Somebody hold me back before I go tearing into pro-war conservatives on a forum where it'd be inappropriate. I don't have the time and energy for a flamewar right now. It's a discussion on a writing group that started with the new Pride & Prejudice adaptation and with screenwriters and directors who do and don't get Jane Austen. Someone said she thought Mel Gibson could do a good job. A few people, myself among them, said that was nuts--I remarked upon the utter lack of bloody torture scenes in JA's canon, hoped he never noticed the Napoleonic Wars, and expressed my gratitude that there are already filmed versions of Master & Commander and the Sharpe series because Mel as Aubrey or Sharpe would make me cry and cry.

Anyway, we started discussing personal boycotts, and the discussion turned political. One person was all, "I boycott Susan Sarandon because I have relatives who are soldiers."

I'm having to restrain myself from flying into her. I have a nephew who's on his way back to Baghdad after a brief visit home RIGHT NOW. He doesn't support the war, but he's serving honorably because he's a soldier. And he's worth 10,000 of those piece of shit chicken hawks who lied to this country and the world to send him there. I have way too much respect for soldiers to support risking their lives for anything less than a truly JUST and NECESSARY war. Nice to know HER kind of support for soldiers means shutting up and sitting down.

Hell, let her have it.

Umm...could I get some sick baby advice? Ellie has some (whitefonted for the squeamish) streaks of blood in her dirty diapers. She usually only has one a day but today she's on #4 with amount of red increasing.

Same thing happened on Wednesday, but the nurse said not to worry unless it reoccurred. I'm not really worried, because she's acting fine, but I wish the nurse would call me back and say it's nothing.

Stephanie, were it me I'd call the doctor. But I have a tendency to freak out about that stuff and run immediately and, sometimes, unnecessarily to a professional.

Steph, call the duck.

Hey, that's why we have professionals. And blood is scary. I say beep the sucker.

(this is a completely uninformed opinion)

I'm trying not to escalate the situation. I expect lots of people feel the same way, because the silence since she posted has been deafening.

I might say something about getting back on track to our regularly scheduled Regency discussion and how one of the reasons I'm writing about the Peninsular War rather than the Iraq War, besides my being a historical fiction writer to my core, is that it allows me to write about men like my nephew without feeding my rage at the current political situation.

Ok, I called and left a message on the nurse line. She should call me back.

You did the right thing, Steph. That's what they're there for.

I agree, call the doctor.