31 May 2007

the giver of "fucktard of the year award" finds his way to the Thinking spot!

you may remember my mention of fucktard being my favorite of all things that will and tom were called... the honor was bestowed by one tod goldman, author and writing professor. his post can be found here. while i disagree with him, obviously, he has a writing style that will most likely delight you... and gosh darn it - he is pretty funny.

i think he raises valid questions in his comment left today, and i'd like to take a shot at replying... i swear i will stop talking about the book burning someday. i know there is a war waging that still needs to be stopped - in the worst of ways... but this is all near and dear to my heart, in the biggest way. so here goes...

tod wrote:

I don't throw around fucktard lightly, so I'm glad you appreciated it. I'm curious, three days later: how has this actually help literacy? Sure, it's a protest, but what was accomplished? The people who care are the same people already reading books in the first place. If they don't care, burning the books has probably had no effect on them.


i think it is too soon to tell. another fine result of this culture - mememe nownownow!!!! as i've said, prospero's thought that this might, maybe start a discussion in kansas city. we're having one now. it's a start. hopefully a seed will be planted, hopefully this will be a catalyst for more people to get involved, for change to occur. if i may ask, as someone who clearly understands the problem, what are you doing in your neck of the woods? have you contacted you local literacy outreach organization? have you donated any of your books? perhaps some of the proceeds from your book sales could go to raising awareness? just a few thoughts... burning books tends to freak everyone out, across the board. non readers are contacting us too. perhaps the NEA study will again be brought into discussion? p/s - that study scared the crap out of me. it is a dire situation. who knows.

we've been more than a little choked up by the response - the phones are still going crazy, the email continues to pour in. prospero's website server almost locked up. we're working on where to go next, what to do. so many people seem to think this was some huge publicity stunt for the store - if it were, don't you think we would've been a little more prepared for the reaction? i think it also bears mentioning, that any act of creation destroys something.

and on the contrary, many of the emails we've received are from people that had given up reading and have sworn to again - they have gone out and bought books! as an activist, i know in my heart that one person can make a difference. many others have asked how to help - we've tried to respond with some ideas, but as i've said, the response has been overwhelming for a little outfit like prospero's - two/three people can only do so much.

and to steal doctor zom's line in your comments section, "the boston tea party was just a bunch of wasted tea..."

we need to shift this discussion from the media's "OMG!!! BURNING BOOKS!!!" to the why. you are absolutely correct. maybe you could write a little something in your blog about the NEA study? your thoughts on the declining readership in america? take it and and RUN, man!!!

Further, I noticed on the YouTube film, which is what actually brought me here in the first place, that not a lot of people were talking about how this was helping literacy. There were some good jokes -- I did laugh at the one about Flicka, for instance --but not a lot of action plans.


the video wasn't shot by us, but by a friend of the bookstore. i can't speak for his angle and what he chose to put in the video. the dude with the flicka comment is one of the best poets i've ever encountered. i think you might even change your mind... again, we weren't prepared on any level for this to turn into national and international news. there wasn't any grand paln, other than to hopefully start a dialogue. we are regular people, living our lives, that love books more than many do. soooo.... what are your action plans? any ideas to throw into the discussion? why is it that so many in this country wish to wait around for someone else to do something about everything? DO IT.

All of us who work in the book world -- be it writing them, as I do, or selling them -- have to be passionate about it because it requires too much heartbreak to do it for any other reason.


believe me, i know. this has been a topic of many of a late night discussion in our casa. i have watched will start a publishing house - from a love of poetry. i know, i know - you think poets aren't worthy of recognition, but, still... it is his heart, his love, his passion. he's a writer. he's the executive director of the writers place in kansas city. he eats, breathes and drinks all things literary. what is so horrible about publishing writers? self-publishing isn't taken seriously in the industry. his book wasn't funded by this, nor will be tom's. did you read the list of the other authors slated to be published as well as those already? better yet, have you read them? they are some of the best this region has to offer. he wants them out there, to be read and appreciated - for people to know that kansas city has a lot of writers worthy of recognition.

do you think that the used books biz is lucrative? he's done this for ten years - in the early days after collecting boxes of books in his house, he worked other jobs to keep it open out of his own pocket. he still works other jobs. we have a bebe and a life that is often not ours due to his commitment to local artists, musicians and writers. we wouldn't have it any other way.


As a writing professor, I'm concerned about the lack of literacy even in the graduate students I teach, so believe me when I say I care deeply about the subject. And as an author, I am always concerned that the currency of words has been traded in for 1st person shooter games, since I know well how books saved me when I was young, edified as I grew older and sustain me today, both emotionally and financially, of course.


amen, brother, amen - on the 1st person shooter games tip. you are lucky to sustain yourself doing something that you love. kudos to you!

But until I can see something other than a nice feature story coming out of this -- something other than funding your own press -- that actually addresses the core issue here -- kids don't read and neither do adults -- I will continue to believe that it's fucktarded to burn books for literacy.


dig in! have at it - then it will be beyond a feature story! see how this is supposed to work now? you will witness change with your own eyes, and this will all have meant something to you and countless others. a groundswell can occur. if you choose not to, so be it. it is always easier to throw stones and call names, no? you are, in any event, entitled to your own opinion about my partner being a fucktard, but you're wrong. :) (why isn't fucktard in my spell check?)

as for prosperos helping to further literacy, they have long assisted our local literacy outreach group - in the form of helping with fundraisers, etc. they have always given teachers books at cost - we are a bookstore after all, there has to be some level of selling, but they make no money on those purchases... it isn't as if prosperos isn't already active in those areas. and will also is active through his position at the writers place...

thank you for taking the time to write and for thinking about this. and all best with your writing endeavors!


