PHC

Since seeing Garrison Keillor at the fair last weekend, I've been reading at the website now and again.
One of my favorite parts of the show last week was the catchup bit because it included blogging. The script is now on the website, as well as the whole show. The friends I was with were mighty interested to see my reaction to the blogging bit. Laughter, of course - what else could it be.


When I read Garrison's responses to people, I'm sometimes struck anew at what a nice command of the language he has. I think that's the determining factor. His voice is pleasant - certainly - but his words carry a message far beyond definition.

I don't listen to the show regularly, so that means I've got a backlog of ones to hear online.

There's some beauty in that - just like seeing the powdermilk biscuits logo with a grain elevator in the background.



http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

Friday

I spent most of the day doing little jobs - those things that only take a couple of minutes, but you can let pile up until you have hours worth of them to do.

On the upside, you feel like you've accomplished a lot at the end of the day.

I had planned to go to the fair tonight, but Greg and Mark were there and wanted to eat at Skaets so I went there and then it was getting a little late to head to the fair. We ran into Sandy and Leland and it was good to chat with them. The three of us were doing a little ranting about the democrats and why they don't get off their asses and DO something, instead of just letting the Republicans run unchecked doing one stupid thing after another.

Anyway, after Skaets, I went out to Lowe's to look around at some things for the house and ran into Reba, who I hadn't seen in awhile. We chatted for quite some time and it was nice. She used to own a little shop that I was in regularly. I miss her store and I miss her. So, it was good to see her.

Mark turned in early. Greg has popped by to download his pix. Terry called and was on his way out to Wal-mart. I think I'm going to turn in shortly. I'm weary tonight - maybe too many chiropractor visits and too much ibuprofen.

Davis-Bacon

So... there's this little thing called the Davis-Bacon act. It was passed in 1931 - you may recall that was during the depression era - to set a minimum pay scale for workers on federal contracts.

This guy named Robert Bacon thought it would help get the country out of the depression if government contractors had to pay a "prevailing" or "accepted" wage in a particular area. He got a northern guy to put his name on it too and there you go.

Sounds reasonable? Right?

It was a way to insist that people be paid a basic level of wage for certain kinds of work. It would help people get their feet on the ground and since most of the work those days was government work, it was all the more helpful.

Well, we've been going along all this time - almost 75 years - with this idea that companies hiring people to work on government contracts should pay a certain, average, wage.

That was until this week, when Bush suspended the law so that his buddies who own construction companies, can make MORE money when they rebuild from the hurricane.

Prevailing wage for a construction worker in New Orleans was $9 an hour. I wish I could hire one for that out here on the plains, but I digress. OK, so, Bush has decided that's just completely unreasonable. So, lets say a company was going to build a $20,000 building. Maybe they'd spend 9,000 of it on labor. Now, the building is still going to cost $20,000 but they'll only have to pay $6,000 (or whatever) in labor. So, gosh, the company (can you say Halliburton?) get to keep an extra three grand.

He's saying that $9 an hour is overpayment for rebuilding a community. Can he screw this up even further? I swear, every day I don't think so, and every day he surprises me yet again.

Never mind we already had an area that was depressed economically, now he's trying to make it worse - all the while lining the pockets of his friends.

How do we stop this madness? When will it end? We aren't going to have a country left to save in another three years. We've got to get rid of him.

Impeach Bush. He's demonstrated incompetence - surely that's sufficient. He said the debacle of the hurricane relief was his fault, thankfully ending all the stupidity I've been reading the last couple of weeks about how it wasn't his fault. I knew it was. Any thinking person knew it was. Finally, a week and a half later, he caught on too. I'm willing to make this one exception and BELIEVE what he says this time.

_________________

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/opinion/10sat2.html?incamp=article_popular

Bill Maher to George Bush

In case you missed HBO's "Late Night with Bill Maher," here was his open letter to the President:

Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you.

Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man?

Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't.

I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.

Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: "Take a hint."

Pig Races

Doesn't your state fair have pig races? Pity.

Art at the Fair

I went to the fair tonight with a group and checked out the professional art show.

Of course, I am somewhat biased to my friends who are in the show. Jocelyn's piece was "Emily with the Blues" and is one of my favorites in the show.

Another one I loved was Kathie Moore's piece. I didn't get a decent pic of it because of light reflection, but it's beautiful. Kathie and I were in a book club together years ago and are now very involved with the democrats locally.

Don Fuller, who I'm on a board with, won the Hutchinson Art Center's Grand Award for his mixed media work called, "Balancing Act."

J. Alex Potter got an award of merit for her pastel of pears. I adore her work. It's always amazing. Her work is way out of my price range but I certainly admire it. Being in her house feels like being in a really fun art museum to me - really great. I didn't get a good shot of her entry this year, but it's wonderful.

Hutchinson is such a small community that I realized as I was looking at the art that I knew all but a couple of the Hutchinson artists, either personally or through mutual acquaintances.

There were pieces there from all over the state, of course. I really enjoyed this particular one from an artist, Marty Ferguson, of Wichita. Beautiful work.

It's always interesting to see what the judge picks from year to year. This year it seems to be the slightly unusual, but not too far out there, things. It varies from one year to the next. That's one of the great things about art - different strokes for different folks.

Apotemnophilia and acrotomophilia

You learn something every day and today I've learned that there are people who want to have limbs amputated. It's a desire. Well, it's actually a condition called apotemnophilia, and was first noted in the late 1970s.

Causes are being investigated.

One thing is certain, the internet seems to be offering people a way to accomplish these goals; as well as connect amputees with people who are attracted to them, a condition called acrotomophilia.

Bertrand Berger and colleagues wrote in the research journal, "Comprehensive Psychiatry," about a patient who packed both legs in dry ice until frostbite require amputation.

They write, "The Internet helped provide a blueprint for self-amputation. Without the Internet, our patient may never have conceived, let alone used a method to bring about, self-amputation. We anticipate that increasing Internet access will lead to more cases of self-amputation."

I'm not sure what to do with this information... but it's out there... and I didn't want to be alone with that knowledge so I'm sharing here. Lucky you.

Bush Light Bulb Joke

Mia sent this joke and I can't resist sharing it...

HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHTBULB?

The Answer is TEN:

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed,

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed,

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb,

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for eternal darkness,

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb,

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner "Bulb Accomplished,"

7. One administration insider to resign and in detail reveal how Bush was literally "in the dark" the whole time,

8. One to viciously smear #7,

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb changing policy all along,

10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Life is Weird

Today I went to ship my ex boyfriend's things back to him. There are some incidentals and then some really important things. I just haven't wanted to face doing it but decided to just go ahead and get it done. So, I get to the shipping place, and discover that something that was in the box has spilled out onto some of his clothes. So, I brought them home to wash them again. For some reason, I guess I wasn't supposed to send them back yet.

I never really stop loving someone, once I fall in love. When I'm forced to, I change the way I love them, but I never stop. It's a curse in many ways.

I love as much on day 1445 as I did on day 223. I don't experience that drifting away. Love, for me, only grows in a relationship - it does not diminish. I guess I'm odd in this way since that's not how it's "supposed" to work.

I didn't want this to end, but there were two of us in it and I was the only one who felt that way. So, there you go...

Nothing to do but the laundry, I guess.

Question

The question was: What are you proud of having taught yourself to do?

One of the greatest skills I have, that I had the foundation for, but have honed myself on, is I can make conversation. That sounds stupid, but incredibly few people can sit down at a table with seven people they don't know and have actual conversation.

I have started to dread going to events because as I told my friend, Trish, "I'm always the floor show." Some days I just don't feel like being that "up" and want to just take someone else's lead. And, sometimes I run into someone I know and just enjoy visiting with them, but in general I am the conversation starter.

