Newscoma

I’m with Dean on this one at NiT. Great breakdown of a post written by Carter on Friday.

It scares me to hear somebody say something like “If the principle is eternal and Biblical, why not write it into the constitution?.” There are about a hundred different Christian denominations in Tennessee, not to mention a few completely different religions. Each one of us has a different interpretation of what is “eternal and Biblical”. I am a Southern Baptist and I no more want the Church of Christ writing laws based on their interpretation of “eternal and Biblical” than they want me writing laws based on my interpretation. In regards to law, we should all agree to only outlaw that which infringes on the freedom of others. That’s it. Laws should be about protecting people and nothing else.

And this is a reason why I read blogs that differ from my basic philisophy on things.  That’s one reason I read both Dean and Carter (as well as others), and I do find food for thought at both sites although many times I disagree with them more than I agree. But this post really resonates from because I get what he’s saying. It’s one reason why I advocate for reading other people sites who I may not agree with but on the other hand, it does create a dialogue.

And yeah, I was raised Presbyterian. Cumberland at that.

So there you go.

Anyone who writes an editorial column and is also left-leaning reads Molly Ivins. She is the godmother.

So when I read this, I took pause.

Liberal Texas columnist Molly Ivins has been hospitalized in her ongoing battle with breast cancer, her assistant said Friday.

My grandmother died from breast cancer, and to be quite honest, I worry about it because I’m built just like her.

You think about those things.

Best wishes to Ivins. I hope she whips this. I really do. Whether you agree with her or not, she writes in a way that is very accessible to the reader and I like that.

H/T to Sande (more…)

Okay, there isn’t always a lot to do in Hooterville so yesterday Corn was in a talent show. Our buddy, SMasco, judged the tikes where we saw several performances solely from singers under 18 years old.

Yeah. It was called Weakley County Idol. Shut up.

Now, I’m not going to rag children on this blog because it takes a lot of cajones to get up on stage, but I will say that you could see that some of the girls that have been in glitz pageants.

One girl, and SM and I agreed on this, knocked our boots off. She wrote her own song, accompanied herself extremely successfully on the guitar and was really good. She was there with a friend of mine from our owner’s other paper and so we hung out. When she started to sing, I had a “Good Lord she’s awesome moment.”

Corn did okay and the most beautiful thing about her is that she does it for fun.

SM came back to the house, we had a rousing round of Mimosas, gossiped and then had a rousing round of Yellow Tail merlot. Homer said she looks like her friend Michelle from High School and had major bouts of guilt this a.m. because she called her Michelle once.

“I don’t even do drugs, but the resemblance is uncanny. She must thing I’m an idiot,” Homer said after they left. “I’m going to invite them (Steph’s hubby showed up after the talent show. He has his limits.) for dinner. Garrr.”

Now, Homer is not the kind of woman that says Garrr very often, but I could tell she really dug Steph. I also could see there was like-mindedness between the sis and bro-in-law with our new buddies.

The cool thing is it was a lovely afternoon. Squeegee Monkey and SM’s hubby talked about brewing their own beer (Squeegee loves doing this but hasn’t found anyone to do it with. Apparently it’s a team sport. Who knew?) Homer and SM talked about motherhood.

Me, being the idiot girl I can sometimes be effortlessly, just rambled.

Of course I had imbibed in the Mimosas and just stared at her about her name faux pas. Homer said, “I really like them.”

You see, sometimes it’s just nice to meet new people, find that you have some things in common and just visit. Homer and Squeegee dug the fact that there are a lot of things they have in common.

You must understand it’s been a long couple of weeks at Chez Coma. The fire, craziness at work, viruses and sinus due to screwed up weather and day to day mini crisises.

So it was a lovely diversion.

So after our pals left, I fell asleep in the chair about 7 p.m. which proves that I’m really sad although I did wake up around midnight and watched anime on Adult Swim until morning. I don’t know if that’s sad or hip. I’m leaning toward pathetic.

Of course, Merlot doesn’t always agree with me, but I felt okay this morning and that is of the good.

I really could give two craps about celebrities (except Bigfoot), but every once in awhile I will see something where the rich and not so smart do something incredibly moronic that it gives me pause.

