Clueless Emma

10 Common Errors “Spell Check” Won’t Catch

While we can rely on a spell checker to catch glaring errors, a computer can’t pick up on all careless mistakes, especially if the word could be correct in a different context. Often word misuse is our mistake. The English language is full of homonyms, or words that have different meanings but sound and look similar, which makes it easy to confuse proper usage. For instance, verbally, you might not even notice the difference between “your” and “you’re.” But in print, the error can lead the reader to perceive you as less intelligent than you are. For this reason, it's important to spell check and proofread your documents, especially for the following common misuses, which are so easy to make, you might even have to check your document a couple times to catch them.

via shine.yahoo.com

Please~ read and follow!!

I am proud to be part of the Troopathon: please support our troops with a care package!

Want to do something that will show your appreciation and make a real difference for the troops?

You can help make the daily routine of our troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq a little more bearable and thank them for their services all at the same time.

We've heard from countless members of the Armed Forces serving in the Middle East about items that the military does not provide, are hard to come by and they really appreciate getting . That's why Move America Forward has responded and compiled care packages that contain these goods as a way of saying "thank you" for their sacrifices and courage.   Care packages are packed full of gourmet coffee, Oreo cookies, Jelly Belly jelly beans, high-quality beef jerky, trial mix, Gatorade, deodorant, Chap Stick, sun block, CDs and much more.

Most importantly, each care package will include a personal message written by you where you can express your gratitude to our military.  This is done through the order form by putting your message in the Comments box.  Along with your message will be included a "self-addressed" envelope for the troops to send you a Thank You note if, and when, they have time.  This is done through the order form by putting your address in the Ship To field.  Rest assured that all care packages are sent to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Move America Forward is a 501(C)3 so all care package donations are tax deductible. 

Care Packages include mostly Coffee, Oreo Cookies, lip balm, beef jerky, deodorant, trail mix, Gatorade, CDs and Jelly Beans but could include any or all of the following:

Boca Java Coffee
Oreo Cookies
Chap Stick
Deoderant
Painted Hills Beef Jerky
Planters Trail Mix
Ocean Spray Craisins Trail Mix
Gatorade
Candy Diplomacy Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
For The Troops CDs
Diana Nagy "The Journey of Life" CDs
Hot Chocolate
Hot Apple Cider
Bug Repellent
Battery Operated Fans
Wet Wipes
Foot Powder
Sunblock

You can send a care package to troops for as little as $24.99 by CLICKING HERE

Clueless Emma Joins Robert Spencer's Anti-Jihadist Team in Blogger Competition to Send Troop Care Packages

Join me in sending care packages to troops fighting for freedom--we're in 2nd place now, but it's a win-win! Let's show our soldiers how much we value their commitment and that of their families who willingly endure their long absences!

Send a care package now to make their tour feel a little less lonely, a little more comfortable, a bit more appreciated for just the cost of a couple fast food meals.

 Join me and Move America Forward June 25!

Ephesians 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

In honor of Mother's Day

What makes a good mom?

Absolutely, unequivocally NOT THIS!

Umm...not even sure what to think about THIS!

Absolutely, unequivocally THIS!

Interesting statistics

I am thrilled this is not my son...or daughter...or whatever it is...

...This one makes me cry for some reason...

Thank you Tough Cookie and Eagle Eye, for making me a mom. I love you beyond words.
 

Free Roxana and other "thought criminals"--and keep American speech free--disagreement is not a crime!

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."

Journalist Roxana Saberi has been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she is spending her birthday on a hunger strike. Around the world, people continue to face similar violations of their rights to freedom of expression, free speech, and a free press. Let's show the international community that we won't be silenced by intimidation and tyranny  - that we won't                                stop believing in and fighting for these rights.

Freedom of the press is not a luxury.  It lies at the heart of making this world healthier and more just. People without a voice and without a clear line of sight into the things that would threaten or corrupt their societies cannot hope for equitable growth and meaningful change.

A group of bloggers is holding a blog rally in support of journalists, bloggers, students, and writers who have dared to express their thoughts freely only to be imprisoned, abused, or killed.  

Please consider "wearing" a blue ribbon online this week on your blogs, websites, and facebook / myspace / twitter pages, and invite others to do the same.  Get the discussion going, and keep it going!

