Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge. Open draw, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do. Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks. Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.
It's such a calming sight. My boy, who had been watching the pouring rain out the window not 5 minutes earlier, is now sleeping quietly, while standing up. He seems a bit fluffier in these moments, and my heart just feels happy watching him. All is right with the world.
"We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate."
-Frank McKinney Hubbard
Have you noticed it too? The surreal feel in the air as events take place which by all accounts shouldn't? We in America went through a big of a political shake-up last Tuesday when the unthinkable happened... Ted Kennedy's political seat was turned over to... a republican. Senator Kennedy served the people of Massachusetts for 46 years. I grew up learning about what he accomplished not just for his state, but for this country as well. I learned a lot about the man while he was alive, but I learned even more about him after his passing this last summer. He was a good man. He worked hard for what he believed in and he didn't deserved what happened last Tuesday. It's infuriating to me that he was let down so profoundly. Who let him down? Well, that's been debated a good bit since Tuesday, and as always in these situations, it depends on who you ask.
Was it the White House? Yes, you could say that. Let's face it, the Obama administration did very little to see to it that we held onto that all important seat. Sure, Obama showed up a couple week's ago and stumped for the democratic candidate Martha Coakley, but not until it was already too late to do much good. Thanks a lot prez.
Was it the candidate herself? Yes, you could say that. Martha Coakley was, at best, phoning in her candidacy. I mean, who takes a vacation during a crucial time in one's campaign? Who doesn't know key players on their state's major league ball teams? Ok, that point does seem a bit trivial... and yet... it would have made her seem much more relatable to the voters if she would have demonstrated that she cared about the lighthearted things as well.
Could it have been the best person won? Gulp... well... yes. Let's face it, Scott Brown got out and spoke to the voters. He showed up, and as Woody Allen once said, "80% of success is showing up." Jeepers Woody, you couldn't be more right!
So have we democrats learned anything?
I hope so.
But only time will tell.
Here is what I have learned. I am sick of the talking points that overrule folks thinking for themselves, and that includes politicians. Ask a republican what happened, and you will hear these darling old gems... "Folks are just tired of business as usual." "Well, it's the economy stupid!" LOL. I have been hearing that since I was 3! What do they actually mean? Expand on those thoughts please! But you never get an explanation, because the talking point sounds so good and besides, then those who repeat them don't have to come up with an original thought all on their own. I have learned to think for myself. And as we move toward the midterms I will be paying very close attention to what goes on. When I think about what drives others it comes down to the basic...
"It's the economy stupid!" Yeah... I don't buy that. Yes, the nation's economy is in the toilet. Our personal finances are D.O.A... and? Look, the economy fell as a direct result of the failed policies of the Bush administration. Period. Bush and company held things together just long enough to finish his term in office, so everything could be blamed on Obama. We are in deep financial pain, we are crying out for help and it just doesn't seem to be coming. WHO CAN I BLAME? It's the human way, and who is in the forefront? OBAMA. Let's BLAME HIM! Then we will feel better... WAAAAAWAAAAAWAAA... but at least we got to blame someone!
By all accounts, Obama did the right thing by us when it came to the economy, however, I said it at the time that if we were going to be handing the big banks money, some oversight had to come with it. Neither Bush, nor Obama did enough in regards to oversight, and now the banks are thumbing their nose at us. The economic pain inflicted on us by the Bush administration's bad policies cannot be reversed overnight, or even next week, and if you think putting the same, or even new republicans back into office wills somehow fix it all in a heartbeat you are naive and unrealistic and just plain delusional. Don't want hear that we are going to be in this mess for a long time, do you? Neither do I, but in it we are, and we just need to stop bitching and figure out how we manage our lives better while we wait it out. There... that's my fix. Deal with it!
