A link round-up of ME!
Like everyone else, I've been busy and distracted. Here's my first post at Pundit League. It's about the doctor from Connecticut who was the soul survivor of a purely evil home invasion 3 years ago. If you can get through the sadness he offers perspective. My goal at PL is to do a weekly blog about politics where I never actually blog about politics.
I don't know why, but Treacher asked me back to guest blog during his surgery and recovery. This is a horrible post I wrote, BUT I do refer to Jon Bon Jovi as a sex act.
Thanks again for your prayers about our relocation hopes. It's complicated, but we're very optimistic this new avenue will work out. I've credited my Catholic friends with the bulk of our good report and notified my fellow WASP's who I suspect of being closet anti-Catholics of this. That's the kind of Christian I am.
Enoch, Dan: I still have no idea what any of the categories mean.
For jefferson101
Jefferson101 - don't say we don't care about your blogging pleasure.
I’m glad to see ol’ Spewey back. He’s one of my Internet running buddies. All is now well.
Other than the lack of Keg Beer, of course, but virtual keg beer makes my modem burp anyway, so it’s probably for the best. If it belches into the LAN, it can be a real beast to deal with.
Tap one on her us.
More Holly Madison pron here
What Is Love? Baby, Don’t Hurt Me
Please don't roll over!
Feeling the linky love from Stacy, who has a Rule 5 Extra Chubby Chaser Edition for me. I've got my own Rule 5 thing going on, so tell me whether you think Vida Guerra is chubby, or Rubenesque, or whatever. (Probably NSFW)
Mike Riggs wants to do (pot with) your mom
Once again, my opinions are my own and not necessarily those of POWIP, Dan Collins, Hale's Ales Brewery - Seattle or the Nair Hair Removal empire.
Alternatively titled: My major blog address on drugs
Mike Riggs is a writer for the Daily Caller, and if you're familiar with his work and/or his twitter feed you know he wants pot legal yesterday. He wrote this about the Women's Marijuana Party and California's Prop 19, which seeks to treat pot just like alcohol. OK! The Women's Marijuana Party is not your hippie uncle's pro-pot group. Co-founder, Jessica Corry, is a wife, mother, life-long Republican and not a pot smoker. This group is different in that its primary focus seems to be how current marijuana laws aren't fair and aren't working. I think I like them for the same reasons I like Feminists for Life on the abortion issue. They're starting a new conversation based in common sense and throwing out the talking points that activists have been chasing their tails with for 30 years.
(Yes, she dodged the question about where to draw the line.)
I've written about the ways my politics have changed over the years, but one stance that hasn't changed has been my position on pot. (I call it pot. Anything else seems douchey or fuddy-duddy to me.) My husband, who is in law enforcement, and I have gone around and around on this. Neither one of us will budge. I'll omit his arguments since he's not here, he's wrong and he's not bringing me a t-shirt home from Bangkok.
The debate on medical marijuana should be over. Most illicit drugs began as legal drugs with very legitimate uses. At the very least, pot should be treated like any other prescription drug. Beyond pot, there's a valid case for drugs like LSD and ecstasy to be beneficial when used in a controlled environment. I don't think a hit of X would have hurt Jon and Kate Gosselin one bit. Everyone knows about treating diseases like cancer and AIDS with marijuana, but there is growing anecdotal evidence of medical marijuana helping with autism. If my son gets to the point where we need to look at medication I'd sure prefer pot to Ritalin or Adderall, which is basically meth. Like alcohol and cigarettes, no one wants kids taking these drugs or anyone abusing them. All people like me ask is that people step back and evaluate each drug or vice, legal and illegal from an objective, scientific standpoint.
Look at the prescription drug problem we have. Doctors were handing out Vicodin in the 90s to any woman who complained of cramps or migraines. EVERY WOMAN HAS CRAMPS AND MIGRAINES. Honestly, in our society if you don't feel like crap you're probably not a real woman yet. But there's this stigma that some drugs are safe and some drugs aren't based on archaic stats and mores. Often, that stigma is perpetuated by "experts" that have no experience to speak of. No drugs are safe. There are side effects to everything. Let's find out what being uptight and narrow-minded is a side effect of and make that illegal.
As for recreational use, anyone who has experience with alcohol and pot will tell you alcohol has as many, if not more, negative effects than pot. I'm sure there have been people who got belligerent and violent after using pot, but I'm confident the numbers wouldn't hold a candle to the dumb stuff people do when they're drunk. At least that's what I've heard. (Insert joke about stoners sitting on the couch eating Doritos here. Actually, don't.) And people do need something to use recreationally. Cultures have been finding self-destructive ways to unwind since the beginning of time. God saw that working all day was hard, and so he made nighttime. And He made it dark out for a reason.
