Weekend Away

Cookie is fine! My laptop has been hooked up to the internets and it doesn't have the picture programs on it.

I am posting on a dial up connection(I had forgotten how slow dial up is) from my mother in law's house, visting with her new dog who is sweet and beautiful; the girls love her, don't want to leave her alone and want to bring her home to join our clan of dogs, guinea pigs and goldfish. I am also about to go meet Steve and Stella for lunch, which is very exciting. I have my camera at the ready and if I get permission I will post a picture or two, when I get home. After I force my hubby reconnect my computer.

The Filibuster deal and if I don't say it will it publish?

First I just want everyone to read The Rude One it is important to know what the filibuster has to do with gay sex. I am not really sure I understand it yet, but as for the deal itself and the pundit's take on it I do agree.

Compromise

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Centrists Republicans and Democrats reached a compromise Monday night to avoid a showdown on President Bush's stalled judicial nominees and the Senate's own filibuster rules, officials from both parties said.

These officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agreement would clear the way for yes-or-no votes on some of Bush's nominees, but make no guarantee.
Under the agreement, Democrats would pledge not to filibuster any of Bush's future appeals court or Supreme Court nominees except in "extraordinary circumstances."

Well I guess Frist found out that he didn't have the 51 votes he needed to kill the filibuster, if he had them a compromise would have never of happened; it just isn't in those peoples vocabularies. Lie, cheat, steal sure they are there in spades, but compromise, work in conjunction with the opposition; we know better.

Priscilla Owen's nomination is to be the test case. She is one awful judge, without a doubt and deserves a federal appointment like I deserve to an ingrown toenail(I never wear pointy toe shoes). I suspect we will have to let the stinky cheese pass and remember than somewhere, someone likes it. Okay picture Dana Carvey as the Church Lady saying Satan right about now, but still... we have saved the filibuster for the Supreme Court nominations and as a reminder the Chief Justice was rolled into court today.

Well I really wanted to post this picture even though it appears a compromise has been reached. 

Normalcy

You Are 50% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Updated my blogroll a bit

I am sure there are a couple of people that I read on a regular basis that aren't on there so I am going to attempt to write down where I am going this next week so that I can add yall. I do read Eschaton and Daily Kos, but I also assume that everyone knows how to get there and there is really no point in my blogrolling the big boys. If Kos or Atrios sends me an email saying hey Rugo please add me to your blogroll of course I will do so. That being said, I will have to figure out how to put my email address up here first. ;).
In addition, my computer at home wasn't hooked up to the internets this week, the laptop was, and while this might not seem like that big of a deal but I couldn't guinea pig blog on Friday because Hello is on my desktop.
It is sad to discover that your laptop has a better video card than your desktop. I am going to buy my desktop a new video card next payday.

There is a new MMRPG that is a great deal of fun out if you enjoy them. I have been left out in the cold since EQ I went down hill with the advent of WoW and EQII. But now there is Guild Wars and I am actually enjoying the game, mainly because there doesn't seem to be a huge number of teen-age boys walking up to me asking for cybersex within the first 5 minutes of me logging onto the game. Thus the need for a new video card, mine doesn't support the graphics of Guild Wars which are amazing, my laptop does though.

I love Molly

Really I do. I wish I had half her ability to write, or to bite for that matter. If what she has could be bottled; I would want to be just like Molly. She was on NOW and Crooks and Liars has the clip. She pretty much nails Priscilla Owens, Republicans and religious victimhood. As I listened to the clip I couldn't help but think of all the individual christians in the last year who have bought into this message, and have said something to me. It left me dumbfounded, really it did. So it might actually be something to pay attention to.

On a cultural note: Molly's accent, yes some people from Texas really do sound that way, Pasquin for example, mine is only that strong when I am 3 deep in margaritas. My 4 year old's is as strong though because she has grown up in West Texas.

Work

Having been insanely busy at work, and actually having to *gasp* work, I have only a vague idea of what is going on in the world. Those idjits in the Senate are debating the nuclear option. The bigger idjits in the press are acting like there is a real possibility of doing away with the filibuster. Please, tell me this isn't true; last I heard it wasn't but then I thought we were going to win Ohio.

