Grandma's House

In my 52 years on this planet, I've seen and heard a lot of despicable things. But just when you think people couldn't sink any lower, they find a whole new depth of degradation to wallow in:

In a Kos diary today, it is being alleged that Sarah Palin "faked" the pregnancy of her last child, a baby born with Down's Syndrome. The claim is that it was her teenaged daughter's child, not hers.

If this weren't so nauseating it would be hilarious. How desperate are these people anyway? Are they so afraid that a woman who holds to traditional family values is going to gain some power they will do anything to stop her? Or are they delusional enough to think anybody with more than one brain cell is going to believe them?

Is everybody ready for Gustav? Hurricanes are not a serious concern here in the Midwest, other than worrying about the people who suffer losses in them. But in the political field, hurricanes are extremely important. In fact, so important that Michael Moore *spit* thinks of them as "Proof there is a God in Heaven". Seriously. Instead of focusing on the people who will be impacted by the hurricane, currently expected to be a category 5, that bastion of objectivity, the Associated Press, sees the hurricane as a "..chance for redemption or point scoring in the presidential campaign". Gack!! On the other side of the political table, the GOP's nominee-elect McCain and his VP choice Palin are going to Mississippi tomorrow to see that preparations are in place for the people. In addition, the GOP is considering changing the program of the convention next week from a political one to a service-type program, something akin to a telethon to help people affected in the hurricane.

This is not a political event, people. This is a meteorological event, which will affect many people somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. Let's try to keep things in perspective, please?

I've been reading lots of sites on these here internets, and all I can say is, "WOW!" The more conservative websites are almost all thrilled with McCain's choice, and the more liberal websites are coming up with the most obnoxious responses possible. I'll give you some examples:

She used to be a beauty pageant contestant. So What?

She should be staying at home with her Downs Syndrome baby, not neglecting him and working outside the home. Are you kidding me? Would you say that if she were a father instead of a mother? I thought that's what the progressives wanted... equality?

She doesn't have enough experience to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. She has more executive experience than Obama, and he wants to be closer than a heartbeat away.

Yeah, but has she been to Iraq? As a matter of fact, yes she has. She went last year. She also went to Germany to visit the wounded troops.

She wouldn't be willing to work with Democrats or Independents. Au Contraire. Not only would she be willing to work with them, she married one, and gave birth to another.

She's in the middle of the trooper-gate scandal. I'll let MataHarley answer that one, in detail.

When you add to that the fact that she is a lifetime member of the NRA, is ardently pro-life, is pro-military (son being deployed to Iraq on Sept. 11), she's looking pretty strong as a choice.

A local resident whose father attends her church said:

"The one thing that Sarah brings is that her husband worked on the north slope. It's very much a working family. Her father was a school teacher, so she doesn't come from money. She's a mother of five and she definitely can relate to the average individual and I think especially in Missouri she can," says Reggie Mcelhannon.

Even Hillary Clinton was gracious in regard to Palin's selection:

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain," Clinton, the first woman to win a presidential primary, said in the statement. "While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

I thought that was nice, even though in the back of my mind I could see her saying it through gritted teeth. Anyway, that's my response. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I cannot believe it! McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. I can't tell you how pleased I am with this choice. And the Obama campaign is stunned. That makes it all the better. Can you believe the nerve of their response?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign on Friday blasted his Republican rival's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running-mate, highlighting her "zero" foreign policy experience.

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

Yeah, she's a heartbeat away from the Presidency, and can fulfill her duties with on-the-job training. They want to put somebody in as President with zero experience. Isn't that just a little bit worse? It is in my opinion. She won't be running the country, but if elected Obama would. At least now I can be a little happier about my vote.

Well, it's been a long week here in the good ole USA. We've been through phour days of pep rallies phor the Democrats, and have phour more days to look phorward to next week with the Republicans. How about a nice break? Well, wait no longer. It's Phriday Phideaux time!! I chose these three pictures, just because we can all use a good laugh right now. Enjoy, and keep your phingers crossed that McCain chose a good Veep.

