Sorry I haven't been active for the last couple of weeks, but I was involved in some out of state campaigning in the Midwest, and even though I'm still exhausted, it was fun, joyous, fruitful...y'know, I don't have enough adjectives to describe how I feel, and the wide range of emotions I felt to the wee mornings of Wednesday, November 5th.

A lot of thank yous need to go out, especially to those WDC members who are Americans who are eligible to vote and VOTED! Seriously, kudos to you! Regardless of who you voted for, the fact that you voted in what was an historical turnout is what makes this country great. The close margins in so many states is why voter participation is so important.

A nod to the graciousness of Senator McCain in his concession speech. When he said he was planning to work with the President-elect, you knew he meant every word. I have to say that if McCain had won the election, the Republic would not have suffered for it.

A big hug to my loving husband who, as a veteran and a McCain supporter, was still very supportive as I threw myself more and more into the Obama campaign, including his unswavering emotional and financial support of my increased involvement.

And who, unfortunately, also suffered for my support.

It seems that when my husband's vehicle (which sports a McCain bumper sticker, as well as various USMC decals) had broken down, he drove my car, which sports and Obama/Biden bumper sticker. Which led to the incident on Thursday of another motorist yelling out that my husband was a "G%* D$%# N*%#*@$-lover"

Nice one, that. Undoubtedly shouted out by someone who had not suffered and bled for his country like my husband has.

But I'll make a deal with all of those who did not vote for Obama. Let's see how the next four years fold out before we come to judgment. If the Republic prospers, you have to admit you were wrong. If the Republic faulters, I'll admit I was wrong, and shift my support and energy toward another candidate. Fair enough?

But let's give the President-elect a chance before we condemn him.

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Well, it looks like I have just a couple of weeks to get out my electoral college predictions. The polls are calling it an Obama win right now, but I think it's going to be tight. And poor Joe the plumber. I don't know if he was set up or not, but the media sure went after him. Me personally, they should have gone after ACORN that hard. But that's just me. I guess not everyone thinks that voter fraud is more important than silly men who aren't plumbers but still dream of owning a plumbing company. Well, somebody just pat this silly Obama girl on her head, and I'll be on my way.

On a personal note, but with still a political twist, I'd like to introduce you folks to the wonderful world of microfinancing. Now, I know this seems like a silly liberal idea to all you neoconservatives out there (though I prefer the label progressive to that of liberal). But I'm always getting hit over the head by you conservatives of the neo-stripe and other variety that private sector can do things better than governmental organizations. Well, what can be more private than a group of individuals from the global North making small loans to an individual or group of individuals living in the global South. No IMF, no World Bank, nothing but individuals making small loans to other individuals.

Anyway, let me introduce you to the world of microfinancing via http://www.kiva.org. You can even join the small but growing WDC team there http:////www.kiva.org/team/WDC.

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I'm about to take up a topic that make some of you uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too, but it seems to be playing a role in the current American presidential election.

What I'm talking about are end times. Aharit ha-yamim. Armageddon. Ragnarok.

All the Abrahamic religions discuss the end times, but the matter is very prevalent in American culture. If you have any Christian friends at all, you've probably seen a copy of one of the Left Behind in their possession. You'll even see a bizarre twist by a group I call anti-evangelicals that fundamentalist Christians are seeking to sacrifice Jewish lifes to hasten the return of their Messiah.

Now, what I know about Armageddon, you could probably put on a grain of rice. They do that kind of inscribing in malls, you know. But I digress.

What is important is that a significant segment of the American population has a world view that is more centered on Olam Haba (the world to come) than Olam Ha'zeh (this world). I have inlaws who I love dearly who can take any event in the world, from the recent financial free fall to AIDS to the large number of tornados this year as indications of the end times. And these are people who are decent, hard working citizens who have a tradition of serving their country in the military who will find it difficult, if not impossible, to vote for Obama. It has nothing to do with his skin color, but everything to do with the fact that they perceive Obama, if not a Muslim, as one generation removed from being a Muslim. And quite frankly, I doubt if there is anything that Obama can do in the next month to resolve this issue. And polls aside, this may cost him the election if this segment of the population can be motivated to go to the polls. I know what the polls are saying. But there's still a month to go.

And for now, I'm more concerned iwth Olam Ha'zeh.

