We Interrupt Your Regular Blog Post for a few Commercials

Apparently, the powers that be have determined we all need cars.

First, because Twilight Mocks are always welcome here.

And this makes you want...well I don't know if it makes you want a car, but it's cool.

And finally, because I'm a child of the 80's and nostalgic:

So now, if you don't want to watch the Patriots and the Giants duke it out over four hours of fattening food on Sunday, I've allowed you to participate in the Monday post game banter about the 3 million dollar a minute commericals.  And I've spared you the spots about the Avengers. 

It's the least I can do.

Seven Quick Takes Friday

 

1.  Writing and Reading with One Additional Person

I promise to get back in the groove, it's been hard since my computer and my life have been not in my control these past few weeks.   I thought I had it back on Sunday, then I thought I needed perhaps a few weeks then I realized, I'm thinking of writing even if I'm not writing and the only way to get better at writing is to go back to doing it on a daily basis, like exercise.  Yes I'm going to start doing that too, but slowly.  I'm out of practice and stairs and driving are still on the restricted list until next week.   But my brain can and should go up and down the stairs to see what's what more often, so we'll start with that and go from there. 

2.  Potty Training

By now, I really should know better than to expect anything but resistance, particularly after bringing home a new person.  But with three in diapers, patience is something of a shorter supply than a full box of wipes.   So every day, I ask, "Are you going to be potty trained?"  Some days she shrugs her shoulders.  Today she simply said "Later." 

We've put a moratorium on McDonald's as an incentive for the first success.  This led to her sister attempting to secretly substitute her own bodily fluids to allow the younger to bask in the psuedo victory of fooling Mom.  She almost succeeded too.  Except I went to get the younger changed from her pj's and discovered the tell tale diaper had not been removed so the evidence had to come from someone else.   "Trust but verify." came to mind. 

Now that I've exposed this charade, one can bet she will try again but this time, I'll need to do DNA testing to ensure it came from the right daughter.   Hopefully, the siren call of the golden arches will lead my three year old to victory before it comes to that. 

3.  Play More

It occurred to me that as a stay at home mom, I never leave my office, and my office never leaves me.  Being that wedded to the domestic tasks robs me of some of the infused joy of being with these people I love 24/7.  So I've resolved to play some every day, whether it's Catan, Magic, the piano or tic-tac-toe or sledding, I need to do something frivolous --I used to be considered superficial back in high school and college, as a means of tempering my temper, just for fun. 

The writing is fun, but it is also singular and isolatory, I'm talking about the joy and pleasure that comes from doing in community --something I have the gift to experience daily and often forget to savor.    This is why I love my husband so fiercely, he plays as hard as he works and never forgets who he loves or why he loves or what he should love doing more.  And he's willing to remind me, that despite my sense of humor, I need to still lighten up even more, to be luminous with the people I am with, because that is what it means to celebrate ordinary time.

5.  Marriage

We've been asked to talk about marriage and I'm really excited that this happened.  My husband and I have talked about what's next and always come back to the idea that we should talk in tandem about marriage and family life, but we've never known where we were to go with that idea, and now the idea has come and found us.  

6.  Split Personality....

Apparently, I am not a Cancer but a Gemini.  I was a creative extroverted loner type, now I'm of two minds, or at least half a mind to tell the new sign, "No thanks, I'll stick with the crab, she's done good for me."  That might make me as stubborn as a Taurus and who knows, if I wait a few hundred years, I might be one of those too. At least then, the duality might make some sense if the faults lie in our stars and not the real enemies, our own fallen selves.  

7. Super Bowl Sunday....

Normally, we hold a Super Bowl Sunday feast that honors the two teams with their home cuisine.  For example, Jumbalaya and beignets for the Saints, Chicago Dogs and dove bars for the Bears, and Buffalo wings and Roast beef with Kimmelweck Rolls for the Bills would be served.  But Green Bay vs. the Steelers....Cheese, Brats, Beer and Pierogies...ugh.  I feel heavy and not hungry just writing it.  Any tips on alternatives for the menu?  Otherwise, I'm breaking with tradition and ordering pizza. 

