Scrolling Blogs

I've been out scrolling other blogs to see what's out there. I've added the ones I like to my Links list to the right. I think I'll give that a different title.....don't know what it will be yet.

I'm really amazed by the different opinions and ideas that exist. But I also see how similar we all are.

These blogs are individual attempts at making some sort of impact "out there". Like a pebble falling into a quiet lake. And I think it's about as impactful as that. One's blog is discovered, read, and then the reader moves on to the next one.

I think a second hope for the blogger is not just to make an impact but to be noticed, recognized and then, hopefully, worthy of an 'ata boy' post. "Hey dude, nice post", "wow, that was really inspirational, you should be a writer, man".

I wish I had more stuff going on in my life so that I, too, could post interesting topics. My life really does not seem to be very interesting to me and I have allowed it to just sort of drift. I've been beating myself up a lot lately for not doing much and allowing myself to become so complacent.

Hollywood & Bush

Katrina seems to be hogging the headlines these days. I've noticed that it is a nice break from Iraq; no one seems to be bitching about the war. The Dems seemed to be pretty successful at keeping negative dark cloud over the administration over the war but now this thing with Katrina has taken America's focus off of that cloud.

Now what to do? America is focusing on Katrina and not on how poorly Bush is handling Iraq. Brainstorm time..... Oh, I know, let's blame the aftermath of Katrina on Bush and get America back into looking at the dark cloud..... Wow, how original. Did Bush shine here? No. Should everything have happened faster? I don't know really. It took two days. The people who suffered the most really were the ones that were trapped. The pressure was on the officials to transfer the evacuees. How long would it have taken us to get to them if this were the 90's?

Ok, so now we have Hollywood. Who the hell are these people? These actors, actresses and singers are really very nervy. Is someone paying them to speak out? This self-righteous outpouring is all the same, they blame Bush. They are outspoken about it because they actually believe that we give a damned about their opinions. Oh my, if Kanye West says it, it must be true.

So, GFT, what do you think of the Katrina situation? "Hmmm, I don't know, let me see what Sean Penn has to say 'cause he's a movie star. That means he must be real smart and all and gosh, since I make so much less than him, I must not be as smart. Shucks, what do I know?"

What did Hillary Clinton do to get involved with the aid to the evacuees, besides standing on the sidelines and point the finger. And Jesse Jackson? While he was widening the divide between the blacks and the whites and enciting more hatred, what was he doing to help his "people"? Of course, we all know that fostering hatred towards the whites is always very productive.

I'm really curious what people thought a fast response should have been? And who should the rescue effort been targeted towards? The trapped and the weak? The ones waiting to be transported? And if the strong go one or two days without food or water, is this really an issue?

Karina 2

There are a few people living in my apartment community who are refugees from Louisiana. These are people who managed to leave New Orleans Sunday prior to Katrina's arrival. They told me that the mayor told the city that his legal advisors told him not to evacuate New Orleans without Bush's approval. I wonder what that was all about.

Last year he ordered an evacuation early. I remember people coming over and calling me in the event they might need to hang at my place for a day or two. What happened between now and then? Why all of a sudden do they need Bush's approval?

I'm impressed with this guy. He is has already set up interviews for himself and had decided he is going to make Houston his home. He doesn't seem to be expecting anyone to give him anything. He's taking the bull by the horns and getting things going.

So now the politicos are positioning themselves for leverage. Let's see how low everyone goes. The bodies haven't even been found yet and getting into place. None of these guys really give a damned about the people in New Orleans just as long as they can exploit them to promote their own causes. Bill Frist has made some mistakes in the past but he's putting it behind him and he's rolling his sleeves up and jumping in.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will see this as an opportunity to continue to foster division between the blacks and the whites. Now Hillary Clinton wants a hearing committee to allocate blame and hopes to crucify the Bush Administration, that'll make really great ammunition for the Democrats against the Republicans when the Presidential election comes up in 2008.