I sit down, extend my hand to the person next to me and say, "Hi, I'm Patsy Terrell..." I then go around the table and ask everyone's name. Then, I try to engage people in a conversation. I always wonder if I didn't sit down if they would just sit there the whole meal not talking to anyone except the person they came with.

Another thing I taught myself to do, that I'm very proud of, is swim. I'm terrified of the water and decided that everyone should face at least one fear. So, I learned to swim. I'm not an exceptional swimmer by any means, but I can move myself through the water. And everytime I do it, I have to convince myself to put my face in the water all over again. It's not a natural thing for me at all.

I grew up on a farm and I know what Bull Shit looks like, smells like and sounds like. People in the southeast are getting a lot of it these days from insurance adjusters in the aftermath of Katrina. Most people don't have flood insurance and insurance adjusters are telling them the damage to their homes is due to floods, not the hurricane. I just knew this was going to happen. On day one I said to a friend that the insurance companies would try to avoid paying.

I'm soooo fortunate to have a great insurance company, but I have dealt with some that view their entire purpose to be avoiding paying any claims. Weasels.

After much chiropractic care today, my back felt good enough to head out to the fair tonight. Greg was kind enough to drive me to a gate and let me off so I could limit my walking on concrete, which was helpful.


We went to see the hypnotist, Ron Diamond, who's always entertaining. We also took in the tiger show and the pig races. I did a quick run through of domestic arts.

What could be more state fair-ish than jars of canned goods?

I have more pix to post, but I'm too weary to do it tonight... but soon.

Oh, my aching back

Last night about 5:30 my back started hurting and it just kept getting worse and worse. I got very little sleep. And, had to not go to the Food for Thought event this morning. I hated to miss, but I just couldn't move around enough to get dressed and go.

I went to the chiropractor and he helped a ton. I'm going back in the morning for another treatment.

I just don't lead a lifestyle where I can be "sick" this much. I've got to get my body back to cooperating with me.

Aches and pains are such a boring topic - I must find something new to talk about!

Tuesday

It's been a busy and not especially productive day. I was scheduled to have electricians here today, but they didn't come. How you actually GET the people you've arranged in advance to work on your house to show up when they've agreed to, I don't know. It's a trick I've not mastered. And, yes, this is the most reputable company in town.

I got a lot of MHA things done, so that was good. But, it seems I'm always behind, regardless.

I went to the Democratic Women's Club luncheon today and it was really great. Greg Halling of the Hutchinson News talked about their mission and how they make decisions about candidates and such.

Tonight was Altrusa. We're getting ready for our Mad Hatter party in two weeks.

I'm moving very slowly. I am suffering some serious pain in my left leg. I stepped off a ladder a little crooked the other day and it seems to have affected a muscle. Ouch! I'm taking piles of Ibuprofen. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Well... I'm off to bed. I have a breakfast in the morning at 7, so I need some sleep.

LJ Meme

The LiveJournal meme... sent by someone... sorry I can't recall who...

1. Your LiveJournal user name and what it means:
It's my name. Nothing fancy.

2. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) how well does your LiveJournal represent who you actually are? 10 - as much as people in real life know me, other than intimates

3. How much about your life do you post to LJ? I write about my life in general but it is for publication - not like my private journals. My private, written, journals are not shared with anyone.

4. Is there anything you refuse to post about?
very personal things

5. On a scale of 1-10 how interesting do you think your own journal is to others?
I don't have a number for that - but I get about 65,000 hits on my blog on my website, which is the same info, every month so someone must be looking/reading

6. Has anyone ever joined LJ because of you?
don't know

7. What proportion of your posts are friends only?
none... I don't get the point in having a public journal that isn't public

8. What are your top five favorite interests on LJ?
??? don't know what this means

9. How often do you post in communities, and did you ever start your own?
I've posted in one within the last week or two. Don't know much about them.

