I’ve Been Tagged…So Here Are Six Things About Me….

A few days ago (or was it MANY days ago…I forget, I’m losing track of time these days), I was TAGGED by our ex-pat in Italy (my ancestral homeland), American Indy in Italy….

Which means I have to write 6 things about myself and write to 6 other people. I’m going to include the crew at IA in this, too, just to cover all the bases here at IA.  I’ve probably broken the chain, but here goes:

1) I graduated #1 in my class in Automotive Technology back in the mid-80’s and then was given jobs like fixing water leaks on convertibles instead of the money jobs like brakes.  See how long my being pissed goes back??? (and it goes back even further, believe me!) (At least to my undergrad and graduate student days at Cornell and Rutgers School of Library and Information Studies, which is now called something else…)

2) I really love COOKING!  My latest kick is watching Gillian McKeith on BBC America. The show is “You Are What You Eat” and it is brilliant!  The one recipe that I have adopted with gusto is here Sweet Potato Pie Pizza….that crust is AMAZING!!  I top it with greens like fresh-from-the garden steamed mustard, kale or collards, or stir-fry up some broccoli and top the crust with that and lots of olive oil and garlic.   I’m making it tonight!!

3) I’ve gardened for at least 25 years and really got into it while recovering from foot surgery. I read lots of books since I couldn’t walk for awhile.  I had a huge garden in Jersey complete with a Troy-built rototiller. I canned tomatoes for the whole winter.  I’ve had to re-learn everything for the Southwest (high desert) and have two raised beds (about 3 feet high) to spare my back (had surgery 9 years ago).  You can see pictures of my winter garden on this site in various places.  I planted more lettuce yesterday, by the way.

4) My doggies and betta fish are my babies. Toro, the oldest and the one we bought via the vet, a chi but with lots of rat terrier in him (a “deer chi”).  Tico, who is probably a mix of chi and Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and Slick, the min pin rescued from the street.  The fish is still unnamed and I could use a  few suggestions.  I’m trying to learn chess, and still listen to shortwave radio.  But I’ve just found a new site that I will be writing about that is really great…foreign TV!  My favorite TV channel is Turner Classic Movies, especially anything they air that’s pre-1970.  Preferably black and white.

5) I lived in London during the mid-80’s and made a lot of trips there before and after that experience (and the rest of Europe, too, including behind the Iron Curtain, including a foray alone into East Berlin). I had a work permit and had a blast working around London. I also attended Vidal Sassoon to perfect my haircutting (I had graduated from a local “academy” and got a work permit for the UK since I had been a student at 35!)  The only time I ever got sick traveling was when I went to Paris for a quick few days. On the train to the Hovercraft, it started.  So, I actually got sick in London, not from the traveling!!  I had also planned to go to Moscow and Leningrad and had my tickets all set from the official tourist bureau…but Chernobyl blew up.  The Russians decided to refund my money….I guess I was caught in the radioactive cloud as I walked around Kew Gardens that day…

6) I started inviting folks to contribute to the blog and wound up with the crew you see on the sidebar! Kenosha Marge is a really talented seamstress!  Grail Guardian is a history buff and works with computers!  American Lassie has worked in the tax field!  And Leslie works in a Chicago hospital setting and is a long sufferer as she deals with the media there!

So now I have to write to 6 bloggers…I don’t know who’s been tagged, but I’ll find some folks and tag them as soon as I eat lunch!!!

The Past Week, November 2-8: Recaps & Random Thoughts (Chicago Trib’s “RedEye” Pic of “Royalty”; Frightening Treatment of McCain Supporter in Philly on Election Night; The Price Paid Due to Non-Voters (Deals with Ministers); Help “Free Us Now Mavericks” Hosted by Betty Jean Kling; Stray Dog Update

Well, it was such a disappointing week, but on Friday, Obama’s Nancy Reagan faux pas brightened my day. Keep it up, Obama!  Now, onto the roundup:

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From regular reader Leslie in Chicago…this GEM. She writes:

This is the photo on the front page of the Tribune’s “RedEye” free daily newspaper.

Beneath the photo in HUGE type reads:

AMERICAN ROYALTY

PS: Saturday’s web edition is more simple: just has a pic labeled just “Royalty.”