Katrina

Like everyone else in America, I seem to be spending a lot of time reading news stories about Katrina. Foxnews.com has the best coverage; they were on top of it from the get go; CNN.com gave it minimal coverage at first.

Now, the political aspects have been made apparent. My initial gut response was, what the hell were the local planners, leaders, etc. doing over the past few years to develop a plan to deal with this hurricane. They've been predicting it and fearing it for several years. They breathe a sigh of relief after the passing of every hurricane season. It was just a matter of time.

Friends and colleagues I've expressed this to have responded with "but what could they have done?" the levee broke. How could they have reinforced the levees. Who could have done anything? So maybe my question isn't what was the city doing to prevent the flooding and damage, but what was the city doing to plan for a mandatory evacuation? And now it has been brought to my attention that the city had a plan and did not execute the plan. The plan was to use every available bus (school, municipal, etc.) to gather those who could not leave the city due to lack of money and/or transportation. Why didn't the city follow the plan?

I have heard complaints that the U.S. Government didn't respond fast enough and that Bush's response was rather light, lacking the sense of urgency and somber attitude the rest of the country was feeling about this horrible event. I do believe that he fumbled on that one but in all honesty, I've stopped having expectations of Bush. I've heard the arguments and I think that the Federal Government needs to improve it's response to emergencies of this magnitude; it's just that we don't have them that often.

I am going to have to say that Louisiana dropped the ball, big time here. And I believe, strongly, that the Federal Government needs to hold both the Mayor's and the Governor's feet to the fire on it. The buses were not deployed.

I understand that the administration's political enemies are going to want to hold the Bush administration responsible for how bad this got but what I am really hoping is that they also realize that the Lousiana government officials are the ones that were responsible for evacuating the city prior to the storm's arrival, that they had a plan in place and that they did not execute the plan. If their reasoning is that they did not have a place to take the refugees, then my question is why not? Louisiana always knew this was coming, why didn't they plan it through, and if they planned it through, why didn't they execute the plan?

The Dog Days of Summer

I heard that the Dog Days of Summer was a phrase that came up as a result of Baseball. That towards the end of the season the last two months were the most gruelling. Then, the other day, I saw something that led me to believe that the term came from Wall Street. If I'm not mistaken, the term "dog" relates to bad stock and that summer trades are all dogs. I don't know, really I'm just pulling it together as I see it. But whatever it is, it alway gave me the impression that dog days were rough and tough days.

Well, I'm having anything but Dog Days. In my occupation, the industry seems to crawl in August as all the people who seem to need a place to live wanted to move in on August 1st. So, one could easily say that the days in July were my Dog Days of Summer. Now it takes everything in me not want to sleep all day. Something about boredom makes me sleepy and I wonder if it's the same for everyone.

Whatever the case, I can't seem to stay awake any longer and so I'm ready to slide between the cool soft sheets and chase some z's.

Sunday, my favorite day of the week

Ah, it's sunday morning, well only about 4 minutes left then it will be afternoon. I've been awake for only about an hour. I love sleeping in on Sundays. I'm a Realtor and I help people find residential property to lease. Typically, I work every day of the week and I take great strides not to work on Sunday.

Sunday usually starts with me staying up late on Saturday night watching "The Practice" re-runs. I always liked that show and enjoyed the cases they came up with. I think Boston Legal is pretty good, too; but I really enjoyed The Practice a lot.

So then, when I go to bed, the first thing I do is turn off my alarm clock. Such giddy anticipation as I realize I'm going to get to SLEEP IN. I love sleeping in. It is such an event for me. It's a luxury for me and one that I treasure. If it's raining or storming then it's an even greater treat, like hitting a jackpot or something; but it rarely storms on a Sunday morning. I wonder why that is. Right now we're getting an afternoon shower.

I don't do anything special on Sundays. I order a pizza and muncho n it throughout the week. I practice playing the violin, I sew or nap throughout the day. And then in the evening, I watch tv, and end it staying up late watching West Wing re-runs.

Sundays really are the best.

