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October 29, 2003

leaving town soon

Traveling can be a big pain in the ass. I took a half day off work so I could get all my arrangements made for care of the horses, dogs, cats, goldfish pond, and I guess the squirrels and chipmunks living in my front yard.

I did all the bills (thank God for Quicken Bill Pay and E-Bills!), balanced the bank account, and figured out how much money we can spend in England.

I went to the pharmacy and picked up prescriptions.

Went to Kolhs and bought 8 pairs of socks.

( I have a thing about socks - could care less about shoes, but I like cute socks).

I have chased Barney and Merriwether (two of the cats) out of my suitcase about 6 times now. Everything will be hairy.

sigh.

Still have tons to do, hope everyone's week is great, I'll be back on the 6th.

Posted by Beth at 7:57 PM

Sometimes I just get pissy

Sometimes, I just want to rant and I don't want to deal with anyone else's ideas, especially if they are just lame excuses. I felt like that yesterday, and deleted all comments to my rant on how much I hate it when people describe themselves as WhateverEthnicOrigin-American.

The only person who replied used "black person" as a name. This really annoyed me for some reason.
"Black person" stated that because I am white I cannot understand anything that a black person would ever experience.

Frankly, I think that most of that is pure bullshit. Yes, there are evil people in this country, and everywhere in the world, who would hurt someone simply for the color of their skin, their religion, their ethnicity. Islamic Jihadists come to mind, as well as the KKK, and other groups.

But that person never explained why calling him or herself an African-American made them feel any better. "Black person" wrote 4 long comments, all pretty repetitive, and not really conducive to any kind of discourse.

This person completely missed the point, and I was frustrated and pissed so I deleted everything.

Back when I was a social worker, I had a few very scary incidents in the inner city.

I had a group of teenage black men surround my little car and not move to let me leave a parking space. I layed on the horn until some people came out of their houses, and the young men finally left.

I had my purse snatched by two young teenage boys, who also happened to be black.

I was chased around an apartment by a black woman weilding a knife - I had gone to visit her to explain to her that her children had to go to school.
After that last one, I quit. Social Work does not pay enough to put my life on the line.

I am not really sure what my point is - as I said, I'm kinda pissed off today.
But perhaps it is that some black people scare the hell out me, yet I still don't feel the need to call myself white-chickenshit-American.

And I don't blame all black people for what those particular people did to me.

Yet, it's okay for black people to blame all white people for everything that has ever happened to them - ever.

I guess that is what I don't get.

Okay, on to better things now.

Posted by Beth at 7:34 PM | Comments (1)

This is my blog

I have deleted comments to my post last night about hyphenated-americans.
If you cannot put down a name, you don't get to comment here.
I am paying for this blog. I don't have to give anyone free speech rights here unless I wanna.
As for Dina, sorry, dear, I have decided to block your IP.
There was no discussion on the merits of my thoughts.
And, Dina, no, I don't want everyone to be the same, but I do want Americans to identify themselves as Americans first.

Posted by Beth at 5:50 AM | Comments (2)

October 28, 2003

Hyphenated-Americans

I am against Hyphenated-Americans. Those are US Citizens who find it necessary to define themselves by their own or their ancestors homelands.

The whole point of the USA is that we leave our homelands behind - it has been this way for a very long time. My ancestors came here because they didn't like it in Ireland or Germany, or wherever. Why should I suddenly want to identify with that long lost heritage. Many Americans of color want to call themselves African-Americans, now admittedly, many of these folks had ancestors who did not come here by choice, but since slavery was abolished over 140 years go, can't they let go?

Others may have recently moved to the United States - many seem to think that it is very important to identify where they came from - but if that is the case, why did they move here?

If you are Irish, and you think of yourself as Irish-American, why did you leave Ireland?

If your parents are from India, but you were born here in the US, why do you consider yourselves to be Indian-American?

This may be too esoteric a point, I don't know. But defining ourselves as different from the rest of our countrymen and women seems to be used as a way of creating divisions.

Suddenly, there are African-American clubs, Irish-American clubs, Italian-American clubs, Pakistani-American clubs - and what good are they, really?
Seems to me it is a chance for them to all get together and bitch about those hyphenated-Americans that they don't like.

The Arab-Americans bitch about the Israeli-Americans. The Irish-Americans bitch about the English-Americans. The Serbian-Americans bitch about the Croation-Americans. And so on. And so forth.

And this is even before religion is brought into play.

The thing is, those countries who have held on with extreme tenacity to their ethnic backgrounds are those countries with the longest histories of upheavel and war and 'ethnic cleansing'.

Look at the Balklands. Look at Ireland. Look at the Middle East. Look at Rwanda.

Separating ourselves from each other is harmful. Once we are here, we are Americans, and we need to carefully consider this before sticking a hyphen in front of our names.

Our society gives the individual rights that very few countries can match. We have the luxury to believe or not believe in whatever religion we want to. We have the luxury to marry anyone we want - regardless of caste, ethnicity, religion or race.

We become more and more, every day, a melting pot - and this is a good thing.

Words are important. What we call ourselves is important. If you call yourself French-American, you are diminishing the US. Once you are an American, you are an American, no longer Irish, French, German, Morrocan, Egyption, Mexican, Israili or Palestinian. You are part of us, part of our family. Don't cause division by insisting that you be called a hyphenated-American.

Ok - now, discuss among yourselves!

Posted by Beth at 9:24 PM | Comments (1)

I knew it had to happen

Finally, someone has really gotten pissed off at my post about Israel and its right to exist. She says "I consider myself a Palestinian-American", and to go much beyone that pretty much gives you an idea of where she is coming from.
Anyway, please read her rant, she deserves her time to speak, also.

I don't consider myself a close-minded person, but she is certainly free to think that of me.
The few errors I made in my original post were correct by my husband in the comments. The rest of the post is historically accurate.

You said you have been in the US for 15 years - I assume you are a citizen now?
If so, please consider yourself American rather than a hyphenated American.

Let Jordan give "Palestinians" a homeland. Or Syria, or Lebanon.

I have also met Muslims that were not hell bent on destroying Israel, and who genuinely love the United States and become good citizens. They are few and far between, though.

I never stated that all Muslims were evil, only those Muslims who want to destroy Israel.

I don't have time to defend myself any further at the moment, as I have to go to work,

The Patriette left a comment after Dina did, please feel free to read that. I'll leave comments open on that post until I leave for England, then I'll turn all comments off as I'll have no way to moderate them.

Oh, and as an example of kind wonderful Muslims in the Middle East - read this - about a Hammas family's act of kindness towards an Israeli soldier.

Update: Dina says she does not want Israel to be non-existent, that puts her in the good guy column.

Posted by Beth at 6:10 AM | Comments (2)

October 27, 2003

coasters

The fires in California are just horrid. I am worried about DaGoddess, and all the others out West. The fires are just as capricious in their destruction as tornadoes are, only, you can't run down to the basement to avoid a fire.

I was in Orange County several times last summer, and drove up into Ventura County on a free day. The landscape was just beautiful - a far cry from Kansas, let me tell ya! Anyway, it is horrifying to see the fires there now. You are all in my prayers, scanty as they are.

And then, on the East Coast, Michele, is faced with a home grown Kansas evil (Topeka, not Leavenworth!) - the so-called Reverend Phelps. I've run into his protests before - a couple of years ago, a young thug was court-martialed for killing a gay serviceman, I believe it was at Ft. Bragg. He was sentenced to many years, or perhaps life - at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks - (Ft. Leavenworth).

Phelps and his filthy friends protested at the Front Gate of the fort. They wanted the murderous thug to go free for doing the military "a favor". Most people driving onto the fort laughed at him, and he cursed us all to hell.

He is a truly evil man. The only links I could find about him were from his own hateful webpage, and I refuse to link to it. I someone wants to find it, go ahead, I ain't helping!

Anyway, to all the bloggers on the East and West Coasts, be careful and take care of yourselves.

Posted by Beth at 7:26 PM

three days from now

I will be on a plane to England. I'm getting pretty nervous about it. John has been there for a week, and when the conference he is attending is over, I should be landing at Heathrow.

Being the worrywart I am, I am afraid that my plane from KCI to O'Hare will be late or something and I'll miss my connection there. There is only about a 35 minute layover. I called the airline, and they assured me that it was a legal layover -what the heck is a legal layover?

