Indigo Insights |
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Musings of the Chronologically Challenged™ Fourth Generation 
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Thursday, July 29, 2004
GUEST BLOGGER & A FISK No, the computer malfunctions here at the Blue House are not yet fixed. But I received this email from my grandson and want to give him my blog space. JD is the father of my only great granddaughter and a fine young man, if I do say so myself!!! (Not too proud to brag!) This could be history-making in the Blogosphere in that a grandmother Fisks her grandson. -- Indigo From: J.D. Manning To: B. Manning Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 10:21 AM Subject: Democrats Did you happen to see the start of the Dem Convention last night? NO. Nor the second night. You report to me, ok? I've decided all that lying and B.S. would not be good for my blood pressure. And just for the record, I don't plan to watch the Repub convention for their brand of lies and B.S. either. It is like these people don't know nothin' 'bout nothin'. That's exactly what I mean. I mean they cheered when Carter came on stage. They cheered when he bashed Bush/Cheney about the war in Iraq. Were these same people cheering when they had to wait two hours for a couple gallons of gas? Actually, many Kerry supporters were not even born in time for Carter's gas lines. And that, IMO, is part of the problem. Too many uninformed new voters believing whatever line the Kerry people throw out. Oh, and then! They roared when Slick Willy graced us with his presence. Would someone please tell me what this guy did? I would like to take my own poll and put it on the "Alphabet Stations". Can anyone name one thing Clinton did, other than getting caught with his pants down? Of course, the Dems worship at the Clinton altar, but he's being bashed in BlogWorld this week by Repubs. I'll send you some examples, if you have time to read them. This was the leader of the free world, cheating on his wife and lying to the public, but these people still seem to think that he parted the Red Sea. When the president of your country lies, commits adultery, etc., etc., and then you cheer him on like it was your ten year old son who just hit his first home run, what exactly is running through your mind? Liberal Democrats don't always process data thru their minds. They "feel" with their hearts, dontcha know? They "feel" our pain!! I am telling you now, before I die, I predict another civil war. It isn't something that I would want or am supporting, but I tell you again, it's coming. Mark my words! There may be ground war in our country in your lifetime, but I believe it will be Americans against Arabs. Dems and 'Pubs will unite against a common enemy. IMO Remember the days right after 9-11 before the fanatic Libs took patriotism out of the mix. Keep me posted. I don't need no stinking TV with an astute GS like you! Love B. Tuesday, July 20, 2004
P.S. Update Dear Old Dad is off to Costa Rica and Acidaughter feels a yen to post. GOOD! I miss her blog. What a nice surprise to find her Top 20 yesterday! I'm still basking in the glow of learning that she chose Indigo for the #2 spot!! Right after Baldilocks, for goodness sake. I'm not worthy to be in the same paragraph with Baldilocks, but what a rush!! Thanks, Acidaughter. Another purpose for this P.S.Update is to post my decision to cease and desist from blogging until such time as the computer problems I've dealt with since April are resolved. Assuming such a day will ever come! The brief little offering below, posted this morning, required over an hour due to working around the glitches, correcting, republishing, etc. Right now, it's just not worth the wear and tear on my nervous system. I'll be visiting you guys, but no more from here UFN! Back ASAP. QUICKIES PUSSYFOOTIN' >^..^< In one of his best pensive modes, Jack of Random Fate offers some thoughts about EXTREMISM: "There is something fundamental that extremists on both the right and the left have in common. The farther you go out from the center, the more the assumption takes hold that all "reasonable" people think like you, or would if they were merely enlightened by some means." More thought-prods here for open minds. Read it all. >^..^< Thanks to Jim, over at Smoke on the Water, for linking the way to Kim du Toit's treatise on "Two Americas" here. >^..^< Dax Montana is back from his secret mission. Finally. Two words, Dax: Just Damn! >^..^< Rather read about nasturtiums than masturbation? For a refreshing change of pace from in-your-face blogging to a laid-back bucolic ambience, visit The Moonmeadow Farm. It's quite nice over there. SlagleRock could easily become an addiction. His blog on TAPS yesterday was a public service, IMO. The words, music, and story were taught when I was in grade school, but now even much of the military is unaware of the roots of TAPS. Good for you, SlagleRock. Git 'er done! >^..^< and yes, I know the PUSSYFOOTIN' icon is in the wrong place, but obviously SlagleRock has coded his name to allow no PUSSYFOOTIN' beside it! >^..^< If you really and truly, seriously and positively need to keep something secret, don't let it fall into the hands of a redneck! >^..^< What an idiot the poet Langston is - as quoted at the Sailor's sandbox! (not Iraq, but a reasonable facsimile, temp-wise) "Goodbye, Christ Jesus, Lord, God, Jehova, Beat it on away from here now." Please, Langston, one should really know how to spell the names of the deities before referring to them in print. It's JEHOVAH, Infidel!! Monday, July 19, 2004
LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER My vacation from blogging was also the week my daughter and #2 grandson vacationed with me. The week went far too quickly. It would have been nice to have had them another week - and especially, if the dog visitors had taken the bus back home!!! What a week of zoo antics! Daughter (Chuck calls her Miss Edna) brought her Airdale and Peke-a-poo, and my Rottweiler, Cocker-poo, and three Persian cats made quite a circus. They're all female and get along famously, but, Oh! the noise and wild play! Some of it must have been hilarious to the little girls, 'cause they would have wet their pants giggling if they had had on pants. Since they didn't, they left happy little pee-puddles around the "play ground" carpet. At least we let them cop-out calling it that! Miss E. came with her boat, prepared to catch loads of fish. No fish this week. Since fishing was slow, she put out the crab pots. No crabs this week. Then, in desperation to eat something she had caught for herself, she got out the shrimp nets, but the weather squelched that idea. IOW, a boat-riding, shore-chored, sun-screened week, interrupted by bouts of gluttony, and topped off with a fabulous Saturday Southern Pig Pickin'. Hate ya'll missed it!!! Another highlight, for me, was the private concert given in my honor by #2 Grandson, the musician. He played and sang all my favorites, plus some new songs he had written. This was on a rainy afternoon when there was not much for him to do, so always the entertainer (and ham!), he treated me to a lovely musicale. I loved it! And the best news is, they're coming back for another week in October!!! >^..^< PUSSYFOOTIN' >^..^< For a really entertaining read, see SlagleRock's Parking Garage!!! Call me a sadistic old beach biddy (cleaned up to maintain PG-13), but I loved this story!!! >^..^< The Sailor is rather gentle in his chastisement of Sir Fairy, IMO. Seems to me they're both tied to the Nam era, but from entirely different perspectives. Sir Fairy indicates he would like to relive them for some get-down protesting. If The Sailor has fantasies, they're probably about kicking some protestor butt. >^..^< Anyone know where the link for The George Bush Songbook is? The John Kerry Songbook (where every number is in the key of F) is here. >^..^< For some really funny "fair and balanced" singing, see and listen here. (in case you missed it yesterday) >^..^< GOC, GOC -- So many Grouchy Old Cripples -- so little time. >^..^< Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open. -- Anonymous >^..^< You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person. SENIOR MOMENTS If you can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax, read ahead - - - Were you a kid in the Fifties, Forties, Thirties or so ? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad? Judge for yourself: In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million... Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better... And that was good. The average annual salary was under $3,000...Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And that was good. A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents.... But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one... And that was good. Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was good. We didn't have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike... And that was good. Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... But not Ms Becky or Mr.Dan... And that was good.. The only hazardous material you knew about...Was a patch of grass burrs around the light pole at the corner.... And that was good. You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline... And that was good. People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives... So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was good. Parents were respected and their rules were law.... Children did not talk back..... and that was good. TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious color....And that was certainly good. Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor... And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs... And that was very good. Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard...And chickens behind the garage... And that was definitely good. And just when you were about to do something really bad... Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach.... Or the nosy old lady from up the street... Or your little sister's piano teacher... Or somebody from Church... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number...And YOUR first name... And even THAT was good! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REMEMBER.... Sunday, July 18, 2004
IF YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THIS YET ---- GO HERE!!!! I don't care who you are, that's funny! And bookmark the blog. Thursday, July 15, 2004
