I'm A Patsy - Gotta Problem With That?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008


The Cinnamon Bear is back in town!!

When Teri and Cindy were little, Darrell and I would take them to see the Cinnamon Bear every year, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He would be set up in a department store in town, and there was always a line of happy little kids waiting to sit on his lap. We all loved it and looked forward to it every year. This picture is of Teri – I do have one of both Teri and Cindy on his lap, but neither one is smiling, so I used this one. Teri looks so happy, so why didn’t they both look happy? Was the Cinnamon Bear doing something naughty? They won’t be seeing him this year as they left town shortly after the picture was taken.

I remember all the fun times we had during the holidays, starting with Halloween. It seems like they just went on and on and we all enjoyed it – especially our girls. I remember when I was a little girl in Hood River, my dad would get on his horse with a sheet over his head – my dad’s head, not the horse’s head - and ride really fast on the golf course, scaring all of us kids as we were trick or treating on the road by the golf course. He was a good headless horseman, but I always wondered how he could see with the sheet over his head. Do you suppose he ever ran into a tree? I never asked as I wasn’t supposed to know it was my daddy. Teri and Cindy never saw that, but we told them about it. There were so many events we never missed – driving around neighborhoods to see Halloween decorations and seeing Christmas lights in certain sections of the city. We always ate at our special place in a certain mall – it was so special I can’t remember the name, but I think it had “Elephant” in the name. And we probably had a potty break at that restaurant.

Those days are long gone, but Teri and Cindy have carried on the same traditions with their kids. I don’t know about the Cinnamon Bear though. But they did what we used to do which is the way it’s supposed to be. I really miss the times with my girls when they were little and they depended upon me for nearly everything. It scares me to think of the role reversal that seems to take place in every family as the years go by. I guess that’s the way life is if you’re lucky enough to live that long!

Teri just called me as I was writing this, and we made plans for when she comes into town this weekend for the Oregon State football game. She’ll be with me Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon we’ll go to a movie and then have dinner. After that she’ll disappear back to New York. I can hardly wait! We couldn’t talk very long as she said, “I have to go buy some underwear now. I left all of mine in Brazil!” I never thought I’d ever hear anyone make that statement! But she was in Brazil not too long ago, and I’m wondering if she has been “going commando” at work every day.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Strange happenings at Holly’s Diner and other interesting items

This week started off very well for me due to the fact that Craig Ferguson was back from wherever – he was in re-runs the week before. He was his same irreverent, raunchy, crazy self – just the way I like him. He is also very smart and very cute which I also like.

Last night I watched “Fringe” which started as a young woman was dumped out of a truck in the middle of a street. She stumbled her way into Holly’s Diner where she started convulsing and bleeding from her orifices. The other customers in Holly’s diner began exhibiting the same symptoms, and very soon they were all dead. Not a very good night for Holly’s Diner. The rest of the show was spent trying to stop whatever was going on and why it ever was. I have really been drawn into this show – I don’t know why as I’ve never liked the same old hum-drum sci fi shows. But this one is different and holds my attention all the way through. I think it’s going to be a real winner.

Another thing that made me laugh was a long article about Sarah Palin in the “New York” magazine. It told a lot about Wasilla which sounds like a red-neck strip mall – not a place anyone would visit unless they were being extradited there for some reason. But what I found funny was when the writer, Mark Jacobson, described how he went to the Bowling Ball Bonfire held in a dense forest just north of Wasilla. He goes on to say, “The Bowling Ball Bonfire is one of those only-in-Alaska sort of entertainments. Bowling balls are placed into sawed-off oxygen tanks loaded with black powder and then shot a hundred feet into the air. Then the suspense sets in because who knows where they’ll come down.” If Sarah becomes VP, perhaps we’ll see that happening on the White House lawn?

I read something the other day that really made me sit up and take notice. It also made me think I must be way behind the times. Apparently elephants in Kenya are text messaging!! Yes, they really are. But they have such big feet and no fingers. I don’t text message – I don’t have the proper equipment and probably never will. I don’t even want it. But are elephants that far ahead of me? As I read further, it turns out it’s a collar with a mobile phone card in it that’s put on rogue elephants and sends rangers messages when the elephant is getting close to someone’s property. The rangers then respond and chase the rogue away. Do you suppose that would work with burglars, car thieves, rapists, telemarketers, etc.? Probably not.

