Dear GOP, #tcot and "mob" morons,

I picked out this special song just for you.

Due to budget cutbacks...

...the light at the end of the tunnel will be out.

• Here's a b-day shoutout to the Illuminati, born on this day in 1776... ♫ (It's your birthday) so let's party and have some fun. (It's your birthday) ♫
• Is Facebook an Illuminati plot? Uh oh, I hope they're not keeping a secret file of my Superpokes!
• Another good reason to par-tay...it's Beltane!
• The dark secret at Antarctica's Blood Falls. I've just added it to my list of places to visit before I die.
• Here's something cool and scary that I'm also going to have to partake in at some point. Eek! It's the crocostimpy!!
• The world's largest pool. I think its more of a mini ocean.
• Sonar causes rock-concert effect in dolphins. That's what they get for buying seats right next to the speakers.
• Danny Gans and his "latest" vanishing act. What? Too soon?
• Tree #3. The Larch.
• Tomorrow, May 2nd, is free comic book day!! Yay! I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

"Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down? We do, We do. Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? We do, we do."

-The Stonecutters Song, The Simpsons

Why a little "pork" can be good for everyone.

While on Twitter this morning (Follow me on Twitter), after tweeting about the hilarious 'homotoned' neocon movement naming trend (asking us to 'tea bag' Obama and NOM's unfortunately named, 2M4M initiative), I made a comment about Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her inability to understand that the tea party movement is not really grassroots, but 'astroturf' or a fake grassroots movement. I was immediately replied to by someone who doesn't normally follow me. Below is an excerpt of the ensuing conversation.

• NAKEDAXIOM: Will somebody PLEASE explain this to Elisabeth #Hasselbeck? The '#teabagging' is not a #grassroots movement! http://bit.ly/1tE9kM
• BANAIAH: @NakedAxiom Using #teabagging is a funny snark but silly. If is not a #grassroots movement then what is? It certainly wasn't #astroturf.
• NAKEDAXIOM: @banaiah when its backed by groups like #Freedomworks, it's certainly not #grassroots; its a coerced movement by lobbyists, or #astroturf.
• BANAIAH: @NakedAxiom #freedomworks as well as #Newt in fact did get involved. But the movement started long before their involvement. (followup tweet) But the to a larger point. Who cares? Are people genuinely upset about taxes? About big Gov't? Hell yes! #tcot #teaparty
• NAKEDAXIOM: @banaiah I care. #Taxes are necessary to pay for our country's #infrastructure. Explain how we do that, without them.
• BANAIAH: @NakedAxiom I reject your premise that I want no taxes. They are not to fund each and every politicians pet project. #tcot #teaparty

Let me ask you something. If you are paying taxes to your government for the upkeep of your country (which most of us are), wouldn't you expect your representatives in that government to have a say in how your tax money was spent? And don't you think that those representatives should then work hard to get some of YOUR tax money back into YOUR community to pay for the upkeep and improvement of YOUR community? I do. That's why I voted for them, and now, that's their job. As a matter of fact, I would be pretty pissed if they just sat back and let all my tax money to go to other states. So I told him that. Here is his response:

• BANAIAH: @NakedAxiom Even if its wasteful nor the role of the federal gov't? Do you believe that to be fair? #tcot

Of coure, I certainly don't want to pay for any bridges to nowhere...who would? But, I do understand the need in the government to include projects like a highspeed rail system between LA and Las Vegas, volcano research in Yellowstone (you know, the supervolcano underneath it...oh, you don't? Here's some info.), and pig odor elimination research in Iowa for the people of those communities, and when it comes to the volcano research - for all of us.

With oversight and good system of checks and balances, a little pork can be good for everyone.

It’s World Water Day!

No wonder I‘m so thirsty.

• Environmentalists slam World Water Forum as a “trade show.”
• America’s water crisis and what we can do to quench it.
• Tainted water still burdens small town after Salmonella breakout.
• Here’s the solution! Dehydrated water. Wait…what?!!
• Sen. Diane Feinstein believes that solar energy will destroy the Mohave Desert.
• Time-Lapse pictures show the speed of our changing climate and its effects on the Earth's northern landscape.
• The Cornucopia Institute charts major corporate ownership and involvement in the organic food sector .
• The U.S goes to pot… More here about the new administration’s vow to cease prosecution of medicinal marijuana dispensaries.
• Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt erupts 4 times.
• Senator Gregg and the Princes Of Anarchy say the Obama budget will “bankrupt the nation“.
• 24 GOP neo-cons approve of legislation extending worst aspects of reviled Patriot Acts.
• Texas school board will challenge the teaching of evolution in schools. I’m pretty sure science classes in TX will end up like this.
• The top 10 aphrodisiac foods. I know what I’m having for dinner.
• UFO trails plane in Tonga.
• America's top ten most infamous haunted places. Personally, I’ve always had an issue with #7 being on the list.

“Water flows uphill towards money.”~Anonymous, saying in the American West, quoted by Ivan Doig in Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, 1986

Glenn Beck. Please, grow a pair.