S U M M E R T I M E -- -- And the living is hectic; Fish are jumping; So are shrimp; Crabs are lazy; So am I!! To anyone who still may be hanging around: Thanks for your patience. You know it's July on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina when your house is full of guests and the area is full of tourists. Not much time for blogging. One accomplishment of the week was a step in the right direction in solving the laptop dysfunctions. The Computer Guy was here today for over two hours, and as one would hope, there was progress made. The entire laptop experience since April 22 has been cyber hell for this cyber cretin. It remains to be seen if my hard drive hard times are over. Hoping for the best. A note of irony in the midst of chaos, however, is that the main problem was rectified by doing exactly what Old Indigo suggested the first day The Computer Guy was here. But, of course, he took the suggestion of an old cyber cretin with the proverbial grain of NaCl. Sorry, but: neener neener neener! Thanks to all you great bloggers who are keeping me current on important happenings. I'll be continuing the nightly blog-surfing for a few more days in lieu of posting. See ya soon! A FEW BLONDE JOKES Auto Repair A blonde pushes her BMW into a gas station. She tells the mechanic it died. After he works on it for a few minutes, it is idling smoothly. She says, "What's the story?" He replies, "Just crap in the carburetor." She asks, "How often do I have to do that?" Speeding Ticket A police officer stops a blonde for speeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her license.She replied in a huff, "I wish you guys would get your act together. Just yesterday you take away my license and then today you expect me to show it to you!" Exposure A blonde is walking down the street with her blouse open and her right breast hanging out. A policeman approaches her and says, "Ma'am, are you aware that I could cite you for indecent exposure?" She says, "Why, officer?" "Because your breast is hanging out," he says. She looks down and says, "OH MY GOD, I left the baby on the bus again!" River Walk There's this blonde out for a walk. She comes to a river and sees another blonde on the opposite bank. "Yoo-hoo," she shouts, "how can I get to the other side?" The second blonde looks up the river, then down the river, and shouts back, "You ARE on the other side." Knitting A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn, and yelled "PULL OVER!" "NO!" the blonde yelled back, "it's a SCARF!" Blonde on the Sun A Russian, an American, and a blonde were talking one day.The Russian said, "We were the first in space!" The American said, "We were the first on the moon!" The blonde said, "So what? We're going to be the first on the sun!" The Russian and the American looked at each other and shook their heads. "You can't land on the sun, you idiot! You'll burn up!" said the Russian. To which the blonde replied, "We're not stupid, you know. We're going at night!" In a Vacuum A blonde was playing Trivial Pursuit one night. It was her turn. She rolled the dice and landed on Science & Nature. Her question was:"If you are in a vacuum and someone calls your name, can you hear it?" She thought for a time and then asked, "Is it on or off?" SENIOR OBSERVATIONS 60 IS NOT OLD -- if you're a tree. I'M STILL HOT... It just comes in flashes. AT MY AGE, Getting lucky means finding my car in the parking lot. MY REALITY CHECK just bounced. LIFE IS SHORT -- Make fun of it. I NEED SOMEBODY BAD ... Are you bad? PHYSICALLY Pffffffttttt! EARTH IS the insane asylum of the universe. MY MIND WORKS LIKE LIGHTNING. One brilliant flash and it's gone. EVERY TIME I HEAR THE DIRTY WORD "exercise," I wash my mouth out with chocolate. LIVE YOUR LIFE so that when you die, the preacher will not have to tell lies at your funeral. IN GOD WE TRUST. All others we polygraph! Saturday, July 10, 2004
PUSSYFOOTIN'™ >^..^< Happy One Week Anniversary and Congratulations to Obnoxious Droppings, hosted by the Grouchy Old Cripple of Winston-Salem!! >^..^< Kevin's back. >^..^< Sandwiched in between the local political updates, Chuck at redneckin has a poignant current tale about Uncle NoPass, my personal favorite character in the Chuck Tales. >^..^< As to Ted Rall (and who doesn't have an opinion?), Baldilocks thinks he's addicted to hate. "He’s smoking it, snorting it, shooting it up." Read it all here, then follow the Michelle Malkin link for additional input and links. Oh - and don't miss the T-shirts! >^..^< For an explanation of Kerry's Health Plan, check out Greene Thoughts. >^..^< Goodbye again to Rachel Lucas. She departs this time leaving 1,434,878 visitors. Thanks to Serenity for the heads-up letter. >^..^< For some really clueless book reviews, see this at Bubba's. The Gone With the Wind review was outstanding for being both clueless and classless. >^..^< "If you don't approve of Gays & Lesbians, don't marry one!" PHONE STORY An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady. He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. Inside the house, the phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found the following: 1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar. 2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose. 3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called. 4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground. 5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring. Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning. Friday, July 09, 2004
