Ahhh… the cool crispness of Autumn in the air…

It’s autumn, which is my favorite time of year.  Or at least, it used to be.  I am a babe of the midwest where autumn means cooler (sometimes downright cold!) weather, brightly colored leaves, cider, and the smell of burning leaves on a cool evening.  Since I moved to Phoenix in 1992, I have not returned to my roots for autumn — mainly because with the weather in the Great Lakes states it’s hard to determine what day autumn will fall on.  And yes, I said day singular for a reason.  And if you’ve ever lived there, you know what I’m talking about.

That being said, the remembrance of autumns past got me to reminiscing about other things… perhaps you’ve often had these same thoughts:

Wasn’t baseball supposed to be the SUMMER sport?  Why are they playing well into October?  Didn’t it used to end in September?  When did this change and why didn’t anyone inform me?

Candy corn.  Is it a vegetable or a candy?  Or is it both?????

If I buy a pumpkin now… will it last until Halloween?

Do the Cincinnati Bengals really love Halloween, or what?  Uniform colors people… uniform colors.

Is it possible that the chlorophyll that trees produce could actually be masking their true colors, and when autumn comes and the chlorophyll production stops, their true colors come out?   Okay, that really is true… go here to find out more.

Why do I LOVE cider but don’t love apple juice?

How many costumes can you think of that involve a winter coat and boots?  There are many but very few good ones… trust me — I remember many a Halloween that involved snow shovels.

If I buy my Halloween candy now, will it A) still be good at Halloween, or B) still even be around at Halloween?  After all, I am married to a serious sweet-tooth.

Why are there braille instructions on a drive-up ATM?  Okay… so it’s not really an autumn related question, but it’s been driving me crazy for years!

And so I leave you… pondering my musings, scratching your chin and cursing me for giving you a glimpse into my twisted mind.

Welcome to my world.  Muahahahahahahahahaha (that’s evil laughter for all of you who don’t read aloud to your computer monitor).

It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I don’t feel fine.

Phoenix has been in the news a lot lately, and I can’t say much of the news has been good.  Okay there’s the Diamondbacks making it into the playoffs, but other than that we aren’t exactly being bastions of society.  I’d say that the heat here finally melted people’s brains (and with it their common sense and human decency) but it’s cooling off and the mercury is actually dipping into the low 70s at night.  No, I think society as a whole is collapsing like a Jenga tower with one too many pieces taken out.  And Phoenix, sadly, seems to be right in the thick of the badness that is enveloping the American culture.

Case in point:  Today an elderly man was struck by a truck while waiting at a bus stop.  That’s awful, right?  No wait, it gets worse.  After the out-of-control truck struck and killed the man, the onlookers STOLE HIS GROCERIES!  Yes, that’s right, as the man lay dying the people around him didn’t attempt to help him, they took his eggs and milk and flour.  That is just sick.  Sick and twisted and makes me seriously doubt the idea that people are inherently good.  If the first thing that comes to someone’s mind when a person lay before you DYING is to steal their belongings, then maybe George Carlin is right when he says that humankind is just a disease that has taken over the earth.

Earlier this week, also in the lovely Mecca known as Phoenix, a woman held in custody after “causing a disturbance” at the Phoenix airport died after she somehow managed to strangle herself with her own handcuffs.  Wasn’t she supposed to be in custody?  Isn’t custody supposed to entail someone actually watching her?  I mean, when I was a teen and was babysitting people’s children, I had to watch them to ensure they didn’t light each other on fire or run with scissors or … I don’t know, STRANGLE THEMSELVES WITH HANDCUFFS!  I was a minor at that time and understood that if I was in charge, I needed to be responsible and watch the people I was entrusted with.  Why did that not happen with the Phoenix police?  I’m baffled first that someone can strangle themselves with their own handcuffs, and secondly that it would happen while they were in “custody”.

What has the world come to?  And what are we devolving into?

