As Seen On The Bathroom Wall

The $700 billion dollar Wall Street Bailout didn't pass the house today, which is no big surprise. As a result, the Dow plummeted over 770pts, the largest drop ever, and the domino effect will probably be felt for at least the next 2-5 years. Now, while I'm particularly glad that the bill did not pass, what upsets me is what transpired shortly after the votes were tabulated and the final results were announced.

The Republicans, who overwhelmingly voted against the bill, blamed the Democrats for the bill not passing.

It was Nancy Pelosi's fault, apparently, because she did not unify the two parties with her speech prior to voting, and rather alienated the GOP. Sure. Because the GOP are always working so hard to unify with the Democrats, right?

Give me a break here. The bill failed because Republicans and Democrats both did not want it. More GOPers than Dems, but the end result is still the same. Rich, white collar fat cats are extending their hands out for billion dollar payouts, and John Q. Public would have gotten shafted. Again.

This is one time when both parties should admit to blame here. We're in an economic crisis, but the Republicans, rather than say that they didn't vote for the bill because it was wrong, instead say they didn't vote because the Dems didn't "include" them? This isn't high school anymore, this isn't Revenge of the Nerds, and this definitely isn't a Mean Girls sequel. This is the lives of every single American rolled up into a nice $2333.33 package that none of us can afford.

Stop with the games and let's get on with putting this country back together again.

When Atheists Attack

A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin—and defends elitism.
Sam Harris
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Sep 29, 2008

Let me confess that I was genuinely unnerved by Sarah Palin's performance at the Republican convention. Given her audience and the needs of the moment, I believe Governor Palin's speech was the most effective political communication I have ever witnessed. Here, finally, was a performer who—being maternal, wounded, righteous and sexy—could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly intones "God and country." If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could.

Then came Palin's first television interview with Charles Gibson. I was relieved to discover, as many were, that Palin's luster can be much diminished by the absence of a teleprompter. Still, the problem she poses to our political process is now much bigger than she is. Her fans seem inclined to forgive her any indiscretion short of cannibalism. However badly she may stumble during the remaining weeks of this campaign, her supporters will focus their outrage upon the journalist who caused her to break stride, upon the camera operator who happened to capture her fall, upon the television network that broadcast the good lady's misfortune—and, above all, upon the "liberal elites" with their highfalutin assumption that, in the 21st century, only a reasonably well-educated person should be given command of our nuclear arsenal.

The point to be lamented is not that Sarah Palin comes from outside Washington, or that she has glimpsed so little of the earth's surface (she didn't have a passport until last year), or that she's never met a foreign head of state. The point is that she comes to us, seeking the second most important job in the world, without any intellectual training relevant to the challenges and responsibilities that await her. There is nothing to suggest that she even sees a role for careful analysis or a deep understanding of world events when it comes to deciding the fate of a nation. In her interview with Gibson, Palin managed to turn a joke about seeing Russia from her window into a straight-faced claim that Alaska's geographical proximity to Russia gave her some essential foreign-policy experience. Palin may be a perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American success story—but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling into, or upon, world history.

The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country. "They think they're better than you!" is the refrain that (highly competent and cynical) Republican strategists have set loose among the crowd, and the crowd has grown drunk on it once again. "Sarah Palin is an ordinary person!" Yes, all too ordinary.

We have all now witnessed apparently sentient human beings, once provoked by a reporter's microphone, saying things like, "I'm voting for Sarah because she's a mom. She knows what it's like to be a mom." Such sentiments suggest an uncanny (and, one fears, especially American) detachment from the real problems of today. The next administration must immediately confront issues like nuclear proliferation, ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and covert wars elsewhere), global climate change, a convulsing economy, Russian belligerence, the rise of China, emerging epidemics, Islamism on a hundred fronts, a defunct United Nations, the deterioration of American schools, failures of energy, infrastructure and Internet security … the list is long, and Sarah Palin does not seem competent even to rank these items in order of importance, much less address any one of them.

Palin's most conspicuous gaffe in her interview with Gibson has been widely discussed. The truth is, I didn't much care that she did not know the meaning of the phrase "Bush doctrine." And I am quite sure that her supporters didn't care, either. Most people view such an ambush as a journalistic gimmick. What I do care about are all the other things Palin is guaranteed not to know—or will be glossing only under the frenzied tutelage of John McCain's advisers. What doesn't she know about financial markets, Islam, the history of the Middle East, the cold war, modern weapons systems, medical research, environmental science or emerging technology? Her relative ignorance is guaranteed on these fronts and most others, not because she was put on the spot, or got nervous, or just happened to miss the newspaper on any given morning. Sarah Palin's ignorance is guaranteed because of how she has spent the past 44 years on earth.

