Bon Voyage!

I'll be back in a week!

Toodles!

Open Letters

Dear CitiBank,

I won't be paying my mortgage this month. The federal government will be happy to pay it for me. All you have to do is take on too much debt, be on the verge of foreign takeover and the federal government will magically have several trillion dollars to help pay for my mortgage.

Also, since I already pay taxes, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be paying for this house anyways. If you could please send me the deed to the house, I will consider this matter closed.

Sincerely,

The Sunshine-y One


Dear Visa,

I'm going to skip my payment this month in an effort to get the credit card industry "rescued" by the federal government. Granted, I used that money to buy things that I wanted, but I just don't think I should have to pay it back.

So, ask Secretary Paulson to fork over my share of the credit mess.

Thanks so much,

Sunshine


Dear AIG,

I didn't really want to pay for everyone else's insurance, however, it is destined that you too are going to be run and owned by the federal government.

Since I faithfully pay my taxes, I will expect some of the shares of AIG. Since I'm a tax payer, and the government, which I hire, bought you, I now own part of you. You can send my 1/180,000,000 part of the share to Visa. That should square everything up.

Very truly yours,

Sunshine

Dear Treasurey Secretary Paulson,

I just wanted to drop you a line about how much I appreciate your interference in the U.S. economy. Especially since, as a non-elected official you are not required to run for any type of re-election, why not spend over 3 trillion dollars of tax payer money? Good for you.

If I was Heidi, you'd be auf'd.

Very appreciatively yours,

Jessica


Dear President George W. Bush,

I have always defended you. Even though I hated A LOT of the legislation that you signed into law, mainly McCain Feingold, I stood up for you. You have been pretty good with the War on Terror. We're winning in Iraq. There are some great things happening over there. Yeah.

But this disasator of a bail out program is a horrible idea. First with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who got themselves into that mess with the help of Congress, then with AIG. Oh, and you put your foot down with Lehman Bros, yeah right. But now with approving the funding of banks bad debt. You have got to be kidding. Enough! This is Congress' fault because people were allowed loans they couldn't have afforded. But no. Let's just go ahead and take over the mortgages too.

I'm now actually convinced that John McCain is the right sort of guy for this time.

Adios Partner,

Sunshine-y

Jim Johnson

Oops.

PSA: Project Runway Season 5's Kenley

And now, a Public Service Announcement by your host, the Sunshine-y one.

Dear Kenley. You are not the end-all and be-all of fashion. Honey, you are only 25 and have about 4 years of experience as a working designer.

We all get that you are incredibly talented and have a great, albeit predictable, style. I even like vintage. But honestly, do you have to use tulle on every outfit? I like tulle, but come on! Every outfit. And usually part of it is exposed. Every time. Seriously girl, try something a little different. If you make it to Bryant Park it won't be because Nina Garcia actually likes your style, it'll be because somehow your outfits just don't seem to suck! (Which, while trying to find pictures, I discovered that she somehow made it to Bryant Park. Whatever. I hope Korto or Jarrell wins, so there!)

Anyways, back to the issue at hand. When Tim Gunn (pretty much the God of Parsons) suggests that maybe the exposed tulle isn't such a professional look, maybe you could actually take it as what it is, a critique, from someone much wiser than yourself. Instead you get incredibly defensive and say to the cameras, "I'm not going to listen to that" with your little snotty attitude. Where do you get off girl? I know that Tim Gunn doesn't need me to defend him, I'm just trying to help you understand, dear Kenley, that you are your own worst enemy. Your complete innability to take criticism, from either Gunn or the judges, will not help you in the future.

You do not get to put on the Karl Lagerfeld air until you are at least 60, have been wearing the exact same outfit for at least 30 of the past years, and have a multi-million dollar label. When you are showing in Paris, then you can refuse to listen to Tim Gunn's advice. Until then, dear Kenley, shut up and take some criticism like a FREAKING ADULT!
This has been a public service announcement from the Valley of Sunshine. We will now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Blogging Block

Yep, I've got it. I need to post a couple of book reviews, so those are going to get done tonight. Thanks to my faithful readers. I can't wait to tell you about the books I've just finished.

Toodles.

Community Organizers Unite!

One of the best lines from Sarah Palin's speech on Wednesday night. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities."

Classic. Here's an article in defense of community organizers.

Thoughts on the Sarah Palin Drama

I don't really like personal drama, but I have to admit I've been addicted to absorbing as much information as possible about the Governor.

First off, all of those rumors about the baby being the daughters were horrible and I knew immediately they were not true. Unfortunately, it turns out that the eldest daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Unfortunate in the sense of what this means for their family. Not unfortunate for how this plays out in the arena of public scrutiny.

I have thought this through pretty carefully over the last couple of days and I would like to offer my analysis to those of you readers.

The eldest daughter, only 17 years old, is pregnant. What does this say about their home life? I have to admit that this has crossed my mind. But then I'm reminded of my own adolescents and early adulthood. And to be quite frank, how in the world did I get out of high school not pregnant? I know it was God's grace over my life. (Not that those who are pregnant teens are not within God's grace, it just wasn't apart of his plan for my life.) I did not end up pregnant, but I made some bad decisions. Should my parents have shouldered the blame for the consequences of those choices? I think not. Teenagers have the tendency to make adult decisions WAY before they should. Who is responsible for those decisions? Not the parents. My parents were not responsible for the promiscuous behavior of their eldest child, as Sarah and Todd Palin are not the bearers of Bristol's decision. As parents we only have so long to impress upon our children the values and morals that will keep them from making decisions which will forfeit a piece of their future. In the current American culture, that time is shrinking so that our kids now need to know everything by what, 8 -10 years old? They can't even fathom long-term consequences at that age.

So, with that defense out of the way, I am still pro-Palin. I think she has sufficient experience to be Vice-President. I think that whatever her and her husband have decided about the rearing of their kids is their decision and need not be questioned by the likes of me, or anyone else who is not them or their Lord.

I ache for Bristol. I have recently started working with a teenage moms program through my church, and to see that kinds of trials these girls are going through is humbling. Like my girls, Bristol's life will be tough without public scrutiny. With a 24 hour news cycle, I can't imagine. It may seem hoaky, but I lift them up in prayer. They need it.

I'll get into the experience in a later post.

Hilarious

Sarah Palin for V.P.!

Yes, I am thrilled with the Palin pick for a couple of reasons.

First, and most importantly, because she is a conservative. A NRA-card-toting, abortion-refusing, pro-drill-in-Alaska, kill-Bridge-to-Nowhere, Conservative. That's my type of girl!

Secondly, I am thrilled that he picked a woman. Now, I do not go for identity politics. And there may have been part of this decision which was identity based. And yet I'm willing to overlook it since it shows the GOP as willing to step up to the plate. No matter what I think, there are Americans who do vote for candidates of the basis of sex, race and religion. So, what are you going to do? I wish the GOP didn't have to play the identity politics game, but alas, this is the field we are on and we better start playing or we're going to lose.

The most brilliant thing about this pick was the timing. I LOVE MCCAIN FOR THIS! He announced his pick the morning after Obama's speech. Essentially nullifying everything Obama spoke on only 12 hours earlier. Sure he gave a good speech, but who is talking about it today? Not that he said anything which hasn't been said over the last 40 years. But at least the media isn't regurgitating on it.

So, yes, I'm happy about the Sarah Palin pick. What say you?