Camelot already??  Well, about the Royal Couple’s subjects …What happens when Obama doesn’t deliver whatever it is they expect to be delivered?

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This benign title masks a VERY disturbing video which might answer the question just asked. I haven’t been to Philly in a long time…I’m glad I didn’t show up in the middle of this…see Minute 3:15

Man Arrested for Wearing McCain Shirt at Obama Victory Rally

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Over the past week, we’ve had some excellent analyses of the election.  Texas Hill Country (note the new address) sent out a letter to mailing list members which think I speaks for many of us:

The American public rejected the hard right swing that was part and parcel with the Bush Administration and, blinded by rhetoric, swung far to the left…  but not the traditional Democratic left.  This is a new Democratic Party.
In the wake of this election cycle, people should remember that:

• It was Democrats that voted against GLBT rights in 4 states
• It was Democrats that voted against two very strong and capable women
• It was Democrats that attacked two very strong women with vicious sexism
• It was Democrats that found the attacks on freedom of speech acceptable (truth squads)
• It was Democrats that applauded unfair and unethical election practices (primaries)
• It was Democrats that abandoned campaign finance reform
• It was Democrats that conducted a questionable war on the sanctity of the vote (acorn, ohio)

And also that

• It was evangelicals that failed to come out for the Republican Party
• It was the evangelicals that turned out in higher numbers for the Democrats

No matter what the rhetoric, no matter what the politicians say, the Democratic Party has abandoned two of its’ key constituencies…  women and gays.  I shudder to thing what will happen when little bites begin to be taken out of Roe v Wade.  I no longer have any confidence that the Democratic Party will protect women’s right to choose.
It is time for the Republican party to abandon the Neo-Conservatives.  It is time for the Republicans to recapture the center and to become the party of Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Barry Goldwater once again.
It is time to remake the face of the Republican Party as the party of small government, both in business and in our daily lives.
It is time for the Republican Party to become the party of equal rights and freedoms for all.
It is time for the Republican Party to become the party that it once was.  The party that fought to give African Americans the right to vote.  The party that fought to give women the right to vote.  The party that helped the first woman get elected to Congress.  The party that fought for the individual against the crushing weight of the society and the government.
It is time for the Republican Party to abandon the path set forth by John Sears and Karl Rove and get back to its’ roots.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the “Religious Right” that abandoned you.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon its attack on a woman’s right to choose.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the attacks on the division between church and state.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the injection of religion into social policy
I am calling on the Republican Party to allow people of any race, creed, color or sexual preference to associate in any way they deem appropriate…  including marriage.
I am calling on the Republican Party to defend my rights as a citizen to live my life without interference from the government as long as my actions are not harming others.
I am calling on the Republican Party to stop being a RINO and start being Republican once again.

Over at Not Your Sweetie, Edge wrote a piece with some hard numbers that summarizes what happened on Election Day succinctly, with a focus on who stayed home and the price we’re all going to pay for it. Edge points out that evangelicals ministers kept their flocks home on the promise of Obama’s support for money and “their ability to hire and fire based on faith. For more background on what Obama was up to during the campaign, see these pieces:

6/11: So, What’s Obama Going to Give Away to Conservative Religious Leaders and Constitutional Law Profs Who Work with Ken Starr??(Just Say No Deal)

6/26: Part 1: Obama’s Conservative Meeting Guests–Non-Pastors (UPDATED 1x)

6/28: Part 2: Obama’s Conservative Meeting Guests–The Pastors

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Ministers weren’t the only problem. I heard Rush Limbaugh way just days before the election that “”we don’t want any moderate Republicans…social moderates”…in the Republican Party.”  According to him, it has to be a purely “Conservative” party.  What effect did THAT have on his listeners?

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I can’t let go of the “racial” crap…

How come when Rice and Powell were elevated to very powerful positions I didn’t see endless blather about how they were “post-racial”?…I didn’t see the GOP making it a big selling point, either.  The editor of the “Pulse” section of the local paper (entertainment section) is a young woman who wrote that “Pulse” never got political..BUT she was so happy to see what she didn’t think she’d ever see in her lifetime…a BLACK president…Well, I zipped off GG’s post and challenged her to think about why that image was more important than seeing a woman in the presidency and why she seemed so oblivious/willing to accept as the norm the misogyny of this campaign??

