A picture is worth a thousand words.

It's my Birthday

I have not updated lately because of technical difficulties. My home computer got slammed with ad ware, making it crash every 2 minutes. Thankfully a nice anti- spy and ad ware remover has fixed this. I had a hard time downloading it, as the computer kept crashing.

Today is my 28th Birthday. Happy Birthday to me.

Guess what, my family sucks. We had a little get together on Saturday for my birthday that was nice. However, a majority of my family has not bothered to give me a call today.

My paternal grandparents called this morning. I don't have that great a relationship with them, but the call was nice. My mother in law called about an hour ago. While I was typing this, my father, who I don't have that great a relationship with called.

Has my mother called? No. Have any of my four siblings called? No. Has my maternal grandmother called? No. I know she knows the day, because I was born on my grandpa's birthday.

Kind of bumbed. Wish they would call.

Rambling ideas about Bush, Polls, Military States, and the Supreme Court.

According to an NBC/WSJ Poll, only 2% of African Americans approve of the Job that President Bush is doing. Twenty-nine percent of people surveyed said Harriet Miers was qualified to serve on the highest court in the United States, while 24 percent thought she was not qualified and 46 percent said they did not know enough about her. 28% of Americans feel the country is headed in the right direction. Only 39% of Americans polled approve of the job President Bush is doing.

President Bush says he does not read the polls. He feels they have no value. Right, less that one third of the country feels that we are going in the right direction, and there is nothing to worry about.

I do agree, in part with not governing by polls. HOWEVER, there is a difference between bowing to every little whim of the people, and listening to them and learning from them. People say that the Katrina response was not racially based, but I believe it was. Look how much better things went with Rita. Look how fast supplies got to Pakistan. Last time I checked, New Orleans was closer to the rest of America that Pakistan is.

It appears to me that President has chosen to appoint a good, loyal friend of his to the Supreme Court by nominating Harriet Miers. She is a woman, she is a trail blazer. Great. I am very concerned that there is very little public record available on this woman. She has never been a judge. We have no decisions or rulings to look at. Her most current work is being kept private under executive privilege. I believe in having the best candidate for the job, and I don't know if she is. Sure she was the first female this, and the first female that, but I hope we have moved beyond that. I would have hoped we would be able to judge her on her merits, not on her gender alone.

Yesterday, President Bush brought her religious beliefs into the discussion. Last time I checked, it was illegal to use religion as a hiring basis in the United States.

“People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers,” Bush told reporters at the White House. “They want to know Harriet Miers’ background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers’ life is her religion.”

President Bush wants us to know she is an Evangelical Christian, and that should tell us all we want or need to know. He is asking Congress and the American people to use an illegal tool to grant Harriet a job on the highest court in our country, a job which is a lifetime appointment as well. I am Christian, but I would never hire someone solely on the basis that we share the same religion. I would hire based on skills, experience, education, presentation, and attitude. We have no knowledge of her current skills. We cannot see how she has ruled in the past. We know nothing about her other that she believes that President Bush is one of the smartest men she knows, and that she is an evangelical Christian. OK, any one that believes that this man is a smart person, is themselves not a smart or thinking person. When John Roberts was up for confirmation, the Bush administration did not want a religious litmus test used. Now they want us to use this standard, which is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Equal Employment Opportunity. If all she has to offer to us is that she is Bush's friend and evangelical Christian, I find that to be a very poor recommendation to be the next Supreme Court Justice.

President Bush wants us to trust him and believe he has found the best candidate for the job. I do not know if he has or not, but I do not trust Bush. I do not trust Bush because of the failures to be aware and watchful and protect Americans on 9-11. I do not trust Bush because of the lies which were told to the American people about starting the Iraq war. I do not trust Bush because more soldiers have died since he declared "Mission Accomplished." I do not trust Bush because he does not trust lowly, normal, middle class Americans. I do not trust Bush, because under him, we have lost great freedoms in the name of security, and the war on terror. I do not trust Bush because we have been lied to so many time, he has no more credibility with me. I do not trust Bush because he created a great cultural divide in the last election, and has made things harder for people who are not a traditional family. I do not trust Bush, because he has already show he will hire inexperience and incompetence, in the form of former head of FEMA, Michel Brown. I do not trust Bush because of the horrible respose to Katrina, and now he wants to put the military in charge of disasters.

I love the military, but I have a problem with the Armed Forces policing Americans. The Posse Comitatus Act was put in place in 1856 for a reason. (Our service members play an important role every day in keeping us free so I can type away. I am a proud Army wife, and I am very proud that my husband serves honorably. This is not an anti-military idea, rather an anti-military state idea I am writing about here.) Our military members play an important role in resolving disasters, but I do not want to become a military state where the military is over everything. I see what a military state is like military bases. This has a time and a purpose, and I know that the military is in charge when I go on base. However on base you give up the right to a warrant before a search and seziure. I bet I would get arrested if I tried to start a peaceful protest rally on base. My car and person can be searched at will. I am Id'ed to get on and off base. My car is registered and there are cameras EVERYWHERE. Now, I am not complaining about how life is on base. I understand and accept that. I know that there are national security reasons for the security measures. I CHOOSE to trade these rights on a temporary basis for access to tax-free shopping, crafting classes, and cheap gasoline. However this is a CHOICE. I could CHOOSE to never go on base, and retain my rights. I CHOOSE to go on base, and know what the consequences are, and they only are within the fences of the base. I worry what will happen to our rights if the military is put in charge not only of protecting them (which they are) but also enforcing them and allowing their free expression.

