This man wants to be our president

If this is what you do when you're "dating" do we really want to "marry" this guy? Is Rick Perry serious about running for President? Or does he have a medical problem? Or a drinking one?

Dying from all the cute. Baby duck feeding koi

Santorum needs a new hobby

He spends waaaayyy too much time thinking about and talking about sex and when people should have it and where and so on. This conversation with Bradlee Dean seems to go beyond homosexual activities and to what heterosexuals should(n't) be doing as well.

Then again, he's talked about contraception recently, so maybe he really does want some sort of task force making sure everyone does "it" right.

Talk about smaller government. Just small enough to fit in my (and your) bedroom.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/90482/rick-santorum-talks-opposition-to-same-sex-marriage-rights-on-bradlee-deans-radio-show/comment-page-1#comment-158685

Remember when Republicans labeled Democrats as "traitors" Well, now they are, maybe

There's a reason I'm not enamored of either political party. The vitriol with which Republicans are attacking Obama is as unpatriotic as much of what was said about Bush.

And, I really don't "get" why Republicans insist that we be in Iraq and spend more and more billions when we can't figure out how to educate our children, fund health care for the poor, build bridges and so on.

I can't be a Republican anymore. And I'm surely not a Democrat. I like and despise things said by pundits on both sides of the aisle. I've rarely read anything by Republican Joe Scarborough that I don't like. His take on attitudes re: the war in Iraq ending are interesting. I remember when my last president was attacked by opponents (or should I say the way he was attacked. I didn't like being in Iraq from day one, but the vitriol then and now does no party - or the country - any good).

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66740.html

Music shaping the brain.

Wow. Music is amazing. I find it can enhance the mood I'm in, take me back to a time and place I haven't seen in years, express how I'm feeling, help me to not be distracted by annoying "noises."

There are so many ways music has shaped my life over the years. I just have to say "Delta Dawn" or "Tie me kangaroo down sport" or "oh Lord it's hard to be humble" and I'm a kid again listening to my mom sing. There are songs that make my heart leap ("Clocks" by Coldplay) and classical music that takes me to some ethereal plain (Brandenberg's Third Concerto), there are songs that make me cry ("Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" makes me remember my brother who, although he's no longer with us, didn't die in a car accident), and songs that make me laugh out loud ("Hell of It" by Paul Williams check it out right now!)

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/how_music_warps_our_minds/

"Illegals" dehumanizing humans

The writer makes some really interesting points in this piece on dehumanizing not everyone who commits an illegal act, but a certain segment of society that may (or may not) have committed an illegal act.

But we don't want to offend captains of industry or parents who need (want?) a nanny, so we demonize the people who fill a need (whether they were born here or are here legally or not). We demonize brown people and gay people and single mothers and any group behaving in a way we don't like (though how a gay person paying taxes or a brown person carrying for a young shild are behaving in ways we don't like is beyond me.

Oh well. As long as we have someone to despise I guess we can feel better about ourselves.

Really?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/24/mitt-romney-rick-perry-herman-cain-why-the-gop-demonizes-illegals.html

Well Shoot. I haven't seen Rick Perry's birth certificate. Maybe he's not really an American either.

I haven't seen Romney's either. Or Bachmann's. Hmm. What are they hiding? And why?

Very mysterious.

Or maybe not.

http://www.mediaite.com/print/rick-perry-tells-parade-mag-i-don%E2%80%99t-have-any-idea-if-president-obamas-birth-certificate-is-real/

Christian oppression. They only way to avoid it is to be oppressed. I guess.

No idea the source of this cartoon. Found it on Joe My God. http://joemygod.blogspot.com/. Makes a pretty interesting argument I think. Why is it that those of us who view the Bible differently (or not at all) must make our lives fit into Christian lives (or at least one brand of it, there are Christian denominations that are in favor of same sex marriage) but they won't leave us to live our own lives. No one is forcing a Christian who doesn't want to, to marry a gay person. But Christians who aren't married to gay people (or pregnant or whatever) want to control what others do because somehow my having freedom means that they don't. Weird.

 

Why is society moved by stuff like this but still wants to vote?

