Please email Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed

contact@wexlerforcongress.com

I've been writing letters to the DNC and specific Senator's and members of the House over the past primary season. So I am on many lists of suckers to go to for a signature on a petition or to ask for money. This was what I received in my first email of the day, yesterday. It was the first thing I did. I signed this petition, and then went about my business of working in the garden, but I will copy it here and hope you take your own action. it is probably too lay, but maybe not. It's never too late to speak out. In my own email attached to this petition I expressed my outrage at Speaker Pelosi for her cowardice in taking impeachment off the table in order to get the approval of enough Republicans to become Speaker of the House. Please take your own kind of action.

Dear Concerned Citizen,
Our effort to hold the Bush/Cheney Administration accountable has taken another dramatic step forward. Last night, Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced the first Articles of Impeachment ever to be introduced against President Bush. It includes, in total, thirty-five Articles detailing this Administration's blatant abuse of power. Today, I enthusiastically co-sponsored this vitally important bill.

I am grateful for Dennis' leadership on this issue and for the steadfast support that countless Americans have given to both of our efforts to redeem our government and expose the crimes of Bush and Cheney.

I will now expand my efforts to secure impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee for these new Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Many of the charges against President Bush are well known – and would shock the conscience of everyday Americans if only the national media would be willing to report on these stark facts.

The Articles present a stunning narrative of offenses that have go well beyond previous crimes committed by any US chief executive. In fact no President or Vice President in history has done more to undermine our constitution.

These charges are broad, with 35 separate allegations including the deliberate lies regarding WMDs that led us to war and the approval of illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The Articles also include new allegations of high crimes – including the explicit approval for high Administration officials to violate treaties and US law banning the use of torture.

The Democratic Party gained a majority in the House and Senate due in large part to our promises to end the corruption of the Republican majority and to hold the Administration accountable to the law. This courageous bill is a crucial step towards fulfilling this promise, but – like the Articles against Cheney – they require your support to convince Democrats and open-minded Republicans to support this bold but necessary action.

Time is running out so we must work together to spread the message and apply pressure.

First, please encourage your friends and family members to sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com – as it will allow us to keep in touch with you and speak to a wider audience. If you haven't yet put in your phone and address, please sign up again, as we will be doing telephone town halls in the near future.

Second, call your representative and urge them to support Impeachment hearings.

Finally, contact newspapers, news stations, and your favorite bloggers and urge them to report on this movement. We need to keep Impeachment a significant news story until the Democratic leadership sees the value in it.

McClellan Agrees to Testify:

I was pleased to inform you yesterday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers met my call to have Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify under oath. I am thrilled to inform you that McClellan has agreed to testify on June 20th at 10AM. This will be the first step in what we hope will be ongoing and deepening examinations of the stark evidence and charges against both President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Thank you for your continued passion and advocacy. Your support means so much to me.

Sincerely,

Congressman Robert Wexler

Big House Patio and Hammock

This is the back yard patio area for the big house. The hammock is a purchase I made on a trip to Costa Rica. Yard furniture is picked up at at yard sales--odds and ends. You can't really see this, but in the background is a wall of mock-orange--sweet smell, no fruit. If I had the resources I put an adobe wall around the entire back property like homes in Mexico. It's fenced and locked and guarded by two great dogs, but it's the living indoors/outdoors aspect of an adobe enclosure that appeals to me. My property is not near heavily trafficked streets, so it's quiet. And the forested quality to the back yard makes you feel as if your living in the country, when, in fact, we are in the middle of it all. Country living in the heart of an urban neighborhood.

Today I plan on working in the garden in front of my deck on the cottage. Get out the blower and clean up all the messy downfall from the weekend rains. I'm ready to beautify the gazebo, clean everything up for party season.

Bicycle Awaits Lazy Woman

This is a view of my bicycle leaning against the gazebo.
Today is a day of easy domesticity
A little grocery shopping
A walk for Cyrus
A nap if I'm so inclined
The joys of early summer

Roscoe Guards the Door

Roscoe guards my cottage door.
The wall of green is Wisteria covering the gazebo.
Lazy Monday

Just Saying.....

I was just making suggestions as examples, but lets say Hillary at Health and Human Services; John Edwards at Labor; Al Gore (if he wanted it ) at EPA; Chuck Hagel at Homeland Security, Bill Richardson at Interior or maybe State, Jim Webb at Defense. The idea is to put together a great team and let the team run for president. With Obama as the team leader. Lots to be learned from Lincoln here.

This was emailed to me this afternoon from my matinee date for really good movies. We are old friends--have known each other at least forty five years. His was my favorite history professor at the University of Utah. He married one of my best friends. His son was born on my birthday, June 12, and died when he was six years old in a tragic accident. The history professor went in the Peace Corps and then moved on to DC during the eighties and stayed. When he retired a couple of years ago, he came back to Salt Lake. We started going to movies and talking politics and history.

He told me this idea last night in a phone conversation. I loved it. It's a brilliant idea. I asked, "Who would you like to see run with him as Vice President?" He said, "Ed Rendell." Wow!

What do you think?

The Best Speech of Her Life

Today Hillary Clinton redeemed herself and assured herself a lasting place of leadership in the democratic party. It was the speech she should have given the night Barack achieved the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, but better late than never. She has again promised to campaign her heart out for his victory in November. It was a moving, powerful speech. If she had congratulated Barack Obama every time he won a primary state, she might not have had to give this speech today. It was her lack of grace throughout this long primary season that alienated me. I am her demographic, and I am not alone in having abandoned her because of her behavior throughout the campaign season. There are niceties to be observed. Small gestures to make at every loss, every win. It was this absence of graciousness that alienated me and many other women.

One of the problems with her campaign was a massive dismissal and diminution of Senator Obama's achievements and accomplishments throughout his life. It was her giving the republicans the ads they will use against him in the general election that made me so angry at her. She put herself side by side with John McCain, and Senator Obama on the other, as if he had no stature, no right to challenge them. Experience versus Change. Well, it all depends on the kind of experience and the kind of change, doesn't it?

Her judgement has been a problem for me all along. It was her failure to work collegially to give us universal health care when she first had the chance to make that a reality. It was her vote for the Iraq war resolution without reading the intelligence reports that made me question her competence to govern. It was her justification and rationalization for that vote that made me wonder if she wasn't the wrong person to lead us forward. It was the lies, and her dismissal of her lies when she was called on them, that made me question not just her judgement, but her integrity, her respect for us, the electorate, that finally made me dislike her on a visceral level.

But today she gave a speech that just might rehabilitate her career as a leader to be respected again. I'll watch with hope, and wish her well.

Lard Ass

Well ass might not be the right word. Gut might be more accurate, gut and thighs. I blame my weight gains on "drug weight." Having lived my late adult life on bipolar drugs, I have become accustomed to the ups and down of drug weight. For a long season last year at this time I was taken off antidepressants--my moods stabilized by a mood stabilizer. I lost forty pounds fairly rapidly. Antidepressants are notorious for weight gain and is one of the reasons it is difficult keep women on them. I have come to the conclusion that I'd rather be a little fat and happy than bone thin and depressed. I did well for a long time just mood stabilized. But then came the inevitable symptoms of depression creeping in on tiny cats paws. Irritability is the first clue. The inability to sleep is another--either that or sleeping all the time.

My young friend Melea, comes to visit three or four times a week. So she notices the things I eat. Lately for breakfast I've been having corn bread and cantaloupe--it's fetish eating, I know, but healthy, I thought. The corn bread comforts the Texas girl in me, and the cantaloupe is fruit for god's sake. I heat my rather large slice of corn bread for a few seconds, then slather it with butter which melts nicely on the warm, fragrant corn bread, and then fill the rest of the plate with cantaloupe pieces--enough so that each bite of corn bread is followed by the cool sweet taste of cantaloupe.

So last time Melea was here, I was bitching about the weigh-in at the doctor's office--146 lbs. Ack! 120 is my ideal weight, 130 isn't bad, but 146 is fat. I'm shrinking from my models height of 5'8"--probably down to 5'6 1/2". So the 146 doesn't look the same on me as it would have when I was taller. The main problem is that last years clothes do not fit. Fortunately I keep a pair of fat jeans for just this sort of occasion. So while Melea listened to me bitch about my gut, she got one of my little boxes of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix out of my cupboard and read the ingredients. Lard was the third ingredient. And I must say, coming from Texas where good cooks know the value of lard, I wasn't horrified like Melea was. She is just a boneless, skinless grilled chicken breast short of vegetarianism. She doesn't make pie pastry, or pastry of any kind. But I know that pie pastry is best made with lard, not butter, though butter is an OK
substitute.