And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin finally had his dog, Koni, fitted with a collar containing satellite-guided positioning equipment. Now he can track the dog all day and night and know just where she is. But it doesn’t work if the dog doesn’t move or lies down in a puddle. To which Putin replied, “My dog isn’t a piglet; she doesn’t lie in puddles.” When someone remarked that she looked sad, Putin snapped, “In Soviet Russia, GLONASS track you.” GLONASS is Global Navigation Satellite System which Russia is using. How comforting.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Political stuff . . . will it ever end?

I watched the Thursday night edition of news update on SNL and learned more about Joe the Plumber. I had already read that he has no plumber’s license and owes the State of Ohio back personal income taxes. The Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property in January 2007 until he pays his taxes, and the lien remains active. So on SNL last night I learned that Joe the Plumber is only about 3 inches tall and lives under John McCain’s bed with his invisible friend, Simon. So now I don’t know what to believe.

I watched on television last night as Barack Obama and John McCain spoke at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City. This is held every year in honor of Alfred E. Smith who was the first Roman Catholic presidential candidate. This foundation has raised millions of dollars for healthcare causes. The presidential candidates speak, but it is all humorous. I had no idea these two guys could be that funny! They had some pretty good writers working for them obviously. The people attending are always the cream of the crop of American politics, so it’s refreshing to watch without all the nastiness that is with us every day from politicians.

I also watched John McCain’s appearance on David Letterman last night. I’m surprised that he would ever show his face there after what he did. But he admitted he had screwed up and then went on to talk the way he always does which gets pretty boring. He praised Sarah Palin up one side and down the other. That has gotten very boring too.

But on the bright side, I found a new video on YouTube that is really great. It’s “Boybama – Battleground for your Heart” and starts with the following written text:

“When we saw Sarah Palin desperately trying to win over our hockey moms and Joanna Sixpacks, we knew that we couldn’t just stand idly by. So we decided to make this parody music video in support of the Obama campaign and to show women everywhere that we can shamelessly pander with the best of them.”

This video and the boy band are really funny! Here is the link: www.portal-a.com. I think everyone will get a kick out of it.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Thank God the debates are over!!

I just watched the last presidential debate and was informed by John McCain that all of us are hurt and angry – he actually repeated that several times when he first spoke. What a way to start! I am not hurt and angry, but I am pissed at the way things are going in this country, and a lot of it has to do with McCain. He was very feisty and downright rude at times during the debate. He made weird facial expressions – or maybe that was a smirk – and raised his eyebrows a lot. He was actually quite interesting to watch. He reminds me of a banty rooster as I’ve mentioned before. Banty roosters strut around but don’t actually accomplish very much. And what in the hell did Joe the Plumber have to do with anything? McCain talked about him so much and looked into the camera as if he were actually talking to Joe. That got to be very humorous after a while.

Obama kept his cool all the way through. McCain was very nasty to him at times, but Obama kept himself in check. I think he took the high road which was very good. Besides, Obama could never pull off acting like a banty rooster – that’s definitely a McCain thing.

I think McCain lost a lot of ground when he talked about Roe v Wade and the abortion issue. I don’t see how any woman with a brain in her head could vote for him after knowing his position on that issue. When he was talking about Sarah Palin and whether or not she would make a good president, he fell all over himself praising her and gushing over her. And what’s the deal with the push for help for autistic kids? Her child isn’t autistic, or maybe he doesn’t know. That could very well be.

I think Obama was the clear winner as he stated his positions on all the issues raised and did it in a very cool and earnest manner. I still believe what I said about McCain after the last debate – I think he’s a dickhead.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

SNL, David Letterman . . . . . . and the Presidential debate tonight

I’ve been watching SNL every Saturday night and can’t get enough of Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin. She does Sarah better than Sarah does! I hope they keep it up until the end of this election mess. Also, David Letterman has been hilarious in his rantings about John McCain. McCain blew him off and canceled at the last minute an appearance on Letterman’s show the other night because he had to get right back to Washington to “settle the economic situation” which was going from bad to worse. However, he didn’t go to Washington that night – he went to Katie Couric as we saw in a clip of his getting made up for his appearance with her. And after that, he still didn’t rush back to DC to help matters – he stayed in New York City all night. And when he finally did get there, he did nothing. So Dave is pissed, and it’s not nice to piss off David Letterman. It could be a matter of life or death! He talks about it every night and very seriously. If I were John McCain, I would never show my face around David Letterman again.

So tonight is the presidential debate. McCain has already started the mud slinging, and his attack dog, Sarah Palin, is giving it her all. I wonder if she will be there tonight with all of her kids . . . Trig and Track, Frick and Frack and the other ones. I’m sure we’ll see them if they are. I can hardly wait.