One of my favorite things

My brother, R, was visiting this week from New Mexico. I have another brother, M, that currently lives in the North side of town with my mother. So, when R visits, I usually hook up with him and M and we all go to the game together. Baseball, that is.

I absolutely love going to the game with my brothers. I love sitting next to M and making him share his coke with me. I love listening to the vendors peddle their soda, beer, peanuts and cotton candy. I love our stadium, Minute Maid Park. I love the fact that Houston is a city of such great fans and that we are all so well behaved towards the opposing team; except when it's Beltrand that's playing. Then we give him hell.

Yeah, I have to say that going to the game with my brothers is one of those moments that rocks.

When bad things happen on foriegn soil

There are a few cases out there that bother me right now. The first one is regarding Schapelle Corby. I have been combing the internet trying to find news regarding her case. My understanding is that she in the appeal process and that she had until August 3rd to get all of her witnesses together. Unfortunately, the judges want her to PROVE someone else placed it in her bag. The burden of proof rests on her not the prosecutution. This girl has her entire life and future ahead of her. The cold uncaring justices of this country cannot see her as a human life it seems. There is no consideration of how unjust this sentence is. If she cannot prove it was someone else who place this in her bag, that's it. The case is closed and she is to serve out her life in prison. The thought of this is horrific and I feel so helpless to be able to do anything about it.

The second case that bothers me is that of Natalie Holloway's disappearing in Aruba. There's a side of me that wonders if she was abducted off of the island. I want there to be closure for her mother. I want the Aruban government to feel pressure to solve this case.

I think that the bottom line is I that am disturbed by the lack of outrage about these situations. Are parents still arranging visits for their children to Aruba? Is the Australian government still freely assisting the government of Indonesia with their needs? Is this woman going to be abandonned? I'm not optimistic about this situation.

Commander In Chief - the tv series

Well, a new TV series is surfacing titled "Commander in Chief" about a woman President. Isn't that interesting? I wonder who's idea this was.

Hillary Clinton is running for President in 2008, there is no doubt. Actually she has been running for President over the last 5 years, only she hasn't had to do a whole lot. The Republicans have been giving her campaign lots of attention. There is a sales technique called "selling without selling"....if that makes any sense. So, I say that Hillary is campaigning without really campaigning. She is using the "is she, isn't she" cat and mouse game that the media feeds off of. Either way, if she can get the U.S. population to toss the idea around in their heads for close to a decade, she has a pretty good shot.

The interesting thing is that I'm sure there is still an idea in people's mind that a President should be a male. This TV series is going to address all sorts of scenerios to help the population see that a female really can be President. I think in many ways West Wing was to help the population see that a Democrat could actually be a strong and solid President. Something I think was heavily challenged by the Carter Administration. It's funny because in many ways, I see some of Bartlett (West Wing) in President Bush. But I didn't see any of him in Clinton.

I don't think that the timing of this series is coincidental. This series is designed to sell the population on the feasibility of a female as Commander In Chief.

So, how is Hillary going to swing winning the election?

More thoughts on abortion.

With the imminent replacement of O'Connor on the Supreme Court just around the corner, the big topic is abortion. I have spent the last several days deeply contemplating this issue and trying to understand everything surrounding it. I, too would like to see less abortions, but less abortions using what method?

There is so much at stake here. To what end does this lead by denying a woman the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy? Taking away this right takes control over her own body out of her hands.

To state that abortion should be made illegal except in instances of rape and incest makes no sense. If abortion is deemed as murder, then it is murder under any circumstance.

Why does the "baby" of a rape victim not have the right to live?

And how does one enforce these "exceptions"? Should a woman come into a clinic and claim she was raped, will she have to prove it? Will the law state that in order for a woman who was raped to have an abortion she must come forward within 24 hours and prove she was raped? Will she have to file charges against the man who raped her in order to have the abortion? What if he threatened to harm her family if she comes forward and therefore she doesn't want to turn him in? Will that deny her the right to terminate a pregnancy from this event?

