I’ve just received an email from Lilliana, who is a graduate student in Political Science at Stony Brook University. She’s asked me to post a link to a survey she’s conducting for research purposes. She is researching “the political significance of blogs and online political discourse during political campaigns”. She’ll be presenting the results of her research at various Political Science conferences as well as using as part her dissertation.

She’s very interested in how blogs are shaping the political discussion in this country. I’ve personally taken the survey and it only takes a few minutes to complete. The questions are appropriate for all political ideologies (or lack thereof). It’s a very well thought out survey, very specific, and doesn’t ask filler questions (so you’re not going to be stuck in an endless loop of questions that you’ve already answered).

The survey is completely confidential and it doesn’t matter what your political leanings are- as long as you’re involved in some way with American Politics. This is a U.S. only survey.

So go here (http://ms.cc.sunysb.edu/~lhuddy/pidsurvey_4.htm) and fill out the survey.

Lilliana has asked that you not discuss the survey in the comments, simply because she’s afraid of biased results. So, I’m going to respectfully tell you to not discuss the survey here in the comments. I’ll edit and/or delete anything specifically talking about the questions asked and the way you answered¹. Sorry, that’s the way it goes.

Have fun! And thanks for participating- and helping with Lilliana’s dissertation.

Update:
There was some kind of foul-up with the University research committee, so this survey was put on hold. Lilliana asked me to take out the link and will let me know when to post it again. Sorry about that folks.

1. I don’t have to do that with my regular readers because they aren’t going to be idiots and go against my wishes. This is for anyone that happens along and wants to chat up the survey.

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Finals are done. Yay! Schools out, schools out, teacher let the monkeys out…

Anyway, I can now tell you a funny story that I told my psychology class. Why haven’t I told you previous to this? Well, I told my psych prof that I do blogging and he was curious as to where and I wouldn’t tell him. Then I figured he’s not an Internet noob, because he’s all cool like that, and would be able to find me pretty easily based on things I told him in class and the way that I talk, etc. I didn’t want to influence my grade. I wanted to get my “A” honestly, don’t ya know.

Also, I told him that I was uber-popular and everyone links to me because I’m the most bomb-diggity political blogger in the whole of blogovia and so more bullshit like that. Um, yeah.

So, anyway, the story. We were discussing Freudian slips and he asked the class if any of us had ever had one.

Me: Oh, yes.
Him: Does anyone want to share their story?
Me: No.
Him: Oh, come on! I bet yours is really funny.¹
Me: No.
Him: Ok, well, I’ll use the example from another student. She was brave enough to share with the class so… (he goes on to tell the really boring and not at all funny story).
Me: Fine. I’ll tell.

The following is what I told to my psych class which consists of women who were shocked and appalled when we talked about masturbation and “anal” retentiveness.

I used to wait tables and when I would greet them I always said “Hi, Folks. How are y’all doing today?”. So,one day I was having a particularly bad day when a party of 5 was seated in my section. I was just in the middle of good bitchfest with my co-workers and was highly irritated. So, I walk up to the table and I say:
Hi, Fucks, how are y’all doing?

That was the end of my story. There was much laughter and tittering. And my professor couldn’t move to another topic for awhile. I went on to explain (when asked) that I didn’t miss a beat and continued with my greeting and taking of orders. My co-workers, who were standing at a server station that was a little off the diningroom, were balled up trying to contain their own laughter and possibly pee. I still don’t know if those people realized what I said.

Dr. Psych: I think that is the best example I have ever heard.*chuckle, snort* You’ve officially made it into my lesson plans.

My question is: What is your best story regarding of your own Freudian slip? And how did you handle it?

_{[1]In class I talk exactly like I write – well, except for all the cussing. And I really like to talk participate in the discussions. So…}

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Around the Bush Borg, there’s been some talk about Burma. Also, I’ve notice some “Save Burma” buttons floating getting stuck into Borg sidebars. Why all the interest? What happened to Iran?

Recently Bush made a speech at the U.N. Instead of sticking it to the president of Iran as most of the Borg thought, he went on and on about Burma. I don’t know exactly what he said as my eyeballs would have melted were I to actually watch him. From what I understand he wants to save Burma from tyrants, blah blah blah, we’ve heard it all before. Fine. Except…

Burma is actually called Myanmar. That idiot man in charge of our country couldn’t even remember the name of a sovereign nation. And the Borg? Well, they don’t know any better. Because they’re Borg, they actually share the same brain as Bush so are unable to form thoughts on their own or even look up facts that the Big Guy may have gotten wrong. They keep droning on and on, regurgitating any idiotic thing that might fall out of his mind. Before long they’ll all start saying “childrens”. Bah!

Do you think any of the Bush Borg (aka Bushbots and/or Rightwing Nuts and/or the 30% of people who still think The Idiot in Charge does a good job) have two whole brain cells between them? What do you think they do with the one they do have? And why do so many people proclaim that they ARE NOT Bushbots while spewing his talking points?

That’s a lot of questions. I’m making up for lost time.

Here’s a clip from the one reliable news show left on television- “The Daily Show”. It’s called “Showdown at the U.N.” Hmm, wonder what it’s about. At any rate you might need Windows Media Player or you might need to contact me to see it. This is my first time trying to upload a video, so who knows if it’ll work. If nothing happens and you’re really desperate to see it because it’s really funny, go visit C&L.

