Addict!

Yes, my last post was about Facebook becoming my new drug. I confess I rapidly swirled into addiction and now just about everyone I ever wanted to know about has contacted me through FB. Or I have contacted them. And they have ignored me. Or something like that LOL. It is amazing who responds and who doesn't on these "add friend" features. Also, I found that some folks I knew 'lightly' in high school seem to be wonderful friends now. FB is weird, tempting, and surreal. One can talk about one's self in 3rd person and feel safe. If you're a voyeur like me, FB is a great place to go and look at pix of people you never knew and you'll probably never meet. The whole world stops by in your living room. Strange but seductive...

Facebook is my new drug

I have become a Facebook addict--I guess it is better than the other possible addictions one can have.

The thing about Facebook is that, well, you can establish or reestablish connections with people all over the world.

I have already made two incredible contacts--two that I never, for the life of me, thought I'd make. Those two contacts are worth every second "wasted" online, and then some.

Plus, I'm getting some good karma to boot! (Through Facebook's "Send Good Karma" application.)

Sarah Palin: the gun-toting beauty queen aiming to be the vice-president - Times Online

Sarah Palin: the gun-toting beauty queen aiming to be the vice-president - Times Online

I LOVE it!! What a brillant move by McCain's political strategists and McCain himself. I am now re-engaged in this election, even though I am undecided.

The more I read about Palin, the more intrigued I become. What an interesting woman. I look forward to hearing her speak.

Does this woman look crazy to you?

Victoria Osteen, wife of superstar evangelist Joel Osteen, testifies ... - Yahoo! News Photos

Wow, I am afraid to ask who did her eyebrows--disturbing! I hope someone asks that question, posts it on a blog, then no one will ever ever have those eyebrows again.

Human foot in shoe washes up in Wash. - Life- msnbc.com

Human foot in shoe washes up in Wash. - Life- msnbc.com

Think that shoe on the beach is just litter? Well now, it may contain a body part. (Foot, of course.)

It is disturbing to think that there are so many dead bodies floating in the ocean that these bodies are releasing feet and shoes that frequently. And we're only talking about one part of the northern U.S. coastline.

I wonder where these feet originate from? Aside from the obvious answer, of course. How do the humans end up in the water in the first place?

An even more disturbing thought: are any of them from lost crab fishermen from my fave show Deadliest Catch?

This is definitely taking the message in a bottle idea a bit too far.

Another pill

It seems that we're becoming a nation of pill poppers...or perhapswe already are pill poppers. Headache? Take a pill. Heartburn? Pill. Sad? Pill. Can't sleep? Pill, pill, pill. Now, there's a pill that might do for your body what exercise does for your body. How wonderful for us lazy self-absorbed overeating sloths.

But don't take my word for it. Read more here. You too can hope for a brighter, pillicious day ahead. And maybe the slender body you've always dreamed about.

My 2 cents

Goodbye Clinton, Hello McCain. That's what I am thinking right now--and it is not even my own choice speaking--it's what I see America doing.

I'm sorry, I'm not on the Obama train. I don't have Obama fever. I am not an "Obama girl."

But I may soon be an ex-registered Democrat. You hear that, Democrats? What a joke.
I don't like the Republicans much, either.

It's time for 3rd, 4th, and 5th parties. It's time to split the bullsh*t and share the wealth. It's time for change--but all I see is more of the same and a bunch of lies spread on dark rye for the masses.

Yeah. I'm tuning out. I am an idealist turned cynic turned newly apathetic voter.

Our political system, the primaries, the right to vote--it's all a joke. Who bought the seats to power in our country and when? Or has it always been that way, and I've just never seen it?

Un-eco-friendly

I love the Discovery channel's show Deadliest Catch, but even I had to stop and blink when, on a recent episode, the crew of the Cornelia Marie dumped a truck into the Bering Sea.

Here's what happened: The Hillstrand brothers, who own the ship Time Bandit, decided to prank Phil, the captain of the Cornelia Marie, by exchanging a rusted out old truck for one of Phil's crab pots. When Phil discovered it, laughed, and radioed the Hillstrand brothers, his crew then dumped the truck into the sea. Am I the only one concerned about this? I love the show, but that was like watching someone dump dog poop in your front yard. Disconcerting.

I wonder what else the boats are offloading out there when no one's watching.

One of my favorite tunes of all time

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, revisited by a young singer from Britain. I hope it revives the popularity of the song.

Miley-gate: One parent's perspective

This whole Miley Cyrus "controversy" is ridiculous. The same parents who buy their kids the slutty-looking Bratz dolls are most likely the ones outraged by photos that, in my opinion, are art. I think the photos are beautiful. Cyrus looks like a perfect porcelain doll.

I am the mother of two young girls, and they are fans of Miley Cyrus.

My oldest daughter (who is age 11) and I looked at the photos. She said she was worried that Cyrus might drop the cloth covering her breasts--but otherwise we agreed the photo looked like a painting you might see in a museum. That's how I see it. It's art, at its modern day finest.

It's all about the spin

Watching the Democratic primary is like ...well, crossing my eyes and trying to touch my nose with my tongue. It is a real sign of bully politics when they are pressuring Clinton to step down "just because" Obama has a lead. Yeah lady, move over for the MAN. Step aside, just like Rosie the Riveter had to go back to the kitchen and play nicey-nice after WWII.

Well, I say, screw that.

For those of you who might suggest I'm racist because I don't think Clinton should sit down and shut up, you're wrong. I would disagree in that I would vote for a Mexican woman, a Black woman, a Native American woman, a striped woman before I would vote for an equally (or less in this case) qualified male. You could call me a womanist. You could call me a bitch. I have been called worse, but I imagine Hillary can up me on that.