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posted by supergirlest @ Thursday, May 31, 2007 Comments: 2

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30 May 2007

surprise!

i want to talk about books. specifically, my life long obsession with the written word.

i've been helping will sort through the thousands of emails and one thing keeps coming up. people from places throughout the world that have little or no access to books are begging for the stockpile. i make it through about 5 before i'm lost in tears, i don't know how much more i can take. the woman in argentina that wants them for a library but can't afford to get them there, the man in africa that speaks of those with an unquenchable thirst for words and there are virtually none to be found. the soldiers, the children... the list goes on and on... i find myself going back and forth between sadness and anger. there is such a disconnect between a culture that reads mainly when it is only required of them, and millions of others that want to and can't. it doesn't seem fair.

i've been reading as long as i can remember. my family chided me for reading books that were "too old" for me. i was often the object of ridicule on the playground. i read books with my grandmother and mother. i wrote my own and illustrated them. in a childhood that was filled with fright on so many levels - i can honestly say that my books saved me - there was always adventure and mystery and a whole new world at my fingertips. i was the encyclopedia - a through z. i was pippi longstocking (note to self - find halloween picture of you dressed as pippi - robin?), sailing the high seas with my monkey. i was eppie in silas marner. i was nancy drew, solving another mystery. much later, i was pecola in the bluest eye... no matter how ugly things got in my life, and they did, escape was but a page away. a new world was possible - sometimes a scary world, but mostly a better world and life - and a beginning, middle, and end.

when someone tells me that they don't read, a little part of me dies inside. there is nothing that can take the place of the workings of one's own mind, of imagination, of painting a picture for oneself and not having it painted for them. when that same person tells me that it is a sin to burn books... well, burned or no, they are not being read. isn't that really the same thing? i understand the frustration, as it is my own when the volumes couldn't even be given away. when i look around and see books stacked up that no one wants to read, insane illiteracy rates in the wealthiest country in the world, people waiting for days in line for the latest release of a video game or the newest biggest plasma hdtv television - all of this when there are hungry minds in countries i've never been to writing us that would give anything for just. one. book. i don't know how to possibly begin to get them to them. books not bombs has never had more meaning to me than now.

there is a rack outside of prospero's filled with books. during the day, they are sold for a dollar. at night, when the windows are dark, they are fair game. it always cracked me up to see a dollar shoved under the door when i'd open the store in the morning. and made me a little sad that more hadn't disappeared in the night. someone, somewhere had the genius to sit down and take command of words - managed to perfectly string them together to create something that no one else could - and bind it all together. the sin is it sitting there, collecting dust - silently screaming, "read me! read me!" to the non-readers, you have no idea what you are missing. it pains me to know that you can read and won't.

for years now, i've set my focus on reading mostly non-fiction. i've been slowly trying to delve back in to works of fiction - one of my final classes at the new school was a short fiction class for that reason alone. i make sorry attempts at writing and stand in awe of those that can use words to paint me a picture - to tell me a story. it truly is a difficult and miraculous thing to me. i watch bebe light up when he moves away from his toys to a book. "THIS one, mommy! THIS one!!!" i feel a deep pang of joy when i turn to see what he's up to from the kitchen and he is sitting on the couch, soaking in the pages of a book - "reading" quietly to himself. he'll ask to read it over and over and over again. and i do. gladly. i want him to know the joy that reading has always brought me, the insatiable hunger and thirst. i want him to feel it somewhere inside - somewhere so deeply that it simply becomes a part of who he is, and he carries it with him for always. he deserves that. i also now want him to know that having books is a luxury he should not ever take for granted. they can disappear, just like that. i want him to know that unmistakable excitement of reading a book and wanting to tell everyone about it - of finding that one masterpiece that changes. his. life. i want that for everyone.

bebe asks to go to the bookstore everyday. we read books in the back. we explore the nooks and crannies. we walk up and down and up and down the stairs. his little hand print is set in the concrete in the basement, painted red. he loves to show it off. i hope that he will be able to do so when he is 20. i hope that books don't become relegated to boxes in attics and basements across the land. i hope... but i do worry about this culture turning its collective back on books. very much. i'd be lying if i said i didn't.

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posted by supergirlest @ Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Comments: 5

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29 May 2007

i need a nap.

i've spent the last two days fielding myspace messages and comments to the tune of hundreds. the phone keeps ringing - calls from the bbc, cnn, talk shows, you name it. notes and calls from all over the world abound. will answers 1000 emails and 1000 more come in. blogs are popping up left and right about what idiots (fucktards is my favorite so far) will and tom are and how they need to be medicated. i've been scattering to and fro trying to respond as best i can. it looks that about half of the people understand and the other half are simply pissed.

and then i found this, written by the operator of a little establishment i often send people to and think is an important pillar in the community - the kansas city infoshop. after my initial knee jerk response of et tu, brute? - i realized that many people aren't hearing what is being said: too. many. people. aren't. reading. in the ap article, will is quoted as saying that there are homes having estate sales where there is a television in every room and three books. i've seen it during our book hunting adventures. i find this to be dangerous for a culture and a society. when reading dies, so does thought. imagination. that is what book burnings have served for in the past - the censorship of idea and thought. and honestly, when i venture away from my little comfort zone - i find that thought about anything other than what shoes match an outfit or who got traded to what team is fairly non-existent...

i find it really interesting that people are freaking out about books being burned, when the real debate should be why aren't people reading? the library throws books away, as well as bookstores. it happens. where is the outrage? no dialogue can surface this way, when it happens silently, away from the public eye. the burning was an attempt to draw attention to this - to spark a discussion where one is desperately needed. it wasn't a "stunt" to drum up business. the money from the saved books will go publish some of the best regional and local authors around- this is something that will is fiercely supportive of and has been since i've known him - all things local - art, music, literature, free thought. i'm also hearing this was a terrible way to "do it." how else? no one talks about not reading, what to do then? i can honestly say, it is nice to have a conversation about books rather than sports for once. and i don't know that kansas city needed a book burning to look "ignorant and backwards" (overwhelming support of bush's warring in the face of this, crappy mass transit, sprawl, poverty, schools, the unwavering trust in the we're-kinda-the-same-but-different two party system, flag stickers, natural resource addictions) nor do i think this did a disservice to any other local book sellers.

i figured that maybe the media would run the release and a few people would show up to save some books. i never would've imagined that it all would've turned into this. but dialogue is ALWAYS good - even when the details aren't agreed upon.

to answer a few of the more resounding comments that have come my way:

1. these 20,000 books headed for the fire have been stored in a storage area for years after having tried to give them away repeatedly or sell them. the prisons say they could contain contraband and return them, etc. as for the schools that need them, teachers are always given books at cost, sometimes even for free. much of what is in the burn pile isn't child age material...

2. the C02 emissions from the burning! shame on you!
that fire produced no more than any of the other millions of bar-b-que grills did on memorial day weekend. prospero's doesn't turn on the a/c until the humidity reaches a point where it is necessary to do so, so that the books aren't harmed. there is coating on the windows, and compact florescent bulbs are used. we are all conscientious of how our ecological footprint. we walk where ever we can. perfect? no. but we try.