Why do people have issue with a woman terminating a pregancy? I don't believe that it has anything to do with the life inside of her. If the issue really was about "life", then these people who are "pro-life" would be doing so much more than just fighting abortion. They would be fighting to make it much easier to adopt. They would be fighting to make orphanages better places. They would be fighting to make sure that men were equally held responsible for pre-natal care. They would be investing their time in creating and enhancing alternatives. Instead they are self-righteous, zealous, bullies imposing their will on others.

I believe the root of "pro-life" is about control, not about life nor the quality of life. On what grounds does a woman not have the right to decide whether nor not to host a life in her body?

More on my views of Bush and the Religious Right

As a declared atheist I guess that one would reasonably assume that when I speak out against our President's support of the Religious Right that I am doing so rebelliously. I know that most perceive atheists as being angry and "against" the religion. With me, this not the case.

First of all, I understand the importance that religion plays in our social structure. People need to believe in something greater than themselves. Life is not easy and many people are not really up to the task of living it. Trying to go through life without believing in a Supreme Being leaves one to figure a lot of things out on one's own. We have to define and understand our own moral codes. The advantage of being a religious person is that many of those moral codes are already designed and distributed. People are not able to live up to most of them but the codes are there.

My issue regarding the Religious Right has more to do with it's short sightedness. It seems to me that the only thing they want is to have Roe vs. Wade reversed. That's it. They want a President to do whatever he can to reverse it. I haven't heard them speak out about anything else. They are simply obsessed with Roe vs. Wade. To me that is the equivalent of being obsessed with making sure that unwanted children are brought into this world. How can anyone be so shortsighted? How can this be a good thing? And then let's couple this with making the only available birth control for young people be "abstinence". Is anyone getting this and how tragic this is, or is it just me?

Honestly, I thought Bush understood this. Really, I did. For some reason, I saw him as one who understood the big picture in this regard. But somewhere, something clicked, and I see him as one who wants to do more to appease the RR. And since he has been so consistant and loyal regarding his stands on principle, I can only assume that he is going to stay true to his own personal convictions regarding abortion and will hand to the RR the Supreme Court Justice that will give them what they want.

Now, all that being said, I have to give him some credit on what I understand the new strategy to be and that is, he is letting the Senate present the nominee(s). Now that's a smart thing and I do like that idea.

I think I just want him to firmly draw a line that basically tells the RR that "this is where their job ends and his begins" and somehow, I think that line just doesn't exist.

Not going to extremes

I had lunch with some friends this Sunday and as is the normal course we discussed politics. I expressed my frustrations with Bush and my friend, who is not a Bush supporter, encouraged me not to go from the extreme of being an avid supporter to being an avid anti-Bush person. Interesting.

I thought about why I supported him so strongly, especially during his first term. I think the answer to that is that he was under constant attack during his first term. Since the election was so close, the Democrats never let up. They kept the pressure on him during his entire term in an effort to upset the elections in 2004 and claim a much wanted victory. Once the election was over and Bush won, the Democrats got quiet. They aren't as vocal against him these days. The resist supporting his proposals, but they aren't doing these blanket criticisms as they did during he last term. So the duty to "protect" him from these crticisms isn't there. Now I can just kick back and enjoy having him as President.

Except I'm not really enjoying him as President.

I agree that we need a leader that has strength and resolve. I agree that we need someone who says it the way he sees it. I agree that Bush isn't perfect and no one is going to be perfect, either. I'm angry with his feeding and support of the Religious Right. When abortion was a part of the equation for stem cell research, I agreed that it needed to stop. Now abortion is no longer a part of that equation. We can obtain these cells without tapping into abortion clinics for them. Bush's personal religious convictions are standing in the way. This display of establishing policy based on one's personal religious convictions is sending the wrong signals. Our military now believes it is ok to impose religious views onto their soldiers and officers. Religion has never supported man's progress but has always stood in its way. Why is he giving them so much power?

And there is something else that is bothering me. I feel like his religious views and support is handing the 2008 election over to the Democrats. I feel like he is giving it to them and that Hillary is going to clean up in 2008. If Giuliani runs there is strong possibility he could take it.