Then there is the lack of real exercise. Yeah, I take my old dog for a walk or two a day, but these are not long walks--designed more to keep joints working than walk-off fat. And then I sit at my computer reading blogs and news papers, waiting for the major news shows to start. Usually this would be the season I'd be obsessed with my garden, but it's been cold and rainy. And since I got Cyrus, I've noticed that he hates the vacuum cleaner--giving me just the excuse I need not to vacuum clean. Then yesterday I had to get together some papers for the financial aid folks at Intermountain Health Care Hospital billing department. I have a big filing cabinet, and finding things isn't all that hard, but once I pull stuff out of files, they tend to get pilled up on one surface or another, not to get filed again until some cleaning frenzy forces me to get organized again. Well today's the day. First I'll have my warm buttery cornbread with it's compliment of ice cold, peeled. bite sized cantaloupe, then I'll get my lard ass in gear and clean this place. And if I have any time left over, I'm going to the thrift store to buy a new spring wardrobe, sized 12 probably.

Normal Rhythm

I'm in normal rhythm. Enraged, but normal rhythm. This is as it should be. My cardiologist is a recent California transplant. He shares my outrage. He can't talk to anyone in his department because they're all republicans. They did an EKG and my rhythm is normal. Then he and I talked politics. It was enormously therapeutic. I wonder how he'll work it into the bill.

So, here's the question. What does she, what does she, the hard working, the hard working white woman with millions of supporters WANT??!!! And so, tell us Hillary what do you want??!!! Are you entitled to anything you want? And, haven't we heard you say in many settings and reported on over and over, your fierce declaration that you will support with all your heart and energy for the nominee, whoever that nominee is.

My cardiologist and I agree that Jim Webb would be a great choice for Vice President.

Fury

I am so angry today I can barely function. I had my reasons for changing my support from Hillary to Barack. This switch happened right after one of the early primary states, and has been reinforced in every primary state since. Now I loathe her. And after last night's insulting performance by Hillary, I am shaking with rage. It is one more reason not to offer her the Vice Presidential spot. Her hubris knows no bounds. She is so convinced she deserves, is entitled to, and has the votes to be the President, it must be so. Well, not so much Hillary. Now she can go fuck herself.

I'm on my way to the cardiologist. It's a check-up to see what needs to be done next and when. I'll bet my blood pressure is sky high today. My anger feels like a bipolar rage--the transitioning from OK to not OK. Hopefully by the time I get back home, Hillary will have come to her senses and backed off making any more demands that she deserves to be Veep. If she doesn't, I hope Barack tells her to go fuck herself.

Barack Wins Nomination But Hillary throws Her Own Victory Party

It's over. Barack won.

But Hillary throws her own victory party claiming she has the popular vote. Hillary tells news sources she is open to taking Veep position despite the fact that it has not bee offered. Hillary gives speech asking her supporters to go to Hillary.com to contribute to her campaign.

Hillary has no honor, no grace, no since of shame or proportion. Hillary has ego. Hillary has a viscous, petty, nasty, drive to get her way, no matter the cost to the party. Hillary believes she is the party and it's owed to her. Hillary has a sense of entitlement that knows no bounds.

Hillary has promised to deliver her supporters no matter who wins the nomination. Hilary claims she wants party unity. Is Hillary a lair?

Dream Team: written five, long, hard months of rancor and last minute ploys to change the rules

I though right from the beginning that Barack and Hillary would be the dream team. When I started this dream I was still a Clinton supporter. I still love the Clintons. My decision to switch my support from Hillary to Barack was not because I grew tired of the Clintons, it was that I grew tired of the press coverage of Hillary, of the prospect of another political campaign with the press bringing up Ken Starr and Newt Gingrich’s greatest hits. The prospect of vitriol and mud slinging on a scale and at a volume we haven’t even imagined yet, makes me weep for what we have become—alienated and cynical. I am tired of the stridency of the press calling Hillary strident. I am tired of the press guffawing about Hillary’s cackle. None of this is Hillary’s fault, and I’m not sure she will ever be able to change the way the old white men who are the political pundits cover her, see her, talk about her.

And then there was South Carolina. I know that the large population of African American’s living and voting in South Carolina gave Barack Obama a slight edge, but what happened there made it possible for me to imagine a different democratic party—a party of unity and change—real change. It was the young people who were so energized by his candidacy that pleased me most. Without them engaged in the political process none of this matters very much—they are our future. Without them knowing the issues that will matter in their lives, this is all a pretty empty process, and they will remain disaffected. So this just might be the first time since the late years of the Vietnam war when young people are going to change the politics as usual we have become so accustomed to. It’s change long overdue.

Buzz

Yesterday it was reported that the Clintons had returned to their home in New York. Staffers had been told to get their expense accounts in order (with receipts) and turn them in by the end of the week. And that the Clintons would be having a large gathering, a party, if you will,--sounds more like a wake to me but what do I know--and anyone on the staff who wanted to attend would get one way airfare to New York for the party. The caveat was, a trip home, or another Clinton event, but not both. One way ticket. Hum. I'd be choosing the trip home to work on my resume, but that's the kind of cold hearted, pragmatist bitch I am.

It is assumed that Barack Obama will have enough delegates at the end of the these two North West primaries tonight, plus the Supers that will come rolling in today, to have the nomination in hand. Some naive pundits have conjectured that part of the reason for the timing of Hillary's big party in New York tonight will be to congratulate Barack and call for Party unity. And I'm thinking "Hell no! That bitch is going to rain on his parade." But I'm a cynic, what else would I think, having watched the Clinton campaign change the goal posts every time she doesn't get the outcome she expected or thinks she's entitled to, and believes she has the power and the political juice to manipulate, to game the system.

Harold Ickes, Hillary's Karl Rove, finally set the record straight this morning after the Associated Press wrote a piece saying Hillary will give a concession speech tonight. Hell no! "She is honoring her loyal supporters, her superb staff, bla bla bla." It is an adoration for Hillary party. Just not enough adoration to pay the airfare home for her loyal staffers. No, Hillary is going to rain on Barack's parade. Way to go girl! This is just another example of the many reasons we have come to loath you. Graciousness is not your long suit. Gamesmanship is your thing. And remind us please, what is it you want? The veep job? To be one of the Supremes? Attorney General? Because your charm is wooing us into wishing some kind of political oblivion for you.

Beware The Flipping of The Bird

My heinous mother taught me many wondrous things when I was very young. How to swear in the most offensive way possible--mostly employing the F-bomb creatively. How to smoke a cigarette like a lady, how to mix the basic cocktails, and how and when to flip the bird. All of this when I was five. I made many adults laugh, cringe, and say "thank you my dear," when I handed them their highball. These early lessons were never unlearned. But I'm beginning to think there might be payback for the bird flipping I employed so effectively on the road. I gave it up once some guy pulled a gun on me from his glovebox as I passed him doing eighty five in a fifty mile zone. But now I have just returned from the nearest Insta-Care where my middle finger was lanced to relieve an abscess of unknown origin. The only good thing I have to report about this experience is the great drugs they prescribed to alleviate the pain this dark red swollen middle digit has caused me. But once that guy pulled his pistol and aimed it at my head as I sped past on his left side, I decided to forgo the momentary pleasure this gesture provided. I don't scream "Fuck You, Moron," anymore, except at home when watching "news" events. So, since I gave up flipping the bird long ago, could this abscess be karmic payback?

By Wednesday

Harold Ickes helped write the rules he now wants to break. They bent the rules pretty hard to give Harold what he wanted. And still he bitched and moaned. He was insulting to everyone and a rabble rouser to the Clinton supporters who were bussed in for the event. Harold Ickes is on the DNC Rules Committee and the rules he wrote to advantage his candidate now have been broken to advantage his candidate. Then he went on Meet The Press and whined some more about the process that he feels is so unfair to the woman who pays his checks.

And all afternoon I watched HRC rack up her huge win in Porto Rico, where they get to vote in the primary, but not in the general election. Big Woop. She has no path to victory unless all the remaining Super delegates go to her, when in fact, they have been leaving her like rats on a sinking ship. As I watched her give her long victory speech last night, the part that grabbed my attention was the big beg for money. Always with the big pitch for bringing in the bucks. I hope the Clinton's had a nice vacation, but now I really don't want to ever have to see them again.

Harold Ickes Makes Me Sick

Harold Ickes was the only real spectacle out of the DNC Rules Committee. Just saying his name makes me gag a little. He has said Hillary Clinton has instructed him to take the ruling today to the Credentials Committee. Big fucking deal, Harold. You've lost, and I hope by your embarrassing performance today, you've lost your job as well. If Hillary wanted reconciliation for the Democratic party, she could have had it today, and maybe a shot at whatever job she wanted, short of Veep. But now, if I were Barack (thankfully for all of us I'm not), I'd tell her to go take a flying fuck. Ickes has just said the Clinton campaign is taking it to the floor of the convention. Now that's the way to get party unity--a brokered convention.

OK Nancy, OK Harry, bring those really big Supers in, and take us home, without our ever having to see or hear Harold Ickes again. Hillary, get your nominating speech in order, maybe that's your consolation prize.

