Investigate this, DOJ!

This kind of torture is perfectly legal in my household. Especially when the subject of said torture kept me awake half the night, scratching. Anyway, I just find it odd that every time I bathe my dog, something about torture becomes a big news story.

Oh well, super busy week ahead! I'm so behind on blogging, email, etc.!

And therein lies your problem: a rant about personal responsibility

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but felt the need to revisit (originally posted 8/5/09):



So, I stumbled out of bed this morningish (okay, it was almost noon) and did what I do every day when I wake up: I turned on my laptop and my TV and began checking my email and the news to see what I missed while I was dreaming of...well, that's not important. Anyway, as is the case more often than not, the Big O was on my TV doing his arrogant "talking down to people" thing (you know - making a speech), and as is the case more often than not when this happens, I posted something on Twitter like, "Good grief. I swear it doesn't matter what time I wake up, Obama is on my TV." You see, if you haven't noticed, I get my kicks out of bitching and complaining about liberals and be it that most of my real life friends are either 1) liberal or 2) don't get into politics like I do, it's a lost cause to do it anywhere else. And being that most of my Twitter followers are politically motivated, I can usually count on some reassurance, words of agreement, and encouragement.

But every once in a while, some Obama voter finds their way to my post and tries to refute what I say. I used to argue back. I'm not one to back down from a good political discussion (unless you're a good friend, I try never to argue with my liberal friends, no matter how much they're asking for it...) but "discussion" is never on the agenda with these people. The reason being, their half of the discussion goes something like this: "Obama is the greatest man ever to walk the face of the earth."

To which I respond, "Really? What has he done to make you think that?"

To which they respond: "Um, duh, hope and change and puppies and butterflies and free gas for everyone!!"

Me: Can you elaborate? Maybe some facts or something?

Them: Um, um, George Bush is bad.

And if it's not the old "Whatever Obama does, Bush did it worse" excuse, it's this (and this really happened during the Michael Jackson funeral):

Me: [random comment on how Sheila Jackson Lee takes the stage to announce how much time and therefore money Congress wasted on honoring a pedophile]

Him: With all due respect, you need to expand your world view just a tad.

Me: What exactly does that mean? What does thinking my tax dollars would be better suited for, I don't know, national security purposes than this BS have to do with expanding my world view?

Him: *crickets chirping"

(Here, I should note that I have made two liberal acquaintances via Twitter, both of whom are usually reasonable in their arguments, don't attack me for my opinions, and seem to be genuinely nice people.)

Anyway, back to the story at hand. Today's liberal-type responded to my "Obama is always on TV" post with a simple "At least he is doing something. Unlike Bush." Oy. I wanted to respond and ask her just what it is he's doing but common sense got the better of me. Instead, I looked at her profile to make sure she wasn't being sarcastic and to see if maybe she was just one of those trolls who goes around looking for sweet, innocent right-wingers like myself to pick on.

Well, it turns out she was not being sarcastic and she was not, from what I could tell, a troll - at least not a habitual one - but she was, however, the epitome of the Obama voter. As a matter of fact, what she posted right before she made her "Bush sucks" comment to me was something like, "Creditor just called. I hate credit cards."

I'm not gonna knock the girl - further inspection showed me that she is having a hard enough time right now that I would never wish on anyone. But what she does or doesn't do with what money she has is none of my business...as long as I'm not supporting her in other ways, and it's not her favorite President's business, no matter what kind of bad luck she's having. But therein lies the problem. I don't know this girl, but I know her type. They go to the polls assuming whomever they vote for is going to change their lives, not allow them room to change their lives for themselves. They fall for the pretty package and empty promises. The people who shout to the media about how Obama is going to pay their rent because after all, it was during the Bush administration that they fell on hard times, and he never offered to pay their rent. Right?

I called them "zombies" during the election and I thought once it was over, things would get back to normal. True, Obama's poll numbers are slipping, but there are still people out there who think this way and it makes me insane! I have NEVER voted for someone because I thought they'd provide me with an easy life! Not even Sarah Palin, whom, as you all know, I would give my first born to have lead me in some capacity. I don't want someone to give me a free ride! I want to earn my own living and pave my own way. It's never even crossed my mind to want that. I've gone through hard times, financially, and have found myself in some very tough spots. How did I deal with it? I got creative, I worked hard, and I busted my ass. I did without some luxuries and I made it work. Yeah, every once in a while, something happens that can't be helped, and I understand that not everyone can always help themselves. But 99.9% of the people I've encountered, who voted for that hope and change, will sit around and whine about their circumstances and not get the irony when they're using their brand new Mac Notelapbookpad 320Gi or iPhone or whatever to do the whining. I have ZERO patience for people who whine about their circumstances. (I also have zero tolerance for people who don't understand irony but that's a rant for another day.)

