Are You Dressed?

Mixed Bag

2007-02-01T09:12:00.000-05:00

The first of February is a wonderful day since my beautiful first born daughter made her entrance on that date.

Yet, in 2001, the Columbia burned up in the atmosphere during re-entry and today I heard that Molly Ivins died.

Yet, my beauty still rules this date and so happy birthday, my love!

You Rock!

Pwnage

2007-01-04T10:48:00.000-05:00

This made me giggle.

How terribly clever! Of course, when taking the oath of office, all congress critters and senators have to do is raise their right hand and swear to uphold the constitution. (All they have to do? Pretty big double-dog swear, that.)

I wonder what other members would swear on, if given the chance.

Their blueberries? Their contracts with lobbyists? Their favorite novel? Magazine?

What would you swear on?

Digital Bill

2006-10-06T11:14:00.000-04:00

We got the news two days ago that Bill died. I am constantly amazed at how life will turn on a dime.

David was in NJ for continuing education, I was supposed to fly to CA the next day, and Dad was supposed to come down from PA to cover the kid front until David got home.

All those plans got scrapped and now David is looking to fly to FL to take care of Bill's stuff and make arrangements.

Keep us in your prayers as we learn to live without our brother and "tech guy".

For a great tribute from his friends Nitrozac and Snaggy, go to Geek Culture.

testing, testing

2006-08-10T22:47:00.000-04:00

Hello? Anybody there?

Fascinating

2006-08-10T22:30:00.000-04:00

Here's a little tidbit from Mainstream Baptist that's worth a read. Go ahead. He doesn't bite.

Blow Hard

2006-05-12T10:59:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here listening to Tony Blankely on the "News Roundup" on NPR's Diane Rehm's show. I think that the point of current political commentary (maybe this has been true all along, but I've only been listening for about 8 years now and of course, it's all about me) is to be the last one talking.

I am reminded of a game that we play in youth ministry. You clear everything off the top of a table and put a bunch of ping-pong balls in the middle of it. Everyone gathers 'round and at the signal, you start blowing as hard as you can to push the balls off the table. Every ball that goes over the edge is reckoned as a point for you. You blow so hard in this game that you get dizzy and the spectacle of people turning purple and blue and blowing inches away from a competitor is truly a bonding experience.

So, as I was listening to Mr. Blankely I thought to myself, "What a blow hard." And then I realized that I was completly in error. He is not a blow hard. He is a blow harder.

God save us all.

Birthday Girl!!!

2006-02-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

My beauty is 14 today!!!

The cat is happy about it, can you tell?

So's the dog!

And these snow students on spring break!

Yay!!!! Everybody's happy! We love you, sweetie!!!!!

I Just Don't Get It

2006-02-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't you think that, as a leader, one would be inclined to give voice to protests in order to keep the lid from blowing off the whole thing?

Oh, wait.

That's what mature people do.

Silly me.

Oh, SNAP

2006-01-18T12:55:00.000-05:00

Will Bunch discusses the Washington Post.

Why George Can't Govern

2006-01-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

I posted a while back about the authoritarianism of the Bush administration. Josh Marshall puts another piece into the puzzle that is our leadership when he equates authoritarianism to incompetence. I had seen both but had not made the connection. I think Marshall is right on.

Look at it this way: you have an individual who is elevated to a position of responsibility when he has had very little success with responsibility to that point in time. He doesn't want to muck up this at bat so he surrounds himself with solid, dependable people who he can tap when his expertise runs thin - which, to give him credit, is an unusually self-aware thing to do.

Yet, these "solid, dependable people" all have their own ambitions and desires and agendas and prove to be pretty darn good at getting what they want. The individual may or may not be aware of this but it is darn certain that he is too incompetent to do anything about it.

Because the incompetent does not understand the rules, he reveals himself as powerless to stop abuses. The manipulators are without power because of the rules and must abuse them in order to get what they want. Together, the insecurity of incompetency and the lust for power combine to run our rules through the grinder and pad the nest of this group.

The only way that the public can allow this to happen is to buy - hook, line, and sinker - that the administration is doing this for our own good. What is truly pathetic and scary is that there is still about 39% of them out there that still do.

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

2006-01-17T14:41:00.000-05:00

Seems the Washington Post is in a bit of a pickle. Deborah Howell, ombudsman for the paper has been attempting to be fair and balanced with articles regarding the Abramoff scandal and where the money has gone. She seems to think that in order to be fair, democrats need to be tainted with the same brush.