I care even more about the many things Palin thinks she knows but doesn't: like her conviction that the Biblical God consciously directs world events. Needless to say, she shares this belief with mil-lions of Americans—but we shouldn't be eager to give these people our nuclear codes, either. There is no question that if President McCain chokes on a spare rib and Palin becomes the first woman president, she and her supporters will believe that God, in all his majesty and wisdom, has brought it to pass. Why would God give Sarah Palin a job she isn't ready for? He wouldn't. Everything happens for a reason. Palin seems perfectly willing to stake the welfare of our country—even the welfare of our species—as collateral in her own personal journey of faith. Of course, McCain has made the same unconscionable wager on his personal journey to the White House.

In speaking before her church about her son going to war in Iraq, Palin urged the congregation to pray "that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God; that's what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan." When asked about these remarks in her interview with Gibson, Palin successfully dodged the issue of her religious beliefs by claiming that she had been merely echoing the words of Abraham Lincoln. The New York Times later dubbed her response "absurd." It was worse than absurd; it was a lie calculated to conceal the true character of her religious infatuations. Every detail that has emerged about Palin's life in Alaska suggests that she is as devout and literal-minded in her Christian dogmatism as any man or woman in the land. Given her long affiliation with the Assemblies of God church, Palin very likely believes that Biblical prophecy is an infallible guide to future events and that we are living in the "end times." Which is to say she very likely thinks that human history will soon unravel in a foreordained cataclysm of war and bad weather. Undoubtedly Palin believes that this will be a good thing—as all true Christians will be lifted bodily into the sky to make merry with Jesus, while all nonbelievers, Jews, Methodists and other rabble will be punished for eternity in a lake of fire. Like many Pentecostals, Palin may even imagine that she and her fellow parishioners enjoy the power of prophecy themselves. Otherwise, what could she have meant when declaring to her congregation that "God's going to tell you what is going on, and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you"?

You can learn something about a person by the company she keeps. In the churches where Palin has worshiped for decades, parishioners enjoy "baptism in the Holy Spirit," "miraculous healings" and "the gift of tongues." Invariably, they offer astonishingly irrational accounts of this behavior and of its significance for the entire cosmos. Palin's spiritual colleagues describe themselves as part of "the final generation," engaged in "spiritual warfare" to purge the earth of "demonic strongholds." Palin has spent her entire adult life immersed in this apocalyptic hysteria. Ask yourself: Is it a good idea to place the most powerful military on earth at her disposal? Do we actually want our leaders thinking about the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy when it comes time to say to the Iranians, or to the North Koreans, or to the Pakistanis, or to the Russians or to the Chinese: "All options remain on the table"?

It is easy to see what many people, women especially, admire about Sarah Palin. Here is a mother of five who can see the bright side of having a child with Down syndrome and still find the time and energy to govern the state of Alaska. But we cannot ignore the fact that Palin's impressive family further testifies to her dogmatic religious beliefs. Many writers have noted the many shades of conservative hypocrisy on view here: when Jamie Lynn Spears gets pregnant, it is considered a symptom of liberal decadence and the breakdown of family values; in the case of one of Palin's daughters, however, teen pregnancy gets reinterpreted as a sign of immaculate, small-town fecundity. And just imagine if, instead of the Palins, the Obama family had a pregnant, underage daughter on display at their convention, flanked by her black boyfriend who "intends" to marry her. Who among conservatives would have resisted the temptation to speak of "the dysfunction in the black community"?

Teen pregnancy is a misfortune, plain and simple. At best, it represents bad luck (both for the mother and for the child); at worst, as in the Palins' case, it is a symptom of religious dogmatism. Governor Palin opposes sex education in schools on religious grounds. She has also fought vigorously for a "parental consent law" in the state of Alaska, seeking full parental dominion over the reproductive decisions of minors. We know, therefore, that Palin believes that she should be the one to decide whether her daughter carries her baby to term. Based on her stated position, we know that she would deny her daughter an abortion even if she had been raped. One can be forgiven for doubting whether Bristol Palin had all the advantages of 21st-century family planning—or, indeed, of the 21st century.

We have endured eight years of an administration that seemed touched by religious ideology. Bush's claim to Bob Woodward that he consulted a "higher Father" before going to war in Iraq got many of us sitting upright, before our attention wandered again to less ethereal signs of his incompetence. For all my concern about Bush's religious beliefs, and about his merely average grasp of terrestrial reality, I have never once thought that he was an over-the-brink, Rapture-ready extremist. Palin seems as though she might be the real McCoy. With the McCain team leading her around like a pet pony between now and Election Day, she can be expected to conceal her religious extremism until it is too late to do anything about it. Her supporters know that while she cannot afford to "talk the talk" between now and Nov. 4, if elected, she can be trusted to "walk the walk" until the Day of Judgment.

