A Guest Post

Good Evening all, it's Scott, and tonight I have the pleasure of bringing you a guest post from someone just as snarky and full of attitude as me. Who is this you may be asking..??? None other than my better half, the person who keeps me in line....which is no small task ! That's right, my wife. Okay, I'll shut -up now.....


Whatz the deal with...

I just don't get it. I have some very educated and enlightened (or so I thought) friends. They sit on the "other" side of the table, and yes, you can take that as Republican. But when it comes to libeling an individual with baseless accusations and rogue rumors, they just BLINDLY forward me their lemming crap.

You guessed it; I am fighting an onslaught of Barak Obama urban legends and Muslim rumors in my inbox.

At first, I politely respond, asking them not to believe everything they read in an email or on the internet...as things have a way of getting twisted...not stating one side of this political debate or another. Just a friendly...you know..."you might want to check out what you just sent me, because it's not really true" response to their emails.

This polite and non partisan reply seems to have back fired on me. The more I politely respond and cite fact to their incorrectness, (thank you Scott and Kemp for all your assistance with this...) the more crap they send me. I mean I must have gotten 10 emails after lunch today from one person alone!

I throw my hands up in the air in surrender. I am just deleting these emails now without responding as 1) it gets me nowhere and 2) it's taking to much (of Kemp's and Scott's) time-of course not to mention mine. {Side note-I am starting to be able to find stuff all by myself...}

Now, here's the question to ponder and pose to our Republican friends...Do you see a bunch of baseless and wild McCain internet rumors just flying through our emails? Hmmm, I think the answer to this is...um...NO! What I do see: facts and figures about McCain's voting record and constantly contradicting himself.

And to my dear, Christian ultra-conservative friends- please remember his adulterous affairs prior to marrying Cindy-oh and dare I mention that Cindy is one of his adulterous affairs? I consider myself a Christian and I'll admit to lean toward the conservative side of the fence, but when I hear Christians spouting out that they can't vote Obama on their Christian prinicples, they'd better take a GOOD look at the candidate they want to back. Mr. Squeaky Clean, he ain't.

I also see Gov. Palin's Trooper-gate, pregnant daughter (look at pictures of her from February...she looked pretty preggers there...timing very interesting to Sarah's baby, but I digress), and her husband Steve, who seemed to "take advantage" of Sarah being the Governor. This coupled with the fact that she can't talk intelligently in an interview (think Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson here), has proven that she's "not ready for prime time".

I think our Republican friends are a tad scared of having an educated man of color in the white house. So, to fend this off, they feel the need to take quotes from his book totally out of context and add their own wildy frightened take on it and send it out in an outraged email, hoping that everyone believes that Obama is a MALE MUSLIM EXTREMIST. (That's one of my favorite emails of late...gotten it more times than I can count and, yes, I just made it a race issue-GOP lemmings did when then sent me the MME stuff.)

Am I overreacting? I don't know. But one thing that raises my hackles are the lies that go around unchecked and are blindly believed as fact. I ask that when you vote (Obama), you do it as an educated voter, not as an emotional voter. Emotions wax and wane, but the facts are always there.

Okay, I'll step off my soapbox for now......

Gail

A Guest Post

As loyal readers know, Kemp and I are very passionate in our views, and we love it when people become just as passionate in their views and decide to share them with us.

Tonight I am especially pleased and proud to welcome a first time guest poster to our humble blog. Please give a TBWA welcome to my finacee, Gail. Thanks honey, I am honored that you wanted to share in my little hobby.

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“On April Fool’s Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil,” said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. at today's Congressional meeting with the heads of several oil companies.

How true, how true.

The oil companies claim that thier $123 Billion dollar profits are in line with other industries. I don't see that. What I see are small businesses folding because people are radically changing their spending habits. I see larger retail chains with flat and negative growth. The car industry is definitely suffering and will only get worse, if the price of gas continues toward and past $4 a gallon.

This is where I want to sit down and ask the heads of the oil companies, how is it that the price of gas refined a year ago can go up in the blink of an eye, based on the price of a FUTURE barrel of oil...but when that price of the FUTURE barrel of oil comes down, the price of gas that was refined a year ago doesn't?