In other news the Real ID Act has passed the House, shall we shudder in horror.

On to the important stuff...My oldest daughter earned a Commended Performance on the Math portion of the TAKS test, and almost did on the Reading portion as well. Way to go kiddo! The 4 year old had to have a tooth pulled yesterday, and had her first visit from the tooth fairy. Did you know that when you have a molar yanked out by the dentist at 4; because of a sinus infection it seems, without being knocked out, the tooth fairy gives you 5 dollars? Inflation+intense pain= major cash.

Call your Senator if you don't live in my crazy State and tell them you don't support a change in the Senate rules and that you love Senator Robert Byrd. If you live in Texas; procreate, it may be our only hope. (Pasquin you are off the hook, just send psychic liberal messages to MF's children.)

Oh me oh my

Via Pam's House Blend How to be a submissive wife.
I am in serious trouble...Some results that can occur when women are not in a right relationship with men are divorce, rebellious children, emotional problems and sexual frigidity I am most worried about the last. I can handle a divorce, get a therapist, tie the children to the furniture, but how do you cure the last one?
I best get submissive real quick.

A journalist who deserves the title

From a Bill Moyers address on media reform which I found in Salon
I wore my flag tonight, first time. Until now I haven't thought it necessary to display a little metallic icon of patriotism for everyone to see. It was enough to vote, pay my taxes, perform my civic duties, speak my mind, and do my best to raise our kids to be good Americans. Sometimes I would offer a small prayer of gratitude that I had been born in a country whose institutions sustained me, whose armed forces protected me, and whose ideals inspired me. I offered my heart's affection in return. It no more occurred to me to flaunt the flag on my chest than it did to pin my mother's picture on my lapel to prove her son's love. Mother knew where I stood. So does my country. I even tuck a valentine in my tax returns on April 15th.

"So what's this doing here? I put it on to take it back. The flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo, the trademark -- the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. On most Sunday-morning talk shows, official chests appear adorned with the flag as if it's the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. During the State of the Union, did you notice Bush and Cheney wearing the flag? How come? No administration's patriotism is ever in doubt, only its policies. And the flag bestows no immunity from error. When I see flags sprouting on official labels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao's Little Red Book of orthodoxy on every official's desk, omnipresent and unread.

"But more galling than anything are all those moralistic ideologues in Washington sporting the flag in their lapel while writing books and running Web sites and publishing magazines attacking dissenters as un-American. They are people whose ardor for war grows disproportionately to their distance from the fighting. They're in the same league as those swarms of corporate lobbyists wearing flags and prowling Capitol Hill for tax breaks, even as they call for spending more on war.

"So I put this on as a modest response to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks. or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of bribing governments to join the 'Coalition of the Willing.' I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government, and it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war, except in self-defense, is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve and diplomacy. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country."

If you don't have subscription, it is worth sitting through the add to read the entire address. He makes so many important points of which this is just eloquently one. This speaks to my patriotism, my desire not to fly a flag, not to fight a war, and my need to speak out against my government.

Consent

It seems that Republican men like hot, dirty sex. They also seem to like that hot dirty sex with people and animals who can't consent to it. That is the underlying theme here, control. You bang your narcoleptics wife up the bunghole while she is passed out you are in control, because she can't say yes or no. It is rape. You bang a mule when you are a teenage boy because you are one sick republican fuck, it is about control because teenage girls say no whereas the mule, she can't.

See the pattern: Control, Rape, and Degradation. In Texas marital rape is the same as non-marital rape: a crime is a crime is a crime. It is one of the few things we get right. You anally rape your wife; we aren't going to look too kindly on you. The last fellow who did that in my neck of the woods thought he could go to the Judge and say opps I just slipped. He slipped for 40 years he did. He is finding out exactly what opps I slipped felt like. He isn't a big fellow and he was kind of pretty. The fellow before him said to the jury but she wanted me to tie her and then violently anally rape her, to the point she required stitches. He is serving 60 years.

