They’d like you to think that they’re normal, middle class guys and gals just like you . . .

But wouldn’t you just love to get a load of what Mrs. Heinz-Kerry and Mrs. Edwards fill their shopping carts with?  Seriously, I would love to see the grocery receipts for these gals.  Do they buy the name-brand stuff or the store-brand to save a few pennies?  If you looked in their showers, would you see Suave or some high-priced salon goop?  One of the things I just loved hearing about Laura Bush when she lived in the Governor’s Mansion here in Texas was that she uses Cover Girl makeup.  The First Lady of the United States of America and I wear the same makeup!  Isn’t that so cool?  And so real.  So normal. 

I have no idea why this thought ran through my mind, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder . . .

I was thrilled to read the following, in light of the tons of criticism and grief Mr. Gibson received before, during, and after the release of The Passion of the Christ:

Mel Gibson to be Awarded Producer of the Year at Hollywood Film Festival

HOLLYWOOD, October 6, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Hollywood Film Festival’s Board of Advisors, co-chaired by Paula Wagner, has announced that this year’s festival will honor Oscar-winning producer/director Mel Gibson with its “Hollywood Producer of the Year Award.” The award will be bestowed upon Mr. Gibson as part of the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony on Monday evening, October 18, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Gibson has earned numerous honors for his work as a producer, director and actor, including winning Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards and a Best Director Golden Globe Award for “Braveheart” (1995), among many other awards and nominations.

Most recently, Mr. Gibson independently produced and directed “The Passion of the Christ,” with exquisite cinematography by Caleb Deschanel and distribution by Newmarket Films, which quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and giant box office success, grossing more than $370 million in the U.S. and an estimated total of $604 million worldwide.

Two telling quotes from last night’s debate — thank you, Dick Cheney:

“So they, in effect, decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn’t stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to stand up to Al Qaeda?”

“I’m up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they’re in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.”

So few words to convey the fact that the Kerry/Edwards ticket licks its finger, holds it up to the wind, and says “Today our position is . . . ”  And I LOVE that he nailed John Edwards regarding never having met him in the Senate.  For a public servant to convince me that he’s truly concerned about the public welfare, he needs to show up at the office a little more often.  The libs give W such a hard time about “vacations” in Crawford, but Kerry and Edwards’ attendance records in the Senate don’t seem to merit much notice.  Hmmm . . .

Here is some information regarding what Edwards said on several issues, and what the documented facts are regarding those issues:

Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Vice Presidential Debate Highlights

Debate Highlights

He Said It:

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “If They Couldn’t Stand Up To The Pressures That Howard Dean Represented, How Can We Expect Them To Standup To Al Qaeda?”  VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “So they, in effect, decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn’t stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to standup to Al Qaeda?” (Vice President Richard Cheney, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04) 

He Said It:

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “Your Hometown Newspaper Has Taken To Calling You Senator Gone.” VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that’s not very distinguished.  You missed 33 out of 36 meetings in the Judiciary Committee.  Almost 70% of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee.  You’ve missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform.  Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you Senator Gone. You’ve got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate. Now, in my capacity as Vice President I am the President of the Senate, the presiding officer. I’m up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they’re in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.” (Vice President Richard Cheney, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04) 

Breaking Debate Fact # 1

Setting the Record Straight

Edwards’ False Statement:

John Edwards Tonight Contradicted The Conclusions Of The Senate Intelligence Committee, Of Which He Was A Member, And The 9/11 Commission In Denying That Contacts Existed Between Saddam Hussein And Al Qaeda. “You’ve gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There’s not, and in fact, the CIA is now about to report that the connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein is tenuous at best, and in fact, Secretary of Defense said yesterday that he knows of no hard evidence of the connection. We need to be straight with the American people.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report:

CIA “Reasonably Assessed” Contacts Between Iraq And Al Qaeda.  (Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, p. 346)

