Uncommon Odd

Okay, I will admit it. I am a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. I bleed red, white, and blue, think GW is one of the best presidents in the history of our country, think kicking Saddam's rear out of Iraq was important in the terrorism battle, and I think that Hillary is the antichrist. I have another little secret...I am addicted to Lucianne Goldberg's news site lucianne.com. I have learned more about what mainstream America is all about during my daily visits there than anything I could read in the papers or see on the news networks. There are some brilliant people who post there, and they have taught me something important: that it is okay to have beliefs that are viewed by the liberals as being extreme, right wing, or whatever adjective they throw out there.

It chilled me to read on ABCNews.com's political site "The Note" that they view conservatism as an exception. The following quote is from Tuesday Feb. 10th and can be read in its entirety here:

Like every other institution, the Washington and political press corps operate with a good number of biases and predilections.

They include, but are not limited to, a near-universal shared sense that liberal political positions on social issues like gun control, homosexuality, abortion, and religion are the default, while more conservative positions are "conservative positions."

This is from ABC folks! Am I insane, or does this trouble anyone else? I always knew that ABC was biased toward liberal viewpoints, I just never actually expected them to admit it in writing. Of course, it went unnoticed on CNN/NBC/CBS/MSNBC and FOX (which is surprising!). I only heard about it when another LDotter (poster to Lucianne.com) mentioned it in a post. *SIGH*

At any rate, it is good to be able to interact with others who are not lemmings. Of course, there are "site pests" there, but I am sure that there are pests on the DU (Democratic Underground -- yup, they belong underground) forum. I went there recently to see what, if anything, was being said about the John F-ing Kerry intern scandal, and it was not a good place to be.

I have neglected my little project here, and for that I am sorry. I do not want to be one of those statistics -- you know, the people who create a weblog and then abandon it. It will eventually be along the lines of all the screennames floating in cyber-abandon that get created for alternative emails in Yahoo! and then their makers stop signing in when they grow tired of getting spammed.

So much has been going on in the world lately, namely the 2004 Presidential Election. Most people out there are already polarized one way or the other. I do not buy into the polls that have "undecided" voters out there on the day of the election. The only thing they are probably undecided about it whether to actually go out and vote (and few if any of them actually do). I can understand a margin of uncertainty this early in the game, but when it is 1 or 2 days before the election, you would think that people would know who they think would be a good president. Another part of polling that vexes me is the "approval polls." To accurately gauge the approval, then the pollsters should have to ask the same people the same questions. Of course poll numbers are going to change when you ask different people questions like this. We are all different, and not many people are swayed by the day-to-day spewing of TV pundits. Tim Russert was describing an interview he had with President Bush to Katie Couric (BARF! Will have to address that one another time) on the Today Show regarding the WMD reports, and he said that if you were for Bush before, then you would be with him now, and if you thought he was lying before you would still think he was a liar. This is so true, and indicative of how the public feels. Poll numbers should not change in an hour's time, that is just how subjective they are. The funny thing is, noone I know has ever been called by Zogby, Gallup, or any other polling organization. I once read that opinions are like assholes...everyone has one, but there is NOTHING worse than an asshole with an opinion.

We had about 10 inches of snow last Friday evening. It is amazing that something so pretty gets so old to look at in no time at all. The lawn was a shimmery blanket of white, until the plow came up the road and littered it with a mess of black muck.

I think the old guys in the neighborhood know something that my husband and I do not...I counted 5 snow blowers in our immediate group of houses alone. None of us have huge driveways, so it must be in the township's code somewhere that anyone over the age of 60 has to go out and buy a snowblower. The men play with them like they are toys - one neighbor had his pre-assembled, and the fittings were not snug enough, so he and the guy next to my house tooled around with it in the driveway until it was running again.

I should not complain...they did clear a path for Steve, the US Postal Service employee who welcomed me to the neighborhood and told me that he could do anything for me (WHAT?!?!?). Note to self...steer clear of anyone who says that they can do anything for you.

