I met Nina again.

She was still as lovely and sweet as ever.

It has been a long time

Well it has been such a long time since I blogged ANYTHING so I guess it was time to take up the keyboard once more.

All that is coming out today is stream-of-you-know-what stuff. What's on my mind, what I need to get off my chest. You know "life stuff".

So here we go....

Today ( April 26th 2008 ) some interesting articles appeared in the press about the hijacking of the National Day of Prayer by evangelical Christians. All I see is Shirley Dobson taking her lead from her husband's cult and embedding her "Christian Task Force" in the center of the mandated faith-neutral National Day Of Prayer just like "Doc" does with his political "Focus On The Family Action" within the (supposedly) non-political sect that is "Focus On The Family".

Still I hope Dobson takes some heat for his wife's activities. I like to hear him squirm on the radio. When they skewered him over the "Spongebob is gay" nonsense it was pretty damn priceless. And also when he was back peddling over the comments he made about embryonic stem cell research and Nazi doctors, that was good too. He certainly likes dishing it out, but oh boy, he can't take it.

What else?

Oh yes. "Life Matters" got taken off of "Radio Peace". Yay! A victory for me!

But sadly "Radio Peace" is still on the air here in South Florida, with perhaps, a man with the worst voice EVER for radio - an old trout called Philip Carlton. You have to hear him to believe it. His voice is weak and wavering - he sounds like he is about to croak at any minute. Come to think of it, sometimes he is making frog-like noises. Perhaps he is a herp lover? I guess the Archbishop ( who also is terrible on the radio ) must like old Phil or something, because there is no reason on God's Green Earth why he should be behind a microphone.

They also took off "Catholic Answers" ( yay! ) but replaced it with a daily Mass-and-Rosary session that is definitely not an improvement. ( so boo! to that ).

Oh yes. Websites.

I let all my domain names lapse. Shieldhost is possibly the worst company EVER to handle domain hosting. Cheap? Most certainly? Any good? Most certainly not. I finally had to admit defeat in dealing with them.

Oh yes. Age.

Last year I crashed through the big 5-0 barrier. It was I can tell you, traumatic. And then it was all topped of by my best friend having a heart attack and dropping dead at 59.

That stuff brings you up short let me tell you. I feel no different in myself but I am now aware of my own mortality.

And...movies for 2008

To date the year has been dire for movies. I have liked "Street Kings" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and everything else has pretty much blown. I enjoyed "The Counterfeiters" up to its highly contrived and unbelievable ending.

All I am looking forward to this summer is "Wanted" and perhaps the Indiana Jones flick. But "Iron Man" AND "The Incredible Hulk"?????? I really don't think so.

The Election Thing

As I became a citizen, I now gets to vote. As of right now I am conflicted.

McCain? He is OK with the US staying 100 years in Iraq? That has to be something a rational person can't vote for. Really. The age thing? I don't care about that. The temper thing? I don't care about that either. His shakiness on the economy and his inability to understand the differences between Shia and Sunni? Those are concerns. And his failure to condemn the fat one from San Antonio? That hurts McCain for me too. Of course most people haven't seen Pastor Hagee's Comedy Hour to know what a jackass he is.

Hillary? Well purely and simply put, I don't want the Presidency to be in the hands of two American families any longer. That is almost monarchical. And I left the UK to avoid that. It shouldn't be taking root in the US. She voted for the war. She always votes for any free trade agreement that loses skilled American jobs. How the heck she can win primaries in Ohio and Pennsylvania is just beyond me. Her Congressional record alone should have lost it for her. Are the people really so gullible to think that a woman who takes a photo op chugging a beer and downing a shot is somehow "one of them"? As Karl Rove has said all along, the Republicans want her as the Democratic nominee. With her built-in high negatives ( "I will never vote for her under any circumstances" ), if she somehow becomes the Democratic nominee, she could be handing the election to McCain on unlikeability alone.

Obama? I wish he didn't have a Pastor. But he does and he went to that church for many years. There is no way to weasel out of that. The question becomes, does Obama's mere association with the Reverend Wright invalidate his candidacy? If you answer "yes" to that question, then Obama will never be your guy. But does that mean that noone can ever be elected to high office because somewhere in their past, in their childhood, they knew, or heaven forbid they befriended, someone from the other side of the tracks? Someone to whom say, fate was less kind than to them?

It seems to me that this "guilt-by-association" argument is one that really doesn't hold up to any kind of logical scrutiny. There has only ever been one "Mr.Perfect" and he was a professional wrestler.

But let's see about the man himself. He didn't vote for the war and he is some sort of "elitist". Two pluses in my book. And he is "inexperienced". Can you say "Texas has a weak gubernatorial system?" Unless you can be delusional enough to think that Obama would be comparable to Bush in the screwing-up department, I think the whole "experience" argument is a complete and utter crock. But I guess if you are looking for an excuse to not vote for him, that's as good as any.

So it has to be Nader again I guess.