CIA’s Conclusion That Iraq Gave “Safehaven” To Al Qaeda “Was Reasonable.”  (“Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, p. 347)

The 9/11 Commission:

Vice Chair Of The 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton (D-IN): “[T]here Were Contacts Between Al Qaeda And Iraq Going Back Clear To The Early 1990s When Osama Bin Laden Was In Sudan, Then When He Was In Afghanistan. I Don’t Think There’s Any Dispute About That.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 6/20/04)

Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) Said Kerry’s Decision To Vote Against The Iraq Supplemental Was An Attempt “To Prove To Dean’s Guys” That He Was “Not A Warmonger.”  “But Biden’s bill had no chance of passing in a Republican-dominated Senate, and Kerry’s absurdly abbreviated account of the matter—’I did vote for the eighty-seven billion before I voted against it’—has left him open to relentless Republican ridicule. Biden himself ultimately voted for the money, and he confirmed that Kerry’s decision not to was ‘tactical,’ an attempt ‘to prove to Dean’s guys I’m not a warmonger.’”  (Philip Gourevitch, “Damage Control,” The New Yorker, 7/26/04)

Breaking Debate Fact # 3

Setting the Record Straight:

Edwards’ False Statement:

In Response To Question #2 John Edwards Said, “We Were Attacked By Al Qaeda And Osama Bin Laden. We Went Into Afghanistan And Very Quickly The Administration Made A Decision To Divert Attention From That And Instead To Begin To Plan For The Invasion Of Iraq.” (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

In September 2002, Edwards Supported Action Against Iraq Regardless Of Any Ties To 9/11. SEN. JOHN EDWARDS: “But I think, separate and apart from 9/11, we have Saddam Hussein, a man who invaded another country, who started a war in 1991, who lost the war, and has, since that time, flaunted numerous, what, 16, 17 U.N. Security resolutions. He’s got weapons of mass destruction. He’s trying to get nuclear capability. This is a very serious situation, and I think it’s incumbent on us to take the action necessary to rid the world of this threat.”  (Fox News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson,” 9/19/02)

In September 2002, Edwards Wrote:  “Iraq’s Destructive Capacity Has The Potential To Throw The Entire Middle East Into Chaos, And It Poses A Mortal Threat To Our Vital Ally, Israel.”  “Thousands of terrorist operatives around the world would pay anything to get their hands on Saddam Hussein’s arsenal and would stop at nothing to use it against us. America must act, and Congress must make clear to Hussein that he faces a united nation.” (Sen. John Edwards, Op-Ed, “Congress Must Be Clear,” The Washington Post, 9/19/02)

Breaking Debate Fact # 4

Edwards Said It:

Tonight Edwards Claimed Kerry Has Been Consistent From The Beginning On The War On Terror.  EDWARDS: “John Kerry has been absolute – absolutely clear and consistent from the beginning that we must stay focused on the people that attacked us.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

During The Democrat Presidential Primary, Edwards Slammed Kerry As Inconsistent.  “Edwards, on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ was asked about Kerry’s explanations of his vote for the resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq.  ‘He’s not been clear to me,’ Edwards said.  ‘I think he’s said some different things at different points in time.  So I think there’s been some inconsistency.'”  (Dan Balz and Paul Schwartzman, “Reinforcements Rally For Frantic Final Push,” The Washington Post, 1/26/04)

Breaking Debate Fact #5

Setting the Record Straight

Edwards’ False Statement:

In Response To Question #14 John Edwards Said, “We Do Have Too Many Lawsuits.”  (Sen. John Edwards, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04)

The Real Record:

According To One Of Edwards’ Trial Lawyer Supporters, Edwards “Said Medical Malpractice Reform Will Pass Over His Dead Body.”  (William Tucker, Op-Ed, “Edwards Confident Of Verdict,” The New York Sun, 8/20/03)

Edwards Voted To Kill Medical Malpractice Reform In 2002 And In 2003.