History Repeating

When I was in school, I remember being told to study history well because it always repeats itself.  That statement has proven true in everything from me channeling my mother as she declared ”this tastes like the freezer”, to a war on terrorism that looks suspiciously like a previous war on communism.  Well since I’m sure you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble on about my mother-morphing, I’ll move on to the other subject at hand:  The current ”war” (aka: occupation) that looks, smells and even tastes much like a war we fought in a land called Vietnam.   The wars have so many similarities that even the music that served as the soundtrack to the Vietnam-era peace movement works today.

 Take, for instance, the recent cover of Pete Seeger’s anti-war mantra “Bring ‘Em Home” by Bruce Springsteen.  The song, written in 1966, is as appropriate today as it was in the ’60’s.  While some tweaks were done between the original and the cover, the basic message of the song is still the same:  bring our soldiers home, not tomorrow, not next week.  Bring our soldiers home NOW. 

If you haven’t heard the song before, I urge you to go out to iTunes or your favorite music site and download it.  It’s a great track for any of us who truly believe that we should “Bring ‘Em Home”.

 Here are the lyrics of the Springsteen version:

If you love this land of the free
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring them back from overseas
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em homeIt will make the politicians sad, I know
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
They wanna tangle with their foe
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

They wanna test their grand theories
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
With the blood of you and me
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

Now we’ll give no more brave young lives
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
For the gleam in someone’s eyes
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

(Hooo-hooo hooo-hooo)
(Hooo-hooo hooo-hooo)

The men will cheer and the boys will shout
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Yeah and we will all turn out
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

The church bells will ring with joy
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
To welcome our darlin’ girls and boys
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

We willl lift their voice and sound
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Yeah, when Johnny comes marching home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring them back from overseas
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

If you love this land of the free
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring them back from overseas
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home

Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home
Bring ‘em home, bring ‘em home 

Religion in the White House — The Sequel???

I am a liberal democrat.  I believe in a woman’s right to choose.  I believe that all people, regardless of sexual orientation, deserve the right to marry.  I believe that we, as a 21st century society, need to be taking better care of those who cannot take care of themselves.  I believe that we should end our illegal occupation of Iraq.  And I believe that our forefathers were correct when they decreed that church and state should be kept seperate.  That is why the article “Hillary’s Prayer:  Hillary Clinton’s Religion and Politics” by Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet bothers me so much. 

 Currently, our administration has been hog-tied by a religious zealot who believes that God told him to invade Iraq.   Our country is in the worst shape it has been in years, possibly ever.   The last thing our country needs is another President who wants God to be their Vice-President.   We do not need “Bush 3:  The Clinton Years”.  That’s a sequel Hollywood couldn’t pay me to go see.

As I said earlier, I am a liberal democrat.  I support the democratic party, and I support the democratic candidates.  Do I have favorite candidates?  Yes.  If they don’t make it to the nomination will I still support the democratic candidate?  Yes.  Because for the most part I believe that the democratic candidates stand for the same values I hold dear.  I do, however, worry about the nomination of Hilary Clinton. 

Now before anyone starts wondering if I’m anti-woman President, let’s get one thing straight.  I am not against having a woman president.  Hell, when I was just a baby cactus my mother used to tell me I’d become the first female president.  Well that didn’t happen, but I’m all for someone blazing the estrogen trail to the White House.  My concern isn’t about a woman in the role, it’s more about who Hillary is, and if I want her to be the one to define a female presidency. 

Please, go out and read the article on MotherJones.com and come back and let me know what your thoughts are.  Do you see her religious faith as a bane or a boon for the White House and our nation?  Can she be counted on to listen to her “human advisors” and not just to her “spiritual ones”?

Welcome!

Well, after a long time of reading other people’s blogs, I’ve decided to throw my “thorny” hat into the blogosphere.  I’m ChollaChick and this blog is going to be one part politics, one part commentary, one part humor and one part of everything else.  So, grab a bowl and a spoon and let’s enjoy some Cactus Soup.