Vacation all I ever wanted

I leave for vacation in the desert today. I am so excited! I get to get out of town and see a friend who I haven't seen in 4 (!) years. Fun in the Sun. Yehaw! I'll return in 10 days.

Pssst, pass it on: Stop Global Warming Virtual March to DC

Stopping global warming isn't just for "environmentalists" anymore.

THE STOP GLOBAL WARMING VIRTUAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON is a non-political effort to bring all Americans together in one place, proving there is a vast consensus that global warming is here now and it is time for our country to start addressing it. With the support of leading scientists, political and religious leaders, prominent Americans and concerned citizens, (the only time you'll see Dems & Republicans work together: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, General Wesley Clark Al Gore, Robert F. Kenney Jr.) the Virtual March on Washington will move across the United States via the Internet from one town to the next, showing the evidence of global warming's alarming affects, and highlighting real people's concerns and real solutions along the way.

Through our interactive map, you can track the progress of the March in real time as more people join, see the path on which we're traveling together, and read the stories from March stops across the country. We will march to Indianapolis and visit the Indy Racing League where all of the racecars will soon be converted to run on biofuels; in Colorado, where an elementary school is purchasing 100% of its electricity from wind power (saving 420,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year); and to New York City to visit the ground-breaking green rebuilding of the World Trade Towers; amongst many more destinations.

Find out more and add your name to the list of Marchers at
Stop Global Warming

Pssstt....pass it on! : >

Puh-lease, not that old excuse again

I am sooooooooo tired of illiterate Lame-ohs who use the Constitution to defend their lack of vocabulary (i.e. "it's my right to curse) and inability to use the English language. I mean really, there's so many layers of words with varying degrees of meaning in our language. Take for instance "pissed". Instead of pissed, you could be angry, exasperated, irked, irritated, aggravated, displeased, livid, enraged, incensed, infuriated, irate, wrathful, and any other number of things that are more descriptive than "pissed", which in the UK also happens to mean "drunk".

Why am I piqued by this? Today on the bus, some kid strutted on all brash and cocky. Moving his mouth. He was scoping out all the girls and gave a verbal commentary on several. He sat down right behind me and was having a conversation with his friend. I don't remember what it was about but he used the F*** word and a man in his 30s turned around and asked him to have some consideration and watch his mouth.

Predictably, the kid said that the man couldn't tell him what to do or say and that the Constitution protected his right to use the F word (unfortunately, this is not the first time I've heard this excuse), yada, yada, yada. He then proceeded to "dis" the guy until the man got off at the next stop telling the bus driver "if you're gonna let that a**hole stay on then I want off."

Again, predictably, the kid started bragging to his friend and then a new friend. "If this was downtown, everybody would have been laughing."

I couldn't stand his attitude any longer so I turned around and said, "For us to laugh, it would have had to have been funny."

I don't remember what he said, something about "get off my back" and certainly something else.

Then I told him something to the effect of: "The Constitution defends language for those who know how to use the English language, not those who want to use the F*** word. ... Go study your dictionary. ..."

Then I asked him if that man's opinion and desire to not listen to his language was protected under the Constitution. I wish I could remember how he responded to that.

He called me a witch and that he'd pop me (accompanying hand motion....yada, yada, yada. I admit to using the word "a**h***".

Then I got off the bus to go catch my train.

I'm sure I didn't make a dent (although I heard him talk about it and he pointed me out to a friend on the train) but I sure felt better. One can only hope that someday that kid will grow up and actually have something to say.

Meanwhile, I must go study the Oxford English Dictionary to learn some witty stingers instead of a**, et al.

News of the weird and wonderful

This is amazing! Three lions saved a kidnapped girl in Ethiopia. They attacked the kidnappers and stood guard over the girl for several hours until she was found by the police. According to a wildlife specialist the girls crying may have saved her from being eaten, because it may have sounded like the newing of a cub. I prefer to think of it this way...Gods wrath punishing the evil people who attempt to harm the innocent.

Here's the link to the article the Scotsman.com:
Three Lions save girl, 12, from kidnap gang

In Memory of Anne Bancroft

Whoa! I can't believe Anne Bancroft is gone. I thought I just saw her on the Tony awards on Sunday and she looked great!

She died of cancer on Monday at age 73.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/07/bancroft.obit.ap/index.html

Darth Stressball - the emotion strikes back

No, this post doesn't have anything to do with Star Wars. I've been feeling a lot of emotions lately, some of them on the dark side.

As Yoda said: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

This week I feel as if I am walking in a dark valley. I feel old habits stirring inside: anxiety, depression, drama addiction. {My sense of humor seems to have taken a beating somewhere between 9/11 and the election of 2004. All I want to do is rail at injustice, politics and corporations. I wish I could be witty and rail at the same time. Ah, well.}

Cynicism, fear, despair, apathy, anger and hate are gnawing on my thoughts. It's as if the unclean spirit, (Matthew 12: 43-45), after being cast out returned to a clean, orderly house and brought with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. {Hmmmm...7 spirits, 7's a symbolic number...we have seven deadly sins and God rested on the seventh day. I wonder if that' supposed to mean something in this passage...of course, the original spirit +7 would total eight....}

Writing helps me let go of things, which I otherwise have a hard time doing. It's part meditation and part prayer for me. So I'm going to put some of the nagging thoughts down....

