Daffodil Lane: March 2006 Archives

« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »

March 31, 2006

House GOP Rejecting Any Compromise On Immigration

No big surprises here. The racist Republican core has been enraged at this point. They want the immediate implementation of their racist hate ideology at the federal level. Their goons in the Republican House are happy to oblige. Meanwhile the Corporate owned Republicans are getting their strings pulled and they are jumping immediately to their masters bidding. The only real winners out of all this is the Democrats because they've been able to use the divide to destroy the racist core of the Republican immigration bill in the Senate. Now the House Republicans are screaming for blood, hysterical threatening that they will accept no compromise. These are Republicans folks, if they are screaming it's because they haven't gotten their kickbacks yet, they have no moral principal to speak of. I imagine that the proper campaign contributions will be made over the next couple of weeks and they will fold immediately. I thought it was really interesting that one of the Republican House members tried to make it out like the Republican party represented the interests of the little guys and that people who were working for the big corporate types were the enemies of the Republicans. Dude! You guys are bought and sold to lowest bidder on every vote? This is the guy that supported every Republican Tax Cut for the wealthy, bowing to every corporate welfare program that the Republican party brought forward. I mean it's a desperate bit of spin since everyone knows that the Republicans are owned by Corporate America. Corporations know if they give money to the Democrats they will be punished, remember?? This is all you idiots! Republican spin has gotten so stupid and crazy at this point I would hope even the dumbest Neo-con can see it now. but Republicans are pretty stupid, so I'm not holding my breath.

Democrats Pick Up Steam In Latest Polls

No surprises here. All the latest numbers show the Republicans slipping, but I look at the numbers and I'm not pleased with them at all. Democrats should be massively ahead at this point in the race. As it stands now it's looking like they are only going to pick up two additional Senate seats. In the races where the Republicans are leading, only one of them is greater than 8 points. My question is what does it take to convince a red stater to vote against the guys that are destroying America? It would appear nothing can convince them...back to the broken glass Republicans notion. They hate this country so much that the Republicans could kill their family members before their eyes and they would still vote for them in the next election. They are just that hardcore and hate this country that much. I'm curious what's the hold up with the undecided independents, what will it take to reach them? There are 12% of them that are undecided, I wonder what's going on in their heads.

[via Huffington Post]

Ann Coulter Given 30 Days to Explain Vote Fraud Felony Allegation!

A worthless lying piece of human scum that's a Republican is nothing new in this country. They are breaking the law everywhere they can in this country. What's wild about this is the notion of one of the scumbags actually being held accountable for breaking the law. Coulter is probably one of the most despicable pieces of trash that makes up the Republican party, so it's only fitting that she be made to answer for her crimes. I image that the Republicans will swoop in a save her from her criminality. Republicans love felons, they represent their values and hate ideology. Jeb will probably pardon her from all crimes that she's committed, and I'm expecting we will see much the same kind of pardons for Rush as well. Republicans love criminals, they want to set them all free to destroy the United States.

In Lieu of Flowers. Vote Democratic

The folks over at Talk Left noticed this movement forming. It's an interesting notion for partisan type folks. I guess you could even make a case for it for non-partisan folks who just want their families to go on living in a decent world. The Republicans have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they lack the ability to make America safe and successful, so there really is only one choice left that's for sure. It looks like we've all found another way to annoy worthless human trash that makes up the Republican party even from beyond the grave.

A Conversation With Mudcat Saunders

This is more of a political side note that I saw and like the writer found very interesting. For those of you that have never heard of him, Mudcat is the guy that helped get Warner elected in Virgina. He's considered to be quite expert in Red State politics for the Democrats. Anyway the folks over at Political Wire made an interesting note from their interview with him. He said he wasn't going to be helping Warner with his campaign, but instead thought that John Edwards was the more interesting candidate. Wow is all I can say on that subject! I always thought he was the best choice, I've yet to see a convincing Presidential Candidate other than Feingold come on the scene yet. I could easily vote a Edwards/Feingold ticket and I suspect that most of America could do the same.

U.S. Losing Unofficial Space Race

This is what I love about Republicans...things are never a problem until they get their heads out the sand and realize it's a problem. Well yeah you stupid fools, most of us that actually can read and write have been aware of the problem for quite a while now. It's so amusing how quickly the America hating Republicans went about dismantling the space program. For years they've encouraged it to be devalued and neglected. They've used it as a demonstration of government waste. And they've made sure the most incompetent and mentally weak leaders were put in charge of the organization. They have harassed and cajoled the great minds working at NASA hoping to drive them out. The Republican party has done everything within it's power to undermine the American presence in space. And now suddenly they realize that the future is where it has always been...in the stars. And our opponents are going to get there way before us. I wonder who's fault that could be???? Sort of like Bush screaming at us that America's addicted to oil. You think crackhead?? Whose fault could that be?? Republicans have been mismanaging the government in one way or another for the last 30 years, you think that could have had anything to do with it? Do you think the continuous attacks on anyone that tried to fix things, could have anything to do with it? You do think the trillions of dollars you've poured into the think tanks to put out pseudoscience attacks on people who were trying to help this country could have anything to do with it?? We are losing the race all right, on every single front. There is only one solution. Removal of every Republican from every level of our government. Then we need to start cleaning up science and the media of their taint and sinister influence. After we do all that, we might have a chance not to become a second rate third world country.