The standard argument against pot being legal for recreational use is that it's a "gateway drug". I submit that pot is a gateway drug because in order to get it people often have to enter the gates of a dealer that is also selling harder drugs. Welcome to the wild west that is the black market. You're on your own, kid.
I mentioned that Jessica Corry dodged the question in that interview about where to draw the line. I would have too. Some want to make all drugs legal. I'm not so sure about that, but the war on drugs is a failure. A FAILURE. I don't see why we can't have a conversation about alternatives. To put it in DEA speak, these substances aren't the big fish. Addiction is. Addiction is a total asshole. Let's wage war on him.
Let me be clear, I am not a current pot smoker or doer of anything illegal. Although I have updated my twitter bio to reflect my interest in cheating on my taxes. Geithner, call me!
crossposted at KillTruck
Mad Mom, or Rule 5 Sunday in 1965
As a major Mad Men fan, I sometimes forget that my parents lived through that time as adults. Even though they also love the show and its fantastically perfect attention to the era's details, I rarely imagine them actually existing in the 1960s.
I forget, until my mom reminds me that she was basically a Peggy/Joan hybrid working at The Boeing Company in 1965---the exact same year the series is currently exploring.
The pictures of the smiling blonde above are of my mother at age 23, who was an engineer for 17 years at Boeing, working on such things as the Minuteman project. Despite working with (and being ogled by) mostly all dudes, she never turned into one of those bitter dude-haters.
Mom was a cool conservative girl even back then, and in addition didn't smoke, drink, or participate in anything more than light flirting. She recalls the smoking in the office was definitely just as heavy as Mad Men depicts, though she says the guys weren't as into the liquor during work hours. Of course the to-be-expected sexual harassment of the day was present; mom mentions whistles and constant comments on her figure were de rigueur. Even though she wasn't a secretary, Mom often had to gain respect of her male colleagues, who sometimes told her she was probably being promoted because she "must be sleeping with someone." Once she proved her work and became the only female in certain meetings, she was greeted with "damn, now we have to clean up our language because SHE'S in the room." Great stories of drinking lunches at country clubs with visiting dignitaries, where Mom humored the guys making fun of her non-drinking with "just don't let me have more than two 7-Ups, or else I'll get giggly." And my favorite, which mirrors an incident at Sterling Cooper from last season: the recently-fired Boeing manager who decided to stand on a table in the middle of the secretary pool, and spectacularly urinate on a bunch of documents as his going-away present. Mom was dispatched to handle that one.
So, it really was like all that back then, and even though she was constantly asked to be eye candy at parties (as pictured above with a Howard Hughes crony) despite her higher-up position, she loved her work and ultimately got along extremely well with all the guys. And got crunk on 7-Up, evidently.
If you love the show, Basket of Kisses is an awesome site to follow---this week's "Mad News" (often compiled by Karl) mentions that the actor who portrays Betty doesn't think men have changed much since the 1960s.
Real Housewives of DC: A primer
I've been waiting all summer for this. All my adult life really. Every minute of every hour of every day has been but mind numbing busywork, passing the time leading up to this moment. THE moment. The premiere of the "Real Housewives of DC" on Bravo. Mark Burnett was born to make reality shows that would make reality shows really popular so that this show would be made... for me, for you, for America.�
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So much divides us. and that is so very sad. It's not what the Founding Fathers intended. Just last week as I was paying for a funnelcake (or as I call them, freedomcakes) I was moved to see a single tear fall from George Washington's eye on the dollar bill I was using. OK, maybe it was powdered sugar. Or maybe God used powdered sugar to get my attention. Who knows? I'm thinking with my heart again. What I do know is that there is no hope for this nation if we can't come together on common ground. And why can't mocking these silly women and their silly lives be that common ground? C'mon, let's meet the ladies:
Catherine Ashley Ommanney: Foreigner, soon to be ex-wife of a Newsweek photographer. BOO! What kind of a name is "Ommanney"? Like, "Oh man, that Ommanney lady is such a drag." I think she's the one in the ads that says, "Boring is something DC is not." But she pronounces it "nawt". Blech. I think we should all get together and just hate the bejeesus out of her. �
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Stacie Scott Turner: Her husband used to work for the mayor of DC. She went to Howard and Harvard. She used to work for BET. Now she's a realtor with 2 kids. My best friend from high school is a realtor with 2 kids. Her name is Amy. She named her dog after Al Gore's wife. (Sadly, I've just learned that Tipper had to be put down yesterday.) �
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Lynda Erkiletian: She's the oldest, a divorced mother of four who owns a modeling agency. I'm bored.