Borrowed from Notes of an Anesthesioboist

"Free Roxana" site here

Michelle Malkin

Hit the Road, Jack, II

Ummmm....so what, Jack? How much information do you have about the birthweight of your distant relatives' children...or their birthdays...or? Seriously unhinged. Time to increase reality. Reduce paranoia.

LIARS

The desperation of Obama supporters keeps becoming ever more clear.  We’ve now had them smear Palin and her daughter as sluts, notably Conan O’Brien and his crude “crease” reference on his show last night.  Palin’s mothering quality has also been slandered, and her decision to have a successful career derided by those who would normally sneer at stay-at-home moms.

Keep it up — please.  Keep informing the public that women have to stay on the ideological reservation or they have to stay in the kitchen, and that they’re not really free to have their own minds.  Keep punishing those who express their own opinions and defy the media with despicable slurs and innuendo and by all means keep attacking their children.  None of that will have any effect on Palin’s credibility — but it will strip her critics of theirs.

Update: Charles Martin at Explorations has the list of debunked slurs and innuendo, and it’s getting pretty lengthy.  Coming up next: Sarah Palin is an extraterrestrial looking to infiltrate human society!  Where’s the Weekly World News when you need it?

Update II: Just spitballing here, but what stereotypes of naughty women have the media and the lunatics missed?  So far, they’ve made her out to be a slut, a b***h, a beauty-queen airhead, and an unfit mother.  She’s obviously not frigid, so that smear won’t work.  How many other demeaning gender-based slurs can they throw her way?

www.hotair.com

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The latest lies involve library censorship and a feeble attempt to find evidence of an affair--blatantly false witness revealing the depth of evil and immorality residing on the Left. ce

Liberal repubs gettin' their feathers ruffled--I say, "Turn up the fan!"

From Michelle Malkin:

The future of conservatism is bright.

All those liberal Republicans who were arguing that the GOP needed to “rebrand” itself and move leftward are now crying in their coffee. Arlen Specter is feeling lonely.

Break out the world’s smallest violin. I’m verklempt.

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Bloomberg News:

At a Tuesday reception for moderate Republicans, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter hushed the cocktail chatter when he began ticking off a long list of like- minded lawmakers who no longer hold office.

“Today, we’re in a phone booth,” Specter said.

To conservatives at the Republican National Convention this week, John McCain’s choice of running mate Sarah Palin represented recognition of their clout. For remnants of the party’s once-powerful Eastern Establishment, the Minnesota meeting signified a lost opportunity to prod their party toward the political center.

McCain’s selection of the anti-abortion, socially conservative Alaska governor, after he considered naming an abortion-rights backer such as former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge or independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, leaves pro-choice Republicans at odds with both the presidential ticket and the party’s platform.

“There was shock” over Palin’s selection, said Jennifer Stockman, co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice. “We were looking for someone who would be transformative and take control of the party away from the social conservatives.”

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You lose.

FOUR MONTHS FOR VICTORY

Last weekend Vets for Freedom welcomed eight Iraq War combat veterans home as we returned from serving as embedded correspondents with U.S. combat units. The seven combat vets and myself met with top commanders, the lieutenants and sergeants fighting on the ground, their Iraqi counterparts and ordinary Iraqi citizens.

We returned to Iraq as part of the Back--to--Iraq embed program sponsored by Vets for Freedom and National Review Online, The Weekly Standard and Blackfive. In doing so, each of us had the opportunity to assess the situation on the ground in cities like, Fallujah, Samarra and Baghdad. We posed tough questions to top commanders, scrutinized the implementation of General Petreaus' counterinsurgency plan and surveyed the impact that the Surge has had in Iraq.

Read Our Dispatches and Watch our Videos from the Frontlines Here

Pete Hegseth, VFF Chairman: Why Victory in Iraq Matters

David Bellavia, VFF Co-Founder: Diyala Surge

Ben Hayden, VFF Iowa State Captain: Interview with an Iraqi Translator

Two things were evident after having just returned from Iraq as an embedded correspondent: the surge is incontrovertibly working and in order to succeed in Iraq we have a limited window of opportunity in which to sustain the security gains that Americans and Iraqis have fought so hard for.

