gerrymandering

"Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly.

The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school.

So what did the students in this video do? They shut down the highway as they marched seven miles to cast their votes on the first day of early voting."

the following happened between the hours of 8am and 6pm.

today we came home from work to find the house looking like this:

did we get robbed? no.

are my housekeeping skills hideously slothful? no.

the bad bad dog, who has really been on a roll lately, decided to make a day out of strewing the kitchen trash all. over. the. house.

i don't know if she's sensing that i'm pregnant and she needs to run amok, or what, but i'm seriously about to lose it with this dog. we're going to have to buy a crate and start keeping her in it during the day. we haven't done that in forever.

here is a picture of the no good very bad dog begging us to forgive her of her transgressions:

she's pretty convincing to the untrained eye. she's also a tiny demon clothed in shiny black and tan fur.

"oh it's nausea/it's nausea/and we're gone"

-Beck

the sickness is getting better, but i'm still having issues with cooking. which is really annoying because i have a lot of cravings and i'm hungry all the time.

so today i was in the little local pharmacy waiting for them to fill my prescription (two follow-up stories on that to follow) and i saw a box of sea bands. my doctor had suggested that i try them for the nausea, so i bought them and proceeded to go home, don them, and cook dinner.

they look like this:

really cute, huh? so i'm in the kitchen cooking chicken chili (after the DOG got out of the back yard through the hole left by Miles that we still haven't filled in and i had to chase her all around the neighborhood as she's gleefully terrorizing the neighbors and this was after i came home to discover that today in her spare time she's destroyed all of jake's travel toiletries and there was shampoo and lotion and toothpaste smeared all over my carpet OH THAT DOG IS SO, SO BAD) and jake walks in and laughs at me. he's like, 'what are those?' i said, 'they're wristbands, can't you tell? and after dinner i'm going to take my camaro to a jazzercise class.'

needless to say they will not be worn outside the house.

follow-up story no. 1. yesterday and today i had the most terrible migraine and it has been the most frustrating thing. after years of seeing neurologists and undergoing ever test under the sun and every experimental treatment, i have found a trifecta of prescription medications that will kill a migraine inside thirty minutes if i can just take them and lie down for a bit.

unfortunately, i can't take ANY of them now that i'm pregnant. my doctor called me in some sort of painkiller today, but it's really a small help after two days of nothing but tylenol.

follow-up story no. 2. when my doctor's office called me to ask what pharmacy they should call the prescription into, i told them my usual pharmacy - walgreens. and then i quickly thought better of it and told them to call it into the little local pharmacy, which J has been encouraging me to try.

i like walgreens a lot because when i travel i can fill my prescriptions from any walgreens without having to hassle with having the prescription transferred, and also because there's almost always a 24-hour pharmacy open SOMEWHERE in any city i'm in.

but the logistics of using them on a regular basis have become simply too daunting. try to use the drive-through on any weekday and you will be in for an hour wait. ditto for going inside. and they can never get scripts filled the same day. they're just too busy. it's annoying.

so i had them call it into the little pharmacy down the street from my house, and LO AND BEHOLD, i walked in at 6p.m. and they prescription was filled, and i handed over my prescription card and they ran it RIGHT THEN, and i was out of there in five minutes.

BEAUTIFUL. remind me why i ever started using a big chain? i boycott wal-mart because of their evil ways, why would walgreens not fall into that category? never again.

oh, and my little local non-wal-mart grocery store started carrying reusable shopping bags. made of recycled plastic, 3 for $5. happy day.

OH, and ever since i watched "No Country For Old Men," which i freaking LOVED more than any movie i've seen in years, and then J and I rented "3:10 To Yuma" on On Demand, which I also loved, and so I've got a newfound love of westerns, so tonight we watched Tombstone and J--who grew up watching westerns--has undertaken responsibility for my western-genre education. i'm excited.

on a slightly related note, did you know i've never seen Gone With The Wind? yup. never.

so that was my day. sorry if i've rambled. i'm on bebbe-friendly migraine barbituates. woo-hoo.

until next time.

resume

i would not normally post an email forward, but i think that the country is in a dire position and i'm sick of all the right-wing propaganda that floods my inbox every day.

***

This person needs a new job; seeking an executive position. Can 

you help out? Available January 2009. Willing to relocate. 

RESUME 

GEORGE W. BUSH 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue 

Washington, DC 20520 

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE 

Law Enforcement: I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 

for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid 

a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My 

Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available. 

Military: I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I 

refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my 

drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able 

to avoid combat duty in Vietnam. 

College: I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. 

I was a cheerleader. 

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE : I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began 

my career in the oil business in Midland,Texas in 1975. I bought 

an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company 

went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. 

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal 

that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father 

and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken 

Lay), I was elected governor of Texas. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: 

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, 

making Texas the most polluted state in the union. During my 

tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most 

smog-ridden city in America. 

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of 

billions in borrowed money. 

