It's morning somewhere

On the Oscar thread at Eschaton, The Kenosha Kid brought our attention to this blog entry at:(parenthetical remarks)

I was visiting Metacomments and Thersites had a link to a dating service. He found it at TBogg. I thought that was pretty cool, so I decided to let my readers see what's available, at least on this particular dating site.:)
Thersites actually pointed to this one in particular. There are several typos in his intro. Call me crazy, but I would be willing to bet $5.00 that this fellow really believes in bush's push for Social Security reform to benefit Wallstreet (aka Wallstreet Welfare).

A Day in the Life of the Homeless in America
...The family sleeps in a single room, its walls bare and windowless, its cracked concrete floor crowded with plastic storage bins and three mattresses: one for dad, one for mom and daughter, one for the three young sons. Fluorescent lights will flicker on at 6 a.m., to start their new day. This room in an old red-brick factory-turned-shelter in Chicago is home for the Torres family.

They consider themselves lucky to be here. They have a warm place to stay. They have three meals a day. And they have each other. The family is among an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 people who, on any given night in America, lack a real home...

I feel for these people. When I read about their problems and hard times, I feel lucky to be working. I sometimes wish I had millions and a large amount of land on which I could open up a huge house to let the homeless get a new start from. Unfortunately, I don't have money or land.

I was talking with a co-worker one day about Vietnam and Agent Orange. I told him my cousin came back from being exposed and died at age 32. My co-worker had the audacity to tell me that Agent Orange never caused any health problems. He had been there and he was fine. I told him that perhaps he hadn't been exposed as much, or perhaps his genes were factors.

Vietnam Looks to Win Agent Orange Law Suit
...Agent Orange, named after the color of its containers, is blamed for nightmarish birth defects in Vietnam where babies appeared with two heads or without eyes or arms. U.S. veterans of the war have complained for years of a variety of health problems from exposure to the herbicide...
...It is unclear whether the Vietnamese plaintiffs will succeed, but there are precedents in a 1984 agreement by Dow and Monsanto to pay $180 million to U.S. veterans. The U.S. government has refused consistently to discuss compensation...

" "You can't trust Republicans with taxpayers' money - borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend," he said. "
Dean Comes Out Firing in Kansas

This week, I called my sister and we talked for a bit. I told her I would come over and ride horses with her, today, Saturday morning. I got up late this morning and then got on the computer. About 2:00pm, I turned on my cell phone and found a message from my sister. She said she had been waiting for me to come over and go horse riding, but my phone line had been busy all morning. OOPS! I called her back and she said to come on over. I changed my shoes, jumped in the car, and headed over to her house. We bridled and tied them to her horse trailer, curried them to get the dried mud out of their hair, threw the saddle blankets and saddles on and went for a ride. The horses are sisters. They are really sweet creatures. My sister has had them since they were 1 & 2, so they're like pets to her. She is trying to get them to stop racing. We were gallopping along and each try to beat the other. When we got back to her house, we unsaddled, tried to dry the sweat off them, and took them to their pasture - then unbridled them. She gave them another hay bale and some grain. Those horses are really beautiful. They keep the weight on during winter as she keeps them well-fed.

My sister, Oldwhitelady's Sister, asked me to put these pictures on my blog. The top picture shows 3 cats. The bottom picture shows 3 mammals. Can you tell what they are? 

Good read for Saturday morning. Charley Reese - Don't be Spun by the Spin
...Lest you be spun by the spin, note that he comes home with only one tangible result – an agreement by NATO to assist in training Iraqi forces, and a tepid assist it will be. Two of the NATO countries have agreed to supply one man each. Nearly all of the training will take place in Europe...
People reading this article would find plenty to think about. I wonder if it will be in my daily paper? Tribtalk has had some doofus call in about Charley Reese. The said doofus complains about Charley and how he should be removed from the lineup of opinion pieces published by the Tribune. I can't remember if Charley's been published in the paper, lately, or not.

2.4 Million Veterans Will Pay New Fee
...Those targeted are in priority categories 7 and 8, meaning they are neither poor nor suffering from service-connected disabilities. Half of the 2.4 million used the VA health system last year.
I think this is pretty funny- in a sad way, because the government still hasn't accepted a lot of cases concerning Gulf War Syndrome.
...The Bush administration proposed the enrollment fee to hold down costs. The VA committees rejected another Bush proposal to raise co-payments on VA-filled prescriptions for these same priority 7 and 8 veterans...
We can spend billions killing off Iraqis, but our fighters get to pay more for their own health fees.

