Free Association Sunday (and "Open Thread"?)

What a beautiful day it's been here in our awesome High Desert! Sunshine and our beloved dry heat (Only about 85 or so). Did a lil grocery shopping at our little local IGA market and came home and made egg salad sammies. Yummmmm! My GirlyBoi is making dinner now, and it smells la-la-liscious! (It's a kind of "Goulash" dish made with ground beef and zuccini with italian tomatoes and seasoning. We eat it hot with a generous dollop of sour cream.)

We've had a great time rewatching (re-viewing?) the Debate and the MSNBC post debate analysis, and really picking apart each answer (or non answer), as well as the media interviewers and their various biases.

I'm still in love with Mike Gravel. I find him refreshingly honest, charming, pointed and funny. He makes an even bigger impression during the post debate show where he attempts to answer where he's been for the last 35 years. His reply was "Under a Rock for the last 10". Forgive my paraphrase, but basically he said that when he left congress he was discouraged by his feeling of total failure to make a difference after being sucked into the political posturing and corruption. It took him some time to realize that he was part of alot of good things, and that it's important to put the power back in the hands of the american people. He actually called out Chris (somebody-or-other MSNBC guy) and said that Chris should be better making the decisions than out so-called representatives!!! Ha!!! I loved him!

Okay, I'm gonna do the Holllaaaah thing now for: The Existentialist Cowboy for his eloquent Op/Ed entitled How Bush lost the war, encouraged terrorists, and weakened the American military. He's already on my blogroll, if you haven't checked him out, do. If you have, go back and read this article!!!! Killer!!

Also I want to say a big, giant thank you to Dez for adding me to her blogroll! Wow. I'm blown away by the super excellent people who have been linking and rolling me. I want to thank her also for her very explicit (and very necessary for me) instructions on how to add The Fallen
.gif she has up at her blog.

My new favorite Priest is a Mad one over at Of course, I could be wrong... (Don't you just love that title?? I mean... really- have you ever heard a preacher say that before??) Welcome, MadPriest, as my token Clergy! (Be careful of this godsfull heathen lesbian... I might just bite yer butt!)

Oh!! PJ!! (That's capital "P", capital "J") This gal wandered over from OCICBW (above) and not only does she LOVE NIN, I found this:

Abortions are nasty. But forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term—if she can't afford to, if it threatens her health, if the pregnancy occurred through rape or incest, or if she just flat-out doesn't want to go through with it—is a violation of human rights. No individual, no church, no state, has the right to use a woman's body as a vessel without regard for the woman who already inhabits it.

at her blog, pointless
Pointless?
I don't think so.

And thanks to BlueGal, I have discovered this bright spirit of Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice
News and Commentary on Arab Women, Palestine, Cultural Politics, and Everything in Between. This woman describes herself and her blog thusly:

These are improvisations: neither a manifesto nor a treatise because life is too complicated for either. Yet, I'm improvising as an Arab--Palestinian-- woman with a progressive point of view always under construction. Since I often find myself caught between anti-Arab racism and arab reactionary politics, both of which threaten to gag me, I'm raising my voice against both, hoping in the process to contribute an improvised note to a progressive Arab blogosphere.

The first sitting of my blackwork sleeve. (Sorry for the crazy pic. I took it myself and didn't edit it upright. Just turn your laptop sideways... or your head)In homage to my Syrian ancestry. The central image is the word "Peace" in stylized Arabic. The theme for this sleeve is multi cultural graphic symbology which represents my ideals of wholeness and untiy and love and magick. (Stay tuned. I'll post more pics as I have the work done. Also, let me give credit where credit is due. The ink is my daughter's (and apprentice's) first attempt at tattooing living flesh. Kudos, Fawn!!!)

I'm sure I haven't mentioned this, previously, but I am of Syrian ancestry. I think I haven't mentioned it only because it's only mildly relevant to/part of - my self image. I'm pretty much an american "mutt"; Syrian, French, Welsh and Irish. (Dad Syrian and Welsh-Mom French and Irish). I consider my ethnicity only within the context of surveys, applications and bigotry. I'm not "white" or even "Caucasian", but I don't really fall into any of the other ethnic classifications, either. If I do have to check a box, it's "other". When we all decided that "Blacks" were no longer "blacks", but "African Americans", (Or in the case of my son in law, "Egyptian American" ?? Go fucking figure!!) I played with the thought that I'm still a mix. Somewhere between a "Middle East and European American"! It's fucking insane. I'm a global citizen! I'm a woman!!! A human-fucking-bean!!
Anyway, I'm likin' this Arab woman.


I checked in on Ro's blog for a few lil blurbs (so nice... no long winded soliloquies, just short, sweet comments and questions) and found this lil Ode to Ro. I love it.

Gary writes:

truth teller
wild woman
mama girl
unafraid
standin up
4 those that cant
speakin up
4 those who r silenced
hopin we all
learn a little better
to see the world
thru rosie-colored
glasses

Another thought provoking question from "Wanda"

Ro
Ro
Ro
Ro
Do u know another name for first responders? Witnesses.

Yup. This has been a pretty damned "free" association. Time for some mindless TV, or maybe a movie. G'nite all! Everybody please comment! Talk, write, cite, opine, link, joke, flame, bait... whatever. It's a Free for ALL!!

Mike Gravel in 2008!!!

I can't help it!! I love this guy! I know he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell, but I REALLY wish he did. I'm sure he's a big fat liar like the rest of them (oohhhh that Obama's just a lil too slick for me), but at least Gravel sounds sincere doing it!!!

clipped from www.youtube.com

In keeping with today's theme (kinda)

2nd Annual Walk Against Rape.
What part of "no" didn't you understand??

clipped from www.flickr.com 4.28.07 I raised $1400, thanks to my many super duper generous friends. And three of my favorite wimmin walked with me. Thank you!

Venusday Love (or: Sexual Saturnday)

Now that's waht I call sexy!!!
*Image note: Via betmo via dizzy dezzi.

I woke up early this morning and made our coffee. It’s nice to "spoiler" instead of the "spoilee" once in awhile. (And to be honest, it always comes with many rewards!!) The kids are enjoying their little family out in their trailer today, with Aaron home from work for the weekend, and that leaves the lesbian Grama and Grammy free for another Sensual Saturnday! In a bit, just a little later, I’m going to read these stories (all three) to my GirlyBoi and see if I can’t spoil her a little more.

I’m likin’ this new embed a song deal. Thanks again to betmo for doing the research and passing along the info.

Today’s song is raw and powerful. Not for all tastes, but a worthwhile listen to expand one’s mind if for no other reason. The GirlyBoi says: “The music’s alright, but the lyrics suck”. My hopelessly romantic Butch!! She’s so sweet. (But luckily for me, she does know how to do it, even if she doesn’t care to listen to songs about it) because I, on the other hand, can really get behind the primal sort of passion expressed in this song. I mean, I love to make love, but every once in awhile a serious fuck is definitely in order. I like the “Closer to god” reference, too, and love the expression of getting to that Mystical Union place from raw animalistic fucking, instead of the usual sort of romantic and Tantric descriptions. In Thorne’s World, both ways are valid avenues of approach. It also speaks to the addict/escapist part of me, as nothing gets me out of my own head like serious animal style fucking!

So have a listen, and do comment! I’d love to hear how others feel about this. (The last verse is practically whispered. You’ll have to wear headphones or just take my word for the lyrics).

Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: Closer To God
Title: Closer




you let me violate you, you let me desecrate you
you let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you

(help me) i broke apart my insides,
(help me) i've got no soul to sell
(help me) the only thing that works for me,
(help me) get away from myself

i want to fuck you like an animal
i want to feel you from the inside
i want to fuck you like an animal
my whole existence is flawed

you get me closer to god

you can have my isolation, you can have the hate that it brings
you can have my absence of faith, you can have my everything

(help me) you tear down my reason,
(help me) its' your sex i can smell
(help me) you make me perfect,
(help me) become somebody else

i want to fuck you like an animal
i want to feel you from the inside
i want to fuck you like an animal
my whole existence is flawed

you get me closer to god

(through every forest, above the trees
within my stomach, scraped off my knees
i drink the honey, inside your hive
you are the reason, i stay alive)

Today, in honor of my GirlyBoi and her sweet sensitivities, I’m going to start with a well written piece of Xena Warrior Princess fan fiction.

A little backstory for those who may not know. Although the characters of Xena and Gabrielle are portrayed as “straight” during the 6 season TV series, (albeit with a few bits of subtle and not-so-subtle innuendo), they commanded a large lesbian audience due to the theme of deep love and mutual “completion” that the two characters experience. There is a huge fandom, many of which who write fan-fic under various sub genres from “uber” (X and G set in different times/reincarnations, etc), and “classic”, (stories that generally follow the storyline and characters of the series) and then to sort of sub sub genres of “alternative” (exploring the erotic/sexual love between the two women) as well as “erotic” (general sex straight and gay and bdsm, etc.) These are kind of general categories. The writers and collectors are, for the most part amateurs, so the genres and sub genres aren’t always clear. Nonetheless, there are some decent writers in the bunch, a few of whom have gone on to be published. The most inclusive example of Xena FanFic I’ve discovered resides here, at The Bard's Corner

A very well written story by Linda Crist, entitled Wings of Love is sweetly erotic without being descriptively sexual, and gives a lovely insight into the type of romantic sexuality that many lesbian Xena and Gabby fans (among them my GirlyBoi) enjoy. I have to admit that that as an avid reader as well as a very imaginitive and visual person, I do enjoy this type of implied erotica since I get tired of the limited vocabulary of much of the harder stuff.

That said, here is another Xena/Gabrielle story with a bit more “meat” to sink your teeth into. This one is by Klancy7 and is entitled Warriors In Need and includes a “Disclaimers for mild violence, and implied, but not genuine, nonconsensual sex”

On another topic entirely, but keeping in theme of Venudsay Love (aka Sexual Saturnday), the next story seemed particularly apropos after watching the Barbara Walters 20/20 show on trans kids. It was touching and incredibly courageous.

So, I offer a reasonably unique trans story entitled Transsexual Temptation And Straight Desire for your fun and possible edification.