Damn. I'm only going to be in England for 4 days. I will be very upset if I miss one of those days. I have never been outside the country in my entire life, unless you want to count Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas.

And the thought of being on a plane for that length of time - oh, not good.

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I was in a pretty scary emergency landing when I was a teenager. Our family was going from St. Louis to Chicago, and then on to Green Bay for vacation. One of the engines on the turboprop caught fire (or is it called flamed out or something?) Anyway, we didn't make it to Chicago, we made it to the Springfield, Illinois airport, kinda. Runway was a little short, good thing the soybean fields were level.

As we came down, the flight attendant was screaming " we are all going to die", and of course, there was a priest on board ready to give us all the Last Rites.
(Now called something else - Sacrament of the sick or something lame).

We made it just fine, but I was only able to fly after that under hypnosis or with heavy doses of drugs. In fact, I did not fly at all for about 25 years when I got my current job. When I started flying again, the doctor prescribed Xanax, which is wonderful for phobias.
Eventually, I gave up the Xanax and started to really relax and enjoy flying. I no longer felt that I had to concentrate on keeping the plane in the air or it would fall down!

But this is a big trip, a big step. I have a supply of Xanax, just in case, so I'm sure it will be fine. I am just a big chicken shit.

Posted by Beth at 6:35 PM | Comments (6)

religion of peace

To celebrate the beginning of Ramadan, 5 suicide bombers spread across Baghad in their explosive vehicles and managed to murder as many as 39 people - 12 people at the Red Cross - indeed, the Red Cross is a threat to Islam, eh?

An ambulance driven into the gates of the Red Cross building caused the devastation in the first bomb.

- an ambulance.

from WSJ Online (subscription necessary)

"police said 27 were killed in the police station bombings, most of them Iraqis but including at least one U.S. soldier."

For more details see: BAGHDAD BOMBS KILL 19, WSJ.COM.

How can anyone say that Islam is a religion of Peace? bullshit.

Posted by Beth at 6:12 AM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2003

good take on time savings

or Daylight Savings Time onThe Enigmatic Musings of a Cynical Mind
It's blogspot, so scroll down to Daylight Savings Time if the link doesn't quite work.

Posted by Beth at 11:30 AM

It's Sunday and I have

absolutely nothing to say for now.
Go read all the good bloggers. They are on my blogroll. (-:

Posted by Beth at 9:55 AM

October 25, 2003

squirrel tag

This is extremely funny. I have been giggling for five minutes. hee hee hee hee The way of the squirrel

Thanks very much to Jonah Goldberg and Cosmo of The Corner on NRO.

Posted by Beth at 8:44 PM | Comments (2)

home alone

This has been a kinda weird weekend so far. It is the first time in months that I am home alone for a weekend. Normally, when either John or I travel, we get to come home on weekends, but with John in England, that is simply not practicle.
I've felt a bit uneasy - had a huge list of things to do, but only got a very few of them done- of course, there is tomorrow.

The good think about John traveling is I can fix anything my heart desires for dinner. Anything. *Anything*. John does not care for seafood, except the occassional shrimp. So, I bought some IQF oysters and make a cajun fried oyster po'boy, kinda like what I had in New Orleans last spring.
It was good. If seafood is frozen pronto and not thawed until cooked, it can still taste pretty damn fresh, except for lobster - that has to be live when cooked.

Had to run some errands - went to the feed store to get Equine Senior for Petey (who is 10 years younger than Willy -but it is hard to keep weight on him) and 50pounds of Puring Horse Chow 100 for Willy (he is an easy keeper, doesn't need much in the way of grain, just give him decent hay and he's happy).

The temperature dropped a good 30 degrees since yesterday, so it finally feels like fall. And in the past day, a zillion leaves have agreed that it is indeed autumn and have fallen in our front yard, and on my garden pond, and my goldfish.

That's the neat thing about living in a town that doesn't have home owners associations - we built a large garden pond with waterfall, miniature mountain and tunnel in our front yard. Can't do that in them fancy suburbs!

Went to the commissary to do some grocery shopping - it is the neatest place to shop because there are a lot of foreign foods there that the local grocery stores don't have - that's because there are a lot of foreign officers at the Command General Staff College for a 10 month program. (and lots and lost of American officers). And because all the military people and their families are always pretty nice to us retired military types, and people don't push in line or get bitchy with each other while shopping. Everyone is always smiling at everyone else, because they are all in situations that everyone else understands. Our local grocery stores can be a nightmare with pushy shoppers.

We have so much we need to do with this house. The entire interior needs patching and painting and decorating. We had a ton of foundation work done on the house last summer, and the result of leveling the house was a lot of cracks. This house was built in 1960, and thought it has its good points, there are a lot of things we are trying to update. And we don't know where to start, literally.

Anyone out there want to volunteer to be my decorator? We have very eclectic tastes, and absolutely nothing goes with anything else.

I often wish I could win the lottery, get an architect and say - this is what I want with this house - make it so.

of course, I'd have to buy lottery tickets to do that...

Posted by Beth at 7:21 PM | Comments (4)

bullying babies in Croatia

Another reason why it's good to be a stay-at-home mom - A one-year-old boy has been bitten 30 times by a group of more than a dozen other babies at a nursery in Croatia.

Interestingly, "Police have launched an inquiry into the biting frenzy but admit they are clueless as to the babies' reasons for attacking."

What, are they going to interview each little perpetrator?

Poor baby. Imagine how frightened he must be.

Posted by Beth at 6:27 AM | Comments (1)

one more bites the dust

As I predicted, there is another blogger (Acidman) who is cutting way back on blogging.

Sounds like his crotchedyness is going to get to quit working and start writing full time. Hope he gets a best seller out of it. I will miss the laughs I get reading Gut Rumbles.

Posted by Beth at 5:57 AM | Comments (1)

October 24, 2003

Here's a new blogger

I like this guy, he has a pretty good sense of humour.
Casting Magic Missile at the darkness.

Of course, he needs to get the heck off of blogspot.

Posted by Beth at 6:04 PM | Comments (3)

too funny - man sells ex-wife's beany babies

You must go to Ebay and see this - read the description - keep reading.

Could be Acidman, who knows? But, whoever this guy is, I'm glad he got some money for tools out of the deal!

eBay item 3146042998 (Ends Sep-22-03 08:37:31 PDT) - Collection of 26 Beanie Babies from Ex-Wife

Posted by Beth at 2:21 PM | Comments (5)

oh my, I love this!

Talking Presidents: Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure.

Among other things, Ann, the Doll, says, "Why not go to war just for oil? We need oil. What do Hollywood celebrities imagine fuels their private jets? How do they think their cocaine is delivered to them?"

Thanks to The Corner for the tip!

Posted by Beth at 1:28 PM | Comments (1)

another blogspot expatriot

Straight White Guy has moved from blogspot, I'm updating my links - he can now be found drinking Scotch at http://www.straightwhiteguy.com/

Posted by Beth at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)

I love Frank J.

He is such a fantastically funny writer: IMAO: In My World: Bush Haters of the World Unite!

Posted by Beth at 7:33 AM

October 23, 2003

feminists

When I think of feminists, I think of shrill, bigoted women who don't want anyone to ever have happiness in life.

I think of women who want to be victims, so they can blame someone else for their misfortunes in life - namely men.

I think of women who must hate their own mothers - because being a mom is below them.

I think of women who seem to think that getting pregnant must be some great mystery - else why would so many women need abortions now?

Feminists, too often, make us all out to be total idiots who are incapable of being responsible for our own lives. They want the government to be sure we are treated right.

the heck with them. There is no reason any woman with an average IQ or above cannot make it in this world on her own - without welfare.

I have gone from a divorced mom with no income to a technical consultant making a pretty damned good salary within 10 years. I had no technical background - my degree was in psychology, for goodness sake! But, I took jobs that were not perfect so I could get closer and closer to that perfect job.

When I first got divorced from Andy's dad, I started cleaning houses to make ends meet. One of the women I cleaned for suggested I send a resume to the company she worked for - I did, I got an interview, I got a job.

The job sucked big time, I hated it, it was awful, but I stuck around long enough to get another position in the company, and so on, until my salary went from $17,000 a year to 49,000 a year 7 years later.