I found this at Presurfer's blog. According to the page Every person is at a different point on a different highway of life. Where are you?
As we cruise down the highway of life we come across many metaphorical destinations, some good some bad. Our individual personalities lead us all down a different path. Let this magical personality test tell you where you are headed! Just punch in your name and soon you will be rolling past the roadsign of your life. Don't forget to drive carefully! What are the towns on your highway? Be sure to drop in and visit them all, because life is a journey that we should all cherish. Peace!

Still tired... 

Liberals keep rolling out a scrolling series of attacks on Gannon for their Two Minutes Hate, but all their other charges against him fall apart after three seconds of scrutiny. Gannon's only offense is that he may be gay.REPUBLICANS, BLOGGERS AND GAYS, OH MY! - This is by Ann Coulter. Of course, she bashes Liberals in this article. In reading her statement above, I question why she brings up "Two Minutes Hate", however, I guess she should know all about that term as she sure pours on the hatred of Liberals in most everything she writes.
Jeffraham Prestonian writes about this article on his blog Adidas in Heat. Here's an excerpt:
Ann -- darling -- it's not about teh gay; it's about teh whoring. It's not even about that -- it's about "How did this non-journalist get into the White House briefing room, when thousands of Americans can't even get within 100 yards of the Preznit at a public rally?" Making this a gay issue is like accusing someone of not liking blacks, simply because they point out that Condi Rice is incompetant to the degree that to her, as NSA, a PDF titled "Bin laden Determined to Strike In U.S." is merely "historical."
02/25/2005 a good blog post to read about this The Rude Pundit

Reports Question Blair's Steps to War
LONDON Feb 23, 2005 — Two politicians demanded Wednesday that the government release a copy of the advice Britain's attorney general gave Prime Minister Tony Blair that underpinned his decision to join the U.S.-led Iraq war.

The demands came after The Guardian newspaper and Channel 4 television reported that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned the government in a written report on March 7, 2003, that an invasion of Iraq could be deemed illegal.

Blair's government has refused to publish this document.


I find this pretty interesting. Let's see if their media makes much of it? Someone certainly needs to do some questioning - on both sides of the pond.

Words: 1000
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 1786
Male Score: 1815
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Weblackey over at Toyblog linked to this Gender Genie. She said her entry showed as male, too.

I was visiting Upon Further Review and JRH indicates he "Gizoogled" his blogsite. I looked at it, ran back to my blog and looked for "Tha Shizzolator" because I had added it to my reference links sometime back. Well, I was shocked (shocked, I tell you) to find it (Tha Shizzolator) was one of the links I missed replacing when I lost a lot of them and didn't have a current backup of the source (I do, now). Anyway, I did add the "Gizoogle" link to the Reference links as well as "Tha Shizzolator". I wonder if they use the same source code.

Ummm.. that's some good water. 

Since I have to work late (overslept this morning) I won't be able to add anything for awhile, today.

I was looking at Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches and this one caught my eye:
February 01, 2005
What They’re Not Telling You About the “Election”
The day of blood and elections has passed, and the blaring trumpets of corporate media hailing it as a successful show of “democracy” have subsided to a dull roar.

After a day which left 50 people dead in Iraq, both civilians and soldiers, the death toll was hailed as a figure that was “lower than expected.” Thus…acceptable, by Bush Administration/corporate media standards. After all, only one of them was an American, the rest were Iraqis civilians and British soldiers.

Continue reading "What They’re Not Telling You About the “Election”"

Don't forget to make your bed, else, THIS HAPPENS. 

The Freethinkers over at Eschaton are planning a convention for September. All the information, so far, as gathered and entered by chicago dyke, NYMary, and Vicki into the blog EschaCon 2005. I'm adding this link to my template of reference links.

In the comment section of Eschaton, tubino points out this link to a new article about Scott Ritter.
The article says that Scott Ritter told a group that George Bush signed off on a plan to attack Iran in June. Now, this is worrysome to me. I don't feel that we have the right to keep attacking the Middle East countries. So far, we've attacked Afghanistan (in revenge for 9/11) and Iraq (because Saddam had WMD - so the govt said, but now can't find). It's time to stop the warmongering and try peace.

Well, my face is red. I voted for NTodd in the hunk contest as written about here.
Now, I find that we should have asked for full figure pictures. Can we take back our votes?The real NTodd as seen on his blog from Sunday, December 26, 2004.