10. How often do you respond to/comment on other people's journals?
a few times a week... I read often, but don't comment often

11. Do you prefer to write in your journal or read other journals?
I write more often than read

12. Have you ever had something mean said to you or been stalked, harassed, or got into an argument on LJ?
nope... been stalked in real life and it was very unpleasant...

13. Have you ever banned someone from your journal?
no

14. Who are your four favorite LJ friend(s) and why?
you can look at the friends list and judge your favorites - that's probably more helpful

16. Why are you most likely to add someone to your friends list?
Because I find their journal through some method and enjoy what I'm reading. My friends list is to bring together the journals that I want to read.

17. Do you automatically add friends to your journal if they add you first?
no... but if I enjoy reading their journal, I do

18. What is the most likely reason you wouldn't add someone to your friends list? All they talk about is whatever illness they have or are just very, very, very dull. For awhile there was someone who read mine that - literally - talked about her day moment by moment - very dull stuff.

19. Is your "significant other" on LJ? No significant other at the moment. Last bf was not on LJ and can't imagine him ever donig such a thing

20. Have you ever wanted to meet someone on LJ? there are people I'd like to meet... most on my friends list.

Start with a Bang

The work week started with a bang - OK, not so much - I was dragging today.

I think I kicked some allergy into high gear at the fair on Saturday because I woke up dozens of times last night, unable to breathe from my congested head/nose/throat/etc. I would sit up, drink some water, clear it out and go back to sleep for about - oh 13.2 minutes - and then be back up again.

I know why people who have sleep apnea are always tired now. Good grief - it's exhausting to be up every few minutes. Hopefully I'll get to bed earlier tonight and be able to actually SLEEP, which will be a bonus.

I did accomplish quite a few things today - despite my lagging energy. Tomorrow will be a busy day and then Wednesday even busier, so I do have to get right into the week.

Mark is coming back this weekend for more of the fair. I'm not sure how much I'm going to get out there this year. I do enjoy it, but it seems the week is getting pretty full.

I do enjoy the State Fair. It's one of the last agricultural fairs in the country and I find it charming to see ribbons on tomatoes and peppers and pumpkins.

There was an event yesterday afternoon that I really wanted to go to - a gathering for Rob - but I just couldn't do it and the other things that were on the agenda.






Tonight I was at an Arts and Humanities Council board meeting and they were giving us dates of events. There were 7 things, I think, and I had something competing with everyone of them. I'm not sure how to find more time and more energy.

Greg is still thrilled with his Garrison Keillor picture with Ace Jackalope and it is very cool.

Garrison's performance is still the talk of the town. We were thrilled to welcome him to Hutchinson and hope he returns soon. In fact, he's coming to Lindsborg next year, so he will be back in the area.

Mark Ponders Pumpkins

Mark Ponders Giant Pumpkins at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday... I don't think this needs any further comment...

CSI Effect

Does this seem like a good idea???

Our local newspaper has a story today about how local prosecutors are working to keep up with the "CSI effect," and how that changes the public's expectation of how a trial will be.

"From the prosecution side, we have tried very hard to increase the entertainment value of our trials," District Attorney Keith Schroeder said.

Katrina Investigation

"The president said he's going to lead the investigation into what went wrong. He needs to look only in the mirror."

-- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California

Tired

It's Sunday night and I'm tired. The weekend had some fun in it, but I get weary when I'm around people constantly, and I have been most of the weekend. I'm 4/6 respectively on the introvert/extrovert scale and I need quiet time.

But, we had a good time at the show last night and it was fun to run around. I just need more quiet than other people do, I think. Maybe that comes from growing up as an only child. Maybe if you have siblings around all the time you're used to more noise and commotion. I need quiet to think and relax and restore. I stayed up very late last night to have some quiet time.

