Don't you hate when you go back and re-read prior entries that you have written and find you've inverted words in a sentence or repeated yourself? I feel like such a dumbass when I find I've done that and not caught it before I've posted the entry. LOL. Like I don't know English grammar or something. Sheesh.
Forget Jessica, this is an even bigger manipulation of the American people propogated by the Bush Administration and the Pentagon using the American Media. It's like a real life Wag the Dog. The whole story about bombing the bunker with Saddam in it in an effort to end the war before it started was completely fabricated! I think the American Public deserves the truth and clearly Bush & Co. are unwilling and unable to comply.
It appears there are now several reports of Gulf War Syndrome in troops that were in Iraq for the current conflict. This article details the claims of 4 British soldiers who feel that it is the number of vaccines they recived that is causing their syndrome.
Bob Hope turns 100. What a milestone! I can recall as a child watching his specials on TV. Since I'm 30, he was already in his 70s and 80s at the time. Pretty amazing, the longevity of his career. And even more so...the longevity of his life, reaching the century mark tomorrow.
It's still rainy...and now the Post is reporting about it. LOL. It's been an entire month since we've had a fully sunny day. And we've only had a handful of partly cloudy days. When will the rain ever end? Everyone has been bitchy for far too long due to the gloom. We need a break!
Not to mention I'm tired of bitchin' about the weather.
I was reading Salam Pax's blog and something dawned on me. I've not heard a peep anywhere in the US about collecting clothes, money, or any donations to help the Iraqi people. These folks need help--they need supplies. Where's Bush's faith based charities? Oh yeah, they want to spread Christianity, not give food, water and medicine to the people that need it. And after 9/11, I'm not sure I'd trust the Red Cross with monetary donations.
And since I just read this...more politics, LOL.
Seems the GOP is spreading their message in the media by composing letters to the editor under psedonyms. And Time, USAToday and others are falling for it. However, Tom Tomorow is on top of this story. Read it to believe it. And read his follow up entry too. The GOP has no shame, does it? Bastards.
Meanwhile I encoourage everyone to explore their options in terms of democratic candidates. Here a few of the candidates who've already thrown their hat into the race:
Howard Dean: Dean for America
John Edwards: John Edwards (for) President
Dick Gephardt: Dick Gephardt (for) President
John Kerry: John Kerry for President
Joseph Lieberman: Joe Lieberman for President 2004
Al Sharpton (no website)
Carol Moseley Braun: Carol Moseley Braun for President 2004
Dennis Kucinich: The Progressive Choice
Bob Graham: Working for America
Sometime I feel bad that all I blog about lately is politics. But unfortunately I am of the belief that this country has taken a major wrong turn since Bush took office. Therefore it has a profound effect on my outlook on life.
But let me try to write some stuff about me. Yesterday I went to Marlo Furniture and Hamilton Furniture in Rockville to look at dining room furniture and sleeper sofas. Saw a few things I liked, but nothing that I felt comfortable buying just yet. The big question I have is should I buy the cheaper sleeper sofa, or invest in something more expensive on the premise it will last longer? The other issue is I have cats, one in particular who will claw the thing to some degree even though I discourage him from doing so. So that tends to make me want to go with the cheaper variety. Maybe I should just look in the classifieds and go that route? I just dunno.
It's been confirmed by my neighbor that it is a raccoon that's been eating my Gerbera Daisies. She saw one on her deck the other night trying to get into her trash. Ain't that lovely? I did see a squirrel on my deck yesterday as well. The wildlife abounds, lol.
That's all that is exciting here on the domestic front. No wonder I don't write much about myself, LOL. :)
I wonder what Mr. Bush thinks of this study looking into the effectiveness of faith-based charities. "It's a surprising result," said principal investigator Sheila S. Kennedy, an associate professor of law and public policy. "All the political rhetoric beforehand was: Everybody knows faith-based organizations are better."
And it looks like Bush and Co. are now eyeing Iran as evidenced by this Post article.
As I said from the beginning....the Jessica Lynch story was pure Hollywood spin, used to rally the folks at home. Here's more of the real story uncovered. Could you imagine being this poor girl that the press used to spin their story?