As I browse the different blogs and comment on same, it struck me that kids should really be happy to live in the age where the Internet is available to them, to what extent they manage to use it. For instance: My mother called me on my cell and asked what a "dobro" was. She had been listening to Prairie Home Companion and I guess Garrison Keiler said one of the performers was playing a Dobro. I never heard of it before. I said hold on and pulled up dictionary.com:1 entry found for dobro.
Do·bro ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dbr)
A trademark used for stringed musical instruments, specifically guitars and banjos. - Alright! I read it to her.
I was making a comment on Presurfer and was typing "grups" as the word for grownups as used in one episode of Star Trek, but then I wasn't sure... so I pulled up google, typed in grups - lots of entries, so typed in Star Trek and it gave me many links such as this Miri.
Those are only two examples, but I LOVE being able to access the information on the Internet!
Since it is Sunday, I think it would be a good idea to thank whatever God made it possible to think up, create the Internet, & make it available to the great unwashed masses.
Amen.

Can you see the three cats all in the same place? Too bad I missed Sgt. Mango's head, but it is so hard getting a picture with all three. When Mango jumped up there, Cotton came over to sniff at him, then jumped down. 

Alrighty, the good news is that I did work on the painting. The bad news is I messed up some stuff I now have to fix. The water is one. It used to be a nice color of blue. Well, I was mixing my blue and white last night and there was some black that got into it, and then it turns out it was the wrong shade of blue, anyway. It is closer to the original picture color of water, though. 

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

I'd never seen better. I wanted one. Edward informed me that he'd had to wait nearly a year for the gun to come in. - The Killing Dance - Laurell K. Hamilton.
oldwhitelady | Homepage | 02.20.05 - 12:51 am | #

The above Book meme has a history as follows. I found it on the blog: Why Now? who "stole" the idea from Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof who got it from
PSoTD who got it from Redd Turtle who got it from Femineste who got it from several at Feminist Blogs.

In the comment section of PSOTD, there was a link posted with a comment doing a search for page 123. Here's the link showing there are now 1,075 posts matching "page 123" sorted by most recent.

So I was minding my own business checking out my favorite blogs to see what was happening lately, when I found post by mrgumby2u at itlookslikethis regarding a blog called Batesline. Here is the link to Batesline where he's being told he needed to take out all his links to Tulsa World because they don't want "unauthorized links" to their paper.
As mrgumby2u says "The Tulsa World doesn't want "unauthorized links" to its website. What do you think? Should we refrain from linking to it?
Well, I don't know if we should or shouldn't. I guess we can all make up our own minds and see if we get a letter like the one Batesline received.

Today, I've been taking it easy. I slept in, getting up at 11:00 AM. The kitties are playing and doing cute things. I love watching them stalk each other. Poor Sgt. Mango doesn't really know how to play with the other two, just yet. He tries, but sometimes he is a bit rough. He attacked Cotton, but jumped a little to hard. Cotton backed off, but still was willing to jump at Sgt. Mango. I think Mango embarrassed himself and withdrew to a hidey space. Saddie thought a chase was on, so came running to stare at Mango. He was ready to pounce if Mango made some odd move. Later, Cotton and Saddie were lying in the hall and Sgt. Mango came running up and jumped on my lap. He was purring contentedly until I set him on the floor so I could type. I am so glad I have the three furry felines. They are little darlings who make life a lot easier.

dave in Eschaton comments pointed to a very good article.LEONARD PITTS JR.: Do we need to define 'reporter'? Three weeks later, I'm still waiting for a good explanation of what Jeff Gannon was doing in the White House. And for you to be upset about it...
...The unusually partisan phrasing prompted reporters and liberal groups to ask the same question: Who is this guy? Well, it turns out that Gannon is not really Gannon. His real name is James Guckert. It also turns out that a company he owns is the registered owner of several sexually suggestive Web addresses...
...Guckert writes for a Web site, talonnews.com, which is linked to another site, GOPUSA.com. That site serves, as you might gather, to promote the Republican Party...
...Bush spokesman Scott McClellan has pleaded ignorance, saying, "In this day and age, when you have a changing media, it's not an easy issue to decide, to try to pick and choose who is a journalist."...
I haven't heard much about this on the TV news and in my newspaper. I've read a lot about it on liberal websites. It is questionable on why this so-called "Family Values" administration and their very many followers have not made a hue and cry about this whole scandelous situation. So many of the Republican representatives have made much of the homosexual lifestyle and what it would do to society if homosexuals were allowed to {*gasp*} marry. Why aren't they pissed about this so-called journalist embedded in the journalist pool. Shouldn't they be wondering how this "journalist" was allowed in when his company can be linked to "sexually suggestive Web addresses"? Of course, I may be niave, but I'm also still wondering what's going on with the outing of Valerie Plame and why we don't hear anything about it. I'm also wondering what's happening with the Iraqi scientists we grabbed when we were claiming they were working on WMDs. You know, those WMDs we couldn't find.

