Motley Moose – Archive

Not the movie. Right now the city of Fargo is in trouble. They have currently exceeded all historic levels of flooding and the Red River has not yet crested. I have been watching the situation all week. Big Ed Schultz clued me in last week when he announced that Fargo could be completely flooded by this week’s end.

He may well be right. Currently the dikes are holding, but 150 homes just needed to be evacuated this morning. A dike started leaking, and to protect lives, residents were told to leave. If I was living there now, I am certain that I would be on dike watch. It is an extremely important job. As is sandbagging and laying sandbags and making food for volunteers and…so on.

The crest predictions have been updated (up) several times and Fargo and her residents are struggling to keep ahead of the mighty Red River of the North. My thoughts are with them now; as these next few days will be very exhausting, traumatic and frightening. And quite possibly devastatingly in every possible way.

I started watching Battle Star Galactica five years ago. I watched the mini series that introduced the series and have never missed an episode since. For all of those years, this show was almost perfect.

Yeah, yeah, nothing is perfect. But at this moment, after watching the last show of the series, I have to say it is the best fracking show I have ever seen. I have no idea how they did this, but I will say that each episode, each arc, and every season has mirrored and perhaps even predicted our struggle over these past five years.

For those not in the know, BSG is a series on the SciFi channel. The basic premise is of an advanced civilization, that has been almost completely wiped out by their creation and enemy, the Cylons. Just tens of thousands of people are able to escape in space crafts along with a battlestar named Galactica.

So it is Friday again. Thank God? I dunno, it really makes no difference to me. It is almost spring though and that makes me very happy.

Here is a postcard from Iran.

President Obama is taking it to the people. Today he was in Los Angeles and this evening he will be on Leno. An historic first I am told. A few republicans are whining about the Presidents approach to getting things done. They seem to be upset that the President is trying to talk to the American people. I wonder why?

For those of you that did not catch this earlier, this is too rich not to share. I will try to find the entire clip and post, if able.

I wished Chris would have pointed out that Saddam Hussein never attacked the United States a first time.

Ah. Here is the long version. This is why I like Matthews. WARNING Really long tubes ahead…but worth the time.

My partner thought that she was Italian until she was 36 years old. Her name is Italian and she beautiful in a Sophia Loren sort of way, so this was never questioned. This Ani’s story and I asked her if I could write about it. She had no problem, but I will try to protect her anonymity as best as I can, and hope that I can relate her experience adequately.

Hollede :: What am I?

Why is it so difficult for so many people to have compassion for faceless and nameless suffering? I mean, most people will help someone in front of them, or can feel bad for Captain Sullenberg who has taken a 40% pay cut and has lost his retirement. But they cannot pay attention to all of the good people losing their jobs and who are now teetering on the brink of oblivion.

In this same vein, on a more personal note, my mother’s brother has always been a strong fiscal conservative and republican. He and Mom have argued for years about politics. Six or so years ago, they were arguing about the the Patriot Act. He could not win the arguement with Mom, and in the end could only sputter an “oh you and your Constitution”. To which my mother, speechless in abject astonishment, was only able to muster an “it’s your Constitution too”. Which I am certain, fell on deaf ears.

So this may be one of those diaries, to which I will creep back later and with deep humiliation, delete it in the dead of night. After all, it was written well after the witching hour. That being said, I am going on an ignorant rant. A temper tantrum without any maturity, restraint, or a single lick of information. For your viewing pleasure, feel free to watch my head explode.

Ok. That was not my head, but you begin get the idea.

Have you ever noticed that some people get really worked up about GLBT issues? Have you ever noticed how others couldn’t care less about these concerns? Ever wonder why?

Years ago my nephew was in a youth church group that he really enjoyed. That is until they got a new youth minister who was extremely homophobic. My nephew knows that his aunt is lesbian and not one member of my family has a problem with me. It did not take long for my nephew and all of the other members to drop out of this group. Leaving, I would imagine, the minister and church to wonder why.

My nephew is straight but his attitude is one of live and let live. His only concern, really, is that his aunt is not discriminated against.  

I remember george w bush right after the 2001 September 11 attacks. I was staying at a motel in Duluth, as I was attending a training for conducting forensic child abuse interviews. We had heard about the attacks during the day, but our trainers powered through, and we managed to get through most of the first of three eight hour sessions.

After we had finished for the day, I raced back to my room to watch the news. I remained glued to the tube until I fell asleep. I cannot remember if bush spoke that first night. I don’t think so. I do remember when he finally did speak, as it is permanently seared into my brain. He looked like a frightened little boy. Deer caught in the headlight also applies.

I had not liked bush up until then. I thought (and still do) that he had stolen the presidency from Al Gore, and that he would never have been able to accomplish that major miracle unless his name had been george w bush jr. His initial reaction to the news and the following speech to the nation sealed my perception of him as the worst resident of the white house/representation of the United States I had ever seen.

This diary was inspired by the national gadfly’s brilliant article I Was A Teen-age Sexist Chicken. It started as a comment and then with the  kind urging of Michelle Marshall it started looking like a diary. Michelle then really dug in, helped me with some editing, and provided the awesome pics. Thank you both for the inspiration and perspiration. I also want to thank Ani and my mother and my agent…uh…sorry, just went over the deep end there for a moment;~D

I think I was born a ‘radical lesbian separatist feminist from hell’.  And yet I am still a chicken when it comes to women and feminism.  These are issues for which I do not have a map and am fairly certain that is true for most of us.  I only have my personal experiences to draw upon. As do all of you.