Immediately upon returning, Vets for Freedom co-founder and former Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia and former Marine Corps Captain Erik Swabb participated in an Iraq Update Forum with one of Senator Barrack Obama's chief foreign policy advisors, Colin Kahl at the American Enterprise Institute. And, this morning David Bellavia was featured on C-SPAN's Washington Journal taking questions from viewers from around the nation.

Today, we urgently need your help in order to educate the American people about the importance of achieving victory in Iraq. Please sign up on the VFF website and let us know how you will help to inform your friends and neighbors about the phenomenal progress in Iraq and the need for victory on every front of the Global War on Terrorism!

Sign Up Today:
Let America Know We Want Our Troops to Win

With Confidence,

Joel Arends
Executive Director
Vets for Freedom

Ramblings on break, laziness, heartbreak, nature, and love

So I sit here on summer break, feeling the crunch of what I call freedom anxiety, stuck in that time zone between "YAY, freedom!" and "hurry up and be a grown up while the kids are with their dad for 5 weeks and I don't have to work!"

So far, I've painted and distressed some of my used awful tables I've collected around the house, and I have to say I kinda like em! Antique white paint, lots of sanding, and waaay better character than the shiny wood stain that dated them in an ugly way. I'm the sort of dreamer who has ideas but rarely acts on them--this was a breakthrough for me, as I found discount materials at Big Lots and just went for it! Since I didn't have much invested, there wasn't much risk, and it doesn't matter if no one else likes them!

There's so much more to do around the house--cleaning out the kids' rooms while they can't complain...going through moving boxes that have been lugged around the country for years now and never opened...tagging items for a big garage sale, reorganizing the garage, working in the yard (though I must say, I'm quite happy with my front yard so far--LOVE the finches gathering on the thistle socks just outside my window!)...yet I can't find the motivation or the energy to complete much of it. I have no valid excuse, really.

I've started running daily again and am thinking of going twice a day. This week, I'm not sleeping or eating much, due to a minor broken heart. Well, why not--it's been 6 months since the last one, so I'm due. This was different, though. This was good from the beginning. Maybe too good.

Having checked out the 5 love languages in a book store once and having taken the quick, online test to see (however accurately) what my love languages are, I must say they're pretty spot on. There aren't a lot of questions on the quiz, but the results were surprisingly close to what I figured already.

My scores:

10 Words of Affirmation

8 Quality Time

6 Physical Touch

4 Acts of Service

2 Receiving of Gifts

This makes a lot of sense to me--I certainly do need communication and attention to feel appreciated, wanted and needed. So in order to figure out how to make a match feel appreciated, wanted and needed, it is helpful to see what his love languages are, too. I don't think we have to have the same scores, but we do have to recognize the differences and similarities and figure out how to balance what we want with what our partner wants.

Okay, so having figured this all out, it sounds pretty easy, right? But it only works if both parties are willing to participate. If he feels cornered, overwhelmed, over-needed by her need for communication, and she feels neglected because he needs more space than she does, it creates tension. Similarly, if she withholds affection or lives far enough away to make it difficult to give him the physical touch he equates with caring, resentment may build.

But when this resentment presents itself, it does help to recognize that even if she isn't physically there enough for him, she shows him she loves him with her natural love language--writing him long emails or setting aside special moments to spend with him. When he is lax in affirming her with words and gets too busy to spend time with her, he may still show her love with his natural love language--touching often when they are together and giving her personalized or thoughtful gifts.

But what if the guy or gal in your life isn't willing to notice these differences as blessings, rather than shortcomings? What if they, instead, chalk it up as your being too much work, too needy?

Siggghh....this is why I sit here, staring at the piles of garage sale items stacked around the house, early run finished, but stomach aching, unable to eat or sleep. If there is anything I enjoy about heartbreak, it's the inevitable weight loss...but it's a shallow, hollow attribute.

Forgiveness is a very big concept in the bible--the most important, arguably. Where would we be if we all threw away every friendship, relationship, family member, colleague at the first small slight against us? Without forgiveness we are no better than animals. Unless we measure carefully what really happened, based on the true heart and intent of the accused, recognizing ourselves as just as capable of committing a similar or worse offense, we deny not only Christ His obedience, and the offender her mercy, but also ourselves the forgiveness we will inevitably desire later.