Prescribing of hyperactivity drugs is out of control

Amen to that!! I understand the urge...we live in a fast paced society and a kid that's being a kid rapidly becomes a problem, but that doesn't mean that the solution is the drug them into a coma. The vast majority of kids that are being put on the drugs are bored and nothing else. Now you can decide that it's a fault with the kid or you can realize that something needs to change in how their lives are being run. I mean nearly every night that Alexis doesn't get a nap, she's a wild banshee and now there are two ways to deal with that...you can decide that it's inconvenient and drug her, or you can realize that it's situational and move on. But instead we have caregivers suggesting to parents that they have their kids checked hoping to solve their problem without having to step up to address the source. Americans are going to have to slow down and take the time to raise their kids, end of story. The fact that these drugs have horrible side effects like hallucinations is just the tip of iceberg. What kind of developmental challenges are they masking that could help these children become effective and functional adults? If you don't have the time to spend on raising your kids, then you need to take a step back and not go down that road. I know it sounds harsh, but it's the reality that needs to be accepted in this country. Sometimes you just can't have it all, get over it. Choose one or the other and stop punishing kids for your indecision.

Bill Clinton's A Convert To Dean's 50-State Project

Now that's what I like to see happening. Clinton is a hardcore DLC'er like his wife, but if they can get the concept of rebuilding the party from the ground up and we will all be better off in the long run. I'm not sure why Dean didn't go to him first of course, Clinton has been busy for a while now. For the life of me I can't understand why establishment Democrats refuse to abandon a failing strategy for one that has the potential to work. The Republicans have the entire media, the entire religious establishment practically and unlimited resources of Corporate America support them. The only way we are going to make any progress is appeal straight to the American people, who are getting screwed over by these three groups. There is no other answer that makes any sense at all. When the new political machine delivers in 2006 and in 2008, we will revisit these fools that have railed against it continuously since Dean started the project and see what they are saying about it. I'm sure they will take credit for it and claim they supported all the time. It's impossible to tell the DLC'ers from the Republican party, they both use the same tired lies and misdirections.

Blast From The Past

Rat tails...Seriously...Are we back there?

Dear God!!

1985 called and it wants its hair back!!

Posted by Daffodil at 12:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ready To Go See The Easter Bunny

Posted by Daffodil at 12:47 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Easter Bunny 2006

You'll notice she's much happier than last year, but she's also standing about 2 feet in front of him. She did the same thing with Jamison's dad for their Santa pictures last winter. She was thrilled to go see the Easter Bunny, couldn't stop talking about giving him a hug and sitting on his lap, but much like with Santa this past Christmas as soon as she got there she got all shy, though we did get a picture with the Bunny and did not with Santa. Regardless the pictures turned out to be cute and that's all I was after. :o)

Posted by Daffodil at 12:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Study fails to show healing power of prayer

I have to wonder if that the psychology of attribution didn't play a role here. I mean if you think people might be praying for you and something positive happens to you, then you attribute it to the prayer and assume that it's working. Your positive attitude contributes to your recovery. Verses if you've been told that people are praying for you and then something bad happens, you assume that it's not working and you assume God may have forsaken you. That would also explain why the people that were told they might be prayed for had the same results as the ones that were actually prayed for. I think the important thing to take away from all this is that the human mind is a very powerful tool in the healing process that shouldn't be underestimated. It also suggests that a person's faith can be a double edged sword when it's manipulated. Which we can see with your average Neo-Christian fanatics are constantly manipulated and most of them end up being soulless monsters. I think this points to a need for extreme caution in the area of religion.

Mexican flag burned at Apache Junction HS

Republican Racism at it's finest! The Republicans have been feeding racism for decades now with their Southern Strategy, telling people it's ok to hate long as you vote Republican. Now they are suddenly telling those racists to embrace the Republican hate machine, that it's their job to shut up and tolerate a fundamental attack on their beliefs to support the will of the corrupt business interests that actually run the Republican party. And now we see a growing backlash from the racists against the Republican party. If these kinds of events keep happening this could rapidly move from a disagreement within the Republican party to a Republican civil war, but that's how things go when you embrace hate, it comes back to bite you, though Republicans are too stupid to learn from the mistakes of the past.

March 30, 2006

Loose Change - 2nd Editon

For years I've had a lot of doubts about what actually went down on 9/11. The pieces of the puzzle just don't fit together and as evidence continues to come out daily it shows that those of us who have had some doubts were right to do so. How did a plane crash into a 16 foot hole in the side of the Pentagon? Where did the wings and the rest of the plane go? Why were there no big plane pieces left? Why did the buildings implode down on themselves in New York? Why were there so many reports of other explosions especially right before the buildings imploded? Where is the wreckage from flight 93? When a plane crashes there is always debris, even planes that were blown up in mid air like the one over Lockerbie leave large chunks of aircraft, so where were the pieces of flight 93? These are but a few of the questions that need to be answered, so why is there such a cover up?

Loose Change - 2nd Edition is an excellent documentary! Get a copy. It's points out a lot of inconsistencies with the "official" 9/11 "story" that have bugged me all along and puts together information that may surprise you.