What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."

"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."

"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."

The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated.

I believe that with the nomination of Sarah Palin for the vice presidency, the silliness of our politics has finally put our nation at risk. The world is growing more complex—and dangerous—with each passing hour, and our position within it growing more precarious. Should she become president, Palin seems capable of enacting policies so detached from the common interests of humanity, and from empirical reality, as to unite the entire world against us. When asked why she is qualified to shoulder more responsibility than any person has held in human history, Palin cites her refusal to hesitate. "You can't blink," she told Gibson repeatedly, as though this were a primordial truth of wise governance. Let us hope that a President Palin would blink, again and again, while more thoughtful people decide the fate of civilization.

Harris is a founder of The Reason Project and author of The New York Times best sellers “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation.” His Web site is samharris.org.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080

I'm not an atheist, although sometimes I wish I were, because it would mean that I'd not have to be associated with those like Palin when it comes to my belief in Jesus Christ. In all fairness though, I think that Palin worships at the Church of Jesus Palin of Latter Day Sarahs. And call that blasphemous if you wish. I really don't care. I'm more worried about this biblethumper trying to dictate what I can and cannot do with my body and my faith because of what she personally believes.

The first presidential debate of the election season between the two primary candidates happened last night. To say that it was anti-climactic would be an understatement. It was truly disappointing, undeniably so.

I didn't expect to have my opinion, my choice on which candidate I'm voting for to be swayed, and I have remained firm in my decision, but the reality, the gravity of the situation is that neither candidate has done enough to strengthen their hold and gain new ground. And yes, that was a very long sentence, but still rang with enough truth to make it warranted.

I lean more left than I do right, but I'm not a complete liberal. Most of my far left friends believe that I am way too conservative for my own good. Or theirs. Then there are my far right friends who believe that I am too liberal. It's a catch-22, being independent, but the fact of the matter is, both sides have too many problems for me to believe wholly in either of them.

So where does that leave me? I am still voting for Obama. His policies aren't aligning completely with what I'd like to see, but he's definitely more in line with my train of thought with regards to the certain topics than McCain. Then again, as soon as McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate, he lost any and all hope of ever winning my vote. Sarah Palin wouldn't have a problem with repealing the right for women to vote, she's so hell bent on sending women back a few centuries, and I cannot, as a woman, and a mother of future women, stand idly by and let that happen. Especially not by a woman.

So, debate or no, I haven't changed. Unfortunately, nothing else has either.

Cracked
My skin is falling off
Where you touched it last
Bleeding
My heart is on the floor
not beating
Crying
Drown in my tears caused
by your lying
Hurt
Like nothing else before
came your cruel cruel words

And the ache
in my soul
makes me feel like I am falling
into darkness
into night
with no wings to help me fly
away from
sorrow and from pain
the whispers from the memory
of life before you
before this
before the aching
of my life

Torn
From my fingers was
my hope once reborn
Gone
my ability to find reason
to move on
Missing
The heat between our lips
when we were kissing
Sweet
The taste nothing else holds
in this world for me

And the ache
in my mind
feels like all the stars have fallen
from the heavens
from the sky
and the world around me crumbles like the dry
eyes you now hold
and the smile
you never give me anymore
because the ache
you never felt
was always mine
and mine alone

With friends coming into town this week and next, with a self-imposed deadline, site updates, other site updates, OTHER site updates, and orders to go out, 4 kids to raise, husband to make feel macho, and friends to fellowship with, I think I'm about to explode.

And, as psychotic and self-prophesying as this may sound, I cannot wait until it gets even more crazy. I look forward to the chaos if everything goes right. I'll be living my dream, and I'll be thanking God for the blessing of it all. I won't complain, I won't whine, I'll take it all in and relish it with every ounce, every fiber of my being, because this is something that I have wanted for such a long time, beyond anything else in my meager existence, and to know that all my hard work towards this just might pay off...well, it's inspiring, invigorating, and motivating.

**Update**
Paige has been found. I have no details yet that are pertinent, but she is home.

The following is from a friend of mine on myspace whose 16 year old niece is missing. She hasn't been seen or heard from since Saturday, the 20th of September, and her family is deeply concerned for her whereabouts and her welfare. If you have seen her, or think you've seen her, please call the number provided in the bulletin.


From: Shirley + David
Date: Sep 23, 2008 10:45 AM


Saturday, my 16 YO niece page went missing. No one has heard from her since that day, and her fully charged cell phone is turned off. She's a text machine, so it's odd that it's turned off.


