tuesday stuff or you can't make up stuff like this!

(yes, yes, i know, it should have read shit, but i couldn't bring myself to have that in the title!)

here's some stuff i've come across TODAY!

and there's christine o'donnell not quite sure of what the first amendment says. and then, she went on to say that  "fortunately, senators don't have to memorize the constitution."

it's true, you really can't make up shit like this! our good friend (i read her column, ok?) maureen dowd, just recently posted a column about the current crop of republican mean girls. read the column, i think she's discovered their real party affiliation!

i know, i usually stay away from politics, but as the MITM just said, today, i got scared by the news and had to share. i long for the days of civility in conversation. i know that our political process has been contentious (i refer to the documented debates in the early days of our government), but at least, there was a bit more wit and certainly, more real conversation. i have grown tired of political ads about what church/religion a candidate professes, rather than concrete plans for protecting not only our right of freedom of religion, but also our right of freedom FROM religion. i'm tired of the "my way or the highway attitude" that is masquerading as patriotism. when are people going to realize that the constitution can't be cherry picked for words that support the exact opposite of its original intent. the founding fathers did leave some vagueness in its wording, but i'll leave that to constitutional scholars to debate. i do know, that where there is vagueness in the constitution, it permits modern interpretations to override older ones as the constitution ages. i believe ours is a living constitution, flexible and dynamic, like our country. our government may be flawed, but it has served us as well as possible and i, for one, am happy to be an american. i haven't given up on us as a people even when i wonder what the hell are we thinking and/or doing not only here, but in other parts of the world.  i could go on, but why? i think you all understand where i'm coming from politically. so, as our best president ever, but only on tv, jeb bartlett said, what's next?

and one more thing, from the sunday new york times metropolitan diary,

Dear Diary:
I travel in the elevator, down to the street and the local coffee bar. On the way, a young woman, wearing ear buds, quietly takes them out and looks down, demurely. When we arrive at ground level, I let her out of the elevator first, and think that I had really wanted to thank her for her act of politeness. She walks ahead quickly, crosses the street, off somewhere, and my chance is gone.
And then, returning to my office, I see the same woman on the elevator. Seeing me coming, she sticks her foot in the door to hold it for me. The buds are still draped around her shoulder and neck.
I look at her, and say, “I just want to thank you for having taken out the ear buds when I was in the elevator before. It was an act of kindness and recognition.”
She smiles, and says: “I have a rule. Whenever I’m within five feet of another person, I take them out. I’ve done it before, but no one has ever noticed.”
When I tell my office mate, she says, “It sounds like this ought to be the beginning of a movement.” Not likely, I think. But it belongs to a time when there was a focus and exchange between two real people, negotiating the anonymity of Big City life.
Bill Wertheim

be nice, love each other and remember, we're more alike than different.