... makes this girl boring as hell.

We're off to La Playa for a couple of days of sun and sand.

Be good while I'm gone, and play nice!

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ABC's Wide World of Sports is about to be no more:

"ESPN will become the overarching brand for all sports programming carried on the ABC Television Network beginning Saturday, Sept. 2 -- the debut of ABC's college football season. "We're using the word evolutionary," said George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN, Inc. and ABC Sports and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. "We're trying to move the ball forward in sports television and we think this is another step in that direction." "

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She called out one of my friends today.  Called her a "sad moonbat" without even reading her post because like we have all been doing, she lamented the new airline restrictions in the UK and the need for them.

Some of you know Helen, and you know she is neither sad nor a moonbat. She may be a self-described "crunchy granola vegetarian", but if anything, my dear friend is almost entirely apolitical.

I too am appalled by the idea that I would have to trust my cellphone, ipod, and laptop to the honesty of baggage handlers; that my nieces and nephew wouldn't be allowed crayons or snacks on a long, boring flight; that I can have my contact lenses, but not the solution I need to put them in my eyeballs; that racial profiling is a cheap shortcut in the battle against terror.

That Malkin calls such honest sadness "whining" and "moonbattery" is beyond me.

I think we should ALL be sad.  I think it should strengthen our resolve to tear these motherfuckers a new asshole.  I think it should make us more focused on using ALL the resources we can to identify the dickwads who would do this and find out what they intend before they do it.

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Never give a llama your work phone #.  Or any phone # for that matter.

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Reuters: 1 hour, 25 minutes ago

Peaceful succession under way in Cuba: official

Cuba has set in motion a peaceful political succession, dashing U.S. government expectations of chaos following Fidel Castro's hand-over of power to his brother, a leading Cuban intellectual and government member, Roberto Fernandez Retamar, said on Monday.

"They (the U.S. government) had not expected that a peaceful succession was possible. A peaceful succession has taken place in Cuba," Fernandez Retamar said at a news conference.

The writer and member of the Council of State was the first government official to say a succession under Raul Castro was in motion after Fidel Castro relinquished power a week ago following gastric surgery.

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Happy Happy to two of my favorite Florida ladies:  VW Bug and Pam!

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1 You are sweet!! Thank you!

Posted by: vw bug at August 04, 2006 10:07 AM (4cj0N)

2 Thank you, that's so nice!!!!

Posted by: pam at August 05, 2006 12:43 PM (l6NIn)

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The Palm Beach Post recognizes Val Prieto of Babalu, and his wonderful family.

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Watch this space...

my take on Israel vs Hezboolahboolah

a story rattling around in my head

a must read article on parenting styles and society.

Coming soon!

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Michelle Malkin has Israeli warning leaflets distributed to Lebanese civilians, asking them to leave town before the bombing raids.

As Michelle so eloquently puts it,"The only thing I remember raining down in Beirut in 1983 or the Khobar Towers in 1996 or NYC on 9/11 were ashes and dust."

Anyone who disagrees with that can personally kiss my ass.

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The always interesting Dafydd ab Hugh brings us the tale of MA Gov. Mitt Romney, who recently described the Big Dig fiasco as a "tar baby".  Correctly, too, I might add.

Now, in this day and age, as you would expect, certain groups got their panties in a collective twist over THEIR interpretation of the phrase, which they incorrectly assumed was a negative term referring to black people.  And made him apologize.

If these asshats would stop banning GOOD literature and movies because of their PC BULLSHIT, and had actually read Uncle Remus or seen Disney's "Song of the South", instead of mindlessly chucking them for the invocation of an unfortunate sterotype or two, they would know that the phrase "Tar Baby" refers to an inanimate object, covered in a sticky substance, that serves no other purpose than the trap the person unlucky enough to touch it.

A "Tar Baby" therefore, is really just a big, sticky, messy problem that will not go away.  Sounds like the Big Dig, no?

So let's call a spade a spade, and drop this whole pretended affrontery, ok?  As Dafydd says:

"I reckon with some people, God was a bit niggardly in passing out brains."

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On 26 de julio, 1953, fidel cagastro and his band of commie idiots led a raid on one of the largest military garrisons in Cuba.

Nearly everything went wrong, the rebels were out numbered, part of the weapons caravan got lost on the way, and more than 2/3 of the rebels were killed or captured.  Several of them ran for it, including the original coward, cagastro.

Oh, and BTW, he WAS captured.  Inept pig that he is, he was found in the jungle shortly afterward and arrested.  cagastro was in fact sentenced to death, but in a head-scratching moment worthy of Dr. Evil and his foul-tempered sea bass, Batista pardoned him in 1955.

Kinda ironic that such a stunning defeat serves as the namesake of the movement that brought cagastro to power, no?

So today is the day that Cuba celebrates her "glorious" revolucion.  The banners and music displayed today continuing the web of lies that turned a humbling defeat into the rallying point of a damned revolution.  Because the truth, in Cuba, depends on your point of view.

For the Cubanos, a proud and once prosperous people, it is a day to pretend their want and hunger are absent, and for cagastro and his cronies, a day to ignore the facade crumbling around them.