This is just wrong on every possible level. A 9-year-old boy named Jericho Scott has been banned from his baseball league. Not for doing something bad, or broken the law, or getting in a fight. No, Jericho was banned because he's too good at pitching. That's right. If you excel at what you do, you can't do it anymore. Does that make sense to anybody with a brain?

Well, peeps, he's finally done it. After a gazillion years of waiting, Lawdogs has finally published the story about the pink gorilla suit. Oh, man, if your imagination is as fertile as mine, you'll laugh until you break a rib or something. I haven't read anything this funny for days. It was well worth the wait. Thank you, oh mighty Lawdog!!

You know, I'm quite sick and tired of people calling Barack Obama the first black Presidential candidate. It's just not true. There have been four others:

1. The first, and probably best qualified of the bunch, was Shirley Chisholm. Shirley ran for President in 1972, and received 151 votes at the Democratic Convention.

2. The next was Jesse Jackson. Not much to say about his qualifications, as there really weren't any, but he ran for President in 1984 and 1988.

3. Al Sharpton ran for the office in 2004. Also not qualified, but he was still a candidate.

4. Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman elected to the Senate, also ran for President in 2004. I don't know the exact numbers, but I'd almost be willing to bet she got closer than Sharpton did.

So please, people, stop calling Obama the first. It just ain't true.

On Wednesday, August 20, the world lost a great man. Capt. Ed Freeman passed away at the age of 80. The name of this Medal of Honor recipient may not ring a bell with some, but if you've seen the movie We Were Soldiers, you'll recognize the name "Too Tall".



Yep, that was him. A true hero in a war nobody wanted, yet far too many served in and died trying to win. Too bad they weren't allowed to finish the job properly, and then were treated like crap when they got back. Captain Freeman, may you rest in peace, sir. You have truly earned it.

How bad a life are you leading when you can't even manage to kill yourself? Ask the 84-year-old man in Argentina who shot himself five times in the head and once in the stomach... and survived. That's gotta suck.

I'd like to send a great big "Thank You" and Happy Birthday to 100 year-old Andre Steiner, and here's why:

Andre Steiner was the muscle behind one of the most daring — and overlooked — missions to save Jews during the Holocaust.
In his youth, before he became a renowned architect, he helped engineer a plan to stave off the deportation of Slovakia's Jews through a network of work camps and a series of bribes that likely helped save the lives of thousands

Read the whole thing. I wish more people were so caring these days.

Somebody get the kettle corn ready... this election is getting more and more entertaining. Obama has chosen Joe "never met a quote I couldn't steal" Biden as his running mate. After all these years of criticism re: Bush selecting an old coot like Cheney as his running mate, and Obama does the same thing. Mr. Hope and Change selects a 30 plus year veteran of the senate to make up for the fact that he has zero experience.

There's a straw poll on AOL asking who you'd vote for. I don't usually get into those things because I always figure the rapid left dominate with multiple votes, like the tweens dominate the voting on American Idol. But my sister sent me an email to check it out. After I voted, it showed the results, and every single state was red. The poll at that point (about an hour ago) showed McCain winning by 67%-33% over Obambi.

Now to find out who McCain is going to pick. The consensus seems to be for Mitt Romney, although he wouldn't be my first pick. Romney is okay, better than Tom Ridge would be, but he's just a little too slick for my tastes. I'd rather he went with Pawlenty or Palin. I would go with Sarah Palin. Pawlenty is good, but put a woman on the ticket now. Hillary's supporters are just pissed off enough to vote for McCain if he has a female VP. Some people are pushing for Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and he would be great, but not yet. For one thing, he doesn't want the job. Let's let him get some executive experience first. He should be the presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016, depending on how many terms McCain wants to serve.

Anyway, here's your chance to speak your mind. What do you think?

After that last post, I had to put some special pictures in our Phriday Phideaux. Nothing calms a soul like PUPPIEZ!!





Of course, they're not always innocent, but they are always cute!



But if you need a little extra calming, let's throw in some chocolate!