3. everyone has an idea of what prospero's should to do with the books, but, what can you do? this is a toughie. prospero's is a bookstore, after all - giving away books after spending even more years trying to figure out who needs them and shipping them off at an added cost would have the doors closed in no time flat. the store is operated by two people. there is no staff. this is bigger than two people. know of a place that needs donations? come and get the books for a dollar and pass them on... or - head out to your own locally owned book shops and start there. they need your support and apparently there are people hungry for books that can't get them, though they are turned away. also, contact your libraries and bookstores where you live, save the books they are going to trash and find a place to donate them to.

4. they didn't burn the entire stock of the bookstore. no one "snapped."

and there it is, my cents, for whatever it is worth. i really believe this is a good thing.



and looky there - bebe has a book in hand. i can't think of a better thing to do.

read on, brothers and sisters!

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posted by supergirlest @ Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Comments: 9

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28 May 2007

the book burning made the front page of cnn!!!

since everyday is memorial day for me... this instead:

will's inbox is already FULL of email - as in thousands - mostly people not understanding why this is happening - accusing of an attack on free speech. that couldn't be further from the truth. read all about it! i can't believe this!

EDITED to add this open letter, since there is clearly a bunch of misunderstanding coming in... don't people know that libraries even throw books away?

There are worse crimes than burning books, one is not reading them. ~ Joseph Brodsky

The individual who won't read has nothing over the individual who cannot read. ~ Mark Twain

For ten years Prospero's Books has been in the front lines of the literary arts, both as a bookseller (www.prosperosbookstore.com) and as a publisher (www.unholydaypress.com).

As a used bookseller, we have put our money where our hearts are – surrendering our hours and our revenues to sharing the world of books and, more importantly, the ideas they contain with anyone who would listen.

During these ten years we have seen reading decline dramatically. The National endowment of for Arts study on literary (http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html) in America which painfully highlighted the rapid decline of reading in America. In our own community, we've watched as bookstore after bookstore has folded.

Yesterday, we performed an act of art – a wakeup call to all who value books and ideas. Over the last 10 years, Prospero's Books has 20,000 books we've collected that people simply will not read. We receive hundreds more each week.

At Prospero's we fundamentally believe that the literary arts are not dead. We believe that there is still much about the human condition and our time still needing to be said. In so saying, we challenge you to get involved in two ways:

1. email these stories to your friends

2. call your local TV, radio, newspaper, blogs, etc. and tell them what is going on

3. For $1 a book (+ postage), you can save these books from the flame. We will not take these $s as profit, but will use them to publish new books.

Many of you have great ideas regarding what can be done with these books that's better than burning them – we agree with you, and encourage YOU to get involved in sharing the gift of literature. For $1 a book + postage, you can support your local school, prison, etc.

If we are going to again place a spotlight on the importance of books and reading, we need Your help! It is bigger than two bookstore owners in Kansas City.

My greatest fear is that as a culture, we may be beyond saving the books.

We appreciate that you have joined what we hope will become a national dialogue about the importance of books. Thank you.

Sincere Regards,

Prospero's Bookstore

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posted by supergirlest @ Monday, May 28, 2007 Comments: 8

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25 May 2007

so 24 years ago

i was involved in a playground accident. my friend jumped on my back during recess and i lost my balance. i landed flat on my face. literally. i lost half of my front tooth in my face plant battle with the concrete.

let me tell you about my week.

monday: the re-build filling that somehow lived for 24 years gave up the ghost. a mis-aim with a coffee cup is the culprit. i spent the day trying not to talk, which is next to impossible for me, as every time i moved my lip it would catch on the corner of the tooth and smart like all get out. nice.

tuesday: i go to the dentist and she re-fills and shapes it for the low low price of $280. one time, while i still had insurance, they told me i needed a crown for a root canal tooth and the total would be two grand. when i laughed, she said i could apply for a loan with a lender they work with - wells fargo bank. a loan. for a tooth.

"can we just pull it?"

i digress... so anyway - i got home and slid open the back patio door to let dogs out, and the one that would definitely be a drunk frat guy if he were a person, rams into me on his way out sending my heel into a sharp corner i didn't even know was there. then came the blood. a lot of it.

i woke up in the middle of the night with a chunk of my new 280 dollar tooth on my tongue - no longer connected to my tooth - it promply made its way down my throat.

wednesday: i call the dentist - they can't get me in until thursday. i hang up. will calls to say his new boss has started to lay off people and he's worried that since he's a temp for someone on maternity leave that his contract will be cut short when she returns part time in two weeks. i love a good surprise. i'm on the edge of my seat.

thursday: i go to get my tooth refilled. i must have done something. it is all my fault. whatever. i got home and will left for the post office. bebe went along. a few minutes later, the phone rings - i hear bebe SCREAMING in the background, "kara? bebe was helping me open the door at the post office and he shifted his foot at the last second. the corner pulled his toe nail back along with a patch of skin off the top."
"oh god. is it bleeding bad?"
"yes."
"we need to take him to the e.r. - come get me."

5 hours later, we get to an exam room. the doctor comes in - it somehow doesn't need a stitch... but he needs a tetnus shot and why haven't we done this before? the other doc comes in 20 minutes later to check her work and says he needs the shot, with 'the look.' all of my year long vaccine research fails me. i say ok - but i only want tetnus, not the bundle. the triage nurse comes in and reads me the riot act for about 30 minutes about immunizations. i've already agreed to let him have the one. i have to be at work in 15 minutes. i finally tell him i know that i'm supposed to sacrifice my child's life for the common good, but... they finally rinse riley's toe and wrap it in a bandage.

i won't even tell you what i dug up from my tetnus research when i got home. i'm still sick that i caved in and let them give the shots. he had to have two - one dt combo with an active tetnus, one passive tetnus. and an assload of things that should never ever be injected into a person's blood stream, things that are known poisons - aluminum, formaldehyde, mercury, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, sodium acetate... the list goes on and on - only to find out that there really is no way to gain immunity for tetnus and that the shots won't even work for 4 days. if he's got it, he's got it. and the chances of that are really really really rare. i. feel. awful.

i got to work 20 minutes late.

today: riley's toe is swollen - twice the size of the other. no signs of infection, but i'm taking him to see the doctor in the morning just in case. when i so much as brush the injection sites on his thigh, he screams - though he seems to be doing ok, otherwise. a little fussier then normal and clingy, but i would be too, if i was missing half my toe.

i'm fairly convinced that i'll be returning in my next life as a dung beetle.

then comes the cherry on my poop ice cream sundae:

the DEMOCRATS that voted for funding!!!!!!!!!!!

seriously. i wanted to believe after that last election, i really did. i wanted to be wrong. and i hate to say it, but:

meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

except for kucinich. i still heart him. but that. is. it.

i don't know about you - but i need a vacation.


