My celebrity look alikes

http://www.myheritage.com

WHY?!?!? WHY WHY WHY?!?!

How can anyone be this twisted and hateful?

Group Plans To Picket Va. Tech Funerals

When I remember that they do this in the name of my God who I know HATES this behavior, it makes me want to vomit.

Ban on Abortion Procedure Upheld

Praise God! I haven't sorted out all the details of beginning of life and end of life issues yet, but I can't imagine a time when carrying a baby to term and then crushing its head at birth would ever be necessary.

Ban on Abortion Procedure Upheld by Supreme Court in 5-4 Ruling

Contact your representatives, folks!

That greedy RIAA has done it again! If it's not enough to charge us $20 a CD, now they're trying to shut down web radio. They've gotten the Copyright Royalty Board to approve a sharp increase in the fees that webcasters will have to pay per play per song. The fee increase is significant enough that most webcasters will probably go out of business as a result, and our musical options will degenerate even further into mass marketed pablum. Find out more at http://www.savenetradio.org/about/index.html.

Feel free to use my letter (with the appropriate modifications) as a template for your own protest. The old wisdom said that paper letters were better than emails, but now with all the security stuff, paper takes so long to get into the Congressional offices that email is the only way to get something to your reps in less than two months. The text of my letter is below; you can find your representatives' names here.

Dear [recipient name was inserted here],

I was unpleasantly surprised to find out this morning that there is a plan put forward by the Copyright Royalty Board to drastically raise music royalty rates. It is my understanding that for most webcasters the new royalties will exceed their revenue, forcing them to stop webcasting.

I oppose this increase for two reasons. First, closing down webcasting services will sharply curtail the wide variety of musical choices currently available to me. And second, making it impossible for small independent operations to broadcast music from independent artists will without a doubt hurt the potential of young or unknown artists to break into the public consciousness. I'm no bleeding heart advocating that everybody with a guitar should get radio time, but I am a constituent who happens to love music and who would hate to see our rich independent musical culture degenerate into mass marketed pablum.

I respectfully request that you, my duly-elected representative, look into this matter and take action to prevent it. This letter expresses my personal concerns, and is my own composition, not a mindlessly forwarded form letter. Your prompt attention to this issue is essential. The new royalty rates are retroactive to January 1, 2006, and they will cause immediate bankruptcies if they become effective for even one day. You can find more information about this issue at http://www.savenetradio.org/about/index.html. I hope to hear very soon what actions you take to prevent this increase from taking effect.

Sincerely,


Monica Raab

True Womanhood in the New Millennium

The blog that was "got me a college gal" is now making a second appearance on the stage as True Womanhood in the New Millennium. Come by, stimulate your thinking, and participate in the discussion. We've had a lot of activity in the last couple of weeks and some very thought-provoking posts!

She has a name!

So, my new baby finally has a name. :-) On Saturday night, we named her Gwen. I was randomly thinking of Gwen Egolf on Friday, and then I thought of my new bird, and it just seemed to fit. Welcome to the family, Gwen!

She's doing pretty well. I was a little worried about her when I got back from Greenville on Saturday; she looked really skinny and kind of lethargic. And her poop didn't look good either. But yesterday she ate some bird seed (only a little, unfortunately) and lots of romaine lettuce and some fresh spinach. Both of those veggies are really good for her, and she's looking a lot better today. :-)

More pictures of my new lady

That mysterious lady....

Poor DeWitt is quite discombobulated. On Saturday, quite mysteriously and without warning, a new parakeet made an entrance at the Raab residence. A lady parakeet, at that. And poor DeWitt just doesn't know what to do with himself.



The first time that I had them both out together, DeWitt was doing all right for a few minutes, and then he tried to step on her back! Well, she didn't think much of that at all, and I didn't like the look of it either, so I immediately pulled him away from her and separated them to keep her safe.

But a few days later, shortly after the picture above was taken, he pulled the same stunt. Only this time, before I could react to protect her....she bit his foot! :-) Good girl. DeWitt was quite shocked. He shook himself, and backed off a couple of steps, and since then he has been much more respectful of her space.

They're slowly getting used to each other. DeWitt is almost a full year older than she is, so he's quite a bit bigger. I'm still not letting them be around each other unless I'm right there to intervene if needed. I don't think he's trying to hurt her or push her around, but he's kind of like a five-year old playing with a baby--he's gotta learn that she's not as sturdy as he is just yet.

Here's a close up.


So. Name suggestions, anyone? I don't know what to call her. She's feisty, but I think she's more of an introvert. You can't tell from this picture, but she's got a beautiful deep blue/green spot right above her tail.

More news about my mom

I talked to my mom yesterday. She's still in the hospital, and her leg is still giving her a lot of pain. Her heart finally kicked back into a normal rhythm, so they're going to let her go home soon. That's good, but the long term news isn't so good. :-( She's going to have to have open heart surgery soon, within the next six months or so, to replace a valve. We don't know when it will be scheduled yet. Please keep praying for wisdom for my parents: they have a lot of hard decisions to make now.

My poor mother

Please keep praying for my mom. She was back in the emergency room this morning with a blood clot in her leg. They got it out without too much difficulty, but she's going to have to stay in the hospital until Sunday. They're doing a full work up on her heart. They think that the clot was caused and/or shaken loose by atrial fibrillation. That's scary stuff; we're praising God that He did not allow it to land in her brain where it could have killed her. As it is, she could have lost her leg if they hadn't gotten to it so quickly.