42%

New polls say 42% of voters asked say they definitely will not vote for Hillary Clinton for President.

Guess that whole repositioning campaign isn't working.

No Such Thing As An 'Ex-Marine'?

Maybe they need to make an exception.

“It’s much worse than was reported in Time magazine,” Murtha, a Democrat, former Marine colonel and Vietnam war veteran, told reporters on Capitol Hill.
“There was no firefight. There was no [bomb] that killed those innocent people,” Murtha explained, adding there were “about twice as many” Iraqis killed than Time had reported.

Was he there? He just magically 'knows' more than Time learned in 10 weeks of investigation? Since he goes on TV and lies about the Commandant, his credibility is at zero with me.

Want to See a Movie?

So do I.

Unfortunately, at the local 24 screen multiplex there are 11, count them 11, films playing.

I realize a lot of people want to see The XMen Code Over the Hedge but I don't!

Couldn't one or two screens out of 24 be left for movies like An Inconvenient Truth, Stagedoor, or The Notorious Bettie Page? Something different, a little off-the-wall, harder to find. Isn't that the freedom that 24 screens gives you? The choice?

No. You get to choose which half hour you see the latest blockbuster.

Fwd:fwd:fwd:.......

Why do friends send friends emails that have been forwarded so many times it takes forever to open? Emails about health scares, virus scares, offers of gift cards from Applebees, tales of Starbucks hating the military, and a hundred other crisis that a trip to Snopes would straighten out? Do they think I want to deal with the threat of 'Send this to 10 people in 5 minutes or calamity will befall you!'?

If it's something I really need/would enjoy seeing, C&P it into a fresh email. If it's a dire warning, research the threat before you send it on. And if it's a chain, take one for the Team and break the chain. Don't pass the buck onto your friends because you don't want the bad luck to land on you.

It's the friendly thing to do.

And , no, I'm not sending it back!

Do WHAT?!

They re-elected the incompetent asshole? If there was ever a time to throw the bum out, this was it and they re-elected the sumbitch?

I think I'm going to be a lot less sympathetic the next time they have a problem.

This Week's Post Secret

There are few things scarier than a Warrior without a war.

As long as we're going to be the SuperPower, we need warriors. A strong military needs people who can kill as easily as they breathe. The problem is when they try to be Warriors and live in the real world. Maybe the Old Guard had a point when they would say 'If we'd wanted you to have a wife and family, we'd have issued you one.'

Can there be happy, healthy military families? Certainly. It's just that I have a sneaking suspicion they're married to Office Pogues.

P.S.

And the only reason this Other Woman is confessing all on Oprah is because she's trying to bust the husband. It has nothing to do with some good coming out of it. It's about revenge, pure and simple.

"She received pictures" Bullshit. The other woman sent those pictures. She wanted the wife to discover the affair and leave him so she could have him. That didn't work, the wife believed the husband's denials so the other woman sent pictures. I bet the wife forgave him so she's on national television giving every upsetting detail she can come up with to destroy what's left of the marriage: I gave her a baby shower; we had sex in their house; we did this; we did that.

What a vengeful bitch. I'm sure she will talk about how she's a victim before this is all over.

The Best Friend

Oprah's doing a show about Women whose Best Friends have affairs with their husbands and she is of the opinion that it never happens. A true best friend would never do such a thing.

If I was having an affair with a man in my circle, his wife would consider me a 'Best Friend'. I would be friendly, kind, caring, concerned, and loving towards her. Not out any ulterior motive, but because the man I love loves her and the people he loves matter to me. And if (when?) it all blew up, she would feel betrayed.

How do you say to someone 'You aren't the primary person in this menage.' It's almost like you're saying 'It's not all about you. It has little to do with you.' but that just sounds unecessarily cruel. It's not about betraying her. It's also that she's not important enough to stop.

BTW, does the Oprah husband have to look so smug about the whole thing?

I will never understand how other women can hate the wife. For one thing, it is another woman. Don't we owe some care, compassion, and understanding to each other as women even if it's not enough to make us walk away from a man? Other women make the wife the bad guy. The wife makes the other woman the bad guy and the husband, the one who made the vows that were broken, just gets a pass on all of it.