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Well, the economy is shaping up to the point that I wouldn't want to be the person elected in 2008. Because in all honesty, I don't see the economy approaching a recovery until 2012. The next president is going to find themselves last person at the table when the bill comes. And he (or, if the worst happens and the vice-president steps in, possibly she) is going to be held accountable for acts that got placed into motion years before the president started putting together their committee for a possible presidential run.

So let's talk about one man or woman, and how much influence he/she can have on the economy from the Oval Office.

The President is the main actor in matters of national security, defence and foreign policy. There are other actors, sure, but unless the President is incredibly weak, he or she is the main navigator at the helm of the nation. Other players on the stage can cut the purse string, hinder the Executive's ability to conduct foreign policy, etc., but the President is still the one to point the Ship of State in a particular direction. Other players can, at best, hinder or aid their efforts.

With the economy, the President is a major player. Possibly even first among equals. But there are other elected officials, appointed officials, foriegn officials and private individuals who can have just as an equal say in how the economy is handled. I would venture to say that Alan Greenspan has been more influential with the U.S. economy than any U.S. President elected after 1988.

So let's be honest about the next President elected. His skill in helping the economy recover is going to be more dependent on his skill in forging a coalition of players to forward a particular economic plan than his understanding of the economy.

Now, as to who to blame for the current economic implosion. I keep on hearing Phil Gramm's name bantered about, and certain deregulations he pushed through early on in the Bush administration. He might have been instrumental, but the last I checked, a single U.S. Senator does not constitute a major of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. I'm fairly certain that when the lobbyist largesse was being dished out, there were no shy mouths at the trough. So when it comes to meting out justice to everyone who was involved in the legislation that allowed this capitalistic nightmare to come to fruition, I would leave you with this scene from Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves:

Will Scarlet: My Lord, it appears there's no more room. I'm afraid that I respectfully decline!

Executioner: Come on, down! Down! There's always room for one more!

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Well, it seems like a month since I've made an organized attempt at putting a major dent in all my WDC committments. Reviews, writing, blogging...

Yes, blogging...as in this blog that I've sort of abandoned, but am now coming back with a vengeance to.

In the next week or so, I'm thinking of starting a second blog, and keeping this blog strictly for my political and philosophical observations. The second blog is going to be personal observations, with some writing exercises inspired by a book I read in the aftermath of Ike. (And Ike left quite an aftermath. There was an upper respiratory infection going around that I caught. The kind you just can't ride out, but have to get some hefty anti-biotics for. But I'm better now!)

Anyway, the book was on sale at Barnes & Noble, on their buy two get one free table. Sometimes some interesting titles on their that you might never actually check out. This one was entitled:

How To Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb

It was a great book, which I plan to do a product review on. Anyway, there are some interesting writing exercises in there, which I plan to execute in my Da Vinci blog.

Well, if you're interested, when I start it up, I'll make sure I post the link here. And that's where I'll relegate happenings in my personal life to as well.

So on to politics.

Biden vs. Palin---I remember one commentator remarking he was disappointed, because there wasn't a catastrophe. Biden kept his famous mouth in check and Palin, after a few stumbles on CBS and the like, actually held up well. So, despite the polls, I still think it's anybody's race. Any terrorist strike within the next month will put the election in McCain's camp. If this Wall Street Bailout fouls up in anyway, the win goes to the Obama camp. That's my call, anyway.

And expect to see an update on my electoral projection in the next week. Ohio is lookikng interesting with it's same day registration, but I think there's more lacquer than wood on that event.

And in my absence from WDC, I did get several nice things, including:

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Anyway, look for my electoral college projections soon.

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OK, everyone, I'm back up and running, just got power today, will still take a little while to get caught up, and unfortunately, can't do that tonight. But thanks for all the prayers, wishes, and good thoughts, they kept me afloat. Love to you all, and I promise to catch up on everything but week's end!
 

Well, I'm back home, though temporarily without power. I promise to get caught up on all the prizes, etc. I owe, just as soon as I'm back in full force.
 

Well, folks, it may be a coupla of days, but I'll be back sometime next week. Hey, I've got merit badges still to give out!
 

I've got to share this hilarious review I got today!

From: keyaira

im happy that it is ur birthday but no one younger than me is gonna be better than me. im takin' u down! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll send u one gift point since it's your birthday! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Character Count: 284

Rating included: 1.0 stars out of 5.0 stars. (Note: A 3.0 is Average.)