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Mary Schmidt Amons: Socialite. I think that's code for housewife. Hey, I'm a socialite too! She and her husband have 5 kids. BREEDER! Her oldest is named Lolly. Darn, I might like this one. Wait, she might be the one that said the thing about DC not being boring. I can't tell from blondes.
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And last but not least,
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Michaele Salahi: Not ringing a bell. I have no idea how to pronounce that first name, but I imagine we'll find out. Her bio at Bravo says, "Michaele has met numerous political leaders across the globe." Gee, I wonder who. She worked at Nordstrom before she got married in 2003. Big deal. I worked at Office Depot before I got married in 2002. The scuttlebutt is she has boundary issues.
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Now you know. Tonight (and I'm assuming every Thursday) on Bravo 9/8 CST (Chicago gets everything first). Don't forget. They hardly ever re-air these things. I'll be live-tweeting using the hashtag #rhtcot (real housewives of tcot, which would be a better show) and post recaps on fridays. Cuz that's my funday, my I'm too drunk to run-day.
crossposted on KillTruck
Psst, the moonbats fly on Sept. 12
One of the biggest ignorant jerks in the leftosphere, I believe he likes to go by VD Beavis, apparently wants moonbats to show up at teaparties on September 12 to set fire to confederate flags to prove once and for all that teaparty activists are racists. He thinks that the "teabaggers" (they still think that hurts our feelings) will react by defending their precious confederate flag and other racist stuff. Because "teabaggers" are racist, blame George Bush, Sarah Palin is dumb (and out of my league).
OK, let's see how this goes.
crossposted at KillTruck
Congratulations?
Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are engaged. For realsies. It's really all the US Weekly set is talking about.
"I really thought we were over," Levi tells Us Weekly. "So when I went, I had no hope. I think we both just started talking — and then we took Tripp for a walk."
Apparently, they've been back together for 3 months and engaged for 2 weeks. The portion of the US Weekly interview that's available online implies that Todd and Sarah Palin would learn of the engagement from US Weekly. The article also claims that Sarah Palin was the one that dubbed Levi "Ricky Hollywood", which isn't true. This statement from the Palins was read on the Today show:
"Bristol at 19 is now a young adult. We obviously want what's best for our children. Bristol believes in redemption and forgiveness to a degree most of us struggle to put in practice in our daily lives."
Good luck to them. I wondered how 2 people could even begin to actually parent a child together during the bitterness of the last year.
Friday Conspiracy Musings
I like to do this just for fun - and by saying that, I have enough cover to pretty much disguise what I believe to be afoot, what I sense is afoot, and what I am just wondering at. So, the views below do not necessarily represent those of the author. How's that for putting on my dance shoes?
As mentioned before, there is corruption and dishonesty everywhere in this world. I have witnessed it firsthand many times. I have seen it in the personal relationships between friends, married couples. As we all have. No one is perfect, I'll grant you. But I have also seen it firsthand in business. At low levels, at high levels. In small companies, in medium-sized firms, and in giant firms. As for government, we needn't wonder about corruption and dishonesty in DC. We needn't worry about running out of it at the state level or at the local level either. It seems wherever people are, evil necessarily is.
I say Evil, because corruption and dishonesty are the components of Evil. They distort the Call of Man to live in the Light of Truth. Corruption deprives all citizens who have a rights to expect due process, the prudent use of their tax dollars, and the confidence that their "representatives" are representing their interests as instructed. Dishonesty robs the onlooker of being able to discern what is what. Robbing the onlooker of being able to have confidence in what they are seeing and hearing. Again, the idea of dishonesty is to distort to such an extent that none can make sense of what is so and what is not so. In creating chaos within reality - by distorting what is perceived - nefarious, evil people can operate in Darkness. I do not for a moment believe that sophisticated operators do not know this. I see it when I press my 4 year old daughter as to how the lamp fell off the end table. She is learning to lie about such things. And at the tender age of four, she is quite adept at it. My 12 year old daughter is more sophisticated, of course. Where my four year old might blame the lamp on the dog who has been tethered outside all day or on her younger brother (who can't defend himself (as he can barely speak)), my twelve year old will first deny any knowledge, then stew up some plausible circumstance which she thinks will assess blame to some other person (no one in particular, just not her). And when she is busted for lying, she might persist in denial, becoming angry and attempting to make the topic about anything else than the topic at hand. My fourteen year old is more apt to at first claim not to know. She will not attempt to assess blame to "someone else" or compound the eventuality of the truth of the matter being dis-covered by heaping lie upon lie. Distortion upon distortion. Then to come to her senses and simply come clean.