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posted by supergirlest @ Friday, May 25, 2007 Comments: 6

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22 May 2007

and it all suddenly comes rushing back...

work. oh, sweet work. peaceful kara is missing right now. she is very busy. you have been warned.

while i should be thankful for the cash flow and just keep my pie hole shut... THOSE TENNIS PLAYING PEOPLE!!!! weekly, they make the trek from their homes to play tennis near the bar... dear tennis people, hear me now!

*i'm not your pet. contrary to popular belief, snapping and/or whistling at me to get my attention will not make me move faster, nor will it magically disappear the other 10 tables i' am waiting on. i have a name. ask for it. use it.

*i know you have all the Latest Most Trendy tennis playing equipment. i can see it as you haul it through the door after your big match in bags that are larger than you--the big match, by the way, that you somehow played without breaking a sweat in 90 degree weather. your perfectly coifed hairs are all still in place, your make-up flawless. but i digress. you really don't need to heap your goods in the pile along with the luggage of your party of 15 other equally as friendly fellow tennis folk in the middle of the walkway. see those other people at the other tables i need to get to and can't? i didn't think so. and how is it that after i ask politely to pass through, you move back to the same exact spot you were in?

*if you don't know what you want and i say, "i'll give you just a few minutes to look at the (one page) menu" - i mean i'll be back in a few minutes. seriously. the time you spend discussing that volley that saved the world could set me back 20 minutes.

*no, you can't "just have" the drinks on my tray that are meant for another table. i promise i'll bring yours after you order and i ring them in.

*we don't have orange slices. is this really a reason to scream at me? i'll be more than happy to give you a list of things that need screaming about if you so desire...


*we're a restaurant. we sell food. when you order extra food, you are charged for it. that's how it works.

*i know we're on The Plazie, but we only have three wines to choose from. red, white and pink. no need to get pissed when i tell you so. there is always the place next door that will sell you a bottle of water for 12 bucks - and charge you $300 to reserve a table. have at it.

*your wallet sized tip card that breaks down the 10 and 15% tip you should leave for the total of your bill does not take into account the 10 times you've one-stepped me. my brilliant wit. my finely honed serving skills. the 2 minute/two bite check back after i've dropped your food. the refill i got you without your even asking. my smiling, sunny face as you verbally spit on me: "what else do you do besides (long, dramatic pause) this???" it is simply a basis from which to begin, a minimum if you will... i make 3 bucks an hour. my tips are subtracted from that pay. there is no such thing as a paycheck. in fact, i will most likely owe money at the end of the year. i see your wad of hundred dollar bills when you pull your wallet out to pay. in fact, you taking a great amount of care making sure that EVERYONE in the place sees your wad. i think that table upstairs missed it - you should go show them too.

*how is it that my two-year-old has better manners than you? please and thank you and excuse me are very easy things to say. it is called Basic Level Of Respect. here - i'll just help you. when you elbow me, causing me to drop a tray of drinks for the nice people that i have FINALLY been able to get to because you held me at the table for 10 minutes while you tried to decide between the spinach artichoke dip and the grilled chicken salad (should you be naughty?) - excuse me or i'm sorry works nicely in these situations. when you barrel into me with your ginormous bag or orange tanning lotioned body, same deal. when you trip me or shove your chair into me... you get the picture... i think? i hope?

*you voted for bush, didn't you? and would do it again, wouldn't you?

see you next week, tennis people. same bat time, same bat place.

ah, the service industry never does really change...

there.
patience restored.
that's better.
carry on.

note: teeheeeheeeeee


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posted by supergirlest @ Tuesday, May 22, 2007 Comments: 10

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18 May 2007

a Thank You and update from catherine! AMAZING!!!!

i only have a second right now, but i wanted to post this up as soon a possible!

catherine asked me to pass this along earlier today... i'm bursting with Happy and Amazement! this is all way too wonderful... here, i'll let her tell you. :)


Thank you. Thank you.

I wish there were better words to say, because "thank you" will never be enough.

The generosity my family has received though this site and in all other areas of our lives has been overwhelming. We are so blessed.

I have incredible news to share! On May 10th I became as ill as I have ever been throughout this ordeal. I had an intense headache, unbearable nausea ad vomiting, my heart was beating irregularly and at 200+ beats per minute. I was frightened that my symptoms seemed worse even though I was following my doctor's advice to the letter. The medications were clearly not working. I saw my cardiologist and got news I wasn't expecting. He and my neurologist were certain I had a hole in my heart that in other patients has caused a-fib and migraines. They scheduled a test on the 15th, prescribed another medication to slow the rate of my heart and sent me home.

I chose to ride this one out at home because a week prior I had scheduled an appointment with this man www.psychicsurgeon.org (Father Joshua) who was visiting KC for three days. My appointment was at 2:20 and I knew I needed to keep it. I did. And in a nutshell, I left the appointment with NO head pain and a normal heart rate and rhythm. I had not been pain free (other than one time for 1.5 days) in four months. He told me during my appointment that I had an opening in my heart that he worked on. UN-believable...to say the least. It has now been seven days and I have been symptom free. I went ahead with the echocardiogram and bubble study on the 15th. At first glance the nurse told me it was positive since she saw a very thin spot on the septum between the chambers and saw a few bubbles pass through. After further testing it was decided that I do not have an opening. (or at least not anymore:)

Father Joshua told me that he could not tell me to discontinue my medications, but told me that he didn't feel I needed them anymore. I spoke to my cardiologist about discontinuing them, and he instructed me how to do it. I am now only taking one medication, that from my own research, is VERY safe. I have back-up medications for a crisis, but have faith that I won't be needing them. I am also seeing a chiropractor and a NAET specialist for continued work on unblocking energy in my body so that I can continue to heal and stay healthy. www.NAET.com

On the financial front, this ordeal has been crippling. However, one hospital wrote off their ENTIRE bill and the others cut 50% off the total. We are now down to a mere $70,000. (seems like a lot if you don't know what it WAS:) Your help has been so appreciated as we start to make arrangements to pay this overtime. We have been able to get the payments started and create a plan for the future. Thank you again. I don't know what else to say.