If you see her or have any information about where she might be, please call 480-946-5739 or the Tempe Police Department.

Love them.

if she convinced Stephenie Meyer to finish and publish Midnight Sun.

She's on Ellen today. It's already been taped, so whatever she says is already old hat, but if what she says is "I'll finish Midnight Sun despite, in spite, and TO spite the Douchebaggery von Asshat who leaked one of the drafts because my fans support me.", I'll open mouth kiss her on tv, damnit. I don't care if she's married...or me for that matter.

As Dusty Springfield once sang "...wishing, and hoping, and thinking, and praying..."

Dear V,

Let me start by saying how grateful I am that God blessed me as an only child. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am for his good grace and his wisdom, because when I see what I could have had in a younger sister, a sister like you, I cringe.

It makes me shudder with disgust, the behavior that you have displayed towards your family. You've behaved like a spoiled brat, unwilling to do anything that requires any amount of work, completely lazy in all aspects of life. Whether it's your marriage, your family, or your faith, your lack of drive is foretelling, the type of person you truly are. When you put more effort into shopping for cute tops than you do in taking care of your own dog, it only shows just how sadly superficial, wholly materialistic, and woefully un-Christ-like you truly are.

I want it be known that were I to ever meet you in person, I'd be able to know who you are instantly by your stench of hypocrisy and contempt for anything that doesn't meet your highly idealized and absolutely unrealistic standards that you, yourself, are incapable of reaching. You've developed this sense of entitlement to all things, and the one thing you can never get, because you are so undeserving, is the respect and genuine love of those who see you as a person, and not just as some warm, malleable wet spot in the mattress.

Your need to always be better than anyone else, simply to be able to continue to look down your nose at other people, is probably the one trait that will leave you the most lonely. While others are busy living their lives to their own standards, you'll be alone, demanding everyone else live to yours. When others are being loved by their families, cared for, respected, enjoyed, you'll be the one wondering why no one calls, no one writes, no one comes home at night.

I don't have to say it for it to be already known, but I don't like you. I don't like what you stand for, don't like what you've done to the people around you, don't like your shirking your responsibilities because you're too immature and too greedy, needy, whiny, and utterly stupid to do anything else, and I definitely don't like you for your selfish and bigoted behavior towards those you are commanded by GOD to love.

I hope, for your sake, that when the time comes when you realize just how alone you truly are, that those whom you've left stranded, those whom you've left alone because they didn't meet your expectations, are still there, willing to take you back into their arms, like Jesus would.

I'm a woman. That means I have one. It's the one thing every woman has in common. Some of us don't have breasts, a uterus, ovaries, or fallopian tubes, but we all have a vagina.

And apparently, in the world of politics, that's all that matters.

But, as most men will tell you, and this IS a male dominated world, not all vaginas are the same.

Take for instance the vagina that belongs to Michelle Obama and the one that belongs to Sarah Palin. Palin is running for the office of Vice President. Michelle Obama is the wife of the Presidential candidate. Palin will fill an official seat of power should she be elected. Obama will be the first lady should her husband be elected, and have no official power what-so-ever. Palin is next in command should something happen to the President. Obama will be widow and have to vacate her family out of the white house something happen. Two different seats, two different women, two different vaginas, but both are up for same level of criticism, to a point.

There's very little rush to condemn those who want to criticize Michelle Obama for her political leanings and the misconstrued statements. She's got no official seat of power, yet she's being attacked and targeted like she does.

Then there's Palin, who came under scrutiny, as she should, when she was chosen to be VP, and the axes on that criticism fell because she's "a mother" who has five children. Don't talk about her children. She'll do enough of that for all of us. Don't talk about her vagina either. She'll take care of that, too.

So let's talk about other things, shall we? How about we talk about their take on foreign policies? Michelle Obama isn't running for office, but her opinions regarding diplomacy and international relations are criticized as being too liberal, too socialistic. It doesn't matter that she'll never be able to implement them, or propose a bill in any capacity unless she runs for office herself. All that matters is that she has a vagina, like Palin. And Palin, with her foreign policy experience comprising of her state being within viewing distance of Russia, is being hailed as a reformer. Well, let's reform our Foreign Policy to involve only the countries that we can see from our own country. Guess that means less involvement in Israel and more in Mexico and Canada.