Kerry Opposed Or Voted To Block Medical Liability Reform At Least Ten Times. 

• Kerry Missed Both 2004 Votes On Medical Liability Reform.  The February 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the motion to proceed to consideration of the bill that would place caps on damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits against obstetricians and gynecologists. The April 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture on a similar bill that would curb awards against emergency and trauma center personnel, as well as ob-gyns. 

Medical Liability Reform Could Save Between $60 Billion And $108 Billion In Health Care Costs Annually, Making Health Insurance More Affordable For Millions.  (“Confronting The New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality And Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System,” U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services, 7/25/02, http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/litrefm.htm)

Since 1989, Kerry Has Received $15,217,154 From Lawyers, Most Of Any Senator In That Time Period.  (Center For Responsive Politics Website, http://www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 8/16/04)

The Department Of Health And Human Services Found That Capping Non-Economic Damages Has A Significant Impact In Reducing Malpractice Premiums.  Over the two-year span of 2001 and 2002, the rate of increase of medical liability insurance premiums in states with caps of $350,000 or less on non-economic damages (18%) was less than half the rate of increase of premiums in states without caps (45%).  (Addressing The New Health Care Crisis: Reforming The Medical Litigation System To Improve The Quality Of Health Care http://www.hhs.gov, 3/3/03)

I know I should probably be discussing this evening’s debate, but . . .

there’s not a whole lot I can say.  I’m a big fan of Dick Cheney’s intellect, and I despise lawyers that use other people’s misery to make themselves rich.  So it was difficult to watch with a unbiased attitude.  Cheney is great, and gracious, and exhibited the ultimate in class when Edwards was so crass as to bring Cheney’s daughter into the debate.  When Cheney only responded with thanks for Edward’s words, my husband said, “I bet you he promised his daughter that he wouldn’t bring her life preference into the political arena.”  He has a heck of a lot more self-control than I would have.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought it was completely inappropriate for Edwards to “make it personal”.

On a more frivolous front . . .

I had to run over to Wolf Camera to have some 8 x 10 enlargements of my entries for the county fair done.  I’ve been so busy, I’ve not had a chance to do them, and they have to be turned in Saturday!  Wolf could do them same day (whereas the local chains said 2 weeks!) — so I dropped them off and did a little “killing time” shopping.  Stopped by “Famous Footwear” to discover they were having a “going out of business” sale.  Got a pair of Clark’s — adorable leather mules that originally sold for $70.00.  Got them for $22!  Yeah, baby!  They are so comfortable.  My sister swears by Clark’s.

Then I stepped inside DSW.  Have no clue what that stands for, but it was the biggest shoe store I’ve ever been in.  And oh, my goodness.  Talk about candy for the eyes.  Row upon row upon row upon row of the most delightful shoes.  Expensive, dressy shoes.  Comfortable, casual shoes.  Etienne Aigner, Ralph Lauren, Cole-Hahn, Born, Nina, you name it — they have it.  I think I saw the thigh-high boots Julia Roberts wore in “Pretty Woman,” too.  Shoes that looked like jewelry for the foot.  Sigh.  It made me want to lose weight just so I could buy clothes to match all the beautiful shoes . . .

(I was a shoe-aholic in my earlier life . . .)

From a good friend of mine in Arkansas comes two versions of a familiar fable:

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,  constructing  his home and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and  plays  the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no  food or shelter, so he dies, out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  Be responsible

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, constructing   his home and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference   and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and   well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home and a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that  in   a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to   suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and   everybody cries when they sing, “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration – calling it racial   injustice- in  front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group   singing….,”We shall overcome.” Jesse then has the group kneel  down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Tom Daschle & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter   Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his “fair share.”