It would seem that she is wrong, if these comments have any merit.

What has happened to the Washington Post?

Dean Hunts Wolf

2006-01-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

And wings him pretty good, too. You can see it on his face as he signs off.

The Monk Is Back

2006-01-09T10:25:00.000-05:00

Inflatable Dartboard has returned from a government induced hiatus. Go check him out for a good chuckle or two.

Connect the Dots?

2006-01-09T09:04:00.000-05:00

You know that saying, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you"?

I think this applies to me in light of the news that New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum has died from injuries suffered in a sidewalk mugging over the weekend.

Color me skeptical.

Today, Samuel Alito is going before Congress and David Rosenbaum has authored or co-authored a few articles about him and other figures and events in Washington politics over the years.

He was attacked from behind, his wallet was taken (but not other valuables?), and some folks in the area have reported that his attackers got into and out of a dark vehicle.

Am I just paranoid and prepared to believe the worst? I hate to be overly suspicious and looking for Republican stooges behind every bush (ha!), but the climate of wiretapping, overstepping boundaries of one's office, and an almost blinding need to have everything go the way one wants, I am not terribly optimistic that a violent death of a political reporter is not more than just random crime.

I am prepared to believe the worst because it seems plausible.

To quote Edna Mode:

"Luck favors the prepared, darling." ~The Incredibles

I hope I am not preparing myself for a visit from CIFA.

Fire Dog Lake

2006-01-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

With posts like this from ReddHedd, it is easy to see why Fire Dog Lake became such a popular blog in 2005.

I HIGHLY recommend this post; just try and not do anything constructive after reading it, even if it is only just to cry and yell "Why?" at God.

The Home of the Brave

2006-01-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

Heh. Right.

Two stellar articles for your consideration from Hullaballoo and The Mahablog.

Good stuff.

I remember thinking to myself as our country began its devolution in the months after 9/11 that the question I desperately asked myself in those first few days was not being answered. "Where are the grownups?"

I remember watching those incredible images all day and I remember getting up from my chair five or six times to go get my kids from school only to reason with myself that they were safe (which they were). I remember the daze in which I found myself knowing the country was under attack and that the future was now wide open to anything - good or evil. I remember thinking that God was waiting for our response.

I think God is disappointed. I know I am.

We had an opportunity to step up and be leaders in this new world order that had blasted two skyscrapers out of their moorings and killed thousands of innocent people.
We had an opportunity to look around us in the smoke of destruction and ask who is responsible for this - seeking an honest answer.
We had an opportunity to address global injustice, oppression, tyranny, and violence and determine what our role in each of those sins might be.
We had an opportunity to face ourselves in the mirror of world opinion and make some adjustments to our appearance if not our substance, trusting that a superficial change might just take root in a deeper transformation.
We had a chance to be grown ups.

Instead, we have chosen to be cowards and bullies, sacrificing our American values to enthrone a government that is resolved to protect us. The Founders must be spinning in their graves.

Satire Takes a Holiday

2006-01-04T10:44:00.000-05:00

This is amazing. At Jesus' General, satire moves over for a sobering look at some Persons of Interest.

I remember the anger and confusion roiling in our collective souls after 9/11 because it was a prominent part of my psyche for days. I remember thinking that God had something to say to us and we had better listen closely. I also remember the dismay I felt as our leaders began to go down paths that I had not only not imagined but found completely off track.

I thought that our interactions with one another in the days following the attacks needed to be thoughtful, deliberate, considerate, and done with an eye toward reconciliation. Boy, was I wrong.

One of the "reasons" given for heading off down the war path was to uproot terrorism in all its forms - to nip it in the bud, to cut it off before it had a chance to flower and go to seed. The actions depicted in the documentary above prove that our intentions have been completely undermined by our actions.

Read the General's report and tell yourself that those individuals who were detained have NOT been radicalized by our efforts. Look at those faces. They are our new enemies. They once were our friends.

You Don't Know Abramoff

2006-01-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well, this is interesting. Over at Raw Story, we have a little story about how the entire Abramoff/Scanlon scandal may have started.

Methinks the blue dress for the Bush Administration has been found. How ironic.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

2006-01-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

Durn it! A day late....

It's a Dog's Life

2005-12-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

Some of my pix

2005-12-30T13:52:00.000-05:00

Hey look!

I can change fonts and colors! This proves that I am easily amused.

