Spare time

This is how I spend my spare time....kissing horses.

Why I will vote for Obama if given the chance

the number ONE reason to NOT get into drugs

My own top 10 list of why you don't want to get involved with illegal drugs:

10. You forget stuff, like your name, how to add 2+2, and how to tie your shoes
9. I forgot, what was this list about?
8. No matter how good it feels on drugs, you won't feel like that forever
7. Doesn't the phrase go, "Misery loves company?" So go get miserable if you must, but you can be miserable without drugs (just work at a job you don't like and you'll agree) so why waste your money?
6. You'll lose your job in most cases
5. Some drugs, like meth, do wonderful things for you - like make your teeth fall out
4. You will eventually get a DUI - not fun and the effects of a conviction last a long time
3. You'll waste money you could be investing ... for as little savings as $10 per day, in 25 years, you'd have nearly $100,000 - but hey, if you do that many drugs, you'll be dead anyway so I guess the money won't matter
2. Your children, if you have any, will be taken away from your home. Period, no debate
1. You'll be so strung out on drugs that you'd snort them off of your dog's butt
(yes you read that right)

Biggest load of doo doo I've watched in a long time

I love the backlash after the Wednesday, April 16 "debate" on ABC. Who the hell cares about such silliness? The best summary of how I feel about this has got to be Mary Maples' take on the state of the country, as shown in her Huffington Post article.

My favorite Maples observation? "Now it seems the unending Democratic campaign has descended into a nightmarish rolling rant about bitterness, beer, bowling and who is or isn't a bitch. In fact, this whole thing has made me a little bitchy."

Amen sister. I feel a little bitchy watching pseudo-debates. How about the issues? How about plans? You wouldn't hire an architect who didn't have a plan of how he was going to build you a house, would you? So why aren't we asking these potential leaders to show us a plan, step by step of how the situations we are finding ourselves in (with regard to economy, employment, national debt, and the war) will be remedied?

That pseudo-debate didn't give us anything with any substance. Shame on ABC for letting the debate slip into an MTV-type reality show. All we needed was a scene of Hillary taking a shot while sitting in a hot tub with her other 'house/castmates.'

Silver Comet 10k - in the SNOW!

What a bunch of running fools! Despite the snowy start, there seemed to be a pretty good sized bunch who turned out for the 10th annual Silver Comet 10k race. 863 runners finished the race.

I had a new PR running this course, even with the cold weather. It's an incredibly flat course and I think I will add it to my "annual list" of races I want to run. Mainly I ran it to see if I could get a decent time to report for the 4th of July Peachtree Road Race. It wasn't fast enough to be in one of the "timed" groups - that was a 54:59 time requirement. I can't wait for this year's race. I already sent in the registration for it. Chris is sending his in too. Chris' mom Tina is running the race this year for the first time and is training in the Florida heat.

I'm getting better at not looking so weary as I run past the photographer. Here are my pic links:
one-legged attorney (no attorney jokes please)
what's up? I shadowed that runner behind me for what seemed like forever. I SO wanted to pass her - aha! finally passed her and didn't see her again until later after the finish when I was waiting in line for the bus to take us back to the start.
finally finished! Personal Record!!

Now I am training for the ING Half-Marathon (17 days to go - yikes)! I already registered, so there's no turning back now. I'm following the RunnersWorld.com training schedule for beginners, and it seems to have helped my 10k time.

10k PR: Chattahoochee Challenge

There's nothing like getting up at 6AMish to go and run 6.2 miles in 40 degree weather for the fun of it.

I had my own personal record for this 10k: 70:34. A little faster than the Peachtree Road race last July. I would have liked to shave more time off of that race time but I'll take any improvement I can get.

For race photos from TrueSpeedPhoto.com, click here.

Now that's a funeral

E! Online did a great article on Heath Ledger's Australia memorial service yesterday. How great to see Michelle Williams smile in the accompanying photo. I cannot imagine how it has been for her since his death.