How can we, in one case look at a couple who have been together for 70 years and be moved to tears by the love and joy two people have found with one another and in another breath say to another couple that they can't be together. That hospitals ought to be able to keep them apart. That they can be separated when they're dying.

Shame on us.

And great joy and, in the end, peace, to this couple. http://abcnews.go.com/US/iowa-couple-married-72-years-dies-holding-hands/story?id=14771029

Orly Taitz still needs a hobby

Social Security changed their number rules a while back. Obama has produced more evidence of his birth than any other non-brown president (i.e. the rest of them). Give it a break. If you don't like Obama, vote for the opposition. But, enough people voted for him that he is our president. And whether he's my party or not, he deserves at least a modicum of respect. Hate his policies if you must. Write letters against them. Fund the opposition.

But stop wasting the courts time. That, by definition, wastes my money. I'm a taxpayer.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/20/40802.htm

Rick Santorum must hate women and gay people (many of whom are women)

What kind of America does Rick Santorum want? No funding for contraception? Sex only for procreation? Really? Do we all have to live in his little religious world? He sure as hell doesn't want to live in mine? Either give gays and women equal rights or give gays and women lower tax rates.

Oh, and by the way "google" or "bing" or "yahoo" Santorum. It's fun.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/rick-santorum-contraception-gay-marriage_n_1020679.html

Santorum the bigot just keeps going and going.

Really? His idea is to pit one group of Americans against another? In order to ensure that his version of family wins? Bigot.

Why do Catholics insist on imposing their beliefs on others.

Look. If the Catholic Church doesn't want to marry gay people or ugly people, or people with curly hair or blue eyes or whatever, that's their business. They have religious freedom in this country.

But when the hell did they decide that they get to impose their belief on non-Catholics? How would they feel if Muslims were trying to impose their beliefs on them? Oh, wait. I can guess. Our country's gone all goooggly over some supposed "threat" of Shariah (sp?). So, we know how a lot of Christians would feel about having anothers' beliefs imposed on them.

Why is the Catholic church trying to impose their beliefs on me? I'm not Catholic. I pay taxes. I don't want the Catholic church running the public square.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/89988/archdiocese-plans-anti-gay-marriage-committees-in-every-minnesota-catholic-church

IRS and Congress now part of "Private Sector"

Who knew? I thought the private sector was non-government jobs. Um. It is. Someone let Michele Bachmann know:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/10/11/341336/bachmann-claims-she-spent-her-entire-life-in-the-private-sector-minutes-after-boasting-shes-an-irs-lawyer/

Rick Santorum is a bigot

You know what Mr. Santorum? You are a bigot. You may not be able to, but all the gay people I know can shower without thinking about sex. Also you bigoted idiot, women are gay, too. Women are sexually assaulted all the time by their male colleagues in the military - and they don't shower together.

You are a hateful bigot.

"'They're in close quarters, they live with people, they obviously shower with people,' he said."
"Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the former Pennsylvania senator used the image of gay men showering with straight men in the military to explain his support for DADT."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047310/Santorum-attempts-explain-support-DADT-image-men-military-showering-together.html#ixzz1aNVO6yRA

Quick! Google Santorum

http://spreadingsantorum.com/

hee hee hee

Romney not a Christian. Who cares? Busy bodies.

Last time I checked there was nothing in the Constitution about the president having any sort of religion or going to religious services some set number of times in a year.

No matter the religion of the president (or lack of religion or life philosophy or whatever) he or she is going to be the president of all Americans. Not just born again Christians or Hassidic Jews or Wiccans or worshippers of the Goddess. Also, not just president of the people who voted for him or her. Not just president of married people or old people or toddlers or white people or striped people.

But all of us. Including folks who majored in history in college, folks who didn't go to college, doctors, lawyers, farmers, factory workers, gay people, straight people, people who don't know what they are, attractive people, not as attractive people, and so on.

To use Romney's religion against him is as un-American as anything I can think of.

If you don't like his policies (I don't) use those against him.

If you don't like his haircut or the style of suit that he wears or whatever, that should be out of bounds. Those things are personal choices. Romney's a Mormon. SO WHAT!!