Finally, the EEOC drafts the “Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper   Act,” retroactive to the beginning of the summer.  The ant is   fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs  and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is   confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a   defamation suit against the ant. The case is tried before a panel   of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of   the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens  to  be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t  maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize  the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  Vote Republican

Thanks, darkstar218, for bringing this to my attention:

From the Chicago Sun-Times comes this gem from Teresa “I’ve got so many houses, I can’t remember where I left my toothbrush” Heinz Kerry:

‘Let them go naked’

Teresa Heinz Kerry, encouraging volunteers as they busily packed supplies Wednesday for hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean, said she was concerned the effort was too focused on sending clothes instead of essentials like water and electric generators. ”Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids,” said Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. ”Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes.”

————–

I would like to know what Terayza has done to lessen the suffering of the storm survivors?  She could buy out the entire clothing section of a Wal-Mart store to give to those people and not even notice a dent in her wallet, allowing others to focus on the water, generators, and food that she’s so worried about.  Or, send over a few Sparkletts trucks loaded up with bottled water, Sears generators, and grocery suppy trucks . . . and let the volunteers focus on the clothing. 

This is what burns me up about rich liberals.  They sit on their pedestals criticizing the good-hearted efforts of volunteers and rather than jumping into the fray to make up the difference where there may be lack . . . they prioritize what the volunteers should be focusing on.  Because as we all know, liberals are MUCH smarter than the average joe.  And they are quite adept at telling the average joe what he should be doing . . . with his time, his money, his life . . .

Ortho Evra Patch is not the dream contraceptive depicted in television ads:

I read the following article regarding the “Patch.”  I wonder how many young women (single and married) are looking to this patch as a safe, reliable means of birth control?  Please note the comment at the end (emphasis added by me).  I suppose “unplanned pregnancy” is a much more serious issue than unplanned death?

FDA Reveals 17 Fatalities in Two Years from Contraceptive “Sex Patch”

NEW YORK, September 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The contraceptive “sex patch” has been found responsible for 17 deaths in women age 17 to 30 since its release in 2002, according to a recent exposé by the New York Post. The Post used Freedom of Information laws to obtain records from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which also revealed 21 other “life-threatening” conditions such as blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks.

The contraceptive, marketed by ads with super models and Olympic athletes, is touted as a sexy alternative to the Pill. The Ortho Evra patch’s manufacturer, Ortho-McNeil, claims the patch is easier to remember than the pill because it requires only a once-weekly replacement, rather than the Pill’s daily dose.

Doctors who reviewed the report were staggered by the numbers. “This is a cause for concern,” NYU Medical Center gynecologist and professor Dr. John Quagliarello said. He said it was the first time he’d heard there was such a high death rate from the patch.

The Ortho Evra patch delivers a dose of contraceptive hormones into a woman’s blood stream via the skin. These hormones can trigger fatal heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots.

Ortho-McNeil claims the death rate from its patch is “consistent with the health risks” of taking the Pill. According to them, the Pill kills 0.3 to 1.9 women out of every 100,000 15 to 29 year old users. Smoking significantly increases the risk of death.

A spokeswoman for the UK’s Family Planning Association told the BBC news that “Women shouldn’t suddenly stop using the patch as they could then be at risk of unplanned pregnancy.”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
18 Year-Old New York Student Dies Suddenly from Birth Control Complications
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04040606.html

Here’s a frightening bit of information from Jeff Jacoby regarding our voting system:

How to steal an election
Jeff Jacoby (archive)

September 20, 2004 | Print | Send

A recent story that didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved was the New York Daily News report that 46,000 registered New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida.  Nearly 1,700 of them have had absentee ballots mailed to their home in the other state, and as many as 1,000 have voted twice in the same election.  Can 1,000 fraudulent votes change an election?  Well, George W. Bush won Florida in 2000 by just 537 votes.
 
It is illegal to register to vote simultaneously in different jurisdictions, but scofflaws have little to worry about.  As the Daily News noted, “efforts to prevent people from registering and voting in more than one state rely mostly on the honor system.”  Those who break the law rarely face prosecution or serious punishment.  It’s easy — and painless — to cheat.
 
