News of the Odd.

Well, this is one way to get a date.

Ok, let's say you just won a $27 million dollar lottery. But you don't have to time to chat. Why?....Wonders never cease.

There is a lesson here somewhere, I just can't find it.

There's sick and then there is just repulsive. If there were a word worse than repulsive, I would use it. But I can't think of one. But these come close.
awful, beastly, creepy, detestable, disgusting, distasteful, foul, frightful, ghastly, gross, gruesome, hideous, horrid, horrific, icky, loathsome, lousy, macabre, monstrous, nasty, nauseating, nerdy, objectionable, obnoxious, odious, offensive, outrageous, repellent, repugnant, revolting, rotten, scandalous, scuzzy, shameless, shocking, skank, sleazeball, sleazy, stinking, surfeiting, vile, vulgar, yecchy, yucky.

Yep. That about covers it.

On a lighter note, speaking of man's best friend, if you're so lazy you would buy one of these for your dog, it is time to buy some serious vitamins for yourself. And have you ever seen a dog with a sleep disorder? (Trust me, it's funny) (via The Biomes Blog)

The winner is Jason. "Oliver Willis finally reveals his love."

You have to be familiar with the leftwing blogger Oliver to understand how funny this is, but it made me laugh out loud.

Once again my girl Peggy Noonan hits it perfectly regarding the Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols "meeting" after his killing rampage. Ashley's simple faith led him to give himself up and perhaps find something inside himself other than evil.

"Maybe we should be thinking: God loves all of us, every one of us most tenderly, even convicts, maybe especially convicts, who know what they are and hang their heads and one of whom, so long ago, looked up, and cried out to the man on the other cross, and received from him a promise of forgiveness and a promise that soon, very soon, they would stand together in a place without pain.
Maybe we should think: This is all quite a mystery, too big to be understood, too beautiful to be ignored."

Ours is a world filled with madness. With suicide bombers. With nasty men who take and kill little girls. With parents trying to keep their brain damaged daughter alive.

We can argue all day about what is right and what is wrong. But are we really looking for the answers?
Are we looking in the right place for them?

I think Ashley knew where to look, and that is why the killing stopped and she is alive today.

This is pretty amazing:

"Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual."

It gives me great satisfaction to know that there are some in Congress willing to do anything to keep this horrible thing from happening. Does anyone doubt that Terri's parents love her more than anything? You may say that Terri's husband does, but why not stay faithful to her then? Why not start rehabilitation immediately when she first was put in this condition? I know all these things have been gone over and over, but as long as her parents want to take care of her and Terri's wishes are not legally known, THEY CANNOT JUST KILL HER. What does that say about us as a society???? I can only imagine the roller coaster of emotions her poor parents are going through when all they want to do is care for their child.

It seems to me that all those on the right are trying to save her and all those on the left support taking the feeding tube out. Why does life mean so much to the left when they are on death row or killed in a war, but it doesn't mean anything here or in abortion???

Guys, this is why we have to keep electing people who value human life.

Just when you think you have seen everything there is to see on sale I bet you haven't seen this.

You know, I never knew what the blue ones meant until I overheard a conversation at a party. I guess that makes me pretty special, doesn't it?....;-) h/t Eric.

In debating ANWR Wednesday Barbara Boxer held up a picture of a polar bear and said:

"To me, this is a God-given environment. With all the talk about faith-based politics, if you do believe, as I do, that these are gifts, then we have to be careful in what we are doing here today...If you believe this is God-given land, let's protect it. At the end of the day, that is our job." via Ankle Biting Pundits

Pardon me while I puke.

Drilling in the small part of the ANWR that they wish to poses NO danger to the animals whatsoever. Boxer is a piece of work. Protect a bear from nothing, but do nothing to protect an unborn child. (no I don't want to get started on that again, but that is just the way I see it)

It just never ends. They oppose the death penalty and will let Scott Peterson appeal for 20 yrs, but an innocent woman (Teri Shavio) starving to death is just fine.

