oui oui!

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Because Carlyle is so easy to read....

I found this post over at Mimi Smartypants to be quite humorous (bolds mine) -

Check out #2. What did I say? What did I say, oh odd little British Lit professor of my junior year, whose face haunted my dreams from the day I realized that it would look exactly the same upside down? I believe the poem under discussion was "The Kraken," and I believe I freaked out mid-lecture and started Holding Forth (an unfortunate habit at the time), and I believe the phrase I used was "a C+ poem at best." And you looked at me with your upside-down (or right-side-up???!!???) face and we never really trusted each other after that.

Also, my all-consuming Tennyson hatred that semester inspired my boyfriend to regularly climb out onto the roof of his apartment and declaim Alfred's tepid verses to me as I took the "walk of fame" back to my place. That should have been my first clue, but did I listen? No. Reader, I married him.

This is your Governor, Texas

I am so proud to live in a State were the Governor's inaugeration ball is played by a wingnut in a confederate flag shirt.

Using machine guns as props, Nugent appeared onstage as the final act of the
evening wearing a cut-off T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag.

And of course by proud I mean mortified.

Unbeleivable. Afterwards, as the guest, (to their credit) were picking their jaws up off the floor, a Perry Spokesman didn't try to distance the Governor from the controversy.

Perry spokesman Robert Black downplayed the incident, calling Nugent "a
good friend of the governor's.

Where are the Dixie Chicks When you need them?

"Okay, we'll call it a draw"

I love it when Gonzales gets hammered. What a lying little weasel.

Keep your eyes on the purge of U.S. Attorneys . This might be a huge deal very soon. If you haven’t been following this, the administration has been forcing out USA’s that are investigating too close to home.

Josh over at talking points memo is keeping track of this developing scandal.

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare 1.2 Trillion?

What is your pet project?

If Nancy Pelosi called you up and guaranteed funding for whatever you would like the government to do, what would you request?

Universal health care, rebuild New Orleans, fund research on alternative fuels, really address poverty? Whoaaaa we can’t have all that, its way too expensive you say, right? According to this New York Times article, (in the business section, no less), we’ve already spent it on Iraq. Click on the above graphic to bring it into perspective.

This little tidbit should whet your appitite for the whole article:

In the days before the war almost five years ago, the Pentagon estimated that it would cost about $50 billion. Democratic staff members in Congress largely agreed. Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic adviser, was a bit more realistic, predicting that the cost could go as high as $200 billion, but President Bush fired him in part for saying so. These estimates probably would have turned out to be too optimistic even if the war had gone well. Throughout history, people have typically underestimated the cost of war, as William Nordhaus, a Yale economist, has pointed out. But the deteriorating situation in Iraq has caused the initial predictions to be off the mark by a scale that is difficult to fathom. The operation itself — the helicopters,the
tanks, the fuel needed to run them, the combat pay for enlisted troops, the salaries of reservists and contractors, the rebuilding of Iraq — is costing more than $300 million a day, estimates Scott Wallsten, an economist in Washington.

At this point the estimate begins to differ on the long term cost of the war. If you read the side bar, these estimates have risen since they were published. Even the most conservative put it over a trillion dollars. I strongly urge you to read the entire article and its accompanying reports.

We often focus on the human cost of the war, (and rightfully so), but this is a cold slap in the face when you consider who is financing this war; the poor, the sick, the uneducated children. This, my friends is the true face of the Republican Party. We will never be able to afford universal health care, or true educational reforms, or to feed our hungry, but we can give tax cuts to the richest Americans, and all the while throw stomach wrenching amounts of money into the desert sand to appease the narcissistic, masturbatory urges of our dick-wad mass murderer in chief.

When will America wake up?

Marriage Jumps The Shark

According to a report in the New York Times, there are more women in America living without a husband than with one. This should not be surprising considering the varied reasons the report gives for this phenomenon.

What is never mentioned in the article is the specter of gay marriage. How many of those women without husbands are lesbians and would marry their partners if it were legal? I am sure in a few days the fundies will be all over this report, citing it as evidence of America's spiral into wantonness, idolatry, and gun control. I seriously doubt they will worry about the inability of a significant number of Americans to marry the person of their choice.

As for me, I am a firm believer in marriage (for all who desire it). I am single by circumstance, not by choice. I think marriage adds an added level of commitment into a relationship that living together will never cover.

I found the comments section particularly interesting. Mark Klien, MD seems to consider marriage an avenue for housework and sex. He never mentions love, commitment, companionship.