Guys, (males; men), do give this one a try. It’s pretty sexy and you might just be surprised. Grrrllls... it worked for me too with just a tiny tweak of my usual imagination.

Have a great Venusday, everyone and remember:

Make Love, Not War!!!!

Say What You Mean, and Mean What You say... (Or: Thorne Gets Honest)

Say What You Mean, and Mean What You say... (Or: Thorne Gets Honest)


I know, I know; I just can’t seem to come up with a simple title. Always “this... or: that” (What can I say; I’m a complex person) Not feelin’ too jokey right now. Actually may be trying a little to avoid facing my real topic today. It’s a tough one.

Well, they don’t call me “Cleopatra” for nothin’, so I’ll just work my way into this one slowly. Let’s start with how awesome it is that Rosie’s moving on from The View. It was a great year, and I feel certain that Ro reached a demographic that wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to have their minds and hearts opened a little, namely stay at home moms who got to discover that lesbian moms aren’t much different than them. I can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve next, but I hope she’ll continue speaking her truth.

Oh, I simply don’t have the heart for babble with this huge issue so much in my heart and mind.

Here goes.

If you’ve been reading you know that my daughter has just recently given birth to my beautiful grandson. I don’t know that I’ve said much about the recent abortion legislation here, but I’ve been addressing it almost continuously since it passed in other places, like this thread at Clipmarks entitled Aborted “Fetus” Speaks Out,
and this thread, Supremes Counter Women's Rights where I waded through a sludge of ignorant dogma and attacks (and stooped to a few, myself) along with a few other rational folks and a number of idiots.


The whole while I’m fuming and freaking about the fact that this right wing religious fundamentalist government has managed to sneak this piece of VERY strategic legislation through in order to chip away at the small rights we’ve so tenuously held on to since Roe v Wade, that they have managed not only to insinuate themselves into my body, but into my OB/Gyn’s office and legislate how/if and under what circumstances s/he may treat me...

(damn, take a breath Thorne! That’s a long sentance. They don’t call me the comma queen fer nuthin’! And on we go!)

... I am also living in hope and fear and anticipation and worry about my daughter’s difficult pregnancy. ( A lil backstory) A couple of health professionals had previously told my girl that she would find it difficult to conceive and carry. Unbeknown to us, she is Rh negative. This presents a number of health hazards for both mother and baby. Further, she lost 15 lbs in the first trimester, was sick and often unable to eat during the pregnancy, and her weight went up and down over 10 lbs. from month to month. There were scheduling messups at the OB, she didn’t receive her rogam (sp?) shot until a month after the time it was due, and she wasn’t healthy enough to have blood banked for her in case of an emergency.

Anyway, you get the picture, right? Worry. Fear.
I’m a MOM! She is my only child. Mama bear!!! Protect my child!!

Get it? Okay. Enough backstory; let’s get down to it.

Every day in the last weeks that I face this issue of religious legislation, every day that I read the thoughts of those religious fanatics that would impost their biblical “morality” on the rest of us, every word of their dogma, their unwillingness to answer to the fact that their so called “pro-life” stance is NOT “pro-life”, it’s “pro-fetus” and thereby “anti-woman”... every moment, all this while, I am facing the possibility that we may have to choose between the potential life of this precious child... this fetus which has become our precious Bishop... and the life of my daughter.

And ugly as it is, the thought that growled out of me with a violence and passion and vehemence the likes of which I have ever only experienced when my daughter has been in danger, the thought that practically screams from me each time I let my guard down, is:

“ I would tear that fetus limb by limb from my daughter with my bare hands to save her life”.

I am a MOM! She is my only child. I must protect my child!!

I have to admit that in my own heart I was at peace with my feelings. I accepted them as a perfectly normal response for me. I have always known that I would kill or die for my child. I prayed I wouldn't have to make this choice, but was firm in what my decision would be, were I forced to make it.

What I was unable to do as I faced this blog every day, was admit it here. At the time I wasn’t sure if that was a result of the fact that this is a public diary, a public venue in which I share myself, and my fear that I would alienate even friendly readers by voicing aloud, so to speak, a thought so horrendous; or if it was a simple result of my unwillingness to write my biggest fear and somehow make it real by doing so.

Then yesterday I read this honest and courageous post by a man who did indeed have to make the decision to save the life of his wife over the potential life- the wanted, awaited, life of the fetus within his wife’s body.


I read his story and I felt awe, respect, and some shame. His honesty and ability to share his personal heart, his interior demons and pain so openly and with the deserved relevance to others and this very important issue of a woman's right to choose seemed to challenge me to speak this truth of mine; unpalatable as it may be to many. To speak of a mother’s love and fierce protectiveness and to a woman’s right to choose what happens in her own body as she is able. Or for those who might have to make this choice for her, (be they spouse, mother or Doctor) to be able to do so based on their own deepest hearts truth, rather than have it legislated for them.

This man's writing gave me the courage to admit that I still feel the same. This man. This wonderful feminist male. This thinking, caring, being who loves his wife and respects the rights of all women, gave me the courage I needed to write this truth. The truth that even now as I see this incredible baby, our beautiful Bishop Alexander, now that he is here and in this world, a living, breathing being whom I would die or kill for as I would for my daughter...
Even now I know that before he was born, in that time when he was yet “potential”, still would I have chosen (were it up to me), to sacrifice that potential life for the life of my daughter.

Thankfully, I was not called upon to make that choice. Thankfully, neither was my daughter, or her husband nor her Doctor. Thankfully, my daughter is healthy and whole and healing. Thankfully, we have a beautiful baby boy who was wanted and planned and who was born healthy and whole and is wanted and loved.

I will close this post the way I close near every argument I make anywhere on this topic of women’s reproductive rights:

My Body. My Choice.

Excellent Tactics for Difficult Questions

I am definitely going to do as the author suggests and print this one out for tonight's debate, and every debate to come!! Since the way we know a politician is lying is by the simple fact that his/her lips are moving, perhaps my vote will go to whomsoever manages to best disseminate using these techniques with the most finesse!! Considering that voting based on a politician's positions on the real issues is a waste of time, the way they all change with the political winds, maybe voting for someone who can think on their feet is not such a bad idea...

clipped from www.fatladysings.us Print it off and then sit and watch a politician being interviewed. In almost any interview at least one of these ploys will be used and most often several of them will be used. 1. Attack the Question. - That’s a very silly question, how can you justify the use of the words “Above the Law"? 2. Attack the Questioner. - "How many years have you spent in government?" 3. Compliment the question. - "That’s a very good question. I’d like to thank you for asking me it. Let me reply by asking you one." 4. Unloading the question. - Most questions are loaded. They are full of assumptions such as "A lot of people have said that you consider yourself above the law." There are two possible replies to such loaded questions: a) Name Ten b) Surely in a nation of 60 million people you can find a few people who will say anything no matter how irrelevant, misguided, or ill-informed.

.Mp3 Player Test

This is the Dixie Chicks song, Silent House. It's about Alzehimer's Disease. I wrote the lyrics and more about my Grama, here.

Listen to "Silent House"

Humpday Meanderings...

Or: A New Grandmother's Musings

Thorne's world is soooo tiny today, and so big all at the same time. I seem to have (like Billy Pilgrim, or was it Kilgore Trout?) come unstuck in time. I look at the picture I posted of my baby, my Fawn - with her baby, and I see a young Thorne with her new daughter some 28 years ago. Fawn tells me of her feelings, her experiences in post operative healing and new motherness and suddenly I am awash in the memory of those very feelings. I sit here this morning, naked blogging with coffee as I am wont to do, and out of nowhere (and apropos of nothing obvious) the scent of fresh, clean menstrual blood fills my nostrils, and my long non menstrual uterus contracts with a remembered ache.

Songs chase each other through my mind. This morning it's the theme from Disney's Lion King, performed by Elton John (corny, I know; but there it is), followed by the recurring Garth Brooks melody
The Change

Every time I look at that precious baby, at our Bishop, our little prince, I can't help but think of this world and what his legacy might be. It's strange how indubitably a new life will lead the mind and heart toward hope and joy and potential and possibility. For a moment all fear and despair is banished. For a moment all I can feel is joy that this little man has a whole life ahead of him. All the beauty and joy inherent in the simple act of living. Of being. Of sunlight and moonlight, of the scent of growing things, the texture of a loving hand on his new skin, of a soft breeze, of rain to come and visions of sparkling snow and raging stormswept oceans...

Yes. Today Thorne's world is small and huge. Filled with a tiny pinpoint of light at the center that is this new and precious life, and expanded to encompass all the beauty and wonder that each life can contain. "For all its sham and drudgery..." a line from Desiderata, maybe??

Oh, beauty. Oh, Gods and Goddesses and Love and Light. I am afloat today, on the seas of gratitude.

The Change
--Garth Brooks
One hand
Reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say what good have you done
By saving just this one
It's like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm.

And i hear them saying
you'll never change things and no matter
What you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that i am changing
i do this so
this world will know
that it will not change me.

This heart
Still believes
That love and mercy still exist.
While all the hatreds rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless
in madness such as this
It's like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss.

And i hear them saying
you'll never change things and no matter
What you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that i am changing
i do this so
this world will know
that it will not change me.

As long as one heart still holds on
Then hope is never really gone.

And i hear them saying
you'll never change things and no matter
What you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that i am changing
i do this so
this world we know
never changes me.

What i do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me

*edited # 1:47 AM on Thursday, April 26 to add the .MP3 player thanks to Betmo

My beautiful "Babies"

My daughter with her son Bishop, my new grandson. Too tired for more than this tonight. Catch up tomorrow!

And we have a baby!!!

Bishop Alexander Dicks was born yesterday evening at 5:23. He weighs 6 lbs., 6 oz., and measures 18.5". He is healthy and beautiful. Fawn is well and happy and resting, after her emergency C-section. (She's grumpy this morning because of her post-op breakfast of clear broth and decaf coffee, so I'm on my way to smuggle her some starbucks) Pics and full story soon. Thank you all for love and Light.

