Belle

Lindy, I did NOT know that Islam and Nation of Islam were two different things. Thank you. I admit that I really ignore any and all news coverage about racism. It just makes my blood boil. So, no, I don't know much about Farrakhan - or Malcolm X for that matter. I'm being enlightened - never heard of "white devils" either. ;) Guess I should crawl out of my cave and pay more attention to these political issues.

I love to laugh and any man who can make me laugh is a winner in my book. BUT, not all of us have the same sense of humor, so his funny bone would need to be somewhat warped. And, of course, he’d need to think I’m funny, too. I don’t trust people who don’t smile and will NOT date someone who doesn’t genuinely smile or laugh much. I don’t buy that ‘still waters run deep’ crap – if I’m always worried that you’re not happy then I’m not going to be happy. He needs to be a gentleman and respectful to everyone, even the janitor. He should be able to banter and joke around with just folks from every walk of life. He should be color blind and class blind. He should be self-confident enough to allow me to do my ‘own thing’, including nights out with ‘the girls’. He should have his own interests and hobbies that he loves, but not necessarily expect me to be involved with him in those hobbies all the time and vice versa. (e.g. I love training Vixen and competing with her. I expect him to support and encourage me. I expect him to get as excited as I do about a new AKC title, but I don’t expect, or necessarily want, him to come to all the competitions.) Since I’m still on my own little spiritual journey, I expect him to respect that and would like for him to have his own ‘spirituality’. We don’t have to believe or practice the same things, but should be able to live harmoniously together and respect each others’ beliefs. He will definitely need to tolerate the fact that I’m no FlyLady and my house would never pass a white glove test (or have enough money to pay for a maid :D ). He must, absolutely, non-negotiably get along with my family and, as a bonus, think they are as awesome as I do. Hopefully he feels the same way about his family. I’m wary of men who have (or have had) terrible relationships with their parents. If he loves NASCAR, SEC sports, fried okra, good bbq and dipping his hamburger in ketchup those would be HUGE bonuses. If he wanted to whisk me away to the “real south” and save me from all these snowbirds and rude northerners in Florida, he might never get rid of me. Ditto if he wants to have kids and/or has youngsters of his own. Looks have never been important to me. A genuine smile with kind eyes and a healthy self-esteem makes any man handsome in my book. In fact, my friends laugh cause I think John Goodman and Jim Belushi are da bomb! I think we all really just want someone who loves us exactly as we are and is our biggest cheerleader. Someone we can totally be ourselves around without having to put up walls or wear a mask around. Someone who makes us feel better about ourselves and life in general when we’re together. What that requires is going to be different for every person.

"Affectionate Stinkface" or "The Grand Man"

:eusa_clap: Ryan :eusa_clap: Awesome, Dude!! You're one sharp cookie! I hope she recognizes what a gem you are and re-thinks what she'll be giving up if she choose that group of kool-aid drinkers over you. God is alive and well outside the walls of TWI. Hopefully she'll realize it one day!

Those dang "boring" exercises stick with us, don't they? I can still relive the nightmares of diagramming sentences if I think about it long enough. I actually wrote a letter to Mrs. Overcash last year to thank her for her persistence and teaching ability as it obviously worked and stuck with me. I love to write my former teachers when I think of them and how I'm using something they taught me. Fun and zippy are fine if it works, but it stinks when it doesn't because the kids are the ones who have to pay for the fact that it didn't. :( I just know that you'll get lots of letters down the road from kids you helped and made/make a lasting impression on with your great compassion and skills at helping people help themselves.

