NAACP Targets Tea Party As Racist?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/13/tea-party-preempts-racist-resolution-condemns-bigoted-naacp/

Seriously - this is ridiculous. An organization for black people has the nerve to call an organization with no race orientation a racist group? Every group, NAACP included, has racists within their ranks. To try to shut down a new political voice because the president is black and to mark any group against said president as racist is completely out of line. The continued use of the race card is only a way to try to shut down the argument when there is no viable counter. Additionally, continually trying to blame anyone against Obama as a racist actually makes matters worse and not better. Does nobody in this country think for themselves any more? What a huge disappointment.

Excerpt from a nightmare

I always leave crap sitting on my stove top, and in my dream I had done the same, but I didn't realize it was a gas stove. I saw something just start to catch fire, and ran to the stove. In one instant I noticed it was a gas stove, and the fire was under the burner and I could smell the sear of gas. Just as I computed the thought I heard this deep sucking sound and a WHOMP as the stove exploded and as I was soaring through the air, limbs akimbo, realizing this is how I was going to die. What's funny is that even as I was heading toward the wall, just as my body broke through, there was still a part of me that thought maybe, just maybe I would make it out alive. So bizarre to have all of these incredibly rational thoughts in one split second as I hurtled toward death. I know I had all of the same thoughts last year when I had my car accident and again when I was assaulted, but part of me didn't think it was real at the time. I wonder if every time I come close to dying I will think that I will come out okay, because I did it twice in one year. But one time I won't. Freaky.

Rioting in Oakland after cops verdict

Here's the story. I get it. I really do. I understand it's frustrating to have someone killed in the line of duty, especially under friendly fire. If he's to be believed, the copy meant to pull his taser and pulled his gun instead. If that's true, can you imagine the guilt he would feel as a result? He may, or may not have meant to pull his taser. We will most likely never know.

What I do know is that if this kid had not been in a fight, and had not been resisting arrest, there wouldn't have even been a reason for the cops to be there, let alone use a taser, and mistakenly (or not) a gun. If the cop had walked into the station and shot a man lying on the platform who had no other reason to be there, this would be a tragedy. As it stands, why was he resisting arrest? When a cop says you are under arrest, you comply. You don't rebel and add another charge to the books. Especially if you have not done anything wrong.

Simply by resisting arrest he put his life in danger. First the fight, then resisting arrest. Everything else that happened snowballed from there.

Secret Life of the American Teenager, I'm still a sucka for ya

I have to admit that I am not enjoying this season as much as I have the past seasons. That is not to say I can drag myself way from the screen when it's airing, but it's darker. The kids have all been through so much and its dragging them down.

They are not down as in depressed, but really losing the sweetness that was underlying in to many of them. In tonights episode, after Amy goes to New York City just before the end of the school year to attend a prestigious musical program, the entire school has determined she is pregnant again. And they are all talking. "All" includes teachers, as well. Its no wonder they all gossip like crazy - even the damned gym coach thinks its his place to discuss the personal lives of students with other students.

The two characters most changed this season are Ben and Ashley. Ben, faced with the pregnancy of Adrian after a one-night stand has become a complete stooge. For a guy who was stupid enough to fall in love with a girl (Amy) just from looking at her, before even knowing she was pregnant with someone else's baby, he is completely unprepared to deal with his own situation. He says inane things like "what am I going to do with a baby?" Mind you, he says this to Ricky, of all people. Ricky who has stepped up to the plate for his own child in a what that would be enviable of any character on television. Watching Ben become such a pathetic wretch is difficult because I never liked him to start. They basically took the one quality he had and squashed it.

Ashley was the spunky girl with undeniable truth on her side. Once she decided she liked the father of her sister's baby (Ricky), she started to lie to the people with whom she had always been very true. Her father for instance. Thankfully, he called her on it and she is doing a little better with him, but still hiding the feelings she has for Ricky, which will only cause everyone pain in the long run.

Now that Adrian is pregnant and wanting to have an abortion (tonights episode ended with she and her mom leaving for the clinic), I am really hoping Brenda Hampton has the balls to let her have the abortion. If not, its not only setting a very bad example for very young girls who find themselves in the position to make a life-changing decision, one that is a valid choice. I really hope religion doesn't come into play to the point that all girls are lead to believe they, too, will have supportive friends and families should they decide to have a baby. I think one family in the hood is a stretch, but neighbors? Talk about setting unrealistic expectations!

Shit. My birthday is less than a week away.

My mom sent me an Amazon gift certificate for my birthday last night. I'm trying to figure out what to buy. I've wanted a new cookware set for ages, need new knives, want bath supplies....looking at these items with Julie & Julia on the set has made me cry. Since I turned 33 the year I had decided I would "have it all," or get it for myself if I didn't, has come and gone 12 times. It's not that I'm feeling sorry for myself, it's more an honest assessment that I have made nothing of my life, and yet seem content to let it continue.

All of the lofty dreams and ideas I have; ambitions, however small, the life in my imagination - I seem to sabotage it at every turn. I seem more content to suffer and wilt in silence than to pick myself up by my bootstraps and make something of myself. It's a horrible realization, knowing that everything I do not have is of my own making and my fear of success - I wouldn't know how to be really happy - keeps me from making a move.

I don't know what it is that has kept me from moving forward, but I've spent 20 years in a holding pattern; my life has continued but I've not grown with it. More horrifically, I only tend to realize this once per year, just a week before another has officially gone by.

Will this year be any different? Dare I try to make something of it before it's too late?