Get Rid Of Majority-Minority Seats

"If Barack Obama's rise teaches us anything, it ought to be this: It is insulting to voters of color and white candidates alike to cordon off specific districts as belonging to one race or another."

Get rid of majority-minority seats
BY DAVID BENKOF

Friday, August 29th 2008, 4:00 AM

Now that Sen. Barack Obama is an even-money bet to be the next President, the concept of the predominantly minority district needs to be reexamined. If districts carved out to represent blacks and Latinos retain any meaningful role in today's democracy, then every state in the country (except Hawaii and the District of Columbia) is essentially a "white district," and my preferred candidate, Sen. John McCain, would deserve an overwhelming 531-7 landslide in the Electoral College this November.

If, on the other hand, we are moved by Obama's call for the nation to transcend old racial fault lines and accept the basic principle that people's voting preferences are not to be confused with their skin color, then it's time to ask: Why are so many congressional seats still designed on that assumption?

Contrary to popular opinion, predominantly minority districts are not a result of the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act. Instead, they were mandated by the Supreme Court in 1986 in Thornburgh vs. Gingles, which interpreted the Voting Rights Act to outlaw "dispersal of blacks into districts in which they constitute an ineffective minority of voters." The assumption, which has been completely valid at earlier points in American history, was that white voters would be loath to vote for a minority candidate, and special districts were necessary to ensure that people of color could be elected.

Contrary to popular opinion, predominantly minority districts are not a result of the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act. Instead, they were mandated by the Supreme Court in 1986 in Thornburgh vs. Gingles, which interpreted the Voting Rights Act to outlaw "dispersal of blacks into districts in which they constitute an ineffective minority of voters." The assumption, which has been completely valid at earlier points in American history, was that white voters would be loath to vote for a minority candidate, and special districts were necessary to ensure that people of color could be elected.


Due to the Thornburgh decision, the number of majority-minority districts after the 1990 census redistricting went way up, leading to a sharp increase in the number of African-Americans and Latinos in Congress beginning in 1992.

That, for advocates, was a victory - of sorts.

But Obama's success makes it clear that most Americans believe leaders of any race can effectively represent constituents of any race. In fact, there has been electoral evidence of that fact for decades. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, more than a dozen African-American mayors like Norm Rice (Seattle), Wellington Webb (Denver) and Tom Bradley (Los Angeles) were elected in large majority-white cities. Govs. Doug Wilder (Virginia) and Deval Patrick (Massachusetts) have been elected in majority-white states.

Further, some African-American members of Congress, like Harlem's Charles Rangel and Los Angeles's Maxine Waters, were elected and reelected to majority-black seats that have evolved with changing demographics into predominantly Latino seats. In 2006, white New York City Councilman David Yassky ran a competitive race to succeed retiring African-American Congressman Major Owens for a majority-black Brooklyn seat.

Then there's Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who was recently renominated 4-to-1 over an African-American opponent in a majority-black district in Memphis. If most black voters in Memphis are happy to be represented by a Jewish white guy, what exactly is the point of black districts?

To find out, I asked another Jewish white guy who represents a majority-black district: Missouri State Sen. Jeff Smith (D-St. Louis). In addition to being a legislator representing a district that is 55% African-American, Smith is a talented political scientist at Washington University who has done research on race and politics.

"Some black scholars such as Lani Guinier and Carol Swain have noted that there are nonlegislative benefits to black representation," Smith told me. "For instance, each acknowledges the psychic benefits black voters may derive by being represented by people who look like them."

But voting rights are the very essence of our democratic system. The idea that the American government should fiddle with our voting system out of an impulse to relieve the psychic distress of one demographic group is patronizing and unnecessary. The nation's electoral system should not be involved in relieving psychic discomfort.

Smith went on: "When I ran [in 2006], there were some who said that I shouldn't aspire to represent this district. I was not deaf to the calls by some in the black political community that this should be a black seat. However, my view is that the seat should go to the person who works the hardest, knocks on the most doors in every part of the district, and espouses ideas that appeal throughout the district."

If Barack Obama's rise teaches us anything, it ought to be this: It is insulting to voters of color and white candidates alike to cordon off specific districts as belonging to one race or another.

Barring a Supreme Court decision, it will take an act of Congress amending the Voting Rights Act in order to get rid of the racial dinosaur known as the majority-minority seat. That would be legislation well worth pursuing.

Benkof is a Ph.D. student in American Jewish history at New York University. He can be reached at DavidBenkof@aol.com.

Fun Video Updates On The Kitties

One video I was not able to capture was Sunday morning, right after my shower. If you have a slow drain you'll appreciate this story. First KC is obsessed with the bathtub. She's rather smart and listens well but always goes back. I tell her "no no" or "get out" and she does. Well that morning as I was toweling dry I hear SPLASH. KC belly flopped right into the very big back up. I thought I was going to see a cat leap straight out of the tub. NOPE. She just stayed there. Then all her legs sprawled she tried to figure out how to move. And finally she left. Monday after my shower she was right back to trying to get in the tub. She must like water.



This is what they looked like about three months ago


Here's Sadie today getting herself in a jam



And here's a little bit of Leo and Sadie

Vagina Or Penis I DON'T CARE

I wasn't going to post a political piece today but because there is speculation that McCain will state his VP pick I feel it is too timely not to say these things here and now.

There's a lot of chatter this morning on the news that he is going to pick the Governor of Alaska. A woman. WHOOP DEE DOO!

I know that there are many groups out there that have their main focus being gender and race. It's short-sighted in my opinion and I don't live by and with those values and never have.

I plead ignorance about this particular politician and until I learn more about her I won't know if I am happy with her as his pick, if indeed it is his pick, or not happy with her. What is her experience? What are her values? I know that she ran on an anti-corruption campaign and that Alaska has a lot of ingrained problems with corruption in their legislative and executive branches of government. I at this time, know nothing more.

As I am staunchly opposed to Obama for the lack of his character in addition to what I believe is a lack of experience and completely opposing values to my own and as such have posted authors who share my thoughts and values about Obama to illustrate my viewpoints, I need to know more about McCain's VP pick.

I'm still backing McCain for this election, but it doesn't mean I support his VP choice. I know if he chooses this woman, his main reasons are because she is a woman and he wants to be smart and pick up the disenfranchised Hillary supporters. But that is NOT a good-enough reason to vote for or choose someone.

I've never cared about what someone looks like on the outside. And I never felt the need to see before my eyes someone "who looked like me" to feel I was represented.

Living in NYC for 17 years, amongst so many peoples and races and religions and COLORS, I can tell you that to me what feels visually normal is all the various ethnicities I see each day. And I don't even realize this until I leave NYC and see mostly "non-ethnic people", which jolts my system and makes me feel much like Dorothy when she says, "Toto I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Because when something feels normal to you, you just don't think twice about it.

When I grew up I didn't think about this either. Only after moving to NYC when I was first confronted with the issue of race from a young black man I was working with who told me to watch any black men that walked into the store to make sure they didn't steal ( I was appauled and told him so BTW), did it make me even stop to think about all the kids I went to high school with and their last names and what they represented. I don't think any of us ever gave one thought to our last names or ethnicities. We were just friends.

There is only one time I can honestly think of where race/religion was an issue in my young life. A family moved in down the block from me and I being the friendly kid that I was knocked on the door to ask if the boy who lived there wanted to come out and play with the rest of us on the street. YES in THOSE days you could do this safely. His father didn't want him to come out and play with us.

Later on while in school that boy, who was about 11 or 12 maybe, and one of his friends snickered at me in the lunch room as I walked by, "JEW" as if it were a dirty word. And if you must know, although personally I don't think it should matter, the last name of the family was of German decent (Schnieder). Funny enough they lived next door to a family that was half Arab and half white and American on the mother's side (Farah) and they didn't have any problems playing with their kids. Hmmm

But I never really thought about that until today. It never left a lasting impression upon me because the overall experience I had was that those of us who chose to be friends, just were friends. Race just didn't play any part in our lives EVER.

It's not about to play a part in my life now either. Nor will gender.

A penis and vagina serve the following purposes only: to urninate, to procreate and have pleasure and to birth babies (for the vaginas, for all you smart asses out there!)

Not My Grandpa!

Cause we need some fun on my blog for a day or two :-)

One Of My Favorite Writers: Lenore Skenazy

I love the stuff Lenore writes!!!!

THE LESSONS WE'VE LEARNED FROM A YEAR OF STUDYING GUYS AND DOLLS (AND GUYS, AND SOMETIMES BABIES, AND AT LEAST ONE THREE-YEAR-OLD) IN POLITICS


If it's a choice between believing a politician and the National Enquirer, go with the one that also features celebrity cellulite shockers and dirt on Rosie O'Donnell.

When a politician says he did not have sex with "Person A," it's because he doesn't yet realize that there are photos. And a wiretap. And a guy from the National Enquirer.

And sometimes a receipt.

Also "Person A" is blabbing to half the world and keeps cashing campaign checks.

You don't have to be a young woman to be a powerful man's mistress.

Sometimes, you don't even have to be a woman.

Men in power choose their paramours by proximity, peroxide, or payment method. Or by whoever's in the next stall.

If a politician isn't getting fat, there may be a reason.

It's hard to hear any politician talk about moral values without wondering, "Is that the same shirt he was wearing yesterday?"

When a politician says he has been forgiven by his family and God, ask yourself, "How would he know if God really forgave him?" Then ask yourself that about the people standing next to him on the podium with their teeth clenched.

If there were a law that would allow us to remove the offending husband from office and swap in his wife or grown daughter, we'd all relax.

We don't like a guy more if he likes his doll less.

LESSONS OUR LEADERS HAVE LEARNED THE HARD WAY (SO TO SPEAK)


You take your socks off. You put your condom on.

If you're going to have sex with a woman of childbearing age, she just may.

If you're going to have sex with a man, he won't. Doesn't mean the public will be a whole lot more understanding.

Just because you're blind doesn't mean other people don't see you.

Avoid hotels between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Once you get a $400 haircut, no one really trusts you again.

People will remember whatever you said about "that woman" a lot more vividly than they will ever remember anything about your clean coal bill.

Two heads are better than one. Two families, no.

When making a Web video to advance your presidential aspirations, it is prudent to edit out the giggles.

If you're going to admit your indiscretions, admit them all at once, so there's less footage for YouTube.

If you're going to proudly declare yourself a gay American, do it before you're caught with a member of your same sex and no pants.

Pay cash for everything you shouldn't be paying for at all.

If you want to keep your lovechild a secret, don't try to get out of a ticket by telling the cops that's who you're off to see.

When you say, "If you want to beat me up, feel free" — they will.

If you're going to admit to an affair, do it on the day the Olympics start.

By the time you are hiding out in a men's room, all bets are off.

By the time you are hiding out in an airport men's room, all belts are off, too.

Carrie's Friday Foto Finish Fiesta

I love when they sleep and cuddle in some way together.

Don't forget to visit Carrie's Blog today for other great photo fiesta photos!

And don't forget to visit my other posts today!

Fun post one.
Fun post two.

Hillary Please Run As An Independent

Here's my call to action for Hillary Clinton:

In your speech the other night, you asked your supporters if they did this for you or for the issues. I now pose this same question back to you. Mrs. Clinton, with all due respect, you are banking on a bankrupt system of your party. You are counting on the party to exist in four or eight years so that you can run again.

Have you not listened to Mr. Obama's own words? Over and over he says and gets others to chant CHANGE. He wants to CHANGE America. CHANGE IT. Change our country. The Constitution of our great nation has been in existence since September 17, 1787. Mr. Obama has the AUDACITY to use theatrics as if this were a Broadway Show to supersize himself as the person who has the moral authority to CHANGE our rich and righteous history and change America.

Smoke and mirrors is what magicians use to hide ILLUSIONS. That is what we saw tonight. Lots and lots of smoke and mirrors to hide what does not exist.

We are now reduced to electing a President like it's another episode of American Idol!

It has NEVER been our value system to believe that ONE person can or should control that much power.

So Mrs. Clinton, did you do this for yourself or the issues and people you talked about at the convention this week? If indeed you ran for President because of the issues and people you spoke about rather than your own personal interests YOU WILL RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT and challenge Mr. Obama and Mr. McCAIN.

I BEG OF YOU for the good of our great nation and for all the wonderful values we have always held, RUN for the highest office and save our great nation from this man. THE SILENT MAJORITY HAS HAD ENOUGH.

Free At Last

[direct transcription from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Speach]

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹



I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.



And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

¹ Amos 5:24 (rendered precisely in The American Standard Version of the Holy Bible)

² Isaiah 40:4-5 (King James Version of the Holy Bible). Quotation marks are excluded from part of this moment in the text because King's rendering of Isaiah 40:4 does not precisely follow the KJV version from which he quotes (e.g., "hill" and "mountain" are reversed in the KJV). King's rendering of Isaiah 40:5, however, is precisely quoted from the KJV.