Actually, I wanted to post some pictures I took of the ice storm that came through here a couple weeks ago. The storm started on Dec. 15 and the morning of Dec. 16, our front lawn looked like the above.

It was all sparkly and bright and SLICK! We watched several neighbors creep past the house. We decided to bust the ice off our driveway on the road in front of the house and at the corner. We spent at least two hours out there working up a sweat while the trees dropped ice down onto our heads. By two o'clock all the ice was gone. Pretty while it lasted.

Links!

2005-12-30T13:44:00.000-05:00

Saint Andrews pic from www.celticcastles.com

also
Blair Watch

Justin Case.

Father Knows Best

2005-12-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

I heard someone say a while back that the current administration and its policy wonks' actions reek with contempt for us, their constiuents. It is no wonder, then, that Bush et al have exceeded the limits of their power. The attitude coming from the think tanks is that we are no more mature than ten year olds and so must be protected from ourselves. Irritating. But what peeves me most about those in positions of authority who overstep their boundaries is that they think they are doing it for "our own good".

Hold on there, just a minute.

The only people who can do anything for us "for our own good" are people who know us. Only a long term, intimate relationship - like a father for his children, for example - can support this sort of knowledge.

Now, say what you will about the patrician attitudes of the ole TV show "Father Knows Best": it's premise is sound. People who have loved you and brought you into the world and kept you safe and fed and cuddled and disciplined and instructed and allowed you to become your own person can say that they will do something for your own good because they have the bona fides of a relationship to back it up. Our parents made decisions for us because it was for our own good and if we were blessed to have parents that were parents, we understand that and welcome it however grudgingly.

What nameless, faceless, you-don't-know-us bureaucrat can do that?

So, Bush Administration, make decisions for the good of the country but keep your father issues to yourself. I have a father, my father is a good man. Mr. President, you are not my father.

Pic found at: tvcrazy.net

ETA: Digby speaks too. And better.

Antietam

2005-12-26T23:46:00.000-05:00

Went to Antietam today. Cool! Figuratively and literally.

Here's some pix.

This is the catholic church in Harper's Ferry.

This is Dunker's Church.

Proof that I climbed to the top of the watch tower. Eeep! Cold, too. Brisk wind shooting straight across the top from the west (behind me).

Beautiful place today what with the dramatic light and winter colors. I must admit I did not pay much attention to the tape we purchased at the visitors center that detailed the battle that raged here all day Sept. 17, 1862. I only remember two things: that 66% of the casualties are known only to God because their remains were unidentifiable and Lee retreated south to the Potomac under cover of darkness on Sept. 18.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T23:49:00.000-05:00

Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth, Peace.

Well, Hot Diggity Dog!

2005-12-25T23:43:00.000-05:00

And Merry Christmas, too!

I've switched to Firefox - the preferred browser for Blogger - and whaddya know? The entry is much smoother, and I bet I'll be able to load pix now, too!

Let's see.....

There's the code. I'll publish this and see what happens. Confidence is high!

Edited on Dec. 29 to say: read the first post to figure out why I have these pictures here.

testing, testing

2005-12-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

This is a test. This is only a test.

If this were an actual post, you would receive information of where to tune.

Like here.

Hmmm....

2005-12-22T19:47:00.000-05:00

I still seem to be crashing when I try to upload a picture. Will get back to that one after Christmas.

I plan to learn about investing this new year. We are looking at two sets of orthodontia and need to find a way for paying for it without selling a kid.

Which would eliminate one set, so maybe I shouldn't be so hasty.

Yugoslavia!

2005-12-21T16:14:00.000-05:00

Greetings! This here is my third (or is it fourth?) blog. The title comes from a memory of sitting in someone's kitchen working on a project when her three year old daughter yelled, "Mommy, can I go outside?" Mom's response was, "Are you dressed?"

It was a memorable exchange.

So, here I go again! I plan to use this as a receptacle for stray thoughts that I would like to bug people with but am too hesitant to send as an email. Most people I know are busy, unlike myself, and I don't want to clog mail boxes. I'll just litter the internets, instead.

I'll start with something that has been on my mind for a while.

Have you ever noticed how Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, looks a lot like Anthony Williams, Mayor of Washington DC, who looks a lot like Don Knotts?

I am attempting to load images of each, but Blogger or Safari crashes each time I click upload and I have things I need to do in 3-D land, so I'll quit for now and load images later. Gr.