Free Association Sunday

1pm

So this is really fucked up. I spent a couple of hours this morning composing a really fun (for me, at least) blog entry for today. My new “Free association Sunday” posting. Then Firefox crashed, and the draft I was working on in “deepest sender” disappeared. Grrrr.

The funny thing is that my topics, along with of course Earth Day, were all about living in the now. The present. Being present. If I try to rewrite it all now, I blow the whole concept of “free association”.

I guess the joke’s on me, today!

10pm
And now as I finally come back to this, after spending the afternoon and evening with a friend and sponsee, and having a massage, I really need to go to sleep, but I’m worried.
My daughter, my angel, is to check into the hospital tomorrow morning at 6am for labor induction. I’m only worried because she is scared sick. My heart is breaking for her. She’s had all the prenatal care she should, read the books, studied Lamaze, but she’s frightened beyond imagining, and that is what’s got me so worried.
I should be able to choose my words better. I’m not really worried. I’m distraught. I’m overwhelmed. The thought of her fear fills me with such a huge and overwhelming feeling of powerlessness, that it’s hard to breathe. As her mother, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so unable to comfort or protect her as I feel right now.

Please keep her in your hearts and good thoughts or prayers as you will, dear friends. I’ll be back as soon as I have a grandbaby, however long that takes.

Venusday Love (formerly known as "Saturnday Love")

It's a simply beautiful day here in the High Desert. The sun is shining, not a trace of the last week's rain and wind. My incredible GirlyBoi is in top form this morning, bringing me my usual coffee in bed, then running into town (well, driving, actually. "Town" [aka: "Down the Corner"] is 7 miles away), for fixin's for her phucking phenomenal phrench toast, then coming back to prepare it and bring it to I, naked blogging Venusday blogger, here in bed.
Oooh, LaLa. I have to tell you. Eating her french toast, dripping with her heated, melted butter/syrup mix... licking the sweetness from my lips as her intense ocean colored eyes peek from beneath her lashes to watch my lusty enjoyment ... well.
That's. Just. Hot.
A perfect start to another perfect day of lovin'
Sooooo... I'm gonna love ya and leave ya today, but not without a couple of sexy links to get you in the mood to enjoy your own version of "Venusday", (whichever "flavor" you prefer! Insert your preferred gender or let your imagination fly!)

First is a link to a short but sweet fantasy that is a great start (and has cute comments, including but not limited to one of my own)
Not for the squeemish or arachnophobic is Everything I know about Sex I Learned From my Tarantula, from Balls and Wallnuts.
For my lesbian readers (I'm reading this one aloud to my GirlyBoi just a lil later. *whew* Hot stuff!!!) who enjoy a taste of the forbidden fruit, please enjoy An Encounter with a Nun

And last, but by no means least, explore a workshop for sex-trade workers. Fun Stuff.

Enjoy!!

Make Love, Not War!!!!

Freaky Friday comes to a Close

My cockatoo, Kisses, ate my dialup.  Kinda.  Lemme start at the beginning. ( This is not Kisses.  It's Hildy, my African Grey, but I put a pic of Kisses up last week)

So I'm Yahooing with a friend, and we're getting up to a little trouble on a certain site, (I'm so pissed off about this so-called "partial birth" abortion legislation that the only thing I could do was troll fundies.  I know.  I'm an ass, but it was all I had.  It was either that or go crazy.)   So we're doing the grrrrlll thing, laughing and gossiping and bullshitting.  I'm particularly offended by a particular clip entitled "An Aborted "Fetus" Speaks".  The only thing worse than the article is the stupidity of the comments, so I figure I'll jump into the ooze with the rest of the pigs and play.  I'm posting some pretty pointed (to be polite) comments and she's backing me up - playing the "straight man" (woman), and I'm just about ready to push "send" on a real zinger... and that dreaded dialogue box pops up in my face screaming, (not really, but that's what it felt like.  I wouldn't want my computer to scream at me.  I'd prolly hurt it, or pout) "your modem cannot make a connection.  Please check your settings and try again".  I'm like, "WhaFu..."?

Oh, well.  I redial.  Nothing.
Again.  Nothing.

I'm losing steam here, okay?  If I don't get this fucker back online, I just know I'm gonna lose the will to post my zinger.  It's a lil over the edge - even for me. So I haul my fat ass out of bed (indeed, I know it's not Venusday yet, but I'm blogging naked, as usual) and go to check the cordless phones because sometimes when a battery dies, it shuts the whole house down.  Nope.  Phones are all okay.  My Cockatoo is hollering at me, because he loves me, but mostly because it's his bedtime, and I notice... there on the floor beside his cage...a cleanly cut section of phone line. That's my boy.

It seems likely at this point that somehow when I removed his cage drape this morning, I must have caught and pulled forth, so to speak, the phone line from the box.  Somehow it lasted most of the day, dangling enticingly within his reach, but when he finally noticed it... chomp!  Bye bye, landline.  I love my Kisses.  And tonight he was prolly interceding on behalf of the Great Goddess Computa.  Being the first High Priestess of the aforementioned great One, I do know that she is pro-choice.  Nonetheless, perhaps she thought it better that I remain to comment and clip another day, and chose my Kisses as her instrument to keep me from commenting as follows:

Good points, ####!!!
f*ck percentages. "Reasons" are unimportant. Rape, accident, whatever. My body, My choice. My mass of growing cells, (much like a cancer or parasite), feeding off of MY blood and body.
My body, My choice.

I'm sure the fundies and possibly site owners would not have been happy with my reference to "cancer or parasite"  Saved by the Bird!!  Woo Hoo!

Aaaaannnnnnd we have a segue... (an awkward one, and perhaps a tasteless one, but nonetheless a pointed one)

 

I am sooo excited about the pending birth of my grandaughter.  My daughter (my only child) who is 28, (and has made a full and knowledgeable choice to have a child, just as I did with her) is due (or past due, depending on which test) to deliver any day.  Her OB has decided that due to her Rh neg blood type issue, he wants to induce labor monday morning, if she hasn't started labor on her own before then. We are packing her bag tomorrow.  Of course "Grama" (that's me) has crocheted blankies and booties and fun stuff in cool colors and textures.  (Yeah, I crochet.  Wanna make somethin' of it?)  "Grammy" (rhymes with Tammy= the GirlyBoi=my love) can't wait to gurgle and goggle and act like a foolish girllll.  (Silly butch!!)

I have 3 step=grands from my late husband, Jerry.  (Soul-male)   I absolutely adore my grandbabies, although I haven't seem Lucas in 3 years or so.  His mom doesn't really care to keep in touch with me much.  She and her dad were never terribly close, and she just sort of drifted away a few years ago.  Thankfully, I get to see my other 2 granddaughters fairly regularly.  Their mom is my spiritual daughter and dear friend. Amber, the oldest, lives with her dad (Jerry's son), and he never really approved of his dad marrying a witch, and now that the witch is a lesbian, he just detests me.  Poor thing.  His dad would be turning in his grave, if he had one. (But he's here with me.  His cremains on my altar with a pic of his beautiful, sweet face).  I digress. 

So, I don't see A too often, but her mom is good about bringing her out or having us over when she has her visitation.  She's 13 and a pistol.  (Dangerous, like most teens.)  And then there's my Willow Lily.  I adore that child.  She's bright and precocious.  And bless her mom that she is so willing to share her with me, and let me be her Grama.

Still, you can imagine how excited I am that I'll soon have my baby's baby to love!!  I get to be "in" on the whole deal.  Her labor, delivery, close by to care for my Fawn and her child.  Babysitting.  I'm all goo goo gaa gaa.  It's true.  Up close, like Cjarity's mom was for her, and Jen's mom was for her.  I'm so pleased that my F decided to have a child after all.  For some years she wasn't sure, and although it broke my heart to think I mightn't have a grandchild of my own, I always respected her choices. 

So here we are; back to "choice".  I did it, huh? Segue.  Cool.

What the Fuck???

...is "Open Thread Friday"??

So I'm really tryin' to get into the swing of the blogosphere. I've been cruising around trying to figure out what all the "Open Thread" posts designate. They have nothing in common from a content perspective, except of course, as it's relevant to the site. They don't appear to be a free for all most places, but at some they are. I've found some "Open Threads" that are maybe places you can pimp your blog or a post, I think. A couple that may be general commentary, several that seem to have a guest blogger submission, and at least one that has pretty much the usual.

Wha Fu...?

I do wanna give a big thank you

THANK YOU!!!!!

To a few of the folks that have been kind enough to help me learn a little and figure out how to navigate my foolish ass around.

Blue Gal, has been patient, supportive and informative, as have TenGrain at MPS and betmo

And a super big thank you

THANK YOU!!!!!

to everyone who has taken the time to stop and read and comment.

I've updated my blogrolls, today. I think I got most everyone I'm reading, but please let me know if you think you should be there and you're not.

And PLEASE someone thell me what "Open Thread" is!!!

2nd Cuppa (or: Not Fully Awake)

Not yet fully awake. That's a pretty relevant statement, actually. Not fully awake. Science tells us that we use only a small portion of our brains, considering the size and number of cells and neurons and synapses. And many of us, (yours truly, for instance) have problems with the synapses we do use firing properly. (Enter SSRI's and MAOI's, and Lithium and Depacote and myriad other medications which are intended to help our brains do what they should be doing all on their own.) But really, that's another story.

I think my issue today, what I fell asleep too tired after tattooing for 4 hours, and then spending the next 3 catching up on my blog reading and link chasing, is my feeling that we are not fully awake. And I could well be wrong, but it seems to me that there are an awful lots of folks who truly believe that they are! There are alot of people who really believe that they have all the answers, know whats best for us as individuals, as a country, as women, as citizens of the world.

I'm not just talking about the religious right, republicans and government. I read, I think. I see the left trying to do the same damn thing! Environmentalists, activists, democrats. Everyone has an "ideal", and wants to impose it on the rest of us. And it doesn't help that in order to actually reach some sort of middle ground - some sort of reasonable compromise; that opposing factions need to exaggerate and amplify the issue completely out of proportion and present things in either/or, black/white terms.

I'm no better. Well, not better anyway, but there is maybe one small difference. I try really hard to distinguish between an ideal world/situation, and the reality of living in a human world. I understand that "The Ideal" is just that.

