BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Madonna compares Bush to Saddam

BBC: Madonna compares Bush to Saddam
:

"Madonna wants to be 'part of the order, not the chaos' of the world
Madonna has said US President George Bush and ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are alike because 'they are both behaving in an irresponsible manner'. "

I'm sorry, umm, remind me again why I'm supposed to care about Madonna's expert opinion?........

I hate scorpions.

Ugh. I just came in from outside where I watched two HUGE scorpions climbing all over the outside of my house. Our house is all cedar, so I guess they like the wood. They are nasty creatures.... one of them had the stinger of another scorpion in its claws and was eating it. Beasts! They are surely inhabited by satan himself.

David's at camp this week... it was a last minute thing and we scrambled last night (after a very busy weekend) to get him ready. He's with 30 kids ages 9-13 at a sports camp and I'm sure he's going to be all worn out by the end of the week. He was fortunate enough to get his own room, though, so at least he won't be up all night trying to get the little buggers to sleep.

So Punky and I are on our own this week. We went shopping this evening because Punky was down to nothing clothes-wise. I love Old Navy. They were having a giant sale and I got Punky 8 shirts and a pair of pants for $60. He's going to be stylin' -- they're all little surfer boy clothes. Very cute.

Very tired. Must....sleep.... more tomorrow........

Patriotism and the Gipper

I missed most of Reagan's funeral yesterday because I had to work. I listened to some of it as Glenn Beck did a live commentary during the preliminary ceremonies and watched a bit of the recap on Charlie Rose last night.

I loved the thought that for one day, Democrats and Republicans were able to put aside their differences to pay tribute to this great American. Despite the complaints from a few crybaby liberals early in the week about how egotistical the Reagan family was for wanting a full State ceremony, for the most part the country did a great job honoring Reagan's life and legacy. He was indeed a great statesman, but more than that, Reagan imparted a sense of ownership and responsibility to us, the real America, the Average Joe. He made it clear that it was up to us to make America great, not Congress, nor politicians, nor himself. It was his belief in us that gave America our sense of pride, and his optimism became ours, and for that he will be remembered. And for those brats who just had to complain about the pomp and circumstance, I have to ask: where are we as a country if we have absolutely no traditions left to remind us of who we are? Whether you agree with Reagan's politics or not, we still need times of national mourning and celebration to serve as a touchstone... to remind us of our heritage, our identity, our freedom, and all the things that make this country great. And I would say the very same thing if it were Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter we were burying.

What really makes the liberals look bad are the embittered, angry, hateful folks that seem to be growing in number: Morrissey proclaiming onstage in Dublin that he wished it were Bush who had died; people like this who say that our loss is "hell's great gain," cartoonist Ted Rall's remarks about Reagan "turning crispy brown [in hell] about right now," a select few in a Prairie Home Companion live broadcast who actually applauded at the news of his passing... you people disgust me. You are the reason why I choose to not vote alongside you. Your platform is hate, yet you preach tolerance (as long as I agree with everything you say. When I don't, when I express my personal beliefs, I am a close-minded bigot). Tell me what's tolerant and peace-loving about reveling in someone's demise, and in his family's pain? Because that absolutely contradicts all your anti-war, anti-hate, pro-tolerance crap that you say you stand for. Tell me why you say that we need to stop the inhumanity of this war, stop the senseless killing, yet you carry around hatred and murder in your own hearts? How is that consistent? Michael Moore's entire career is based on hatred and division. Nick Berg's "dovelike" father has done nothing but spew hatred at Bush and use his son's death as a platform to promote his own socialist agenda. The absolute contradictions astound me. If you're going to stand up for something, you have to walk it out in your life. I would have much more respect for the liberal platform if there was actually some consistency and some integrity behind the words. I don't agree with you, but I don't walk around spewing hatred and wishing death on those I don't agree with.

