Today, I did another bookcase, and the top bank of cabinets on the frig side. If I go a day without telling you what I cleaned/organized, I expect to hear from ya’ll

Amazon.com refuses to set up a donation button for Katrina as they did for last year’s tsunami. You can bet that will affect my spending decisions. The mayor of NO says at least hundreds, possibly thousands are dead in the city. If you know of an online biz that is donating funds to the relief efforts, I’d sure like to drop some funds their way, along with an email telling them why they have my business.

Too funny This will take you about 30 seconds to read, but you will giggle for the rest of the day.

Nona is going to knit a gorgeous thing.

As for me, I’ve knit a bit on the vest, and will find the pattern for that embellishment and start it directly. I’ve put out the word on the HSY email loop, that I’ll be donating 25% of sales to hurricane relief efforts. If you are looking for hand-dyed wool or hand knit goods, I’m at Holy Sheep!

I had notice this morning that the deadline for packages for Afghanistan has been extended by 10 days. That’s a good thing, since I was looking at the vest last night and thinking NO WAY.

The situation continues to worsen in NO. Why am I compelled to sit down first thing, and fill my head with how bad things are around me?

One bookcase: CHECK

And here is what I am excited about: The ACMoore coupon this week is 50%!!!!!!!! Now, they have Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. My boys love Thomas. I will so be there on Saturday, buying the biggest, baddest Thomas thing they have. And then I will put it away for Christmas. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

My mother will also have a coupon! Bwahahahah Bwahahahah! Bwhahahahaahahahahahahahaha! HA!

fibermom’s excellent explanation of how No Child Left Behind really works. Or doesn’t.

Laundry area: CHECK
Took a wee surf over to CNN:

Katrina There are links to videos on this page that will break your heart. The damage is….surreal. Whole neighborhoods where only roofs protrude.

CNN.com – U.S.: Air strikes kill seven insurgents – Aug 30, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Air strikes have flattened insurgent safe houses used by militants linked to al Qaeda in western Iraq, the U.S. Marines told CNN Tuesday.

The air attacks near the Syrian border killed at least seven militants, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force said.

A top operative called Abu Islam was among the dead, the force said.

The other Jesse

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — Jesse Helms, writing with the same passion that made him the archconservative of the U.S. Senate for 30 years, renews his criticism of abortion in a memoir being published this week, comparing it to both the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I will never be silent about the death of those who cannot speak for themselves,” the former senator wrote in “Here’s Where I Stand,” which is scheduled for release Tuesday.

The North Carolina Republican, known as “Senator No” for his consistent efforts to block what he considered liberal initiatives and unqualified foreign policy appointees, makes clear his views on abortion and other issues have hardly moderated since he left office in 2003.

He repeatedly introduced bills seeking to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion and, in his book he defends his criticized comparisons of abortion and the Holocaust.

“I reject that criticism because this is indeed another kind of holocaust, by another name,” he wrote. “At last count, more than 40 million unborn children have been deliberately, intentionally destroyed. What word adequately defines the scope of such slaughter?”

Helms, 83, writes that when 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, “the American people responded with shock, sadness and a deep and righteous anger — and rightly so.

“Yet let us not forget that every passing day in our country, more than three thousand innocent Americans are killed” through abortion.

The comments on abortion match Helms’ career of speaking bluntly on sensitive issues like school prayer, government funding for the arts and welfare reform.

“I believed then, and I believe now, that people who will not surrender their principles to assure their popularity can get things done,” Helms wrote.

I am so ashamed that I used to be so ashamed of this man. Today I wish there were at least a dozen more like him.

Go Tony, Go!

Speaking before a packed auditorium at Chapman University, Scalia said he was saddened to see the Supreme Court deciding moral issues not addressed in the Constitution, such as abortion, gay rights and the death penalty. He said such questions should be settled by Congress or state legislatures beholden to the people.

“I am questioning the propriety — indeed, the sanity — of having a value-laden decision such as this made for the entire society … by unelected judges,” he said.

Scalia also railed against the principle of the “living Constitution,” saying it has led the Senate to try to appoint so-called politically “moderate” judges instead of focusing on professional credentials and ability.

“Now the Senate is looking for moderate judges, mainstream judges. What in the world is a moderate interpretation of a constitutional text? Halfway between what it says and what we’d like it to say?” he said, to laughter and applause.

We’ll have ravioli tonight in your honor. And to use up the loaf of Italian bread that needed to come out of the freezer

And A “Stupid Headline Award” goes to CNN for this gem–Court papers: Wal-Mart shootings suspect mentally disturbed. Because most folks who kill other people are sane, right?

Time for me to get busy again.

I did not finish the vest last night. In fact, I think I got only 4 rows done on it all day. But I have already done more than that this morning I want this mailed on Sept 1. That means today and tomorrow are all I have. I am ready now to divide the thing, and will be working on it in between cleaning binges.

Yep, it’s true. I have been griping about the house, but only treading water, not making any real progress. So that’s my agenda for today, progress on the house and the vest.