If Harriet Miers is confirmed and then found to be incompetent, we have no recourse, she is there for life. If you are not white, strait, Christian, rich, and his friend you mean nothing to him. Why else would he not even look at the polls? Why would he not want to know what the people he was hired to serve, protect, and defend think of the job he is doing?

Fun with Google

Now, I love Google. I use it several times a day. I have their tool bar on my computer, which updated itself a couple of weeks ago. Wondering how they did that....

Anyway, I saw this on a friends blog An Accident of Hope and thought I'd give it a try..... What you do is type your name into Google followed by the word needs. To see my full results, click here.

1. Wendy Needs Your Assistance.
2. Wendy needs a Portland-to-Coast Team member
3. Wendy needs a furrever home for Christmas!
4. Wendy needs cordyline help
5. Wendy needs at least 5 business days advance notice for this process.
6. Wendy needs to tell Rachel what's going on with Danny, because he's not right in the head. And if Rachel does go ahead and sleep with Danny, and he carries through on his "mastermind" "plan" to "ruin" her "reputation," Wendy needs to remind Rachel every day that we don't live in the nineteen-goddamn-fifties and as long as she uses protection, respects the feelings of others, and feels okay about having sex, she's not a slut and she shouldn't let some twisted little Puritan whose mommy made him pee sitting down tell her who she is. (This link was interesting... to see it click here.)
7. In Dick's strange mind, there are some things that Wendy needs to know.
8. If Wendy needs more than one piece of equipment please use the subject line.
9. Whether Wendy needs to build a new road or fix an old one she knows it will besimple to do with Roley on the job....
10. Wendy needs a patient,loving, and committed family who can provide structure and support. ... haha
11. Wendy needs more chairs for these oral. sessions. ROFL

Sorry nothing deep today... I have Columbus day off, so I'm not really thinking today. Maybe tomorrow.

Freedom of Speech

I'm on a mailing list for people with infertility who are LDS. I posted a link to my blog, and copied the "Inconceivable" post I wrote. (Inconceivable was cancelled this week!) After doing that I received the following email......

From : M Eagar
Sent : Tuesday, October 4, 2005 5:47 PM
To : intorainbowz@hotmail.com
Subject : Your Blog

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I belong to the 2ofus4now website. I don't ever post but often read when people have to say. I went to your blog link about the Inconcievable show in NBC. Just wanted to ask you that next time you provide a link to your personal thoughts and blog - maybe you should take out the F word that is so big and bolded for everyone in the world to see. Come on, you know that most of the women on the 2ofus4now website are mormon. Why would you tell them to go to your blog when you have the F word bigger than day on there? Please be careful next time. I for one don't know you and don't care if you hate President Bush or not or if you chose to use that kind of language. I just don't want a link to it without a warning of what might be on there.

Thank you for your time. Hope that you continue your blog for those people who like to read that sort of thing.


I must be doing something right because I have officially offended someone. I changed my profile to now have a warning on the top of my blog.

To M Egar:

No, I will not edit my blog. Had you actually read that post, you would find hurt, anger and fear in my words. Had you read my blog, you would find that I am a sensible person. Yes, I swear. If that makes you uncomfortable, please no longer read my blog. I try not to swear, but I do. This blog is my way of expressing what I am thinking about. The real world swears. I swear. My husband swears. My boss swears. My friends swear. My co-workers swear. There is a time and a place for swearing, and on my blog I feel free to express how I am feeling, even if this is offensive to some. Oh, and the FUCK work is in yellow, not bolded.

She must have scrolled down, because I don't use FUCK in the Inconcievable post.

Penn and Teller are magicians, who delight in explaining how the tricks are done, have a show called Bull Shit. It airs on Showtime. (Penn is a real loud mouth, Teller never talks in their act). On their show, they call Bull Shit on different topics, such as PETA, psycics, chiropractors, etc. In their last season, they called Bull Shit on the anti-profanity movement. They showed a lady who runs a campaign to clean up swearing. They point out her hypocrisy, that it is offensive to her if someone swears by her God, but she swears by others. She uses "Santa Vacca" and I swear to Budda, instead of Oh my God, or Jesus Christ. It is not OK to swear by Christian Gods, but it is OK to swear by Budish and Hindu Gods.

Penn and Teller point out that people are not angry about how things are being said, but the words used. People are not saying be nicer or less angry, just use baby talk or other words not on the "swearing" list. In one example, Penn talks in a very sweet tone to a dog, talking about how he wants to skin the dog and kill it. He then shouts at the dog how much he loves the dog and how cute the dog it. The dog wags when talked to in a nice voice, but cowers in fear when shouted at.

I chose the language I use carefully. At time, the only words I have to express my outrage or other strong emotion is the swear word. Fetch or fudge would not have expressed what I was feeling. In order to express my emotions, words that shock are the ones to use. Sometimes I don't find the need to use these words.

Oh, and Balderdash and Humbug used to be swear words. Pregnancy could not be used on television.

So M Eagar, Yes I know the LDS church takes a strong point on swearing. I'm not there yet. J. Golden Kimball swore like a trucker. Thank you for pointing out a fault and sin of mine. Your arrogance and perfection are greatly appreciated. I know I am not perfect and will freely admit this. I would never ask someone to change what they wrote because it offended me. Freedom of speech goes both ways. My thought are as protected as yours are. Voltaire said "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it." Popular speech is not the only speech protected, unpopular speech is protected as well. So no, M Eagar, I will not edit my blog. I will keep writing as I see fit. I will write with the words I have in my vocabulary, and not keep something out because it is offensive to some.