The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Gotta love this picture of Arlen in the court!

I found it at MacYapper... great blog post today there about Arlen's vote on President Clinton's impeachment:

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(snip)

And who can forget his classic vote AGAINST the evil nutbag impeachment (which, BTW, is merely an indictment, and he was NOT convicted by the Senate, hence, NOT GUILTY!).He quoted Scottish law and said "not proven." Billy the Election Thief Rehnquist rolled his eyes, and recorded it as a big fat NO vote!Why Arlen was quoting Scottish law remains a mystery. But the GOP crazies can blow on his bagpipe today, baby!He's quirky, he's smirky, and yes he's kind of jerky!He sometime is a turkey. But that's what makes Arlen, Arlen.

Welcome Arlen! Way to go!

"When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing."


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"Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania."



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"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."



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"Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

The Sunday Morning Muse, April 26, 2009

The list of things I do not want to write about is rather long today. I am bored to tears with the topic of torture. This nation used to do it, now we are not. Turn the page.

As for guns, well, what a wonderful country we would have if every man, woman and child owned an AK 47. Just bliss. Personally I have no use for one and I can't fathom needing it anytime soon. If things get that bad, I'd just as soon not be here.

I don't want to ramble on about the first 100 days about the Obama presidency. The bottom line is I'm happy with him, and he deserves a chance. If you want him to fail, listen to Rush or Hannity or Faux News. I'm sure the happy readers of Fox Nation... Fox's online family of like minded people will be picking apart every blessed thing the man does. If you want to wallow
in all that negativity, be my guest.

As for Climate Change... How much evidence do you need? How may parts of particle pollution do we have to breathe? I don't feel like writing about that either. The last person I would trust on the Subject is Newt Gingrich. He is well financed by the oil people. And he wants to be president. Yeah, as if that can happen. He's the guy who LEAD THE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BILL CLINTON...WHILE HE WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH HIS CONGRESSIONAL AIDE.


One thing I do want to write about! There is a rumor that Kinky Friedman may take another stab at running for Governor of Texas. This time he would go the traditional route instead of as an independent. Texas hasn't elected an independent since Sam Houston... over 100 years ago.

Perhaps Kinky can make it as a Democrat!

Welcome to the Party!

Jon Stewart Said...

"Do you really have to waterboard somebody 183 times? Doesn't the efficacy go down? I assume after 90 waterboardings, the guy's thinking: 'You're not really drowning me.' "

The First Hundred Days is Coming Up and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - For the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is headed in the right direction, a sign that Barack Obama has used the first 100 days of his presidency to lift the public's mood and inspire hopes for a brighter future.

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Thinking About Merwin's Poems Today

I was listening to Fresh Air again on the way home and caught a rebroadcast of a conversation with W.S. Merwin. He won his second Pulitzer Prize for poetry on April 20 for The Shadow Of Sirius.

In the interview, he read from a poem about a photograph of his mother, taken when she was young, which had faded and was deteriorated and all he was left with was his memory. From there it led to a discussion about memory itself, and whether we should document our lives with photos and journals and such and involve ourself with preserving the details of the "past," or focus our efforts on the "now."

During my younger years I saved everything. I preserved photos, videos, scrapbooks, and enough journals for someone to publish my whole sordid life in a multi-volume boxed set should they choose to do so in the future after I am famous or dead. I also spent five years tracking down the family history...gathering photos, articals, obits, death certificates, old letters and anything I could to try to document where I came from.

Now as I'm getting older I do it less. Pictures for the past 5 years sit in boxes or drawers willy nilly mixed in with all my other junk. My journals have been hit or miss too, with weeks, and even a whole month gone by with nothing really to show for myself. I like to spend time outside in the garden, or reading, or spending time with friends or my pets. Writing gets put off.

Merwin read from another poem he wrote about what it felt like to be in his parents' house after both of them had died. It dealt with the grief, and trying to remember conversations, and also the task of sorting belongings. His father had been minister, and had requested all his sermons be burned. I can relate to that. Part of me wants all my own journals burned. My writings, my personal thoughts. Because they are unpolished, carelessly worded. Easy to misinterpret.

The last line of the poem grabbed me because of it's simplicity, yet deeper meaning. In that house, that space occupied by his parents who were no longer there, suddenly it occurs to him.

"I can do anything I want."

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Loris Who Like to be Tickled

Too Cute not to share. Wait for the sad look when the tickling stops...

The Sunday Morning Muse, April 19, 2009

"If it all gets too much and they lock me up, I want a great big strait-jacket with spots on it. A pink one... and a big zip on the back so I can escape." Susan Boyle
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You have probably seen Susan singing her "I Dreamed a Dream," by now or have watched her interviewed on one of the many TV shows. If not, there is a link to it in one of my recent posts below. I've thought a lot about Susan this week. She is a good reminder that talent doesn't have anything to do with perky boobs, white teeth and bouncy hair.

Real talent, not the synthesized, repackaged, slick, remakes of songs by little girls with a lot of makeup and sexy clothes--- touches your soul.
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It is precisely what is gone from the commercial airwaves today.

Here's a Toast to Aunt Millie

Aunt Millie would have been 99 years old. I drank a toast to her today with a friend. I came across an old journal where I jotted down a couple of her sayings. Her favorite was.....

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"We are all God's children living on borrowed time."

You GOOOOO Girl!!!

Here is the video. Read more Here about Susan Boyle.


A 47 year old "spinster" with a 10 year old cat becomes an overnight singing sensation.
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Now that is something I can smile about.