You might have noticed that I didn't really comment on Imus. I haven's said much about the VT shootings, or the so-called "manifesto of hate". You won't find me writing about capital punishment, or saying much about illegal immigrants. You'll prolly never read anything here (past today) about the hot topic of gun control.

"Why not", you might ask. Because I am clear in myself that I simply cannot have a position on these things without feeling myself a hypocrite.

Imus? Free speech is our constitutional right. Do I like what he said? No. Do I approve of such degrading terms being spoken? No. Would I ever listen to that asshole spew his hate? No. Do I think he should be silenced? No. Do I uphold the right of consumers and sponsors to choose not to support him? Yes. Whatever. In the end, I choose to accept that I have this wide range of feelings on the topic. That for me there is no "right" or "wrong" except as I personally perceive the different questions within the context of the event. There is no one bandwagon for me to jump on and claim alliance with.

The VT shootings? Very sad for the people involved, the victims, the friends and family. The president going to console them? Please. In my blogcruising yesterday, a blogger asked how people would feel if GWB came to console them, were they the parents of the shooting victims. The comments ranged from spitting on him to killing him. I had to laugh. It was a tough question answered honestly by folks who are anti war and perhaps didn't see the irony of their response. The media and lobbyist circus all claiming the incident in support of their particular "cause"? Please. 30 something dead is a "national tragedy"? Puh-leeeeze!!! Hurricane fucking Katrina was a national tragedy!!! Not the hurricane itself, or even the damage that it and the lives it claimed and ruined; but the LACK of governmental response!!! THAT was the tragedy!

We get up in arms and babble for days about Imus and a guy going off the deep end at VT when thousands are dieing and starving and homeless; being mutilated and tortured and repressed and subjugated; raped, murdered, sold, bought... every fucking day all around our so called Global fucking Village???

And the disturbed young man who committed this "senseless" act. What about him? Is he to be used as an example of a "domestic terrorist" to further frighten a nation into allowing even greater usurpation of our freedoms, under such atrocities of anti-constitutionalism as the Patriot Act?? Shall we dismiss him as a madman, or just someone with an inferiority complex who was scared of women?

Or is he in fact a very clear indication of the human condition? Of our self-centered, consumer driven and power seeking human selves? Is he maybe even the manifestation of a symptom of the pervasive illness that eats away at our humanity like a cancer? It is like a cancer. Or maybe more like herpes. No, really. We all carry the herpes virus in our spinal fluid. It erupts in various ways from cold sores to shingles to an STD. It also erupts due to a number of different causes. Stress, communication/contagion, diet.

Is violence like that within us? A deep and often (and in many) quiescent "virus" hiding in our very physiology, our very humanness, only to erupt at various and varying instigators? Some skewed manifestation of the "Flight or Fight" response?

I think so. I really do.

I don't claim to be "fully awake". Not by a long shot. But I believe that my awareness that I'm not, is a far cry from the sleepwalking that I see many doing.

Maybe I'm crazy somehow, or my thinking is skewed. I dunno, but I can't seem to help looking at every issue, every topic, every "position" or "stand" from my personal perspective. From the position of "What would I do?" No, really!!!! Not what would be the ideal; but really and truly:

What would I do?

Example:
Do I support capital punishment? Ideally; no. Why? because I believe that people who wantonly murder are nuts. Ill. Something wrong with them. Period. Not from some religious or moral belief, just my simple belief that people who do stuff like what that kid did at VT are sick motherfuckers. Do we kill the mentally ill?

Now, let's get real. Am I pacifist enough to believe that if someone murdered say, my daughter; tortured and raped her, that I would be able to forgive? That I wouldn't want him to die? That I might feel that a quick and painless death would be more than he deserved?? Mightn't I even wish to pull the switch myself?? When I really look into my heart, the best I can come up with is "I don't know". Really. I simply don't know. I don't know which part of me would win in a battle like that. That might just be a circumstance which would send that virus into overdrive and I'd be so disease filled that murder would be my only possible response. I mean, I'd shoot a rabid dog... right?

I don't know.

What I do know is that every book or movie I've ever seen about a person waiting for a death sentence to be carried out upon his/her person has filled me with horror. No matter how heinous was the crime. My compassion and empathy for the condemned was so huge, so encompassing that at that moment I could scream aloud, "NOOOOOO". This is wrong!

But will I take a stand on this issue? No. Because I cannot with any surety, once I fully put myself in both positions and consider the "ideal", say that I could personally uphold either position. Nor can I say that I would like to see it legislated. Because we are all flawed, we are not fully awake, and there is no "right" answer.

(Okay, I'm on a roll now, and I have to say this stuff.) Gun control. Do I think there are too many guns and too much easy access to guns and too many people killed by guns? Yes. Do I uphold my "right to bear arms"? Yes. Am I a member of the NRA? No.

As one of 4 women, living on 40 acres in the middle of the desert (7 miles from town and an hour from help by the local sheriff in an emergency), as lesbians living in a hick town (yes, there are plenty of them in Cali), as americans living in a country rife with home invasion, murder and rape... I have a couple of guns. A shotgun with a serious choke, a 22 rifle and a lil 22 popgun). They are placed strategically for both the safety of any visiting kids and easy access for me in the case of necessary self protection. I haven't needed them yet, and hope I never will. But don't tell me I can't have them.

Ideally, they shouldn't be necessary. Personally and practically, they are. Yet another issue I simply can't take a stand on. What makes me wanna shoot somebody is the parents who have not secured their gun from the curious minds and hands of their 4 year old who shoots off her sister's face. But really... that is a different issue, no matter how many gun control lobbyists want to convince us otherwise. That is a PARENTING issue. NOT a gun issue. My partner drank kerosene from beneath a BBQ in the back yard when she was 3. Shall we outlaw kerosene?? Anyway, that's a whole 'nother rant.

I've read a number of books by Starhawk, who describes herself as: author of many works celebrating the Goddess movement and Earth-based, feminist spirituality. I’m a peace, environmental, and global justice activist and trainer, a permaculture designer and teacher, a Pagan and Witch.
A really good one about power and ethics is
Truth or Dare, although I admit I felt a little too "lectured" and even scolded from time to time (but that was prolly mostly due to the fact that I fall so far short of my own ideals), but the book that I read that really woke me up to my own humanity was The The Fifth Sacred Thing.

It's a fictional rendering of a sort of post apocalyptic life in a community in Northern Cali. For the first while, it seems somewhat Utopian. The community governs by a council of elders and by consensus. There are rituals and worship of a variety and homogeneity that you can only imagine, and all are free to worship/honor or not as they choose. To someone like me, the vision presented is idyllic, although I did have to face my inner demons of insecurity and jealousy around monogomy, as well as my childrearing beliefs and my desire to "own" things and name them "mine". Still, all in all, I could get my head around the idealism that would make such a community flourish.

Then the "bad guys" show up. You know the ones. The ones that want to "Govern" and "Restore order". The ones that want something the community has. It doesn't really matter what it is. Water, salt, land; bodies for cannon fodder so they can go on governing and restoring order...

(I hate to be a spoiler so stop reading now if you intend to read the book and don't want to know about the end)

So our idyllic Northern Cali utopia is invaded by an army. This army is made up of folks much like "our" own army over in Iraq right now, or any army ever anywhere, for that matter. Just people. People who needed a job or an education. People who believed they were serving the greater good. People who are leaders. People who follow blindly. All of the above and more.

And the overall consensus on the strategy of the community response is pacifism. The forms that the pacifism take are interesting and more varied than one would think, but the biggest weapon is a simple statement. A statement that the community makes individually and as a group. A statement that they hold to as their members (including a few children) are martyred for their community ideals, their way of life, their decision to live free from violence - or die. The statement is, simply:

"There is room for you at our table."

There is room for you at our table. We will share what we have, but you may not take it. Hell, actually it's more like, "you may take it, but you each will personally pay the cost in terms of your humanity". This community fought in this way. To each individual soldier that attempted to implement his "orders" for curfew, or lodging or food or information, the response was the same.

"There is room for you at our table.
Won't you join us?
This is how we live.
No one goes without.
We all share.
We work together and help each other.
We want you.
You don't have to fight, or kill people, or hurt people.

There is room for you at our table."

I won't tell some of the specifics of the book. The torture, degradation and death that the community suffered while keeping to their course.

"There is room for you at our table."

I won't tell you the end of the book either. That wasn't the point of sharing this, of writing about it. The point for me was that this book made me hyper aware of how far short I fall of my ideals.

The beauty and love and simplicity of the community response to the threat is perfect. It speaks to my soul of everything that is and should be and could be beautiful in us.

I have examined my mind and heart and soul and found myself wanting. I couldn't do it. I couldn't watch a child clubbed down without trying to stop or possibly kill the clubber. I couldn't let you take what my family needed to survive. I would fight and possibly kill to protect me and mine.

Yet I am a good person. I detest war and greed. I try to avoid hate and poison in my speech and actions. I have no desire to take or own what isn't mine (but what would I do if you had medicine and my child needed it?). I stand up for what I believe is right, but am perhaps too often silent because I really don't know what is "right".

For me it always comes down to this.

The macrocosm is merely an amplified reflection of the microcosm.

And I am human.

Blah... Blah... Blaaaahhhhg. That's Right; I Said Blog!!

Free speech (But only if we're willing to use it!) A great excuse to post beautiful naked women exercising their right to free speech. And KS thought a pair of panties 'shopped over her head was bad!!!)
Blog craziness. People are freakin; out! I mean, I'm lovin' this whole bloggin' thaaaang, ya know?? Shheee. Write about what you know, right?? What you love. And is it soooo cool ('scuze me, that would be: "kewl") that peeps will actually stop by. Check out what a gal's got to say. And me?? I love to read; to learn.
And is this super good form. Good habit, good practice? Yup. Good stuff, this. Write every day. Read alot. Maybe too much. Kinda funny really. Addiction is addiction. Obsession. Still, what the fuck, right?
30 something killed in VA and everybody's got some kinda bullshit to write about it. Op/Ed. Idiots.

Then I'm cruising around today, and there's this like, plague of despair among alot of really GOOD bloggers!!! What's up with that?? It's because if we care... we care. Hmmm.

