mik1of3's Blog

I've never been a very religious person.  I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, always have.  I liked church okay..the communion ceremony was and remains my favorite sacrament...but as most Lutherans can tell you, our traditional songs sound more like laments and death marches than happy, uplifting music that makes your soul take flight.   So, while I went to church on holidays and special occasions-you know, like baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmations--I really wasn't active in any church body.  My church was the beach, the park.  I could and did talk to God and pray wherever I was, no matter what I was doing.  (Ask some of the runners at Memorial Park..a lot of them thought of me as the crazy girl who talked to herself for the longest time..prolly still do.)  I felt close to Him, always have..that's probably why I've never, ever been truly afraid of anything.  Nervous?  Yes.  Uneasy?  Yes.  But true, total fear?  I don't think so.   Not when the doctor found some spots on my cervix in 1988.  Not when my X boyfriend and his brothers broke into my apartment and beat me and my X husband up in 1996.  Not when I had my C-section in 1997.   Not when the doctor felt something on my ovaries in 2000.  Never.  I've always had this faith that He was always watching me...always taking care of me. 
But I missed having a church.  I envied those who loved their church, who felt home there, who actually and truly wanted to BE there...to teach, to work, to just, well, like He said  to just "BE still and know that I AM".  I hoped to find it when my old church died and we transferred to a new one in Friendswood back in 2000.  The pastor was, like us, a little "left of center"..a youngish pastor who had invigorating sermons, a pastor who helped Tony and I through a very, very rough and potentially fatal spot in our marriage.  The pastor was great..but the congregants?  If you like high school cliques and drama, then yes, its for you. 
Plus, my daughter didn't like the Sunday school.  The kids there also went to school together..and since Scotti goes to LSA, they pretty much left her out.  Only two other girls from LSA go to that church...but they only attended sporadically, for the same reason.  It seemed that most of the LSA kids who were Lutheran were members of Gloria Dei in Clear Lake.
We had been to Gloria Dei quite a few times.  A lot of Scotti's activities..drama camp, Upward Cheer, soccer camp...were held there.  I liked it, but was loathe to transfer to it.  My family was a member of Hope...and leaving them behind was something I really didn't want to do.  Me and my sisters, after all, would still act up in church if it got too boring. 
But Scotti was approaching sixth grade, a time where Lutheran kids begin catechism, a two year study where they make the transition from child of the church to participating adult.  She wanted very badly to attend Gloria Dei with her friends during this journey.  In fact, she had been clamoring for the past two years about going to Gloria Dei instead of our church.  Since I had been in her position--I didn't attend Sunday School for the same reasons she did, (the kids all went to a different school than I) and I had to attend confirmation with basically strangers who never did include me in anything-- I went ahead and made the arrangements.   When they asked me if I wanted to be a mentor, to help teach a group, I said yes.  A new church, you're darn straight I'm gonna be in it, to make sure you're not turning my daughter into a chicken killing, tongue speaking over the top christian. They laughed and BOOM, I was a mentor. 
The first class, I was a goner.  Over 50, FIFTY!! kids running around the large room, at least 15 of them Scotti's 6th grade classmates, kids I've watched grow from kindergarten..and 10 more LSA seventh graders who recognized me enough to say hi.  The youth pastor, Lonnie, came in with a guitar and four high school kids who serve as youth mentors.  They started leading all of us in a goofy song called the "banana" song, making ALL of us dance and sing along.  It was FUN, it was FUNNY, and by the time we were done with the group lesson, game and sent to our individual groups, we were all sore from laughing and dancing.  Scotti was eventually put in a different group than the one I led, which was probably a good thing..the very first group she was with me, and we were both so nervous about embarrassing the other we really didn't participate much. 
The church offers three services...the traditional @ 8 and 9:30 am; the contemporary at 11 am.  We  had heard a lot of great things about the contemporary service,  so we went.  It was there that I woke up.  The music..well, first, instead of an organ, there was a BAND, complete with electric guitars, drums, and a lead singer.  Most, if not all of the music was written after 2000.  It was lively music, and I have never, ever enjoyed a service as much.  Never.  Never have I been asked, encouraged to dance during the hymns..but at times, it is MANDATORY!!  (See the words to the song Marvelous Light for an example.)  
The congregation is a little big, so when we take communion, there's three different little tables set up in each seating section...and for someone like me who usually despises crowds to actually enjoy them is a miracle in and of itself!  The people there are great..I have yet to meet a grumpy person, or a person that I felt was looking down on me or Scotti because we didn't have the money that the average parishoner did. 
I have found a church, that has brought me even closer to my Father.  Hallelujah!!  (FINALLY!)