Anti-equality cause is so righteous they hide and lie

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/05/minnesota_gay_marriage_finance/

Pathetic liars called out at Salon.com and at the Minnesota Independent. If you must lie to win, your cause isn't really worthwhile. No one is forcing anyone at NOM to marry a gay person. My marriage has no impact on them. I don't get to decide who your life partner is and who inherits your social security benefits (or vice versa), stay away from my decisions. Thank you very much.

Minnesota may end up being the first state to actually defeat a gay marriage ban by popular vote. It’s far from a sure thing, with polls showing a split electorate, but a plurality of voters opposes enshrining a marriage ban in the state constitution. Anti-equality groups — the ones who got the legislature to put the state constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot in the first place — are going to spend a fortune fighting to convince the on-the-fence voters that allowing same-sex couples to get hitched will somehow destroy the very fabric of society. They’ll have to fight Minnesota campaign finance law to do so.

The Minnesota Independent reports that the anti-gay marriage coalition will challenge the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board’s attempt to close donation disclosure loopholes. The National Organization for Marriage, the prominent national anti-equality group that has fought against disclosing donors in every campaign it’s been involved in, claims they’re the victims of “deliberate targeting by the government.” (NOM generally claims to be a victim, all of the time, of everyone.)

Until anti-choice advocates start advocating for the living I don't care what they say.

Really? Ultrasounds on pregnant women during a protest? Where are your protests for healthcare for the already born? Where are your protests for education  for the already born? For fair housing? For fair wages so the parent(s) of the already born can earn a decent living?

No? You're not interested?

Then you're nothing more than holier than thou busy bodies who should mind your own business.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/89288/crisis-pregnancy-clinics-invite-babies-to-lobby-congress-thursday

I thought lying was a sin. Catholic Church apparently disagrees.

If the only way you can win is to lie, maybe you should think about what it is you're trying to win.

Just a thought.

“It’s about preserving an important institution,” said Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. “When you’re talking about marriage and changing the definition of marriage, you’re not creating a separate institution called same-sex marriage. You’re in fact redefining marriage for everyone.”

Adkins also suggests that failing to define marriage in the Constitution as a union between one man and one woman could lead to a slippery slope. “There’s little reason why you’d limit it to two people at all,” Adkins said. “What if a bisexual wants a partner of each kind, a man and a woman? Are you leaving that group out?”

http://politicsinminnesota.com/2011/09/anti-gay-marriage-groups-quietly-prep-for-ballot-battle/

If they really wanted to save marriage, maybe they'd work on divorces in their own house and deal with their own sexual predators. But no, they're telling lies about folks like me.

O.k. This is funny. Bill Donohue is an idiot

The Catholic League is demanding that the NFL drop Madonna. Um. Freedom of speech doesn't just count when folks say what you want. Either everyone gets it or you have to shut the fuck up, too.

http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=2242

It is time to stop the Hitler comparisons

I don't know when it started, but I remember President Bush being compared to Hitler. Obama is compared to Hitler on a regular basis as well. Folks who support one side seem to have no qualms about saying that a politician from the other side is being "like" Hitler or is fascist or communist or socialist or all three (and others at the same time). Either hyperbole has gone through the window or we really didn't pay attention in history class. So, here's a primer:

I didn't like President Bush still NOT Hitler-like Hitler-esque or anything close.
Don't care for a lot of what Obama has done. Still, he's not like Hitler.
Neither is Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner.
I loathe, loathe, loathe Rick Santorum and want everyone to Google his name. Doesn't mean he's anything like Hitler.

Neither is Michael Bloomberg or Mark Dayton or Newt ("I got better") Gingrich, or Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann or Harry Reid  or Herman Cain or Van Jones or Mitt Romney or Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or anyone else in our government. They're all people of good will (some may be idiots but probably the folks I think are idiots aren't the same as the folks you think are idiots).

And, whether you're inebriated or not, saying that both sides of the aisle can't work together is ridiculous. Hank Williams Jr. has apologized for the latest gaffe. Any hope it can be the last?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Williams-Jr-apologizes-for-comparing-Obama-to-H?urn=nfl-wp8690

My aunt asked me how I feel about politics. here's a short answer.