I'm really not enjoying this week in my history class. This week we're focusing on the Vietnam War. Yeah, a whole week to cover 10 years. Anyway, I was reading my text book (note: this is a text book, not an editorial), and lo and behold I find this little nugget:

Since success could not be measured in territory gained, the measure became the “body count”: the number of Vietcong killed. Unable to tell who was friendly and who was hostile, GIs regularly took out their frustrations on innocent civilians.

I could not believe what I was reading. And you should have seen the expression on my poor Sir Mugley. I thought he was going to have a stroke. This so-called text book even goes on to quote that formidable Vietnam Veteran, John Kerry:

The sudden shift from the hell of war to civilian peace could be wrenching. “I fell asleep [on the plane to New York] and woke up yelling, probably a nightmare,” recalled John Kerry, a candidate for president in 2004. “The other passengers moved away from me — a reaction I noticed more and more in the months ahead. . . . The feeling toward [Vietnam vets] was, ‘Stay away — don’t contaminate us with whatever you’ve brought back from Vietnam.’”

I guess they couldn't find a real veteran or anything. This garbage is being fed to students all over the country. I need to find some bleach for my eyes now. Excuse me.

You See the World Through Blue Colored Glasses

You live your life with tranquility. You have faith that things will work themselves out with time. You judge all your interactions through the lens of hope. You try to get all the facts before forming your opinion. You face challenges with wisdom. You know that all bad things pass, and you have the confidence to see problems through. You see love as the utmost expression of trust. Your relationships tend to be peaceful and stable. At your worst, you can be cool, melancholy, and detached. You sometimes have to step back from emotionally charged situations. You are at your happiest when you are able to reflect and relax.

This article is a report on the two presumptive candidates for President as far as their pop culture choices go. They made some interesting choices as far as favorite superhero, music, last movie seen, etc. I thought the most intriguing choices were who they thought did the best job acting in the role of President. John McCain chose Dennis Haysbert of "24", and Barack Obama chose Jeff Bridges from "The Contender".

Picture, if you will, the following scenario: You and your spouse work very hard to put your child through school, making sure he gets a proper and complete education. You are so proud when he becomes a professional instructor, ready to mold young minds. Then, to your horror, he comes out with something as stupid as this:

"Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea," Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, wrote in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

"University teachers should simply accept as variant spelling those words our students most commonly misspell."

To kickstart his proposal, Smith suggested 10 common misspellings that should immediately be accepted into the pantheon of variants, including "ignor," "occured," "thier," "truely," "speach" and "twelth" (it should be "twelfth").

It truly boggles the mind.

I'm back! Perhaps you don't recognize me anymore, but that's just because I'm old now. Tuesday was my 52nd (!) birthday. Believe me, I felt every year of it, and still do. We've got some rainy weather in the area, and my arthur-itis is acting up something awful. Add to that the minor fact that I've run out of pain meds, my sinuses are stopped up, and my back is killing me. I've been using Sir Mugley's pain meds, but they're not as strong as mine. Hopefully I'll get my refill tomorrow.

I've tried twice this week to get my driver's license renewed, but failed. I went Monday, and found out after I got there they're closed on Mondays. So I went back on Tuesday. Lo and behold, you have to have your birth certificate now, plus a social security card and proof of residence to get a driver's license renewed. I've got to get my birth certificate and go back. At least I got a 60-day extension so I don't have to go right away. It really sucks, because the certificate costs $15 (at least it did when I got one for my son), and the license is another $20, and I don't really even enjoy driving much any more.

Well, that's enough personal crap for now, except to say Thank God for my baby sister's health. She's a bit of a health nut, and takes extra care of herself, which is great. She'll probably live forever. But she did have a health scare last week, and we got word on Wednesday that it was just some scar tissue on her lung. No big deal. I'd be happy to trade lungs with her for a while. But I am truly happy for her. Must be a real load off. Love you, sis. Remember, you'll always be the baby, even if you are old.