Posted by Daffodil at 10:12 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Green Purse

Posted by Daffodil at 9:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Sandbox Intensity

Click on the extended entry below to see more sand box fun!

Posted by Daffodil at 8:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Some People Are Completely Crazy!!

Some people are just nuts....completely and certifiably nuts! This afternoon Alexis and I ran to the drugstore to get some vitamin E and Alexis asked to go to Starbucks, so I decided to give her a treat and said yes. I was in a good mood given I was healthy and Alexis took a nap so I thought it would be fun to let her go get a Starbucks and see the angels.

We went into Starbucks and ordered our drinks...A tall Strawberry Cream with no whipped cream for her and a venti unsweetened Passion Iced Tea (it's caffeine free) for me. We set out up the sidewalk to go see the angels and ended up walking all the way up to PetsMart to see the fish and cats as well. Alexis had fun running and I had fun following her.

When we got back to the end of the sidewalk in front of Starbucks I saw a guy and noticed he had a SNAKE wrapped around his hand and immediately switched sides with Alexis and started walking faster. What the hell was he doing with a snake in front of Starbucks? I thought to myself slightly panicked. As I've mentioned before I don't do snakes! It comes from growing up in the South with various aggressive poisonous type snakes you had to watch out for. I know snakes are good in the food chain, but I'd rather live in blissful ignorance of their existence and never see them!

Anyway, the guy stood up and started moving toward us and I thought I was going to die. Then he started speaking:

"Do you want to let your little girl touch the snake?"

"No!"

"Oh come on, she'd enjoy it."

"Over...My...Dead...Rotting...Corpse!!!"

"But, I've got another snake..."

And that's when I noticed it...I hadn't seen it before...he had a huge duffel bag at his feet and he unzipped it and there lay the biggest snake I've ever seen in my life! It was yellow and was as big around as a cantaloupe, probably some sort of python if I had to guess, but who knows I'm not a snake expert! It had to be at least 6 feet long and my breath stopped! I felt like I was never going to start breathing again!

"Dear God!" I exclaimed as I swept Alexis up in my arms and quickly moved her across the street.

Alexis' eyes got huge as she saw the snake and she called over my shoulder, "No tank you! I don't want to touch that smake!! Smakes are meant to be in the forwest!!"

As we hurried away a couple of teenaged girls came up and started talking to him about the snakes and I couldn't help but wonder what their mothers would think if they saw their babies touching those creatures and talking to that weird man!!

When I got in the car I immediately called Jamison to rant about how stupid people are. And then it dawned on me...why in the hell did he have these snakes out in public in front of Starbucks? I'll buy that they might need some sunshine, but for God's sake keep them at home in your own backyard! The rest of us don't want to see your snakes!!!!

Posted by Daffodil at 6:18 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

US debt clock running out of time, space

Maybe this will be simple enough for the average Republican to understand what kind of people they really are. The debt clock is reaching the point at which they don't have enough room to display the national debt and they can barely keep up with the speed of the debt growth under the current Republican regime. The amount of money each family owes is always growing so quickly that they are going to have to add another decimal place to handle it. This the legacy that defines the Republican party. Their complete inability to grasp the concept of the fact that we the people will have to pay this money back someday. Your average Republican doesn't care because they are still focused on the Rapture and what they see as escape from all this debt and they are running the nation deep into the red. What's going to be bad is that the only way to fix it will be to raise taxes and then we will hear the screams of righteous indignation when the Democrats are forced to do it. And the Republican hate thought will spew out and they will whine about government waste and their dream of living in anarchy without any government at all.

The blogosphere nails a California Republican

I really don't think the Republican party gets it. There are now tens of thousands of people watching every move they make and none of us have anything approaching a great love for the violent hate filled agenda of the radical right wing anti-America Republican party. So the race in the CA-50 is looking bad for the GOP right now. Latest polling is suggesting 45% for Busby. So one of the Republicans in the race decided he's going to put up some pictures on his website of a "peaceful" Iraq. The problem is that he tries to pass off a picture of Istanbul as Iraq. Now this could easily fool your average brain-dead Republican drone, but everyone else has a bit more of a grasp on reality and we have quite a few world travelers in our midst.

Anyway the Republicans blamed it on the Webmaster saying there must have been some mix up. So they put up a new picture of Baghdad to prove how peaceful it was. Which is fine, but the picture is of the heavily militarized Green Zone in Iraq. Now you have to wonder if the guy went out of the Green Zone and if he really has any grasp of what the environment is like in Iraq. Republicans are natural born liars, but after a certain point it just goes so far beyond the realm of acceptable to ignore their behavior that you have ask yourself can these guys be trusted to lead? The only answer is absolutely not.

I'm beginning to wonder how good Busby is actually doing. If the Republicans are desperate to be trotting out these kinds of lies this far out in the race, their internal polling must be showing them in a terrible situation coming down the pipe. Many more of these kinds of activities and I'm going to have to reconsider my original analysis of the race. If you can help out Francine please do.

It's amazing how fast it went from the Blog world to the Traditional Media. Perhaps there are changes happening behind the scenes.

Now She's Just Cracking Me Up!

"What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?"

