Hitting the eject button!

(Those who know will understand and those who don’t can ignore.)

Music has always been a big part of my life. Sometimes there is a song that just “nails” how you are feeling.

This song by Flogging Molly has been on repeat in my CD player for about a month. 

Whistles the wind
Blowin’ my way
Sweepin’ me back, back here to stay
Can winners be losers?
Runnin’ on the same track
While some head for glory, others we crash

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

My isolation
Now there’s a sobering thought
A minute alone, a lifetime too long
See the face in this mirror
So pale it could crack
Desperately wantin’ the color it lacks

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

So you drank with the lost souls
For too many years
Tied to their ankles now crippled with fear
Never been righteous though seldom were wrong
Life’s only living with you in this song

Now there’s an ocean between
Where I am and where I want to be
So you prayers in doubt
Doubt not for me

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

Though you’ll find your way out
But there’s no goin’ now
Every woman and child
Drags you down for the dive
It’s not safe being free
Can’t give back what you feel
You said you’ll always be in heaven with me

…..I took the CD out today and I’m broken…..

…..yet free!

Ain’t got no time for a noun, a verb and 9/11

I’ve steered somewhat clear of posting “political” blogs and bulletins. I say “somewhat” – as I can get a bit fired up now and again. I make no secret of the fact that when it comes to politics I am standing to the Left of you. Well, you may say, “my politics are already of the Liberal leaning Left variety”. My answer….keep looking left darlin’, I am there.

I have been following the Democratic National Convention and watching each night, speech after speech, and hoping for someone, somewhere, to say IT!  And here it is, so eloquently put by Barack Obama, who has now secured my vote for the November election. A bit of his speech is excerpted here  – and I suggest seeking out the full text. It was a great speech! 

(And on a side note – Biden as his VP choice, excellent!) The greatest quote from this election process and the debates – Joe Biden on Rudy Giuliani – “And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani… I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There’s nothing else! There’s nothing else! And I mean this sincerely. He’s genuinely not qualified to be president.”

So read….weep….agree….and get out there and VOTE and show the world that we are done with this Right Wing Administration:

“But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a 10 percent chance …

 

 

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives — on health care and education and the economy — Sen. McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made “great progress” under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisers — the man who wrote his economic plan — was talking about the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a “mental recession,” and that we’ve become, and I quote, “a nation of whiners.”

 

 

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud autoworkers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and they give back and they keep going without complaint. These are the Americans I know.

 

 

Now, I don’t believe that Sen. McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

 

 

It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

 

 

For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is that you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. You’re on your own. No health care? The market will fix it. You’re on your own. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps — even if you don’t have boots. You are on your own.

 

 

Well it’s time for them to own their failure. It’s time for us to change America. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States.”

 

(I am optimistic, inspired and screaming – “get off your asses and make sure you vote this election!”)

People in glass houses

Edwards had an affair and the world is aghast. We Puritanical Americans like to pretend that we observe some sort of stringent moral code. In our minds sexuality is a sort of taboo subject and heaven forbid we ever break the sanctity of our marital vows. However, sentencing a criminal to death doesn’t seem to conflict with our morals, does it?

Yes, I believe cheating is wrong as all parties involved suffer in one way, shape or form. I don’t condone the act of “cheating” in any way – whether it was on your 9th grade Algebra exam or on your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/etc. But why are we so concerned with what happens in a bedroom between two consenting adults? I have always held the steadfast belief that I could care less who my elected official is sleeping with as long as he/she takes care of the tasks at hand.

We are a nation that glorifies and idolizes people such as Paris Hilton, a girl who is famous for banging her boyfriend while being video taped. We hurry to the nearest store to buy said tape yet we become a virtual lynch mob when our President or Senator or elected official has an affair.

Francoise Mitterand was the President of France from 1981 to 1995. It was an “open secret” that Mitterand, while married, had a mistress AND a daughter with his mistress. The mistress and their daughter lived not far from where he resided with his wife. He did his job and, in some ways, he did his job well. What happened in his personal life behind closed doors remained his business. It did not effect his job and therefore there was no need to sensationalize his indiscretions.

Edwards has stated that this affair transpired 2 years ago and he and his wife have dealt with it. Regardless of this statement, whether true or not, the issue should be between the three parties involved – Edwards, his wife and the other woman. However, two years later, the media is happily opening old wounds for this couple and ruining a career in the process.

The Conservative Right wingers will grab on to this story and use every opportunity to decimate this man and the paparazzi and media are only happy to oblige. They will use this as a means to promote their ever important platform – “the moral decline of America” – and they will spout their hateful words and religious rhetoric.


The only thing that is morally wrong with America is that we feel it is our right to invade someone’s personal life. It’s water cooler politics – gossip is fact and work record counts for nothing.
And at the end of the day, after the Conservative Right has successfully ended another promising political career and gotten the nation fired up, they will toddle off to their mistresses while their spouses clean up the shit they’ve left behind.