Paradox Patch

I'm pretty sure...

2012-01-07T08:42:00.003-07:00

You have no clue where my blog is but I never lied. I did nothing more than I said I did. Bravo if you manage to track this down :)

MUST. READ.

2011-12-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

I wish every person in the world would read the blog entry that I'm about to post. It's so amazingly true and the answer to world peace. I don't for one moment believe that I am perfect. I needed this as much as ANYONE in the whole world. Please read it and pass it along.I'm Christian, unless you're gay.I hope that everyone can look past the title. I'm not homophobic, but I'm angry, judgmental, and a hater. I know this. I want to be better.

Tis the season

2011-12-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular here at the Patch you know that every year I wax poetic on one of my favorite things in the world. My annual performance of Handel's Messiah. It's the 71st performance in Cedar City. Not one year have they skipped doing it. Christmas is so commercial and when the economy is troublesome (even if it isn't) there's so much materialistic stress. My favorite part of the season is singing in the Messiah. Our orchestra along with the Messiah chorale perform it as Handel intended it to be; free of charge. I never have the words to express how humbling it is to sing the words from the Bible that chronicle the events leading up to the birth, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ. Powerful words. Yet my ultimate amazement lies in the pure genius of Handel. He brings life to the words, he paints a picture. He uses every nuance of every instrument in the orchestra, every section of the chorale, and every soloist. I do this every year because it truly is the best part of the year for me, hands down.

In the past I've talked about Adrianne Tawa, our choir instructor. She's amazing and for the experience of learning from her, alone, makes it all the more worthwhile. Then we are handed over to Xun Sun (maestro AND doctor) who truly is astounding but the real show is watching him conduct us. Never have I seen such joy in a person. How can it NOT be the best experience ever??

Here's some of the music from last year's performance:

Isn't he amazing? How can you NOT feel pure joy performing with this man???

The reason for the season.

2011-12-10T22:50:00.001-07:00

TRADITION!!!!!!!

2011-12-07T13:23:00.001-07:00

My little fam has traditions that we've built from the birth of my children. My oldest is 17 and amazingly is speaking of marriage. Her boyfriend brought it up very hypothetically but.. YIKES! She's enrolled in two colleges on top of high school and she's not that little girl who named her first doll Crunchy. My distance from my other family played out here in the Patch. I'm no longer angry at anyone and I actually see things more clearly. It's come as a shock that I won't be spending Christmas Eve at my mom's house. I'm not sure why because I thought I was clear. We all have families and I am looking at two young women who will be making THEIR own traditions too (you've experienced my youngest. She's my blog high jacker).

I've bought them an ornament for each year of their existence. When they marry they will take them for their own trees and hopefully tell their children the story behind each. Perhaps they will put a pickle ornament on THEIR tree for their kids to find to see who opens the extra gift. I believe they will kneel in prayer, thanking God for the gift of his son and that we not forget HIM as we take turns opening gifts. Will they read their kids "Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa." to keep the magic alive when someone else tries to take it away? Will they leave anonymous gifts on the porch for the 12 days of Christmas, knocking, running and hiding, and as they get older biffing it in the snow as THEIR children step over them and keep running? How many of our traditions will they take with them?

What I really wonder as I enter into the second decade of headache from hell is will I be here to find out? Time will tell.

GOP insanity

2011-11-18T10:47:00.001-07:00

Just going to share an exchange from Facebook. Names are hidden to protect the identity of the people who commented:

Moi: The GOP race is THE most entertaining thing on the planet. Rick Perry with the major crash and burn moment and the unfortunately named rock at the hunting lodge dropped him in the polls. Michelle Bachmann is just Michelle Bachmann and has been pronounced dead. Herman Cain's increasing list of indiscretions (to be polite) has only been outdone by his complete brain freeze about Libya and then there's Newt Gingrich with his problems too many to list. So one asks oneself... "Self?? Where is Mitt Romney? A flip flopping Mormon is worse that all if the above??? Oh, dear...."

Female friend: We will disagree on this, but I think learning by experience is not flip flopping. I think some things are turned

into negatives when the are really positives. I am not speaking on actual events in some cases, but in general ones.

What I thought: YOU disagree because I'm talkingWhat I said: But he's behind in the polls... WHY??? O_o That's so insane :

What I said: But he's behind in the polls... WHY??? O_o That's so insane :

Male friend: the world unfortunately will not vote in a Mormon we are too weird in their view,but a balck man from africa is ok to be our president hmmmm

That's not possible. You have to be an American citizen to run for President of the US.Moi (note the sarcasm): That's not possible. You have to be an American citizen to run for President of the US.

Moi pretending I'm stupid so these people comprehend me.. Or do they???: Ohhhh you mean Obama!!! LOL! I've campaigned for him for years. Only weird racist birthers believe that old story.

So, according to the last commenter on my status, people think we're weird but we aren't. We are stupid and racist.. Yeah dude, don't help me!!

OMG! STUPID STUPID STUPID PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-10-27T17:32:00.002-06:00

I just read this one Facebook:

Rob Young's Photos

Look at this lady - Let us never forget!
The world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked. The
prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive'. She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN and Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming. In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message. I hope you'll consider doing the same.. It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated! Now, more than ever, with Iran , and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'. It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

By: Rob Young

The story about Irena is true, however there ARE problems with it:

1. There is no way of knowing if she was nominated. The names of nominees are kept secret for 50 years.

2. Yes, this story came out originally to discredited Al Gore by saying that the prize was lost to him in 2007. Obama had nothing to do with it.

3. I'll just paste my response to this post here:

SERIOUSLY???? Obama is responsible for an anti-Nazi heroine NOT winning one of TEN Nobel prizes awarded every year??? I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this is further evidence that he's a Nazi??? What an amazing woman. I wonder if she'd be SO proud to know that her story is being used to denigrate a man that Hitler would have SHOT for his skin color?? 100 overall Nobel Prizes have been awarded, 10 Nobel Peace Prizes. Anyone ever wonder why American's aren't in charge of it??? THIS is why!

Update:
I followed up with this:
Okay, that one was sooo crazy I decided it was blog worthy which meant I had to know the facts. Research (and Wiki doesn't count) IF she was nominated, it was in 2007 according to the first appearance of the story and that would be before President Obama won but the same year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won. BUT there's no way to know if she lost to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore or not. The names of the nominees are kept secret for 50 years. There's absolutely no way to prove she was even a nominee unless you torture one of the Nobel Prize Judges.

The beginning of the end of normal childhood...

2011-09-07T23:36:00.000-06:00

Kids are bored.. If there was no batteries, power cords, etc. whatever shall they do?? Even the finest thing ever invented is being phased slowly out.. The book.
But this is one of the things that really bugs me most. What has happened to our playground equipment??

There was a slide like this in my hometown and at my elementary school. I remember one accident. At recess, a boy who hadn't tied his shoes got the lace caught at the top of the slide and fell. I don't remember any other serious accidents in my time growing up with these slides.

This was called the Ocean Wave at our school. The pic I found called it the witches hat and we had one of those too. This isn't it. I don't recall bad accidents on this but I'm sure children doing stupid things got hurt.

THIS was the witches hat. I remember no accidents in my time playing there, in elementary school.

We had this in my hometown playground but the handles were smaller, like this:

The problem with the strider is that if someone let go, their chain would swing free and you could get beaned. It's bad form not to yell out letting others know there was a rogue chain.

See? Mind the rules, use common sense and you have fun equipment. OR stay in the house and play on the Wii. Wear the strap, though, because you can let the remote slip and injure someone in the room.

If the truth shall set you free, GW got an arm lose.

2011-08-30T11:28:00.000-06:00

Last night was the BIG MOMENT. George W. Bush, sits down and talks about 9/11. I felt a bit nostalgic as I like the little whisker but dang! Just spill it!! President Obama hasn't brought charges and I'm kind of doubting he ever will but is this supposed to be cathartic for you or us??

It was great to see him fully disclose that they were warned over a month in advanced and did nothing to protect us. Spilled milk.

I was glad to hear that he was about to get his pets into a safe shelter with Laura because America's number one priority was the FIRST DOG AND CAT!! NOT!!! It was also a bit classless showing the footage of him talking to the first responders with his arm slung around the fireman's shoulder as if they'd be friends for life instead of 'dying of cancer from toxic fumes who?'. Him saying that when they kept saying they couldn't hear him he said but I will always hear you. History will record who made those promises then who came through with them. (Including Jon Stewarts MAJOR role in that). History will record who promised to never stop searching yet never STARTED searching. Not in the right place and he knew it, he lied to us. He lied to families of first responders who died then or from complications. He lied to the people in those buildings and in those planes. He lied to the men that fought for something they thought was worth dying for. He lied to all of us.

I'm proud of him for allowing for some of his lies. I believe deep down he is a good man but this came too late. He should have stood beside President Obama at Ground Zero when our troops risked everything to make good on Bush's promise. God Bless our troops!! THEY DID IT!

There will always be debates on who was the worst president in history. Tricky Dick? Clinton? They lied to us too. Maybe they all do. But the lives that were lost because of this man's lies... Such a waste. We've yet to recover and never will unless we unite. He could have helped with that too, last night. He chose not to.

I don't envy the task of being president. I don't envy the burden he must live with. I truly don't believe that he is a bad man. I believe he's human and tried to do right things. I wish him happiness now. I wish him peace.

National Geographic-George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview

Steve Powell you are so beyond sick and wrong I am astounded

2011-08-22T11:25:00.002-06:00

Well, well, well... Perhaps Joshie ISN'T the only person of interest:
Examiner.com: Why Susan feared her father in law

ABC News

For your convenience I've brought the lyrics and bio to the Patch. All rights and insanity belongs to Steve (Chantrey) Powell. The author of the Patch has no legal or moral(less) rights or ownership to the body of work and links have been supplied.

Steve's Songs for Susan

Waiting For You

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey

You did your own thing,
You did it your way,
While I awaited your
Appearance in my doorway.
I spent the whole day through
Waiting for you.
It didn't happen
If you had shown up,
I would have thought that our
Relationship was sewn up.
I spent the whole day through
Waiting for you.
I could be getting a mistaken impression,
Each time you seem to gaze at me.
You let me touch you softly. Why? is the question.
And the effect amazes me.
Had trouble sleeping.
Wasn't beside you.
I felt so lonely,
For a little bit I cried too.
I spent the whole night through
Waiting for you.
Repeat bridge
Now I am smitten
Doubt I'll recover
Only one cure and that's to
Have you as my lover.
I'll spend my whole life through
Waiting for you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

The Light of the City

Words and music by Steve Chantrey

A typical morning, with sky overcast,
If you were beside me, the gloom wouldn't last.
My thinking is clouded that's true:
But only because I need you.
It's dark out, it's raining, the skies are all grey.
I don't think the sun will be shining today,
But while I am thinking of you
The skies I am seeing are blue.
chorus:
The sun didn't shine in Seattle this morning.
What did you expect, hey, what's new?
But I saw a new light turn on in me, eternally,
The moment I laid eyes on you.
The Light of Seattle is you.
Seagulls are following ferries around,
I see planes and clouds floating over the Sound
I wish I were way up there too,
I'd like to be floating with you.
chorus:
The sun didn't shine in Seattle this morning.
What did you expect, hey, what's new?
But I saw a new light turn on in me, eternally,
In ways that I can't misconstrue.
The Light of Seattle is you.
I want you, I love you, I do!
The Light of Seattle is you.
I want to be with you.
The Light of Seattle is you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

I'm Missing You

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey

There's a way to have you near me,
And to know you love me dearly.
If it's only in my heart
It's refreshing, it's a start.
I'm missing you.
Make some room for me within you
For the moment I begin to
Smell the perfume in your hair
And caress you everywhere.
I'm missing you.
I can love you in a secret way.
I can love you each and every day.
There is nothing I can't see.
There is nothing you can't be.
It's not perfect, but I'm missing you!
There's a picture in my heart of you.
There's a place for every part of you.
I'm surviving without you.
Such a life will never do.
I'm missing you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

Mi Muñequita

Words and music by Steve Chantrey
You're pretty as a little doll
And I would like to play with all
The things that make a little doll so nice.
And you could dance and you could sing,
And you could do most anything,
And I could taste your sugar and your spice.
Chorus:
Mi muñequita,
My beautiful doll.
Mi muñequita,
Es fundamentál
Que eres todo lo que necesito
Para hacerme tan completo.
You are my little doll, mi muñequita.
I'd like to hold you close to me
And that's how it's supposed to be:
I'd pick you up and hold you to my heart.
My little doll will be my friend,
I hope it's more than just pretend,
And you and I will never be apart.
Chorus:
Mi muñequita,
My beautiful doll.
Mi muñequita,
Es fundamentál
Que eres todo lo que necesito
Para hacerme tan completo.
Eres mi carina, mi muñequita.
And we could find a little place,
A doll house with a little space
To have some little dolls like you and me.
And we'd be together night and day
With lots of time to laugh and play.
And that's how we would live so happily.
Chorus:
Mi muñequita,
My beautiful doll.
Mi muñequita,
Es fundamentál
Que eres todo lo que necesito
Para hacerme tan completo.
Eres mi corazón, mi muñequita.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

I Love It When You Dance for Me

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
When you do Zumba
With its Mambo and Rhumba
You can heat up the room
And make a fool of me.
¡Santa caramba!
Do the Salsa and Samba
With your excellent body
Moving endlessly.
Chorus (after each verse):
¡I love it when you dance for me!
You really shake it, ¡and how!
You do it all so easily.
¡Do it again for me now!
They’ll never find a way to stop it.
Zumba, there’s no way to top it.
I love it when you dance for me.
Zumba there’s no way to top it.
Keep it going, never stop it.
I love it when you dance for me.
I love it when you Zumba me.
Make no mistake,
You get a license to shake,
And strike a pose like a chicken
Strutting to the block.
But there’s good news:
There are no chicken-house blues.
It’s more like dancing and prancing
To the jailhouse rock.
It could be cha cha,
Where the beat’s really gotcha,
Or another hot rhythm
We could dance all day.
Zumba stands ready
Like a swinging machete
As it cuts to the chase
To make us rock and sway.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

I Said, I Love You

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
I said, "I love you." Is that a sin?
I just might wanna say it once again:
I love you, like it or don't.
I said, "I love you." You should have kissed me.
I felt like giving up when you just dissed me.
I love you, so I guess I won't.
You think I'm crazy, but I insist,
It's simple, I can't resist.
The lips that I never kissed, but wanted
To plant my lips everywhere on you,
And count every hair on you,
And sit here and stare at what you flaunted.
I said, "I love you." Is that a crime?
And what if I say it to you one more time?
I love you, so put me in jail.
I said, "I love you." I couldn't help it.
And you were mistaken if you thought I'd shelf it.
I love you, so cough up my bail.
You made my eyes pop out of their sockets.
You could empty all my pockets.
This flirtation isn't rocket science.
You came along and really knocked my socks off.
Now you're all I think and talk of.
So much for my former self-reliance.
I said, "I love you." Can you forgive
If I can't find another way to live?
I love you, and that is my sin.
I said, "I love you." I think you knew it,
But I got hasty and I think I blew it.
I love you. Can we try again?
It seems like all I do is take a beating,
But giving up is self-defeating.
I only hope there'll be a meeting of minds
I've waited patiently and cried a lot for
Something that I've always sought for
I hope it is the same as what your heart finds.
I said, "I love you." Can you forgive
If I can't find another way to live?
I love you, and that is my sin.
I said, "I love you." I think you knew it,
But I got hasty and I think I blew it.
I love you. I'll say it again and again
Even if it's a sin.
I love you: I've said it
Again and again and again.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

My Lydia

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
Close to my side, my Lydia,
Whisper into my ear
Softly, your voice I hear
Like ocean breezes
Washing over me
On a sultry summer day.
Soft in my ear, my Lydia,
Soft as I dream of you.
Your voice is like the dew
That quietly
Refreshes in the morn
When I wake to think of you.
Close to my heart
I feel you
Close, with no space
Between us
Shadows alone
Have seen us.
Nothing is real
But we two.
Softly inside, my Lydia.
Touch deep into my soul.
Touch me and I am whole.
With no beginning,
End, or in between,
Just this moment, close to you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

I Only Feel Love

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
You can't really say it was love at first sight.
There was no impression that made it seem right.
I didn't feel haste
'Til I had a taste,
Now I see your face
And I only feel love.
I may have seemed clumsy, I didn't move fast.
A love that came slow is a love that will last.
It's plain to me too
That all that you do
Has made me love you.
I only feel love.
I only feel love
When I'm with or without you.
I only feel love
For that "something" about you.
I only feel love for you.
True love doesn't make itself known at the start.
The feelings just grow as they stir in your heart.
With someone so dear
Those feelings are clear.
Whenever you're near
I only feel love.
Instrumental Bridge
True love didn't make itself known at the start.
The feelings just grew and they grew!
I only feel love,
I only feel love,
I only feel love for you.
I only feel love,
I only feel love,
I only feel love for you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

You Were My First Love (or Simply Oedipus Complex in my opinion)

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
You were waiting when I first awakened,
And although I must have felt forsaken,
You were there, My Dear Mother.
You were my first love.
I could hear your voice before I knew you,
Your heartbeat was calming to me through you.
I heard you, My Dear Mother,
You were my first love.
Your sweet lullaby,
My first music,
Swept away all darkness and all fear.
We would rock-a-bye,
You would soothe me,
And I knew I was your little dear.
Your eyes were the first that I looked into
Filled with love in spite of what you'd been through.
I felt loved, My Dear Mother.
You were my first love.
Other loves have lived within my heart,
Where they've shared my life and played a part.
It was you who loved me from the start:
You were my first love.
You were my first love.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

To Be With You

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
There's an ache that grows within my heart,
You and you alone have played a part.
If aching were all I have to do,
I would suffer pain to find a way to be with you.
Can you feel my love and tender care,
Strong enough to reach you anywhere?
If loving were all I have to do,
You would feel my heart reach out for no one else but you.
If there were simple answers for a way to be with you
There isn't much I wouldn't try or much I wouldn't do.
Can true love be patient anymore?
It depends on who it's waiting for.
If waiting were all I have to do,
I would wait forever for a chance to be with you.
Instrumental Bridge
Can true love be patient anymore?
It depends on who it's waiting for.
If waiting were all I have to do,
I would wait forever for a chance to be with you.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