You’d think Paris Hilton would have paid the cost of the storage unit (I think she has the do-re-mi) but instead this happens.

Definitely NSFW.

I almost feel sorry for her. But then again, not.

Harry Potter mania continues with this little tidbit from TV SQUAD:

Apparently a new series coming to the BBC entitled The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (no, we aren’t kidding) will enroll fourteen kids into a Hogwarts-esque school where they “will be schooled in magic history and folklore, told the latin terms for casting spells, and taught how to look after resident magic animals. As their knowledge and skills progress they will also be taught the art of illusion.”

I want to learn magic but not how to make a quarter come out of someone’s ear but how to make people who are bugging me disappear or levitating the dogs might be a fine skill.

Squeegee Monkey told me a story last night that he was in a talent show and he was a magician. Which made me think of this post by Jag in which I agree that only Johnny Depp is the only man who can successfully wear eyeliner but he’d be shagable wearing a lime green, double-seamed, triple polyester pantsuit like my grandmother used to proudly wear. With matching accessories.

Yeah, good times.

I digress, we are talking about “magic.” I always think of Gob from Arrested Development here but, once again, I’m drifting off topic.

Squeegee Monkey was in a band in Nashville back in the day. I’m thinking the eyeliner was prevalent. He’ll deny, but …

Anyway, I want to go to Hogwarts. I’d probably be the old scary woman cleaning the loo, but it still seems like something I would dig.

Once again, I have to thank Lynnster for making me all “feedy.”

Join up at the bottom of the page if you are so inclined.

Haven’t been so bloggy in the last couple of days due to the onset of some lovely bronchitas.

Yay me. And this is a self-portrait.

Photo Credit Here

This was the picture that appeared on the front page of the paper about Homer and Squeegee Monkey’s building catching on fire. Squirrelly took it.

Sorry, I’ll shut up now about the fire but it has been somewhat overwhelming.

Back in November, I had a few bloggers come to visit me after my surgery. Being that I spoke to someone earlier this week who went to New Orleans over the weekend and reported to us that anything you see on the Gulf Coast right now in person is seven thousand times worse (still) than any news image could capture, I wanted to show you the gift that Kerry Woo brought me.

When Ivy visited on Saturday, I found myself compelled to show her this can of water. It’s a reminder that we need to not forget about the plight of people and what they have had to go through. For some reason, this is one of the most cherished things I own because it reminded me that people can make a difference, like Kerry,  and be part of a solution.

Let me tell you about Squirrel Queen. Today is her birthday.

She doesn’t make a big deal about things, but you know, I do. How do you say nice things about someone who doesn’t dig a lot of attention. Well, by golly you give it to them anyway, don’t you think?

So I thought I would make her a birthday list of things that make her cool.

1. She was challenged at a very young age by an area farmer that “if you can catch a pig, you can have it.” He never thought she’d catch it so that’s why he said this. She caught it. needless to say her parents were not amused.
2. If she wants to know something, she learns it. She doesn’t wait for someone to tell her how to do it, she just figures it out for herself.
3. She’s knows more about sports than anyone I know (and probably you.) Name a sport, she pretty much knows it. She explained the rules of curling to me during the last Olympics. I found that very peculiar.
4. When her father died, she was with him. This is important to her. They were alone together. She says it was very peaceful.
5. She loves Pee Wee Herman and The Venture Brothers.
6. She likes cheesy pop music.
7. She really wanted Steve Cohen to be governor when he ran for the office several years ago.
8. She loves goofy T-shirts.
9. She has recently picked up a fine appreciation for India Pale Ale.
10. She doesn’t like to cause a fuss.
11. She doesn’t really care for people who cause a fuss.
12. She is not fond of people who are power hungry.
13. She doesn’t talk about her feelings, and when she is sad and it sort of explodes, she calls it “getting full.”
14. She loves “The Amazing Race”, “Survivor”, “My Name Is Earl” “Big Brother” and “The Office” and will watch football on television until her eyes bleed.
15. She is pretty tall.
16. She has a mission to get her picture taken with every Elvis impersonator she meets. If you are a celebrity, she could care less. She has standards.
17. She still grieves her dog she had during her childhood, which was a bull terrier whose name was Molly. They are pictures of this dog dressed in an aviator hat and goggles at her mother’s house. Her mother doesn’t take the picture down because she knows SQ loves it.
18. She carries the dogs up the stairs sometimes because she thinks it’s hard on their legs.
19. She is very patient, but when she is done with something, she is done. And she makes no bones about it.
20. She has been writing and broadcasting sports in a rural market for more than 20 years, and you have no idea of the abuse she took at the beginning of her career.
21. She quit drinking Diet Coke a year ago after drinking about a six pack a day for most of her life.
22. She will cry for you when she knows your truly sad.
23. Her favorite movie is “Raising Arizona.”
24. When I was in the hospital in ICU several years ago and I was deathly ill, she stayed for three days not leaving my side.
25. She loves the Talking Heads and thinks David Byrne is under-appreciated.

