The Lady Speaks

There’s an old saying that, “Coincidences are miracles in which the gods remain anonymous.”

What else could this be? On the same day word spread that the lefty blogosphere had lost it’s beloved Yankee-hater, it was announced that:

Roger Clemens is out for a week with a “fatigued right groin.”

The gods certainly have a fine sense of humor… and timing.

UPDATE to the Update: I fixed it - apparently before anyone else knew there was a problem. LOL

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I have no clue what is going on, but WordPress has - for some reason known only to the Divine - decided to mess with my sidebars, replacing them with the defaults, which I absolutely hate.

I’ve attempted fixing this about ten times, and I’m giving up for the night. With any luck, it’ll be back to normal by the time I log on tomorrow.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

– Jenn

Update: I lied. I had to try once more. Since that didn’t work, and because the defaults rankle me so much, I switched to a theme I’ve used before. The sidebars work properly in this one, so I may leave it, or I might go back to the Garland theme…if I can work up the energy to play with the colorizer to get all my pretty shades of red back.

Today’s a two-fer, since I couldn’t decide which one to use.

– Jenn

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Bomb The World
– Michael Franti & Spearhead

Please tell me the reason
behind the colours that you fly
please tell me the reason
you want us to unify
you say you’re sorry
you say there is no other choice
but how can you feel sorry
when you kill people with no voice

You can chase down all your enemies
bring them to their knees
you can bomb the world to pieces
but you can’t bomb it into peace

You may even find the solution
to hunger and disease
you can bomb the world to pieces
but you can’t bomb it into peace

The earthquake of anger
simply brings more of the same
military madness
the smell of flesh and burning pain
so I sing out to the masses
stand up if you’re still sane
to all of us gone crazy
I sing this one refrain

You can chase down all your enemies
bring them to their knees
you can bomb the world to pieces
but you can’t bomb it into peace

I say, power to the people.

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Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down
– Kris Kristofferson

They’re killing babies in the name of Freedom
We’ve been down that sorry road before
They let us hang around a little longer than they should have
And it’s too late to fool us anymore

We’ve seen the ones who killed the ones with vision
Cold-blooded murder right before your eyes
Today they hold the power and the money and the guns
It’s getting hard to listen to their lies.

And I’ve just got to wonder what my Daddy would’ve done
If he’d seen the way they turned his dream around
I’ve got to go by what he told me, try to tell the truth
And stand your ground
DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN

Mining roads
Killing farmers
Burning down schools full of children
Fighting communism

And I’ve just got to wonder what my Daddy would’ve done
If he’d seen the way they turned his dream around
I’ve got to go by what he told me, try to tell the truth
And stand your ground

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN

Throughout the day, I’m going to be playing with various styles and themes, trying to find one I like and that functions the way it ought to. While I like the Andreas09 theme, I’m beyond annoyed by the fact that block-quoted paragraphs won’t stay separated.

This was not a problem with either of the other themes I’ve used, and I don’t know why it’s a problem with this one, but until it can be corrected, get ready for the change(s) that might be coming.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

–Jenn

The funny thing about working for yourself is….you actually have to work! And, believe me, you work harder than you ever did as someone else’s employee.

Add in illness, kid issues, errands, shopping, and the mundane daily duties that seem to always be the mother’s responsibility, and I start wondering when a 24-hour day stopped being enough.

Posting may be sporadic over the next few weeks as I try to get more organized on the business and home/family fronts.

I’m outta here for a couple days! As I mentioned last week, the Mom-person and I are heading to DC to see Chris Carney sworn in as the new Representative of the 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania!

Woo-hoo! Go us!

While I’m gone, why not check out some of my favorite places on the web?

FireDogLake

Blue Herald

Crooks and Liars

Booman Tribune

TalkLeft

The Left Coaster

Jesus’ General

Sadly, No!

Bob Geiger

Poetic Justice 

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Miscellaneous Treasure at Ebay (Yeah - shameless self-promoting….what can I say?)

Things learned from the US Census Report and industry groups.

Americans are fat. Two-thirds are overweight, and one-third of those are obese.

Is this a shock to anyone?? Walk into any store, anywhere in the US and fat people outnumber thin by a huge margin. (No pun intended.) And it seems like there’s fewer and fewer people who are just ‘pudgy’. They’re either ‘normal’ or they’re fat.