"Unwoading the dishwasher...Good job Mommy!"

Posted by Daffodil at 4:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sometimes One's Own Mortality Just Comes Up and Smacks You In the Head For Good Measure

First off before anyone gets all in a tizzy let me assure you I'm fine. Did you hear that? I'M FINE!! Now let's get to the nuts and bolts of the story shall we?

A few weeks ago I started having a slight pain in my left breast. Being that it was that time of the month I just chalked it up to my monthly cycle and called it a day. But once my cycle came and went and the pain lingered I started getting a little worried. Last week I called my OBGYN and scheduled an appointment. Even though I couldn't feel a lump, pain that lingers in a breast tends to be something you want to get checked out. It's one of those things you can never be too cautious about. They scheduled my appointment for today and we set off for Annapolis to go see my lovely OBGYN. I like her, but to be honest once a year is more than enough to see her! She's a great woman personally (or seems that way anyway), but I'm not a big fan of the poking and prodding and I had no idea what today would bring.

Over the past few weeks my mind of course went through all of the possible outcomes. Perhaps it was just an infection or a bacterial thing, which could easily be treated by an antibiotic, but inevitably your mind always goes to the worst possible scenario....what if it was breast cancer? I rationalized in my mind that I'm young and healthy, and given the fact that we couldn't feel a lump that had to be a good sign. That meant we caught it early and catching something like this early is always a good thing. But inevitably your mind always has that dark voice in the back of your head which points out things when you least expect it like, "What if it's bad and you don't make it?" or "If you die now Alexis will never actually know you." I don't like that voice! That voice makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out! That voice makes my heart break for Alexis and earned her tons of extra hugs and kisses over the past few weeks, which is saying something given that she gets tons of hugs and kisses to start with. At that point all I knew to do was pray, wait and worry. So that's what I did...I'm good at that.

Last night I did a little research online with my symptoms, which I had avoided up to this point because sometimes too much information is bad when you're mind is already working overtime, and most of the information I found pointed one of two ways...it was a hormone thing where my hormones were all out of whack or it was a rare form of breast cancer. My mind wouldn't listen to reason though and in my mind I was just sure it was the latter because that little voice was working overtime. This morning Jamison did some research and came up with the same line of thinking. He was then convinced it was the hormones, while in my mind I prayed that that was what it was, but there was still that little voice that wouldn't let me completely jump onto the hormone ship.

We arrived 20 minutes early for my appointment and they took me right back and Alexis came with me. There was a little boy in the waiting room that was in her personal space and when they called my name she wasn't hanging around with him! I was thrilled that they could go ahead and get this thing going as the waiting was really getting to me. The nurse checked my blood pressure (140/100), which was a little high for me given that I always run around 118/78. That worried me a bit, but I wasn't sure what that meant. Alexis amused me though as she tried to figure out what they were doing and kept asking the nurse questions. "What are you doing to Mommy?" "Does that hurt her?" "Mommy does that hurt you?" We assured her it didn't and explained blood pressure to her. "Dr. West doesn't do that to me" she informed us. "No sweetie, she doesn't do that to you because you're too young." My daughter is ever the inqusitive one and she's quite protective of me too. If that doesn't warm your heart then I don't know what will! After that Jamison came back and joined us and I felt immediately more calm about the whole situation.

In the past when I've had a bacterial sinus infection my blood pressure has gone up a bit while I was sick, but it always goes back to the 118/78 mark soon after the antibiotic kicks in. After she examined me she told me what my mind was hoping for...it is just a hormone surge and nothing drastic! I didn't need an antibiotic I just have to increase my vitamin E intake and avoid caffeine (which isn't a big deal for me, since I don't get that much caffeine to start with) and if the pain persists start taking Evening Primrose Oil. But the good news is that it wasn't a cyst or cancer! And after all that's the most important part! The shift most likely happened due to recent weight gain/loss, since I am forever trapped in a cycle of that sort as of late, but I'm working diligently to work that out as well. The blood pressure issue is tied to the hormonal shift, so I'm going to keep an eye on that and expect that to go back to it's normal 118/78 in the next few days as things settle down and get back to normal.

So I am thankful that I am ok! And I'm thankful that there is some certainty that I will see my daughter grow up and I will be able to spend time with Jamison. Life itself is uncertain, but at least I know that I am still relatively healthy and I don't have to worry about something of that nature taking me prematurely. That's all I can ask for. Prayers truly are answered and I thank God for listening.

Posted by Daffodil at 2:08 PM | Comments (3)

Green Hat

Posted by Daffodil at 9:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Jill Carroll Freed

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American hostage Jill Carroll, the freelance journalist released on Thursday in Iraq after nearly three months in captivity, said she was "treated very well" while she was held.
"They never said they would hit me. They never threatened me in any way," she said in a TV interview after her release.

The interview was broadcast by Baghdad Television, a station owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party. It was conducted inside the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group.

Wearing glasses and a hijab scarf, she said, "They allowed me once to see TV. They also allowed me once to read the paper but it wasn't enough to know what's going on in the outside world."

Throughout her ordeal, she said, "I was allowed to move in a small space."

Carroll, 28, also said that she didn't know exactly where she was held, because the room she was in had a frosted window.

