Mental Solstice

Laboring

Definitely not having a baby (more about this later)...just taking yet another break for Labor Day...However, I'm jazzed about writing here after Sept. 5th.

Shaking My Head

I watched the pretznut's press conference this morning, and I wondered where I went wrong in my life. I'm reasonably smart, articulate, ambitious (or once was), inquisitive, fair-minded, compassionate and interested in other people and cultures. So why didn't I aspire to a high public office like George? Oh wait! I forgot, it really has nothing to do with aspirations, mine or George's. It has to do with what your daddy and his cronies can buy for you. However, I still can't, for the life of me, figure out why they bought the White House for this dimwit, and not Jeb (not that it's any condolence, but he's more intelligent).

Wake me when it's over...

Sweating Blood - Lamont v. Lieberman

This senate race took a very bloody turn today when Lieberman's website and email capabilities "went down." In my very varied career choices, I served, for four years, as a webmaster of an intranet for a very large financial institution (that no longer exists, having been bought out by a larger corporation). Although it was an intranet, and could not be accessed by the general public, we were responsible for the loan decision mechanism that would grant (or not) loans quickly to our customers, as well as hosting other important internal information. Big money went into the servers and bandwidth to host such capabilities...and even they failed at (many) times!

The news of Lieberman's site going down, brought on heart palpitations, dry mouth, and memories of times past. From what I can discern, old Joe got what he paid for. He was (allegedly) paying $15 per month to a web host for his $12 million campaign's website. Oh. My. God. This is basement cheap! If this is true, what was the man thinking? Given his support of the Bush admin's running of the Iraqi war, should we be surprised? Is this just simply more evidence of the pervasive incompetence of beltway insiders? And his whining that it was his opponent's fault...that's just bunk. Joe, you shoulda had the thing more secure (if you were indeed hacked into), and I guarantee ya $15 per month isn't going to buy you security. I think Joe's fate was sealed when he was kissed by Judas...er, GWB.

Funerals

Funerals are rarely fun, certainly not on the level of a good frat party. This is why "W" leaves it up to congressional members to attend. Except for when it's a dead pope, then he attends, probably because he heard they would be serving a fine wine at the service. I realize the POTUS can't attend the funeral of every military person he has sent into battle. However, is it too much to ask that he attend a funeral here and there at Arlington during his regular six-hour workday. Or perhaps in the Crawford, Texas vicinity, when he's busy breaking presidential records for the amount of vacation time taken.

Hat tip to Jesus' General

Another Round, On Me!

I recently posted about how global warming is affecting the world's grapes, and thus, our wine supply. It was very bad news for wine aficionados like myself.

However, I now have good news for the hardcore beer drinkers amongst us. Greenland is launching a beer that contains water from 2,000 year old melting ice caps. Because the water is free of minerals and pollutants, the beer has a very pure, clean taste.

I like beer, almost as much as I like wine. Kind of like the folks that ignore evacuation warnings, and sit there on the coast drinking "Hurricanes", I want to know I'll be able to party-hardy during the Apocalypse.

Hat tip to Wonkette.

Rapture R Us

Okay, I'll admit I'm not the most educated kid on the block. Until a couple of months ago, I thought the "rapture" was something I experienced with my husband on an exceptional Saturday night. However, I've recently learned that it's current prevalent connotation has to do with the end times, which according to this site, is fervently anticipated and hoped for, by the evangelical right-wing in our country, of which our Dear Leader belongs to.

Just in the 15 minutes that I browsed "Rapture Ready", I became more disturbed than when I've browsed the Al Jazeera website. Many of the posts were festooned with "kittens with halos" icons, which simply left me missing all of my former pets, but, somehow, I don't think that's the intent. These folks seem to fervently hope for the end of the world, to the point that they discuss how they're going to break news of the impending big bang to their children. Dear readers, this is scary stuff. These people seem to want to see the end of the world as much as the extremist Islamist...with you, me and every other sane Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, etc., caught in between.

However, I'll admit that I left the website merely with an urge to go buy some oil-on-velvet paintings.

Hat tip to Echidne.

Tom Cruise Hearts Mel Gibson

I bet Tom Cruise is thanking his lucky stars right now (or, more likely Xenu). The heat is off of him. He probably thinks he's no longer Hollywood's village idiot, thanks to Mel Gibson's DUI and anti-semitic rant this past weekend.

However, if I were Mr. Cruise, I wouldn't get too smug yet. Mel's actions and comments were disgusting and reprehensible. He didn't come off as anyone I would want to ever hang around with. Nevertheless, we do have to consider that his actions were conducted under the influence of alcohol and in the heat of the moment. Additionally, we need to consider his father's influence on him. The elder Mr. Gibson is a self-admitted anti-semite. While not an excuse for his son, I can tell of innumerable instances where a parent's bigotry has come through a child's (including adult children) momentary lapse of judgment. Bigotry is always inexcusable, but I've always contended that it cannot be totally wiped out in one generation. Sadly, it's an incremental process. Mr. Gibson, thus far, seems to be contrite, and only time will tell as to how he will deal with his demons.

As for Mr. Cruise, what excuse does he have for his odd behavior? Unlike Mel, who seems to be self-medicating (as he admits, with alcohol), Tom does not appear to be medicated enough. All of his actions can only be attributed to pure self-importance and ego...