Fat Tuesday

Well that glorious day has arrived!

Fat Tuesday!

The day that we . . .

umm, the day that we . . .

Well, Nuts.

I can't think of a single thing that we do to celebrate this celebration of all celebrations. Mardi Gras just isn't a big deal in Nebraska I guess.

Personally, I can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing. In a state that was largely populated by German, Czech, and Slavic immigrants, I guess we are more of a Wilber Czech Festival kind of people.

I think that this is an instance that our new Attorney General would have refered to us as cowards for. . .

What, sis? You mean you don't know what I'm talking about? Well, allow this Anderson Cooper addicts to enlighten you.

Our oh so lovely Attorney General gave a riveting speech in honor of Black History Month in which he called us all a 'Nation of Cowards.' He basically railed at all of society for staying in our comfort zones, leading the whites to congregate with whites and blacks to congregate with blacks in social, religious, and familial situations, leading to a society induced segregation.

I can't get this out of my head, its been milling around for the last week. The illusion of the USA as the "Melting Pot" was mentioned, but I've never bought into this pesonally. So many people have tried to retain some of their roots and maintain their cultures that we've never seemlessly melted together. I've always pictures us as more of a salad. Different foods that are mixed together in one dish. We each retain our own tastes and structure, but together we become something more interesting that we were on our own.

But what about this comfort zone theory?

Is it so bad to have a comfort zone? For the people who are afraid to take a chance, comfort zones are all they know. But in a society today where international travel is getting to be as common as going to a neighboring state, what is the harm in settling back into your comfort zone?

Does it really relegate us to being called a 'Nation of Cowards?'

In related news . . .

Dear Ishmael,
Its funny how things can be related in the weirdest ways.

Last night on CNN they had a wild life specialist, Dave Salmoni ,talking about the chimp attack and how regular people shouldn't be allowed to house wild animals as pets. They talked about how the owner of the now famous "attack" chimp treated the animal like a person.

Anderson Cooper asked Dave last night to respond to the chimp owner's statement that she loved the chimp like a son.

Dave's response to Anderson Cooper was just AMAZING.

"Loving an animal is not enough. To raise a wild animal, just because you love it and treat it well, doesn't mean you know what you're doing. There should be laws that say that you know enough and have the right enclosures. . .etc etc."

Sounds like a pretty standard answer right? So why did it impress me so much?

Because directly after that story came this one. . .


Crazy Octo-Mom to lose house to Forclosure.

So I thought,



You could apply the same speech with a few altered words to this situation as well. "Should this woman have been allowed to have invitro?"

And the answer would be . . .



"Loving the thought of having a child is not enough. Having more children, just because you love them and treat them well, doesn't mean you know what you're doing. There should be laws that say that you know enough and have some way or a plan to provide for them. . .etc etc."


Granted, that's a little strict, but in the case if invitro, I think it isn't too far out there to think about screening women before they are allowed to do this. After all, adoption agencies screen parents so why can't we watch out for babies that haven't been created yet?

What do you think Ish. Too radical?