I'm A Patsy - Gotta Problem With That?

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sarah Palin - AGAIN???

This morning I sat down with the Sunday “Oregonian” newspaper and was disgusted when I read an article about Sarah. I’ve been hoping she would be too busy to be out in public acting stupid - something that she does so well, but no, she’s now campaigning for John McCain again. This time it’s for his seat in the senate in Arizona. I had already seen her on TV in her black leather jacket, acting like a cheerleader as she stood behind the lectern with McCain behind her with what my brother calls, “A shit-eaten’ grin” on his face. What a sight that was! She carried on like she was running for president which she probably thinks she will be.

She told the audience not to retreat, but RELOAD! She has on her Facebook page rifle scope-like crosshairs to identify the 20 seats she hopes SarahPAC will turn into red states. Those lawmakers were among Democrats who voted for the health care bill but had been elected in GOP districts that supported McCain in the presidential vote. There has been violence against Democratic politicians recently and will probably get worse. Sarah is not helping by apparently not taking things seriously. She called it “ginned-up controversy” as if to poo poo the whole matter.

Tony Stewart is a retired professor who has worked for three decades to free northern Idaho of its reputation as a haven for white supremacists and people with ties to anti-government groups. He is very troubled about what’s happening in our country and the trend towards violence and what it could do to the fringe elements. Stewart says, “History has taught us that some individuals who are on the very fringe – and are oftentimes not even stable – may take that and engage in violence.” I wrote in a previous blog about the people I had seen on TV at an anti-abortion rally that looked like uneducated hillbillies. Well, at the McCain rally some of them looked the same. One woman in the crowd who looked like a typical Tea Party member – stupid – screamed at Sarah, “You should have run for president.” Sarah seems to be having so much fun, but I bet the McCains totally dislike her and how circumstances have brought them together again.

I must not spend time on her. It’s not good for me. She’s not good for anyone . . . . . except maybe Trick or Track or Trip or Tramp or Frick and Frack . . . who are those kids anyway?

Monday, March 22, 2010


Mushrooms and news

Here’s the picture I mentioned in a previous blog about the mushrooms growing outside my window. I think they’re mushrooms – I don’t know what toadstools look like. I don’t eat mushrooms as they seem really icky to me. But these were really pretty, and people were stopping to look at them. They just seemed to appear out there, and then, just as suddenly they disappeared. I don’t know if someone picked them all or the gardeners dug them up. Very mysterious.

I see where the Health Care bill finally passed last night. At least part of it did. There are so many more things they have to do with it that I have no idea when and if it will actually take affect. Stupak and his cronies voted for it because Obama made a special dispensation to the effect that abortions would not be federally funded. Now all of Stupak’s buddies are pissed at him, but who cares? To think that people would spend so much time and money over the abortion topic, when it is legal according to the Supreme Court, makes me wonder if we are being taken over by an ignorant population. What is wrong with abortion? It is not to be used lightly, but is often necessary and LEGAL!! I get so sick of stuffy old men railing against it. I’m getting to the point that every time John Boehner comes on television, I turn it off. I hate his arrogance and the way he pontificates endlessly as if he were the answer to everything. I can’t stand him!! There are so many other problems in this country such as kids going hungry and people without jobs. So come on you guys, start thinking about the important matters – the things that matter most in our country.

Matters got ugly last night as people started hurling epithets at gay members and doing the same with African American members. Why do people act that way? Are they really that bigoted or do they just let it out on special occasions. I’m thinking it’s the former. This is a sad state of affairs, and I fear it will be a long time before matters settle down in this country. I’m sick of the whole thing which I think I’ve said before. I know Obama and his people worked long hours, days and nights on this bill and I surely commend them for their efforts. They did what most people thought was not doable.