³ At: http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/free_at_last_from.htm

Here's A Change We Can Believe In!

Pro-Obama youth should be careful what they wish for
Thursday, August 28th 2008, 4:00 AM

The sea of young people we'll see cheering Barack Obama's speech in Denver Thursday night is just a tiny slice of a nationwide movement. According to a recent poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, Obama leads John McCain by an astonishing 23 points, 55% to 32%, among voters younger than 25.

It is easy to see why. Obama is young. He seems to brim with hope and optimism. He "gets" 21st century culture. In contrast, John McCain is old, very old, and more than a little bit cranky. Heck, he's even unfamiliar with the Internet.

Yet if you look at the policies advocated by the two candidates, Obama's appear almost perversely designed to hit those young supporters in the pocketbook.

Looking at how voters in one state repeatedly voted against their economic interests, one political scientist asked, "What's the matter with Kansas?" With respect to young voters and Obama, we might pose this question: "What's the matter with kids today?"

Take health care, for example. Obama supports an idea known as "community rating," a requirement that insurers must charge everyone the same premium regardless of their health status. That means young and healthy people will pay the same premium as older and sicker people. Essentially, those high premiums on young people will be subsidizing the premiums for older people.

Moreover, Obama would prohibit low-cost, high-deductible policies, and would insist that every insurance policy include all sorts of costly benefits. These regulations will, on balance, make it much harder for young people just starting out in their first jobs to afford insurance.

No government program treats young people worse than Social Security. Social Security taxes are already so high, relative to benefits, that the program has simply become a bad deal for younger workers, providing a low, below-market rate of return. In fact, over the course of their careers, many young workers will end up paying more in taxes than they receive in benefits.

Worse, the program is facing future unfunded obligations in excess of $15.3 trillion. This means young people will face either massive future tax increases or benefit cuts when it comes time for them to retire.

Yet Obama - who just a few months ago took justifiable pride in his willingness to keep all options on the table - now opposes both benefit cuts and allowing younger workers to privately invest even a small portion of their Social Security into personal accounts that can build value over time.

Medicare's anticipated future debt is even greater, an astounding $70 trillion by some estimates. Yet Obama not only opposes most Medicare reform proposals, he actually wants to increase benefits under the Medicare prescription drug program. That is yet another cost that will be passed along to young voters.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, unless spending is brought under control, the federal government will eventually consume as much as 35% of our GDP. Paying for a government that size would require raising both the corporate tax rate and top income tax rate from their current 35% to 88%, the current 25% tax rate for middle-income workers to 63%, and the 10% tax bracket for low-income workers to 25%. The impact on workers, businesses and the economy at large would be catastrophic.

Far from restraining the growth of government, Obama is proposing program after program of new spending. According to the most recent tally from the National Taxpayers Union, he has laid out $343 billion per year in new government spending.

Yes, Obama may end the war in Iraq sooner than John McCain - but there is no end in sight to these other federal spending commitments.

Barack Obama has brought millions of young people into the political process. He has given them belief in a better tomorrow. He owes them something more: policies that will actually make our fiscal future more secure.

Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute

UPDATE: I am not going to let any posted comments that do not stick to the topic of issue. And I also will not let commenters post links to other places. If you can stick to the actual article I'll post your comments. Also when posting and making claims that information is false please provide the actual fact to the supposed falsehood. Otherwise you're just trying to post your opinions on my blog as your own blog post. No go here.

THIS is an Obama Supporter And One Of Many Reasons I Am NOT

I received this very emotional and personal and nasty response to my reply to this person's comment on my "Is This The Change We Need Post." I will write my comments in red and leave the commenters comments in black for you.

THIS IS WHY THIS SO-CALLED NEED FOR CHANGE IS A BIG LIE!

You aren't the only one with several vocations because of your so called administration[Now who is making assumptions as to why I have so many jobs. I wrote why I have 3 jobs. But you seem to have super powers and know better about why I do then my own listed reasons. With that talent I am surprised you aren't rich and can't afford to put gas in your own car. Hmmm] . I was working hard on several jobs when you were still urinating and defecating [NICE YOU KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH..SUCH ANGER FROM SOMEONE WHO CLAIMS THEY WANT CHANGE...YOU KNOW THE KIND OF CHANGE THAT DOES NOT WAR MONGER AND ONLY PROFESSES PEACE. YEAH RIGHT! HYPOCRITE.] on yourself so don't profess to know me, my political view, or my critical thinking processes simply because you saw my avatar and assumed I was black[YOU CHOSE YOUR AVATAR. IT'S A BLACK WOMAN WITH DREADS. AVATARS ARE CHOSEN TO REPRESENT US IN SOME WAY. IF YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO MAKE THE CORRELATION THAT YOU ARE BLACK WOMAN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND CHOOSE ANOTHER AVATAR. ALTHOUGH I DON'T SEE WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH BEING A BLACK WOMAN. I KNOW YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS FROM YOUR OWN WORDS YOU LEFT ON THE BLOG COMMENT. I DIDN'T WRITE THEM!], therefore stupid or "super ignorant" as you called it

[WHAT I WROTE WAS THE FOLLOWING IN REGARDS TO BEING BLACK AND YOUR AVATAR"HOWEVER I do see from your avitar that you are black. So maybe you'll take a look at another black person's perspective that I listed today via a youtube video." At no other point before this did I make mention to your race or ever tie in any of my comments to your race. So you just prove with your own words that you indeed are very ignorant and lack critical thinking. And you are that way because that is who you are, not because of the color of your skin. NICE TRY ON PLAYING THE RACE CARD ON ME.]

you thought you would be able to run all over me, but alas you were wrong dead wrong. You need to learn how to think outside the box and not make so many assumptions young lady. [Thanks for calling me young. HA! I love it. ]

Oh and you had to take it to a personal place. You are the worst type of racist. You claim not to "give a rats ass" about color, but that is all that is really important. You are the one that lacks any semblance of critical thinking because you lack the ability to debate a simple topic and not become defensive, [please note this writers/commenters remarks which call me all kinds of names and go back to my post and comments and read the words I used. Then decide who made it personal.] attacking everyone who does not share your views. I thought you might have been intelligent because of the topics you discuss on your blog, however, had I just read your comments I would have known how you treat guest who disagree with you I would have kept it moving. I can agree to disagree without acting an idiot [COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!] a skill you should develop!

So pjazzypar thank you so very much for doing most of my work for me today, outlining the emotional outburts and personal attacks with your potty mouth to illustrate the core supporters of Mr. Obama, the man who professes we need to make changes and be peaceful. Words are so empty without the proper actions behind them.