Palin's vagina, of course, is very important to the GOP. Without it, they could never hold her up as a paragon for Pro-Life doctrine. (BTW, Sarah, doctrine implies a specific principle, teaching if you will, regarding practices not limited to just government and religion. Maybe that should have been explained to you a bit better before your interview on ABC. FYI, the word comes before LIPSTICK in the dictionary. You know, that book you'd probably ban because it has the word "homosexual" in it?) Why, poor, suffering, all alone Sarah made the CHOICE to give birth to a child with down syndrome, and insists that if she can do it, anyone can, because she's just like the average woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy due to birth defects. With the tiny, minor, insignificant exception of the fact that she has a state funded staff at her beck and call, free medical care, and access to the best of everything. But don't let THAT deter you from making the exact same CHOICE that she did. Especially since, if she has her way, it won't be a choice anymore. It'll be the only thing you can do. And then, when that child is out, and you cannot care for it, you'll be treated like a leper for daring to have a child you couldn't care for.

You know, men get cracked on a lot for thinking with their lower, middle appendage. A lot of times, it's wholly deserved. I'm married to a guy who often forgets to think with the more northern end of his person, and that resulted in 4 lovely CHOICES of my own. However, rarely is it ever stated that we women think with our VAGINAS.

I think it can now be said, without any uncertainty, that Sarah Palin has been thinking with her lipstick covered one, and it's mesmerized the GOP, while Michelle Obama would probably get better reception if hers was a transplant.

Ain't it funny how that works? I'm a proud vagina American. I just don't think with mine.

Let's hear it for Jordan Sparks, American Idol winner and proud purity ring wearing virgin. She enters singing contests because she couldn't get a singing contract any legitimate way, and she professes and demonstrates her purity by calling those who don't wear the rings "sluts".

How Christ-like of you, Jordan. How loving, charitable, and kindhearted of you. I'm sure Jesus would be proud of you calling just about every single female you'll EVER meet in your entire life a "slut". It's not like it's wrong to be a judgmental, bigoted, arrogant, ignorant, and self-righteous "Christian", right?

So what exactly did Miss Sparks say?

I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It’s not bad to wear a promise ring. Because not everybody – guy or girl – wants to be a slut.

Now, I never wanted to be a slut. It pissed off many a suitor who wanted to get into my pants, let me tell you, but there are some things that I didn't feel I needed to be sharing with someone I didn't think I'd be with for the rest of my life. That philosophy is shared by millions of women, men, boys, and girls in this country, and is nothing new. However, not wearing a purity ring means equating you to wanting to be a slut is absolutely one of the biggest pieces of sanctimonious garbage I have ever heard. I could chalk this up to her youth, but quite frankly, it's pretty damn difficult to remain so naive in today's age of information and technology. Just ask Bristol Palin.

I cannot say that I've only been with one person in my life, but I can say that for the past 12 years, I have, and that surpasses some of the marriages that some of the holier than thou critics who would praise Miss Sparks for her comments have had. I won't assume that Miss Sparks isn't a virgin. It's easy to be one at that age. However, I will not be surprised if in a year or two, she finds herself still wearing said purity ring, while thinking of impure incidents she had with a paramour or two recently. We've all heard this song and dance before from one celebrity or another, and they've all traveled down the less than stellar chastity road, pulling their foot out of their throats along the way.

So, from all the "sluts" to you, Miss Sparks, here's a little bit of advice. Be pure, be proud, but don't be an ass. You didn't offend me, but I'm fairly certain that there are millions of people out there who have had far more virtuous lifestyles than you who refuse to wear such an obnoxious and prideful piece of jewelry that were, more so out of your lack of Christ-like behavior, all while professing to be just that. It's hypocritical, it's ridiculous, it's just plain ignorant.

... Mush mouthed, flip flopping, double standard having, hypocrtical puddin.

Mahalo to Meg for this:

I didn't do them last week, epic fail this Friday, so Sunday it is.

