The NBA, Donald Sterling

In part of the Donald Sterling rant tape, he says the following to his girlfriend:

“I’ve known [Magic] well and he should be admired … I’m just saying that it’s too bad you can’t admire him privately. Admire him, bring him here, feed him, fuck him, but don’t put [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”

Interesting, that above all else that he's concerned about what other people think of his girlfriend's activities, is whining about people calling him to comment. And that he'd rather she schtupp Magic (one of my heroes, personally), who is HIV-positive, than be seen with him in public. What a sad, sorry, pathetic creature this wealthy old man is!

Chicken Soup for the body

I am so sick of being sick! First, recuperation from surgery. Then the fluid buildup in the area around my hernia repair that had to be drained. Now, flu-like symptoms complete with a cough and rapid-fire sneezing (and the gunk that comes up with both of those activities), aches and pains and a sore throat.

I need some real chicken soup. Not the Campbell's variety, nor any other that is prepackaged. If my mother-in-law was still around, she'd make me up some with matzoh balls and a few waterlogged pieces of carrot, onion and celery.

Open Letter to Tammy Etheridge

You go girl! You have thousands of supporters that you might not even be aware of but they're here. Your blog got me through a tough winter in 2007 and I have continued to come back and read it as often as a new post appears, and I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that gave me an opportunity to get acquainted with you.

My mind keeps going back to the story Melissa told so often on talk shows and in interviews, about how she came home from chemo one day to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a card that simply read "In sickness and in health..." It seems like she wanted someone to love her regardless, but withheld the promised reciprocal unconditional love.

I'm very disappointed in Melissa, I must say. After what Julie put her through, for her to put you through the same pain is inexcusable.

Climb back onto your life, sweetie, and strap in for the ride. You have two beautiful children, you are a lovely woman and you still have an impressive career in front of you that I can't wait to watch unfold.

Musical erotica

I blame Melissa Ferrick and her scandalously evocative "Drive".

I discovered this track quite by accident while reading an article about Lesbian guitar goddesses and, based on the number of comments to the article posted specifically mentioning "Drive" I promptly trotted over to YouTube to see if I could find it. Hoo, mama, did I find it! And I promptly became obsessed with it because it so reminded me of my disreputable past. Meaning it made me squirm and my eyes went all out of focus, taking me back to my distant youth.

So since then I've been listening to the voices that turn me on, for whatever reason. I can't say I've definitely broken it down into its component parts, but I think it may be a combination of lyrics, inflection and the singer's actual voice. But here are some of the pieces that have been heating up my iPod for the last couple of months:

"Down By the River" - Indigo Girls
"I Want You" - Melissa Etheridge
"Satisfy" - Meshell N'degeocello
"She's Got to Be" - Amy Ray
"Slow Like Honey" - Fiona Apple
"Caramel" - Suzanne Vega
"Oh My God" - P!nk
"Dance Along the Edge" - Concrete Blonde
"Love and Affection" - Joan Armatrading
"Don't Know How" - Joss Stone
"The Different" - Melissa Etheridge
"Mystery" - Indigo Girls
"Feelin' Love" - Paula Cole
"Temptation" - Diana Krall
"The Raven" - Lisa Marie Presley

...you get the idea.

Scary (and not in a pleasant, Halloween way)!

It's been a long time since I posted, and it's too bad it took a terrorist like Ann Coulter to prompt me.

As someone who was raised a Christian, then became a Jew by choice, it really angers and saddens me to see this woman portray herself as a "perfected" Christian. She is as much an epitome of what Jesus taught his followers to be as those who destroyed the World Trade Center were examples of Islam at its most basic: people who are willing to hurt and maim and deface in order to assert that their religion is the right one. In other words, twisted examples of what their religions actually teach.

And to call Christianity the "fast track" and state that Jews have to obey those pesky rules in the Old Testament, while Christians don't, they just have to ask forgiveness, is actually a shortcut, short-sighted, Cliff-notes version of Christianity.

Like Britney Spears, Ann Coulter should just be ignored until her career and influence die a quiet, whimpering death.

Update: Somebody is offering $1,000 for video of Ann Colter being pelted with bagels. Stay tuned...

Local Lingo

We were talking at dinner last night about local speech patterns we have observed since moving to Missouri from California.

I have two major pet peeves in that area. First, and most annoying, is that it seems to be acceptable to use the wrong verb tense when speaking. I hear it every day and it takes a lot of restraint to keep from correcting people. The other is to pronounce the word "him" as "eem". So a sentence that, in simple English, means "I saw him" would be pronounced "I seen eem". It's also common to use the word done when did would be accurate (back to the verb tenses). "I done that yesterday." And nobody seems the least bit self-conscious or even aware of the error.

I know the local schools teach English, my son is enrolled in a local public high school. And people read and watch television and movies, so they presumably have exposure to correct usage.

I can say without a hint of sarcasm that these wide-spread habits baffle me.

Catholics take on road rage, Southern Baptists chicken out on global warming

I found the Vatican's 10 Commandments for Driving just a reiteration of how people should be behaving in the first place, being considerate of one another and not hurting each other. I also think it is both an overstatement of the obvious and a frivolous use of the pontiff's authority. But hey, no harm, no foul - I'm Jewish and he's not the boss of me anyway.

The Southern Baptists, on the other hand, continue to piss me off. It is bad enough to condemn same-sex marriages in a world where love is in such short supply and committed relationships are an asset regardless of their flavor, but now they've taken a cowardly stance on global warming. Or perhaps it's simply towing the Dubya party line, what with conservative, reactionary money pouring into the collection plates and funding everything from religious themed amusement parks to intolerant hate campaigns. I hope that enough Christians will think for themselves when they hear about this poorly-conceived joke to reject the SBC's edicts in this case and remember that among God's earliest instructions to Adam included His appointment of humanity as the stewards of the earth and its resources.

Evil Genius and the Southern Cross

My brother, the EvilGenius, just returned from a trip to New Zealand to visit his KiwiGirl and he turned me on to his super-secret stash of pictures from the trip.

They were all lovely and intriguing, but these two in particular rocked my world:




















Hopefully, he'll post a comment and tell us something about these locations.

Cowardice

I have never been a huge fan of Michelle Rodriguez, but I find this to be a simple act of cowardice. Girlfriend, have the courage of your convictions and/or actions, at the very least. We've all seen the pics, read the interviews and heard the anecdotes - you'll get more respect by either being honest or saying nothing than outright denying your enjoyment of seks with women!