Stolen from SondraK.

Quote Of The Day regarding the Nichol's killing rampage.

"I think I have an idea that would save money and lives: Have large men escort violent criminals. Admittedly, this approach would risk another wave of nausea and vomiting by female professors at Harvard. But there are also advantages to not pretending women are as strong as men, such as fewer dead people. Even a female math professor at Harvard should be able to run the numbers on this one." Ann Coulter via The Cassandra Page

You have to love how Ann just puts things so perfectly and frankly she is hilarious. If I weren't so darn nice maybe I could write like her.

You win some, you lose some.

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. Never accidentally forget to put the water in the rice you cook in the microwave. Because in 12 minutes you will have billowing smoke coming out of the microwave and by the time you open it and grab some oven mitts and take it outside your entire house smells like a very stinky forest fire.

It also happened to be cold yesterday and I had to open all the doors and windows so I was freaking cold, which next to having a Democrat in the White House, is about the worse thing there is. After getting dinner done I had to crank up the electric blanket and stay there while everyone ate.

Next to Oreo cookies and eyeliner, electric blankets are just about the best invention ever.

Then I learned that you never play the game Apples to Apples with logic minded people. You know, games are suppose to be fun. And unless they are strategy games, then all you really need is a good sense of humor. In Apples to Apples the "judge," which happened to be me, picks a card that says say "entertaining." Then the 4 or 5 people playing have 5 cards with different names and things on each card. You are suppose to choose the card in your hand that most describes what the judge's card says. Like one might put down the card with "Elvis" on it or another "Nascar driving." You might not have one that fits, so you just put down "surgery." But the fun part is that you get to "convince" the judge why your card should win. The judge picks the winner based on nothing more than his or her satisfaction with the answer. Well, anyone who can make me laugh usually wins. So even if the person with "surgery" convinces me in some funny way that is entertaining, they win.

Well the logic based part of my family CANNOT STAND THIS. They feel the answer should actually best describe the judges card. Well, why have people convince you then? Right? While the "fun" part of my family is laughing and having a blast at some of the ways they try to convince me, the "logic" based part of my family (better known as nerds) is getting annoyed. Which makes it even funnier....;-)

And by the way-- HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!!

Click on picture for larger image. Notice anything? Some of our boys just never grow up....heh. via Argghhh!!! (If you still can't see it well, click on the Argghh!! link to see a better pic.)

"Iraq's first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session Wednesday." via Wizbang

This a picture of freedom. Nice.

"Brian Nichols' surrender was vacated today,in the wake of Hostage Ashley Smith's invasive inclusion of "divine purpose" in her attempts to secure a surrender."

The Therapist has more on this shocking development. Heh.

ok, here is another one to caption. 

I'm pretty sure you can park here. What do you think? 

Since we have gotten WAY too serious here. I will do a couple of caption contests. Go for it, because I am no good at it.

The winner is Erik with "The Dangers of Botox Abuse."

It's a woman thing.

Finally.

This is something I have been wanting the Republicans to do forever. Reach out to blacks on a personal level. On a community level. I even wrote a letter to the RNC early in the campaign last year suggesting this. It is WAY overdue.
Here are some excerpts from U.S. News and World Report for March 21:

"In the past month, Mehlman (RNC chair) has hosted town hall meetings with black audiences in Maryland and New Jersey, sat for a PBS television interview with African-American talk-show host Tavis Smiley, and traveled to Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. Center. "It's about building relationships," says Mehlman, the high-octane former campaign manager who helped engineer President Bush's victory last fall. "I don't go out and lecture. I listen and learn."

"Black conservatives--and disaffected black Democrats--are preparing a major push to convince African-Americans, first, that they've been taken for granted by Democrats and, second, that the Republican Party might be worth another look, especially if the GOP more directly addresses issues of concern to blacks. It's an effort that Republicans have made before--but this time, partisans on both sides believe it could pay real dividends."