Your one-mindedness is appalling and I actually feel sorry for you because their is only one opinion is your world YOURS!!!! [well on my blog I do write my opinions] good luck on your so called journey and by the way, WHAT COLOR IS THE SKY ON YOUR PLANET???:-)Now I am off to work. You are not the only one with a job. I was working before you were born. SEE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Good argument. as if I can do anything about when I was born or the fact that you had to work at all, which seems to really piss you off. If you want the government to hand you money and not work please take a small boat ride to Cuba where you will learn what your ideology brings you. I have lived next door to Cubans who fled and I have had to listen and watch the tears as they tell/told me their stories. So I say go see for yourself.]

UPDATE:

Here's another respone I got from that nasty messed up person who doesn't know the difference between a personal attack and nasty words and honest debate.

Again I will respond in red. Perhaps I should start including definitions from the dictionary, although I doubt that would help because one of the sites listed on HER site talks about redifing everything in this country to fit the BLACK definitions. NOT MY WORDS...their words!

I know, I know, and the Rupublican administration has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Fine. You are the one who dragged race and intelligence into the conversation. [ No hon, I did not do that. You did. Almost your entire site does too. I answered your comments with facts. I spoke to the words you posted and your avitar. I never made any mention to race having anything to do with intelligence. YOU DID THAT. You wrote that I implied you were stupid because of your race. I replied you are stupid because that is what you are and that it has nothing to do with your race. You are unintelligent and your nasty words which I call out stand to show that.

This nonsense of showing how mean, racist and ignorant people like you are and then trying to call people like me racist has GOT TO STOP!

I merely answered the question that you posed and because I did not agree with your take on Obama and his right to worship where and with whom he chooses. [That's not what you said. But hey, when you scream all kinds of accusations and then try to make this about how I am going to go tit for tat down the line of addressing each and every one of your sick psycho rants rather than the real issues, you can surely confuse most people as to what you did or do not say. Seriously who could keep up with your ever changing story.]

I get personally attacked first of all for being black[never did I attack you for being black. show me the exact words that I attacked you for being a person who is black!]

which has nothing to do with anything because Obama has millions of white supporters. Further you tried to insinuate that I was not a member of the working populace [again you propose that you are a mind reader. I did not isinuate that you do not work. those words never were written here.],

Wrong Again!You my dear are the worse kind of racist [takes one to know one]

because you are one who actually does not believe they are racist. You may have one or two so-called friends of color who you parade around when needed [wow you know who all my friends are? are you stalking me now? BTW I don't choose friends based on race.],

but you don't really know the meaning of friendship, humanity, or dignity. These are traits that are acquired through understanding and fellowship. [oh yes and I can see how friendly, human and dignified your comments are...as you even attacked another posters here calling him a "suck up" because he doesn't agree with you. HYPOCRITE]

Listening to what people have to say, without attacking them because of race, gender, religious afilliation, political afilliation, etc.Since you chose to take all of my comments out of context. [REALLY, hmm do you even know what out of context means? Because I posted all your words from your last comment and this one too. AND I left your first comment up for others to read and even directed them there.]

Anyne who wants to read what I really said please do go back and read my unedited comments, that is if Ms. Lauren here has the guts to let you decide. [I never took them down, but am already being accused of things...typical of left-wing nut radicals and Obama supporters...g-d help us if he becomes president]

However being the hypocrite she has shown herself to be today, I'll bet she deletes them! Either way the blog author attacked first [NOPE I answered you without any name calling and even explained to you about how our government is set up. The FACT that you didn't know that is pretty ignorant for someone who is middle aged and has been working for longer than I have been alive, as you so put it. But I guess facts are not allowed in your world!]

and I never back down from a challenge. And as for my mother, I kindly asked that you leave her out of it. [Further proving your ignorance -- you don't even understand basic phrases and all this while all you want me to do is either not say what I want or agree with you, thereby stopping me from my free thought and speech and then attacking me and trying to call me the racist. YOU must have taken a very long hit of acid.]

This is about me and you [no this is all about you] and possibly that "suck up" D.O.M. because whoever that is, they haven't seen issues.

Dialogue

Someone sent me this link. I thought he was interesting and had some very important and interesting things to say when it comes to race relations and white guilt. I may not agree 100% with this man but DIALOGUE is a good thing and he brings up some very important ideas that whites have not been allowed to say. Too much dialogue has been closed in our present climate and for DIALOGUE sake I am posting this today.



Now if you think this man is radical and wrong about what he says about how Blacks in Black Churches think and you are troubled in any way by my posting this video then I ask you to take a look at this site I found today by way of another commenter who came and attacked me. It was a small web I had to weave to get to this site today. SADLY!

It's is horribly racist against white people. That would be me in that person's eye. Sadly all they see is color. It goes against every fiber of my being and values and I will to the day I die write about it and speak out about it. It is WRONG! Martin Luther King Jr. most be crying in heaven.

Thomas L. Friedman Wants US To Be Like China

Mr. Friedman, you must be joking!

When writing about the recent olympics Friedman states that "No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work."

He goes on to compare our two countries in this way:
"China has been preparing for the Olympics; we’ve been preparing for Al Qaeda. They’ve been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And we’ve been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees and pilotless drones."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? WE ARE NOW BEING LECTURED AS TO HOW GREAT CHINA IS COMPARED TO BAD BAD AMERICA THE BULLIES WHO SPEND STUPID AMOUNTS OF MONEY ON DEFENSE AGAINST A MOVEMENT THAT WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD AND THE CHINESE ARE THE GOOD GUYS! I MUST HAVE DROPPED ACID AND STEPPED INTO ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

And to add insult to injury states this:"Then ask yourself: Who is living in the third world country?"

Friedman admits that if you drive an hour outside of Bejing you'll see the dirt poorest of the poor but in the major cities of China, he believes they are more spectacular than our cities and more innovative.

Yes Mr. Friedman a society that jails its citizens when they sign up for a permit to protest the taking away of their property in order to build all these spectacular things you mention, can quite easily muster every dollar possible to make their biggest cities the tallest and cleanest etc etc...I'd rather have a little less spectacular and the freedom to live, work and speak as I please without fear of never returning.

Is This The Change America Needs?

Also notable, Obama's relationship with Rezko which started 18 years ago.
Rezko, who is now in jail, came to this country from Syria to study in college, has strong ties to the National Of Islam since being in this country.

HUH?

Holy Snapping Duck Do! I just got a bajillion whiny emails saying I have not updated this since the Clintons were in the Whitehouse... You would not believe how much more of a drama I could make that. Unbelievable.

