What Ahnold Thinks About At Night (or "I need more iced tea to handle this one")

Paul at Shakespeare's Sister posted this earlier, about Ahnold vetoing the same-sex marriage bill that came to him from the legislature. It wasn't the first time I heard of it, but the first to come with a web address. And the first time I had available to comment on it.

I found it interesting that he says it's up to the courts or the voters. Cause when the voters say "pass the fucking bill," then it's up to the courts or the leg. When the courts speak in favor, suddenly they're "activist" AND it's best left to the voters and the lege. And now the lege passes a bill that is best left to the courts or voters.

Can we have a 4th option? This circularity is making my Texas ass dizzy.

texasshiva | Homepage | 09.30.05 - 12:35 pm | #

That, in a nutshell, is how I feel about it. Is the goal, as Shakes says, to "just boggle us until our minds are spinning so rapidly that we can't function anymore?" Or is this just taking advantage of the "distractions" that Katrina and Rita and those pesky wildfires created, as Paul postulated?

I don't care. What I know is that we're given the rules. I know that rules change, but at some point, the rules have to stick. Probably about the time Ahnold leaves office.

If I was a judge, or a legislator, I'd be pissed. But I'm only a voter. So I don't count.

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Just for you, my recipe for iced tea.

Shiva's Iced Tea

Ingredients

• Small pot (around 5 inches in diameter)
  
• Water
  
• Two (2) Luzianne family size tea bags
  
• An entire sugar plantation
  
• Large slotted spoon
  
• Large unslotted spoon
  
• All the ice your icemaker can handle
  
• Some sort of pitcher. (I use my grandmother's old green Fiesta pitcher, and I think it's about quart-size 1/2-gallon sized)

Procedure

1. Fill pot 3/4 full (or 1/4 empty, if you're a pessimist) with water.
   
2. Set stove on high (gas heat is best for this).
   
3. Bring water to a boil.
   
4. Reduce heat to medium.
   
5. Add the tea bags to the water.
   
6. Let teabags steep for 5 minutes.
   
7. While tea is steeping, fill pitcher with ice. I DO mean FILL.
   
8. Scoop tea bags in slotted spoon.
   
9. Squeeze tea bags against the slotted spoon with back of the unslotted spoon to get out all the good stuff.
   
10. Add sugar to the tea. I add about 1/5 of a 4lb bag of sugar. My dentist LOVES me.
    
11. Stir sugar into tea.
    
12. Pour tea into ice-filled pitcher. Be careful because, if you're like me, burns will ensue.
    
13. Add more ice to fill pitcher if necessary.

Now grab a glass and some ice and enjoy.

Links to Links

Over at =LNews=, we have a story about Connecticut preparing for civil unions. Seems the big problem isn't so much the unions themselves, but the fact that rule differences at the state and federal level aren't aligned. Cue Gomer.

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At AMERICAblog, John points out that, in order to save the US from the oil and gas shortages that follow natural disasters, the GOP has decided to strip environmental law down to their tidy whities. My favorite quote, which makes sense if you don't understand what's causing much of the problem in the first place:

The resources panel, led by Richard Pombo of California, wants to lift a ban on Florida offshore drilling, promote oil shale and sell a dozen national parks for energy development.

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Pam over at her House Blend talks about how Tony Blair's thugs tossed out an 82-year-old from the party conference. Apparently yelling "nonsense" when a leader tries to defend a country's role in Iraw is a booting offense in England. They could learn from Dubya and simply not allow naysayers to attend in the first place...

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Lastly, for today anyway, Harper, who is quite prolific on The Dyke Squad, discusses what democracy sounds like.

Help a Sister

Not for me, thank god and for right now. But Shakespeare's Sister has just run into the hell that is the Bush Economy. Chicagoans...anyone, please help. Maybe the Trib?

If you read her site and are a fan, consider helping her and Mr. Shakes out. She's put up PayPal and Amazon at the above link. The world is too small and in too big a mess to not have her around, and this would be a good way to show some appreciation.