I think I'm also just worn out from all the emotion of the past couple of weeks - not that I have been doing anything difficult compared to what evacuees are going through, but listening to people who don't "get it" has just worn me out.

Today, of course, is the four year anniversary of 9-11. It seems that was a world ago and I guess in many ways it was. I lead a very different life now than I did then.

At the time I was working at the radio station and learned about it when I went in that morning. We watched TV for awhile and then the manager sent everyone who didn't have to be there home. He was always wonderful about that.

I went home and thought that I'd take advantage of the day to do some things around the house, but could not tear myself away from the television. I kept trying to, but I'd find myself curled back up on the couch crying, everytime I'd try to get away from it.

It hit me in an odd way - it was four months to the day after my mom's death and I was just getting through the really tough grief part. It was still very fresh and very raw. Very raw. And knowing how grief was, and that all those people were going to experience it en masse, it just seemed like the whole world was going to crumble under the weight of all that grief.

I have felt the same way about the hurricane victims, even though my own grief is more "managed" now. But, there's something about grief that is magnified when many people are suffering at the same time, for the same reason.

I have not watched any television today. The first year it felt like a "celebration" to me more than a commemoration and I haven't wanted to participate in that since then. I'm sure the TV is filled with salutes of various sorts, but I don't want to invite any more sadness into my life. It's not that I don't remember what happened, but I don't want to "celebrate" it in any way.

I'm going to try to get back to a more "normal" sense of posting here, but frankly every time I try to write much these days it just comes off trite if I'm talking about daily life.

But, of course, that's what this blog is about - daily life - so I will get back to that. That does not mean there will not be political posts - those will definitely continue - because I think that is the only way we can make changes.

I looked at the stats last night to see if I had driven away all my readers because of the political stuff, and readership has actually increased.

But, I will also be trying to offer more "normal" things mixed in. I still have not blogged my Puerto Rico or Route 66 trips. Life has just been a really fast merry go round lately and time at the computer has been scarce to do time intensive things like photos. One of these days soon...

But, that's not tonight. I have promised editors that freelance writing will be in their inboxes when them come in Monday morning so I must get about making that happen.

That's a Jackalope

Ace Jackalope and entourage went to the Kansas State Fair tonight where the headlining act was Garrison Keillor with a live broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion."
Garrison was delighted to make Ace's acquaintance, and pose for a photo after the show. As he exclaimed, "Whatever the joke is, I'm in on it."

How can you not love that?


Kansas native, Kelley Hunt, did a fabulous job during her songs, and made us proud. She's been on the show before, and we're lucky to get to see her around here now and then.

Our beloved Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, played herself during the Guy Noir skit and did a great job. She was on stage again and just handled herself amazingly well. She and Garrison seemed to really hit it off. She is a democrat in this very red state, and is loved by many in both parties.

Garrison is very interested in politics, and did have a few comments about everything from evolution to the lack of response to the hurricane victims. The crowd was very responsive to him.

The set was an elaborate one, including a house front with a porch, from which Garrison started the monologue. But, he only sat down briefly - showing his red socks and shoes off - but then got up to wander the stage as he talked. He does favor the left (his left) side of the stage so if you're planning to see him you might bear that in mind.

Later tonight there was a fundraiser for the democratic party that both Garrison and Kathleen were going to. I wish I could have gone, but I just couldn't. Instead I ended up working the democratic party booth with Debbie, as last minute replacements.

Garrison signed autographs and chatted with people for well over an hour after the show. He was really quite charming, although Greg and Ace were the only ones in our party who visited with him.

I got to see Garrison years ago in Minnesota when the station I worked for did a trip. He was much more casual tonight about chatting with folks.