Catherine


yay yay and more YAY!!!!


we still have a ways to go before we hit the goal on the chip in site - though i'm delighted by how far we've come! the chip in will only be open a few more days, so if you can spare a thing, please do. i know a bunch of you already have - THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!


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posted by supergirlest @ Friday, May 18, 2007 Comments: 8

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17 May 2007

are you sitting down? you might go ahead and do so, if you aren't...

i NEVER thought i'd say this... but i feel sorry for john ashcroft. there. i said it. this is COMPLETELY fucked. up.

and can i just say YAY for ms. ashcroft for standing up to bush? we may be polar opposites, but you. go. grrrl.



Former Deputy AG on Wiretaps: "White House Tried to Coerce Ashcroft"
By Jason Leopold and Matt Renner
t r u t h o u t | Report

Tuesday 15 May 2007

The White House operated a domestic surveillance program for several weeks three years ago, overriding objections by senior Justice Department officials who had informed top Bush administration officials that the spy program was illegal, a former deputy attorney general testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In March 2004, a standoff between the White House and the Justice Department ensued because James Comey, the department's No. 2 in command, would not authorize a continuation of the warrantless wiretaps, Comey told lawmakers.

"We communicated to the relevant parties at the White House and elsewhere our decision that as acting attorney general I would not certify the program as to its legality, and explained our reasoning in detail, which I will not go into here," Comey testified.

Responding to questions by Senator Chuck Schumer, (D-New York), Comey said Justice Department officials "had concerns as to our ability to certify its legality, which was our obligation for the program to be renewed."

"You thought something was wrong with how it was being operated or administered or overseen?" Schumer asked.

"We had - yes," Comey said.

The surveillance program was secretly authorized by President Bush after 9/11 to monitor communications between alleged terrorist suspects abroad and US citizens without first obtaining approval from a special court designated to authorize such activities under guidelines known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The program has come under fire by civil liberties groups and Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who said innocent American citizens have been caught up in the wiretaps.

Comey told lawmakers that his refusal to reauthorize the spy program resulted in a hastily arranged late-night meeting at a hospital, where then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card tried to coerce a barely conscious John Ashcroft to approve the controversial eavesdropping program. Comey said he also was present at the meeting.

Ashcroft was in intensive care at the time, hospitalized with pancreatitis, but, according to Comey, Ashcroft was able to rebut the arguments made by Gonzales and refused to sign the authorization. Comey testified that Ashcroft had not recertified the program earlier because he had reservations about its legality. Comey assumed control of Ashcroft's duties as attorney general after Ashcroft was hospitalized. Under federal law, the spy program was supposed to be recertified by the Department of Justice every 45 days.

Comey described in extraordinary detail how the March 9, 2004 meeting at the hospital unfolded.

"I was headed home at about 8 o'clock that evening; my security detail was driving me," Comey said.

"And I remember exactly where I was - on Constitution Avenue - and got a call from Attorney General Ashcroft's chief of staff telling me that he had gotten a call from Mrs. Ashcroft from the hospital ... Mrs. Ashcroft reported that the call had come through, and that as a result of that call, Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft."

Comey said that he rushed to the hospital to arrive before the White House officials.

Comey testified that he believed President Bush had phoned Ashcroft's hospital room directly, and he was sure that the call "came from the White House." Mrs. Ashcroft was not allowing any calls to be taken by her ill husband. She then called Ashcroft's chief of staff to inform him that the White House was sending Gonzales and Card to the hospital to meet with the debilitated attorney general face to face.

At Ashcroft's bedside, Gonzales did most of the talking, Comey said, adding that Gonzales and Card pressed the attorney general to reauthorize the program in spite of reservations about its legality. Comey said Ashcroft reiterated his concerns and refused to sign the order reauthorizing the program.

Ashcroft "lifted his head off the pillow, and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter, rich in both substance and fact, which stunned me - drawn from the hour-long meeting we'd had a week earlier - and in very strong terms expressed himself, and then laid his head back down on the pillow, seemed spent, and said to them, 'I'm not the attorney general,'" Comey said, adding that Gonzales and Card left the hospital that evening without a signature from the Justice Department allowing the surveillance program to continue.

"I was very upset. I was angry," Comey testified. "I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.... I was concerned that this was an effort to do an end run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something that the Department of Justice had already concluded - the department as a whole - was unable to be certified as to its legality. And that was my concern."

The next day, March 10, 2004 the White House sidestepped the judicial process and signed off on the program anyway, and continued to monitor American citizens' communications in what appeared to be a violation of the law.

"The program was reauthorized without us and without a signature from the Department of Justice attesting as to its legality," Comey said.

The meeting at George Washington University Hospital and the administration's total disregard of the law so disturbed Comey that he threatened to resign in protest, he told lawmakers.

"I prepared a letter of resignation, intending to resign the next day, Friday, March the 12th," Comey said. "I believed that I couldn't - I couldn't stay, if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice had said had no legal basis. I just simply couldn't stay."

Comey added that FBI Director Robert Mueller was prepared to resign in protest, as well as were other officials in the Justice Department. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that shortly thereafter he spoke to President Bush "in his study and we had a one-on-one meeting for about 15 minutes - again, which I will not go into the substance of. It was a very full exchange."

The revelations Tuesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said, are just another example of the politicization of the Justice Department under the leadership of Gonzales.

In an interview with Truthout following Comey's testimony, Philip Heymann, a former deputy attorney general, said he believed Gonzales and the other White House officials had behaved like "thugs."

"This gives you an understanding of what Gonzales thinks about the Department of Justice," said Heymann, now a law professor at Harvard University. "You had the most complete form of legal deliberation over the NSA spying issue; hours of discussion between FBI, DOJ, the solicitor general, and through this process, the DOJ decides that the program is not legal. To do this by using a ploy - which couldn't possibly amount to a sound legal judgment, and in effect creating a war, with the Justice Department rallying its forces to uphold the law - the White House officials, led by Gonzales and Card, were behaving like thugs."