You've really gotta hand it to those security folks at Qantas, they're really on top of things:

A LARGE bag with "BOMB" written across it passed through Qantas check-in and security screening for oversized luggage at Brisbane domestic airport yesterday, the Transport Workers Union said.

Oh, but it gets better:

However, TWU national airline official Scott Connolly said the situation "deteriorated" when managers dragged the still unscreened bag towards a more populated area of the airport.

Amazing. Makes me think of those old cartoons where the guy is holding the big round think with a fuse that says "BOMB" on the side, and he just stands there with a goofy look on his face.

I can think of a lot of ways to commit suicide if I really work at it, but this one seems a little extreme:

A 48-year-old businessman, Tadeusz Szewczek, committed suicide by tying a steel rope to a fence, wrapping it round his neck then speeding off in his car.

The car containing the decapitated body of Tadeusz Szewczek sped off down the street as his head bounced towards his home where his horrified wife was watching.

It seems he waited for her to get home, apparently getting back at her for some reason. Boy, he really showed her, huh?

Well, this is just ridiculous:

The agency that is lining a border waterway with concrete agreed Tuesday to consider adding ladders and buoys to prevent migrants from drowning when they illegally cross from Mexico into Southern California.

I tell ya, our men could have really used these guys on June 6, 1944. Of course, that wasn't an illegal enterprise, so they probably wouldn't have cared.

It's not Phriday, but here's Phideaux. Well, not at first..



Ooh, bad kitty. Of course, since it's my blog, the doggy gets even...



And finally, awwwww...

I had to do some template work tonight, thanks to Warner Brothers. They've moved the opening of Half Blood Prince to next July. It has allowed the opening of Twilight to move up to November, however. I hope it's as good as everybody thinks it will be. I'll have to content myself to re-reading the books until July I guess. Phideaux to commence later, as I'm beat from PowerPoint Hades. I'm halfway through it. Another PP due on Sunday. I have to condense the Vietnam War to 6-9 slides, and that includes a reference slide. How I'm gonna do that, I have no idea. Most of the people in my class weren't even alive then. Gack!!

It's Phriday Phideaux!! I didn't forget this week, and there are no sitemeter problems keeping us apart, so here ya go.

Looks like some goggies will go to great lengths to avoid going to the vet:



Well, if you can't scare them away, try a disguise. It just might work:



I'll try to post more later. Gotta sleep then do an assignment that's due today.

With the exception of my children (why they're staying there I'll never figure out), Illinois must be just chock full of nuts. This is especially true of their professors:

A University of Illinois law professor says he has offered to represent Iran if it decides to sue the United States over threatened nuclear program sanctions.

Isn't there a law against that sort of thing?

It seems "climate change" is more harmful to black people. Who woulda thunk it?

I'm not sure, but I think Satan is in a hurry:

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports on its Web site that a fence and garage at Westboro Baptist Church became engulfed in flames early today.

Ah, karma is so sweet...

There's a man down in Florida with way too much free time and way too little sense:

The sauce for a spicy Italian sandwich was apparently a must have for one Florida man. The man, Reginald Peterson, called 911 twice after a sandwich shop left off the sauce.

Peterson initially called the emergency number Thursday so that officers could have his subs made correctly, according to a police report. The second call was to complain that police officers weren't arriving fast enough.

So sad.

Anybody know how to start a boycott? I think Tyson needs one:

Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

So the federal holiday no longer counts, because they have 700 Muslims working there. I'm sorry, but that just sucks! Do these people get a paid day off for Hannukah? Do they get a paid day off for Easter? I think not. They've already built a special room in the plant for daily prayers. Where is the equality?

Wasn't that a fun weekend? Ok, maybe not. But it wasn't my fault. Sitemeter messed up everyone's blog, and that's why you didn't get a Phriday Phideaux last week. I'll make it up to you this week, ok? In the meantime, is it hot enough for ya? Wind chill today was about 105 here, and tomorrow's supposed to be hotter. I don't care, I'm not going anywhere. I'll just stay in my little air conditioned bedroom, watching videos and drinking whatever. Stay cool, y'all!