You can listen to repeats of the show on the website if you miss it. Prairie Home Companion has been the most popular public radio show for years.
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/archive.php

The show was really great. If you listened to it tonight or if you catch a repeat on Sunday and hear the Catchup script late in the show, you'll know why this photo is here, although I don't have a cheese danish handy.

quote

"The most dangerous thing to average Americans is not some mullah in Iraq, not even Osama Bin Laden, but George Bush." Steve Gilliard

Flood Area Maps

www.condobuzz.com shows the area of the New Orleans flood compared to a number of different US cities. It gives you a sense of the size of it if you're familiar with one of those cities.

These are not my words, I just think they're worth sharing... see the link below for more from this writer.

The Great Uniter
After September 11th, the nation was united as it has not been since World War II. Seen that sentence before? Thing is, it's true. For a good stretch there, Americans had their sleeves up, ready to engage in shared sacrifice. Bush squandered the political unity of that moment, a moment in which he might have done anything, with the foolishness of Iraq. The only sacrifice asked of most of us, was slaughtering our common sense at the altar of trickled on economics.

Now we have another of those extremely rare moments of perfect national clarity. Only this time the theme of the day is they screwed up big time. Four years in which they've done nothing but talk about being prepared for an emergency. Four years in which they've spent huge amounts of money, reshaped the government, eroded rights, suspended laws, broken treaties, and expended blood like it was free, and what do we have to show for it? Rats eating old women in the street, that's what we have.

Read more at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/123228/8066#43

George Bush Don't Like Black People

One of the great things about the internet is the speed at which information can travel. Scarcely had I posted about music than a comment from streetdreams pointed me toward this "little ditty" as my piano teacher would have said. (Sorry, I can't resist the personal fun of hearing Mrs. Jerrell say "little ditty" in my head while referring to a rap song. She would have appreciated this one.)

It's titled "George Bush Doesn't Like Black People" and I encourage you to listen. It's rap - of course it has "language" - but at this point, I can't imagine what language is not appropriate to express anger, rage, frustration, or other adjective of your choice.

http://www.ourmedia.org/node/53964

The only thing I might add is that I don't think George limits who he doesn't like to only black people - it could be extended to anyone of any color - and anyone who's poor - or even lower or middle middle class. He doesn't like anyone who's not his "base," defined as: "This is an impressive crowd of the haves and have mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base". Governor George Bush-Oct 13, 2000-at the 55th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York.

But, I'll admit, even I never imagined he'd willingly stand by and strum guitar while those of us not his "base" died in the streets. I stand corrected.

Al Gore

Al Gore spoke to environmentalists at the Sierra Club in today at their opening convention. This is one of his comments...

"When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic flood waters five days after a hurricane struck, it is time not only to respond directly to the victims of the catastrophe, but to hold ... the leaders of our nation accountable," Gore told environmentalists at the Sierra Club's national convention.

Gore was responsible for getting two plane loads of people out of New Orleans. He did it by placing phone calls - personally - and securing the planes. American Airlines apparently went on the mission without a contract or previous payment.

http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/11197884p-11949438c.html to read more

So, Al Gore evacuated people with his own money and his own connections. Bush has the whole freaking military at his disposal and couldn't manage it for a longer time period.

It's really a shame Al Gore didn't get in the white house back when he won the election. Of course, Al knows about water, being from Tennessee, so he would have maintained the leeves so this wouldn't be an issue. Because, oh yeah, we wouldn't be using all our resources to fight a useless war. I knew there was a reason.

Timeline

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Timeline for Katrina. What really happened when?

Music

OK, I'll admit straight up, I'm not a huge music fan. What that means is I don't go to concerts, I don't worship singers, etc. I sing along with the radio and that's about it. I'm not into fandom. I've met a few celebrities in former jobs and it loses its thrill very quickly.

But, music seems to be a great force for many people. And at times like this national crisis it seems to be helpful to people to turn to music as a unifier. It always happens - generally very quickly.

With that said... where are all these musicians that were writing songs about 9-11 before the dust even settled? Do they not care any more about the south than the president and his staff?

