Looks like the website is back up and running. Something happened on the provider's end that screwed things up and had it inaccessible to me for a few days. Aarggh!
I haven't been blogging much for a variety of reasons. Part of the problem is I'm so frustrated with the redneck mentality in this country. The mentality that what happened in Abu Ghraib was somehow okay because we're fighting terrorism. My anger and disgust is so great I doubt I could do the subject justice it deserves.....so instead I'm going to rant and get it out of my system.
How the fuck are we fighting terrorism by torturing people? How the fuck is humiliating and raping innocent people fighting terrorism? 70-90% of the detainees are freaking innocent of any wrongdoing. Ah...but they are Muslim (read into that: different from us), therefore thay hate this country and therefore they deserve what they get.
Isn't it lovely....hatred and bigotry still exists. The ole "My God is better than your God" meme.
Can't we all get along? People are people after all.
Now I hear Depeche Mode "People are People" playing in my head..... *sigh*
Time flies when your having fun....or when you're shopping, LOL. What's with all the 80s crap coming back. who wants to wear the same mini skirt you wore in 6th grade when you're 31???
Saturday we bought some sticky tiles for the basement and yesterday Brian took the initiative and cut out three feet of carpet along the length of the back of the house.
We decided to get rid of this piece because in the one corner by the litter box Gee would occasionally go outside the box, unfortunately. Also the center part would get wet occasionally from water coming in over the sliding glass doors when we would get rain that beat against the back of the house. It wouldn't come in every time it rains, but even getting wet occasionally is a problem. And we can't seem to find where exactly the water gets in. Mold and cat pee is not a pleasant smelling combo.
Removing the offending piece has already improved the smell of the room. Yay! Brian swept up all the dirt and debris left behind. Now the area is ready for applying the sticky tiles. That will probably be next weekend's project.
Life of an Octopus: A Drama and Love Story
*sniff*
If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again. I'm terrible about email. And sometimes, I'm beyond terrible. Sometimes I get in such a pissy ass mood or am just too plain tired to respond properly, so I just don't. Especially if the response requires more than a few sentences, LOL.
I'm a bad friend via email.
Sometimes I wonder why people post their IM conversations that 9 times out of 10 are of no interest to anyone other than the two people who had the conversation.
Anyone have any new music to reccommend? Anything 'off the beaten path'....I tend to like ecclectic stuff. I'm looking to buy some new music CDs. In the meantime I'm browsing my favorite lyrics website.
I've decided that I'm prejudiced against prejudiced and ignorant people. So what does that make me? ;)
Tabitha and Gee just had the nastiest cat fight, or at least the loudest. Both cats were under Brian's computer chair. I suspect Brian ran over Tab's tail with the wheel of the chair and that set her off on Gee who had the misfortune of being next to her. I had to run down the stairs after them, yelling like a banshee to get them to separate. Poor Gee lost a small clump of fur when Tab got a piece of him.
Gradually, a year after moving in, I begin to meet more of my neighbors. Granted, one of those neighbors moved in during late fall/early winter. But the others I don't think I even saw them in passing. Do they just hide in their houses? Or is it me doing the hiding, LOL.
The recent events in the Iraq have hit a new low with prisoners being tortured and abused by US soldiers. The whole thing makes me sick. This prison holds people who have committed crmes ranging from petty theft to acts of terrorism. Using some extreme measures on known terrorists is one thing, but on children and women or petty criminals who have no info to give??? Using them on old women...grandmothers even? Are these guys a bunch of sick fucks????
As someone said to me in conversation last nights, these types of tactics are used to break wills and put fear into a population. What happened to winning over the hearts and minds of the Iraqis?
What a disgrace!
This from today's NY Times:
WASHINGTON -- Hoping to curb fallout over the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners, President Bush will conduct interviews with two Arab
networks Wednesday to tell the Arab world that the abuses are
"shameless and unacceptable,'' a White House official said.
Is he really going to call the abuses "shameless"? Shouldn't he call
them "shameful"? Or "disgraceful"? As opposed to referring to them
as "without shame"? Imagine Al Jazeera translating that quote, LOL.
My latest wildlife story starts with the sound of drilling in the early morning hours of Saturday. Only it wasn't a drill I was hearing but a woodpecker right next to my house. Well, sort of.
I saw the bird climbing down the side of a large tree off my yard. From my window I could see it had a black blotch on its chest and a red swatch on the back of is head. So I did a few searches and found that it is what's called a Northern Flicker, more specifically of the Yellow-shafted Flicker variety. It is in the woodpecker family. To see one go here.
All I know is that thing pecking at the tree was pretty freaking loud. Woke my ass up. LOL. ;)
I spent another lovely day outside gardening. I planted Verbena in my flower boxes on my deck and then I worked on the back garden planting some unnamed orange flowering plants--unnamed because Home Depot failed to label them and I don't recognize what they are. My three irises in the back are all ready to bloom. They must get more sun then the others or something.
Most of my azaleas are blooming, though I have a few stragglers that should be blooming within the week. One of my azaleas changed colors this year. It was lavender last year and peachy pink this year. Perhaps the Miracid or the top soil I added to it changed the pH causing the color change. At least it was the one in the middle--the ones on either side of it are still lavender.
I noticed the other day that someone planted a tiny tomato plant in my front garden. I'm assuming it was my next door neighbor. While I like tomatos, I don't appreciate one being planted without my permission in my front garden. I was planning to just remove it and put it in a pot on my deck. My mother thinks I should ask my neighbor if she planted it there and give it back to her.
What the hell do you do about a neighbor planting stuff on what is clearly your property??? How do you indicate nicely that you'd prefer to decide for yourself what should be planted there? And if I'm not mistaken, our HOA does not allow vegetables to be planted in the front yard! LOL.
I vowed that I would blog about the March...so here I am. LOL.
Much of my time spent on the mall was getting nametags for all the members of my delegation. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't had this job simply because I didn't get to listen to many of the speakers, nor did I get to talk to many of the out of towners beyond small talk while getting a nametag filled out. A couple of the morning speakers I did get to hear were Hillary Clinton, Lynda Carter, and Cybil Shepard.
Once our group did get to march, it was impossible to stay together because there were just SOOOOO many people. As someone said, it was more like a shuffle than a march because you could hardly move. It was amazing. Women from all walks of life, men and children participated. I was actually thrilled to see as many men participating as there were. I even saw a pregant woman marching with her belly bare with "My Choice" written in big letters on it.
After marching, my nametag duties were complete, and I actually did get to relax and watch the program. The most poignant moments for me was hearing from those who lost a loved one to a botched illegal abortion. Having them stand beforte the crowd telling their stories meant more than celebrities dragging their kids on stage. LOL.