This was accompanied by another "encouraging" note from the same reviewer

YOU ARE GOING DOWN AMATUER!!!!!!!!!!

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I am curious what was the goal behind these messages...I mean, seriously, didn't we leave junior high back well behind us??!!

Whatever the goal, it did give me a couple of chuckles, and I hope the rest of you enjoy laughing at this example of interupted adolescence as well!

Addendum:

Well, I just received an apology from keyaira, with the promise of never doing such an act again, either against me or anyone else in the WDC community. So now I'm pondering why I was the target of such an act in the first place, and why keyaira made such an act of contrition. Mind you, I don't mind, I'm just a little puzzled. But, I suppose, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

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On a personal note, thanks for everyone who was worried about how I was doing vis-a-vis Hurricane Gustav. Gustav, as you can tell by the picture, is going to stay well to the east and north of us. We're even on the 'clean' side of this one (we're the blue smudge). But thanks for asking!

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And speaking of stirring up a storm, what about Governor Palin? Has she stirred up a hurricane of activity in the blogs and in the media or what?

And what amazes me is the number of people who think McCain made a mistake.

Guys and gals, it was a brilliant move, for a number of reasons:

1) Mobilizing the social conservative base: I belong to a non-denominational Protestant church and let me tell you, the church ladies were literally gushing about Governor Palin being on the ticket. I can only imagine the reaction she's receiving in the more conservative churches. I am hearing people at church who had reservations about McCain now talking excitedly about the November election. People who might have voted third party or stayed at home are now behind the McCain/Palin ticket.

2) Demobilizing the Hillary base: I seriously doubt that a significant majority of the Hillary base is going to defect from the Democratic party to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. That's just wishful thinking on anybody's part. However, the PUMA's (Party Unity My A**) are still smarting from what they see as the Obama camp's mistreatment of their candidate. Add to this injury the insult of McCain picking a woman as a running candidate, and come November, I think you'll see a number of PUMAs go third party or stay home.

3) Bringing religion back to the forefront: Obama's Muslim father and his membership in a perceived anti-white church were issues in the primary. You don't think that every non-progressive blog in the nation isn't going to be dredging that back up over and over? And for those who think religion shouldn't be an issue, I'm afraid that we have our very own anti-civil libertarian Nancy Pelosi to thank for bringing it back into the ring. Ms. Speaker, doctrinal debate should be left in the church, not in the political forum. I've always approved the stance of "I personally am against abortion, but that choice should be left to the individual" forwarded by progressive Catholics. Considering Governor Palin's established anti-abortion stance, every conservative bishop in this country will be reminding their followers this November about it being their duty to promote an anti-abortion political climate.

4) Giving the anti-Obamas an excuse: Nobody wants to mention the fact that Senator Obama's mixed race is an issue in this race. And now, the people who vote against him won't have to feel guilty. After all, they're voting for the first woman vice-president in the country's history.

5) Having a beer in the oval office: I Tivo the Sunday morning news shows, and ABC had Cindy McCain on. At one point, she referred to her husband as a "Navy boy", and then it hit me just what kind of appeal McCain and Palin will have in Middle America. You know the question they ask "Who would you rather have a beer with?" Well, take Joe Biden for example. If you were to make a list of living American statesman, Senator Biden would be on that list. Not Al Gore, or Edward Kennedy. But definitely Joe Biden. I can imagine myself being in one of his classes, and being lucky enough to be invited for Sunday afternoon tea to discuss the issues of the day. But I can't imagine him over at my house on a Sunday afternoon while my husband is grilling in the backyard. Senator McCain, though, I can see in my backyard, as my husband introduces him as his ex-CO. And Governor Palin I can imagine coming over with a welcome basket if I had just moved into the neighborhood. I'm not saying that's as a selling point for the oval office. But let's face it. Biden is a statesman, Obama is a future statesman. McCain and Palin are the people you've known all your life and trust implicitly because you have known all your life.

Anyway, that's all my ranting/analysis for now!

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To those keeping track of Gustav, here's the latest update. The red line and dot is my current position!

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The debate continues on Palin's selection, with the retort that Obama's experience and education is still superior to the Governor of Alaska's. Well, the obvious Republican reply to Senator Obama's 3.5 years in the United States Senate really doesn't count when you've spent half of that on the Presidential campaign trail. And though I have my bachelor's (and almost my Masters, WOO HOO!) from a school that belongs to the "Ivy League of the South", as it has been called, Obama's Ivy League education is not going to be impressive to Middle Class America, who is scraping by to put their son or daughter to a state-sponsored university. It will merely play into the 'elitist, celebrity' label that Obama has had to endure from first the Clinton camp, and then the McCain camp.