Since then, I left that company and my salary continues to increase - I'm up to about 70,000 now - which is pretty damned good for a woman who was cleaning house 10 years ago.

Feminists don't like women like me - we prove them wrong - we prove that we can do well without assistance from the government.
And they also don't like me because I truly love my husband (John of Arggghhhh!!!), and I love to bring him coffee in bed in the morning. I love to cook things he likes - I do wish he would pick up after himself better, but hey, he's pretty wonderful for me.
Oh, and we have great sex - that irks them the most - they think that all husbands rape their wives - that sex in itself is a violent act.

good thing I'm not a feminist.

Posted by Beth at 9:11 PM | Comments (9)

more on women and bullies, and stuff

It's interesting that some of my very favorite bloggers had a lot of the same hurts growing up that I did. It's also kinda cool that at least 3 of us were adopted.

Though my mom and dad loved me and my sister more than life itself, we had an evil Aunt Jean, who still lives, damn her. She made my mom's life miserable by mocking her about having to adopt children because she could not have any of 'her own'. My evil Aunt Jean (Karr, look her up, I don't care!) had five children, none of which she cared for at all. In fact my pedophile Uncle Bud (another long story) babysat for them all the time so she woud not have to deal with children.

When my mom died, my Aunt Jean broke into Daddy's apartment and took quite a few things that were mom's - she didn't think that Anne (my sister) and I should inherit them. Anyway, my mom's side of the family was totally fucked up, and my sister and I still say we are really happy we don't have those genes in our pool! I could tell evil Aunt Jean stories for days! And she still calls my poor sister from time to time - I told her to jump in the fucking lake about 7 years ago - before Daddy died.

Oh, once I start writing about this stuff, it's hard to stop. There is something very cathartic about writing, isn't there?

I do have a theory, though. I think that those of us who were shunned as kids, and even as adults are different. I suspect we might be smarter or more creative, or perhaps our minds just work in ways so different from the cheerleader girls, that we would never connect with them, no matter what.

I am not sure that society can deal with those of us who are different enough to be obvious - I did not find the right company to work for until I was 48 years old, for God's sake! Everywhere else, I was too smart, or too aggressive, or I was threatening to others because I worked to my own high standards, and I don't suffer fools.

Somebody stop me before I go on! Maybe I really do need to use this as a journal, as stuff pours out of my pores onto this blog. hmmmmmm.

Posted by Beth at 8:05 PM | Comments (2)

October 22, 2003

bully girls (and women)

This morning, Dean Esmay wrote about feminists and how they can bully people who disagree with them into submission.
He then relates this to the unhappily normal girl cattiness that happens all through life, really.

This brought back very sad and unhappy memories of my childhood and teenage and even adult fiends - uh, I meant friends.

I was one of those kids who never quite fit in. And even at age 50, I feel like I never really fit in. In kindegarten, I wore corrective shoes (parents spent a fortune back then trying to give little girls pretty feet that people like Acidman could love in later life).
Anyway, that kindegarten teacher made fun of the way I walked - I was very pigeon toed, and she made me try to walk a straight line in front of the other little girls in this very small private Catholic school.
From that day on, I was a pariah. I was teased mercilessly by the other little girls and our gym teacher, too (man was she butch, and her name was Kenny!) for my clumsiness. When I started to grow out of the clumsiness, kinda, one little girl, Ann James (wealthy little kid - her dad owned a string of car dealerships in St. Louis), found out that I was adopted (from her mother, no less) and the teasing began anew - no one wanted me that's why I was adopted.
And as I grew older, the fact that my parents were not as wealthy as their parents became a cause for meaness - and my dad did quite well, really.
I came home from school many, many times sobbing, and my mom would just hold me and we would cry together because of the meanness, the hurt and the utter futility of ever having any true friends. Yeah, I'd make a friend for awhile, but then the peer pressure of the other girls would eventually kick in and I'd be alone again.

Now, that may not have been so bad, really - I found my friends in books and in my artwork, and my pets.
But, it was a hellish way to grow up - my parents sacrificed for me to go to that school (Villa Duchesne, by the way - look it up), and it gave me nothing but heartache.
I went to that school all the way through 10th grade, when I finally broke down and begged my parents to send me to a different school. By then, though, I was a new girl in another all girls school, and never really made any friendships there, either.

To this day, I don't trust women as friends. I am still mostly a loner. I get along with men a lot more than I do women.

As an adult, I worked for Sprint Corporation for quite some time, and I ran into the same problems. I was in a particular group that was responsible for scheduling and billing special phone lines - One day, the group called a meeting (without my knowledge) they pulled me into it and then with the help of my supervisor, spent 45 minutes complaining about me. Their complaints? I worked too hard, did too much and was too smart - therefore, I made them look dumb. I stood up to leave the meeting, and my supervisor, Cindy, grabbed me by the arm and shoved me down into my chair.
At that point, I was hysterical, and sobbing mightily. I got up again and left.

Mind you, I was a recently divorced single mom at this point, and I desperately needed the job. I went to our manager, and she told me it was my fault, that I was too smart and that I should play dumb, then I'd get along ok.
I was shocked, so I got out of that group, and stayed with Sprint for another 5 years before getting out and moving up.

I still dread working with women. Fortunately, because I am a techie geek person, most of my coworkers now are men.

I often wonder how many other women were so abused by other women, what is it about women that makes them want to unite against one person and make their life miserable?

50 years old, and I can still cry when I think about it all...

Posted by Beth at 8:54 PM | Comments (5)

more DOS attacks yesterday

Even Lileks comments on the repeated Denial of Service Attacks on hostingmatters (I bet those folks are exhausted after yesterday, but they did a good job chasing away the evil Goblins.)

In today's The Bleat Lileks comments:

"As you may have read - not in newspapers, heaven forfend - a large portion of the blogworld has been crippled by attacks on the company that hosted a pro-Israel website, and the attacks are coming from servers that host Al Qaeda groups. This makes me uneasy; theres's something else going on here, I think. It's like hearing reports from Alaska radar stations of peculiar blips on the screen. Someone's testing something."

Yup, makes me nervous too.

Posted by Beth at 6:16 AM

October 21, 2003

Dean esmay

Dean has a terrific essay on Terri Schindler-Schiavo (Justene) and her forced death by starvation.

I know, I know, many people think she should be 'allowed to die', but starvation is painful. Terri had never written a living will, this whole thing is based on her husband's words. And the fact that she was not even allowed Communion is beyond belief. Read Dean. I should have added him to my blog roll long ago.

And be sure to read the comments, an interesting and nicely calm argument. Even though I disagree with Mrs. du Toit.

Posted by Beth at 7:50 PM

dumped dogs

I was late getting off to work this morning, and perhaps there was some cosmic reason for that. On my way into work ( it's a 40 mile drive) two incredibly beautiful Newfoundlands were wandering around in the middle of the road - a 55 mile per hour speed limit road.
They were trying to look in car and truck windows - probably for the asshat who dumped them there.
Me being me, I stopped and got them out of the road and called the County Sherriff's Department. After about an hour, a deputy arrived and the two gentle giants ambled into the back of his police car. He is taking them to the Platte County, Missouri Animal Shelter.

.
I filed a complaint against whomever it was who dumped them, not that it would do any good, I doubt they will come looking for the dogs.
If I did not already have a full household of critters, I would have brought them home, as I have always wanted a newfie.
I hope that someone kind will want them and adopt them. I will check in a few days to be sure - if not, I'll contact a dog rescue organization to try find homes for them.

sigh. bad people.

Update: The Gentle Giants are back home - about 6 miles from where I found them in the highway - Pam's guess was right - they did have microchips and they were returned home. I'm really very relieved

Posted by Beth at 10:57 AM | Comments (1)

arggghhhh

NoMarriage.com - Only marry foreign women.
what can I say - such bullshit. I wonder what he'll do if his wife gains weight or becomes ill - fire her and go find another foreign, obedient woman?

sheesh.