TIDY-UP FRIDAY Cleaning out the Mailbox THE MIDDLE WIFE by an Anonymous 2nd Grade Teacher I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it to school and talk about it, they're welcome. Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant and says: "This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday." "First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord." She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh, and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement. "Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going,'Oh, oh, oh!'" Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. "She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!" Now the kid's doing this hysterical duck walk, holding her back and groaning. "My Dad called the Middle Wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this." Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall. "And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!" This kid has her legs spread, and with her little hands she's miming water flowing away. It was too much! "Then the Middle Wife starts saying 'push, push, and breathe, breathe.' They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff, they all said was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of stuff inside there." Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica comes along. Life is meant to be lived . . enjoy! "If you can read this, thank a teacher....and since it's in English, thank a soldier." [from Kirsten, Greenville, NC] Hey Mostly Cajun and Cajun Ken! Is this a true story? A blonde was on vacation in the depths of Louisiana. She wanted to take home a pair of genuine alligator shoes in the worst way... but was very reluctant to pay the high prices the local vendors were asking for the highly prized shoes. After becoming very frustrated with the "no haggle on prices" attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the blonde shouted, "Well then, maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator, so I can get a pair of shoes at a decent price!" The shopkeeper said with a sly, knowing smile, "Little lady, y'all just go and give it a try, why don'cha!" The blonde turned on her heel and headed out toward the swamps, determined to catch herself an alligator. Later inthe day, as the shopkeeper is driving home, he pulls over to the side of the levee where he spots that same young woman standing waist deep in the murky bayou water, shotgun in hand. Just then, he spots a huge 9-foot 'gator swimming rapidly toward her. With lightning speed, she takes aim, kills the creature... and, with a great deal of effort, hauls it onto the slimy swamp bank. Lying nearby were several more of the dead creatures. The shopkeeper stands on the bank and watches this scenario in amazed silence. Just then, the blonde struggles and flips the 'gator on its back. Then, rolling her eyes heavenward and screaming in great frustration, she shouts out, "Damn, this one is barefoot, too!" Alternate Meanings for Words Once again, The Washington Post published its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. And the winners are... 1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon. 2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained. 3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. 4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk. 5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent. 6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown. 7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. 8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash. 9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.\10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline. 11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam. 12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you. 13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions. 14. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist. 15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there. 16. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts. [from Tom, SLC] A Rabbi's Advice A Jewish businessman was in a great deal of trouble. His business was failing; he had put everything he had into the business; he owed everybody. It was so bad he was even contemplating suicide. As a last resort he went to a Rabbi and poured out his story of tears and woe. When he had finished, the Rabbi said, "Put a beach chair and your Bible in your car and drive down to the beach. Take the beach chair and the Bible to the water's edge, sit down in the beach chair, and put the Bible in your lap." "Open the Bible; the wind will rifle the pages, but finally the open Bible will come to rest on a page. Look down at the page and read the first thing you see. That will be your answer, that will tell you what to do." A year later the businessman went back to the Rabbi and brought his wife and children with him. The man was in a new custom-tailored suit, his wife in a mink coat, the children shining. The businessman pulled an envelope stuffed with money out of his pocket and gave it to the Rabbi as a donation in thanks for his advice. The Rabbi recognized the benefactor, and was curious. "You did as I suggested?" he asked. "Absolutely," replied the businessman. "You went to the beach?" "Absolutely." "You sat in a beach chair with the Bible in your lap?" "Absolutely." "You let the pages rifle until they stopped?" "Absolutely." "And what were the first words you saw?" The businessman responded, "Chapter 11." [from Kristi, Greenville, NC] Jim, did