Murphy

Waiting to hear what the vet finds

Thank you to all who are keeping my little buddy in their thoughts today.

I'm so Scared

My little dog is getting old. He's at least 13 years old. I have no idea how old he was when I addopted him. He has some problems and is going to the vet tomorrow. I'm so scared.

If you have a pet, you know what this is like. You wonder if this is that time you have dreaded for so very long, and you hope with all your heart that it isn't.

If I don't post for a few days, please don't forget about me. I will be back, maybe even tomorrow, it just all depends on the unknown.

Thank you for understanding

This is America?

We’ve all seen little kids crying and then someone says something to them that makes them sort of smile in the midst of their tears. Well that’s what New Orleans looked like to me this weekend as they smiled during Mardi Gras. The celebration was happy and sad at the same time. They had to have Mardi Gras to keep some sort of sanity in their lives and to remind them of better days. Sadly when the celebration is over the tears will remain.

I have lived on this street for a lot of years. The gentleman at the end of the street had a tall flagpole, and all these many years he has flown the American flag proudly from the top of that flagpole. The pole endured hurricanes Frances, Rita and most recently Wilma. As soon as was possible after each hurricane the American flag was raised. That flagpole seemed to stand in defiance of nature’s strength. It seems it was as strong as the country represented by its flag.

Yesterday during gusts of wind and rain something happened. The flagpole fell. It still lays there and the flag is now withered and tired as it quietly mixes with grass and shrubs. While the pole appeared to stand strong and tall,, at the base it was rusting and losing its strength. There were weaknesses that were only visible with close inspection.

The gentleman who lives there is too frail to move the flagpole, so I don’t know when the flag will be removed and the pole taken away. That flagpole will never bear another flag.

Just like that flagpole, our country has endured many a storm and strife. We have survived everything hurled at us over this short history of ours. No matter what trials and tribulations, we have always endured. Most of us expect we always will. But just as nothing more than moderate winds toppled that tired old flagpole yesterday, I fear that there may be some weaknesses in our country that make us susceptible to total failure.

When we see the ruin and disaster in New Orleans so many months after Katrina I can’t help but wonder if we’re seeing another symbol of our country that is now in sad disrepair. Just as the flagpole looked strong to the casual viewer, it had growing weaknesses below the surface. It would seem that New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast are glaringly exposing the growing weaknesses of our country.

That old flagpole will probably remain where it now lies for weeks to come. It may never be replaced. If something isn’t done quickly the same thing may be said of many areas of New Orleans and many parts of the Gulf Coast. Unlike that flagpole, the damage and deterioration of our country is plainly visible. We can see where failure exists and without repair, the rust that eats away and is allowed to erode the Gulf Coast area could spread as this next hurricane season approaches.

Cheap Thrills Weekend

You know those times that just make you smile. Maybe it’s the sound of you child laughing. Maybe it’s getting to the check out aisle and finding no one ahead of you. Perhaps it’s seeing the careless driver who just sped around you getting pulled by the police. For me it’s the sight of my little dog curled up and soundly sleeping in his bed. Another is the first sign of flowering on my gardenia bush. What’s yours? What are those little things that always bring a smile to your face?

The Leash of Fear

Since September 11, 2001, all we have heard is to be very afraid. Bush told us we were attacked that day because those behind the attacks hated our freedoms. Then he proceeded to start playing with the Constitution like it was a scrapbook item. Cut here, paste there, as need be. Because Americans heeded bush’s command to be fearful, they dutifully handed over their precious freedoms in the name of patriotism. How sad. They shut the hell up when they were told we must invade Iraq. Again, they did it under their proud fear banner. Somewhere along the way it became in vogue to be a frightened American. That’s how you qualified to be a patriot. If you weren’t afraid, you just weren’t a good American and you didn’t support the president, the war, or the troops. That logic was as false as the facts it was based upon.

This week, the drape was pulled back and we were shown the port deal. Those good fearful American patriots gasped in horror. How could the US do this deal? The president, who we are told was clueless on this matter similar to his cluelessness on most all matters of importance, told his huddled admirers that they should not be afraid. He yanked the hell out of their chain. See, they had walked along on the leash of fear for a long time. They knew the walk so well they could do it all by themselves. But, when he yanked that leash off their neck this week they were all confused. A funny thing happened, instead of acquiescing to his command to no longer be afraid, they fought back. Wow, they turned on their master. They screamed, “You told us to be fearful. We were. We wore our fear with pride. Now you turn to us and say don’t be afraid. Being afraid is all we know how to do, you trained us that way.” Their master responded, “I needed the leash of fear on you when I had need for you, but now you are worthless to me. I no longer need you dogs of war. I’m moving on to other plans, other goals and you just slow me down.”