As for her release, the journalist said she doesn't "know what really happened. They just came to me this this morning and told me they will release me."

Her father, Jim Carroll. first saw images of his daughter in the Baghdad Television video aired on CNN and said he is "pleased and relieved."

I'm so happy she has been released and is ok! It's nice to see a happy ending to one of these stories!

Found via CNN News.

Posted by Daffodil at 8:27 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

McKinney incident

So the radical right wing is all a tizzy over this one. A Georgia Representative wasn't recognized by the capital police when she was heading to her office. The officer allegedly ran after her and attempted to grab her from behind and she reacted by defending herself. I'm no expert on security, but anyone that grabs a woman from behind had better expect to be picking up his teeth off the floor. I'm sorry, but it's just not done in this day and age. The Neo-cons of course started rumors that she was going to be arrested, practically drug off the floor of the House for questioning Republican security measures. Bull!! The world doesn't work that way folks. I know that's the Republican dream plan to just arrest all the Democrats and send them to Gitmo and live in a world of continuous hate and fear for the rest of time. It's just not going to happen folks. You America haters can dream all you want for the rest of time, but it's just not going to happen. I hope McKinney is nice enough to let the Republican Gestapo off with a warning.

March 29, 2006

Leaves

We have one pile of leaves left in the yard that I was using over the winter to cover my garden and flower beds. I took the leaves off the garden the other day and piled them up so we could mulch them this weekend. And of course Alexis has had a ball in them. So what do you do with a big pile of leaves?

You bury yourself and take a "nap" of course!

Posted by Daffodil at 3:21 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Spring! Part 2

Shortly after this picture was taken she took her sweater off. When I asked her why she said "Mommy I'm so hot!" I couldn't bring myself to make her put it back on when I realized she was sweating like a little monkey! She and Nelson both are serious little heat sinks!!

Posted by Daffodil at 3:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Doctor Who and Veronica Mars

For years Jamison has talked about Doctor Who and I had no clue what he was talking about. I didn't watch the old PBS series, but he started Tivoing the new series of Doctor Who and I'm hooked! This is an awesome series! As always the BBC out does itself! If you haven't seen it check it out on the Sci-Fi network, who is showing it in the US. They have filmed two seasons and they have ordered a 3rd!

Also this weekend we discovered the wonders of Veronica Mars. I had put the first season of the show into my NetFlix queue after reading Kevin Smith's blog where he was talking about how wonderful it was. I fugred if he liked it I probably would too. I got the first disc of season 1 late last week and Jamison and I got around to watching it Sunday afternoon. I'm hooked there too! Veronica Mars is witty, well put together and the actors are great!

I highly recommend both shows if you get a chance to see them.

Posted by Daffodil at 12:47 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Pet Peeve #28: Oblivious, Rude, Nasty, Yelling, Old People!!

It's official...common decency is DEFINITELY dead! Alexis and I ran to the gas station and then were going to pick up some lunch. We got our gas and were going to get the car washed as well because the pollen is so thick my car looks yellow. When we pulled up to the car wash there were two cars pulled off to the side and one of them had their door open and the driver was messing around with stuff in the floor of her car. So we pulled up to the carwash and all of a sudden they start honking. The lady that was messing in the floorboard of her car came up to the window and started yelling at me "What are you doing? We're in line!!" I had no idea. She wasn't in line, nor was the lady behind her who was honking her horn and gave me the dirtiest look known to man as I was backing up. Alexis was perplexed about the whole thing.

"Mommy why is she yewelling?"

"She thinks we got in front of her in line."

"But Mommy she's not in wine."

"I know Alexis."

It was so obvious that she wasn't in line that an almost 3 year old realized the situation. So we left and went home. After the yelling Alexis wanted to just go home and I can't blame her.

The whole situation made me start thinking...people are just nasty!! Why should I be yelled at because she thought she was in line. It's obvious that if you are in line, you're in line and you aren't pulled off to the side doing whatever it was she thought she was doing!! And the lady behind her should have realized that if she was going to be in line she should have gone into the line and not off to the side.

Sometimes I really HATE people!! And yes she was OLD too! I know people have said I shouldn't be so hard on old people, but there are legitimate gripes about their utter lack of manners and COMMON DECENCY!! A lot of old people are just MEAN and RUDE!! She didn't have to yell. All she had to do was point out she was "in line" (which she wasn't) nicely and I would have backed up, which I did anyway. I'm reasonable and it was an honest mistake. And I didn't yell back or whatever, even though I felt a little like doing just that, but I didn't want Alexis to think it was ok to yell like that lady was doing. I just informed the woman politely "I'm sorry ma'am I didn't realize you were in line because you were pulled off to the side."

So right now people suck. And I'm beginning to wonder if there is any hope for any of humanity because people are way too clueless and wrapped up in their own selves, breaking the rules, without seeing the obvious and they need to realize the world is NOT all about them!!!

Posted by Daffodil at 11:33 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Spring!

The weather is just too nice to stay inside! Spring is here! Of course I don't think the weather is ever too bad to go outside...there's nothing a coat, hat and some mittens won't fix, but that's a story for another time!

Click on the extended entry below to see "whipe" flower picking, bubble blowing, sandbox playing fun!