    I learned this firsthand in 1996, when I registered my wife’s cat as a voter in Cook County, Ill., Norfolk County, Mass., and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and then requested absentee ballots from all three venues.  My purpose wasn’t to cast illegal multiple votes — I think I’ve still got those absentee ballots saved in a file somewhere — but to demonstrate how vulnerable to manipulation America’s election system had become.
 
    It was a simple scam to pull off.  “Under the National Voter Registration Act — the ‘Motor Voter law’ — states are required to accept voter registrations by mail,” I wrote at the time.  “No longer can citizens be asked to make a trip to town hall or the county office.  No longer do they have to provide proof of residence or citizenship.  In fact, they don’t have to exist.  Motor Voter obliges election officials to add to the voter list any name mailed in on a properly filled-out registration form.  Anyone so registered can then request an absentee ballot — by mail, of course.  The system is not only open to manipulation, it invites it.”
 
    As journalist John Fund shows in an alarming new book, “Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy,” the United States has an elections system that would be an embarrassment in Honduras or Ghana.  It is so unpoliced, he writes, that at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers “were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations.”
 
    How fouled up are the voter rolls?  So fouled up that in some cities there are more registered voters than there are adults.  So fouled up that when the Indianapolis Star investigated Indiana’s records a few years ago, it discovered that hundreds of thousands of names — as many as one-fifth of the total — were “bogus” since the individuals named had moved, died, or gone to prison.  So fouled up that when a Louisiana paper filed 25 phony voter-registration forms signed only with an “X,” 21 were approved and added to the voter list.
 
    Illegal aliens have been registered too, since under Motor Voter, any recipient of government benefits can sign up to vote — no questions asked.  Did that wide-open door to fraud cost former GOP Congressman Robert Dornan his seat in Congress?  An investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service following Dornan’s 1996 defeat by Democrat Loretta Sanchez found that 4,023 noncitizens may have cast ballots in that election.  Dornan lost by 984 votes.
 
    It shouldn’t take a degree in rocket science to fix a system this sloppy and chaotic.  But not everyone wants to fix it.  Some operatives don’t mind electoral cheating if it brings more of “their” voters to the polls.  Fund cites the findings of Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson and political scientist Larry Sabato, co-authors of a recent book on corruption in American politics.  Some liberal activists they interviewed go so far as to justify voter fraud on the grounds that such “extraordinary measures” compensate for the weaker political clout of minorities and the poor.
 
    One simple fix — requiring every voter to show ID when registering and voting — would seem to be a no-brainer.  Opinion polls show the vast majority of Americans in favor of such a reform.  After all, ID is required when boarding an airplane or buying liquor.  Why not when voting?
 

©2004 Boston Globe

Here’s an interesting news tidbit — I’ve put in bold some of the more interesting points:

Catholics Give Kerry Cool Welcome in Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE, September 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of Catholic protesters gave John Kerry an unexpectedly cool welcome in that working class, traditionally Democrat town. Students, children, workingmen, housewives and nuns in full habits arrived in the rain at the park where Kerry planned to speak hours before his arrival. Carrying signs that read, “Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church,” “You Can’t be Catholic and Pro-Abortion,” and “Pontius Pilate was Also Personally Opposed.”

Clutching Rosaries, a crowd that the Sheriff’s department estimated as large as 500, marched and silently protested the presidential candidate’s anti-life stand on abortion. Kerry who claims to be a devout Catholic, was visibly shaken when his speech was booed in this town that campaign organizers had expected to be enthusiastically supportive.

Steubenville is a union-based town that has been hit hard by tough times and is normally a bastion of Democrat support. However, Kerry campaign organizers did not know about the impact on the local community of Catholics organized around Franciscan University. Local churches and Catholics from throughout the Diocese of Steubenville took part in the march they said was meant for reverence, prayer, sacrifice and to challenge Kerry to stand up for life. “We prayed all four mysteries of the rosary,” Emily Bissonnette, a junior at the university, said. “We also have people praying back at school.”