Why did bush make the decision that he did even though he really didn’t appear to know much more about this deal than we did? What does he know that we don’t know? What does he know that would cause him to remove the leash of fear from his minions? Did he slip up or does he really not need them anymore?

Disgraceful Destruction

We’ve all seen what remains of the once beautiful and historic Askariya shrine, also known as the Golden Mosque. No one can be sure who destroyed it or what their purpose may have been, but one thing is almost a certainty, it would have remained its grand and gorgeous self had the US not invaded Iraq.

Setting aside for a moment all the deaths that have resulted from this invasion, and yes I know that’s impossible to do, but let’s think for a bit about all the art, historical artifacts, and architecture that has been forever destroyed. These are buildings of such great age and beauty. During the looting of Iraq many of the treasures from the national museum were completely destroyed or badly damaged. While deposing a dictator we also caused the destruction of so many old and irreplaceable pieces of history.

The pictures this morning of the disgraced Mosque seem to symbolize this entire war in Iraq. Although the goal of the invasion was to free Iraq, we have caused the destruction of the very things the Iraqis hold so dear, their heritage and their religious treasures, treasures both human and historical.

Bush said yesterday that the US will help restore the Mosque. How do you restore history? You don’t and we can’t. You can rebuild, but you cannot replace the art and beauty that only history can create.

Another Careless Shooting by this Administration

Just as Cheney, while on a hunting trip, shot a fellow hunter and got himself in a fecal load of trouble, yesterday it was bush’s turn to fire off a careless round of words.

Who was the idiot who loaded his gun? Who the hell told him to shoot off his mouth and threaten a veto? Should have had the safety on that baby.

With a stamp of his foot and a grimace on his face he drew a very deep and wide line in the US sand.

Now he can’t go back. Without careful consideration he placed himself in a no win situation. Definitely damned if he does and pretty much a wimp if he doesn’t.

If Rove told him to take this heavy handed stand, Rove has lost his mind. If this was bush’s decision alone, he has lost a few more of that 39% who think he’s a straight American shooter.

First Bush Veto?

Bush says he will veto any bill that tries to halt the port deal.

So would he use his veto for the very first time to kill a bill that tries to protect homeland security?

Compare and Contrast, then “incent”

Do you really think the bush administration gives a good damn about renewable energy sources and all the other bullshit that he’s preaching this week? Come on, do you? The only reason he’s hawking this idea is because it’s safer than continuing to hawk private Social Security accounts. He has to be on the soapbox about something and this soapbox isn’t high enough to hurt him if he falls off.

Here’s what bush said yesterday, “Some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or fundamental differences with the United States. These countries know we need their oil and that reduces influence. It creates a national security issue when we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us.”

Yes dear, that was just about the same time that we found out Arabs would be running our largest ports. Shaking your head yet?

Here’s something else he said. “If technology is going to help us change our energy habits and change the way we live, it makes sense for the government to ‘incent’ people to invest in research and development. Right now we've got what we call a research and development tax credit, which is a major incentive for private companies such as yourselves, to invest in research and development, which will yield new technologies.”

“Incent”? That’s not a word. That is however one more bit of proof that he may be dumber than we thought.

Stop Asking

Why is it that every damned time this administration makes some dumb-ass move, the first question is, “What will the Democrats do about it?” Why not ask, “What the hell will the Republicans do about it?”

It's the leaders of the Republican party that are looking like raving lunatics. What can the Democrats do? They have no power to do anything. If they complain about what’s going on they are accused of being “angry” and offering no ideas of their own. Okay, I’m a Democrat and here’s one of my ideas. Do not allow Arabs to run our ports. Stop that plan, turn the car around, and don’t feakin’ do it.

As for the war, we seem to have two choices. We can remain in Iraq until we kill everyone who resents what we have done there, or we can bring our troops home. What other choices are there? The Democrats aren’t magicians. They can’t create the impossible. Bottom line is this war, from beginning to whenever it ends, was not created by Democrats. Many of them believed the information the President of he United States told them. They didn’t know then that they couldn’t trust him.

So next time you hear someone say, “But what are the Democrats going to do about it?, just ask them, “What the hell are the Republicans going to do about it? They’re the ones who are in control. Remind them that Democrats didn’t lead this country to where it is today, but given the opportunity we will do every damned thing in our power to see that we never come to this point again

Trust on Demand

Yesterday Chertoff said that there was a super secret plan that should assure us that giving an Arab company the okay to takeover operations at six major American ports was a swell idea. He wouldn’t discuss the details of this super secret plan because guess what? The details are classified. I guess the Arab company knows the details, but we can’t.