Looking for "whipe" flowers

Alexis is drawn to the spot where I have my new flower bed laid out...we'll have to cross the "you can't walk there!" bridge this weekend when I get my poppies and things planted.

Bubbles!

More bubbles pwease?

Sand!

As you can see...lot's of fun was had! :o)

Posted by Daffodil at 10:32 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Attempt to revive gay marriage ban fails in Maryland Senate

The joke running around the political circles is that this is the Republican Get Out the Vote in 2006 Amendment. This was nothing more than a naked partisan effort to stir up the radical right wing Republican voters that can't bring themselves to the leave the house on election day unless it's to vote against some piece of racist legislation. But I've said for years that hate is a core value of the Republican party and this effort is great evidence of that. They are getting desperate since there hasn't been a single poll that suggested that the Republicans will be able to grab or hold any statewide office in Maryland this year. So they threw out this political farce to try and get their radical base motivated. Personally considering how terrible of a job that Ehrlich and Steele have done over this last four years in Maryland, they could have had the amendment on the ballot and they would have easily been crushed anyway, but where this would have been important is the down ticket races and those are decided by a few hundred votes usually and that's critical for the Republicans to have some racist item on the ballot to fire up their GOTV. I'm glad to see it defeated and maybe we can start an effort to turn around this state from the reckless path of self-destruction its been on under the red shift of the radical anti-America right. I know I'm going to be working overtime in the coming months to educate the locals about how evil the Republican party is and how they need to be run out of town on rails to protect the American way of life.

[via America Blog]

Jessica Simpson May Want to Adopt Kids

LOS ANGELES - Jessica Simpson has babies on the brain. The 25-year-old singer filed for divorce from Nick Lachey last December but her publicist says Simpson is looking at adoption.
"Nothing has been finalized yet" as to when and how Simpson will adopt, her publicist, Rob Shuter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. But he added, "It is true that she's exploring options."

Shuter said Simpson and her family have anonymously contributed funds to a smattering of Mexican orphanages for several years now. The singer started visiting the orphanages with a church group at age 11.

"I want to adopt, and I plan to adopt before I have my own kids," the pop star recently told TV's "Extra."

In the interview, Simpson cited a certain high profile mother as an influence.

"I think Angelina Jolie has done amazing, amazing things, and the international adoption rate just since her has skyrocketed," she said. "It's unbelievable."

She can't even take care of her dog, what makes her think she can take care of a child? She is a child! A spoiled one at that. I hope some judge somewhere can see that and make sure this doesn't happen! She needs to grow up first! And Angelina Jolie should be no one's role model! She's a freak!!

Found via Yahoo! Entertainment News.

Posted by Daffodil at 9:22 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

And This is the Exact Reason Why You Should NOT Have a Gun in a House With a Child

FIRCREST, Washington (AP) -- A kindergarten student was expelled for 10 days after he brought a .22-caliber gun to school, officials said.
The 5-year-old boy climbed from a chair onto a washer-dryer and got an unloaded pistol out of a cupboard at home, police said. He showed a friend the gun on the Whittier Elementary School playground, then put it into a friend's backpack, Police Chief John Cheesman said.

The boy never made any threat and told the principal what he had done Monday but was expelled immediately, said Patti Holmgren, a spokeswoman for the Tacoma school system. Police confiscated the gun.

School officials were investigating, classmates have been reminded not to bring guns to school and a letter on the incident has been sent to parents of Whittier students, Holmgren said.

Granted the gun was up out of his reach and the ammunition was not stored with the gun, but this still is completely asinine! If you have a child you have no business having a gun in your house. You are more likely to hurt yourself or your child than "protect" yourself...or even worse the kid will get a hold of the gun and hurt themselves or someone else. And kids are going to get into things, that's just the way they are.

In this case the child had to know where the gun was or he wouldn't have gone through so much to get up to it and take it to school. Apparently no one has ever bothered to tell him that guns are not toys, but I guess that's a subject for another time!

Found via CNN News.

Posted by Daffodil at 9:06 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Law Professor Bans Laptops in Class

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A University of Memphis law professor has banned laptop computers from her classroom and her students are passing a petition against it. Professor June Entman says her main concern is that students are so busy keyboarding they can't think and analyze what she's telling them.
Students have begun collecting signatures on petitions and tried unsuccessfully to file a complaint with the American Bar Association.

Student Cory Winsett says if he must continue without his laptop, he'll transfer to another school. Winsett says he won't be able to keep up if he has to rely on hand-written notes, which he says are incomplete and less organized.

I'm with the students on this one. Back in the day when I first started college I used to lament that I would be so much better off with a laptop because I type faster than I write and you would be able to read the notes you took because it's in typeface instead of the occasional incoherent scrawl when you were writing really fast. Sadly I did not have a laptop and had no way of procuring one, but that's a story for a different time.

This professor is off base in my opinion. If students are truly using the computers to take notes they would have more room in their head for "think[ing] and analyz[ing] what she's telling them", but then again I'll bet you dollars to donuts this woman couldn't turn on a computer, let alone understand their value in the education system. Unfortunately there are a lot of teachers and college professors in the world of academia that are completely computer illiterate and I can't say I'm surprised this happened in Tennessee either. Ah Tennessee...nice to see you're still a century behind the rest!