Yikes!!! I cannot turn on the tv anymore without being innundated with pics of the freak better known as Michael Jackson. Yes, I think he is guilty, and I have no other opinion on the case other than this: Anyone who hires the same attorney that Scott Peterson and Winona Ryder did is insane.

Who could have ever guessed that the cute little kid would turn out to be such a weird pedophile?!?!? I liked him back in the early 1980's, but then he started all the plastic surgery and crotch grabbing. WTF was that all about anyway? Here is a great site showing the progression from adorable black boy to scary white woman. This is the stuff of nightmares. The HisTory of Michael Jackson's Face

I will be moving on Monday, so I have been packing like a mad woman. Not enough time in the universe to get everything done that I need to do. It is amazing the things that people hold on to, thinking that they may be useful someday. Remembering my mother giving all my brother's Star Wars action figures to the church rummage sale and then seeing them become collectors items always goes through my mind when deciding whether to save or pitch. I am deeply envious of those lucky few who seem to be able to pack all their belongings into a small van and move at a week's notice. I cannot part with all of my clutter though...it defines who I am. So, I will just have to be content with the corrugated cardboard jungle that has become my living room.

I find myself becoming increasingly infuriated with attorneys. I speak mostly of the situation going on with Walmart and the illegal immigrants who clean the floors (I always wondered how they maintained that immaculate sheen). Some of the ones who have or are being deported are now SUING Walmart for overtime and workers comp. Really now...I thought they were the employees of INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS and not employed by Walmart. Of course, some wonderful attorney was over at the INS holding cell as soon as the story broke. These illegals did not know that being here was illegal, but they sure did know about their right to an attorney.

I am not saying that Wally World is completely clean in all of this - I think they probably knew a lot more than they are admitting. I also feel very strongly that all the other large mass retailers (K Mart, Target, etc.) do EXACTLY the same thing, and they are probably the skunks that ratted Walmart out to the feds in the first place.

What is incredibly sad here, is that tax dollars have been spent ferretting out illegals from Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and other Western European countries, when the FBI and INS could have been trying to find some REAL terrorists. And no, I do not think some Czech national is going to be putting bio-weapons in my Pantene.

Yet another work-related site. This one is a lot lighter in mood and, more often than not, the author is the idiot. Poking fun at yourself takes guts, but this site is anonymous, so they remain cowards. Link

Everyone out there has had to deal with them at one time or another. Whether it is your boss, a coworker, or a customer, you will at one point in your professional career deal with stupid people. There are, however, those individuals that make your feel like you are the only smart person in the universe, and this site is dedicated to your angst. Link

I have been reading up on CSS, HTML, and all the other garbage that will let me change the template on this blog to something more "me". Well, I just about lost all the information that I had posted so far because I was changing the templates. *SIGH* I will eventually get the hang of it, but it is still frustrating to not be able to do something that everyone else seems to be doing with no problems.

On a lighter note, we should be closing on our new house next week, so that is an accomplishment I can be happy about. I am living in an ocean of boxes and evil packing tape. You know what kind if tape I am talking about - the kind that you put into the dispenser with the sharp demon teeth. I have scraped my fingers bloody, and the stupid tape likes to stick to the roller on the dispenser. At least hubby bought me a 8-pack of refills (love him!). Two moving companies are sending reps this week to give us an estimate on hauling our stuff, but I think we will just end up doing it ourselves (with some help from friends and family). I hate mooching off of other people for things like that, but if it means the difference between $300 and $2000, I will swallow my pride for a few days.

Remember all the silly things you believed as a child, only to find out later that you were WAY off base? Well, here is a repository of just about every misconception you could imagine, with the opportunity to add your own. No wonder some kids are so messed up. Link

This is a very cool art site. Look around and let some of the pieces really grab you. explodingdog 2003

Well, I had to jump on the bandwagon sometime. This is my first blog, so bear with me. I am getting ready to move, so this is going to be a diversion to take some of the stress away.