I Have Cats in My Drawers

This Week In Pictures

Ok, let's see - on Monday there was a freak storm around 4PM. It got dark, it got rainy, it got windy. Suddenly there was the sound of a train where no train should be heard - and then the very Midwestern sound of imploading glass. The picture below is my office window.

I really thought I was safe here, yanno? From tornados, anyhow.

















On Tuesday Carla sent Maddie pics....On Wednesday we decided to drive home for her christening next month. We'll drive all day Friday, stay over Saturday and Sunday and then drive all day Monday. It'll be worth it, tho. I can't wait to see her in person - and before she's walking, too.















And today - today was temporary truce day here in Virginia.

He Said It First

Oh My God!!

Not for the faint-of-heart. Or for those who detest the "C" word.

Although, come to think of it, I hate the "C" word with a passion and I found this hysterical.

And telling.

Very very telling.

"If they die, you're doing it wrong"

While I'm waxing political - two more Republican administration tidbits to chew on:

From CNN.COM

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States were tortured, according to medical examinations detailed in a report released Wednesday by a human rights group.

The Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights reached that conclusion after two-day clinical evaluations of 11 former detainees, who had been held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan.

The detainees were never charged with crimes.

"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," said Dr. Allen Keller, a medical evaluator for the study.

In a 121-page report, the doctors' group said that it uncovered medical evidence of torture, including beatings, electric shock, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, sodomy and scores of other abuses.

The report is prefaced by retired U.S. Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2003.

and, nicely timed, from MSN.COM:


A senior CIA lawyer advised Pentagon officials about the use of harsh interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay in a meeting in late 2002, defending waterboarding and other methods as permissible despite U.S. and international laws banning torture, according to documents released yesterday by congressional investigators.

Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."

(Both articles can, and should, be clicked on and read in their entirety.)

Interestingly enough,
some Pentagon officials acknowledged that the proposed methods faced opposition at the time from experts in military and international law. Among them was Mark Fallon, deputy commander of the Defense Department's Criminal Investigation Task Force. He warned in an October 2002 e-mail to Pentagon colleagues that the techniques under discussion would "shock the conscience of any legal body" that might review how the interrogations were conducted.

"This looks like the kind of stuff Congressional hearings are made of," Fallon wrote. He added: "Someone needs to be considering how history will look back at this."

Consider this - it's 6 years later and, hopefully, we can close this page in history as soon as possible. And look back in shame and sorrow on what was done while vowing to never again allow a president or a party to command so much and give back so little.

Bush + Katrina = Happy Birthday To John McCain

John McCain has recently critized President Bush for his handling of Hurricane Katrina - in fact, he's vowed, "Never again!" Quite commendable.

Until you realize that this picture was taken Monday, August 29, 2005 -



Several hours after Katrina hit New Orleans at 6AM.

Several days after we all knew something really bad was going to happen.

Apparently the emperor didn't fiddle alone while Rome burned.

Letter To Mom

Dear Mom,

About that interloping rat -
the one you're passing off as cat -
She's teeny-tiny-creepy small,
and we don't think she's cat at all.

She's commandeered the catnip mouse -
the bed, the couch - the whole damn house.
What once was ours she treats as hers.
She steals with sycophantic purrs.

She wrecks our litter, eats our food.
We're not amused - she's just plain rude.
She chews our tails. She takes our toys.
How could you, Mom? We were your boys.

How dare you bring this creature home -
this nearly hairless little gnome?
Don't call her " Kitty," she's not that -
she's naught but crawling wingless bat.

Quick, take her back! She's such a fake!
Admit you made a dumb mistake.
We're mighty tigers, hear us roar.
Show that rat-bat-brat the door.

Don't let her scare us any more.


Love,

Your Big Boys,
ADD & OCD

PMS With A Rope

Beauty: In the Eyes of the Beheld

One of these beauties is a friend of mine.

A close enough friend that I've even got a cameo appearance in the film itsef.

If you ever get to see the entire film - and you're looking for me - I'll be the one backstage at the strip club - helping the stripper decide which clothes to take off.

(Ha! You laugh - but it's not as easy as you think. There's a lot of planning before disrobing that most of us never even consider.)

Who knows, if I can't make it in the poetry business perhaps there'll be a film career in my future.

Is It True About Obama?

This is wonderful. Please watch it.

Ex. New Jersey Govenor McGreedy

Ex-Governor Jim McGreevey, who left a great paying job as Governor of New Jersey is now claiming that, due to his entering a seminary at the age of 50 while being supported by his lover, he can only afford to pay $100.00 a month (Yep, you read that right $100.00 a MONTH) in child support.

Perhaps Mr. 50 Years Old Looking For A Second Career isn't too good at math. Perhaps he doesn't understand that $100.00 a month translates to $23.80 a week...or $3.40 a day.

In other words, if Dad has his way, his child will be able to eat at Taco Bell twice a day - so long as said child eats from the 79 cent value meal and drinks nothing but tap water.

It's nice Mr. McGreevey's finally found his life's calling - being a minister is surely good work - it'd be nicer, however, if he manned up and realized, like millions of other parents have realized, that sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do - which is not necessarily gonna be what you wanna do. Supporting your children to the best of your ability would probably be a good way to start a do-gooding career. The question is, how do you minister unto others if you cannot, will not, minister unto your own? Has Mr. McGreevey never heard of the phrases "second job" or "part time job?"

Many parents would love to switch jobs, many parents would love the luxury of being supported by a new lover while going to school - virtually all of them realize that with parenthood comes responsibility - and their dreams remain dreams and reality becomes working their asses off in order to give their children a better world than the one they had to live in.

That includes divorced women, single women, widowed women, lesbians, divorced men, single men, widowed men and gay men. One would think that would include ex-governors, too.

Apparently it doesn't. Not in New Jersey, anyhow.

I'd like to see Mr. McGreedy live on $3.40 a day.

Really I would.

Latest Issues

Bumbershoot

Umbrella

Shit Creek Review

The Chimaera

The Barefoot Muse

Great stuff - enough to keep you busy reading for the rest of the month.

There's even a "me" poem in Bumbershoot - doing what I do best - making fun of something.

Writer, Writer.

Clinton Supporter Thrown Out of Rules Committee Meeting

Makes me want to be identified as anything but a middle aged white woman.

It would be laughable if it weren't quite so embarassing.

I wonder if she was there with "Women Count?" You know - the ones who claim to speak for all of us.