want a hamburger?

This is an example of where your meat comes from. Watch the video. This particular slaughterhouse provides meat for our schools as well as many other places. Bon Appetit!

wishful thinking

Remember that band The Presidents of the United States of America? Probably not, they weren't that memorable other than a few songs. We had the hubby's 15 year old brother in town last weekend and he's hilarious when it comes to messing up song lyrics. We think it may be a small hearing deficiency due to the fact that he hasn't cleaned his ears out in months - or his fingernails, for that matter.

Anyway, the hubby made him a mixed disc with a bunch of stuff on it he thought the bro might like. One of these was 'Lump' by The Presidents (not sure why - in fact I didn't even realize we had this CD, but when you have over a thousand, these things tend to slip through the cracks).

Here's one of the lines:
Mud flowed up into lump's pajamas
she totally confused all the passing piranhas

Clever, no? Anyway, my brother-in-law thought they said 'vaginas' instead of 'pajamas'. Hilarious. Is he an adolescent male, or what???

To clarify, it's not as though the word 'pajamas' is slurred, or anything - it sounds exactly like 'pajamas' and nothing like 'vaginas'.

dreams

I had a dream about Shorty Saturday night. I dreamed that I was at a party and overheard someone talking about her being there. I ran frantically around the house, my mind racing a million miles an hour. I finally found her laying on a bed. I immediately confronted her. What the hell was happening? She said that her whole family had rigged the entire situation, that she'd fallen madly in love shortly after her divorce and needed to escape for a while to get herself together and start a new life with this guy.

I was dumbfounded. Visions from her funeral flashed through my mind, images of her family, devastated, crying, angry, her brother's eulogy. I demanded answers. Her whole family had made up the suicide story? The entire funeral was faked, even the open casket (which incidentally isn't that hard to believe since I've only looked in an open casket once, at Shorty, and no part of it looked real)? They'd even made up the suicide note. Didn't I wonder why there wasn't an obituary in the newspaper?

She looked so sheepish and guilty, yet happy and content at the same time. I was angry. But then I was glad she was alive, glad she was happy, an unusual emotion for her. I had to leave the room, take a minute to process this.

That's all I remember, and I didn't remember it until well into the day on Sunday. I don't know what reminded me of it, but I'm glad it came back. It's amazing how one tiny dream (they last like a couple of seconds, right?) can awaken feelings I've shelved for a while. Honestly I haven't thought of Shorty in some time, and the triggers that cause me to remember her come less and less.

If only she had faked the whole thing. There are so many things I want to tell her, to share with her. What's so strange is that we probably wouldn't even be friends now if she hadn't done this and life went on like normal. So weird to think about.

no whammy!

What's up with game shows nowadays? We watched The Moment of Truth the other night, and man, is it long and drawn out. It took forever for the dumb computer (or whatever) to say if the person was telling the truth or lying. Sheesh. They could have squeezed so many more contestants in if the dumb thing would hurry up a little bit. I'm only slightly impatient - ha.

I get it. It's all about the tension, the anticipation. It worked at first, I suppose, when it started with Millionaire. But now it's just old. Get on with it already.


I miss the good old days when game shows lasted a half hour, and were funny. Remember Press Your Luck? NoWhammyNoWhammyNoWhammy!



And the 100,000 Pyramid? And who could forget the Newlywed Game with Bob Eubanks? That was quality television. They didn't have to rely on lighting tricks or long pauses to hold your attention. I used to love watching those shows.

Now when I see a game show on TV other than Wheel of Fortune (yes, I'm 30 going on 75) I immediately turn it off. Unless it's The Price is Right, of course. Even with Drew Carey (who cannot hold a candle to Bob Barker, sadly).

sicko

The hub and I watched Sicko last night, finally. My first observation - we're both so lucky to have good health insurance. Or let me rephrase - we're both so lucky to never have had major health problems and consequently haven't ever had to do battle with our insurance companies.