I am totally and utterly flat out with waiting for a fine young gentleman to propose, selling my soul to Google, just generally being Snow White to every man and his dog, my day is long and tiring from 8am to well after sun-down. I am beyond drunk most of the time. deal with it.

I won't promise anything to you but if one more person emails me to ask why I haven't posted today I will start posting pictures of toe fungus, or fecal murals. You wanna test me? Assuming I don't get distracted by counting my chest hairs..

Confused? Click here.
OH and you can thank Lady Banana for this post.

Why Humanity Must Come First!

Gypsy had a post asking us what we thought was more important regarding this recent olympics being handed to the Chinese. I said at some point humanity has to take precedence over any other argument.

Here's why:

The Chinese government is terrorizing my parents for practicing Falun Gong
By Shuangying Zhang

Sunday, August 24th 2008, 4:00 AM

The Olympic sailing events were in my home province of Shandong, but I just can't bring myself to watch them. It's not because of anything the athletes have done. It's because of what the Chinese authorities did to my parents as the country "prepared" for the Games.

On July 17, I phoned my parents to say hello. There was no answer. I kept trying; still, no answer. Finally, I called my brother and he told me the news: They had been detained after 20 policemen broke into their home and found materials related to Falun Gong.

This isn't the first time that my father, a retired physics professor, and my mother, a secretary, have been arrested for associating with what the Chinese communist regime claims is a "heretical organization" that's a threat to its supremacy. My parents have been practicing Falun Gong since 1995, when people were performing its exercises in thousands of parks across China. They picked up the discipline quickly, inspired by the energy they got from the exercise routines and the spiritual fulfillment they gained from its other teachings.

The Communist Party feared Falun Gong's popularity was a threat and banned it in 1999. Overnight, my parents' lives were turned upside down. Over the last nine years, they've been detained again and again. I haven't seen them in more than a decade because I can't go home and they aren't allowed out.

In 2001, they were each sentenced to a labor camp for three years. They had no trial, no lawyer and no opportunity to defend themselves. Their freedom was taken away. Intensive sleep deprivation, beatings, hard labor and brainwashing classes became their daily reality.

Luckily, they came out alive. Many other practitioners, including a young man who was at the same labor camp as my father, have not been so fortunate.

So, when I heard last month that they were arrested again, you can imagine what was going through my mind. Each call home since has brought more troubling news. First, security agents confiscated thousands of dollars of computer equipment and cash from their home. Then, my mother had a stroke in custody. It paralyzed the left side of her body. The police agreed to release her, but only after my brother paid them 10,000 yuan (roughly $1,500 U.S. dollars).

When she got out and went home, she couldn't get in - because the police had changed the locks. She stayed at my brother's house. Then on Aug. 5, the police tricked her into coming to the station for paperwork and arrested her again. Now she and my father are both in a detention center, facing the very real prospect of being imprisoned for years, where they will likely face slave labor, electric batons or worse.

My parents aren't the only ones. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, over 8,000 Falun Gong practitioners throughout China have been detained since last December.

To some Americans, this may seem like an exaggeration. And indeed, China is not a country where it's easy for anyone to get independently verifiable statistics on matters like this. But I believe the numbers. Just among my parents' friends, eight other practitioners have been arrested.

Over the past nine years of persecution, my aunt was jailed in a labor camp for three years, as was my uncle. My cousin, her husband, and my sister-in-law each spent 18 months in a labor camp. They have been monitored, harassed, beaten and shocked with electric batons.

Now my parents are facing this fate again, and for what? For doing things we take for granted here: reading religious teachings, doing yoga-like exercises and downloading information about human rights from the Internet.

So as you watch the splendor of the Olympics closing ceremonies and see the China the Communist Party wants you to see, please remember the China that millions of people like my parents see every day. And add their quest for freedom to your thoughts and prayers.

Zhang is a registered nurse who has lived in the United States for 14 years. She lives in Queens with her husband and two sons.

It's Kitty Genovese Again!

This time it's Ebony Garcia.

If you don't know about the Kitty Genovese murder let me start by telling you that I live pretty darn close to where that happened in the 1960's.

I don't know about you but I was raised with the principles that we are supposed to learn from our history. But all over the world, all the way down to the local setting, I am witnessing repeats.

The psychology of not calling the police for the Genovese murder was explained to me this way and I suspect it played a huge roll in Garcia's murder this week.

The make-up of the neighborhood was mostly non-native Americans. No I am not talking about indigineous people, I am talking about immigrants vs people who were born here. Why is this important? Well, in most other societies/countries the police are not trusted. The police in those countries are to be feared. They are completely corrupt and often will bring more misery upon you then offering help. If you come from a country like that, you are much less likely to trust the police here in your new country. In other words, old habits die hard. It's ingrained in these folks to not trust.

So while the killer of Genovese followed her, stabbed her, she fled and screamed for a LONG time and got away from the killer. No one called the police. This gave the killer time to catch up to Genovese and finish what he started.

This week in 2008 history has repeated itself. I'm saddened but not surprised. There's too many correlations between both women's neighborhoods. Non-native Americans from countries where the police are not to be trusted. And no one called the police until it was too late.

Culture Of Permissivism

I rarely if ever find myself in agreement with Stanley Crouch but this week he writes about lowering the drinking age and low and behold we share some thoughts about this subject. BLOW ME DOWN!

When I was in my 20's I agreed that the raising of the drinking age was stupid. All the studies showed that most of the drunk driving offenders, statistically, were either under 18 or middle aged men. But Tipper Gore was on a crucade. And funny enough, wasn't it HER son who is now around 30 that was pulled over recently because he was smoking pot and driving like a maniac.

Now about that for a second. I have smoked pot and I have no idea how you do that and drive fast. The fact that he did that makes me very suspicious of his motor skill talents. But I digress.

I never understood how you can accept 17 and 18 year old kids into the army and require the boys of that age to sign up for a draft should there ever be one yet tell them they can't drink a beer. It's just stupid.

But our society has changed. Parents have become demandingly permissive and the mental maturity of our younger people have become stunted.

Crouch says in his article:

"parents even get in the game by demanding less pressure on their children."

And then he states how parents are "befuddled by the behavior of their spoiled kids."

"The current mind-set is that if a child doesn't like something, it should be changed to fit his lack of understanding, his impatience, his laziness."

With that last statement he is 100% correct. As someone who began babysitting other's children at the tender age of 12 and at one point became a nanny to help pay for college I watched this mindset prosper before my very eyes.