Tennis Anyone?

Two views of the alley directly behind my little house.

Aspen and Star of Bethlehem

This is a view from the back drive by the alley. If you peer through the trees, you can see the outline of the gazebo. This was taken a month ago when the vines on the gazebo had not leafed out.

Old Romantic

My ex, first love, last love, called from LAX last night to say he was headed back to Costa Rica to see his dentist. It's cheaper to fly round trip to have the work done there, than have it done in Santa Barbara where he's been hanging out with his second ex-wife. I am amazed that they have moved past the hating each other faze to the living in the same house together again. Wonder's seem never to cease. He said to watch for a package. And today arrived the package. Two bottles of my favorite perfume, habanita by Molinard. I gave up wearing it years ago, when I stopped flying to big cities in foreign countries with fancy duty free stores at the airports. It was my signature fragrance for all the years he and I were together. We haven't lived together in many years. He has come to visit, usually sometime around my birthday. This gift is an early birthday present. Included with the fragrance was a sheet of yellow legal paper with a note in his unmistakable hand. He says he looks forward to smelling me. Now that's romantic.

Cyrus at Rest

This is my nine year old Rottie/Mastiff/Shepherd mix who spent his nine years in a shelter. This is his first dog bed. He has three of them now, and he hates to leave the house unless it's the morning ritual, or I have a leash in my hand and my hat on. Cyrus loves his little house.

Roscoe is Raped

Roscoe, minding his own business, is assaulted by the amorous Segundo. No arrest yet. Roscoe refuses to press charges, despite the abundant evidence that he did nothing to provoke the rape. This crime took place in my back yard. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Utah Savage at Home, Without Words for Once, Cause Dusty Stole My Man Keith

A Happy Ablation to You, Too. Just What I Wanted for My Birthday

Not angioplasty, but ablation. This is the second procedure and will be scheduled when I go to see the Cardiologist next Wednesday. It will require general anesthesia, which is the only part of this procedure that scares me. I don't like to be intubated and all anesthesia makes me vomit. So, other than that, the fact that they ram a laser up your femoral artery to zap a nerve in your heart scares me not a bit. I am perfectly clotted. Not too clotted, and not too clottless. Clotted just right. It's all this clean living. I celebrated by eating ten peanut butter cookies. And chain smoking. Why fuck with what got me this far.

Scott McClellen has made my day, and many to come. Thank you Scott for your gutlessness when it counted. The mothers of more than four thousand dead soldiers will curse you forever. But we, who want to see your ex-boss and all his minions and co-conspirators jailed forever at Gitmo, now have real hope. And John McCain can retire and live off his wife, the beer heiress, until he croaks, which shouldn't be long now.

Time Off

I started blogging in January with really poor computing skills. I resisted getting an internet hook up of any kind, since all I needed my computer for was finishing the book I had roughly written and which sat gathering electronic dust as it awaited the final chapter and another edit or two. I thought being "on line" would be a distraction. I then had a Dell PC I bought five years ago and a good printer, so who needed internet. The only one who did use the internet connection when I last had one, was Charlie, my first and last love. And all Charlie used it for whenever I was around my own place and noticed, was for internet porn.

I have never been one of the women who likes porn in any form. I like movies with erotic content, sometimes scenes from books turn me on, but one woman's erotic content is another's ick! And I have heard women say they like porn. But I have never actually met one. Maybe gay women like lesbian porn, but what is a turn on for the men I've known, pornographically speaking, has never turned me on. It has embarrassed me, bored me, annoyed me, disgusted me, but never turned me on.

I read what was thought to be pornographic by a lot of "good Christian people," the book, Lolita, by Vladamir Nabokov, when I was twelve. It was banned in the States, but was smuggled into the country by thousands of American tourists with taste in 1955, the year it was published in France. My parent's were the first on our mostly Mormon block to actually have read the book the year after it first came out. I read it shortly after they did, by finding it's hiding place in my dad's sock drawer. My dad was a student at the University of Utah working on his PhD in Experimental Psychology. My mother was a working wife too sophisticated for her time. And to me, her only child she was Maggy, indifferent mother. Sometimes even hostile. We had a love/hate relationship, right up until the bitter end.

My father and I had an altogether different relationship. But by the time I read Lolita, it had turned into wholesome by contrast to it's past odd and inappropriate closeness. We were not a typical household, by anybody's standards. Not by any time's. We were a familial aberration. We were perversity personified. My very young life was pornographic. So pornography holds no charms for me.

The novel Maggy is my work of "Autobiographical Realism." My third husband was a writer. A real writer. I asked him early on, before I'd actually read anything of his, what his style was. He said, "Autobiographical Realism." He was a short story writer, finishing his Master's Degree at the U of Utah, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, when I met him. We took a class together. It was a graduate seminar in English Lit. and the only plays I remember reading that summer were Pinter's, so it was probably something like, The Plays of Harold Pinter. I was married to husband number two when I met husband number three, the writer. Anyway, if you asked me what my style as a writer is, I would tell you, "Autobiographical Realism." It could also be called "Memoir."

All this, to say simply, I'm getting my novel finished and posted, cause I have an angioplasty coming up, and don't want to leave it unfinished, and I do want it published, if only on my own blog site, if only for my own egotistical amusement. If only to say to myself, "I have finished it."

Want to talk, leave me a comment. Want to get personal, send me an email. Want to get to know me better, start reading the novel--so far, there are twenty something, or thirty something already posted and linked chapters and in the proper order. Otherwise, I'll see you next week, or when Hillary gives up. Whichever one comes first.

Linda Sama where are you?

Linda you and anitaxaanaxnow have gone AWOL. You two were the way I started my day. Get coffee, take handful of meds., take god (I mean dog) and first perfect cigarette of the day outside for dog to pee, then hit the blogs. Am I an addict? Is this a gateway drug? Then start down my blog roll. And I hate that I can't leave you a message. I hate that I only see you now and then, here and there. You were an inspiration to me. I got my first award from you. Fuck woman, then you leave us with our angst. What happened to solidarity? We would march shoulder to shoulder to Washington to take back our government, to protest the war. Now who will lead us? How about an email with return address?

The Ticket

This is my pick. It balances the ticket in every way. Webb counters the argument that Barack lacks military credentials. Webb is liberal for a Republican and conservative for a Democrat. He has crossover appeal and he reassures the cracker's, the rednecks, the hillbillies, that all important, white, umm, that hardworking white, that rural, gun toting, hard working, whiskey making, I mean boilermaker drinking, hard working white southern, you know who I mean, those nice, hard working, rural, backwoods, white voters.

Gone Sicky

I haven't felt well for a long time. Roughly a month ago I got one possible answer--I am in atrial fibrillation. My resting heart rate is marathon runner's range after a marathon. And my blood pressure starts high in the morning, which makes me feel oddly energetic, and then crashes sometime in the mid afternoon, leaving me fainting and weak. I have what in my grandmother's day was called malignant hypertension. Now they just call it high blood-pressure. Mine was diagnosed in my late teens, about the same time I started experiencing the symptoms of PTSD, anxiety disorder, and severe depression, and then eventually bipolar disorder.

I have been on a huge number of blood-pressure medications over my lifetime. The hypertension is a family trait on my mother's side of the family. But on both sides of my family, it is the heart that finally kills you. It is a family of broken hearts. The men all die suddenly of massive coronary events, going along, feeling fine, and then blam, dead instantly, and in some cases young--my oldest half-brother had his big event in his mid forties. The women in my mother's family have not faired as well--they all have small strokes that eventually leave them with what is called vascular dementia. It is very like Alzheimer's disease. And ends the same way.

My fibrillation which was pretty much asymptomatic, got picked up when I visited my doctor about some routine blood-work that was not great news. Because I have this family history, and am on blood pressure medications, my doctor always checks, and this last time my blood-pressure was so hinky, they did an EKG, which showed the arterial fibrillation.

So with the referral to a cardiologist, I got the full treatment--echo cardiogram (fibrillating like crazy), visit to the cardiologist and another EKG, still fibrillating, a whole array of new medications, a procedure to check for blood clots in the heart (No blood clots) then the paddling several times to try to shock my heart back into normal rhythm. No luck with that, only burns and bruises on my chest and back, and another batch of drugs to get me ready for an angioplasty. So I have a small window of feeling well each day. I start the day feeling well enough to write, brain seems to be in order, but by mid-afternoon I start to crash. My brain stops working so well, I begin to feel like I might faint, so I work my way across the room to my bed and after taking my afternoon hand-full of meds., I gradually begin to come back to physical functioning, but my brain doesn't work as well. So learning things is more difficult. I have been trying to learn to link, so I can become a full-fledged, functioning member of the smart, savvy blogging community.