Tebow and the Super Bowl and Commercials

Pro abortion advocates are going insane over a 30 second ad by Heisman Trophy Winner, Pat Tebow and his mom. She was counseled to have an abortion of her fifth pregnancy because of serious medical complications. Obviously, she didn't follow the Doctor's recommendations. Their family's witness to their faith is what would be showcased in this half minute advertisement.
From the Washington Post Jan 27th

"CBS's acceptance of the advocacy ad seems to mark a shift in network policy against airing Super Bowl commercials with divisive political or social content.”An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year -- an event designed to bring Americans together," Jehmu Greene, president of the Women's Media Center, said in a statement."
Personal snark, "I'm sure Greene and other members of the Women's Media Center just love to fire up the grill, cook some ribs, wings and pour cold ones while they watch the Super Bowl."

Now I love football. I like the Super Bowl and I admit I'd be upset if a Pro-abortion video came on during the game so I guess I can understand the ire. But banning ads and topics for ads because they are upsetting to some, smacks of intolerance, of a secular political censorship designed to dampen dissent, deny the existence or validity of alternative view points, and strikes me as a dangerous path for a network. If one witness is that powerful that it cannot be seen, no wonder the media never covers the March for Life as anything other than "There's an event that will affect your commute."

Some (Joy Behar in particular) tried to argue that Tebow could have been an awful person, and thus the fact that he is a talented and reverent football player should not be given any credence as an argument against abortion. Life may be about making choices, but the capacity to be, shouldn't be simply the whims of one over another, whether in war, in a laboratory, in a camp or in a doctor's office. The very existence of the possible as of yet unaired spot has already reminded people that abortion does limit the possibilities that life brings.

The arguments that having a controversial ad in the midst of a social cultural event like the Super Bowl detract from the experience smack of hypocrisy. Go Daddy Girl, Viagra and Beer for every occasion is fine family fare but a person who lived out their faith life and is willing to put dollars on the line to say that this is a good that came from being unafraid to be Pro-Life for a mere 30 seconds; that's worth a boycott, that's worth screaming and shouting.

Now, imagine all the 50 Million since Roe vs. Wade who were denied the opportunity to change the world. 1.37 Million Each year in the United States never got to have 30 seconds. That translates to 3,700 abortions a day.

One brave witness to life provoked all this with 30 seconds. Imagine what the 3,700 of just Superbowl Sunday would have done with lifetimes.

 

Crank Party Platform, Filet O'Fish, Politics and Hillary Too

It’s Thursday, so I do my weekly Political rant type thing.

I scrapped my Richard Blane for President piece, W.W. R.F. C. D. (What would Rick from Casablanca Do?) because it just wasn't working. Too forced. So here's my stab today at political analysis and satire, all rolled up into one, sort of like sushi...you eat it, you sort of like it, you know you sound cool if you can say you had it --or in the case of politics, you talked about it, but truth be told, you'ld rather hit the drive thru at McDonalds for a Fish Filet during Lent...at least then you get fries and a diet coke.(I know you're out there, you closet Filet o'Fish eaters you, that's why they're still on the menu!)

Like the New England Patriots before her, Hillary is in danger of having a perfect season end with losing the Super bowl. And Why?

Because people love new more than old, they want pretty over nuance, and mostly, Hillary has been running on two ideas that do not mesh.

1) I have 35 years experience in policy and politics because I was there during the campaigns and years in the governorship and presidency. By that same logic, I should hang out a shingle, Sherry Antonetti, Attorney at Law. 41 years observing Lawyers make me imminently qualified to handle any legal matters you might have. Of course, there’s the little matter of not having a Law degree or being licensed by the State bar but those are details. I’m really a very good lawyer. I bill a reasonable $250 an hour, prorated by the quarter.

2) I’m the outsider, non establishment candidate, not bound to the Democratic party or its establishment base, even though I helped hand pick the leader of the DNC, am the most senior experienced candidate in the Democratic race and have those 35 years of experience. That’s right, I’m a rebel and a maverick. Did you see me cry yesterday? Wasn’t it moving?