For what it's worth, I go to the polls to vote for someone who believes in the principles on which this country was founded and plans to see to it that they are properly executed. I go to the polls to vote for someone who promises to protect me, not from myself, but from those whom I do not stand a chance against as a lone person, those who want to take away my rights to life and liberty that are, as we seem to forget lately, provided in the Constitution. I go to the polls to vote for someone who I think will help my fellow Americans as we determine we need help, as it's not for the person I voted for to decide what I need. I go to the polls to vote for someone who has the same values and ideas as I do. I vote for someone who believes in freedom, be it a free market or that I'm free to screw up my life in any manner I see fit, as long as I'm not taking that right away from someone else. I vote for someone who has an honest record, no matter how big or small it is. I vote for someone who got into politics to create change, not to pad their resumes or see their picture in a history book. I vote for someone who got into politics because they genuinely love this country and its people, someone who is ALWAYS proud to live here, recognizes why we are the greatest nation on earth, and someone who will stand up for the United States of America, without apology, no matter what country they're in or what audience they speak to.

Personal responsibility. Let's give it a go!

Quote of the Day

"Well, I aint often right but I've never been wrong
Seldom turns out the way it does in a song
Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right"
- Grateful Dead - "Scarlet Begonias"

I love me some Grateful Dead and as I think I've posted before, that's my favorite song they do. I'm actually listening to a Jimmy Buffett cover it right now. Anyway, just felt like posting that. It's a gorgeous weekend in Atlanta, a little fallish outside. I actually turned the AC off and opened the doors and windows! A little humid, still, but a nice little breeze blowing through the house! Alright, back to a million other things I have to do!

Cycles

Quote of the Day: "Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice." - Fleetwood Mac

Forget guns and religion, I don't think I'll ever spend another August not bitterly clinging to my Fleetwood Mac "The Dance" DVD. Well, maybe not "bitterly" but it is my comfort music. I've come to the conclusion that every August, from now on, my life will be running along smoothly, maybe even better than normal, and something will happen to jerk it all out from under me. At one point on the DVD, before he sings "Big Love" (which happens to be one of my favorite songs from that concert), Lindsey Buckingham starts talking about cycles. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, not sure how much I'll get to update this weekend. There's been a death in the family and I've got a lot of other stuff to do, but I'll see if I can't get something up. I'm thinking my top ten list of women who make me die a little inside since a few of them have been coming up in my everyday conversations over the last week.

Books, Sleeping and Dogs (In other words, rambling.)

Quote of the Day: "A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end." - William Styron

I decided to lay low this weekend and not spend so much time online. I did get sucked in by the Atlanta Humane Society's website on Saturday, though, and more or less decided I am going to get another dog. Some friends and acquaintances assured me Gabby would be able to live with a new addition to the family. I think they're right and I even had someone offer to take the little guy or girl off my hands if she wasn't okay with it within six weeks. Now, I just have to figure out when. I'm more than likely going to be out of town a lot in September and October, so I may wait until after my traveling dies down a bit. Though I have to admit, I fell in love with pictures of the little boy you see to your right and came really close to running up there and snatching him up today. But if anyone's interested, he and his siblings are at the Atlanta Humane Society for a mere $150!

So speaking of dogs, a lot of you, either here in the comment section or on Twitter, gave me your thoughts on Dean Koontz and/or the book I just finished reading, The Darkest Evening of the Year. I finally finished the book this weekend and here are my thoughts: it wasn't as bad as everyone was trying to tell me it would be. I didn't care for the ending too much, it seemed to wrap up way too neatly in the last few pages, and SPOILER ALERT there was a point in the book (that had to do with putting a lifelong pet to sleep) that left me doing some major crying. I was already in a pretty sad mood when I read that part, but as I've said a million times: tell me a story about a dog or some member of the military and I can't control myself. Also, when I read, I prefer mystery to the supernatural and this had both, but the supernatural was subtle enough that it wasn't completely outlandish. Anyway, the book was a good, fun quick read and I would check out more of Koontz's stuff if I ever get past the huge stack of stuff I've already got to catch up on. Next I'm reading J. T. Ellison's "14."

Something else I tried to do this weekend was fix my sleeping habits. I've gotten in a bad habit of staying up well past, oh, 6:00 AM, and then sleeping until 2:00 or 3:00 PM. Part of that was due to catching up on work last week. Truth be told, I'm very much a night person. I don't mind staying up all night but it's getting a little old. That said, last night, I attempted to go to bed at 1:00 AM, only to wake up at 1:30 AM to what sounded like ten dogs barking, only to realize Gabby was sound asleep and I must have been dreaming. I think it was the book. I didn't go back to sleep until about 7:30 AM. Ugh.

So, that's really all I have to say. I've felt like crap for a few days. I think I have the swine flu. That or the pain from my two infected ears is so great that I barely open my mouth to eat something. Actually, I just looked at my blog from this time, last year, and realized it was my last night in my old house. I was just talking to a friend and she said this time of year always sucks for her. I'm beginning to think that she's not the only one!

