teabagging and thunderstorms

Thunderstorm near Big Bend National Park, Texas
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

"Don't you wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work."
- Gallagher

It's thundering here in Houston right now, and we've got a tornado watch going on. I must say that I am a bit scared of thunder and intense weather like storms. I think it's just the massive scale and total helplessness one feels in the face of such intense power. Yes I'm inside a nice, supposedly safe brick house and for that I am eternally grateful. But in the most intense of storms I've been known to hide in my closet... I just do not like the really super loud thunder. It's pretty black and dark out there at the moment and it's not going to abate anytime soon, according to the weather peeps. Give me snakes and spiders any day!!

I have spent the day playing catch up. I have found that since I've spent more time twittering and facebooking, my email tends to get neglected. I am one of those people who likes to stay on top of my email and keep my inbox to a manageable level - less than 100 emails in there is a good number. I like to give everyone a personal response who emails me. It's not always easy to stay on top of email! It's a great thing to catch up with while watching a movie.

Yes, I'm the Queen of Multitasking. It brings to mind something I heard from I think, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk, about doing one task at a time and focusing on it. Enjoy it. Be present. He said something like if you are eating but you are thinking about baseball, you are eating....baseball. It was funny especially because I was listening to it on audio-CD but.... the point has stuck in my mind, though I have not yet incorporated that too much into my life. I do sometimes. But not often. An interesting thing to ponder...

At any rate my favorite items in the news that I've been ranting about on Facebook include the teabagging protests (ha ha) and the fact that Texas Governor Rick Perry said at a "tea party" protest bagging event - go get an urban dictionary Fox News- lol) that Texas could secede from the Union.

Say what?! I was FLOORED when I read that he said this. This is not just some random nutjob saying this. This is the governor of the 2nd largest state in the United States!!! He also said that it was not just right-wing extremists protesting, but if it was, he was right alongside with them. Ahem. Yea. Okay. First of all, although Texas original Constution said we could secede from the Union, we lost that little privilege after the Civil War. Second, a Supreme Court case ruled secession illegal.

I must say that one of the funniest things I have read in a very long time (add her to Black Hockey Jesus - and it was he who recommended her to me) The Bloggess had a freaking laugh out loud funny blog post on the teabagging issue. Without further adieu, please visit: The time I got verbally assaulted at HEB. Bwa ha ha ha!! Here's an excerpt:

Then when I was checking out the bagger asked me if I was “going to any teabagging parties today”. Like, WTF? And the cashier was just looking at me waiting for my response and I was all “Uh…no” because I was too shocked to say anything else and then I got home and thought maybe teabagging means something else now but no, I googled it and it still totally means the same thing.

As always Jon Stewart's Daily Show has some outstanding and humorous coverage The British actor John Oliver interviewed some protestors who had really no clue of the ridiculously outlandish and inappropriate comparison they were making to what happened with British Rule compared to American taxes. God Bless America!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Tea Party Tyranny
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