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27484976

Waiting for the defense of the Islamic mentality that would justify such an action....and the followers of this faith who would WATCH this!!  So much for the 'religion of peace'. 

And just what happened to the RAPISTS of this baby girl?   Story doesn't say.  I guess if you're an Islamic man, this is OK.  Wonder how long it will be before an Islamic girl here in the States gets raped, and her Islamic family follows suit.

My mother in law sent me this. 

After living what I felt was a 'decent' life, my time on earth came to an end.

The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house.

The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table.

As I looked around I saw the 'prosecutor.'  He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil looking person I have ever seen.

I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him. The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes.

He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off Him.As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, 'Let us begin'.

The prosecutor rose and said, 'My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell.'  He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and in the past when I cheated others. Satan told of other horrible perversions that were once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn't look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about. 

As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sa t there silently, not offering any form of defense at all.

I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some good in my life - couldn't that at least compensate for part of the harm I'd done?

Satan finished with a fury and said, 'This man belongs in hell; he is guilty of all that I have charged, and there is not a person who can prove otherwise.'

When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench.  The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward.

As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full splendor and majesty.

I realized why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Savior !

He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, 'Hi, Dad,' and then He turned to address the court.

'Satan was correct in saying that this man had sinned. I won't deny any of these allegations.  And, yes, the wage of sin is death, and this man deserves to be punished.'

Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed, 'However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life, and he has obeyed the gospel plan of salvation, so he is Mine..'  My Lord continued with, 'His name is written in the Book of Life, and no one can snatch him from Me.

Satan still does not understand yet. This man is not to be given justice, but rather mercy..'

As Jesus sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said, 'There is nothing else that needs to be done.. I've done it all.'

The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down. The following words bellowed from His lips.. 'This man is free. The penalty for his sins has already been paid in full. Case dismissed.'

As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving, 'I won't give up, I'll win the next one.' I asked Jesus as He gave me my instructions where to go next, 'Have you ever lost a case?'

Christ lovingly smiled and said, ' Everyone that has come to Me and asked Me to represent them has received the same verdict as you,

~Paid In Full~'

(so there, all you fire & brimstone-ers!)

Jay, here I am.  Just click on my user name. 

To people wondering what the heck this is about...nunya.  Love yall though!!

Okay, I'm no economist, heck, I have trouble balancing my checkbook, but my mom emailed me telling me about Russell Crowe's personal plan to help each American citizen, instead of the idiots who didn't manage their money, wrote bad paper, etc.   He said flat out he was no economist, but since his opinion was based in logic, he didn't see how it couldn't work.

I googled it...Russell Crowe on Leno, and came up with this story from the Syndey Morning Herald....  www.smh.com.au

Russell Crowe's dollar dazeMarika Dobbin
October 1, 2008 - 8:38AM

Crowe announced his solution to America's financial crisis during a TV interview with talkshow host Jay Leno on Monday night, based on some dodgy arithmetic.

The would-be financial whiz-kid suggested the US government give America's entire population of 300 million people a gift of $US1 million ($1.26 million) each.

He reasoned the $US300 million outlay would only be a fraction of the $US700 billion financial bailout package politicians in Washington DC rejected yesterday.

"I have been intently watching the political process,'' Crowe told Leno.
"Um, so, here's the thing: They're looking for $700 billion, right? Which is a good chunk of change, but have you noticed whenever you go to a bank, or whenever you talk to a government department about what you need, they'll never actually give you all of what you need? So, I don't think we should do that for a start.

"But I was thinking if they wanna stimulate the economy, get people spending, let people look after their ... mortgage.