Matt Renner is a reporter for Truthout.

Jason Leopold is a former Los Angeles bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswire. He has written over 2,000 stories on the California energy crisis and received the Dow Jones Journalist of the Year Award in 2001 for his coverage on the issue as well as a Project Censored award in 2004. Leopold also reported extensively on Enron's downfall and was the first journalist to land an interview with former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling following Enron's bankruptcy filing in December 2001. Leopold has appeared on CNBC and National Public Radio as an expert on energy policy and has also been the keynote speaker at more than two dozen energy industry conferences around the country.

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posted by supergirlest @ Thursday, May 17, 2007 Comments: 4

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15 May 2007

before i get to the tuesday topic...

this just in! ding dong the witch is... i like this response.




Well more foreign soldiers have now been killed in Iraq than were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

While there are obvious distinctions in the manner of death and status of the dead (civilian vs. military), the fact remains that each dead person leaves a gaping and torturous hole in the world of the people they leave behind.

Could you imagine politicians leveling the same rhetoric against the Iraq War that was leveled against 9/11?

Do you feel that those responsible for perpetrating the war have any sense of this responsibility they bear?

oddly enough, i was just thinking about this last night, as i wrapped up my post... my mind got to wondering, as it often does about how the people in iraq must feel. i remember vividly, the calls for revenge that surfaced late in the day on september 11th. if iraq had the capability that the u.s. had at the time... "we" were oh so justified in invading afghanistan and iraq. rationally, this would go both ways. i can easily say that i won't be surprised by the inevitable blowback that "the war on terra" is creating. i've always found it interesting that bush pronounces it that way - perhaps it is his own little megalomaniacal f-you! - literally, war on earth.

i've never been able to understand how a majority of a country's people could call for and support the very same exact thing that they had just gone through on septemeber 11th - the one event of my lifetime that was supposed to "change" us all for the better. i still can't get my brain around it. i never will. it is complete and utter hypocrisy to call for heads to roll in response to someone else calling for heads to roll. i had the same conversation literally 100 times over the bar with people that supported these wars. i think of barbara lee's words she spoke just three days after 9/11 - i have this hanging upstairs:


i think the perpetrators have justified their support and actions to themselves - some are fully convinced - some, only partially - but enough to to keep the machine clogging along, sucking up precious life and spitting it back out. this i know: we have become the evil that we supposedly deplore. which makes me wonder if "we" really deplore "evil" at all? actions speak louder than words... pride can also be a very powerful thing.


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posted by supergirlest @ Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Comments: 4

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14 May 2007

see? i literally cannot help it!

i was born this way! ha!

i found these fun links over at blue grrrrrl's spot awhile back and decided to give it a whirl - i think it 'twas blue's page, but i can't seem to find it now?

ah, the validation that ensued!

the first analyzed my name, and did some funky #'s thang. here are my results...

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.
The expression or destiny for #11:

Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.
The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.
The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer. Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Your Soul Urge number is: 9

A Soul Urge number of 9 means:
With a 9 Soul Urge, you want to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner. You are highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And you are generous in giving of your knowledge and experience. You have very sharing urges, and you are likely to have a great deal to share. Your concern for others makes you a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.
You are able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. You often express high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If you are able to fully realize the potential of your motivation, you will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.
As with all human beings, you are prone to sometimes express the negative attitudes inherent to your Soul Urges. You may become too sensitive and tend to express emotions strongly at times. There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. You may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is too much 9 energy in your nature you may reject the idea. You may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 11
An Inner Dream number of 11 means:
You dream of casting the light of illumination; of being the true idealist. You secretly believe there is more to life than we can know or prove, and you would like to be provider of the 'word' from on high.


hmmmmm.... all that, just from my name! of course i did bebe's too - my. oh. my. my baby is gonna be a scary money grubbing ceo!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!


Your number is: 8
Your Expression is represented by the number 8. The 8 Expression is well-equipped in a managerial sense. You have outstanding organizational and administrative capabilities. You have the potential for considerable achievement in business or other powerful positions. You can expect to receive the financial and material rewards. You have the skill and abilities to establish or operate a business with great efficiency. You have good judgment when it comes to money and commercial matters, and you understand how to build and accumulate material wealth. Much of your success (or lack of it) may come due to your ability (or inability) to judge character. With the number 8 Expression, you exercise sound judgment in most of your affairs; you are realistic and practical in your approach to business matters.

The positive 8 Expression produces individuals that are very ambitious and goal-oriented. If the 8 energy is not in excess in your makeup, you will no doubt express these traits to some extent. No one has any more energy that a person with the 8 Expression who has a plan laid and is starting to work. No one has any more self-confidence, either. If you are expressing the positive qualities of 8, you are an outstanding manager because you can plan, initiate, and complete projects; you are very dependable and determined.

As it always happens, there can be too much of a good thing. If you have too much of the 8 energy in your makeup, you may express some of the negative attitudes. A negative 8 can be very rigid and stubborn. Ambition sometimes has a way of becoming over-ambition, and you may express an unreasonable impatience with the lack of progress. If your negative side is showing, you may be too exacting, both of yourself and of others. Sometimes this can even becomes a case of intolerance.

The number 8 is very materialistic and also very desirous of status and power. Neither of these drives are inherently negative unless they are taken to an extreme. You must avoid the tendency to strain after money, material matters, status, or power, to the detriment of the other important factors in your life.











the trippiest info came in the other profile, which used my date of birth. there's a line in it that says what day you were conceived - which is bizarre to think about in and of itself, but this was even more bizarro... i did will and bebe's also, only to find that will was conceived on riley's birthday forty some years earlier! ha! what are the odds?

yasser arafat, dave chappelle and howard zinn share my birthday. doesn't get much more rockin' than that.