To end this on a humorous note, I saw a bumper sticker the other day that I really liked. It read: “Things haven’t been the same since the house fell on my sister.” Isn’t that a great one?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

“BONES”

The premiere episode of the Fox show, “The Bones on the Blue Line,” airs Thursday, April 1 at 8pm on Fox. It starts off with a bang when 60,000 gallons of flood water throws a subway train off the track. You can see a skeletonized body pass by a window which is shocking. Dr. Sweets (John Francis Daley) is a passenger on the now derailed train and has to deal with PTSD throughout the rest of the show which is not at all surprising after all that he has seen during the derailment. The rest of the team works on identifying the victim. During all this, Brennan (Emily Deschanel) has just released her second book which is extremely successful as are all of her other books. But she has a reporter (Seiko Matsuda) accompanying her everyplace she goes as she’s doing a piece on Brennan and wants to see just what she does. She's always there when Brennan and Booth (David Boreanaz) are working on the case. However, the reporter seems to be more interested in the sexy passages in the book. Now come on, who wouldn’t be? Wouldn’t you rather read about a steamy sex scene than some forensic gobbledygook? I know I would. But through all the distractions, Bones and Booth and their team solve the case. They always do and it’s so much fun to watch. I’m glad they’ll be back, and I’m still wondering if they’ll ever end up in bed together . . . and not just in a dream or a coma.

The show’s milestone 100th episode, “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole,” which is directed by the series star David Boreanaz, airs on Thursday, April 8 at 8pm on Fox. This episode takes you back 6 years as Brennan and Booth tell Dr. Sweets about the first case they ever worked together. Sweets is finishing his book on the partnership of Brennan and Booth and they want to get everything straight before it goes to print. They tell of how FBI Agent Booth sought help from Brennan and her team of scientists in solving a difficult case. This was the first time they all had met, and the group shared many experiences together throughout the duration of the case. Booth and Brennan came out as a very formidable couple who worked well together and also fought well together – with each other. This is a very good episode which I think everyone will like. I know I did.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring premiere episode of the Fox show “Fringe”

The premiere episode of the third season will air on Thursday, April 1, at 9pm. There will be eight new episodes for the season. I have always called this show “creepy,” and it usually is. Things happen in it that are unexplainable and indescribable. But one keeps on watching it just to see what happens next and to see if there will ever be a logical explanation for everything. So far that hasn’t happened. But I keep watching just to see what weird stuff will happen in the next episode. In other words, guess I’m hooked!

But in this premiere episode Walter finally explains to Olivia the story on Peter, his son. There is a lot of empathy and sweetness going on, and the episode is unlike many of the other ones. You see Walter in a different light as a very loving father, determined to take care of Peter, no matter what. I’m very interested to see how this information affects the characters in the coming episodes. So I’ll be watching. As I said before, I’m hooked. I’m sure it will continue to be creepy most of the time, and I would expect no less. I like it!

Monday, March 15, 2010


Memories and current events

This magnet is from Cindy’s Brownie Morrison shop. I think it’s actually a re-creation of my life when Teri and Cindy were little. It was icky and wrong one day when I was shopping in Luther’s grocery store and we met a little, old, wrinkled black lady. Cindy, in the basket, became so excited she bounced around in her seat and screeched, “A monkey, a monkey!!!” The lady heard her and came over, and I apologized all over the place, trying to explain that we don’t say things like that. I told her Cindy looks at National Geographic magazines and that’s where she got it. But the lady said, “They just say what the white folks say. You’re lucky I wasn’t someone who had a knife!” I was so embarrassed I almost felt sick. I dragged the girls out of the store as fast as I could and never took Cindy back there. Unfortunately, she did it again in another store, so I think that was the end of her going shopping with mom for a while.

I’ve been hearing a lot about the health care bill and efforts to pass it. I’ve seen John Boehner, House Minority leader, on TV saying how republicans wouldn’t pass it until they made sure there would be no funding for abortions. John and the right-wingers seem to have forgotten about the passage of Roe v. Wade. It makes me furious to think that women may be held hostage by a group of idiots. When I see people marching against abortions, they look to me like un-educated hillbillies. They keep working away until soon they’ll overturn Roe v. Wade. At least they intend to do that. And John Boehner – he’s not a noble congressman. He’s a chain smoker who took money from tobacco lobbyists and helped save their subsidy, and he did it right on the House floor. I don’t think any woman should be told what to do and what not to do with her body. That whole idea infuriates me!