Oh, and I feel kind of out of the loop on politics, lately, but aside from some rowdy town hall meetings, I don't think there's been a lot to care about. I did break down Sarah Palin's "death panel" argument here: Sarah Palin vs. Nationalized Health Care.

Meteor Showers are for Losers Anyway

Quote of the Day: "A George divided against itself cannot stand." - George Costanza

I'll just put it out there: today has been crappy on levels of crappyness I didn't know existed. Actually, the whole last week or so has been and I don't suspect it to get much better until after the next few days, maybe the weekend. There hasn't been any one particular incident. Just one big series of small crappy things that add up to one pile of crap. Got it?

So, when I found there'd be a meteor shower tonight, the little geek that resides inside of me got excited. What can I say? I get a kick out of astronomical phenomenon. (And admittedly, I know I like to boast that I don't have a romantic, girly bone in my body, but whatever, the stupid sky and its stupid stars and meteors and whatever else there is up there, sometimes bring out those feelings.) So, when I read about this meteor shower this afternoon, I perked up a bit. Aside from seeing what I am still convinced was a peacock in my yard today, I haven't had a lot to be excited about.

Even though I'd planned to get caught up on work all night, I decided I could set aside fifteen or twenty minutes to step outside and enjoy the thing. Sure, there's absolutely nothing "romantic" about sitting outside in 90 degree weather, alone with your dog, staring at the sky, but it could be kind of peaceful and relaxing, why not take advantage? Around midnight, I grabbed a chair and set out for my front porch. Unfortunately, I forgot about the whole "living in the woods" thing and realized the trees were gonna block my view. But that was only a small deterrent. Luckily, there's a little airplane runway behind my house and it cuts a little treeless path straight through the woods.

I decided to lug the chair down all the steps that lead to the runway and braved the dark and the amphibians (seriously, it's like a frog night club down there when the sun goes down). The dog, my only protection from said dark and amphibians, was startled by some dogs barking in the distance and quickly made her way back towards the house, leaving me alone. But I didn't care. I was going to see some meteors, dammit.

Once I was finally settled, I looked up and realized, there was not a star in the sky, much less any meteors. It was then that I remembered that whole "isolated thunderstorms" forecast I'd read about earlier. I sat outside for a little while, hoping for a break in the clouds, but no such luck. The only things I got from the experience were a bunch of mosquito bites and wave of nausea from sitting out in the heat after eating a little too much pizza.

I just wanted to see a freaking meteor shower. I'd settle for a freaking meteor or two and no shower at all! Is that too much to ask?

---------------------------------------
P.S. QOTD has little to do with this post. I've been on a "Seinfeld" kick lately, so I figured I'd round the whole exaggerated self-loathing thing out with a George Costanza quote. He has got to be one of the best written characters in TV history, no?

Book List 2009

Remember my goal to read at least 50 books this year? Well, I'm not going to be able to read that many. I'll be lucky to get in ten before the end of what has been a pretty crappy year. But at least most of what I have read has been pretty good and with any luck, next year, I'll try it again. But with about five or six weeks left to go, here's what I've done so far (and what I'm working on):

1. Life's a Beach by Claire Cook - cute, light read which I plan to do a lot of, this year, to counter said text books. And yes, technically I started it in 2008, but I read more than half in 2009, so it doesn't count.

2. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell - I hated Cornwell's last book because of what she did with my favorite character, Marino. Not only did she redeem herself by making Marino even more likable in this book (without him losing his edge), she made Benton and Lucy a little more human-like as I've never really been able to connect with their characters. All in all, it was a pretty good book. I thought the plot was pretty predictable but with this series, I've come to read it because the characters are like old friends, not hoping for a big mystery to figure out.

3. The Ten Best Days of My Life by Adena Halpern - It was kind of silly but cute and light until she had to throw in some random line about abortion. Before anyone jumps on me about being uptight and close-minded, that's not it. I don't like reading/watching stuff where people think abortion is just some normal, okay choice, but I would never stop reading/watching something because of that. Seriously, it had nothing to do with the story at hand, it was as if the author was making a point and when I'm reading fiction that is already borderline too light and fluffy to begin with, I don't want to know the author's political and social views. I don't know - it sort of went from light, fluffy reading to a Maureen Dowd column, anyway. Not cool. So, this one didn't get finished.

4. All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison - I started this book back in the spring and that's when all hell broke lose, so reading for pleasure was a lost cause. But I started over and just read the entire thing a couple of weeks ago. I LOVED it! The main character - Taylor Jackson - is my new hero. She's the girl I long to be! And as someone who is far into law enforcement for her own good (that's not a hot cop joke), I really appreciated some of the attention to detail, there. I've actually ordered her second book and am anxiously awaiting for it to arrive.

