Apropos of absolutely nothing, I'm going to sleep soon...  I will be voting for Obama in November.  We're listening to some fun music now.  I'll try to fill up two more paragraphs...

Puppie pics...  In a minute...  ;)  Here is my basil plant, before I planted it in a larger container:

It's doing very well now.  I've been munching on the leaves and cooking with it... it's doing very well.  Much better than my one from last year...

Here's our lil Puggles girl...

More after the fold..

Good Morning Kiddos!  I hope this bootleg edition of Cheers and Jeers finds you all well, and, well, I hope it finds you.  Or you find it, as the case may be.  We've got grayish skies here, with patches of dirty snow, accompanied by a lovely shade of golden-brown dried-out grasses.  And rain.  So, it must be March Frist First!!

Ah, March...  That murky miserable month where winter remains, yet spring seems to be on the tip of one's tongue, in the breeze in one's hair...  Such imaginings may begin to fill our collective heads:  the sight of the budding bulbs of the tulip and crocus and daffodil variety; the sounds of birds chirping, children playing, streams babbling; the feel of the warm sun on one's face, a spring wind in the air; the scent of greenery growing and old soggy dog poo forgotten beneath the winter snow; the anticipation and hope of growth, re-birth, vitality, life, begininngs, sunshine, truths, color, newness, joy, innocence...  And then, Mother Nature, in all Her unbridled glory, will slam us with winds and snows and rains and muck, just one more time, for good measure.

Cheers and Jeers starts below...  [Gong!][Ding-a-ling-a-ling!][Whoosh!][Cough!][Gack!][Ack!][Ahem...]

**WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and perhaps share advice. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here...   Many thanks to Elizabeth D. for her past work and dedication to this series.  

My FP is motivation, or more correctly, a lack thereof.  Now, I’m generally a person of average motivation, I’d say.  I’m definitely not a morning person, and my brain functions best in the afternoon and evening hours.  I’ve been known to jump into a project and work at it feverishly until it is completed.  I’ve also started projects, let them slide, and then perhaps finish them or perhaps not.  But lately, it’s taken some effort to get myself motivated.  Some days, I just feel like this:

More on the flip.

I know, this is late.  It's been almost a month now since Yearly Kos...  That said, it was a pivotal time for me, both personally and politically, but it was also my stepping stone into activism...  And I knew that YK would be just that for me., which it exactly was...

Here is a pic of Doggie and me...

We met via Cheers and Jeers, and he is the love of my life.    We have loved each other for over a year now, and he has come here to live with me since February of this year.  I had told him that I was the one that volunteered for YK, and he needn't do it along with me, but he did.  We worked together, and we had so much fun with it.  He worked there alongside me, and I am forever grateful for that.  We will most definitely be working at YK07, wherever it will be...

More below...

Below the fold you will find my 'story' for the Yearly Kos bio book.  It's just me.  It's just my thoughts on how I came to be here.

I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, further information, etc.

It's really just a story of where I have come from... Add what you would like.  And I appreciate all comments.  I'll be sending my story off in a few hours or so, cuz I'm also getting on a plane in a few hours or so, so I don't have much time left.  :)

From the pretty state of New Hampshire...

OK, so I've had how many days... about at least five, to get this C & J together.  And what time is it now?  Am I doing this at the last minute, the night beforehand, after 10 pm EST?  Of course I am!!!!  No other way to do it...

Sherm's Cheers and Jeers is in absolutely no way affiliated with Bill in Portland Maine's C & J.  Any remark resembling such is purely coincidental.  Really.  Gack.  Well, some phrases might be similiar, and some familiarities might be somewhat familiar, but they are in no way endorsed by BiPM.  Well, maybe they are.  Cuz he's letting me do this.  So there.  Thfptbtttt...

WHOOSH, BAM, GONG, SLAM, GACK, GACK, GACK and more GACK...

From the pretty state of New Hampshire...

OK, so I'm sitting here, wondering if anyone is slated to do a Cheers and Jeers today.  In the back of my mind I have the fear that I am going to get prodded into doing one for this morning, as I'm currently unemployed, just drinking some coffee and surfing around the net this morning.  Five minutes ago, I got word... "OK Sherm, time for you to get to work".  ACK!!!  So here goes... Sherm's on the fly C & J.

Sherm's Cheers and Jeers is in absolutely no way affiliated with Bill in Portland Maine's C & J.  Any remark resembling such is purely coincidental.  Really.  Gack.  I mean it.  I mean really, how could anyone think they're anywhere even close to being on par with BiPM.  It's simply impossible.  I apologize in advance for even thinking that I could do a substitute Cheers and Jeers.  But here goes...

WHOOSH, BAM, GONG, SLAM, GACK, Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out...

Well, Jerome Bettis yesterday received The Key to the City from his hometown Detroit.  Bettis is an accomplished running back for the Pittsburg Steelers in the NFL.

The last person to receive the Key to the City received it in 1980.  Got a guess as to who that person was?  Yup.  Saddam Hussein. According to this story in the San Jose Mercury News...   "Chaldeans are a Catholic group in predominantly Muslim Iraq, and Detroit is a city with a large Muslim population. Hussein donated money to many Chaldean churches, according to the AP, and gave the church in Detroit $250,000."

WTF?  I am already enraged today, after Alito, the SOTU, Cindy Sheehan... I heard this on the radio this morning and can no longer stand it.  The hypocrisy, the lies, the police state, the corruption, the spying, the killing, the destruction, the illegalities, the brutality, the ignorance, the complicity... I think I need a break for a few days.  Sigh.

Note: Personal-style entry ... which IMHO I believe are also important to share...

OK, park the car by the side of the road ... for once lately to actually stop and write ... So many other times recently I have just let my thoughts go ... which isn't necessarily bad.  This time however, I really wish I had that mental tape recorder running in my mind ... (other times, definitely NOT ...), but this time I stop ...

Many, many thoughts today, but these right now are the most visceral to me, so I begin my tale below...

This may get lost in all the hubbub here ... but I just wanted whoever was awake to know ... that because of Daily Kos (link not provided because you are already here) ... I feel I have made one new and true friend ... and she knows who she is ...

No links, no nothing, just human beings relating to each other as human beings ... and I think that is important for us to recognize ... as a party ... we do not want to shoot each other down ... we can EMPATHIZE, we can UNDERSTAND, that life has its ups and downs, and that is how we relate to and share with and open up with other ... and that is the saving grace of our earthly existence ...

OK, the fold below

Courtesy of ICasualties, comes this link to Greg Palast's Report that there were actually 2 competing 'secret oil plans' for Iraq (pre-invasion, that is), one favored by the neo-cons and the other favored by the oil industy.

Not surprisingly, this all took place before 9/11...More below

Yikes!  Heard about this on NPR's Morning Edition this morning.  Faith based health insurance options for federal workers in Illinois.  The plans offer no contraception, abortion (obviously) or sterilization treatments.  Not sure if fertility treatments are excluded as well.  The premiums are lower, which will probably lead to confusion for workers who are looking at price first and foremost, not necessarily what is/is not covered.

Faith Based Insurance Audio Link  The transcript has not been posted yet.

I wish separation of church and state actually meant something.