I'm going to close with the ever-eloquent words of our good friend Dony Wynn, whose views I respect for their balance and logic:

"A Long Ride Into the Sunset

This week, ex-president Ronald Reagan passed from this world. Even though political discussion and contemplation dares not enter into my everyday, I will admit, I can vividly recall when he was president. I remember that as an American the U.S. of A. felt good when he was at the helm, and one felt a twinge
of pride to be known as an American when traveling abroad, too. Our country was alive and thriving. Vitality was running amok. The positive spirit he instilled worldwide was contagious. Rampant.
I don’t feel that way now. We’ve got someone else at the helm who’s recklessly traded our dignity and respect for personal gain and selfish redemption, leaving us vulnerable to serious retribution on the international stage
meanwhile. Playground bully by any other name. Sorry, I digress...
This week.
This week, my forty-eighth birthday will occur. There will be little fanfare, if anything. I prefer it that way.
There is much fanfare for our fallen president. Deservedly so.
A Native American warrior chief once said, “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the
sunset.”
President Reagan lived his. I’m living mine. Our precepts similar, our platforms vastly different. When my time comes, I will sing my death song and die like a conquering hero returning home. Just as he did, I’m sure.

There will never be another week like this one. He’s gone now and I live on, carrying the torch of goodness and service for my fellow man, best I can, as did he.
Our work here on Earth is never done. God willing, I’ll do my utmost. And if I should be so fortunate, I’ll win yet another one for the gipper. Like he would’ve wanted.
God bless you and keep you, Ronnie. You left the world a better place. A simple virtue to which we all should aspire."

St. Louis-Area Lake Vanishes Over Days

AP:

"WILDWOOD, Mo. - To folks around Wildwood, it is nothing but freaky: an entire 23-acre lake vanished in a matter of days, as if someone pulled the plug on a bathtub.
Lake Chesterfield went down a sinkhole this week, leaving homeowners in this affluent St. Louis suburb wondering if their property values disappeared along with their lakeside views.
'It's real creepy,' said Donna Ripp, who lives near what had been Lake Chesterfield. 'That lake was 23 acres - no small lake. And to wake up one morning, drive by and it's gone?'
What once was an oasis for waterfowl and sailboats was nothing but a muddy, crackled pit outlined by rotting fish.
The sight had 74-year-old George English scratching his head.
'It's disheartening, getting out on your deck and seeing this,' he said as he stood next to wife, Betty, and the 'lakeside' condominium they bought in 1996 for its view. 'One day it's a beautiful lake and now, bingo, it's gone.'
Some residents said they noticed that the lake, after being swelled by torrential rains weeks earlier, began falling last weekend. The Englishes said they noticed the drop-off Monday.
By Wednesday, the manmade lake - normally seven to 10 feet deep in spots - had been reduced to a mucky, stinky mess.

David Taylor, a geologist who inspected the lakebed Wednesday, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the sinkhole was formed when water eroded the limestone deep underground and created pockets in the rock. The sinkhole was 'like a ticking time bomb.'
The lake and surrounding housing development date to the late 1980s. The development now includes more than 670 condominiums and houses, about one-tenth of them bordering the lake.
Because the lake is private property, the subdivision's residents will have to cover the cost of fixing it, probably through special property assessments. George English expects it to cost $1,000 a household.

It is a price English said he is willing to pay. He just wants the unsightly pit gone, either by refilling it with water or dumping enormous amounts of dirt into it to create green space or usable land.

"I think it'll come back again," he said. "You have to hope they can fix it."

Awwwwwww.....

They really do go in threes, don't they?

Ray Charles is gone. Wow. And I'm really kicking myself for not seeing him out at Floores Country Store a few years ago. I remember saying to myself at the time, "I need to go see him just to say I did before he dies..." Waaaaah.

Thanks to AlphaPatriot for this:

"Talk about coincidence, here's a bit of trivia you won't read in the mainstream press:

Charles performed at Republican national conventions during Ronald Reagan's years as the party's leader."

From BBC NEWS | Singer snubs Lopez wedding query:

Anthony reportedly married Lopez in a ceremony at the actress's Beverly Hills home on Saturday.

But Anthony refused to confirm the reports during an appearance on NBC's Today show on Tuesday, saying his personal life was off-limits.

I couldn't care less about Marc Anthony or J-Lo, but I did happen to have the Today Show on this morning and saw this ridiculous exchange between Matt Lauer and Anthony.

