Gifts for those who have everything...

You just have to purchase this mug that when a hot beverage is poured inside, turns all the states into blue states. What a day in paradise that would really be, right?

And, if you want a really special gifts, go here to purchase a mug that when hot beverages are poured inside, you can watch what happens to the Bill of Rights. You'll discover that many of them will fade away thanks to the Patriot Act.

Who are these funny and bright people who think of these things?!

$199 New Computers

I just thought this tech deal was too good to keep silent about. Sears has begun selling new Mirus computers for $299 with a $100 mail-in rebate. Here are the computer specs: Mirus Intel Celeron D 420-1.6Ghz 1GB RAM 80GB HD CDRW Freespire-Linux OS. It comes with a CD-RW optical drive, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, 56K Modem, Ethernet, and a 15-in-1 Memory Card Reader.

Of course, the operating system is a linux based and all the software is open source, still, it's a good deal for a cheap price if you're looking for either a second computer for the home or you want to escape the Microsoft madness.

Another Great Joke

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"

Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way:

I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.

Now think about that and see if it makes sense."

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy say's to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now." The father says, "Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies, "The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit!!

Max Blumenthal Latest Video

This is a hilarious video recorded at a Young Republican's convention.



h/t Pam's House Blend

A Must-see Movie

Ain't It Fabulous?

Bless you my child...

Starbucks in New York City

A Wonderful Housewarming Gift

I love housewarming or just, 'thinking of you' gifts. I especially like do make them myself or, convert something I find in a fleamarket and make it extra special. In this vein, I found a blog post on how to make your own soap. It has all the necessary steps and the finished product can be dressed up nicely. The only thing missing from this recipe is the perfume you can add, such as cucumber or rose, which would have been a nice addition to this post. It's still a fab way to make an inexpensive gift.

Sad News: Heath Ledger Found Dead

by The Associated Press

Posted: January 22, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
Updated 5:30 pm Et, 6:00 pm ET, 6:30 pm ET

(New York City) Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28.

It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide. He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers gathered outside the building on an upscale block. Ledger's body was still inside, and several police officers guarded the door.

The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan - as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in "The Dark Knight," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins."

He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball." He also played a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian film "Candy."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

His movie career caught on anyway, culminating with his Academy Award nomination opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback."

"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson's memorable turn in 1989's "Batman."

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Powerful Words Seldom Spoken

Here is one reason that I like Obama. He said,

For most of this country’s history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for president, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.

Can you think of a political candidate who speaks like this, besides Obama? You can read more of the story by going here.

h/t to The Daily Dish

"Quote Unquote"

"He should be remembered for his wonderful 1972 victory over Spassky, rather than the sad and prolonged end-game of his personal life." Quoted by Philip Hollywood, UK, responding to the news that famed chess master Bobby Fischer has died at age 64 from an unspecified illness.

Amazing Commercial

I actually wanted to post this on my church blog but, for the sake of a enigmatic phone call from a church member just moments ago, I think it wiser to post it here (on my personal blog). It's a commercial tackling the question of when politics and religion involve themselves in arenas where they shouldn't be.

And, it has Jack Kulgman in it.

She Just Doesn't Get It

"I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs."

Said, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to justify her conservative plan to give tax breaks to corporations — instead of working Americans — by arguing that people actually like working long hours.

Source: Think Progress

Saying something this incredulous is akin to saying something like, "What's the big deal, don't you know that women enjoy the attention of an abusive husband." Or, it's very similar to what Barbara Bush said of those who found shelter in the Houston Astrodome, "[they are] underprivileged anyway, so this is working well for them." Such a thoughtless remark of either woman is only reflective of their callous unconcern for poorer people.

I mean, come on already...no one wants to work two jobs and extra long hours!! Just even entertain such a notion only reveals an upper-crusted classism with no regard or compassion for those in a situation where they have to do it.

Danger! It's THEIR Fault!

I hate it when new reports spread a new threat and zero the blame on a scapegoat that others deem acceptable to blame. It's all a vicious cycle and continues at the expense of fear, shame, and 'them gays'.

The newest Danger Report seems to imply blame to all gay men for the spread of a drug resistant staph infection. In the report (you can read it here), gay folks who have the sex drives of wild dogs are blamed for giving to the general population a new virus that is untreatable with current medication. The report cites that it is probable and possible that gays are to blame and yet, everyone is treating this as fact and using it as one more excuse why we're all irresponsible and selfish.