A huge SUV, symbol to me of capitalist excess, made my anger levels rise this past weekend. Don't people see what they are doing to their bodies by lack of exercise? {People'd be better drivers too if they were pedestrians more often. A guy in a pickup truck ran a red light as I was waiting to cross today....If I hadn't been aware that he wasn't slowing down for the yellow light...he would have run me over. But when you're not a pedestrian I think it makes it hard to realize that. It's a disconnection.} And what about food? We are putting chemicals and empty calories into our bodies...is it any wonder that we feel bad all the time? Plus, I've found that real food and drink tastes better.

I'm angry at extremist Leviticans (Christians) who are remaking our country based on one book of the Bible. I fear that someday these same Leviticans will put fellow Christians into prison (or maybe a coliseum with hungry lions) for disagreeing with them and speaking out or even just for not "doing" or being religious enough.

While we're on the subject of Christianity...I've been thinking a lot about what Jesus said about judging.

Matthew 7:3-5 ..."Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, "let me take the speck out of your eye", while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye."

We've all been guilty of that. I admit to wishing for smiting powers at times. I wonder, would the world be better if people just looked after their own morals and actions, instead worrying about others? It seems to me it would. Because then we'd see...oh, I'm being hateful...oh, I'm being x, y, z. And then we could help ourselves (as the old saying goes, God helps those who help themselves.). It's similar to the practice what you preach. If everyone took care of themselves then we wouldn't have to scream and shout about hellfire.

I'm angry at Bush and other politicians who use God to get people to vote for them; all the while lying out of both sides of their mouth and WORSHIPING Capitalism and Profits. Voters are getting the shaft, these politicians are only helping themselves and their corporate cronies. Recent examples: bankruptcy bill

I'm angry at the American's who do not use their brains but instead believe every little thing that is said in an ad, news bite, or website, instead of researching and seeing what the candidate/company really does, such as those politicians who talked about supporting our troops but cutting combat pay and veteran's benefits. I'm also angry that people have forgotten so much of history. If we do not study history, we are doomed to repeat it! Our government is now replacing governments it originally put in into Afghanistan and Iraq (Saddam Hussein was part of the US sponsored coup in Iraq in the 1960s; we trained the Afghani's to fight the Russians.)

But maybe I'm just trying to hold on to my past life too much. Matthew 10: 39: "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

There's so much information out there ... we all have information overload and just want to turn our brains off. Plus, this makes it really easy to have disinformation or to have our news degenerate into entertainment news (what's going on with the Michael Jackson trial; are Nick and Jessica getting a divorce; Denise Richard's had her baby today, blah, blah, blah). PLEASE, unless your title is "Entertainment Tonight" or People magazine you shouldn't be wasting time on that. If I want it, and I do admit to enjoying the occasional bit of entertainment news as much as the next person (did someone say Orlando Bloom?!?! or Will Peter Jackson get to make The Hobbit?????), I know where to go get it.

Entertainment has surpassed religion as the people's opiate.

And don't get me started on people who don't want to think about the bad stuff or who think it can't/doesn't happen because 1) it hasn't happened to them or 2) they are truly good people who follow the Golden Rule. Unfortunately, not thinking about the bad stuff, doesn't keep it from happening.

On top of all this....there's a friendship I'm worried about, which I'm not sure if it's just me being uptight or if my friend really is pulling away because I got frustrated with her one day earlier this year and told her that I couldn't enable her anymore. We haven't talked in awhile and I don't really know what's going on with her. It could be that she's just busy but she hasn't returned most of my phone calls or emails this week. I'm frustrated with myself and with her. We both need to be emotionally honest. We both tend to ride an emotional roller coaster. I feel bad that I might have hurt her but you know is it healthy for her to be venting all the time and never moving forward? It's as if she enjoys being miserable (I have at times preferred it myself.)

There is a good side to walking through a dark valley; it reminds me that I need God. As a wretch, I find comfort in the words of "Amazing Grace": "...I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see."

This passage, which I stumbled across today in my Bible, gives me hope too. Matthew 9: 12 ..."Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." Jesus did forgive prostitutes, tax collectors and other sinners. There's always hope!

Getting to the bottom of the Downing Street Memo

As I was listening to my community radio station, their morning talk show was talking about a U.S. Representative John Conyers who is working to get to the bottom of the Downing Street Memo. That got me out of bed and to the Internet!

From www.johnconyers.com:

"As many of you are aware, a classified memo was recently disclosed in Great Britain that I believe has serious ramifications for the integrity of the United States Government. Dubbed the "Downing Street Memo," but actually comprising the minutes of a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and other top British government officials, the memo casts serious doubt on many of the contentions of the Bush Administration in the lead up to the Iraq war.æ With over 1,600 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen killed in Iraq, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and over $200 billion in taxpayer funds going to this war effort, we cannot afford to stand by any longer."

Conyers and 88 of his colleagues have signed a letter asking President Bush to answer questions about the Memo.

You can also sign the petition to President Bush (as of today join 145,000 other citizens!) go to www.johncoyers.com and click the link "Letter to President Bush Concerning the Downing Street Minutes" or on the sidebar click "Downing Street Minutes XXII".

He's also got a blog. Check it out.

Returning from a fall off the face of the planet

I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ck. I've been busy with my final two library media assistant classes in school to do any writing. Today was my last day!!! Breath. Breath. Hm...I can breath and clean my house and write.

My mind is teeming with thoughts to write down. More to come!