• WTF is up with half-vegetarian chocolate cake? A family friend's birthday was thrown today, and in the grand ol' fashion of "I don't want to grow up", we had the cake first. Well...I did, anyway. I had to cook dinner, so couldn't exactly stay and eat. Anyway, the cake looked incredible. Chocolate. Ooey, gooey chocolate. It tasted fabulous...except for the frosting. Vegan frosting. The cake itself had eggs in it. I can tell. I've had a lot of vegan/vegetarian foods, and there's something about the texture of a cake made with genuine eggs that you simply cannot duplicate. So, my question is, WTF would you use VEGAN frosting on a cake with eggs?
• WTF is the deal with celebrities whose IQs go down as their bank accounts go up? Puff/P/Piffle Diddy/Daddy/Dumbass went on some LSD bender and took a video camera with him as he discussed Sarah Palin. Instead of something rational, coherent, or hey...FUNNY, he chose instead to wonder if Alaska even has black people. Take a cue from Kanye West, P Something: If you're going to say something on camera about a politician, make sure the entire country is watching, and the camera is S-T-E-A-D-Y. That way, when the people are screaming at the television screen, it's NOT because they just threw up on it thanks to motion sickness.
• WTF is wrong with being a non-denominational Christian? Why is it that you're not "Christian" if you don't belong to a specific church? Jesus didn't preach in Church. He wasn't a Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, etc... So why is it that when someone asks you "oh, what church to you go to", and you say "I don't", they look at you as though you have Jesus' ass tattooed on your eyeball? The last time I checked, the bible never stated that he will only listen to you from the hours of 8 and 12 on Sundays, and only in the vicinity of buildings that contain crosses and bear the words "Holy, Saint, and Christ" on them. WWJD if he came down and everyone was telling him he was a Lutheran?
• WTF was up with the MTV awards basically licking the asscrack of Britney Spears tonight? She won HOW MANY awards? For what? Who buys her shit anymore? Unless her CDs start coming out with coupons for free Fraps and Cheetos, plus discount weave services, I don't understand the interest. The woman might be doing better thanks to her father finally stepping in and doing what dads are supposed to do, but no matter how sane she is, she sucks as a singer, she can't write for shit, and her music has always appealed to those whose IQs scraped their knuckles on the floor of epic fail.

Took my harpoon and lodged it directly into his now twitching eye.

My addiction, my obsession, my love, my torment has now enthralled my husband so much, he has spent the ENTIRE WEEKEND reading all 4 Twilight Series books. Not content to read it on just the laptop, I have had to download the ebooks onto the DT as well, which mattered little, since he spent most of the weekend in bed with the laptop anyway, preventing me from getting in a decent chat with any of my friends...or working.

I watched him read, looking to see if his reactions to anything in particular would tell me if he was thoroughly enjoying the read, or simply trying to fathom why it is that I have not put my blackberry down to read anything else. I heard him laugh at things he was supposed to, and also find humor in things that he probably wouldn't have had he never met me, twisted person that I am. I glowed when he called me over to a highlighted section of text, telling me that he thinks he now knows why I am in love with these books. (I love you, more.)

And now, as he stays up past his bed time to read a few more chapters in the final book, I have to smile, knowing that I won't have to pretend I merely want to see the story brought to life when we go and watch the movie in November. He wants to watch it, too...although I'm sure that he'll be looking at Kristen Stewart with half the interest that I'll have looking at Robert Pattinson.

I'm adamantly against the McCain/Palin ticket when it comes to this year's Presidential election, as one can probably surmise by my previous posts. I'm not a fan of McCain's lack of backbone, and I definitely am not a fan of either of their politics, associations, and affiliations. Their beliefs rankle me to no end, and I'd rather suck my big toe than have to hear John McCain say "my friends" one more time.

However, despite my inability to accept these two as anything other than a desperate bid by the GOP to retain their control over the White House, I have to come against those whom support Obama who feel it perfectly acceptable to criticize Sarah Palin for her choosing to work, rather than stay home with her children. She's a mother, much like many other female politicians, and her children are yet minors, including her newborn son, Trig. It's been pointed out that while her 4 other children are old enough, and involved in enough activities to not really be affected negatively should she work during the day, the fact that she has a newborn, and that he has down syndrome should be reason enough for her to stay home. "It's what a good mother would do."

I'm not a fan of her politics, but the fact that Sarah Palin has a child who happens to be disabled in some fashion does not negate her ability to work, nor should it be a factor in her choosing not to. She's just as capable and just as deserving of an honest wage as anyone else in this world, and if she happens to make those wages serving her people, then why should it be an issue? Have we time warped back into the 50's? Is she supposed to put on an apron, some pearls, and have a martini waiting for her husband when he comes home from work, while he dreams of pushing their two twins beds together for quick fornication session of baby making proportions? Hardly.

We have female doctors, lawyers, judges, police officers, firefighters, postal workers, architects, etc... All balance their professional lives with personal in some shape or form. Why is it that THIS woman suddenly "cannot" perform this job? Why is it that her child is suddenly more needy than any other child in the history of the world with down syndrome? I understand the need for him to be supervised more so than her other children. He'll need more attention, more patience, more of everything, but that doesn't mean she cannot provide it, albeit in some other form. Why is it that a father can leave a child, but a mother can't? Especially if the mother is capable of bringing in the better paycheck?

Perhaps it's a male ego thing. I know many males don't find the idea of a woman making more than he does too appealing. It's an ego buster, emasculating if you will, to know that you don't get paid as much as a woman. However, a lot of the vehemence I have heard and read come from women, who are so appalled at Sarah Palin's choice to work, and not just work, but run for office, that they've started calling her names that really don't belong in the same category, if we're going to be focusing solely on her profession.