Posted by Beth at 7:58 AM | Comments (2)

overslept

John flew off to England yesterday, and was kind enough to call me when he landed at Heathrow (1:30 am Central Time). Yes, I wanted to know he was safe, but darn, I sure as heck woulda liked to sleep. Once I got up to answer the phone, the Spare Dog was up and found his rawhide bone, which he then proceeded to loudly chew. Took me an hour to get the damned thing hidden away from him. Anyway, didn't fall back to sleep until 3:30, and I woke up about 90 minutes later than usual.
Suppose I should go to work now. well, at least after I dress.

Posted by Beth at 7:41 AM

October 20, 2003

Well, shit

What is it about this month? First Rachel Lucas wants to take a blogging break, and now,
Kim du Toit is going to cut back. Who is gonna be next? Acidman? Misha? Frank J, Big Arm Woman?

Or is this just a changing of the guard that seems to be taking place?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Posted by Beth at 9:22 PM | Comments (2)

Another DOS attack

Hosting Matters had another DOS attack this evening. It affected the big guys - Instapundit, GutRumbles, Misha - and us little guys.
but what really pissed me off about it is that Emperor Misha linked to me, moi, myself and I have had more traffic in the past two days than in a normal two week period, and the fricking bad guys had to go after our servers today, tonight. What a disappointment!
sigh.
Actually, I truly hope that they can be caught and stopped. If it is a bunch of anti-semetic people, as has been hinted, I would be happy to cut off their balls for them and stuff them in their mouths.

Gee, I sound like I could be in a Quentin Tarantino movie, eh?

Posted by Beth at 9:05 PM

Nina's not nice

Nina Totenberg, on Inside Washington said of Gen. Boykin: "I Hope He's Not Long for This World" --10/20/2003-- Media Research Center.
Read the whole story.

Posted by Beth at 2:24 PM

Great Rant on victims of the Palestinian Terrorists

First read Victim and Murderer Take 2
Then read
Various Orthodoxies: A Comment.

Posted by Beth at 9:18 AM

October 19, 2003

On Supporting President Bush

Mrs. du Toit has a fine essay on why it is better to vote for Bush in the 2004 elections than to vote for a third party candidate or not vote for president at all.

I have to agree. There are some things that Bush has done or has not done that drive me bonkers, but on the whole, he has done better than any Democrat would have with foreign policy.

I think Bush should fire those in the Cabinet who are dragging their feet when it comes to Homeland Security. I think he ought to fire Rummy, personally, though John of Argghhh! will disagree with me. (and he is way to smart for me to attempt to argue with him, I like cuddling at night!).

Anyway, I will vote for President Bush, and I may very well even give the campaign money.
Mrs. du Toit says it all so much better than I could.

Posted by Beth at 8:23 PM

Crusade?

OBL accuses the US of running a Crusade - as if that is a bad evil thing. Let's think about things - the Crusades started after the Moslems attacked and overtook a good deal of the Christian and Jewish world. Ralph Peters of the New York Post has a great column explaining this:
The Longest Struggle.
He opines that the current war against terrorism is merely a continuation of the war started by Islam way back in the middle of the 7th Century.

It is a great column. Go read it - remember I am She who MUST be obeyed!!

Posted by Beth at 3:36 PM

My first Asian Lady bug

Took the Spare Dog out to play with the regular dogs in the back yard for awhile, and they all romped and raced and had a good old time. After I went back into the house to throw some laundry in the washer, I felt something on the back of my neck - I slapped my hand there, and an Asian Lady Bug fell into the washer.

Now, if you have not been keeping up with DC's beetle travails, you should go check out her pictures of these pests.

This seemed to be a problem limited to more northern climes than Kansas, so I wasn''t too worried.

After being attacked by one this afternoon, though, I'm starting to get worried!

Posted by Beth at 1:40 PM | Comments (1)

October 18, 2003

Actually...

John and I were looking at Barney's picture and thought, gee, she kinda has the same vacuous look in her eyes that Acidman does. Could they be - separated at birth?

Bwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaahahahahah

Posted by Beth at 9:39 PM | Comments (4)

Cats

Well, in keeping with Grouchy Old Cripple's fine habit of annoying the heck out of Acidman, I thought I would publish pictures of our Cats - one at a time, anyway, it's really hard to get them to pose!
This is Barnacle:

At Ft. Leavenworth, we all take turns checking the horses at night. One night, about 4 years ago, it was my turn to check the barn. I turned the corner down one aisle and heard a very tiny little meow. I looked down, and there was Barnacle - she was so little she fit in the palm of my hand, and had not yet been weaned - in fact, she really didn't have much in the way of teeth.

Well, I figured I'd bring her home for the night - it was late, and that in the morning, I would take her to the Post Vet and hopefully she would be able to find an adoptive home. Barnacle attached herself to me that night - she slept on my neck and actually sucked on my earlobe for half the night - well, by then we were bonded, so she because yet another Donovan rescue kitty.

John named her because she was found at the barn and because she is very clingy. It's a great name. She's a great kitty - has a little Siamese in her, I believe, because she is so damned talkative.

Posted by Beth at 8:56 PM

New Weblog Showcase Votes

Here are my votes for this week's New Weblog Showcase
It doesn't seem right to vote for myself, so these are the three I like best:

mjxm: what exactly is annoying? - this one you have to scroll down to find, the weblog looks cool, but it is really rather hard to read, and the guy has a sense of humor and can write well.


Theognome's Thoughts: What's Cookin' - a killer recipe, you can always get my vote with great recipes!


Misohoni: Misohoni - Diary of a Web Designer in Hong Kong - very talented painter, I like the art

Posted by Beth at 6:52 PM | Comments (1)

weekends

I love weekends. We get to sleep in until nearly 8:00 am sometimes, depending on which of the canine horde slept outside. (Little Guy has a bladder control issue and often has to go out at 1 or 2 or 3 am - he's old and probably needs a bionic roscoe or something to fix that).

The Spare Dog, Houdini, snuggled between us this morning until 7:53, then he started wriggling because that is what he does when his little bladder is about to burst.

The cat collective was very good, too. John had wisely put food in their seven little bowls last night so they would not jump all over us at 5:00 am begging for breakfast.

Now both John and I are lazing around in our 'computer room' on our pc's, surfing and blogging. This morning, I read for the first time, Everyday Stranger. She's pretty much x-rated, but fun to read. John likes her blog a lot, what a surprise!

Frank J. wrote a great "I hate you" letter to Michael Moore, the evil son of a female dog.

I'm reading all the entries in the New Weblog Showcase. I'm entered, so everyone needs to go there and read all the entries and then pick mine, mine, mine!!!!!! Remember, you can link to up to three blogs entered!

Now, I need to go soak in the bathtub a bit - a few bubbles, a book, and some candles. I like to do that on Saturday mornings - which is silly, because then I'll go up to the stable and play with the horses and get all dirty and smelly all over again, but I like the smell of horses.

I'll be back.

Posted by Beth at 8:53 AM | Comments (1)

October 17, 2003

Cases like this

This is the widow of a young American who was killed in Gaza yesterday. He was a former Marine, and after he was discharged, he took a job with a private security firm in hopes that he could pay for her cancer treatments. She is still an 'airman' in the USAF, in San Antonio.

One of the things in life that really pisses me off is that the military does not take care of their own in too many cases.

It's probably because the Congress and the Executive Branch want all defense funding to go to new and exciting weapons programs, not to soldiers' care and feeding.

I agree we need to develop new weapons programs, but all too often, they forget about those men and women who actually put their lives on the line to protect and defend us.

Not only did this young woman lose her husband to terrorists, but she is an airman, herself, with the US Air Force, and the military doesn't seem to want to pay for her bone cancer treatments. They say it must have been pre-existing before she joined the military - but they graduated her from basic training.

I'm confused.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News

Perhaps Sir John the Merciless can explain how this works (sorry, sweetheart, but something doesn't seem quite Kosher)

Thanks to Jennifer for the story and the links.

Jennifer stands by our soldiers and sailors and airmen like no one else.

Posted by Beth at 7:17 PM | Comments (1)

Rachel Lucas

Rachel is going to stop blogging for a time. I'll miss her. Rachel Lucas: all right.

Posted by Beth at 4:00 PM

This is what happened to our servers

Little Green Footballs has the scoop. lgf: Al Qaeda Attacks Blogosphere.
I am adding both LGF and Internet Haganah to my blog roll. As soon as Internet Haganah is back up, go donate money.