"you're so vain" was a top song the year i was born - can i tell you how many times i've been told i look like carly simon? for real. i' am also 1,063,492,251 seconds old - or was when i took it. and i clearly need to rethink my birthstone i've never grown fond of... peridot. apparently, it makes dreams become reality.



i'm going to dig out my peridot necklace and sleep on it tonight. maybe when i wake up, this "war" will be over and it will have all been a horrible, no good nightmare... and those 3,398 u.s. soldiers will not be dead. and neither will the tens of thousands of iraqi citizens...


posted by supergirlest @ Monday, May 14, 2007 Comments: 6

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13 May 2007

i'm a bright one, mother's day, kitten, gas....

so we have this awkward 6x3 hall area between our foyer and kitchen. when we (and by we, i mean will) pulled up the carpet last year to free the hardwood flooring beneath from captivity - said area was super bizzaro. there is this funky type of particle board looking stuff nailed down. basically, it looks as if every tenant since the house was built in 1920 has just added new layers of flooring upon the old, instead of pulling it up. same in the kitchen. between the three areas, the flooring is off by about a half inch to an inch.

this particle board has nail heads and bits of staple (that have become one with the board) still poking out of it from the carpet years. over the past year, i've stepped on one of these things more than once. owie. infinity. we don't let bebe near it and we keep meaning to do SomethingAboutIt, but... a couple of days ago i took a staple to the heel. it still is smarting like you wouldn't believe. then this morning, when it happened again, i'd said, ENOUGH!

from the basement, i could see that there was a layer of tile under the board. under the tile was another layer of board. then more tile, then the hardwood floor. so i got my trusty hammer and began pulling the board up. the tile was pretty cool - 50's or 60's, i'd say. about halfway through, i noticed the tile was chipping away and had grown brittle.

"hmmmm... i wonder if they used asbestos in floor tile, " thought i. i put down my trusty hammer and went a googling. yup.

i called some dude i found in the book and asked how i could tell if it was. no way to - without having it tested. he asked if the tiles were 9x9.

yes.

he said he thought for certain they most likely were, but that floor tiles containing asbestos didn't cause too much damage. he told me stop where i was. my impromptu diy euphoria melted away into an abyss of fear. asbestos is asbestos, after all. me no like it. now not only am i certain my jaw is going to lock up and i'm going to lose my feet to gangrene due to tetanus - i just know that i'll also be coming down with mesothelioma in 20 years. kidding. kinda. no, really. kidding. *knocking on wood.*

off i went to the hardware store for new floor stuff. when i got home. i went ahead and carefully pulled the rest of the board up after realizing that if i slid a knife under the tiles, they would come up in one piece. the concensus seemed to be that it was such a small amount, it couldn't possibly do harm. i then hepa-filter vacuumed the hell out of it, for good measure. it is all out now - and i just need to figure out how to dispose of it. any ideas?

needless to say, i've spent the last 6 hours trying to put new tiles down. i had no idea it is so tricky. have i mentioned i'm not very handy? resourceful, yes. handy, no. i'll have to finish it tomorrow after work...

and that's that.

a few minutes ago i got an email urging me not to buy gas on the 15th. ?!?!?! the only way that would be remotely effective as a means to force gas companies to lower their prices would be if people stopped buying gas for months, not a day. so people fill up on monday or wednesday instead - how is that even sticking to the man? i'll tell you how. it isn't. at all. say it with me - band aids for cuts that need stitches. we need to use way less gasoline - not take a break for a day. sheesh. i'd even go as far to say that an action such as this would end up hurting the indy gas station owners more than anyone else in the food chain. it would probably be wise to get used to prices like this - the end of cheap oil is very near:



in other news, me-ine had a poop!!!! his eyes are purrrfect and he's running about and playing like a baby kitty should. yay for meine!

and as per a little tradition of mine, in the spirit of mother's day and getting back to roots, i leave you with julia ward howe's mother's day proclamation - and a perfect piece i found by ruth rosen:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870

*************************************************************

Mother's Day for Peace - by Ruth Rosen.

Honor Mother with Rallies in the Streets.The holiday
began in activism; it needs rescuing from commercialism
and platitudes.

Every year, people snipe at the shallow commercialism of Mother's Day. But to
ignore your mother on this holy holiday is unthinkable. And if you are a
mother, you'll be devastated if your ingrates fail to honor you at least one
day of the year.

Mother's Day wasn't always like this. The women who conceived Mother's Day
would be bewildered by the ubiquitous ads that hound us to find that "perfect
gift for Mom." They would expect women to be marching in the streets, not
eating with their families in restaurants. This is because Mother's Day began
as a holiday that commemorated women's public activism, not as a celebration
of a mother's devotion to her family.

The story begins in 1858 when a community activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis
organized Mothers' Works Days in West Virginia. Her immediate goal was to
improve sanitation in Appalachian communities. During the Civil War, Jarvis
pried women from their families to care for the wounded on both sides.
Afterward she convened meetings to persuade men to lay aside their
hostilities.

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic",
proposed an annual Mother's Day for Peace. Committed to abolishing war, Howe
wrote: "Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage... Our sons
shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them
of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of
those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs".

For the next 30 years, Americans celebrated Mothers' Day for Peace on June 2.

Many middle-class women in the 19th century believed that they bore a special
responsibility as actual or potential mothers to care for the casualties of
society and to turn America into a more civilized nation. They played a
leading role in the abolitionist movement to end slavery. In the following
decades, they launched successful campaigns against lynching and consumer
fraud and battled for improved working conditions for women and protection for
children, public health services and social welfare assistance to the poor.
To the activists, the connection between motherhood and the fight for social
and economic justice seemed self-evident.

In 1913, Congress declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. By
then, the growing consumer culture had successfully redefined women as
consumers for their families. Politicians and businessmen eagerly embraced
the idea of celebrating the private sacrifices made by individual mothers. As
the Florists' Review, the industry's trade journal, bluntly put it, "This was a
holiday that could be exploited."

The new advertising industry quickly taught Americans how to honor their
mothers - by buying flowers. Outraged by florists who were selling carnations
for the exorbitant price of $1 a piece, Anna Jarvis' daughter undertook a
campaigning against those who "would undermine Mother's Day with their greed."
But she fought a losing battle. Within a few years, the Florists' Review
triumphantly announced that it was "Miss Jarvis who was completely squelched."

Since then, Mother's Day has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry.

Americans may revere the idea of motherhood and love their own mothers, but
not all mothers. Poor, unemployed mothers may enjoy flowers, but they also
need child care, job training, health care, a higher minimum wage and paid
parental leave. Working mothers may enjoy breakfast in bed, but they also
need the kind of governmental assistance provided by every other
industrialized society.

With a little imagination, we could restore Mother's Day as a holiday that
celebrates women's political engagement in society. During the 1980's, some
peace groups gathered at nuclear test sites on Mother's Day to protest the
arms race. Today, our greatest threat is not from missiles but from our
indifference toward human welfare and the health of our planet. Imagine, if
you can, an annual Million Mother March in the nation's capital. Imagine a
Mother's Day filled with voices demanding social and economic justice and a
sustainable future, rather than speeches studded with syrupy platitudes.