For more info on the battle of 26 julio , go here.

For more thoughts on what this day means to Cubans, both in Cuba and elsewhere, try any of these wonderful Cuban bloggers:
El Conductor
Ziva
Marc
Alfredo
Killcastro
Val Prieto

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As most of you probably don't know, today is my wedding anniversary.  Seven years of legal entanglement with the sweetest man on the face of the planet.

It seems funny to say "seven years" because really, it's been more and less.  Really, we've been together almost a dozen years, since just before my 18th birthday.  And realistically, you could say we've been married less because just after our wedding he went off to do his bit for Uncle Sam in armpit of Texas for three years.  And honestly, we're only now FINALLY getting used to each other again.

Some days I adore him
Some days I downright hate him

But at the end of the day we can still work it out and be together, and that's what counts.

Happy Anniversary to my my best friend and lover.  I love you!

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1 congratulations!

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at July 24, 2006 12:11 PM (sC/iL)

2 Congratulations. Your last sentence tells me that you have hit on the secret.."my best friend and lover." Most people have a spose, a best friend, and a lover. It is when they are all three one and the same that life is good.

Posted by: GUYK at July 24, 2006 12:18 PM (iAhlK)

3 Congratulations. Your last sentence tells me that you have hit on the secret.."my best friend and lover." Most people have a spouse, a best friend, and a lover. It is when they are all three one and the same that life is good.

Posted by: GUYK at July 24, 2006 12:18 PM (iAhlK)

4 *sniffle* Congrats...however long it's been.

Posted by: Dana at July 24, 2006 12:27 PM (uXuyq)

5 Happy Anniversary!

Posted by: Sharon at July 24, 2006 01:17 PM (XkMYC)

6 Happy anniversary!! and many more.

Posted by: Marie at July 24, 2006 05:44 PM (qYyzW)

7 Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at July 25, 2006 05:57 AM (7EVyU)

8 Happy Anniversary to you and DH!

Posted by: Amanda at July 25, 2006 08:28 AM (ay+rD)

9 Congratulations...and may you have many, many more happy years together.

Posted by: Mrs_Who at July 25, 2006 05:13 PM (O22fs)

10 Congrats you two! Many more!

Posted by: phin at July 25, 2006 08:34 PM (9Vcb6)

11 Congratulations!!

Posted by: oddybobo at July 26, 2006 06:23 AM (6Gm0j)

12 Happy anniversary!

Posted by: Richmond at July 26, 2006 12:04 PM (e8QFP)

13 I'm late! GRR! Happy Late Anniversary!

Posted by: Bou at July 28, 2006 07:55 PM (iHxT3)

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It's the Big 3-0 for sarahk, and she's not having the best day, despite some awesome presents!

Go give her some love!

And Happy Belated 31 to my favorite NC phishy!

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The Debonair one has done an amazing thing for those of us still missing the Acidic One.

Here's Rob's interview with WAGA about blogging and losing his job.

Thanks, dude.

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Happy Birthday to AWTM and Rave!

I would have gotten you presents, but I think you've already got your hands full.....

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They support people like this.

The funny part?  The stupid fucktards made two mistakes:
1.  They left it on the wrong porch
2.  It was broken and never exploded.

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A fantastic damn fisking by Ken of it comes in pints? regarding estate taxes and the lunatics who think that they are both useful and only for the rich.

Believe me, he knows a lot about the subject, from personal experience.....

Here's Ken's money shot....
After laying out the current law regarding estate exemptions through 2010, he says:

"this piece never mentions that in 2011 the exemption goes back to $1 million (and the top tax rate goes to 50%). Think about how much land prices (both home and farm) have increased in recent years. Think about how many people have IRAs and similar vehicles. How many of those estates will be valued at over $1 million five years from now? A lot of people who don't consider themselves rich are going to be very unpleasantly surprised." (emphasis mine)

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Tammy has a rather important post.  Go read it.  That is all.

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Inspired by this thread at Dean's World.

One of my bigger pet peeves is how everyone in the world has an opinion about whether, or how, a young lady should change her name after marriage.

My own take?  Every marriage is different, everyone's circumstances are different, and that's no reason to judge the fidelity or commitment of a relationship.  Whatever the two people affected (the husband and wife) think is really all that matters.

I have known many people who got married in many different circumstances, from the new wife who immediately changes to her husband's name, to the couple who both change to a new last name.  This doesn't mean that they are any less committed, that their relationship is any less intimate, or that their family is any less spiritual.

In fact, the couple I know who both changed their last name to an amalgam of the two original names were both pastors.

A professional woman is presented with a dilemma on her marriage.  Should she continue to use the name that her friends and coworkers are accustmed to, that is written on her professional credentials and represents her body of work?  Or should she start over with a new name?  What will that mean to her career, especially in a field where name recognition is important?