The point is that there is a craft to deception. And anyone with half a brain can deceive. If they choose to do so, of course. And herein is the crux of the matter. If you believe there are good people and bad people on this planet, then it is hard to argue that while good people choose not to distort even if they stand to gain a great deal from causing confusion or the distortion of truth, surely evil people cannot be expected to defend truth when a Lie will better serve them.
For the most part, we "little people" wield little mistruths, even if they are extremely damaging at the micro-level. That is, our mistruths are locational. Impacting relatively few. The victims of our distortions and corruptions of Truth usually only immediately impact those who are unfortunate enough to be in our social and professional circles. What then of a corrupt manager? What can we say about a corrupt executive? Howabout a corrupt mayor? A corrupt state senator? A corrupt teacher? A corrupt dean? A corrupt governor? A corrupt senator? A corrupt cabinet-member? A corrupt FED chairman? A corrupt attorney general? A corrupt ambassador? A corrupt president? How extensive is the damage they, individually or in cahoots with one-another, cause with their distortions? I mean to ask, how far do the ripples of their misdeeds reach?
As far as the depth and breadth of corruption, it would enough to say that the more places to hide, the more pervasive the corruption. This is all about visibility. Or as Obama would say, "transparency." Essentially, the larger the organism, the more difficult to detect a bad malignant cell here or there.
I would also like to add that as the opportunities to profit become more lucrative, the more willing to gamble Evil people are.
As for the Gulf... many are already all over the standard and obvious conspiracy theories. Financial gain of this actor or that actor. And it is certainly plausible, given that I have zero faith in anyone drunk with power, devoid of conscience, and self-serving. I certainly have less faith in groups of Evil people. Nothing would I put beyond them. Financial gain is an obvious motivator. And Greed is among the most common of the Deadly Sins exhibited by human creatures. So, it makes sense to start there. This line of conspiracy meme is interesting enough. But for me, when I think as a conspiracy theorist might, I turn my attention to wilder, more far-flung considerations.
For instance: is it conceivable that there is some purpose beyond the financial gain to be made in fabricated green "markets" by those who have been hell-bent on replicating the Ethanol Scam? I mean to say, is it possible that cap and trade is just one of a line of corruptions that though bad enough individually, when stacked on atop the other amount to something far more devious.
Why does it seem that the population that lives in the SE US are being nudged, prodded, and more or less forced from that area of the US? What benefit is there to some diaspora? What would BP or the Federales stand to gain by an evacuation of that particular area of the United States?
Further, is there cause to believe that there is a larger purpose that involves killing off a portion of the population?
We see that corruption and distortion reach as far up the "Ladder" as the Ladder reaches. Up in the clouds, beyond the visibility of the Little People. What goes on up there? How far "up there" is Up There? This reminds me of the United Nations, the IMF, and other supranational organizations. Hmmmm. and the World Bank. What are the stakes waaaay up there?
And what about people like Soros? What about people like Brzezinski? What about GW, his dad, Obama, Clinton, Emmanual, etc? Do we know these people? I mean, these are small societies of power-players. They, all of them, run in the same circles. All of them attend the same schools, parties, events. They know the same people. Sure, some wear Packers jerseys, some Bears jerseys. But who are the coaches? Are there coaches? Who are the commissioners?
I am just musing here. But, while people want to assume the best about powerful people, I see no reason to at all. To the contrary, I presume they are corrupt. I presume they distort. Because wanting to be powerful is one thing. Being able to claw yourself to the top is quite another. And most people don't have the stomach for what it takes.
I would suggest that it is at least plausible that much more is afoot here. At least for the purposes of this post from the land of conspiracy. We could discuss Monsanto. We could discuss the Invasion of the US and occupation of swaths of land by drug runners. We could discuss the Feds unwillingness to act on illegal immigration. We could talk about Christians being subjected to arrest in Dearborn while attending a Muslim Festival. We could talk about activist Marxist judges, Nation-State Haters, One World Government proponents, the Union Thugs and the ferocity with which they are "getting in people's faces" - and the frequency of attacks. We could speak about the farce that is voting. Hispanics being able to vote multiple times in a mayoral election in the Northeast - solely because they are Hispanic. We could mention the G8/G20 Summit in Canukistan - and the amazing amount of security in place. We could talk about the Bildaberg Summit held just weeks prior to the Summit in Canada - or how the G8/G20 coincides with the World Cup (hey look a shiny penny). We could discuss the MSM's silence on everything from Gore to Obama's purported affairs.
Why, it's General Chaos - what's he doing here?
Or we could just party like it's Nineteen Ninety Nine... Good Gaea, it's Friday!