I only started blogging in January, and did not have great computer skills to begin with. I have a wonderful Administrator who has been kind enough to teach me what I've been able to learn, and who has tricked out my blog, so my creative writing sites are linked and the chapters of my book, Maggy, are linked and the book can be read chapter after horrifying chapter. But he's been trying to teach me to do these things for myself, to make me less dependent, more skilled. I worry that he will give up on me, since I learn so slowly the simple things he has so patiently been trying to teach me. Nothing new seems to stick in my brain. I want to make him a lovely care package to thank him for the time, the patience, the friendship and generosity, but I don't feel well enough to venture out and get the tin for the two kinds of homemade cookies he craves. It will all work out, one way or another. But for the time being I will remain merely a writer with no tricks up my sleeve, and settle for editing the final chapters of the book in preparation for learning how to post and link them.

And if I get boring in this period of brainlessness, I can only hope you will seek entertainment by reading the book, leaving me breadcrumbs to let me know you've stopped by.

Weeds

Dandelions have taken over my parking strip in front of the house. I mow and two days later the dandelions have grown six inches, and the lawn looks worse than before I mowed. So today I'm out there on my knees making bruises in my palms trying to dig dandelions from the dry, yes dry, hard clay that is our dirt here in northern Utah. Despite three days of cold rain, my lawn is bone dry because of all the shade trees. Shade is important when you don't have central air conditioning. Besides, I'd rather live in a forest, if I can't have ocean and beach, than a sunny expanse of lawn that must be watered and weeded constantly. I have refused to install a sprinkler system and water the old fashioned way, by hauling the hose around and setting the lawn-bird to get just what I'm aiming for. I have friends who spend half the summer repairing broken sprinkler heads due to running over them with a lawnmower. Fuck that I say. I'd rather keep just the trees and flower beds alive. And when the lawn has finally died, I'll Xerisscape the whole damn thing--nothing but shade loving Vinca major. Saves water and requires almost no care.

My only contact with the world of politics today is reading your comments and blogs. Oh, and I did watch Meet the Press, but can't remember a damn thing. Must be all those years of pot smoking. I can remember things from the long dead past, but not so much the short term. Which might explain why I'm having so much trouble learning how to Link.

Let's Play Choose a Veep

I'm hoping to never feel the need to write another pissed off piece about Hillary. She is being suggested by Bill as a possible veep choice for Barak, but I think it's unlikely to happen unless Diane Feinstien tries to ram her down Barak's throat at the convention. Hopefully he will have made his decision prior to the convention and that possibility will just be a nightmare someone on MSNBC speculated about yesterday.

So here are my picks:

1. Jim Webb (Senator, Virginia, Vietnam Vet, Marine corp. Graduate Naval Academy, Left leaning Republican)
2. Wesley Clark (Former Presidential Candidate, Four Star General, Hillary supporter)
3. Evan Bayh (Senator Indiana, former Governor of Indiana, former secretary of Indiana, Hillary Suporter)
4. Kathleen Sibellius (Gov. Kansas)
5. John Edwards (Former Senator of North Carolina, former Presdiential candidate, former running mate with John Kerry, champion for the poor and for Univeral Health Coverage
6. Joe Biden, Senior Senator for Delaware, and all round great guy, former Presidential candidate

I like Webb or many reasons. He is a thorn in the side of John McCain. He has great military credentials and gives Barack the added umph of having a Republican on the ticket with him, and his Military experience trumps McCains.

Wesley Clark does almost everything Webb does, but his West point education, Rhodes Scholar stature, Four Star General, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of Nato, former Presidential candidate, ally of the Clintons and all round great hunkie guy, and his military credidentials make McCain's experience look like small potatoes.

Evan Bayh has been a Secretary of State and Governor of Indiana, Junior Senator from Indiana and he is a Hillary Supporter.

Kathleen Sibellius is the Governor of Kansas, was born in Ohio, is female and an enthusiastic Obama supporter.

John Edwards is a Southerner, former Senator from North Carolina who voted for the Resolution for the Iraq war, but later said it was a mistake and apologized for the vote, he has twice run for President, was on Kerry's short list for VP, but lost out to Leiberman (Yuck), and is a strong, committed advocate for the poor and for universal health care, plus he's married to Elizabeth.

Joe Biden is just a great, outspoken senior Senator from Delaware, but has been Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, has been a candidate for President. The down side for Biden is the Washington insider problem, and a tendency to sometimes say too much when saying less might be helpful--I include him just because I like him.

So who's your favorite?

What Does Hillary Want Now

Well, Hillary it isn't going to be the Presidency. And after todays gaff, it shouldn't be Vice President. Since you're hanging around waiting to see if Barack's going to get bumped off, if I were Barack, I wouldn't trust you at the table. Barack will need a food taster. He'll need extra Secret Service just to cover his back.

I can think of a number of better choices. Jim Webb is my first choice., Wesley Clark is another. If he wants a woman on the ticket, there's Kathleen Sibelius. How about Joe Biden or John Edwards, or Bill Richardson? There are plenty of excellent choices. If Hillary is saying she won't deliver her supporters, she's been lying to us for a damn long time.

She has been asked repeatedly if the nominee is decided by June 3rd, will she support the party's nominee. She said yes, many times and in many settings. I do not remember her saying, "Only if I'm on the ticket." I do not remember Hillary crossing her fingers as she said those words. I don't remember any qualifiers to her answer.

But this morning Hillary really stepped in it. When asked why she is continuing to run despite the fact that there is no realistic path to the nomination, she said, something like this, "Well, my husband didn't have the nomination until late in June after the California primary. And Bobby Kennedy was assassinated at the California Convention in mid June." What a charmer. I hate to break it to you Hillary, but California moved their primary up, remember? You won it. Remember? The inference is that Barack might be assassinated. Me thinks thou dust speak the truth of wishful thinking when sorely tired.

Hillary you are one tough bitch. Cold, too. When you and Bill hug at campaign events, I bet the chill goes down his spine. How do you both keep that gag reflex in check?

If you were Barack or Michelle would you want this woman as your running mate? If you were Barack and your campaign was all about change, would you want to go back to one of the most polarizing women on the planet to be your running mate? And what to do with Bill? No, no no. Hell no. She says she can deliver her base, if she doesn't, she's a lair. If Bill and Hillary and Chelsea aren't out there working their asses off for Barack no matter who his running mate is, they should go to the oblivion that eventually claims crooks and lairs. And we will all see them for what they are, greedy, ambitious, opportunists.

Anita

Anita is a fabulous woman with a large following. She has gone on vacation for awhile. If she ever wishes, she is welcome to post at my place. Where ever you are Anita, hope you're having a good time. Drop us a line now and then, and I'll take messages for you, kind of like the post office only friendlier, plus I get to read your mail. Ta ta.

I used To Love Her But It's All Over Now

I don't want to offend my blogging friends who still are supporting Hillary. I understand their reasons for wanting a female President. I understand their nostalgia for the good old days of the Clinton Presidency. I also understand their passion for her as a woman who stands in as a representative for all the crap these women have had to deal with all their working lives--especially if these women are married and have children. Along with facing discrimination in the work place, these passionate democratic women have had to do must of the heavy lifting at home as well. They see Hillary as one of them. And it isn't mere projection--Hillary went to law school, married, had a child, was a helpmate for Bill in achieving his ambitions all the way to the White House. No doubt her life was not easy. She was not, like Bush or madam McCain, born into incredible wealth, so I'm sure she has faced some of the difficulties of average working married mothers. But not so much anymore. And the baggage she so famously has had rummaged through by the "vast right wing conspiracy," is part of the problem for me. It is the baggage of her bad judgement and penchant for secrecy, her stubbornness, her unwillingness to admit mistakes and most troubling for me, her seeming inability so say, "I was wrong, I made a mistake, I'm sorry," that has led to my parting of the ways with her.

I was thrilled to have a First Lady who was going to give us single payer universal health care, like most of the rest of the industrialized, modern world. If they can do it, why can't we, I thought. Silly me. What Hillary ran up against was the lobbyists for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, a republican majority in congress, and her own hubris. Don't forget that word hubris, it will come into play again and again. But for me, this was her first big test. She was offered help by some of the best and brightest titans in the congress--she had potential allies, but she blew them off, preferring to do it her way, in secrecy. First big mistake, first red flag of stubbornness and bad judgement. And when it failed, what did she learn? She learned the wrong lesson, to my way of thinking. She learned to cozy up to the the industries that defeated her.

I think this defeat taught her some other lessons as well, but from my point of view, these, too, were not the right conclusions for her to draw from that first horrendous failure. She withdrew into a more traditional First Lady role. She probably did have great political influence with her husband, behind the scenes, but she gave up too easily.