I can see my flags flying in my garden, patriotic red, white, and blue in the breeze. Huge coneflowers, bee balm, butterfly bush, and a smattering of perennials and annuals grow bright, stretching towards the light, basking in the warmth, bees strafing, finches dining but aware of the cat under the feeder...a moment I wish I could share with the one that, I'm afraid, can't (or won't) fully appreciate the beauty of nature--raw, imperfect, and fallible.

DATE A LIBERAL? NO WAY!

Course, as Dad reminds me when I wax melancholy or doubtful about a potential partner, there's just nobody more right than I, so my choices are pretty much to go more liberal or remain alone. So really, liberal to me can still be standing pretty much in the conservative arena, though I dream of meeting someone who agrees wholeheartedly with me...INTERVIEW WITH CONSERVATIVE FEMALE BLOGGERS (hmmph, nobody interviewed me!)

HE COULD DECIDE THAT IF HE IS DOING SOMETHING ONLINE HE DOESN'T WANT MOM AND DAD TO SEE, HE'D BETTER STOP DOING IT...

He could accept it. He could ignore it. He could accept it, but limit the parts of his Facebook profile his dad could see. He pondered more. What were the social implications of "friending" your folks?

The Great Divide, Politically Speaking

by Burt Prelutsky

After pondering the chasm that exists between liberals and conservatives, I’ve concluded that the differences must be determined by something as basic as their DNA. Just as some people are born left-handed, others, unfortunately, are born left-wingers.

Liberals, as proof that they’re the most intelligent people on the face of the earth, will often point to the fact that most liberal arts professors are leftists. The problem is that while there are undeniably very brainy men and women on university campuses, they are usually found teaching science, engineering, and mathematics, not history, English, and sociology. Being tenured in the liberal arts building is hardly an indication of brilliance. It merely suggests that one had an abnormal tolerance for being lectured to as a young man and an overwhelming urge to lecture others as an old man.

Liberals also suffer from the delusion that a modicum of talent trumps kindness, honesty, and decency. One merely has to note the amount of respect that those on the left had for Hitler’s favorite moviemaker, Leni Riefenstahl, who produced the Nazi propaganda films Olympiad and Triumph of the Will.

Or consider the fact that Norman Mailer and several other members of the

New   York

literati used every bit of their considerable influence to spring Jack Henry Abbott, who was in jail for forgery and for killing a fellow inmate, for no better reason than that they’d thought his prison memoir, In the Belly of the Beast, was so marvelous. Six weeks after his release, Abbott stabbed 22-year-old Richard Adan to death in

New   York City

. I doubt if anyone is too surprised that the older son of

Hollywood

lefties Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon was named Jack Henry Robbins in his honor. But even I was taken aback when I learned that young Robbins was born eight years after Abbott killed Mr. Adan.

In a more recent case, Jack Unterweger was a serial killer who left behind a pile of corpses in

Austria

and

America

. He, too, was a writer who was granted a pardon because left-wing Austrian intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner and Stalin sympathizer Elfriede Jelinek, were so impressed by his prose style. Interestingly enough, Jelinek, a fervent feminist, was even willing to overlook the fact that Unterweger’s victims were all women.

Yet another sign of the left’s inability to think straight is their refusal to accept the importance of designating English as our official language. Instead of pushing to have Hispanic kids immersed in English, at the behest of the teachers unions they promote bilingual education. What’s more, they refuse to acknowledge that the present system hogties and frustrates young Hispanics, and helps explain why record numbers drop out of high school as soon as the law allows.

It’s not just the teachers, with bonuses and promotions to consider, who are to blame. We also have congressmen such as Charles Gonzalez of Texas and Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, a couple of race hucksters who could give Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton a run for their money, claiming that the Salvation Army is a racist organization for insisting that their employees speak only English on the job.

Isn’t it odd that Europeans who have no intention of moving to

America

feel it’s beneficial to learn English, but millions of Latinos living here in the

United States

don’t? A recent poll disclosed that seventy-five percent of Hispanic immigrant parents have no command of English. That’s pathetic.