I love how they dipped into the ocean and then watched the sun set together.

Simply lovely.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

Listen to this every year, read the words of the speech often, live life with an open heart and mind. Don't be content to go along just to get along. Challenge those who propagate inequality, injustice, hatred, and prejudice.

From Dr. King:
=====================================
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Something a little lighter to end the day...

Good enough for a chuckle or two.

The Scariest Presidential Candidate in History

We all know they're out there. The white supremacists who preach an agenda of hate.

The one place we don't need a white supremacist is the White House. Why would Mike Huckabee want to address a known white supremacist group? Why does he propose to amend the Constitution of the United States to conform with what he calls God's Standards?

This is a scary thing America. We are a country that is richly diverse, and ultimately open to the plight of others in this country and the world over, so why would we ever entertain the idea of electing someone whose agenda is one of hate and fascist conformity?

Please see Huckabee for what he really is, the scariest presidential candidate in history.

I want this book

I got an excerpt of Lee Iacocca's book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" Since I believe in copyright, I won't reprint it here, rather link you to Google Books where you can read an excerpt. Skip ahead to page 3, "Had Enough?"

I agree with this man. I've certainly had enough of where our country is going. It's all reduced to sound bites and a beauty pageant. Personally I would have liked to see Dennis Kucinich get further in his campaign, but if he were tapped to be Obama's or Clinton's running mate, I dare to say I'd be willing to vote that ticket today. I'm probably making many enemies here in Georgia by coming clean about my political leanings, but hey, like assholes, we've all got opinions. My opinion is that middle class America is suffering. I am middle class America. Yes, I have an advanced education, but because I choose to work with and on behalf of children, I will remain middle class.

I've had enough of career politicians. I like Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta. She is getting ready to leave office soon with the next Mayoral Race in 2009. She has been in public office but Mayor was her first elected position in public office.

Going back to the Lee Iacocca book, perhaps what drew me to his book was his statement, "We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution." What has happened in our country with regard to all this talk of amending the constitution to be so EXclusive of rights is akin to local terrorism. The fact that we have Huckabee running for president and talking about amending the Constitution to meet God's standards, "[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards." PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE AMERICA - do not elect this man into office. Hearing talk like that about the Constitution of America scares me to my core. Gone will be the 1st Amendment. SCOTUS will be pillaged and filled with religious-agenda justices. Precedent will be raped, maimed and left for dead for cases protecting our civil liberties.

Huckabee can say what he wants, that's the beauty of this county. But I can make my statement too - I am outraged at the level to which our government is endorsing particular religious beliefs. Don't tell me what to believe. Don't tell me what GOD's standards are... you don't have the monopoly on what, who, or how God is or what the true meaning of spirituality actually is. The answer is that we each have a relationship with God of our own. I don't need someone to tell me how to believe in God. I don't want to live in a society that is full of divisive hate.

I got an e-mail from someone, forwarded blindly about Barak Obama. It make a lot of noise about his so-called Muslim background. It was sent by one of "God's crusaders" so to speak. I wanted to vomit. In no time in my life had I ever received such a piece of concentrated HATE SPEECH about someone. Those who cast judgment on others for not being of THEIR particular religious denomination and spread words of hate are criminal and not at all spiritual. How is that a loving and caring way to be?

Perhaps the most beautiful explanation of religion came from Obama's mother, as he wrote, "Religion was an expression of human culture, she would explain, not its wellspring, just one of the many ways - and not necessarily the best way - that man attempted to control the unknowable and understand the deeper truths about our lives."

I don't think I can be quiet about it any longer. In work circles, I respect my colleagues and their beliefs. Many of them are Christians. Many I don't know what their religious leanings may be. But many of them are good people, so for those reasons, I don't talk politics in relation to or around those I work with, it's better left to each person's own beliefs.

It's snowing today in Georgia... more on that later.