We're getting there

I'v either gotten emails or phone calls from some of you, griping at me about how difficult it can be to get this software to cooperate. Sadly, I have to agree. But some of you have hung in there and we are making progress. I havea few gripes of my own with Blogspot (Google) and will let them know.

Eventually you will all get to know one another, perhaps. Lisa Walsh Thomas is my great friend and very talented writer/ politico/ linguist friend in Round Rock, TX. We don't talk enough. She writes some of the best damn poetry I've ever read. Gina is a customer/friend/confidant and talented pediatric nurse in Bastrop, TX. She works weird hours and still manages to keep a smile on her face. She has recently had the good sense to leave a marriage that was not exactly what was best for her and has become wonderfully "unsettled" in a new house and the world of political commentary. Thoughtful, considerate, insightful and entirely too much energy. "Slorider" is Jen (Jennifer), in Napa, CA. Long-time pen pal, email pal of my son Nick, bicyclist, gardener, weaver, knitter, amatuer psychologist and musician (plays the hell out of the mandolin). She has been an inestimable source of moral support for me in the last two years. And she hates politics but puts up with me, anyway.

Thanks to all for joining in. I've invited about a zillion other folks, but I suppose they may be having trouble tying in, as well. I've been busy adding my two cents to countless articles, op-eds and commentaries about the Shrub, the war (the GD'D WAR!) and lots of other issues. I read a very disheartening article just yesterday about the collapse of women's rights in Afghanistan and Iraq, since we have plundered and pounded those lands into chaos and allowed all manner of sectarian influences to take away what few rights women had there, beforehand. Really pissed me off. The world is just a big, barbaric mess, right now. Too many disenfranchised, too many absurd deaths, too many hungry children and too many power hungry male,chauvinist idiots calling the shots. (Please sign whatever pettitions that come your way to impeach Bush and Cheney. My common sense says it will nevr happne, but it will make you feel better. Kind of like being able to outwardly Boo Bush at the ball game. About damn time!)

For those of you who know some of the history, I'm moving along well, well into the second year of being sober and going to AA functions. Life seems pretty good, despite what I rant and rave and rail about in print, Barbara is keeping my head screwed on straight, and I may have a job. I've applied for a part-time position with the United Way office, here, answering the phone and hooking up low income folks with the agencies that can offer whatever assistance might be appropriate. Won't know for a few days. At least it will get me off the streets. I'm really tired of selling drugs....HA!

The morning news is full of stuff I wish I could blame on April Fool's Day, but unfortunately the damn stuff is all true. We are at a huge turning point in our culture and society right now. But greed, whether it's for money(Wall ST.) or personal power (Hillary), or both, seems to be driving everything. I know you don't all agree, but I think Hillary is just more trouble, waiting to happen, and we could, as totally unfathomable as it sounds, wind up electing McCain. Oh, crap! I keep trying to maintain an open mind, and reading everything I can get my hands on, but it just seems to get worse and worse, every morning.

I hope you all got to see Olbermann's 5 year anniversary show. There were no scared cows and the guilty sheep were all slaughtered. Keep writing and stay left of the center line. Life goes on in Texas.