Well, I've gotten this far in copying the picture. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend. When I sit back and look at it, I see things that need to be changed. I think about how to fix them, but sometimes forget when I actually have the brush in hand. I know it doesn't look exactly like the original, but that is what I like about copying by brush. Not all is alike. I don't know how art forgers do it. I have never been able to copy something exactly when painting. Now, drawing is a different situation. I have been able to produce real close copies of drawings. Ah, the weekend lies ahead. 

Looks like Cotton needs a bath. 

Molly Ivins has an article entitled "Screw the Children" She's talking about President Bush's proposed budget cuts.
...Good Lord, what a nasty document. The cuts are in health care, childcare, Head Start, nutrition programs, food stamps and foster care. Because budgets are such abstract things – add a little here, cut some there, all produced by the Department of Great Big Numbers – it's hard to see what they actually mean to real people's lives... Remember when everything was for the sake of the children? Apparently, that's not a primary goal anymore. The radio spits out tidbits now and then about various cuts proposed and I have to admit, I find them pretty ghastly. It looks like it's just more ways to screw the poor. Sure, there are people who abuse the system, just like there are CEOs and rich folk that screw the system. Not everyone is like that. When the needy get the help that can aid them in arising above their current situation, that is a good thing. Taking away the tools that help them subsist, is not.

I can't remember which blog I was reading the other day, but it had a link to a blog called Things I hate about my Flatmate. The blog and the comments are pretty amusing.

Rampaging PMS had Thursday Hunk Blogging contest where she had people submit their idea of who's a hunk. She received several pics from various Eschaton posters suggesting themselves. The voters ended up picking NTodd of Dohiyi Mir as the winner. Thursday Hunk Blogging Please be aware that Rampaging PMS does contain adult content.

Here's a picture that I think is hilarious. I have no idea who it is, but I'll call him Ernie.

Thanks to Central Scrutinizer who posts in the Eschaton comments.

Is It Safe to Order French Fries Again? by Robert Steinback
...We poured French wine down drains and called them ''cheese-eating surrender monkeys.'' We depicted them as jaded champions of an ''Old Europe'' teetering on the edge of irrelevancy. Even fried potatoes lost their Gallic prénom in a show of patriotic defiance...
...''The history of the United States and that of France are intertwined,'' Rice said during her speech at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. ``Our history is a history of shared values, of shared sacrifice and of shared successes. So, too, will be our shared future.''...
Sounds like on the playground "If you let me play with your toy, I'll be your best friend."

God Owes Us an Apology
by Barbara Ehrenreich...Yes, 12/26 was a warning, though not about the hazards of wearing bikinis...
I like that she gives the date to name the tragedy, just like 9/11. A whole lot more people died, got uprooted, maimed, hurt, & lost their possessions. It is appropriate to remember this tragedy by the date.
...The Christian-style "God of love" should be particularly vulnerable to post-tsunami doubts. What kind of "love" inspired Him to wrest babies from their parents' arms, the better to drown them in a hurry? If He so loves us that He gave his only son etc., why couldn't he have held those tectonic plates in place at least until the kids were off the beach? So much, too, for the current pop-Christian God, who can be found, at least on the Internet, micro-managing people's careers, resolving marital spats, and taking excess pounds off the faithful--this last being Pat Robertson's latest fixation... Here's a question to the faithful. This everloving God must have a reason, right?

The Earlier Cheney on Our Soldiers
In August 1992, Dick Cheney, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney under a very different President Bush, was asked to explain why US tanks did not roll into Baghdad and depose Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. Cheney said:
“I don’t think you could have done that without significant casualties. And the question in my mind is how many additional casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not that damned many. And we’re not going to get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.”
Great article by Ray Mcgovern We Need The Oil, Right? So What’s the Problem?
McGovern goes on to list the changes in the seven years that caused Cheney to change his priorities. Excellent article. Well worth the time it took to read. This administration and its vocal supporters say we didn't attack and continue to occupy Iraq because of the oil. Really?