And I walked away thinking, "Who do these morons think they are?" Do they honestly think that I care whether or not he and J-Lo tied the knot? And that they are so dang important that us "commoners" don't deserve to know? Because their personal life is so sacred? Dude, just say "yes" or "no" and quit acting like a pompous idiot who is too high up the food chain to act like a human being. As if Marc Anthony is anything to write home about (well, I'm writing about him, but it's out of disgust). We're all going to find out eventually that you're married, so let's just all quit with the poser Hollywood thing and move on.

Well, maybe it's all about perception. Maybe if I start walking around and acting like I'm a big-shot star and, "Oh, I've really got to protect my privacy... these media types are just destroying my life..." then maybe people will believe that I'm actually very cool and important. I had a random guy walk up to me yesterday at Fire Wok and tell me that he likes our music -- I thought it was cool to actually get recognized! -- but maybe I should have screamed at him and thrown my Tofu Stir-Fry with ginger-curry sauce on him and told him to leave me alone. That's apparently how I'm supposed to act, if I follow Marc Anthony's lead. Then I'll be cool.

Culture: Watched an intolerably long portion of 7th Heaven last night with Punky. That show, I think, is the worst show on TV right now. It is so poorly written, so spoon-fed, so predictable, so lame... and the mother and that whiney little brat of a daughter need to be hit. Oh, and the twins who always speak in tandem. Apparently the twins (who are like 4) are robots that cannot function apart from one another since one is always needed to finish the other's sentences. Why is this show on? Can you think of a worse way to spend an hour of TV viewing? Man, I need 24 in my life.........

Politik: In May, Kerry Said He Would Support $25 Billion In Emergency Funds For Our Troops. Kerry: ''I will support the Administration's request for emergency funds for our troops. The situation in Iraq has deteriorated far beyond what the Administration anticipated. This money is urgently needed, and it is completely focused on the needs of our troops. We must give our troops the equipment and support to carry out their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.'' ('Statement from John Kerry on the Administration's Request for $25 Billion in Emergency Funding to Support the Troops,' U.S. Newswire, 5/13/04)

Well, Mr. Kerry, if the money is "urgently needed," why did you skip the vote last week? Good one.........

Weather: It's raining. Of course, we just watered our lawn for two days over the weekend because it was looking dry. Yes. I'm glad I'm going to have a higher water bill now. Yaaay.

Cuisine: Haven't had my coffee yet... but I'm going to go make it and some Spongebob Eggo Waffles. There are innumerable benefits to having a seven-year-old.....

cotton candy

I had a very busy weekend. Lots of things to write about.

Friday night I went back to Hill Country Chapel to do the music for the women's retreat. That was fun... getting to see everyone again was bittersweet. I actually had one person come up to me as I was talking to the youth pastor's wife and say, "Well, I really wish y'all could have been the youth ministers here!" Hello? Hi. I'm sure that made the youth pastor's wife feel nice. I explained that there's a reason for everything and that we know that we're where we're supposed to be.

So then I went home and tried to sleep, but couldn't. It was one of those nights where I woke up 87 times, all wide awake, my body saying to me, "No, really, I'm done sleeping now." I don't like that.

But the last time I woke up that night was around 5:50 AM, and I was in the process of dreaming some really wacky things (well, for one thing, the aliens from the X-Files that don't have any faces were there, along with a baby whose bottom eyelashes were so long that they were braided in a braid that reached her chest)... and thoroughly enjoying this weird dream, when I was awakened by the sound of our car horn honking outside. It totally freaked me out. I looked out the window and couldn't see anything, but as my heart was pounding I ran through several scenarios: a) someone's out there and is jacking with the car, or b) the car horn has a short in it (highly unlikely), or c), well, I didn't have a "c". So in my sleepy reasoning, "a" made the most sense and I wasn't very excited about that prospect. But I went back to sleep nonetheless.

When I finally dragged my sleepy (and sleepless) butt out of bed and was getting my stuff together to go hiking with Flo, I walked out to the car and noticed that the car windows had been left open all night. I peered into the car, and lo and behold, there were paw prints all over the place... on the dashboard, on the seats, and yes, my friend, one lonely pawprint on the horn. A cat, you ask? No, they were not cat prints. We have a family of raccoons that live in our yard, and I guess one of them was after the empty granola bar package in the car. Sneaky sonofagun. What's humorous is the fact that these coons are so dadgum fat that they can barely walk, much less climb anything. Watching him get into the car would have been really funny... and I'm sure the horn scared the crap out of him........