One might argue that in the case of most illegal immigrants, they were already adults when they decided to sneak across the border. But how is it that the major leagues are filled with Latinos whose one ambition since the age of eight or nine was to play baseball in this country, but they never even bothered learning how to say curve ball, slider, or free agent, in English?

As you have surely noticed, it’s always the conservative politicians who support the idea of making English our official language, never the liberals. Frankly, I don’t think too many of us on the right were terribly surprised that when a Gallop poll recently asked people about the state of their mental health, 58% of Republicans said it was excellent, but just 43% of independents and only a scant 38% of Democrats.

Finally, I am getting awfully tired of Hillary’s trying to play it both ways. When she’s out there on the stump, surrounded by her fawning sycophants, she wants us to picture her staring down Islamic terrorists and Republican senators, but as soon as a political opponent utters a discouraging word, we’ve got her husband crying “Foul” and throwing a flag on the play, and we’ve got her pretending to be a tender young damsel being bullied by those big mean men.

So far as I’m concerned, the biggest surprise of this political season hasn’t been John McCain’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes, but the fact that in spite of the pummeling Senator Clinton has received at the hands of Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Ted Kennedy, she hasn’t once attributed it to a vast left-wing conspiracy.

Television writer Burt Prelutsky is the author of Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco (101 Reasons Why I’m Happy I Left the Left).

YOUTH BASKETBALL, ANGRY MEN, THE GOOD OL' BOYS CLUB, AND ABSENCE OF PERSONAL CENSORSHIP

Previously, I opined about apparent sexism (at the very least, immaturity and rudeness)--within my daughter's youth basketball league, for which I coach. 

Since I posted that little rant, we've played several games with great refs. I don't know if things improved because I sent a very long email to the basketball league board, or because the rude refs refuse to work my games now (could I be so lucky?), or maybe it's just luck of the draw. At any rate, things have been better.

Still, our last game was against the same team we were playing when the rude ref incident occurred, and the other team's coach took over the rude roll.

Listen, I am well aware this could be a problem with me. I've done my best to self-analyze, be as objective as possible, check my emotions and try to see things as an outsider just watching the game. Imperfect and emotional as I can be, the truth is more important than just my side of things (though it would sure be nice to have an assistant coach who happened to be there all the time so we could compare mental notes--even better if it was a guy who was truly on my side). But I can't shake the definite impression I get of discrimination.

We lost 19-32, which was at least a higher score than our previous 11-28. We ran them tired and even were the first to score. My girls have improved so much, and I'm so proud--and my own daughter was a sparkplug out there, with many steals, drives, and wicked defense. We just have such a wide range of skill levels on our team, it's difficult to bring them all together (our lowest have a long way to go, and games can't (or shouldn't) be won on the backs of 1 or 2 players), especially when I'm bound by mandatory substitution rules. With all ten of my girls healthy now, I have to keep teams of 5 intact, which hurts us when I've got a couple who refuse to challenge anyone driving the baseline. Nevertheless, we've improved leaps and bounds and I think they're having fun.

This last game was against the top team in our bracket. They've won all but one game. It would be a fun challenge to play them if they acted like gracious, kind competitors. However, led by their rude coach, the girls are obnoxious and unkind. They had only 6 girls playing, and I hoped to run them tired with my quick 2nd 5.

Our rules stipulate that if there are only 6 players, the coach must sit each girl for 1 complete 6 minute play period. This coach kept the starting 5 in until one girl fouled at with 14 minutes left in the 2nd half. Granted, I wasn't really paying attention until I realized their top scorer (Gargantua) hadn't been out the entire game and, forgetting they had one foul out, asked the coach if he planned to ever sub Gargantua. He YELLED at me that he HAS NO ONE TO SUB! A calm reply would have sufficed. Earlier this coach had yelled, stomped around, argued with the refs about a foul called on Gargantua for swinging her elbows without a pivot, which is an obvious foul, but he not only disagreed, he argued in the ref's face as the ref calmly explained and had a conversation with him. Had it been me yelling and arguing, I guarantee I would never have gotten a calm explanation and certainly would not have been treated as a buddy.