Monday, one of my co-workers was going uptown to buy her hubby some chocolate candy for Valentines Day. I went with her and did my shopping at the bookstore. I bought myself 2 Dick Frances , a Stephanie Plum #9 novel and a Mark Twain anthology - it has Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and possibly 2 other stories. Monday was definitely a good day! It's now Wednesday and one of the Dick Frances novels has been finished. I can't make my mind up which one to read next.

When you go out to google and type in atrios, Eschaton does not come up on the first page. When you type in Eschaton, the site Eschaton does not come up immediately, or even on the first page or two.
Atrios' post about this bizarre situation.

As seen linked by MonicaA in Eschaton comment thread:
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Third Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

Iraqi votes were tallied recently. According to one TV show I watched tonite, Allawi's group only received 14%. While out on the Internet, I came across an article by Naomi Klein which discusses what that might mean. Getting the Purple Finger...So it is with Betsy Hart and the other near-sighted election observers: They think the Iraqi people have finally sent America those long-awaited flowers and candies, when Iraq's voters just gave them the (purple) finger....

Happy Valentine's day, early. I love oldwhitelady. She washed and waxed our car, yesterday. It's just too damn bad we're the same person! :) 

Presurfer has a link to find what your name means
I put my name, oldwhitelady, in the blank and answered a couple questions.
Literal meaning
"Uncannily reminiscent of the bloke who plays Mr Grimsdale in Norman Wisdom films."
History
At first the medical term for a specific congenital deformity as the baleful influence of Halley's Comet was felt sharply among those distracted from their dangerous work to stare at the sky, the name oldwhitelady was originally used repeatedly to refer to a famous sect of surly, pilfering domestic servants, before eating a big cream cake.

Famous oldwhiteladys
1. oldwhitelady de Nivea, for a time, in their own mind, romantically linked with Evap-o-Floor;
2. oldwhitelady Ach-Mapduster, DSO and Bar, MD, aroused by the everlasting trouser;
3. oldwhitelady Nightdodge, fascinated to death by stout boots;
4. oldwhitelady de Boonk, channeller under supernatural influences of the entertainment industry blacklist; ghost-writer of Charles Hawtrey's posturingly lurid autobiography, THE MAGIC OF ME;
5. I Am oldwhitelady Lonfial, BSc, first victim of the Formidable Coat; ghost-writer of Albert Pierrepoint's bestselling autobiography, THREE PINTS TODAY, PLEASE;
6. oldwhitelady Tidecatcher, opponent of quiffs; first holder of the office of Official Kerb-Trip-Overer;
7. oldwhitelady G Dufallily, of the generation which fondly remembers more types of bacterial infection than any eight people can name;
8. oldwhitelady M de la Marl, who could never shake an early association with the Bakelite Diet;
9. oldwhitelady X Millington, MA, named in court as holding compromising material concerning a nice cup of tea;
10. oldwhitelady Q Grating, BSc, PhD, disgusted by Paul McCartney's Wings.

Typical oldwhitelady motto
"Some bloke over there said it'd be all right." Tee hee

These frogs occur in several colour forms, each confined to very small locations within the eastern quadrant of Madagascar. They like their habitat with temperatures around 68 - 70*F and high humidity. This species is very showy in captivity preferring elevated positions out in the open. Males are generally smaller, slimmer and more angular in build than females and not as vocal as other species of mantellas. Females can produce eggs at a rate of once every two months given proper care.

What kind of Frog are you?

via The ModulatorVia The Presurfer

Find your Driver's License on the Internet
This has go to Stop! I'm absolutely annoyed that my driver's license is available on the web and you shuld be upset about yours being there as well. Via Desert Cat's Paradise. as was posted by Steve over at The Modulator
Steve, I found mine out there, too. I am pissed!

...They also say that 300 different ballot boxes from all over the country were disqualified (mainly from Mosul) because a large number of the vote ballots had “Saddam” written on them... Baghdad Burning
She also describes going to Ministry of Higher Education office with her male cousin. She is told to dress more appropriately next time. She told the man that she didn't work there. Her cousin said they were only there for an hour, and anyway, it wasn't the guy's business. The guy responds that she should have respect for the people working there.
...Two of them were wearing long skirts, loose sweaters and headscarves and the third had gone all out and was wearing a complete “jubba” or robe-like garb topped with a black head scarf. No one could talk that way before the war and if they did, you didn’t have to listen. You could answer back. Now, you only answer back and make it an issue if you have some sort of death wish or just really, really like trouble...

My title is a bit of one of the songs Riff-raff sings in "Rocky Horror Picture Show", but it can certainly be a description of the grand ole US of A. Maybe, it's that I surf the internet and have access to all the bizarre things out there. My mother watches a lot of TV and listens to talk radio. She also hears about weird happenings in this country of ours. Tonite, (yes, I know it's really supposed to be spelled tonight, I just prefer using tonite) I read the article about the woman who had a baby then told police she found it on the side of the road after she saw it thrown out of a car. I saw the headline about it yesterday, very early in the am. I finally thought about it and wondered if there was more coverage and so googled it. I find that she made up the story about finding it on the side of the road. I felt better that the poor little thing hadn't been flung out of a window.

The CultureGhost has a post up about some woman who wanted her 14 year old to roll her a marijuana cigarette (joint). The kid didn't want to so she, in a drunken rage, started throwing beer cans at him. He ended up calling the police. She also had an 11 year old who had scratches from a knife from an earlier incident with her.
It sounds to me like this woman has a BIG problem with booze. I hope she gets help for that.

Here in Missouri, we had the scientist who was killed in a parking garage then stuffed in his car trunk and the car set on fire. They are still trying to find out who did that killing.

In January, a police woman stopped a young man for a traffic violation. He shot her 3 times. She ended up going to the hospital. She was kept in a coma to try and heal her body, but she contracted some sort of infection (I know meningitis was mentioned at one point) and she died, yesterday. The young man who shot her, killed himself the day after the initial shooting.

I see people running red lights often. I wonder why they think they need to be in such hurry when they are risking their own lives and others. Yes, it can be hell to get to work late, but when you weigh the risks, being late to work is better than killing or maiming someone because you were rushing to get there. If a person has an accident, they're still going to be late. I had an accident a couple years back when I was late for work. I have to drive 30 miles to get there and it was dark out and icier than I realized. I was heading down a hill and there was already an accident in the middle area between the 4 lanes. I put on my brakes and hit a patch of ice. I was heading directly toward the accident so turned the wheel. I ended up hitting the small bluffs on the right side of the road, bounced off it, hit the highway patrol car that was sitting there, bounced off it and hit the civilian car sitting behind the cruiser. Luckily, the patrolman was helping at the accident and so was the civilian. The cars were empty. Luckier still, my wounds just consisted of a bruise on my chest; from hitting the steering wheel and my forehead; from hitting the windshield. - Funny story, that - The highway patrol gave me a ticket. The tow truck came for my car and the tow truck driver was astonished that I was ticketed. He said he already pulled a bunch of cars out of ditches that morning and no-one had been ticketed. He said that he would be happy to testify if I needed him to. We got to the nearest town and his truck lost power or something. He had to call another tow truck to tow us to my town. Later, I found out that one of the people in the accident in the middle of the lanes was the spouse of one of the guys I worked with. He told me that no ticket was issued in that accident. Most everyone told me that the reason I got the ticket was because I hit the highway patrol cruiser. Anytime a police car gets hit, no matter who's fault it is, the civilian gets the ticket? Well, that's what I was told by many people. I found a lawyer to handle it for me. He took all the information and when he got back to me, he had gotten my ticket dropped. He said the Prosecuting Attorney would drop the charge down, but still wanted me to pay a fine and court costs. Well, I wouldn't go for that and he told her so. In the end, she dropped it. Well, I should say so!

Sorry, I did get a bit off topic, there, didn't I? My sister was in an accident due to bad roads, just recently. She was driving on a gravel road and a young man was driving toward her, going too fast for conditions. She said she saw that he was coming right at her so she went off into the ditch, but he hit her, anyway. My point is that people need to slow down because it's too easy to have an accident with all the cars out there. Especially, in bad conditions, it is just foolhardy to drive too fast.

People would probably stay a bit saner if they walked/ran more in the fresh air and ate out less. Too much alcohol is not good, either. We need to stop and think about things, put ourselves into the other person's shoes and ask ourselves how we would feel if we were them. I try, but sometimes it is difficult.

Elections are Over, Iraqi Women Feel the Heat by Souheila Al-Jadda
...Meanwhile, Iraqi women have complained that even the most basic services are stacked against them. For example, Al Iraqiya TV reported that many women have complained that Iraqi officials are making it difficult for them to acquire passports. According to the Passport administration, to obtain a passport, Iraqi women must have a male guardian present during the application process. However, many women in the country lost their husbands, fathers and brothers in the current and previous wars...

The Party animal is too pooped to party 

Cotton does not like having his picture taken. 

Dean Vows to Lead Democrats Back to Power ..."We have to never be afraid to say what we believe," Dean said, as the crowd roared its approval. "Above all, we need to stand up for a different vision."
...As Dean worked up the crowd, one of his supporters shouted: "Give 'em hell, Howard!" ...

Iran Promises 'Burning Hell' for Any Aggressor
By Amir Paivar - Reuters
"The whole Iranian nation is united against any threat or attack. If the invaders reach Iran, the country will turn into a burning hell for them," he added, as the crowd, braving heavy snow blizzards, chanted "Death to America!."
I believe them. I think they are much more organized than Iraq was. They also have not been sanctioned to within an inch of their lives. Nor have they had "no fly zones" with US and Britian bombers patrolling.

Check out today's "The Boondocks". That stupid daily paper I get no longer carries "The Boondocks". Well, I'm calling their talkline tonite to tell them about today's strip.

First They Came For The Terrorists... by Thom Hartmann
The paragraphs I really like are these:
First Bush and Gonzales came for the terrorists, but I was not a terrorist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the enemy combatants, but I was not a combatant, so I did not object. Then they came for the protestors resisting "free speech zones" near Bush campaign rallies, but I was not a protestor and so I only voiced my unease.
If we - and our elected representatives - do not speak out now, loudly and forcefully, it may not be long before they come for the rest of us.

This article was linked at Whatreallyhappened.com and now I find it's also linked at The CultureGhost.
To me, this article is important to read and understand, and to keep an eye on what follows. Rice: Iran must halt nuclear program ...In his state of the union address last week, President Bush singled out Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons," while depriving its people of freedom.
The administration made similar statements and threats in the run-up to its invasion of Iraq...
Here's another article: Don't hinder peace, Iran is told ...Mr Blair was asked if anybody would believe him were he tell Parliament that action was needed against Iran because it had weapons of mass destruction.
He replied: "I'm not saying that and, secondly, it depends what the evidence base is." ..
Hear the beating of those drums?

That's why I really enjoyed this article:) which I found linked at whatreallyhappened.com. Brought to us by Common Dreams - Ann Coulter Sticks Her Entire Leg in Her Mouth by Doug Ireland.
A most excellent piece. Hee heee - Have fun!

Wanda at Words on a Page blogged about This CNN report "TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- President Bush has no authority to accuse Iran of sponsoring terrorism while the U.S. supports "Zionist terrorists" and runs military prisons that use "torture," Asefi's said...

Wanda says "In fact what this administration is doing is acting like the school yard bully. I suspect they will discover, Iran is not Iraq..."
Yup, the future may hold some unplanned moments of rude awakening.

Cosa Nostradamus is a blogger who is trying to get back on his feet after a storm took out his home and carYou can read his words, here He posted here on the comments at Eschaton asking for help.
If you are interested in helping, he can receive funds through Paypal.

It may not be exactly alike, but it's shaping up. 

...Life imitates art. This week, former military intelligence analyst William Arkin revealed a hitherto unknown directive, with the Orwellian name "JCS Conplan 0300-97," authorizing the Pentagon to employ special, ultra-secret "anti-terrorist" military units on American soil for what the author claims are "extra-legal missions."
In other words, using U.S. soldiers to kill or arrest Americans, acts that have been illegal since the U.S. Civil War...
...Instead of being fired for the grotesque military-political fiasco in Iraq and the shameful torture scandals, Rumsfeld has just managed to create a new, Pentagon spy/special ops organization, blandly named "Strategic Support Branch," that will replace or duplicate many of the CIA's tasks. ..
Paranoia Grips the U.S. Capital by Eric Margolis
Ok, now I'm really getting worried. I thought the soldiers were dying to save our freedoms.

Homeless vets wait years for aid
I found this link over at whatreallyhappened.com. The blogger, I think his name is John, but I might be confused, says
Posted Feb 7, 2005 07:26 AM PST
Category: CURRENT EVENTS
Print this out and stick it on every car with one of those stupid "I support our troops" stickers on it.
I agree!

Music industry sues 83-year-old dead woman
...More than a month after Walton was buried in Beckley, a group of record companies named her as the sole defendant in a federal lawsuit, claiming she made more than 700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name "smittenedkitten."...
Sorry, this is just so weird it began to seem funny. Apparently this old lady didn't even like computers.
Believe me, I'm sorry the lady died, but this quote just plain tickled me:..."I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Chianumba said. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park (where she is buried) to attend the hearing...

