purr that could rattle the walls. We decided that she must have been owned and abandoned, or ran away from home just as the family with which she lived was moving. Whatever it was, she was MUCH too friendly and comfortable with human beings not to have been owned by one at sometime or other.

Her son, on the other hand, never did become comfortable with us larger mammals. He would come around, sniff at you, but bolt the second you reached out to him or showed any sign of trying to touch him. For the most part he would either hiss or hide. He let Dick pet him, but was never truly comfortable in the experience, always zipping off fast soon after the back or neck was stroked, as if to clean himself of the human encounter.

Unfortunately, as they animals grew and their long hair rained down on the furniture and floors, becoming trapped in carpets and bed linens, Dick began to feel the affects of feline allergies. Though we tried to keep the abode clean, dusted and vacuumed, the hair and dander lingered until Dick had to make the final decision to get rid of the two new family members. Luckily Leslie, a pet lover extraordinaire, put out fliers and posters and soon we had a lovely couple, knowledgeable of wild things and with the patience to care for these two, come to adopt.

Friday night was a truly sad occasion. I was teary and loving on Mama Cass knowing she would soon be departing. Buckwheat had gone to the vet earlier in the week to have his bits snipped and was doing very well, though he still liked to hide in the extra bedroom, which is where he was located when his new parents arrived. We all had hopes of a calm and peaceful transition for the felines...like that could happen.

First Leslie and Dick went to get the cat, but to no avail. Buckwheat went wild, flying around the room and hiding from anything that moved. Dick called for towels, which I brought inside, watching as these two were being outsmarted by the small ball of black fur bounding from the bed to the drapes to the blinds to the dresser and back again until he finally trapped himself behind a large picture leaning against the wall. I slowly eased the hand towel over him and was able to sort of bundle him in it whilst I grabbed the scruff of the neck with one hand and attempted to hold onto his bound feet with the other. Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and believe me I traveled down that road Friday night. As I got close to the carrier, Buckwheat began the fight. The towel slipped off my hand and the cat found contact with the middle finger of my right hand, clamped down with his jagged little sharp pointy teeth and held on for dear life.

Mind you, I have given birth twice, naturally and through cesarean, I have had broken bones, I have been in traction from falling down icy steps, I have dislocated knees, I have had my bikini line and bits beyond waxed, but I have never felt pain like I felt when that little creature’s razor sharp teeth sunk deep into my knuckle, began gnawing and would not let go come hell or high water. I was in such misery I couldn't do anything except whisper “Dick…Dick….Dick” while he and Leslie tried to get the wicked little teeth out of my hand while getting maimed with sharp claws in the process. (And I wonder now if I will ever have the full use of my right hand again. The finger is a sausage, at least twice the size of the two other fingers around it and unable to bend or extend properly. The color is a brilliant purple, dull green and ocher yellow, as well as a little black and blue. I have holes in my thumbs from where I tried to pry the little bugger's mouth open, only to have him pierce the nails and pads with his canines. And there are some very attractive puncture wounds on the underside of my finger, the perfect replica of the Buckwheat's dental bite, in case they are needed later for forensic purposes. I am living on antibiotics and Motrin and using some very strong painkillers so that I can sleep at night. And I still hurt dammit!)

The cat? Oh, once we were able to pry his evil mouth off of me and I ran to the bathroom to bleed profusely into the sink while running freezing water over my hands and fighting off bouts of nausea, Dick was able to wrap the animal in the big towel and get the whole kit and caboodle into the carrier. The remainder of the transition from one house to the next happened with little or no more excitement from the two critters that now appear to be very happy in their new abode. How do I know this? We got pictures via email. The two are getting used to their new digs, staying in one room for the time being but will soon be introduced to the rest of the house.
But they will find their new home much different from the last. And I don’t think that little one will be able to hide from the rest of the household for long as there are other critters, Connor in particular, that are anxious to get to know him too!