The Mystery Of What You Mean to Me

Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
I could be in heaven or in hell,
It doesn't matter, I'd be well
If I could only know that I'd be there with you.
I could fall below the lowest drop
Below the deepest ocean trough
And find a way to reach the top to be with you.
Chorus:
The mystery
Of what you mean to me
Makes every height or depth
Another step
Toward ecstasy.
No matter where
As long as you are there,
One mystery will vanish too:
You'll know how deeply I love you.
Cast upon an island far away
I'd have no reason not to stay
If you were with me and together we were lost.
Thrown into another dimension,
Another earth another sun,
I'd want to be with you wherever I were tossed.
Wandering alone in cold and dark
There will be light, there'll be a spark,
For just a thought of you will make the world bright.
When it's time to take my latest breath,
To walk the odyssey of death
There is no shadow that will take away your light.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

The Mystery Of What You Mean to Me

Meet Steve Chantrey

I was born in Portland, Oregon. At an early age my mother made a unilateral and secretive decision to separate from my dad, and moved with my brother, my sister and me to Chillicothe, Ohio. Pregnant at the time with my younger brother, she suffered through a miserable trip from Oregon to Ohio. My dad found us after a few months, and my parents reconciled. We returned to Portland for a while.
One of my early memories about that time in Portland is the new bright green car (I'm sorry, I never actually knew the make of the car, only the color) our family came to own. A short time after that lovely car appeared in our family, my dad drove it to Southern California to look for work in the aerospace industry. When we followed him there I was devastated to find out that he had traded in our green car as the down payment on a little house in Redondo Beach. In its place in our driveway was an old turtleback from the 1940s. Oh well.
My grandparents had preceded us to California, and were living in Santa Monica. My dad and his parents all found work at Hughes Aircraft (and probably none of them knew any more about Howard Hughes than about the man in the moon). Grandma worked in the cafeteria, Grandpa worked in production, and my dad worked in the tool crib.
In only a matter of months my dad made a unilateral and secretive decision to separate from my mom. So on a given weekend he took us to visit his parents while my mom went to spend the weekend with her aunt in Burbank. Unbeknownst to her, my grandparents had, prior to that weekend visit, transported their trailer house to Northern California, and parked it in Weed.
When we headed over to see my grandparents, and kept going north on Highway 1, something seemed amiss to me, even at seven years old. "Where is momma?" I asked. Grandma curtly replied, "You're never going to see your mother again." Of course, that was more devastating than the disappearance of the green car. My older brother, my sister and I were inconsolable. My baby brother probably just wondered what the commotion was about.
We kept driving until we reached Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Grandma and Grandpa parked their trailer house at a trailer camp along the highway, where I-90 now runs. My dad moved to Yakima, Washington where he had found work as a district supervisor for a regional newspaper. The good news for me was that I did not have to finish the last few weeks of second grade, and the next year I started into third grade without missing a beat.
The trailer camp was surrounded by bull pines and terraced up the side of a hill. I would go up the hill and play with my friends and my brother. On one occasion I informed one of my buddies that my grandparents had kidnapped us. My brother, who overheard, reported the conversation back to my grandmother, who encouraged me to keep my mouth shut (I was lying, in her estimation) by pouring a liberal dose of cayenne pepper on my tongue and making me stand in the corner.
It was also up on that hill above the trailer terrace that I conceived my first melody and lyrics. The lyrics were truly inspired:
Cigars, cigars,
Someone stole my cigars,
So I called the cops
To get my cigars.
The cops finally came.
The darned thing happened again,
So I called the cops
To get my cigars.
I'm not sure where the inspiration came from, since no-one in my family ever smoked cigars. And I am not sure why I remember it after all these years, or why it seemed to have such significance to me. The words are nearly meaningless, and the melody is not exactly the theme for a symphony. Maybe my seven-year-old subconscious knew more about my future vocation than I even knew for many years as an adult.
Nowadays, when I write songs I do a bit of editing. The first words that offer themselves as partners for a given melody do not always make it to the final cut.
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

It Dawns On Me That I Am a Singer-Songwriter

Until recently I was still doing mostly other people's music, the standards, occasionally throwing in one of my own songs. But in recent years I have reversed the proportion, so that now I perform mostly my own songs.
Over the years of performing, there were occasions when someone in the audience would ask if I had made any recordings. I had not. However digital multi-track recording technology, sequencing software and hard and soft digital music instruments have opened up opportunities that were not possible without enormous financial outlays in the old analog world. So I am now making amends, by making the music more widely available.
And now that I am finally putting some of my songs, arrangements and performances into a more or less permanent audio form, I occasionally think of what it will be like for my own grandchildren to put a disk into the player and know that "grandpa wrote that song."
©2005-2011 Steve Chantrey

Yeah "grandpa wrote that song about my mom while he was sniffing her panties".

Bible: Literal or Figurative??

2011-08-08T22:56:00.000-06:00

As a Mormon, I'm often asked if I find the Joseph Smith story a bit unbelievable. People who don't understand us well don't realize how important the Bible is to us so the things that Joseph Smith encountered aren't considered to be more important than the things that happen in the Bible. They just happened more recently. I especially have wondered about the Old Testament and the stories of Noah, Moses, and Jonah, etc. I've wondered if they are literal or allegorical. I came across an article on HuffPo that is on that very topic.

[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lose/4-good-reasons-not-to-read-bible-literally_b_919345.html"]4 Reasons Not to Read the Bible Literally[/URL]

I like that the author, David Lose, points out that the vessels God chose were men who were fallible and made mistakes. Also that the Bible was written by several people and in the New Testament you get a few different accounts of the same events and they don't always match up exactly. Of course they don't. That is how it always is. When we record an experience we record it according to how it happened as WE experienced it. That's completely natural. Also the Bible was written by men, re-translated by men throughout the ages. THAT would have a bearing on how things are written.

My question is: IS the Bible literal? Or are parts of it metaphoric?

Children... WTH???

2011-08-04T22:38:00.001-06:00

So, I really try not to feel regret over stupid life choices I've made. I think of them as OH ISH lessons. Many of you may recall my aversion at attending Hell Hole High and the part of the year where I earned my best education: Upward Bound. I was a timid child, lazy, but freakishly intelligent. By the time I got the hang of things when I moved away from my small and beloved hometown, I'd taken on too much credit hours that I burned out on college way to soon. Stupid unfortuate but you know what I should have done? Taken off in my car across the country. Why not, Trayci?? THAT would have been the coolest life experience ever. NOMADS!!! Alas we did not. We lacked courage or at least I did. we should have adventured.
But I overcame my need to hide behind someone. I'll never do that again. My beloved hometown is changing so much. I don't see myself ever living there as is the golden goal as so many of my high school acquaintances do. I feel I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was meant to live near the ocean.
Enough of where I failed myself and my father lets discuss what I DID do right. I married a man that I deeply respect and we have 2 beautiful daughters that show any sign of the timidity or self loathing I carried in my high school. They are confident in themselves and they're ability to develop REAL friendships. Friends that last a life time. I love seeing my girls have good fun in my hometown and I'm happy to see them navigate the streets of San Francisco. Haggle for things in Mexico, and feel little fear in life. I don't want them to settle for small town safety. Challenge yourselves, girls!! I want no talk of settling for the same rut.

Hijacked by my youngest daughter

2011-07-22T20:33:00.000-06:00

the youngest daughter in this family is the greatest daughter that ever lived. she does laundry and cooks and cleans! she is just amazing!! (: you should nominate her daughter of the year! yesss. that sounds grand. yay! this was a great day! and look, i'm a poet and i didn't even know it! LOL! hahah Ooo! Bonus! she is hilarious too! who knew! aha. there we go again. (: rhyme rhyme rhyme with me.. i should be a poet.. i would be fantastic.. just like i am going to Seattle when i grow up, to work at Seattle Grace and be a surgeon.. i would be a fantastic surgeon also.. i would just be fantastic at anything. yes. the only jobs i shouldn't have is, the person who has to take the road kill off the road, the garbage woman, mail lady, exterminator, and or work in a factory.. they scare me. yeahh. all those big machines and such.. it's like one wrong move and CRUNCH! oww. that would be unfortunate.. like that poor elf on Harry Potter in Gringotts. yeah. cause of that fantastic dragon that they were soo mean to.. sad sad. i hate animal abuse.. or any kind of abuse.. it's just a sad, sad situation. well this is grand, i love typing that is why i am typing this novel on my mom's blog situator. ha! and my family is insane just to let y'all know.. but i love them.. wow! i should start a blog! i would be fantastic at this! okay well i'm getting tired of typing soo yeah. bye! have a nice day.. or night.. and remember, it's 5 'o clock somewhere!! and we all know what that means.. whoo! (: hmm this should be posted.. yes? i think yes! (: if this gets posted, everyone will love it! it will just be a big hit!
- love, youngest daughter! (:

We are the champions. Casey Anthony's Defense Team.

2011-07-07T19:39:00.001-06:00

Jose Baez head of Casey Anthony's defense team scored big in this case:

Okay that's not what I meant by scoring, but while I'm on the topic...

Jose Baez Repeatedly Told To Stop Touching Casey During Jail VisitsIn the past two weeks Casey Anthony’s attorney Jose Baez has visited her at the jail, seven out of 14 days.
Eyewitness News has discovered that on at least two occasions jail staff had to step in and Baez was warned repeatedly about hugging Casey during their visits.
A jail report states: “The inmate’s attorney was observed hugging inmate and was advised that physical contact was prohibited.”
Then a week later another report stated: “Baez again observed hugging his client.”
The room Baez and Anthony meet in is very small and typically there is a desk and two chairs.
Sources told Eyewitness News that on one occasion, Anthony was sitting and Baez was very close to her face. A corrections officer had to go into the room to separate them.
Eyewitness News confronted Jose Baez about the situation.
“I have no comment,” he said.
Eyewitness news’ legal analyst Bill Schaeffer said it’s unusual that an attorney would ever touch a client.
“The more experience you are in handling these type of clients or situation, the less likely you are to place yourself in a situation that could be regarded as a compromising situation,” said Schaeffer.
When Casey was out on bond, there were several times that she would spend six hours a day at Baez’s office including Saturdays. There’s nothing criminal about having a relationship with a client, but Schaeffer said there are ethical issues.
“The appellate court could find that relationship overstepped the bounds of attorney client relationship and affected that performance and order a new trial,” he said.
There was no evidence that Baez and Casey were actually having a relationship.
The reason touching isn’t allowed at the jail is because contraband items could be passed. Baez told jail officials that he didn’t know the rules, and wouldn’t do it again.
WFTV.com News Friday, October 31, 2008 – updated: 8:43 am EDT October 31, 2008

Then there's Cheney Mason, who I like to call Foghorn Leghorn. He's a southern gentleman with all the class and polish one would expect from a man of his age and experience.

Mr Mason was apparently asked to demonstrate his IQ score while at a celebratory party for the acquittal of lying slut (Baez's words) and baby killer, Casey Anthony, right across the street from the courthouse.

And yes, that is Dorothy Simms jumping up and down as they pop bottles of champagne and toast each other for the biggest miscarriage of justice since the OJ trial. She's also the fool taking pics of the camera man.

Where's Briar??

2011-06-29T22:26:00.001-06:00

I've been to San Francisco and glued to the Casey Anthony trial. I haven't felt the urge to blog on the latter but will get back to the former when the verdict is in.

BTW I had a visitor from Buckingham England.

Suck on THAT Glenn Beck!!!

2011-06-10T23:30:00.000-06:00

Jon Stewart accidentally cut himself during a segment about Wienergate. That's real blood, none of that fake-o crap that exudes from Glenn Beck's fat, lying, black-hole-for-a-soul body.

Stewart's ratings have soared above Faux News and he's taking flak for taking it easy on his good friend Anthony Weiner. Personally I haven't had the stomach for his jokes on the matter, but it's not been enough for man other news outlets. Wait... OTHER news outlets?? The Daily Show isn't a news show and Jon Stewart is nothing but a stand up comedian with a degree in psychology!! He's not even on a decent news channel unless your news comes from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour (which is where Sarah Palin got HER degree :P

Weinergate

2011-06-07T21:57:00.000-06:00

This pains me, it really does. It's so hard on me to see a member of the party of mostly honest and virtuous politicians take a hit like this. I know gentle reader, you are probably a feverish Republican holding onto the idea that Bush wasn't as responsible for the enormous loss of life since 9/11 as bin Laden was. Or that Sarah Palin really can see Russia and you've probably plugged your ears when everyone tries to tell the TRUE account of Paul Revere and said "lalalala I can't hear you!" You think "What? Why is the Queen of the Patch so twisted on who the party of skank really is?? It's because in the last several years the Republicans have gained ground on the pervymeter. I'm not forgetting Bill Clinton. Actually he is one of the worst in history not because he was a hopeless horndog but because HE LIED ABOUT IT!!! I don't know why the country persists on holding the government employees up to some virtue scale that most of the voters don't obey themselves. So you're a cheating ho-bag.. I DON'T CARE! But don't do it on taxpayer's time or money. And in the name of all that is good and holy if you are asked if you are a ho-bag, you say "That would really be none of your business, is it now?" UNLESS you've violated some law or done something at MY personal expense. Then you say "Yes.. I'm sorry, I'm a ho-bag who did bad things on your dime and I am going to step down and not cost you another cent by fighting this."

John Edwards (Dem ho-bag) should go to prison. I saw that one coming before I chose my candidate for 2008. His poor wife deserves a special place in heaven for dealing with him.

Mark Sanford (Rep ho-bag) should go to prison too but perhaps in Argentina because he was just the most stupid ho-bag on the planet.

Eliot Spitzer (Dem ho-bag)"Client #9 is just sad with his prostitution scandal. He couldn't find a freebie?? Okay he's really not cute... n/m

Bob Barr (Rep ho-bag) Defense of Marriage Act: 'to protect marriage from homosexuals who seek to destroy it by, um, getting married.' Licking whipped cream off of strippers at his inaugural party. He was on his 3rd wife (really defense of marriage?). Not sure what his position was on dead-beat dads (he didn't pay child support) or abortion (he DID pay for a wife's abortion).

IF you are pushing a bill to send gay people directly to hell for immorality, you don't get to be immoral at all. Soliciting sex from an undercover cop in an airport bathroom is pretty ironic, dontcha think??? I mean come on, really? You are the poster man of Gay People R Going 2 Hell Club. Right Larry Craig (Rep ho-bag)?? He resigned, to his credit, until he unresigned... And there were just so many others that had rode the hypocrite express.

Mark Foley (Rep ho-bag) Chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, he introduced legislation targeting online sexual predators. As he explained to an NPR interviewer in 2002, "Where I have to draw the line is using children for the excitement of those more mature people who should know the difference and know better." I won't post the completely disgusting and horrifying messages he sent his 16 y/o male page, but let's just say EWWWWWW! (Google if you don't believe me but I warn you it's graphic)

John Ensign (Rep ho-bag) Used influence to get the husband of his mistress a job. He resigned.

Chris Lee (Rep. ho-bag)(What is it with the New York Repugs??? Sent nasty pics to a chick he found on Craig's list?? WTH?? Hasn't enough horror came from Craig's list? CRAIG should be serving time!!!! He resigned.

David Vitter (Rep ho-bag) Prostitute junky and stop sign murderer. Didn't resign.

Mark Souder (Rep ho-bag) Souder and his aide also filmed a PSA advocating abstinence. The aide he had an affair with... Resigned.

Now you see I tried to be fair by alternating parties, but Republicans HAVE taken the lead lately. Sure I've missed a few, I could go back in time and shock you some more. But my point is this: If your name is Weiner, people are just WAITING for you to do something stupid, but nasty pics on Twitter??? DUDE? Are you stupid?? Oh yeah, yeah you are. You didn't even make it umm.. Difficult to find now did you? Resign. For the love of the Democrat party, RESIGN!!!

And let this be a lesson Rick Santorum. You're last name has people all a twitter (heh) so you better mind your P's and Q's. I'll let Google solve that one for my readers too, but again I warn you. It will scar you for life!

The Hunger Games books and movie

2011-05-24T15:39:00.000-06:00

I'm on my second time through The Hunger Games Trilogy (book 2 as we speak). And the movie is being shot. There are grumblings about some of the casting choices.

Back with more later on.

Politics and Religious Intolerance

2011-05-15T23:08:00.000-06:00

Poor Jon Huntsman he's found himself the target of many Mormons thanks to his answer about his membership in the Mormon church asked by Melinda Henneberger. This is the part of the interview that has members in an uproar.

And as for whether or not Huntsman still belongs to the Church of Latter-day Saints, I know less than I did before I asked him. ("I'm a very spiritual person," as opposed to a religious one, he says, "and proud of my Mormon roots." Roots? That makes it sound as if you're not a member anymore. Are you? "That's tough to define," he says. "There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.")

I've been more sympathetic than most (of course, I'm liberal)and I live in Utah. Idaho, parts of Arizona and Nevada are the same. I think our rural areas fall into a twisted dogma that can be a caricature of what the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ truly is intended to be as restored by Joseph Smith. There was a question that made it's way to facebook "How would YOU answer the question in Huntsman's position?" This was my answer:

I think he did answer it well. Now days being Mormon IS hard to define. All around me I see people who find things in shade of black and white and I'm not just talking about racists. I'm often surprised that people don't stumble in testimony meeting and say that they know that Glenn Beck is the true prophet. I see little tolerance and a lot of judgement. More people in my area identify with the Tea Party. THAT'S religious to them. It's not an easy question and honestly it's practically political suicide.

Then a guy posted the most EXCELLENT OP ED:
Some LDS Conservatives Worship Political Dogma

The real question is, have you always been so comfortable with your actions that you are okay with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints to be judged by YOUR actions?

Affirmation (Savage Garden)

2011-05-10T13:28:00.002-06:00

Always loved these lyrics:

Affirmation lyrics

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your own happiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

President Obama's 60 Minutes Interview

2011-05-09T18:36:00.000-06:00

Great interview after the operation that took out Osama bin Laden. Now knowing how long the president knew this was going down it explains his release of the long form birth certificate. I thought that it would be a good way to sweep the legs out beneath the more insane candidates running for president in 2012 but it turns out that a little reverse psychology on the media goes a looooong way. It definitely sent them on a wild goose chase while the top secret mission was going down and I'm sure he knew that it would. I can't help but laugh at the fact that the breaking news announcement interrupting Celebrity Apprentice.

Anyway, Here's the interview:

Full Transcript

Terrorist Intel Motherlode

2011-05-09T10:22:00.000-06:00

It's been a week since Osama Bin Laden was killed and apparently his Pakistani hideout contained a wealth of information described as the size of "a small college library". From what I've seen we know the following:

We took bin Laden out mid mid-life crisis. He dyed his beard dark brown and could sit for hours watching himself on TV. Did he WATCH the videos he took of himself watching himself on TV??? And why didn't anyone tell him that yellow didn't flatter him?

