WanderingAmylessly 2.0

From the AC360 Blog on CNN.com: According to the coroner's office in New Orleans, the city's suicide rate nearly tripled in the months after Katrina. A suicide rate of nine per 100,000 residents jumped to almost 27 per 100,000 residents.

Supporting yet another flag burning ban Supporting a ban on gay marriage Spying on just about everyone Refusing to set a date for withdrawal from Iraq Bringing up abortion, homosexuality, patriotism, the right to bear arms, and so on, in an effort to divert attention from the real issues. Yeah. Can't have Americans exercising their freedoms, or making commitments to and caring about each other. Can't have people worrying about details like that little nuisance called privacy, or saving Americans from dying in war that was started based on a big fat lie. And we sure can't have a real debate on why Bush hasn't been impeached, or why our federal deficit is something like a gazillion dollars, or why members of Congress and folks in the White House keep getting investigated for bribery and corruption and whatnot. Could we please talk about a real issue?! Our economy's a mess. Our military's in trouble. Our reputation in the world is atrocious. We have the village idi...

Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Posted: 10:14 a.m. EDT (14:14 GMT) SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Travel brochures can boast about breathtaking Zion, Bryce and Arches national parks. Tourism promoters can roar about Dinosaur National Monument and hawk the state's high peaks. But Utah's hottest tourism destination is Temple Square: the heart of the Mormon church.

I love anyone who'll take aim at our own A(x)ss of Evil. Note: To do so, David Letterman uses clever writing and wit, instead of a 28-caliber Perazzi Brescia shotgun. Top Ten Little-Known Facts About Dick Cheney 10. Has iPod pacemaker that keeps his heart beating to Aerosmith 9. Enjoys reading his grandson excerpts from shady defense contracts 8. First vice president since Mondale to take a leak in the Rose Garden 7. Not sure if this is significant but he was the last to see Don Knotts alive 6. Has a daily 5 o'clock meeting with advisors Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's 5. In 1994, underwent a failed sneer-reduction procedure 4. The second the cameras are off, so are his pants 3. His undisclosed location is a Hooters in San Antonio 2. Loves the elderly -- well, shooting at them 1. His approval rating is now lower than his number of heart attacks

Latest news from Iraq: Two soldiers were murdered and mutilated, then their bodies were booby-trapped. Desecrating, decapitating, otherwise defiling...all in the name of Weapons of Mass Destruction that didn't exist. Thought you might be interested in the latest totals. Since the war began in March 2003, 2,503 American military men and women have died. The "official" estimate of American wounded in the war is 18,490. Other estimates have put the number between 20,000 and 48,000. I don't even know what to say anymore. I hear the Republican pro-war rhetoric and simultaneously want to punch someone, vomit and run to Canada. With the July 4th holiday coming up, flags and all things red-white-and-blue are popping up all over. It's a patriotic time for our country, celebrating Independence Day. But does anyone else experience this...I see this Fourth of July color blitz and fireworks and celebration, and all I think of are the government's lies and lots of dead bodi...

I'm a geek. I fully, openly admit that I edit menus in restaurants. I scour the New York Times for grammar errors. Can't stand it when people spell your when they really mean you're (I know, Brianne, we share this weirdness). I'm a darn good speller. Others I know or have come across are not. Painfully bad. Illiterate comes to mind. It seems that even spellcheck hasn't stopped all of the phonetic faux pas and syllable slaughtering. YourDictionary.com has a list of the 100 most misspelled words in the English language. There are some words I can understand would be easy to goof: conscientious -- not sure how sci became "she" embarrass -- too many "r"s, one would think; any word's fun when it has ASS in it supersede -- where's the C in SEDE? millennium -- double consonants again? ick liaison -- that sneaky second "i" bellwether -- I've got a secret for how to get this one right. Don't USE this word. But there are others t...

Just read a blurb on CNN... Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood checked into a London rehabilitation clinic this week for treatment of alcohol abuse. Is this really a news story? I'd find it much more shocking and noteworthy had he NOT entered a rehab clinic. Like if he were completely clean and sober, getting mud wraps, taking yoga classes, that sort of thing. I read he needs rehab and say, "Duh."

As a mere peasant of the blogosphere, I bow down before a Queen Blogger -- Anonymous Midwest Girl. Her link's on my favorite links list to the right. Because, as I've said before, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I am truly interested in trying this trick out -- I'm stealing one of AMG's ideas for my own blog. And it's ok, really, because she stole it from someone too. So I'm actually an accessory of sorts to HER crime. This idea involves Googling oneself. Put your name and the word "needs" into Google and do a search. See what it is that you need. Quite a useful and amusing tool, that Google. So, what do I need? (I made NONE of them up and, in several cases, I have no idea what they mean.) Amy needs... to either wake up or start getting some extra will-power Amy needs... a new pair of shoes Amy needs... some space, self-esteem Amy needs... to mend her ways and be more of a team player Amy needs... sex Amy needs... healing in her body a...