On the personal acquaintance level, I have to say that I'm impressed with both men in reaching beyond their own circle of friends. It's well known that up until the very end, Virginia governor Tim Kaine was on Obama's short list. Joe Biden, I think, was the superior choice, but Obama's only extended contact with Biden was as an adversary, where the Delaware Senator stopped just short of calling Senator Obama a credit to his race.

Palin is where Obama was four years ago. Readers of this blog even saw me call it earlier this month (Woo hoo for me!). So I have to say I'm impressed that McCain overcame his gut reaction to pick someone near and dear to someone to balance the ticket. And for those who think that Governor Palin is Dan Quayle sans a Y chromosome, I would warn them that they underestimate the Governor at their own peril.

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Well, for those of you who live on the Gulf Coast of the United States, I know you're watching Gustav tonight. I will probably be staying in my house unless there's a shift to the west sometime in the next twelve hours. I live almost one hundred miles inland, and at worst, Gustav would be a level one or tropical storm status by the time it reached me. However, my husband has already bought me a ticket, so I might be flying out tomorrow to stay with the inlaws (who live fairly close to the property we'll be moving up to in a few years). For some undiscernible reason, my husband's family seems quite fond of me, so it should be an enjoyable experience. They're fairly conservative in their politics, but the thing I like about conservatives is that there aren't as many closet anti-Semites in their midst as there are in my fellow progressives.

Speaking of conservatives, a note to John McCain: get over the Russians. Seriously. I know that they're the news now, considering their invasion of Georgia and their saber-rattling at their neighbors in the "near abroad", but they're the Austrian-Hungarian Empire of the 21st century. Parts of their empire have been falling off for the last twenty years, and Putin might be the most capable leader the Russians have had since Peter the Great, but even he can't put Humpty-Dumpty together again. The only reason the Russians are having this one last great gasp is because of Gazprom and the volaitile energy market. If this country would start the hard process of weaning itself off of fossil fuels (and in the process, not indulge in the self-destructive flash in the pan that is corn ethanol), the Russians would go the way of the Ottoman Empire.

The real challenge in the 21st century is going to be India and China. India, as the world's largest democracy, has the potential to being this countries greatest ally and partner in the coming decades. China, if it's able to survive its transistion to a true capitalist society (which includes the rule of law, respect for private property, and personal freedoms), could be our greatest rival.

So Mr. McCain, I realize you participated and suffered in one of the great brushfires of the Cold War, but that Cold War is over. Regardless of what Mr. Putin may think, the Soviet Union is being relegated to the dustbin of history. He has to be dealt with, yes, but we're not entering a second Cold War with them.

Well, have to do some preliminary packing. Hope to see all soon!

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I have to say that I'm stunned. Somebody in the McCain campaign has been reading my blog (see my August 3rd entry).

So I was pretty excited about the upcoming campaign. You had Senator Obama, the charismatic, idealistic presidential candidate, whose second spot was held by a Democratic statesman. And I'm not tossing that title around. Senator Kennedy is a senior politician. Senator Byrd is a senior politician. Senator Biden is the very definition of a statesman: scholarly, thoughtful, principled.

Then you have Senator McCain who, whether you like him or not, is willing to take a stand despite whether it is popular or not. Governor Palin, for all her attractive looks, comes from a blue collar background that Middle America is going to be able to identify with.

I might have preferred Governor Richardson over Senator Biden for personal reasons (so that I would have called two for two), but I have to admit that Senator Biden was probably a better choice.

Now, I'd like to sit down and write about what I consider the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates, but frankly, I'm a little pissed off. Actually, I'm a lot pissed off.

I'm finishing up my master's right now, and one of my associates (I won't dignify him by calling him either colleague or friend) who is a fellow Obama supporter was very gleeful about the choice of Palin. He was very focused on the fact that she had been a runner up in the Alaska beauty pageant and that she had no foreign policy experience.

Now, my associate is the type who wants to be friends with all the women in the office, to the point that I've had to physically remove his hands from my person on more than one occasion. Now, no offense, if I were in the market of man, which I'm not, I wouldn't want one that wanted to be my girlfriend in order to be my boyfriend. And I certainly wouldn't want one who was more emotional or touchy-feely than me. But I digress.