During the game, I asked the refs to watch the 3-seconds in the key (Gargantua parked herself there and never left), and called a timeout 3 times while we had possession of the ball, only to lose possession and have the ref tell me we had to have possession. If my voice is so irritating, why do they only hear it when they want to? Other than that, the refs were fine until the last 2 minutes of the game.

When we hit the last 12 minutes--free substitutions at my will--we began to play good ball. My little girls--the quick ones--shut down Gargantua and began to gain on them. We had been behind 15 pts, forcing them to quit the full court press, per the rules, but during the last 2 minutes, the score was 19-32, which, by my calculation, is a 13 pt spread, enabling clock stoppage. Unfortunately, the parent running the clock was with the other team. To give him credit, he did agree we were within 15 and began to stop the clock but the ref told him to keep it going, ignoring the rules once again.

Here's the thing: I don't make personal comments about girls on the other team or about their parents or their coach. Basketball is a game for the kids, not a time for personal attacks. When I speak up, it has to do with enforcing rules, keeping play fair and safe, and asking questions. When this other coach speaks, he's derogatory, rude, and makes personal attacks. Some examples:

1) When I asked him about subbing his girls out and he YELLED at me he didn't have anyone, I shrugged and smiled kinda goofy. He said, "OMG, you are so weird, all you do is yell at the refs, no wonder your team never wins!" I may be weird, I don't know. But I was not yelling at the refs--I have NEVER yelled at the refs, other than trying to get them to hear me call time out, and the personal attacks were completely insupportable in any case, especially aimed at my girls.

2) When I was trying to get the 2 minute clock stoppage rule enforced, this coach said the same thing he said last time--"It won't make any difference, you won't be able to do anything anyway."

His girls picked up on his attitude and were dancing around, joking loudly about "Oh, no, what shall we do" in reaction to our short scoring streak. When their guard fouled out, the girl who was told to take over at point loudly exclaimed, in a fit of laughter, "Oh, no, I don't know if I can handle it!"

I know youth sports have always been havens for rude coaches and poor refs. I'm not so thin-skinned I can't deal with these pathetic moments. But I have had it with officials who should be monitoring the pace of the game, and enforcing rules, just dismissing them at will. I'm tired of the buddy wink wink nudge nudge good ol' boys referee club in the face of an angry male coach that turns into an immediate peacock feather display of bravado and assumed power when I say anything to the referees.

I've dealt with this same evil, resulting from the military's blind eye towards spousal and child abuse: even with hospital documents, including pictures of my bruises, with an investigation that revealed his endangerment of our baby, when he would leave the house, cut me off the bank account so I couldn't pay the bills and our house lights and water were turned off, I was told there was nothing the Army could do, and I'd better not go to the civilian police, because if he was found guilty of abuse, he'd lose his job b/c he would not be able to carry a firearm, thereby ending his ability to pay child support. I was young and dumb and I listened at the time.

I've dealt with this same evil within the divorce courts of the deep South, replete with obese, snoring bailiffs. The judge said he didn't like divorce cases, took 2 years to take ours (he filed, not I) and told my attorney he wouldn't listen to him, as he was angry at him for something else. My abusive husband was basically rewarded for his evil, although I've come to truly understand that the only thing worth having is my kids and I got them--though he tried a custody suit 2 years ago until I faxed a 28 page explanation as to why he should not have custody. His attorney quit on him. Small victory. I still don't get fair child support.

Is this the same thing happening on the 7th grade basketball court?  Well, I know it's not the same thing, but it's the same evil that grips these rude, obnoxious men who make personal attacks. And really, it crosses gender boundaries these days, too. If you've ever read comments left on high profile political blogs or newspaper websites, or even Craigslist.com, you know people have no comprehension of personal censorship. I used to post a lot in a "Christian" singles forums, but eventually realized most people cannot discuss or argue without attacking ad hominem. It's become an accepted practice, especially shielded by internet anonymity.

I've decided I won't coach for this basketball league next year. Of course, knowing myself, I'll probably forget how disgusted I am right now and become excited at coaching my daughter again. I've had parents ask me to coach a tournament team with players I choose. Maybe I will.

CHE IT AIN'T SO

From Little Green Footballs:

Facts: Barack Obama did explicitly refuse to wear a flag pin, and there are not one, but two Cuban flags with Che Guevara on them at Obama’s Houston campaign office.