And how do we know the prO-bama camp isn't a front for the Repubs? I still think it is an excellent ploy--divide and conquer. Let them fight it out. One thing's for sure, Jesus will keep the red states unified. Another man. Sigh.

Breaking news? I think not.

The Sac Bee just posted this story on the armed RT rider who is wanted for carjacking charges. On top of that, they printed the security photo of the young black male with a shotgun tucked visibly under his shirt. On the Light Rail. With a gun. Sticking out of his shirt.

We knew about it at my office a week ago, thanks to security. The police posted a press release on their site on February 15, 2008 about the robber. Two weeks later, the Bee gives us their spin on the story. Now THAT'S "breaking news"--or is the news just "breaking us"?

The suspect has had time to move on or find a new neighborhood of unsuspecting wallet-carriers. Not only has the suspect had time to move on, but is this 'just another photo' of a black man on the edge of violence? Is the Bee fanning the flames of paranoia and crazy code red threat alerts? Where's my duct tape?

And then the article ends with the informative (and I say this sarcastically) sentence:

The fact that there are people out there with pistol-grip shotguns, willing to pull the trigger, should serve as stark notice.

Yeah, these are the times we live in.

Un-civilization

You know something is wrong when the news blares another school shooting; you stop for a moment, and then don't even go to read the article because there have been so many school shootings and you just can't bear to admit that it has become a (horrific) trend.

Forget about issuing the US Army decent body armor in Iraq. I want the body armor for my children, and your children, and yours.

This is what they do

Democratic presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton collided Saturday in a racially charged South Carolina primary, prelude to the Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 national convention delegates. --from 1/26/08 Yahoo AP article

Where's the Republican party in all of this? Answer: Smoothly watching the cat fight from their side of the fence. After all, the most challenging thing the Republicans did was get a Mormon in the top few nominees. And what's whiter than a Mormon? Not much.

I am embarrassed for the Democrats. On the one hand, let's hear it for diversity. On the other, let's find some common ground and work together.

Yes, it is.

Sacramento weather on the sidebar reads tonight as "dreary." Yes, I'd have to agree. We've had a rough week over here of grayness. Last week the wind ripped off last year's detritus and left it on the ground for us to step in and over.

The best thing going for it tonight is that it's Friday. The work week from hell is slipping into an end. I am so glad.

I am hoping tomorrow's forecast is "shiny" and "happy." I better go check my astrology book on that one, though.

Unsolved mystery: Bob Crane

Every now and then a question burns in my brain. Today it was: who really killed Bob Crane? If you didn't know, Bob Crane starred as Hogan in Hogan's Heroes, one of my favorite shows as a kid. Was the killer Bob's long time friend, John Carpenter , the guy he used to film home pornography flicks with? Or did someone else do it? And what was the motive of the murder? I suppose I'll have to get one of those Anne-Rule-type books and read up to satisfy myself. But it is kind of like trying to figure out who Jack the Ripper was and who the Zodiac killer was…who was the murderer of Bob Crane?

In any case, the death of Mr. Whipple, the Charmin guy (who had a role on Hogan's Heroes) and the media-reported death of Patricia Crane (Bob Crane's widow) set the spark in motion. Now I am sitting with the burning why?

Deadly, messy mistake

South Africa is recalling millions of condoms…

Umm, okay, can you send back your condom? Preferably…unused?

This is where a recall actually borders on the criminal. How do you apologize? Hopefully the brande name of these wasn't "Assure" because it would have to be changed to "Unsure"…all in a day's work.

God help(ed) them

Allen, who wandered away from his parents while hiking Sunday, was found lying in a clearing about a mile from where his hat was found Monday.--MSNBC article

How does an autistic child with "the mental capacity of a 3 or 4 year old" get separated from his family on a hiking trip? Umm, you mean maybe they weren't watching him? I think it's crazy that he got separated at all--if he really is at that level, then he should be "watched" like you would watch someone that size. And thus, he would never have been lost.

Apparently God helped the parents find their son. Maybe God was also trying to remind them to pay attention to their child…next time. This time they were lucky.

Hypocrisy! It's outrageous.

SAN DIEGO -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is asking parishioners to donate $25 million to help pay for its $198.1 million settlement with childhood sex abuse victims.

--Sacbee

Maybe the Church leaders should have thought about obligations when they didn't allow the priests to marry and live like normal men.

Is the priesthood the only place a Catholic male who happens to be a Pedophile can go? The people who knew about these horrible acts should be paying, not the parishioners. The parishioners have already paid in blood by living with the abuse and suffering from the effects.

To ask your parishioners to pony up money so you can pay your debts in this case is like Charles Manson asking the family of Sharon Tate to pay his defense fees. Immoral, irresponsible, and wrong.

I'm an idealist, and no church should be described in those words: immoral, irresponsible, and wrong. It's just plain outrageous, when you think about it. Praise God from one side of the mouth, and ask for money out of the other--and not money to help the poor or heal the sick. There's not enough money in the world to heal this sickness.

It's a sign from above

California should secede. You know you're unwanted, unloved…when all they do is come and take the money. And then they delete you from the internet--your entire state domain. That's what they told us at my office--that the CA.GOV domain had been "deleted." Then the local news really downplays the whole thing--as if people were "restricted" from the web and not blocked. Freedom of expression? Not in California, and not in any official capacity.

I usually laugh at or with conspiracy theories, but this one makes me go hmmm.