I found myself having to defend Governor Palin. And I might have made some comments like, "Trust me when I tell you that you're wife's inverse relationship of bra size to I.Q. is a statistical anamoly." I only brought up cup size because, for some reason, my associate tends to bring his wife's cup size up in a lot of discussions in the lounge. Seriously, why does he think that a group of women want to hear a man discuss his wife's measurements?

But this is the point I like to make. You can not make the argument, at least without being hypocritical, that Palin's inexperience disqualifies her from being a serious contender for Vice-President without making the same argument for Senator Obama. If you point at her cover of Vogue, you have to point at Obama's cover of people. You have to recognize that both are young, dynamic, ideologically driven individuals who bring much to the ticket. Then you have to decide who is going to take the United States in the direction you want to see it to go.

And to my associate, just because you're wife is a bimbo, please do the attractive women around you who had enough brains to keep their distance the courtesty of realizing that they're probably smarter than you.

If that sounded a bit b****y, trust me, it wasn't as near as heated as I was feeling three hours ago. Give me a day, and I'll be able to discuss the pros and cons with a certain detachment.

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For those of you who missed Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday, it was masterful. I'm serious. He hit all his marks, with the right combination of praise for his wife, commitment to Senator Obama, and complimenting McCain while making a point that Republican policies are all wrong for this country, making note that prior to 2001, this country had a economic surplus, while after 2001, with a Republican Oval office and both houses of Congress under Republican control, we have entered a period of major deficit.

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My husband's background is evangelical Christian, so I've gotten some education in that area. Which helps me become very much amused when media pontiffs discuss how Lieberman with his support of abortion rights would alienate the social conservative base of the Republican party, while a McCain/Romney ticket would rally it.

Have these writers ever met an Evangelical Christian?

No, I'm not talking about the attendees of the megachurches. I have nothing against these churches but, trust me, the attendees there are a far cry from the people who attend smaller churches and talk seriously about such things as "washed in the Blood" and "slain in the Spirit" and such things. And these people look upon members of the Church of Latter Day Saints as heretics and worse.

As far as Jewish people are concerned---we're talking about people who do not base their support of Israel on it being the only true democracy in the region, on guilt concerning the Shoah, or even on trying to advance the time table in Revelations (which, I have discovered, is a common mistruth spread about Evangelical Christians in the news). They base that decision on Old Testament verse. You won't believe how many people from my husband's family will quote Bereshit/Genesis 12:3 to me (which I assume is because of my background!),

ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאר ונברכו בך כל משפחת האדמה׃

"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed."

I think it will actually be a plus among this base that Lieberman is conservative, and not reform or conservative. There will be a great dislike in voting again a ticket with a member of the Chosen people.

Anyway, I think Lieberman would be an excellent choice. It would boost McCain's image of someone willing to cross the aisle, and I guarantee you that Lieberman is one of the few possibilities who could hold his own against the very formidable Biden in the V.P. debate.

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While I'm writing this, I'm also perusing through the National Hurricane Center's website. If you live on the Gulf Coast (Gulf of Mexico for those outside of the U.S.), Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have made you very sensitive about any tropical storm or hurricane that looks like it will make its way into the Gulf.

You also become very sensitive to the changes in the political and economic climate such storms can create. Rita probably caused more deaths in the expectation than in the actual. I have family in Missouri and Arkansas, as well as property in our own right, so I had some place to run, and a husband who insisted that I get on the airplane in plenty of time.

Unfortunately, all the routes out of the Houston/Galveston route became clogged, and an unseasonably warm September caused a situation where people became stuck on the side of the freeway. It was taking people seven hours to drive thirty miles.

I'm wondering how this is going to play out at the Denver Convention. The ghost of Katrina is still fresh on the American collective consciousness, and a tropical storm in the Gulf had got to be a convenient stage prop. And then there's Georgia. My generation may be more focused on the Pacific Rim, but the majority of the delegates at Denver will have grown up under the bogeyman of the Soviet Union. And that will be even more true with the Republicans.

Gustav, Georgia, and George W. I guess the letter for the day at Denver will be G. And that includes the word 'gender.' Although it would be a incredibly intelligent thing to do, I don't think McCain will go with a female running candidate. I predict another old white man. So Obama's main task will to make sure to bring Hillary's followers into the fold. They're not going to vote for McCain, but Obama has to make sure they don't stay home in November.