How can polygamy be any more complicated than all of this?

My Cyber Scrapbook

I have folders full of stuff. Every time I go through my file cabinet, I find old cartoons, articles, mementos, scraps of things that made me smile, laugh, cry, think.

It's so nice to have this place to put all the random stuff that used to end up in a folder. I was running out of room.

Ta-TOW!!!!!

I'm happy. Brick thinks it's the end of civilization as we know it (I keep telling him the end of civilization is really My Super Sweet 16 but he doesn't listen).

The Worst Mother in the World

So, I still think the baby needs a bodyguard...one that goes to a Childseat Inspection Station their first day on the job...but even I am starting to feel sorry for Brittney. What is she really doing that white trash doesn't do all over the country? It's just they get to do it in relative privacy and no one tsks-tsks about how they're role models.

What makes Brittney a role model? Where did anyone ever get the idea she was?

• She's a kid whose parents are so trashy they put her on stage as a small child for their own financial enrichment (and she turned out so well, they're repeating the pattern with her younger sister!).
• By her midteens she was writhing around in a sexually suggestive manner in a way that was marketed to every Dirty Old Man with incestuous fantasies (ok, I'll play the denial game...they don't really have incestuous feelings...they're just interested in their 15 year old daughter's best friend!)
• She shacked up with one boyfriend and ran off and had a Vegas marriage that was shorter than Memorial Day Weekend with another.
• She ran off with a trashy, dirty looking guy who was in a 'committed' relationship with a child and one on the way.
  

Have we gotten to the Role Model part yet? The part America wants their daughters to emulate?

Why should she be anymore of a good example as a mother than she has been at any other point in her life? Next thing you know, People are going to be upset with the guests of The Jerry Springer Show because they're setting a bad example.

The New Very Worst Person in the World

Maybe I'm more forgiving because I think he's a cute kid. I think he's going to weigh 350 before he hits 40 but I'm from The Land of Bubba and don't see that as a bad thing.

So if I was out with friends, trying to have a good time, and I was being hounded and followed by papparazzi that wouldn't go away, videotaping every word and step, I can so see myself saying things so foul, vulgar, and obscene that the footage would be, hopefully, unusable. If that's what was going on, it sure backfired.

Will You Still Need Me...

Media as a reason for divorce? Ok, maybe. But there are so many possible reasons that seem more likely.

Even avoiding all the tabloidish gold digger stuff, how about marrying on the rebound? After being in an, by all reports, amazingly close and loving marriage for over thirty years, a grieving Widower marries too soon because he's lonely.

How about a large age difference? When you're 64, even if you're a Billionaire and a Beatle, you can seem like an old fogey stick-in-the-mud to a much younger wife.

How about the Stepkids hate her guts and make no secret of it? Never marry someone your kids hate/whose kids hate you. No matter how much you love them, it's not going to work. Date, shack up, go on long vacations together, just don't get married and try to live 24/7, 365 including, oh God!, holidays, with someone whose family wants to poison your sweet potatoes. New marriages are hard enough without having avowed enemies plotting against them.

Second marriages are the triumph of optimism over experience. Isn't that how it goes? Too often, experience wins.

The Perfect Card

I woke up today and found the perfect card.

Brick is one of those people who says little but sends big messages with his card selections. There have been years where the card was funny, years where the card was from the cat, and years where there was no card at all. Neither of us likes to lie about our feelings and emotions, so we don't give gushy, romantic cards if we aren't feeling it.

I got a gushy, romantic card today. It was sweet and it fit and it was perfect. Hallmark is starting to do cards right. And I love my card.

The Thought?

So what counts?

Zelda was telling me about her friends and their plans for Mother's Day and how some of them had a price they needed to pay for a gift or their Mothers would be upset.

So I have two choices: A gift that costs $100. It doesn't suit me. It's not something I want, need, or will enjoy but it cost $100. or A gift that cost $10. It's exactly what I want. It's what I need. It suits me and shows that the person that bought it for me knows me, knows what I like, saw the gift and knew it was perfect for me.

I'll take the $10 gift.