I would hope to see Dr. Hager prosecuted for his crimes against his wife but it is doubtful as this testimony is coming out in their divorce case. The prosecutors are sitting in their offices saying this is he said she said case and it just isn't credible. The woman was victimized for years and the best she is going to get is out of the marriage, and the dear doctor leaving his job.

We have all had a great deal of fun this week at the expensive of the doctor, and the press, but what is really been lost is that his wife was brutally victimized by him for years. She must have lived in constant fear and he will walk away from this for the most part unscathed. She is forever scared by his behavior. For one minute imagine what it must have been like to live her life, to be dependant on him for whatever reasons she was and to be repeatedly victimized all the while he is being praised for being a good Christian man. Now realize that she probably is not going to see any kind of justice, because they are more than likely going to be unable to prosecute Dr. Hager and if they do the chances of a conviction are slim.

A Miller worthy of respect!

Matt Miller I am considering a marriage proposal. So I am already married, maybe no one will notice. Okay so I can't marry him, maybe he would consider a one night stand? Oh yeah I forgot I am a Democrat it would be a scandal. At least we still have the months of May and June and oh but the boy has sarcasm down:

[Infomercial director: " 'The Republican Guide to Wartime Tax Cuts' ... Take One ... Action!"]

ANNOUNCER
In the old days, war profiteering was a grueling round-the-clock job. You actually had to make something, like planes or guns, and then overcharge the government obscenely. Now, thanks to the Republicans, countless Americans are becoming "war profiteers" in their spare time - and you can, too. Riches once thought to be the exclusive preserve of a few unsavory arms merchants have been made available to thousands of successful Americans, many of whom pull in the cash literally as they sleep!

What's their secret? With "The Republican Guide to Wartime Tax Cuts," you can find out what's in the playbook of Republican professionals. You'll get the war you want without laying out a dime, even as you benefit from huge tax cuts to boot (note: certain income thresholds apply).

And here's the kicker: you can slip the bill for all of this - both the war and your tax cut - to unsuspecting children!...
...Now, whatever you thought about Saddam, the best news is this: we got this war for no money down and zero payments for 10 years. That's right: every penny spent on this war has been added to the deficit. And this latest $82 billion sailed through without a hitch, with no pesky questions as to whether we should actually pay for our own wars today.

(Yes, there was one scare, when Joe Biden said we could do that by repealing a sliver of the tax cuts with which the G.O.P. has incentivized important Americans. Luckily this notion was swatted away as "nongermane.") Now the drive for more tax cuts continues, even as yearly deficits close in on half a trillion dollars!

[Voice-over]

WARNING: Support for the Republicans' wartime fiscal policy may include such side effects as 50 million uninsured, crumbling roads and bridges, and swelling inequality. If you are concerned about any of these symptoms, please call Dr. Howard Dean.

Dennis Miller

being cancelled is alright.
Dennis Miller in the words of Shakespeares Sister priceless.

Cookie wishing for wings... 

Absolutely

This is what Pasquin always wanted me to do...
"lefty academicians trying to trick students into tattooing Mao onto their buttocks." Ezra Klien

I am rushing to the tatoo parlor now that I know I have permission to get a tatto on my ass. I am in my 30's after all, it is about time I figured out that all these years of rearing my parents wanted me to get a tatoo, I mean they are lefty academicians.

Yeah right in a biker's wet dream.

The Patriot Act Review

The Heritik has a very thoughtful post up about the Patriot Act Review, everyone should read it. I have stood on my head shouting that the act is unconstitutional since it was voted into law. I hope that our law makers actually look at it this time and vote out of knowledge not fear this time around.

The one positive thing I can say about the Patriot Act, my oldest daughter will be flying in and out of DC this summer. She became a bit worried about terrorists, what child wouldn't be with W. filling their head with crapola this fall. I was able to alleviate her worries by chanting no civil liberties safe airplanes, you are safe in the air. She giggled herself to sleep, saying no freedom of speech, freedom to fly.

This isn't a parody site

It invites a parody. It really does. Now, someone should photoshop this Bushfish it begs for it as well. I just want a photoshopped fish as wallpaper. So many possibilities...

Oh yes scary isn't it? Now that you know it's real.