Are the Flamers and Trolls, the haters and idiots having a crisis of identity? Of hopelessness?

NO!!

Because one thing that the idiots know is that:

Propaganda works!!
That's right. It works.

If you keep saying something enough people will believe it. The hate mongers and Dominists and religionists... The Jerry Falwells, and George Bushes... the Rush mother-fuckin' Limbaughs. They know it.

They just keep spewing crap. Do they wonder if it's helping, if it's working?? Nope. They just keep on keepin' on.

And that's what we do, too. We have to. We must. Because there are more of us. Really; it's true. There are more of us who are against the hate, the poison, the violence.

Problem is we're sensitive souls.
Gentle spirits.
Pacifists, tree huggers, pussy fucking liberals.

And we feel. We hurt for the people who are tortured, who die and suffer loss needlessly. We feel despair and hopelessness of the constant, ongoing protest. Because we're not using poison as our fuel. We don't have the raw hate to sustain us that those assholes do.

We have love. And empathy. And conscience. And heart.

And these things are NOT self sustaining and self perpetuating the way hate is. These things are fragile and defenseless. So we need to nurture and protect them, and each other. We need to allow our love and light to feed and sustain us; those of us who would see change, who would educate, inform, help bring about peace and awareness.

And it's hard and sometimes lonely and thankless work. But we are all connected in it and we just keep goin'. We keep feeling it, and voicing it.

Because if I'm not part of the solution I'm part of the problem.
Because it's what we can do.
Because it's what we do.

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

Not ready To Make Nice
--Dixie Chicks


Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

Welcome to Pottersville: The Last Boy Scout

Jurassicpork does it again. Expresses the horror, pain and helplessness I feel about this world, our society. The loss for all of the people involved is beyond measure, but so is it for every victim of violence by any hand.Welcome to Pottersville: The Last Boy Scout

The comment quoted below by someone who chooses not to make their profile available is incredibly succinct.

That the 100 plus Iraqis of all ages who were slain yesterday - and will be slaughtered tomorrow - many in torturous agony - are not even noticed, let alone named, does not diminish the loss.

Blogs Unite Against Iraq War

"One Million Blogs for Peace" movement began on Iraq War's fourth anniversary with 217 blogs. They hope to have 1,000,000 strong by the fifth anniversary. I'm in. How about you???



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Lazin' and Linkin'

Sorry for the number of clips without commentary, but sometimes I just can't say it any better than the author does, and often commentary would just be an exorcise in redundancy. Lazin' with my love again today (Sunday is our actual scheduled day of mutual worship. My, it's grand to be in love!), and finally getting around to updating my links and hopefully art. Got a bit more to do, but thankfully it can ALL be done while naked in bed! Woooot!!

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Good one!!!

'nuff said.

clipped from thekatrinacrat.blogspot.com Need I say any more? Blogging Against Theocracy

Warrior for Peace

What a woman!!!

clipped from freewayblogger.blogspot.com "If every American did a small fraction of what she does every day, we would actually have peace by the end of this month." I was going through this piece in Truthout about the unsung heroes of the peace movement, and found myself reading about my good friend Barbara. Not only is she everything the article says she is, she's a hell of a good freewayblogger too: one of our best. Along with Beachblogger, she's put up hundreds - and I do mean hundreds - of signs along the Interstates in San Diego.

Graphictruth: When Morality Becomes Idiocy - the prosecution of sexually exploited children.

Graphictruth: When Morality Becomes Idiocy - the prosecution of sexually exploited children.

Lee Iacocca for President!!!

Wow. This is a must have book. Check out Lee's 9 C's for leadership!!!

clipped from depression2.tv Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

Saturday Love...

I've spent a lovely day for the most part in bed with my precious Girlyboi. We've watched some Tennis (WTA Family Cup) Jancovic finally took Venus after a long 3 set tie breaker. My Tam fed me corned beef hash and eggs, while I Yahooed with some friends...

She watched a lil TV while I surfed. I decided that no matter what horrors I discovered on Saturday, from here on out, I'm declaring Saturday a Venus instead of Saturn day from now on. Love, baybeeeees.... Make love not war!! Mmmmm Hm!!! That pic above is one of my favorites, of the Girlyboi. Here's another:

Woo Hoo!!! I like your approach, babe, now how 'bout your departure???



And speaking of departures... Toodles!

Happy Birthday, Thom

Happy birthday, Thomas Jefferson. I bet you're turning in your grave today, after W's speech yesterday for the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, where he extolled the “faith-based” initiative, which entails directing millions of federal dollars to religious groups allegedly so they can provide social services. He backed requiring all
taxpayers to prop up these church-run institutions.(Catholic Schools)
Americans United for Church and State

On the flip side, I just found this bright little spot in Maryland. It seems that Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signed a law on tuesday that would award the state's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. As long as others agree to do the same. "Actually, Maryland will drop out only if a lot of other states do, too. Maryland's new law will go into effect only if enough states pass similar laws to total 270 electoral votes -- the number needed to elect a President,"

I mean, how cool is that??? Considering that W won electoral vote in 2000 despite Gore winning the popular vote, am I the only one around here that thinks this could be a really good thing???

I'm gonna hit the search engines tomorrow and see what I can find out about other states that might be leaning in this direction. If there are already movements and lobbying and/or grassroots organizations out there, I'll post links and maybe we can spread the word with a lil linky love. If not... Ummmmm... I dunno. I'll ask alot of people and think of somethin'.

Speaking of link love, I've gotta thank Mike at Crooks and Liars for the mention in Mike's Blog Roundup. I also wanna thank BlueGal for all of her support !

Not to be redundant here - I mean, I know I already did the KV remembrance post... but jurassicpork at Pottersville has outdone himself (and everybody else I've found) with his touching, insightful and timely memorial.

A tiny clip:

Vonnegut, somehow, had managed the almost impossible reconciliation of the cosmic with the humanistic. To Vonnegut, the earth was a blue time machine hurtling through space, inhabited by silly vainglorious creatures who were intended to merely fart around on it. Yet, despite his existential, cynical take on the known universe, Vonnegut still told the unborn generations, “There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”

Go read it. Really.

As for me tonight, I'm almost ready to turn the volume on my iTunes down nice n soft, click on the visualizer and meditate my way to sleep. Our evening out was a smashing success, and if Wild Hogs didn't quite live up to my expectations, Meet the Robinsons far outshined them.
The evening was a blast from the past for me as we raced our two vehicles to the front row and set up with enough space between them for the lawn chairs, cooler, child seats, bean bags and blankies. The night sky was clear and as usual our star spotted sky outshone even the big screen. The night was cool enough to cuddle under the blankets, but not cold enough to be uncomfortable. My memory carried me back to summer nights when my only child was a toddler and we did much the same thing either with a group, or just the two of us in my '78 Bronco, backed in with the tailgate down.

She's all grown up now, my baby girl. 28 and due with her first baby any day now. If I disappear for a couple of days, you'll all know why. Sweet dreams or no dreams, friends!

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Desert Dialup Blues or "Poo-too-weet?"

We were rockin' and rollin' here in the High Desert of sunny southern Cali., yesterday! I tried to find some links to some of our local stories for y'all, but they are gone with the wind. There were some local damages that although I'm sure weren't small to the homeowners, were merely a drop in the sea of weather damage and destruction around the world. My Landline/dialup was spotty at best yesterday, and my Girlybli didn't go to work, so it was a snugglishous movie day for us.
Meanwhile, Kurt Vonnegut made his final journey to Tralfamadore. There are a couple of excellent articles on Kurt. (hey, am I the only one who remembers when he was Kurt Vonnegut Jr?? Yikes!) One I found at the International Herald Tribune includes a paragraph especially relevant to me:

For countless teenagers, reading Vonnegut was as much an entry into adult life as your first beer. The world became funnier, more dangerous, more exciting. If you were looking to send up authority, question life's meaning or face the worst and keep your sense of humor, Vonnegut was your teacher.

I think my favorite and most fitting of the various epitaphs for KV is the following, via lacym@Clipmarks, via PZMeyers at scienceblogs:

A Request From Kurt

"I am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, "Isaac is up in heaven now." It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, 'Kurt is up in heaven now.' That's my favorite joke."

Kurt is up in heaven now.

I'd like to add that I'm gonna miss the "old fart with his Pall Malls", smelling of "mustard gas and roses". So it goes. Poo-too-weet?

Back to the homefront, I'm going to the Drive-In to see a movie tonight. That's right, The Drive -In. On a date. With my GirlyBoi; my partner, my love... and some friends.
A little background. I live on 40 acres in damn near the middle of nowhere. We've had the family ranch since '65, and this ol' place that was actually built in the late 1800's is more shelter than many have, but far less than we'd like. My partner works as a carpenter/framer/handyman (don't say it...it's the easiest way to type it. Fuck PC-ness. She likes it and that's all I care about), and I do Tattoos and the occasional stained glass window. We currently have an old ford truck (Fuckin' Oakies Really Diggum, is my personal favorite) that gets her back and forth to work. I'm here just about 24/7 caring for Grama, our home and critters and YOU and the Internet make up the greatest part of my world and social life. True; all true. So, I am fucking excited about getting out of Dodge for the evening and I could give a shit what the movie is!!! Yay me!!!

My Desert: A Peek for Balls and Walnuts

This is the view out of my front door, across my yard and toward the San Bernardino Mountains (Facing South-ish).(Early last year before we got some of the "funky" landscaping done. I'll take new pics when stuff gets blooming.


This view faces S/W-ish to one of the slightly greener areas of my vista. My front side yard where we are wont to gather and sit and enjoy. (When we're not under the shade of the front or side porch.


My kitchen garden, just to the East of the house. Just about 1000 sq.ft. of growing space. Across the driveway further east, is our vine garden; 3000 sf, enclosed (but no pics yet.) That's it for this morning, I have a tattoo client coming at 11am. I'll post more beautiful desert, soon.

Silent House - I Will Let You Forget

My Grama has Senile Dementia, (ADT). I've been taking care of her since 1998. She was diagnosed sometime around 2000. They only know that it's "Altzheimer's type dementia" because the medication helps. It's the late onset kind, which is good. She's 88 now.