{vidavee id=”2608″ w=”320″ }

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That’s the headline on Yahoo! News.

The rally was originally planned for the sentencing of Mychal Bell. Though he’s not going to be sentenced today, folks still flocked to Jena to show their outrage of the injustice that occurred there.

The six were charged a few months after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth teen was charged as a juvenile.

“This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we’ve seen,” Sharpton said Thursday. “You can’t have two standards of justice. We didn’t bring race in it, those that hung the nooses brought the race into it.”

I feel like Sharpton’s words ring hollow considering the time it’s taken him to trumpet the charge against injustice in Jena and Mychal Bell’s trial. Where was he when these young men were being held in jail? Or when Bell wasn’t allowed family members in the courtroom with him? Or when the jury was stacked with friends of the victim? I don’t believe for one minute that he and other activists weren’t aware what was happening down there.

And then Black bloggers took up the call. There was a call to action in the Afrosphere asking for bloggers to bring this story to the media’s attention. Suddenly it’s headline news and thousands are making their way to Jena to protest. That’s definitely a good thing, of course. I just wish it would all have happened sooner and maybe these boys wouldn’t have lost so much time to this nonsense.

Also, Mychal Bell remains in jail because the D.A. is thinking of refiling the charges against him- this time in Juvenile Court. There is a fund raising drive happening right now (the Jena Six Defense Fund) to raise bail money for him. The fact that he remains incarcerated with no charges against him at the moment is itself a travesty. Reed Walters needs to lose his job because of this nonsense. Go to ColorofChange.org to contribute to the Jena Six Defense fund.

Now for the Question of the Week:

Do you think that the blogosphere (or blogovia as my darling Troll likes to call it) had any influence on what’s taking place in Jena, Louisiana right now? And do you think that bloggers (of a certain caliber, of couse) should be taken seriously by the MSM (Main Stream Media) because of what’s happening now?

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I’ve been having a rough week and couldn’t come up with a QotW on my own. So, Miz UV was kind enough to help me out.

There was that article in the news this week about the mom who was supposedly so distracted by having to stop and buy donuts for a meeting that she forgot her kid was in the car and left her there the entire day. I can’t see how ANYONE could forgive that. She should be tried for manslaughter or whatever an appropriate charge would be. Reckless disregard for human life? Same as what a drunk driver would get after killing someone. Agree? Disagree?

At first glance I thought “Fuck that nut!” as any sane person would, I think. Then I decided to think a little more. How could someone justify forgetting their child in a car? And why does it seem to be happening more and more often? Is it only just getting more air time? Was this common before and no one paid any attention (as with domestic violence back in the day)? Should we have some compassion?

Um, no. There’s something seriously fucked up if you forget your own child in a hot car all day. Where’s that little alarm that goes off when you forget something? You know there’s something you forgot to do and it bugs the hell out of you until BINGO! that little light goes off. Speaking completely unscientifically and with no data to back me up, I’m pretty sure that most people get that feeling. Right?

I think that the “stress” excuse might be a little apt, though. I have to say that I have never been under so much stress that I would inadvertantly kill my own child, first off. But, I have had doctor after doctor attempt to shove psychotropic drugs down my throat for various reasons- the most recent being my chronic pain. When I was first diagnosed with PTSD I took Paxil for my anxiety attacks. And that shit really fucked me up. Then a couple of years ago I was prescribed Lexapro for them, because the doctor said it was so much better than Paxil and I wouldn’t have the SRI Discontinuation syndrome if I missed some. She was right. Except for the fact that the fucking Lexapro made me like a zombie. I honestly couldn’t form a complete thought. And I had the most inane songs playing over and over in my head. Then I had the jaw clenching- which was so bad I cracked two of my molars. HORRIBLE doesn’t even describe it. So, I’ve sworn off anything that has “serotonin” and “inhibitor” in the description (my latest doctor tried to trick me with Celebrex, but I’m not as stupid as he thinks I am). I know that doctors are quick to whip out that script pad and give someone drugs that will fuck them up even worse and I wasn’t even that bad.

Now suppose this woman was on one or more of these “miracle” drugs. Maybe she was also on pain meds and/or sleeping pills. I mean, stress doesn’t really have to be managed by cutting back on your routine, exercise, diet and simply relaxing every now and then. Take a couple or three pills and alls well. Right? Well, until you’re so zoned out that you forget your child in the car and come back to a dead baby.

Of course, now I wonder if this was the case with this mother. I have no idea, because I won’t read the story (dead baby issues and all that), but it’s plausible. It’s plausible that she had such a reckless doctor or she was so desperate for a quick fix that she wasn’t thinking at all. Stress really could have killed her child.

I don’t think she should get off though. I think that she needs to be seriously evaluated and then she needs to do her time. And I think that we as a society need to slow the fuck down and realize that doing twenty-five fucking things in one day isn’t worth the sacrifices. We don’t need what we think we need and we most certainly don’t need those goddamned devil pills. This poor woman needs help, but she’s got to do her time first. I don’t have any sympathy for her because she wanted more than she could handle and she killed her own child in the process.

I can’t imagine being so busy and so stressed that I would forget my own child. But then I actually know how to say “Enough” and take a breather. Having all the latest gadgets isn’t worth my kids’ lives or my own. Shoot, that’s why my house didn’t get vacuumed today.

_{Yeah, I changed the title a little.}

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