Posted by Beth at 3:26 PM

This marriage will last a long time

Demi Moore plans to wed her toyboy Ashton Kutcher.

Posted by Beth at 3:00 PM

Last Night I was inspired

I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. I found many appropriate links - this one, Lileks, Natural Born Killers, , Girl Power and many more.

I outlined a well-thought out and well-documented argument against Kill Bill being the greatest movie ever. I hit Save. It all disappeared.

The server was down....

And there is no way I'm going to reproduce it again.

Posted by Beth at 6:39 AM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2003

Cell phones, Schmell phones

Why is is that people think they have to be connected all the time, and that their kids have to be connected to them all the time?
I cannot believe how many parents buy their kids cell phones - all on the premise that the kid can call Mommy whenever he or she needs to.

My son is now a freshman in college. He managed to get all through elementary school, middle school and high school without a cell phone, a pager, a wireless palm pilot, etc.
If I was needed, the school would call me.
Or, he could wait until he walked home and call me from home after school.

Both John and I have cell phones, but we only use them when we travel for work - it is a lot cheaper to call home on a cell phone than from the hotel room using a calling card. Andy is actually going to college (trumpet noise here - ta da da) *without a cell phone*.

Now, he does have one kick ass computer that glows in the dark and has a plexiglass side panel so you can see all the guts, but no cell phone.

Now it looks like kids everywhere are using cell phones to irritate teachers and other students, cheat on tests, 'look cool', etc.

For Techies, School Bells Mean 'Let the Games Begin'

It is no wonder so many kids are do dumb these days. (Even many college graduates I have worked with are barely literate - many unable to write up an agenda for a client engagement).

"Nationally, close to a third of American teenagers now carry cellphones, according to the United States Department of Education"

One teacher states, ""I have heard that during the regents math exam, kids go to the bathroom and use their cellphones, which have calculators built in, to solve equations." said Anne Manwell, who teaches molecular biology and research methods at Stuyvesant."

Of course, since when are kids allowed to go to the bathroom during an exam?

Obviously, I could go on - this is one of my very pet peeves, but I have to bathe, dress and go out and try to make a living.

Posted by Beth at 6:42 AM | Comments (2)

October 15, 2003

Michael Moore has gone off the deep end.

Read the transcripts from CNN's Crossfire of October 10th: CNN.com - Transcripts

Read Michael Moore's words:

"MOORE: I'd like to ask the question whether September 11 was a terrorist attack, or was it a military attack? We call it a terrorist attack. We keep calling it a terrorist attack.

But it sure has the markings of a military attack. And I'd like to know whose military was involved in this precision, perfectly planned operation. I'm sorry, but my common sense has never allowed me to believe since that day that you can learn how to fly a plane at 500 miles per hour. And you know, when you go up 500 miles an hour, if you're off by this much, you're in the Potomac. You don't hit a five-store building like that.

You don't learn how to do that at some rinky-dink flight training school in Florida on a little video game with PacMan buttons. I'm sorry. I just don't buy that."

As this bs goes on, the man basically accusses the government and the military of flying planes into the World Trade Building, the Pentagon and out in Pennsylvania.

Why anyone should believe anything this idiot says is beyond me.

Posted by Beth at 2:02 PM | Comments (2)

EU condemns Gaza Attack

EU Business - EU demands Arafat act after Gaza attack

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called Arafat and told him to "act decisively to identify, arrest and punish the perpetrators of this attack."

I'm happy Mr. Solana is pressuring Arafat.

I am a little concerned, though, that he said it was an "unacceptable attack against foreign and diplomatic personnel." - which kinda sorta indicates that there is such a thing as an acceptable attack against foreign and diplomatic personnel.

Posted by Beth at 12:34 PM

This is very very funny

Primal Purge :: where fragments and wicked retahded syntax collide: Debbie Does Dusting.

Thanks to Pamibe for that one

Posted by Beth at 6:56 AM

This is very very bad

U.S. convoy bombed in Gaza; at least 3 people killed.

I will bet that before the day is out, there will be left wing wackos insisting that we need to stop all aid to Israel, because it endangers Americans. And I'll be some idiot Democrat running for president will agree - my guess, Dennis Kucinich.

Posted by Beth at 6:48 AM

Wow, a 90 year old teacher

This is amazing, a 4'10" 90 year old teacher in the Los Angelos Unified School District: L.A. Daily News - News.

Aside from her age and energy, she is amazing because

" She also touches on five ways to maturity and the value of the Serenity Prayer -- "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change ..." -- which she expects her students memorize... "

and the ACLU hasn't sued her as yet!

If you read through to the end, you will find that she is on a teacher's pension and is not paid for her work at the school - she is a teachers union member, and the union does not insist that this woman be paid for all she does - which is a crime, really - but then, maybe that's why the ACLU hasn't thrown a fit about her teaching the Serenity Prayer to her students.

Thanks to Joanne Jacobs for the story.

Posted by Beth at 6:32 AM

October 14, 2003

Just when I think it is the most boring day ever

along comes LeeAnn and makes me laugh so hard that margarita juice comes out of my nose! The Cheese Stands Alone: Won't You Be My Neighbor?.

I am so totally awed by those who blog - LeeAnn make me laugh so hard I have to go pee.

DaGoddess can make me cry - especially, her recent Memory Lane.

I can get oh so easily pissed off at AcidMan (because I really like Sam and I think that Rob is unreasonable in his judgements of her childhood - but at the same time I can just as easily think he is the funniest guy on earth with the most interesting sex tips.

Then there is Beth Mauldin, who has so many things in common with me it's scary - both our moms named us Beth after the Beth in Little Women, for example, and there is more.

It is a thrill for me when Kim Du Toit replies to a comment with a personal email, and my day is not complete until I read Lileks, Joanne Jacobs, Andrew Sullivan and others each morning.

And then, there are my other personal favorites - Jennifer Martinez's blog, A collection of thoughts, DC at Brainstorming, who I also read daily.

Oh, and A Small Victory - who has the coolest looking blog ever...
and Boots and Sabers, who helped get John and I onto MT - damn, you are awesome.

and I could go on, and I'll make those I have not mentioned pissed off at me - but the whole point is this - you all have a lot to say, and you say it well, and you touch people, and I love being a part of it all. Even though I don't have the time to be as prolific as most of you.

And - to those of you who read and comment, but don't write - heck, go start a blog on blogspot, if you care enough to make comments, then write what you want for all to see.

ok, the end.

Posted by Beth at 9:00 PM | Comments (1)

Interesting Essay

Go read Class warfare. It is a pretty nifty in-depth analysis of how the Internet is leveling the information playing field.

Thanks to Chris Muir and Day by Day for the link.

Posted by Beth at 7:06 AM

October 13, 2003

Why I love Lileks

(naturally, not in the same way I love John of Argghhh!)
If you missed The Bleat today, go read it.
Naturally, read about Gnat, his day, the weather, but more importantly, read the screed below.

He says exactly what I would say if I had anything near his talent.

Posted by Beth at 9:59 PM | Comments (2)

October 12, 2003

Life, the Universe and Everything ...

Israel...

The United Nations created Israel. Here are people who have been terrorized for centuries, and finally, they had a chance to live in peace. And now, this population of 'Palestinians', who are not welcome to live in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, etc., are suddenly due some kind of homeland?

I'm sorry, but the Muslim countries have been little more than tribal entities for centuries.

The boundaries of their countries were determined by the Brits, the French and the Italians. They are all completely artificial boundaries. They are completely artificial countries.

Don't forget, Islamic States, (Islam being 'a religion of peace'(I'm sorry, President Bush - get real - they are evil incarnate)) attacked Israel in '48, '56, '67 and '73.

The so-called 'occupied lands' were taken by Israel in 1967 - after 5, yes, 5 Arab countries attacked them. Syria and Iraq led the invasion, followed by Lebanon, 'Transjordan' and Egypt.

Israel beat them in 6 days. And they took land from those countries -
as all conquering countries have taken land since the dawn of man.

To my mind, Israel earned that land. They need that land as some kind of buffer between them and the incredibly evil, stupid, arrogant Muslim tribesmen who want to obliterate Israel.

The so-called Palestinian people, are not Palestinian at all but Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanians, etc.

Israel gives their Muslim citizens rights that -
funny - the Islamic countries would never give to Jews or Christians.