We had to remove the knobs on the stove about 5 years ago, when she kept forgetting she wasn't allowed to use the stove and trying to cook. She can still scramble eggs in a bowl and then nuke them most mornings, although she sometimes overcooks them and I have caught her spooning them up raw. (Last week she put catsup on the lovely oatmeal with raisins and applesauce I'd made her for breakfast) On the days I don't prepare a lunch for her, I put a can of progresso or one of the other things she likes, chili or ravioli on the electric can-opener (that was in her kitchen for as long as I can remember) and holler to her that it's there whenever she wants to eat.

I try to encourage her to do what she is able for herself, not because I mind doing for her, but because somehow I feel it helps her stay here. Stay with us, in the world; in herself.

But little by little she is slipping away from me. She confuses my daughter with my mom, or refers to her as "that girl, you know, my caregiver" (because F takes care of her occasionally so I can go out). Friends of the family like to go into her room, where she sits in front of her blaring TV, or naps on her bed. She is always gracious and polite, but often tells them how nice it is to meet them. She introduces herself to people she saw two weeks ago and tells them that her name is Ruby, but "just call me Grama; everybody does".

She hardly ever yells at or argues with me anymore. Mostly that is nice, because she used to be a real pain in the ass, calling us all "fucking liars", because she couldn't remember that she forgets. (But sometimes I miss that feisty ol' bitch.)

But she doesn't tell me stories anymore.

She doesn't remember the time that one of my Grampa's girlfriends had the nerve to knock on their door, (when Grams was in her 30's) and how she "slapped that bitch and then chased her down the street". She doesn't remember how when she was 17 and Grampa was courting her, and after a little goodnite kissing he put his hand on her thigh and she was so freaked out about what to do that she pretended to faint.

I've tried to keep those good stories alive in her. Reminding and coaching her. Once in awhile she surprises me, but mostly she is forgetting. It's breaking my heart, slowly.

My Grama taught me how to chew gum "like a lady", with my mouth closed.
She taught me how to drink my milk or juice without getting a mustache.
She taught me how to file my nails.
She taught me how to keep score for a baseball game.
To work crossword puzzles, play scrabble and yahtzee.
She filled my childhood with holiday delight.
She washed my face and neck and ears and knees and feet before putting me in the bathtub.
(and washed my hair in the kitchen sink)

She played the guitar a little, sang with a whiskey alto, drank coors beer, and loved to laugh. She won trophies shooting pool at the VFW, and you never saw a couple dance like she and Gramps.

And I keep hearing this incredible song by the Dixie Chicks, written about their own experience with this disease. And it speaks to my soul and my heart, and it kills me but also fills me.

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house

I will. I will hold the stories, Grama. I will let you forget

Altzheimer's Info dot org
Altzheimer's Support Forums
Sena (education and programs for aging and dying)

Silent House

These walls have eyes
Rows of photographs
And faces like mine
Who do we become
Without knowing where
We started from

It's true I'm missing you
As I stand alone in your room

Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart
Everyday that will pass you by
Every name that you won't recall

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house

One room
Two single beds
In the closet hangs
Your favorite dress
The books that you read
Are in scattered piles
Of paper shreds

Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house
Silent house

In the garden off the living room
A chill fills the air
And the lilies bloom

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house

Silent house

A Day in the Aftermath...

of the Blog Against Theocracy. I have to be honest. I can't let go. I'm obsessed. I keep checking for updates, reading more, checking back to see if a blogger I particularly liked has posted any more.
But I need to! I need to take a minute to be peaceful instead of outraged. To be grateful instead of dismayed. To be hopeful instead of defeated.
Because I don't know about the rest of you, but for every link that led me to something wonderful; something poetic, eloquent, heartfelt, outraged, worried, insightful... There were references or links to bits of absolute, devastating horror.

I wanna be an ostrich again!! Waaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

But I can't. I can't just go back to burying my head in the sand with my hiney in the air (with a big round target pasted on it).
Still, my spirit won't thrive under the impact of this new and deeper understanding I have, unless I can find a balance. It will shrivel and wilt and I'll become angry and bitter and cynical.

Yes, my Athiest friends, I said and mean Spirit. Whether one considers it divine or merely a product of molecular energy, there is no doubt in my mind that each of us is a human vessel (for/of/with?) containing this spark. As is every other living entity. (yup, right down to bugs n bacteria).
For me it is the spark that connects us all; the Good the Bad and the Ugly. (Love old Spaghetti Westerns...sorry!). It's what connects us not only to one another, but to nature and the earth and ultimately the Universe.

So to me creating a balance means I need to outwardly stay aware, informed and active, while inwardly remaining positive, hopeful and grateful.

I had a few more frightening links I was going to post today, but instead I think I'll be hopeful and post this link to What I Learned About Christianity From The Druids.
(Via SA. Thanks!!)
The author opens with the following:
This article is the result of research that I have been conducting on the revival of Druidry in Western society. While Christianity has much to offer the world, it is often thought of as a force of suppression or, at best, of social control. I think that it is important for us, as we discuss emerging theology, to be open to criticism from other religions. Here, I present simply one religious expression’s view of Christianity and draw some lessons that we as Christians can learn. I hope this will generate some beneficial discussion for us.

Now I know some folks will choose to see this as a christian who is seeking to "know thine enemy", but just for today, I'm going to choose hope. I'm going to choose to believe that this is not "Spin", but rather a sincere attempt of one theologist to discern and perhaps amend flaws in the christian perspective in a positive way which would perhaps change our perspective of christianity.

The article concludes with the following:

This current research is suggesting that a voice, not simply from Christian others, but from religious others needs to also be heard in order to address the contemporary perception of Christianity. That perception, whether correct or not, is increasingly considered mainstream. This paper has raised the criticism by contemporary practitioners of Druidry. Understanding their perception of Christianity will aid in enriching the Christian life. If Christians hear the criticism, doors of dialogue can open and lead to deeper appreciation and respect. By listening and responding to the criticism, the Christian voice might gain credibility.

Hope is good.

I'm gonna take a walk outside now around this beautiful desert landscape in which I'm privileged to live. I'm gonna check out the budding green on my Empress tree. I'm gonna see if there's any asparagus ready to cut. I might even pull a few weeds. I think I'll take along one of my birds. Kisses, My Sulfur Crested Cockatoo, because he loves the wind in his feathers. He's an amazing being who delights in his world. I'm gonna take my cue from him, today.

3rd and Final Official BAT Post or...

What's in your Playlist???

Okay, so I'm late. Fuck that!! In Thorne's world, today's not over until I wake up tomorrow. Thank you for an incredible ride, BlueGal, Neural Gourmet, Talk2Action and Mock, Paper, Scissors!

Wow!!! BlueGal you are amazing!!! I wanna do a shout out to First Freedom First. THANK YOU!!!!

Oh, ow. Man, I'm wiped out. A little tense. I think it's time for some....tunes. Ahhh... (dammit, where's the lube?) music. Yeahhhh.... Hmmmm... That's better. Tonite's playlist has got to be the blues. Stevie ray Vaughn, Candye Kane, Johnny Lang and ahhhh Eric Clapton, Thass right. A lil slooooow haaaand...

Hmmm. Where was I?! Right! Blogswarm. So I started my day with this:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."


Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled
to protection by society and the State.


Where the fuck does it say anything about the gender of these people?? NOWHERE!!!! Even "spouses" refers to them without use of a gender specific pronoun. Nor is there a definition of what constitutes a "family"

In a true DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS these terms would be left intentionally undefined, to leave room for growth, change!! This document was created to protect ALL OF US!!! We could do lots worse than adopting a declaration such as this for our own. Uh... wait a minute. We already are doing far worse than this...uh; ummm - you know what I mean
*pant, pant, pant* Oh, my. This shit wears me out.

Ahhh. No, really. That panting was from getting all worked up - I mean pissed off- earlier. (It had nothing to do with my newest iPod accessory. Cross... my... heart).

Then I found this sorrowful and succinct summary of the State of The Union entitled This could have been a beautiful place.

I found This article which was not directly part of BAT, but was cited in this excellent submission by No More Mr Nice Guy The first article is a permanent bookmark in my references file.

I was kinda wondering on n off throughout the weekend if this apparent surge of RRF Dominism is like the whole sky is falling, Y2K, End of a Millenium panic that comes 'round in reasonably predictable cycles. I was happy to get a whole shitload of history about this from Jeff Sharlet in Harpers, who tells us that: We don’t like to consider the possibility that they are not newcomers to power but returnees, that the revivals that have been sweeping America with generational regularity since its inception are not flare-ups but the natural temperature of the nation.
Not to minimize the threat in the least; a well researched article worthy of serious consideration.


Then I wandered rapturously through the blogswarm pausing to play with Balls and...Walnuts!!!
My comment:
This was a great article, but the comments and your continued interaction with them really made it for me. I especially love your anonymous friend's rant. Although I've never been (even by the furthest stretch of the imagination) a christian, I have to admit that the whole idea of the rapture and Armageddon has always appealed to me in a perverted sort of way. I dunno... maybe I read too much survivor type science fiction as a kid. Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein. I always kinda wished those rapturous freaks would disappear, body and all (so we "left behind"-ers wouldn't have to deal with the bodies and general clean up.) One particularly vehement rapture-ist once informed me that I specifically, would be in the direct employ of satan in the endtimes. As a tattoo artist, I would be in high demand to mark everyone with the number of the beast. Ha-ha. Now, that's what I call job security!!! Really, though... all seriousness aside. I think it might be kinda cool to rebuild without all those religious zealots. Who knows what we might achieve in the aftermath of a global abortion. I think Big Mama (aka Mother earth) is getting pretty tired of this crap, anyway. I mean; check out the bees.

After a bout of coitus interruptus, caused by an insane video game for good christian kids that made me eat my words about wanting to live in a post-apocalyptic world and almost blew my whole sexy innuendo thing I got goin' here...

(Thank god[dess] for science. I mean, who woulda thunk there could be so many cool accessories for an iPod??)

