Mind Vomit by the ikss

john mccain and the draft

QUESTIONER: If we don't reenact the draft, I don't think we'll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.
MCCAIN: Ma'am, let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said.

Town Hall meeting, Las Cruces NM 8/20/08



And my boyfriend Keith Olbermann’s segment on the matter:



I do agree with the interviewed commentator Chris Kofinis that at this point, John McCain will say anything to get elected and can not be trusted. Hell, he’s even now changed his position on a woman’s right to choose. He now thinks we shouldn’t have that right. This is a man who made a lot of enemies in the GOP because he for years stood strong in his position that a woman should have the right to choose. Now that he is trying to get elected, he has flipped.

Of course, this is also a former POW who voted to protect the CIA’s ability to torture POWs. He now wants the CIA to have more latitude than the Army Field Manual affords in such cases. Which, by the way, is another flip-flop on his part.

On second thought…maybe he’s not flip-flopping. Maybe he’s just so old he can’t remember what his views used to be. Or where he left his ethics. If he can’t remember how many houses he has, how can he be expected to remember what he should have learned after being tortured all those years?

In regard to the draft issue: if we give McCain the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn’t understand what the woman was saying at the meeting, I would think he would now have come out and said that he misspoke or that he was agreeing about “hunting Bin Laden to the gates of hell” or whatever.

I used to have a modicum of respect for John McCain. A few years ago, I said if we had to have another Republican President, I would rather it be John McCain than anyone else. Now, I have no idea who the hell John McCain is. Aside from the fact that he has voted with Dubya 90% of the time over the last seven years, he has flip-flopped on so many key issues that I don’t know if he was lying five years ago or he’s lying now.

God help us if he wins the November election. He is a scary, scary old man.

when is Dennis Kucinich going to get the respect (and the ears) he deserves?

You really should watch this. Dennis f'n rocks the house.

on new jobs, old friends and honky-tonkin

The Old Man is starting a new job today. This will be his third job since we moved to the OC, which was not even two months ago. Not that I blame him for leaving the other jobs. They were not even worth waking up for; but I sure hope this one sticks ‘cuz I am getting very tired of paying for his stinkin’ COBRA insurance. It appears promising. If nothing else, he is working across the street from the ocean.

Location is everything, you understand.

Hey so now he’ll be The Old Man and the Sea.

(Well, I found that amusing…)

I saw my old friend Nancy this weekend. She came down to the OC and we went to lunch and hung out for a while. I always love seeing her. I am not exactly sure of her age, cuz I was never rude enough to ask, but she is a good twenty years older than I. Although we used to work together (she left the former workplace about two years before I did), she worked in the music business during the seventies.

And oh, the stories she has to tell...

Although I have known her for quite some time, it seems every time we get together I still end up hearing new stories. We hung out regularly when we worked together; since she quit we still try to get together about once/month or so. Even through all of that time spent with one another, I must have known her a good two years before she told me she was in the studio with the Rolling Stones while they recorded an album in the seventies. I mean, were I she I would introduce myself to people by saying, “Hi, I’m Karen and I was in the studio with the Rolling Stones when they recorded…”

The exact album she was on hand for escapes me at the moment, but you get me.

Anyway, this weekend we were talking about her halcyon days living in Venice Beach and a gal she was roommates with for much of that time. This being the 70’s and Nancy being…well, Nancy, there were of course a plethora of both legal and illegal substances being used. Anyway, she spent some time recently with her old roommate and that woman now has only half of her teeth and looks like seven sacks of shit. She apparently left her teeth in the gutter somewhere, after passing out in it.

Nice.

Tonight, I am goin’ honky-tonkin’. Gonna see my latest obsession, Mike Stinson at the Redwood Bar and Grill, downtown (LA). I am looking forward to it, even if it means I shall be staying out incredibly late for a school night. My soon-to-be-married niece and her honey-bun are meeting me there. My soon-to-be-married niece even has a friend who tends bar there (of course. She has friends who tend pretty much every bar in the city).

By the by: I am listening to Bruce’s latest album right now, Magic. It is really a work of genius.



**P.S. I really HATE the supposed "improvements" Typepad has made to their new composition editor!!!!!!!!

bizarro-nathan’s pippi longstocking memorial survey

I don't know who "Bizarro-Nathan" is or what this survey has to do with Pippi Longstocking, but it's fun...and actually a new one! :)

1. If you could have any historical figure resurrected to guard your residence nightly, who would you choose? ~ Crazy Horse

2. What would the title of your autobiography be? ~ Too Much Booze, Too Little Sleep

3. Name a place that you haven't visited that you would like to. ~ Spain

4. Do you have psychic ability(ies)? If so, please elaborate. ~ I see dead people…

5. When you were a kid, what were your sources of spending money? ~ Allowance money and occasionally thievery (I’m joking…kinda…)

6. If you could have a bumper sticker custom made for you, what would it say? ~ Don’t follow me, cuz whatever lane I end up in will be the slowest

7. Honorary membership in which: PETA, NRA, Super Adventurers Club? Uh…if I have to pick one of these - Super Adventurers Club, I guess.

8. If you could clone any deceased person regardless of how long gone, who would you choose? ~ Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Sorry, I spent like five minutes trying to decide which one. Although either one of them would probably just commit suicide after seeing the state out country is in now.