I agree with all of you. :) WW, I think that the Bible has lost its value as a representation of what we were raised to respect. It's just a symbol now and so many so-called "Christian" politicians are anything BUT good examples of Christians, much less decent, law abiding citizens that it's rather silly to even have that as part of the ceremony anymore. Especially since, as Bramble pointed out, there are elected officials who aren't even Christians. The whole swearing in requiring swearing on anything is rather vacuous and laughable, really. Maybe they should just stand there and recite the age old, "cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I realize this should probably go in the Politics section, but, being a rule breaker , I'd kind of like to get an "everyman"'s opinion of this before it's banished to the battleground of Politics and Tacks. It really highlights the lack of 'separation of church and state', doesn't it? And, what about Muslims being elected to office? Especially after the stuff I found earlier this year on their beliefs regarding 'white man', it's rather unsettling. The entire article can be found here. . *************** WASHINGTON - Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday. The chief of the Library of Congress' rare book and special collections division, Mark Dimunation, will walk the Quran across the street to the Capitol and then walk it back after the ceremony. Ellison, D-Minn., contacted the library about the book last month, Dimunation said. Some critics have argued that only a Bible should be used for the swearing-in. Last month, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., warned that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow Ellison's lead. Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college. Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert said the new congressman "wants this to be a special day, and using Thomas Jefferson's Quran makes it even more special." "Jefferson's Quran dates religious tolerance to the founders of our country," he added.

I realize that there are folks with learning disabilities and, unless I just can't make heads or tails of what someone wrote (and I'd like to), I try to keep my mouth shut because I don't know what's from lack of education and what's because of how their brain works. It just scares me that so many of the kids (that I know) can't communicate clearly through the written word. I just wonder what business correspondence and white papers are going to look like in the future? Are we, adults, going to have to learn to rd txt msg grmmr 4 th futr?

WB, your post reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about dogs: "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers Psalmie, I'm so glad they're going to give that little pup a chance to find a good home! It just breaks my heart that people can be so cruel. :( You deserve the Golden Bacon Award for your generosity, compassion and action. :)

Chas, repeat after me.... "I'm going to organize Belle's house. I'm going to organize Belle's house. I'm going to organize Belle's house." Seriously, I've got a new daytimer this year and I'm uber tickled about it. It's an "At A Glance" notebook with a format where you can see your "to do" list, "monthly view" and "daily view" all at once. I LOVE IT!! I'm trying to discipline myself to use it more consistently and for everything - everything! I'm also reorganizing my office so that I can actually use the desk for something other than catching all the mail and various papers that come into the house. Those two feats alone will catapult my success in so many other areas that I'm wanting to 'spruce up'. Least, I hope so!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALFAKAT!! Just tell those folks like the Strange One:

Not necessarily for some of the people who post here.

I guess Pat doesn't believe the parts of the Bible that talk about false prophets. <_< What cracks me up even more than his false prophecies is the fact that, as TWIts, we laughed at him and how stupid the people were who believed him. I'll bet there are folks in the CESpool who do the same thing.

I got 98% and I'm pretty sure the only one I missed must have been the dangling modifier question. I think I remember dangling them a lot in school - that and getting into trouble for run on sentences. Gooder Grammar

Rhino, you absolutely crack me up! I don't make them either, but I tend to rebel against being told what to do. ... even (or is that, especially?) when I'm the one doing the telling.

How'd it go, HerbieJuan??

Do we have a "spanking" smiley somewhere? ex, it's good to see my favorite avatar of yours back on the screen.

Oh me, oh my.... could you see all of us meeting at Mardi Gras? :o Endymion is Feb 17th and Mardi Gras is Feb 20th this year.

All the time - just read my posts. I write very much like I talk. Good friends say they can 'hear' me when they read something I've written. I think I started TWIt and Moneyhands. The grocery store is the "grunchy" store. The Starvation Army is where I take donations every year. "Tinjewberrymud" is my way of saying, 'thank you very much' "Shoot Bubba", "Frickin', Frackin' Friggin'....grrrrr...." are two ways I keep from cursing in the office. I think we all shop at Le Target and Wally's World. We eat at "Toxic Hel1".

