Meme of Four

Four jobs you’ve had in your life: Restaurant hostess, sign electrician, HVAC Service Manager, Contract Administrator
Four movies you could watch over and over: Steel Magnolias, The Shawshank Redemption, A River Runs Through It, An Affair to Remember
Four places you’ve lived: Orlando, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Denver
Four TV shows you love to watch: The Daily Show, Countdown W/ Kieth Olberman, The West Wing, Meet the Press
Four places you’ve been on vacation: Daytona Beach, Gatlinburg TN, Aspen CO, San Antonio TX.
Four websites you visit daily: DailyKos, Crooks and Liars, AmericaBlog, DemocraticUnderground
Four of your favorite foods: Prime Rib, Blackberry Cobbler, Collard Greens, My grandmother's Chicken Casserole.
Four places you’d rather be: Venice, Maui, New York, London

Feel free to fill in your own answers in the comments or post it on your own blog.

Polls are False Hope?

I will be the first to admit that I have been on Cloud 9 for a few weeks now.  First there was Brownie, then Fitzmas, Harriet Miers, Delay got hammered, Frist’s trust wasn’t so blind, Cheney openly begging for torture to be allowed, Harry Reid grew a spine and may have even developed balls.  We also got ANWR off the table, the budget cuts were axed, and the additional tax cuts for the uber-rich couldn’t get out of committee.  Now, there is the investigation into the lies that got us into Iraq, and Falafel Head has finally gone off the deep end.

However, there is one thing that worries me…the polls.  I’ve been dancing for weeks because Bush’s numbers are in the toilet. But, then I got to thinking about the past.  There was one time in our history that proved polls couldn’t always be trusted.  

Let me take you back, back to the mid-term elections of 1994…All of the public opinion polls were swinging high for the Dems, they all appeared to say that we would keep both houses, though we may lose a few seats.  Losing some seats would be expected since historically the president’s party almost always lost seats in the midterms.  Even with everything looking rosy, Hillary and Bill felt that something just wasn’t right.  So they, to the dismay of many, hired Dick Morris (yes, that Dick Morris) to kinda ‘take the pulse’ of the electorate.  The Clintons had been all over the country and just didn’t feel that the polls were reflecting the true feelings of the voters.  The problem being that typical polls aren’t a good gauge of the intensity of the electorate.  Nor is it a good gauge of why people aren’t happy.  Well, Morris did his own polling and determined that the Clinton’s were right.  Their opposition’s intensity was much greater than their proponent’s intensity.  Since people who are more involved tend to take more action, this translated into the “Year of the Angry White Man”.  Morris, as much as I hate him, was right.  He said the GOP would take both houses, and they did.  The other polls weren’t wrong, they just weren’t asking the right questions.

This brings me to why I’m beginning to be worried about the polls.  Has anyone asked why they don’t approve of Bush?  Have they asked the question ‘Is Bush too Liberal for your taste?’, what about, ‘Do you disapprove of the way he is handling Iraq because he hasn’t dropped nukes on Baghdad?’  I think if these questions were asked, we might find that there is a significant minority who actually think this guy is too far to the left.  My guess is in the neighborhood of 10% believe this.

If this is the case, and I really hope I’m wrong on this, then that means that if he becomes even more of a stubborn hard-ass then he could very well be back in the 50% approval range.  This also means that the far right nutjobs in the House and Senate may very well be re-elected by large margins, and they may even pick up even more seats.

Sure, its all great to see that he’s not trusted, and that Iraq was a mistake, but do these people feel strongly enough about this stuff for it to change their minds?  

I don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade, but I just don’t know if we are in the clear yet.

Lemme know what you think.

Time is of the Essence

Wow, there has been so much going on lately and I haven’t had time to touch on any of it. I plan to get caught up on “The Great Republican Meltdown” this weekend.

I hate that I’ve been away from my blog for such a time, but I have been too damned busy to do much of anything. I also had quite a bit of reading to catch up on.

