Feline Warrior

I mean, where is the time? My time? My writing time. Beading time. Loafing around time. GONE baby gone, time is gone!The point, really, is that I miss you terribly. I’m so tired, very stressed and wishing for what the locals call “down time.” (Life locals, that is.)

In 10 years, I’m sure I’ll be glad I did this; at some point near the end of my life, I will be karma-cally glad that I did this. But it’s remained tense. I keep thinking, “Acceptance is the answer,” hoping that if I can just adopt acceptance as my mainstay, the annoying behaviors won’t be annoying. But then I get so annoyed that I forget to be accepting. It’s a double whammy. Possibly a catch-22. At the very least, it’s headache inducing.

M. is not in his happy place. The overall mood here is not cheery. Nobody is happy. Well, possibly Frieda is happy because now she has a person listening to her all day long.

Oh, did I mention that I think I might be selfish? Damn me!

Let me insert this lovely image from my garden. Perhaps this will divert your attention from my potentail potential selfishness.

(All about me? Never!)

Anyway… I’m babbling.

So goodnight.

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At last I’ve found it. Actually, it took less than a minute to find. It took a year to remember to look for it. Well, eleven months, anyway.

The quote is Dubya saying: “We didn’t ask for this war.”

From http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/09/mil-060915-afps01.htm:

Bush: Clear Rules Needed for Detainee Operations

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2006 – The pending legislation in Congress about detaining, questioning and trying suspected terrorists will give military intelligence professionals the clarity they need to protect the American people from another terrorist attack, President Bush said here today.

“We’ll work with Congress to get good bills out because we have aduty. We have a duty to work together to give our folks on the frontline the tools necessary to protect America,” Bush said at a news conference at the White House.

The first bill pending would allow the U.S. to use military commissions to try suspected terrorists for war crimes and would clarify the rules on the detention and questioning of such suspects,
Bush said. This bill is vital because it will allow the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation program to move forward, he said.

The CIA’s program has yielded a lot of valuable information sincethe war on terror began and has helped disrupt numerous terroristplots, including attacks on the U.S. Marine base in eastern Africa, the American consulate in Pakistan, and Britain’s Heathrow Airport, Bush said.

“This program has been one of the most vital tools in our efforts to protect this country,” he said. “It’s been invaluable to our country, and it’s invaluable to our allies. Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.”

There is debate about the specific provisions in this bill, Bushacknowledged, but the most important aspect of it will be to allow theinterrogation program to continue.

The second bill pending will modernize U.S. electronic surveillance laws and provide additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program, Bush said. The surveillance program has allowed the government to quickly monitor terrorist communications and has helped detect and prevent terrorist attacks, he said.

Both the pending bills are essential to U.S. victory in the war on terror, and the administration is committed to working with Congress toensure military professionals have clarity enough to do their jobs, Bush said.

“It’s a dangerous world,” he said. “I wish it wasn’t that way. I wish I could tell the American people, ‘Don’t worry about it. They’re not coming again.’ But they are coming again. And that’s why I’ve sent this legislation up to Congress, and that’s why we’ll continue to work with allies in building a vast coalition to protect not only ourselves, but them.”

The goal of both pieces of legislation is to clarify U.S. laws andset high standards for the treatment of detainees, Bush said. TheSupreme Court’s ruling that detention operations must be conducted under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention is vague, and opensU.S. military and intelligence professionals up to the possibility ofviolating the law without knowing it, he said.

“These are decent, honorable citizens who are on the front line of protecting the American people, and they expect our government to give them clarity about what is right and what is wrong in the law, and that’s what we have asked to do,” he said.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists havecontinued to strike around the world and have demonstrated theircommitment to spreading their ideology of hatred, Bush said. The U.S.needs to take the terrorists’ words and actions seriously, and do whatis needed to protect the country from another attack, he said. 

“My job and the job of people here in Washington, D.C., is to protect this country. We didn’t ask for this war,” he said. “This enemy has struck us, and they want to strike us again. And we’ll give our folks the tools necessary to protect the country. That’s our job.”

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Tags: Dubya, Bush, war

Explain to me how a person can simultaneously hate & make fun of fat-free and low-fat foods and yet eat just about all of the fat-free / low-fat “treats” in the house? Oh, leaving just one in a box, yes. Not all, most.

And the waste… leftovers becoming science projects.

And then $4 cartons of fat-free (what?! fat-free?!) calcium-enriched lactaid “milk.”

One a week.

Have I mentioned that in just a few weeks I think about 5 bottles of wine have been purchased? Yes. Only one person is consuming that wine and it ain’t me.

Lord help me.

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Would that not make an excellent country song title? Hmm?

Due to several concerned messages received via email, I am writing to let you know that all is well. Or, no crimes have yet been committed. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as you well know, so I figure a murderous rage won’t develop in just ten and a half days. (Note to any law enforcement types passing through: These are the words of a drama queen and no actual harm is intended by them; in fact, there will not truly be a rage at all - murderous or otherwise.)

So really, it’s going okay. Am I going nuts? Yes. Do I long for the days when I could come home from work and relax in silence, a silence broken only by the cheery mews of my kitties? Of course I do. Am I embarrassed as can be when she rams the little shopping go-cart into displays at Target? Absolutely. Am I tired of hearing all manner of judgment about everyone else in the universe? Certainly.

But then I get the contrast coming in the form of a weepish mom who expresses a combination of gratitude and shame for being in this position in the first place. Balance, yin-yang, and so on. How bad is my life really? Not bad at all.

I have to believe that I will come out of this stronger, a better person. Or perhaps I will be completely batty and won’t know -or care- if I’m better or stronger. Either way, I do know that I’m (we’re) doing the right thing. M. is doing quite well - better than I expected, actually. Although to be honest, he was away on business last week and is again this week. And he golfed on both Saturday and Sunday - the two days he was in town. So he’s had a bit of a break. But again, it’s not his mom. (But if it was, I have a bright, shiny nickel says he’d still have had a bit of a break!)

Off the mom-topic briefly (and lastly, before I collapse in a soft heap in my bed): I mentioned that I have some unwanted stuff in my body. That would be a sizable (but not grossly enormous) fibroid in my uterus, several on an ovary and one or more small ones somewhere else. (I’m tired, forgive me for both forgetting my entire diagnosis and being too lazy to reach my arm slightly to grab the doc’s report.)

I see a new doctor in several weeks to discuss what to do. My doc says the uterine fibroid must go - and I heartily agree. I’ve had a ton of pain and other symptoms (that fall into the discomfort / yucky zone) and would like it to stop. I’m even toying with the idea of a hysterectomy. Yes, yes, perhaps too young. But I think I also mentioned that my labs indicated I’m in early menopause, so what would the harm be, really?

Kids, you ask? I can always take one of Madonna’s cast-offs if necessary. But cats will do. And I’m married, remember - there is often a fine line between husband and child. (Don’t you tell him I said that, Richard!)

So I take my fibroid and cyst-filled body to bed. Because I am weary and bleary, but not truly so woeful. Not woeful at all.

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