His plans for attack were on big US cities on holidays where crowds gathered in public places.

He planned to recruit minorities to divide the nation. To encourage mistrust of anyone different. Didn't he watch FOX News?? The GOP and Tea Party has been doing that for over four years!!!!

He documented the names, addresses, and phone numbers of other players within the Taliban network. I'm guessing they will quickly move to make sure they are not easily tracked down.

Now we're left wondering who we can trust. Are we providing aid to a country that knowingly hid bin Laden from us? All eyes are on Pakistan now to see if they are with us or against us.

And from the people who brought you "101 reasons why waterboarding isn't torture" we have "Was killing Osama bin Laden illegal?" Whose campaign slogan will THAT be? I'm betting Palin.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T08:25:00.000-06:00

It's nice to be reminded what you've done RIGHT!! This year for Mother's day my child count is up to 6. Two that I birthed my very own self and 4 have adopted me. I love them all and appreciate their appreciation!!

I couldn't ask for better people in my life. My daughters are my best friends and so thoughtful. I'm grateful for my husband too. I'm blessed to have such a wonderful family. I love them so very much :)

Osama bin Laden is dead

2011-05-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time coming and sooooo many unnecessary deaths. The following is a compilation on the search for the devil himself:

Clinton administration

Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton. Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized. On August 20, 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan, narrowly missing him by a few hours. In 1999 the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état; in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was riding.

In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".

Bush administration

According to The Washington Post, the US government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the US to commit enough US ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the US in the war against al Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.

The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing Osama was shut down in late 2005.

US and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between August 14–16, 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, US government officials named bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death. On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.

The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association had offered an additional $2 million reward.

Obama administration

Members of the Obama administration track the mission that killed bin Laden

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on Bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later, General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama Bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of Bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."

In April 2011, Obama approved an operation to capture bin Laden. On May 1, 2011 (23:30 EDT), Obama released a statement saying that American forces had killed bin Laden.

During the Bush administration:

...As the months and years went by after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- and Bush’s initial bluster about capturing the al Qaeda leader “dead or alive” became a source of embarrassment -- Bush began to insist that bin Laden himself wasn’t so very important.

"I truly am not that concerned about him," Bush said at a White House press conference on March 13, 2002. And of course the following March, he shifted America’s focus to Iraq, which proved to be a gigantic diversion.

The intelligence on WOM was invented to justify the war in Iraq. Intelligence that was invented and GW Bush admitted it. The intelligence from the CIA and Pakistani government proved to be real and Obama acted quickly. Our country and every other country who lived in terror should be thanking President Obama and the brave troops, foreign and domestic. The former presidents have.

George W. Bush:

"Earlier this evening, President Obama called to inform me that American forces killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network that attacked America on September 11, 2001. I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude. This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

Bill Clinton:

"This is a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaida's other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children.

I congratulate the President, the National Security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al-Qaida attacks."

Even John McCain:

"I am overjoyed that we finally got the world's top terrorist. The world is a better and more just place now that Osama bin Laden is no longer in it. I hope the families of the victims of the September 11th attacks will sleep easier tonight and every night hence knowing that justice has been done. I commend the President and his team, as well as our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals, for this superb achievement.

"But while we take heart in the news that Osama bin Laden is dead, we must be mindful that al-Qaeda and its terrorist allies are still lethal and determined enemies, and we must remain vigilant to defeat them."

So seriously unfair.

2011-05-01T18:13:00.000-06:00

When I was 15 a very wild boy moved to my town. He was 17 and frankly he was hell on wheels. Maybe that was why I found him irresistible from day one. He gave me my very first kiss. He drove like a mad man but to this day I've never seen one better to this day. He taught me something much more important and I've never forgotten it. I watched him be judged and treated so unfairly that he didn't stand a chance at being accepted. No one took the time to see the good in him but me. I knew it was in him, I watched him try to make amends but a town full of people had found him guilty at first sight. I certainly wouldn't want my beliefs to be judged by that.

Anyway I've talked to him on and off throughout the years. He has three kids and two of them are the same age as my kids. His oldest, his only daughter, was in a car accident and had to have brain surgery. She nearly died and to this day she's not regained full brain activity. Now his 16 y/o son has cancer. They fought it and thought it was gone but it's back and it's in his bones. I don't know what that means and my friend can only talk about it in small doses. I can't see how this boy can fight it. My friend thinks it's some sort of karma for the things he did as a teen. I think if that's how that worked the whole town that judged him would be sick.

I'm at a crossroads with my headache. I find no relief and so I've sat down and refuse to choose a path. No surgery, but no stronger meds. It's not going away and honestly death would be kinder for everyone. I would take my old boyfriend's son's cancer. I mean that. it's not empty words. I would take it gladly.

Trump/Taitz 2012

2011-04-28T17:46:00.000-06:00

Told ya!!!

Notice how polite I can be...

2011-04-28T14:34:00.000-06:00

After being TRASHED about my religion I had to do something I didn't want or expect to do. I called someone out. I appreciate the fact he's kept his distance and so I've hidden the post. Clearly I'm not bluffing when I say that I know who visits my blog. I will give him this: He had the semi-courage to confront me. I'll keep it down unless I'm provoked further.

Sadly this will probably going to be serious soon...

2011-04-28T14:27:00.001-06:00

But for now, it's pretty funny :)

Donald Trump vs....

2011-04-27T14:49:00.003-06:00

Donald Trump gets into these feuds with various celebrities and it's just going to get worse now. I think we shall keep up with them here. He's so elementary school!!

Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell

Trump vs. Rihanna

Trump vs. Jerry Seinfeld

Trump vs. Robert DeNiro

Trump vs. Cher

White House releases birth certificate

2011-04-27T08:46:00.001-06:00

What do you do when you're a birther and no longer have a legitimate cause (not that it was ever legitimate)? My guess? They won't accept the long form birth certificate that they've been demanding for years now. Donald Trump is taking full credit for the White Houses decision to release the document making him look more ridiculous than ever. President Obama said in a press conference concerning the release: "I am speaking for the vast majority of the American people as well as for the press," he said. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We have better stuff to do. I have got better stuff to do. We have got big problems to solve." I've supported several groups on many issues over the past few years and I was sent a petition yesterday on the matter of the birth certificate. Specifically the GOP leaders and representatives of states that were supporting bills in keeping with the birther issues. Do we have the time and money to waste on something that is so ridiculous as this is? Shouldn't we look at our Governors, and state representatives and ask them what is it they are using our tax dollars to accomplish? This was asinine and it makes the people who long supported it look asinine too. Some people enjoy looking like a fool and will continue to do so. I wonder if they know who they are...
Update: Reactions are pouring in on the issue of the birth certificate. This is going to be a fun issue to blog about because some of these people are SOOOO INCREDIBLY STUPID!!!!

House Majority Leader John Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel said in a statement, according to CNN, "This has long been a settled issue. The Speaker’s focus is on cutting spending, lowering gas prices, and creating American jobs.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who has reacted less than enthusiastically to the prospect of a Trump 2012 campaign, reacted to the release during an appearance on Fox News. Mediate reports the the GOP leader said, “I have criticized members of my own party for making this some kind of an issue and so I am really surprised that the White House is doing the same.”

Sarah Palin wrote in a tweet, "Media: admit it, Trump forced the issue. Now, don't let the WH distract you w/the birth crt from what Bernanke says today. Stay focused, eh?"

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich exclusively told Talking Points Memo that he sees the birth certificate ordeal as "strange." He said, "All I would say is, why did it take so long?"

Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney wrote in a tweet, "What President Obama should really be releasing is a jobs plan."

(This from the man who said this: [Obama's stimulus programs is]one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history." Romney, Romney, Romney... Shhhhh! We're at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention our involvement in Libya. Perhaps you should fly under the radar for awhile. I doubt that our servicemen and their families forget ever that it isn't peacetime.)

Also I'm posting video of the President's press conference. You know that accusation that he comes off elitist and superior?? Oh yeah, this is a prime example and you know why? BECAUSE HE IS!!!!!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Liberal Mormon. Yes we exist :)

2011-04-24T20:54:00.001-06:00

Not every issue is black and white. It's important to concentrate on the gray areas sometimes. I've found links to the LDS church's position on some issues that venture into morality vs. legal. The information I will be posting is quotes by President Obama previous to his election. I realize that his positions on some of these issues may have changed or run deeper than a sound bite allows.

Abortion:

The Church allows for possible exceptions for its members when:

* Pregnancy results from rape or incest, or
* A competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or
* A competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.

Of course this choice can't be made without a great deal of council. Spiritual AND temporal.

Preventing Unintended Pregnancy:
Barack Obama is an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.

He opposes mid-late term abortion.
That is my position as well.

Same sex marriage:

I think everyone is aware of the LDS church's view on same sex marriage.

President Obama's position as President has had to be rethought as Prop 8 was overturned as unconstitutional.

"I think that marriage, in the minds of a lot of voters, has a religious connotation," Obama said, according to the article. "I know that's true in the African American community, for example." Instead, he endorsed civil unions, a designation that did not exist in 1996.

Obama takes the same stance today - yes on equal rights and civil unions, no on same-sex marriage - but attributes the distinction to his religious convictions.

As he put it in an August 2008 presidential candidates' forum, "I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian ... it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix."

Yup, I agree with that. I support civil unions and all of the rights afforded to a heterosexual couple. I support all civil rights of LGBT Americans, including the overturning of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Basically I believe it's futile to fight some things like marijuana, prostitution, etc. Instead of fighting these things at great cost to taxpayers, legalize it, government regulate it, and tax the heck out of it :)
Pro choice=Free agency=Free country= What I believe. There is no judge in America that can deal with bad choices like God will. In the meantime, live life as positively as possible.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T13:37:00.000-06:00

I taught Sunday School today and it was such a great lesson. But my friend left this link for me.

How moving and beautiful.

Happy Easter

2011-04-22T22:57:00.000-06:00

The greatest man in history, named Jesus Christ. He had no servants, yet they called Him Master. He had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. He had no medicines, yet they called Him healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb...

Yet He lives today.

Comments

2011-04-20T21:56:00.001-06:00

Here's the policy on comments in Briarland:

I am ALLLL about Freedom of Speech and not a huge fan of censorship but I have comments set to moderate. I can take differing opinions on politics and such. I can take differing opinions on religion. I WILL NOT allow disrespect for my religious beliefs or anyone else's. I can also take insults but I'm not publishing a comment filled with vulgarity ESPECIALLY for some gutless idiot posting under "Anonymous". Not only does it reinforce my understanding of your position in the stupid people brigade but it shows a complete lack of class.

I understand your frustration because I have little patience for stupid people. I recognized immediately that you were no match for me intellectually, weeks ago. I don't mean to come off as an elitist but let's face facts, you didn't even spell your profanity correctly. I'm sorry. I recognize how embarrassed you must be to fail to understand my superior repartee. I suggested that you run along, but perhaps you should stay. You have much to learn. I suggest you keep a dictionary on hand. Clearly your vocabulary is stunted.

Happy Easter to you, as well :)

IDOL

2011-04-13T22:44:00.000-06:00

I'm so bad at picking favorites... Pia was the obvious Idol from the first moment she stepped onstage. But now she's gone :(

Scotty. I love the little Mad Magazine boy. More George Strait, some Garth Brooks and maybe a Forever and Ever, Amen!!! I'm not a hillbilly fan but I like him. Ahh the memories he invokes, right?

Jacob.. It hurts to even watch his face. Go HOME!

Haley. Hated her from day one but loved her tonight. Judges didn't. What do I know?

Paul. I love Paul. In spite of the corneal damage I suffer from his teeth I really love this weird boy. The spastic dance, the crazy clothes and the voice.. It's all so odd but in a good way.

Casey. OH EM GEE!! GO HOME, YOU SUSAN BOYLE ON THE BUTT OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY IN THIS WORLD!!!

Lauren. I like her but I forget her in five...Ooo!! Squirrel!!!!

Stephano. The boy is responsible for the demise of Pia. He's one canolli away from cement shoes. What does that even mean? I said it and I have no idea what it means.

I don't even know if I've got them all but can I just finish up with this: I love a boy who begs America to bring back the Heavy Metal as he tells Iovine and Will.i.am to respectfully mind their own beezwax as he out-ozzies OZZY!! YES!!! This boy is the love child of Sammy Hagar and lots of other scary hairy dudes from the 70s-80s!! GO DURBIN!!! I'd be banging my head if it didn't hurt so much!! I didn't even head bang when it DIDN'T hurt!!

Would it be weird to scan pics of my ex-boyfriend who is my Facebook friend and suggest he make one of them his profile pic because he's SOOOO much cuter than the one he has up? Oh random huh?

You know I write some good stuff. I crack myself up. It's really sad no one reads these unless the fam has their panties in a twist!

The silver lining.

2011-04-07T11:45:00.000-06:00

Being so much younger and only HALF sibling to my mom's older kids has often proven to be painful at times in my younger life. NOT TODAY!!! I tell you what, it's becoming a more and more beautiful thing to know that my genetics are only partly shared. Even though I decided I'd had enough and disowned myself.

Yeah! Sucks to be them!!!

What do I do with my sad little life?

2011-04-05T12:04:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows I am a BeckPalinLimbaughTeabagger hater, liberal, opinionated, elitist. I also just signed up again for Obama/Biden 2012 **YAYYYYYYY**

BUT! I love to redecorate my house. I just redesigned my bathroom and thought I'd post pics :)

Atomic Bath

181st Semi-Annual General Conference

2011-04-01T16:01:00.000-06:00

Starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. mst you will find many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints either listing to or watching General Conference. Twice a year our church leaders speak to us on issues facing us in our world. Should you have an interest in watching or listening to it, you can find it here: 181st Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I'm always hoping that this will be the time they tell Glenn Beck to shut up!!!

Open letter to my family

2011-03-31T15:10:00.001-06:00

So my really drama loving family has gotten on this big whiny trip about some stuff I wrote that, again, was anonymous, true, and no secret. I've cut them out of my life and look forward to the time I can cut ties more permanently. So here's the thing:

You have treated me like shit for most of my life. I've been punished for something I had no part in. I tried for so long to fit in until I realized I don't really need or want to. When I got married, my husband was appalled at the way I was treated. He had a hard time keeping his mouth shut let alone accepting it. When you all realized that he was a huge asset, I was a bit more accepted but it never escaped my notice that it wasn't me that you had accepted, it was him. So let's get this straight right now. He's done a lot of things for most of you. He's done that for love of me but when I decided I wasn't taking this anymore, he had my back from that moment on. One sister actually had the audacity to STILL call him up for help. HE'S MY HUSBAND!!! Why would he help you? YOU TREAT ME LIKE SHIT AND YOU ALWAYS HAVE!!! So, STILL, he's being asked for things by people who weren't a part of this insane temper tantrum yet felt the need to take sides. He's not going to help you. You are nothing to him. How do you not get that he's my husband and he loves ME and my children and if you hurt one of us you hurt us all. I recognize that none of you understand me. Even less now than you ever have. I don't understand why because if ever I needed family it's now more than ever. Yet you haven't stopped to think of that and what it's like for me. He sees the pain I go through everyday. He sees the hurt that is caused by people who should love me unconditionally. He's always seen that. Never would I have asked him or my girls to take sides but you think they don't see it? You think I've gotten more difficult for you? Imagine what it's like for them, yet they love me even more because of it. My girls are thrilled at the prospect of never having to deal with some of you ever again. I've encouraged them to keep in touch with the ones they love so much and they do. But you hurt us all when you hurt me. Save yourself the embarrassment of looking like an idiot by asking my husband for anything. He and I meant it when we said "for better or worse" and though we've had our ups and downs we still love each other and we work things out. He didn't promise that to any of you.

The GOP Mo's: Ro, Jo, and The complete idiot...

2011-03-23T22:44:00.001-06:00

I stole this from Joanna Brooks. She's pretty awesome =)

Edit: I posted that on the fly and didn't check it. Sorry O_o

OMG!!! STUPID PEOPLE SHUT UP!!!!

2011-03-21T19:15:00.000-06:00

I am so sick of the constant complaints about Obama. When did we become so anti humanitarian? Our country is in debt and has huge problems but does a crazy dictator send people out to slaughter people?? NO! The fact that we can complain about all of this means we are 1000x better off than these people. When Petraeus and other military experts who are IN Afganistan say it's over THEN it's over (and it's not like he doesn't have a personal stake in it, his son served there too). In the meantime, count your blessings that you are American! We're in debt due to the warmongering Bush Admin and Republicans. Remember the crap Obama took for trying to settle things through peace talks?? Yeah we don't talk, we just bomb people, REMEMBER???

Among the criticism is that he should have acted sooner? Umm yeah he should have, but he can't just do that. He has to do things with the approval of other countries and the loons that are in opposition to every single thing he does!! I just keep thinking about the little world news thing that interrupted my Saturday morning cartoons and listening to Walter Cronkite talk about this insane man named Gadhafi. He was an evil man during the Reagan administration, now he's a completely insane, evil man.

I've also seen some criticism that some of the Libyan rebels dislike America. And?? So if you dislike us (likely because they have been fed negative information about us their entire lives) you deserve to be slaughtered by a mad man?? We can't save the world but if we can help out in some of the biggest atrocities, why would we hesitate? There's a lot of lip service paid to the importance of Christianity in our government as it was founded by men that held God and freedom as very important parts of the foundation of the country. So now do we pick and choose what is the "Christian" thing to do (I speak of Christianity as it was the major beliefs of our founding fathers though John Adams DID condemn the prejudice of Muslims etc.)?

I think that one of the things that's become clear during the time that Obama has been president is that there should be term limits on members of the House of Representatives AND Gadhafi.. Too much time and power obviously is a really bad mix. And as these members of Congress call for impeachment, do they have a better idea how to handle the financial crisis and war in Iraq that was handed over to this administration from the last (which was, the oil spill (yeah remember THAT?? It's still there) Haiti, Japan, Chile. And he's being accused of going into Libya over oil? Umm no, that was Bush and Iraq. Remember that war that we went into under false intelligence? Bush admits that one and who benefitted from that? Big oil and who was tied to big oil? Bush. Meanwhile Bin Ladin was able to hole up in Afganistan. THAT is where the war on terror SHOULD have taken place but it didn't and now war weary, we are finally fighting the people responsible for 9/11. And Obama fighting for oil?? Whose tagline was "drill baby drill?" Who has consistantly insisted that we work toward alternate fuel?? Who was against offshore drilling? And how soon we forget that the cost of gas was INSANE at the end of the Bush administration. Also remember that the Bush administration isn't completely safe from being tried for the things they did to fool our country and many others into a false war.