Anyway I went from Balls to RamboJesus. Oh my!! Now this is a Jesus I could go for... (oops! there's that damn lesbian "dick tooth" [in the immortal words of Margaret Cho], again) Stopped by the Chocolate Jesus because a "dick tooth" is one thing, but a "sweet dick" tooth??!! Mmmm. (Melts in your mouth, etcetera and so on.

Ohhhhh.... Mmmmmmm.... Ahhhhhhh....

and finally ended up at Cycle A man shaped by religious neglect of his poor lonely penis who hilariously brings us Jesus Boobies! ( Boobsalot, boobsalot, I like boobsalot... It's true (oh, it's true) I'm with you, Cycle!!

Oh!! Uh - huh. Ungggghhh. There. Whew. Mmmm hmmmmm.... *sigh*
Much better. I think I can go to sleep now.

Oh, yeah. Here's a small sample of my playlist.

Aerosmith
Alanis
Big & Rich
Bread
Bruddah Waltah
Candye Kane
Clint Black
Dave Matthews
Dixie Chicks
Elton John
Eric Clapton
Evanescence
Fiona Apple
Flyleaf
Grand Funk
Hoobastank
Indigo Girls
Joe Cocker
Johnny Lang
Kitaro
KD Lang
KT Tunstall
Limp Bizkit
Little Feat
Marilyn Manson
Melissa Etheridge
Molly Hatchet
Mozart
Natalie Merchant
Nickelback
Pavarotti
REM
Social Distortion
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Toni Childs
Van Morrison
Vivaldi


Tell ya what. Don't fuck with my music, and I won't fuck with yours. Amen, hallelujah.
Peace out.

Welcome to Pottersville: Assclowns of the Week #63: Easter Egg Hunt Edition

jurassicpork has really outdone himself this time!! This one is too good not to link. Counting down the...


Welcome to Pottersville: Assclowns of the Week #63: Easter Egg Hunt Edition

A chatty interlude including but not limited to:

... the Blog Against Theocracy

Really, there are entirely too many great bloggers participating in this blogswarm, and an incredible wealth of opinion, perspective and information, but I just have to mention a few of my personal favorites. I have found a few of these folks to be so charming, smart, witty, talented, etc. that I'll be adding them to my blogroll (I hope I'm using that term correctly as the list of blogs I'm linking??!!) in the coming days.
I've delightedly found some blogs that are similar to my own in that they are personal and public, and present a variety of topics. I think I'm going to enjoy interspersing these with my regular issues blogs. (Sometimes I get so angry and depressed after reading those that I feel quite defeated before I've really even begun my day!!)

So, a couple of links:

writ-small.html

is a well written, thoughtful glimpse into personal responsibility. I was incredibly moved by this piece.

OneActInTheEternalPlayOfIdeas

Is a thought provoking statement in an unique (to this blogswarm) voice; fiction. A stupendous read. The author writes with a simple eloquence that is undeniable. Look for this gal in future on the NYT Best Sellers' List.

Parishioners Wanted
This one is great. The creation of a brand new religion to support the blog and make the blogger as rich as any Jerry Falwell. NOT!!! Really though, a bit of sincerely funny (funnily sincere??) concepts for a great web-church! I tried to sign up, but the comments were closed and I couldn't find the slot in my laptop to insert the bills.

MockPaperScissors
A number of witty, creative and powerful pieces here

Then there's Bob (or "Bubba", as I affectionately call him) who is sure that we are all doing a Hit Job On Easter
This is an interesting (if only to sorta help us "know thine enemy") site that appears to be dedicated to spreading the word about the BATS as he terms the BAT and the Blog Against Theocracy Conspiracy to undermine Easter and christianity in general. Bubba also has disabled comments, (to those outside of his flock) so don't anybody think he might care to engage in actual dialogue about his opinions. He saves that for the spam he leaves in the comments boxes at OUR blogs. Stay tuned, as one blogger said Bubba seems to search links to his blog on a regular basis so he can find outlets for his vitriol in higher trafficed places than his own blog. Yippee! He might grace us with his glory! ( This one is filed under: Things that make ya go "Hmmmm".)

I could go on and on about the great stuff I've found amongst the participants of BAT, but this particular entry speaks to my soul in a way that so much of what is going on in this country does. I really don't know whether to laugh or cry. My laughter these days has a bit of an hysterical ring to it, and my tears could damn near drown me if not for that ark I'm building out back.

On a lighter note, and nothing to do with BAT (wellll...I suppose it almost could be...no. Sorry! Hahaha) check out relentlesslyoptimistic for a cute and totally irreverent take on Happy Easter. (THIS is funny... I don't care who you are!!) Love it!!

And this one (you tube) is for my GLBTQ family, although some of you straight folk with a sense of humor might like it, too.

If I can stop my head from spinning (yes... it's almost to the pea soup stage), and stop this manic surf I'm on (FEED ME SEYMOUR!!! Must have information, more data!!) I'll eventually get around to doing my own post for BAT later today. (After we string up the sacrifice and enjoy our burnt offerings for this auspicious day).

Blog Against Theocracy, Day 2

Marriage. NOT Gay Marriage necessarily, but Marriage as a Legal Contract

I've been giving this whole Gay marriage topic alot of thought for a long time. Back when I was happily married to a man who I loved with all my heart, I supported the rights of gays to marry. He died in 1998 and now that I am living with my other soul mate, who is a woman, like me. These days I'm giving it even more thought and in different ways.

Whether everyone really realizes it or not there are alot of different takes on this subject even within the LGBT community. There is a large faction that would happily settle for a "Civil Union" which allows us all the rights and responsibilities of a straight marriage. Alot of these folks feel that we don't need to imitate the straight lifestyle, and that marriage for gays somehow betrays the gay lifestyle. (I could go into a whole thing on so-called lifestyles, but I would go soooo far off topic!!)
Then there's the folks who want the same rights as everybody else, no matter what! As for me, I can respect both positions. I see merit in both arguments, just as I see flaws. My take on the topic of Gay Marriage is this:

Nobody should be legally "married"

.
That's right; nobody. Marriage is a religious ceremony/institution/ritual/law. As soon as it became a part of state and federal legislation, the wall between the separation of church and state was crossed. Period. Marriage as a legal, binding, contract should never have been. I say, forget promoting gay marriage. Let's cut straight to the heart of the matter and abolish legal marriage. Really!! Let's instead push for legislation that truly separates church and state in this area, at least. Let's admit that the better solution would be to admit that "marriage" is a religious term applied to a government filing of two people entering into a personal, domestic, contract.
A civil union, as opposed to a business partnership.
Because that is what it is.
If you want to go into a business partnership with so and so, you draw up a contract, have it notarized and then file the appropriate papers with the courts.
Same with a pre-nup. Isn't a pre-nup just an additional filing attached to the so - called "marriage contract", made to further protect one party of the "partnership"?
Let's just let marriage be what it was intended to be; a religious ceremony in which the rules vary from religion to religion.
If we are to truly separate church and state, then nobody should be married under law. Let all those straight folks go down to the courthouse and file their "domestic partnership" or "civil union" papers just like everybody else.

Be sure to stop by Blog Against Theocracy to check out all the great bloggers that are participating in this event and speaking out about the separation of Church and State, and don't forget after the event is over to get continuing info and updates on the struggle at Freedom First

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Blog Against Theocracy Day 1

I’ve been goin’ a little crazy with this whole idea ever since I first came across it. Not that these kinds of issues aren’t in my fucking face and life every day... they are. As a woman, a lesbian, a witch - as an American, that’s right, I said it - an American, I’m constantly blown away by how much and how completely the intent if not the letter of our Constitution has been undermined by religion. And worse, how we seem to be going backward under the current administration of the Georgie Puppet, ventriloquism dummy for the Radical Right Christian Fundimaentalists, (and big money and oil and special interests in general. But that’s a-whole-nother rant!!).
So here’s my chance to speak out. Not just by signing petitions and supporting causes or wearing T-shirts... to really make a difference. Well, I don’t know about that, but at least I have the opportunity to write about something that matters. Sorry kids, no sandbox today.
I’ve had several ideas (among the myriad to choose from) for topics and I’m going to elaborate on a couple of them in the next two days, but for today I’m just going to post some quotes from a couple of our Founding Fathers on the topic of separation of Church and State, (snagged from AltLiberal’s Comments at Clipmarks), and take it from there.

Thomas Jefferson

I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789 (Richard Price had written to TJ on Oct. 26. about the harm done by religion and wrote "Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?")

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789


History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.


Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

On the Bible:

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820


Let’s not forget that pesky letter to the Danbury Baptist Church:

Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.
Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.

James Madison

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
- James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, in Saul K Padover, ed., The Complete Madison: His Basic Writings (1953), also; from Jack N Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, (1999), p. 789, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church"

The civil government ... functions with complete success ... by the total separation of the Church from the State.
- James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, "Essays In Addition to America's Real Religion"

The only ultimate protection for religious liberty in a country like ours, Madison pointed out--echoing Jefferson;--is public opinion: a firm and pervading opinion that the First Amendment works. "Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance."
(Edwin S. Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 56. Madison's words, according to Gaustad, are from his letter of 10 July 1822 to Edward Livingston.)


Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize [sic], every expanded prospect.
(James Madison, in a letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774, as quoted by Edwin S. Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 37.)

'Nuff said!!