The article describes the 9 to 16 percent jump in black voting during the Presidential election in Ohio that clearly helped push Bush over the top and the 7 to 13 percent jump in Florida. Maybe this is why:

With most African-Americans identifying as churchgoers, some pastors say a new emphasis on "family values," especially opposition to same-sex marriage, is responsible for the shift. Bishop Harry Jackson, a Maryland pastor and registered Democrat, who voted against Bush in 2000 but supported him last year, is leading an effort called the "Black Contract With America on Moral Values." The contract includes pledges to "protect marriages" and "eliminate abortion." Jackson is circulating the document among black clergy through a series of six summits across the country. Jackson hopes to collect a million signatures and says he's in preliminary talks with the White House: "We're dating, and there's tremendous attraction, but we're not married yet."
A conservative black group, the Mayflower Compact Coalition, will also begin collecting signatures next week for its "21st Century Mayflower Compact," a nine-point agenda for black America that includes support for school choice and private Social Security accounts. "We recognize the achievements of the civil rights movement," says Oliver Kellman, the group's chairman. "But we need a civil responsibilities movement." Advised in part by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's consulting firm, Mayflower is planning town hall meetings in up to 20 states--"

The article continues:

"...analysts agree that the GOP needs only modest gains to make a big difference. "For us, 20 percent [of the black vote] would be the death knell of the Democrats," says Phyllis Berry Myers, a Mayflower founder. It doesn't sound like an outsize goal. For Democrats, that's a sobering thought."

Who would have thought the issues that divide white religious conservatives and Southpark conservatives could be the EXACT issues that bring us more of the black vote.

Interesting.

*WARNING* *WARNING* EXTREME RELIGIOUS CONTENT*

I try not to get too much into my faith and religion here except where it pertains to the political debate. I wanted this to be a political blog. But the 2 abortion debates going on at Beautiful Atrocities and Wizbang have made me think about why I got into pro-life to begin with. It didn't have to do with my Church. I became pro-life before I became Catholic. I have posted on my experiences in pro-life from a political perspective before. Read that here.

When I went to college my goal was to become a trained actress. Growing up in politics, I was sick of it. All I wanted to do was be a movie star one day. I never wanted to even hear the word politics again. When I was 18 my dad made me drive 6 hours from Florida to vote in my 1st Presidential election. MADE ME. And like a good democrat, I voted for Carter.

I had been a Christian for a long time (thank goodness, looking back) by the time I entered college. During my college years I began to be bothered by the abortions my friends were having. Their pain was hard to see. I didn't see relief afterwards. But I told myself that was their decision and had nothing to do with me. Luckily for me, I had decided many years before that I was going to wait until marriage for sex, so I didn't have any worries in the department of pregnancy and abortion. In the late 70's and early 80's the common belief was abortion was performed when the baby was still a clump of cells, not even a fetus. Totally untrue, but everyone believed it. Sonograms were just beginning to be in use in OBGYN offices.

A lot of things happened with friends during those years regarding abortion and none of them good. I finally realized God was trying to tell me something. Now for those of you with faith the following will be probably be something similar that you have been through. For those of you without faith I suppose it will sound silly, but here it is nonetheless.

During my senior year after doing some study into fetal development and other things I finally did decide that abortion was the taking of a life and morally wrong. "There," I said to God, "You have convinced me, thanks for making see the reality of this. I really appreciate it. If I have more friends going through it I will do whatever I can to get them to have the baby. You can count on me. Later."

But God wasn't through with me yet. That Hound of Heaven has always done this to me. I want to go one way, He wants me to go the other. We have argued all my life. Seriously. Most of the time I went His way because I'm smart that way, and He was always right. In fact, all the best things in my life now are a result of having gone into pro-life work. My best friends and my children. But I fought going into it the whole way. The very few times I went my way, I always screwed up.