It would probably take a week of non-stop talking with no pauses for breaths to explain my feelings on politics.

Here’s the Cliff notes version.

1.       I left the Republican party after my mom died. I used to think if we just “did what we were supposed to” everything would be o.k. and the problem (as I saw it) with the Democrats was they always wanted to mess things up and create more rules. My mom dying shook that belief to the core. I don’t know if you know this – I kind of hope you do as it’s probably a bad way to learn something new – but my mom killed herself. My earliest memory is one of her suicide attempts. I believed as long as I could and as hard as I could that if you just did what you were supposed to bad things wouldn’t happen. Didn’t work. My mom died anyway.

2.       At the same time, I began to see what I’ll call hypocrisy in the Republican party. Small government types who believed in state’s rights and individual responsibility but who – at the exact same time – wanted to deny folks like me rights. I could marry someone named “Bill” tomorrow and have more civil rights than Penni and I will probably have in our lifetimes. Everything from Social Security to inheritance rights and so on. I didn’t really get (and still don’t) how small government equals the oppression of a minority. If I paid a lower tax rate than heterosexuals I might understand lesser rights. But I don’t and I still have them. Individual liberty, fewer regulations and son on coupled with wanting to be in my bedroom (and assuming that’s the only thing gay people think about) bothered me a lot.

3.       For many years I voted third party.

4.       In the mid- to late 2000’s I began to feel like I was throwing my vote away as a protest.

5.       In addition, it seemed to me that the party of small government had become big and bloated and interested in power. Bush took a surplus created by Clinton (never voted for Clinton; don’t regret that decision) and created a deficit. Add that to a bad economy and wars and it just didn’t make sense to me.

6.       I watched as Republican congresses and presidents insisted on unfunded wars and holding power over a woman’s body and using fear of folks like me to get folks to the polls and I was very bothered. I didn’t like the idea that we had to pay and pay and pay to fight unwinnable wars, and control a woman’s body (I have real moral problems with the idea of abortion) but that the same folks screaming about woman carrying their babies to term were also screaming that we were spending too much on education and healthcare and so on. I don’t get how it’s o.k. to have a 10 year (and counting) war that isn’t paid for but that we can’t figure out how to take care of our citizens in what I think is the greatest country on earth.

 Then again, I’m absolutely convinced that the Democrats don’t have the answer either. I don’t think a third party is viable at a national level – though they’ve had some success at the state level. But I can’t vote for a Republican when they spend time talking about the “gay agenda.” My only agenda is getting up in the morning, going to work as long as I’m blessed to have a job, paying my bills, spending time with someone who cares about me, feeding the dogs, playing tennis. All the stuff that the folks screaming about my “agenda” do on a daily basis, too.

Arrested Development back for a 4th season? Dare I hope?

I loved Arrested Development. I own the DVDs. I watch it when I catch it on tv. It's one of the few shows I've found literally "laugh out loud" funny. Loved the Bluths.

More rumors that it may be coming back give me hope. I hope it's not false hope.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/mitchell-hurwitz-promises-an-arrested-development-movie-and-new-tv-episodes/

Stunningly beautiful home in Poway, California

I can't think of anything not to like. The home is stunning. The color (I don't care for beige with accent pillows. I like color on the walls) of the home, the wood, the pool. It's just about perfect.

http://18720oldcoachway.com/home

My spouse and I watched football all day

Wonder how many heterosexual marriages we destroyed with our conduct?

None?

Good.

Rick Perry's hunting camp

I really must have been born and flat-out stayed naive.

I understand there are a ton of questions about who owned the property when and how quickly the racist word on the rock was painted over and whether or not Perry knew the word was there, etc., etc.

I'm mostly just stunned that in the 1980's a word I - at that time when I was a much younger person - had long known was inappropriate and offensive.

I guess I just really don't get the way that "we" (the proverbial "we", not anyone in particular) hang on to our heritage so hard that we don't see racism when it's staring us right in the face.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rick-perry-familys-hunting-camp-still-known-to-many-by-old-racially-charged-name/2011/10/01/gIQAOhY5DL_story.html