What’s the next plan? Shall we put Andrea Yates in charge of Child Safety?

Is this the same kind of super secret plan that brought us the claim of WMD in Iraq and a connection between 9-11 and Saddam? Is it the same sort of plan that left New Orleans in hell for all this time? The list goes on and on of what we have been told and what turned out to be wrong. So now we should just trust them again? NO! Trust must be earned, it is not served up on demand, especially when we have nothing to use for ingredients.

Sinning on Sunday

I believe on Sundays there’s a flood of incoming messages to god. People all over are at church asking for guidance and begging to be forgiven for the multitude of sins they blatantly committed during the previous week. I mean the eyes and ears of god have got to be in overload mode, so that’s the day I can sin and probably not even be a blip on the heavenly radar.

Sunday morning I get all caffeinated up and break the eleventh commandment. You know, the one that states, thou shall not lounge around in one’s pj’s until almost noon. Yep, I break the hell out of that one almost every Sunday.

I wake up, consume a couple of cups of caffeine and, still clad in pajamas, perch on my barstool in the kitchen all ready to watch the Sunday morning news shows. Okay, I’m using the word “news” very lightly.

Then I break the twelfth commandment. That’s the one that says thou shall not yell obscenities and utter cattie comments at the faces of televised Republicans and occasionally Democrats,

Yesterday was a good sinning day. On “Meet the Press”, Mary Matalin showed up. It was tough to concentrate on Mary’s vile little whiffs of dialog because she evidently decided to pin her most recent Christmas tree topper on to her blouse. I mean what the hell was that thing? It looked like it could pickup signals from worldwide TV stations. Whatever the thing was it must have irritated her too because she sure was in a pissy mood. She was striking out like a cornered rattlesnake. Guess that’s the way you act when your best bud, Dick, had been raked over the coals all week. Suck it up, Mary.

On another show we were treated to Mr. Serious face, Bill Frist. What were the first words out of Dr. Eerie’s mouth? You got it. He announced for the bizillionth time that he was a surgeon. He was asked if Mr. Whittington could live with that pellet lodged in his heart. Frist smiled and said, yes. He went on to say that doctors often leave pellets, bullets and shrapnel in people. I expected to go even farther and say they used to leave cannonballs in people too, but he didn’t.

There were other shows and other guests but as usual, not much of anything worth watching, much less worthy of discussion today. David Gregory did apologize for telling Scotty to go piss up a rope. Okay, those weren’t his exact words, but what was that all about? Why would he apologize for losing his temper due to Scottie’s refusal to answer his questions? Now, there was some real sinning on Sunday.

That had to hurt

Ouch

Chickens and Cowards

There are a bunch of them out there. They are the people who are willing to rip parts out of the Constitution or burn the whole damned thing if they think they will be safe from the boogie man.

How many times a day do you hear that there are people out there “who want to kill us”? That phrase is like the period at the end of just about every message coming from the white house and the far rightwing yoyos these days. Yeah, there are people out there who want to kill people. Our prisons are loaded with them. So what? What are you gonna do, keep quiet and hide in the basement forever?

Whatever happened to America, the land of the brave? Today we look like the land of the trembling wimps. The attacks of 9-11 changed some things for sure, but not everything. We are the same people we were before that awful day, but we sure as hell don’t act like it. That day was tragic in more ways than one. Along with the many lives that were lost, there was something else that was lost. We lost our backbone. We knuckled under and handed over the controls to a president who was useless on 9-10 and was no better on 9-11. If Daffy Duck had been president on 9-12 things wouldn’t have been a bit different. Everyone wanted to hide until the all clear signal sounded. Thanks to this administration, we’ll never hear that sound.

One rightwing site continually talks about terrorists wanting to chop off our heads, ergo we must disregard the rule of law and allow the government to chop off our rights. Talk about pushing the envelope. There probably are a lot of people who would like to chop off our heads. That’s understandable. Perhaps they watched Shock and Awe or maybe they saw the Abu Ghraib photos. Some ugly and hideous things have been created in our name. These are the kinds of things that tick people off, big time.

