. . . many of you have asked, "where do we go from here?" First of all, whenever a national party loses a presidential election, everyone reports how that party is destroyed and will never recover. They have said that about both the Democrats and the Republicans. But time goes on and history is cyclical. But only if we all work hard.

We do not need to abandon our core values and principles in the hopes that some right wing evangelical will support us. It will never happen. Fifty-one percent of the red states also had forty-eight percent blue within them! We need to concentrate on increasing that forty-eight percent by reaching out with voter education and registration programs and get-out-the-vote programs that are effective. We did that in California, and it can and must be done nationally.

Moving to the right will not "save us," it will destroy our integrity and what we stand for. During my twenty years in the Legislature, my constituents valued my integrity more than if they agreed with me on the issues. They valued my principles, whether they agreed with me or disagreed with me. We cannot be fearful of our own truths nor our values. If we believe we are right on the issues, then it is up to all of us to educate those around us as to why that path is better in the long term, rather than pandering to the prevailing winds. . .

Rock on!

**

Also from the California Dems:

Promises, Promises...
California Democratic Party

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. Yet just one year into his term, many of those promises are being broken with no regard to the consequences. On everything from the budget to health care, Schwarzenegger is kowtowing to the special interests that he promised to fight. Even in his promises to open up state government to public scrutiny, Schwarzenegger has backtracked, instead developing a government reorganization plan in secret and hiding his own campaign financing practices. Nonetheless, Schwarzenegger seems more concerned with high profile media appearances than living up to his word. As LA Times columnist Steve Lopez noted, "If I had failed to deliver on virtually all my major campaign promises, I'd go on Larry King as often as possible."

*

You should hit the link to that Arnold article, so you can see other news about what a �great� job our Governor is doing.

Which brings me to the issue now being discussed, about whether or not we should alter our Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to run for President. Here are my thoughts:

I think it�s a fine idea, really. I understand that during the time when our country was being built, the question of which country one was loyal to was probably a much bigger issue, and there were a lot of people living on this land who remained loyal to England and therefore could not be trusted to lead our country.

That was a long time ago.

This country was built on the backs of immigrants. I�d also hazard to say that most foreign-born citizens are probably a lot more patriotic and loyal to the U.S. than are people born here. They know how good we have it here, by comparison. We who are born here are too spoiled to realize that, much, and tend to take our rights and freedoms for granted.

All of that said�I certainly don�t think the laws should be changed just so that the GOP can nominate freakin� Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Why do so many people love him, anyway? He hasn�t even been Governor for a year and in that time, what in the world has he done to make him so wonderful? I mean�frankly, I don�t think he�s doing as bad a job as I had feared, but he�s still not exactly doing a bang-up job or anything. He�s just�Meh. He�s certainly no better than his predecessor, over-all.

The only allure is that he�s a movie star and has personality. Well, all of that is lovely and all, but what the fuck does it have to do with whether or not you are a good leader?

People are so fucking ignorant.

Sorry. I�m in a bit of a foul mood today...um...well, OK, I have been since 9/11/01.

But that doesn�t mean I�m not right.

So anyway, I have no time to write. Our Cash App. gal, Alanna, had yesterday off as a vacation day. Today, she called in sick. To make matters ten times worse, her back-up (Christina) also called in sick, both days. So guess who's ignoring the pile of other stuff on her desk, in order to take two days off from doing the two jobs she�s already doing and post fucking cash for two days?

I am slowly going insane, people. As is The Little Big Man. At about 4:45pm yesterday, we were in his office laughing in a fairly hysterical manner and wishing he had a bottle of Scotch in his drawer.

I so hope we hire some people soon. At least one. Please - ONE person. That's all I ask...well, for right now, that's all I ask.

So since I really have to go now (and shouldn�t even have taken the time to write this stuff), I leave you with an email eavesdrop. I know I have been abusing the ol� eavesdrops and copies of articles (rather than real journal entries) lately, but hey � I seriously have no time. If I already took the time to write an email to my sister, the wonderful Barbara, I really shouldn�t take the time to write out the same stuff again. And frankly, I don�t even have the energy anyway. But I do have some things I want to discuss when I DO find the time. Such as:

1. Laguna Beach - the finale and the new season
2. That Runway show on Bravo
3. The sad state of my wallet
4. Possible new leader of the DNC (anyone will be better than stinkin� Terry McAuliffe�and now that I�ve said that, maybe I need say no more. Except to say that I�m not sure I want Howard Dean to be the new head. I mean, I think it would be great on one hand, because he is closer to what I think the Democratic Party should be and once was, but on the other I want him to run for president again in 2008)
5. D and her �I am going to die alone� attitude, which is driving me a tad batty
6. The fact that I need more patience when dealing with D and her �I am going to die alone� attitude which is driving me a tad batty
7. TAPS and their t.v. show
8. My new outfits

And with that, let me leave you with this Happy Thought: Only two more days until Tom Jones!

Woo!

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 9:02 AM
To: Barbara
Subject: imagine my joy

Good morning!

I did not get to see all of Kevin Spacey (so to speak, *ba-dum-bum*) on 60 Minutes last night, but I did see probably half of it. I just love him. :) I hope Katie got to see it. I should have called her, but I wasn't thinking. He was also going to be on the Today show this morning, singing, but I had to leave before he came on.