If I’m “insinuating” anything, it’s this: when you actively pander to and encourage the radical leftist elements of your party, as the Democrats have been determinedly doing for the past eight years, you’re going to end up with embarrassing scenes like this.

And attacking the messenger who points it out is standard political damage control. This has nothing to do with “loyalty oaths” (although Obama will, of course, be forced to take a loyalty oath if he’s sworn in as President), and everything to do with the fact that Obama campaign workers apparently idealize a terrorist mass murderer.

NICE TO SEE THE LIBERAL BASTION, THE OREGONIAN, HAS ITS PRIORITIES IN ORDER.

It's President's Day, and you know what that means: free downtown parking, no mail and school's out.

MySpace.com agrees to combat sexual predators

MySpace.com has agreed with more than 45 states, including Oregon, to add extensive measures to combat sexual predators. 

An official familiar with the multistate agreement said MySpace, the huge online social networking Web site, has agreed to include several online protections and participate in a working group to develop age-verification and other technologies.

The official said MySpace will also accept independent monitoring and changes to the structure of its site. "We don't like to single out Myspace because they are one of many chat rooms where this problem occurs," said Stephanie Soden, a spokesman for Oregon attorney general, Hardy Myers. "But being able to work with them on this is very important."

The agreement is scheduled to be announced today in Manhattan by attorneys general from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

WHAT LIBERALS FIND FUNNY FROM MICHELLE MALKIN

1) Comparing the cancellation of the self-indulgent Golden Globes ceremony to the fall of Saigon.

2) The death of Ann Coulter’s father (via Darleen Click).

DISGUSTING PIGS. DISGUSTING PIGS. ce

ILLNESS, INTERNET, AND GRADING WOES

Why is it that my DSL internet signal shows all bars green with connection strong, yet my laptop cannot find any browser on any site? This happens every once in a while, and it is so frustrating that I find myself near to hyperventilating in frustration! In the past, I called Qwest and was laughed at by the snotty phone operator when my computer suddenly connected in the middle of my pathetic explanation of why yes, I had full signal but no browser. Don't want to go through that again. Also, I've been able to unplug my modem, restart my computer, and within an hour or so the problem somehow resolves. That is not the case today.

I'm feeling blecho with swollen glands making my neck feel like it's about to burst, and my sinuses are stuffy and I'm flat out miserable and irritable. Add to that my stupid computer issues and I'm pissed and grumpy.

I went to work to grade and clean up my classroom, hoping to alleviate that stress monster from the back of my mind. So far I've managed to put away class Christmas decorations,  check email and my blog, and begin venting. I will find many things to occupy my time before grading. I don't know why it's so hard to get started. As soon as I do, it doesn't take all that long, but it's the passive aggressive lazy kid in me who procrastinates until the stress monster is on the verge of devouring.

I feel icky.

Anyway, if anyone has a magical way of fixing my internet dilemma at my house, please let me know. Of course, I may not read it until next year, when I'm back in the classroom, but we can pray. And the really bad thing is that I realize how completely hooked on the stupid box I am--no internet for a day? OH NO! I get so outrageously evil at the concept it's downright scary!

Did I mention I don't feel good?

I drank hot organic tomato bisque for lunch, which almost counteracted the twangy affect of a pot of mediocre Folgers, but all I really want to do is crawl back under my four comforters (one is fake goose down and sooo warm), sip more soup, and pretend I have a concerned loving hawt boyfriend to nurse me back to health. Okay, the last one is silly, but I'm nearly hallucinating with yuckiness, so indulge me. At least the true love of my life is waiting for me to return, and he unconditionally bestows kisses on me, even when I have morning breath. He sleeps under my covers and cuddles all night, too, even when I'm bitchy.

My kids are at their dad's in Atlanta until after New Year's. I miss them, but it's kind of a nice break twice a year, and it's important for them to believe their dad's a nice guy...

 Anyway, I'm off to grade and get all caught up and planned for the last couple weeks of this semester. Here's to the New Year approaching and 2008. Who'da thunk it--we're almost a decade into the 21st century! Time is fleeting. Enjoy!