Of course we could have another attack on our soil, and hell, it might kill every one of us. I refuse to live in and under the fear of that happening. I refuse to give up my rights, because you know what? Giving up my rights is giving up my life. I won’t hand over my way of life just to give some chicken-shit coward a more assured feeling of being safe. This is still America, and Americans are so much better than that, aren’t we? We aren’t getting safer, we’re becoming more cowardly. We send our military abroad to put their lives on the line, and yet we here at home are too weak to hang onto the very freedoms that soldiers of past wars have fought and died for. Chickens and cowards are letting those soldiers down.

Funny how that works

The Patriot Act and it’s ugly stepsister, the NSA spying folly, do not in my opinion make anyone safer. They both make all of us more vulnerable to this administration. I don’t know about you but I’m not feeling the love. The last people on earth I want sneaking into my life is this present administration. Just listening in to terrorist ringing up their friends in the US? I don’t think so.

While there will be no real, grownup, serious, legally sound investigation into the vice president’s shooting a man while on a hunting trip, there will be lots of investigations into your life if Osama dials your phone number my mistake.

Dark Day for GOP

Ouch, yesterday was a hairy day for the GOP. Condi asked for about 85 million to get Iran to make nice and she had her ass handed to her. The GOP Katrina report came out and kicked everyone's ass who had any responsibility for that canine fornication debacle. Then for good measure the second sorry load of pictures from Abu Ghraib were playing at a computer near you. But oh Nellie, we aren't done yet. Finally, Dick Cheney gave FOX news his version of his lawyer hunting trip.

Quiet a day for the Grand Old Party on all fronts.

The best actor award goes to Dick Cheney. He said he only had one beer at lunch before later firing off some pellets at his hunting, later to be prey, buddy. Let's see, he's on a weekend get away with pals, he doesn't have to drive and he has only one beer with lunch? Come on Dick, show me one guy who has only one beer at lunch under those conditions. Did you also have only one potato chip?

Cheney will talk, but with who?

Just announced on TV, Cheney will give an exclusive interview today. Guess which station he'll give it to. Yep, FOX

Watch out for those softballs they'll toss his way. Will it be a live interview? I doubt it. Will we know anymore after it's aired than we do now? I doubt that too.

It Gets Worse

The Raw Story has new Abu Ghraib photos

Privacy Double Standard

If you shot someone by mistake and that someone was seriously injured, would you be more concerned about that person's recovery than anything else? Would you allow joking and speculation about what happened or would you want the true story known? You would if you had nothing to hide.

Mr. Cheney believes that what happened on that ranch in Texas is none of our business, but at the same time he believes that our private phone calls and emails are the bush administration's business.

In the name of national safety our government feels they can justify listening in on our private conversations even though we have done nothing wrong, but apparently they don't believe that we are justified and entitled to know all the facts when the vice president of our country shoots someone.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Be Sweet to Your Honey Today

(you can find more mice at Mouse-House Designs)

New Crayons and Coloring Book Time

Remember when you were a little kid and you got a brand new box of crayons and a brand new coloring book? For me that was a big time event. So many possibilities for new pieces of creative art lay ahead. A world of new pictures to which my own creative waxy hues might be applied.

Well, yesterday was a day similar to getting new crayons and a new coloring book. When I heard that Cheney had winged a lawyer while on a hunting trip, my mind went euphoric. Yes, of course we are all glad Cheney didn't get a better shot at the lawyer, but after that it's all crayons and coloring book time, baby.

Do we go with "When Cheney shot Harry"? How about "Cheney shoots Lawyer out of Season"? See? This is fun and it's all for us to play with. Wait, one more. "Cheney mistakes Lawyer for Libby".

Go for it, knock yourself out.

Bright Lights, Moving Objects and Loud Noises

Perhaps I was a cat in a former life. I am easily distracted by bright lights, moving objects and loud noises. If you watched the opening of the Olympics last night you saw some things that definitely caught my eye. Yep, lots of bright lights and a fair bit of moving objects.

The loud noises came yesterday at the hearings regarding the canine intercourse hurricane/flood response in New Orleans. Brownie was the prime target and Senator Coleman tried to take him down. Both Brownie and Coleman used the phrase "“balls to the wall"”. (tsk tsk) I mean it got testy between the two men. I fully expected Brownie to ask Coleman if he wanted to step outside and settle this with some old fashioned fisticuffs. Coleman used the excuse that his time was up to end the pissing match. Of course neither of them would actually enter into a physical fight because doing so might mess up their hair and clothes. Speaking of hair, was I the only one who kept staring at that little swatch of Brownie'’s hair that was out of place? Probably.

Seems to me that the entire group, from the mayor of NO to the President of the United States, have formed a circular firing squad and they fire at random while blindfolded. When asked who dropped the ball? They all fire at the most distant target.