No, we can't help everyone who is experiencing slaughter by their dictatorial governments, but when they so blatantly shove it in our faces do we hide with our tail between our legs? We never have before why would we start now? And Fox News made up reports on "Human Shields"?? What? Fox News LIES?? SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!

I'm sure I'll be venting more on all of this BS soon.

To forgive or not to forgive...

2011-03-18T15:07:00.000-06:00

So about 2 and a half months ago I wrote a blog that got some of my family members' panties in a twist. Nothing that I said was untrue or a secret. I deleted most of my fam from Facebook, even those NOT involved (I figured it would be best to not make it a 'take sides' scenario). It's been a peaceful two and a half months. My girls have asked if this means we don't have to go to the family get-togethers (some are long standing traditions). I don't know what to say. I will always try to do what is best for my girls and husband but honestly the easy answer would be "No. We don't have to do it anymore.) especially since THEY all seem to dread it too. There are family members that I love and can't imagine life without them. My girls have some cousins that they love to spend time with and they need MORE time with them and not less. I guess it's a matter of making those events happen more often.

In the last couple of days I've heard some stuff that the ones I can live without have said or done. Not about me, but it never ceases to amaze me how cruel these people can be. Especially to the people they supposedly love. There's no excuse for it. I don't want my girls to grow up thinking that hurtful things should just be brushed off. Not to mention the irony of those who say these things.

I know I've become unbearably opinionated. I know that I am sometimes too sensitive. I know that the way my life is now has made me short on patience and ofttimes angry at the world. It hasn't made me insensitive to other people, though. This is unlike me to stay angry, to be so unforgiving. But what if this is what is best for all of us? I don't want to become so cruel. There's no excuse for that and I certainly don't want that for my kids. I may be a bitch, but it turns out that karma is an even bigger one. Food for thought.

Hmm, Really?

2011-03-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

You JUST realized you had a problem, Crypt Keeper!!

Orrin Hatch Working To Fix Tea Party Problem

Dude, there's no cure for crazy, Have you SEEN Muammar Gaddafi?? Yeah, that's Libyan tea!!!

See?

2011-02-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Joe Scarborough agrees with me. However I will say this. I don't want Glenn Beck to stop talking crazy talk. I want him to stop saying he's Mormon. He's the gift that keeps on giving for Dems!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/26/joe-scarborough-glenn-beck_n_828624.html

NO MO BECK!!!

2011-02-23T13:16:00.002-07:00

Yes I'm obsessed with this subject.
I seriously dislike Glenn Beck and find him an unlikely role model for the Mormon faith and am astounded by the people around me. His actions are such a distortion to our beliefs and it amazes me that no one has called him on it.

The Word of Wisdom is one of the more common knowledge aspects of our religion. It's a bit more complicated than no smoking or drinking. This is The Word of Wisdom (WOW) as it was laid out for us in Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The words in blue are linked to the official church website:

5 That inasmuch as any man ^adrinketh ^bwine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.

6 And, behold, this should be wine, yea, ^apure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.

7 And, again, ^astrong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

8 And again, tobacco is not for the ^abody, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome ^aherbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with ^aprudence and ^bthanksgiving.

12 Yea, ^aflesh also of ^bbeasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used ^csparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be ^aused, only in times of winter, or of cold, or ^bfamine.

14 All ^agrain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

15 And ^athese hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

16 All grain is good for the ^afood of man; as also the ^bfruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

I put in the requirements and left out what we are promised in return for obedience but obviously it's similar to the USDA Food Pyramid. Since the time it was given to Joseph Smith, the leaders of the church have had to call on members to avoid such things as drugs and caffeine. Anything that is addictive and unhealthy is discouraged. People raised in the church tend to pick and choose the parts they want to follow. It's not uncommon that you would see a roast, potatoes, gravy, and corn on the cob for 2 out of three meals of the day and fried pig in the form of sausage, bacon or ham, and some chicken abortions (I'm opposed to eggs, for personal reasons) for breakfast. Basically people who overeat are breaking the WOW because it calls for moderation in all things. Also all that meat is bad and refreshments. I've even seen candy and cake served at activities where they are stressing the importance of the WOW.

Personal info here: The amount of prescription drugs that I take are killing me. I feel that God wishes me to suck it up. I've confided in my doctor and my bishop and both disagree that I am unworthy of a temple recommend but I feel that in judgment of myself I am unworthy. Along with anger issues (obvious to my readers, and my problem of judging others.)

Clearly this isn't how we would like to be represented:

Here's another of our favorites and also one we tend to whip out as it serves our purpose:
1 Thessalonians 5:22
We also believe the Bible to be the word of God... Naturally the suggestion of murder is something ALL people, except psychopaths, feel is pretty wrong.
^aAbstain from all ^bappearance of ^cevil.

And it's not just me:
Mormon Left
Feminist Mormon Housewives
Latter Day Taint
BYU Professors: Glenn Beck Doesn't Speak For All Mormons (Deseret News)

Many of these links came from a Wordpress blog called Messenger and Advocate. Very cool blog!!

Yeah, I'm really wanting to see the long form of his criminal record. Rape and murder? No big thing to him.

Ohhh! And a bonus!! Glenn Beck the creepy perv:

Again with the irony..

2011-02-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone has at least heard Glenn Beck bleating about the world being taken over by caliphs (I still have the dictionary link for those of you who don't know what that is). Bill O' Reilly officially thinks he's nuts and THAT'S saying something. O' Reilly is SUCH a tool! One of the things that jumped out at me was their agreement that Mubarak is a bad guy and he receives a great deal of money for leaving Iran alone, he doesn't like terrorists or Al Qaeda and tortures them. Beck then returned to the subject of American foreign policy. "We have to stand for something," he said. "[Mubarak] is torturing people with our money!"

Ummm does anyone remember the Bush administration?? Who paid for the waterboarding. Who paid for Gitmo.. WE DID. It's a matter of fact that what the Bush Admin allowed is every bit as bad as what Beck accusing Mubarak of.

More fun ironic tidbits:

7 most ironic political scandals
Rep. Mark Souder's resignation came with a twist: A video in which his mistress quizzed him on his abstinence views. But he's hardly the only politician to be exposed so ironically
posted on May 20, 2010, at 7:10 PM

Mark Souder: World's first pro-abstinence cheater? Photo: US Congress
Washington has had its share of political scandals — sexual and otherwise. But sometimes the stark contrast between a politician's predicament and the values he's championed throughout his career makes the shame even more indelible. Here, starting with the shocking affair that brought down family values conservative Rep. Mark Souder this week, a list of seven of the most ironic political scandals in recent memory:
1. Mark Souder's failure to abstain
Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder abruptly resigned this week after confessing to an affair with part-time staffer Tracy Jackson and issuing a standard apology to both his family and God. In an eyebrow-raising twist, however, a web video surfaced in which Jackson interviewed Souder about, among other issues, his advocacy of abstinence education. "In 2006," Jackson notes in the clip, "you had your staff conduct a report entitled 'Abstinence and its Critics' which discredits many claims purveyed by those who oppose abstinence education."

2. George Rekers' travel companion
High-profile conservative George Rekers recently resigned from the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a leading force in the movement to "cure" homosexuality, after he was caught renting a young male prostitute for a 10-day European vacation. Rekers said he was stepping down "to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me." NARTH attached a statement to to Rekers' announcement saying his apparent hypocrisy does not reflect on their work.

3. Al Gore's electric bill
The former Democratic vice president has won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his work publicizing the threat of global warming. But a few years ago, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research reported that the Gore family burns more electricity in one month at its 10,000-square-foot mansion than the average Nashville family uses in a year. (In 2007, the Gores' average monthly bill, according to utility records, was $1,200.)

4. Mitt Romney's gardener
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney called for a crackdown on illegal immigration when he was running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. But the landscaping company that tended his lawn in 2007 was caught — twice — using undocumented Guatemalan workers to tend Romney's lawn and tennis court.

5. Newt Gingrich's unfortunate timing
Since leaving Congress, former House speaker Newt Gingrich has admitted that he was cheating on his then-wife while he led the fight against then-president Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair. But Gingrich, a Republican, said that didn't make him a hypocrite. Clinton wasn't impeached in 2008 for infidelity, Gingrich said, but for lying about it under oath to a judge, and "you cannot accept... perjury in your highest officials."

6. Eliot Spitzer, crime-stopper
Former New York governor — and rumored CNN host-to-be — Eliot Spitzer built his career as a "beacon of justice, the scrappy David taking down the Goliaths of Wall Street, the insurance industry, and yes, even prostitution," says Newsweek. So when news broke that Spitzer, a Democrat, had been deceiving his wife and political allies by sneaking off to visit $1,000-an-hour prostitutes, he became a poster boy, says author Peter Elkind in Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer, for "the chasm between public image and private reality."

7. Strom Thurmond's views on race — in the bedroom
Strom Thurmond — whose political career as a South Carolina governor and Senator spanned decades — ran for president in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, winning 39 electoral votes. In one speech, he said, "There's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." Thurmond's views on race later softened, though he never explicitly renounced segregation. Shortly after his death in 2003, a Los Angeles woman named Essie Mae Washington-Williams, whose mother was a black maid for Thurmond's family, revealed that she was Strom Thurmond's daughter.

http://theweek.com/article/index/203126/7-most-ironic-political-scandals

Sometimes my ideas are sooooo brilliant...

2011-02-19T00:25:00.001-07:00

I'm updating this for people who don't get my humor at the obvious.. Yeah, it ruins the joke to have to explain it but not everyone who reads this blog are rocket scientists. Sorry, smart people, for the tedium.

Obviously 24 hour news is a bad idea and reality TV is all the rage so here's my plan. Put together reality shows starring politicians or political commentators.
Amazing Race: Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford (Remember the Russia from Palin manor and the trip to hike the Appalachian Trail when Sanford was ACTUALLY with his mistress in Argentina?)
The Biggest Loser: Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh (Obviously two fat stupid men who could use a jog around the block)
The Real Housewives of Alaska: Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, and Willow Palin (That one is obvious, and completely possible. Sarah loves reality shows!)
American Idol : Rod Blagojevich )
Survivor: Mitt Romney (has he made the WORSE alliances ever??) Remember when McCain promised to nominate him vice if he helped him win Utah? He nominated the worst setback to womankind in history, like, THE NEXT DAY. And that was after THIS: http://crooksandliars.com/2008/02/14/romney-endorses-mccain
Jersey Shore: John Bohner. He's got the orange glow down from GTL, can he keep up with the gym and laundry.

Updated 2/20

Spring is in the air... Okay not even close but..

2011-02-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Two things reminding me of my future election responsibilities came up.

First I got an email from glassbooth asking me to help make people aware of their awesome site so here's link:
http://glassbooth.org/

And I actually got this last month but didn't put it on yet.

I don't recall get a thank you note from Bush :) Just sayin'...

Pain=puke. Puke=pain...

2011-02-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was reading a message I get from LDS Living. It addresses my confusion and loss of faith in not my religion but in what God has in store for me. I'm angry with God and actually, I'm not speaking to him. I haven't for awhile. Yeah, it freaks my mom out that I say that but it's not as if He doesn't already know. He knows everything. I was faithful and neck deep in callings at church. Truly dedicated and attended the temple every month. The BOOM! Headache from hell. I've had blessings and blessings and more blessings. So this part of this little lesson I got frankly irritates me. I perhaps lacked this woman's faith but I sought out help in faith as she did:

For she had heard of Jesus , the ultimate physician of both soul and body. She knew what Jairus knew. Anything the Lord lays his hands on, or touches, lives.

But how was she to approach him? Jairus came (she might have been a witness to this) and “fell at his feet, and besought him greatly.” (Mark 5:22,23, emphasis added. ) The ten Lepers “lifted up their voices.” (Luke 17: 13 emphasis added. ) Another leper came “beseeching him. ..” (Mark 1:41 emphasis added.) Even the diseased of Gennesaret “besought him” before they touched “the hem of his garment.” (Matthew 14:34-36 emphasis added. ) But this woman asked nothing, spoke not a word, called no smallest amount of attention to herself. Twelve years as a social pariah must have left scars like canyons. She could not ask for a touch. The imposition of his hands would make him unclean.

Thus, in the silence that her condition had taught her, she thought, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” (Mark 5:28.) And she “came in the press behind, and touched his garment.” (Mark 5:27.)

And was healed! What an explosion of joy and wonder and devotion must have rocked her as she felt the miracle and sensed the wholeness in her organs. She came to the Savior when there was no place else to go, and now, we suppose, she will never go any place else at all.

Jesus knew. This seems almost as miraculous as the healing. His disciples were amazed at the question, “Who touched my clothes?” “Master,” they replied, “the multitude throng thee and press upon thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?” (Luke 8:45.) In a narrow street with a swirling crowd desperate to be near him, he felt the touch and knew that it was more than a touch. The Savior felt virtue [better: power] go out of him. (Mark 5:30.)

And so he asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30.) Again the woman’s personality appears. She made no rush of gratitude and amazement to fall at his feet and give thanks. Rather, when she "found that she was not hid, " as she had hoped to be (Luke 8:47), “she came trembling.” (Mark 5:33.) Again we sense that her affliction has driven her deep within herself.

But she came, the miracle still burning inside, “and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.” (Luke 8:47.)

Jesus saw her kneeling there, perceived her remarkable faith and the goodness of her heart and said simply, “Daughter, thy faith [not the clothes, not the touch] hath made thee whole; go in peace. …” (Mark 5:34).

My wife suffered for years with incapacitating, demoralizing headaches. She took her problem to many doctors, anti they all had suggestions and they all had prescriptions and they all charged money, sometimes amazing amounts of it. And when it was all over she was not better, but seemed to grow worse. Finally, when it seemed that there was no place else to go, we went to our knees and to the Savior , and in his quiet, gentle way, after sufficient time and faith, he showed us the solution.

This is not an indictment of doctors. Those we visited were marvelous, dedicated men who offered the common solutions. None of them prescribed owl brains or frog livers. But it took us so long to make our way to the Savior . . .

I fear that many of us misunderstand the atonement and the power of the Lord to help us: to heal any wound, resolve any difficulty, purge any pain. Only after we have suffered enough to exhaust all the dimmer hopes do we come before Him, driven finally to our knees by the joyous but painfully learned knowledge that there is no place else to go. Once there we may learn that if we had been willing, we could have been there all the time.

CONCLUSION: Certain qualities possessed by the Savior draw us to him in times of need and pain and sorrow. He has a perfect knowledge of each of us. He has compassion for us; his empathy is absolute. When we are afflicted, he is afflicted (see D&C 133:53). His love passeth knowledge (see Eph. 3:17-19), and he has all power. Nothing is too hard for him. When he acts in our behalf, the result is always miraculous. Thus, even though his personal miracles were confined to a small place and a short time, their messages reach across the ages to us. And the promise come with those messages. He will do for us what he did for them, and for the same reasons: because of his compassion; to build and confirm faith; and to teach us spiritual realities.

He's got to admit that this headache really, really sucks.

Crossroads.

2011-02-12T11:01:00.002-07:00

So I'm at a crossroads. The meds I take for pain are at a plateau. Now I'm maintaining the addiction and dulling the pain but not escaping it ever anymore. Time for choices and I know how each road ends or could end.
1st road is short and it leads to a cliffs edge. My thoughts on ending my life myself are actually pretty healthy. I joined a "thoughts of suicide" support group once and got in trouble for my very first sentence: "So I think about committing suicide." Everyone freaked. You aren't allowed to say the "S" word here. One girl said "She didn't know. She won't do it again." So everyone looks at me for what else I might say but what do I say? I'm there for a reason and the reason is the one forbidden topic?? It's not like the 'cry for help' kind of suicide, and there ARE many kinds, ya know. Mine is the 'one of the only options that are for ME' kind. I always hear people talk about suicide being selfish. I only know what I feel and what I imagine others feel and I say it's selfish for people to expect others to live with something that not only do they NOT feel or comprehend, but don't even really have to think about. I imagine many people have thought long and hard about their options and not really seen a better way. Who am I, who are YOU to judge that choice? And where were you when they needed you? Is it more important to you that someone exist even peripherally than not at all? Of course it is. That's selfish and you aren't qualified to make that choice. The cliff thing is metaphorical for me. I'm scared of heights because I'm afraid that if I jump/fall, it won't kill me. Just disable. Being disabled is on of my biggest fears. I'd probably miss with a gun, I don't want to take out a car so anything vehicular is out of the question. I don't want anyone to have to clean up a mess and I don't want to risk my kids finding me. See? Anyone who thinks about it THIS thoroughly isn't a huge risk. I've always known I'd do it with pills but now there aren't enough pills in my house to kill me. I literally take a lethal dose of pills every day. I'm immune. So this is why I hesitate at the first road.
2nd road is upping the meds. Methadone or morphine are next on the no win opioid list. My sister and I talked about this a lot. She knew about drugs and I promised her I'd not touch either "M" drug and I intend on doing everything I can to keep that promise. She passed away last year. I'd have gladly gone in her place but I know she's been at her own crossroads for a while now. All sisterly love aside, it would just bring me back to this place eventually anyway. This isn't a terminal illness, so there is no end in sight. Which takes me to road number....
3. Surgery. This would make everyone feel better (except me). Let me try to explain this surgery thing:
We are looking at spinal fusion on the most mobile section of my spine. This means I would no longer be able to turn my head. It would limit the things I do even as I am now. No driving, no roller coasters, no looking up or down or side to side. I had to voluntarily do that for awhile after one procedure and it was impossible for me. This is all assuming I don't die on the table or become a quadriplegic. Can you imagine the change from darkness and apathy to not being able to turn the channel or pee on my own? I'd be hard pressed to take road number 1 if I was paralyzed.
The spinal fusion is anterior, meaning they'd approach the front side of my spine to put what is called an interbody cage:

This would be implanted between however many vertebrae the specialist feels needs to be fused. In those little holes they would put plugs of my own or cadaver bone pieces and slowly it would all grow together around the cage. In the meantime there would have to be ZERO trauma. My doctor had been supportive of this until one of his patients fell face forward and when her mother tried to get her off of her face the small amount of bone growth snapped, instantly severing her spine. Here are more pictures of the procedure:

The cage is inserted much lower in these pictures than they would be in mine. Mine would be in the top two. How long does it take for the bone to completely grow around it assuming that my body would accept the bone sample?