Today we see shows like Super Nanny. Nanny Jo comes to the home of some pathetic couple who has no control over their own children and cannot understand why.

Nanny Jo is making a lot of money because we spent the last 30 years letting our own emotional baggage change the way we raised our own children.

When I was 18, 18 year olds were more mature and ready for the adult things in life, although not nearly as mature as our parents were when they were 18. Today our 18 year olds are for the most part stunted emotionally and completely lack critical thought processing skills.

Case in point: they can't see the difference between Russia crossing borders into Georgia and the U.S. invading Iraq. So let me dumb it down for all of you folks who fall into this catagory:

Think back to your playground days. You're sitting on the swing with your friends having a good day playing. The big bad bully comes along and decides he or she wants your swing. It's not good-enough they had their own swing on the other side of the playground. Your swing is closer to the building which means that when recess is over you and your friends have a shorter walk to the lunch line and get the better tator tots.

So bully comes over and pummels the shit out of you and your friends.

THAT'S RUSSIA!

The next day when the bully is on your swing set and you are in the infirmary a new group of kids come over to the bully and tell him or her that what they did wasn't nice or fair and that they won't play with him or her until the bully gives the swing back to the kids he or she beat up.

THAT'S Europe!


A few weeks later you [the kid that the bully beat the shit out of] gets out of the infirmary and the bully is still sitting on the swing he or she took away. You [the kid that was originally beaten up] goes up to the bully, says nicely that he needs to give your swing back. Bully laughes and kicks you. You smile at the bully and then proceed to trampel the bully with every muscle and fiber of your being until the bully has broken arms and legs and blood spilling from their mouth.

All of your friends and you go back to your swing and protect it from any other possible bullies.

THAT'S THE UNITED STATE of AMERICA.


Sadly however too many younger folk don't understand this at all. They can only see the correlation between two people fighting and nothing more.

Do we really want to give young people who don't or can't understand this difference the legal right to drink alcohol and further impair their judgement?

I propose the following: if you choose the college route you have to wait until 21 to drink legally. If you choose to go into the army and risk your life for your country, after 6 months in the service you are given the right to buy alcohol. 'Nuff said!

Not convinced? Read about Russia's bedfellows here.

Truly Righteous Woman

The Hebrew word for righteousness is tseh'-dek, tzedek, Gesenius's Strong's Concordance:6664—righteous, integrity, equity, justice, straightness. The root of tseh'-dek is tsaw-dak', Gesenius's Strong:6663—upright, just, straight, innocent, true, sincere. It is best understood as the product of upright, moral action in accordance with some form of divine plan.
In the Book of Job the title character is introduced to us as a person who is "perfect" in righteousness. This does not mean that he is sinless."Perfect" in this sense means that his righteousness permeates every relationship of his life as his working principle. After all, righteousness is a matter of relationships - with God, with things, and with other people. The biblical definition of righteousness involves the inherent quality of God. God is right because He is righteous, therefore God can only act righteously. In one instance the word means being right; in another it is used to mean doing right; in still another case it means putting right. Job qualifies as a righteous person on each of these counts, so much so that he is commended by God as "wholly righteous" or, translated into our terms, "perfect."

Righteousness as it is understood in the Old Testament is a thoroughly Hebraic concept at variance with the common understanding of the term. The failure to comprehend its meaning is perhaps the most responsible for the view of the Old Testament religion as legalistic and as far removed from the graciousness of the New Testament.

Freecycle Rocks

I heard about Freecycle through a colleague of mine last summer. If you have never heard of this service you are really missing a treat. Freecycle is a way for local people to connect to give away items they no longer need but are still in good condition. You can also post for things you need and wait for people to contact you.

Sometimes the things you see are really mundane and personally I think to myself why would anyone want that item. But the person who told me about Freecycle got a brand new washer and dryer this way. She said it was used a couple of times and they gave it away. I don't remember the reason why the poster was giving it away. My colleague's juicy find for sure.

About a month ago I decide to join. I had to give away some large item I don't have room for and wanted it gone fast. And boy did it go fast too!

A couple of days ago I posted a request for a computer chair. The one I had, which is now in the garbage, was 17 years old and a chair I had with a desk I bought for college 17 years ago. I don't even have that desk today and the chair was a cheap plastic piece o crap! One of the wheels kept coming off no matter what I did. I would often come home and sit in it to post a story on the blog and fall right on my ass.

DROWSEY! STOP LAUGHING!

Today I got my new chair. FREE. Its so nice too. I could never afford a leather chair like this one. I know there are nicer ones out there but this is pretty darn comfy and the price was right! Ok the photo is sideways but I haven't put photoshop back on my computer yet...so turn your head to see it properly please. ;-)

Sen. Joe Biden Erases Israel - Bonus Video At End Of Post

"The road to peace between Israelites and Palestinians is not through Baghdad, but ironically, the road to be able to negotiate real peace has to first settle the situation in Baghdad."

On the surface it appears harmless. Now it's time to have a think!

Here's what Susan Shelley has to say about this:

Senator Joe Biden, Democratic candidate for president, spoke at a synagogue in Des Moines Tuesday and said this:

"The road to peace between Israelites and Palestinians is not through Baghdad, but ironically, the road to be able to negotiate real peace has to first settle the situation in Baghdad."

Did you catch that shift in terminology? Senator Biden referred to the Israelis as "Israelites."

Why?

Probably because Senator Biden wants to appear even-handed and impartial in the conflict between Israel, which is a sovereign nation, and the Palestinians, who are a group of people seeking their own sovereign nation on land won by Israel in a war. The war, incidentally, was started by neighboring countries who were trying to destroy Israel.

If Senator Biden were to refer to the conflict between Israel and "Palestine," he might be accused of pre-judging the outcome of a negotiation that is far from concluded.

So he has come up with another way to appear even-handed in the dispute: he has called the Israelis "Israelites," a term that carries the connotation of an ancient historical people who live on the land, just as the Palestinians live on the land, although the Palestinians are not an ancient historical people unless you consider sixty years to be ancient history.

Do the Palestinians have the right to a state? Do the Kurds have a right to a state? How are these questions to be decided, and once decided, are they subject to eternal reargument whenever any group uses violence against the state that was created?

Is a sovereign state presumed to have the right to its own existence, or does every claim against that sovereignty have the presumption of validity when accompanied by violence?

Israel is a sovereign state.

The Palestinians are a group of people who freely elected a government dominated by members of Hamas, a terrorist organization that campaigned on a promise to destroy Israel.