The Kerry team tried several times to have the protesters barred from the park. The local constabulary was less than co-operative however citing freedom of speech and assembly and the fact that the rally, and therefore the protest, were being held in a public park. “They don’t look dangerous to me,” the Sheriff said.

One person present said that a little girl started chanting “we want Bush” in the midst of Kerry’s speech. “We all chanted along. The campaign staff was beside themselves.” The local councilman at large, Michael Hernon passed out Bush-Cheney signs to those waiting in line. “If you look at the record, Kerry is not good for this area,” he said. “He is not in sync with steel. This is the largest counter-rally protest during a Kerry rally in the nation.”

Herald Star coverage:
http://www.hsconnect.com/news/story/095202004_new04news090504.asp

Notes from those present along with photos can be seen at:
http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/9/5/123340/8278

Cool Sisters, Hurricanes, Miss O’Hara, and as the King of Siam said, “Etc., etc., etc.” . . .

I love my sister so much.  She came down Friday night and painted my kitchen for me.  I hate to paint.  Absolutely hate to paint.  And she came down with my niece and nephew and painted my kitchen while the kids played and I kept her company.  That’s all I had to do.  Am I lucky, or what?

She’s got exceptionally good taste and helped me pick out the colors months ago.  We painted the cabinets “Dark Indigo” with brushed nickel hardware last year, but I’d been procrastinating on the walls and trim because . . . I hate to paint.  Well, they are now the most beautiful colors.  The walls are “Hot Chowder” and the trim is “Scrimshaw.”  All three are from Alexander Julian’s paint collection at Lowe’s.  My kitchen is simply beautiful.  And it’s all because of my beautiful sister!

On a different note, our hearts are going out to those poor people in Florida.  We were greatly relieved to hear that our friends, Cathy and Marc, who live in Miami, made it through okay.  And now Ivan is brewing out there, headed for who knows what poor coastline.  We can only pray that he heads to the North Atlantic and dies a harmless death.

Thought of Miss O’Hara earlier today when I caught a bit of a program on PBS about Deusenbergs!  While I know she’s partial to the Chevy line, and Corvettes in particular, this little program focused on the classic Deusenberg and I couldn’t help but imagine our dear Miss dressed in 1930’s style cruising on a sunny Saturday in a Deusy (whence the term “doozie” came from).  Check out http://www.greatcarstv.com for more information about these very interesting programs.

Also caught a glimpse of James Carville and Mary Maitlin with Tim Russert this morning.  Now there’s a prime example of the ability to compartmentalize!  I do not know how those two can be so far apart philosophically, and yet marry, have children, and supposedly get along in all areas but politics.  It absolutely blows my mind.  If I were Mary Maitlin (well, first of all, I would never have married Carville), but I might be tempted to smother the man in his sleep with a pillow.  He is SO obnoxious!  I just don’t understand it . . . One thing he kept harping on was how the Republicans “used that poor man in the twilight of his career” referring to Zell Miller.  Can you believe it?  He claimed that Karl Rove wrote the speech, but Mary insisted that Zell Miller wrote his own speech, and it was full of passion, like Miller.  I have to admit I’ve heard quite a few Republicans express concern over how angry Miller seemed when he was giving the speech.  I think he was angry, and with good reason.  Why is righteous anger seen as a bad thing?  I think more Americans need to get angry about what’s going on in our government.  The Dems have no problem getting angry.  The Republicans need to stop worrying about appearing nice, and start playing hardball. 

It’s like the Republicans show up in their tea party finest and the Dems are dressed out for a blood and guts rugby match.  I say, “Let’s spill some blood!  It makes the grass grow!”

Yes, I have a violent streak.  I try to keep it under wraps, except at events where it’s more acceptable . . . like hockey games and such.