By the same token, John McCain has made his entire career one of ticking off the Republican establishment by cozying up to Democrats, spoiling legislation backed by Republican leadership, rendering the light majority held before the 2004 elections inept and meaningless. Now, he too has chosen to embrace a platform of equally incongruous ideas.

1) I am Republican mainstream. Yeah, I disagree on immigration, tax reform, stem cell research and the role of government in the war on terror, but really, I represent the GOP at its core. Ignore any of those conservative Radio talk show hosts that say otherwise, don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain…the Great and Terrible Oz has spoken!

2) Those youthful indiscressions of my maverick days in the Senate ---I was just fooling you know? Like Dubya’s drinking and Clinton’s sexcapades, they were just things I did then, I won’t have any flaws when I get to be president. You’ll see. It was just, I needed to assert my own voice. Sure it cost the party seats in the off year election. Sure it enabled Democrats and Republicans to super load any bill with billions in pork, but America will thank me for any policies I help shape…eventually, or they should anyway. Humph! Ingrates.

What strikes me most about both these sterling examples of American Politics at its sausage worst, is they both have the same motivation for running and expecting to win. Indeed, pundits have given their reasons as explanations for why they will vote for Candidate HiLIARY or ABCMcCain, their past sufferings make this position something they are OWED. Hill for standing by her cheating man and covering for him during that second administration, and McCain for his years at the Hanoi Hilton and long string of past runs for the office that have failed. Give the Old War Horse his turn. It’s Time for a Woman’s Turn.

Both are saying, not to give them their chance at this is akin to simply not being fair.

And we Americans like to think that we are fair.

So to be fair, really fair, I want a third party. The Democrats have a donkey, the Republicans, an elephant, my party, the Crank Party will have a flying pig as the mascot. The flying pig will land at the government trough and eat all the dollars. Our platform? To give all Three Trillion dollars back! That’s right. I want a real Rebate, proactively of every last red cent. We’ll close it all down and see if anyone notices.

After all, if we’re not going to enforce our laws, be they about campaign finance or borders, why do we need a government? We don’t need to pay our elected officials because after all, they’re so well off they can easily do two or three speeches about how America stinks and it’s all Bush’s fault and net a cool 3 to 20 million from Europhiles, journalists, university types and political sycophants who will just lap it up. I mean, Hillary’s a junior senator and she just lent her own campaign 5 million. When asked where the money came from, Hillary’s eyes moistened and she gave her best warm smile, “You know, I’m so glad you asked that. Being in touch with my feminine side, I just squirreled away the coins from when I’d vacuum the couch over the years and Bill was always so frugal, he’d empty his pockets every night. The money just sort of added up.” She gushed.

So I submit all government money should simply be returned. All of it. According to the census bureau, there are 303,389,465 Americans, 76,460,574 of which are children. If the 3 TRILLION dollar budget was divided just amongst the adults –ages 18 and up, the checks would come out to be $13,220.00 each. Talk about a stimulus package!

Don’t worry, we’d only proclaim a one year government fast, but have it happen every nine years as a means of ensuring that the country wouldn’t grow too dependent upon the three branches for its daily livelihood.

Now. Imagine if people still worked their jobs. Now, what if we did this on the State and local level as well, it would be a 7-10K swing when all was said and done. 20 Thou back in your pocket. Imagine.

People could open businesses, pay off credit card debts, open new businesses and hire more workers. People would invest and have enough to manage buying prescription drugs and still eat something better than dog food. They could go to the doctors and pay the copay or even buy private insurance. Nirvana would reign for one blissful year and then we’d have to get back to work and figure out what in fact, we really needed or wanted from our government.

We’d need a candidate though…a flying pig Crank candidate…I nominate ….Donald Trump. Can you imagine the ratings on the Apprentice if he was dealing with Senators?
“You’re fired!”
“But I work for free…”

“You’re still fired.”

THE CRANK PARTY IN 2008, THINK IT WILL WIN? SURE, WHEN PIGS FLY!
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