Anyways, I’ll rant away this weekend. I’ve got a few lengthy rants in the draft stage that need to be edited then I’ll post them.

See y’all soon!!!!

Advice to the Holy Rollers

How is it that the far right neo-cons have managed to be the “party of values?” They are on the whole the most un-Christian group I’ve ever seen. I’m a pseudo-atheist and I have more values and morals than they do.

First of all, you can’t claim to be pro-life when you believe in the death penalty, pre-emptive war, and anti-gun control. What really appalls me is these people insist that a couple of cells in a petrie dish are more important than the real humans they could help. If they are so damned against using stem cells, (which, by the way, would otherwise be thrown away) then they don’t have to be treated with the cures they eventually create. Same thing with abortions…if you think they are so wrong, then don’t have one. Otherwise, stay the hell out of other people’s lives. Maybe if they spent half as much time worrying about how they were living their own life as they do worrying about everyone else they could actually be taken seriously.

Here is my advice to the fundamentalist evangelicals out there:

1. Stop trying to outlaw what other people are doing in the privacy of their own home. As long as it involves consenting adults, it is none of your damned business.
2. As I said above, if you actually believe an abortion ends life, then don’t have one. Simple as that. It’s a choice to be left up to each woman, not to you and your holy-roller friends.
3. Repeat this to yourself everyday…A cluster of cells in a lab are NOT a human, but Michael J Fox IS a human and he could really use those cells.
4. Stop trying to convert me and everyone else. I don’t need your crutch, I get along just fine. I don’t feel the need to have a greater purpose.
5. Do something Christian for a change…like oh, how about protest the death penalty. Or even donate to the poor. Do something to seem more Christ-like just once. You’ll feel better about yourself, and I’ll feel better about our co-existence.
6. Stop spewing hatred for those who don’t share your beliefs. There are thousands of religions in this world. What makes you so damned sure that yours is right?
7. No matter what you think, God did not choose you or anyone else. And he sure as hell hasn’t blessed this country. Nor will he ever. Get over it.
8. Realize that the hurricanes are not caused because of decadence. They are because you and your damned “compassionate conservatives” aren’t willing to admit that global warming exists and so you keep pumping more and more pollutants into our air.
9. Admit that Darwin was right, and that the Earth is 4+ billion years old. You look so stupid when you try to say it is 6000 years old.
10. Stop talking about 'the flood'. It makes you seem more stupid than when you talk about the Earth being 6000 years old.
11. Get to know a homosexual, without trying to convert him/her. You will soon realize that their life is not a choice. You will also realize they tend to live their life with better morals and values than you do.
12. Keep your God out of my schools, courts, and government offices. He’s not my god nor is he the god of nearly 30% of the American population.

I know this is hard advice to swallow for many, and I don’t expect any of these arrogant assholes to follow one single word of it. In fact, I’m sure I’ll receive a fair response of hate mail because of this. I don’t care though. It’s is high time that reason and compassion win out over vitriol and hate based in fear, unfamiliarity, and racism.

Oh, what's the use, I'll never change anyone's mind. I guess a squirrel can always have a dream though, can't she?

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!

I'm gonna stray from politics tonight and give a shameless plug to the boys in Tuscaloosa...Roll Tide!!!!!!!!

I'm a huge 'Bama fan and have been since I was born. So as the saying goes...

If you wanna go to Heaven
And walk the streets of gold,
You must know the password...
ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!

Am I Good, or What?

On October 12 (yesterday), I posted "Are Bushy Boy and Al Qaeda on the Same Page?". Then lo and behold, today Reuters ran a story that says the memo I discussed has been refuted by Al Qaeda in Iraq, and that our own government has said that there are credibility issues with the document because it included things that Zawahri wouldn't have said, knowing it could be intercepted. This isn't the first time I've predicted something with this administration and ended up being right. I predicted Iraq II the day that the Supreme Court handed the Presidency to Bush, Jr. My former boss will verify. Maybe they are just easy to read, maybe I'm cynical to a fault. I don't know, but I LOVE being right!