"I think you take the first 300 million Americans, if that's the population at this point in time, give everyone a million bucks.''

Crowe's idea to make every American a millionaire drew excited applause from the audience and agreement from Leno.

"Oh yeah, that'll work,'' Leno said. "What are the taxes on that? But OK, that would work, yeah.''

However, the New Zealand-born actor failed to do the maths, severely underestimating the cost of his bailout plan.

The actual expense would be $300 trillion - a figure greater than the US's entire annual gross domestic product.

In a policy proposal not likely to provoke the interest of White House hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain, the $US300 million 'Crowe Plan' would provide Americans with a paltry $1 each.

Crowe's $US300 trillion bailout is not likely to gain traction with the US Treasury, especially given criticism over the estimated $US3 trillion cost of the Iraq War.

Crowe is in the US to promote his new spy thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and director Ridley Scott, Body of Lies, which opens in Australia on October 9.

The actor is preparing for another film with Scott, Nottingham, based on Robin Hood, and has grown his hair past shoulder length.

with AAP

Ok...now like I said, I'm no math whiz, but would someone...torchbearer,  prop dog, maybe...tell me how they figure 300 million would translate into 300 trillion?    It's probably obvious...but since I'm more of a words person than a numbers person, I really would like to know.

Could it work?  Sounds like it could, but like my mom says, since it doesn't benefit any politician and/or special interest group, just us lowly citizens, it will never happen.  Unless.....

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop Poor Jennifer Lopez. The new mom is training for a triathlon, but everyone is too busy watching the Olympics to notice.

Lopez, who appeared on "Good Morning America" Aug. 18 to discuss her preparations for the Malibu Triathlon, was overheard saying after the segment that she “couldn’t understand why everyone is talking about that swimmer,” according to a GMA source. “She couldn’t come up with (eight-time gold-medal winner Michael) Phelps’ name, and then she yammered on about how she was the one training for a triathlon just six months after giving birth, and how that was the big story right now, not ‘the swimmer.’ ”

Lopez is planning on donating money raised for her race to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. To help drum up attention, she started a blog to share tips on training. “Touch up makeup prior to your run” hasn’t made its way into any posts, despite Lopez being spotted arriving in Central Park with her makeup artist later in the day.

***********************

I have never cared for this woman..she always seemed to me an attention grabbing,  talent challenged female with an inate ability to snag men who could help her career (P Diddy, Ben Affleck);  marrying and divorcing husbands, Noe Somebody and Cris Judd;  making bad movies (Gigli) and mediocre music. 

She snags someone else's husband, pops out twins, outfits their nursery in an ostentatious display of wealth (really, a gold and crystal chandelier is a must for ANY baby's room).  Rumor has it she had an elective C-section cause she was afraid of the pain, didn't breastfeed because she didn't want it to affect her goodies, (as a former breastfeeding mother, I can agree nursing does give you a case of the droopy boobs) but still ... now she has the unadulterated nerve to say she doesn't understand why everyone is talking about 'that swimmer' (MICHAEL PHELPS!!) instead of her? 

And I especially love the makeup artist running with her.  Any runner worth her salt knows that wearing makeup while you run is BAD for your skin.  Your skin, like any other living organism, needs to BREATHE too!!

Just another example of you can take the girl out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl...

I hope Michael Phelps' mama slaps the snot out of this Malibu tramp.  Can anyone honestly be this ignorant? 

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx/?news=325
108

After lots and lots of waiting and wondering, MSN has posted the official Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie trailer. 

After a disappointing Order of the Phoenix, (except for the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort which kicked major butt) this movie looks awesome!

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/harry-potter-and
-the-half-blood-prince/?affid=100055

Between this movie and twilight, I just can't wait for fall!!

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&vid=81698
0f8-1902-4e32-98a1-d2fbf51cf63b

By Sharon Churcher
Last updated at 1:45 AM on 08th June 2008

Now that Hillary Clinton has at last formally withdrawn from the race for the White House, the eyes of America and the world will focus on Barack Obama and his Republican rival Senator John McCain.