Aaron Neville sang on Larry King tonight and it was wonderful, but is all of country music - generally so quick on the "Where were you?" types of songs - in a cave and unaware of what's going on? Where are our rock crusaders Sting, Bono and the Boss? Does NO ONE care any more than the government?

Aren't most country singers IN the south? As far as I know, Nashville recording studios are still functioning. Are we not even going to get yet another remake of "Candle in the Wind?"

Of course, country singer Mark Wills was with the president when the president should have been in New Orleans, anyway. Wills presented him with a guitar and the president strummed along while people were fighting for their lives in New Orleans. That seems fair. Right?

I was willing to cut Mark Wills a ton of slack - after all he wasn't the one who should have been in New Orleans - and meeting the president is a big deal, regardless of who you are. But, before writing this piece, I went to his website, fully expecting an apology of some sort for the unfortunate timing, but that photo of Bush playing air guitar is the first thing you see and they're obviously very proud of it. www.markwills.com for those of you interested...

The very next thing you can click on is a story about Wills Tour Bus helping block traffic at an accident and the quote is, "What a wonderful example of how God can send us help in the midst of strife. Thank you for your example to all." I don't think that really needs any additional comment from me.

Wills needs to keep better company. And hire a PR person.

Maybe there's no country music because there's nothing patriotic about this. Seeing your countrymen die because you've been gung ho on supporting a president and a war half a world away - and glorifying soldiers dying a la "I Made it to Arlington" - probably doesn't give you much to sing about.

Alan Jackson did his bit with "Where were you." Come on people, he can't write EVERYTHING. Surely some of you patriotic types that always have a pro-war song at the ready have something to say. Oh, no, wait, you love this president and his war that has now killed people in New Orleans as well as Iraq. (read the CNN article that having National Guard tied up in Iraq resulted in deaths in Louisiana)

I wish I could call the Dixie Chicks, the only freaking voice of reason from that quadrant during this whole @*##$(%&# season of war. (There are some words I just don't use and that expletive is really all that will fit in that sentence.)

I See Dead People

Well, I'm up... only about 3.5 hours since I went to sleep. I can't sleep. I see dead people - when I'm awake on television and when I'm asleep in my mind. And I didn't even vote for Bush.

So, I've been out to the garage, doing a little possum proofing. Yes... possums. And before you start telling me how cute the nasty, snarling, rabies laden things are, let me tell you it won't work with me. I grew up on a farm - I'm familiar with many types of wildlife - and little of it is conducive to cohabitation with humans.

Unfortunately, possums are now an urban problem. A friend has had one in his basement. And someone told me they had seen one in our neighborhood.

I have one garage door that won't close all the way to the bottom and so I went out and did a little jury rigging on it to block entry - just in case one of the critters decides it looks like a good place to settle in. My garage is at the alley, a lot away from the house, and I don't use it for a vehicle, so I'm not out there much.

Figured I'd go out while it's still dark so hopefully if there was one who was there he would be active and get out. I opened the door at the front to turn on the light and decided to leave it open. Sure enough, while I was at the back of the garage, messing with the big door, the front door opened as something pushed it open to get out. Could have been a cat, but I'm not taking any chances. Whatever it is won't be getting back into my garage - I'm sure of that - I did a very good job of possum proofing if I do say so myself.

Hutchinson animal control says possums are a major problem in the area. They'll provide you with a trap, but they don't kill them when they catch them - they "relocate" them. This is another example of stupidity - studies show that almost all die shortly after being released - 88% in the first week. I guess animal rights people think it's better for them to be killed by foxes or other predators than put to sleep peacefully.

I just know that they're not compatible with human habitation. And in an urban area they have no predators so flourish unchecked. Man - the one predator they could have - isn't even one I guess.

My theory on such things is simple - they can be anywhere on the planet except my tiny bit of it.

Standing Water

"And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection - or at least amelioration - against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological.

It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water." Keith Olbermann

Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8514671/