I don't know. Sometimes I find the most surreal part about everything that's happening in America's political climate, is the blatant back-assward approach to everything the democrats do. Phoning in one's campaign... as if deep down the candidate doesn't want to win. Our president attempting time and again to reach out the republicans in an effort of bi-partisanship, which never works and only ends up delaying things if we are lucky or flat out losing our side like we just did in Massachusetts. What's the definition of insanity again? Oh yeah, it's doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome!
So, is Obama and the rest of the democrats crazy, or has something more sinister happened? Is he actually a ringer for the republican party? Does he secretly want to be a republican? Is that why he caves to them every single time? Is that why he does very little to see other democrats make it to office? No, probably not. I mean that would be too much to believe... even I am not that paranoid, but it does make one think, doesn't it?
I suppose it could be a case, such as in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Perhaps all the democrats, at least the ones with a backbone, have been stolen away by evil republicans, only to be replaced a few at a time until we are all replaced with a likeness of ourselves, but who are, in fact, made up of narrow mindedness, lack of compassion, and the inability to grasp reality. Oh, and rudeness, let's not forget that! Imagine that! One day we will all be replaced until nothing but pod people remain to carry out the agenda of the right. When you think about it, it sure does explain Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck... doesn't it? I mean, who else would give these two the time of day, if they hadn't been turned into a mindless pod person, incapable of thinking for themselves?
And by the way, Scott Brown pretty much pimped out his daughters during his acceptance speech Tuesday night. Where's the outrage from the right about that? What was the difference between that and the joke David Letterman told last summer about Sarah Palin's daughter? But then again what else can you expect from a man who claims to be about "Family Values" and then explains his posing nearly nude in his youth, by saying he, "needed money."
Hmmm... Levi Johnston has a bright political future ahead! :)
Maybe INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS really does explain it all!
"Slowly, while you are asleep, they absorb your mind and your memories."
-Invasion of the Body Snatchers
You won't take me! I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!
-Carly
One last thought... With today's Supreme Court decision to roll back campaign finance restrictions, we better all pay very, very close attention to who backs who. America is for sale to the highest bidder... or contributor.
It was pouring down rain yesterday, but I didn't let it stop me... I went to Whole Foods on a quest for Blood Oranges and no little bit of rain, thunder or blowing wind was going to stop me. As it turned out, I had a pretty good time shopping. I found these lovely oranges, and I also bought some pretty little Pink Lady apples. DELICIOUS! I can't wait to make my Spicy Blood Orange Chicken later in the week!
"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape... the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."
-Andrew Wyeth
EMPS # 73: WINTER LANDSCAPES. It's occurs to me that we haven't given WINTER a proper welcome. Let's fix that by getting outside and taking some WINTER LANDSCAPE photos. I know we did a similar assignment a couple weeks ago, but that was a generalized look at WEATHER, this time around I want to see something a little more refined. I want to see some WINTER LANDSCAPE photos that really shows WINTER at it's most beautiful and raw.
Extra Credit: Show me a WINTER activity, such as Ice Skating.
EMPS # 73A. BEAUTIFUL BUT COLD. If you don't happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, and therefore aren't in the season of WINTER, please take on this alternate assignment and show me something BEAUTIFUL BUT COLD! Ice Cream. Mountains. Iced Tea. It's all good!
Extra Credit: Show me someone engaging in a WARM weather activity. Surfing. Water Skiing, Picnicking... anything WARM weather related.
**PLEASE READ** The deadline for this assignment is next Sunday evening at 9:00 PM ET. Please submit your entries by that time. All you have to do is get your photo, upload it to your blog, journal or website, and then comeback here with the direct link back to it. PLEASE REMEMBER... the link you leave must go back to an entry which is specific to this week's photo shoot assignment. A general link to your site won't work, and NO HYPERLINKS ARE ACCEPTED. Also, please include a link back here in your entry so others can find the photo shoot assignment and play along with us.
Well done everyone! Thanks so much for playing, the awesome turnouts lately have really made me smile. Your photography has just been outstanding! See you next week with an all new assignment.
