Today I'm guest blogging at A Rubber Door

And let's just say, I have a funny feeling Elisabeth Hasselbeck won't be friending me on Facebook any time soon...

For most of my friends and family, it will come as no surprise to hear that I am supporting Barack Obama's campaign to become the next president of the United States. My reasons for this decision are myriad.

I know we desperately need a clear, clean, and definitive break with the national leadership that has misguided our country for the past eight years.

I want a president prepared to talk to all world leaders without immediately invoking the specter of George W. Bush and his ignorance.

I think it would be fantastic to have someone in office who understands what is is to be an ordinary American (as opposed to an admiral's son married to an heiress) and has the outstanding education, serious smarts, and actual critical understanding of both our multicultural nation and our constitution to lead us with grace, decency, strength, and humility.

I sincerely and firmly believe our presidential choice should not be guided exclusively by our personal beliefs, but also by the behavior and judgment demonstrated by the candidates and their key advisors in this race. And that's where John McCain completely lost me in this election. He lost me with the choice of Sarah Palin. Completely. Utterly.

Today, I am honored to be a guest blogger on my friend Spencer's insightful and politically-relevant blog, A Rubber Door. I invite you to read my post there, Wasilly Season, and learn more about why I feel judgment counts, and why the Sarah Palin veep choice was the biggest and most glaring example of John McCain's lack of good judgment in this race.

I would highly recommend you read the posts from Spencer's other guest bloggers while you're there. (And Spencer's own stuff, too!) It makes for some good reading.

American friends, please vote. Please, please, please.

And, hey - very honestly - if you disagree with my views, I invite you to express your opinions here or over in the comment section after my post on Spencer's page. I'm more than happy to defend my position through reasonable discourse. I know by simply being myself and making my views clear, I will offend a few family members and at least a couple of deeply conservative friends.

So be it.

To those family members and friends I say this - over the past few months, I've put up with anti-Obama, falsehood-ridden forwarded e-mails from you and had to read about how I "drank the No-bama kool-aid", and I'm tired of it. Frankly, it's about time you heard what I believe in.

(And P.S. Anyone wishing to engage in debate and thinking of bringing up the lame Bill Ayers argument has to first explain to me how Obama is a bigger "pal" of terrorists than the uber-Republican Annenbergs who funded that whole educational project. Trust me, your local grant guru, funders know exactly who the advisors are on projects they bankroll!)

Thanks for reading. I'll be curious to read your response to my guest blogging entry. And thanks to Spencer for giving me the chance to share my perspective.

(poster by Hyperakt Design Group)

Halloweenies, or...

How the God Squad Grinches Are Trying to Steal Halloween...

Courtesy of FARK, I just read these links from Pat "Knows the Mind of God" Robertson's CBN website. Kids, did you know that people who celebrate Halloween "either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power"??? According to CBN, that's the situation. Halloween is going to eat our immortal souls!!

I better make sure all my Wiccan friends know they're totally screwed. I bet they had no idea!

Surely bound for Hell, 1966.
I *heart* Halloween.
Missed being born on Halloween by a few hours.

Much to their dismay, some of the Pat Robertson Christians have had to come to terms with "the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to 'avoid' Halloween." (Oh, the horror!) CBN even has an online "Halloween Resource" page. Yeah. For real. Sad, huh?

So, just how does a "true" Christian deal with Halloween? Why, by handing out scripture in the form of cute little Gospel tracts rather than that hellspawn Snickers snack bar! Or hey - you could get a GREAT reputation as the Official Neighborhood Crazy Cat Lady™ with this suggestion: "...consider designing your own tracts or attaching scripture messages to the treats." Riiiight. My mom would have been introducing these treats to Mr. Hefty Bag or taking them to the ER for an x-ray.

Still looking for the right Christian option for the hell-o-day? How about these surely tasty treats: "Scripture Candy, from the makers of Fish Mints™ contain wrappers that have scriptural text. Also, EvangeCandy, 'the only candy with color-coded Gospels on every wrapper' are fun for children."