I think the payoff for that will be cataloging the stash. I’d like to take pics and make a page of that for our mutual enjoyment. Then when I want to make something, I can go look at the page, instead of riffling through the yarn. See how lazy I am? Or maybe I won’t do that at all. I am kind of fond of fondling petting the yarn. We’ll see.

Don’t be surprised if I come back and tell you I got nothing done. DD#4 kept me up quite a bit last night, and while she doesn’t seem to be suffering from that, the same cannot be said for me!

Hootsbuddy’s Place: Casting the first stone

Casting the first stone
There is an online video of stoning linked at Pebble Pie. I started to watch it but stopped as soon as bloodstains appeared, so I can’t report what is on the entire link. What I watched was all I needed. The person being stoned to death is bound in sheets, very much like a cocoon, then stood in a hole up to about the waist. The hole is filled in so there can be no escape and the arms remain bound. The stoning is performed by a crowd of people, presumably ordinary people who want to participate, using rocks, the size of which is also governed by Sharia law. Stones cannot be as small as “pebbles” which would have little effect (no play on words, I’m sure, for the blog host) nor large enough to kill the person with one or two blows, which would bring the punishment to an end too quickly.

This video is not just a documentary. It begins with warnings and other information that lean toward editorial comments, such as “Islam, the religion of peace.” These ironic reminders appeared several times in the narrative lest the viewer forget what he is watching

There’s more, and it’s worth a read. I link to Hootsbuddy because of what he had to say. He discusses the death penalty in general, and as I commented there, I am not against teh death penalty per se, but his words give me much to think about. You can click on the link on his site as it does not go directly to the video, but to the blog that has the video. There is a pic on that blog of the woman they are about to stone, and I imagine that will take you to the video, if you really need to watch it.

Now, when 9/11 happened, we had a black and white tv, about 5 inches diagonal. There is something very “old-movie like” watching black and white, yk? It seems unreal, in a world of color. Today, I watched America Attacked 9 1 1. It’s maybe five minutes long, but….I saw for the first time as it were. My stomach roiled, and I cried. It’s just still pictures. But, if you have forgotten, it will remind you what this war is about. Why it’s important. Why Jihadists must be stopped, whatever the cost. And, frankly, for them, cost is not considered. They are terrorists.

I heard that a Palestinian (I disremember which one) once explained why the Palestinians would eventually succeed. It was something like, “we are not afraid to sacrifice our children, and you are”. That’s the mindset of a terrorist. The price is not important, and the goal is not really winning. The goal is spreading terror. Look past the words to the actions, and you can plainly see the truth of that.

Oh, I guess there is some good news today. Scanning CNN to see what Katrina is up to, I saw that a high up Taliban leader had been killed in the fighting in Afghanistan. And, yes, it’s sad that he died. But I wonder how many *more* people he would have killed if he yet lived.

Sigh. It’s a sad Cass today, heavy in thought.

Evidently, this tupperware was not correctly sealed at some point. After I sealed it, they came up to get air. There are lots of them. I’ll toss this out when dh runs the trash tonight.

PS- the kids had pop-tarts fro breakfast. They did not care for the extra protein 😛

Here I sit at 8:20. I am dressed, there is oatmeal thickening on the stove, and I am on my second cup of coffee. I have my chore list pulled up, and have done a couple of items on it. I just decided to do the Holiday Grand Plan to get ready for Christmas.

Van update: Dh replaced the battery, and the thing started up just fine–once. The machine at AutoZone says nothing is wrong with it. Hmmph. He’s already told me he will be working late tonight, so I have no idea when I will have my van back. I won’t drive it until it starts *reliably*.

We got the curtains up, and I like them.

I finished the pants, and they are washed and drying. I’ll knit the embellishment tonight, when I can follow a pattern. It’s a cross-stitch pattern, and I have to pay attention The vest is nearly to the point that I divide for fronts and back. I anticipate getting pretty close to finished with it today.

Let me tell you a funny story of my curtain rod adventure. Here is the set-up. I am a short person, think size of young teen. You cannot tell I am pregnant unless you face me full on. And the joys of pregnancy have made my skin look, well, like a young teen. I can only assume this, based on what happened. So, I am standing in front of the curtain rods, with the first package in my fist, reading the second package to make sure it is the right size, and I hear a man beside me say “I need to get there” in that way that plainly says “you are in my way–so move already”. I glance from the corner of my eye, see no blood dripping on the floor, and say “well, that’s good” or somesuch, and start pulling my selected 4 foot (that’s telescoped, they stretch to 7) rods out of the rack. So the man says, “Here, I’ll help you”, and starts pulling the rods out. I say “thank you” and put my rods in the cart and start to roll away. Whereupon, the man moves *at least a foot* down the rack from where I was so obviously *not in his way* and starts looking at the rods there. Hey, Mister! Why didn’t you go around me instead of……. treating me like some Wal-Mart interloper?

The princess has awakened. Time to warm up the milk machine.

The children are eating, and then we will get on chores and school.

Update: OOPs! The children are not eating. I have been informed that there are bugs in the oatmeal. I’m not quite sure how that happened, since the oats were in tupperware.