heh heh heh, Potato, I totally missed that. Here's what one of my friends has to say about it: Best of luck with that. I'm predicting that they will end up making (insert species here) asexual if anything. Begs the question: Does "god'' make 'mistakes', and if so, are we licensed to 'fix' them? We (humanity) really just can't seem to keep our hands out of anything without changing it to suit our 'needs' (desires). So let's just come clean with that and say what we're thinking "wouldn't it be great if we could do all this stuff and make babies or adults the way we want them". I love it when people throw the 'natural' word around, for example: "a man and a man ain't natural", a-hem, like polluting, plastic surgery, plastic for that matter, and basically anything the human race produces is natural. Argh! How annoyed it gets me. Curious: 1. Plight? I don't look at being gay as my plight. Being human is more a plight in my opinion with it's duality and relative moralism. 2. Would I choose to be straight if I had a choice? Knowing what I do about both sides of the fence, NO WAY, this is MUCH more fun. Designer pregnancy: Why not, we manipulate our world, or bodies, nature, and everything else on the planet to our liking without much consideration for long term implications. I don't see this being restrained if it has any measure of success and I see couples designing their child before it's even conceived once the technology is available. I really don't have a huge problem with that, as long as the paradigm shifts appropriately and we all 'get' that we are not creatures completely respectful and in-tune with nature. We pretty much do as we please with what we have to whatever end we see fit. The sooner we acknowledge who we are (our super-nature) the sooner I see us accepting each other as is. Personaly I'd rather not be altered since I like my lifestyle too much. Alas, I prefer to put my thoughts into what's possible and mutually beneficial for the whole shabang! In case you need reminders or visual guides for why I'm Homosexual I've attached images for your review. (I'm only attaching one as the others would probably get me sent to Paw's office)

Awww, shucks, MStar, I hope that someone keeps making maps of these little known gems. Maybe one that only has these kinds of places on their maps. I love driving home from Orlando to Starville. My CD collection is strategically designed to enhance the drive as I drive through China Grove, AL (Doobies!) I also love driving through Gotha and Gordo. Of course, I'm partial to Mississippi and have quite a few favorites in just Mississippi alone... My Favorite Mississippi Cities: Shuqualak (pronounced Sugar-lock) Yazoo City (Home of Jerry Clower - Knock 'em out John!) Eupora (pronounced You-Pour-ah - my favorite dj used to say, "Eupora, I'll drinkah") Possum Trot Possumneck Waxhaw Hot Coffee Itta Bena Noxapater (but you have to say it with a strong southern drawl to really appreciate it. Kind of hard NOT to say it with a southern drawl, isn't it?) Cleo Bouge Chitto And the optimistic towns of: Good Hope Goodfood Goodman Goodyear Grace

Maybe I'm reading the article wrong, but it seems as though the research is being done to promote more productivity in the farming industry specific to raising sheep. It does not appear as though they are attempting to alter the natural course of all (all without exception ;) ) sheep, just those used for monetary gain. The ramifications and possibilities, yes, are far reaching, but what some perceive as negative, others perceive to be beneficial. So how would one determine which is 'right'? Is either side 'right'? *shrug* The more we learn about these kinds of things the more we can, hopefully, figure out how to prevent and cure the diseases, syndromes and disabilities of mankind. I suppose that argument comes down to what is called 'acceptable risk'. Some consider the risk to be too high, other's don't. There's the same controversy regarding stem cell research. I think it's human nature for some of us to want to be something that we're not. Race is still a big issue among those whom it is an issue. Did anyone see the Dateline or 20/20 story where the little black girls were given a white doll and a black doll and they considered the black doll to be 'bad' whereas the white doll was 'good'? The little black girls wanted to play with the white doll and not the black doll. When asked which doll they were most like, most wanted to pick the white doll and appeared genuinely sad that they honestly could not. One of my gay friends terribly laments the fact that he's gay and can't have a 'normal' life. I lament the fact that my hair isn't naturally red, but I can do something about that.

And, here, I attributed the obsession to the fact that folks were hanging out in the shady side of the garden at the time.

:eusa_clap: