Crazy Magnet, Indeed!

The President of the AFL-CIO, speaking yesterday from Alaska, blasted Sarah Palin in a very impressive speech that is probably better than anything on late night TV.

My favorite part?

What is this crazy magnet that’s pulling people to the right?
I mean, look at your former governor….
Who is she, anyway?
Sarah Palin?
She used to have a job, your governor…. You knew her…. Or
thought you did…. I know I thought I did. She seemed like a decent person, an
outdoorswoman. Her husband’s a steelworker. She seemed to take some OK stands
for working families.
And then things got weird. After she tied herself to
John McCain and they lost, she blew off Alaska. I guess she figured she’d trade
up…shoot for a national stage. Alaska was too far from the FOX TV spotlight.
I bet most of you, on a clear day, can see her hypocrisy from your house.

Can.See.Her.Hypocrisy.From.Your.House.
I think I love him.

He also says nice things about what the Obama administration is trying to do and how they are being stopped at every turn. It was an interesting read, you should check out the entire thing on CNN.

H/T to The Immoral Minority.

One Giant Step for Caterpillars!

I have just discovered the joy of gardening. As I get older (and wiser) I notice that I eat almost everything now that I never would have considered years ago and I enjoy it. Fresh fruits and vegetables from the grocery store are not very yummy, and who knows where they have arrived here from. Plus one day I will (I hope) be an old Southern woman and there is a requirement that we "wear funny hats and old clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt." (Shirley McClain's charactar 'Ouiser' "Steel Magnolias")

So I planted tomatoes and red peppers and cucumbers and summer squash and 2 kinds of basil and some oregano. And I watered. And I talked to the little darlings. And I watched them.

And blooms arrived. And I watered. And I fertilized. Organic, of course. And fruit arrived. And rotted.

I did manage several cucumbers. And a tomato. And a squash.

Ok, new tomato plants and new squash plants and LOOK AT THIS! Peppers growing. On the vine.

And the bugs came.



Nature is a circle. And these bugs provide a service, somewhere in the cirle.

And I do NOT want to use pesticides. So we have donated the pepper plant and 1 tomato plant to these really fat things.

And the cucumbers were taken by what DSD is referring to as 'mites'

But the basil and oregano are coming right along! I think we are going to be eating a lot of Italian food. (Basil/oregano pizza is really yummy! Too bad the sauce isn't fresh!)

Government Of, By and For the .. Corporations?

Of course President Obama would like to the keep the country Of, By and For the People, but what are the chances he will win this one? And what are the chances he will be held responsible for the fallout?



H/T to True Blue Texan

Operation New Dawn

Is there a new dawn happening this moment as I type?

I have NOT had a good day. Crazy blankity blank who is in charge at work makes me nuts. First class scheduled tonight that is not online. Flat tire after I grabbed a quick bite to eat. I love my brother and I appreciate him coming when I called, but it took him FOREVER. (He was less than a mile away!) Then I got home, checked Facebook and my cousin was posting stupid stuff about the President WANTING a mosque ON Ground Zero. Which is not what he said. When I disagreed respectfully, she wasn't nice.

Then DSD said, "Troops pulled out of Iraq today."

What?! What?!?!? What???

Really? But, they said, on the radio.... "It was on the news," he said, completely nonchalantly.

Why? What? No one mentioned this TO ME. Did the President discuss this on Saturday while he was HERE? With the SecNav? 90,000 troops have left Iraq in the last 18 months, since he took office.

Another campaign promise kept.

PLEASE let this be the right thing to do!

Let's Celebrate

While Sarah Palin babbles nonsense, people complain about the state of, well, everything, and we all manage to get through another day, it seems that something wonderful and amazing happened 90 years ago TODAY.

Ninty years is such a short span of time when you think about it. While it may be a longer span than many live, for countries and nations such as Italy and Greece and Iraq and Iran it is only the blink of an eye.

Here in the U.S. however, something wonderful and fantastic happened exactly 90 years ago. Someone decided it would be a great idea that FAR in the future, maybe to elect the first African American President, I should be allowed to vote. ME! A Woman!

So much went into Women's Suffrage. So many fought for it. Fought for ME! And I want to say Thank you to each and every one of them for allowing me to have something so precious............ A VOICE.

Sure, many of us are disgruntled. Sure maybe we aren't being listened to as we would like. But being allowed to SPEAK means something.

Let's take a moment to celebrate that.

Elvis Presley _ An American Trilogy Live (1973

You Asked For It

Well, maybe you didn't, and I know damned well I didn't, but if the voters of Arizona's 3rd district vote for and elect this guy*, they deserve everything they get.

The list should include (but will not be limited to):

Higher taxes
Sexual scandal
Dirty dealings
Lies, lies and lies

Go forth and vote, Arizona.

Isn't it great when Florida isn't the biggest piece of crap in the nation???


*It almost physically hurt to link to that article, I could not bring myself to actually say his name or anything else about him.

But I AM an American

I have not spoken a lot about my job. Maybe because I get those constant emails about security and NOT talking about it? Maybe because I don't want anyone I know in 'real' life to connect me to this 'blog? Maybe because I just don't? I don't know. All of the above?

I am employed by a company in.. the west? California? Or Arizona? Hell, maybe in Virginia. I work. My checks come. Life is good.

But my actual work location is at a Government installation in NW Florida. The Panhandle. The Redneck Riviera. I work there. I am a 'contract employee.' I am employed by a contract company, but I provide services for the government. I have done this for 10 years and I have never had a huge problem BEING a contractor. I have had difficulty with those I work with. I have had difficulty with those I work for. But I love my job.

The President will be here this weekend. The President of the United States. And his family. On Vacation. No public appearances.

And the email was sent out this morning, asking for volunteers to drive "members of the White House staff" around for the weekend. All day Saturday and most of Sunday. The reward? Meeting the President and (possibly) having a picture made with him. I had more than one person bad mouth this President and the fact that I volunteered. I had one person (who already had weekend plans, but who would have volunteered otherwise) tell me I would probably end up making coffee. I had one person tell me I would probably drive the hair dresser.

My response? OK. Make coffee. Drive hairdresser. Drive the DOG and/or the DOG trainer. Fine. Great. I don't even LIKE To drive, but I would. To meet the President. THIS President. His family.

Only active duty military and GS civilians will be considered. No contractors. So I came home and took a nap.

Because most of those GS civilians hate him. And 75% have no military bearing and no respect for those who served. And no respect for the Commander in Chief.

I am upset. I am mad. This was my chance to meet him. This was my chance to be a part of history.

There will be no next time.

Want in One Hand And....

As you may or may not know, this is the year for the election of Florida’s governor. The current governor, Charlie Crist (a Republican that I do not hate) is not running for re-election, but for the Senate seat recently vacated by Mel Martinez.. Oh, Mel, we absolutely do not miss you!

So that leaves the Governor's mansion WIDE open.

On the left there is Alex Sink, currently the state's CFO, and the Chiles boy, son of former Governor "Walkin' " Lawton. Apparently Ms. Sink is doing fairly well, because she was on track to win the whole she-bang in the last polls I saw, due to the fact that those on the right were spending more than the federal deficit to bash each other every 30 seconds on TV.

On the right (and this is where we were headed from the beginning) is Rick Scott. Who says, "Sure, I bilked the public for TONS of money, but I had to pay FINES. And I lost my job." I can not stand to look at his face on the TV, he makes me see RED. He touts himself as an "outsider" and claims that the other righty kept stealing a taxpayer's jet and had it drop him off in his front yard. Soooooo, wow, what a crook and a crock.

Yesterday, however, Bill McCollum (the other righty), who I was not voting for, but didn't think was a complete moron (he is allegedly against the Arizona law of oppression and hate) announced that "I think the best thing for children is to have a man and a woman, a mother and a father, not gay parents. I don't think that's the right kind of parenting. That's my personal views. Those are my religious views." Which is bad but then, "told reporters that foster kids should not be in the care of gays or lesbians."

Florida currently does not allow adoption by gay parents (STUPID!!), but does allow gay couples to foster. So Bill McCollum is saying that HE wants to take all of those children who are in happy, healthy, loving homes and raise them himself? What does he think we are going to do with those children?

Stupid bigot.

Not a Criminal. Just Mad.

I don't know that dropping the F bomb over the PA system was the thing to do. I am pretty sure it is considered tacky in many circles.

I am also pretty sure that deploying an emergency slide from an aircraft when there is no emergency is also taboo. Maybe illegal?

But flight attendant Steven Slater did both of those things, before exiting the aircraft via that emergency slide.

He probably should have held his temper. He probably should not have taken that beer.

But, good grief, aren't we all human? And how much abuse can one person handle?

A website I read earlier said charges are being pressed and he is facing up to 7 years in jail. Now that is making a mountain out of a molehill, don't you think?