Is the Fed really concerned about a further drop in inflation, or worse, deflation? Or is this posture more jawboning to keep long-term rates low, sustaining a mortgage refinancing boom and encouraging corporate borrowing? See Bankrate.com's answer. As I would expect from this administration, all is not what it seems. Nothing can be taken at face value. Always manipulating the American people. The question remains, will it have the effect they want?
A slimy spammer addresses a Senate committee alongside president of AOL as the committee weighs their options on anti-spam measures. Of course he's explaining how he's doing nothing wrong and how he gets around filters and such. Don't these spammers get it....if they don't reduce their numbers of spam, the internet could eventually come to a grinding halt (due to an overloading volume of email) and no one will get any email, spam or otherwise. Duh. LOL.
Sometimes life seems like a movie...and sometimes too much so..
Played hookie today since it'll be the last nice day for awhile since *gasp* the rain is returning. LOL. Spent it with a friend from college who just gave birth 6 weeks ago to her third child. Oddly I found spending time with her and the kids quite relaxing. It was just nice to spend time with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Even though our lives are quite different, we still can enjoy each others company. It was a day off well spent. :)
The more I read about it, the more I find the Bush Tax Cut irresponsible and beneficial to the well-to-do. Both by direct consequences and indirect ones. It's Reaganomics all over, but even worse. And the worst part about iit s both the Republicans and the Democrats do not want to appear to be against the President's plan and are following along with this dog and pony show wholeheartedly. We Amercans will be the ones paying for this debacle. And Bush knows it. So why do it? To eliminate every social program available, by way of making it impossible for us to afford them. Quite the Conservative Republican agenda. *hork*
The series of bombings in Morocco and Saudi Arabia are having a profound effect there, bringing about further disdain for al-Qaida in the Muslim world. I find it interesting that by hitting fellow Muslims, this terrorist group is alienating the very group it would claim it is fighting to preserve. I don't think I would have predicted either event...the bombing of fellow Muslims or the outrage produced by these bombings. Strange events abound these days. It would be quite interesting to see the Arab world uniting with the West to remove al-Qaida. The irony in that is splendid, yet appropriate. Time will tell.
I know I keep bitching about the weather, but look at this forecast! 7 out of 10 days there is rain forecasted. Uggh. Granted it is keeping the temps cool. But having to run my heat at the end of May is a bit strange.
Took Tabitha to the vet yesterday and everyone there wanted to know how Gee was. I think they are attached to the gray guy. :) Not sure how Tabitha felt about that. Especially since they shaved her rear (she has some sort of yeast infection). I don't think she was a happy kitty at all. LOL. Hopefully it'll clear up and she won't have a stinky rear anymore. Cats just love sticking their butts in everyone's face. Also the vet told her (and me) that she could use to lose a pound or two. The piggy is up to 13 lbs.
Speaking of the gray guy, here he is, myipping. That's my description of his squeaky voice. It's not really a meow, more a high pitched chirp. I told the girls at the vet's office about his little adventure the other week.
Now Gee is gonna jump up here and walk on my keyboard.n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n (that was Gee)
He types n's so well...with spaces in between, lol. Guess that is my first 'guest entry.' LOL.
Simply put...Matrix rocked. Granted that one Agent Smith scene was a bit much, but otherwise a great thrill ride. Definitely the escapism that I needed.
When is it ever gonna stop raining? Enough already. Pretty soon I'm gonna start building an ark. I already got two cats. ;) Of course they are both fixed so they wouldn't be useful for propagating the species, LOL.
The plan is to see the Matrix Reloaded tonight with some folks from work. I've read reviews that have said to expect nothing but effects....that the humanity of the first film has been lost.
Somehow that seems true of the world as a whole these days. Humanity lost. The black and white world of George Bush. "My way or the highway" mentality. "You are with us or against us." That whole spiel.
I miss the happier more carefree days. You see they weren't carefree. But they didn't seem quite this out of control and cut-throat.
Maybe the Matrix has evolved with GB2 to a less kinder and gentler nation. ;) LOL...
And this week we see that presidents sleeping with interns isn't a new concept. I can't help wondering why this woman didn't speak up sooner. Would her admission had any effect on the media circus surrounding Bill and Monica.