The rationale that a woman who has a child with a disability should stay home comes from that deep, dark place that needs to find something, anything, to cling on to, in hopes that it blocks the view of others from your own personal shortcoming(s). The notion that a child with a disability cannot be raised by just its father has the ring of idiocy to it, with a touch of "that's effing stupid" for good measure. The reasoning that Sarah Palin should step down because she's got to take care of her 5 children is asinine because she has her spouse, her family, herself right there to continue the role of MOM, just as much as she has all of them to support her should she fill the role of Madam Vice President as well.

Say what you will about Sarah Palin. I know I will. But what should not be said is that she shouldn't be working just because she's a mom. Perhaps all of these women who are so opposed to Sarah Palin doing what she was nominated to do should stop listening to Dr. Laura and start listening to Donna Summer. BTW, Dr. Laura, an adamant opponent to the working mom, worked throughout her child's entire adolescent life. If it's good for the goose...

Sarah Palin has a vagina.

She's got a uterus, too.

She has a vagina and a uterus, and she's used them. Frequently. At least 5 times.

And apparently, that's all it takes to earn the vote of millions of women in this county.

It's not her ability to lead a country out of the turmoil of two wars. It's not her ability to help balance an ever downward spiraling economy. It's not her ability to stave off corruption. It's not her ability to deal with foreign nations diplomatically and respectfully. It's not her ability to handle humanitarian crisis with compassion. It's not her ability to lead with strength during times of great struggle. It's not her ability to focus on the issues that plague this country. It's not even her ability to not wear a brown belt with black shoes.

No.

It's whether or not she's got a vagina...that she was born with.

Somewhere, there's a dead suffragette rolling over in her grave three times and spitting upwards in our general direction. And we deserve it.

Dear Ms. Meyer,

I began writing this letter many times in my head before I finally decided to put thought to actual word. I have felt a multitude of emotions the past few days as I absorbed the details of the recent update to your website regarding the future, or lack thereof, of the fifth and final installment of the Twilight Series, Midnight Sun. While they pale in comparison to the gamut of emotions that you have experienced as a result of the breach of your personal and public space, they do run deep, and have left me feeling bereft as well, albeit in a way that a bystander who was incapable of stopping a tragedy from occurring would feel.

I have read, reread, and then read once more, each of the books in your Twilight Series. The method in which you tell a story, while simplistic and unfettered by unnecessary descriptions that detract from the overall flow of the storyline, had a way of pulling one in, taking them to a place that makes them reach out in an attempt to actually touch a hanging branch, or to breathe deeply, hoping to catch that all too lovingly and deliciously described scent. Twilight captivated millions of readers in a way that the written word simply has not been able to do before.

It brought one deep into the heart of literary bliss, and made them believe in magic, and most importantly, love. It transported people to locales far away from their problems, their worries. They fell in love with your characters, hurt with them, cheered them, and consoled them. A love/hate relationship formed with all of us, each one dying for our own personal love story to be as brilliant, as heartwarming as that which you have chronicled in your writing. It was what kept so many of us up late at night, when we should have been sleeping. It kept us from completing assignments, chores, and other mundane things that could simply be put off, if only to find out what happened to Edward and his Bella.

And now, to know that after all that you have given to us, your fans, that there were those who would betray you to the point where your heart is so wounded that you feel incapable of completing the story for us, even if it wasn't necessarily finishing it, but rather giving it the framing it needed for display, well...it hurts and disappoints me, and so many other fans of yours and this series. It is a betrayal to all of us, too, who have waited patiently and who trusted in you, your willingness to give us every puzzle piece left in this art piece of yours.

It is why, while I may feel selfish enough to beg you to finish the story, I understand your inability and unwillingness to do so. It hardens my heart, while shattering it all in the same instance, to know that I might never know the thoughts of a character that I have come to love and endear so greatly, all due to the selfish and self-serving need of some individuals, but you have suffered a far greater injustice than I or anyone else can even imagine for ourselves, and I do not want to cheapen that.

I simply want to say that I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the gift you have given to all of us. I have the written word that you have blessed us with, the stories, the moments, the laughter, and the tears that have been shared time and time again over the pages that bear your thoughts to remind me every day that you have given us far more than we could ever give you in return. Thank you, Stephenie, for Edward, Bella, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Jacob, Carlisle, Esme, Renee, Charlie, Sam, Seth, Leah, and all of the other characters that exist in the world that you created for us in your Twilight series.

That seemed to be the running theme during tonight's RNC speeches.

