Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Presidential Speeches













Meh.

Am I the only one that thinks this joker is an ASS?

I'd like to include his Administration, as well as the entire Congress and Senate. Let's just spend more money to artificially inflate the sagging economy, let's put our country deeper in debt, let's give each American a few hundred quid (whether they need it or not) so they can go SHOPPING.

Yeah, that oughta fix things.

Christ on a stick. We need a revolution up in here.

No more Clinton's. No more Bushes. No black dudes who change their accents and their 'tude depending on the color ratio of their audience. No more drunk political "legacies" endorsing said black dudes. No more rich white turkeys who think they know how to make our country great again just b/c they ran a Podunk state or served a few terms in Congress.

We need real change. We need fiscal responsibility. NO MORE SPENDING until we are OUT of DEBT! We need to throw all those rat bastards on Capitol Hill spending our tax dollars right out on their collective asses. They are all useless as far as I'm concerned.

And while we're at it, can we do the same for the CA Assembly?

Oy.

What a crock.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Juno - wow

Why oh why didn't I see this movie sooner?

It rocked. So much.

See, I'm adopted. My biological mom is sort of a hard thing to go into, but let's just say the cactus reference was something that wasn't lost on me (if you've seen "Juno" you'll know what I mean by that). And my Mom, the one that raised me, well, she's been gone since July. Though really, she's been gone for a lot longer than that b/c she had Alzheimer's. And man, I f**king miss her more than I can say or explain.

Bigger though is the fact that now I'm a mom too. And my daughter, well hells bells, she is just the most.

The most.

So, Juno & Paul get to live happily ever after. Vanessa gets her baby. And Juno's parents are the kind of parents I want to be someday when I grow up. May my own personal Paul (aka JP) & I be so lucky as to watch this beautiful little girl become the amazing woman I already know she'll be. I'd like that, a lot.

Mom, I hope you're watching this w/ Grandma Pink. I think you'd be proud. Or at least, I hope so. Anyway, I love you. I miss you.

And Diablo Cody, wherever you are... thank you for telling "my" story, even if it isn't really mine. This little piece of cinematic heaven has gone right to a special corner of my heart.

The end.

P.S. A Side note:

The Tree Dude from our neighborhood association just dropped by. Not only am I getting the one CA Pepper tree I'd hoped for (in honor of mom) to replace the very dead piece of crap the City of Long Beach planted some 30 years ago, but I'm getting TWO. And my dad & I got to share a happy tearful moment together. The Tree Dude lost his mom the day after Xmas this year. He gave me a hug. I needed it. Thanks Tree Dude!

Thanks Universe (Life, Spirit, G-d). You rock too.
:-)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Tornado warning. In Long Beach?

Couldn't sleep last night after my BF arrived from his long trek through the Mohave desert. Partly b/c he was stacking some very loud zzzzzz's beside me, partly b/c Declan was restless & I could hear her whimpering on the baby monitor, and partly b/c I never just lay down in bed, turn out the lights, close my eyes & boom, sleep time. I require some in between time first. Ya know? TV, internet, a book. SOMETHING to help me transition my body and my very busy brain into a less insane state.

So I decide to check the internet on my phone (yes, I have one of THOSE phones) and there in plain site on my main page was a Tornado Warning from the Weather Channel --- "Hmmmm", I thought, "I wonder where that's for?" and clicked on it.

Long Beach. San Pedro. Torrance. Pac Palisades. Etc.

No shite?!

I've seen some crazy assed weather in my life. I have even seen tornadoes, albeit small ones. But never, not ever in Southern CA. Certainly not along the coast. We have water spouts. Not freakin' tornadoes.

I have no idea if a twister ever materialized during the 2 or so hours that the warning was in effect, kinda doubt it actually since we'd have read about it in the local fish wrapper, but I have to admit it was kind of thrilling to think about the possibility of it. Scary too. Like, hey man. We don't have basements here. Where the heck do you HIDE when you don't have a basement?

We survived the weird weather without incident. I slept most of the night away in a chair in Declan's room b/c she just wouldn't sleep on her own. I'm wiped out. But then, when do I ever really sleep anyway?

For those of you whom I texted late in the evening, sorry if I seemed caught up in the weather drama. But hey, despite experiencing many an earthquake, this CA Girl was completely left stunned by the idea that we could have a little Kansas in our beach burgh.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Oh, one last thing. I saw "The Bucket List" today. Not as bad as the critics would have you believe, but not good either. What can I say, Hollywood so rarely impresses me. Most of what they produce is crap. Too bad two such good actors have been reduced to this kind of vehicle, but it would make a good rental nonetheless. If you like the pat, pull at your heart strings kind of stuff. Which I often do. LOL. Anyway, there were some Hallmark weepy moments. How embarrassing! Especially in front of the BF. Oh wait, he's seen me cry before.

;-)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Rain rain... don't go away. I like you!


Finally. Winter has arrived. Thank goodness. The past two days have run the gamut from pouring to patchy sunshine with chilly winds to hail to a full rainbow under stormy black skies (wish I'd had a camera for that one). I love, love, love it. You have to understand that here in CA, we haven't got a bloody clue about the concept of "weather".... so when we actually get something other than 72 and sunny, I get way happy.

That is all.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Lou Dobbs - Repost

Read this on CNN today. He's right. And G-d, I wish more of us were paying attention.

The question is, what are we gonna DO about it?