5. The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz - I didn't buy this book, myself. It was stuck in a bucket of stuff I got from someone else and so I just stuck it on my bookshelf, figuring one day I might get around to it. It's a dog story and well, we all know how much I like dogs. Well, when I found myself between Ellison's books and nothing else in my stack of "to read" appealed to me, I decided to give it a shot. I'm about half finished - it has been a very quick, easy read. At first, I really liked it, but it's starting to get a little silly. It's my first time reading Koontz and despite a lot of warnings that he's just some sort of Stephen King wannabe, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I'll finish it and report back!

6. 14 by J.T. Ellison - As I mentioned above, J.T. Ellison is now one of my favorite my authors. I didn't like this book as much as I did the first one (or the third for that matter) and that's mainly because there were so many characters involved that I started lose track as I read it over a period of time. But either way, it was still a great book with a great lead character.

7. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner - Wiener's book Good In Bed is one of my all-time favorites and I also liked a few others by her. But when Goodnight Nobody came out (and I started reading Weiner's blog) I kicked the author to the curb. But this book is the sequel to Good in Bed so I had to read it. It's not nearly as good as I wanted it to be but it wasn't as bad as I'd been told it was. Figure that one out! I actually hating the ending and the way the book just sort of wrapped up as though there had never been any problems at all. I actually had lots of problems with the ending but I don't want to give away any spoilers!

8. Charm City by Laura Lippman - As I've mentioned, I love Lippman's stand alone books but didn't love the first book in her Tess Monoghan series. This is the second book in that series and while I still don't love it, I think I might keep going. The plot in this one wasn't all that exciting but I was definitely shocked in the end. And some of the plots further along the series look really interesting, so I'll definitely stick with it. As for Tess, she and I have a love-hate relationship. On one hand, I can totally relate to her, on the other, she does some things tha just don't seem realistic. We'll see how this goes.

Just finishing up Ellison's third book, Judas Kiss and got Sarah Palin's Going Rogue and Laurie Notaro's The Idiot Girl's Christmas in the mail from Amazon. I'll be lucky to get through those by year end!

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: My goal in life is to make some tiny headway toward lifting from Southerners some tiny bit of the burden of having to prove [to Northerners] that we are being tongue-in-cheek." -Roy Blount, Jr.

Found this and liked it.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

While people like my friend Pat are celebrating the one year anniversary of their blogs (and what a year it has been for her and her blog), people like me have something else to celebrate!

It was one year ago today (well, technically it was the 7th, but it was on a Thursday b/c I specifcally remember that on Friday I got to go to a hostage negotiation class! woohoo!) that I ran over myself... I still remember the day pretty vividly because I had a lot going on at that time and thinking back, little did I know, that day would be the start to a LONG few days, weeks, and months ahead. I guess everything happens for a reason, though.

That said, I have managed not to injure myself anymore since then unless you count breaking my toe before the 4/15 Tea Party...involving a similar incident with me and my car. And that, to me, is reason to celebrate!

No one probably cares about any of this, but it's exciting to me! I promise this weekend I will write something more substantial. I'm still planning my posts about Palin, the Falcons, and now I'm fired up like any good member of an angry mob should be, so maybe something on that!


Anyway - song of the day "Big Love" - Fleetwood Mac... just like old times! I'm totally gonna have to watch "The Dance" DVD tonight while I work.




P.S. I've had a lot of new commenters and emails in the last week or so and you guys are all so nice! Thank you so much; it really means a lot! I've been so busy this week but I hope to get around to responding this weekend at the latest!

You can't spell "Sugar" without "UGA"...

Once again, I'm a little swamped tonight but I couldn't pass this up! The "Junkyard Blawg" at the AJC is working its way up to "101 Reasons to be a UGA Fan." Check it out - some of it's funny, some of it's just downright nostalgic. Much of it has me contemplating whether or not the phrase "28 year old UGA student" sounds as ridiculous as I think it does. No, really.

My favorite so far is probably #40: A crisp fall day in Athens — as close to heaven on earth as you can get. *SIGH* Anyway, check out parts 1-3 here:

101 Reasons to Be a UGA Fan The Junkyard Blawg

101 Reasons to Be a UGA Fan, Part 2 The Junkyard Blawg

101 Reasons to Be a UGA Fan, Part 3 The Junkyard Blawg

Michelle Malkin Visits "The View"

This is what happens when an intelligent woman takes on three women with the mentality of four year olds (apologies to many of the four year olds I know). Watch and learn.

P.S. I accidentally deleted my "pet dilemma" post when I was trying to edit it.

Also, coming soon: posts about Tom Glavine, Football & Michael Vick, and why Sarah Palin is not a cult. Have all three started, just haven't had time to finish! By the weekend, hopefully!