Rudy Giuliani repeatedly stated that Islamic Terrorists were this and that. Mitt Romney also declared that Jihadist Islamist Terrorists were evil.

I, personally, was under the impression that all terrorists were evil. It didn't matter what religion they happened to belong to. Perhaps I was wrong all this time.

Terry McVeigh isn't evil. The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, wasn't evil either, apparently. ELF isn't a terrorist organization. Matter of fact, as long as you're not a Muslim, you're not evil, because only Islam is evil.

I sit here, shaking my head, while listening to the ramblings of confused and bitter conservatives chanting what sounds a lot like "white power" to the rants of those who would have us believe that if it's not Jesus Christ, it's just not right. I wait for the Ann Coulters of the world to start ripping off their skirts and laying down for the plethora of wide stances that rests on the cusp on one gigantic Republican orgy of hypocrisy, bigotry, and double standards. We've already witnessed adultery, misogyny, fornication, and idolatry on one stage, in one night, so why not add a little bit more?

Conservative my ass.

...that we're not all Hockey moms with 5 kids.

I'm disappointed in Sarah Palin. Her speech, monumental in its achievement, and historical in its moment, was down right anti-climactic and flat. Unbelievably flat.

She spoke about her experience as Governor of the largest state in the Nation...with one of the smallest populations. She spoke of how she took a surplus of money that came in from oil production and gave it back to the people, as though she made the personal decision to do so...never mind that it's already in the State constitution. She spoke about being a Hockey mom, about having chosen to give birth to a child with down syndrome, about how she married her high school sweetheart.

That's all fine and well, but is she looking to win the position of Vice President or is she writing a letter to Dr. Laura? This is the position automatically next in line should the President become unable to continue to serve, and I'm not exactly comfortable with a Dr. Laura caller who has no problem telling ME that the only way to prevent teenage pregnancy is to teach abstinence only sex-education, and then proudly announce that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant herself. I have a problem with someone trying to force their values onto me, while espousing "freedom" and the "constitution".

Not once did she talk about the economy, which is faltering amid 2 wars, budding feuds with other countries, rampant outsourcing, high fuel and food costs, and growing unemployment and homelessness. Not once did she talk about how to improve the educational system, which she claimed was her reason for joining her local PTA.

She gushed about her parents, about her husband, about her kids, about her "experience". She lambasted Obama for his lack of experience, and hailed McCain for his support of the war, and his POW experiences. All of which make him the perfect choice for President, of course.

Destiny I call for you
my hands open wide
Destiny I yearn for you
life mate soul mate my fate
Destiny I dream of you
I wander the places in my mind
Destiny I search for you
Forever reaching for you there
Destiny I will die for you
filling my lungs and drowning
Destiny I will live for you
you are every breath in my heart

Having the ability to reach through the screen and slap a bitch right now would be fantastic. You know you've felt that exact same desire at least ONCE while reading something online. I don't care how patient you are, how religious you think you are, how much of a humanitarian you believe yourself to be. It's not a bad thing, being honest with yourself about your inner desires, so why hide it?

I'm slowly losing my patience with those who consider themselves to be internet warriors. Strong online, but weak in every other regard elsewhere. In the chatroom, they're the ones who say they'll kick your ass for saying something they didn't like. On forum boards, they're the ones who blackmail you with information you've shared in confidence because they "don't like you anymore". It's pretty petty and juvenile, and ranks right up there with the whole "will you be my girlfriend, check yes or no" crap from our time as tweens.

There's a growing need for people to act out online, like toddlers throwing tantrums about not getting their way. They act as violently in text as possible. With as much hate, rancor, and ire as humanly possible. It's one thing to vent your frustrations. I vent all the time. However, I'm not threatening to destroy lives as a result of my frustration or anger. There is a line that you draw in the sand when you choose to take a stand. What most of us never seem to fully comprehend, however, is where we're standing when that line has been drawn.

Which side have we chosen to stand on? Are we standing on the side that we'd want those we care for to be standing on? Or are we standing on the side that would choose against us? Do we become the hero or the villain? And what happens once we've made that choice? Are we bound to the rules that dictate just what exactly makes each one what it is? The definition of good and evil are clear. But as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

So here I am standing, looking at this line, so distinct, so clear, and the sides are also just as clear. However, they both appear to be leading directly to my own personal Hell, and while I have no fear of it, I also have no real desire to get there any quicker. Either path will lead to hurting someone, something, and while I can probably live with the consequences, my conscience will keep on knocking on that door in my head that refuses to be opened. And it's that knocking that I'm not sure I can live with.

But, here I go, stepping across that line. I have made my choice. It was obvious a while ago as to which side I would take. Not straddling this line, albeit subtly, anymore.