seems like nothing going on...

the last couple of weeks it seems i've been doing more humor that anything else on the site.

post-election blahs? not really. i'm glad it's over.

too much Obama? no. it is to be expected. Tsar George has basically bowed out of everything, and people are looking forward to a change from the last eight years. i'm sure even the Busheviks are included in this. they probably are happy that the lead weight is going to be gone from around their necks.

holiday blues? not really. holidays have been great for me the last several years. i look forward to them and have a good time.

cabin fever? too early. the weather has just begun to change in Chicago and the sun is coming out every couple of days. besides, fall has always been my favorite season of the year.

idleness? no way. the Thanksgiving holiday. the HEDAC holiday donation mailer. a new startup charity i'm getting involved with called H.A.N.K. - Helping All Needy Kids based in the community my school was located. opera season. [i've already seen Les Pecheur des perles, Manon, and Lulu. Porgy & Bess is next.] the gym. doctors.

oh, there's a big part of it. i've been to see the neurosurgeon again, had a new MRI and also underwent a series of tests to determine nerve damage with my back. it's been a year since the original injury; i've had multiple interventions and one major surgery. looks like it may be another, even more complicated. i'll find out more on the 18th.

the economy? definitely. my portfolio is waaayyyyyyy down, but who's isn't. it's sad to see everyone struggling. being on a fixed income with retirement, i watch the prices of things going up and realize that it effects me also. i go by the local churches and see more people in line at the food pantries, and i don't live in a poor neighborhood. it's very middle class and established. it's kind of sad. no, it's very sad.

Propositon 8 in California? yes, that's a large part of it also. i've been watching so much of what has been happening as it's result. the LGBT community is at odds not only with the wingnutters but with itself also. the latest was an op-ed in the New York Times - Gay Marriage and a Moral Minority - by Charles M. Blow. there is a lot to the article but the effect it is having has at its heart that Civil Rights and rights for LGBT are not the same thing.

you see, i've always believed that a civil right is a civil right no matter what you gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. that civil rights are the promises made by the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Rights of Man, Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen, etc. had no barrier to anyone who is a human being, in spite of the decades it took to complete it for women, African-Americans and others.

with the latter, i thought that when Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, though it was meant to specifically address the standing of the Black Community, it would be understood that no one should be left out of basic civil rights.

i suppose i could mention other things, but probably the ones above are the biggest and, add in my back problems, it sometimes seems overwhelming. i also understand that others are worse off, but i am only a speck. there is only so much any one of us can do.

we just have to make sure we do it...

Westboro Baptist Church arson; their response?

Here come da judge. Here come da judge.

Early Saturday someone set fire to the garage behind the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas.

Flames damage Phelps garage
Blaze remains under investigation; family member insists it's case of arson

Topeka Capitol Journal

So, what did they do? They got out their signs and picketed. What would you expect? They also filmed what the firefighters were doing, and they put out a response on what they believe is behind it. [you don't have to watch it, if you don't want to.]


Thank God for WBC Fire

It was the judges' who consistently rule against them and do everything to push the faggot agenda that were behind the fire. Of course, it is. There is a vast conspiracy against the First Amendment from the fag-loving media to the Bush/Cheney administration's Homeland Security measures. It's all there for you to see.

Except there is one major problem. Mr. Phelps wants the media to be controlled but the First Amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...;.

so, needless to say, i'm confused [as is often the case]. either you have a press that is unencumbered to report freely or you don't. you either have a government without religious establishment or you don't. you can't have it both ways.

or can you?

the ABSOLUTE height of hypocrisy...

Perhaps you will remember Senator David Vitter (R-LA). He's the one that admitted using the DC Madam for, ummm, his pleasure impulses. Well, he's back on the radar.

and you thought you were safe...

Last week he, and Sen. Larry (tap my foot, no I didn't) Craig signed on as co-sponsors of another constitutional amendment that states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The Carpetbagger Report has it here - The Federal Marriage Amendment is back — with Vitter’s and Craig’s support.

But the funny part is looking over the list of the 10 original sponsors. Most of the names are predictable — Brownback and Inhofe, for example — but there are two others whose names stand out: Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Yes, two of the principal sponsors of a constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage include one far-right Republican who hired prostitutes and another far-right Republican who was arrested for soliciting gay sex (sic) an airport men’s room.

Hello! As if that were not enough hypocrisy in and of itself, get this...
Vitter - The Only Senator Opposing Removal Of HIV Travel Ban»

got that?

from Wonk Room at Think Progress

In fact, the Senator, who himself engaged in behavior that could have placed him and his wife in danger of contracting HIV, has promoted policies that increase the likelihood that people will become infected with HIV:

- Voted in support of the “prostitution pledge” in PEPFAR which creates obstacles to reaching and serving sex workers.

- Attempted to amend PEPFAR “to reinsert the 33 percent abstinence-only earmark.”

Vitter has a long history of promoting failed abstinence-only policies and supporting legislation that undermines people’s sexual health and equal rights.

let's see if we can make sense of this. Vitter visits prostitutes defending his marriage; Vitter strongly supports abstinence only programs to prevent HIV & STD's; Vitter wants only men and women to be able to get married in order to to save the sanctity of marriage; Vitter supports family values by discriminating against other people; and, finally, Vitter's wife has forgiven him when she made the statement when if she had been Hillary, she would have cut off his penis if she caught him.

nope. sorry. i can't make sense of it. can you?

just asking...

where's my rebate check?

For the first time ever I have to pay the IRS this year. It's because of all the refunds I got when I retired last year. Seems that the government agencies had me putting money into things for a number of years that I didn't have to pay into. Figures....

Since they were pensionable items there were no taxes taken out at the time. So, now, I have to pay the taxes on them.

My questions then are, if I'm paying taxes this year, do I get this economic stimulus package or not? Can I just deduct the $600 from what I have to pay? Do I get the entire $600 or a percentage because I made so much with the refunds? Do I have to file additional paperwork? Or am I just being stimulated where the sun don't shine?

i'm confused.

wait..., maybe i'm not.

no, i'm definitely confused...

'splain me, Lucy...