In Israel, Muslims can be citizens, they can practive thier religion, they can work, they don't have to obey Jewish law.

As I am sure everyone knows, the Islamic 'countries' force Islamic law on anyone living there or even visiting there. Sharia, they call it - I call it the work of the devil.

Women are stoned to death if they 'commit adultery' - mind you - adultery includes being raped.

I believe that the entire mess is due to the arrogant, misoginist Islamic mind - they want to take over the world and force everyone to worship as they do.

I'm not sure when and why the US decided to recognize the 'palestinians' as a people - they aren't. Our allegiance should be always with Israel. (mind you, I'm Catholic! )

World War II uncovered the European hatred for Jews. These people were persecuted more than any other people for hundreds of years - sadly, first by Christians, and now by Muslems.

At least Christianity has grown up. Well, mostly anyway.

The Jews deserve peace and a homeland - Europe didn't want them. Israel does not deserve car bombs and people bombs and invasions by artificial countries.

The Muslim 'countries' are all artificial constructs. Personally, if they all want to live in the fricking dark ages, let us help them.

Without Western civilization, these idiots would have no electricity, no highways, no buildings - they would still all be living in tents.

They hate Western Civilization - I say, fine, let's take away from them all they got from us.

Let them go back to desert tent living.

And their oil - heck, they never discovered it, they don't know how to get it out, they don't know how to refine it - if it was not for Western Civilization, they would have no wealth whatsoever.

Oh, I could go on for days
Thanks to Jennifer at A Collection of Thoughts for inspiring my ire - keep up the great work, Jen!

Posted by Beth at 8:16 PM | Comments (16)

I am:

Actually, that's fairly accurate. I am an oddball!
Thanks to his most Imperial Emperor for the link!

Posted by Beth at 6:00 PM | Comments (1)

Bombing in Baghdad

Damn, this worries me:Recent bombings in Baghdad.
I have a friend who works for the DOD who was recently sent to Baghdad. I am worried about her. And I am pissed as hell at the damned terrorists who did this and who are continuing to do this kind of thing all over the world. People who do this kind of thing deserve to die, hell they want to die for their fucking religion.

John of Argghhhh!, my beloved spouse, may disagree with me, but I want more troops in Iraq now. I want overwhelming force there and I want us to kill all the sons of allah who are killing Americans and Iraqi civilians. And I think we should shoot first and ask questions later.
Frankly, I don't give a shit what the UN thinks of us. Most of the world despises us anyway - why don't we give them reason the fear the hell out of us.
shit.

Posted by Beth at 7:45 AM | Comments (2)

October 11, 2003

Puppies are such a pain sometimes

We have a very large fenced back yard. It's a really tall fence - at least 6 feet high. Our 4 big dogs have never even thought about leaving the yard when they are out playing, napping, etc., but this spare puppy of ours, Houdini, has truly earned his name time and time again.

He has found a way to join our neighbor's dog in their backyard - but that's ok - the neighbor's dog and Houdi like to play with each other.

Last night, though, when John brought in all the dogs, Houdini was missing. Both of us were frantic - the street in front of our house is fairly busy, and I had nightmare visions of a flattened puppy in the middle of the street.

We went in different directions looking for him and calling for him. I walked around the high school calling him, and he suddenly appeared out of no where, at full speed. He practically jumped into my arms, and I carried him home.
The little fart. When I caught up with John, Houdini tried to hide behind me because he knew he was a bad dog, and doesn't like John's angry voice.

John has spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how he gets out. He gets walks in the morning and evening, but it would be nice for him to be able to be in the back yard when we are at work instead of in his puppy crate (which he manages to escape from also). I don't think it would be safe to have him on a chain, he's probably end up hanging himself.

He's a cute little bugger, but I wish he would learn from the big dogs.

Posted by Beth at 6:48 AM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2003

Poor Digger

Rachel Lucas: digger has a lampshade head.
We have gone through lampshade heads with Mickey and Whiskey lately. It was pitiful, watching them bump into walls, the cats, each other. The worst was Mickey - her lampshade was big enough that she had to manuever it so it was flat on the floor over the food bowl. And there it stayed until Mickey ate every last bit of dog chow.

If anyone knows Rachel - tell her that they now have a clear lampshade head for dogs - really cuts down on the embarrassment. Digger would feel lots better with one of those.

Posted by Beth at 7:44 PM

Home at last

It was a long week in Baltimore, and I'm glad to be home. The people I worked with there were wonderful, and everything went quite smoothly, but I couldn't wait to fly home this afternoon!
John picked me up at the airport and we had a late lunch at OTB. We got home, and I sat down at my computer and found that someone had loaded all kinds of shit on my pc. I am pretty sure it was Andy and August, they were here last weekend, and they think it's cool to have some idiotic search thing on my browser - or 3 or 4 of them. It's a huge pain to get rid of them. I use SpyHunter, well worth the price, but this time, everytime I reboot some of the damned parasites return. Suddenly a zillion ads will pop up, and even with my pop up stopper, they won't go away. I'm about ready to shoot this damned pc.

At this point I'm searching through the registry to try to get rid of this shit. Damn this is frustrating!

I am going to strangle the boys, next time they come home from college!

Posted by Beth at 7:23 PM

Chris Muir does it again...

I don't know how to make his cartoon appear here, so please link to it!

[John sneaking in - here ya go, sweetie! - John sneaking out]

Posted by Beth at 6:45 AM | Comments (1)

October 9, 2003

It's tough to blog...

when I'm out of town working. I normally get up around 5:00 am, try to make sense of where the hell I am, shower, realize that I forgot the blouse that goes with the skirt I planned to wear today, and try to put something together that doesn't look too shitty.

I am hardly a fashion maven (*snort*, hack, snort again). But I am supposed to look 'professional'. Ha. It doesn't matter how hard I try, no matter what size I am at the time- small or large, I am never 'put together'.

I wore uniforms all through grade school and high school - maybe that's the problem, I never had a chance to gain any 'fashion sense'. I am a tomboy at heart, but I still like pretty dresses, if they look decent on me!

Anyway, clients seem to put up with the fact that I never look put together. I think it's because I'm pretty good at my job and I'm really good at making clients like me. It's a good thing I decided not to go to law school back when I got divorced from Andy's dad (the lawyer). I would never look good in court!

When I have finally done enough to leave work and head for the hotel, it is at least 6 pm. If I decide to find a restaurant, I won't be back until 8. Then I always have some documentation to do - I can't even read any other blogs, not even John's!

I talk to John after that, and then I'm pooped, and I need to go to sleep! So, consider this an apology for not being interesting or entertaining or anything this week. I'll be home tomorrow. I'll catch up on what's going on on earth, and I'll be back.

Posted by Beth at 8:00 PM | Comments (1)

One Last Dinner in Baltimore..

When in Baltimore, forget seafood. Go to Little Italy. Go toLascala.

This was some fantastic food. Very pricey. Very good. They have this unbelievable roasted Caesar Salad - you have to try it to understand how good it is!

Anyway, I highly recommend this place. Now I have to do some documentation for work!

Posted by Beth at 7:32 PM

October 7, 2003

Tuesday Night's Dinner

Tonight I walked over to the Rusty Scupper. Long walk - at least a mile, maybe 1 1/2 miles.

Anyway, I was seated at a very nice table with a wonderful view - I wish John was with me, it could have been quite romantic. I had crab stuffed shrimp. It was pretty good, and served quite nicely. However, it was not spicy enough for me. I seem to like spicy hot things more and more, and I love the food of New Orleans, and Texas, and yes, Kansas City more than what I have had here on the coast lately.

Just 2 more nights, and I can come home on Friday morning.

The Rusty Scupper is worth a visit, I am just getting homesick!

Posted by Beth at 7:55 PM | Comments (2)

Another reason to ban drivers from talking on Cell Phones:

Cell Phone Explodes.

People, this is not terrorism, this is a defective cell phone -
"My daughter screamed 'my phone exploded. Pull over.' It sizzled. It exploded. There's a mark on my seat."

Posted by Beth at 8:17 AM | Comments (2)

Whiskey

Whiskey is a mutt, not the prettiest critter on earth, but one of the sweetest. His name is whiskey because he is a licker, get it? John is a very good critter namer, most of the time.