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in 

American history. 

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida , and my 

father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President 

of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT: 

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a 

criminal record. 

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of 

over one billion dollars per week. 

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. 

Treasury. 

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. 

history. 

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in 

any 12-month period. 

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month 

period. 

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history 

of the U.S. stock market. 

In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their 

jobs and that trend continues. 

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any 

administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," 

Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her. 

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. 

President. I am the all- time U.S. and world record -holder for 

receiving the most corporate campaign donations. 

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best 

friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate 

bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron. My political party used 

Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success 

with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision. 

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against 

investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent 

investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent 

investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. 

I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and 

refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry 

was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in 

U.S. history. 

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be 

awarded government contracts. 

I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than 

any President in U.S. history. 

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest 

bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government. 

I've broken more international treaties than any President in 

U.S. history. 

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United 

Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission. 

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. 

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" 

detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva 

Convention. 

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations 

election inspectors (during the 2002 US election). 

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any 

President since the advent of television. 

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any 

one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, 

I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history. 

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World 

Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. 

the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of 

diplomacy in world history. 

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to 

simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), 

shattering the record for protests against any person in the 

history of mankind. 

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, 

pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign 

nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations , the 

majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community. 

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a 

cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families 

in wartime. 

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for 

attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends. 

I am the first President in history to have a majority of 

Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to 

world peace and security. 

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker 

Buster," a WMD. 

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin 

Laden to justice. 

RECORDS AND REFERENCES: 

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my 

father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view. 

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my 

bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for 

public view. 

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my 

Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are 

sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I 

specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 

years. 

PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW! 

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the 

leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's 

always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a 

democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a 

communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always 

be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you 

have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce 

the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country 

to greater danger." 

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

partially-existent baby updates

our next doctor's appointment is february 28, and i will be 12 weeks then. i am lucky to have a doctor who does an in-office ultrasound at every visit, so we will get to see the baby again and hopefully it will be a skosh larger than the peanut-sized blob i saw at my 8 week ultrasound.

we will hopefully find out the sex in april, around 16-18 weeks. we will start the naming process then, once the pool of possibilities has been reduced by approximately 50%.

the last name is still up in the air, however, and is a hotly debated topic around the house.

now we will return to our regularly scheduled filing-my-taxes.

being green

saturday J and i set up our new composter in the back yard.

apparently we should have bought it last may, because i guess it takes a full year for your grass clippings and onion peels to turn from stinky trash to beautiful black fertilizer. alas. at least my circa-2009 tomatoes have something to look forward to. if we're still in this house then, that is. the vintage 2008 beefsteaks will have to settle for miracle gro. and yes i know miracle gro is not a green product, but my mom always used it and i have yet to find a tomato that rivals the tomatoes of my childhood. she would send us running out to the garden to pick a ripe one for dinner and slice it up, still warm from the sun, and serve it with chicken charcoaled by my dad, and green beans and lipton chicken rice and homegrown fried okra and a bowl of thinly sliced purple onion and cucumber marinated in iced vinegar and sugar and a biiiiig glass of whole milk.

i am totally digressing. the vegetable gardens of my childhood were not all halcyon fields. mom also used sevindust to protect her produce from critters, and that stuff is as toxic as it gets. i'm sure we never even saw the baby rabbits seizing in the bushes after munching on the squash.

so anyway J bought a compost can for the countertop. it's stainless steel with a carbon filter to keep odors from escaping, and it's nicely aesthetic - as much as a compost bin can hope to be, that is. i can throw my vegetable scraps in there as i cook and dump it out a few times a week, thus avoiding daily trips across the freezing back yard. in theory, that is. in reality, the odor-trapping lid fits on there so tightly that in order to get it off, i have to hold the can in my arms and wreeeeeeeeeench the lid off, which proceeds to come flying off with such force that the banana peels go all over the floor.

being environmentally friendly is hard work.

we've been DVR'ing this Sundance channel show called "It's Not Easy Being Green" from the BBC. we're addicted. it's a quote-un-quote reality show (more documentary, really) about a british family who is taking $10,000 and one year to make their smallish farm and not-so-smallish historic farmhouse as green as possible. ohmygod it's my favorite show ever. we dream at night of wind turbines and giant vegetable patches, cellars full of canned fruit and wood-burning furnaces to heat our superinsulated home. sigh.

by the way, i've been feeling better in the last week. enough that i did about 10 loads of laundry on saturday, which is seriously behind on housework when you consider that we usually only go through about 3 loads of laundry a week. i'm even feeling good enough that i went to the grocery store tonight, and bought meat. RAW meat.

this is real progress.

although it still didn't stop me from having a mango smoothie, a bunch of pickled okra, and a mcdonald's apple pie for dinner tonight. pregnancy is a beautiful excuse to eat exactly the way i want. i think i'll stick with it for a while longer.

to tide you over until I make a real post