Found via Yahoo! News.

Posted by Daffodil at 8:59 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 28, 2006

Miss Broccoli Face

Posted by Daffodil at 9:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More Conversations With Alexis

"Look at me! I'm so beautiful!" (Twirling in a circle in her "Rella" Dress.)

"That you are my sweet!"

"Dance?"

"Of course!"

Another one of those things I will remember for as long as I live. :o)

Posted by Daffodil at 6:37 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Afternoon Conversation With Alexis

We just had groceries delivered and when Alexis saw the "Broccoli Wokly" she insisted on having a bowl. She ate her florets and came back and asked me for more. Now that's a way to warm a mother's heart...asking for more broccoli! ;o)

"Mommy, more broccoli pwease?"

"Sure Alexis."

"Mommy, broccoli is so yummy and green!"

It's days like these I'm glad she got my taste buds and not Jamison's! ;o)

Posted by Daffodil at 4:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wind in the Willows - The Complete First Series

The other day at BJ's I noticed that they had the Wind in the Willows - The Complete First Series on DVD, which is based off of the story by Kenneth Grahame, and decided to get it for Alexis. She LOVES them! I hadn't seen them in years and I'm enjoying them too. Jamison thinks they are boring, but then again he's more of an action movie sort of guy.

Posted by Daffodil at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gun People Annoy Me!

(AP) Rep. Tom DeLay is fighting to regain his concealed handgun permit after it was suspended because of his indictment on felony charges.
A justice of the peace suspended DeLay's license in January after the former majority leader was indicted last year. A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge, but DeLay still faces a felony charge of money laundering.

Under state law, the Texas Department of Public Safety can suspend a handgun license if its holder has been charged with certain misdemeanors or higher.

DeLay, a vocal gun rights proponent, has appealed the suspension and has asked for a new hearing after missing a Jan. 26 court date.

Gun people annoy me! Why in the world does this man need to carry a concealed weapon? Oh wait...he's a Republican and they like to shoot old people in the face! Seriously, why exactly does he need a weapon? Doesn't he have security or something since he was so high up the totem pole at one point? This kind of thing makes my blood boil! I say they should take away his precious gun permit and bury it somewhere! People do not need to be carrying around concealed weapons...especially hot headed Republican idiots!!

Found via CBS News.

Posted by Daffodil at 3:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Boy gets caught in toy-filled 'claw' machine

AUSTIN, Minn. — A machine filled with toys must've been awfully tempting to a three-year-old boy.

The tot crawled through the toy discharge chute in the Toy Chest claw machine at a Godfather's Pizza in Austin and got stuck amid all the toys.

Fire Chief Dan Wilson said it was one of the funniest things he's ever seen. Wilson was one of three people to respond to the non-emergency call. He says the boy was inside the transparent container playing, smiling and laughing and people were taking his picture with digital cameras.

Firefighters pried the door open to get the boy out.

The child wasn't hurt.

Where the heck were his parents and why weren't they paying better attention to what he was doing? You don't ignore your child in public at all, let alone long enough for him to climb into a toy machine! He could have wandered off, been picked up by a bad person or seriously hurt. I just don't get some parents!!

Found via the Star Tribune.

Posted by Daffodil at 3:46 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Morning Outside Fun

Posted by Daffodil at 2:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cherry Blossom Baby

Posted by Daffodil at 2:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

CA-50: Busby & The Brick Wall

I want to be clear up front that I've been extremely impressed with Busby, she's run a tight campaign and her numbers are impressive considering the handicap she's working against. But the reality that I think that the blogosphere is failing to grasp is that we are dealing with Republicans here. People that vote Republican can't be reasoned with, no amount of evidence causes them to change their minds. Every Republican candidate for office could confess any number of crimes the day before the election and the results would come out the same in the end. These people aren't limited by our morality and decency. It's really time to stop pretending that they are going to wake up one day and suddenly start caring about America. It's just not in your average Republican's DNA. They really hate this country and I don't think that's being taken seriously. If you have a district with 54% Republican registration, that is a guarantee that the Democrat won't be able to get the necessary 50% of the vote to win. Republicans hate America too much to vote against their hate ideology that binds them all together. There is no amount of work that can be done to convince them otherwise. I think the Brick Wall the Republicans are joking about is the fact that they know that Republican voters are broken glass voters. They would happily crawl across broken glass to make sure that no Democrat is allowed to actually represent them. The Republicans will happily steal and abuse them and they will sit there like fools screaming for more. It's just the kind of people that Republicans are.

Two weeks out I'm betting that Busby will get 40% of the vote on election day in two weeks and in the runoff she will lose getting only 43% of the vote. No matter what the Republican candidates do and no matter what she does. It's just the way things are with Republicans. If she could pull off 44% or maybe 46% I would be happy. The important part is that the race is being run well enough and is burning through Republican resources. And that makes the race important, but even that exercise is a bit on the futile side since the Republicans are funding themselves with the public treasury so the reality is that we are unlikely to even run them low when push comes to shove. But the fight must be fought and I wish Busby all the luck in the world. Maybe the Republican primary will be so ugly that it will suppress Republican turn out in June, but that's how you get the 44% to 46% numbers.