Hey, I guess I should have said Jesus. But I don’t know what Jesus would think about arbitrary cloning, frankly, so maybe we’d better not ask Him. He might not want to come back before His time. And you don't want to piss Him off. Remember the money-changers?

9. Who was the first celebrity you can remember having a crush on? ~ Donny Osmond...or Mickey Dolenz. I'm not sure who came first (the proverbial chicken and the egg).

10. If you could have your car horn changed to honk the first few recognizable notes of any tune, what tune would that be? ~ "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones

11. If you were given the ability to perfectly mimic one person's voice, whose would you choose? ~ Suzanne Pleshette

12. What in your opinion is the greatest science fiction movie ever made? ~ Science Fiction? Huh?

13. You are allowed to suggest to Baskin and Robbins a new ice cream flavor. What would be your idea? ~ Baileys and Chocolate Brownie

14. If you had the power to direct the presidential candidates to choose a certain running mate, who would you demand? ~ For Obama, I’d pick Bill Richardson (my personal choice) or Hillary Clinton (so as to keep the peace in the party). I still like John Edwards, but I know his recent sex scandal would just be fodder on which to feed and may cost them the election. For McCain, I'd choose Ed McMahon, who needs a job right now.

15. Tell us about a childhood incident where your gag reflex got the best of you. ~ That time they made me eat a tomato at camp.

10 things you should know about john mccain

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):.

(1) John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

(2) According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi.

(3) His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

(4) McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.

(5) The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.

(6) He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.

(7) Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.

(8) McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

(9) McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult".

(10) He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out—forward this email to your personal network.

have a nice day, mother-fuckers

My day started off at 4am, when I discovered while trying to use the bathroom (because when you're old, you wake up at 4am to use the bathroom) that at some point during the night my toilet had overflowed. Then my boyfriend yelled at me because my toilet overflowed. Don’t look for logic, there, as none will be found; but suffice it to say that I am re-examining my recent declarations that my old man is a saint.

I decided to stop on my way to work and buy bagels for my team, as I knew today would be a difficult one. The Most Chipper Man in the World sold me said bagels and was so nice that I made an internal note to use his shop as my sole source of bagel-goodness, going forward. However, even his good karma did not help me as I tripped and fell on my way to my car. The bagels stayed in their box and were fine. My right knee? Not so much.

Upon getting to work, we had a massive staff meeting wherein we were all informed that my employer has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and that new owners are on the horizon. I knew all of this was in the works, of course (I am the Little Big Woman, after all), but the official announcement has meant lots and lots of questions from my staff, customers and vendors. It’s been a real treat fielding those inquiries, let me tell you.

old 97's - blame it on gravity

I find it amusing that when I uploaded Old 97's latest CD, Blame it on Gravity, to my Windows Media Player, it was automatically designated as "Country".

This ain't country. It's good ol' Americana rock and roll.

It's good, though. It's a lot of fun and the songwriting is much better than on albums past.

on the subject of marriage

I find it extremely odd that in the year 2008 I am still questioned, and quite often, about just why I have never been married. Since I recently changed jobs and moved to a new city, I have been asked that question several times over the past few months, including today.

Putting aside the fact that my choices and why I make them are nobody’s business but my own and who the fuck are you to ask me such a question, why is it even a question in the first place? I mean, why should I be married? Give me a good reason. Most of the married people I know take each other for granted and are certainly no happier than I.

I don’t need a man in my life for financial security or for any other reason. I choose to have a man in my life because I love him dearly, we have fun together, he has made me see things I may never have seen, we support and care for each other, and let’s face it - having regular (and mighty fine) sex is a huge benefit to my life. But why go through the bother and the expense of getting married; of being married?

I do find the notion of meeting one person at age 21 and being with that person for the rest of your life a tad unrealistic, but don’t get me wrong – I am not anti-marriage. For other people. Hey, do what you want to do folks. I see nothing wrong with marriage, per se. I cry at weddings, just like every other girl you know. Were it important to my old man, I would not be averse to walking down the aisle at this point in my life. We are essentially married anyway – our commitment to one another is the same. I just don’t really see the purpose, this day and age. There was a time when women were pretty much financially screwed if they did not get married, but that is not the case anymore. Or it doesn't have to be.

silly lily

Happy friggin Monday, kids.

Today’s workday was enough to leave me with a blistering headache, which I am nursing as we speak…er, write…whatever – I have a killer headache, is my point.

In better news: I had a groovy weekend. On Saturday, I hung out at my parent’s place with my three sisters and Dr. Niece. After eating pizza, drinking a few bottles of wine between us and wearing my poor parents out, we decided we had not had enough of each other’s company and we went to an old hang-out, a dive bar called “Our Place”.

Our Place is just not the same. They have a new jukebox which is nowhere near as cool as it used to be – that old jukebox was 90% of the reason we used to go in there (the other 10% was, well…the booze). They also took out half of their dart boards, but since it was very early in the evening and there were only a few people there*, we gals found an empty board and were able to play anyway. So I sucked at one game of darts, then sucked at one game of pool. And we reminisced about how I used to look like Boy George. And we danced to the crappy music on the juke.

Although I still love ABBA and you can’t make me not love them.

do we really need another clueless wonder in the white house?

Speaking to CNN about the situation in Georgia, Sen. John McCain denounced the aggressive posture of Russia by claiming that: "in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations."

Um…Seriously?