Some other observations:

1. Why in the world is our health care industry for-profit as opposed to not-for-profit? Who thought that leaving our health care (and life-or-death decisions) in the hands of greedy corporations was a good idea? Apparently Nixon. Both the hub and myself wondered what health care was like before that. I suppose it's something I shall research on the good old internets.
2. I thought moving to Canada was a good idea when there was talk of a draft for the Iraq fiasco. Seeing this movie made it seem like an even better idea. Canada, eh? The upside - I've heard Vancouver is amazing, and it's a short distance from Seattle, which is also great. The downside - it's freezing ass up there. That would be difficult.
3. If not Canada, perhaps England? The upside - you're living in the UK. The downside - it's so darn far away. But man, over in Europe, they've got it good. They get great vacation, maternity leave, work 35 hours a week, drink wine all the time - sounds good to me. I think the fact that they're so darn relaxed is very appealing. They don't run themselves ragged over there like we do here. Way less stress.
4. Sometimes I'm so darn ashamed of this country. Yes, we have freedoms, blah, blah, blah. But what is 'freedom'? It certainly isn't losing your two year old daughter because you took her to the wrong hospital and your insurance company wouldn't authorize any treatment. It certainly isn't losing your husband because your insurance company wouldn't allow a life saving treatment because it was 'experimental'. Well fuck - he was dying anyway, what's a little 'experimental' treatment going to hurt? And it certainly isn't having your poor ass dropped off, still in your hospital 'gown', in front of a homeless shelter because you can't pay your hospital bill.

Anyway, you should see this movie if you haven't. It's quite eye-opening. And tear-jerking.

you should vote for...

According to this survey, I should vote for Chris Dodd. Which is interesting, for I know little to nothing about him. Perhaps I should pay more attention? I'm still leaning towards Edwards though. Why do I always have to pick the guys who don't have a chance? Ugh, all I know is that I cannot stand Hillary. Gag. And that's saying a lot, as I would love to see a woman president.

sickening

Wow - long time no write!

I was listening to my favorite radio program today, Fresh Air, on NPR. Terry Gross was interviewing David Cay Johnston, author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). Fascinating. I only heard bits and pieces, but what I heard was enough to make me sick.

I first heard him talking about how big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Cabela's build in certain areas because of big tax breaks offered by the city. No big surprise, I knew that already. But I didn't know that a lot of times the deals involve the store keeping the sales tax paid by its customers. WhatWhatWhat? That's right. When you go to the fantastic Wally World, the amount you pay in sales tax stays right there at the store. It doesn't go, as previously thought, to support your schools, police force, firefighters, or road improvements. It goes to line the pockets of the Waltons. Nice!

I then heard him speak about how Dubya got rich by the building of a new stadium for the Texas Rangers. Yes, because of a baseball team, not oil, or the stock market. Apparently he was 2% owner of the team, and fronted $650K to get the stadium built. The city of Arlington, Texas passed a bill to add a 1/2 cent sales tax increase in order to build the stadium. It's good for the city, right? It'll bring in new business! Believe me, we here in St. Louis know all about new stadiums and all the hoopla that goes on to get them built. Anyway, the stadium cost $191 million (mind boggling, I know) - $135 million came from the sales tax hike, and $56 million from the owners. I don't know the specifics, but after it was built, the owners were allowed to buy it for a fraction of the cost. They then sold it for a big profit, and somehow or another Dubya ended up getting 10% of the profits, a cool $17 million. Quite a return on a $650K investment! I suppose one could say the people of Arlington helped make Dubya quite a fortune (and I'm sure a few select others).

To add insult to injury, that $17 million should have been reported as income on his tax return, (I don't know the particulars - I'm not a tax accountant), but was instead reported as capital gains - assessing a 15% tax instead of whatever his normal tax bracket was. Wow. Must be nice. I know many people abuse the tax system, but many people don't go on to become our fearless leader.

Man, this stuff blows my mind. I know it's perfectly legal. I get it. But it frustrates me that big-box companies go into small towns and put small, hometown companies out of business, all the while collecting our sales taxes. It's disgusting. It further enforces my decision to buy local whenever possible.