I see in the paper that Texas will be setting the standard for new textbooks. “The Texas Board of Education approved a social studies curriculum Friday that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.” That quote was taken from “The Oregonian” who was quoting the “New York Times News Service.” Finally, the Republican right-wingers can now instruct our children any way they see fit. Why would Texas affect the other states? Because Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks.There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings. They were just a bunch of ordinary (?) people who want to do away with Darwinism and the separation of church and state. One of the board members, Mary Helen Berlanga, stormed out of the meeting, saying, “They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians. They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.” I have an idea – why doesn’t Texas secede from the United States? Oh, I forgot. They tried it in 1861 and it didn’t work out too well. Maybe one more time.

The other day I was thinking how boring my life was, when the phone rang. It was Teri calling from Abu Dhabi – yes, there is a place with that name. She was there on business. Then I got a call from Cindy who was eagerly awaiting someone who would come into her shop and spend $300. She was very pissed off when she heard what Teri had been doing. So then I hung up and went out to check on the contractor who was working on my condo. He was up on the scaffolding and I told him I was getting ants inside from the dry rot outside. So he says, “The next batch of ants coming in will be full of Viagra!!” So I guess we three live pretty interesting lives and I should never be bored.

Thursday, March 11, 2010


Hi! My name is ELIOT

I used to have a wind-up toy store, and I have quite a few wind-ups in my home now. I also have the big battery-operated cars, fire truck and others like that. But the smaller wind-ups are my favorites. The one that I really cherish is the one in the picture. He’s a wind-up (you can see the key sticking out of his suitcase) and it shows him trying to go from my kitchen to my living room, but the rug is stopping him and he’s just sitting there, spinning his wheels . . . I mean legs. I say he’s either leaving home to go to work to provide for his wife and kiddies . . . or he’s leaving home permanently to get away from his wife and kiddies. Up until now, I never named him. But after reading the article about Eliot Spitzer in my last “Time” magazine, I decided to name him Eliot. The author of the Spitzer piece in “Time” was incorrect when she said Spitzer was now like “one of those windup cars stuck on the edge of the carpet, its motor grinding away, threatening to flip over.” Wind-up toys don’t have motors – they have keys to wind them up. Possibly she never had a wind-up toy which is very sad.

Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York, resigned in disgrace after being found to be a perpetrator, a patron of an illegal prostitution ring and was wiring money to shell corporations as a way to pay for his transactions with prostitutes. He had been very effective for the eight years he spent as attorney general of New York and was known for going after Wall Street. He was even known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street.” His success pushed him into the governor’s office where he lasted for a year until he resigned in disgrace. Now Governor Paterson, who took his place, has similar problems. What’s going on back there anyway?

It seems that Eliot now wants to get back into the swing of things, but how to do it? He thinks he’s “done his penance” as “Time”states. But does that change anything? He apparently would like to run for office – any office. He did do marriage counseling and therapy at the insistence of his wife. But that doesn’t change anything, because it seems that any man who has strayed heads for rehab or therapy. Big deal! I think his wife should have kicked him to the curb, but she obviously didn’t. I wonder if he watches “The Good Wife” on CBS. Julianna Margulise plays the wife of the District Attorney who did some bad things while on the job and also patronized prostitutes. He was arrested and thrown in jail, but now is out, awaiting a new trial. His wife didn’t leave him and he’s now coming home to live with his family . . . but in the guest room. I don’t know why she didn’t leave him, but Chris Noth, who plays her husband, is cuter than Eliot so maybe that’s reason enough. Eliot is certainly not cute.