So, go on over to Squirrels on Snark and wish her a happy birthday. If you know her, you know she’s a very unique special person. If you don’t know her, your missing out.

Happy B’day, Squirrelly. Thanks for kicking my ass on an on-going basis and being nice to me when I need it.

UPDATE: Scout weighs in on the Squirrelly’s big day.

The cool part of last night’s State of the Union address was my friend Mark calling me. He was the anonymous guy who left the Drinking Game instructions on windshield of my car (I wondered, but I wasn’t sure.)

We attempted (before Homer came in holding her head in an excruciating way that I thought came from watching Pres. Bush on a mic with cameras from around the free world watching but which actually came from more fire-related nightmares which has become, unfortunately, a nightmare (sorry to be redundant) but Homer has had a tres crapolistic week.)

Mark and his wife Stephanie are the winners of the hippest of the hipsters.

Mark likes to be as politically incorrect as I do. We do it in safe spaces with each other and he does it with such a wry wit that I just want to sit and watch him in action he is so good at it. Steph loves Johnny Cash, has similar memories of Nashville as myself and Homer, and she’s just cool to be around. What’s not to love?

Badger introduced us but that’s another story for another day.

We agreed that the president, the vice president and John McCain had really ugly ties on.

Yeah, that’s how we swing. We listened to the message, but the ties needed commentary (in a side-note, Smiley appears to have some really cool ties, I have some vintage ones and please to all of you men out there who must wear ties, Valentine’s Day ties give me the willies with all those cupids and hearts. I don’t know why, but they do. Being that I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day as a manufactured holiday, it just weirds me out.)

Remember the power red ties that Clinton and Gore wore.I knew back in the day that when Clinton wore a red tie, he meant business. The DA who presides over law and order ’round these parts wears some impressive ties. I guess they are called power ties, but when he walks into the courtroom, his tie means some serious business. It sort of screams “I am going to kick your butt.”

He usually does.

I don’t know. I’m having a night where I need to talk about ties. Shut up.

Of course none of this matters, but being that none of us, Mark, Stephanie or I are big wearers of ties, it felt sort of redeeming to discuss presidential fashion while trying the State of the Union drinking game (in which I had to abandon due to fire related issues) while speaking on the cell, coordinating television stations and ensuring that we had the right beverage of choice. On a side note, Squeegee Monkey had the State of the Union address on Fox. He was scolded profusely and had to be sent to bed with lash marks on his person. It was an accident, but he had to scolded.

And the ties. man. A good tie means a lot, I’m thinking, if I’m pondering over it.

Sometime I just dig my friends. And yeah, I can tie a Tie better than a guy. I’m cool that way. Shut up.

Well.

What do you thing about this assessment of the Democratic presidential race?

Incidentally, isn’t there 21 months until the next presidential election?

I’m already weary.

Sometime Fark headlines make my day.

And here are a few.

John McCain exhibits the kind of vitality people want in a president by falling asleep in the middle of the State of the Union

or

From the “Who the hell funded this?” files: German scientists have spent the past three years trying to get a sloth to move

or the one that made both SQ and I chuckle:

Necklace worth $263,574 stolen from Sam’s Club. Amazingly, nine-gallon tub of mayonnaise left untouched

And thus, just a couple of reasons why I love the headlines at Fark.