Couldn’t imagine being married again. It’s heaven on earth for older been there, done that single guys who can cook, have the resources to hire cleaning/laundry help and have lots of interests. Sex nowadays is a drug on the market.

I guess it’s a good thing for some woman that he’s not married.

Being A Grown-up Sucks

I spent the weekend with some friends out at their bay house. No TV, and 20 minutes away from town.. We finally shot our New Year’s fireworks, drank beer and ate gumbo. We also played our new game, with hilarious results.

I had hoped that I would come back today focused, and ready to move on. That was not to be the case. I need to find a way to move on, but I am having little luck. I thought the fact that I was the one who ended the relationship would make it easier to accept. Boy was I wrong, wrong, wrong.

Breaking off the relationship was probably the single most grown-up thing I have ever done in my life. It was the right thing to do for the right reasons. Yet, I am miserable. I want to call her. I want to at least leave her a message to re-assure her that I do love her, and I don’t want anyone else. It has taken a supreme act of will to not call.

I haven't gone away

Sorry for no new post in a few days - I'm having issues. (See post #1)

There is quite a disconnect between accepting something intellectually and emotionally.

I did the right thing, but it hurts so bad I can't really function very well.

I'll be back. Soon, I hope.

Truth In Advertising

TPM has a wonderful little story about Rep. Virgil Goode's (R-VA) office being vandalized. The word "Bigot" was neatly stenciled on the glass. The picture is priceless.

Every Little Thing They Did Was Magic

Oh my God!!!!!!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be true!!!!!!!

Anyone else hear anything about this?

Best. Pop Group. EVER.

I still remember the visceral thrill I experienced the first time I heard Roxanne. I was 14 years old, and a very naive virgin, but I just knew the agony and emotions inherent in being in love with a prostitute from listening to Sting's mournful cry..

Rooooooxane!

Excuse me, I need a cigarette and to go clean my armor.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

update - found this on Rolling Stone:

Police reunion rumors

They ask an interesting question. What would you pay to see the police at Madison Square Garden or the Hollywood Bowl?

As much as it takes.

History Repeats Itself .....

I don't have as much time to discuss this as I'd like, but I found this to be an insightful analysis of the Iraq/Vietnam comparison.

A good read indeed.

2006 Leftovers

I spent my New Years Eve alone with a lovely bottle of French wine and possibly the best pizza I have ever created. A perfect balance, (don’t believe the commercials, perfect pizza isn’t about the quantity of the toppings, it’s about the balance) of maple smoked bacon, Italian sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, kalamata olives, red and green peppers, jalapenos and 5 different cheeses. I bring this up, because I fell asleep without wrapping up the half that was leftover. No big deal, just toss the leftovers. It’s time for the post-holiday diet anyway, right? I did, of course throw it out.

I didn’t take the time or effort to calculate the calorie content I threw into the waste bin, but it was significant. Healthy, protein packed, and if a little heavy on saturated fat, still full of vegetables, meats and nutrients. Enough food to sustain a person for a day at least, thrown away because I was too lazy to wrap it up. I’m not saying my half a pizza could have saved a hungry child; even had it been wrapped up, it would have probably made its way to the trash a day or two later. The point is, what an abundance we of even modest means enjoy in this country.

This post was going to be about my New Years resolutions, but truthfully, I don’t really make them and of course, never keep the ones I do make. I decided to make a wish list of resolutions for America in 2007. It isn’t hard to come up with such a list, universal health care, peace, a real energy policy, Christians who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, etc… I could go on and on. Then I saw the pizza, and thought of how truly obscene it is that in the richest country in the world, parents, many of them with two incomes, have to choose between rent and food, or medicine and food. I don’t care if the parents are shiftless, lazy, drug-addicted, or pick whatever wing nut catchphrase is supposed to justify their poverty; this is America, the richest country in the world. No child should ever be hungry in such a wealthy country. A child cannot pick their parents, a child cannot choose to be born into wealth or power, and a child can’t help whatever situation causes the hunger.

So, instead of a list of resolutions, I have a plea. Make 2007 a year to feed a child. I’m sure many of you do already. To you I say, thank you and let’s do more. Find your local food bank and pay them a visit. Hunger is an every day event, it is not relegated to the week the Boy Scouts have a food drive, or major holidays. Talk to the workers at your food bank. Ask them what the needs are, what time of the month the demand is highest. Even a modest commitment can make a difference. Talk to your friends; encourage them to make a commitment. We can’t bring peace to Iraq by ourselves, but we can each feed a child. So as you throw out the remains of last night’s cheese balls, or spinach dip, or whatever party fare you had, take time to think of those who began 2007 with empty bellies.