Note to Commenter: Stop Drinking the Karl Rove Kool-Aid
by Ana Maria
A recent commenter expressed concern that I have taken a bit of a break recently. How sweet!
Ana maria [sic] - an absence of posts for the past week...could it be that you've been given a glimpse behind the curtain of all your heroes. Or as Scruggs blogosphere mouthpiece could the knight in tarnished armor have asked you to put a sock in it?Not to worry. I have made up for it with today's postings including a letter to Santa that I penned.
See, my first responsibility it to my elderly mother. Family values in action and all that.
We're closing in on completing the renovations to my mother's home which had been substantially damaged during Katrina over two years ago.
Of course, there was Thanksgiving, and I did all the cooking. Boy oh boy was that a delicious mouth-watering feast! However, it paled in comparison to the spread of food I cooked up for the surprise birthday party that I threw for my mom's 85th!! What was particularly delightful is that it all happened right under her nose, and she didn't have a clue until she walked into the living room with wall-to-wall friends who yelled "SURPRISE!" That was a HUGE success.
This week has been crazy with getting the kitchen boxed up for the local family-owned and operated company that is installing a brand new kitchen for my mother. Then, my 94-year old aunt passed away, and I attended the funeral in New Orleans, which is an hour west of here.
In between all of that, well, I have other things that life calls me to do or that I simply want to do. Entertaining and educational though I know my blog is, it being the holidays and with all the family responsibilities that I joyfully carry out, blogging hasn't been my top priority.
However, since I realize that my neo-conservative, right wing, Rush Limbaugh kool-aid drinking readers may be seeking redemption via my blog, perhaps I'll figure out a way to help save you from the abyss of ignorance.
I love that you think that I'm important enough that the esteemed Mr. Scruggs reads my blog. I am aware that some in his firm do, but as for him, I don't know. He's not my target audience, though I'm sure that A.M. in the Morning! has provided a great service assisting more people to become well aware of the great work he, his firm, and many other trial lawyers have conducted on behalf of American families whom the greedy gutted corporate goons have betrayed and abandoned.
As for anyone dictating to me anything that I would follow, that is surely comical for you to even entertain the thought! As my very wonderful--though right wing, kool-aid drinking--boss in the mid-90's told me, no one is my boss. As in EVER. ;) Independent minded. Think for myself. Articulate.
I understand that my very petite self can be rather intimidating intimidates for guys like yourself who can't conceive of a world in which people--especially of the female variety--think for themselves.
Take my advice, darlin', and stop drinking the Karl Rove kool-aid. Drink some Southern sweet tea instead.
Oh, Al Trimble (the commenter), your comical comments do amuse me endlessly.
© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
Return to A.M. in the Morning! Home
5 comments:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people assume that all anyone with a blog does is blog.
Personally, I blog while waiting for the programs I'm writing to compile, or other odd moments of the day that stretches from 8AM EST to 5PM PST because of clients.
I'm also putting up Christmas lights for my mother, taking care of yard, feeding feral cats, laundry, shopping, cooking, etc.
When you didn't post for a while, I assumed you had nothing you wanted to say, or were too busy to post. I work at my computer, so I can find some time, but people who don't sit at a computer, have to make the time.
If Dickie Scruggs is hiring bloggers, well, the man makes good money, so I would expect him to pay well. He makes good money because he takes down bad corporations. If the corporations would start following the rules, Dickie would go out of business, but I don't expect that to happen.
Glad to hear your mother's house is finally getting done. We have people in the same boat from Ivan, the year before Katrina.
Thank you, Bryan, for your kind words. Of course, you were absolutely right that I was busy, and well, when I don't have anything to say, I don't write. Funny thing about my creativity: when its there it flows easily. When it isn't, I go about whatever else in life is taking precedence.
