Salvation Amy

Watch It, McCain

I have been working on a Senatorial beefcake calendar for many years. Unfortunately, it has not taken off, because I can only fill three months because there is just not all that much beefcake in the US Senate. And, as much as I disagree with a lot of his politics, John McCain has always served as Mr. July in beefcakeville, because I just think it's refreshing to find a politician who will tell you what he thinks, without worrying about what people are going to say or think about it. Unfortunately, this means he also will say what he thinks, even though it means he is now risking being cut out of the calendar. His points are very well reasoned, and as always, deeply held. I just disagree with him. Because even with all those well reasoned points, I still think war is mean.

They're at it Again

Hey! remember when those chuckleheads in congress slipped in that bit about immunizing (get it?) pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits over thimerosal related autism into the Homeland Security bill? Well, look what else they've come up with.

I can't stop thinking about this Damn War

About two years ago, when I was in my last year of law school, I wrote a letter to Daniel Berrigan, asking if I could interview him about the trial of the Catonsville Nine. He sent me a postcard back, saying, no, sorry, he couldn't, because he was recovering from spinal surgery, and was, you know, real busy being a saint and a prophet. But on the front of the postcard was a picture of all these Iraqi children. A lot of them. Probably over a hundred. Maybe two hundred. And you can see there faces very clearly. Some of them are smiling, and some of them look worried, and some of them look sad, and some of them look away. And I have it on my bulletin board. And when I go in my kitchen I just wonder. How many of them have died since that picture, as a result of U.S. sanctions. And then I wonder which ones will die when we drop the bombs.

As a mom, it's really hard for me to separate out the fact that all of our enemies that we want dead, every one of them, is somebody's child.

You Damn Dirty Apes

Okay, this is not a new link. But - remember when you were a kid, and you watched Planet of the Apes at your best friend's house til 3:00 a.m., and the ending seemed like THE CLEVEREST THING EVER???? Well, maybe it was a visionary thing. Maybe the people responsible had tapped into the universe's great oversoul. And maybe, just maybe, THIS is how it all started, with the monkeys taking over and everything. And maybe we should all just hurry up and pay attention, before This Guy arranges for us to all be lobotomized. I'm just saying.

What are You Hoarding for the Apocalypse

Well, I wasn't much freaking out over the Code Orange, or whatever you call it at the beginning of the week. I guess I haven't been following the news closely enough to know that I was supposed to. But then on Wednesday, I started to get a little bit nervous. I was shopping at my local grocery store for ingredients for Nick's Martha Stewart Rice Krispie Treat Birthday Cake (and, for the record, it appears that I am hoarding Rice Krispie Treat ingredients for the apocalypse) and I turned down the aisle where they keep the bottled water and HOLY TOLEDO OHIO was it ever EMPTY. I started to get a little nervous then, because, of course, story of my life, I didn't even know I was supposed to be hoarding.

THEN, after I finished making 96 Rice Krispie Treats for this silly cake (and technically, I should mention that it was actually Quite A Variety of Cereal Treats which went into this cake, and not just Rice Krispies. Well, okay, for the sake of absolute veracity, I should tell you it was a Variety of Store Brand Sugary Kids' Cereal Treats Cake), I rushed to bed, and while I was watching the news, found out that all local Home Depots and stuff were out of Duct Tape and Plastic Sheathing and I really freaked out, because there is nothing worse than learning you are supposed to be hoarding something by learning that everything you are supposed to be hoarding is already hoarded up already.

Then I remembered that Scott has secretly been hoarding duct tape for the last 10 years, and even if we don't have any plastic sheathing? We have enough Duct Tape to cover every window in the neighborhood.

Clap Your Hands

Here's a little something that has been zinging around the internet for a bit. I heard people singing it on NPR last night. I sent it to my mother, who says she finds herself going around singing it to herself. Luckily - no one is singing back.