Posted by Beth at 6:40 AM | Comments (3)

My other horse, Petey

Posted by Beth at 6:36 AM

October 6, 2003

What is really important to me?

John, Andy and all the critters.

Posted by Beth at 7:06 PM | Comments (1)

Who really cares ...

About Kobe Bryant and his marriage problems?

About a tiger mauling someone who smaked him on the face with a microphone 5 times"After the fifth time, the tiger, which weighs about 600 pounds, attacked"?

About all the women coming out of the woodwork an making accusations against Arnold now - one day before an election - and being encouraged by an obviously biased LA TimesYahoo! News - L.A. Times Faces Anger for Schwarzenegger Coverage)?

If NOW is upset that Arnold is running because of accusations, while they defended Bill Clinton after proof of misbehaviour(FOX40 KTXL | Schwarzenegger Apologizes For Mistreating Women And Says He's A Changed Man -- Now What?)?

Hell, I don't. I'm more concerned about other things (see the above entry)

Posted by Beth at 6:44 PM | Comments (2)

Tonight's Baltimore Restaurant Review

Tonight, I decided to walk around the corner to a nice beer joint called Max's at Camden Yards. When I was here last December, they had a to die for spinach salad - unhappily, that is no longer on the menu.
But, they have an incredible Crab Cream Soup - and it is a very large helping, doesn't leave room for much else, though I picked at some calimari.

The soup is worth the visit. The calamari - ehhh, it's ok, nothing to write home about.

For lunch, we went to Slider's Bar and Grill - I liked it better than Max's - it is very close to Camden Yards and have a really nice lunch selection that is reasonably priced. It was good.

For breakfast, I went to the hotel restaurant - it sucked great big green ones..

ick. I think they are trying to sell the same breakfast sausages they had a year ago on the breakfast buffet.

yuck.

Posted by Beth at 6:14 PM | Comments (1)

Seems like in England, where citizens may own no handguns - only criminals are armed.

Britain is proving that we are correct - Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Gun crime spreads 'like a cancer' across Britain - yup, take away our guns, only the bad guys have them.

Posted by Beth at 5:13 AM | Comments (1)

LA Times and Politics

Jill Stewart makes a damn good point here: L.A. Daily News - Their Opinion

Posted by Beth at 4:56 AM

October 5, 2003

I'm travelling again

This week, I'm in Baltimore, Maryland. After I got settled into my hotel, I walked to the Inner Harbor area and had dinner at Legal Sea Foods.

Unfortunately, Legal Sea Foods, like many restaurants, seems to think it their duty to push people eating alone to sit at the bar. I asked if I could sit at a table in the bar area, and they relented. I could understand it if the restaurant was full to overflowing and I would be taking up a 4 top table. However, there were at least 4 tables for two empty the entire time I was there.

Oh well. The atmosphere was nice and relaxing. The service was a bit on the slow side, but oh my God - the food was wonderful. I had a combo dinner - wood fired shrimp and scallops and a crab cake to die for. I had a jalapeno polenta, also, and it was the perfect texture and flavor.

I have to turn in early tonight - have a long week of doing techie stuff in front of me, and I the hour time difference can make me weird!

I'll try it again this week, there are so many entrees to try, and so little time.
Aside from being pushed to eat in the bar because I was eating alone, it was a very pleasant experience.

Posted by Beth at 8:05 PM | Comments (1)

Go read this:

Argghhh!!! The Home of one of Jonah's Military Guys©: Operation Gothic Serpent

This is why I wanted John to have his own blog.

Posted by Beth at 7:22 AM | Comments (1)

October 4, 2003

Politics

I often feel that my own political beliefs are such that I cannot safely discuss them with co-workers, etc. Why? Heck, I guess it is political correctness and all that other rot.
I used to be quite the liberal - in fact, I was a Democrat Precinct Captain in Johnson County, Kansas - a Republican stronghold, until Bill Clinton was elected.

I'm not sure why I changed my thinking on things, or even if I changed my thinking - I think the Democrat Party moved really far away from me in the 70s and 80s and 90s.

Yes, that does make me old - pbbblllllltttt. I'm 50.

I remeber the day that JFK was killed - I was in 3rd Grade French Class ( we had a teacher who always reminded me of a French Hen), when Reverend Mother McMally came into our classroom to ask us to go to the chapel and pray, because President Kennedy had been shot. School was dismissed until the day after the funeral.

I remember when Robert Kennedy was shot - I was spending the night at Laurie Lamberton's house and we saw it all on TV.

I remember when Martin Luther King was shot - mostly because the assasination caused riots in many cities all over the country.

I was a Hubert Humphrey democrat - I have always felt that our National Defense was of most importance, but that social concerns needed to be addressed, also.

Well, I could on with this, but I'll skip a few decades.

When I was 32, I had my son, Andy.

When I was 34, I miscarried, and was crushed for a long time - I then started feeling very angry towards so-called pro-choicers (I prefer to think of them as pro-abortionists) because they denied the humanity of those babies not yet born, yet I felt to my very soul that a separate little human being in my care had died for whatever reason - this was not just a lump of tissue!

I had another miscarriage at 37. My then Mother-in-law said it was just as well, because her son, my husband, had some health problems at the time.

When I was 39, I lost my third pregnancy - this one was so much worse because I had made it past 4 months - had just seen a wonderful sonogram of our baby, and then I got influenza, a fever of 104, and lost that baby. This was such an awful experience, along with other issues, my 18 year marriage began to come to a close.

Anyway, as one who has lost 3 babies naturally - I have real problems with women who can so easily dismiss the children of their own flesh and blood as body parts - pieces of tissue - nothing alive in its own right.

I started leaning more towards the right of middle.

When I was a year out of college, I joined the Army Reserve as a behavioral science specialist. When I did this, a lot of my liberal friends mocked me, but I have always felt that I should give back just a little to our country - we do live in the most wonderful place on earh. I was embarrassed to tell people that I could not do anything on a weekend because I had my Reserve weekend to serve.

I met some so-called feminists who were active members of NOW when I was was in my 30's - one of them tried to convince me that abortion was a better end for a baby than adoption - when I told her I had been adopted, she told me I would have been better off dead.

ArggghhhH!!!

And they think Republicans are cold blooded?

I am also very much a libertarian. I do think the current ' drug war" is an incredible waste of money - I think that the majority of drug abusers/sellers in prison would be better off by far in a detox or community setting - this should not be a crime unless you do something really evil in tandem with the drug use.

I don't care if someone it gay or straight or bi. It's their business, their issue, and as long as no one is fucking in public, I don't care who does who in what matter.

I hate over regulation. I will never live in a neighborhood with a Homeowners Association. I want to landscape my yard the way I want to do it - not the way some overpaid designer has decided upon.

damn, this is getting really long. I am not a Republican, but I am less of a Democrat. I will most likely vote Republican, because writing in a name is pretty much of a waste of my vote.

Actually, most politicians are pretty damn close to evil in my mind - how many are really there to serve the people? Or, how many are there in an effort to impress someone or other?

I'm tired. Going to bed!

Posted by Beth at 8:31 PM | Comments (4)

Axis of Evil ...

Anyone who disagrees with President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in his Axis of Evil needs to read, and reread if necessary: Opening a Window on North Korea's Horrors (washingtonpost.com).

This is also an indictment of China's complicity in the horrors inflicted upon North Koreans. I can't help but think that the United States is partially responsible - I remember Clinton cosying up to the Chinese for 8 years - now I read about how the Chinese would send back defectors to the North Korean government.

Posted by Beth at 7:23 PM

I love Waffle House

in the South, at least. We have a few newer Waffle Houses here in the area, well, if you consider 15 miles away in the area, and the one in Wyandotte County, Kansas, which we tried this morning, would be an embarrassment to the Southern Waffle House establishments I visited during my travels for work.

I was in Columbia, South Carolina for 3 1/2 weeks recently, and I had breakfast at the Waffle House every morning before work. The ladies there were really good at their jobs - the place was always Spic and Span clean, the food was efficiently prepared and damn good. The grill was totally under control of one of the two ladies who were obviously expert in short order cooking, even if there was a full house and people were waiting in line.