Hooray! What child doesn't love some good color-coded Gospel messages on Halloween? I'm sure the Jewish, Muslim, & Hindi kids in your 'hood will be thrilled! As will their parents! Good work, Sister Christian!

And I'm sorry, but no candy should be called "FishMints." That's just so wrong. On so many levels. "Mmmm, baby - your breath smells just like a tuna sandwich from Quiznos!" Okay, wrong fish probably (and I kept it clean, you'll note), but still. BAD PRODUCT NAME.

The Sasquatch just reminded me that his church used to have a haunted house on Halloween. Most of the churches in my hometown did the same thing. Has that tradition died in the face of obnoxiously strident evangelical Christianity? I hope the hell not.

I miss the Halloween of my childhood. And I hate to see smug people who think they have the golden ticket into heaven trying to paint it as evil. Don't appreciate Wicca being described in those same ignorant terms, either. I like to think Jesus would have told these guys to lighten the hell up.

From one lapsed cafeteria Catholic to all my Halloween-loving friends - have a blast! Let your kids have a blast, if you've got 'em! Make a fun costume. Put on some horns at work (I will!) and don't let the puckered sphincter crowd get you down. They all need to go back and watch Oh God! with George Burns, honestly. I always loved God saying he made all these faiths, all these beliefs, and he really didn't give a fig how you addressed him/interacted with him. A most sensible view of religion and spirituality, I think. From Hollywood. Go figure.

To my Wiccan friends, I wish you a good Samhain. To the moms and dads and kids getting ready to assemble costumes, knock on doors, and hope for something other than Sweet Tarts in your plastic pumpkin - have fun! Revel! To the young, horny singles planning on wearing overpriced rentals, drinking to excess, and waking up in a strange place on November 1st: don't throw up on the rental. And carry condoms. And enough money for a cab. (You'll thank me later.)

As for me, I'll be the one in Lafayette Park at lunchtime on Halloween, celebrating my birthday a few hours early. You won't be able to miss me - I'll be the huge chick, waving at the White House, wearing my little red devil horns and a name tag reading "HELLO I'm Dick Cheney's Sister." One last parting shot at the Satan Spawn at 1600 Penn.

Feel free to join me. I have a plastic pitchfork waiting for you.

Better living through chemistry

Ahhhh, Vicodin.

Sleep will be had tonight!

As of this afternoon, back surgery has been deemed "too risky" by the orthopedic surgeon. At least for a loooong time to come. I start epidural steroid injections, though, probably next week. Plus a cortisone injection into my shoulder. Yes, fun with needles. Can't beat it.

For now, a bit of relief comes from a Target pharmacy Rx bottle.

Amen, mah bruthas and sistahs! Bring on the drugs!

Not dead yet

Hi folks,

Yeah I've been pretty quiet lately. Had company all last week in the form of my wonderful brother Air Jordan. But, by the last days of his visit, my back pain had become so bad, I was sobbing, hyperventilating, and violently ill. After a brief respite from pain over the weekend, the stabbing sensations were back, with a vengence. I assume, somewhere in my spine, there is a tiny Bruce Willis, battling Teutonic baddies. Yippee kai yay, messed up vertebrae!

The pain has grown so bad this week, I can't function properly by about 4 p.m. each day. My thought processes start to shut down and I can't focus. I'm seeing an orthopedic surgeon again - hopefully, tomorrow afternoon - to discuss steroid injections to relieve some of the agony. I'm going to beg my physical therapy doc tomorrow morning (at 6:15 - eek) to call the ortho guy in advance and tell him I'm not a drug-seeker. I desperately need some sleep and some freedom from this misery, and I am not above begging for pain meds.

Seriously, I was having trouble stringing words together appropriately on the way home tonight. I think the Sasquatch initially thought I was being a dumb-ass until I told him the pain was messing with my brain. Not good for someone who needs her brain for her paycheck.

Oof.

More when I can sit a bit longer.

I know, I know - bring back the funny. Dudes, I'm *SO* trying!

How I Feel Today

Sadly, I have a work event tonight, so I'll have to watch the carnage later, hopefully in small, palatable bites online...