Also not surprising:

Americans are TV junkies. We’ll spend an average of 4.5 hours a day - or 1555 minutes in all - watching TV in 2006. This could explain why two-thirds of us are fat.

What we need now is a poll that shows us how many of the first group are watching FOX News….

I’m willing to bet there’s a stunning correlation.

In one scene in John Steinbeck’s haunting novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad is at the company store of a ranch where she and her family are working as peach-pickers. They’re paid in vouchers, and because they didn’t earn enough the previous day, she doesn’t have enough money to buy sugar for the men’s coffee. Ma pleads with the storekeeper to allow her to take 10 cents worth now, against the money the men are currently earning in the fields, but the storekeeper refuses. It’ll cost him his job, and he’s got to feed his family too. They go back and forth; Ma begging, him refusing. Finally, the man puts his own money in the register, and tells Ma to bring the voucher in once the men get back from the fields, and he’ll take his dime back.

Ma’s words to him have echoed in my mind since I first read this book in high school:

“Thanks to you,” she said quietly. She started for the door, and when she reached it, she turned about. “I’m learnin’ one thing good,” she said. “Learning it all a time, ever’ day. If you’re in trouble or hurt or need - go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help - the only ones.”

Over the years, I’ve learned this lesson well. When the chips are down, the people who will help and encourage you are those who have been where you are. They know what it’s like to fail, to fall, to suffer. They’ve scraped and scrimped themselves and made it through their own troubles because someone helped them. They don’t judge, they don’t condemn. They listen, they help, they ask for nothing.

As the days of gluttony approach - “Stuff-Yourself Day,” “Go-Into-Debt Day,” and the varied “Gimme-Gimme” Days (a/k/a: Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas/Channukah/Kwanzaa/Yule) - it’s nice to see a news report like this:
From the Associated Press:

The answer to one of the happiest mysteries in the Kansas City area is being revealed this year.

A man who has given away millions of dollars and become known as Secret Santa for handing out Christmas cash to the needy is allowing his name to be publicized after 26 years.

But the reason for the revelation is an unhappy one. Secret Santa has cancer. He wants to start speaking to community groups about his belief in random acts of kindness, but he can’t do that without telling people who he is.

The man who has spread cheer for 26 years is Larry Stewart, 58, of Lee’s Summit, who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

Stewart told The Kansas City Star that he was the man who would walk up to complete strangers, hand them $100 bills, wish them “Merry Christmas” and walk away, leaving astonished and grateful people in his wake. He handed out money throughout the year, but he said it was the Christmas giving that gave him the most joy.

Now, he wants to inspire others to do the same. He said he thinks that people should know that he was born poor, was briefly homeless, dropped out of college, has been fired from jobs, and once even considered robbery.

But he said every time he hit a low point in his life, someone gave him money, food and hope, and that’s why he has devoted his life to returning the favors. [emphasis mine]

[...]

But this will likely be the last Christmas for Stewart’s tradition. In April, doctors told Stewart that he had cancer of the esophagus. It had spread to his liver. He needed treatment, fast.

With help from Brett, he got into a clinical trial at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. Doctors tell him the tumors have shrunk, but they can’t say whether the cancer is in remission.

“I pray for that man every single day,” former Kansas City Chiefs star Deron Cherry — one of Stewart’s elves — says. “There’s a lot of people praying for him.”

Take a moment to pray or meditate for a man who so clearly demonstrates Christ’s command to “be ye kind to one another.”

I’m back!! Hooray, hooray!! I’m finally back, so I’ll start posting again soon!! Look for more Friday Anti-War Songs and Sunday Sermons, plus lots of bitchin’ and whinin’ about the mess the Republicans have made of our country. <laugh>

–Jenn

I sure miss writing, especially when Chimpy McFlightSuit and Friends are doing their darndest to provide bloggers with things to criticize and laugh at.

Unfortunately, the craziness of life and the messiness of financial affairs are keeping me offline. I check in every once in awhile, but…as they say, “Sh*t happens.” Mostly, I take the time to clear out a few pieces of spam and think, “I wish I could type 200 words a minute” because a minute’s about all I have to spare these days.

Starting next week, I will be checking in more frequently, and with luck, I’ll even start posting! (Gee! Imagine that…a blogger who - *gasp* - blogs! )

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PS: Hugs and love to my fellow FTs! Hope all is well with each of you!

– Jenn