And while Bill got good at making deals with his republican congress, he gave too much away. He gave them Welfare Reform, that was more a kick in the pants to the poor and disenfranchised, and way too little in the way of jobs programs and educational help to retrain these citizens. He gave us NAFTA, and turned the states with a strong manufacturing base into the Rust Belt--Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, to name the most hard hit. This began a weakening of rights for the American labor force leading to the race to the bottom, in terms of job security, wages, benefits, and training. Many who lost jobs in this race for cheap labor, were older workers, workers for whom no amount of training would give them the chance to compete for work. Unions had been under attack since Reagan busted the Air Traffic Controller's Union. NAFTA, further weakened unions. But this isn't about Bill, until we get to Monica.

Bill seems to have always had a penchant for dalliances with powerless young women. He came into office with accusations of sexual abuse for a number of young women--Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers, and Paula Jones were among the many, but Paula had the nerve to file a sexual abuse suit. Vernon Jordan, Clinton's long time friend and close advisor, became his sex scandal fixer. The Jones suit was eventually settled for over $800,000.

If Bill and Hillary had agreed on an open marriage, that's their business, but for a couple with big political ambitions, that's a risky arrangement. Hillary was a fierce defender of her husband against the claims of these women. This makes her, in my opinion, an enabler. It also undercuts her feminist stance. Were these young and relatively powerless women not deserving of respect? There was every attempt made to discredit and trivialize them. Hillary was in the forefront of this campaign. She was Bill's biggest defender. And then came Monica.

This was a young woman working in the White House as an intern. We all know the details. We all heard and saw Bill say the words we will always associate with him and that lead to charges of perjury. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." He was convicted of perjury and impeached in the House, but not the Senate. Everything about this episode in Hillary's relationship with her philandering, lying husband smacks of expedience and deal making. Still, it's their marriage. It would have been so much better for all of us if Bill had simply said, "It's none of your business. It's our marriage," but he didn't. They circled the wagons and tried to tough it out. I can understand their staying together until his second term was over, but why not divorce and go their separate ways once the White House years were over. She was a woman with plenty of credentials to keep her working and keep her ambitions for her own political career alive. In my opinion she'd be a lot stronger without Bill. But those were her choices, not mine. However her choices have made her seem inauthentic, and a woman willing to make deals with the devil to achieve her political ambitions.

Her Senate run put her on the trajectory for a bid for the White House. But her vote to authorize the Iraq war disqualified her in my eyes. She did not give that vote due diligence--she passed on reading the classified intelligence reports. This alone makes her unfit to be President or Vice President. She went along with the crowd, she acted cowardly in trying to look strong. Whatever respect I ever had for her evaporated in that instant. She was trying to look tough, instead she looked cowardly. It takes courage to stand up to power gone amuck. Her judgement is flawed. I've seen that over and over throughout her public life. She makes a mistake, and instead of admitting her mistake, she takes the cowards way out and tries to justify and rationalize her actions. Throughout this bid for the presidency she has tailored her face and voice for her audience. She has become so many Hillarys in so many different places and settings, I no longer know if there is an authentic person underneath all the disguises.

She is too ambitious to ever tell us what we need to know, if it isn't what we want to hear. She had mismanaged her first go at health care reform and used very poor judgement first time on that big stage. She has mismanaged her own campaign, it's direction, it's long term objectives and strategy, it's fiscal health. She has offered shot term help on gas prices that had not a snowballs chance in hell of getting implemented and offered little help to those desperate for long term solutions to our energy problems. She has pandered at every opportunity.

And so, though I once wanted to love her, wanted to believe she would fight for us, I have come to see her cozy up to lobbyists of every stripe, to vote against us in favor of helping George W. Bush plunge us into a war that had absolutely nothing to do with the "War On Terror," make us less safe, has bankrupted us, killed thousand of our soldiers, ruined a once lovely country, killed maimed and plunged into poverty and dislocation the citizens of Iraq, and destabilized the entire Middle East.

My affection for her has turned into an antipathy that has nothing at all to do with my desire to have a female President, and everything to do with Hillary. It is not Hillary the woman I dislike, it is Hillary the deal maker, Hillary the panderer, Hillary the liar. Hillary the woman willing to ruin the democratic party to satisfy her own political ambitions I have come to loathe.

Maverick?

McCain has been called a maverick so long we forgot what it really means. In McCain’s case it means loose-cannon.

I don't understand why the press has looked on McCain as a maverick war hero. This deification of McCain from, damaged by his long imprisonment and torture, to maverick, wise old man, was mostly perpetuated by the fact that nobody thought he would ever be in a position to do much damage to the country. Well, things have changed. Mostly due to the dismal lineup of thugs, kooks, and bad actors he was running against. At least he isn’t that Nazi thug Rudy, we all sighed when it was over. At least it wasn’t plastic-man, Romney, the ethical contortionist and all round aging Ken doll. At least he wasn’t Huckabee, mister evangelical right wing nut job, charming and jovial as he was.

But now we have to honestly take a look at who John McCain really is. What has he done with his long, lack-luster career in the Senate. He says he is not a friend of the lobbyist. Take a closer look at that claim. Who runs his campaign and what is his real voting history vis a vis “special interests?” What really happens to any soldier captured and tortured, held in solitary confinement so long he cannot control his temper ever again. Can you honestly tell me this man doesn’t have PTSD? How could he not? And he hasn’t weighed in on the G I Bill?!!!

What’s up with this angry old warrior the press has dubbed a maverick?

Anita Where Are You?

Anita has gone missing. Does anyone know where she's gone? She was my first visit of the day, and now she's not there. Can anyone find Antixanaxnow? I miss her terribly. I want to talk with her about Teddy, and Oregon, and the racists in Appalachia, I wanted to ask what she thinks. I wanted to tell her good bye, and where are you going and why. Now I cry for Teddy and my friend Anita, who's gone missing. Does anyone know what happened to Anita?

Tears for Teddy

I woke up crying this morning, real early. I took Cyrus out, I think I fed him. Gave him his pills, got my coffee, and felt awful for no good reason. I looked at the clock and it was 7:30. I tried to calculate what time I had gone to sleep, and like always it was late, but I shouldn't feel this bad.

I tried to go back to sleep, couldn't, gave up, got up and turned on TV. Then I went to the computer. I get email alerts from Salon, Slate, and The Washington Post. I always get at least these three red numbers on my mail icon in my dock, but often ignore them. I drank my coffee, read a couple of comments on last nights post, god I was uninspired yesterday. Actually the meme was a relief from my boring post. Checked tracksy, low traffic yesterday, not much today, but it is early. And then the sound of the news starts to penetrate my hearing. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I open my mailbox and see that it is indeed true. Teddy Kennedy, the last Kennedy brother has a fast growing malignant brain tumor. It will of course be treated as aggressively as possible, but... These tumors are very aggressive and deadly. That's my undoing. I start to sob. It's been going on, off and on, all day.

The end of an era. I hope he lives long enough to see the first African American President of the United States inaugurated.

Hold Your Breath, The Results From Kentucky Are Almost In

Only eighteen minutes to go.... Here it comes...

A moment to consider the demographics. Kentucky is the most conservative state in the Union. This Surprises me, I thought it was Utah. But what do I know, I only live here. I have voted in every Presidential election and never had my vote count, so what's up with that? We're not the most conservative? No shit! I feel better already. Ok, what nasty epithet can I call Kentuckians? They make good whiskey. All those years of back woods whisky making during prohibition has really paid off. I'm thinkin' hillbillies. Want to take me on with this one? I could be wrong. Maybe redneck, maybe crackers, maybe a melange of all three. Madmike you do not need to step in to inform me that not all Kentuckians are neanderthals--no insult to neanderthals intended. I know that they are hard working, uh, hard working white, uh, nice hard working white voters, who will probable vote for John McCain in the general election, but what the hell, give it to her anyway, 'caus it's so not going to make a fucking bit of difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky#Demographics

Choice

In this year of political choices let's have a little discussion of the meaning of the word. A lot of words are going to be thrown about this year on both sides of the political fence. "Freedom" is the one I like to focus on. The Bill of Rights is one of my favorite documents. I occasionally read it just to remind myself of what I have lost under the almost eight years of the George W.Bush Presidency. The first to go seems to be our right to privacy--now we have the telecom companies wanting immunity from future prosecution for past law breaking--they cooperated with the Bush administration for warrentless eavesdropping on all of us. Amazing how quickly we can be convinced to surrender our constitutionally given legal rights, and not fight like hell to get them back.

"Sacred" will be thrown around by those on the right of the political spectrum to justify preventing other citizens of our country from the equal rights all of us are guaranteed under the Constitution. This word "sacred" has alway been used to justify oppression and is one of my least favorite words. It is used in church and that is where I think it should stay. According to a lot of “good Christian people” anyone whose sexual preference is for someone of the same gender should not be allowed to marry, adopt and raise a child, since marriage is a "sacred cow" of the Right. Tell me, what is “Christian” about that? These same people are likely to call themselves “Pro-life.” But when asked if this pro-life stance applies to the issue of the death penalty, they say, “well…No.” They are usually quite sanguine about killing in the name of law and order, but they would prevent you from making the “choice” to have a legal abortion in the first trimester of a pregnancy that you did not plan, do not want, can’t afford, and which would, in your mind, in your heart, ruin your life. The decision to have an abortion is never easy for a woman. Any medical procedure is difficult, but this one is, in every way, emotionally wrenching for most women. There are almost always aftershocks made all the more difficult by this climate of hatred and vitriol aimed at women in a very vulnerable emotional condition. Does this seem “Christian” to you? I have a friend, long past child baring days, who lived with her aged Mormon mother in her mother's last year. This old woman, my friends mother, said to me once that she could forgive her daughter or grand-daughter anything accept an abortion. Daughter and grand-daughter have both had abortions. This grandmother, this aged mother went to her grave never really knowing her daughter or her grand-daughter because she has made it clear that her “Christianity” would prevent her from forgiving them if she knew. Odd to me that “Christianity” is lived nowadays minus the real practice of forgiveness. It deprives us of the comfort we need in times of terrible trouble and in the end leaves isolated with our unforgivin "sin."

There is a great deal of misinformation about the cozy relationship between government and religion during these depressing Bush years. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and Governor from Arkansas, claims that it would be easier to make the Constitution over, to have it reflect his (and he seems to imply all of our) religious convictions, and he says "God’s laws", than to make over the Biblical teachings his religion is based on, to reflect the freedoms guaranteed in our constitution. I don’t care what his religious belief is, but it’s pretty presumptuous of him to think it is also mine. Why is my religious belief, or lack of it, less valid or important in the eyes of the laws of our land than his? He needs to take a few graduate level courses at a good State University in Constitutional Law. He and I are equal in the eyes of the law. That’s the really great thing about our Constitution. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney were two of the men in the first or second Republican Debate who, when asked, "If you don't believe in evolution raise your hands", raised their hands. My mouth fell open as I watched. I was astounded. Did these guys miss biology class completely, or does religious belief rule out rational, logical, thought. Should we throw science out the window with our brains? Evolution is not a theory. If you believe it is, please do some reading, take a few brush-up courses in biology. Your ignorance should embarrass you.

John McCain has said that he has no problem with keeping the United States engaged in the war in Iraq for a hundred years. And he keeps saying, "I will follow Osamma Bin Laden to the gates of hell!" If he wins the election and gets his way, get ready for the return of the draft. Everyone who comes of age (that would be every eighteen year old, male and female)will have to register for selective service. If you have children under the age of eighteen or children under the age of thirty get ready to wave goodbye as they board the bus for basic training. If you plan to have children, and John McCain gets his way, when they reach the age of eighteen, they too will be shipped off to Iraq. Is this the future you want for your children?

On the left the word I hear most often is "change." I could not agree more. We do need change. Big change. We need to find a different way of doing the Nation’s business. And in looking at the two candidates still in the Democratic race for the nomination it is apparent we will have change--they are not old white men, and that in itself is big change. But before you cast your vote, think about what it means to say you’re for change when most of your candidates campaign contributions are from big corporate donors and lobbyists for big corporate interests. Follow the money and you will be able to tell who is really talking about change. Who benefits, who loses? If the rich benefit again and the poor lose again, we will have lost our decency. We will, as a nation, have no sense of shame. Greed will rule the day. And choice won’t really matter anymore.

Meme This, Mo Fo

I have been tagged. Again. And happily this one does not require either linking skills or creativity. I'm in luck. Besides my ever so boring political post can go to hell.

First up: What was I doing ten years ago? I was, oddly enough, making good buckage modeling, acting, and working as a traveling make-up artist--have make-up, will travel. I even had a stock portfolio that was climbing higher every day. Yes, those were the good old days, the pre-Bush days.

Segundo: Five things on todays to-do list. My, that's a little ambitious. Who are you obsessive compulsive people? This will be simple for me.
1. Get up, get my big bowl of espresso, organic milk, and tablespoon of sugar, and smoke the first perfect cigarette of the day, turn on MSNBC, and take my hand full of pills and then take the dog out to pee and poo while I sit in the gazebo. Aahhh! Life's good today.
2. Tap the space bar of my computer on my way to pee.
3.Check the comments on my latest political post--God what a boring read that post was, and yet, there are several comments. And Interesting comments. Far better than the post.
4. Take Cyrus, the dog, for a walk. Well, in truth, Cyrus takes me for a walk. He makes the all important decisions about which way we go. I trail behind him, slightly. We stop and visit neighbors, other people being walked by their dogs. It's a lovely stroll around our neighborhood.
5. Drive to the cardiac unit to get my clotting factor checked. For the first time I am neither too clotted or too clottless. I am clotted just right. One more week of perfect clotting factor and off I go for my angioplasty.

Things I'd do if I were a Billionaire. Oh my god, this is going to be fun. I have dreamed about the things I would do if I had money, so this shouldn't be too hard. I would invest heavily in green industries. Start start-ups in Solar and wind technologies. I would put my young friend Melea (who I talked into going back to college and studying Architecture with a focus on Green Technologies and building) in charge of my start-ups. I would also let her completely redesign and remodel my main house, to make it green and energy independent. Somewhere in this plan of mine for Melea's future, I would send her on a trip to live in Italy for a year. I would buy the latest in smart energy-efficient automobiles. My Jetta gets great milage by todays standards, but it is twenty three years old, and has been nicknamed the dog-mobile. I could go on and on with this dreaming, but that's enough for now.

Three bad habits? That's all. I have so many to chose from.
1. I took a seven deadly sins test on someone's site and turns out I have only one of the seven. Sloth is my sin. This does not mean I'm a slob, as I am tidy. But I hate the hands and knees part of scrubbing the floor. I hate emptying my closet and reorganizing. I hate climbing into the rafters and dusting the ceiling--stuff like that.
2. This one's easy--I smoke. Cigarettes, and ... Never mind.
3. I'm not exactly reclusive, but I hate leaving home. So my friends come visiting. I'm a lovely hostess. so it's not so bad for them, and very nice for me.

Five places I have lived. I have lived a lot of places, so to make this really simple I'm going to pick one state--California.
1. San Francisco
2. San Jose
3. Manhattan Beach
4. .Santa Monica
5. Santa Barbara

Five Jobs.
1.Waitress
2. Bartender
3. Model
4. Actor
5. Make-up artist

Now comes the fun part. Tagging five unsuspecting bloggers.
1. Divajood
2. Redheaded Wisdom
3. Saoirse daily2
4. Liquid Illusion
5. The Road Lester Traveled

Pro-Life, The Sanctity of Marriage, the Death Penalty and Corporate Crime

Every time I hear some Republican candidate or right-wing spokesperson talk about being pro-life, and the sanctity of life, and the sanctity of marriage, bla, bla, bla, I want someone to ask them the next logical question. Does that mean you are anti-death penalty? This political conversation we are having with the politicians running for the highest elected office in our land is not about being pro-life, it is about being anti-abortion, anti-choice for women. Anyone who is willing to kill another human being in the name of the State, cannot claim to be pro-life. Pro-life is code for traditional, religious right wing roles for women. And role number one is to be obedient to some male authority—husband, pastor, priest, politician, certainly to God, who Christian’s seem to believe everybody knows is male. Quite an assumption.

It is a feature of all mainstream fundamentalist religions that woman, the female person, must be controlled. This is often framed as something for her protection, but it's really the desire to control, not protect, that motivates all suppression of the female. The religious right in this country has much in common with religious fundamentalism in all cultures. I remember being taken to a Catholic Church when I was a child and I noticed that all the women wore hats or scarves. I asked the family friend who took me to church with her, why, why all the women but none of the men? Her answer was, “Because of Eve, and the tempting of Adam, all women are believed to be unclean and a temptation to men, and therefor should cover their heads so as not to offend God and not to tempt or be a distraction to man.” This answer did nothing but raise more questions for me— a girl who would grow up to be a woman. “Unclean?” I took a shower every day, sometimes twice a day. And if a man finds me a temptation, isn’t it his responsibility to control his impulses? These were my first lessons in sexual politics.

Why doesn’t the news media ask these questions of politicians on the right who want to limit the freedoms of all of us regarding choice and reproductive freedom, family planning, choices about sexual partners and identity and on down that dark path toward the death penalty? Why does the issue of reproductive freedom and sexual preference threaten the religious right so much? Are you guys on the right afraid that if we women were allowed to choose, we’d always choose to live with women, and you’d be left out? Alone and having to do your own laundry, clean your own toilets? Or worse yet, forced to pay someone to do this unpleasant labor? Do you assume that because you lust after almost all strange women you rest your eyes upon, that we we women, in turn, respond to that anonymous lust favorably? You would be mistaken. Your lust isn’t any woman’s responsibility. Your lust is your problem. Don’t ask me to give up my rights, my freedom, because your lust makes you feel powerless and insecure and tempted.

Let’s talk about homosexuality for a moment. You on the right say that gay marriage threatens the sanctity of your marriage. I’ve seen research that indicates that homosexuality occurs in all cultures over the long span of human life in recorded history in pretty much the same small percentages. It’s kind of like the statistics on left-handedness. I don’t think long-term, committed gay relationships threatens marriage or ever has. But I do admit that marriage, as an institution, is threatened. It’s threatened because women have other options now. Women can actually get paid for their work now, even if that means cleaning someone else’s toilet. The choices women have today make traditional marriage look like a bad deal to a lot of young women. And if, when her biological clock’s ticking starts to make her think she wants a child, she can pick a partner, get pregnant, without benefit of clergy, she can raise her child alone, or with her extended family. She might be able to afford good child care, a career, a partner who really is a partner, and not a Master. She just might choose freedom over servitude. Marriage seems like an anachronism to me. The word sanctity is almost alway used to justify preventing freedom, choice, autonomy, even thought, in the name of God.

Now for the death penalty. I’m a little ambivalent on that one. So, I can’t really call myself pro-life. There are crimes that do seem so horrific to me that I want the perpetrator punished in a comparable way. Primarily these are crimes against children. Pornographer’s who use children as sex slaves—I’d like these bastards castrated and then executed. Men who use their own children, or children they adopt, or children they acquire access to through marriage, to satisfy their own twisted lust—these men should do very long terms in a prison population that hates the pedophile. Serial rapists and murderers where there is DNA evidence along with a strong evidentiary chain and good clean police work probably warrant the death penalty. Any kind of trafficking in women and children as sex or domestic slaves should get life in prison or the death penalty. Hate crimes should carry much stronger penalties.

Crimes against humanity, the genocides, rape used as a policy of war, the ones who order and support torture, the war crimes, these deserve the death penalty. But we murder people who are mentally retarded, or actually crazy, or under the age of eighteen, with such gusto on flimsy evidence almost everyday. It makes me sick at heart for my cruel and often stupid nation.

Corporate crimes ought to get much stiffer sentences than they do. Like the “energy” companies who have “accidents,” spilling oil in the oceans of our world and ruining the life aquatic and the economies on land affected by these “accidents.” Remember the Exxon Vallldez and Prince william Sound in Alaska? Or the “chemical and plastics industries”? Remember Union Carbide and Bhopal India? That mishap caused an “official” death toll of 3,589 human beings, caused serious and lasting injuries to 50,000 people. Not to mention the damage it did to the environment. This amounts to a genocide, but was an “accident.” There were fines levied by courts, but as of yet they have not been payed. These fines amounted to very small compensation to the families of the dead and injured. Remember that wonderful invention called napalm used with such gusto in Vietnam? It’s back in Iraq. I could go on and on. The companies whose products kill thousands at a time and the governments who employ them for this purpose have committed crimes against humanity. Monetary damages are not enough. These should be capital offenses. These crimes warrant the death penalty for anyone who knew the impending danger and looked the other way, said nothing. And these crimes require the forfeiture of the right for the offending companies to do business. Ever. Anywhere.

These musings are just my opinion. But I’m curious about yours. Leave a comment, start a dialogue.

Frankfurt, Kentucky

Hillary is on TV speaking right now in Frankfurt, Kentucky, and I swear she's got that cracker accent down pat. There is a black man in the audience behind her and he's all alone and looking sad. Empty seats on either side of him. And the women on the seats next to those two empty seats keep stealing glances to make sure they're safe. He looks mighty lonely up there. I wonder how much the campaign had to pay him to sit there.

And while were on the subject of crackers and Frankfurt, I just got back from the grocery store and it's your fault, Scarlet Blue, that I spent $113.00 on crap like hot dogs and chili cheese dip. I bought Dr. Pepper, another quart of mayonnaise, buns for the dogs, of course, corn chips for the chili cheese dip, and yes, crackers. Don't ever let anybody tell you going to the grocery store is not a political experience.

When I drove into the parking lot, I noticed that everyone I saw, coming and going, was fat assed and talking on the phone. Now it's not enough to have a flip phone or an Iphone, now everybody's got a head set so they can talk every fucking second, hands free to multi-task. Three times I thought someone was talking to me, but no they were talking on their phones, but I felt like Travis Bickle, "Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?" I wanted to shoot someone before I even got through the door. Fat asses everywhere, probably size 4, fat asses. And a sea of bleached blond cotton candy hair. If you ever fly into Salt Lake, one thing you will notice is the uniformity of the fat assed blonds with three blond kids. I think it must be a requirement for entry into the Celestial Kingdom, that every Mormon woman has at least three tow headed kids roughly ten months apart. This helps explain the fat asses, I guess.

I got my gigantic cart and headed for the pharmacy to see if my psychiatrist had called in the higher dose of my antidepressant yet. And yes, yes she had. Now instead of taking one 50 mg. and two 25 mg. capsules. I now only have to take one 100 mg. pill. And as a bonus, my valium script was filled, even though I hadn't asked for it--guess my shrink was feeling guilty.

After picking up my drugs, I headed for the dairy aisle, picking up yogurt, sour cream, eggs, then the boat load of organic milk I combine with my espresso in the mornings. Grabbed some more espresso, and on to the meat aisle. I know it's stupid to drink organic milk and then grab a ham steak, but what the fuck--I told you grocery shopping is a political experience--we confront our choices with nothing short of anguish, and at the very least ambivalence. So now I headed for the produce department. This one always causes me some anguish, since I want melons and it isn't melon season. I want tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, and it isn't tomato season, so I know these items have been shipped half way round the world to get to me. I'll be lucky if they taste like anything more than exhaust fumes. But the tomatoes are on sale and so is the cantaloupe. Yes, I am calling myself a sucker, and worse, but my mouth is watering at the prospect of cantaloupe and cornbread for breakfast. Strawberries too. Sucker. At least the strawberries are in season.

Now I drift towards the back of the produce department where they keep spraying all the vegetables with a mist of water so that all the priced-by-the-pound produce will be soaked and heavier. Bastards! And I notice that the only other person checking out the vegetables is a woman roughly my age with her portable oxygen tank and her plastic tubes delivering a steady dose of pure, fresh oxygen directly to her lungs, I think, that'll be me in not too long. We are both lean as old smokers often are. She is holding an artichoke in her palm and studying it. I say, "I used to ask for artichokes for Christmas when I was a kid." She says, "I used to grow them in my backyard." And a conversation ensues that gives us so much information in so few minutes that it sums up our lives, our political leanings, our hippie youths, our hope for that feeling of commitment and passion to return to young people again. I didn't say who I was hoping to vote for until she said, "I sure don't want it to be Hillary." And I said, "I certainly don't want Bill back in the White House bored and looking for something to do." We laughed, she said, "Doesn't Obama remind you of Kennedy?" "Yes."

I got my Frankfurters and buns and went whistling and happy to wait in line for a checker. I will not check myself out, ever. It just gives those rat bastard capitalists the excuse to fire another minimum wage employee.

As I was unloading my gigantic cart of overprice crap into my trunk, still happy, and I nearly got run over by a redneck in a green pick-up truck with his windows rolled down and some hillbilly singer shouting a song about his mean, dark, killin' kind a love for his woman.

Hows that for insulting hillbillies, rednecks, crackers, and Mormon women, all in one post. Who have I not pissed off yet?

I'm In A House Cleaning Frame Of Mind.

I've been assaulted, lately, by disgruntled readers. My site is looking a little ragged from the fighting going on in the comments thread. I have early blogging friends (who now hate what I say, and how I say it) telling me I don't listen well enough. So, for awhile I'm just going to listen. I'll wash the dog's bed, work in the garden for a bit. Do a little writing off-line.

So, while I set my house in order, I won't be gone. I'll be reading you for awhile. You know I won't be able to resist commenting. I now understand what long winded is--I'll try to avoid falling in love with the sound of my voice. I'll listen to your music, follow your journey, live vicariously through you for awhile. In this mental house cleaning I'm going to learn how to link. I'm too dependent on the Administrator, that genius. He's going to teach me to link. Sounds kind of sexy. Bon voyage.

We, the Elites

With all this political correctness, let's start defining some of our terms, those special words we so like to fling around. Bluebery has been kind enough to give us the definition of the words "cracker" and "hillbilly." In case you missed it here it is again. "Cracker" means poor white. That's it folks. I think it carries with it the slight sense of the uneducated. Often poor whites don't get much education, since every hand that can do any work, is put to work. Often this means taking fairly young kids out of school to help in the farming or care for younger children, so an adult can get a wage earning job. Often poor whites remain somewhat isolated, and they see the "other" the stranger, the outsider, as threatening. Though the term "cracker" isn't necessarily a description of a racist, I have never know a cracker who wasn't a racist. K. has been equating my use of the word "cracker" with "racist," and in the since that the crackers in my family were indeed racist to their core, and completely unapologetic about it, that has been mostly my experience with crackers. My third husband's family was cracker to it's core. They were from the Ozark mountains, mostly from the area around Fayetteville, Arkansas. The third ex was the first in his family to go to college. He was an honor student where he got B. A. Degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for his Master's Degree at the University of Utah, and got his PhD in creative writing from the University of Denver. He is now the Chairman of the English Department at Southwest Missouri State University. He is not a cracker. He is not a racist. But the rest of his family, yes, they were crackers.

Next a word that K. likes to use as a mild insult, and something to be avoided, is the word elitist or elite. Dictionary definition is "to be the best in a society or category because of power, talent, or wealth." I would add education, but I believe that is implied, for the most part. Unless we're talking about our current President, who has a background of incredibly obscene wealth, he attended the best schools, and has the world's most powerful position. But to me this man is in no way elite. He is stupid, boorish, ignorant, foolish, a braying ass in every way--this does not make him seem elite.

To me the Clinton's personify the word elite. Bill's early years were difficult, but he managed to rise above it, to get the great education, and his ambition took him on the path to elected office as the Governor of Arkansas and then the Presidency. Hillary's upbringing was solidly middle class, but she managed to get a first class education, a law degree, as did Bill, and then she married a man as ambitious as she. They personify the definition of elite. They are very wealthy. So, back to the begining. Smart, well educated, top job, and rich, equals elite. This word is not an insult. But to be elite, and pretend you aren't is disingenuous. That's a nice way of saying it's a lie.

Barack Obama did not have any of the advantages of the current President, or the past First Lady . And just to make his path to the top a little more challenging, he is black (in case any of you hadn't noticed) and the child of a divorced, single mother and raised by his white grandmother. This fact alone makes his achievement near miraculous. He and his wife have recently paid off their student loans. But even Barack is elite. He is the best. Brilliant, well educated, gifted with intelligence, talent and eloquence. And with his great education under his belt, he became a community organizer. He wrote a couple of very good books. He was elected to the Senate, and now he is running for President. Despite the fact that he wasn't particularly well known (and is not taking lobbyist or big corporate donations) has managed to gain such enthusiastic support across the country, energized the first generation of young and first-time voters since the 1960's, and is poised to gain the nomination to run for President against the best know brand in the Democratic party since the Roosevelts. He is raising money from millions of small donors. And Senator Clinton is borrowing from herself to finance a campaign that can't raise money. This would lead me to conclude that maybe managing our nation's budget might be a challenge for her. Now I know Hillary isn't entirely responsible for every little decision that is made in her campaign, but it is her campaign. I think she has surrounded herself with second-raters--an ineffective staff, men and women with bloated egos and salary's to match. Why are the Clinton's having trouble raising money? All Bill has to do is give a few speeches and they are back in business.

I have said over and over that whoever gets the democratic nomination, will get my support and my vote. I should not have to say that again. I'm also allowed the right to express my thoughts, feelings, and words on the topic. This is my blog space. If you really really hate what I have to say, it's a great big blogosphere. Until we have a nominee, I support Senator Obama. To that end, I will keep on talking, arguing, criticizing his opponents, and I'm sure, in so doing, will enrage some of you. You are free to disagree with me, but not to be too disagreeable. So please, no comments longer than the post, OK? I welcome your comments and god knows, I'm long winded, but if your comment is longer than my piece, send it to me in an email, please.

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa

OK here we go again. I have called the voters of West Virginia crackers. Yes, I know. It was wrong. Just because 22% of West Virginians when polled, by a complete stranger, felt perfectly fine saying race would be an issue for them in the election, doesn't mean all West Virginians are crackers. Pollsters estimate that if 22% admit that race would play a role in their vote, probably translates more accurately to 40% give or take a few percentage point. I know every citizen of West Virginia was not polled--it was a sampling. But since my mother's family comes from small town Texas, and never hesitated to express their racism, and I have always thought of them as crackers, family yes, but crackers none the less, still it was wrong of me to paint my portrait of the fine upstanding hard working white citizens of West Virginia all as crackers. But to all those crackers out there, you know who you are. I assure you I am not black, but even if I were, it wouldn't be cool to send the clan to my house to burn a cross on the front lawn. Even so, I think Hillary went way out of the way to fashion herself as one of them. The unelites. The regular folks. White folks. Hard working white folks, just like them. Their kind of people--those hard working, hard working white voters of West Virginia, whose racial mix is 89.61% white, undoubtedly hard working, mostly at Wall Mart, or however you spell that store I'll never set foot in. They have a black population of 7.49%. Jesus, that's small by even Utah standards. I know the times they are a changing, but my god, how long will it take for even the most inbred, ignorant, white trash bastards to get the clue that it isn't any longer cool to proudly declare yourself a racist to perfect strangers? But to those of you living in West Virginia, you have my apology. it doesn't make me like or respect Hill and Bill, but if calling a cracker a cracker's a crime, I'm guilty.

Olbermann Earns Pulitzer

Keith Olbermann has been delivering Special Comments for a long time now and every time I hear him do it I worry that he will be fired, or that he will disappear--maybe to Gitmo or worse. But tonight was maybe his best. He usually brings me to tears with his courage. But tonight I share his sputtering horrified outrage at the stupidity at the President, who gave an interview and said that he'd "given up golf in honor of the sacrifice of our troops and their families." And Olbermann has footage of the President playing gold at another course several months after the day on the links when he had his epiphany that it would be a good idea to give up golf for the troops. Holy shit!

Attention Must Be Paid--This Is For You, K

Hillary started this race as the presumptive nominee from the moment she started thinking about running. When was that? Probably in the last few months of Bill's last term. They left office with huge debt, mostly lawyers fees. By the time she actually started the race for real, during her first term as a Senator, she was thinking strategically. She's female, and therefor needed to be seen as Commander In Chief material. Tough, hawkish. So she voted for the Iraq war resolution without even reading the classified material available to Senators. Mistake number one. Actually it's mistake number two for me, since she blew our chance at single payer national health care in Bill's first term. Whatever, just for arguments' sake, I'll let that go for now.

Then after it was obvious to everyone that the war in Iraq was a mistake, John Edwards stepped right up, apologized for his vote, and said it was a mistake. Since we are a forgiving nation, we forgave him. Hillary, knowing her vote was a mistake took months to admit that mistake. It was only in one of the late debates that, when pressed on the issue, she reluctantly said she wished she'd had a do-over. Not exactly an apology, but admission of a mistake. I'd give her half a point for going that far, but she was pissing me off so much by then, it hardly registered. For months she had been trying to wiggle out of taking any responsibility for that colossal mistake. She justified and rationalized and made a right sickening spectacle of herself as a stubborn woman unwilling to say the simple words, "It was a mistake, I was wrong, I apologize." Too little, too late.

Then she came up with the "3A.M. Phone Call" ad that reminded all of us older, film buff voters of the Birth of a Nation association with the Clan. Little white children asleep in their bed, mommy checkin in on them in the middle of the night, and the voice over question, "Who do you trust to answer the phone at 3 A. M.?" Not that scary black man, luring in the bushes, waiting for the chance to slip in and steal one of your precious baby's for God knows what....
If you are young and naive, you might think it was the "terrorists" her ad was referencing. But we older voters saw it for the racist crap it was. Terrorists do not strike a family in a middle-class neighborhood and steal the innocents. Terrorists blow up buildings in the middle of the day, so they can get big coverage on the news. They want all the world to see their work. It was sleazy ad, and cynical, and it was another mistake.

Hillary was so convinced her place as our nominee was inevitable that she and her campaign strategists did not count on her having to campaign after Super Tuesday. Well, not so fast, Hillary. The Clinton Machine did not take Barack Obama seriously. After all, they were the beloved Clintons. Who the hell was he, but an upstart, a nobody, a kid with a slim resume as a one term Senator, and a nice speaking style? Big mistake.

Then there were the lies. for now the only one I'm going to mention is the infamous, sniper fire raining down of the airfield in Bosnia, a place too dangerous to send the President. What the Fuck? There was plenty of file footage of that trip--Sinbad was there, Chelsea was there, no snipers anywhere in sight. She was met on the tarmac by a little girl with a poem to read to her and flowers to present. The was a greeting party. It was relaxed, leisurely. Plenty of press coverage. How stupid was that lie? And when confronted with the evidence, she said, "So...I made a mistake." How arrogant is that? It was not a mistake. It was a lie, told several times in several settings--early in the day, in a prepared speech, at a St. Patrick's event. And then Bill goes out there and says, the press is ganging up on her. "Poor Hillary! She is sixty years old, and she made a mistake late at night, exhausted. Just once. And the press is against her, bla, bla, bla."

And after her blow-out victory in West Virginia, with a population of poor uneducated, openly racist crackers, we have today, John Edwards endorsing Barack Obama, at a packed venue in Michigan. Game, set, match. it's over, babe.