Well, enough of my rambling. I'll just use one more G-word.

Good-bye!

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To those who don't listen to country music (my own taste is eclectic, I listen to darn near everything from John Cage to Johnny Cash), there is a song by Bill Engvall called "Here's Your Sign". Let me give you a sample of this:

I just hate stupid people.
They should have to wear signs that just say I'm stupid.
That way you wouldn't rely on them, would you?
You wouldn't ask them anything. It would be like, "Excuse me...oops,
never mind"
"I didn't see your sign."

It's like before my wife and I moved from Texas to California our house
was full
of boxes and there was a u-Haul truck in our driveway.
My friend comes over and says, "Hey, You moving?"

"Nope."

"We just pack our stuff up once or twice a week. Just to see how many
boxes it takes."

"Here's your sign."

For some reason, I don't know why, I was thinking about this song when reading about the Denver protestors who attacked a FOX news crew. I'm really hoping that whoever was doing this was trying to impress someone and wound up getting laid. I really do. Because otherwise, all you did was give the FOX people credence in their claim that only they provide fair and balanced coverage, and that the left is made up of anti-civil libertarians. Seriously, it's boneheaded moves like that, along with comments by Nancy Pelosi about making sure the American Public gets the correct truth, that make one think that it's not the Republican Party that's a threat to the 1st Amendment, it's my fellow progressives.

So to the Speaker of the House, and the protestors in Denver...Here's Your Sign.

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Does anybody ever wonder if people are in cahoots? People who shouldn't have any connection whatsoever, and yet the action of one ends up benefitting both?

I was thinking of Madonna's recent concert appearance, where she flashes a series of pictures of Hitler, Mugabe and then McCain. In another series of pictures, she shows Lennon, Gore, Gandhi and Obama. Of course, the controversy was good publicity for her. And the McCain campaign got to cash in on Obama's supposed 'celebrity' status. It's time like this that if you indulged your paranoia enough, a conspiracy theory would almost make sense. Almost.

Of course, I find it easier to believe (to paraphrase Mark Twain) that one should never attribute to evil intentions what can be as easily explained by vanity and stupidity.
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OK, for those of you who stop by to wonder where my psuedo-political rantings will take me today, this is not a post for you. I'm taking a little time off to reflect on things in personal life, both on and off WDC

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If you haven't noticed, my briefcase is now a very comely yellow! I think I'll be having a contest celebrating that and my upcoming birthday soon, but I've just been too tired today and busy today to work on it. Maybe tomorrow!

Anyway, tons of people to thank, starting with my Rising Star sponsor stacylynn71. As I said, tons of people, and you know who you are, and that each of you has a special place in my heart!

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My Aunt Judy used to say, "Always marry an ugly man. That way, if he leaves you, you'll actually feel relieved."

Now, I do happen to be married to an ugly man. I don't mean ugly as in "The Hills Have Eyes 2" ugly. I mean, ugly as in, well, he's big, and mean and scary looking, and possibly uses pepper spray as breath freshener, so don't even bother pulling it out. He has that Laurence Fishburn rumble of a voice, but actually half an octave deeper. I love his hands, but they are huge, and I suppose if I were a man my husband were angry at, I wouldn't want to find myself in them.

But he's the sweetest huggly wuggly bear in the world. And if you have an elderly aunt that everyone avoids at family gatherings because they know they're going to get cornered for the next two hours unless they can come up with a lame excuse to duck out, he's the one who will patiently listen to her ramble on until you come over and rescue him.

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I'm looking forward to moving to our country home in a couple of years. The design is coming along well, and we may have built in neighbors/family. My Mom and Dad are committed now to building an apartment over our eventual garage. It'll be great having them there, and yet having my own space. And, of course, having grandparents when I start doing the motherhood thing in a few years!

One of my sisters has expressed interest in buying a 'lot' on our property. That would be really great. It depends on whether her husband and her can do their work by telecommuting!

I've been doing research on alternative energy sources, and I'll be writing something on them shortly.

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I won second place in the first round of the "Invalid Item"  with my story "A Caliber By Any Other Name" . I find I like entering contests, in that sometimes it's just the kernel of a spark to get a story going. I remember the first contest I won a place in. Up until that point, I was thinking I'm never going to win anything! I must admit, it's a good feeling, like making preferred author.