Is it morally right to take a neutral stand in the conflict between them? Is it pragmatic? Or is it an endorsement of terror tactics as a means to a political end?

Senator Biden may have it exactly backwards. Instead of peace in Baghdad leading to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it may be that terrorism against Israel has served as an instruction manual for terrorism against the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, not to mention New York.

It may be that even-handedness in a conflict between a sovereign government and rocket-firing terrorists is an American form of suicide bombing.

If so, Senator Biden's words might as well be a backpack full of dynamite and ball bearings. He verbally erased the sovereign state of Israel by calling the Israelis by a name that makes them sound like wandering Jews.

Is it possible that Senator Biden merely misspoke?
He's the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
It's likely he knew exactly what he was saying.
And now, so do you.

Frienship Email From Mom

None of that Sissy Crap

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?
Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship. You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card- Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.
1. When you are sad --I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.
4. When you're scared -- we will high tail it out of here.
5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!!
6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.
7. When you are sick --Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.
8. When you fall -- I'll pick you up and dust you off.
9. This is my oath...I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask -- because you are my FRIEND!

Friendship is like peeing in your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

This Yankee Fan Had Fun At The Mets Game Last Night

OK at the risk of Joe AKA Da Old Man telling me I am not a true fan I will start by saying I don't really know that much about baseball and I really hate watching it on tv. It's so boring on the television.

BUT going to a game is another story. It's exciting and fun and I LOVE it. With that said I root for the Yankees over the Mets any day. There's just something about them that I always loved. BUT I am a NY girl and if the Yankees aren't in the game I am going to cheer for the Mets. Subway series ...YANKEES!! YANKEES!!! YANKEES!!!

My friend Jae was generous enough to give me a fantastic ticket that her step dad gave to her for last night's game against Atlanta. Those bumbling idiots made so many errors and the game was pretty darn exciting.

The Mets fans are pretty luke warm cheerers compared to us Yankees fans. Hmmm.

The first thing I noticed was that it's easier to get to the stadium and even walk around the outside of the stadium and find your gate. The fans are less roudy for sure.

It's not a game unless you get to eat a dog. So I made Jae stop and let me buy one before we took our seats. And even before that I asked if we could go to the diamond club and take a photo so that I could razz my father for being able to be there while he was in Florida, where he lives and obviously could not. He LOVES the Mets. He cannot understand how both his kids cheer for the Yankees.

I bought my foot long dog and Jae kept cracking jokes about "havin' a big one" and I could not stop laughing. I also bought a water.

Now if someone could please tell me why they remove the cap from the bottle and don't let you keep the cap I'd really like to know. It seems so incredibly stupid and I hated the idea of having to carry an open bottle of water and worry about spilling it etc...

Jae had 4 seats total and one of her co-workers took two tickets and brought his cousin. We, the old ladies that we are, razzed the heck out of this kid Mark and his cousin Robert all night.

Mark is a babe of 21 with gorgeous eyes and eyelashes I am jealous of and think no man should be able to have over a woman. GIVE EM! Apparently as Jae tells me, at work they call this kid "Crash" I heard a (not so) funny story about him on some piece of equipment running into a lightbulb!

Crash has a Yankee rivalry at work with some guy with a thick Indian accent and this guy is always telling Crash that the Mets are BOOOSHEEET! So we screamed that at him alot.

Robert -- well his escapade that night gives new meaning to telling someone to "get me a beer and dissapear!" We didn't know where he went but he was gone a long time. Then Crash gets a call on his cell. The Mets security threw him out for giving a light to some smokers.

Long story short. Robert gets the pity of another fan with an extra ticket. Finally around the 7th inning gets back in and finds his way to us. We learn that the guard didn't catch him smoking, only giving a light to some hot girls...and what guy could resist that right? The next thing he knows his arm is being grabbed and he is being yelled at and having his ticket taken.

But he made it back in and with a beer in hand. I teased this poor fella who didn't know me at all ...grabbed his beer and took a sip. You should have seen his face. He told me he would have gotten me one if I wanted. HAHA!

Well I don't know what was in me that night. Jae asked what was in the dog I ate. :-) But I was just full of energy and having so much fun and I just got into everything. I was cheering, and dancing and laughing loud and hard.

(YES that IS me you are hearing.)

There was an older couple sitting behind us. And when the game was tied 4/4 and it was getting up there in the innings I heard the wife make comments about her husband bitching to leave early instead of staying. It reminded me of my father wanting to beat the crowds. So I turned to the wife who shared a few funny moments with me earlier on and laughed and said "OH BOY I thought I left my dad in Florida." And she and I giggled at his expense. Husband didn't like this too much. I felt like I was going to get scolded. And he did a little but wife and I kept laughing at him.

So then husband says to me," I have been listening to you laugh all night. "

OOOOPS! I am thinking he is going to be mean to me now.

But instead he says, "I LOVE YOUR LAUGH! Has anyone else ever told you what a great laugh you have. I bet you have heard that a lot."

I turned red. So embarrased. I put my hand over my mouth and shook my head no.

Wife says to me, "Every time you laugh you make my husband laugh. He loves your laugh."

So well it was a fun, eventful and exciting game. The company was great and I could never say thank you enough or properly. But well THANKS Jae and Bernie for the ticket!

OH WE WON!

Carrie's Friday Foto Finish Fiesta

Double Take!

How Boyish Or Girlish Am I?

I was over at Lady Banana's blog where she posted this fun quiz. Here's where I came out on this topic.

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

I Helped Bring This Child Into The World

Not So Wordless Wednesday

How cool is this? I bumped into a recent client. This little baby was born in January.

It was really neat to see how big she got. It was nice seeing the mom and how well both were doing.

I love my work and I am so blessed.

You Have To Be Carefully Taught

You have to be carefully taught (click on link before commenting please)

From the musical South Pacific written in 1949:

You've got to be taught To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught From year to year,
It's got to be drummed In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

How Big The Kitties Have Grown

Can You Guess Where And Who Said This?

NO CHEATING and using google or other search engines!


"The plight of Muslim rebels will not be solved by giving them land, or letting them rule themselves. In fact, it will only heighten their troubles."

“On the national level, bipartisanship usually means Democrats ignore the needs of the poor and abandon the idea that government can play a role in issues of poverty, race discrimination, sex discrimination or environmental protection”

"The leader of Croatia, its president, Franco Tudjman, was a Holocaust denier."

Saddleback Opinions

I write this as I watch the Saddleback forum live.

Here's my feelings and impressions on what I have heard thus far:

Senator Obama has wonderful rhetoric to say...he spoke in very idealistic ways and very lawyerly. This attribute makes for a great spiritual leader but that isn't the job he is applying for.