She doesn't write her own music. She doesn't take precautions to protect her children (for example, letting the child fall on its head or ride on her lap in the car). She has no taste in men (unless worthless bums are chic these days). And now, she's horning in on someone else's childbirth turf. Britney Spears is tossing around the idea of having her next child in Namibia, just like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt recently did with their daughter. Some tourism minister from the African country said Spears has shown interest, but nothing has been confirmed. Apparently she said she wants to be low profile and have some privacy. Boohoo. Do you know how much this woman (or child, depending on your point of view) is worth? Forbes says $150 million. She flaunts her breasts and shakes her butt and sings uninspired music, and people shell out big bucks to see and hear it. And then she wants privacy. I say, That's the price you pay, chicky-babe. Don't like it? Move to Namib...

If a recent health care survey called "Grading the States 2006" is any indication, many states may be finding ways to hide their report cards before anyone sees them. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) released this first comprehensive state-by-state analysis of mental health care systems in 15 years. Every U.S. state was scored on 39 specific criteria resulting in an overall grade and four sub-category grades for each state. The national average grade is a pathetic D. Five states received grades in the B range, above average but not stellar. Absolutely no one received As. I was appalled to find out that I live in one of the eight states that received a BIG FAT F. It's enough to make a person depressed, anxious, neurotic, dare I say it, crazy? Broken down, "we" in Iowa got an F for infrastructure, information access and recovery supports. Not much to celebrate about, "we" got a D for services. The state did get credit for recent innovation...

When I drove to work this morning, at around 6:30 a.m., the announcer on NPR noted in a rather bored fashion that the tropical storm meandering towards the Gulf of Mexico was expected to fizzle. No one sees this storm turning into a hurricane, he said, although he mentioned that it could dump some heavy rain. But no, there was no way the storm could strengthen before it made landfall. Well well well. Here we are 4 hours later and, lo and behold, guess what's just a few miles an hour in intensity from becoming Hurricane Alberto? A hurricane warning has been issued for Florida's Gulf Coast. One look at the radar shows a big, fat, swirling, churning red blob, surrounded by lots of orange and yellow, bearing down on MickeyMouseland. The forecasters seem befuddled. Wow, we didn't realize it would do that. Golly, that storm gained 20 miles an hour in windspeed in just three hours. I truly wish these supposed weather professionals and those who listen to them would STOP being surp...

Syndicated columnist, author and queen of mean Ann Coulter hawked her new book on Today show this week. She mocked terrorism victims. And she shocked the country. Matt Lauer, Today show host, called her on the carpet about remarks she makes in the book aimed at activist 9/11 widows. Among her bitter rants was the charge that the widows were nothing but "self obsessed" and celebrity-seeking "broads" who are "enjoying" their husbands' deaths "so much." My niece wrote me to say, "I am dying to hear your opinion on the latest Ann Coulter comment. She is the anti-Christ. I firmly believe this." Brianne ... I think this might be an insult to Satan. Who does this nasty bitch think she is? If it wouldn't boost her sales numbers, I think I'd buy her book and then burn it. I understand free speech, but I don't understand inhumanity. I think even die-hard, brickheaded, right-wing wackos would have trouble swallowing this vile bile...

The Centers for Disease Control estimates nearly 60 percent of adults are not engaging in vigorous leisure-time physical activity. The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older—over 60 million people—are obese. Overall, nearly 6 in 10 adults are overweight. And as I was writing this, someone in the office hallway yelled, "Cake. Come get birthday cake. The frosting is half lard!"

I'm going to get lockjaw. The other day I was driving to work and happened to notice that some sort of rigormortis had settled into my face. My jaw was tightly clenched, my neck muscles taut. My skin on my head felt stretched against the muscle and fat and bone, like a facelift gone terribly wrong. My head pounded, to the point that I think I could see my blood pulsing like a heartbeat on my temple. It wasn't road rage. It wasn't bad driving weather. It wasn't brutally cold. I wasn't craving chocolate. It was, plain and simple, STRESS. Since then, I've paid close attention and realized that this freak bit of tenseness wasn't a one-time occurrence. To be quite honest, it's a 24/7 thing. So why am I such a stressed out basketcase? I have a two-year-old, I have to work 10 hour days, My house is a mess, I never get to work out, I'm being called on the carpet for missing work for going to my therapy appointments, I hate commuting 1.5 hours a day, I barely...