Random Musings

On The Big C front:

First, the Showtime series ended this week with Cathy, played by the amazing Laura Linney, dying of melanoma.

I cried, because she died in her home, like my mother, after seeing her family and knowing they would be all right.

On the big C homefront:

My sister--that's who you're cheering for over there, AnneMarie--had her first three rounds of chemo this week and came through remarkably well. She's feeling good, sounding good, and doing good.

It's still a journey, but she's taken that first step and we'll just see where it takes her, and us.

Jody Arias.

Found guilty of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head and then stabbing him 25 times, her first interview after the verdict she asked to be put to death because then she'd be 'free'.

In court this week, she begged for mercy and said she could do great things in prison, like:

• Start a recycling program
• Teach Spanish
• Start a Book Club
• Sell her designer T-shirts emblazoined with the words 'Survivor" on them.

Howsabout this: lock Jody Arias up and never let her be seen or heard from again. Even on the day she dies in prison, let there be no mention of her.

Ever again.

So, guns, gun control.

In a post from earlier this week [More Children Killing Children] I received this comment from ISBL reader, Helen Lashbrook, from ‘across the pond,’ as they say, in the UK. She gave me a little insight into what the UK does in terms of gun control:

“We have a gun in our house (sadly as far as I am concerned). By law it has to be kept in a gun cabinet, accessible ONLY by the gun owner and holder of a gun licence.My husband was inspected by the police before the licence was issued and is checked every few years to ensure that he is still a suitable person to hold the licence.Although we are far from perfect the United Kingdom has not fallen into chaos because we have strict gun control (contrary to what the NRA preaches); quite the opposite. We have very few deaths from gunshot wounds.We lose a lot fewer policemen too.”

How come we can’t be that enlightened here? No one is talking guns away, they are simply demanding responsibility.

I am a bit of a news junkie, but even I was overwhelmed with the coverage of the tornadoes this week in Oklahoma. I kept thinking about people losing their homes, having no places to stay, and then watching every single news channels sending dozens upon dozens of reporters and camera crews into the area, clogging the streets, taking up valuable hotel and motel rooms that might have better been used for those left homeless after the disaster.

I mean, seriously, is the idea of Matt Lauer talking about two-by-fours turning into spears in tornado winds really relevant. And did ABC really need to seen Sam Champion and David Muir and others down there?

Sometimes I want the news; the sensationalism, however, needs to be stopped.

Oh that wacky GOP. Try as they might—and they have been trying and trying [my patience] these past five years—to prove Barack Obama is everything from un-American to a Socialist to a Communist to, well, you get my meaning.

Now, the GOP tries to create scandals out of every issue that comes along and yet the president’s approval ratings are the same, or higher. But, you know whose ratings are going way down? The GOP.

In a newly released CNN poll, 59% of Americans view the GOP unfavorably, while that minority that still approves of them is at a low low 35%.

Maybe it’s the 37^th attempt to repeal Obamacare, or the GOP’s failure on jobs, the economy, the environment. Maybe the GOP needs to get voted out of office because they have yet to accomplish one thing. They couldn’t even keep Obama to a one-term presidency, and that was Goal One three years ago.

So, this week at the Billboard Music Awards Little Justine Bieber was given the Milestone Award.

I thought it was because he reached the Milestone of Puberty.

The Milestone of Being Five Feet Tall.

The Milestone of Having Discernible Talent.

Then he took to the stage and admonished his critics for not understanding his ‘art’ and his ‘craft’ and the idea that in five years we’ll be, “Justin who?”

What’s that you say Virginia?

It seems that a clear majority of Virginia voters now support legal same-sex marriage, a sharp reversal from 2006 when they voted to amend the state constitution to define marriage as one man and one woman. Even the people’s attitudes on guns and immigration are different than those of their elected officials, which should mean one thing: Vote ‘em out.

What’s that you say Michigan?

It seems Virginia isn’t the only state seeing a shift in views on marriage equality. A majority of Michiganians, er, Michiganders, er, Meshuganas, now support same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT Americans.  Support for same-sex marriage has increased to 56.8%, up over twelve-points from last year.

What’s that you say Tennessee?

It seems that nearly half of all Tennesseans support legal recognition of same-sex couples—either civil unions, at 17%, or full marriage equality at 32%--as shown in a poll conducted for Vanderbilt University.

Meanwhile, 62% of Tennesseans say health insurance and other employee benefits should be extended to the domestic partners or spouses of gays and lesbians.

Say.What?

The march goes on, people.

So, Carlos snores. And snores loud. And I have learned that when the snoring begins, if I slap him in the face the mattress a couple of times, he’ll stop snoring and turn over. Oh, he doesn’t wake up, mind you, but he stops the snores and turns over.

Which can mean only one thing: he is subconsciously trying to ruin my sleep.

Only, this past week, the bitch mattress slapping hasn’t been working, and now I need to punch him in the gut tap him gently and ask him to turn over.

It’s a hard knock life.

So, the Mama Grizzly Bore™--never one to shut her illiterate piehole—gave us all her opinion on climate change in a little blurb on her Facebook page:

 “Global Warming my gluteus maximus.”

Loosely translated as “My ass is as big as the Earth. 

Prince Carl of Sweden. isn't he just delicious? I've had his picture up here before, but I found a whole series over at Buzzfeed and they, well, tickled my nether regions.

Upside? He's royally hot.

Downside: he's third in line for the throne so he'll never be King, meaning I'll never be Queen. :::sigh:::