If I have to watch Glenn Beck cry one more time, I may grow volatile. Look at this clip from the opening of one of his recent shows.



Why is this guy on television? I really want to know. Beck has had a rough life and seems to have come out of it with some severe emotional problems. He cries, a lot. He nearly cried about Sarah Palin; not for the reasons I did, but because he feels like she's "his kind of leader".

As some have said, in these moments, Beck seems more like a cult leader than a commentator. Through his show, he is influencing many, many people who haven't realized what's wrong with the FOX News Network, and have also had hard lives and may be a little unstable themselves. I'm slightly afraid of that.

His performance in the above clip was so over the top that I actually found myself growing angry watching him. I contemplated driving to his house and stomping on his feet.

Just like on his show, Beck's 9/12 project website states, "We want to get everyone thinking like it is September 12th, 2001 again."

Well, guess what, Glenn. I do not want to feel like I did on September 12th, 2001. I don't know anyone with any sense who does. As a matter of fact, everyone I know wants to go back to feeling like we did on September 10th.

Do us all a favor and work on that one, will ya? Oh, and if you can - without the crying.

Of fathers, sisters, laundry lists and superfluous excuses

After having more than a year pass between posts, here I am. So much has happened that I could hardly fit everything in here so, I'll just touch on some of the more meaningful things.

1. My dad's cancer came back. This was the 2nd time. The 1st time, it creeped out from one of his tonsils and proceeded to wrap itself around his vocal chords. Tough for a guy who's a singer (not to mention, as a guitar player, the severe arthritis he has in his hands). After intense radiation on his throat, he went into remission and was cancer free for 5 years. Then it came back in his other tonsil but, they were able to get all of that out. Whew.
2. In May, my grandfather, a retired Canon and historian of the Episcopal church passed away. He was also our family historian. I am now left to the task of continuing that tradition, and have begun to research our genealogy where he left off. I am discovering that ancestry.com, although pricey, is a great resource.
3. Palin. Blech. Shudder.
4. I got laid off from two jobs in 6 weeks. One I had for more than two years. FU Bush. I kind of feel like he's sitting around now, singing the Bartender song (Rehab) about all of us right now. "she"= America; "her f 'cking car"= our future.
5. I campaigned for the first time this election. My nine year old, my husband and I stood on a major street corner in our hometown with a group of people I could only call "Obamasized" (racially, ethnically, socially, financially diverse) and waved at cars, held up signs and shouted his name. On three other corners, stood the McCain/Palin supporters. It was amazing how alike they all looked - over 45 and white, white, white as far as the eye could see. It was nearly blinding. That said it all to us...and to most of America. Thank you for that. I finally believe that the American dream is a real possibility for everyone in this country.
6. My step-brother almost made the Olympics but, personally I think he f'd it up for himself when he lied his ass off in a NY Times article to give himself a "better back story". Karma is a total bitch, and I guess "Christian" doesn't always mean honest.
7. My other step-brother joined the Navy, and then got married to some girl he had known for two months. Yikes.
8. The holidays were awesome.
9. Two weeks after the new year, my dad had a major stroke. He was alone in his house in St. Pete when it happened, and he laid on the floor, unconscious, for three days before my uncle came home and found him (they're roommates). He had pneumonia and a serious blood infection when they got him to the hospital; also he was paralyzed on his right side and unable to speak. I have spent the last two months getting him treatment, dealing with his bills, medical issues, and personal issues. Its amazing how much I didn't know about my dad, but found out when it was suddenly my responsibility to take care of everything for him. I'm not sure I wanted to know everything I found out but, it is what it is.
10. One good thing that came from all of this with my dad is that I was finally able to track down my 16 yr old half sister for the first time ever. Dad had been paying child support (off and on) for her but had never had any desire to have any contact with her. I was grown and off at college when the girl he was dating got pregnant. She wanted to get married, he didn't so, she left. I have always wanted to know about my sister (seeing as I have really been an only child my whole life; even my step brothers didn't come along until I was grown.) Dad would never tell me anything about her. He always acted like he didn't know any info, which I knew was BS but, I try not to judge people for the choices they make. You can't fault a pig for having a shorter neck than a giraffe, and some people are just pigs. Don't get me wrong, I adore my dad but, his choices in life don't always match what I would have done, and sometimes, it bothers me. Anyway, I found her mother's name and city when I was going through his stuff, looking for records I needed. I Googled her and found she had a Facebook page. I contacted her and she was thrilled for her daughter and I to meet. We have been talking over Facebook and via text so far. I am taking it slow with her. But, she is beautiful, and talented, and intelligent, and sweet, and totally open to a sister relationship with me so, I am very excited. I was also able to give her a picture of her dad for the first time in her life. I guess sometimes good things can come from bad situations.

So, that's the big round up for now. I am still busy busy with work (more on that in a bit), but personally, that's the big picture of where I am. I'm tired but, I still have seven things to do today.