Not Worth It by Cindy Sheehan
Cindy lost her son in Iraq. She was supposed to be on the Larry King show to talk about the Iraqi elections and how she saw it from her viewpoint. I was asked to be on the show to offer my opinion on the election in Iraq from the perspective of a mom whose son was killed in the war prior to the elections. One of the questions I was going to be asked was: Do I think my son’s sacrifice was “worth it?” Well, I didn’t get a chance to be on the show that night because I was bumped for something that is really important: The Michael Jackson Trial.

I know we're probably getting tired of hearing and reading about the SOTU, but I ran across this article by Robert Borosage at The Nation, that I really thought was insightful. The Dreams of George Bush.
What ails America? By the President's account, our economy is hobbled because the rich have too little money and corporations are too accountable. Our healthcare system is broken because too many people have insurance and citizen juries give too many victims of malpractice recompense for their injuries. Social Security is in trouble because benefits are too high and too secure. Marriage is threatened most by gays who want to get married. Our Constitution requires amending to enshrine bigotry and save it from the activist liberal judges that dominate our courts despite seventeen years of Reagan and Bush appointments. Our military is too weak, even though we already spend nearly as much as the rest of the world combined on our military.

Sgt Mango. He's really turned into a good kitty. The picture behind him is from Haiti. A friend lent it to me so I could copy it for myself:) I just thought it was such a neat picture. 

I didn't watch the speech. I didn't feel good, anyway - why should my health worsen from watching something I didn't have to watch?
Norbizness paraphrased the speech. Truespeak has some interesting observations about the speech.

When I started reading this article, I thought to myself, "Wow, this guy has been reading my mind! The 'Pro-Life' Lie
People should be judged by the ideals they most loudly profess
by Daniel C. Maguire
...Pregnant women and their fetuses suffer from these same lethal deprivations and pregnant women and their fetuses are being bombed in their homes. If you who sanctimoniously wear the 'pro-life' banner were really pro-life-and pro-fetus, that would bother you and we would be hearing your voices raised powerfully in peace protests around the world. We don't. Therefore we must conclude that you are not 'pro-life' and that if you say you are, you are liars. American military leaders in Iraq have been quoted as saying 'we don't do body counts.' (Interesting, since even 'the mob' does body counts.)
I've often talked to others about this. I think that when you profess to be "Pro-Life", you should be worried about the LIFE in other countries, too. The lives we're snuffing out with our bombs and the lack of medicines. These anti-abortion folks should be complaining loudly and often about the pregnant women(and their fetuses) that have been killed in Iraq. The babies get killed along with the mothers. Since we don't hear a lot from the anti-abortionists about those abortions being performed in our name, I have to conclude that they are hypocrites.

Over at UnFair Witness, Tex posted article links with the following titles:
Rebels kill 12 Iraqi soldiers
Iraq oil pipeline suffers new sabotage
Three killed in Iraq insurgent attacks
and he poses this question: But what is interesting is that the reporters seem at a loss, after months of leading every story about violence in Iraq with, "In an effort to derail the elections..." Now what is the violence supposed to be about?

Kissfan at Truespeak went back to the past to to remind us why we're occupying Iraq. Tonight's journey takes us back to March 17, 2003. On this day, George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons an ultimatum: Leave Iraq within 48 hours or face military action. Let's see what he had to say, shall we?
Hmmmmm.. look at this gem "Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed. And it will not disarm so long as Saddam Hussein holds power."

Anger as American troops kill four inmates in jail riot
I found this link while browsing james jesus rimbaud's blog.
The inmates started throwing rocks and other improvised weapons after a routine search for contraband by the US military. After 45 minutes, the US used lethal force (open firing) to end the disturbance. The article goes on to chronicle "alledged" abuses that had occurred at Camp Bucca.

Over at Eschaton, tonight, Reg asked "Know any Bush War supporters? Our troops are tired and overextended. Download this free pdf and stick it under their windshields. NOT TO MISS!"
Reg's link didn't work, but here is the corrected link

Some Just Voted for Food By Dahr Jamail ... "Two of the food dealers I know told me personally that our food rations would be withheld if we did not vote," said Saeed Jodhet, a 21-year-old engineering student who voted in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad.
Riverbend mentioned this before the election.

Audit: $9 Billion Unaccounted For in Iraq
WASHINGTON - The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found.
So why does the bank get so mad when I don't have enough in there to cover a check?

Anti-abortion ideologues beware: I'm promoting objective, factual information on:

• Roe v. Wade


• abortion

You can too. Join me in Bombing for Choice.

Thanks to Toyblog for bringing this to my attention.