So now Silda has her Eliot who’s a mess and concerned about his future, and I have my Eliot who will always be with me. I know that for a fact as he could never get down the steps of my condo!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010


More of Teri’s visit

Here’s the other picture I mentioned in my blog yesterday. During Teri’s visit we did quite a few things together and even decided to have some company. So one afternoon, we had a couple of my friends, Doyle and Diane, and my brother, Jim, who is obviously a friend, over for some wine and cheese. I asked Doyle to open the wine as I seem to have a hard time getting the corks out. I buy cheap wine with a screw top which I can manage, but Teri had bought some really expensive wine for us. It was wonderful!! But it was still hard to open as it obviously wasn’t the screw-top kind. I don’t know how we ever got the cork out, but it took a while. Teri was very good in that she didn’t yell that my wine opener was a piece of crap! We all had a good time even though Larry, my sparrow, never showed up on the ledge to eat. I guess he wasn’t used to my having company. We usually spend our time together with just my sliding glass door separating us. I imagine it will always be that way. Sad, isn’t it? I probably need a boyfriend.

When our friends left, I made sweet potato fries. I’ve never done that before, and I don’t think I did it quite right as they weren’t crisp. But they sure tasted good. In the picture above Jim is on the left, Teri in the middle and Diane on the right. I’m sure you could have figured that out. Everyone looks so good. I never like my pictures – in fact I hate them. I always wonder if I actually look like that. Once I cut my face out of a picture of my girls and me and Teri was furious. I never did that again.

A few days after Teri left, I went to the coast with Diane and Doyle for a couple of days. We had a great time even though it was raining. Doesn’t it always rain at the coast? We missed the tsunami and didn’t even realize the Chile earthquake knocked the world off its axis. Does that mean the world will spin out of control and we won’t have to worry about jobs, health care, twitter, whether or not Leno can make a comeback . . . things we spend entirely too much time thinking about? We may just have to hang on for dear life as our world spins around trying to find its axis. We stayed at a condo directly across from a golf course. On the wall next to our condo door, there was a sign which read: PLEASE – NO GOLF HOES. I’m thinking there might have been a letter left off by mistake . . . or maybe they were expecting Tiger.

Monday, March 01, 2010


Teri spends several exciting days with her mom!

Teri came from New York a couple of weeks ago to visit me for a few days. I planned on taking many pictures of her while she was here, but that didn’t seem to work out. We were busy much of the time doing exciting things. The above picture is not one of the exciting things. That happens to be the picture I took the night before she left. She didn’t want a picture, but I insisted, so she wrapped up in the afghan my mom knit for me years ago. It can be called a “shawl” – I would never use a real live Afghan. It was so good to see her. I miss not being able to see her or talk to her much. She’s so busy in her job that I don’t feel like I can call her anytime and say, “What’ up?” I cooked dinner for her two nights with new recipes, and she was impressed. Two was my limit, so it was fortunate that Rita asked us to dinner on the third night. So we went out with Rita and her family and had some good food that I hadn’t cooked which is the way I like it. I sat by Reggie, their daughter, who is 16 now and was on her cell phone texting Harry, Teri’s son, in New York. Reggie’s fingers were clicking away all the time. Sometimes Harry wouldn’t answer her right away, so she’d have to text him again. I don’t think she liked having to wait for a reply. Who does? I couldn’t help comparing it to our family dinners back in the old days. My girls didn’t have cell phones. I don’t think anyone had cell phones then; we just talked to each other at the dinner table. These days families don’t even have to talk to each other – they can just text each other and save their voices for competition on American Idol.

I showed Teri all the big yellow mushrooms growing in the dirt outside my condo window. They were the craziest looking things, and I noticed today someone has taken them all out. People would stop their cars and go over to look at them. I took a picture and may put it on my blog sometime. We also went to a movie while she was here and took walks. We had a few people over for wine and cheese one afternoon, and I’ll put that picture on soon. In that picture, Teri is wide awake and looking good! So it was an exciting time for me since I don’t do much of anything usually. I don’t know how exciting it was for her, but I sure had a good time. I didn’t even take offense when she told me my computer was a piece of crap! I yelled back at her that it wasn’t and she yelled back that it was. That was fun for me!

She left me to go spend several days with Cindy. I think she helped in Cindy’s Brownie Morrison shop and spent time with her family. So we all got to get together . . . just not at the same time or place. As Teri was leaving to go to Cindy’s, I followed her to the door saying, “I loved having you here. I wish you lived closer, I wish you lived here in town, I wish you lived here with me!” I think I was getting a little carried away by then, so she scurried out the door. I hope she comes back.