Senator McCain is actually giving answers to the questions.

With all the hype from the Obama camp about "Change" the only candidate I see showing real change from the status quo is Senator McCain who is answering the questions with details, instead of side-stepping and giving flowery and inspiring answers.

Now to Senator McCains answers themselves. Thus far I have to say I firmly disagree with his views on abortion and the supreme court. He's just plain wrong. PERIOD!

I will NEVER understand why any polititian feels they have any right to legislate any law under any branch of the government that will NEVER EVER EVER affect their life in any way shape or form, for the good or for the bad. Whether I terminate a pregnancy or decide to marry a woman will NEVER NEVER NEVER affect another person's life but my own. It can never hurt another person.

With that last statement let me just say right here and now that if ANYONE comments that I would be hurting a baby I will delete that comment. I will and that's the law on this blog.

Having the procedure to terminate a pregnancy is and never will be something any woman, be they young or older ever makes quickly or lightly. It stays with each woman for the rest of her life even if she has decided that it is not a life and goes ahead with the termination of that pregnancy. She always lives with the what ifs and no one but that woman can ever know what that feels like and who are YOU to judge that person. If you are a Christian (which I am not) then by the word of your g-d follow his words "Judge not lest ye be judged" and live your life to your own accord. But do not think you will use MY BLOG to come and preach your judgement and hate by accusing me or another woman of killing babies.

The bottom line is that what I do in my bedroom and my body is my own to decide. And what I do with my body is a medical decision to make with my doctor and my g-d and no one else!

With so much happening in the world today and so many problems in our own country that do affect each and everyone of us, these particular issues should be taken off the political table and the politicians should be embarrased to be talking about them.

One of the comments I respect the most came from Senator McCain when he spoke about how we should never have been told to go shopping after 9/11 and that what should have been done was been told to give service around the world (paraphrasing) thereby continuing to show the world just how great we are as a people and nation. While stating this is one of our greatest failures McCain prefaced that even with that failure we still do this better than any other nation on earth...give of ourselves and help others who are less fortunate than us.

When Senator Obama answered this question, he made similar comments but his ideology was that we don't do this and that he needs to save us as a people to get us back to this kind of society. He is very very wrong. And he forgets to put our country in context with the rest of the nations on this earth and that with that juxtiposition we ARE the greatest nation in giving and helping.

If challenged on that last issue I will go and get the stats on how much % we make up in the worlds population and just how much we give and where...although I truly hope you don't make me do that. It's a lot of work that you can google yourself.

"We have our flaws and failings but we have the most unusual experiment in history and I am proud to be a part of it." -- McCain

"I believe America's best days are ahead of us." -- McCain

Look, it's no secret who I am NOT voting for this election. But I write to show you my process. ONE of the BIGGEST problems I have with Senator Obama is how he directs his speech. It's manipulatively clever in that is almost sounds positive but is really poison. He and those that follow him are directly destroying the hearts and minds of the American people. Anyone who practices in the holistic arts knows that this is all you need to do to destroy the entire body and in this case the body is our nation.

While I ferverently disagree on the issues of abortion rights and gay marriage rights with Senator McCain, over all ,his message is the more positive, the one filled with more positive energy, even in disagreement he is more positive.

There is a book I just started to read by Larry Dossey, M.D. "Be Careful What You Pray For...You Just Might Get It". In this book he talks about the power of words and intent. Sadly most humans are pulled to the negative. But I ask that you have an open mind to this subject and really examine the words and intent in Senator Obama's answers and honestly compare them with the intent of Senator McCain's words and answers and answer honestly to yourself which has the most positive message to give us.

What Not To Sleep With...For The Ladies

I found this clip over at this blog. If you thought I HAD SOME MOUTH...this person actually puts that potty mouth right in the title of their blog.

So I Am Back

What a crazy week. Lot's of crying and pleading but I did get a new computer. It's faster and seems easier to use. In total it cost me $700 with the data back-up from the old one...which is still being done at geek squad right now. So I still have none of my files.

I have to load many programs back onto this new computer. Hopefully that won't slow it down too much.

So many news stories I am dying to write about. I even received a cowardly anonymous comment from my post on that idiot Gordon Brown. And to boot that commenter was just wrong. Does that person have the intellectual honesty to say who they are and where they are from so we can at least have an honest debate? At this point in time no.

I watched the president of Georgia LIVE today. Boy did that brave man give Europe hell. Good for him! I'll have to get the YouTube or transcript and post it here. Forgive me for the moment as I am really tired from all the running around this week and lack of computer at my fingertips until tonight.

Basically (and I paraphrase completely) he told Europe that they are full of shit and they they laughed at him when he warned them that Russia was planning this invasion and shoved him off and now at the very least they are reporting that around 3000 civilians have been murdered by this Russian invasion and occupation.

I'm just wondering where the same people who scream bloody murder about us being in Iraq and the amount of soldiers who have been killed (about the same in 3 years as those CIVILIANS who were just murdered by the Russians this week) are right now? Where is the outcry because I don't hear it. I barely see it in the media in print and the coverage on television is just a few minutes here and there about this conflict that is currently happening. I guess swimming and medals sell more products than barbaric murdering of people and overrunning a country unless it's when you believe it's the United States fault?

Is it just that these same people only give a shit when there is some manipulative reasoning that American's are to blame, and that it really isn't the innocent murder of civilians, burning of their homes and raping of their women that disgust them but just Americans having a presence somewhere on the map other than in America????

Well I need to make my rounds. See you soon.

May The Designer of The Computer Virus Antivirus XP 2008 LOSE HIS BALLS

I swear I hope an elephant finds and smothers the bastard and that he first chews the balls of the person who designed that virus and spread it around and makes him eat it first.

Perhaps they are just lonely little geeks who cannot get laid and are angry at women and therefore they create these virus'??? Because it is single women like me who get screwed the most. We don't have many geek friends to help and our incomes are usually less than men and certainly less than those in couples. So when something like this happens it's harder to manage and fix.

The end result is that Geek Squad told me the hard drive is dead. They refunded some money and are trying to back up data for me in the next few days so that I don't lose all my files. Hopefully that can be done. I have to buy a new computer. And all I can say about that is thank g-d for mom and dad lending me the cash.

I have a busy next few days with some clients who hired me and running from one job to the other which won't allow me time to get to the library during their hours for checking the blog. I will try to be back online by Sunday evening. Hope you will continue to come around and wait from my comments back.

Thanks for ALL your support. It really does help!