Zelda gave me the perfect Mother's Day. She got me a straw bag that I love. Since I've been trying to find the perfect straw bag for weeks, it was the exact right gift. We went for a road trip, had lunch at a great little place, and spent a wonderful day together. And we did it on Friday so I didn't have to deal with the crowds that will be out today.

Up All Night

The nap yesterday was a bad idea but I couldn't stay awake anymore and it was just an hour.

Making the tea half caff probably wasn't wise but I thought it would keep Brick awake at work.

Brick working all night never helps and not being able to start housework till 10 p.m. makes it worse.

And it stormed all night.

Add them all together and it's 8 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep yet.

Did I do anything productive with my time? Not really. I caught up with reading. Cleaned a little. Tried to sleep a lot.

So do I sleep today or let the hour I got yesterday do until nighttime and try to get back on schedule?

Veggie Nachos

Trying to get back on track. Tonight was Veggie Nachos. I can't eat healthy if it's not fun and doesn't taste good. So:

Baked Lays Tortilla Chips with Mexicorn, drained and rinsed Kidney Beans, minced peppers and green onions, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and avocados.

Taken Care Of

Tom Cruise settles $33 million on Katie and Suri because he cares so much.

I ain't impressed.

$33 million is an enormous amount of money to most of us. When a guy has $600 million, it's not too impressive. $50 million would be 10 percent. What man wouldn't be thrilled to get away with a property settlement of less than 10 percent? You tip a waitress more than that.

DVD Roulette

I like independent movies so I'm usually up to try anything. I like Billy Bob Thornton so he's usually a safe bet. Chrystal may cure me of all that. Bad, bad movie. And, since Brick loves Billy Bob, I get to see the whole thing.

A Big-Haired Southern Girl

I don't know if I'm upset with Grey's Anatomy for dragging out southern stereotypes and having popular characters endorse them or if I'm glad the bias against southerners was shown. I'd definitely be glad if I thought viewers get it. Instead I figure more people will be reassured that we're all just hicks, rednecks, one of the last groups it's okay to make mean jokes about in public.

There are some common targets. There's the accent. If someone looks at it honestly, a southern accent doesn't make anyone ignorant anymore than a New York, Chicago, or a Midwestern accent (and yes, everyone has an accent). The drawl is like seasoning food. We like it a little slower and syrupy. It's not a sign of intelligence anymore than eating Cajun food is a sign you're not as intelligent as someone who eats scrapple.

Then there's Mama and Daddy. First; Mama is not the same as Mommy. It's not a child's word. It's not a sign of immaturity or weakness. It's more like 'Mom'. A Southerner who calls their parent Mother or Father either has a stick up their ass or there are problems in the relationship. Mama and Daddy are words of love, respect, and affection.

And Big Hair? It's humid here! If the hair starts big there may be something left at the end of the day. True strory: mentioned to a friend in another part of the country that the weatherman was promising low humidity for the weekend. "Oh," he asked "how low?" "It's going to be down to 58%!" Since the friend lives where the average humidity is @ 10%, he wasn't that impressed. At least not in the same way.

Roommaid Wanted

I see an article in Time this week about the new trend of Roommaids and thought "What a great idea." Someone who has a good income and a nice place to live exchanges room and board for housecleaning and chores.

Then I see a couple of lines that get my attention: "These relationships horrify some feminists." and " Still, the men usually set the parameters for how the relationships will work."

Ummm, that's because he's the Boss. The woman (this is usually a male/female arrangement) isn't living there because they are equal partners. She is, in effect, his employee and her salary is her living expenses. Since rent and utilities in a nice home in the areas where this is a growing trend are high, it's comparable to @ $1000+ a month. Not a bad deal in my book. So what if you don't get to have male friends over? You're at work. And you don't have a set schedule so, if you want to 'date', go to his place.

$12,000+ a year is worth a little inconvenience.

Because...

...when both your parents are known drunks it would be silly to think you were drinking when you were staggering after wrecking your car at 3 A.M.

"Poor Jen"

According to Star magazine, Jennifer Anniston is crushed.

Her husband's new relationship is a humiliation. She wants a role in a movie and that she's not getting it is a sign that her Ex is pretending she never existed (not that she would be horribly miscast and doesn't resemble the person at all). Everything that happens in the world is designed to hurt her. And (the horror!) she might have to live 13 miles, as the crow flies, from her Ex and his new family.

