Melyssa-with-a-Y

On the anniversary of the day that the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz in 1945 (see video below), I was treated to a story on NPR this morning about the Bishop that was "un-excommunicated" by the Pope this week. Bishop Richard Williamson has been -- recently, not just in the past -- quoted as saying there's no historical evidence that 6 million Jews died in WWII. Bishop Williamson, who has said that the Vatican is controlled by Satan and that the Jews are bent on world domination, reiterated in a broadcast last week on Swedish television that the historical evidence was “hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers”. I'm sorry, WHAT?!? and he gets to be a Bishop in the Catholic Church? The way the current pope is reversing Vatican II, I'd say the "heretics" in Europe had better watch out - the Spanish Inquisition may be poised for a comeback! But...

This afternoon, I did seven interviews with Canadian Broadcasting Corp stations all over Canada - from British Columbia to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to New Brunswick to Yukon ( not geographically in any particular order ). They asked me questions about collecting political memorabilia -- how I got started, why people collect, what's valuable, and what's out there for Obama. I talked about my flasher collection , Cox-Roosevelt buttons , and the Obama Chapter of the APIC. The station in Victoria, BC (6th go-round) sent me an MP3 recording of the interview. I've asked for recordings of the other ones, but I actually think this one was the best. One of the producers I spoke with likened the experience to "Groundhog Day", and she was right! The station in New Brunswick also offered to send me a bobblehead doll of one of the DJs. :) If I can figure out how to post it here, I will. Otherwise, if you want to hear it, email me and I'll send you the 6MB ...

...but the "We Are One" concert is on, and it's amazing! 1:30pm (CST) Starting with Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man was genius - it was symbolic, as an announcement of a new beginning. It's one of my favorite pieces. I was in tears almost immediately. (starting to regret staying in Austin for the weekend...) Watching the Obama girls see themselves on tv was so cute! (Sasha made her mother move out of the way!) 1:40pm Bruce. Wow. The newscasters kept saying that the musicians weren't going to be singing their own music, but singing "The Rising" with a huge choir in the background was fabulous. 1:50pm Hmm... maybe Mary J. Blige should have worn something other than white/off-white so she'd stand out a little more against the steps? Oh well. Lean On Me, another great uplifting song. You go Mary J! and Michelle is singing along! :) [and, not having saved this post often enough, my Firefox crashed and I lost almost an hour's worth of comme...

For your reading pleasure (or discomfort, in this case), here's a post detailing the various actions going on in other parts of Israel, instigated by the same Arab countries who won't admit to directly helping Hamas, and won't help the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. If you are inclined to 'poo poo' the seriousness of these attacks or downplay their impact on Israeli morale, just think back to 2002 when the 'Beltway Sniper' was able to terrorize the entire eastern seaboard of the United states into immobility with nothing more than a hunting rifle and an old Chevy Caprice. Also, with Israel at war on one front, just how much restraint are we really expected to practice with all the other belligerents in the neighborhood? A fair question, I think. Americans have never been exposed to this kind of constant barrage -- Beltway Sniper notwithstanding -- he could only fire in one place at a time. How can we be expected to understand the mentality of the Israeli ...

I went to the nutritionist tonight for a "check-up" -- this is the same woman who put me on a mostly-organic diet in January 2008, and with whose help I lost about 15 lbs last year. We talked about what I've been eating, which has been far more sensible since I've been back from DC. I showed her my last 10 days of Weight Watchers food tracking. Other than the fact that it is sorely lacking in vegetables, it looked pretty good. But then she did the math, and apparently I'm not getting enough calories! The way WW does things, I get to eat food that adds up to 25 points per day (a point is 60 calories or 6 grams of fat), plus an extra 35 pts to use throughout the week. Ergo, 25 x 60 = 1500 calories. And if you evenly split the 'extra' pts, that's an extra 300 calories per day. But I hardly use those - the program makes it sound like those are for "emergencies" only. But according to the tests that Nancy did last year when I signed up for ...

Yet another "about me" list that I've stolen from Phyl : The things I have done are in bold. 1. Started my own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than I can afford to charity 7. B een to Disneyland/world 8. Climbed a mountain (Not sure if hiking counts but it was a moutain) 10. Sung a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched lightening at sea 14. Taught myself art from scratch (does knitting count?) 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown my own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitchhiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29 . Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Fa...

I have (until now) refrained from posting any rants here about the situation in Gaza -- how Hamas is getting their own people killed; Israel's right to defend herself... etc. I mean, seriously, if crazies in Cuba or Mexico or Canada were indiscriminately dropping rockets on New York or Miami or Houston -- TRYING to kill civilians -- wouldn't we fight back? Damn right we would! But now apparently all Jewish children are targets , no matter where we live -- as Jeffrey Goldberg points out on his blog: Put aside Zahar's chutzpah -- Hamas has been happily killing Jewish children for years. What's important is that he is making an explicit plea to jihadists everywhere to take matters into their own hands and kill Jews. Any Jewish school or synagogue or JCC anywhere in the world that doesn't take this seriously is beyond negligent. This is not a time for panic, just preparation. But if you read further down in that article, French President Sarkozy points out that the m...

It's 2009! How did that happen? 2008 was a fun year, and I can only wonder at what 2009 holds for all of us. Hope y'all have a happy, healthy year, full of pleasant surprises. :) And now, for a trip down memory lane: I found this on Phyl's blog , and I love it! IF YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S... 1. You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked. Hmmm. Don't remember this. 2 You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it. Uhhh, Nope. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 13. By then, it was the mid-80's. 3. You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels. Oh yes, and skated through some dogsh*t the first time my dad took me out on them. 4 You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!) Sigh. ok, I admit it. 5. You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island. EEEK!! I thought Scooby Doo was too scary. I didn't even watch Fantasy Isla...