Thanks God Pam Spalding's blog posted a clear response that addresses this issue correctly. It appears that his drug resistant staph infection has been going on for awhile and that hospitals are largely to blame for not addressing the situation caused by gay and straight folk alike. You can read another post from a different blog that also cries afoul.

Sure, such a legitimate response doesn't help the right-wing fundies proclaim to the masses, "You see, them gays are irresponsible and their lifestyle is deadly--so they don't deserve affirmation and spiritual support--all they care about is pleasing themselves at everyone else's expense." But that's what they're counting on--and to read the left-wing blogs, there are too few voices out there challenging the homophobic danger mantra currently in full swing.

Go here to read a more balanced medical response to the infection.

Great Comment, Scary Comment

First, here's the comment:

"What's wrong with having religious zealots run a government? Seems to be working well in Iran."

Now here's the scary comment:

Huckabee said:

"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards," Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman." (emphasis mine)

Go here for the post and the added comments (which are as good as the post)

Thank You Notes

Few things in life are as refined and appreciated (or can cause others to judge you severely for not doing) than Thank You Notes. And, the older one gets, the more it is expected. When a young person does it, everyone knows that a parent was standing over the child forcing them to write one.

So how do you go about saying just the right thing? Fortunately for us all, there is a website that offers just the right information, printable templates (for doing it on the cheap), recommendations for putting more financial effort into it, doing it yourself, as well as examples to for just the right occasion.

Go here for the Free Thank You Notes Samples.

And be sure to thank me. ;)

Interesting Movie Preview

Wanna Hear Something Funny?

I have been spending time now that the Christmas season is past writing 'thank you notes' to those in and around my church who gave me gifts over the holidays. Some folks gave me doggie treats for Maggie. Others made cookies. One gave me a nice candle and another person gave me a shirt. This week, I finished writing all my thank you notes and dropped them in the mailbox. All except one gift, that is. I had no idea who sent it.

Upon explaining my query to my secretary, she informed me: "Oh that, yeah, the funeral home sent it." I responded, "The funeral home sent me two boxes of red and white wine?!" Suddenly I felt like what my doctor (or senator) must feel like when pharmaceutical companies (or lobbying groups) give gifts of appreciation. A part of me is curious about this knowing that funeral homes make some of their money through the churches who recommend them to their dying church members. Another part of me said, "Woo-hoo!! I love wine!"

I actually haven't met the folks at funeral home located in the town south of me yet. I have met the funeral home folks in the town west of me. I should stop by. Perhaps I could drink an entire bottle first, stagger in, and say, "Daaaaang, it smells like someone died in here." Perhaps I shouldn't do that, I might not get anymore wine next year.

Who Knew They Could Fly?!

You may have already seen pictures like this, especially during Shark Week on television. Still, they are impressive, right? Go here to read the story.


And can you imagine what these guys were thinking when they saw looked around and realized, "You know, this business of me being out here with only a paddle or a surfboard is truly insane."

Ouch!

An Alternative to the Electoral College?!

It's about dang time already!!

Go here, read the article, and then run out into the street (looking both ways first, of course) and celebrate. From what this article says, if each individual state follows suit, it could very well take shape by this coming election (or next).

Back to NJ

I just recently returned from my fabulous vacation to Oklahoma. I haven't posted in awhile--and taking a break from it has been refreshing. While I have kept up with reading various blogs, not writing about something everyone is writing about made for a relaxing vacation.

Okay, so I am back now and want to post a superfluous post.

A couple of weeks ago, Jay and I picked up a box of Blow Pops from BJs (yeah, yeah, there is definitely a joke in there somewhere--but let me finish my story, ok?). You remember Blow Pops. They are the sucker with the gum inside. I love those things but one problem I have with them is that as I have grown older, I have also grown more impatient. I can lick through one of those things in about 4 minutes.

So, realizing I need more to lick, I went and purchased a few Super Blow Pops. In the event you haven't heard of these things, they are about 4 times the size of a regular Blow Pop. And let me tell you another thing, getting my mouth around the sucker causes my jaw to pop (I have TMJ in my jaw). So, being careful not to click my jaw has caused me to lick more slowly. And, given the huge size of the dang sucker, I just spent the last 20 minutes on one Super Blow Pop.

If you don't mind the sugar rush and the permanently stained blue tongue (okay, so it's not really permanent; it's just such a dark hue of blue, it looks like it will be), then go get yourself over to The Sugar Stand and pick up a box of blowpops for yourself (and it'll save you a trip to BJs and all those uncomfortable jokes people will make after you tell them you went there to buy a box of suckers).