PS
Be sure to stop by Blog Against Theocracy to check out all the great bloggers that are participating in this event and speaking out about the separation of Church and State, and don't forget after the event is over to get continuing info and updates on the struggle at Freedom First

Feel The Hate: Religious Right Lies About Conyers Hate Crimes Bill Are Such A Drag

Talk about "Spin". This is a topic I'd love to see my friend over at Spongebob vs Osama take on!

clipped from blog.au.org The Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition is swinging wildly as usual, dubbing the measure the “Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen ‘Hate Crime’ Bill”. In a March 28 alert, Sheldon blustered, “This so-called Hate Crimes Bill begins to lay the legal framework to persecute and prosecute those who refuse, for moral and religious reasons, to agree or teach their children that homosexuality, transgender, cross-dressing, etc is normal and desirable. Ultimately, a pastor’s sermon concerning homosexuality could be considered an incitement to violence and punished with a fine or prison.” In fact, the bill, more formally known as the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2007,” authorizes the federal government to help local police departments prosecute violent crimes committed because the victim was a certain race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, or because of his or her sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Another Day to Blog

And to work out the kinks, hopefully. Health has me lazin' around again. (Short whine, then down to business) Fibromyalgia sucks!! I haven't had this bad of a flare up in over a year. The bad news: I'm in constant, relentless pain; the house goes to hell; my birds don't get the attention they need and deserve; I can hardly walk - let alone exercise. The good news: I don't have to feel guilty about not doing all those things because I play and search and read and blog all day. (End of whine.) Yay me!!!
A Talk To Action writes a great commentary on Time magazine's different Cover stories for the world and the US. (Via Silver Adept )Lots of good fodder there for Blog Against Theocracy

According to Patrick Cockburn of The Independent, UK, it was the US botched raid to kidnap Iranian security officials that led to the detainment of the 15 Brit sailors. Are we really surprised that the US of Bush has its fingers into that pie?? By God!! That's Moose Turd Pie! Stinky fingers, again.

Speaking of stinky fingers (funders?? finders??) check out who's supporting yet another group of "terrorist insurgents", and has been since 2005. Oh, that sticky ol' Oil Pie. US has been adding and deleting ingredients forever and it still doesn't taste quite right...

I'm soooo not in the mood for any more of this ugly politics, this evening. I've got a squeeky clean Girlybloi wearing nothing but a white T-shirt and boxers right here next to me and I'm feelin' a lil cuddle-ishous!

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Okay thinking that all the long mixd up crap just totally fucks up the esthetics of my blog. This is not okay. All I need to do is

figure out how to do a cut (like they have at LJ and I think I've seen it at wordpress blogs, too. I think the new blogger has it, but this one is still on an old template instead of the newer "layouts"

There is no part 2

Sorry everybody, for the messed up posting. Please start below with part 1, there is no part 2, then to part 3 and finally 4. I know it's confusing, but I wanted to post the clip of clips from MyClipmarks
including all the links without having to retype them. See if you can make any sense of it.

Clipping Clipmarks Thorne on a Rant, P.4

My point is where does censorship end?? If clipmarks bans LT, what about the rest of this garbage? LT seemed to enjoy baiting, and trolling, but frankly some of my favorite witty intellectuals here do the same, even if they use milder language.
I have been guilty of pushing a button or two around here myself, as have many of us.
I'm not defending LT here... I'm defending Clipmarks.

this and the previous 3 clips were taken from commentary on http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/D7B43EA3-41E4-449C-8711-7AC7635A3FA6/

clipped from clipmarks.com A couple of friendly snippets from various clips of one prolific commenter and clipper: (Note that these attacks other members by name) Ratilfar, You are just proving you are an idiot over and over again Debbyski, I don't even know why you had to comment as you offer nothing but Bush bashing and nothing of substance. You say I've argued circular. And finally, Le Piece du Resistance -You are a real fu**ing idiot! If you can't see it yourself, then I won't be the one trying to explain, but hey, don't go too far off from your country... And yeah, America "the free country", is exactly the same type of empty words like "the peoples republic of China". And if you don't see it (and I guess you don't), I'll once again speak your language: Go FU** yourself!

Clipping Clipmarks Thorne on a Rant, P.3

not done yet...

clipped from clipmarks.com Let's start with a little A** (cuz everybody likes a little a** now and then...) Almost anyone would have to CRACK UP at this one, and here's a choice of a**, some hilarious Internet A**(icons) This is definitely the winning A** pick (I can almost smell this one!!!) Now, does this one go under "A**" or "Hatespeech" tagged: rita cosby, annoying ass, annoying, ass, More hate filed under "B*tch" Tagged: funny, coulter, ann coulter, bitch, (Wasn't this the same word LT ised in reference to a public female??) How about this crafty Clip I mean, I’ve heard of mixed media, but... How about some racist humor?? A little commentary of homophobia, anyone?? Wow and just think, I could have been raised by 2 daddies just because they wanted to marry and play house and complete it with a kid so I could go to school and have my ass kicked every day. What a life for me against the homosexual lifestyle. Stated very simply..."the plumbing don't fit".... crude but it makes a point.

Clipping Clipmarks Thorne on a Rant, P.1

Here I go again....stay tuned
continued from clip below (I know, it's a lil bass-ackwards)

Still, as an adult with a delete key who is not afraid to use it, as well as a clipper with a site tool which allows me to ignore anyone I choose, somehow I manage to negotiate this morass of filth and degradation and make it to the stuff that really matters.
In the following comment I'm going to link to a few clips that some readers might find objectionable. I'm also going to include some hatespeech, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and general ignorance, that I found cruising the site for a couple of hours. If LT is evicted, why not these Clippers?? Where does censorship end?
BTW, I found 24 clips which included the word “A**” in the title or tags, 8 with the word B*tch, 33 with the word “idiot”, 10 clips with “A**hole”, (only one of which was by LT), 70 Clips with “stupid”...

Ahhh. Only 6 “Vagina” clips, but over double the number of “pussy” clips...

44 “penis” clips, 4 "cock" clips, and as near as I can tell with the double (Cheney) entendre, 10 "dick" clips
(part 2 coming up)

clipped from clipmarks.com Part one of Thorne on a Soapbox From the EULA: Using the Site may expose you to content that you find objectionable, inappropriate or offensive, and posted content might be inaccurate, false or misleading. You agree that your use of the Site and Software is at your own risk and that we are not responsible or liable for any harm resulting from such use. Further: You may not (1) abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate any other user of the Software or Site or otherwise interfere with any other user's use and enjoyment of the Software or Site I don't see how LT has violated the above any more or less than many clippers here. (see the next comment or 2 for a few examples) LT's quip did not: abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate any other user of the Software or Site As far as I know, KS is not a Clipmarks' member and LT's juvenile "verbal shot" was aimed at her. I don't pass a day that I don't come across something on the site that I find offensive

May You Live in Interesting Times

So here I sat yesteday, despondent at the $$ not coming in this week thanks to a client cancellation, and worse; although he's rescheduled for later in the week it seems his financial (read pain) tolerance has dropped from a 4 to 2 hour session. Waaaahhhhh. Yes, I admit, tattoos hurt... but does anybody consider how it hurts my bottom line when you can't Bitch -Up and have some ovaries. Shees!! (I could never say this over on my ink-blog, An Artist's Journey, over there I need to be professional and sensitive (and I am, really!!!), but a grrrllll's gotta blow off steam somewhere, right?? So if I can't poke um, I'll just have to poke fun attum.

My my, what a wonderful two day ride on the blogosphere. First my menopausal meanderings are salved by Nonsensical Ravings of Finely Tuned Insanity and his crew with explanations and lessons in blogging that are indeed much appreciated.

A lighter, but nonetheless valued take on my blog etiquette angst is provided by BlueGal, and then I get further and further ensnared in the whole KS-Hatespeech-Cyberbullying-Mysogeny-he said-she said-Insanity

The longer I spend on the Internet trying to figure out what the "real" story is, (pick a story; any story), the more I am convinced that I'm one of the Lemmings, one of the sheep, one of the rats (You know, the ones that followed the Pied Piper??).

Yeah, that's it; rats. Following after that enticing music, leading me along by my heart, my guts, and only finally - my mind.

The following are excerpts and quotes from comments I have flung willy nilly far and wide on threads that in one way or another related to the KS thing.

Greetings. I'm not directly an part of any of this KS issue; just came upon it at BlogHer, and have been following from link to link to try to get a general idea of the whole story (being the "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" type).
As I commented on another thread:

There are alot of valid points made in the original post here, as well as by many of the commenters. I myself, have had strong and varying feelings and thoughts on this topic since first catching wind of it.

Here are just a few:

"OMG!! That's taking it too far. This is NOT satire. Noone should be threatened this way."



"KS is so overreacting"



"How irresponsible to link to a hate site"



"Wait, was it a hate site or a juvenile satire site"



"What about free speech?"



"How can people be so hateful toward each other"?



"Who is crying wolf now"?

I could go on, but I suppose what I'm trying in my fumbling way to express is that I am constantly surprised by my own naivetee. I'm repeatedly getting caught up in "Spin". It's difficult to keep the facts straight, especially when we don't really know what the facts are.

Iif there was a death threat made it should be appropriately investigated and adjudicated.



If it's a matter of character assassination it's Civil. (whether against or by KS or both)

Intimidation is a tool of the ignorant, and Trolling and Baiting and Flaming have practically become an Internet institution unto themselves.

I have a delete key and am willing to use it.

That said, I really think that the bloggers and site owners that would abide by your "Code of Conduct", probably already are, for the most part and as they see fit. Although you have made some valuable suggestions, in it's entirety your "Code" is flawed in some of the ways already mentioned, and perhaps in ways as yet unforeseen. As a blogger and a citizen of this so-called "free" country, we are already plagued by legal provisions in the Patriot Act and elsewhere that impinge seriously on our right to express ourselves freely, and guilt by association is again (as in the days of McCarthy, Hitler, and countless others) is a tool of the powers that be.

Will and should we as bloggers attempt to implement a "Code" that amounts to censorship? Or shall we continue to each operate our blogs in the way that meets our own comfort level?
KS is not some 13 year old that has been lured to a remote site by a sexual predator, and she herself, has fallen short of your proposed "Code".

By your "Code" should I be ostracized for posting this,
I Repudiate Fear

publicly, in my personal life journal after having doors in my house kicked in, my grandmother and daughter terrified, and my life directly threatened face to face?

Let's think, people.

Like a rat. It's true. Jumping from emotional response, to opinion, to consideration of logical commentary, and in the end. Lost.
Maybe not. I think I ended up with something like:

Fuck Censorship

yeah....that's it.

Then I started thinking about how all this Internet drama and chasing down sources while trying to get to the "real" story, is just like my search for understanding on everything else; politics, religion, taxes, history, science, life the universe and everything.
It's a paradox. It all makes sense, and none of it makes sense.
(And does any of it really matter in the face of things like the Iraq war and Guantanamo?)
Wooooahhhh. Trippy dudes!!!

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