If the marriage is successful, then no problem, she can build the majority of her career under her married name.  But what if it is not?  Many marriages end because of the stress of an early professional career.  Take the case of Professor M, someone I studied with.  Her maiden name was F, but she married and changed her name in graduate school.  A few years later, she and Mr. M divorced, but she continued to use his name, because her degree and publications used that name.  In fact, she is still known as Dr. M, although that hasn't legally been her name in almost 30 years.  In fact, her legal name is Mrs. T, as she remarried a few years ago.

As for myself, I have chosen to use both.  At work, I am Dr. CTG, and to the rest of the world,  I am Mrs. CTGT  (Hubby, of course, being Mr. GMT).  And honestly, it would be easier to take hubby's name.  Those of you who know my own name are nodding your heads in agreement, as his name is both shorter and easier to spell for other people, but it is as important to me to be one as it is to be the other, so I use both. And it works for both of us.

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1 I kept my ex's last name after we divorced bacuse I had it for 9 years in a professional enviroment... it was easier to keep it. I did change it when I got married again. It was just easier than trying to explain the difference and I had been at the job long enough that a name change was easy.

Posted by: vw bug at July 10, 2006 01:46 PM (fvpSZ)

2 Oh... the point being that circumstances make the name. Everyone should do what is best for them.

Posted by: vw bug at July 10, 2006 01:47 PM (fvpSZ)

3 Yeah, I basically kept my name because of hte whole "being published under that name" thing. Which is useless now, since I dropped out of grad school. Oh well. If someone else has a problem with it, they can bite me. I don't care if people call me Mrs. HubbysName. It's not like I'm offended by it. (And heck, by keeping my maiden name, it's easy to avoid telemarketers! "Nope, Mrs. HubbysName doesn't live here.")

Posted by: silvermine at July 10, 2006 04:40 PM (a92Ma)

4 My brother-in-law actually took my sister's last name when they got married because she had all her pubs under her maiden name and he really wanted them to have the same last name. I call that flexibility. And it worked out well for my dad (who never really cared, but he did have only girls so the name was going byebye. This way it didn't.) But yeah, whatever works, names just aren't that big a deal, IMO.

Posted by: beth at July 10, 2006 05:35 PM (IUoqt)

5 I wasn't going to take hubby's last name, since his daughter and I have the same first name; I didn't want to confuse things even more by both of us having the same first and last name. But husband got really upset that I didn't want his name. So we agreed I'd take his name but any writing I do will continue to be under my maiden name. It's a publication thing. Not to mention, my maiden name is so much more fun to sign! No one could spell or pronounce my maiden name; no one can spell or pronounce my married name.

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at July 10, 2006 06:02 PM (0Pi1o)

6 My friends from college solved this problem in a rather useful way. His middle name happened to be her (original) last name. She hyphenated, but never quite convinced him to do so.

Posted by: Ken Summers at July 10, 2006 06:03 PM (YElNr)

7 But here's an another interesting question to chew on for those women who do change their last name: What middle name do you use? My limited experience has been about half and half: Some keep original middle name, some use original last name. It certainly makes some sense to do so but I have yet to meet someone who uses both.

Posted by: Ken Summers at July 10, 2006 06:06 PM (YElNr)

8 It really meant something to my hubby to have me take his last name, so I did. It wasn't that big a deal to me. And now that we have a child, I do like having one family name. Since I never had a middle name, I use my pre-married name as my middle name, and that's the middle name we gave to our son too. So, that name lives on. I've written many technical manuals under my old name, so I'll always include both on my resume.

Posted by: Marie at July 11, 2006 07:32 AM (dswo0)

9 The only advice I would give is for a woman NOT choose to keep her married name for the sake of the kids. I did that, and wish I hadn't...I'm remarried now, but in the newspaper, it had my 1st married name next to my new husband-to-be's name...kind of weird.

Posted by: Mrs_Who at July 11, 2006 08:58 AM (rtTnw)

10 Ken: "But here's an another interesting question to chew on for those women who do change their last name: What middle name do you use?" I kept my original middle name. I posted on Dean's re the hassle in changing IDs on everything and that I probably wouldn't do it again--still feel the same. Early on in our marriage we decided that if we were to have a son, he would have my maiden name as his middle one. However, we had a daughter, and it wouldn't have worked, although she and her dad have the same middle name (Leigh).

Posted by: cardeblu at July 11, 2006 10:24 AM (1agzX)

11 Once again, the old adage is true. Opinions are like a$$holes, everybody has one... I *did* change my last name when I got married. ::shrugs:: Whatever anyone else does is completely up to them...

Posted by: Richmond at July 12, 2006 08:49 AM (e8QFP)

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Tell her I feel like I'm spinning on my thumb because there's nothing I can do to help, and she needs to call me and tell me what I can do for her.  Anything at all.  The post office is down the street from my house, after all.

She doesn't know it, but her cheerfulness and her friendship really got me through when Dad was in the hospital.  And now it's my turn to do something for her.  I'm just waiting for orders.

UPDATE: I spoke to Christina this afternoon. She's ok, but (I suspect) beginning to be a little overwhelmed by the enormity of what was lost, and how many little things we take for granted everyday. The good news is that everyone and the pets are ok, and the insurance is covering whatever they need. Thank God.

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