you see this in your local paper? Dear Abby, I am a crack dealer in Beaumont, Texas who has recently been diagnosed as a carrier of HIV virus. My parents live in Fort Worth and one of my sisters, who lives in Pflugerville, is married to a transvestite. My father and mother have recently been arrested for growing and selling marijuana. They are financially dependent on my other two sisters, who are prostitutes in Dallas. I have two brothers, one is currently serving a non-parole life sentence at Huntsville for the murder of a teenage boy in 1994. My other brother is currently in jail awaiting charges of sexual misconduct with his three children. I have recently become engaged to marry a former prostitute who lives in Longview. She is a part time "working girl". All things considered, my problem is this: I love my fiancé and look forward to bringing her into the family. I certainly want to be totally open and honest with her. Should I tell her about my cousin who supports John Kerry for President? Signed, Worried About My Reputation [from Greg, Ayden, NC] Thursday, July 08, 2004
WOMEN FRIENDS A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. As they talked about life, about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter. "Don't forget your girlfriends," she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. "They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you'll have, you are still going to need girlfriends. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them. And remember that "girlfriends" are not only your friends, but your sisters, your daughters, and other relatives too. You'll need other women. Women always do." 'What a funny piece of advice,' the young woman thought. 'Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake, a grownup, not a young girl who needs girlfriends! Surely my husband and the family we'll start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!' But she listened to her Mother; she kept contact with her girlfriends and made more each year.. As the years tumbled by, one after another, she gradually came to understand that her Mom really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, girlfriends are the mainstays of her life. After 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned: Times passes. Life happens. Distance separates. Children grow up. Hearts break. Careers end. Jobs come and go. Parents die. Colleagues forget favors. Men don't call when they say they will. BUT girlfriends are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley, and you have to walk it for yourself, your girlfriends will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf and waiting with open arms at the valley's end. Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you. Or come in and carry you out. My mother, sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, aunties, nieces, cousins, extended family, and friends bless my life! The world wouldn't be the same without them, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to the women who help make your life work, so they'll know you know, and are grateful. [A lovely lady blogged yesterday: "In just a few weeks I will be turning Fifty, that's 50!" This one's for you, Brenda. An early Happy Birthday!] Wednesday, July 07, 2004
My blog-surfing last night carried over into early morning, and I never got around to posting anything on Indigo Insights. Even though I don't have a published Blogroll, I do keep a private blogroll of faves I visit every day, or as often as possible. I'd like to post these faves on Indigo's page, but alas! I have no clue as to how to get the blogroll up, or how to manage it, if I could get it up. But I digress - - - Of every blog I read last night (maybe 50) all except THREE referenced John Edwards as Kerry's running mate. In searching the snake pit of my archives for something else, I found the following: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!!!!! Thursday, July 03, 2003 News on Our NC Golden Boy Trojan Horseshoes brings this to our attention, via Ipse Dixit Edwards Blocking Legislation to Benefit Soldiers It looks like John Edwards is playing some dirty pool. Sen. John Edwards, North Carolina Democrat, is single-handedly blocking Senate action on legislation all but unanimously supported by the House to ease the student-loan burden for soldiers fighting overseas... The bill is stalled in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under a "secret hold," said Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican and chairman of the committee. Senate tradition allows members to lodge secret, or "anonymous," holds against a bill and block it indefinitely... Mr. Edwards and his office initially denied responsibility for blocking the bill at all. "I just talked to Senator Edwards," Mr. Graham said as he stepped off the Senate floor last week. "He said if he has a hold on it, he didn't know about it. He didn't even know about the bill." Told last week that everyone involved with the legislation adamantly said that Mr. Edwards put the hold on it, Edwards spokesman Mike Briggs replied, "They're adamantly wrong." Yesterday, however, Mr. Briggs acknowledged that his boss was stalling the bill. [Comment to Trojan Horseshoes: Which makes Edwards pretty much of a bald-faced liar after the promises he tossed around Camp Lejeune during his campaigning. Guess he