I guess now I really need to think about getting published, including doing the things to my work to make it publishable. I'm looking at magazines to submit to. And from there, we'll see!

Gawd, I hope that doesn't sound too conceited. I think, though, a few of my stories, once they've been worked over a few times, just might be publishable. Well, we'll see!

In any event, it's still fun to write, to have other people read my writings (and read theirs), make friends, and...well, just have fun!

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Well, I finally saw Dark Knight. Heath Ledger certainly didn't disappoint. It was actually a bit disconcerting seeing him in the holding pen. He looked so...small, considering how menacing he was before and after that scene. You know what habit he had in the movie that I really found...disturbing. The way he was always licking his lips. It was just all those little mannerisms put together that made him so diabolical.

One of the previews before the movies was for "The Watchmen" movie. I've heard so many people, both on and off WDC, talk about the graphic novel that the movie is based on, that I'm going to have to get it and read it.

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I miss playing board games.

When I was growing up, we always played board games. When I get to be a teenager, the games got a little bit more complicated. The two games we played most were a monolopy style game called "Rail Baron" and a historical game called "Kingmaker."

Rail Baron is sort of like Monolopy, except you buy railroads instead of properties, and you try to be the first to get to a target sum while at the same time trying to shut your opponents out of target markets.

The second game is based on the War of the Roses, the dynamic civil war between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

If it sounds like we had an odd family, I don't think so. We did a lot of things (and still do) as a family, and my parents have always had a passion for politics, history and reading, which they passed down to all their children. It would be really cool if we all lived together close enough to get together and do things like that, and take vacations together, have giant Christmases together.

That's my idea of heaven

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OK, I've rambled long enough. I'll get back to the political beat tomorrow!

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I found out recently that I was a real slut at one of my past work places.

Mind you, this came as a bit of a shock to me, inasmuch as before my husband, I had only had two sexual partners, and my experience with both of them was extremely limited.

Yet rumor had it that I had more than a few encounters with several of my male co-workers (and one female co-worker), including one in large supply closet at work, which may or may not have involved two or three male workers.

I hope I enjoyed myself.

This information had been conveyed to me by another female co-worker who had quit the same place. It was fairly funny, and we were both fairly sure which low-level (and low life) supervisor the original rumors could be traced to.

I remember being asked out on a lot of dates when I worked there, but I never went out with anyone except in a group outing. As the saying goes, you don't dip your pen in the company ink.

I relay this bit of infomation in response to the Obama campaign's 41 page point-by-point rebuttal to Jerome Corsi's Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. With all due respect to the Obama campaign, they're giving Mr. Corsi's authorship more recognition that it deserves.

Yes, I know everyone is scared of Senator Obama being swift-boated like Senator Kerry was in 2004. But there are a lot of differences here.

Corsi isn't advancing any new accusations. Everything in his book has been circulating on the web since Senator Obama announced his desire to seek the nomination of the Democratic Party. Anyone who believes it was looking for something negative to latch on in the first place. Trust me, the world wide web rumor mill has already saturated the electorate. Corsi's book is merely the abridged version of the internet gossip.

The present response is a bit of an overkill and frankly is just giving Corsi's book free advertisement. Just, the book is offensive. But it's the unfortunate consequence of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution that if one idiot can find another idiot to publish his book, then he can flood bookstores with his book in hope that others will buy it.

The best thing the Obama campaign can do is shrug their shoulders and discuss the issues that Americans want to hear about, such as the academy. Corsi already has a built-in audience that wasn't going to vote for Obama in the first place. No need in trying to expand that base for them.

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I was going to write on the speculation that John McCain is considering Tom Ridge as a running mate because he already has a great consolation speech written, but I'll save that for another day. Instead, I'm going to do the "Controversial Survey" that has been floating around and that I picked up my friend chicochica 's blog (Happy birthday, Lisa!)

1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and repost as The Controversial Survey?

Guess I do since I'm posting it here in my blog. Kind of a silly question, though. I suppose this is suppose to be the electronic equivalent of "bet you don't have the guts to do this", but to paraphrase James Bond's 'M', the nice thing about not having balls is that you don't have to go around thinking with them all the time.

2. Would you do meth if it was legalized?

Of course not. Legal does not equate with moral, and the use of meth is an immoral decision. It is a definite negative influence on this nation's social, political and economic fiber.