Young women, wake up!!

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And this should help them…FROM BETTY JEAN KLING, THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE. She needs some people to give her radio show site some hits. SEE BELOW. I listened and she’s GREAT and she needs our support! Play the archived 11/3 show for a few minutes…the guest is Dr. Lynette Long at about the 15:00 Minute mark…Betty Jean is great and will keep your fighting spirit up! From her Friday email:

Please do me a very big favor- go to this link http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FreeMeNow and download 11/3 show – don’t have to listen but I need 50 downloads – I changed from 6PM to 8 PM and NO One and I mean not one person showed up and I could lose my show so please I need 50 downloads to save my show. Every download helps please help.

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Join BettyJean at the new Prime Time Slot 8 pm est.

Tune in Monday Night 8 PM EST- FreeUsNow Mavericks

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FreeMeNow

As promised launching FreeUsNow Mavericks

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Just in case you think we do not need a new woman’s movement

Think Again!

We cannot let what happened during this year’s election cycle—rampant sexism and misogyny—continue or ever happen again. I fear women might stop running for the highest offices. Why wouldn’t they stop trying? It’s dangerous and devastating for our daughters to see. Join us as we go straight at all that is wrong with the way women were treated by our party, our media, our opponents, and other women.

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Obama was talking dogs at his press conference and I have my own UPDATE on the stray that I talked about in my Election Day post on my miracle rescue dog, Slick. (See below.)  I had just put out food and water in the hope of attracting him/her.  A couple of days went by without any indication that he had passed by…then, on Thursday morning, I noticed that all the food had been eaten, but a treat I also set out had been left behind. On my dog walk in the afternoon, the treat was gone!  Friday, night, I moved the dishes and once again the food was gone as well as the little treats I had left!  Saturday morning I moved the dishes again to a sunnier spot on the opposite side of the driveway because the water had frozen in the other location.  So, let’s see if the food is gone Sunday!  This is the pattern I saw with Slick…probably an early morning visit. So far, the wanderer hasn’t returned in the afternoon like Slick did, but we’ll see. If the the dog finds the food in the new place overnight/in the morning, then I’ll start moving it further up the driveway.  Stay tuned!

And in the garden: It turned very cold at night a couple of nights ago, reaching the freezing point so I’ve started covering up the plants with the sunshade material.  I set up the mini-greenhouse and I’ll be transferring the geraniums into that any day now.  Tonight I had a sweet potato pizza crust topped with swiss chard picked from the garden and drizzled with olive oil.  Scrumptious!

THE PAST WEEK

*By Kenosha Marge

**By Grail Guardian

***With American Lassie

Obama Humor: Get Used to It! The Jerk Makes a “Careless and Offhanded” Joke About Nancy Reagan

***The SCANNER-Politics 11/7/08: Newsweek Editors on Charlie Rose in the SCARIEST Description of Obama So Far…(Video/Partially Transcripted); Sharia Hits the Treasury Department/HARVARD Alert!; Hill the Shill (UPDATE 1X)

*The Incredible Shrinking Democratic Party

Introducing…THE SCANNERS!

Testing…Do you like this design? Comments Welcomed…UPDATE…TEST OVER

THE SCANNER-Politics, 11/06/08: NM Elections; PUMA Integrity; LA Times Crapola on Post-Racial Promise; Class; Movie–”Rope”

**Post Election Thoughts…The Last Salvo or REALITY BITES

REGROUPING: The Morning After the Day Before (A Joint Post with kenosha Marge & American Lassie (GG Will Be Posting Separately) (UPDATED 2X)

Today, A Stress-Free Post! What Could Be Better Than a TRUE Story About a November MIRACLE DOG!! (With Pics)

Obama–A Look at the Personality Behind the Handwriting

The Past Week, October 26-November 1: Recaps and Random Thoughts (A Mindblower of a Piece at Logistics Monster on “Obama’s American Socialism”; The Illegal Aunt/Donation Problem; 1995 Video of Obama Praising Rev. Wright; Zogby Polling Race; “A Face in the Crowd”–How Timely!; Fall Harvesting)