thought the Corps (nor the civilians) wouldn't remember!] A Real Class Act He has trouble making time to vote (having missed 20% of Senate votes so far this year while he's been out campaigning), but Democrat Presidential wanna-be John Edwards has time to block veterans' relief to further his own ambitions. Having lied about it at first, Edwards' front man has now admitted that Edwards is the one secretly blocking a bill that would defer student loans for soldiers fighting overseas. The only reason for this surreptitious obstructionism appears to be that he wants to use the issue to boost his Presidential pretensions by claiming credit for it when it passes sometime in the future. There's really no need to comment further, now is there? [No, CD, there isn't. But Indigo must say that the Edwards lying seems to be becoming a defining characteristic. Of course, some say that's a presidential requirement, and if so it may help Edwards if he attains his far-fetched goal.] Monday, July 05, 2004
NO JULY 4TH CELEBRATION THIS YEAR FOR ME In a classic exercise of Murphy's Law, I didn't make it to the Camp LeJeune Annual 4th of July Celebration. Stuff happened. (see July 4, 2003 & 2002 in archives) Great-grandson Kamdon, telephoning from a fireworks site in Greenville, provided sound effects and Chuck's GOOD SHOW visuals, gave some ambience of 4th Festivities, but something was missing - besides several thousand Marines, of course! Oh! Here it is!! RIGHT HERE! SOME NOTABLE JULY 4TH BLOGS A Sailor in the Desert Smoke on the Water Obnoxious Droppings Serenity's Journal ATTENTION WOMEN VOTERS!!! The following essay deserves more than one read, so it will be posted at the beginning of each month until the November election. My grandmother, "Mammy" to all who loved her, was one of the first women voters in the United States. She was married in 1898 and immediately became the property of her husband. Voting was the first right given to her as an American citizen. Within the seclusion and secrecy of the voting booth, she could make a decision without consulting her husband. She wasn't chattel in that booth, but a thinking being, choosing for herself. It's hard to believe that less than a hundred years ago in this country, American women were perceived and treated much as Arab women are today. When I was a child, young adult, and mother of my own children, I didn't understand why voting was such a big deal with Mammy. She never learned to drive, so every election day someone had to drive her to the polls to exercise her right - basically her only freedom of choice. She lived to be 82 years old, but aches or pains, rain or shine, she made it to the polls every year to cast her vote, even if only a dog catcher was running. Voting was her only freedom and she exercised it to the utmost. I didn't get it then. I do now, after reading the following story that Mammy lived and understood. Remembering How Women Got the Vote The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 helpless women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. There was a time when I knew these women well. I met them in college--not in my required American history courses, which barely mentioned them, but in women's history class. That's where I found the irrepressibly brave Alice Paul. Her large, brooding eyes seemed fixed on my own as she stared out from the page. Remember, she silently beckoned. Remember. I thought I always would. I registered voters throughout college and law school, worked on congressional and presidential campaigns until I started writing for newspapers. When Geraldine Ferraro ran for vice president, I took my 9-year-old son to meet her. "My knees are shaking," he whispered after shaking her hand. "I'm never going to wash this hand again." All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes, it was even inconvenient. My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was. With herself . "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,"she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again." HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunko night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order. It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity." [profuse thanks to Christina, Swansboro, NC] Saturday, July 03, 2004
Thought I'd be taking a 4th of July break, but fireworks jumped out of my Mail Box this morning that demand a post!!! Welcome another GOC to Blogworld! The GOC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has launched his blog: Obnoxious Droppings. Watch this one, fellow bloggers! I predict a big hit (of hits!) real soon. Just out today, so maybe this former Marine will get comments and e-mail addy up ASAP and you other Marines can kibitz! And the rest of us too! He introduces himself as "twisted" -- YEAH! Just what we like!!! Here's a sample paragraph. " I hope you'll find that nothing is sacred here - I'll happily poke fun at anything or anyone that I think deserves it. Politically I have a somewhat conservative bent (bent? twisted?) that I chalk up to my background as a Marine, a Soldier and a Police Officer. All of these professions tend to put you in touch with some of the more odious levels of civilization and can leave you with a real attitude problen. But it's just a little attitude and it's much too small to be let out on its own! " Git 'er done, GOC W-S, and welcome aboard! |