While Obama will surely press his credentials as the embodiment of the American dream – a handsome, charismatic young black man who was raised on food stamps by a single mother and who represents his country’s future – McCain will present himself as a selfless, principled war hero whose campaign represents not so much a battle for the presidency of the United States, but a crusade to rescue the nation’s tarnished reputation.

Scroll down for more

Forgotten woman: But despite all her problems Carol McCain says she still adores her ex-husband.

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children.

But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.

And yet, had events turned out differently, it would be she, rather than Cindy, who would be vying to be First Lady. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.

Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

Golden couple: John and Cindy McCain at a charity gala in Los Angeles

Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’ she says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce. My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

McCain was then earning little more than £25,000 a year as a naval officer, while his new father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was a multi-millionaire who had impeccable political connections.

He first met Carol in the Fifties while he was at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. He was a privileged, but rebellious scion of one of America’s most distinguished military dynasties – his father and grandfather were both admirals.

But setting out to have a good time, the young McCain hung out with a group of young officers who called themselves the ‘Bad Bunch’.

His primary interest was women and his conquests ranged from a knife-wielding floozy nicknamed ‘Marie, the Flame of Florida’ to a tobacco heiress.

Carol fell into his fast-living world by accident. She escaped a poor upbringing in Philadelphia to become a successful model, married an Annapolis classmate of McCain’s and had two children – Douglas and Andrew – before renewing what one acquaintance calls ‘an old flirtation’ with McCain.

It seems clear she was bowled over by McCain’s attention at a time when he was becoming bored with his playboy lifestyle.

‘He was 28 and ready to settle down and he loved Carol’s children,’ recalled another Annapolis graduate, Robert Timberg, who wrote The Nightingale’s Song, a bestselling biography of McCain and four other graduates of the academy.

The couple married and McCain adopted Carol’s sons. Their daughter, Sidney, was born a year later, but domesticity was clearly beginning to bore McCain – the couple were regarded as ‘fixtures on the party circuit’ before McCain requested combat duty in Vietnam at the end of 1966.

He was assigned as a bomber pilot on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin.

What follows is the stuff of the McCain legend. He was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967 on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam and was badly beaten by an angry mob when he was pulled, half-drowned from a lake.

War hero: McCain with Carol as he arrives back in the US in 1973 after his five years as a PoW in North Vietnam

Over the next five-and-a-half years in the notorious Hoa Loa Prison he was regularly tortured and mistreated.

It was in 1969 that Carol went to spend the Christmas holiday – her third without McCain – at her parents’ home. After dinner, she left to drop off some presents at a friend’s house. It wasn’t until some hours later that she was discovered, alone and in terrible pain, next to the wreckage of her car. She had been hurled through the windscreen.

After her first series of life-saving operations, Carol was told she may never walk again, but when doctors said they would try to get word to McCain about her injuries, she refused, insisting: ‘He’s got enough problems, I don’t want to tell him.’  H. Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, future presidential candidate and advocate of prisoners of war, paid for her medical care.

When McCain – his hair turned prematurely white and his body reduced to little more than a skeleton – was released in March 1973, he told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again. But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance. At first, though, he was kind, assuring her: ‘I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine.’

He bought her a bungalow near the sea in Florida and another former PoW helped him to build a railing so she could pull herself over the dunes to the water. ‘I thought, of course, we would live happily ever after,’ says Carol. But as a war hero, McCain was moving in ever-more elevated circles.

Through Ross Perot, he met Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California. A sympathetic Nancy Reagan took Carol under her wing.

But already the McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg.

McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to her theory of a mid-life crisis.

He was also fiercely ambitious, but it was clear he would never become an admiral like his illustrious father and grandfather and his thoughts were turning to politics.

In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.

Carol and her children were devastated. ‘It was a complete surprise,’ says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide.

‘They never displayed any difficulties between themselves. I know the Reagans were quite shocked because they loved and respected both Carol and John.’

Another friend added: ‘Carol didn’t fight him. She felt her infirmity made her an impediment to him. She justified his actions because of all he had gone through. She used to say, “He just wants to make up for lost time.”’

Indeed, to many in their circle the saddest part of the break-up was Carol’s decision to resign herself to losing a man she says she still adores.

Friends confirm she has remained friends with McCain and backed him in all his campaigns. ‘He was very generous to her in the divorce but of course he could afford to be, since he was marrying Cindy,’ one observed.

McCain transferred the Florida beach house to Carol and gave her the right to live in their jointly-owned townhouse in the Washington suburb of Alexandria. He also agreed to pay her alimony and child support.

A former neighbour says she subsequently sold up in Florida and Washington and moved in 2003 to Virginia Beach. He said: ‘My impression was that she found the new place easier to manage as she still has some difficulties walking.’

Meanwhile McCain moved to Arizona with his new bride immediately after their 1980 marriage. There, his new father-in-law gave him a job and introduced him to local businessmen and political powerbrokers who would smooth his passage to Washington via the House of Representatives and Senate.

And yet despite his popularity as a politician, there are those who won’t forget his treatment of his first wife.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

One old friend of the McCains said: ‘Carol always insists she is not bitter, but I think that’s a defence mechanism. She also feels deeply in his debt because in return for her agreement to a divorce, he promised to pay for her medical care for the rest of her life.’

Carol remained resolutely loyal as McCain’s political star rose. She says she agreed to talk to The Mail on Sunday only because she wanted to publicise her support for the man who abandoned her.

Indeed, the old Mercedes that she uses to run errands displays both a disabled badge and a sticker encouraging people to vote for her ex-husband. ‘He’s a good guy,’ she assured us. ‘We are still good friends. He is the best man for president.’

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’

Gee...before we go talking morals where our candidates are concerned, who would YOU want representing our country?  The WAR HERO who, in the midst of a midlife (and possibly financial crisis) dumped his crippled wife for a rodeo queen heiress...or a young, black man still married to his FIRST wife? 

Does McCain's time in Hanoi make up for his lack of moral fiber? 

Personally, I'm still on the fence where these two as my choices.  Old school vs fresh air. Age vs youth.  War hero vs educated kid.  Trophy wife vs original wife. 

In the words of Yzma from the Emperor's New Groove...Which one, which one?  

Okay, I'm not a big 'gamer', but  I do have quite a few games on my computer that me and Scotti play.  Nothing violent or requiring a great amount of brain power..just cotton candy for the brain when we need to just blow some time.

Our favorites? 

   ALL of the Diner Dash games    

 All of the Wedding Dash games...I'm STUCK on level 3 right now!!

This one was lots of fun!!

We are such GIRLS!!  Sissy games, maybe, but we like them!! 

What are YOUR faves?

You know, I was never really a fan of Nicole Kidman..she always seemed a little snobby, cold, uppity; but when Tom Cruise dumped her the way he did, it made her more human to me, and I started watching/reading interviews with her after.  Turns out, the Nicole Kidman behind the ice queen turned out to be pretty cool, and very human.  (Course, she IS a very good actress..)

I guess being publicly dumped and humiliated will do that to you.

Keith Urban I've always liked.  He's always seemed very down to earth, more of an everyman than any country musician I ever read about or watched.  He seemed more like the guy next door, the one you'll invite over for a beer, (well, maybe not anymore, but you get what I mean.)

Certainly not Nicole's type, you would think!!

But here they are, married and pregnant.  Is she responsible for some of his best music ever?  ("Stupid Boy" I swear is aimed at Tom Cruise.)  I think so. 

I TRY not to get too obsessed with celebrities and their lives, but these two, well, if there's a story on them, I'll pick it up and read it.  Can't resist. 

Keep your Angelina and Brad, give me Keith and Nicole!!

PS..I really like this picture.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mindy McCready has "caught her breath" and gone back to work on a new album following her admission of a long-standing relationship with Roger Clemens, a representative for the country star said Wednesday.

McCready told The New York Daily News on Monday that she "cannot refute anything" in the newspaper's original report posted Sunday night on its Web site. The story said Clemens and McCready met in a Florida karaoke bar when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and he was a 28-year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a married father of two.

McCready, who's currently signed to Denver-based Iconic Records, has had a string of legal and personal problems in recent years and was sentenced last September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest. She was released from jail Dec. 30.