I blog to provide insights to those outside of Katrina Land and share my perspective about life on the ground and on how public policies--already implemented (FEMA) or proposed (multiple peril insurance legislation)--impact every day life. Of course, it is a great way to channel my ever flowing energy in a highly productive political manner.
I had thought of advertising, but decided against it. My blog is a labor of love alone. That and a way to vent in healthy ways the frustration of living in unspeakable conditions with unfathomable obstacles which can easily be remedied.
I hope that A.M. in the Morning! is one vehicle among many through which we remedy these challenges for those Katrina impacted and to protect those whom future Katrina-like natural disasters would be impacted.
Thanks for writing. Comments like yours warm my heart and spur me on.
PS I adore cats!
wait... there's life outside of blogging??
congratulations to your mother on both her 85th birthday and her house repairs! and congratulations to you for pulling off a successful surprise party. that can be tough to do.
like bryan, i live in "ivan country" too, and there are still houses in my area with blue roofs and plywood windows [though we're down to only a few such houses now], so i've been following your stories avidly.
you don't owe any of us any explanations for taking a blogging break, but all the same, i'm glad to hear that it was [mostly] for happy reasons.
Hipparchia,
Thank you so much for your generous words. I know that I owe no one any explanation. I do know, however, that I have folks who actually enjoy what I write and like any "performer" felt moved to acknowledge my absence.
I found it totally ironic that I was actually writing my piece when ol' Al's message showed up. What a hoot!
Mom's b'day party was something to remember. Even in the middle of the pitiful conditions of our collective lives, life goes on. Parents age. Kids are born. Teens get into trouble. Adults still contend with all of the run of the mill work-related matters.
And on top of that sits Katrina's aftermath.
I had been concerned that the kitchen would be in the middle of being torn out and installed. How in the heck was I going to cook the million things with that? Then, I realized, how in the heck would I cook everything without my mom asking questions and figuring it out? The kitchen guys didn't come until this week. And, I did most of the cooking at my brother's. It went off beautifully. All of us are so happy to do life's normal things in a normal way.
I see plenty of homes that are far from recovery. I wonder how many blue roofs will remain blue here. How long has it been since Ivan? I can't recall readily this morning.
I'm also amazed at how cruel and inconsiderate the kool-aid drinking fools are in their remarks about Katrina, about real life in general. That is for them to reap the consequences of the negative pattern of thinking and acting. I choose to focus my attention elsewhere.
Politically, I focus on electing the guys and gals that I want in public office, on passing public policies that improve the lives of our community, our neighborhood, our nation.
And, I have found the enormous wisdom of a saying that I read 10 years ago on the side of a Celestial Seasonings box. It went something like this.
Whatever we focus on expands. Think lack and we get lack. Think abundance and we get abundance.
And so, focusing like a laser beam has proven to be effective in silencing the critics who want most of all to infect our thinking, to fill our minds with doubt to that our confidence dips and with it our creativity and an open mind which are prerequisites to achieving the impossible--or simply achieving the possible.
OK, got to get ready for the day.
Have a laughter filled weekend!
- am
ivan was three years ago, the year before katrina.
knowledgeable people who surveyed the damage shortly after ivan hit estimated that it would take 5 years for this area to recover fully.
the first two years, my neighborhood still looked like a war zone, albeit a war zone that was in the process of being cleaned up. by the end of the 3rd year most of the damaged trees have been removed and most of the irreparably damaged houses have been razed.
many empty lots now, and major repairs still being done to houses here and there, but things are beginning to look picked up and put back together.
even in the best of times, it could easily be another 2 years to rebuild back to where everyone was before the hurricane. but with the added problems from the subprime mortgage mess, who knows now?
i don't know how many left the area entirely [and aren't coming back] because their houses or livelihoods had been destroyed completely, but it wasn't an insignificant number.
i haven't been back to either mississippi or louisiana since katrina, but friends and relatives and blogs like yours have kept me informed of the devastation and rebuilding. more power to y'all!
Post a Comment