I don't know, I guess I had higher expectations of him. Maybe these expectations are not realistic and that rather than be angry at the President, I have to revisit them. And accept that he is neither a major disappointment nor is he superman.

He is just a man who happens to be our President.

War of the Worlds - My take on it

I remember as a child hearing the radio version of War of the Worlds. Mind you, this was not the original airing but was one done in the early 70's. I remember laying on my mother's bed listening and that I found the story so disturbing.

Then the movie came out. I was young and didn't know the difference so to me, the movie was scary. And a few years later, Justin Hayward came out with his version of the narrating/singing of War of the Worlds. I loved that version and found not only the songs and narration disturbing but also the illustration of the booklet that was enclosed.

And so, here is Steve Spielberg's version. I loved it. I had to remind myself to breathe and found the scenes an interesting combination of different things. I saw the same family interactions that were so familiar in E.T. and Jurassic Park. And the special effects of Close Encounters. And then the cold horrific situation, the reality of the story, felt like a combination of Minority Report and Schindler's List. I think I would like to see it again.

I came out of the theater with a feeling similar to that one when exiting Jurassic Park. I was so relieved that it was just a movie.

Business Plan

I've developed a business plan to help me reach some personal and financial goals. The thing about it is that for some reason I'm not excited about the plan. I seem to have this habit of making just enough to survive instead of pushing myself to really make some good money. I have the ability to do it. I just don't know how to push myself up there.

I know what to do. I know how to do the things I need to do. I think if I just focus on doing the things I put on my plan, I'll be ok.

I have bad habits. I come home and sit on the couch and watch T.V. I need to be doing other things. I don't like to get up early in the morning. I don't have good time management skills, I know that for sure.

I also have good habits. I work hard. I work everyday and it's hard for me to take time off. I don't give up. I don't go backwards, though today I feel like I'm going backwards. If I can pay my taxes for 2004, I'll be doing ok.

Supreme Court OK's granting private property to Private Businesses

I'm surprised that there isn't more fallout from this decision. When I initially read the article on CNN, I kept thinking I was reading about a decision that took place in England...I think because the city in question was New London, CT. It was early in the morning, my mind wasn't totally awake. Does England even have a Supreme Court?

My theory is that people, including myself, are under the impression that once the Supreme Court decides something, it's done. Only the Supreme Court can reverse the ruling. If one doesn't like what the Supreme Court decides, who do they go to to change it?

What most people probably didn't catch is that the conservative judges voted against this. The public's opinion of the conservative party, an opinion that is fed by the left, is that the Republicans are the friends of big business. And here, it is the more liberal judges that voted to grant private property to private businesses.

This ruling is sick.

Put a fork in him - he's done

Up to this point, Bush could do no wrong, well at least to me he couldn't. And pretty much, he's been low key lately; but Perry our Governor has not been. Though I know Perry is one person and Bush is another, they are both of the same party. So, connecting a few things: 1) Bush's involvement in the Schiavo case; 2) Jeb Bush's statements lately regarding Schiavo, 3) Bush's statements regarding stem cell research , 4) Governor Perry's recent signing of the bill requiring minors to get parental concent prior to abortion,...... I see a pattern. These guys are very much controlled by the Religious Right.

Howard Dean recently stated that the Republican Party was just a party of White Christians. He may have appropriately said White Christian Men....but I think it was just White Christians. Howard Dean has been on target a lot lately. I just hope there is more behind his rhetoric and position than anger and indignation towards the Republican Party.

My anger towards Bush is his stupidity regarding playing along with the Religious Right. Even though he himself hasn't done all the things I listed above, he's the Commander in Chief and he is a Replublican; it may as well be him, it doesn't matter who is doing what. He's turned me away and angered me. If he's turned me away, me being an avid "Bush can do no wrong" "I want to marry the man" supporter, how many others has he concerned with his support of the Religious Right?