What are my risks?

There are risks associated with any surgical procedure. The risks for a cervical surgery include but are not limited to: inter operative complications, infection, bleeding, hardware failure, hoarseness, paralysis, and death.

Movement of the Bone Graft

In approximately 1 to 2 percent of patients, the implanted bone graft moves or migrates out of its proper position between t

he fused cervical vertebrae, the Mayfield Clinic reports. This complication of cervical spinal cord fusion typically requires patients to undergo additional surgery to replace the bone graft.

Chronic Pain

Cervical spinal cord fusion does not guarantee that patients will experience relief of painful neck symptoms. Chronic pain complications following cervical spinal cord fusion surgery may even be more severe than symptoms experienced prior to surgery, the University of Maryland Medical Center warns.

Hardware or Fusion Problems

Typically, metal plates or screws, called hardware, are attached to the cervical vertebrae to help stabilize the fused spinal bones. In certain cases, these pieces of hardware can become damaged or may crack or break before the attached cervical vertebrae fully fuse, the Mayfield Clinic explains. Hardware complications following cervical spinal cord fusion typically necessitate additional surgery to repair or replace the damaged hardware. Additionally, the connected cervical vertebrae may fail to fuse together, which can contribute to chronic neck pain symptoms. Fusion complications after surgery occur more commonly among patients who are obese, smoke cigarettes or have osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease.

And the number one permanent complaint? A chronic headache. So, YOU tell ME what to do. Because all that really matters in the scheme of things is what makes YOU comfortable? Because I am really tired of being an inconvenience to those of you who have so much to say about me and my life. Unless you live with me, or are me, you get no say in the matter.

Here's the thing. I'm a really good mom. Better in spite of the headache than many people I know. I spend a great deal of time pondering my choices and who they effect.

My Kristol ball

2011-02-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to call it. Fox HAS to get rid of Glenn Beck, don't they? He's gone from the "crazy but lovable Uncle Glenn" that we hide when we have company to the completely insane, freak of the week, conspiracy theory, lunatic we see now. He's striking out at the ACTUAL journalists at Fox and my guess is that the money hungry execs at Fox will have to make a choice much like all Conservatives will soon. Drop the freak show or lose any semblance of legitimate news reporting reputation you have left. I doubt Bill Kristol is going to take Beck's nonsense quietly. It's a reflection on them that he's even on Fox News right now. (As it is with the Mormon church that he's Mormon.)

So he's got his book out to teach the world to do as he says, not as he does. And is getting more paranoid and frantic in his conspiracy theory rantings. He's showing more and more that he recognizes that the people who actually believe him aren't the edjamacted sort. He has a real issue with some imagined Ivy League professor that wears tweed and smokes a cigar. I've been less distracted by his lack of education than the who rape and murder thing he's accused of. Which, by the way, if you aren't going to show us the entire record that would somehow clear you of raping an old lady as you sobbed about God making you do it, just why would you expect President Obama needs to prove that his citizenship isn't the world's best fraud committed by a barely born child?? Seriously, who takes this man serious? Oh yeah the Palin touting Teabaggers, THAT'S who.

So the plagues of Egypt have descended on Egypt (according to good old Glenn) stay tuned for water turning to blood, frogs, gnats or lice, flies, diseased livestock, boils (although Palin and Beck could be considered boils on the butt of humanity), darkness and lightening, locusts, darkness, and death of your first born. All of this is leading to an extreme Islamic caliphate..

As I said, conservatives will be forced to choose sides. There will be the normal Republicans and The Batshit Party of Tea. Good news for Dems as Obama stands a better chance of re-election against a fractured party. I would hope that like myself, they choose a candidate that didn't get an online degree and has more brain cells than an amoeba (that disqualifies Palin, though she did THAT a long time ago.)

Bummer!

2011-02-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

I don't watch football so the Superbowl is of little interest to me. If the Steelers are in the mix, I've got to pull for them in memory of my dear old dad. Although we did actually make a bet on the 49ers-Dolphin game not long before he died. My understanding of the game was Joe Montana was hot, so I'm with the 49ers. It was so much more maddening to him that even in ignorance I won that bet. Looks like he didn't pick a winner last night.

Bill O'Reilly had the opportunity of a lifetime. He pulled the President away from the game for an interview. I know zilch about journalism but I'm guessing one of the cardinal rules is make your questions count and make em short, then allow the interviewee answer. Often they will hand themselves. Look at the massacre Sarah Palin made of herself with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson. They looked like they wanted to help her with the answers. Bill O'Reilly was his usual self. He interrupted and cut the President off on nearly every answer. He came off snarky, rude, and self important. But then, he IS all of those things.

HUGE thank you!!

2011-02-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get my headache post on the internet and my daughter took my laptop and converted the whole thing to html. How cool is that??? One half a year of computer programming and she can do things neither my husband nor I could do. I've encouraged her to explore everything she can and it looks like she's finding things she loves and comes in handy.

I'm so proud of my little genetic gifts :)

News from yesterday's doctor appointment.

2011-02-03T00:04:00.003-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday and it's been determined that this is congenital. It's also going to get worse. I kind of knew that but to have it confirmed was remarkably disheartening. Here's the whole story of my headache on one page with pictures and everything.

Why I Have a Headache

Okay so it turns out that the misalignment in my spine is congenital. The problem is in the
top two vertebra of my spine (cervical). It’s the most mobile part of your spine and I actually have had symptoms all of my life. But the real pain began about 10 years ago. It started out that I’d have this horrible headache that would last weeks and sometimes a month or two. Then it would go away for a while. As it became more constant, I started seeing doctors. ALL KINDS of doctors. My third chiro had me get an x-ray standing up and the problem became apparent then. My atlas is slid to one side and slightly rotated. My axis is slid to the other side. Basically it looks like figure 1. It should look like figure 2. Through that center hole is my spinal cord, my brainstem, and a network of nerves. You can see that in my case all of this is pinched into a smaller area and it’s getting worse all of the time. Yesterday the doctor told me it will continue to get worse.
My options are limited. Surgery isn’t advanced enough to deal with the problem and 400 opinions later it’s clear that the risks outweigh the chance of fixing it. Paralysis and
death being the biggies (I’d choose death because right now I can surf the web, turn
channels and STILL pull myself out of it enough to do things with my girls.) Paralysis would definitely change that. At this time I’m going the pain management route but the pills are becoming less effective with time. I have chosen to draw the line where I’m at, though a less scrupulous doctor would put me on Fentanyl or oxycontin. They are more addictive with oxycontin being a substitute of heroin. Aside from this being constant and unwavering, I also have the following symptoms typical of this kind of misalignment:
Low grade fever
Increased blood pressure
Sensitivity to light, sound, smell and ringing in my ears
Fatigue
And a heart murmur
Depression (though I think that this would make anyone depressed and a touch moody, no?)

I’ve had several tests run, two MRIs, x-rays, acupuncture, acupressure, etc. I’ve seen 5 chiropractors (BIGGEST mistake of my life for this condition), an osteopath, 2 neurologists, 7 doctors, a pulseologist, two pain clinics, and a few holistic hocus pocus people. I’ve traveled far and wide even to San Francisco.While I appreciate everyone’s concern and advice, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t have tried every suggestion as some things have made it much worse. It’s also cost a lot of money that I feel was a huge waste. I am researching always and at this time maintaining. I won’t be taking any suggestion outside of my doctor, etc. Thank you , anyway :)

In the last picture you can see where the two vertebrae fit together. Any chance of them staying in place was lost by having them popped back into place by chiropractors. With each visit it would stay aligned for a shorter amount of time until it popped out immediately after an adjustment. It, in essence, wore down the ridge that held it in place and now it will NOT stay at all. Also the muscles surrounding my cervical spine have grown to hold it OUT of place so it’s not just about the spinal misalignment, it’s trained to stay out of place. I’m not suggesting that chiropractors are not helpful to some cases but in my case it was the worst mistake ever.

LMBO!! Seriously the STUPIDEST man on the planet.

2011-01-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

About a week and half ago I wrote a blog entry that was called Anchorage Steamer 2. I posted Glenn Beck's interview with Meridith Vieira where she calls him out on his inflammatory speech. He said that when he rails on people saying he'd like to kill them in various ways that only an insane person could come up with, he's just kidding. It's comedy. Also he's pimping his new book: The 7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life. He about releasing the anger you have built up inside of you and all that jazz that is complete BS. We know it's BS because of this:

Now angry people are unhappy people. I know because I am angry. Thus I vent on a blog that is for the most part ignored. I recognize the places that are negative and the people who bring me unhappiness and I am trying to improve by avoiding them. There's no secret in that.

Anywho, he's defending Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin because they are being picked on by the men in the media. I think that's a bit sexist on Beck's part. If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen or in this case get an education. Chris Matthews is correct about Michelle Bachmann defending the Constitution as if the Founding Fathers were deity or even decent enough to not OWN people. Thomas Jefferson impregnated his slaves and George Washington freed his in his will. He wasn't going to pay to have the work done around him but he had the good grace to free them AFTER he was dead. Please. I hate history and I know this stuff.

Michelle Bachmann was an odd choice for the Tea Party to choose to rebut the State of the Union because she was elected as a Republican. Why not Rand Paul? He won on the Tea Party votes. Everyone knows that come election time the GOP will be fractured and Palin, Beck, Bachmann, and all the other crazy freak show people will have their own party while the normal conservatives are dazed and confused as to what happened. After I left the town I grew up in, a large group of people moved in or around the area. Following THEIR visionary Glenn Beck alike. Constitutionalists. John Birchers, etc. Some of the townfolk got caught up in it. Quoting Cleon Skousen in church as if he were a prophet. Eventually it faded away but it makes you wonder what people will buy into. As a Mormon I know who I'm supposed to listen to and follow. It's scary to watch people get so distracted by this insanity. Glenn Beck has become a crazed televangelist and he reflects poorly on my faith. AND he just said what I said in the Anchorage Steamer posts and what I've been saying all along. It only takes one crazy person listening to things like beating someone over the head with a shovel, or calling Obama a terrorist at a rally and allowing people to yell "kill him", or making a map with cross hairs and a list of names of people who need to be "scrubbed out." You are calling upon your followers to murder for you. Chris Matthews in his rant (and it WAS a rant) called upon Michelle Bachmann to look back at the historical facts rather than spouting ignorance.

Glenn Beck as the voice of love and forgiveness is like Bristol Palin being the voice of abstinence or Sarah Palin being the voice of finishing something you started. Hypocrisy.

And for your viewing pleasure I give you the fun Beck Crazy montage:

Please. Tell me how the Patch makes YOU feel.

2011-01-31T08:47:00.002-07:00

(Click on form to see in it's own window then click on it again to magnify.)

My Virtual Life..

2011-01-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

So we've established that I don't get out much and if I do, I have to REALLLLLLY love you! A friend of mine sent me a message the other day telling me that I should do this with my girls (Thank you awesome friend!!!). I love doing Messiah but honestly, I can't read music, so it's memorized. The more I watch this, though, the more I think I'd like to at least try. How amazing would it be to be a part of this.

There are no words to describe the amazing thing that Eric Whitacre has created.

Hmmm... I may just give it a try when he starts the next project. Enjoy :)

Broken...

2011-01-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Broken dreams

Broken Faith

Broken Home

Broken lives

Broken Melody

Broken and no one cares...

(All of these places are in Detroit.

Slide show in it's entirety can be viewed here

)

SLAMMIN!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-25T22:42:00.001-07:00

I'm not telling any of this in order and I've been really sick but I just got the email back that I've been waiting for.

Before we went to lunch on Saturday we went to a Magic Show that was great too (I'll find links later). Near the end this guy was introduced as a Slam Poet. (He has the link to my blog so let's hope he stays with me on this one). My daughter and I exchanged looks like "Ummm random white rapper without a beat box in the middle of the magic show.. Yeah, okay.." But I listened to his words and would have said he was reading my every thought except when HE said it, it didn't sound insane. I looked at my daughter and asked if she minded if we went to his workshop. This experience wasn't about me and I gave her advice on classes for things she is currently doing in improv and drama but there was no question in her mind that she was going to indulge me, because I was so moved. We went to lunch and talked to her drama teacher who had just been to the workshop and said it was amazing. THAT was an understatement...

Sean Critchfield:
By the time we got across the campus we were a tiny bit late but he welcomed us in anyway. Not that every moment of this workshop isn't worth relating I'm going to hit highlights for me. We began with something much like a pranayama exercise. We began bonding with the large number of people in this classroom with nothing more than Sean's urging and trust exercises. A couple of teens stood up and gave monologues. Both were amazing but he taught them how to tweak them with even better results. The last girl rang every amount of emotion out of hers by personalizing it, again with Sean's help. But we were with her. I was the first person she looked at and she saw support from me, some people were sobbing and they'd never met her in their lives. We had another mad dash afterwards but I managed to get his email address and a request for that first poem but he's proven to have a treasure trove of work.

Having left with the weight of the outside family behind, this felt like a life boat to me. I keep thinking that I need to fix this. I need to be the bigger person, but Sean spoke of our flaws and how he wasn't asking for us to leave them behind because they are a part of who we are. They are our story. I don't need acceptance. I don't need sympathy. Understanding would have been nice but I'm not going to get that either and that is what defines them as well. I can live with some angry moments but I can't beg for acceptance. Especially when I already have it in my own little world. I came home to my family a new person determined that what I do here may be worth something to someone, if only it's for me. I'll keep blogging. Sean told me to :)
Here is the poem that changed my world:

I am words. I am a gift. I am the voice of the artisans of this age. I am slam. I am beat. I am rhyme and meter, sometimes sloppy, sometimes neat. I am in San Diego trying to learn to teach Yoga and struggling to cope with the rage. I am the writing on the wall as well as on the page. I am torn into trying to figure out what to do with what I am learning and what I know. I am an ex-pastor named Joe, who wants to stand up and be seen. Who loves the machine, and the lights, and the stage. But loves the truth more than his own video age. I am an edge-walker. One who sees the buildings as just another wilderness. One who sees the trees as part of a concrete forest. As the cities dumbs down, his awareness is heightening. A modern day primitive, as rare as autumn lightning. Or maybe I’m an English American but mostly Mexican sociologist who is also a Kung-fu master. Like some kind of twisted Shao-lin burrito in a fortune cookie made of plaster, served up in a vegan restaurant smack dab in the middle of the ghetto. With a fortune in the cookie made up of a cynicism sometimes so brilliant, it blows my mind. Or maybe I’m a sniper one who still doesn’t know what he’s trying to find in making that shot.
What did you feel?
The recoil of my rifle.
What did you feel?
The light they were trying to stifle.
What do you feel?
Hope. Love. Peace. Beyond anything you can dream. Picking his shots on the battlefield, only now it’s with his soccer team. Only “dead” he had to learn was the lyrics to the dead head songs he learned on tour. As he finds that it’s up to his head if his heart is pure. Or maybe, maybe I’m fighting the good fight and feeling like I fail most of the time. As I watch the world around me that covers up the crime and I won’t take it. Maybe I’ll carry the child in my womb to the prisons I teach in and write the words on the walls of the tomb they keep free speech in. And I will fight for the strong women who haven’t found their strength yet until they do. Because it is far too long that the world goes barefoot when I can give them shoes. Or maybe I’ll see the day coming when one to many of my friends are dead or in jail and I realize it’s time to say what the hell and cut my losses. Realize that maybe I wasn’t supposed to be all that I could be in the mind numbing prison of the U.S. Army, but maybe I’m a little more blue than I deserve so I find a reason to protect and serve. And maybe I’m a brother, taking one more shot to the chin of that white boy who thinks he can spit, cause his pad and pen and race don’t fit and his words won’t ever amount to shit. What if I’m a poet laureate with just enough slam to make her tough, who fights disease, and family, and ghosts, like she just can’t get enough. And maybe she doesn’t pray to above, but her prayers got answered when she fell in love. And maybe she’s a single letter of the alphabet at the top of a letter that just runs on and on but hey, Mmmm. It sure is good. Or maybe you had to push the pause button on the tape recorder of the music of your life to learn the words to the song of your daughter and wife, learning once and for all that, that is true music. And maybe you’re a bum just looking for a meal. Or maybe you’re a dealer, trying to make that deal. Or maybe you’ll shackle me happily, grinning in your power. But you can’t cage my tongue and you can’t stop the hour. And we all got time. We’ve all been around the block. And maybe we’ll laugh it, or cry it, or bleed it. But get to it. Now. Write your story down. The rest of us need it.

In the email he said that my email came at a crucial time for him. If my little speck of near nothingness means something to this Wordmaster, how can I not keep writing what is in my head and my heart? He moves people in incredible ways. I watched it happen. Sean Critchfield changed more lives than just mine that day. I hope he can keep doing it.

He's the secret to world peace.

My weekend was AMAZING!!!!

2011-01-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I've mentioned a few (hundred) times how much I love my kids. I love leaving my unpleasant headquarters of darkness and hatred, that my house has become. The anger in me at my EX-family members, is not cool. I don't see how my EX-sister does it. WOW! My oldest daughter has found an interest and talent in drama. Her drama teacher has found an AWESOME chaperone for trips.. ME!!!! We were invited to a Utah Theater Association conference.

We started Friday morning at a show with a guy that was a master of pantomime. Cary Trivanovich. I've never been a fan of the "mime thing" but this guy was so great. Very funny but he did a couple routines that were very serious and touching. My daughter is doing a pantomime for her next monologue so we chose to go to his workshop soon after. It was great!

We went to one on sound effects that wasn't very good but the guy was unprepared. Then we went to one on accents that was WAY too full and it was SUPPOSED to be Irish and Scottish accents but we got a few English ones and Scottish insults. Not cool! But the class was good, neither of us can do accents very well. I'll stop at this point because I want to talk longer on some of the things we did. So this is the end of part one.

Anchorage Steamer Part два

2011-01-19T21:28:00.001-07:00

That's Russian for two, for you non-Russian monitoring places on our globe.

First, wow! Thank you for your interest in my REAL blog posts. Anchorage Steamer has been my hardest hit blog entry in quite some time. I will not take the credit as it's purely the genius of Jon Stewart. I'll post his clip on his reaction on and invitation to Glenn Beck to come on his show. I actually watched Glenn Beck and his wing man real time this morning with Meridith Vieira. I'll tell you what I was laughing openly at when I post the clip. You'll see what I mean. Dear lord! Shouldn't the Bobsey Twits lay low for a while until this whole "Briar's obscure blog totally predicted someone was going to actually act on your bats#it rantings and people will die" thing blows over?

I'll add on the clip to this post tomorrow. Anyone think they will actually have the courage to take Jon up on the invite? He said he'd do it on Sarah's turf... Stay tuned :)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Two Established Television Personalities Penetrate Each Other While People Watch

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

When Vieira asked Beck about the things he's said on his shows, mentioning specifically the time he did the whole bit on poisoning Nancy Pelosi and beating Charlie Rangle to death with a shovel, he turns to Ablow (his wingman) and said that was 8 years ago. She was kind because the beating to death by shovel is one of his favorite things he's said he'd like to do to various people. I believe he said he could kill Michael Moore with his bare hands. Off the top of my head I can't remember how he wanted to 9/11 victims to die. He just wanted them to shut up. Trying to say he was joking and telling her to ask Jon Stewart (or the Simpsons; he knows they aren't real, right?)She said she was asking him. Okay 2 things:
1. Glenn Beck isn't a comedian. He has a radio show and a tv show on Fox NEWS. You can't all of a sudden claim that everything you ever said was a stand up routine.
2. When people have a public platform and they say things that inspire feelings in people. Some people don't know how to process these things because they are fundamentally broken. If you inspire the wrong person then you can't be certain of the results.
Example: Charles Manson believed that the Beatles were speaking to him through their lyrics. He, in turn, convinced people he had adopted as his "family" to murder innocent people for him.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Anchorage Steamer

2011-01-19T12:58:00.002-07:00

Or Palindrome. Definition?

"There must to be a word for complaining vociferously about a wrong being done to you whilst casually committing said wrong without even realizing it. For now let's call it an 'Anchorage Steamer.'"

~Jon Stewart.

My advice? Take him up on his offer Sarah. Complaining on Fox news isn't too effective. Jon even said you could bring Glenn Beck. He gave you permission to gang up on him. Do it!! Put up or shut up.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Petty Woman

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

Fascinating!

2011-01-15T09:50:00.001-07:00

Not ME, my blog!!! Check out the traffic!!!! It's become so fascinating to the denizens of Utah, Vegas, and Alaska (dare I hope that's you Sarah?? Something happened around the 10th that coincided with a random visit from Elko, NV and >BAM< My traffic soared from my average of 2 people a day to looking like the Swiss Alps!! Now one would think traffic would slow up. Perhaps someone is spending the weekend in a cabin or something... Oh the wonders of technology!!! I-PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work ladies :)

Genealogy, I am doing it.

2011-01-14T09:47:00.002-07:00

I'm Mormon. It's my divine duty to do genealogy. On my dad's side, the info is harder to come by. In fact my dad's paternal line was literally dead to me. A while back I had a break through and I made my way back to the early 1700's. I was SOOOO excited that I found this but my hands were tied so I broke down and paid for a month of Ancestry.com. Actually it was after that I finished the work that I could do. It's such a massive undertaking. At first I tried to print everything up but it would fill a small room so I'll save as much as I can. It's a little horrifying how much time I spend on it, but while the family is gone it actually makes my days fly by. So now I bore anyone who will listen to tears with my ancestry. Yeah.. I'm one of THOSE people. The stories are amazing. I've even been doing some of my husband's too and I've done some searching for other people as well. It's really interesting to see where I came from. Who I inherited the bits and pieces of that makes me.. ME :) I'm trying to get my girls involved, but so far no go. They could at LEAST help me search cemeteries. There's a bazillion of them in PA!!! This is yet another reason that I am being cremated. Perhaps my family could swing by PA on the ash scattering vacation and throw me into some cemeteries.

I went to my daughter's improv show last night. Not her best night but she's good. She's so much like me. Both are. Just the conflicting sides of me, like my bipolar halves. Yet they are themselves and they amaze me with the things they do and say. What they are like. They are both SOOO opinionated, just like me! The other day my younger daughter started telling me and my oldest some of her opinions on things. I had to break it to her that she was a republican. She looked horrified and denied it. It was so funny. I said you really are sweetie, but that's okay. Just be a good person and I'll teach you how to be a republican. We're okay with that, lol. My husband came in the other night because my youngest and I were singing karaoke. Probably he got a call from the neighbors, complaining. We're trying to perfect Bohemian Rhapsody. I lost my voice but it was worth it. From the moment they were born they became my life. Their birthdays have been a celebration of that and I've always done it up in grand style because they are THAT important to this world. We still laugh and play. They still tell me their secrets and cry in my lap. They will never wish they had been born to anyone else. My life is all about them so long as I am here on this earth.

Sigh

2011-01-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

For the love of all that is good and holy would someone who actually CARES about Sarah Palin SHUT HER UP??? At least give her a dictionary or NOT give her a forum to make a damn fool of herself. Just let the President do the talking, that's HE'S the President. So mama moose's newest faux pas:
Sarah Palin said that those who have called out her inflammatory speech and graphic hot list are guilty of spreading a blood libel. That, "Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn." I'm not Jewish she's not a Gentile child: "What's a blood libel?"
Perhaps she can stuff envelopes in a closet.

I've always thought that we take a tragedy and we look at who was shot and why? Columbine and the other school shootings have given us insight into the fact that people who are made to feel worthless, bullied, and called names can be deadly. We need to take a look at how we teach our children to treat others. Teach them empathy.

When Matthew Shepherd was beaten, tortured, and left to die hanging on a fence in rural Wyoming. The impetus for such hatred was the fact that he was gay. His family fought for an act against hate crimes. James Byrd Jr. is attached to that bill. His crime? He was black. Three men put a logging chain around his feet and for the first two miles he was alive and conscious, until his body hit a culvert that severed his arm and head. The families of these two men fought together to have a hate crime bill passed which it was by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. Not counting the crazy amount of suicides caused by bullying, most notably in gay young people but just flat out bullying. Before I took a crazy interest in politics (yeah I admit it's crazy but I truly mean well and all of this is important to me) it was important to me that my children not discriminate against race, religion, beliefs, or anything that makes people different. Shouldn't we all look at the people we know and love that are ignorant to the hatred they share?

The fact is, congresswoman Giffords was a target. Number 4 on a list of politicians that "needed to be taken out" was shot at a political event that was announced ahead of time. By a man who was radical. There were warning signs around him as is often the case, that were ignored. But to say we can't assign blame isn't true. The media personalities, individuals who take the vitriol so lightly need to take a look at themselves and what they've said. They need to think about the fanaticism they see at their rallies and what they've done to tone it down. I've seen some pundits apologize for things they've said that crossed the line and apologize again in light of this tragedy. They've made it a goal to change their rhetoric. Good for them. I continue pray for the victims and their families in this time of tragedy.

Crazies

2011-01-11T10:03:00.002-07:00

I was reading today about the parents of AZ shooter Jared Lee Loughner. They are truly a mess. I can't imagine the horror of having your child do something like that. It would hurt me so much more, to be one of them than it would to be as parent of a victim. How could you not blame yourself? I'm sure their parenting skills will be scrutinized but we know that even a perfectly normal upbringing can breed a nightmare: Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, one or two of my siblings :) LOL! Good thing I don't name names, huh? Someone might send me a strongly worded message!! Anyway they are apparently extremely distraught. My heart goes out to them. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the rhetoric of people running for office or just running their mouths has a huge impact on people. I get so angry at the sheer ignorance around me. I can't even tell you how many times I've heard my kids say that one of their friends say they want to kill our president or that their parents do. I wonder if they pause to think that THAT could be planting a seed. When I was a little girl I had a primary teacher tell us that the word "kill" hurt her ears. That it wasn't appropriate to say "I'm going to kill you" even in fun. I actually have stuck to that one and though I haven't inspired my kids to never say it as well as my old primary teacher did, I still call them on it if I hear it. It hurts my ears too.
Many people, including myself, was eager to hear what Jon Stewart would say on the matter. His first show to air following 9-11 was one of the most moving things I've seen in my life. One of the first time I realized the depth there. He's a comedian but he's extraordinarily intelligent and adept at what he does. Last nights show was sincere and concerned with just the right amount of levity. The man who has become the voice of sanity in an insane world said:

"I do think it’s important for us to watch our rhetoric. I do think it’s a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with enemies. If for no other reason, than to draw a better distinction between the manifestos of paranoid mad men and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speech.
It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn’t in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV.
Let’s make troubled individuals easier to spot."

The stories of the people who rushed in to help are so moving. They are a reminder that the world isn't completely lost in the shuffle of madness. That the crazies are fewer than the normal, good people. We'll see tragedy again but despite the way it seems on TV, any neighborhood Tea Party, and some people's family reunions, sanity will always prevail.

A shout out to my NEW dedicated readers :) If you have known me for any amount of time you will know this. The people who love me are very important to me. I would do nothing to harm them in any way. Sometimes the truth is painful and I do my best to be truthful.

Oh the irony...

2011-01-10T13:01:00.069-07:00

As my mostly anonymous readers especially my regulars that are here for the politics knows, I haven't really done a lot of blogging lately. I think that the reason I've said less about politics is because the things I've observed are coming true and I don't need to tell any of you guys that. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are floundering in their popularity but the most tenacious and unbalanced still flock to the nonsensical meetings, websites, and television and radio shows. It's bothered me from the beginning that the rhetoric is so dangerous. Most people don't engage in it or support it but the more radical groups thrive on it. They live for it and unfortunately they act on it. We saw it in the election as people screamed their hatred for then presidential hopeful, Barack Obama. Screaming "Kill him!" and calling him a terrorist and many other things that Palin should have put a stop to. McCain as well. But Sarah thrives on it. The horrific shooting in Arizona has underscored that what I've been saying all along is true. Be careful what you wish for some lunatic may follow through. Basically the Arizona shooter was a hit man and he acted on what Sarah Palin has been telling her sycophants that needed to be done.

Notice that #4 on the list is Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords had even called Palin out on her dangerous quotes.

"Get in their face and argue with them.No matter how tough it gets, never retreat, instead RELOAD!"~ Palin

Giffords won the election against Republican Marty Kaplan who was creative in his fundraisers ""Get on Target for Victory" - "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly"

Sooooooo basically, this is all about STUPID people. Perhaps irony part 2 will address the REALLY stupid people. You know who you are. Losers!

Once again..

2011-01-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

I would like to point out that my blog is MINE and I can say what I want on it. IF you have troubles with that, STAY THE HELL AWAY!!!! Seriously, get a life. The fact that I blog about what irritates me is only slightly less pathetic than the people who watch obsessively for something to take offense to. If you post on it and include your name, my name, or anyone around me then YOU are taking away your anonymity.

Nothing that I said in my previous post isn't common knowledge all the way around us. Nothing I said measures up to what's being said by other people. It's all fine and good to talk about me to people, but when the tables are turned. Ooooo. What exactly do you think set me off? Some crap that my "beloved" family said about me but not to me. I heard it from someone else. But that's nothing new.

What do you have to take into 2011?

2010-12-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

I love my girls more than my life. I love them more than anything and sometimes they make me mad but the time I spend angry at them is miserable. My mom is angry with me. Partly because my opinions rub her the wrong way. I rub her the wrong way period. She baits me and I find myself going too far, saying wrong things. Things that hurt her like she hurts me. I don't really like my family much. There's always drama. Things that need not be said and we eat. We are mean fat people. I hate that and I hate being there. I expressed my hurt at some things that my mother said to me on Christmas over the phone on Christmas day. I thought the right thing to do would be to patch it up today, before the new year. It wasn't good and it makes me unhappy and frustrated. Nothing was made better. I shouldn't have called. My family will feel my unhappiness. I worry that she will die when we are fighting. I don't want that at all.

I don't ever want to be that way to my kids. My mom and I talked about my sister and her daughter. Her daughter is gay. My sister is determined to break it up. She has been for years and now that her daughter is over 18 and living away from home my sister has lost control over her. My niece is unhappy with the division but my sister is unreasonable over the whole thing. I don't see how she can't see that so long as she fights it, she loses precious time with her daughter. Even the time they spend isn't real because my sister is in some form of odd denial. It's been mentioned that I wouldn't be so sure of myself if it was my daughters. No, I wouldn't. It's not what I would have chosen but both daughters are past the age that all of this began for my sister and they are happy and well adjusted. I see them mess up and know it's the only way to learn. I see no reason to rebel against me or lie because I'm openly loving and they know what I hope for but they also know I am accepting and will love them anyway. Nothing's more annoying than someone who thinks they could have done a better job but at this time, I'm at home with my family. My husband and my daughters who love me very much and I love them. I'm not alone. My sister is.

I know this is harsh but my mom who was my best friend has become a bit bitter and hurtful. I miss her. I'll miss her when she's gone. The rest of them? My half siblings? I won't miss them. Not at all.

From America's Most Trusted Man to America's Most Powerful Man?

2010-12-27T10:11:00.001-07:00

I withdraw my wish for Jon Stewart to run for President. He's far more powerful right where he is.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Worst Responders

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

9/11 First Responders React to the Senate Filibuster

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

Messiah 2010

2010-12-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

The biggest chorus and biggest audience we've had. It was wonderful as always.

HUGE thanks to the amazing Xun Sun and Adrienne Tawa. Also the Orchestra of Southern Utah.

Christian? Do we teach respect and responsibility for our's and our children's actions?

2010-12-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Living in Utah is like no other experience on the planet. Most of the people I know who are LDS have been raised in the faith and in the state. This means that there is a rich inheritance of beliefs and opinions. That's not a bad thing, unless they aren't true. I think we're a bit more insulated than members in other states and countries. Here are some examples of what I see around me:

Homophobia. It's not your place to judge someone based on sexual preference. And how do YOU know that sexual transgressions rate higher on the degree of wickedness of sins than judging does?

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. John 12:47

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 Nephi 14:2

Bullying: It's also not your place to punish what you perceive to be a sin.

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. D&C. 18:10

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. John 8:6

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40

Respect for President Obama:

And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due. Mosiah 4:13

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” A of F 1:12.

D&C 138: 5–8,

All men should uphold their governments and owe respect and deference to the law;

Glenn Beck and Cleon Skousen are NOT prophets:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. 2 Peter 2:1

And that the Constitution is NOT scripture:
www.speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7066

Dick Cheney finally gets his???

2010-12-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

IF and that is a HUUUUUGE Cheney seriously goes down for this, it will be one of the single most satisfying events of the past 10 years. Satisfying in the "Al Capone tax evasion" sense but I'll take it.

Nigeria: Dick Cheney To Be Charged Over Alleged Bribery Case

Nigerian authorities will charge former Vice President Dick Cheney over a bribery scandal that is alleged to involve Halliburton, BusinessWeek reports. An arrest warrant "will be issued and transmitted through Interpol," said Godwin Obla, the prosecuting counsel at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria.

The charges center on an alleged $180 million bribery payment used to secure a $6 billion liquefied natural gas contract. Prosecutors are also looking into international companies Saipem and Technip. Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, before becoming George W. Bush's running mate. "As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period," Obla told the AFP.

Nigeria arrested 12 employees of Halliburton earlier in the week, reports Reuters. The firm's offices in Nigeria were raided by anti-corruption police, although the company said that the detentions "had no legal basis and that its employees had since been freed."

Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reported that charges against Cheney were confirmed by the government and included "criminal conspiracy."

Bristol Palin buys wins Dancing With The Stars

2010-11-18T16:04:00.001-07:00

I love reality shows and so I'm ALL caught up in this Dancing With The Stars fiasco. I've seen some pretty unfair crap on that show in years past but this year takes the cake! I immediately picked Audrina and Tony to vote for but was shocked to see David Hasslehoff ousted first. Clearly he wasn't the worst. Then there was the whole Michael Bolton/Bruno debacle, which to me was a bit over dramatized by Bolton because please! You start your dance crawling out of a dog house with a bone in your mouth, you are asking to be trashed but Bruno was unnecessarily harsh. Right off I could see who was going to be good, who was going to be entertaining, and who needed to get the heck out of there and find a new hobby. I wasn't impressed with Jennifer Gray because she was clearly a front runner but dang! Want some cheese with that whine???? I thought her Patrick Swayze breakdown was a bit contrived and I understand she's had some major surgeries and she's 50 but clearly she's no amateur so right off I thought that was unfair. Brandy is a singer and actress, but singing talent and dancing talent don't go hand in hand. Plus I always give kudos to those who can survive Maks. Even though he's HOTTTT and one of my faves, he's certainly no picnic. Margaret Cho wasn't going to go far and quickly learned it wasn't a comedy thing after the first show. I had no feelings one way or the other for pro basketball player Rick Fox or pro football player Kurt Warner. Florence Henderson was pretty good and entertaining same with Kyle Massey.

The second really WRONG and SHOCKING elimination was Audrina. She'd had a bad couple of weeks but to me it seemed more Tony's fault for the choreography. She had been at the top of the leader board consistently and Bristol Palin clearly sucked. The judges were shocked as well. My kids like Kyle because he's on the Disney Channel plus he's fun and doing his best but he'd slipped back a but. Kurt wasn't the best or worst and Rick was steadily improving. The best part about Rick was when Cheryl chided him on his lack of grace especially in the foot work. She asked if he was that bad on the basketball court and he laughed. Apparently he's notorious for it and thus has the nickname "Tank" or something like that. HE was in my opinion the best in working to improve. At one point the stars were split up in a team dance with Apolo Ono and Kristi Yamaguchi. Rick's score suffered because of being teamed up with Bristol and Kyle giving Kurt an edge and Rick went home.

Now here we are, stunned by the upset of Brandy being sent home and Bristol in the finals. Bristol Palin is the finals of a dancing show is like Sarah Palin in the running for Vice President. Totally unqualified and flat out insane. How is she getting all those votes? Some of her more mentally unstable fans explain how they are doing it here: Jezebel.com

One good thing to come out of this experience is a public service message with The Situation from Jersey Shore. It plays more like a spoof because Bristol is clearly a grenade. Also, his message is better because aside from teen pregnancy hpv is a real issue and like it or not abstinence will often fail and pregnancy isn't the only danger. My doctor has diagnosed a 13 and 14 year old girl with cervical cancer.

I'm thinking that the Palin family is going to take over my reality show world. Bristol will be on Biggest Loser next, Willow on 16 and Pregnant. Todd and Sarah will be on The Amazing Race but without passports and they keep ending up in Russia.