In my early 20's when it became clear that God wanted me to go into pro-life work, I simply refused. "God," I said, "look, I don't want anything to do with politics and this is political now. Isn't this a woman's choice to sin? Just like anything else? Plus, everyone thinks anyone in pro-life is a fanatic. I don't want to do this. Nope. No way. Let's move on, shall we?"

He would NOT leave me alone so I made a deal with him. I told God I would go do ANYTHING else to help his children. In fact, I will do the hardest thing for me. I will go volunteer in a nursing home. There I will be doing good, and politics is totally out of it. So I did. Many days I came home crying. I told my husband how hard it was to see these old people so lost and alone. Some so sick. Why do they have to live that way? It was so much harder than I ever thought it would be, but I had a deal with God and I kept going back.

One day one of my favorite old ladies, Emily, asked me for a glass of water. I got it for her and was sitting there watching her drink it when I felt God speak to my heart. (for ya'll who are rolling your eyes right now, NO, it isn't an actual voice, ok?, but it is clear just the same) First He spoke of the verse in the Bible where Christ says "For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water...." Christ goes on to say "When you refused to help the least of these my brothers, you were refusing to help me." (Matthew 25:35-45) "Don't you see?" I heard God say to my heart. "These people you help are a burden and unwanted by the world, but I love them. They are my children. The same is true for my unborn children. They may be unwanted, but they are loved and wanted by me. You can be my hands, you can be my voice. Go and help the least of these."

As I sat there with tears rolling down my face, I knew that I was going to do exactly what I did not want to do. Get involved in a controversial political issue. One that I didn't feel have anything to do with me. I was an actress and that is what I wanted to do. Not this. But God had always been my strength, my guide. I sounded like a petulant child, but I said to God, "Oh, alright...."

And I did.

It was never easy to watch girls walk out of the pregnancy crisis center I worked in and know they were going to have an abortion no matter what I said. A boyfriend was usually urging them to, or a parent. It was never easy to see people think you were some sort of fanatic for being in this work. And it was NEVER easy to explain why. My family came around. They are all pro-life now. But there were years when I know they wanted to put duct tape over my mouth to make me shutup about it. President Reagan wrote an essay while in office called "Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation." It was beautiful and expressed perfectly why we should fight for the rights of the unborn. The media largely ignored it and I'm betting you here, all politically aware, have not even heard of it. The media hoped that a blackout of what we were trying to do would make us go away. But we didn't.

Although abortion laws didn't change, abortion rates lowered or stayed steady. Considering that in the last 30 yrs all other societal ills like drug abuse, domestic abuse, suicide rates, ect. have increased 300% and more, I think we have had an impact and that is with NO help from the media or funding.

One night a few years ago, upset at a woman I knew who was pregnant with twins who happened not to be her husband's (who she was separated from but planning on getting back together), was having an abortion that day. I had offered to keep her from her husband until the twins were born and then adopt them ourselves. I cried and cried for those two little ones who would never feel the breeze in their hair, or swing on swing sets. Ones I would never get to hold. In my pain, I asked God what was the purpose here if nothing in the law had changed??? Once again I heard Him speak to my heart. "I never asked you to do anything but what you have done. Men will make and change laws. I wanted you to change hearts and let them know the truth."

You see, God does not care about politics. He cares only for us. Is it just and right that we allow unborn children to be destroyed? No. Of course not. But the truth about abortion was never getting out there and it still isn't in so many ways. I truly don't expect a President to change this law (although I would wish for them to) But I do want a President who understands as I do that what defines who we are is how we treat "the least of these."

For Monday.

Stem cell research gone wild! Don't think it won't happen here.

Communists Looking to Text Messaging As a Way to Reach Younger Russians and Regain Influence. This should be interesting.

Condi says she will NOT seek presidency. I didn't see it working anyway.

The United States will not support a military strike by Israel against suspected Iranian nuclear sites, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday. I'm with Condi on this one. Not a good idea.

Wierd blog of the year-This guy blogs and takes pictures of everything he eats, everyday.

Ending on something sweet. A good reminder of good overcoming evil and life moving on, but never forgetting.