it is what it is

welcome to reality. if you lived here, you’d be home now.

Yes, I will.

October 30th, 2008

Write about things other than politics, that is.

Pardon all the hyper-focus. It’s only for a few more days, and then I’ll get back into things that are so much more important, like the minutae of my day-to-day life.

Posted by Allison in it is what it is, admin | 2 Comments »

Closing Appeals

October 30th, 2008

Shamelessly stolen from Bill in Portland, Maine (Daily Kos):

Closing Appeals

Dear America,

Mine.

Mine mine mine.

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me!

Mine mine mine mine mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!

In conclusion: Fear fear fear fear. Very scary fear!

Sincerely,

The Republican Party

P.S. If you liked Joseph McCarthy, you’ll love us!

-

Dear America,

We.

Us. We. Together. Americans. United States.

Hope compassion equality inclusiveness competence.

Brains common sense community respect hard work accountability.

Action change responsibility. More viewpoints, smarter solutions.

In conclusion: Yes we can.

Sincerely,

The Democratic Party.

P.S. Vote.

Damn. I’m still undecided.

Heh, heh.

Posted by Allison in amuse me, politics | Comment now »

Obama - possible anti-christ?

October 27th, 2008

Received:

“This is a matter of opinion and opinions are like (well you know) everybody has one. My personal opinion? I agree. If after reading this email you disagree, Please, no need to reply back to me. Your opinion is yours and that’s fine, just delete it.
*******************************
A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine that America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves. Pause a moment, reflect back. These events are actual events from history.. They really happened!!! Do you remember?

1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male extremist.

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim male extremists.

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim male
extremists.

4. During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim male extremists.

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim male extremists.

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim male extremists.

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver
trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim male extremists.
(remember the pilot of this flight was from Richmond, MO)

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim male extremists.

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim male extremists .

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim male extremists.

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim male extremists.

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim male extremists.

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by– you guessed it– Muslim male extremists.

No, I really don’t see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to
ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people… Absolutely No Profiling!

They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President’s security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males alone lest they be guilty of profiling.

According to The Book of Revelations: The Anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40’s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal… the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, he will destroy everything.

And Now: For the award winning Act of Stupidity Of all times the People of America want to elect, to the most Powerful position on the face of the Planet — The Presidency of the United states of America .. A Male of Muslim descent who is the most extremely liberal Senator in Congress (in other words an extremist) and in his 40’s.

Have the American People completely lost their Minds, or just their Power of Reason??? I’m sorry but I refuse to take a chance on the ‘unknown’ candidate Obama.

Let’s send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds and other stupid attorneys along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, feel ashamed of themselves — if they have any such sense. As the writer of the award winning story ‘Forest Gump’ so aptly put it, ‘Stupid Is As Stupid Does’.

Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet…do it! or again. . . just delete.”

My response:

You really like to be afraid, don’t you?

Take a quick look here. This tripe (the part about Barack, anyway) is entirely incorrect, Biblically speaking. Read your Bible. I suggest 2 Timothy 1:7 as a good place to start.

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I should mention at this point how glad I am to no longer be involved in this kind of crazy-making fear-inspiring religion. (Or any, for that matter, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this post.) One other point of interest (to me, at least) is that I received this blindly (sender sent to self, with me in the bcc: field) from someone to whom I’d already given a request to cut it out with political emails. The level of passive-aggression in her intro comments (before the forwarded portion) is off the charts. Oh, yes. That’s perfectly fine for you to spam me with this nonsense, then to instruct that if I disagree, I shouldn’t reply.

What.Ev.Er.

The best response I’ve heard about the idea that Barack Obama might (clutch pearls) be a Muslim (ohnoes!) came from General Colin Powell last week on Meet the Press:

I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

fallen-soldier.jpg

click to view the
full photo essay

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.


Exactly. What if Senator Obama *were* Muslim? And?

Posted by Allison in it is what it is, losing my religion, finding my senses, amuse me, politics | 2 Comments »

VOTE = HOPE

October 23rd, 2008

yesidid.jpg

Posted by Allison in it is what it is | 3 Comments »

Site o’ the Day

October 21st, 2008

img_1536.JPG
Mike’s pumpkin he carved *before* finding the site-o-the-day.

YES WE CARVE

I feel some knife work coming on!

Posted by Allison in it is what it is | Comment now »

Call me Katherine.

October 15th, 2008

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Katharine!

You are a Katharine — “I am happy and open to new things”

Katharines are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

  • * Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
  • * Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
  • * Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
  • * Don’t try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
  • * Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
  • * Don’t tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Katharine

  • * being optimistic and not letting life’s troubles get me down
  • * being spontaneous and free-spirited
  • * being outspoken and outrageous. It’s part of the fun.
  • * being generous and trying to make the world a better place
  • * having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
  • * having such varied interests and abilities

What’s Hard About Being a Katharine

  • * not having enough time to do all the things I want
  • * not completing things I start
  • * not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
  • * having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
  • * feeling confined when I’m in a one-to-one relationship

Katharines as Children Often

  • * are action oriented and adventuresome
  • * drum up excitement
  • * prefer being with other children to being alone
  • * finesse their way around adults
  • * dream of the freedom they’ll have when they grow up

Katharines as Parents

  • * are often enthusiastic and generous
  • * want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life
  • * may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Posted by Allison in it is what it is | 3 Comments »

In honor of who obviously vetted Palin…

October 3rd, 2008

Our drinking game beverage for the evening.

img_1466.JPG

Our words:

  • elite
  • small town / main street
  • maverick
  • earmarks
  • naming any specific voter and/or local digs by name

We were shocked — shocked, I tell you — to not use “elite” and “earmark.” That said, we ran out of wine due to “maverick” alone. When Joe started his rant, I considered pulling out the vodka.

Posted by Allison in it is what it is, amuse me, politics | 1 Comment »

.