The ironic thing is when Hillary Clinton talked of a right-wing conspiracy on the Today Show, I thought her comments to be of a woman in denial. Today, I look back and see clearly that the right-wing was gunning to get back into the White House no matter what it took...including coming out on top in Florida. And I see that her comment may have been right on the mark. She may have had her eyes more open than the rest of us. For today, the liberal media is quite conservative and no longer up to the task of critiquing the actions of this current administration. And those actions are far more damaging and threatening to this country's security than Clinton lying about an affair with an intern.
In the Matrix, this would all not be real. Unfortunately, I doubt we are in the Matrix. Reality appears to be at hand.
I started taking Pilates again tonight. I hadn't gone to a class since the beginning of the year when the gym got really crowded. Finally things there have thinned out and the class is actually enjoyable again. And it was good to see that my ab strength is still intact.
Otherwise, work remains the same...pretty depressing. But my project is nearing completion so that is a plus. Even in spite of limited resources. But its that whole atmosphere of no money, no supplies and low morale that has me looking to find a new job. *sigh*
Yesterday I had a woman at the deli counter wish me a Happy Mother's Day. I nicely corrected her, saying that I wasn't a Mom. She said well, someday I would be. I often wonder if I will. Being perpetually single with relationships few and far between I wonder if the odds are stacked against me. I guess I could go the route of Match.com. But I see those type of sites as superficial and awkward....I dunno.
I use my experiences in college as my basis for that belief. The days just prior to the world wide web....from 1990 to 1994. We had a VAX/VMS system with bulletin board/message board style interactions. One board in particular, 'Cheers', as in the bar in Boston ala TV land, was a place college students met for distrubuting jokes and meeting others. I recall some of those folks I met as being less than stable and in some instances scary. Others were merely harmless lonely people. But it's often hard to differentiate the two simply via email.
On the flip side, maybe I'm just a wuss. Maybe I should give it a try. However the folks I know who have tried it ended up with guys they met offline rather than online. The biggest challenges lies in simply meeting people. (Guys in particular)
It's been a rainy week here, with not much going on. Quite a change of pace from the last few weeks. And here it is the weekend and another thunderstorm is rumbling through. It's tough to get the lawn mowed when it keeps raining. And of course it keeps rapidly growing with all this rain. Hopefully Brian can get it mowed before he needs a machete to do it instead.
Now that I have my house, I've found myself contemplating looking for a new job. Things at my workplace have been sketchy and morale has been low. So I've been mentally preparing myself to update the resume and start looking. It's just hard to put yourself into a job market you know really sucks. *sigh*
Today will be my first day back at work after my week long vacation. It was so nice to not think of anything work related for a whole week. And even nicer was the beautiful weather we had during that time. Apropos, today and most of this week, it will rain. Of course that will make it that much harder to get my brain to return from vacation. Rainy weather always makes me sleepy.
Gee escaped from the deck last night. I went inside for two minutes and in that time he leapt down to the little piece of fence below. Mom and I dashed down to retrieve him, but we had trouble getting him down. Then he leapt/fell onto the woodpile and we were unable to grab him before he darted off. After several near misses (under bushes, cars, etc.), we lost sight of him and were unsure of where he ran to. I called and called for him, but no Gee. Later a neighbor knocked to say he spotted him. And the pursuit began again. And still we were unable to catch the little bastard. He'd stay still until you got close and then he'd run.
After talking to the neighbors for about 15 minutes, I returned to my house and there he was waiting at the front door. (Before I was afraid he'd get lost, now I know he's a quick learner in terms of knowing his surroundings.) Of course, he started to run away as I approached him. So instead of chasing him, I opened the storm door and latched it open enough for the cat to get in. Then I grabbed Tabitha and brought her upstairs so she couldn't join Gee outside. When I returned outside I didn't see him anywhere nearby. But within a minute Brian called out that Gee was in the house acting as if he had done nothing wrong and had never been gone. Just within those two minutes he entered the house. He wanted to come in, he just didn't want to be hauled in by me.
So the escaped 'con cat' (rescued from Lorton Prison) turned himself in. But now he's on indefinte parole and won't ever be left unattended on the deck ever again, LOL. ;)