Does anyone else remember when gas only went up once a week (if that), and it was a penny or two? You can drive by a gas station in the morning on your way to work and on the way home eight to ten hours later, the price has jumped ten cents or more. And this can happen more than once a week.

The next question I'd like to ask them is if they can afford to fill the gas tanks on their cars, and are they changing their purchasing habits, because gas is a much higher portion of their home budgets, like the rest of us?

I think if the oil companies took a miniscule 2.5% out of their gargantuan pockets by lowering prices and profit levels on end use gasoline, now THERE'S an economic stimulus package (that doesn't come out of my own pocket in 2009). Congress and the oil companies need to listen to the people this is affecting most. Not the poor-they probably don't own cars! It certainly isn't the oil company executives. It's us in the middle class. Those of us whose family budgets are in crisis, because we can't decide whether to drive to work or feed our kids...

A Guest Post: “Margaret Mead* is on to something”

Editor’s Note: Esteemed regulars… unknown lurkers… random readers… Scott and I are pleased to present a Guest Post by someone who is well-known in the blogging community. Please give a warm TBWA welcome to Erin of Queen of Spain and BlogHer and read her insightful post about making a difference. Without further ado, read… and enjoy.

Being an American is exhausting.

I spent the first part of this week in tears. Hanging a yellow ribbon from the tree in our front yard and showing my children the stars on the American flag billowing below the ribbon. Their uncle has gone to war, again.

As I struggled to explain to a 4-year old exactly what a "soldier" does, I thought of all the families involved in this monstrosity of a war, the children left behind, the Iraqi's lives destroyed. Despite my 100% disagreement with this war and the idiots who started it, I found myself damn proud of our soldiers and their families. Of our stupid, stupid country and its stupid, stupid military.

So as I swelled with pride and wonder for my fellow Americans, imagine my disgust and bewilderment when I had to explain to a Canadian just how FUCKED up our government is when it comes to helping our children. Helping the poor. Helping one another.

It started simply enough, a post about us fat ass North Americans and our lazy, lazy, kids. I tried to explain socioeconomics. I tried to explain the lack of education. I tried to explain why a lard-ass Ogre, who shills for McDonalds, would be our spokesman for combating childhood obesity. I tried to explain that yes, Taco Bell can be found in our public school cafeterias and yes, our produce and healthy foods cost more than the average family can afford. They buy the shit, because the good stuff is more money and hey, it's got our government's stamp of approval.

The more I explained the more I shook my head. The more I explained the more embarrassed I became. The more I explained, the more I was moving to Switzerland.

Why does America do this to me? I don't expect to agree with everything that goes on in the great USofA at every single moment. I also don't expect to hide my head in shame when I think of the clusterfuck that are these 50 states lately.

Just when I had shaken my redhead so much it hurt, I saw a light. I got an email. I watched something I've been involved in since the start head in a new direction. One that made me swell with pride. One that reminded me it's not about the country. It’s not about the borders. Its not about who's government does what. It's about what we can do, together.

Ladies and gentleman, may I present BlogHer's ACT:

We are excited and honored to announce today, with Elisa, Jory and Lisa, the launch of BlogHers Act, a yearlong initiative to harness the incredible power of women online. That would be you.

BlogHers Act will take on two things –

1. Making a difference on a single global cause

2. Identifying the top four issues that women online want the U.S. Presidential candidates to address in order to win our votes in the ‘08 Election.

Imagine the opportunity that’s in all of our hands right now.

All of us know the positive, productive, monumental ACTION of bloggers, especially women bloggers, when rallying around a problem, an issue or an event. Since we started blogging a few years back, we’ve witnessed - and been so lucky to be a part of - countless moments, big and small, when bloggers worked together to make a difference.

Hell yes. Now get off your fat ass you lazy American, Canadian, or um, non-North American and do something.

*Editor’s Note: For those of you who don’t know who Margaret Mead is, she was an American cultural anthropologist who developed the field of culture and personality research and was a dominant influence in introducing the concept of culture into education, medicine, and public policy. Her ethnographic studies focused upon aspects of gender and culture in a variety of societies.