In contrast, this pitiful excuse for a Waffle House in the county south of us should be reported to the Wyandotte County Health Department. The grill lady was lording it over the poor servers and dishwashers in a voice so loud that everyone knew what she was pissed about - even us customers.

The waffle makers were incredibly dirty - there was batter coming up all the way to the top of the waffle makers and they were in no hurry to clean up the mess - is was just gross.

And the lady at the grill did not clean up after herself while she cooked. I think of the lovely ladies, (Ruby was the name of one of them) in Columbia, South Carolina, and they had everything under control - always calm, always clean, always getting the order right.

Naturally, my order was wrong - but it took so damn long to get it, I didn't complain. I looked at the ticket, and the server got it all right, but the grill bitch didn't pay attention.

Anyway, heres to those folks who do it right at Waffle House and hisses on those who do it oh so wrong!!!

Posted by Beth at 6:58 PM

Cheddar X Time again - and I'm late

1. Where would you be if you were in a band?
I would be the back up girl singer. I can harmonize pretty well, but I'm definitely an alto, not a soprano - can't hit high notes.

2. What compels people to obey the law, the desire to avoid prison or caring for their fellow man? Why? Why not?
This is a tough one. There are some laws that are stupid. I like to hope that most of use care for our fellow man, but really, we are all pretty damned selfish.
Being selfish as we are, it's probably to keep ourselves out of prison - or in my case, it is my conscience that makes me feel guilty all the time anyway.
It's that Irish Catholic guilt thing my parents laid on me. Oh, and the nuns. The Jesuit priests in college tried their damndest to make me a secular humanist, but the guilt thing just won't go away.... ever. So if I want to live with myself, I mostly have to behave.

3. What's your favorite secret trick or shortcut either you can do or you know about?

Secret trick. hmmm. I'm not sure if I even have one, and you want to know my favorite? geeze. I have double jointed thumbs, but that's kinda dumb. I can speek in rhyme all day long (and sometimes do in my head) but that's a little scary, a secret I should keep - along with counting how many steps from the parking lot to my cubicle at work.

Oh, oh, I know - my best secret trick is nodding my head and listening to my coworkers and making them think that I have some idea of what the hell they are talking about, especially when talking about computer hardware or some tv show they watch. None of them really know that I'm not listening.

4. There has recently been quite a bit of exposure regarding biased reporting from Iraq. Is it the responsibility of the news agencies to report good news as well as bad news?

We have a free press here, thankfully - so they don't really have any responsibility at all - and they have proved that quite well in Iraq. They have a lot of political and monetary motivations that some people don't understand.

I think it is the responsibility of Americans to search behind the nattering nabobs of negatism (thank you William Safire - that has been my favorite line for years - even though you wrote it for that stinky Agnew!) to discover the news - we can do that these days with the internet, mass communications, etc.

5. What should the age of consent be and why?

16 sounds fair.

6. Are you a Stealth Blogger? That is, do you let the people in your life know you blog? If so, why? If not, why not?

Well, John and Andy and August know about it. A couple of my co-workers know about it. I'm not one of those angry wives blogging to complain about her horrid husband without his knowledge. I have seen too many of those blogs, and though I feel for the wives, this is the 21st Century - they can get out of evil bad relationships, and they can make it themselves. This is where I disagree with a lot of religions conservatives. Divorce can be a very healthy thing for people and the children.

Posted by Beth at 8:51 AM

October 3, 2003

More from the Cheese Stands Alone!

Go read The Cheese Stands Alone: LeeAnn's Day Out, Part Three

LeeAnn can write a very funny story. I now start with her in the morning instead of Lileks. Not that I will quit reading the Bleat, but LeeAnn just makes me flat out laugh.

Posted by Beth at 6:54 AM | Comments (2)

Xeney.com

x e n e y d o t c o m
I love this blog. Thank you, Beth, for bringing another Beth Blog to my attention.
I love the writing. I love the stories, I love the critter pictures.

What is really spooky, is that this is the second Beth Blog I've seen and both Beth Maudlin and this Beth and I all have some spooky similarities in our natures.

I know that my mom named me after the Beth in Little Women - I checked with Beth Mauldin, and her mom also named her after the Beth in Little Women.
Now, I'm dying to know if the Beth of Xeney.com is named after the Beth in Little Women.
I remember asking Mom why she named me after the character who died - Mom was shocked - she said she named me after the sweetest Little Woman.

I feel the same way both Beth's do about being annoying to other people. We all have some common interests - it's spooky!

Oh, and I have to add this Beth to the Beth BlogRoll

Posted by Beth at 6:36 AM | Comments (1)

October 2, 2003

Halloween House

Here in Leavenworth, some families really go overboard for Halloween. I will be posting pictures of those houses as the month rolls on.

This one is probably the cheesiest of the bunch. They had the decorations up the day after Labor Day. The day after Halloween, they will have all the Christmas stuff up, the day after Christmas, the Valentine's Day stuff will be there - then St. Pats, then Easter, and so on and so on and so on.

Posted by Beth at 8:45 PM

Speaking of Trolls and old Prodigy Boards...

Oddly enough, I found that someone has actually kept copies of the old boards that John and I met on.

He has a long string of evil Troll things that Mark Pena (that was the last name of the Mark mentioned in my first Troll blog) wrote.

Amazing someone would keep all that stuff - if you are interested and very bored, go look:
Mark Pena

Anyway, I suppose the more things change, the more trolls come out of the woodwork!

Posted by Beth at 1:22 PM

Thanks to Da Goddess for linking to

The Cheese Stands Alone

Links to the funniest things I've seen on the web.

The Cheese Stands Alone will be one of my daily reads now.

Posted by Beth at 11:39 AM | Comments (2)

October 1, 2003

WMD being moved out of Iraq??

Kuwait foils smuggling of chemicals from Iraq : HindustanTimes.com

Link thanks to Jonah Goldberg. My favorite pundit!

Posted by Beth at 8:57 PM

Trolls

Way back in the early 90s, before the time of AOL, Prodigy (if anyone remembers) had these really nifty BBSs (or were they called forums?). They were all text (good thing since no one had a pc which displayed graphics yet) and divided into different interest groups, kinda like newsgroups.

I happened to meet John on one of BBSs - it was called the Rush Limbaugh forum, and people who had opinions on Rush, good or bad, spent a lot of time reading and writing and bitching at each other on Prodigy.

There came to be a group of people there who wrote the most on the boards. People would disagree and fun arguments would start that could go on for weeks. But then, I remember a couple of people who started going for the jugular.

I think one was named Mark something and there was another named Arachnia or something else spider like. They would post stupid rude things to people just to get everyone upset. Obviously, it was some kind of attention getting thing for them.

These days, trolls are getting even worse and more personal. Emperor Misha has run into a couple of really nasty ones - one of whom apparently tries to get those he disagrees with fired from their jobs.

People like that are beyond contempt. I can understand why Rachel Lucas and Instapundit don't have comments.

But I should say, I love to read comments on everyone's blogs, and occasionally leave them. I do wish those who didn't have comments available would reconsider, as I promise them that we would deal with the trolls, so they would not have to.

I think that Emperor Misha, AcidMan and others have better blogs than Rachel's or Instapundits because they are brave enough to face the faceless trolls.

They didn't add to the political discussions, they just tried to

Posted by Beth at 6:45 PM

Jennifer Martinez

A Collection of Thoughts is a great, fact-filled blog owned by Jennifer Martin.
I like so many of her entries, that I cannot pick just one.
I am adding her to my blog roll.
I wish I could write like that!!

Posted by Beth at 12:06 PM | Comments (1)

Willy the Wonder Horse Redux

Willy is prettier than his funny picture indicates. He is also really a lovey horse - he nuzzles and blows sweet nothings into my ears. He doesn't try to get me off his back when I'm on it. He doesn't refuse to walk across water or paper, or anything odd on the trails.
However, deer scare the manure out of him, literally. Turkeys also scare him half to death, and keeping him from turning tail and taking off can be a challege if he hears any gobbling.
Here he is in a better pose:

Posted by Beth at 9:41 AM | Comments (2)

Site Meter

For some reason, I can't get the number of hits to show up from Site Meter - it appears to work otherwise, but if anyone has any hints, they would be welcome!
Not that I'm getting that many (tee hee).

Posted by Beth at 6:09 AM | Comments (2)