I think the Tea Party is undefined, there's a lot of energy but I don't have a feel for any kind of platform. IMO, the Republican party is having some identity issues too, I'm having a hard time identifying an agenda aside from "against whatever Obama is for".

I said yes, but I'm kind of puzzled as to why they bothered to send those emails, since there was nothing in the email to indicate what made the new positions any different from the one that we'd already applied to.

might be an HR policy to avoid mixups.

Joe heard my squeeing, took a look and declared "When you die, I'm putting your ashes in that."

oh, how I love Joe.

I'm up to 91 pages on my dissertation now. It needs serious editing, but I'm pretty much done with all the actual content -- I've got a bit of the last chapter left to write, and then I just need to write the introduction. Introductions always take me forever.

Me and my urn: [link]

Up close: [link]

Isn't it AWESOME???

Me and my urn:

You should always call it that.

"Honey, have you seen my death urn?"

Isn't it AWESOME???

Totes!

I'm trying to figure out what to keep in it until my demise. Maybe a secret stash of chocolate, that way it won't need to be emptied before I take up residency.

ah ... thanks for the pictures, Aims. I was imagining a figural kind of thing.

And, yes, awesome.

The Empress' Urn is truly a thing of wonderment.

And so is Monty Python's Universe Song: [link] which we haven't had here in a few weeks.

That is cool, and it would be perfect for your ashes. Uh, don't take that the wrong way.

That's great, Hil. I admire your discipline in plugging through this.

Yes, we need pictures of The Empress urn.

One of my dearest friends... No, really, one of my relatives is a lifelong Republican and I love to debate issues with him. He gets loud and excited supporting his positions and I can get loud and excited supporting mine. Then he pours another drink and declares that until one or the other side puts a million bucks in his bank account he don't care who is in charge. And we laugh and agree to disagree. It is only when you try and tell me that I can't have my opinion that we have a real problem.

I'm able to see individual people including politicians as good and admirable people while disagreeing with their policies and beliefs. I have a big problem with people that lie or manipulate data to sell their ideas. And I have a huge issue with people who advocate torture or denial of basic human rights. We sometimes disagree on what constitutes a human right.

It is possible that I will never find another human that agrees with me on every single issue, so as a social person I have to keep communication open. (until they all see the wisdom of my beliefs)