The newspaper reported that Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail.

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed that the pitcher and singer had known each other for a long time but told the newspaper that no sex was involved. At no time did Clemens engage in inappropriate or improper relationship with her, said Hardin, who described McCready as a longtime friend of Clemens and his family.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080501/ap_on_en_mu/mus
ic_clemens_mccready_2

I am so surprised (okay, not really) that I haven't seen more blogs on this considering the hero worship this town seems to have for jocks. 

All I see is a lying dopehead pedophile whose "All American" persona is coming apart at the seams the more people dig into it.    

Honestly, now...which one makes the hair on your neck stand up?  I still say #1.  As you can see, Mom, Dad, baby sister Noah were all there, and the shoot was not in some seamy little room, but outdoors with a full crew.  I didn't post  "THE PHOTO" for two reasons..one, everyone has seen it, and two, I don't know that FOX would let me.

Okay...what movie is at the tippy top of your most eagerly anticipated for the YEAR?  Not the summer, fall, or winter..the YEAR?

Do you have only one?  Or are you like me (oh, the horror) and have two?  Mine, of course, are,  #1 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince due out November 21, 2008

http://www.movieweb.com/video/V07LbcfisuyOUV  (for a sneak peek teaser video)

And, of course, Twilight, due out December  12, 2008

http://www.twilightthemovie.com/    www.stepheniemeyer.com  and you can find all different kinds of Twilight videos..including the authentic movie trailer on you tube.  (I don't know how to embed the videos.) 

If you haven't read the books yet, I heartedly encourage you to do so.  Despite being a "vampire" series (the main reason I never read them earlier, Anne Rice ruined the genre for me) it is a very moral, wholesome story with the importance of love, family and friendship its biggest focus.

Below...Kristin Stewart as Bella, Stephenie Meyer (the author) Robert Pattinson as Edward.

The Cullen family...Emmet (Kellan Lutz); Rosalie (Nikki Reed), Esme, the "Mom"  (Elizabeth Reaser), Edward  (Robert Pattinson); Carlisle, the "Dad" ( Peter Facinelli); Alice (Ashley Green) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone). 

This is one of  the three "evil" vampires, James  (Cam Gigandet) who wants to kill Bella.  Scotti likes this picture.  She likes his tummy. 

This is James' mate, Victoria(Rachelle LeFebvre) and Laurent, (Edi Gathegri), the third of the evil coven. 

Of course, I can't leave out Jacob (Taylor Lautner). 

  He's so cute, you just want to pinch his cheeks.  But you probably shouldn't do that to a were....oops, that's in New Moon!!

A few days ago, the booggyman called me a blog troll, and advised me to look it up.  I did so and these are the definitions I found on....

yahoo...A "troll" is someone who intentionally and persistently posts inflammatory messages about sensitive topics to bait users into responding or provoke a confrontation.

and on networdblog.blogspot.com...Trolling is a well-known phenomenon in commenting and message boards/blogs on the internet. Someone will make a post specifically designed to draw a response and gleefully sit back while they bask in all the attention and furor they caused.

So is it an insult?  Or merely a name to call someone who consistently disagrees with you in hopes of hurting their feelings?  Or is it just someone who likes to debate, which I most definitely am, especially when it comes to causes near and dear to my heart. 

Personally, I can think of worse things to be called.......trolling right along.....

My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and they have voted at the same location, Beverly Hills Park, since that poll has opened.  And not ONE time has that poll ever been as crowded as it was Tuesday.  They had to park almost a quarter of a mile away, and walking to the center, they passed a woman returning to her car.  She was on a cell phone, and talking loud enough for my parents to overhear.  (Plus my mom is nosy.  I get it from her, what can I say?)   She said, and I quote...

"Fine, you vote for that jerk, and you may as well pack your bags cause your headed right back to Iraq!!"  and clicked the phone shut.

She made eye contact with my mom and said, "You heard that?"  Mom nodded, and apologized for being nosy.  Woman didn't mind.  Turns out, she's married to a soldier, who has only been home from Iraq for six months. 

She voted for Barack.  Hmm. Wonder who her husband is voting for?