Bristol is a busy girl. Being a teen advocate for abstinence is a full time job though she does find time to tag team with her sister Willow on Facebook. People act shocked by the gay slurs. I'm not. They are conservative wingnuts. Sarah shoots homosexuals from a helicopter when she can't find wolves. I'm more surprised by the openly foul language. Is this family the WORST examples for everything ever???

Here's my take and I may add more later: Bristol isn't a teen so she can't be considered a teen advocate. What they did approached bullying which is a serious matter. Bristol finds the competition unfair because some of them have experience.I find it unfair because she's not a star.

*More later*

Okay this is childish, but fun!

2010-11-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

I was randomly surfing and discovered Twiddla. It's a community whiteboard. When I got there people were randomly scribbling but I enticed a random stranger into playing tic tac toe. Yeah... Insomnia gets boring.

This is the sandbox

Jon Stewart on Rachel Maddow

2010-11-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

I like Rachel Maddow. I find her refreshing but as my mama said: you can walk through shite and come out smelling like a rose (okay my mom didn't say that but if she was British she might. She scored an amazing interview and she didn't waste a moment of it. She got Jon Stewart smack dab in the middle of the flu. She's a stronger woman than I am if she really came out of that believing she wasn't a touch radical and unfair. I am RADICALLY radical and extraordinarily unfair. I am linking to HuffPo because they have clips of highlights but I recommend sitting through the entire thing. It's all about responsibility.

If you are running for office and you campaign on a level that inspires fear then when you allow shouts talking of murdering your opponent or complete lies and don't stop that behavior, you are responsible.If you run a 24 hour news network you are responsible to provide news professionals. I could be an infotainer and in my small world I am. I am responsible for what I put here but I am not qualified to be on Fox News. Bobby Kennedy put himself into a political battle knowing the risks and died for his beliefs in civil rights. Martin Luther King knew he was putting himself in to a hateful war and likely knew his demise was a more effective signature to his great words than any other path could have been. President Obama was elected by idealists who believed he could change the country. Unfortunately the people who represent us have different motives. On some level he had to know he'd fail if he ever makes it through. I will never change my position on him. I have noticed a few Republicans with ideas that are less polarizing and of course I voted for a Lib and a LOT of Repubs (because there was no options. Welcome to Utah). I am responsible for my vote and for the work I do campaigning.

Now Jon Stewart has a satirical "news" program on Comedy Central. If you leave it on all day you'll see Blue Collar Comedians and a South Park or 2. Your kids will learn new words. So turns out Jon Stewart has a lot of fans. In an insane country he's become the face of sanity. He didn't run for office or move to a news network. He's a comedian on Comedy Central who has been made fun of for having an audience full of liberal stoners cutting class. Turns out you actually need a dictionary if you are the average American (see stupid people). He bears no responsibility for the choices made by viewers. But he's far more educated and far less invested in Mentholatum than other "commentators". When you see an emotion you can bet on it that it's real. You can be pretty sure you will laugh. Maybe even at yourself.

Yup, I'm guilty of extremism. Here's that link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/11/rachel-maddow-jon-stewart-interview_n_782538.html#snp_friends_module

Okay, I know this is like shooting fish in a barrel...

2010-11-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

Palin Lashes Out At WSJ Reporter, Misquotes Story

The Huffington Post | William Alden First Posted: 11- 9-10 09:06 AM | Updated: 11- 9-10 11:33 AM

In what can only be called a valiant effort, Sarah Palin has defended her monetary policy remarks from the Wall Street Journal's pointed criticism.

On her Facebook page, Palin claims the WSJ reporter who has pointed out a factual error in her speech is himself in the wrong. "Do Wall Street Journal Reporters Read the Wall Street Journal?," her Facebook note asks.

In remarks delivered at a Phoenix convention, and first leaked by the The National Review, Palin criticized the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy, in which the bank will purchase up to $600 billion of new U.S. government debt (as part of a plan that could reach $900 billion), and urged Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to "cease and desist."

As HuffPost's Shahien Nasiripour noted Monday, the Federal Reserve operates independently of any other government body, and so political criticism of it is unusual.

Even more unusual were the specifics of Palin's critique: As WSJ's Sudeep Reddy pointed out Monday, she doesn't get all of her facts right. In response to Palin's assertion that "everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so," Reddy wrote Monday that "Grocery prices haven't risen all that significantly, in fact." He notes that prices have actually increased only 0.6 percent over the past year. It's the lowest rate on record -- so low that it inspired a high-profile Twitter fight late last month.

But Palin would have none of it. She wrote in her Facebook note, "That's odd, because just last Thursday, November 4, I read an article in Mr. Reddy's own Wall Street Journal titled 'Food Sellers Grit Teeth, Raise Prices: Packagers and Supermarkets Pressured to Pass Along Rising Costs, Even as Consumers Pinch Pennies.' She continued:

Now I realize I'm just a former governor and current housewife from Alaska, but even humble folks like me can read the newspaper. I'm surprised a prestigious reporter for the Wall Street Journal doesn't.

Story continues below
Advertisement

Reddy has responded to Palin on Twitter, pointing out that she has actually misread the WSJ article she refers to. As Reddy notes, the article's first sentence discusses "the tamest year of food pricing in nearly two decades."

The source of confusion comes in the next paragraph. The article says the cost of goods has risen, a burden that food sellers must decide whether to pass on to customers via prices. The rise in prices hasn't actually happened yet. Palin omits this key fact.

Reddy has also re-tweeted a tweet from Columbia Journalism Review's Ryan Chittum, who defends Reddy and blasts Palin for misquoting the WSJ story about prices. Here's Chittum:

Palin has a journalism degree, so I'm guessing she knows what an ethical no-no it is to misquote somebody like that. It ought to be awfully hard for her to get on her pedestal and condemn the media when she can't even quote somebody honestly. How about to make it up to Reddy, Palin lets a real reporter like him fly out to Wasilla to interview her for once instead of going to her house folks at Fox News?

UPDATE:
Sudeep Reddy has responded in the WSJ to Palin's Facebook note. He cites Labor Department data to reiterate that Palin's argument about food prices is not grounded in fact, and he continues:

Weak demand, high unemployment and thrifty shoppers have led retailers to keep many prices from rising despite the rising cost of some commodities, including coffee and sugar. ... Critics of the Fed's quantitative easing policy are focused primarily on concerns about potential future inflation.

Sarah Palin is a news analyst for Fox News, whose parent company also owns the Wall Street Journal.

Do you ask yourself:

2010-11-09T11:01:00.002-07:00

What the heck has Obama done so far? You TOO can know the answer to that.

What the heck has Obama done so far?

Abominations to God according to Leviticus

2010-11-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

My take on Chapters 18 and 19 from the book of Leviticus and why we're all going to Hell. The scriptures are from the King James version of the Bible. It's the version the Bible that The LDS faith uses. My observations are in green. They are simply what I am concluding and it doesn't mean I agree or understand them.
Chapter 18:
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
6 ¶ None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.
7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
10 The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.
13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.
14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.
17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, besides the other in her life time. Sexual molestation and incest in every way shape and for is a very huge sin.
19 ¶ Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor's wife, to defile thyself with her. Adultery is a sin.
21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Homosexuality is an abomination and I'm going to assume that applies to women as well.
23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Bestiality is a sin
24 ¶ Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25 and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
27 (for all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28 that the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you.
29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God. All of these apply no matter where you are.

Chapter 19:
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths:
I am the LORD your God. Fear meaning honor and obey your parents in righteousness. On the 7th day God rested. He's commanded we do the same.
4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. The obviously being the gold calf etc. Coins are molten and the money has become of such importance that it could be argued it is worshiped. I'm not too concerned with the words "In God We Trust" being taken off our currency because they are words. Our actions should show our respect to God.
5 And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.
6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.
8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Blood sacrifice was eliminated and made unnecessary through the atonement to Christ.
9 ¶ And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Provide for the poor and needy.
11 ¶ Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. The words "God" and "Jesus Christ" should only be spoken in reverence.
13 ¶ Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind,but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
15 ¶ Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Judge not lest ye be judged. Leave that to God.
16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the LORD. Gossip is a no no.
17 ¶ Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.
19 ¶ Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee. Okay here we have one I wonder about. Anti-hybrid?
20 ¶ And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to a husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged: they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. Adultery is a BAD thing should be punished by the death penalty if you are the woman in the equation.
21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.
22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done; and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.
23 ¶ And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.
25 And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God. That's a pretty obvious weird one.
26 ¶ Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Horoscopes and psychic earrings=bad.
27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. No shaving. Suffer through premature balding and the beard to the floor in silence, okay?
28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. No tattoos, piercings, or surgery.
29 ¶ Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. So in the story of Lot (Sodom and Gomorrah) when he told the men who wanted to have sex with God's messengers he should have just said "No because homosexuality is wrong." WITHOUT offering his daughters instead.
30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. Sabbath day thing again and you shouldn't be defacing churches, mosques, etc. NOR burning Bibles, the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon or any other books that are considered holy and sacred.
31 ¶ Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
32 ¶ Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. Respect your elders.
33 ¶ And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. Arizona's illegal immigration/racial profiling is a sin.
35 ¶ Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.

So I agree with the majority of this but somethings have changed like blood sacrifice. Homosexuality is a sin, in my opinion and according to my beliefs. But so is judging others. Also, according to Leviticus, shellfish (anything without fins and scales) are an abomination. It's worded the same as homosexuality. It's an abomination. So even with these words from God, I am committing an abomination because I like lobster and shrimp. I'm going to worry more about that than I am who loves who and who is committing abominations because what God ALWAYS talks about is love.

Am I a glass half full girl or what?

2010-11-03T22:28:00.000-06:00

So in the aftermath of the monumental beat down that the Democratic party just received I've found the bright side... Pretty much can't blame the Dems/Obama Administration anymore. You are ALL represented by Republicans and chickens#it faux dems. Sucks to be you. We'll never know what could have been, now can we?

Sanity.

2010-11-01T15:35:00.000-06:00

I truly loved Jon Stewart's closing speech at the end of The Rally to Restore Sanity. *Text and video* The number of people in attendance was staggering (reports of 250,000). 82 countries had rallies of their own to watch the live feed.

I've been very thoughtful of the interview on The Daily Show with President Obama. I've felt some frustration at the lack of progress. Jon Stewart called the President "timid". I disagree. I think we all hoped for more results and much quicker, but I have realized that he was put into office by a huge grassroots movement. Problem with that is that we ARE rooted. We worked hard to get him there but that is where our power ended. He needs support by his fellow Democrats in office and Republicans willing to reach across the aisle. It's like he led us into battle, so to speak. Running to conquer our countries problems only to look back and see that his army lost heart and he was alone. I wish we could have the time to see the results for good or for bad. I think that so many lack courage and some are truly corrupt.

Oh yeahhh Jon Stewart on top, yeah!!!

2010-10-27T12:04:00.000-06:00

I wouldn't normally ask men, but please. This is one of the LEAST crazy thing in America right now.

Jon Stewart's Influence

Thanks for the tip Guest :)

Do you know what would be almost as cool as..

2010-10-20T22:47:00.000-06:00

...Seeing my FAVORITE President of the United States of America in the city of my birth on the DAY of my birth???
This:

Obama To Do 'Daily Show' With Jon Stewart In Advance Of Rally, Election

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is taking his campaign message to "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.

White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer says Obama is taping an appearance on Oct. 27, just days before the Nov. 2 elections. Stewart is coming to Washington next week for the "Rally to Restore Sanity" he is holding three days later on Saturday, Oct. 30, on the National Mall.

The host of the Comedy Central show says the rally is for people who think the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones people hear.

Obama recently endorsed Stewart's event. It will be Obama's first appearance as president on Stewart's program.

(This version CORRECTS that it will be Obama's first appearance as president on "The Daily Show." )

WOW WOW WOW!!!

2010-10-18T14:46:00.003-06:00

I am in love with this artwork. I'll post a link to the gallery but I'll post a couple of samples that fit the season:

The artist is Radojavar and here's a link to the gallery: Radojavor's amazing artwork

LDS church makes position clear on same sex marriage and bullying.

2010-10-14T17:58:00.002-06:00

I wish that this statement would have been made LONG ago. It's not new, it's ALWAYS been the church's position. I understand that non-members may not have been aware of it, but for members it should never have needed to be made.

I would also like to point out that this has been MY opinion all along and also President Obama's
This is an article that talks about the interviews I saw. I can't find them in anything more that a sound bite:

The Democratic Presidential candidate appeared on MTV this weekend to come out against California's Proposition 8, which would overturn gay marriage in the Golden State. At the same time, however, Obama reiterated his belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. Said the Senator from Illinois:

I've stated my opposition to this. I think [Prop 8 is] unnecessary. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America's about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them.

On a related note, the New York Times this Saturday ran an article highlighting the differences between Obama and rival John McCain's same-sex marriage opposition. While Obama's motivated more by religious elements, McCain's a victim of his time. Writes Patrick Healy:

As a Christian he is a member of the United Church of Christ Mr. Obama believes that marriage is a sacred union, a blessing from God, and one that is intended for a man and a woman exclusively, according to these supporters and Obama campaign advisers. While he does not favor laws that ban same-sex marriage, and has said he is open to the possibility that his views may be misguided,he does not support it and is not inclined to fight for it, his advisers say.

Senator John McCain also opposes same-sex marriage, but unlike Mr. Obama's, his position is influenced by generational and cultural experiences rather than a religious conviction, McCain advisers say.

I < 3 Halloween

2010-10-10T08:28:00.000-06:00

[Via: HalloweenExpress.com]

When do we ALL give up? I haven't... Yet.

2010-10-06T22:51:00.001-06:00

One of the few things I've seen anger Jon Stewart was the claim during the 2008 elections that there were no "Real Americans" in certain areas mainly for him, New York City. I blogged on the anniversary of 9/11 of MY experience. It was horrible. It was like sleepwalking through a nightmare. I can't BEGIN to know what the horror was like for the people in New York. I know that in the rubble and horror and death and destruction the people in this country united like they never have in my lifetime. There was a surge in patriotism, faith, love, marriage, and tolerance. We were fired up to seek revenge and we went into war.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

September 11, 2001

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Rally to Restore Sanity

I just finished reading a book on my daughter's list of required reading. The Kite Runner. I've been confused with our relationships with the Middle East. I had to print up a list of the characters of the book and a historical synopsis of the unrest since the 70's. So now that I have the Sunni and the Shiites sorted out. The Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, I ask myself this:
Umm, so we've been fighting the wrong country for all these years. We should have been in Afghanistan in the first place assuming that you really feel that bombing the hell out of a country is the way to go. It's been MY experience that Republicans LOVE war. In fact Bush and Cheney used false intelligence to take us into Iraq costing us trillions of dollars and lives that we can't begin to put a value on. So exactly what is it that President Obama is doing that the Republicans dislike? We're fighting in the right country now. I gotta say that Bush and Cheney should be imprisoned in my opinion but I'd settle for the Republican Party saying "Oops! Yeah we'll shut up now and listen to the intelligent people now. (Not to be confused with false intelligence.)"

So having any intelligence from the Republican party (forget the tea party, that's not worth mentioning) is a pipe dream. I'm not sure intelligence exists at all in our politicians. I also blogged on voter remorse (Jon Stewart on O'Reilly, remember?). Here's the thing... I voted for Hope and Change. I'm a brave little American and obviously I really could care less what people think of me for it as evidenced by the fact that I'm still a lone voice for President Obama in a sea of freaking conservative idiots in a small town, small minded, state. Now if we had some brave little Americans in places of power... We don't. WE HAVE STUPID PEOPLE!!!!!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

I Give Up - 9/11 Responders Bill

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Rally to Restore Sanity

Really? We've forgotten the heroes of 9/11? And don't mistake my disdain for the pointless war for ingratitude for our troops. I believe they deserve the best we can give them. You know it's the benefits all the stupid politicians get.

Not why I had kids but and added perk!

2010-10-06T13:33:00.002-06:00

So, I'm really not fond of my family. Honestly, when my mom passes away, I could care less if I ever see any of them again.

I love my kids and that's good enough for me. They are what is right with the world!

Rick Sanchez

2010-10-01T19:55:00.000-06:00

So CNN correspondent was fired from CNN for calling Jon Stewart a bigot not to mention a bunch of crazy stuff about Jews in general. 'kay, I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart wouldn't be overly upset at the ridiculous tirade.

It's odd that CNN was able to look past this:

On December 10, 1990, Sanchez struck a drunken pedestrian, Jeffrey Smuzinick, with his car on a residential street near Dolphin Stadium (then known as Joe Robbie Stadium) and left the scene, returning two hours later.[11] Smuzinick was paralyzed and eventually died in an assisted living facility on November 2, 1995.[12] Sanchez had just left the NFL football game between the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles with his father when the accident occurred. Police breathalyzer results determined that Sanchez's blood alcohol level was above the legal limit for driving. He was not charged with causing the accident, but was charged with and pleaded no contest to driving under the influence (DUI)

Fox News certainly wasn't overly concerned when Glenn Beck called President Obama a reverse racist. However they are starting to feel some tension that their prize pony showing signs of mad cow disease (some of us ALWAYS saw the signs.) No one in their right mind would want Beck as their mascot, but he's in the right place for wrong minds, isn't he now?
Fox News divided

Here's what I think...

2010-09-30T11:55:00.001-06:00

Okay what I am about to say is fact because I say so. I am the Omnipotent power of the Patch, therefore I only need "because I said so" to back me up. It works as being MOMnipotent too.

America is made up of people I agree with, people I almost always agree with, people I seldom agree with, and what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about people AKA stupid people.

Jon Stewart is in the first category. I agree with him 99.999% of the time.
President Obama, Former President Clinton, and pretty much Former President Carter are in the "almost always" group.
Jon Huntsman, Orrin Hatch, Jim Matheson are in the seldom because I can count on one hand the things I agree with.
I think naming names in the last group is beating a dead horse, or Fox, or bulldog with lipstick, ya know?

So Jon's rally:
http://www.comedycentral.com/press/images/dailyshow/TDS-Rally-Poster_Rally-To-Restore-Sanity.jpg
It's slated as non-partisan but there are some disagreements as to the truthfulness of that claim. One thing President Obama has NOT achieved is to bi-partisan cooperation, but that's not Obama's fault. I've seen very little effort made by Democrats AND Republicans. Stewart is no holds barred on calling out Obama when he's wrong and he's expressed his approval of McCain in the BP years (before Palin). McCain can DO bipartisan, but he hasn't since his defeat. Here's the problem uber-conservatives have with Jon Stewart: He uses big words and they need a dictionary to look them up. The words that he uses that they DO understand are usually bleeped. I think intelligent Republicans are watching. Why wouldn't they? Stupid people are fairly lost causes so they are pointless.

