Monday, July 16, 2012

Weak Sauce

My intentions are good. I plan well-researched, meaningful posts that will enlighten and inspire. Then, I work twelve hours, drive through the rain, work a bit in my garden and consider that I might want to fix something for dinner. By the time I get here to post, my muse is shanked.

If you're a regular reader, I'm sorry. There's nothing regular about this blog.  There will also be nothing enlightening or inspiring about this post. This is just one of those random and probably ridiculous posts.

I think I've mentioned in the past that I get my news from a variety of sources. While I read from liberal and conservative sites (caveat: more conservative), my television news is a mix of Fox News, NBC's Today Show, and my local NBC affiliate.  I will admit that my local station is on speed-dial and I frequently call them to ask if they are doing any independent research and to correct their incorrect reporting. Because of all of that reading, I know when they fail to tell the whole story. I have also had a few instances when I realize that O'Reilly (the Fox guy, not the MDA guy) has failed to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. All of that is not what this random and ridiculous post is about.

I turn on the television when I wake in the morning. I start with Fox and Friends. Then, I switch to NBC. They are different animals. I understand that. I do not understand the FARKIN' WEIRD ASS OOMPA LOOMPA legs on every single female anchor Fox News puts on the air. What is up with that?

This, unfortunately, distracts from whatever message they are trying to send.

I'll try to post something more meaningful soon.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Why We Celebrate

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
 For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Watergate Did Not Have A Body Count

I suppose the mainstream media will have to report on Fast and Furious now... Holder in Contempt?

Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Night of Which We Will Not Speak

It's been almost two decades ago, but you know who you are...

Monday, April 09, 2012

This is what it really looks like...

A few years ago, I rebuilt the engine in my car. Tonight, I saw that my cyberbuddy, The Feral Irishman had put up a post on Babes and Cars. Now, I think that Pissed, as the Feral Irishman calls himself, knows better than to believe that these gals were actually working on the cars even though some of the pictures try to make it seem like that. Some of these ladies might actually work on cars.

Pissed, I hate to break your heart if I was mistaken but women who work on cars do NOT work on cars dressed like that. I'm sorry. Disappointment stings. I have a bit of truth for you.

First, a caveat: I do not, nor have I ever, claimed to be a babe. In fact, I'm probably old enough to be the mother of most of those women. That said, this is what a real gal looks like when she's working on her car.


Sorry, Pissed. It's not glamorous or sexy but it is real. ;-)

*Oooh... breaking into new territory here. Half of my face instead of just the quarter. My online anonymity is evaporating!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Shout out to Mare at Mocking Words

Mare,
Re: Compromised. Every link on your blog goes to something called Alpha Inventions (definitely not linking to it). There's no way to comment on your blog or contact you.
Ima

Monday, March 05, 2012

The Simpsons and Politics - WIN

I saw this earlier and received permission to post it here*. I'm not a fan of Mitt Romney. This explains why.

Romney vs. Burns


*I like Mare but her site is compromised, so I'm not linking.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

I'm Right and You're Stupid

Warning: this is going to get political.

Back in the days when I used to post more, I posted about Electile Dysfunction. That was about three years ago and I was suffering from post-election malaise. As you’ve seen from my infrequent posts in the past year or so, I’m a full-time student (sometimes more). In addition, I’m also, mostly, working full-time. That doesn’t mean that I’m less opinionated. It doesn’t mean that I’m less wordy. I haven’t had the mental energy to deal with public politics on my blog. I hope this post changes that.

If you’re not reading me via a feed reader or Facebook, my political leanings are fairly obvious. As my profile states, “I'm a gun-toting, pro-life, hetero-kinky, pro-gay-marriage defense contractor with an interest in Eastern religions and philosophy with a tolerance for all walks of life. I'd like to hand you a flower but believe we need to be holding bake sales to build bombers. Confused? Imagine what it's like in my head!”

Yes, I’m fiscally conservative. I’m fairly liberal when it comes to social issues but I’m pro-life. I think that personal responsibility matters. As I mentioned in the Electile Dysfunction post, there’s not a candidate who completely speaks for me.

I could go on for pages but I know that we’re all suffering from information overload. I use a feed reader. When I see a post that makes me click more than twice to see what they have to say, I click on something else. I want the posts to be succinct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I’m the Wordy Bitch. I find it hard to be succinct. That said, I will try to get to the point.

Politics are an ugly, ugly thing. People get rude. They attack [even within the same party (Hillary and Barack in the last election) (Newt and Mitt in this one)].

My best friend in the world is a hard-core liberal. She’s a liberal, pro-choice atheist who thinks (correct me if I’m wrong, CaveBitch) that Obama should be given another four years…

We talk politics when we’re together. We love each other. We respect each other. We discuss the issues without personally attacking each other. I like hearing what she has to say. I think and hope that she likes hearing my opinion. We don’t often agree but we listen and disagree, respectfully. We debate the issues. I don’t think she’s stupid because she believes what she believes. I think she knows that I thoughtfully stand by my beliefs. We respect each other. Our discussions reflect that (even if drapery becomes a MAJOR issue…).

There’s also a woman in Maine who is even more liberal than CaveBitch. She is the sister of my heart. One of the best conversations I’ve had in my life was with her. It’s old news now but we debated the Dixie Chicks and whether or not they were censored after a concert declaration. We completely disagreed about all of it but we remained friends after the conversation.

So. in the interest of trying to be succinct, there’s this: I don’t put a condition on my friendships. I don’t make a condition of being my friend that you agree with me on everything. My real friends don’t expect me to agree with them on everything. As the second ex-husband once said, “If I wanted to date myself, I’d stay at home.”

I’m probably going to be posting political thoughts in the next ten months or so. If you agree with me, I’d love to hear from you. If you disagree with me, I’d also love to hear from you! Let’s just not attack each other personally, okay? Let’s debate the issues and talk about the candidates.

The title of this post is a warning. Too many people are so caught up in their ideologies that they can’t step back and think about trying to find some common ground. I promise this: If you don’t attack; if you present your belief in a way that is respectful, I will respond in kind. The problem in most political conversations is that most of us have become caught up in attack mode. We respond to a difference of belief by calling the differing person stupid or racist or redneck or… .

Sure. I believe I’m right. I do not, however, think you’re stupid. Tell me what you think – and why you think it.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Percolating...

I have a new post (finally) percolating in my brain. No promises. No excuses (at least not yet). Be forewarned: politics are most likely involved in this.

By the way (and not an excuse), I'm in my final semester. Graduation is in about four months. I'm giddy. There may be ridiculousness soon.

Monday, January 09, 2012

I'm Making No Promises

Tonight was the first night of the last semester before I graduate. I hope that this semester proves to be less stressing than the past few.

While I still have many opinions and I'm still Wordy, I'm not shy about sharing them in person but it's harder to get those words down on the blog (for a variety of reasons).

I'll try to fix that.