Think Progress � Bush Administration To ‘Skim Off Border Patrol Agents’ For Duty In Iraq

Think Progress � Bush Administration To ‘Skim Off Border Patrol Agents’ For Duty In Iraq

The left side of W's face doesn't know what the right side is saying. Illegal immigration is a huge issue for his administration. Securing our borders is another huge issue. Both issues are so huge that we have to spend megabucks building a pointless fence across a fraction of our border with Mexico. However, W is willing to pull the old "Rob Peter to pay Paul" ploy by gutting our domestic Border Patrol to secure Iraq's borders with it's neighbors.

Special, no?

Court rejects ACLU domestic spying suit

This ruling just encourages the administration in its blatant disregard for the law and its totally toddler-like misconception that the world should and will bend to it's egocentric whims: Court rejects ACLU domestic spying suit - Yahoo! News

I think I'm going to be sick.

It's not just me

My teenage son is spending a couple of weeks with his aunt's family and his paternal grandparents. This is our arrangement every summer for at least a few weeks. As his parents, we simply ask that he call us each evening to check in. In the past this has been an issue. After the last few calls, I almost feel like telling him not to call. He sounds totally bored and put-upon for having to make the call.

When I related my sadness over his demeanor to my sister-in-law via email today, she made me feel much better. Typically, my son is very pleasant and ingratiatingly helpful to other adults. She mentioned in one email about the good impression he was leaving on the neighbors:

He was a big help last night over at our neighbors house -- where we went for dessert (K and G'ma made brownies and angel food cake yesterday). K played downstairs with neighbor-kid-G and cousin-M while the adults were on the porch eating our dessert and drinking wine to stay warm. Our neighbors love K -- saying he is the nicest kid......I heard your voice saying to me, "he is nice to everyone else...." and I had to smile.

However, here is snippet from an email she sent to me later today that comforted me (in a sort of sick and twisted way):

I had to keep on him yesterday to put his shoes near the door instead of in the living room where M (the 1 yr old) could lick them (ick!). He finally remembered (so I thought) towards the end of the day. When I said thank you for doing this, he said he just didn't want to hear me yell at him from across the room to put his shoes in the right place...so he did it right without being told. He said there was really no incentive to do things right in the first place, but he wanted to avoid having to get up from playing his video game to go and do this....go figure!

Thanks, Sis, for reminding me to enjoy my teenage-free time!!!

Unmitigated gaul!

Yesterday, President George W. Bush showed everyone that he truly believes that his administration is above the law. While he did not pardon Scooter Libby for his role in the CIA leak, he erased his sentence. Libby will not have to spend even a single day in prison for his conviction.

The message here is pretty clear: The George W. Bush Administration is above the law.

Back from vacation

I know that it's been over a week since I last posted. I neglected to note that I would be in western Virginia (as opposed to West Virginia) from 6/24 thru 6/29. I have been totally flat out the last couple of weeks getting ready for this trip, dealing with my class work, and a frenetic pace at my job.

School is now over. I should be getting an "A" in the class. However, the mercurial poorly communicating witch, who is my instructor, may figure out a way to screw me out of it. The worse she could get away with is a "B", but that would be JUST WRONG. (I'll get over it. See "I could live with a B".

Prepping for vacation was stressful because it was my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary and we were making a huge commemorative scrapbook for them as a surprise present. It was my idea to do it. Unfortunately, I didn't come up with the idea until about four weeks before the trip. Also, since it was my idea and I had the most scrapbooking experience, I was appointed 'project manager'. (grin) We all did what we could before the trip. I made several layouts and shared them with the other families so they knew the direction we were probably headed in. Then, we spent each evening working on the scrapbook, presenting it to the Happy Couple on the last night that everyone was going to still be around. I spent several of the days gathering items for the book as well. So, basically, I had very little actual vacation.

We did go to a water park one day, which was very pleasant. I even got on some water slides, that I was nervous about considering my chronic back issues. I loved the water slides. I could have moved into the water park (particularly since it had three separate hot tubs). The final celebratory night, we had great BBQ from the local smoke house. We also were treated to 80 minutes of home movies covering the early years of my in-laws relationship and marriage. It was kind of interesting. However, my back doesn't like staying in one spot for too long and I was kind of keyed up to see how they were going to like the scrapbook. No worries. They loved it.

Now that we're home, I've been unpacking and finally organizing all my craft supplies in my new craft space down in the basement (See "Spring cleaning is very liberating"). Sadly, I felt compelled to shop for some craft-related supplies yesterday. However, last night I had a blast painting a chipboard storage container that I bought to organize some of my supplies. Today, I went to the Dollar Tree and went nuts buying really cheap creative edging scissors, cheap letter stickers, and some cheap buckets for paint storage. Since we have two cats, I have to make sure that all my supplies are in covered containers, or else they could disappear. One of my younger cat's nicknames is The Thief of Baghdad (He particularly likes to steal things that were left out in convenient-to-carry Ziploc bags.)

Today, our son left for a two week trip down to his Aunt's house. He'll be an assistant camp counselor. The big bonus for him is he'll be out from under our thumb for two weeks. The big bonus for us is that we won't have to monitor and nag him for two weeks. Everybody wins!

The only stress that has not really abated is work. I get to revisit that nut house tomorrow. I'm in the midst of a high profile, high stress, project for the next five to six weeks. ... Yay?!?!

Oh, and as an added stress, remember my ever-present back issues? Well, I have a 'procedure' on the horizon to deal with a portion of the issue. I'm supposed to be getting a deep tissue injection into my piriformis (aka, my butt) to deal with some tenderness and issues with my right leg. The procedure is performed under local anesthetic with the assistance of an x-ray. It supposedly smarts, big time. Yup. Really looking forward to having a very long needle jammed in my arse while medical professionals look on and discuss where said needle is in relation to some of my inflammation. July 10th, if you're wondering. No sleep without chemical assistance on July 9th.

So, I'm guessing I have posted more than enough to make up for ten days of absence. Think happy thoughts. I may have to spend a lot of time in my basement this summer to keep up my sanity.