Started rehearsals for "Annie Get Your Gun" with FTC. It's a fun score, despite several numbers that have many flats (playing in all flats sucks). I love Irving Berlin, though, so I can't wait to see how this show comes together.

We practiced in the band hall of Fredericksburg High School, and being in that band hall brought back a flood of memories. It has been almost 20 years since I've been in a band hall, and I remember sitting in mine at Nichols Jr. High and looking around at those big framed band/orchestra yearly roster pictures and thinking that the classes from the years before me looked so dorky and stale. Yesterday they had the photos going back to 1988, and that was my era... now they look dorky and stale. I am old.

Oh, today I ate lunch at Fire Wok and it was fabulous. I am wondering if they are related to (or owned by the same company as) Chipotle. Same concept, different ethnicity. Actually, for me, it was a toss-up today between Chipotle and Fire Wok, but since David doesn't really like Fire Wok and I alone today, I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity.

I must go do housework now. The life of a domestic goddess, you know.

swimming as exercise

This is becoming a morning ritual: Krispy Kreme Coffee (sans the donuts), blogging, then getting ready for work. I'm liking it. David and Punky are home all day now, so I don't have anyone to get ready and get out the door. This will continue indefinitely, as David keeps very loose office hours at the church (basically whenever he wants to go in) and mainly offices at home. Punky will probably be homeschooled next school year as well. Aaaaaah. A return to freedom........

Punky's cousin Dylan spent the night last night. They are 4 months apart in age and have always been the best of friends. How cool to grow up with an identical cousin! They have never not known each other....... as close as brothers, mostly. Which is good for Punky, being an only child.

We took them swimming yesterday, and since I didn't run yesterday, I swam many laps in the pool. What fabulous exercise... it's the best, I tell you! Not only do you get amazingly tired, but you don't get sore later, it's both cardio and strenghtening, and you don't sweat! Man, why didn't I discover this sooner? Maybe because I've never had a pool at my disposal.

Gotta go download something from microsoft... I'm finally getting with the 21st century and installing RSS Reader......

bluelikethat quiz - Which Chronicles of Narnia book are you?

bluelikethat quiz - Which Chronicles of Narnia book are you?: "

The sixth book written, you're nevertheless the first chronologically. You not only describe the creation of Narnia and tell where the White Witch, the lampost and the wardrobe came from, you get to bounce between worlds with the help of Uncle Andrew's weird magic rings.


Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are."

veggie tales

I have 20 minutes to kill before I have to put my running shoes on, so I decided to make some coffee, eat a banana, and blog. Have to run early if I'm going to do it.... it's so dang humid and I have no pool to look forward to (pool doesn't open till 9, I found out).

So I finished my Ted Dekker book last week just in time for Red.... and then I read Red over the weekend. Red is more obviously allegorical than Black; actually, I think it's just that the story is coming together a little more. I'm just hacked off that I've finished the second book and now have to wait till October to get going again! Darn you, Ted Dekker! I am addicted to you!

I just may have to pick up C.S. Lewis' sci-fi trilogy now. Been meaning to do that for decades. Maybe I just need to dive in.... I'm just afraid that my expectations of him will be dashed. Narnia changed my life, and how can anything compare? Still, it's Lewis and I love him and his writing.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and loaded up on fruits and veggies. When it gets to be this hot outside, I only want raw veggies and fruit. So we feasted last night: Morningstar Farms Veggie "chicken" patties (which taste remarkably like real chicken, much to the delight of David and Punky), stuffed celery, carrots, baby spinach salad (with sunflower seeds), tomato and cucumber salad (which I dressed with this great soy plain yogurt... finally found some... Silk rocks, by the way), and seedless watermelon for dessert. I love being a vegetarian, especially in the summertime. Don't feel all weighted down with meat. Ugh.

Alright. Gotta go post to my other blog and then go running. Yaaay running!