3. Abortion: for or against?

Mostly against. The overwhelming majority of abortions in the United States are post-conception birth control. I am all for a woman's reproductive rights, but that includes taking responsibility for your actions. With modern technology, there's no reason a woman can't enjoy a healthy sexual lifestyle if she takes a few necessary precautions. Now, I know people are always throwing out "What about rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life?" These actually represent a very, very miniscule percentage of all abortions performed in this country.

As to the mother's life being in danger, of course, the mother's life comes first. As to the other two...well, my feelings are intellectual. I can say that the child hasn't done anything wrong, so why should it be punished by having its life ended early, but I haven't been in that situation myself, so I don't know what my gut reaction would be if I were pregnant because I had been raped. So show my answer as undediced on that point for now.

Now, having made my pitch about reproductive responsibility, I believe it is the responsibilty of this country to teach its youth about birth control, and not just,, "An abstinent lifestyle is the best lifestyle." That's well and good, but we know...WE KNOW...that this teaching isn't anywhere near 100% effective. Seriously, if a girl under 18 can get an abortion without telling her parents, why can't she get a contraceptive? And isn't the use of a contraceptive morally and physically superior to getting an abortion?

And if we teach our boys that condoms are a morally responsible choice that they should choose, won't we get boys who make the morally responsible choice as men?

Perhaps that's being overly simplistic and inclusive, but that's how I feel.

4. Would our country fall with a woman president?

Depends on the woman, just as it depends on the man. I don't know if a woman would necessarily be more attuned to domestic issues, anymore than a man would be better adapted at dealing with foreign and security issues. I think it depends on the person, not the gender.

5. Do you believe in the death penalty?

Intellectually, no. Even in the days of "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", Jewish scholars believed that the use of the death penalty once every seven years was still too bloody a policy. Emotionally, however---

Emotionally, I know if someone I know and loved was murdered, or a child I held dear was molested, that I would want my pound of flesh from near the heart. I would like to think that my better self, that side which aspired to heaven and the angels, would still be satisfied with life imprisonment, but not having suffered that emotional turmoil, I won't be a hypocrite and say that I would be against the death penalty in any situation.

I suppose that if I were a Croation or a Bosnian, I'd want Radovan Karadzic swinging from a rope. And I know the Kurds shed no tears when Saddam Hussien was hung. So again, I can't say I'm 100% against the death penalty, only that I hope I'm a decent enough human being to be against it when it counts.

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OK, I know I have more survey questions to answer, but I need to get ready to go running with my friend Darla (we've both started running again, and since we both have a miniature gait, we're perfect running partners). So I promise to revisit and continue the controversial survey at a later date!

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I tend to be circumspect when discussing the specifics of any faith. The primary reason is that if I have a friend or friends who are adherents to that faith, I don't want to inadvertently offend that friend (or friends). Of course, I also make clear that my politeness is not an invitation to proselythization, so it all works out.

So it with a certain amount of angst that I discuss a movie and a book.

The movie is "September Dawn", which a friend of mine loaned me. The movie is set in territorial Utah in 1857 and, as I understand it, the facts of the historical event presented in the movie are disputed by the Church of Latter-Day Saints. I have to say that it does present an unflattering picture of the Mormon church at that time.

I will say this about my LDS friends, though. They might find the movie offensive. They might even bring economic pressure against Black Diamond Pictures and anybody who wanted to hire Christopher Cain to direct a movie, but they wouldn't blow up a store that sold or rented "September Dawn."

This brings me to my next topic, "The Jewel of Medina". If you haven't read this book yet, there's a reason. Random House, its publisher, has put the book on indefinite hold. The reason stated: "the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." This last was a quote from Thomas Perry, a deputy publisher at Random House.

You know what? %$#& the small radical segment. Seriously. This is not Saudi Arabia, where immigrant workers are executed for Christian proselytizing and young girls are forced to burn to death because the religious police forced them back into a burning school for being improperly dressed. This is the United States where you have the right to say what you want and I have the right not to listen to it.

Now, if this book were being funded by the government, I would have a problem. The government has no more right to subsidize such a project than they would to subsidize an art exhibition which included a crucifix submerged in urine. If the private sector wants to spend its money to back either of these projects, more power to them. And I have the right not to spend of dime of my money, either through direct purchase or taxation, to support either of them.

For those who say, "If we do this, the terrorists win," I respond, "When we let them dictate what we say, what we read, they've already won. It just needs to be formalized."

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