Today (second iteration)

I attempted to post earlier, but I managed to lose my post, don't know how. Guess I'll start copying and pasting into notepad or something so if I lost the post, I'll still have it to retry.

I ended up calling in sick today. I don't feel as well as I should, I think the true problem is that I'm somewhat hungover. I don't know why, I didn't drink that much last night. I think the problem was that I didn't eat dinner last night. I had 2 glasses of wine and 3 shots of southern comfort. That shouldn't have been enough to have knocked me for a loop, I guess it has to be the fact that I didn't eat dinner last night.

I'm more surprised that I didn't drink more as I watched the republican national convention last night. I was a little shocked and appalled by what came out of it. Touting Bush as the best man for President is somewhat like touting Saddam Hussein as the best man for president of Iraq. The only difference is Bush does a much better job of keeping his cronies in check when it comes to violating civil rights--and he is the leader of the most powerful armed forces in the world. The speeches last night really had no substance to them. They talked about how great Bush is as a president and all the wonderful things he's done, but they didn't really go into those wonderful things. They used 9/11 as the pulpit from which they preached everything, but it's a misdirected message. Most of the fear and insecurity that they talk about is CAUSED by the Bush administration, not by the terrorists. The terrorists and 9/11 were just what Bush needed to turn back the clock on our civil liberties and start turning us into our own police state. Fear is his tool, and he's using it every chance he gets. Scare the hell out of the people and make them run to you for protection seems to be his modus operandi. There has been nothing really concrete done in the war on terrorism save the invasion of Afghanistan--which we are still mired in and unable to bring to closure. Iraq was NOT, contrary to the Bush administration, an extension of the war on terrorism. It was instead a diversion. There were so many lies and falsehoods and half truths that were told to convince us to go to war--all of them more of the fear machine making us worry about our safety and security on the homefront. I say we've lost most of our safety and security to our very own government. If the conservatives had their way, we'd be living in the 50's again with women staying home, people afraid to speak truthfully about their lives, our pregnant teenage daughters shipped off to an aunt's house, conveniently for 9 months, and our environment polluted and destroyed in the interest of big business, and the average american loses his rights and his opinions and walks the path the government wants him to walk. I don't like that at all.

During the convention last night, an Islam cleric from NYPD got up to give the invocation. Amazingly enough, it wasn't broadcast on network television! If I hadn' t been thumbing through channels and caught it on CSPAN, I never would've known he had done so. That's a statement that should've been broadcast out for everyone to see! That's what the muslims throughout the world need to see, religious tolerance. So much tolerance that a muslim chaplain gave the invocation at the RNC (even though I'm sure it was a staged event). Nevertheless, after lots of trial and error, I'm posting the picture of that gentleman here for you to see. It's fuzzy and grainy (had to take a picture of the screen), but you can see him.

Enjoy the day, I'm off to lunch!