So here's President Obama's thoughts on the rally:

Seems a bit hypocritical to call out Fox news et al while showing approval of Jon Stewart. Here's where the distinction is: Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc, are 24 hour news channels. The Daily Show lasts 30 minutes. Colbert too, but I'm not a fan.

In any case, it will prove to be interesting. I wish I could attend, but I'd be booted for my inability to use my indoor voice when I'm irate!!

Bill O'Reilly losing it?

2010-09-27T11:17:00.001-06:00

Of course not! He never even had it to begin with. But shhhhhh, "the folks" still tune in.

So O'Reilly had Jon Stewart on the Factor. I'm not sure what he was thinking because even with Fox's Award winning editing department (okay they haven't won any award but they could make Janice Dickenson look 18 and demure, they are THAT good)he looked like an idiot. He's perpetually angry, embarrassingly insulting, coming off defensive, bigoted, and frankly uneducated.

See for yourself:

I have felt a disappointment with our country's leaders. I never believed Obama was a Messiah, but he's not had the support to bring about the change we all envisioned. Even his biggest supporters lack the courage to put themselves out there and what he HAS done he's done it with little to no support and an overwhelming amount of trivial insanity from "the folks". I still shudder to think of Palin in the White House. I can just imagine the reality show that would come of that. I'll be humming this all day:
(Sing to Beverly Hillbillies TV show theme song)
Come'n listen to my story 'bout a gal named Sarah
A quitter from Wasilla, barely kept her family fed
And then one day, she was winkin' at Putin
And up from Arizona come a babblin' fool
Republican, that is, party-of-no, pork-barrel champion
Well, the next thing you know, old Sarah’s a millionaire
Kin folk said, Sarah, dump Todd and move away from there
Said, the lower 49 is the place you oughta be
So she loaded up the truck and moved to DC
Lobbyists, ghost writers, that is, cocktail parties, corrupt politicians
Set a spell, take your snow boots off
Y'all come back now, hear?”
(Credit to Bronxdude)

I wonder if "the folks" noticed that Jon didn't include himself among the middle class that President Obama is trying to help with the tax cuts and stimulus programs. Because Jon Stewart, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Stephen ColberT, Sarah Palin... None of them hold a political office. None of them have all of the answers. Some of them claim to be scholars and some to be jesters. But none of them live like I do. None of them are "the folks" if by that they mean simple people who just struggle to pay the bills and raise the best kids that they can. I'm one of THOSE folks, but I think that Bill-O MIGHT be talking about the stupid people. I'm feeling guilty for spending $25 on a pair of Payless shoes and triumph at the formal I got on ebay for my teenage daughter for $32. That's who I am and I have no regrets.

Update:
I have no words... Okay I have 2 words: STUPID PEOPLE!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Bill O'Reilly

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Rally to Restore Sanity

The Grim Tale of the Peasants and the Koolaid Party or Why we don't like WWTC (condensed)

2010-09-20T13:26:00.005-06:00

Once upon a time there was a fictional group of peasants who lived in a rural area. They lived there because they wanted to be free to worship, govern, and sustain themselves. They were humble, God fearing, and by, no means, rich, peasants, just hardworking. They were thriving, farming, and harvesting what they needed. They had their own local business that were the livelihood of themselves, their friends and family. But there had been problems between these peasants and the government of Evilland. Evilland had a huge hand in monopolizing the trade on many things because West Walmartia Trading Company (WWTC) was headquartered in Evilland. WWTC's trade route was so big and and the goods came in such huge quantities that the fictional people couldn't compete with the prices and they were none too pleased at the taxes either! The peasants no longer lived in Evilland, in fact they lived a sea away and the thought of the ruler of Evilland gettin' all up in their Koolaid really irritated them. So they disguised themselves and went aboard the big fat FREAKING WWTC ships and threw 90,000 pounds of Evilland Koolaid into Peasant Harbor. Evilland was very displeased at the rebellion and presented them with a bill to pay for all of that wasted Koolaid. The peasants laughed and said "Pshaw right!" Then blah blah blah Revolutionary War blah blah and the peasants formed their own government and called it the United Peasants of Peasantania.

They lived happily ever after.

Until....

Nearly 3 centuries later the peasants were bored and fat and lazy. They were fighting amongst themselves. The President of Peasantania didn't look like the original peasants or any of the Presidents that came before him. This freaked them out. They started marching with signs that made no sense (even if they HAD spelled everything right). They called their cause the same name the original peasants did without really knowing what happened then and what is happening now. I live in a small village in Peasantia and you know what I see? I see the little frame shop near the university go out of business. Clothing stores, grocery stores, mom and pop stores all gone now. What peasant would make all of those stops if they can get everything at once and for less money (and quality) at the local Walmartia Trading Company? So the dimwits with the signs and the Koolaid wrappers stapled to their hats have lost sight of what the Peasant party was REALLY about. Just like Evilland, Walmartia pays the Relephant party A LOT of money at campaign time. And as all of us middle class peasants sit here bickering over who is right and who is wrong, no one looks back to see where we came to this place that were in.

The characters in this story are purely fictional. Any similarities between them and real individuals are purely coincidental.

'Cmon little Patchling, you can say whatever you want, except that you like Glenn Beck.

2010-09-16T08:17:00.000-06:00

I was listening to President Obama's Back to School Speech and wondering if my daughters were allowed to listen to him this year. He mentions his mother often when he talks about education. He makes it very clear that he is who he is because of her. Glenn Beck said that President Obama is reverse racist. He doesn't like white people. Glenn, his mama was white. I'm thinking he just doesn't like stupid white people. I don't even think he notices that they are white.

I'm voting Libertarian in my District House this year. I read a silly survey of questions that they each filled out. I know the Republican incumbent whose answers on dream car and favorite local restaurant makes it clear he's wealthy enough to be a Republican Politician. The Lib stated an affordable restaurant and the modest car he already drives. His answers were creative and amusing (showing that he'll play along even though it was stupid) and they were correct or else he's smart enough to know what the right answers are. Either way, I'm voting for him. Plus his name made me laugh all the way to the school and back.
VOTE BARRY SHORT!!!

So beautiful.

2010-09-15T09:32:00.002-06:00

The Patch has had some requests.

2010-09-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

One of them being the use of more Jon Stewart clips to emphasize some of my opinions on the more cracked individuals who had used their constitutional right of free speech it further reinforce how crude, rude, and unrefined some Americans can be ie. the entire Tea Party, Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachman, etc. I also have a guest blogger so stay tuned just in case the little Patchling decides to throw in her $.02.

Today's Daily Show clip is aimed at Fox News ignorance, and Terry "Yosemite" Jones, disingenuous change of heart. I think he and Glenn Beck are hearing the same party line voices in their head that they are attributing to God when in fact it's clear that they are seriously mental.
In case you are confused but who Terry Jones is and Yosemite Sam, this is for you:

(Yosemite Sam is the one that is clearly the most reasonable and intelligent looking.)

In one of the last clips of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart made a sensible argument about how stupid it is to worry what the radical Islamic people overseas think of us. Since when did WE start letting nut jobs influence our country. Oh yeah, that was the Bush Administration.. My bad. But I'm with General Petraeus on this one. Burning the holy book of the Islamic people is an offense to the good people around the country that are kind and faithful people but it would also add fodder to the people in terrorist organizations just waiting for propaganda to stoke the rage and hatred against the American people.

Anywho.. Here's the clip of the day:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Islamophobiapalooza

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Okay, I'm talking semantics right now.

2010-09-13T11:33:00.000-06:00

We'll start off with The Most Trusted man in the media and his approach to this issue:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Hurt Talker

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

So here's my take on the matter. Hatred and bigotry needs to go. The N-word is way worse because it means one thing and it's disparaging to black people. That being said, THEY need to stop using it too. It needs to be something that we teach our children is degrading and wrong along with other racial slurs.

Retarded has become slang for mentally handicapped individuals but it has other definitions:

re·tard
(ree-tahrd)
–verb (used with object)
1.
to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object)
2.
to be delayed.

For example: "The extremist right wingers are retarding the progress of our country for really stupid reasons."
Or: "The Minister who planned to burn Quran is retarded in his thinking." In other words he is hindering or slowing the acceptance of people's difference.
And don't forget that if you need to stop a fire, you use fire retardant. So can we move it along to something real? Sarah Palin is such a hypocrite. Her freedom of speech is more important that the rest of America's. She's very retarded in her way of thinking.

Remembering...

2010-09-12T10:09:00.000-06:00

As I went through my day, yesterday getting everything ready for my youngest daughter's birthday party, I did it like I have for the past 9 years: In a daze. Not the same as the day she turned 4. It was so busy. I had to get her to preschool. The invitations were sent. I had come up with a cute idea to make her poster of her short life even better. I bought die-cut letters spelling out her name and strung them on yarn like a necklace that laid on the pictures of her first 4 years of life. But from the moment my husband called me telling me to turn on the TV to watch the horror of an attack that still makes no sense to me it was like sleepwalking. Only one tower had been hit and I watched in disbelieving horror as the second plane flew into and almost through, but not quite, the second tower. It never occurred to me to worry for MY safety or that of my kids. The terrorists were obviously making a huge statement by choosing targets of political and populated immensity. Everywhere I went the radio or television was on. When the attacks were over I was reminded that being a newscaster is probably not on par with rocket science as the pundits asked inane questions and offered useless commentary. The bewilderment of the people living in NYC became anger, resentment and a need for vengeance. It also united the country in a way that was astonishing and brief.
9 years later and our country is as divided as it's ever been or maybe that is just the way it feels to me. Hatred is a common commodity and it's bought and sold with ignorance. My daughter's party was a success. Far more successful than I was anticipating considering I was catering to a bunch of little divas. In the background we watched the horror of 9/11 replayed over and over on the History Channel. It's amazing to me that nine years have passed and I feel no sense of atonement. Our country is financially broken by a war that to me seems a farce. It's always felt that George H. Bush had no real end to Operation Desert Storm. Saddam Hussein wasn't dead and Bush couldn't have another term. The Clinton years pulled us out of the huge national debt. And George W. Bush Jr. former college cheerleader, part owner of the Texas Ranger Baseball team, and card carrying alcoholic "good ol' boy", set about to tie up Daddy's loose ends. And he did. Bush Jr. surprised many people by choosing Dick Cheney as Vice President, but probably not his co-members of the Skull and Bones Society where shaking hands with the devil is what they aspire too. Financed by daddy's oil and bloodshed and married to Haliburton prince of darkness George W. became the worst president the United States of America has ever had. After riding off into the sunset, free of puppet master Cheney, George hasn't had much to say in the last couple of years. That's been the wisest thing he's ever done, in my opinion.
I don't know when it was, in the past nine years that the unanswered questions started nagging at me. Questions like: Why Pearl Harbor? If you're going to poke a hornet's nest, do the most damage possible, right? And when the hornets begin to sting, they annihilate Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Killing so many innocent people. Doctors, nurses, civilians. Why?? What was the military strategy in that?
So it's 2010 and President Obama has shifted the war from Iraq to Afghanistan. The Al Quida has had plenty of time to regroup and like his father, George W. left office knowing that the bad guy slipped through his fingers. President Obama is left holding the bag, and the debt, and the unnecessary wars including a renewal of the war on racial prejudice. The Republicans, the bat shit crazy Tea Party/Birthers/9-12ers, etc. How does he face it? A self destructive country.
Who will be our first female president? Sarah Palin? I'm guessing one of the Bush twins. She can continue the tradition of cleaning up daddy's mess and even secure a pardon for all of the atrocities committed under false intelligence. There's no atonement for the events of 9/11/01. No redemption because we are tired of war, and lies. We're broken. And in some crappy hole in Afghanistan, a stinking man by the name of Osama Bin Laden laughs at American stupidity and greed.
Happy freaking birthday, youngest daughter.

Are you serious?

2010-08-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

The Tea Party could be here to stay. I like it!! It's divisive and that is what we need in the GOP. I'm not being snide, I'm being honest. My minority in being liberal is a dead horse that I've completely annihilated but I've been genuinely floored by the insanity and ignorance in our country, my community, and in my circle of friends, family, and acquaintances. In the race for Alaska's senate seat, the GOP candidate who was considered a shoo-in, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is trailing Joe Miller who is backed by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. That is actually frightening! The extreme behavior and platforms that the Tea Party have been pushing is truly alarming. Many of ther residents of the state of Alaska has shown themselves to be willing to take a look at what Sarah Palin's agenda really is. I've watched the disillusionment and anger of some Alaskan residents at being abandoned by her as Governor. Realizing that she QUIT being their governor and taking her dog and pony show for shallow celebrity. Maybe they think back to the embarrassment of her interviews with Couric and Gibson (among others) that established the fact that she was completely unqualified for VP but drove home that her motives are questionable. She QUIT! She used her children to sell herself, she failed her state and she stole money from the GOP and the tax payers. But she's proving to have some determined sycophantic followers and she's doing it for her own selfish purposes. She doesn't represent the needs of the Alaskan people, she doesn't support the Constitution unless it suits her. She certainly violated several of Kathleen Gustafson and Billy Sullivan's rights in Homer Alaska.

The Republican Party has some very good people who seem genuinely ashamed of the behavior of the antics of the extremists. In fact, many have tried to distance themselves from some of the crazier people and their movements. More and more these extreme wingnuts are showing that their problems don't lie in the government as a whole, but with President Obama. Today I read about a newer movement and I wonder WHY doesn't this disturb more people? Starting with the one I read about today, I'm going to list some of these groups and what their agenda is:

Thirteenthers: They seem to be okay with the part of the 13th Amendment that banned slavery, but they want to reintroduce an amendment from 1810 stating that no one holding a public office that is bestowed a title of nobility. This mean that President Obama must step down because he won the Nobel Prize. Apparently unbeknownst to those of us who HAVEN'T won one, the recipient is crowned King of Norway too! *Sarcasm, in case no one picked up on that* This appears to be mostly Iowa.
Tenthers: This one isn't so bad. I understand the mistrust of "big government" and this is about letting states govern themselves. Problem with that is that I don't want Utah's state leaders making my choices for me. Sheesh, if they had their way, Arizona could shoot Latinos on sight! Texas and Alaska would secede, but that could have it's up sides, as well.
Birthers: Talk about a dead horse!!! President Obama started snowing us at birth. Orly Taitz lost that one!
Teabaggers: I think I've covered that, but they are normally uneducated, racist, people with too much time on their hands.
Glenn Beckites: People who believe the rantings of a man that is a complete boob. This will probably become a religion because self proclaimed prophets are frowned upon by the faith whose members made him a wealthy man.
Foxtards: People who watch and believe a cable news network that isn't bright enough to let them Republican party BUY their favor, they are unfair and unbalanced and they paid the GOP to boot!

I may think of more later. I'm pretty POSITIVE I'll think of more :)

More on Fox owned government.

2010-08-22T12:37:00.000-06:00

Fox News has become home to the crazier folk that bring ratings if not news. Sarah "I'm a really stupid quitter" Palin has her own platform there (along with a show on the Discovery Channel where she will be sharing the parts of Alaska that AREN'T ashamed of her very existence (mark your calendar for the upcoming episode featuring the OTHER MOTHER OF THE YEAR: Kate Gosslin! What a treat. Dr. Laura is going down like a circus clown for dropping the N-word 11 times on her radio show so she's likely a shoe in for a Fox show. Really Fox News equals intolerance.

UPDATED FoxPAC: Fox News' corporate parent gave Republican Governors Association $1 million

August 16, 2010 5:52 pm ET by Matt Gertz

Bloomberg News reports today (h/t Daily Kos' KingOneEye) that News Corp. -- the media giant which owns Fox News and The Wall Street Journal -- has donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, the GOP organization that helps coordinate Republican gubernatorial campaigns and pays for independent ads in support of their candidates.

Media Matters has confirmed Bloomberg's report using publicly available IRS filings. We also found no evidence of corresponding donations to the Democratic Governors Association in the current political cycle. News Corp. wants Republicans elected to office, and they're willing to spend money to make it happen.

According to the article, News Corp. is actually the RGA's "biggest corporate donor." Bloomberg suggests that News Corp. has made these donations due to their opposition to "proposed federal rule changes that would weaken the position of its Fox network in negotiations with cable companies," stating that "Governors may have a stake in the issue."

Whether or not that is the case, this large corporate donation to the GOP underscores News Corp.'s role as an appendage of the Republican Party.

UPDATE: Politico's Ben Smith has received the following quote from a News Corp. spokesman: "News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA's pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy." They're not trying to hide it anymore. As the coverage of its media outlets indicates, News Corp. supports the Republican Party's platform. It's just now started putting its money where its mouth has long been.

Sixteen months ago, we drew attention to Fox News Senior Vice President Bill Shine's characterization of his network as the "voice of the opposition." Ever since, we've been demonstrating how the network has been living up to his words.

In September, we defined Fox News as a conservative political organization, noting that the network had been openly advocating against the Democratic Congress and White House through extreme promotion of anti-government rallies, witch hunts against administration officials, and by urging their audience to call Congress and the White House to protest Democratic policies.

In October, we revealed the revolving door between the Republican Party and Fox News Channel, with a number of former Bush administration officials, former and potentially future GOP presidential candidates, and Republican strategists on Fox's payroll and airwaves.

In November, we chronicled Fox News' promotion of Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug Hoffman, New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, and Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell in the run-up to the November 3 election. We also noted how Fox News hosts and analysts spent Election Day promoting their candidacies.

In January, we documented Fox's campaign for Scott Brown; in February, we pointed out the network's advocacy for fellow Republican Senate candidates Marco Rubio and Mark Kirk.

In April, we showed how Fox News hosts and contributors have raised millions of dollars for Republican candidates and causes in the 2010 election cycle. We also pointed out that in recent years, at least twenty Fox News personalities have endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or causes, or against Democratic candidates or causes, in more than 300 instances and in at least 49 states.

And now we have Fox's parent company donating $1 million to elect Republican gubernatorial candidates. Are there still people who doubt that Fox is just an arm of the GOP?

Okay, a recap.

2010-08-21T14:15:00.000-06:00

So Fox News, owned by News Corp. is a NEWS CHANNEL. Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck, both have shows on Fox News yet neither are newscasters. Or politicians but I digress.. Jon Stewart is a comedian on Comedy Central and yet in less than 10 minutes he can clear up pure insane crap that spews from Warrior Who Hears From God (or just batpoop crazy voices in his head) Glenn Beck.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

News Corp. Gives Money to Republicans

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party