The problem is that I'’m not sure if the whole thing happened again tomorrow the response would be any different. Seems there has been more focus on blame than desire to get it right next time. Sadly next time could be here real soon. Hurricane season is not that far off and with it comes streaks of bright lightening, swiftly moving objects and scary as hell loud noises.

What a mess!

Will it ever end? How much farther down this slimy road must we go?

If anyone still trusts anyone in the bush administration, please check yourself into the nearest hospital and tell the attendants that you are totally insane.

Did the wiretaps prevent California from being blown up? We really have no idea. We sure would like to believe that we have the capabilities to do such wondrous feats, but let’s face it, we just don’t know what to believe these days.

We find out today that the administration knew about the levee breaks way before they said they did. Does that surprise anyone? No, and that's sad. Perhaps criminal would be a better word.

Let’s add to the mess the possibility that Cheney did give Libby the high sign to leak classified information. Jeez, can’t these guys do anything on the up and up?

Today we read about an ex CIA analyst who says the info used to persuade the country that we must invade Iraq was simply cherry picked. Whoa! Bet you didn't see that one coming.

And meanwhile back at the war, people are dying! Well, they shouldn’t be, but they are the victims of the demon cherry pickers.

You just have to step back and look at this entire big picture. Lies seem to be the glue that holds this administration together. They have told so many lies that they have now created a quagmire of dishonesty and hypocrisy. This mess is so big, so ugly and so close to criminal that I'm not sure we can ever completely recover. No one knows who the next president will be, but it will take one hell of a person to be strong enough, brave enough and wise enough to even know where to begin to turn this thing around.

Shaken or Stirred?

Good Friday morning to you

Are you shaken or stirred about something? Let's talk about it. What should be the headline today?

The President's Secret Invisible Elephant Repellent

Someone leaked the fact that President bush has been using some secret invisible elephant repellent. At first the bush administration denied the report but later they admitted they were using the secret invisible elephant repellent and damn, it was working. The people demanded to know the contents of the repellent but the administration said if they revealed the secret content, the repellent would no longer be invisible and would no longer work in preventing herds of stampeding elephants from roaring across our land.

The people railed and demanded to know the contents of the repellent. They were getting angry. They wanted proof that the repellent worked.

As luck would have it, just at that moment the administration said they could reveal a time when the repellent had been proven to be effective. They told the people that not so very long ago they knew a herd of elephants was moving in on California. They went into action and they said that they sprayed the entire state with their secret invisible elephant repellent. Presto chang-o, no elephants trampled California.

There were no pictures of the threatening elephants and no elephant footprints were found outside the state, but President bush swears his magic invisible repellent saved California from sure elephant related destruction. But would the people buy his story?

Anything Shiny Will Do

In the midst of the NSA scandal and the disaster we call the war in Iraq, in the midst of the Republican culture of corruption and cronyism, and in the midst of cartoon wars and holy hell in the middle east, what are the 24/7 cable news shows and the right wing talking about? They're all about Mrs. King's funeral.

See, the hard right can't seem to deal with the true tragedies of our world, but they will quickly focus on something shiny, like bitching about what the different speakers said at Mrs. King's funeral. Imus said that President Carter was a horrible person and more than one shill has stated that Carter is a worse ex-president than he was a president. Catchy, huh?

They are saying that it was disrespectful to talk of wiretapping and poverty and such at a funeral. The same group had no problem dragging Terri Schiavo's brain-dead body with them on their trail of tears. Nah, nothing disrespectful about using a woman's body for a religious/political cause. Nothing undignified about that .

To my memory Senator Wellstone's family never complained about his funeral, and as yet, I haven't heard the King family complain about anything said at Mrs. King's funeral. Just like with the Schiavo case, the right wing has assumed the role of family pro tem. They somehow feel that complaining about how a family chooses to deal with the life or death of their loved one is up for debate and critique.

Seems all their shiny things are connected to something that is not one bit of their business. But hey, it keeps them off the street and away from focusing on the reality of our world.

Welcome to the Morning Martini

Welcome to the Morning Martini

Let's talk politics, shall we?

You probably know me as "Pissed off Patricia". Here's why I took that name. When my neighbor, a member of the Guard who was in his fifties, was sent to Iraq at the beginning of the Iraq invasion, I became sincerely pissed with this administration and nothing has happened since that time to make me feel any differently.

Hopefully I will be able to have daily entries here and hopefully you'll share your thoughts with me. We're going to have fun!

See ya later,
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