D.C. Voting Rights Amendment

I was thinking about the problem of taxation without Representation in DC. There are few more offensive things I can imagine as an American. I've heard the Republican arguments that it would be a "guaranteed" Democratic seat, so they are opposed to it, but I don't think that's a really realistic concern. They should be more concerned that our founding fathers were willing to go to war with England over such injustice and we shouldn't tolerate it in a nation like ours. So I've written up a Constitutional Amendment to solve the problem. People read over it and tell me if I've left any obvious loopholes.

Section 1.
The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect in such manner as Congress may direct:

A Representative in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State. The Representative seat to which the District would be entitled if it were a State will be apportioned during the next Enumeration as prescribe in Article I, Section 2, as if it were a State.

Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

I only give them a Representative because the House is where all taxation bills have come from in our system of government, so it covers the issue of taxation without Representation, while not giving DC the full powers of a state. I think it's a decent compromise that makes everyone equally unhappy, while protecting fundamental American principals. Let me know what you think.

Posted by ManDrake at 2:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dress Up With Aunt Nigh

Posted by Daffodil at 1:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Cyclone Glenda's threat grows

Yikes! The other end of Australia is now the target of a Category 5 Cyclone named Glenda. I know some of you are thinking, what this got to do with us Jamison? It's important for two reasons...to inform you that what happens to us, happens to the rest of the world, it helps those that believe that these things are interconnected to one another (read those as ignorant Republicans). Second it's important to get our minds back to thinking about Hurricanes. Remember it's only 65 days until our Hurricane season begins and the incompetent Republican party is still in charge of helping us, which is like saying we have no protection at all. Now is the time to start preparing because the current predictions from Colorado State University are for 17 named storms, 9 hurricanes, 5 of Category 3 or higher in the year 2006. We should be getting an updated estimate from them on April 4th, so we can see how they feel after the mild winter we just had.

So keep the good folks of Western Australia in your minds for the next couple of hours as they face off against another good sized monster.

Read more over at Australian Broadcasting Company.

Posted by ManDrake at 12:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Two years in review

I honestly don't know what to say about the last two years. I think we've done some great work towards helping America to be a better place here at Daffodil Lane. I've personally enjoyed the work and have found the entire process relatively fulfilling. We are now averaging between two and three thousand readers a day, so I'd like to thank all you for your time spent listening to us rant or more likely time spent just looking at Alexis growing up. My personal goal is more of the same with ever increasing quality. As always I will keep looking for interesting new things to think and blog about. So if you run across something like that, send it to me! I can't promise I can get to everything, but I will try and give it a look.

Posted by ManDrake at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Two Years and Counting

Depending on who you ask Daffodil Lane being around for two years is either a good thing or a bad thing. We think it's a good thing and tend not to give a rip about what the negative beings have to say. Two years ago today we started this little venture and we've been on a roller coaster ride ever since! There are days where blogging is wonderful...it's a great way to keep up with how Alexis grows and changes...its a great way to talk about things that are important to us and make new friends in the process. Other days, mostly when the trolls come out of the woodwork, it's so infuriating that you just want to throw your hands up in the air and move on, but we don't because that's what they want! And rest assured I'm all about not giving the crazies their way!! And we've come across our fair share of crazies over the past two years!!

So here we are two years in and so many things in our lives have changed. I finished my degree, Alexis had two birthdays, we saw the need to create rules for various idiots that have wandered by only to have to ban them anyway because they can't read or just think they are above such things, the heartbreak of Bush "winning" another election knowing he is sending our country down the drain, dealing with our neighbors in the Red Neck Ghetto, various craft projects, growing Pet Peeves, politics in general, traveling, gardening, my nephew Nelson's arrival into our world, the hard journey on the path to weight loss which subsequently spawned our sister blog Lose This Weight! and most importantly watching Alexis grow and learn. We've even made some great friends along the way! It's been a wild ride, but it's been an interesting one at that. Who knows what the next two years will bring?

So for now we celebrate our 2nd Blogaversary! To all of our loyal and friendly readers we are glad you have been along for the ride. We have enjoyed sharing our thoughts and some of our life with you. Rest assured we will continue to rail against injustice, talk about what we think and of course share our thoughts on our beautiful little girl. Here's hoping the next two years will be just as grand!

Posted by Daffodil at 9:04 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Nelson, The Fish Tank and Being Sleepy

After they dropped Ben's parents off at the airport Katherine, Ben and Nelson came over for a little while. Nelson was hungry and then wanted to go to sleep, but we did get a few pictures of him before he got a little screechy.

Click on the extended entry below to see King Squishy and the fish tank!

Look! That yellow thing is moving!

Aunt Dianne do you believe it? They just keep swimming around!

Posted by Daffodil at 8:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

White House Chief of Staff Card to Resign

WASHINGTON - White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Josh Bolten, an administration official said Tuesday.
President Bush was expected to announce the shake up during a meeting with reporters later Tuesday morning in the Oval Office of the White House.

The move comes amid a sharp decline in Bush's approval ratings and calls from Republicans for the president to bring in new aides with fresh ideas and new energy.

It will be interesting to see how they spin this one...I'm sure it will be your standard going off to do better things spiel or to spend more time with his family, when in