So, here we are. He needs Bolton voted on, I don't give a damned what Bush wants anymore. If Bolton isn't nominated is this the end all be all of National Security? No, I don't think so. So if the Dems say we want another candidate, I think they are being reasonable in this request. Hell, I'll just write my senator about it.

As far as I'm concerned, Bush just wants his way; and that's a far cry from "what's best for the country".

So now my anger at Bush is that he has given the Religious Right much of what they wanted and now he expects to be able to take care of the business of running this country with the Democrat's support. I'm not so angry that they don't want to support him. He has shoved his religious principles and rhetoric down our throats; I say "screw you". Look at the position YOU have put us in now.

IT'S NOT OK.

Bush is over there bombing the hell out of Iraq and giving the Religious Right power over here in the U.S. Can anyone say "Hypocrite"? I can't explain it other than this: all the enthusiasm, love and passion I have had for this man has sprouted wings and flown out the window. I hope it was all worth it, George. Because from where I stand, I see you as a sell out.

Michael Jackson - Not Guilty

I am so pleased with the outcome of Michael Jackson's trial. From the very beginning he was a victim of extortion in this case.

I was watching Fox at the time they announced the verdict. Prior to the Jury declaring their verdict, Fox was sure that Jackson's verdict would be guilty. I'm really surprised that they thought the prosecution put forth a valid case. It was so obvious to me that they were lying.

As I've said before, Michael makes too easy a target for such accusations. I know that this whole ordeal hurt him deeply and I wonder if he will ever be able to bounce back from it.

I sincerely hope that he does.

Abortion - Parental Consent

Well, Gov. Perry signed a bill meant to impose more limitations on abortion and he signed it in a church school gymnasium.

I've been naive. All this time I thought the Republican party courted the religious right, but didn't necessarily want to accommodate them. Signing the bill is one thing; doing it in a church is totally different. They are blatently declaring that they're strings are being pulled by the Religious Right.I have been such an avid supporter of Bush and now I could care less. I know that by supporting them as much as I have been I'm supporting their religious impositions on my life.

I wonder if this actually means I'm going to find myself voting for a Democrat? I've never done it before. But the thing about "swing" voters, if indeed I am one, is that swing voters seem to make their minds up at the last minute. Both parties are aware that whatever they do that turns a swing voter away only matters if elections are close by.

I'm really disappointed with this party.

Simon Cowell .... Law Professor?

I had the strangest dream Saturday night. I dreamt that I was attending lawschool. Now, I am always dreaming that I'm still in college, usually living on campus and I'm blowing off my math and science classes. And in that dream, I am a few years away from graduating because I keep blowing off those classes.

Well, in this dream, I'm attending 2 classes and I think they are both case study classes. I haven't taken my LSAT yet, nor have I registered for them. After attending these two classes, I know I want to stick with it but I'm torn because I don't know how to tell my classmates and professor that I'm not really a legitimate student.

And here's the kicker. My professor for both classes is Simon Cowell of American Idol. In this dream, he's a great professor and makes the subject interesting. Believe it or not, he's very encouraging.

I think I had this dream because I stayed up late and watched "The Practice" before going to bed.

Stem Cells

When we were relying on aborted fetuses in order to conduct stem cell research, I was for a ban on the research. My greatest concern was the that there would be potential for pregnant women to be able to financially benefit from selling their unborn fetuses to research companies. There was just too much room for corruption.

But now that the abortion factor is OUT of the picture and we now have embryos that can be accessed, I think the government needs to step aside and let science move forward. It is also time for the Republican Party to demonstrate that it truly is NOT a puppet of the Religious Right because from here, it looks like they are.

I find their dedication to the Religious Right to be very frustrating. So for now, my position is that I continue to contribute financially to the Democratic Party who fight for the things I think are important: Women's Reproductive Rights, Rights for Homosexuals. And I will vote for the Republican Party to continue to defend our country and keep our taxes lowered.

My greatest concern is that if the Administration continues to allow the Religious Right to have so much of its demands met that this Administration will give Americans no other choice but to vote in a Democrat during the 2008 elections. I think that would be a mistake.