So...Our Cash App. gal (who was on vacation yesterday) called in sick today. And so did her back-up, Christina, again. So I get to post freakin cash AGAIN today.

Imagine my joy.

I so need to let off some steam this weekend. And hey - at least I'm getting a facial tonight, too. :) That should help me chill out a bit.

Also adding to my stress level: I was awoken at 2:00am and kept awake until 2:30 by those young people in apartment C who are often the bane of my existence. Two girls in their 20's used to live there and I already knew @ least one of them was very inconsiderate. I had problems with her parking in front of my garage (or telling her friends to) a few times (not in front of HER garage, mind you - mine. The hell?); they had EXTREMELY loud parties pretty much weekly, even though they live on top of a woman in her eighties. Anyway, a few months ago the nicer of the gals moved out and the other one's boyfriend moved in. Well, it's been periodic hell ever since.

First of all, they have an automatic garage door opener on that one garage. It's very loud. Of course, what can I expect? I live right on top of it, ya know? In fact, their garage is right under my bedroom window. I understand that I will be bothered every once in a while, when they are accessing the garage. It's a pain, but it doesn't last that long. Darla told me when I moved that once those people move out of that apartment, they are going to take out the opener, because of the noise.

Anyway, now that she has this guy living with her, I have SEVERAL times been woken up by the sound of them fighting in the middle of the alley. Not only that, when this happens, they tend to open and close the fucking garage door repeatedly, as she keeps threatening to leave. And of course, this always happens in the middle of the night.

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

So last night, at 2am, I wake up to the sound of the garage opening. They were just coming home. Bummer, I think, but whatever. Well, almost immediately, I hear him yelling at her. Apparently, she wanted to leave because they were fighting and he was yelling at her that she was stupid and not to drive because she was wasted. Well, in the process of their lovely fight, which was bad enough, they opened and closed the garage door four freakin' times in half an hour and once even set off her car alarm.

I. WAS. LIVID.

I was this close to yelling out the window at them, but of course by the time I had reached that point, their fight was winding down. Although frankly, it would not surprise me to find out that she slept in the car, in the garage. I know she was going to at one point, because he then came back down and knocked on the door of the garage. Which of course I could hear perfectly.

So I am finally going to talk to someone about it. I am debating whether to go talk to them, personally, or just talk right to Darla. Of course, now I won't get home tonight until probably 9pm, so I don't even know if I can talk to anyone tonight.

Anyway...just wanted to get that off my chest. I need to get to work.

Have a great day!

Regards,

Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 9:41 AM
To: Karen
Subject: Re: imagine my joy

Geez, some people! My new neighbor has gotten alot more considerate. Most of the time that is. He is not home alot, so that's good. When he is home and he is watching his tv, I can hear it. He hasn't blasted it again though. Thank goodness. He certainly is no where near as quite as our neighbors have been for the last 5 years but he seems to be willing to compromise. I hate to ask people to give something up, I mean it is a free country but some people are just too stupid and inconsiderate. We weren't brought up that way.

I won't be here tomorrow cuz of June so I'll talk to you next week. Try not to work too hard and have a great weekend. Have alot of fun at your party and Friday's walk but be careful blowing off steam! By the way, I'm sure my foot couldn't take the walk, especially in the cold. :( I'm gonna start soaking it in Epsom salts and my new foot bath.

Love ya,
b

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 10:00 AM
To: Barbara
Subject: Re: imagine my joy

you got a foot bath??? Rockin! :)

I'll be careful. I'm sure I won't drink that much, with D around. I don't like to be a drunk when I am with sober people, ya know? :) Plus, I may drive to her house in LA and she'll drive from there. It doesn't make a lot of sense for her to come to the LBC to pick me up, then drive all the way back out to Hollywood, then back to drop me off, then back home to LA.

I'll miss you tomorrow night. :( But, you know - any time you want to come out and walk around down there, we can do it. I'll pay attention Friday to where he goes (Naples is a confusing area). Of course, I'll be up with John the following weekend, but we can always go during the week, or maybe like on Sunday the 26th or something. That would be nice - maybe you and Arnie and Cathy can come over on the 26th (John will be here, too). Oh and Joe and the girls, of course. And Alisa, if she wants to come. She can even invite her new boy toy. We can go to dinner and then take a walk through Naples.

I wish Mom could walk around more, cuz she and Dad would love it. But you can't drive down the streets, even - at least not all of them. The best decorated houses face the water and there is just a little walking path between the houses and the water.

Anyway, let me know if that sounds fun to you.

Hasta!

Regards,
Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 12:08 AM
To: Barbara
Subject: (no subject)

Your mother drives me a tad batty, sometimes.

Now that you're essentially a mom, let me give you a word of advice: When your kid calls you, the first words out of your mouth should never be ones about how they never call you. Because that tends to make them not want to call you.

Why do all mothers do this? Everyone knows it's highly annoying, and yet every mother in America does it.

Regards,
Karen

~~~

Word of the Day for Thursday December 9, 2004

solecism SOL-uh-siz-uhm, noun:
1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; also, a minor blunder in speech.
2. A breach of good manners or etiquette.
3. Any inconsistency, mistake, or impropriety.

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