I wouldn't mind a 1000 dollar a week per diem

According to Newsweek that is basically what the president gets for being the president, on top of his 400k salary. That is some per diem, and he gets it even if he stays home. It is actually an expense account set at 50k, to be used to help defray the costs of the office. I wonder what costs of the office aren't already covered? Travel..Air Force one. Housing...White House. Car...Big Black Armored SUVs. Food...White House Chef.

Any thoughts?

On raising feminists

As you can well see below I have two lovely daughters. Every once in a great while in raising your children you have a small moment of victory. Usually it is because they have done something humanistic, brilliant or have some kind of artistic talent. (I guess if you have children who could kick a ball that might cause great pride too, but since I come from a line of left footed individuals with the exception of my little sister I wouldn't know) This weekend though, I discovered that raising a feminist is a small victory as well. We have some friends whom are expecting their first child and they were over for supper. The naming of the baby became exciting supper table discussion, as usual the couple has yet to be agree on a name for either sex. My youngest daughter in all her feminist wisdom turned to the husband and explained that in the end he would have to let the wife decide because it was HER baby. They said no it was their baby. My 4 year old would not relent saying but it is her tummy the baby will live in until it is born so she should get to decide, the mother-to-be winced. I beamed, I do believe I am raising a feminist.

My girls. 

What a great phrase!

Dubya places religion over science, refuses to acknowledge that global warming even exists as a planetary peril, and has never shown the slightest interest in conservation, mass transport, or anything else that might prevent the paving over of every inch of countryside. He would plant oil rigs in Arlington Cemetery and shovel straight through the bones of dead soldiers if reserves were discovered beneath the rows of white crosses, and chainsaw the last tree in the rainforest out of pure spite. James Wolcott

The entire post is great but the imagery in especially the last sentence just gave me chills. I once was a bigger fan of Blair's than I am now, much like his own countryman; amazing what a preemptive, aggressive war will do.

Where do I fit in this puzzle? By the potato chip! 

My job

I love my job, and most of the time when I go to conferences I get renewed, refreshed and ready to go back and fight the good fight. So far this week it just isn't working. It is depressing me. I see pictures of dead children and want to throw up, go home, hug my own and never let them out of the house again. I should want to help that child's mother. I just want to do my damndest never to be that child's mother. I see worthwhile agencies so woefully under funded that it is miracle they make the rent from month to month, and I want to cry. I am going to come home from this conference and talk to you all about one of these agencies. They deserve some bloggerly brotherly love. This is a difference that I can make and will see if maybe I can. The only thing I can equate to this conference is when I was 13 and planned my escape from Girl Scout camp, because I was homesick. Someone ratted me out; and Pasquin and my mom came and rescued me. This was after years of girl scout camp and loving it. Except I am a grown up this time, and it is my job.

Ronnie Earle

Not only has cajones, he is a great speaker. He is also a very nice man. I got to meet him today. I wish I had brought my digital camera now.

A purification ritual is in order

I saw this over at It's Morning Somewhere it looked entertaining I think I was too nice on some of those questions.

I am: 7% Republican.

"You're a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)"

Are You A Republican?

I swear Pasquin I don't know where the 7% came from ask Mom.

Oh Puke

The mayor of the little city in Georgia, home to the runaway Bride, is on CNN talking about civil remedies for the search. Get real. The police were doing their jobs! The woman didn't want to get married. So she went about it a bad way, suing her sends a horrible message to young women everywhere. In addition, we have no clue as to why she felt in necessary to run. And guess what it is none of our business! Shall we all get a collective life?

Maudlin Monday Post

I tend to be emotional, and you can never tell what might set me off: cute kids sometimes, bad kids sometimes, movies rarely, statistics well go look. I found these graphics over at Rising Hegemon. The devil is in the details.

How many judges does it take?

To figure out if a thirteen year old girl in Florida can have a perfectly legal abortion without the NOT necessary consent of the department of children and families?

Answer: More than one

L.G.: Why can't I make my own decision?
Judge Alvarez: I don't know.
L.G.: You don't know? Aren't you the judge?

Via Bitch PhD

I can dress myself and do my own hair I really can.