I grew up in a political family. My first memory of a campaign is when I "won" the beautiful baby contest at a picnic my Dad took me to. I was about three or four. He was running for office. To this day, I am positive that contest was fixed. I was cute, but I wasn't THAT cute.
My Dad was a perennial candidate - a Dem running in a Republican town. He ran six times for Judge. SIX times. Come fall, my question upon arriving home after school was not "What's for dinner?" It was "Where are we going for dinner?"
Since he had a wife and five kids, we all campaigned. I fell asleep in cloakrooms and under coats so often that I still find it rather comforting (don't ask). I ate rubber chicken so often I thought it was CALLED rubber chicken.
King George is going to have a colonoscopy tomorrow morning, while at Camp David (Here's hoping that King George has the same experience I had - he wakes up TWICE during it). I have it on no authority whatsoever that Cheney will take this golden opportunity to declare martial law.
On June 1, a young man I know and love named Pedro is scheduled to come home from Afghanistan. He has been there for more than a year. He was supposed to be back months ago. But his tour was extended. But, finally, there is a date. So I am having a party that weekend; I'm taking all the youngsters out for a steak dinner. And while they chow down and I happily pay what will undoubtedly be a HUGE bill, I will loudly give thanks to God and good fortune that I have him back alive.
MSNBC has just announced that it is dropping its simulcast of "Imus in the Morning". Let the cheering begin, right?
Well, I'm not cheering. If anything, I am a little sad. Not that I am crazy mad for Imus; I'm not. I used to listen to him, until he started driving me crazy by repeating whatever had made him grumpy at 6AM, again at 7AM, and then again at 8AM, ad nauseum. And the constant chatter about his wife and his son and the Ranch and his LIFE...enough!
Senator Clinton has decided that she is NOT going to apologize for her vote in support of the resolution approving Bush's "pre-emptive" strike against Iraq. She thinks that apologizing for her mistake makes her look weak, perhaps indecisive. So, she says, you want an apology? Go vote for Obama (who, like me and millions of Americans, was against the war from the get-go) or Edwards (who realized his mistake, and apologized in 2005 in a Washington Post Op-Ed piece).
I could care less. Here's what REALLY pisses me off about Hillary Clinton:
MissLaura wrote a diary last night about a reference in Newsweek that GI's returning from Vietnam were spat upon when they returned. At last count, it had generated over 700 comments.
Most of the commenters I read were quite adamant that no such thing ever happened, ever. Here is an example of the type of discourse that went on in the thread over whether returning vets were called "baby-killers". Here is a really egregious example of what happened when one commenter tried to tell what happened to her ex-husband, who was spat upon. According to some commenters, nothing like that ever happened, no way, no how.
In September, 1976, a bomb exploded beneath a car driving on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. The explosion killed Orlando Letelier, who had been a foreign minister for the government of Chile under Allende. When Pinochet came to power, Letelier fled to the US and was working for the Institute for Policy Studies.
Someone else died in that explosion. Her name was Ronni Moffitt. She was 25 years old. She, along with her husband of four months, worked at the Institute. He was also riding in the car.
Hunter has a diary up on the frontpage ("Liberals are from Mars, Conservatives are from Bellevue") about a "survey" done in Connecticut that concluded that the mentally ill who are psychotic tended to vote for Bush in 2004.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow;
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain;
I am the gentle Autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush.
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there;
I did not die.
No, we didn't date or have an affair (I wish). But we do have a lot in common. He's bipolar; so am I. He has been in embarrassing predicaments (and could have killed himself); so have I. He is addicted to prescription drugs; so am I (now in recovery).
I would love to have Bush impeached. Impeached in the House, convicted in the Senate, and out he goes. Putting aside the present impossibility of getting Articles of Impeachment out of this House, we have another problem..
Former Senator Eugene McCarthy died today. He died in his sleep, a peaceful passing. He ran for President in 1968 with one issue, basically - stop the war in Vietnam. He attracted all of us who needed a unifying voice.
I became a worker bee, answering phones, mailings, talking to volunteers. My Dad was a judge and well-known Democrat. He subsidized the lunches and the rides home so that I could work for "Gene". I was fifteen. I talked to my Dad constantly about McCarthy (He would have said I talked at him, because he never got a word in edgewise.)
Codetalker sent me an email about his family. They are all doing better. Here is what he said
Hi Mary, and thank you so much for the kinds words and offer. We are OK so far, exhausted but encouraged - Brittany responded to our voices today by opening her eyes, and we really believe she knows who we are. Also, my daughter and grandson are making progress, so we're relieved. I think Britt is fighting her way back to us, and it was so touching when she fell asleep today while I was holding her hand. I know the slightest effort exhausts her, and she cannot even move or squeeze back yet, but it's a good sign and I'll take anything right now.
Brittany is his granddaughter. Keep up the prayers and good thoughts: It's working.
I just got off the phone with Sen. Reid for the briefing. He IMPLORES you to call Senators in the following states, if you are a constituent, and tell them to vote against the nuclear option:
Arizona, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.
Reid said to tell them that you will remember how they voted when it is time for re-election.
Reid said the vote will be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, but most likely Tuesday.
Sorry, but when I saw the smoking support diary, I just started to laugh. You see, rather than the dealing with the possibility that my smoking will someday kill me, I have to deal now with the fact that my bipolar disorder and drug addiction can kill me today. I relapsed again, so on Sunday, I enter a MICA unit (Mentally Ill/Chemically Addicted) unit.
It was raining and cold in Detroit at 6AM November 2, when I headed out from my hotel to look for the high school where I was assigned to protect voters. I came to Detroit on my own dime, after I heard reports that the Repubs were going to challenge African-American voters on any grounds possible to suppress the vote. I turned my local duties in NY over to another lawyer, since there was no battle to be fought in NY. There obviously was going to be a battle here, and I was not going to miss it.
I was coming back from a walk on grounds with a friend, and heading to the nurses' station to check in. I passed the door of a fellow patient, and noticed it was completely closed (which was odd, because that usually is not allowed to happen). Then I saw the blood pooling below the dooe and I ran for staff...