-----------------------------

Reposted from CNN.com

Our leaders have squandered our wealth

By Lou Dobbs
CNN

Lou Dobbs' commentary appears weekly on CNN.com.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Bush's assurances that we'll all be "just fine" if he and Congress can work out an economic stimulus package seem a little hollow this morning.

Much like Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's assurances last May that the subprime mortgage meltdown would be contained and not affect the broader economy. And it seems Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has spent most of the past year trying to influence Chinese economic policy rather than setting the direction of U.S. economic policy.

There is no question that Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will quickly come up with an economic stimulus package simply because they can no longer ignore our economic and financial crisis. That economic stimulus plan will amount to about 1 percent of our nation's gross domestic product, an estimated $150 billion.

But all of us should recognize that the stimulus package will be inadequate to drive sustainable growth in our $13 trillion economy. An emergency Fed rate cut and an economic stimulus plan are short-term responses to our complex economic problems, nothing more than bandages for a hemorrhaging economy.

Bush, Pelosi, Reid and the presidential candidates of both parties have an opportunity now, and I believe an obligation, to adjust the public policy mistakes of the past quarter-century that have led to this crisis. And only through courageous policy decisions will we be able to steer this nation's economy away from the brink of outright disaster.

We all have to acknowledge that our problems were in part brought on by the failure of our government to regulate the institutions and markets that are now in crisis. The irresponsible fiscal policies of the past decade have led to a national debt that amounts to $9 trillion. The irresponsible so-called free trade policies of Democratic and Republican administrations over the past three decades have produced a trade debt that now amounts to more than $6 trillion, and that debt is rising faster than our national debt. All of which is contributing to the plunge in the value of the U.S. dollar.

At precisely the point in our history in which this nation has become ever more dependent on foreign producers for everything from clothing to computers to technology to energy, our weakened dollar is making the price of an ever-increasing number of imported goods even more expensive.

All Americans will soon have to face a bitter and now obvious truth: Our national, political and economic leaders have squandered this nation's wealth, and the price of this profligacy is enormous, and the bill has just come due for all of us.

Bernanke endorsed the concept of a short-term economic stimulus package, but he cautioned that the money must be spent correctly: "You'd hope that [consumers] would spend it on things that are domestically produced so that the spending power doesn't go elsewhere."

Just what would you have us spend it on? The truth is that consumers spend most of their money on foreign imports, and any stimulus package probably would be stimulating foreign economies rather than our own. Imports, for example, account for 92 percent of our non-athletic footwear, 92 percent of audio video equipment, 89 percent of our luggage and 73 percent of power tools. In fact, between 1997 and 2006, only five of the 114 industries examined in a U.S. Business and Industry Council report gained market share against import competition.

And let's be honest and straightforward, as I hope our president and the candidates for president will be: This stimulus will not prevent a recession. It may ease the pain for millions of Americans, but a recession we will have. The question is how deep, how prolonged and how painful will it be. Unfortunately, we're about to find out how committed and capable our national leaders are at mitigating that pain and producing realistic policy decisions for this nation that now stands at the brink.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

R.I.P. Heath?

Another celebrity takes too many drugs and dies. Accidentally or on purpose? Does it matter? The news media then glorifies it and talks about it ad nausea for days (or weeks) upon end, and we all gasp in horror, glued to the telly, caught up in the drama of it all.

Are you kidding me?

This is news? This, this story of human stupidity is MORE important than what our government is doing, or what the stock market is doing, how our economy is doing, or the "war" on terror???!!

Frankly, I'm far more saddened by the fact that yet another little girl (Heath's daughter) is left w/o a daddy because of drugs or alcohol. I'm sad that her mother is going to have to explain that concept to an innocent three year old. I'm sad that Heath's family and friends are left with the wreckage of his choices (intentional or not). I'm sad that there are myriad of people in this country that think we've lost some great human being (he was 28 for crying out loud, who knows what he could have been?)... What about all the NON celebrities that succumb to their addictions every single day, who is standing outside of their homes asking these "poignant" questions about "why" or "how"? Where is THEIR news coverage?

I'm irritated that the news media doesn't think we're smart enough to make our own conclusions about this chapter in human tragedy. I'm irritated that they think we need them to speculate about what really happened. I'm irritated that they open their big fat mouths before they know all the facts, reporting erroneous and often downright WRONG information. I'm sad that the Collective swallows it hook, line and sinker.

Listen up. We have far more serious problems in this country than another celebrity aspirating on his own drug or alcohol infused vomit. We are on the verge of a recession(depression). We are at war. The banking industry has made bad investments in the subprime lending business and the Bush Administration wants to bail them out! Whatever happened to accountability for the actions of business? Our government has literally been hijacking our very democracy on free trade agreements, foreign good imports, foreign oil, and just blatant wastefulness in general. They are pissing away the very things that made this country strong and great, and for what? Because we want more stuff to consume?

George Carlin was right about "stuff" man. It's just stuff. Give it up.

But I digress.

Certainly, I hope Mr. Ledger is no longer in "pain".... whatever his pain may have been. But mostly, I will be lifting that baby girl of his up in prayer & into G-d's hands b/c she (and Heath's immediate family) is going to need some serious comfort on this man. Meanwhile I'll not waste another minute trying to figure out "why" Heath is dead or how he could have been "saved". I (WE) have bigger fish to fry.

Your ever faithful Eye Roller -
C ~

Monday, January 7, 2008

New Year... hrumph!

2008. Wow.

Okay. I resolve to write more blogs here this year.

That's the best I can do for today. Maybe when I get back to CA tomorrow I can get started. 'Til then, it's all about wishful thinking.

Ha.

Cheers for now!