Some will think it insulting to alter our current way of celebrating Mother's
Day. But public activism does not preclude private expressions of love and
gratitude. (Nor does it prevent people from expressing their appreciation all
year round.)

Nineteenth century women dared to dream of a day that honored women's civil
activism. We can do no less. We should honor their vision with civic
activism.

Ruth Rosen is a professor of history at UC Davis.

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posted by supergirlest @ Sunday, May 13, 2007 Comments: 4

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11 May 2007

i'm always down for a little challenge


especially one that involves rallying for peace.

we need more blogs for peace! we're not even close to the one million mark... but we could be. we need to turn that 462 into 1,000,000. with roughly 6,594,348,535 people in the world...

you can go sign up here, if you haven't already. you can attach a little button to your page. to check for the weekly writing prompt, just head over to the OMBFP blogspot on monday or tuesday. it really is that simple. and more than worthwhile.

and then, spread the word!

that is all.
carry on.

peace.

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posted by supergirlest @ Friday, May 11, 2007 Comments: 2

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10 May 2007

and so it begins...

a new global precedence?

my spidey sense is tingling...

today in germany, security forces to the tune of 900 individuals raided apartments and offices of anti-globalization activists, looking for, get this - a terrorist group. they have also erected a 17 million dollar fence to keep protesters away from the upcoming G8 summit.

it was only a matter of time, given the current climate of the world, before all protesters were lumped into a "dangerous" category, but still. *even* if there is some boogeymonsterterroristorganization just waiting for the G8 summit to begin - i guarantee they are far outnumbered by those protesters that wish to publicly air their grievances - that have no intention of doing harm or violence to anyone or anything...

unfortunately, this move only serves to inflame those who are already capable of destruction - and disrupt legitimate peaceful protest. no bueno. it isn't as if there aren't very real, legitimate complaints about what is and isn't addressed in the the summit.

the "terrorists" are winning again.

"The state can’t give you free speech, and the state can’t take it away. You’re born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free…"
~Utah Phillips

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posted by supergirlest @ Thursday, May 10, 2007 Comments: 4

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09 May 2007

once upon a time




there was a blogger named kara. she had the honor of being tagged as a 'thinking blogger' by someone that she didn't even know read her blog. she felt happy inside. and warm and fuzzy and honored, too (considering the source!) - until she read that she would also have to choose five, herself... this was a few weeks ago. she's been toiling about it ever since that fateful day. how could she ever choose just five? every blog kara visits makes her think! that's why she heads over as often as she can...

sooooo, in her attempt to fulfill her mission that she has chosen to accept - here are her six, in no particular order... kara is adding a sixth, because one of these folks hasn't posted in a very long, sad time.

sicily sue... ah, sue! what can kara say about you that isn't stating the obvious? this grrrl is a power house. she's been through hell and back and has a strength and courage like no one kara has ever known - and kara has known her for years. she has always been a source of inspiration and wisdom, from the day they met. her writing is true and from the heart. always. infinity. every time kara visits her page, she comes away lost in thought for hours. sometimes, days.

fade over at house of the rising sons - simply. rocks. he is smart and funny - and gosh darn it! people like him! he's forever posting up brain candy - be it a personal commentary or an article of interest - such as this one. he also serves a larger purpose in occupying cave men, which kara is eternally grateful for...

radical feminism is another. kara also has the honor of knowing her for many years. she doesn't post as often as kara would like, but when she does - watch out! she always has a perspective not found in kara's day to day life - one that sets her preconceived notions and "that's just the way it is" thoughts a spinning! see what i mean?

kara also enjoys the fine storytelling and sharp wit and keen political commentary of one TUA over at the future was yesterday. even when kara and tua don't see eye to eye, tua knows that kara still hearts him for stretching the muscles of her lil ole brain. imus tried to part kara and tua sometime back, but he failed miserably. kara was heard to mutter once at the end of those few weeks of unrest, "take THAT, imus! ha HA!!!"

written rebellion is kara's kindred spirit. kara thinks they may have been seperated at birth, along with the centre cannot hold - who hasn't posted in weeks, and whom kara misses like crazy. written rebellion is the first blogger that kara found that also linked znet - and her mother's day reminder is a must read! kara thought everyone knew the origins, but apparently, not so. kara is going to have a blast filling everyone in at work on sunday when they wish her a happy mother's day.

the centre cannot hold is living the life that kara pines for daily, in canada. and you should hear them on the phone - the thoughts and plottings - how they fly!!! they think quite alike, as evidenced here. kara can't call her anymore, though. it costs kara a lot of money that she just doesn't have. written rebellion is very busy with school and is another that doesn't post as often as kara would enjoy. this drives kara to sigh upon occasion. but she understands.

what else is kara up to, you may ask?

this:



seriously.
well, without the singy songy.
and we still have no poop.
 back to the poop,me-ine, POOP! dance...
how's that for thinking?

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posted by supergirlest @ Wednesday, May 09, 2007 Comments: 4

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08 May 2007

and now for something a little different...



Describe the political and governmental format for Iraq that you feel gives Iraq its best chance at long-term peace.

What do you see as potential pitfalls of other systems?

so this may be a bit odd... response. in song. the anarchist that resides in me, i suppose... the plain answer is, i just don't know. it is all so convoluted at this point. puppets, ulterior motives - leaders that have no business leading anything. ultimately, long term peace is up to all of us, methinks.

i couldn't find the real deal - but i found this wonderful cover by dave matthews:



If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

If I were Roy Rogers
I'd sure enough be single
I couldn't bring myself to marrying old Dale
It'd just be me and trigger
We'd go riding through them movies
Then we'd buy a boat and on the sea we'd sail

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

The mystery masked man was smart
He got himself a Tonto
'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free
But Tonto he was smarter
And one day said kemo sabe
Kiss my ass I bought a boat
I'm going out to sea

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

And if I were like lightning
I wouldn't need no sneakers
I'd come and go wherever I would please
And I'd scare 'em by the shade tree
And I'd scare 'em by the light pole
But I would not scare my pony on my boat out on the sea

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

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posted by supergirlest @ Tuesday, May 08, 2007 Comments: 3

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