It's getting old.

I realize that the real people have little to do with the way Tabloid Media chooses to portray them. I'm not really upset with Jennifer Anniston the person. I'm tired of the Saint Jen, the Downtrodden that the papers drag out. If she has sense, I would think she would be incredibly tired of it.

Things can happen in her Ex's life without a 'How will this affect Poor Jen' story. And while we're comparing Tabloid World to reality: First-time fathers get nervous. It's not that they're frantic with concern, the Mama's crazy/they're sane, and it's a life and death struggle, it's just the way things are.

PostSecret of the Week

Because when I think of Cowboys...

...I think of Delaware.

This week on Wife Swap one of the couples (and I use that term loosely) was a rodeo obsessed pair from Delaware. They had a ranch...you know, when I think of Delaware, I think of corporations not home on the range but maybe that's just me...and they dressed in cowboy clothes at all times from the Justins to the Stetsons. The husband pinged so loudly that it was clear that there was a reason they had no romantic life (her only real complaint). The husband is into Gay Rodeo.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. But it would be nice if Cowgirl Jan and her Confused Cowpoke figured that out because they spend a lot of time going around preaching about what real women and real men do, how real families behave, and Confused Cowpoke likes to overturn tables and punch guys and hit women to prove his manliness.

It's hard to take anyone seriously that dresses that inappropriately. I may love the south but I wouldn't be wearing sundresses if I lived in Alaska. Someone needs to sit Jan and Cowpoke down and let them know that even in the heart of Texas people don't dress like that. There's a difference between 'real' Western wear and something that would fit in at a Buffalo Bill Traveling Show.

But maybe Jan and Cowpoke already know their look has nothing to do with reality and just don't care. After all, not much in their life is based in reality.

Want to See a Movie?

I want to see a movie. It would be nice if there were any playing that weren't Mission Impossible III. In local theaters it starts every 30 minutes beginning at 10:30 in the morning and running till @ midnight. Since some of these theaters usually don't show anything before 4:30 in the afternoon, it's even more irritating.

Maybe something good will open next weekend?

Sweeps Month!

Take the players from a 15 year old scandal, get them together for a 30 minute conversation, cut it up and put on a couple of minutes a night for 3 weeks.

A Woman Like Denise

So who is she?

It's not like any of us really know. We're all projecting.

Betrayed wife and heroic mother trying to protect her children? Betraying bitch who backstabs best friends and uses her children against the in-laws? How about a beautiful woman who's just not all that bright?

So you're going through a very public, nasty divorce with a famous husband who has a popular show and a beloved family. You've got some ammunition because he's an idiot but if you use it his side is going to be coming after you. You're pretty and look great naked and can have anybody. And you pick the estranged husband of a woman the public considers your best friend?!

Dumb. So dumb.

Anybody but him. Ok, almost anybody. Ideally, nobody. Order a vibrator online and a year's supply of batteries and make like a saint till it's all over.

Is it right? No. Is it fair that you be alone and your soon-to-be-Ex can date hookers? No, but life ain't right, it ain't fair, and, if you really care about what's good for your girls, you manage to restrain yourself from straddling friend's husbands on balconies then smiling for the papparazzi.

Or maybe that's just me.

Blah

Evidently the times I have the least to say are the times I should be writing. There's just too much going on and I want to run away (again). The problem for me with getting comfortable in life is that I assume change, when it comes, will be easier. I won't freak, panic, throw up, sweat like a day laborer in August, when a new challenge arrives because I'll realize how many things I do that were once unthinkable.

It doesn't work that way. The once unthinkable, by becoming ordinary and nonthreatening, loses it's power to calm fear. The panic, sleeplessness, and anxiety all return and I start to retreat.

So how to fix this?

• Realize just how far I have come.
• Remember what 'normal' used to be like.
• Realize what is terrifying at the moment will one day seem ordinary.
• Try to eat right, sleep right, think right, exercise, meditate, and keep perspective.
• Write, even though it seems to take more energy than I have, even if nothing seems worth the effort, even if nothing seems important enough, because not writing is a sign of retreat.