Well, the debate is over. I feel like I sat without moving for four hours and it was only an hour and a half. Time obviously didn’t fly. I thought McCain looked like a little banty rooster some of the time as he moved around the stage. His talk made me almost laugh sometimes as he seemed to get all caught up in how we’re all such good Americans and can get anything done we want to, blah, blah, blah. I was waiting for him to bring up the Bill Ayers bit that the barracuda, Sarah, has been talking about all week, but he never did. Guess he’s going to leave the dirty work to her as she seems quite capable of dishing it out. Obama stuck to the questions, but McCain wandered off into how he was the only one who could handle anything and everything. I’m tired and am going to go watch something that is maybe a little funny. The debate didn’t change anything for me – I still think McCain is a dickhead.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

VP debate

I just finished watching the Biden/Palin debate and didn’t want to watch all the pundits and news media people pick it apart. So I’ll have my say and then go have a glass of wine. I think Joe Biden kept his statements short and to the point, and did it in a way we could all understand. Sarah didn’t always answer the question or talk about the subject matter she was given. She would lapse into her nonsensical manner of speech with a grin and a wink and talk and talk and talk. By the time she would stop, I’d have to try and remember just what it was she was supposed to be addressing. She certainly has a gift of gab, but that’s not what the debate was about. She tries to be so “folksy” with her “down home” talk about Alaska and what the real world is like up there. No one really cares!!

I can’t stand the way she talks down to everyone when she says “work with ya,” instead of “work with you” as if that’s the way we all talk. The same goes for dropping the g in some of her words as in “hittin’ him.” Is that the way main street talks? And something that really pissed me off was when she kept saying “nucular.” Sarah, it’s NUCLEAR! But maybe the thought is if it’s good enough for George Bush, it’s good enough for Sarah. And just the thought of the leader of our country spending time talking about Joe 6 Pack and hockey moms makes me shudder. This country is not made up of all Joe 6 Pack and hockey mom people, and thank God for that. Possibly Sarah’s mind is still back with her people in Alaska where everyone thinks and speaks as she does. It’s almost as if she came from a foreign country.

I think Joe Biden was the winner in this debate. He stuck to the topics he was given and did it very eloquently. He also had to spend some of his time correcting things Sarah had just said about him or Obama which obviously weren’t correct. Sarah talked all around her topics and even around his. A couple of times I yelled at her to shut up! So now I’m going out to get my wine and find something on TV that isn’t political. I wonder if Seinfeld is on . . . . . .


Do you recognize this couple?

I’m thinking it might be the First Dude and Sarah Palin. When this picture came into my hands, I immediately thought of them. Sarah seems to be squinting into the sunlight as she searches for Putin and his plane flying into her air space in front of her Wasilla, beachfront home. She apparently does that every morning upon awakening.

Katie Couric has been interviewing Sarah the last few days, and I’ve loved it! During one of her campaign gigs, when asked about Joe Biden, she said, “I’ve been hearin’ about his senate speeches since I was in, like . . . second grade.” Ouch! And when Katie asked her what magazines and newspapers she regularly read before being called upon for the VP spot on the McCain ticket, she said, “Most of them.” And when pushed by Katie to name specific ones, all she could come up with was, “All of ‘em, any of ‘em that have been in front of me all these years.” But she never did mention a specific newspaper. I find that a little frightening. I actually find her frightening in that she could be our next president in a while. That’s like a bad dream.

On the “Keith Olberman” show yesterday there was clip shown of her trying to answer Katie’s question concerning Supreme Court rulings such as Roe v Wade. We know she doesn’t like that one, and she gave many reasons why it was not good. Katie asked her what she would suggest for a young girl who was a victim of incest and became pregnant, and Sarah’s answer was “Counseling!” Katie then asked what other Supreme Court rulings she did not like. She couldn’t think of one – she rambled on and on as she does, sticking out her lower lip, smiling, acting folksy and appealing to the “Joe Six Pack” people out there someplace. She has a knack for wandering around a subject but never giving a straight answer. It gets to the point where you nearly forget what the actual question was. That could be just plain stupidity or a very crafty move on her part. Keith had James Moore, an author and a “Huffington Post” contributor, on his program and they discussed the fact that Palin could have mentioned the Supreme Court decision on the Exxon v Baker suit that reduced damages in the Exxon Valdez disaster. Palin was governor then – two months ago – and she was disappointed in that ruling. Has she forgotten that already? Why didn’t she mention it when Katie questioned her? Mr. Moore suggested that during the debate tonight, Joe Biden should “sort of beat her about her diminutive brain” and let the world know she’s not up to the job. I hope he does.