Wednesday, November 26, 2014

i am grateful for this song and performance

i wish to thank billy preston, on this holiday, for his simple and simply beautiful version of george harrison's my sweet lord.  thank you billy.  ladies and gents, for your listening and viewing pleasure i give you billy:

gobble gobble

n

Friday, November 14, 2014

politics and personal

dear michael gartner your irritating piece on how bruce braley is no tom harkin should've been left on the cutting room floor and replaced with an ad for men's erectile dysfunction.  but wait, it really was an ad for ED, but i'm not sure if it is for yours or braley's?  did you really quote the washington post?  do you believe everything you read?  of course a right leaning newspaper said it talked to democratic "senior official" who called braley arrogant, and you bought it and then you sold it again.  and grassley is off limits because he "makes us feel comfortable about the world"?  fact: a farmer who never went to law school is being considered to chair the senate judiciary committee.   what about that is scandalous?  that somebody said it out loud?  why does grassley live in a bubble, because he is 800 years old?  grassley makes me feel itchy, he's like that crazy geezer grandpa in the corner at a thanksgiving gathering spouting folksy colloquialisms, kinda cute until you have to sit next to him.  time to pass the baton grassley.

before bruce braley became a public servant he was a big brother volunteer with the big brothers and big sisters organization in waterloo.  he mentored a boy who became very sick and as a result required a lengthy medical treatment at the university of iowa hospitals in iowa city.  the little brother's family did not have the means to take time off work to be with their son in iowa city without risking losing their job.  you know who went and slept at the hospital and worked from his "little brother's" hospital room?  yes, that arrogant son of a bitch bruce braley did.

so no, braley is no harkin and you mr gartner are no joseph pulitzer.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

ebola and republicans

not to worry republicans, the only people who are catching ebola in the u.s. are those that are helping others with the virus, so you are safe.

is that why iowa went red? because iowans hate helping others who need access to affordable health care? why is the affordable care act a hot potato that republicans want to throw back into obama's face? because corporations bottom lines are being affected? so are those same corporations anonymously funding republicans in the hopes that the affordable care act will be repealed?

iowa went red in the 2014 u.s. senate race possibly because braley was out spent 2 to 1, and he shared a fact about grandpa grassley that was caught on tape and crafted into a commercial that made him look bad when taken out of context and manipulated. even my own mother said "he shouldn't have said that". said what? the truth? fyi grassley is a farmer. iowans you have the 2010 supreme court case citizens united v FEC aka "citizens blindsided"   to thank for the onslaught of negative ads by outside entities.   in 2013 braley said "dark money is destroying the election process" . now that alone may not be the sole reason ernst won, but let's be real, big money and dark money sure did a helluva job spinning and selling her er their platforms.

when asked about dark money and negative ads on ipr joni ernst replied "i just can't watch tv". as if all the ads were negative towards her. god dammit.

iowa went red in every congressional district except loebsack's? oh iowa city and davenport....

iowa just can't get enough of the moustache governor. thanks jack hatch for running a fake gubernatorial race so's you can be a contender in 2016 for u.s. senate. why should we vote for you in 2016, as you don't give a hoot about iowans in 2014? all about jack you is. i helped clean his house years ago and in his home office above his desk on the wall are two pictures: one is of the iowa state senate chamber; the other is a picture of marshall mathers aka eminem. i've got nothing except maybe hatch wishes he was black.












staci appel was pretty awful in the debates, and i lost interest in her when she said she would not support legalizing marijuana, yet i still voted for her. now young and grassley can help each other man-scape their backs in d.c. and landscape their lawns in iowa for their 2016 campaign ads.









oy. i don't really know what else to say, but $100 million was spent on the u.s. senate race in north carolina. i'm certain that money could've been used for other more worthy endeavors like education or infrastructure or a giant 8 ball. last night my husband and i watched the documentary the art of the steal and this morning my husband commented that the outcome of yesterdays midterm elections are quite similar to the documentary. a comparison i think quite appropos in that this sea of red is not necessarily a result of what the people want, but the outcome of what big money makes you think you want. i recommend you watch it.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

stranger danger

i had a couple of encounters with strangers this week that not only left a bittersweet taste in my mouth but has me seriously considering that old adage- don't talk to strangers. Just don't.

i was minding my own business whilst walking my dog Ace through our neighborhood the other day. Or shall i say a funny thing happened while walking my dog Ace? we were in our hood and observed a hetero couple and their dog leaving their home to get into a car. their dog was off leash and spotted Ace and made its way over. the dogs do the sniff dance and then stranger dog commences to attack Ace.

by the time the k9's mama got control of their attack dog, Ace and i had made our way across the street and i offered up this obvious advice:

"if your dog is unfriendly it should be on leash"

to which the k9 dad wearing a lanyard with a corporate id around his neck responded:

"fuck off" like he was in a watermelon seed spitting contest.

that's nice i said, i'm just walking through my neighborhood minding my own business when my dog is attacked by your dog and you have the nerve to tell ME to fuck off? to which the k9's mama said:

"can't we all just get along?"

i continued walking and was a bit flustered so we walked to our friend johnny b"s house nearby and regaled him with this tale of the nasty neighbors. A half hour after we get home I receive a text from johnny b with a name (rob) and a phone number. turns out neighbor "fuck off" rob, watched us go to johnny b's so in an effort to clean up his karma he made his way to johnny b's who was outside, and asked if a girl with a big black dog lived there, johnny b said no but i think you are looking for my friend nicole. so i call "fuck off" rob, and he says:

"humans shouldn't treat other humans like that" and apologized. then he said next time you are walking by we will have you in for some iced tea. uh yeah, thanks but no thanks.















a couple of days later i am at the farmers market and visit my friend cail at his honey booth. he is with a customer so i make myself comfortable in a chair next to him inside the booth. the customer, a 60 year old nosey nellie says to me:

"are you a pollinated bee?" cail and i exchange glances of wtf? i say:

"what does that mean?" she rubs her belly and says:

"pregnant?" i say:

"good god no, but thanks for pointing out that i'm fat". she too apologized.

now i don't know if it is possible to not talk with strangers, but it is possible to a) be kind and b) not stick your foot in your mouth.