Final Update on "Wrong Writers"

BEFORE READING THIS POST, YOU WILL NEED TO READ THE PREVIOUS 2 "WRONG WRITERS" POSTS, Part I can be found here and Part II can be found here

Last Thursday, I sent my final reply to the e-mail bigot. He has not yet replied. Here are the last few exchanges...

Received: Monday, October 3, 2005 10:19 PM
From: Him
To: Me

whatever you say master

Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2005 1:15 AM
To: Him
From: Me

You’re kidding me right? What are you, twelve years old? “Master”? Huh?Seriously, if you can’t carry on an adult debate, then you really shouldn’t be writing editorials for an adult newspaper. But thanks for all the laughs.

My blog hits have gone up by about 15% since I've been posting our little exchange. You are quite popular among us liberals right now.

Received: Tuesday, October 4, 2005 8:15 PM
From: Him
To: Me

sweetie you can laugh all you want.
The fact still remains, you guys lost in 2000 and you cant' stand that fact.
Thanks for writing back cause i really enjoy the debate.


Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2005 9:29 PM
To: Him
From: Me

You call this a debate? This is mindless banter. A debate would be much more involved. I really don't think you could handle a REAL debate.

Also, I'm OK with Bush taking the electoral college in 2000. Heck, I'm even OK with 2004. You know why? Because it will have given the GOP long enough in power that they will destroy themselves. Not, only that, but by January 20, 2009, this country will be so fed up with Bush & Co that it'll be 20 yrs before the Republicans can even begin to recover politically. Don't believe me? Look at Bush's poll numbers, the Delay indictments, the Frist investigation, the Valerie Plame Affair, the debacle that is/was Michael Brown and FEMA, Halliburton, the record deficit, the war in Iraq, no-bids on Katrina rebuilding and suspension of Davis-Bacon wages, the rampant cronyism including Harriet Miers, Bill Bennett's racism, Pat Robertson's homocidal rantings, the price of gas, our new "energy policy", tax cuts for the wealthy, pork barrel spending, the rising cost of healthcare, the rising rates of poverty, and last but not least, the fact that we are no safer now than we were 4 years ago (we might even be in worse shape).

You wanna debate? Then let's debate. You tell me in at least 50 words why you think I'm wrong. I will not accept your little short declarative snarlings. Otherwise don't call this a debate...it's insulting. I didn't spend 4 years on the debate team so that you could call your childish outbursts a debate.

Oh, and don't call me sweetie.

Received: Wednesday, October 5, 2005 3:11 AM
From: Him
To: Me

Why debate a liberal when they will come up with 50 words that totally misconstrue everything that you say? I know better. In those great words of Rush Limbaugh...HA HA HA.

Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2005 5:45 PM
To: Him
From: Me

Admit it, you are afraid of me. You know if you debate me, you'll get eaten alive. That's right, I, a pinko-commie-liberal will shame you. Then, to make matters worse for you, I will post every word on the web for the whole world to see. I've already posted all of the e-mails that we've swapped, I won't have a problem posting the final showdown.

So, if you think you can play with the big girls, let's debate. Otherwise, if you can't stand up for what you believe in, one on one, I highly recommend you stop posting your blathering on the net. It is such a cowardly thing to do, opine about a topic you know NOTHING about, then hide behind a computer screen. But then again, isn't that what cowards do? They throw stones from behind the wall and cower
down when those same stones get thrown back.

Basically it all boils down to this..."If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Well, I haven't heard back from him. I guess he decided the heat was too much for him. He was really beginning to get on my nerves. I'm kinda glad he finally gave up.

E-mail me if you want a transcript of the entire e-mail, in order, it might be easier to read as one continuous thread. Squirrel2634@yahoo.com