Newscoma

I’m one of those “godless” liberals that folks have chattered on about for the last seven years although I’m, indeed, not Godless in the least and have a very good and decent spiritual belief system.

I’m also a realist and I do get along smashingly with my conservative buddies (not the neo-cons, the other ones.) And I respect my conservative pals.

And we’ve been agreeing about stuff lately that, quite frankly, scares me. (Not the neo-cons, the other ones.)

So I’m hoping that tomorrow is not much of the same when the Democrats get behind the wheel. As I said, I’m a realist. I think the country voted (and not overwhelmingly, sadly enough) in November that they weren’t pleased with the corruption and privilege in the current political landscape. So they got rid of some folks because they voted. And yeah, when I was laid up during the Utero Out Tour 2006 I watched the election like my dog Mabel watches a Twinkie sitting by its lonesome on the table when the phone rings and there isn’t any human supervision.

Like a hawk.

And I heard it over and over again in the waning moments of election day that many Americans voted for new blood because of the war in Iraq.

That’s the cool thing about this country. Voting and all.

Anyway how are they going to handle this news we got this afternoon.

Although nothing is final until President Bush puts his stamp on it, administration officials tell NBC News the president has all but decided on a temporary surge of additional American forces into Iraq in an effort to bring sectarian violence in Baghdad under control.

Wait a minute. A surge? And not just your run-of-the-mill surges either. We are talking 20,000 troops here.

The plan also would throw more U.S. money at Iraq for reconstruction and a jobs program.

In addition, the U.S. would turn up the political heat by pressuring the Shiite-led government to aggressively crack down on the Shiite militias, particularly the Mahdi Army led by Muqtada al-Sadr, believed responsible for killing hundreds of Iraqi Sunnis in a bloody round of sectarian retributions.

*sigh*

Halliburton and the like would most likely be a big part of that “reconstruction” comment.

So Democrats now running part of the show in Washington, I have a question.

What are you going to do with this news?

A lot of voters were extremely displeased with the war. So, I can’t help but wonder if the new leadership in Washington will act decisively over this news released earlier this afternoon.

I’m waiting.

I like Shoot the Moose. I really really do. When I read stuff like this, it just makes me feel darned skippy.

In the coming year, I have but one wish for you, dear reader. I wish for 2007 to be a year without fear.

But then ST Bart goes on to say this:

When a door opens for you, I hope you do not agonize over the consequences. Just do it. Or don’t. And don’t look back.

When you look at your loved ones, I hope you enjoy the wonder of their company instead of fretting over what might happen to them. I pray you receive the kind of peace that allows you to create a safe environment for them to grow, without stifling that growth.

Try not to worry about your job (this is a big one for me). Be prepared just in case you DO suddenly find yourself unemployed, then forget about it and just do your job. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway, besides keeping your resume up to date.

I just pulled a couple of things, but his post made me pause for a moment.  It was a thoughtful kind post and in starting out my day, I was glad I read this. It was nice.

And there isn’t a darn thing wrong with nice.

When evangelical leader Pat Robertson made the prediction yesterday that the United States would suffer “mass killings” in 2007, I was swept up with two very distinctive thoughts:

First of all,  In the last 11 years, the Federal Building was bombed by American Timothy McVeigh and then we all know about 9/11 so citing this is like saying that there is the possibility we might have three inches of snow here in northwest Tennessee in 2007. It might happen. It might not. The possibility of terrorism of attacks on U.S. soil does exist. Hell, we have terror alerts, Mr. Robertson.  It’s a given it might happen. No news here.

But wait a minute, CNN and Fox did make it news. Why does mainstream media keep feeding Pat Robertson’s ego by making him headline news? Robertson says that God told him this information, then CNN goes on to list the predictions that he has hit or missed over the years.  He said Bush would win re-election in 2004 (he had a fifty percent chance of getting that one right) and then last year he said a tsunami would hit the U.S. (it did not) but he said he was partly right because of the storms in New England.

All righty then.

Robertson’ has talked a great deal over the years. Boy does this man like to rattle. Let’s take a gander at some of the things from Wikipedia he has said over the years, shall we. I’ve cut and pasted here so we have links galore:

1.  In 1991, he had this lovely sentiment about other Christian denominations: “Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don’t have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist.”
2. In 1998, he said that acceptance of homosexuality could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombings and “possibly a meteor.”
3. The whole Hugo Chavez thing.
4. And, at 76-years-old, he said he could leg press 2000 lbs. (There are many more but I just don’t have the willpower to go on.) Well, that made the news although I have no idea why and I’m not sure there was any proof on that one.

Robertson likes to be in the news.  And mainstream media allows him his rants by putting it on the top fold many times. But if you look at statements like this, it has that Weekly World News (of that I love so dearly) quality about it all.  Except there is a place for news and then there is a place for Bigfoot sightings and yearly predictions. Robertson’s stuff is no different than the interview with Mother Time from this week’s edition for WWN.

But yet again I’m seeing another example of fear-mongering from the TV preacher, and MMN giving him relevance. Once again.

Just saying.

Well, campers.

Today, which was a very long day. I find myself very tired yet oddly relieved and feeling all girly and powerful.

Why, you say?

Because I finally realized what my New Year’s Resolution was and it was not so bad. The great thing is that I’m being true to the ‘Coma.

Today, I spoke my mind. It felt invigorating. The thing is that I have no idea if it made a difference.

And I don’t care. It was that good.

But, dammit it all if it didn’t feel like water running down my body during a wonderful hot shower in the beginning of the chill of winter.

And that, my friends, is of the good.

You see, I have kept my mouth shut for about six months. Today many of the things I needed to say flowed out of my lips like sweet molasses with an added dash of jalapeno. I was fiery but resolved. I said my peace, but I was rational.

And it felt so sweet. Like a first kiss that tastes like a good red wine after standing in the rain. A kiss that holds promise and hope and not long-term commitment.

It was that good.

I hope no one screws it up for me.

Ahh, and in the long run it won’t make a difference but at the moment it felt like a piece of caramel dark chocolate.

And for a moment I was a goddess.

And knowing that means more than I can ever express in words.